Chapter Summaries

Dick woke near No Man's Land after nearly a day unconscious and hurried toward the witcher castle, worried about Ruiwen and Master. At Kaer Morhen, Master poisoned the banquet guests and began seizing control of the Witcher Order, killing Ali when he tried to attack.

• Dick recovered from his wounds, ate and drank, and realized he had returned to the outskirts of No Man's Land.
• Dick suspected Ruiwen had saved him and decided to find a sorcerer at the witcher castle and tell Beier about Master.
• Master announced he had a declaration about the Witcher Order, then killed a witcher with a dagger when the hall ignored him.
• Master revealed he had poisoned the witchers' food and drink, leaving them too weak to resist, while Beier tried to stall him.
• Master stopped a witcher from reaching the chained laboratory, then dodged Ali's attack and killed him with a kick.

Dick returned to Kaer Morhen and found Master slaughtering the sorcerers after revealing his plan to control the Witcher Order. Dick confronted Master, but Master threatened Aode and blocked him from reaching the antidote in the laboratory.

• Master explained that he had secretly created monsters to preserve witcher commissions and planned to kill dissenters and raise witchers loyal to him.
• Dick hurried back to Odinburg and spotted monsters, armed villagers, soldiers, Brownie, and Ruiwen approaching Kaer Morhen.
• Dick found Master preparing to kill a young sorcerer and burst into the main keep, where he attacked Master.
• Dick and Master clashed swords, and Beier told Dick that an antidote was in the laboratory.
• Master used a shockwave to block Dick and threatened to kill Aode if Dick moved.

Dick and Master agreed to a temporary truce as an army led by Ruiwen and Brownie besieged Odinburg. Ruiwen accused Master and the Witcher Order of being a scourge, but when Dick asked for her real reason, she said it no longer mattered and announced the siege would begin in two minutes.

• After an attack shook the keep, Dick and Master agreed to a temporary truce so the witchers could access the potions and they could learn whether the monsters outside were still under Master's control.
• Dick and Master opened the laboratory entrance, then joined forces to destroy a boulder aimed at them and climbed to the battlements.
• Ruiwen halted the soldiers' attack and declared that she had come to eradicate the Witcher Order, revealing that the monsters were under her control rather than Master's.
• Ruiwen accused Harden of the School of the Lynx of killing a nearby farm's leader and said she had used the monsters as tools to eliminate the witchers.
• Dick asked Ruiwen for her real reason, but she said it no longer mattered and announced that the siege would begin in two minutes.

Dick and Beier formed the witchers and sorcerers into ranks to defend against the monster horde, while the poisoned sorcerers risked their lives to help. Their opening attacks destroyed many enemies, but a Foglet killed one of the sorcerers and vanished.

• Beier told Dick that the Golden Oriole Potion would give the witchers only five minutes of strength and that the sorcerers would die when their magic wore off; Aode had been hidden in the basement with the children.
• Dick handed out magic bombs as Beier arranged the defenders into three ranks, with Mind Shockwave users at the front, Protection Sign users behind them, and sorcerers at the rear.
• The second rank shielded the group from three boulders, and the front rank combined their Mind Shockwaves to destroy a dozen gargoyles.
• After the gates collapsed and monsters flooded in, the sorcerers summoned a tornado that swept up and battered many of them.
• A Foglet stabbed a young sorcerer through the chest, ate his heart, and turned invisible again.

Witchers struggled to hold back the monsters and pitchfork-wielding villagers as Master charged after Ruiwen, only to be hurled into a ravine by her magic. Ruiwen fled, and Beier transformed into a giant and struck back at the horde.

• Gargoyles, trolls, and catapult boulders broke the witchers’ formation, killing sorcerers and wounding witchers as Dick defended the surviving sorcerers and killed three Foglets.
• Master charged through the city gate, killed a troll, and drove the villagers fleeing across the stone bridge.
• Master attacked Ruiwen, but she transformed the crow into a pair of wings and used a giant magical claw to throw him into the mountain ravine.
• Ruiwen flew away as more monsters arrived, and Beier activated the Grizzly Bear School’s Giant Transformation and smashed a group of monsters with a powerful blow.

Dick survived the battle at Kaer Morhen, where the witchers and sorcerers killed the invading monsters but were almost entirely wiped out. After finding the grounds devastated and Brownie gone, Dick set out for the main keep, while Kayn revealed himself and conspired with Alexander to found a new witcher school.

• Dick fought the monsters as the witchers and sorcerers fell, and he was left alone among the dead after the battle.
• Dick found Boar, the blacksmiths, the one-eyed witcher, and Beier dead, while flames consumed the main keep.
• Dick saw that Spotty had survived and killed a Nekker, then went outside to find Brownie missing and the knights dead.
• Dick suspected that his Master had killed the knights and hurried back toward the main keep to find the young witchers and Ruiwen.
• Kayn emerged from hiding with the wounded Alexander and explained that Alexander had asked him to spare Brownie, Prince James's illegitimate son.
• Alexander promised Kayn that he would combine the three factions' trial formulas and create the School of the Viper, with Kayn as its sole head.

Kayn celebrated the Witcher Order’s destruction and left with Alexander, while Dick rushed into Kaer Morhen’s burning keep to confront Ruiwen. He found the young witchers dead, and Ruiwen attacked him with a sword of light.

• Kayn gloated that he would rule the supernaturals and showed no grief over the Witcher Order’s destruction, though he hoped Dick had survived.
• Alexander hid his hostility behind a fawning smile and followed Kayn away.
• Dick considered how to spend his 700 Energy Points, then entered the burning keep and descended to the basement.
• Dick found Aode, Clark, Wayne, Arthur, and Barry dead and demanded to know why Ruiwen had killed them.
• Ruiwen invoked Dick’s lesson that the Witcher Order had no family, summoned a sword of light, and charged at him.

Dick fought Ruiwen in the basement, but her devotion to Gabriel repeatedly restored her wounds and drove her to attack him. After Ruiwen regained some clarity, Gabriel challenged her loyalty to their pact, and she pleaded for Dick’s life.

• Dick used his sword techniques and Signs to wound Ruiwen, who healed herself by invoking Gabriel.
• Ruiwen and Dick continued fighting, destroying the basement but avoiding the bodies of the witchers and Aode.
• Dick grew exhausted as Ruiwen’s wounds repeatedly healed, and she nearly struck him down before her sword stopped inches from his face.
• Ruiwen told Dick she had regained much of her clarity, but golden patterns appeared as Gabriel challenged her for breaking their pact.
• Ruiwen knelt and asked Gabriel to spare Dick now that her vengeance was complete.

Ruiwen resisted the deity controlling her and died after forcing Dick’s sword into her chest, leaving him grieving and newly empowered by a Divinity Fragment. As Dick tried to leave the basement, a white-haired old man severed his arm and stabbed him through the ribs.

• Ruiwen’s divine power faded, but a dark-gold hand seized Dick’s sword arm and forced his blade into her chest.
• Ruiwen regained control, told Dick that her hatred had faded, and died in his arms, dissolving into motes of light.
• Dick gained 150 Energy Points and a Divinity Fragment that enhanced his physical attributes.
• As Dick picked up his black sword and turned to leave, a white-haired old man cut off his right arm and stabbed him through the ribs.

Gabriel showed Dick memories of Ruiwen’s childhood, revealing that she was the daughter of a groom enslaved by a noble household and endured years of abuse. The memories left Dick confronting the suffering behind Ruiwen’s hostility, while her family’s fate remained unrevealed.

• Gabriel brought Dick into her mental space and explained that he could not harm her there.
• Dick asked why Ruiwen had turned against him, and Gabriel revealed that his past as an assassin had caused her hostility.
• Gabriel showed Dick that Ruiwen had been born into a groom’s enslaved family, not a noble household.
• Dick watched Ruiwen’s young mistress and the household’s adults mistreat Ruiwen and her family.
• Gabriel showed Ruiwen enduring pain and abuse while smiling and cherishing two pieces of candy for her younger siblings.

Gabriel showed Dick the fire in which his master killed Ruiwen’s family, revealing that Dick had spared Ruiwen but helped cause her trauma. She explained how Ruiwen became her emissary and offered Dick the role, but he rejected it and learned Gabriel wanted him to return a fragment.

• Gabriel showed Dick the memory of Master killing Ruiwen’s parents and younger siblings after Dick spared her.
• Dick realized he had been an accomplice in the attack and accused Gabriel of possessing Ruiwen.
• Gabriel explained that she contracted with Ruiwen, lent her power, and helped her pursue revenge against the Witcher Order.
• Dick connected Ruiwen’s memory-reading and fever to her search for her family’s killer and her weak constitution.
• Gabriel offered to make Dick her new divine emissary, but Dick refused and challenged her influence over Ruiwen.
• Gabriel demanded that Dick return the fragment he had obtained to its rightful owner.

Dick resisted Gabriel’s attempt to manipulate him into surrendering a Divinity Fragment and returned to the battle, though his heart had been pierced. In [The Other Side of Deep Space], the bound deities mocked Gabriel’s failure until the King of the Gods ordered them to wait and watch Dick.

• Gabriel used a vision and a glowing influence to persuade Dick to hand over the Divinity Fragment, but a cold snort in his mind broke her hold.
• Dick refused Gabriel, condemned her treatment of Ruiwen, and deduced that neither of them could hurt the other in the mental space.
• Gabriel warned that Dick would die when she released the mental space, then left after telling him to call upon her three times if he wanted an audience.
• Dick returned to the real world, where his nominal master, Master, stood over him with a sword and a smug expression.
• In [The Other Side of Deep Space], the bound deities mocked Gabriel for losing her Divinity Fragment and failing to control Ruiwen.
• The King of the Gods silenced the deities, said they had to stop [Him] from reaching the main world first, and ordered them to observe Dick before ending the discussion.

Dick survived Master’s sword strike by evolving his healing talent, then gained the Blood of Madness and overwhelmed Master with his new power. Master revealed a monster-crafted chest eye that he claimed could immobilize Dick, but Dick was only pretending to be trapped and prepared to attack.

• Dick spent 800 Energy Points to evolve Advanced Self-Healing into Super Self-Healing, healing his chest wound and beginning to regrow his missing arm.
• Master boasted that he would reclaim the Grasses Decoction formula from Alexander and rebuild the Witcher Order, but Dick revealed he was alive.
• Dick struck Master with a powerful punch, and the Blood of Madness talent appeared on his panel.
• Master exposed a monster-made eye in his chest and claimed it had pinned Dick in place.
• Dick admitted he had fooled Master, then launched himself forward from his starting stance.

Dick killed Master, then discovered Ruiwen had protected Aode and the other young witchers with an illusion that made them appear dead. He led them out of the burning keep before dawn.

• Dick used a Mind Shockwave from his soles to launch himself upward and kill Master with a final punch.
• Dick's Super Self-Healing began regenerating his severed arm, and he ate food before checking the bodies of the young witchers.
• Dick found an invisible barrier around Aode and the others, broke the illusion, and realized they were alive and unharmed.
• Dick woke the young witchers and decided to evacuate Aode before smoke filled the basement.
• Dick led the group through the burning keep and escaped onto its grounds before sunrise.

After the battle, Dick and the surviving witchers mourned their dead, returned to Lynx Fort, and cleared out the monsters beneath it. When Aode woke and grieved for the fallen, he insisted that the School of the Lynx’s Grasses Decoction formula had to be recovered so the Witcher Order could remain complete.

• Dick and the young witchers gathered and burned the bodies of their fallen brethren, and Dick found Beier alive beneath a pile of corpses.
• Spotty warned Dick that monsters remained in Lynx Fort, so Dick entered the underground laboratory and killed them, gaining 70 Energy Points.
• Dick discovered that someone had taken nearly half the Blood of the Mountain God from the laboratory and concluded that Alexander had taken it.
• Dick joined Beier and the young witchers for a meal, where they accepted his newly regrown arm without demanding an explanation.
• Barry announced that Aode had awakened, and Dick and Beier found him grieving for Ali and the destroyed Order.
• Aode insisted that the School of the Lynx’s Grasses Decoction formula must not be lost, despite Dick dismissing it because Master had caused the disaster.

Dick followed Alexander’s blood trail into a teleportation array and arrived in a deserted town, where he found bark-covered monsters. The monsters begged him not to kill their family, and Dick stopped his sword before striking their leader.

• Dick comforted Aode, instructed the others to stay at Lynx Fort, and set off to track Alexander.
• Dick found a bloodstained piece of Alexander’s robe and followed his trail to the great magic array at No Man’s Land.
• Dick entered the array alone and was teleported to the nameless town he had once visited with Harden.
• Dick followed Alexander’s trail through the silent town and encountered a bark-covered monster.
• Dick prepared to strike the monster but stopped when its family knelt and pleaded with him to spare their father.

Dick learned that Alexander had transformed a starving family into monsters who could survive by rooting themselves in soil, then tracked down Kayn to find Alexander. Kayn revealed his plan to found the School of the Viper, but Dick refused to join him, and their confrontation began when Kayn noticed Dick’s missing right arm.

• A middle-aged monster told Dick that Brownie's soldiers had killed the townspeople, while Kayn and Alexander had later offered his family potions that they willingly drank to survive.
• Dick spared the transformed family and told them to live far from other people, then ran to find Kayn.
• Kayn admitted that he had defeated Brownie's knights and let Brownie escape, and said Alexander had disappeared and was now his useful ally.
• Kayn proposed founding the School of the Viper with Dick as his second-in-command, but Dick refused and said he intended to eliminate Alexander and retrieve the School of the Lynx's formula.
• Kayn drew his ring blades and challenged Dick to a fight, then noticed Dick's missing right arm and demanded to know who had injured him.

Dick and Kayn fought without using Signs, and Dick overpowered his former junior but chose not to kill him. As Dick prepared to leave, Kayn stopped him and offered three booklets whose contents remained unknown.

• Kayn attacked Dick with his ring blades, and they fought while avoiding each other's vital points.
• Dick disarmed Kayn and held his sword beneath Kayn's chin, but withdrew it when Kayn leaned toward the blade.
• Kayn mocked Dick for going soft as Dick declared they would part ways and turned to leave.
• Kayn called Dick back and handed him three palm-sized booklets.

Dick parted from Kayn with the three schools’ Grasses Decoction formulas and rode back toward Kaer Morhen. He reached the ruined stronghold at night, where the watchtower guards were dead and the main keep had collapsed.

• Kayn gave Dick the Grasses Decoction formulas for the Schools of the Grizzly Bear, Coyote, and Lynx, and said Alexander had copied all three.
• Dick warned Kayn that Alexander was dangerous, then reflected on Kayn’s complicated behavior before deciding to return to Kaer Morhen.
• Dick bought a pony and studied the formulas, learning that an alchemist’s help was needed to use them.
• Dick’s right arm healed during the journey, and he reached Kaer Morhen’s watchtower after a day and a half of travel.
• Dick found the two witchers on watch torn apart by monsters, burned their remains, and saw that Kaer Morhen’s main keep had collapsed.

Dick returned to the city with the School of the Lynx's Grasses Decoction formula, completing the Witcher Order. After a timeline-change notification appeared, he was pulled into a cosmic void and saw the mysterious bald man who had once saved him.

• Dick arrived at the city gates and announced his return.
• Dick gave Aode the School of the Lynx's Grasses Decoction formula, and Aode celebrated the completion of the Witcher Order with Beier and the young witchers.
• A notification told Dick that he had changed an important point in The Witcher's timeline, and a cosmic force dragged him into darkness.
• As Dick fell through the stars, he glimpsed a bald man seated on an imperial throne on an ancient planet.
• Dick recognized the man's voice as the one that had saved him in Gabriel's mental space, but the man did not answer Dick's question.