Recaps

Ed urged White Wax Town's residents to work and help the Second Holy See, promising protection, support, and freedom from forced conscription. The townspeople began choosing new trades, and Ed left Duolin and his squad in town to maintain order as they prepared for new lives.

• Ed told the townspeople that their labor and production could help the Second Holy See save children and stand against the Tree Worship Church.
• Ed promised not to force the residents into dangerous missions or take their property, and offered practical support and protection for their work.
• A townsman asked to learn farming, and [Do Some Farm Work] volunteered to teach him despite not knowing what he had planted.
• Another townsman asked to learn construction, and [Zhongde] offered to teach him plans and concrete work.
• A townsman asked to learn trade, and Ed promised to introduce him to traveling merchants while [Shit Appraisal Master] also offered to teach him.
• Ed told the residents to start preparing for their chosen work and assigned Duolin and his squad to stay in White Wax Town and maintain order.

After the quest to reclaim White Wax Town concluded, players received rewards, achievements, and titles, while many leveled up from the experience. [Dark Archmage] asked [Howling Pothos] about his achievements and titles.

• Ed dismissed the players, and they saw a notice announcing an upcoming update with achievements, titles, and dungeons.
• The quest [Reclaim White Wax Town] settled, and [Howling Pothos] received an S+ rating, currency, equipment, items, achievements, and titles.
• Players compared their quest rewards and ratings, then several began leveling up from the experience reward.
• [Evergreen Tree] prepared for his level-up and closed his eyes, while [Backstabbing Expert] joked about laying down a bouquet.
• [Dark Archmage] asked [Howling Pothos] to tell him his achievements and titles.

Howling Pothos and Dark Archmage inspected their rewards and discovered that the Seed of Rest could grow into a safe place to recover and resurrect. After the players left to explore White Wax Town, Ed explained his transformation to the remaining survivors and asked his former fellow experimental subjects whether they had made their decision.

• Howling Pothos and Dark Archmage compared their achievements, titles, and quest rewards, then discussed what they planned to do next.
• Howling Pothos inspected the Seed of Rest and learned it could grow into a protected resting place that healed minor injuries and enabled up to three resurrections.
• The players left the church to explore White Wax Town, and Ed used the ivy throughout the building to inspect its hidden spaces.
• Ed told Number Four and the others that the Tree God had revived him and granted him wisdom and strength after he died fighting two clerics.
• Ed saw the survivors’ awe and concern, changed the subject, and asked the four surviving experimental subjects from his group whether they had made their decision.

Ed offered the rescued test subjects a choice between settling into civilian life and joining his warriors, and four chose to fight alongside him. After Tiya and three orphaned youngsters also joined, Number Four asked Ed to name their team.

• Ed explained that the rescued test subjects could live as townspeople or train as warriors, and Numbers Four, Seven, Nine, and Ten chose to follow him.
• Tiya volunteered to join Ed, and her father reluctantly agreed after weighing the dangers of battle against life without protection.
• Ed let Darnell's parents take their son home when they chose not to let him become a warrior.
• Duolin brought three youngsters whose parents had died, and all three chose the combat path after Ed explained their options.
• Ed welcomed the eight recruits, and they decided to keep their existing names after Number Four said they would remind her of her torture.
• Number Four asked Ed to come up with a name for their team.

Ed named the eight young recruits Gungnir and sent them to begin military training, then explored the church with his vines. In a hidden cavern beneath the church, he found a mass of discarded flesh containing parts of his own body and those of the others.

• Number Four asked Ed to give the recruits an impressive unit name, and he named them Gungnir.
• Ed assigned Duolin and Xilǐ'er to train the recruits, then sent the eight on a twenty-kilometer march.
• The innkeeper asked to move his business near the old castle so he could stay close to his daughter, and Ed agreed to give him land for a new inn.
• Alone in the church, Ed questioned the World Tree and sent vines through the building to inspect its rooms and records.
• Ed found a concealed trapdoor leading to a cavern filled with discarded flesh and plants, including body parts once belonging to him and the others.

Ed absorbed the mass of flesh and the lingering pain and souls within it, then examined his abilities as his level rose. Meanwhile, [Litang's Supremely Fierce Tiger] considered how the game protected players from fear before their bodies finished upgrading.

• Ed wrapped the enormous mass of flesh in vines and absorbed it, enduring its pain and the lingering emotions of its former owners.
• Ed examined his updated status panel, which detailed his three derived abilities, as his body gradually recovered.
• Ed resumed controlling his vines and began upgrading the unconscious players' bodies.
• [Litang's Supremely Fierce Tiger] woke in the real world for the fifth time and saw that his body upgrade was in progress.
• [Litang's Supremely Fierce Tiger] reflected that the game seemed to shield players from fear and concluded that its unseen operator was currently friendly toward them.

After the players completed their upgrades, Ed sealed the church for renovations and discovered that several imprisoned clerics could play music. He decided to make them provide background music for his dungeon, leaving the clerics unaware of the danger ahead.

• Li Yinhua considered the battle’s effects on perception and prepared to write another paper report after the game.
• Evergreen Tree allocated his attribute points to constitution, agility, and psionic energy compatibility, then sought Lion Hidden in the Eyes to discuss the Dragon Series drugs.
• Ed sent the players outside the church, where many were eager to try their new Dungeon Challenge Tickets.
• After the church was empty, Ed sealed its entrances with mutated ivy and brought the twenty-one bound clerics back inside.
• Ed learned that some clerics had studied sacred music and ordered them to play background music for his dungeon.

Ed turned White Wax Town Church into the dungeon Gloomy Sanctuary, arranging clerics, traps, and rewards for the players. The players eagerly prepared to enter, and Ed hoped the dungeon would help revive White Wax Town.

• Ed recruited the clerics to serve as dungeon enemies, and Yiden threatened to kill the players, delighting Ed.
• Ed redesigned the church with traps, ambushes, and a boss room staffed by Yiden and the strongest clerics.
• Ed planned dungeon rewards, including the Seed of Rest and Vine Bandage Pack, and prepared special plants near the entrance.
• Ed used the Territory Secret Pact to change the church into Dungeon Gloomy Sanctuary, which allowed up to twenty people inside.
• The players collected their gear and tickets, formed a group to challenge the dungeon, and one planted a Seed of Rest outside the church.

Ed decided to turn Tiya's family inn into the White Wax Town Adventurers' Guild, while [Xiexie Huigu]'s party entered the Gloomy Sanctuary on Hard difficulty. Inside, the players discovered that four puppet-like clerics had appeared to provide live background music, and they left them alone for the moment.

• Ed chose Tiya's family's inn as the castle's White Wax Town office and named it the White Wax Town Adventurers' Guild.
• [Xiexie Huigu] inspected the plants outside the church and found a shop, a shared respawn machine, and the dungeon entrance.
• [Xiexie Huigu]'s 15-player team opened the Gloomy Sanctuary using a Dungeon Challenge Ticket and selected Hard difficulty.
• The players entered the church and noticed that its layout seemed changed and unusually quiet.
• Four clerics suspended by vines appeared with instruments and began playing music, which [Concrete Mixed with Spaghetti] identified as background music.
• The players decided to leave the clerics alone unless they got in the way, since the game marked them as enemies.

The players attempted the church Dungeon on hard mode but were overwhelmed by hidden clerics and archers, then revived outside. As the embarrassed group argued over their defeat, [Do Some Farm Work] calmly defended the Dungeon’s difficulty.

• [Second-Class Biscuit] rolled behind an obstacle and was ambushed by a Tree Worship Church cleric, prompting the players to attack.
• Three Tree Worship Church archers sprang from concealed positions and shot the advancing players as more clerics joined the fight.
• The cleric and archers defeated all fifteen players, after which Ed’s protective vines returned the enemies to standby and buried the players’ bodies.
• A resurrection plant spat out [Xiexie Huigu] and the other players, who admitted they had chosen hard mode and been caught by surprise.
• The spectators mocked the wiped party, while [Do Some Farm Work] said the Dungeon’s difficulty seemed reasonable and explained that he was studying the plants and had recruited natives to tend plots.

After the players blamed their dungeon struggles on the hard mode and missing fire enchantment, [Second-Class Biscuit] sought advice from the experts. [Howling Pothos] promised to prepare supplies, publish enemy information, and run the dungeon the next morning, offering to take the others along for free.

• [Do Some Farm Work] suggested the earlier priests and bishops had been nerfed for the story, and the players agreed the dungeon’s stronger enemies were expected on hard mode.
• [Xiexie Huigu] proposed another run on easy mode, but another player claimed the next turn, so [Xiexie Huigu] stayed outside to plan.
• [Second-Class Biscuit] recalled that [Good Times Don't Last] and [Shit Appraisal Master] had contracted him and another newbie to work as clerks, while promising [Howling Pothos] half their quest rewards for carrying them.
• After the quest earned an S+ rating and doubled the reward pool, [Good Times Don't Last] and [Shit Appraisal Master] discovered their payment to [Howling Pothos] had also increased, and pleaded with him to reduce it.
• [Second-Class Biscuit] described the dungeon’s difficulty to the three experts, and [Howling Pothos] offered to prepare supplies, post enemy information, and run the dungeon with them the next morning at no charge.

Ed returned to the castle and found Seraphina presenting a cart she had invented for the Dragonborn to use in transporting goods. When he learned she intended to own the carts and their earnings, he warned that her plan could leave Dragonborn Village without descendants within a hundred years.

• Players returning from White Wax Town hitched a ride on an alchemical golem, and Ed considered whether golems could serve as public transportation.
• Ed found Seraphina in the castle hall and asked what she needed.
• Seraphina unveiled a metal cart called a “dragonshaw” and said she wanted the Dragonborn to make more for deliveries and passenger transport.
• Seraphina said the dragonshaws would belong to her, prompting Ed to imagine the Dragonborn becoming trapped in exploitative work.
• Ed praised Seraphina before warning that Dragonborn Village might have no descendants left within a hundred years.

Ed persuaded Seraphina to reconsider the fate of Dragonborn Village and proposed turning it into a paid enterprise that would make her more prosperous. Seraphina accepted his advice on improving her heavy rickshaw and asked him to explain what a company was.

• Seraphina reconsidered her belief that the dragonborn’s deaths did not matter after recognizing that her new ideas about long-term operations depended on keeping her subordinates alive.
• Ed inspected Seraphina’s solid-cast-iron rickshaw and warned that its weight could exhaust the dragonborn, then suggested hollow parts, spokes, thinner panels, animal-hide lining, and a folding canopy.
• Ed proposed reorganizing Dragonborn Village into the Dragonborn Company and paying its workers to motivate them.
• Ed explained that wages would circulate through the local economy and become goods, grain, and other products that Seraphina could later trade for precious metals and mithril ore.
• Seraphina found Ed’s explanation reasonable and asked what a company was.

Ed taught Seraphina about companies, then investigated the records and letters from White Wax Town’s church. Yiden’s diary revealed that he had become one of the Stained Ones decades earlier and described the church’s experiments with repeated injury and mutation.

• Ed explained the concept of a company to Seraphina, who left to consider it.
• Ed took the alchemical golem and White Wax Town church documents into the restricted zone to study them.
• Ed found a secret letter from the provincial archbishop and inferred that the Tree Worship Church was divided between Fallen Ones and naive innocents.
• Ed discovered that Yiden’s recent experimental records were careless, while his older notes were more detailed.
• Ed found Yiden’s diary and read that Yiden had become one of the Stained Ones in Royal Calendar Year 850.
• Ed read that the Stained Ones repeatedly injured living subjects to induce mutations, but he still wondered how the experiments related to the Tree God.

Ed learned from Yiden’s diary that the Church’s escalating seed taxes had caused the worsening physical condition and mutations of the people, and he planned to seek ways to help the villagers recover. In the real world, Professor Li Yinhua documented new findings about the game and sent his report away in a protected briefcase as Volume One ended.

• Ed finished reading Yiden’s diary and reflected that the man’s records did not excuse his cruelty.
• Ed connected the Church’s single, double, and triple taxes to the clergy’s healthy physiques, the townspeople’s malnourishment, and the villagers’ mutations.
• Ed noted that suspending taxes might help the two villages recover and added researching ways to aid them to his plans.
• Professor Li Yinhua recorded his experiments with dragon-scale injections and his observations about the game’s new dungeon system and music.
• Professor Li Yinhua gave his report to a young man, who placed it in a secure briefcase and carried it to a black van.

Traveling merchant Gray Gris returned to Great Labyrinth City after a rough journey through the Graycast Corridor and completed the handover of his goods and reports. He left his battered mobile fortress at the unloading station, with his rare time off still ahead of him.

• Gray Gris woke aboard his worn mobile fortress and reviewed the report he planned to submit in Great Labyrinth City.
• Gray spotted a much larger fortress emerging through the fog, and the two fortresses narrowly scraped past each other after their owners exchanged curses.
• Gray reached the city walls, followed the road to Great Labyrinth City, and presented his identification and documents at the gate.
• Gray unloaded 53 crates of goods and confirmed the proceeds and details of his 65-day trading trip with a staff member.
• Gray finished the handover and looked over his battered fortress, which was coated in dust and marked by holes and scrapes.

Gray took the Antasia to a repair station, where a mechanic cleared monsters from its power compartment and agreed to repair it. He then returned to his home repair shop, where his wife Nora found that he had only half a heart left.

• Gray brought the Antasia to the repair station, and the old mechanic teased him about calling it his master's wife.
• The mechanic found bloodied, half-devoured monsters in the power compartment and destroyed them before they could cause the Antasia to stall.
• Gray ordered brand-new power components and left the Antasia with the mechanic for repairs.
• Gray returned to his repair shop and exchanged sarcastic greetings with his wife, Nora.
• Nora saw Gray's bloodied half-mechanical body and demanded to know why half his heart was missing.

Gray returned home with a damaged chest, and Nora repaired him while he recounted his encounter with a trainee knight and the people he had met. After the Notary Office summoned him to verify his mission report, Gray confirmed that a settlement leader had promised to trade grain, leaving the notary to suggest his luck might be turning.

• Gray told Nora that a trainee knight from the Eternal Domain had stabbed him with a lance, and she repaired his chest while listening to his travel account.
• Nora installed Gray's second mechanical heart, which meant he no longer needed winding.
• A messenger from the Great Labyrinth City Notary Office delivered a request for Gray to give a detailed account of his mission report.
• Gray met notary Bobby, confirmed that his report about Ed's promise to trade grain was accurate, and was asked to describe the settlement.
• Bobby told Gray that his luck might be about to turn.

Gray reported on the Tree Worship Church’s settlement to a notary, who explained that a successful grain trade could qualify Gray for a medium fortress and told him the Grand Foundry Master was choosing a successor. The notary then asked Gray to describe the settlement’s people, and Gray tentatively called them friendly.

• Gray recounted his journey to Dragonborn Village while two people recorded his account.
• The notary explained that the Corridor and the Eternal Domain were in a prolonged standoff and said a stable grain trade could earn Gray enough merit for a medium fortress.
• The notary told Gray that the Grand Foundry Master would choose a successor within two years and that candidates had to be under thirty and make an outstanding contribution.
• Gray imagined that his work might connect him to the succession, but the notary interrupted his daydream and ordered him to answer questions directly.
• The notary asked about the settlement’s common people, and Gray recalled their orderly, cheerful behavior before describing them as fairly friendly.

Players became obsessed with the Gloomy Sanctuary after discovering its achievements could be upgraded and ranked, while a twenty-player team’s normal-difficulty attempt collapsed after the Tree Worship Church broke through their formation. The raid ended in another wipe, and team leader [Zhongde] recalled the developers’ lengthy update announcement.

• Players continued challenging the Gloomy Sanctuary, which had earned the church bell the nickname “death knell,” and hunted aberrations when they ran out of tickets.
• [Howling Pothos] led a ten-player team to clear the dungeon on easy difficulty and earn [A Glimmer of Light].
• Players discovered that the achievement had hidden card art and a ranking, prompting a rush to compete for high rankings on easy and normal difficulty.
• After [Xiexie Huigu] died, Yiden ordered the clerics to attack and break the players’ formation.
• The clerics killed the players, including healer [Easily Soluble in Water], and the team’s attempt ended in a wipe.
• [Zhongde] closed his eyes and recalled the developers’ update announcement.

After reading the latest version announcement, Zhongde reflected on how rapidly World of Disorder had changed since the liberation of White Wax Town. He rode toward the castle to meet his roommates, whose closed beta slots he had earned by gathering offerings.

• Zhongde declined Concrete Mixed with Spaghetti’s invitation to run the dungeon again and said he would help his roommates begin the game.
• Zhongde boarded the cart bound for the castle, where new players logged in for the first time.
• Zhongde reflected on the game’s recent updates, the viral battle videos, and the new closed beta slots.
• Zhongde remembered his promise to his roommates and had spent a day gathering enough offerings to secure three closed beta slots.

Zhongde waited at the castle for his three roommates to enter the game, while they finished their character setups in the real world. Brain Bling, Enemy from the Sky, and Add Ice Fiercely awakened in their vessels, reunited with Zhongde, and celebrated being together in another world.

• Zhongde rode Ed’s battered golem bus to the castle and was surprised to see a new player, Ever-Changing Master Ye, catching fish where Epic-Level Giant had struggled.
• Zhongde messaged his roommates, who reported that they were preparing to log in, and told them he would meet them at the castle.
• In the real world, the young man customizing his character reviewed the four basic attributes, randomized his allocation, and entered the game.
• Brain Bling, Enemy from the Sky, and Add Ice Fiercely awakened in their vessels and greeted Ed, who welcomed them with a special dialogue from Zhongde.
• Zhongde met his three roommates at the castle entrance, and they celebrated the Room 303 reunion in another world.

Zhongde showed his three new roommates around the bustling castle and explained how players could build relationships with its increasingly lifelike NPCs. He left them with advice about potential mentors and a warning about the overwhelming strength of Seraphina.

• Zhongde recalled how the castle had once been wilderness and pointed out Good Times Don't Last, who had been badly beaten by a Deadwood Vine.
• Zhongde took his roommates on a tour, explaining the bank, its red dragon attendant Seraphina, and how befriending NPCs could earn players benefits.
• Upperstream Village NPCs thanked Add Ice Fiercely for helping design their new houses, surprising him with their intelligence.
• Zhongde explained that Xilǐ'er could teach knightly techniques but said Seraphina was vastly stronger and too expensive to learn from.

Zhongde introduced his roommates to the game’s construction work and persuaded them to join his concrete-pouring army while keeping an eye out for future battles. Seraphina agreed to reorganize Dragonborn Village as a company and, after Ed guided her through naming it, established Seraphina Unlimited Prominence.

• Zhongde explained that Howling Pothos was selling his carnivorous-plant farm and described how construction work could offer opportunities in the game.
• Zhongde persuaded his three roommates to start with beginner quests and join his concrete-pouring army, though they insisted they still wanted to fight.
• Seraphina told Ed she accepted his proposal to reorganize Dragonborn Village into a company.
• Ed explained company naming and venture capital to Seraphina, who decided the company should invest in other businesses.
• Seraphina rejected the name Seraphina Venture Capital Co., Ltd. and insisted on replacing “limited” with “unlimited,” establishing Seraphina Unlimited Prominence.

[Lion Hidden in the Eyes] accepted Seraphina’s delivery quest and headed to Dragonborn Village, deciding to announce the castle’s victory while revealing his new Dragonborn form. The village guards spotted him approaching and rushed to alert the chief.

• Players in White Wax Town and Shattered Castle showed little interest in Seraphina’s five-silver quest, so it went to [Lion Hidden in the Eyes].
• Seraphina recognized [Lion Hidden in the Eyes], gave him a yellowed-paper package, and paid him in advance.
• On the way to Dragonborn Village, [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] decided to share news of the castle’s victory and injected a reddish potion to transform into a Dragonborn.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] sprinted across the wilderness toward the village, carrying Seraphina’s package.
• Dragonborn guards spotted the approaching outsider and hurried to notify the village chief.