Recaps

[Dark Archmage] tested a blowgun for marking Blood Corpses and set out to retrieve her corpse, but a migrating tribe found it first. After the shaman took its belongings and transformed it into a sapling, [Dark Archmage] lost its marker, while Ed wondered who had planted a tree near his castle.

• [Dark Archmage] persuaded Cole to make iron tubes and earned the promise of free repairs after demonstrating their use.
• [Dark Archmage] mastered the blowgun and darts, then headed into the forest to retrieve her corpse and test the marking method in combat.
• A nomadic scout brought the tribal shaman to [Dark Archmage]'s corpse, which the shaman mistook for a warrior who had poisoned herself to avoid becoming a Blood Corpse.
• The shaman searched the corpse, took its unfamiliar belongings, and cast Imbalance, turning it into a sapling.
• [Dark Archmage] saw her corpse's map marker disappear, while Ed asked Little Green when he had planted a tree nearby.

[Dark Archmage] approached a nomadic tribe after discovering they had found and buried her corpse, then recovered the items they had taken from it. The shaman asked what an activated Vine Bandage Pack was for.

• [Dark Archmage] heard a group approaching and suspected they were locals fleeing the Blood Corpse Tide, so she moved closer in hopes of finding a quest.
• The young shaman squeezed a vine ball looted from [Dark Archmage]'s corpse until it grew, and [Dark Archmage] accidentally called out that the items were hers.
• The aging chief ordered his hunters to aim their bows at the voice, and [Dark Archmage] stepped out alone with her hands raised.
• The shaman recognized [Dark Archmage] as the owner of the corpse the tribe had buried to prevent it from becoming undead, and [Dark Archmage] explained it had been her previous body.
• The shaman returned the Vine Bandage Pack, Nutrient-Rich Resin, and Paralysis Bomb, then asked [Dark Archmage] what the activated bandage pack did.

[Dark Archmage] learned why the nomadic tribe distrusted the Tree Worship Church and persuaded Willow Seretima to meet the Second Holy See’s leader. As they traveled toward the ancient castle, Willow secretly sensed that [Dark Archmage] was an unusual fusion of flesh, plants, and soul.

• The chieftain recognized [Dark Archmage] as a cleric of the Tree Worship Church and tried to lead the tribe elsewhere because of the church’s treatment of people like them.
• [Dark Archmage] explained that the Second Holy See welcomed different power systems and races, and Willow asked to speak with its leader so the tribe could find refuge from the Blood Corpse Tide.
• [Dark Archmage] received a random quest to bring a tribal leader to the ancient castle, and Willow agreed to accompany her while the chieftain camped with the tribe.
• As they traveled through the forest, Willow used a Detection Spell and sensed that [Dark Archmage]’s body, plant component, and soul were all unusual.

[Dark Archmage] escorted Willow to the castle camp, where Willow discovered its residents and a powerful dragon, Seraphina. Terrified by what she sensed, Willow fainted before reaching the castle.

• [Dark Archmage] explained that her camp used fixed teleportation points, and Willow marked her soul so she could follow her by teleporting.
• [Dark Archmage] reached the castle through a hollow tree, and Willow teleported nearby after tracking the mark.
• Willow saw the camp’s varied residents and used an Area Detection Spell to search for humans.
• Willow detected Seraphina in an obsidian hut, saw her golden eyes, and recoiled in fear.
• Willow looked toward the castle’s Inverted Staircase, sensed a churning mass of pure black, and fainted.

Ed discovered that Little Green had absorbed the pure Psionic Energy that caused him to feel unusually full, and realized it had come from the lich Willow Seretima after she collapsed during a meeting. Willow woke in Ed’s castle, recalled losing much of her Psionic Energy to an entity she perceived as a black hole, and met Ed.

• Ed asked Little Green why his Psionic Energy had increased, and Little Green admitted it had absorbed an unusually pure source.
• Ed found [Dark Archmage] carrying the unconscious Willow Seretima into the castle hall and suspected Little Green had taken her Psionic Energy.
• Ed had vines move Willow onto a folding bed, questioned [Dark Archmage] about what had happened, and settled the quest before the player left to continue reconnaissance.
• Willow woke in the castle and remembered that her Detection Spell had revealed a Psionic Energy black hole that swallowed at least thirty percent of her energy.
• Willow chose not to cast another Detection Spell, then sat in a vine chair and met Ed.

Ed negotiated with Willow over shelter for nomads fleeing the Blood Corpse Tide, insisting that they pay for access to his territory. He offered them land to live and graze on only if the tribe became his permanent subjects, and Willow was left to consider his terms.

• Willow asked Ed to let the displaced nomads shelter in the uninhabited northern part of his territory.
• Ed demanded payment, challenged Willow after she used Psionic Energy to probe him, and recognized that she was easier to pressure than Seraphina.
• Willow explained that liches in the Demon Realm used detection spells to survive, and Ed dropped the argument to discuss the deal.
• Ed told Willow that the nomads could have land for living and grazing if they joined his domain as subjects.
• Ed showed Willow the Yellow Register and said the nomads would be registered, taxed, required to provide militia members, and forbidden from leaving even after the Blood Corpse Tide ended.

Ed offered Willow and the nomadic tribe a place in his territory in exchange for their allegiance, then tried to persuade Willow to join the Second Holy See. Willow weighed his invitation against her wish to keep traveling, leaving the decision unresolved.

• Willow said only the nomadic tribe's chief could decide whether the tribe accepted Ed's terms because she was only their temporary shaman.
• Willow explained that she had agreed to guide the tribe to safety after helping them defeat a Blood Corpse Tide, then planned to resume traveling without a known destination.
• Willow said her goal was to save the world from disorder and help intelligent beings survive the Demonic Tide, prompting Ed to pitch the Second Holy See as a fitting destination.
• Willow hesitated because she had begun traveling less than a month earlier, but Ed argued that other factions were hostile, corrupt, or difficult to reach.
• Willow considered whether she had no choice but to stay, while Ed worried about securing her as a capable new recruit.

Willow weighed whether to trust Ed with her teacher’s research findings and stay in his territory, while Gray warned that she could not be trusted because she was a demon. After Gray apologized and agreed to her Detection Spell, Willow decided she might remain in Ed’s territory a little longer.

• Willow considered the dangers of traveling and wondered how Ed would react to her teacher’s research findings.
• Gray arrived with the first draft of the plans and confronted Willow after they realized neither of them was human.
• Willow revealed that she was a lich from the Demon Realm and vowed to fight the Blood Corpses, but Gray warned her not to go to the Graycast Corridor.
• Gray apologized for accusing Willow and agreed to let her cast a Detection Spell on him.
• After examining Gray and watching him leave, Willow told Ed she might stay in his territory a little longer.

Willow agreed to join Ed’s camp and signed an employment contract before recounting how she and her mother survived in the Demon Realm. Her account revealed that the vampire grand dukes regained their sanity twenty or thirty years earlier.

• Willow explained that Gray’s mixture of powers convinced her a lich could fit into Ed’s territory, and she agreed to join him.
• Ed had [Zhong Lele] arrange Willow’s employment contract, which set her salary at five gold coins a month and covered a secluded laboratory and experimental supplies.
• Ed asked Willow about her past, and she explained that her teacher and mother had sacrificed herself to help Willow escape the Demon Realm.
• Willow said she had spent her ninety-seven years fleeing Blood Corpses with her mother, until the vampire grand dukes regained their sanity twenty or thirty years ago.

Willow told Ed how she and her mother fled vampires who wanted to turn them into lich vampires, and revealed that vampires Wens and Rosalind opposed restoring order because they feared losing the power granted by the Demonic Tide. She ended by saying that she and her mother had found a way to slow the Demonic Tide.

• Willow explained that vampire grand dukes had regained their reason, but her mother believed they had merely compromised with the Demonic Tide and were no longer themselves.
• Willow said that vampires tried to persuade liches to accept the Embrace and serve them, and that she and her mother fled after refusing.
• Willow told Ed that Wens killed her mother after the vampires cornered them and forced Willow to escape through a teleportation array.
• Willow named the seven vampire grand dukes, and Ed compared her account of which ones were sealed away with information from Gray and Xilǐ'er, concluding that the status of four still needed investigation.
• Willow explained that Wens and Rosalind wanted the Demonic Tide to continue because they feared losing their enhanced powers if order returned.
• Willow revealed that she and her mother had found a way to slow the Demonic Tide.

Ed hired Willow Seretima to research a way to slow the Demonic Tide and learned about liches while collecting her blood for a sample. After assigning her a laboratory, he waited at the castle for the chieftain and considered what the nomads might contribute.

• Willow explained that her unfinished Psionic Energy research could halt the Demonic Tide’s encroachment, and Ed offered to cover its costs.
• Ed asked Willow about liches, learning that they needed Psionic Energy rather than food and were descended from mages who had transformed themselves.
• Willow agreed to give Ed a drop of blood, but admitted she could not bring herself to prick her finger; Little Green collected the lich sample.
• Ed arranged Willow’s monthly pay, assigned her a room as a laboratory, and returned to wait for the chieftain.
• Ed considered the nomads’ animal-taming skills and how they might spread through the Second Holy See.

Ed negotiated an agreement for Haya and the Desolate Throat Tribe to join the Second Holy See, then learned why they had rejected the Eternal Domain. Haya’s account led Ed to question how the Eternal Domain remained powerful and to consider what he had learned about the world before the Demonic Tide.

• Ed offered the Desolate Throat Tribe grazing land in exchange for joining the territory’s economy, accepting its administration, and contributing skills against the Blood Corpses.
• Haya agreed to Ed’s terms, signed a contract, and was told a Holy See guard would be sent to guide and protect his people.
• Ed asked why the tribe had not joined the Eternal Domain, and Haya explained that a count had once demanded they give up nomadism and become serfs.
• Haya revealed that the tribe’s ancestors had lived in the region before the Demonic Tide and had been hemmed in by neighboring powers for nearly a century.
• Ed reflected on the Eternal Domain’s aristocratic rule and the Twin Kings’ ability to maintain power, then considered what Xilǐ'er had told him about the pre-Demonic Tide distribution of powers.

Ed considered the Eternal Domain’s noble system and the Twin Kings’ possible connection to time before setting the mystery aside to focus on the Blood Corpses. In the real world, an investigation team reviewed a popular player-made recruitment video and reported on recent developments in the game, while one member remained unable to get an activation code.

• Ed weighed whether the Twin Kings’ blessing had preserved an old social order, then concluded the Twin Kings were not necessarily the Short-Eared Elves and sent Chief Haya off.
• Ed turned his attention back to dealing with the Blood Corpses.
• A young man in black showed his team leader a popular cyber recruitment commercial made by players and discussed rising activation code prices.
• The young man in black explained that his investigation squad had been upgraded to a team after submitting its findings from the psionic energy experiment.
• The team leader heard that the young man in black had been assigned to monitor twenty specialist volunteers in the game, leaving him still without an activation code.

The young man in black reported the players’ latest findings and difficulties, including evidence that World of Disorder followed different physical rules from reality. He and the middle-aged man increasingly favored the theory that aliens were recruiting players to fight in another world, though they remained uncertain what would happen if that war ended.

• The young man in black reported that the professor was struggling with unfamiliar materials and that Li Yu needed reassurance about his unfinished thesis; the professor also worried about [Lion Hidden in the Eyes].
• He reported that the sister’s plant compatibility had reached 5 and that her brother’s psionic energy compatibility had reached 3, though neither could yet make major progress with their new abilities.
• He relayed volunteers’ findings that bodily control, smithing, disability symptoms, and mechanical engineering behaved differently in World of Disorder than in reality.
• The young man in black said he favored the aliens borrowing troops theory, and the middle-aged man agreed that he was leaning toward it as well.
• The report described the three hypotheses and noted that the aliens borrowing troops theory was gaining support, while raising questions about the summoned NPC’s death and what would happen after the other world was unified.

Aoda brought Archbishop Antiya a fabricated report and a living Blood Corpse head, convincing him that the Blood Corpses had returned. Antiya prepared to warn the Holy City and impose martial law, then asked Aoda what he remembered about fortifications.

• Ed saw that the growing number of Soul Returners required more territory and began planning to reclaim other towns in Aduolin Province.
• Aoda traveled to Fir City to deliver Bishop Duolin’s letter and a Blood Corpse head to Archbishop Antiya.
• Aoda falsely claimed that Duolin had found and killed Blood Corpses near White Wax Town’s border.
• Aoda stimulated the severed head, proving to Antiya that the Blood Corpse was still alive.
• Antiya decided to report the revival to the Holy City and place Aduolin Province’s towns under martial law.
• Antiya asked Aoda how much he remembered about fortifications from the Garrison Academy.

Aoda learned that Archbishop Antiya had ordered White Wax Town to fortify itself and defend against the growing Blood Corpse Tide, while the other towns would keep their gates closed. After hearing Aoda’s intelligence, Ed devised a plan to exploit the Church’s martial law and seize the surrounding towns.

• Antiya ordered Aoda to move White Wax Town’s believers together, restore their strength, build defenses, and hold out until reinforcements arrived.
• Aoda returned to White Wax Town and told Duolin about Antiya’s orders and the danger posed by the Blood Corpses.
• Ed received Aoda and Duolin’s intelligence in an online meeting, while Little Green updated his map of Aduolin Province.
• Ed decided to use the Church’s orders to seize nearby towns and insisted that White Wax Town build walls to mislead incoming reinforcements.
• Ed told Duolin that the Soul Returners could build a single stretch of wall along the reinforcements’ route.

Ed planned a convincing fake city wall to mislead incoming soldiers, while [Good Times Don't Last] expanded the blowgun business by arranging a bulk order with a Dragonborn Village blacksmith. The chapter ended with their trade agreement signed under Seraphina's protection.

• Ed assigned Duolin and Aoda to design a practical city gate and wall that would convince approaching soldiers.
• Cole's blowgun business boomed, and his family helped fulfill the flood of player orders.
• Other Dragonborn Village blacksmiths began making iron pipes to profit from the growing demand.
• [Good Times Don't Last] tested an iron pipe and its dart, then negotiated an order for one hundred shorter, thinner pipes.
• [Good Times Don't Last] and the blacksmith signed a contract for the order, backed by Seraphina's enforcement.

[Good Times Don't Last] expanded his blowgun order after [Shit Appraisal Master] convinced him demand would surge, then planned to test mutated plants with [Lion Hidden in the Eyes]. He learned a nomadic tribe skilled in archery had arrived north of the territory, threatening his new business with competing weapons.

• [Good Times Don't Last] ordered a hundred blowguns and defended the purchase to [Shit Appraisal Master], who told him to buy another hundred.
• [Good Times Don't Last] signed a second agreement with the blacksmith and became eager to test the blowguns and mutated plants, especially Oil Vine.
• [Good Times Don't Last] invited [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] to meet at the castle and scout for Blood Corpses they could burn.
• [Good Times Don't Last] boasted that his blowguns had cornered the low-end market, and [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] warned him that a nomadic tribe had arrived north of the territory.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] explained that the nomads were skilled archers, leaving [Good Times Don't Last] to realize they could compete with his blowguns.

Good Times Don't Last and Lion Hidden in the Eyes prepared to test their abilities against a group of Blood Corpses. As they approached the enemies, Good Times Hidden in the Eyes’s Oil Vines grew forward while Lion Hidden in the Eyes readied his drug-enhanced transformation.

• Good Times Don't Last decided his short blowpipe deal still had a viable market and met Lion Hidden in the Eyes to discuss their plan.
• Lion Hidden in the Eyes showed Good Times Hidden in the Eyes his chest rig of Trenbolone syringes and explained that he could transform quickly by injecting one.
• Good Times Hidden in the Eyes bought two cultivated Oil Vines, implanted them, and followed Lion Hidden in the Eyes beyond the Root Network’s territory.
• Lion Hidden in the Eyes told Good Times Hidden in the Eyes that people had taken him to a hospital for tests after tracking him down at his college dorm.
• Good Times Hidden in the Eyes and Lion Hidden in the Eyes found a crowd of Blood Corpses in a dried-up riverbed and hid behind a rock.
• Good Times Hidden in the Eyes fed and controlled his Oil Vines as they grew toward the Blood Corpses.

[Good Times Don't Last] and [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] used flammable Oil Vines and the half-dragon's sparks to burn two Blood Corpses in daylight. After examining the remains and joking about their grisly kill, they marked the Blood Corpses and prepared to retreat.

• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] injected Trenbolone and transformed into a half-dragon while [Good Times Don't Last] extended Oil Vines around two Blood Corpses.
• [Good Times Don't Last] cut the vines free and handed them to [Lion Hidden in the Eyes], who sparked a flame that spread along the oily vines.
• The burning vines trapped and killed two Blood Corpses, while the others retreated from the fire and sunlight.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] pulled the hardened vines, toppling the charred Blood Corpses, and snapped off a section to use as a weapon.
• [Good Times Don't Last] and [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] joked about the corpses, marked the Blood Corpses with a blow dart, and decided to retreat.

[Good Times Don't Last] sold [Western Sharpshooter] information about a group of Blood Corpses marked with fluorescence, and the players prepared to hunt them. [Gill's Cuisine] arrived at the tavern, and the group set out immediately.

• [Good Times Don't Last] and [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] returned to the castle after marking several Blood Corpses with blow darts, then went their separate ways.
• [Good Times Don't Last] visited the night tavern to sell information and learned that [Gill's Cuisine] had not arrived yet.
• [Good Times Don't Last] told [Western Sharpshooter] where to find about two hundred Blood Corpses and advised him to bring at least fifteen people.
• [Good Times Don't Last] paid [Western Sharpshooter] three silver coins for the information, and they talked about why the bartender had opened the tavern.
• [Gill's Cuisine] arrived, and [Western Sharpshooter] announced that the group would leave at once.

Ed watched players battle marked Blood Corpses and ordered them to use the corpses to cultivate plants beyond his territory. He then discussed hoofed-beast aug-suit designs with Gray, whose mechanical body failed as he prepared to leave.

• Ed watched Gill's Cuisine and Western Sharpshooter lead players to defeat seven or eight times their number in Blood Corpses.
• Ed issued a tree-planting quest so players could use the Blood Corpses to cultivate plants and let him claim them later.
• Gray told Ed that the hoofed-beast aug-suit's bone screws would cause pain, and Ed proposed replacing them with wood after improving the beasts' Plant Compatibility.
• Ed and Gray agreed to prioritize four-legged and six-legged hoofed beasts and build aug-suit prototypes for them, while leaving other design problems for later.
• As Gray prepared to leave, a gear and crankshaft fell from his left shoulder, his arm went limp, and he lost consciousness.

Gray collapsed in Ed’s study, and Willow diagnosed his condition as a failure to acclimatize to the World of Disorder’s rules. She suspected his earlier injuries had made him vulnerable, but the cause remained uncertain.

• Ed caught Gray when he collapsed and used Little Green to check his condition, but found no abnormalities.
• Ed summoned Willow, who arrived at the study and used a Detection Spell to examine Gray.
• Willow explained that Gray’s mechanical body was incompatible with the rules of the Tree Worship Church’s territory, causing it to fail over time.
• Ed questioned why Gray had only collapsed now and why others from different rule systems were unaffected.
• Willow suggested that Gray’s earlier injuries had made him vulnerable to the effects of the local rules.

Gray awakened and explained that a device inside his chest had once boosted his control over his body, but after it broke, his mechanical parts began failing. Willow identified it as a miniature domain maintenance device and said Gray could only be saved by returning to the Graycast Corridor, leaving Ed to seek another solution.

• Gray told Ed that his mechanical parts had suddenly jammed and said he suspected rejection sickness.
• Gray explained that he had activated a device inside his breastbone while fleeing the Blood Corpses, gaining temporary control over his body before his coordination worsened afterward.
• Willow identified the device as a miniature domain maintenance device that carried the Grand Foundry Master's rules beyond the Graycast Corridor.
• Ed and Willow discussed how powerful individuals relied on Psionic Energy and souls as the underlying logic of the world.
• Willow said Gray could only be saved by returning to the Graycast Corridor, but Ed objected that his partly plant-based body might struggle to acclimatize there too.

Ed asked Willow to use her Imbalance formula to transfer Gray’s mechanical affinity into plant compatibility so Ed could replace his metal parts with wood and help him survive the local rules. Willow feared the procedure could kill Gray, but Ed challenged her confidence and she agreed to try.

• Ed asked Willow to explain the Imbalance and Disorder formulas she had used on the Soul Returner's corpse.
• Ed reasoned that Gray needed greater plant compatibility and asked Willow to use Imbalance to shift his mechanical affinity into the plant field.
• Ed planned to replace Gray’s metal components with wooden ones and use plant tissue where a direct replacement was impossible.
• Willow worried that transferring too much affinity would kill Gray, and Ed confirmed that it could.
• Ed challenged Willow’s willingness to explore unknown fields, and Willow accepted the job.