Recaps

After Ed learned that the alliance with the Graycast Corridor was progressing, the three envoys sampled its revolting food, continued their mission, and drew attention on the player forums with blurred pictures of the Grand Foundry Master. As Ed anticipated his first snowfall in the World of Disorder, Xilǐ'er entered a palace audience ceremony in the Eternal Domain.

• Ed reconnected with the players and learned that their agreement with the gray-robed elder followed his existing plans for cooperation.
• The three envoys ate at a Graycast Corridor restaurant, struggled with the food, and pretended to praise it after disabling their taste systems.
• The envoys returned to their lodgings and shared journey logs on the forums, where their blurred pictures of the Grand Foundry Master sparked heated discussion.
• Ed watched the forum thread, learned from Willow that the Grand Foundry Master's unusual powers were plausible, and expected the first snowfall in the World of Disorder.
• Xilǐ'er walked through the Eternal Domain's palace toward an audience ceremony as the guards watched him with envy.

Xilǐ'er recounted his six-month journey to the Twin Kings and received power that opened the middle tier to him. The Immortal King then assigned him to join the Dragon-Hunting Knights and kill a wounded blue dragon in the Demon Realm.

• Xilǐ'er told the King of Domination about his journey and urged him to consider the Second Holy See as a potential ally.
• The King of Domination reminded Xilǐ'er that his duty was to bring victory, then the Twin Kings poured their power into him and opened the gates to the middle tier.
• The Immortal King recalled freeing Xilǐ'er from his amber state eighty years earlier and offered him a new mission.
• Xilǐ'er agreed to join the Dragon-Hunting Knights, cross the Demon Realm, kill the wounded blue dragon, and bring back its corpse.

Xilǐ'er returned to the Eternal Domain and joined knights preparing for a dragon hunt, while Ed’s players faced a winter lull in Blood Corpse encounters. Ed introduced Green Tooth Headphones to let players communicate wirelessly over short distances.

• Xilǐ'er arrived at a military camp in the City of Dusk and reunited with knights who were training for a campaign against a blue dragon.
• Xilǐ'er learned that the knights had recently done something major but were not allowed to tell him about it.
• Xilǐ'er asked whether the dragon held a grudge against the Eternal Domain, and a knight advised him to ask their High Tier commander.
• Winter brought heavy snow, and the Second Holy See encountered fewer Blood Corpses as the monsters appeared to hibernate.
• Ed implanted Green Tooth Headphones in the players, giving them short-range wireless communication.

Ed revised the Second Holy See’s winter plans after realizing Fir City might uncover their existence and the Soul Returners were eager for new battles. He decided to leave defense to Nuolun and send the Soul Returners on the offensive with a clear objective and a reward.

• Ed met with his seven closest confidants in the White Wax Town Adventurers' Guild and explained how winter affected the Tree Worship Church members.
• Ed warned that Fir City’s archbishop could reconnect with the towns and expose the Second Holy See, while the Soul Returners were growing restless for battles.
• Ed proposed striking Fir City before the city discovered the Second Holy See’s existence.
• Ed assigned Nuolun to reorganize the defenses against Fir City and the Tree Worship Church, reserving the offensive for the Soul Returners.
• Ed argued that the Soul Returners needed no commander, only a clear objective and a reward for completing it.

Ed assigned the Second Holy See’s leaders to defend towns across Aduolin Province and promised the Soul Returners would fly into Fir City. He sent a clone into the sea of flowers to seek the queen bee’s cooperation and find a way to transport the players.

• Ed assigned Duolin, Tailun, Aoda, Tasi, Baluo, Jerry, and Nuolun to defend towns and ordered them to prepare to retake Aduolin Province before spring.
• Ed told Jerry that the Soul Returners would fly over Fir City’s walls.
• Ed created a clone through the Root Network and sent it into the Wilderness of Chaos to find vehicles for the players.
• Ed planned to negotiate with the queen bee, with Seraphina or his Weightlessness ability as alternatives for getting the players into Fir City.
• Ed entered the sea of flowers, observed its unusual rules and thriving plants, and came upon a worker bee gathering nectar.

Ed’s plant clone entered the sea of flowers to find the queen bee, but pheromones severed his connection to it. Deciding he needed a powerful bodyguard before approaching the hive in person, Ed went to ask Seraphina for help, but she questioned why the matter involved her.

• Ed disguised his clone with blooming flowers, gained a worker bee’s favor, and followed the bees toward their hive.
• Pheromones cut off Ed’s connection to his clone, and he realized the hive could control bodies without independent consciousness.
• Ed decided Seraphina, the strongest person he knew, could provide the security he needed.
• Ed visited Seraphina at the Obsidian Bank and told her he planned to approach the queen bee and possibly cooperate with it.
• Seraphina learned Ed intended to enter the sea of flowers in person and asked again what that had to do with her.

Ed persuaded Seraphina to accompany him to the sea of flowers by promising a profitable trade deal, and she flew him there in her dragon form. They reached the boundary, but Seraphina ignored Ed’s request for a polite approach and dived toward the hive, scattering worker bees.

• Ed convinced Seraphina to join him by proposing that her company sell goods supplied by the Soul Returners.
• Seraphina transformed into a red dragon and carried Ed toward the sea of flowers, holding him by a talon because he had not paid for a better seat.
• Ed negotiated an upgrade during the flight, and Seraphina flew them across the Wilderness of Chaos in about an hour.
• At the border, Ed asked Seraphina to land and approach the hive politely, but she refused to show courtesy to those she did not acknowledge.
• Seraphina accelerated into a dive, scattering worker bees and sending pollen into the air.

Seraphina raced through the Sea of Flowers with Ed toward the enormous hive, pursued by Soldier Bees, and smashed through its walls to reach the queen. The queen held Ed’s motionless duplicate, and the chapter ended with Ed, Seraphina, and the queen staring at one another.

• Soldier Bees spotted Seraphina and pursued her as she sped through the Sea of Flowers with Ed.
• Ed sensed his duplicate’s location and guided Seraphina toward the enormous hive while the pursuing bees gathered behind them.
• Seraphina spun through the hive’s entrance, scattering Soldier Bees and smashing through layers of the hive despite Ed’s warnings to turn.
• Ed and Seraphina reached a chamber filled with larvae and pupae, where the queen bee held Ed’s lifeless wooden duplicate.
• Seraphina set Ed down before the queen, and the three stared at one another in silence.

Ed negotiated with the queen bee for Soldier Bees to transport his subordinates, offering a flower-filled corridor and long-term peace in return. As the queen agreed and offered combat support for an extra cost, Ed began to suspect the hive was hiding its true strength.

• Seraphina urged Ed to speak to the queen bee after breaking into its hive, and Ed apologized before proposing cooperation.
• The queen bee asked about the Ed figurine and Territory Secret Pact, and Ed presented both as gifts to show his sincerity.
• Ed offered to build a corridor linking a vast forest to the sea of flowers so the bees could gather pollen and help protect the Second Holy See's settlements from Blood Corpses.
• The queen bee said no other insect swarms remained in the sea of flowers and agreed to cooperate, while charging extra for Soldier Bees to join battles.
• Ed recalled the vanished swarm, the hive's watching eyes, and its unscathed pupae, then began to suspect the queen bee and hive were more formidable than they appeared.

Ed discovered that the hive itself, not the queen bee, had been communicating with him through a larva. He and the Hive Will agreed to cooperate once Ed’s forest corridor connected their territories, but the Hive Will declined to join his effort to restore order to the world.

• Ed stopped Seraphina from attacking the queen bee and explained that the hive was speaking through a larva.
• Ed fed the larva a leaf and connected it to his local network, allowing him to communicate with the Hive Will.
• The Hive Will revealed that the swarm shared its senses and thoughts, and that it had expected Ed to visit after seeing his wooden carving.
• Ed explained how he had deduced the hive’s existence, and the two acknowledged that they had tested each other.
• Ed and the Hive Will agreed that the swarms could expand into Ed’s territory when the forest corridor connected it to the sea of flowers.
• Ed asked the Hive Will to join his effort to restore order, but it refused.

Ed negotiated friendly relations and future cooperation between the Second Holy See and the hive, learning that the hive valued the Demonic Tide for granting it consciousness. After discussing the hive’s humanlike Soldier Bees, Ed used a gemstone to begin treating the queen bee’s heavy body.

• The hive told Ed that it was grateful to the Demonic Tide and had cooperated with him because it sensed something special about him.
• Ed agreed to let the hive have the first taste once he truly bloomed, in exchange for its additional help.
• Ed asked the hive to make its Soldier Bees less humanlike, explaining that this could ease human suspicion and support a healthier relationship.
• The hive agreed to Ed’s request and said it looked forward to working with him and seeing his true form.
• Ed returned the larva to its chamber, then asked the queen bee for a gemstone to help ease the discomfort of its heavy body.
• The queen bee gave Ed a gemstone, and the green sapling on his head began glowing blue.

Ed helped the queen bee regain control of her enormous body with a weightlessness spell, and she rewarded him with royal jelly before Seraphina claimed a drop as well. Back at the old castle, Ed posted a quest to build a corridor to the sea of flowers, launching a player road-building campaign.

• Ed used a gem inscribed with a weightlessness spell to help the queen bee float and move freely.
• The queen bee gave Ed a drop of royal jelly, and Seraphina asked for and received one too.
• Ed returned to the old castle and posted a quest to clear and cultivate a five-kilometer corridor linking the Second Holy See to the sea of flowers.
• Players formed parties and began the road-building campaign southeast toward the sea of flowers.

Antiya Lisi learned from a young cleric that winter weakened the Blood Corpses and considered using the lull to reconnect with the towns. A messenger from Cardinal Sailesi revealed that a rebel army had taken root in Aduolin Province, then disclosed that he was Sailesi himself, leaving Antiya stunned.

• A young cleric reported that Blood Corpses had grown fewer and weaker in the cold, and urged Antiya Lisi to use winter to contact the isolated towns.
• A messenger delivered a private letter from Cardinal Sailesi and told Antiya to dismiss the young cleric.
• The messenger, Fei'er, confronted Antiya with the news that a rebel army had entrenched itself in Aduolin Province.
• Antiya said he had not known about the rebellion because the Blood Corpses had cut off contact with the towns, though he had sent knights to reinforce them.
• Fei'er revealed that he was Cardinal Sailesi, whom Antiya recognized as his teacher.

Cardinal Sailesi ordered Antiya Lisi to investigate and suppress the rebellion threatening Aduolin Province, while a group of players braved the snow to mark a route for road builders. The players discovered that skis made travel easier and began shaping their own.

• Sailesi, using Fei'er's body, warned Antiya Lisi that a third force was active in Aduolin Province and ordered him to reunite the province before spring.
• Antiya Lisi agreed to suppress the rebellion, and Sailesi promised to send an elite order of knights to support him.
• Antiya Lisi summoned the Pure One who had advised him and assigned him to prepare a revised plan within two days.
• Four players set out through deep snow to place a coordinate marker for Ed's road-building team, but three realized their companion had gone missing.
• Irascible Xiaxiazi reappeared on handmade skis, prompting Only Play Wheelchairs, Aloof Gold Block, and Six Mysterious Digits to use Directed Alienation to make skis and poles of their own.

Players completed the road-building quest and began surveying Fir City, while [Great Wei Boxing Champion] correctly speculated that the third phase would involve taking the capital. After Nuolun reported that Fir City’s clerics were trying to reconnect with nearby towns, Ed planned to attack within seven days and checked Willow’s progress on the Stability Anchor.

• The players completed the road-building quest and received a new quest to survey Fir City.
• [Great Wei Boxing Champion] posted a theory that the third phase of the long-term quest would involve taking Fir City.
• Nuolun captured and interrogated a group of Tree Worship Church clerics, learning that Fir City planned to reconnect with nearby towns within seven days.
• Ed revised his plan and decided to attack Fir City within seven days, bringing it under the Second Holy See.
• Ed asked Willow whether her Stability Anchor was nearly ready, and Willow said she could finish it within a day or two and add the requested functions.

Willow completed the Stability Anchor, an invention that could gradually bring order to the wilderness and later become a travel anchor for players. Ed approved it, and Willow led players in planting the devices to connect the sea of flowers to the Second Holy See.

• Willow struggled to teach the Soul Returners psionic techniques, unaware that their limited control came from insufficient Psionic Energy Compatibility.
• Willow worked through the night and finished the prototype Stability Anchor, then presented it to Ed at dawn.
• Ed inspected the device and learned it could make chaotic wilderness more suitable for plants, regulate temperatures, and eventually yield a Territory Secret Pact for Little Green.
• Ed approved the Stability Anchor and told Willow to begin the plan after promising her an excellent monthly performance rating.
• Players joined the task to connect the sea of flowers by planting Stability Anchors, with Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop and Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop among the most enthusiastic participants.

[Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] joined the Wilderness of Chaos mission to study mutated plant farming and helped secure stabilization anchors with Deadwood Vines. After she and [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop] realized the area near the old castle had no collective name, they planned to crowdsource one, and she went to the university library for inspiration.

• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] planted Deadwood Vines beside a stabilization anchor to guard it from monsters.
• [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop] teased [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] about her upcoming exams and their family’s reaction to his past failed course.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] and [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop] noticed that the area near the old castle lacked a name and decided to propose one for players to choose.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] went to the university library to search mythology and fiction for naming inspiration.

Players debated what to call the area near the castle, with many joking suggestions and others arguing for a name suitable to introduce to NPCs. Ed followed the increasingly popular naming thread but had not yet revealed which suggestion he favored.

• [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop] started a forum thread asking players to suggest a name for the area near the castle, with voting planned after three days of submissions.
• [First-in-the-Firing-Line Cop] proposed “Rehabilitation Center,” prompting jokes about the players being vegetables and half-deaf.
• [Question First, Then Question Again] argued that “Rehabilitation Center” would be embarrassing to tell NPCs, and the discussion shifted to the Eternal Domain’s City of Dusk and vampires.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] browsed the many suggestions, liked the amusing comments, and decided the voting system could identify a widely acceptable name.
• Ed followed the thread and ruled out suggestions taken from other worlds, then noticed one comment rapidly gaining likes.

After the players connected the Verdant Corridor to the sea of flowers, the Hive Will rewarded them and sent a thousand soldier bees with them toward the Second Holy See. The quest unlocked a new long-term operation in Fir City, and the players eagerly debated its risks and PvPvE gameplay.

• The players reached the sea of flowers and received honey that granted them the Abundant Vitality buff.
• A soldier bee thanked the players for opening the road, forgave Willow for killing its companions, and let her and the players ride on its back.
• The players completed the quest to connect the sea of flowers and unlocked the Great Adventurer quest, beginning with the Fir City Operation.
• The new quest instructed players to infiltrate Fir City in small squads, investigate key locations, and extract with information or valuable items.
• The players excitedly discussed the new gameplay, while Ed watched the official forum erupt with posts about whether the operation was PvPvE.

Ed launched a loot, fight, and extract event centered on Fir City, expecting players to turn it into a chaotic battleground while he observed their behavior. Meanwhile, [Howling Pothos] reached level 8 and focused on building his combat strength in hopes of competing in a rumored tournament.

• Ed used his life-force reserves to prepare a new event in which players would loot, fight, and extract from Fir City.
• Ed planned to let players pursue other activities as well, including older quests and support jobs such as repairing equipment.
• Ed began observing the event and noticed a player who seemed to fit the protagonist's role in the secret-realm plot.
• [Howling Pothos] confirmed that he had surpassed the recommended level five and headed to the nearest teleportation tree.
• [Howling Pothos] favored Agility, Constitution, Plant Compatibility, and Mechanical Compatibility as he prepared for a rumored World of Disorder tournament.

[Howling Pothos] visited [Do Some Farm Work] to collect a custom weapon made from Blood-Drinking Thornbush parts. He tested its hidden-blade, hand-cannon, and protection modes, leaving with the weapon's capabilities and costs established.

• [Howling Pothos] traveled to the farmland near the old castle to meet [Do Some Farm Work] and collect his order.
• [Do Some Farm Work] explained that he had built the weapon using his knowledge and parts made by hand, then gave [Howling Pothos] the thorn-covered cylinder.
• [Howling Pothos] connected the weapon to his nerves by inserting his forearm and persuaded it to obey him.
• [Howling Pothos] tested its hidden blade, which unfolded without costing HP.
• [Howling Pothos] tested the hand-cannon mode, which fired two wooden arrows at the cost of five percent of his HP and took about three minutes to grow replacements.
• [Howling Pothos] tested protection mode, which formed armor over his hand, cost about a fifth of his HP, and lasted until destroyed.

[Howling Pothos] reached the Adventurers' Guild in Black Locust Town and joined the first deployment of the Fir City Operation. After learning about the limited team count and the pheromone signal sticks used to call for extraction, he accepted an information-gathering mission and was carried off by a Soldier Bee.

• [Do Some Farm Work] explained that he made expensive custom weapons by referral while focusing on farming, then joked about being a hidden master weaponsmith disguised as a farmer.
• [Howling Pothos] arrived at the Adventurers' Guild, where Grand Knight Commander Nuolun briefed players on the first Fir City deployment and recommended that stronger Soul Returners participate.
• Nuolun said the trial deployment would send twenty teams of up to three players into Fir City, and she handed out pheromone signal sticks that Soldier Bees could detect to provide extraction.
• [Howling Pothos] secured a place in the first deployment, accepted the mission to gather information in any area, and was carried away by a Soldier Bee.

[Howling Pothos] and the other players were flown to Fir City by Soldier Bees, which lowered them into the city on silk. After finding that his game network was unavailable and his clothes would draw attention, [Howling Pothos] decided to take local clothing and climbed an alley wall to reach some.

• Nuolun sent the players toward Fir City on Soldier Bees, which descended through the snow and lowered them safely on silk.
• [Howling Pothos] landed in a narrow alley and checked his player panel, discovering that the Root Network and real-world internet features were unavailable.
• [Howling Pothos] noticed that his clothes differed from the locals’ and decided to take some of their clothing.
• [Howling Pothos] climbed between the alley’s walls and spotted local clothes on the second floor.

[Howling Pothos] disguised himself as a local in Fir City and gathered information while following crowds toward a church. As he considered how to investigate its restricted chapel, a deafening explosion interrupted him.

• [Howling Pothos] took a local's coat and paid for it, then blended into the streets wearing a Symbiotic Tree on his neck.
• [Howling Pothos] mapped the residential district and collected a glowing plant sample from a streetlight for Ed.
• [Howling Pothos] followed children and their parents toward a church and overheard that choir practice would end for the winter, with novice friar selection still pending.
• A sword-wielding friar stopped [Howling Pothos] near the chapel, but let him pass after he claimed he was there to collect his younger brother.
• [Howling Pothos] wondered how to investigate the restricted chapel before a deafening boom rang out.

[Howling Pothos] exploited an explosion and the ensuing chaos to infiltrate the Tree Worship Church chapel in disguise. As he began searching the chapel, two clerics at the entrance grew suspicious of his identity.

• An explosion spread flames through the street, and a Tree Worship Church expert called for help against enemies nearby.
• [Howling Pothos] followed a cleric toward the disturbance, then killed him with his hidden blade and took his clothes as a disguise.
• [Howling Pothos] entered the chapel’s restricted area and decided he had three hours to search before the cleric’s death was discovered.
• [Howling Pothos] brushed aside a cleric who questioned him and began roaming through the chapel to learn its layout.
• Two clerics at the entrance wondered whether they had ever seen [Howling Pothos] before.