Chapter Summaries

Seraphina expanded the [Dragonborn Labor Company] into several businesses but struggled with the shortage of Dragonborn workers. Ed proposed two possible business ventures and began explaining insurance, leaving Seraphina asking how it would make a profit.

• Seraphina reorganized Dragonborn Village into the [Dragonborn Labor Company], which ran dragon-powered carts, construction work, shop assistance, and an ironworks.
• As the number of Soul Returners grew to a thousand, Seraphina worried that her village had too few Dragonborn and imagined taking followers from another dragon.
• Ed met with Seraphina and praised her progress in managing the company and applying the knowledge he had taught her.
• Ed proposed two independent business ventures and explained that insurance could help Soul Returners pay part of their body reconstruction costs after death.
• Seraphina questioned how insurance would earn money, and Ed asked whether she wanted to know where the profit came from.

Ed and Seraphina agreed to share profits from Soul Returner insurance and discussed a separate Dragonborn corpse-retrieval service. Ed then marked known Corpse Tide locations on a map, while [Dark Archmage] returned to her inn after losing her equipment and learned she could use a master key.

• Ed advised Seraphina to expand Soul Returner insurance and charge higher premiums to those with frequent death records.
• Ed negotiated a half share of the insurance profits, and Seraphina agreed while refusing him a cut of corpse retrieval.
• Ed proposed that Seraphina's Dragonborn retrieve fallen Soul Returners and their equipment for flexible fees.
• After Seraphina left, Ed marked known Corpse Tide locations on a map and shelved his surprise attack plan because he lacked enough information about Antos.
• [Dark Archmage] returned to the inn without her dropped equipment and borrowed a master key to access her rented storeroom.

After losing her gear while fighting Blood Corpses alone, [Dark Archmage] planned to commission a blowpipe from the Dragonborn blacksmith Cole so she could mark the creatures without help. On her way to find him, she met a Dragonborn who turned out to be offering insurance and body retrieval services.

• [Dark Archmage] reviewed advice about using Fluorescent Velvet Grass and realized she needed a way to wound and mark Blood Corpses by herself.
• [Dark Archmage] thought of using a blowpipe, then decided to ask the blacksmith Cole to make one and retrieve her dropped items afterward.
• [Dark Archmage] returned the storeroom key to the innkeeper, learned Cole's name, and left to ask around for him.
• A young female Dragonborn told [Dark Archmage] about Cole, then asked whether she wanted to hear about her services.
• [Dark Archmage] reluctantly listened to the Dragonborn's pitch and learned she was selling insurance and body retrieval.

[Dark Archmage] learned about the new insurance and body retrieval services from a newly hired Dragonborn salesperson, then bought a policy before heading toward Dragonborn Village to make blow darts and recover her corpse.

• A Dragonborn salesperson approached [Dark Archmage], explained that she had recently been fired from the Great Prospects General Store, and described Soul Returners as her target customers.
• The salesperson explained the insurance premium and coverage, along with the variable price and requirements of the body retrieval service.
• [Dark Archmage] declined body retrieval but bought a ten-silver-coin insurance policy, becoming the first customer as shown by contract number 00001.
• [Dark Archmage] headed toward Dragonborn Village to make blow darts and recover her corpse, and a Dragonborn man offered her a ride in his dragon-powered rickshaw.

[Dark Archmage] visited Cole, a half-dragon blacksmith, to obtain a seamless iron tube for a blowpipe. After demonstrating what she planned to use it for, she left Cole expecting new customers for his work.

• [Dark Archmage] rode a dragon-powered carriage to Dragonborn Village and went to Cole's smithy.
• [Dark Archmage] described the iron tube she needed, and Cole brought out one he had hammered by hand years earlier.
• [Dark Archmage] inspected the tube and accepted it after Cole offered it for free.
• [Dark Archmage] told Cole that others would soon want iron tubes and urged him to charge for his labor.
• [Dark Archmage] transformed and severed a finger into a blowdart, then fired it through the tube into Cole's doorframe.

[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.