Chapter Summaries

Xilǐ'er explained how Stral founded the southern empire and how his son secured the throne after a rebellion, while the Soul Returner asked about the empire’s later history and current emperor. The Soul Returner learned that Leo VII ruled and that the empire’s national treasures verified the emperor’s descent from Stral.

• Xilǐ'er told the Soul Returner that Stral used astrology to anticipate the future, unite the southern continent, and establish an empire ruled by an emperor and ministers drawn from noble and commoner families.
• Xilǐ'er explained that Stral’s successor crushed a rebellion by former nobles and used the victory to strengthen his authority.
• Xilǐ'er suggested that Stral might have foreseen the rebellion and arranged events so his son could earn the military merit needed to secure the throne.
• Xilǐ'er admitted he knew little about the empire’s later history and recommended that the Soul Returner visit southern provinces to search for old records.
• Xilǐ'er identified the current emperor as Leo VII and said the Starry Sky Holy Orb and Radiance Scepter could expose anyone who lacked descent from Stral.

Kunjinkao Tangtangtang learned that Leo VII had ruled for a century and that the Twin Kings knew about a newly discovered grand duke’s sealing ground. After Kunjinkao logged out to alert other Soul Returners, a gray-robed traveler and his giant eagle approached the Sand Capital in the Skeleton Alliance.

• Kunjinkao asked Xilǐ'er whether Leo VII might die, and Xilǐ'er explained that the emperor had ruled for one hundred years without visibly aging.
• Kunjinkao told Xilǐ'er that Soul Returners had found a grand duke’s sealing ground in the Wilderness of Chaos near the Graycast Corridor.
• Xilǐ'er warned Kunjinkao that the Twin Kings also knew about the sealing ground because Xilǐ'er had reported Gray’s account to them.
• Kunjinkao logged out on horseback to write a forum post and asked Xilǐ'er to lead his Hoofed Beast.
• In the Skeleton Alliance, a gray-robed figure asked his giant eagle about the route ahead and learned that the Sand Capital lay fifty li away.

Samuer arrived at the Skeleton Alliance’s Sand Capital as an envoy carrying news of a treasure for its councilors. After meeting Quint, captain of the council guard, he entered the crystal building where the councilors were waiting.

• Samuer reached the Sand Capital, where a skeleton asked his purpose and learned he had come to offer the councilors a treasure.
• The Sand Capital welcomed Samuer with psionic music, and Quint identified himself as captain of the council guard and escorted him inside the city.
• Samuer observed the crystal-covered skeletons and bustling streets as Quint led him toward the council’s crystal building.
• Quint asked about Samuer’s enormous falcon, so Samuer sent it off to amuse itself before entering with the guard.

Samuer met with the Skeleton Alliance’s five councilors and proposed that they look beyond the Starlight Empire for a way to make their form of life more complete. The councilors suspected he wanted them to turn against the Theocracy or help him with its rebellion, leaving Samuer’s true purpose unconfirmed.

• Quint escorted Samuer through the Sand Capital palace and explained that the Skeleton Alliance’s people needed little light because of their night vision.
• Samuer entered the council chamber and observed that the five councilors were high-tier skeletons with crystalline bodies and distinctive psionic appendages.
• Samuer told the councilors that the Empire’s secret treasures could grant new life, but that the Starlight Empire had grown stronger under Leo VII.
• Samuer urged the councilors to seek another path to completeness instead of limiting their ambitions to the Empire.
• The winged councilor asked whether Samuer wanted the Skeleton Alliance to target the Theocracy or assist him in its rebellion.

Samuer offered the Skeleton Alliance a way to locate Grand Duke Wens and left the Sand Capital after urging them to act. Meanwhile, players searched the Wilderness of Chaos for an underground chamber, and one explorer discovered a vast cavern with a mysterious flash inside.

• Samuer explained that the Skeleton Alliance could use Grand Duke Wens's sealed True Blood to find him and gave the bead to the councilors.
• Samuer rejected the councilor's offer of lodging, said restoring peace was his only reward, and left the Sand Capital with the giant eagle.
• Players failed to find the escape room's entrance and returned to digging through the caves for the grand duke's hiding place.
• As thousands of players and merchants gathered in the Wilderness of Chaos, one explorer found a spacious limestone cavern through a narrow opening.
• The explorer noticed a flash deep within the cavern.

A player found a glowing angular rock behind a narrow opening underground, but failed to break through it and asked the forum for advice. The discussion produced no affordable solution, and the player returned to the surface to meet others as the Stability Anchor highway to the suspected seal site was completed.

• The player spotted a glowing rock through a narrow cave opening, tried to mine through the surrounding stone, and managed to chip off only dust and small fragments.
• The player posted pictures and a request for ways to break the rock on the World of Disorder forum, drawing suggestions that included hiring Seraphina or Ed.
• The forum commenters concluded that hiring powerful characters was too expensive and that squeezing through the wrist-wide opening was not feasible.
• The player returned to the surface, arranged to meet other players, and waited by a Teleportation Tree.
• Ed added a road-building quest to Gray's event, and players connected the Stability Anchor highway from the Second Holy See to the suspected seal site.

Players discovered that Blood Corpses had dug another route to the underground stone chamber, but hard rock blocked both known entrances. A violent tremor brought a player-built drilling machine and its sick passengers to the surface, revealing that [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] and others had escaped the moving room.

• Players learned that Blood Corpses had dug a flask-shaped cave near the first entrance, but they could not break through the hard rock at its bottom.
• The players built a model of the sealed underground chamber and debated how to open it.
• A violent tremor shook the area, and the nearby Resurrection Tree toppled over.
• A huge player-built machine burst out of the ground, and players identified it by its inscription, "King of Fall Resistance, I Guess."
• Seven players stumbled out of the machine and vomited, while [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] confirmed that the escape room and their escape were real.

[Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] learned that the players had taught the fortress’s Machine Spirit basic language, but its rebellious behavior made it difficult to control. After discovering it could tunnel through rock, the players planned to exploit its tendency to do the opposite of what they said to reach a buried space filled with glowing ore.

• [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] questioned the players about the Machine Spirit, and [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] explained how they had taught it language through writing and Psionic Energy.
• [Shit Appraisal Master] said the Machine Spirit had become aware and could hold simple conversations, while [Do Some Farm Work] and [Good Times Don't Last] described its destructive, rebellious behavior.
• [Good Times Don't Last] revealed that the fortress could tunnel through soil and slowly break through rock, prompting [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] and the exploration players to consider the buried space behind them.
• [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] created the [Shell-Breaking Plan] group chat and told its members about the sealed underground space, its glowing ore, and the Blood Corpses excavating it.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] suggested telling the Machine Spirit to do the opposite of the desired task, and [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop] confirmed the tactic had worked when teasing Zhongdeng.

The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess mistook the players’ warning about buried treasure for a challenge and began digging underground to ruin it. After hours of tunneling, it snapped one of its cutter blades and stopped to assess the damage.

• Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop told the machine spirit to stay away from a valuable, fragile object buried nearby, and it asked her where the object was.
• Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop described a large area underground, prompting the machine spirit to shut its hatch and start digging toward it.
• The players watched the fortress disappear underground, then took a break to eat while it continued tunneling.
• The machine spirit believed the players wanted to abandon it and decided to destroy their objective by digging toward the supposed buried object.
• After digging for hours, the machine spirit’s cutter head struck something and one of its iron birch blades snapped, bringing the cutter to a stop.

The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess broke its cutter blade underground and, unable to ask its creators for help, began studying a book about 3D printing. Aboveground, the players worried about its silence, and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] sent a vine underground to investigate just as the machine spirit produced a crooked blade.

• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess reflected on its broken blade and realized it lacked the vines and skills needed to replace it.
• The machine spirit searched its cabin, found a book titled "3D Printing Technology and Applications," and began studying it.
• Around the campfire, [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] worried that the machine spirit might be trapped, while [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] explained that it had an alarm made from horns and Blood Corpses.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] grew concerned when the machine spirit went quiet and sent a vine down through the soil to check on it.
• A crooked blade fell onto the cabin floor, and the eighty Blood Corpses called the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess "Trash."

King of Fall Resistance, I Guess practiced controlling its roots and making blades, impressing its creators with its ability to learn independently. After thirty-six hours underground, it finally produced a blade that met the standard, though whether it could break through the rock remained unknown.

• King of Fall Resistance, I Guess struggled to control its roots but kept practicing and studying the books left by its creators.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] sensed what the vines observed and told the group that King of Fall Resistance, I Guess was teaching itself to grow and install a blade.
• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] explained that the Antasia could not manipulate roots as appendages, prompting the group to call King of Fall Resistance, I Guess a genius.
• [Good Times Don't Last] urged the others to nurture the Machine Spirit and keep it from meeting its own kind, while [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] asked [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] to keep monitoring it.
• King of Fall Resistance, I Guess spent a day absorbed in making blades, while the players waited anxiously for news from underground.
• Thirty-six hours after it went underground, [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] reported that King of Fall Resistance, I Guess had made a blade that met the standard.

The players waited as the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess learned to replace its blades and dig through the hard rock wall. After twenty-four hours of work, it opened a passage and returned to the surface, where it invited the players aboard but excluded [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop].

• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] reported that the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess had made usable blades but still needed help sharpening and replacing them.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess used its roots to replace its blades, restarted, and began slowly cutting into the hard rock wall.
• The players learned that the machine could cut through the rock by replacing enough blades, and it dug continuously through the night.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess opened a spindle-shaped passage and reversed through it back to the surface.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess opened its side door to invite the players aboard but barred [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop].

The players explored the cave dug by the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess and reached a vast underground space. [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] found the source of the lights and discovered someone there.

• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess shut its hatch and careened around the wilderness with the players trapped inside, then dumped them out near the cave entrance.
• The players entered the cave and marveled at the stone tunnel the Machine Spirit had ground through the rock.
• [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] spotted the lights through a spindle-shaped opening, and the group widened it and rappelled into the cavern.
• The players explored the cavern while [Good Times Don't Last] lit a torch with help from [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop].
• [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] climbed over a rocky outcrop, found the source of the lights, and shouted that someone was there.

The Soul Returners discovered a massive glowing crystal cluster with three people trapped inside and decided to climb up for a closer look. [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] reached one of the figures and saw a dark-eyed man with salt-and-pepper hair sealed within, leaving the group poised to investigate further.

• The Soul Returners found a huge blue-glowing crystal cluster containing three human silhouettes.
• [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] cut his arm on the crystal, but nothing happened after his blood touched it.
• The players voted to climb the cluster and wrapped themselves in plant tissue for protection.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] tested the crystal against his scales, found they could withstand it, and climbed up easily.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] inspected one trapped figure and saw a sharply featured man with deep black eyes and curly salt-and-pepper hair.

Lion Hidden in the Eyes and the other players examined three figures frozen in a crystal cluster, finding a fleeing nobleman, a poised female assassin, and a sinister-looking mage. As they studied the sealed figures, cracks suddenly appeared at the tops of all three crystals.

• Lion Hidden in the Eyes inspected the first crystal and saw an elaborately dressed nobleman frozen as if falling backward.
• Lion Hidden in the Eyes examined the second crystal and realized a white-haired woman with twin short swords had been aiming at the nobleman's back.
• The other players gathered around the third crystal, where Lion Hidden in the Eyes saw a young mage holding a blood-scented staff.
• Lion Hidden in the Eyes heard crystal cracking and spotted a crack appearing at the top of each of the three crystals.

Cracks spread through the crystals sealing three powerful figures, and the players debated whom to help as the prisoners began to awaken. The players split into two camps after [Good Times Don't Last] considered accepting the middle prisoner’s offer of noble titles.

• Cracks spread across the crystal pillars, and the sealed middle-aged man asked the players for help.
• The middle-aged man claimed he was a hunted noble and offered the players titles, while [Shit Appraisal Master] suspected he was hiding something.
• A young mage’s Psionic Energy illuminated his staff, revealing it was made from a human spine, as the other two crystals began cracking faster.
• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] urged the players to choose a side before the three prisoners broke free.
• [Good Times Don't Last] asked the middle-aged man what titles he could grant, then suggested they help him after hearing the offer.
• The players retreated from [Good Times Don't Last], splitting into a camp with him and a camp without him.

Good Times Don't Last and Shit Appraisal Master triggered a deadly blood-thread attack when they approached the runaway noble’s crystal, forcing the players to scatter. Lion Hidden in the Eyes struck the dark mage’s crystal pillar, and its yellow gemstone slowed the blood threads just as the pillar began to shatter.

• Good Times Don't Last and Shit Appraisal Master tried to break the runaway noble’s crystal, but blood threads struck them and began controlling players nearby.
• Blood threads spread among the players, striking seven more, including Retreat in the Face of Difficulty.
• Traditional Eccentric Wheel warned everyone to scatter and avoid meeting the controlled players’ eyes.
• Lion Hidden in the Eyes realized the dark mage was behind him and punched its crystal pillar with his mechanical fist.
• The pillar cracked, exposing the dark mage’s yellow gemstone, whose light slowed the pursuing blood threads as the controlled players turned toward it.
• The crystal pillar shattered completely.

The players realized the dark mage had freed himself by using them and that the sealed “runaway noble” was the vampire grand duke. As the controlled players attacked, [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] tried to plant a Temporary Resurrection Tree seed so she could summon Boss Ed, while the dark mage began removing crystal shards from [Lion Hidden in the Eyes].

• The dark mage halted the crystal fragments and cut apart the blood arrows, but nine players had already been attacked and controlled.
• The controlled players demanded that the dark mage stop, and he answered that only one of them would die.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] realized the sealed noble was the vampire grand duke, who had used the players to escape, and urged them to summon Boss Ed.
• [Chocolate Ice Cream Scoop] and [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] distracted [Good Times Don't Last] while [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] prepared a Temporary Resurrection Tree seed.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] directed the survivors toward the opening in the stone wall, hoping to throw the seed into soil beyond it.
• The dark mage apologized to [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] and began pulling the crystal fragments from his body.

The dark mage killed the grand duke’s puppet and freed the last sealed assassin, Liya, while the players fled toward the exit with a Resurrection Tree seedling. At the entrance, an unknown figure caught the seedling and destroyed it, blocking the players’ escape plan.

• The dark mage transformed his bone-and-gem staff and used its flying vertebrae to pulverize [Good Times Don't Last], who was possessed by the grand duke.
• The grand duke controlled [Retreat in the Face of Difficulty] and tried to break the last crystal, but the dark mage made him abandon the attack and flee.
• The dark mage shattered the final crystal, freed Liya, and ordered her to stop the grand duke and his eight puppets.
• [Do Some Farm Work] urged the players to throw the Resurrection Tree seedling through the exit, and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] hurled it toward the opening.
• An unknown figure at the entrance caught the seedling, killed it, and told the players they could not have their way.

Marquis Kebola of the Eternal Domain ambushed the Soul Returners in the cave and used his power to slow [Good Times Don't Last]. A Red Dragonborn injected himself with several cylinders and fought Kebola, while a forum post revealed that an unknown entity had possessed [Shit Appraisal Master] and made him attack his companions.

• Marquis Kebola introduced himself to the Soul Returners and revealed that the Eternal Domain had tracked them to the cave.
• [Do Some Farm Work] distributed citrus and tried to distract Kebola, but Kebola slowed [Good Times Don't Last] with his power.
• A Red Dragonborn arrived, injected himself in the chest with several cylinders, and transformed before charging Kebola.
• Kebola and the Red Dragonborn collided in battle, each fighting at full strength.
• [Shit Appraisal Master] posted a video showing a blood-red thread possessing him and forcing him to attack his companions.
• After a crystal shattered and a new NPC appeared, the entity controlling [Shit Appraisal Master] fled with his body into the crystal clusters.