Chapter Summaries

To help Gray win the Grand Foundry Master's election, [Do Some Farm Work] arranged for the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess to learn teleportation and campaign at the same time. The group split up to begin their plan as Ed quietly arrived in Great Labyrinth City to watch the election unfold.

• [Do Some Farm Work] asked Nuowa to teach the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess teleportation within two days, including how to take Gray along, and Nuowa agreed.
• Nuowa enchanted the wooden token so that its response to whether something was significant depended on [Do Some Farm Work]'s judgment.
• [Do Some Farm Work] proposed that the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess learn psionic techniques while promoting Gray and demonstrating the Machine Spirit; the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess agreed.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] organized the group, learned that the elves were named Nuowa and Liya, and assigned them to teach while the others gathered information on rival candidates.
• Ed deployed a modified avatar near Great Labyrinth City and looked forward to watching the Grand Foundry Master's election campaign.

Ed visited a prosthetics shop in Great Labyrinth City to learn whom the locals supported in the election for Grand Foundry Master. While having a mechanical eye installed, he heard the shopkeeper praise Rein’s modular psionic energy circuits and asked whether they would make a replacement eye larger or smaller.

• Ed entered Hansen Prosthetics Shop and examined its mechanical eyes, discovering that the replacement models used psionic energy circuits.
• Ed bought an externally mounted prosthetic eye and asked the shopkeeper to install it.
• As the shopkeeper drilled holes into Ed’s brow, Ed asked whom he supported in the Grand Foundry Master election.
• The shopkeeper said his family supported Mr. Rein because Rein’s preset circuits let merchants use psionic energy circuits without hiring engravers.
• Ed inferred that Rein’s invention made circuits modular and asked whether using them in a replacement prosthetic eye would make it bigger or smaller.

Ed learned about Rein Hansen’s invention and received an enhanced prosthetic eye while asking locals whom they supported in the Grand Foundry Master election. Meanwhile, three Soul Returners read the records of the candidates, and [Do Some Farm Work] realized Gray Gris faced daunting competition.

• Ed learned that Rein Hansen’s circuit-making invention produced somewhat larger items, then listened to a shop owner praise Rein and gathered public and private information about him.
• The shop owner fitted Ed with an enhanced prosthetic eye secured by three bone pins, and Ed went to another shop to ask which candidate the owner supported.
• Near city hall, three Soul Returners read Suolaer Aoermo’s record and learned how he crossed the Floating Corpse Sea to establish contact with the Skeleton Alliance.
• The Soul Returners read Luke Osborne’s record, which described his victories against Corpse Tides and his expansion of the Corridor’s eastern border, then posted the candidate information online.
• After seeing their posts while overseeing a patent examination, [Do Some Farm Work] worried that Gray Gris could not beat a master inventor, a renowned navigator, and a war hero.

[Do Some Farm Work] realized he lacked the time and skill to publicize Gray’s election campaign, so he used a new body-swapping function to bring in [Ginseng Rooster], a player known for publicity and memes. [Ginseng Rooster] arrived in his body and immediately asked where the Machine Spirit was.

• [Do Some Farm Work] and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] completed the Machine Spirit’s assessment, earning it a patent certificate in the Graycast Corridor.
• [Do Some Farm Work] admitted he did not know how to publicize Gray’s campaign quickly without risking harm to Gray’s chances.
• [Do Some Farm Work] showed the group the Disposable Resurrection Tree’s new body-swapping function and proposed bringing in someone better at publicity.
• [Do Some Farm Work] used the item to swap bodies with [Ginseng Rooster], who appeared and asked where the Machine Spirit was.

Ginseng Rooster joined the Soul Returners’ campaign to raise Gray’s support and proposed a strategy to target the other candidates’ weaknesses. He began with a plan to turn circuit engravers against Rein Hansen, whose inventions threatened their livelihoods.

• Ginseng Rooster dismissed the group’s ordinary greeting and asked everyone to brief him on the election candidates.
• After learning that supporters tended to favor candidates from their own occupations, Ginseng Rooster suggested publicizing Gray’s background as a traveling merchant to win over merchants who supported Suolaer.
• Ginseng Rooster proposed a three-pronged campaign that included attacking the other candidates’ weaknesses, while the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess suggested attacking their eyes.
• Ginseng Rooster argued that Rein Hansen’s modular Psionic Energy Circuits would threaten circuit engravers’ livelihoods and urged the Soul Returners to use that concern to turn engravers against Rein.

[Ginseng Rooster] outlined a campaign to weaken Rein and Suolaer while redirecting Luke Osborne away from the Grand Foundry Master position. He argued that Gray should be promoted because Machine Spirits benefited many professions, and the Soul Returners enthusiastically accepted his strategy.

• [Ginseng Rooster] explained that Gray's Machine Spirits would not threaten any profession's livelihood, so engravers would have no reason to oppose them.
• [Ginseng Rooster] proposed attacking Rein's competitiveness and portraying Suolaer as a possibly corrupt, dictatorial opportunist.
• [Ginseng Rooster] said Luke Osborne was difficult to criticize, so they should praise him while suggesting he belonged in a different role, such as Minister of War.
• A Soul Returner questioned why Gray was fit to become Grand Foundry Master, and [Ginseng Rooster] answered that Machine Spirits benefited invention, trade, exploration, and combat.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] praised [Ginseng Rooster]'s plan, and the Soul Returners shouted that they understood.

Nuowa agreed to help the Soul Returners promote Gray's election by testing Machine Spirits, while he and Liya plotted to profit from the election's gambling. The Machine Spirit successfully learned to perform six tasks at once, and it celebrated its achievement.

• Nuowa asked Liya to find underground gambling dens and bet on the candidate with the highest odds of losing, promising to report the dens if they lost.
• [Ginseng Rooster] asked Nuowa to help with the Machine Spirit Trial Version, a plan to give Great Labyrinth City residents free Machine Spirits and win votes for Gray.
• Nuowa agreed to help activate Machine Spirits and joined [Ginseng Rooster]'s plan to make the imprisoned grand duke willingly provide a psionic blast if needed.
• After their online time ran out, the Soul Returners used Resurrection Trees to swap bodies and continue their tasks.
• Nuowa watched the Machine Spirit perform six different tasks at once for five minutes, and it declared that it had succeeded.

Nuowa taught the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess to cast psionic spells while Hall was confined to a wheelchair and forced to serve as a radio. After the players divided their work into day and night shifts, the daytime group set out to promote Gray’s bid for Grand Foundry Master, and Keli became their first target.

• Nuowa began teaching the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess to draw psionic arrays and use spell formulas.
• The players restrained Hall in a wheelchair, and Nuowa’s spell demonstration made Hall emit radio-like sounds.
• The players finished their preparations, swapped bodies, and settled on rotating between publicity by day and planning by night.
• [Do Some Farm Work] led the daytime group into the Great Labyrinth City to help Gray win the title of Grand Foundry Master.
• Keli saw the players’ rocking mobile fortress stop outside his bakery, and they announced that his shop was the street’s first lucky winner.

[Do Some Farm Work] and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] activated a Machine Spirit in Keli’s old dough mixer, astonishing the skeptical baker. The spirit introduced itself as the mixer and asked Keli to replace two worn gears.

• The young woman offered Keli a free Machine Spirit activation in exchange for voting for Gray Gris, and [Do Some Farm Work] explained what a Machine Spirit was.
• Keli agreed to let them activate his Blood Corpse-powered dough mixer, which he had used for about twenty years.
• [Do Some Farm Work] replaced a worn gear with one made by [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop], who also sowed seeds onto the three Blood Corpses inside the mixer.
• [Do Some Farm Work] called for Mr. Nuowa-electricity, and the dough mixer roared to life, filling the bakery with flour and startling Keli.
• The mixer’s Machine Spirit spoke to Keli, identified itself as his old pal, and asked him to replace the worn gears in its speed regulator and stabilizer.

[Do Some Farm Work] and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] activated a temporary Machine Spirit in Keli’s dough mixer and used its abilities to persuade him to support Gray Gris for Grand Foundry Master. They left Keli with a three-day trial and promised to extend it for every supporter he referred who agreed to install a Machine Spirit and vote for Gray.

• Keli replaced two gears in his dough mixer while the Machine Spirit explained how to repair it.
• [Do Some Farm Work] and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] told Keli the Machine Spirit trial would end after three days, unless Gray Gris became Grand Foundry Master and promoted Machine Spirits.
• [Do Some Farm Work] persuaded Keli that Gray was the candidate most likely to make Machine Spirits widely available, and Keli decided to support him.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] demonstrated that the Machine Spirit could advise Keli on baking and could run an automated dough-making process with a mechanical arm.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] offered to extend Keli’s Machine Spirit trial by three days for every new supporter he referred who installed one and agreed to vote for Gray.

[Do Some Farm Work] persuaded Old Keli to promote Machine Spirits to his friends, then the players continued campaigning for Gray by offering bread vouchers to anyone who tried a Machine Spirit. The chapter left [Do Some Farm Work] making his pitch to a crowd in the Great Labyrinth City.

• [Do Some Farm Work] told Old Keli that small-scale Machine Spirit adoption could continue even if Gray lost the election, and that electing Gray would let it last.
• Old Keli agreed to tell his friends about Machine Spirits after the morning rush and planned to meet the players at their afternoon presentation.
• [Do Some Farm Work] and the other players celebrated their first promotional visit aboard the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess, then set out to visit two more shops.
• Nuowa told [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] that the Machine Spirit lessons had advanced to simple circuits, and she thanked him for his help.
• [Do Some Farm Work] offered a three-day bread voucher to anyone who tried a Machine Spirit and argued that Gray's policies would benefit everyone.

[Do Some Farm Work] and [Noncompliant Nickname 1214] rallied Great Labyrinth City’s residents and activated Machine Spirits in their machinery and fortresses. The crowd celebrated the new voices, while unseen watchers kept their eyes on the square.

• [Do Some Farm Work] led the crowd in chanting the Machine Spirit Faction’s slogans, then collapsed from exhaustion.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] was left nearly depleted after spending the afternoon generating plant seeds for Machine Spirit activation.
• [Noncompliant Nickname 1214] led the spectators through a countdown as I Guess released a pulse of Psionic Energy across the square.
• The pulse awakened Machine Spirits in the machinery, and their muddled voices convinced the crowd that they were real.
• [Noncompliant Nickname 1214] announced that free activations would continue the next day, while I Guess drove away and unseen watchers observed the square.

An old man in Great Labyrinth City warned his young mechanic grandson about the dangers of Machine Spirits and ordered him to delay the traveler who had returned from the dead. The youth left to deliver the order, while the old man made clear that his family supported Luke Osborne taking power.

• The old man questioned his grandson about the rally and argued that machines with consciousness might turn against their human owners.
• The old man studied a map and wrote a sealed order for the lord of Satellite City Number Twenty to intercept and delay the returning traveler.
• The grandson feared the order called for killing a candidate for Grand Foundry Master, but the old man said he only wanted to slow the traveler down.
• The old man told his grandson that Luke Osborne taking power was best for their family and reminded him where their loyalties lay.
• The grandson left the building, revealed his prosthetic legs, and sped off into the city.

As their weakened bodies struggled through another swap, the players discussed how useful Luorui'er Fitz's Forget-Sorrow Mint might have been. Outside, [Ginseng Rooster] expanded Machine Spirit distribution by teaching Great Labyrinth City locals to install the components themselves.

• [Noncompliant Nickname 1214] recalled Luorui'er Fitz and her symbiotic plant, Forget-Sorrow Mint, which could suppress fatigue and pain.
• [Gu Gugu] teased [Noncompliant Nickname 1214] about his embarrassing old player ID before [Ginseng Rooster] called the group outside for work.
• Old Keli praised his bread maker's Machine Spirit, Gaili, and received seeds from [Ginseng Rooster] after signing up seven more people.
• [Ginseng Rooster] checked the newcomers' addresses and Blood Corpse configurations, then gave them gears and seeds and taught them how to connect machinery and Blood Corpses using plant tissue.
• [Ginseng Rooster] shifted from installing Machine Spirits himself to teaching literate Great Labyrinth City locals how to install them before a collective activation.

The Soul Returners worked through the night promoting Gray and handing out seeds, while Nuowa marveled at their dedication. The Machine Spirit learned to draw basic psionic magic arrays, but it lacked enough energy to complete a teleportation round trip, and the Soul Returners prepared to campaign against the other candidates.

• [Ginseng Rooster] announced that the fortress would resume its traveling presentations and told commoners to return in the evening for seeds.
• The Soul Returners switched bodies after working through the night, and Nuowa admired their tireless effort and considered hiring them someday.
• The Machine Spirit told [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] that it had learned to draw basic psionic magic arrays.
• Nuowa said the Machine Spirit could likely learn a teleportation array before the election ended, but lacked enough psionic energy to cast a round trip.
• [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] planned to ask her companions for ideas, while [Do Some Farm Work] told her to help badmouth the other candidates.

Gray and the Soul Returners pushed the Antasia through the Wilderness of Chaos, where Corpse Tides, treacherous terrain, and dwindling Blood Corpses slowed their journey. To keep the fortress moving, the players turned its pedal stations into exhausting workstations for Soul Returners and left Gray wondering how much longer they could endure.

• Gray sampled a drink made by [Western Sharpshooter] and returned to pedaling after his five-minute break.
• The group encountered four Corpse Tides and dangerous terrain while crossing the Wilderness of Chaos toward the Great Labyrinth City.
• After Blood Corpses began dying from the intense travel, [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] and the others rigged more than a hundred Hoofed Beasts to pull the Antasia.
• The players replaced dead Blood Corpses with Soul Returners at the pedal stations, then replaced all fifty Blood Corpse power sources with players, whether the Blood Corpses were dead or alive.
• Gray felt guilty about the Soul Returners' ordeal but had no time to dwell on it as the group continued its journey.

The Soul Returners turned the Antasia into a giant pedal-powered fortress, with Gray and Nora working alongside them as it charged across the Wilderness of Chaos. Meanwhile, their campaign for Gray in Great Labyrinth City continued, and Nuowa confirmed that the Machine Spirit had learned to teleport objects for a juggling act.

• [Traditional Eccentric Wheel] assigned the Soul Returners to power the Antasia, and the players installed hundreds of stationary bicycles throughout the fortress.
• Gray and Nora joined the nonstop pedaling, though Nora collapsed and was reassigned to lookout duty while Gray kept working.
• The Soul Returners drove the newly supercharged Antasia on a wild rampage across the Wilderness of Chaos.
• [Ginseng Rooster]'s group continued promoting Gray in Great Labyrinth City and raising doubts about Rein, Suolaer, and Aoziben.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess demonstrated teleporting a Tasteless Fruit with the Machine Spirit's help, and Nuowa said the Machine Spirit had learned the technique.

Nuowa lent [Do Some Farm Work] and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop] sixty gold coins to support Gray’s election, while refusing to advise them on a teleportation problem. Elsewhere, Liya bet on “None of them” in the Grand Foundry Master election, but her hand met another Short-Eared Elf’s inside her pouch.

• Nuowa refused to review the Soul Returners’ proposed solution for King of Fall Resistance, I Guess’s teleportation limits, prompting [Do Some Farm Work] to ask him for a loan.
• Nuowa pulled sixty gold coins from his pouch and offered them to [Do Some Farm Work] and [Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop], asking for seventy back within a month.
• The Soul Returners accepted Nuowa’s terms and continued their plan to support Gray’s election.
• At a Great Labyrinth City casino, Liya chose the “None of them” box for her Grand Foundry Master election bet.
• The casino owner told Liya that the bet required at least one gold coin, and as she reached into her pouch, she touched another Short-Eared Elf’s hand.

Liya’s attempt to leave the casino without paying sparked a fight, while the Soul Returners gathered Blood Corpses to help Gray teleport to the Great Labyrinth City before the Grand Foundry Master election. The chapter left them transporting the corpses to the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess, with plant tissue needed to connect them.

• Liya failed to retrieve any gold from her pouch and tried to leave the casino, prompting the owner and armed gamblers to stop her.
• Liya drew two circuit-engraved short blades and admitted that she had not forgotten to bring them.
• Five Soul Returners reviewed Vanilla Ice Cream Scoop’s plan to buy Blood Corpses and retry the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess’s teleportation for every hundred collected.
• Four Soul Returners split up to buy Blood Corpses while one stayed behind to hand out eggs.
• Litang's Supremely Fierce Tiger and another Soul Returner bought all seventy-six Blood Corpses from a repair shop owner.
• The Soul Returners transported strings of Blood Corpses toward the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess, knowing they also needed plant tissue to connect the corpses to the fortress’s machinery.

Pond Fish and Old Abyss connected eighty Blood Corpses to the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess, increasing its psionic power and prompting her to devise a way to carry more bodies. As the other Soul Returners brought in more Blood Corpses, she began packing them into cases for temporary transport.

• Pond Fish and Old Abyss produced special seeds and used them to connect Blood Corpses to the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess.
• The Machine Spirit said it recalled hazy memories and demonstrated that the Blood Corpses had greatly increased its psionic energy, though it could teleport only about one cubic meter of material.
• Pond Fish and Old Abyss considered modifying the fortress to hold more Blood Corpses, but realized she could not build the necessary structure.
• Pond Fish and Old Abyss asked whether temporarily rearranging the Blood Corpses would disrupt the Machine Spirit, and it agreed as long as each vine remained connected.
• Pond Fish and Old Abyss began binding Blood Corpses into space-saving cases while the other Soul Returners led more bodies toward the fortress.