Chapter 1 Walkthrough – A Looming Shadow

Quick Answer

After the Prologue sends you back into Guild work, take the assignment in Ruan. Investigate the White Shadow sightings around the region, return to the Ruan Guild after Dorothy brings photographic evidence, then go to Jenis Royal Academy. Once Estelle sees the White Shadow there, use Hans’s back-gate key and enter the Old Schoolhouse.

Chapter 1 starts once Estelle’s training period is over and the Guild needs help outside Grancel.

The important choice is already made for you by the story: Ruan is the next region. Board the Cecilia, report to the Ruan branch, and treat the White Shadow case as the main thread tying the chapter together.

The investigation has two very different halves. First, I collect sightings around Ruan and the surrounding settlements. Later, Dorothy’s photograph shifts the case to Jenis Royal Academy, where the chapter stops being a witness hunt and turns into an actual dungeon route.

Go to Ruan After the Prologue

At the Grancel Guild, the party learns that both Rolent and Ruan have requested support.

The next destination is Ruan.

Board the Cecilia and continue until you arrive in the city, then check in with the local Bracer Guild before wandering off to side content. The White Shadow investigation becomes the chapter’s main job.

If you are still doing the Le Locle training sequence, you have not reached Chapter 1 yet. This route begins after that section is finished and Estelle is sent back into normal Guild work.

Start the White Shadow Investigation in Ruan

The first useful lead is inside Ruan itself.

Track down Rocco and the former Ravens and ask about the White Shadow. They do have information, but Rocco refuses to simply hand it over.

He makes the conversation into a fight.

This battle is part of getting the testimony, so beating them is the progression step. Once the fight is over, continue the investigation instead of searching the same part of Ruan for another trigger.

The case then pushes outward from the city toward the southern side of the region.

Go to Mercia Orphanage for Polly’s Sighting

The rebuilt Mercia Orphanage is one of the important witness stops.

Matron Teresa confirms that Polly saw the man in white, so this is not just a reunion scene. Let the conversation finish and continue through the nearby route rather than immediately returning to Ruan.

The investigation takes you through the Manoria side of the region and eventually past Air-Letten before the chapter sends you back toward the city.

I use this part of the chapter to finish the regional witness sweep in one trip. Going back to Ruan too early only means making the same journey again.

Return to the Ruan Guild After the Regional Sightings

Once the outside leads are handled, go back to the Ruan Bracer Guild.

Nial and Dorothy are there because of the mayoral election, but Dorothy has also captured something directly relevant to the case: a photograph containing the White Shadow.

Let the Guild conversation and the events around the city play out. Olivier rejoins the group during this stretch.

The next major destination becomes Jenis Royal Academy.

Head to Jenis Royal Academy

Travel to Jenis Royal Academy and meet Headmaster Collins.

The White Shadow sightings now appear to be centered on the academy, but the students have been buried in exams and there is not one obvious witness waiting at the front door.

Use the student council room as the base of the investigation and let the conversations around campus progress.

This section can feel slower than the earlier witness hunt because the game wants the academy investigation to develop before revealing the next destination. I stay on campus and keep working through the available conversations instead of assuming I should go back to Ruan.

Eventually, Estelle sees the White Shadow herself.

She describes a masked man glowing with white light and, more importantly, remembers exactly where he went:

toward the Old Schoolhouse.

Hans has already borrowed the back-gate key, so there is no need to search Ruan or the academy buildings for another key item.

The next move is the Old Schoolhouse.

Enter the Old Schoolhouse Through the Back Gate

Take the group through the academy’s back gate and enter the Old Schoolhouse.

Kloe joins the search because she knows the building and the case involves the orphanage children as well.

The interior initially looks like a haunted-school investigation, but the important progression comes from following the clue chain rather than trying every doorway at random.

You will encounter clues referring to things such as:

• a student facing southeast;
• a fallen head;
• and a garden where you would not normally expect one indoors.

These clues are telling you what object or location to inspect next.

After the clue sequence, the schoolhouse opens into something much larger than an abandoned school building.

The Old Schoolhouse Leads to Underground Ruins

The party eventually reaches ruins beneath the academy.

At this point the chapter has left the investigation phase behind. Dorothy is told to wait while the combat group continues deeper because the monsters become significantly more dangerous.

If you have been saving all of your recovery resources because the early academy section felt safe, this is the point where I stop being stingy with basic healing. There is still a boss sequence ahead, and leaving the active party half-recovered just to preserve ordinary consumables does not buy anything useful.

Keep descending until you reach the person behind the White Shadow incidents.

Blueblanc Is the White Shadow

The masked man introduces himself as Blueblanc, Ouroboros Enforcer No. 10.

The important discovery is that the White Shadow is not an ordinary ghost.

Blueblanc is using a new Gospel together with a spatial projection device to create the illusion seen across the Ruan region.

This is the first major confirmation that the incidents after the coup are not isolated.

The Society is actively testing new Gospel technology.

Defeat Blueblanc’s Armored Guardian

Blueblanc does not simply stand there and let himself be arrested.

He brings out an armored mechanical guardian, and that is the chapter’s real boss fight.

I treat it as the point to spend the resources I carried through the underground ruins. There is no benefit to limping through the fight just to finish Chapter 1 with a few more ordinary recovery items in the inventory.

Once the guardian goes down, Blueblanc still has another trick.

He immobilizes the party through their shadows.

Dorothy’s intervention breaks the effect, but Blueblanc escapes.

The chapter still counts as resolved because the purpose of the case was to identify the cause of the White Shadow incidents and stop the immediate threat.

Report Back to the Ruan Guild

Return to the Ruan Guild and report what happened.

The Guild now knows that:

• the White Shadow was a manufactured projection;
• the experiment used a new Gospel;
• Blueblanc is an Ouroboros Enforcer;
• and the Society’s larger operation is only beginning.

This is also where your completed work can trigger a Bracer Rank increase and its associated reward.

Before boarding the next airliner, check any remaining Ruan work if you are doing a completion run. The main story being finished does not mean every Chapter 1 quest window is automatically safe to abandon.

Once you are ready to move on, the Guild directs the party to Zeiss, where Professor Russell may be able to examine what was learned about the new Gospel.

Continue with the Chapter 2 walkthrough when you reach Zeiss and the earthquake investigation begins.