Ritualist characters

Appears from the start

An Army combat medic serving with a helicopter response crew. He treats soldiers wounded by an explosive attack and helps evacuate the most critical casualties before a rocket strikes the aircraft.

Also known as Joey

First appears in chapter 2

The medic previously introduced as Sergeant Nelson. Left quadriplegic after the helicopter crash, Joe accepts an irreversible transfer into Eternium so he can regain a working body and continue living in the immersive world.

First appears in chapter 2

A former medic colleague of Joe who now works for the company behind Eternium. The colleague offers Joe permanent entry into the immersive world.

First appears in chapter 2

Joe's primary caregiver during the months after his disabling injury.

First appears in chapter 2

Joe's wife, who seeks an annulment and leaves shortly after he wakes following the helicopter crash.

First appears in chapter 4

A weakened deity associated with concealed knowledge, water, and darkness. The god offers Joe the hidden Ritualist class in exchange for his allegiance and requires him to keep both the class and their relationship secret.

First appears in chapter 5

A powerful Wanderers member who recognizes the value of Joe's healing, recruits him, and becomes the leader of his field party.

First appears in chapter 5

The officer responsible for Ardania's guard training. Joe earns his trust by healing far more guards than required, and the captain rewards him with useful clerical equipment.

First appears in chapter 6

Tiona's heavily armored frontline fighter. Joe risks leaving formation to save him during an early hunt, establishing mutual trust between the two teammates.

First appears in chapter 7

The ranger and archer in Tiona's field party. He scouts targets and fights from range during the group's hunts, forming part of the team that helps Joe adjust to combat and advancement in Eternium.

First appears in chapter 8

Leader of the player-killing Hardcores guild. After killing Joe's teammates, he tries to force Joe into his guild and threatens further abuse when Joe refuses, making the conflict between them direct and personal.

First appears in chapter 9

Ardania's head librarian and a guide to Joe's scholarly development. He grants Joe access to the library and assigns work intended to prepare him for a future profession centered on study and recovered knowledge.

First appears in chapter 11

An alchemist who sells Joe monster cores and permits him to use a restricted ritual component inside the shop. Joe's unusually demanding ritual draws his professional interest in the novice's future progress.

First appears in chapter 11

The merchant who runs Odds and Ends. The owner wagers a spatial ring that Joe cannot create a ritual capable of organizing the shop.

First appears in chapter 13

A Wanderers officer who brings Joe into the displaced guild on favorable terms.

First appears in chapter 15

The quiet rogue in Tiona's party. Guess uses a male avatar and communicates through typed messages rendered in a mechanical voice, while contributing stealth and precise attacks to the team's wolfman hunts.

Also known as Hidden God

First appears in chapter 17

The name revealed for Joe's secret deity, previously known only as the Hidden God. Tatum advises Joe to cultivate his unique abilities and gives him a sigil that converts a share of earned experience into divine favor.

First appears in chapter 19

A licensed Wanderers mage and officer-in-training. She teaches Joe to locate, condense, and manipulate his mana while working off the debt created when Aten and the guild financed her Mage's College education.

First appears in chapter 24

A skilled armor smith who repairs captured wolfman equipment. After learning that Dylan is pursuing a defensive role, the smith offers a specialized route that could provide the protection needed for pain-realistic frontline combat.

First appears in chapter 30

The ruler of Ardania, who receives the newly noble Wanderers for a confidential briefing. She explains the existential conflict between the human and wolfman nations and offers the guild a secret royal mission.

First appears in chapter 32

A wind-and-fire mage captured after entering Joe's protected workshop and trying to attack him. Cel claims the Mage's College is pursuing Joe for forbidden ritual practice and remains hostile while Joe confines and questions him.

First appears in chapter 35

Cel's senior instructor at the Mage's College. Believing his apprentice dead, he attacks Joe, then agrees to escort Joe to the college after learning Cel is alive. His conduct is constrained by the institution's magical Accords.

First appears in chapter 37

The head of the Mage's College tribunal. He oversees coercive proceedings against Cel and Joe, imposes a severe sentence on Joe, and prepares to bind him publicly through the college's Accords.