diff --git a/src/api/client.ts b/src/api/client.ts
index 4adab2d..f891aa3 100644
--- a/src/api/client.ts
+++ b/src/api/client.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { store } from "@store/state.svelte";
 import { fetchAuthenticated, AuthRequiredError, uiAuth } from "../core/auth";
 import { boot } from "@store/boot.svelte";
+import { getBlobUrl } from "@core/cache/imageCache";
 
 const DEFAULT_URL = "http://127.0.0.1:4567";
 
@@ -25,20 +26,15 @@ export function getServerUrl(): string {
 export function plainThumbUrl(path: string): string {
   if (!path) return "";
   if (path.startsWith("http")) return path;
-  
-  const base = `${getServerUrl()}${path}`;
+  return `${getServerUrl()}${path}`;
+}
+
+export async function resolveImageUrl(path: string): Promise<string> {
+  if (!path) return "";
+  const url = path.startsWith("http") ? path : `${getServerUrl()}${path}`;
   const mode = store.settings.serverAuthMode ?? "NONE";
-  
-  if (mode === "UI_LOGIN") {
-    const token = uiAuth.getToken();
-    if (token) {
-      const url = new URL(base);
-      url.searchParams.set("authorization", token);
-      return url.toString();
-    }
-  }
-  
-  return base;
+  if (mode === "NONE") return url;
+  return getBlobUrl(url);
 }
 
 export const thumbUrl = plainThumbUrl;
diff --git a/src/core/cache/imageCache.ts b/src/core/cache/imageCache.ts
index 18a8024..82a034a 100644
--- a/src/core/cache/imageCache.ts
+++ b/src/core/cache/imageCache.ts
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ function drain() {
     active++;
     doFetch(entry.url)
       .then(entry.resolve, entry.reject)
-      .finally(() => { inflight.delete(entry.url); active--; drain(); });
+      .finally(() => { active--; drain(); });
   }
 }
 
@@ -67,7 +67,12 @@ function scheduleDrain() {
 }
 
 function enqueue(url: string, priority: number): Promise<string> {
-  const promise = new Promise<string>((resolve, reject) => { insertSorted({ url, priority, resolve, reject }); });
+  const promise = new Promise<string>((resolve, reject) => {
+    insertSorted({ url, priority, resolve, reject });
+  }).catch(err => {
+    inflight.delete(url);
+    return Promise.reject(err);
+  });
   inflight.set(url, promise);
   scheduleDrain();
   return promise;
diff --git a/src/core/cache/pageCache.ts b/src/core/cache/pageCache.ts
index 9169a21..be7d9f8 100644
--- a/src/core/cache/pageCache.ts
+++ b/src/core/cache/pageCache.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { gql, getServerUrl }           from "@api/client";
-import { getBlobUrl, preloadBlobUrls } from "@core/cache/imageCache";
+import { getBlobUrl }                  from "@core/cache/imageCache";
 import { dedupeRequest }               from "@core/async/batchRequests";
 import { FETCH_CHAPTER_PAGES }         from "@api/mutations/chapters";
 
@@ -11,8 +11,14 @@ const aspectCache      = new Map<string, number>();
 
 export function resolveUrl(url: string, useBlob: boolean, priority = 0): Promise<string> {
   if (!useBlob) return Promise.resolve(url);
-  if (!resolvedUrlCache.has(url)) resolvedUrlCache.set(url, getBlobUrl(url, priority));
-  return resolvedUrlCache.get(url)!;
+  const cached = resolvedUrlCache.get(url);
+  if (cached) return cached;
+  const p = getBlobUrl(url, priority).catch(err => {
+    resolvedUrlCache.delete(url);
+    return Promise.reject(err);
+  });
+  resolvedUrlCache.set(url, p);
+  return p;
 }
 
 export function fetchPages(
@@ -30,10 +36,7 @@ export function fetchPages(
       gql<{ fetchChapterPages: { pages: string[] } }>(FETCH_CHAPTER_PAGES, { chapterId })
         .then(d => {
           const urls = d.fetchChapterPages.pages.map(p => p.startsWith("http") ? p : `${getServerUrl()}${p}`);
-          if (useBlob) {
-            if (urls[priorityPage]) getBlobUrl(urls[priorityPage], urls.length + 999);
-            preloadBlobUrls(urls.filter((_, i) => i !== priorityPage), urls.length);
-          }
+          if (useBlob && urls[priorityPage]) getBlobUrl(urls[priorityPage], 999);
           pageCache.set(chapterId, urls);
           return urls;
         })
diff --git a/src/core/cache/queryCache.ts b/src/core/cache/queryCache.ts
index ddcbcff..b2fbd08 100644
--- a/src/core/cache/queryCache.ts
+++ b/src/core/cache/queryCache.ts
@@ -159,3 +159,16 @@ export function getTopSources<T extends { id: string }>(sources: T[]): T[] {
   }
   return sources.slice(0, MAX_FRECENCY_SOURCES);
 }
+
+export async function refreshMangaCache(mangaId: number, thumbnailUrl?: string): Promise<void> {
+  cache.clear(CACHE_KEYS.MANGA(mangaId));
+  cache.clear(CACHE_KEYS.CHAPTERS(mangaId));
+  cache.clear(CACHE_KEYS.LIBRARY);
+  cache.clear(CACHE_KEYS.ALL_MANGA);
+
+  if (thumbnailUrl) {
+    const { revokeBlobUrl, getBlobUrl } = await import("@core/cache/imageCache");
+    revokeBlobUrl(thumbnailUrl);
+    getBlobUrl(thumbnailUrl, 999).catch(() => {});
+  }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/features/home/components/Home.svelte b/src/features/home/components/Home.svelte
index 1f63872..cd040b2 100644
--- a/src/features/home/components/Home.svelte
+++ b/src/features/home/components/Home.svelte
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 <script lang="ts">
   import { onMount, untrack } from "svelte";
-  import { gql, thumbUrl } from "@api/client";
-  import { getBlobUrl } from "@core/cache/imageCache";
+  import { gql, resolveImageUrl } from "@api/client";
   import { GET_CHAPTERS } from "@api/queries/chapters";
   import { GET_LIBRARY } from "@api/queries/manga";
   import { cache, CACHE_KEYS } from "@core/cache";
@@ -95,13 +94,8 @@
   let heroThumb = $state("");
   $effect(() => {
     const path = heroThumbSrc;
-    const mode = store.settings.serverAuthMode ?? "NONE";
     if (!path) { heroThumb = ""; return; }
-
-    const needsBlob = mode === "BASIC_AUTH" || mode === "UI_LOGIN";
-    if (!needsBlob) { heroThumb = thumbUrl(path); return; }
-
-    getBlobUrl(thumbUrl(path))
+    resolveImageUrl(path)
       .then(url => { heroThumb = url; })
       .catch(() => { heroThumb = ""; });
   });
diff --git a/src/features/reader/components/PageView.svelte b/src/features/reader/components/PageView.svelte
index 611c294..85443bb 100644
--- a/src/features/reader/components/PageView.svelte
+++ b/src/features/reader/components/PageView.svelte
@@ -224,11 +224,19 @@
   {#if style === "longstrip"}
     {#each stripToRender as chunk}
       {#each chunk.urls as url, i}
-        {#await resolveUrl(url, chunk.urls.length - i)}
-          <img src="" alt="{chunk.chapterName} – Page {i + 1}" data-local-page={i + 1} data-chapter={chunk.chapterId} data-total={chunk.urls.length} class="{imgCls}{store.settings.pageGap ? ' strip-gap' : ''}" loading={i < 5 ? "eager" : "lazy"} decoding="async" />
-        {:then src}
-          <img {src} alt="{chunk.chapterName} – Page {i + 1}" data-local-page={i + 1} data-chapter={chunk.chapterId} data-total={chunk.urls.length} class="{imgCls}{store.settings.pageGap ? ' strip-gap' : ''}" loading={i < 5 ? "eager" : "lazy"} decoding="async" />
-        {/await}
+        {#if i < 8}
+          {#await resolveUrl(url, 8 - i)}
+            <img src="" alt="{chunk.chapterName} – Page {i + 1}" data-local-page={i + 1} data-chapter={chunk.chapterId} data-total={chunk.urls.length} class="{imgCls}{store.settings.pageGap ? ' strip-gap' : ''}" loading="eager" decoding="async" />
+          {:then src}
+            <img {src} alt="{chunk.chapterName} – Page {i + 1}" data-local-page={i + 1} data-chapter={chunk.chapterId} data-total={chunk.urls.length} class="{imgCls}{store.settings.pageGap ? ' strip-gap' : ''}" loading="eager" decoding="async" />
+          {/await}
+        {:else}
+          {#await resolveUrl(url, 0)}
+            <img src="" alt="{chunk.chapterName} – Page {i + 1}" data-local-page={i + 1} data-chapter={chunk.chapterId} data-total={chunk.urls.length} class="{imgCls}{store.settings.pageGap ? ' strip-gap' : ''}" loading="lazy" decoding="async" />
+          {:then src}
+            <img {src} alt="{chunk.chapterName} – Page {i + 1}" data-local-page={i + 1} data-chapter={chunk.chapterId} data-total={chunk.urls.length} class="{imgCls}{store.settings.pageGap ? ' strip-gap' : ''}" loading="lazy" decoding="async" />
+          {/await}
+        {/if}
       {/each}
     {/each}
     <div style="height:1px;flex-shrink:0"></div>
diff --git a/src/features/reader/components/Reader.svelte b/src/features/reader/components/Reader.svelte
index ffefb30..2576a2b 100644
--- a/src/features/reader/components/Reader.svelte
+++ b/src/features/reader/components/Reader.svelte
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
   import ReaderPresetPanel            from "./ReaderPresetPanel.svelte";
 
   const win       = getCurrentWindow();
-  const useBlob   = $derived((store.settings.serverAuthMode ?? "NONE") === "BASIC_AUTH");
+  const useBlob   = $derived((store.settings.serverAuthMode ?? "NONE") !== "NONE");
 
   const effectiveReaderSettings = $derived.by(() => {
     const mangaId  = store.activeManga?.id;
diff --git a/src/shared/manga/Thumbnail.svelte b/src/shared/manga/Thumbnail.svelte
index c6b0b3d..53f3134 100644
--- a/src/shared/manga/Thumbnail.svelte
+++ b/src/shared/manga/Thumbnail.svelte
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <script lang="ts">
-  import { thumbUrl, getServerUrl } from "@api/client";
+  import { plainThumbUrl, getServerUrl } from "@api/client";
   import { store } from "@store/state.svelte";
   import { getBlobUrl } from "@core/cache/imageCache";
 
@@ -23,10 +23,7 @@
     [key: string]: any;
   } = $props();
 
-  const isAuth = $derived(
-    store.settings.serverAuthMode === "BASIC_AUTH" ||
-    store.settings.serverAuthMode === "UI_LOGIN"
-  );
+  const isAuth = $derived((store.settings.serverAuthMode ?? "NONE") !== "NONE");
 
   let blobUrl = $state("");
   let reqId   = 0;
@@ -48,7 +45,7 @@
   const resolved = $derived(
     isAuth
       ? (blobUrl || undefined)
-      : (src ? thumbUrl(src) : undefined)
+      : (src ? plainThumbUrl(src) : undefined)
   );
 </script>