Chapter Summaries

Sno contacted Mr. Door to ask about Tudor’s secret mausoleums, the Abraham curse, and the nature of paradox before preparing for his advancement ritual. He sent Gehrman Sparrow Mr. Door’s answers and a warning that he could help no further, then prepared to publish his long-finished Original Manuscript of Sea of Stones.

• Sno set up a ritual using flesh from a Sealed Artifact tied to the Abraham family and summoned Mr. Door.
• Mr. Door explained how to enter Tudor’s nine secret mausoleums and how to lift the Abraham curse.
• Mr. Door said the authorities Sno described were closest to those of the Black Emperor and The Error pathways, especially Ammon.
• Sno wrote down Mr. Door’s instructions and had Miss Coconut Egg Tree deliver them to Gehrman Sparrow, along with a gold pound.
• Sno finished dismantling the ritual, checked on the ancestor within the Cocoon of Light, and prepared to publish his Original Manuscript of Sea of Stones.

Sno met Klein through a Historical Projection and shared what he knew about the Apocalypse, the Western Continent, and other transmigrators. He left Klein with the location of Roselle's final mausoleum, but said saving Roselle would require Klein to become a god.

• At Black Swan Castle, Sno felt a summoning and awakened as a Historical Projection in Klein's house.
• Sno and Klein recognized each other as fellow transmigrators, exchanged their Chinese names, and discussed the approaching Apocalypse.
• Sno told Klein that the Western Continent lay east of the Forsaken Land of the Gods but was sealed behind Gray Fog.
• Sno used his castle's spirituality pool and spirit servants to provide Chinese food, then explained that transmigrators carried the aura of Origin Quality and that Klein was connected to Origin Castle.
• Sno revealed that Roselle's final mausoleum was on an island in the Fog Sea and that Klein could attempt to save him only after becoming a god.

Klein learned that Sno could make a charm to repair Mr. Azik’s damaged soul, while Sno prepared to advance and arranged for Trissy and Adelina to choose between two potions. The chapter ended with both women drinking, and Trissy realizing she may have taken the wrong potion.

• Sno told Klein that the Ship of Theseus charm could repair Mr. Azik’s soul if Klein provided some of his body as ritual material.
• Sno returned to his body, considered the risks of failing to advance, and began preparing his potion.
• Sno offered Trissy and Adelina a Demoness of Despair potion and an Iron-Blooded Knight potion, giving Adelina first choice and warning that they needed to maintain the appearance of a marriage.
• Adelina drank the potion she chose, and Trissy drank the other after deciding she could not afford to wait.
• Trissy was overwhelmed by despair and realized she may have drunk the wrong potion.

As George III’s speech began a ritual that stirred grief across Loen, Sno revealed a plan to disrupt it by appearing as a Clown. The chapter ended with Edsac Augustus using a talisman to order MI9 to stand down.

• George III addressed crowds across Loen, and his speech used a supernatural ability to spread sorrow and emotional resonance.
• Audrey recognized that Mr. Devil had sent an avatar and worried that his absence and Mr. World’s interest in the speech signaled trouble.
• Sno prepared to disrupt the ritual while Edsac and Trissy prepared to act, and Trissy agreed to pursue becoming queen before seeking an Iron-Blooded Knight.
• Sno drank a potion, removed the cognitive obstruction around himself, and triggered a discordant melody that interrupted George III’s speech across Loen.
• Edsac appeared before the MI9 guards and used a talisman to order them to stand down.

Sno disrupted George III’s Black Emperor ritual by turning the people’s anger against him and killing him in public. The Clown was shot dead as well, leaving Audrey shocked by Sno’s apparent death.

• Sno used a talisman to interrupt the nationwide ritual and set out to destroy Qiao San’s social identity by killing him publicly.
• Sno, disguised as a Clown, confronted George III during the nationwide broadcast and denounced his disregard for the people suffering in the war.
• Sno’s words redirected the crowd’s emotions toward George III, while a woman restrained the broadcast staff with spider silk.
• Sno drew a revolver and shot George III, whose head was blown open in front of the crowd.
• The guards shot Sno repeatedly until his body fell, and Audrey sensed that his mental island had disappeared.

After George Augustus III was assassinated, Edsac announced emergency policies while Sno’s plan redirected the public’s anger and allowed him to advance through the Schrödinger’s Cat ritual. Audrey watched the political crisis unfold until Sno appeared on her mind island and revealed that the assassination was part of the Choice of the Era.

• Edsac announced that George Augustus III had been assassinated and that the cabinet would take charge of war affairs while providing food and relief.
• Audrey realized that the public’s grief and anger were fading after the king’s death, while Sno’s body died and his consciousness began advancing through the Sea of Collective Subconscious.
• Sno’s Pallbearer characteristic shielded his consciousness as he used his conviction of being uniquely special to resist the thoughts flowing through the mind islands.
• Audrey watched nobles, officials, and Prince Edsac gather under guard at the Parliament building as the kingdom faced political upheaval.
• Sno appeared on Audrey’s mind island and told her that the events were the Choice of the Era.

After advancing to Sequence Two, Sno entered Audrey’s mind island and used her help to reach his avatar while avoiding the Three Great Churches’ notice. Once reunited with his body, he examined Schrödinger’s Cat’s abilities and their risks.

• Sno told Audrey that his advancement ritual required him to die and be revived through the remembrance of others.
• Audrey approached Sno’s avatar so Sno could use a passing thought to jump onto its mind island.
• Sno regained his body, restrained his spirituality, and pretended to be exhausted to avoid attracting the Churches’ attention.
• Sno examined Eternal Immortality and the Ship of Theseus, which let him return through others’ memories and repair the resulting mental contamination.
• Sno reviewed his other abilities: Steal the Heavens and Change the Sun, The Usefulness of Uselessness, and Zhuang Zhou’s Dream Butterfly.

Sno reflected on the risks of his resurrection and arranged for Ammon to confront Klein, hoping the encounter would help Klein learn to face him. At the Tarot Club, Klein congratulated Sno on becoming an Angel, while Sno credited Klein’s help with his advancement.

• Sno considered how memories could distort his personality during resurrection and decided to repair himself once he escaped the Church’s surveillance.
• Klein escaped Charon, hid in a Backlund hotel, and began a ritual to reach the Gray Fog, but Ammon appeared and paralyzed him.
• Ammon began repeating Klein’s ritual and recognized Klein’s plan to save himself through the Gray Fog.
• Sno revealed that Little Red had given Ammon his information so Klein could gain experience confronting Ammon, then remembered he still had to deal with Loen’s affairs.
• At the Tarot Club, Klein congratulated Sno on his advancement to Angel, and Sno thanked him for providing the stage that enabled it.

At the Tarot Gathering, Mr. Fool confirmed Mr. Devil’s advancement to Angel and explained the truth behind George III’s failed attempt to become the Black Emperor. Mr. Devil outlined Loen’s political and military situation, while the chapter ended with Mr. World seeking information about Star worms from the Abraham family.

• Mr. Fool reassured the Tarot Club that the gathering would proceed and said he had used Mr. World’s body to play a game with Ammon in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Derrick asked Mr. Fool to bless the City of Silver Chief’s ritual, and Mr. Fool agreed.
• Mr. Fool revealed that George III had tried to become the Black Emperor but failed when his secret mausoleum was destroyed and his substitute was assassinated during the ritual.
• Mr. Fool said the Seven Gods had tacitly accepted George III’s bid, though they disagreed over who should become the Black Emperor.
• Mr. Devil explained that his advancement ritual had consumed Loen’s war-born negative emotions, that Prince Edsac would likely inherit the throne, and that the war would not worsen soon.
• Mr. World asked Fors to find out whether the Abraham family had any Star worms with remaining spirituality and what they would demand in exchange.

Sno and Bernadette left Loen aboard the Black Pearl to search the Illusory Sea Domain for the corpse connected to Roselle. They found the source of its panting and prepared to enter the ruins, with Bernadette using her humanity and the Sage’s abilities to withstand the sea’s effects.

• At the Tarot gathering, Sno offered to exchange spiritually intact Star worms for a Spirit Worm, and Klein accepted.
• After Loen stabilized, Sno met Bernadette at the Serenzzo Restaurant and confirmed she was ready to leave.
• Sno and Bernadette traveled to the Illusory Sea Domain aboard the Black Pearl.
• After three days and nights in the domain, Sno and Bernadette heard the corpse’s panting again near a submerged ruin.
• Bernadette merged with the sea’s information to resist its effects, while Sno concealed himself within her memories.

Bernadette and Sno entered the submerged palace and encountered a distorted fragment of the Ancient Sun God's dying dream. As the hall began erasing existence and warping information, Sno altered Bernadette's appearance to help her withstand the contamination, but warned that he could not maintain the effect for long.

• After synchronizing with Sno, Bernadette entered the submerged palace through its underwater entrance.
• Bernadette found a dry passage leading to a great hall whose altar and twisted ceiling mural reflected the Ancient Sun God's final rejection.
• The palace distorted around Bernadette, and she used Emperor's New Clothes to avoid the danger of existence erasure.
• Bernadette's attempt to send out information caused it to become a contaminated lump of flesh, and Sno stopped her from immediately erasing it.
• Sno used the contaminated information as a template to make Bernadette appear distorted, then urged her to move quickly before he lost control.

Bernadette and Sno escaped the Illusory Sea Domain after they disrupted the altar and removed the golden eye from a corpse. Sno’s left eye became contaminated, so Bernadette gouged it out, and he sealed the golden eyeball in a black bottle.

• Bernadette found the altar at the source of the hall’s distortion and ordered three summoned hounds to overturn it.
• As the hall’s panting spread through Bernadette’s body, Sno shattered a crystal bottle, and its radiance drew the distortions toward it.
• Bernadette saw a corpse beneath the altar, and Sno used Steal the Heavens and Change the Sun to take its golden left eye before the corpse collapsed.
• Bernadette picked up the eyeball and carried Sno out of the Illusory Sea Domain as the hall flooded and the Black Pearl fled.
• After seeing black blood vessels spread from Sno’s covered left eye, Bernadette gouged it out as he had instructed.
• Sno grabbed the golden eyeball, sealed it inside a black bottle, and said the ordeal had nearly made him want to die.

Sno explained that the Ancient Sun God’s eye had created the illusory sea and revealed that acquiring it would help him complete the difficult Sequence One ritual he had chosen. He asked Bernadette to become Queen of Intis and build anchors for him as he prepared to advance and eventually retrieve Old Huang.

• Sno removed the black vessels from his eye socket, restored Huang Beibei’s retrieved eyeball, and used Ship of Theseus on himself.
• Sno told Bernadette that the Ancient Sun God’s eye had shaped the illusory sea and that obtaining it increased his chances of completing his Sequence One ritual.
• Sno explained that he had chosen the harder Maxwell’s Demon path rather than the Laplace’s Demon advancement he had originally planned.
• Sno asked Bernadette to become Queen of Intis and strengthen his anchors through JoJo promotion and Roselle memorial exhibitions.
• Bernadette agreed to return to Intis as Sno said they could try to retrieve Old Huang after he advanced to Sequence One.

Sno appointed Xio as Judge of the Third Court in Cherwood Borough, giving her a role that could restore her father’s faction’s reputation. Later, Sno told Klein that the Paradox Pathway could reverse time, but warned that returning to the past might mean abandoning the people of a world facing its Apocalypse in eighteen years.

• Sno appointed Xio as Judge of the Third Court and explained that her father’s former subordinates formed a political legacy the new king could court.
• Xio accepted the appointment, and Sno fell asleep on the sofa after she left.
• Klein summoned Sno as Feng Xue and asked whether he had known that the Forsaken Land of the Gods was their own era.
• Sno confirmed that they had slept for tens of thousands or possibly hundreds of thousands of years and revealed that the Paradox Pathway could reverse time at Sequence Zero.
• Sno asked whether Klein could return to the past knowing that the current world would face its Apocalypse in eighteen years and that he would leave its friends and family behind.

Klein discussed the coming Apocalypse and the past’s destruction with Sno, then learned more about the Forsaken Land of the Gods and its connection to Earth. Before the summoning ended, Sno told Klein that bringing the City of Silver out would require using the main gate of the Giant King's Court.

• Sno described a king who became an ordinary person before learning that the world would be destroyed, and Klein admitted he could not abandon people facing disaster.
• Sno said the being that sealed off the Western Continent was connected to Origin Castle, prompting Klein to consider investigating the boundary shrouded in Gray Fog.
• Klein and Sno met Word Angel Stiv, whom Sno identified as a Sequence Two Profane Presbyter under True Creator, and Sno explained that songs like “Katyusha” could please True Creator and ease dealings with Aurora Society members.
• Klein asked how to bring the City of Silver out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Sno said a large group would have to use the main gate of the Giant King's Court.

Ammon confronted Medici in Backlund and learned Pallez's location, while Audrey asked Sno for help feeding students and war orphans. Sno arranged clerical work and then went to the Golden Dream, where Adwina reported that Sia had heard a summons near the Rosred Islands.

• Ammon visited Medici and exchanged the rusted crown for Pallez's address at 7 Pinster Street, North Borough, Backlund.
• Audrey asked Sno to help provide food for students and war orphans who could not manage Passion's work-relief program.
• Sno offered to create more clerical jobs and recorded the latest developments in his diary, including the completion of Ammon's and Adam's Godhood preparations.
• Sno traveled to the Golden Dream and asked Adwina where the ship was.
• Adwina told Sno they were off the coast of Sonia Island and that Sia had heard the Queen's summons near the Rosred Islands before it faded.

Sno asked Adwina to seek a Beyonder Characteristic from the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, then entered Sia’s meeting with the resurrected Gochainam in the ruins of Sonia Island. Gochainam recognized Sno’s aura as Ancient Chaos, but she could not explain what it was.

• Sno asked Adwina to request a Wisdom Angel, Sage, or Discerner Beyonder Characteristic from the God of Knowledge and Wisdom and vanished.
• Mobet followed Sia through the elven ruins on Sonia Island as she searched in grief.
• Gochainam appeared to Sia and explained that she had split off her characteristics to await a chance to resurrect after losing her anchors.
• Gochainam asked Sia to carry an item from the Book of Calamities to the Western Continent.
• Sno entered the consciousness space through Mobet’s fear and asked Gochainam why she wanted to go to the Western Continent.
• Gochainam called Sno Ancient Chaos, sensed only a faint aura of it on him, and admitted she did not know what it was.

Sno learned from Gochainam about the ancient, chaotic entity called Ancient Chaos and discovered that White Manufacturing had crusaded against it. He returned to the Golden Dream with a Wisdom Angel Sealed Artifact, leaving Adwina with a cryptic message about what he would provide in return.

• Gochainam told Sno that Ancient Chaos was a primordial, world-spanning force whose domain disrupted time, space, distance, and fate.
• Sno learned that the Sun God, White Manufacturing, had crusaded against Ancient Chaos after the war with the Elves and Dragons, and suspected White Manufacturing had influenced his own peculiarities.
• Sno promised to assist Gochainam with the Book of Calamities before returning from her consciousness space through Adwina's memories.
• Adwina gave Sno a rune-sealed box containing a halo-like Sealed Artifact corresponding to the Wisdom Angel, and Sno felt its effect accelerate his thoughts.
• Adwina told Sno that the Oracle had said, “We understand each other without speaking,” and Sno replied that he would later send her the characteristics of the Oracle and Insightful One.

Sno traveled to Intis, checked on Bernadette’s political plans, and tried to consult the Genie about Ancient Chaos. The Genie refused to answer and retreated into the magic lamp, leaving Sno without the information he sought.

• Sno appeared at the Cathedral of Light, noticed possible contamination in his thinking, and used Ship of Theseus to cleanse himself.
• Sno reviewed reports on Intis’s dioceses and then visited Bernadette at Gustav Palace.
• Bernadette explained that she planned to enter Intis’s decision-making circles as a leading think tank rather than restore the monarchy.
• Sno asked Bernadette for the magic lamp so he could question the Genie about Ancient Chaos.
• The Genie repeatedly retreated into the lamp, then said it did not know or recognize Ancient Chaos before withdrawing the wick inside.

Sno reflected on the dangers of advancing, while Klein investigated Chernobyl and encountered Ammon. In Backlund, Sno reassured Audrey about food supplies as an unfamiliar white moon appeared, and Klein grew more suspicious of Senior Feng Xue’s hidden secrets.

• Sno decided that advancing carefully was safer than risking passive promotion into a higher Sequence.
• Klein descended into Chernobyl, entered a ruined research institute, translated its final messages, and encountered Ammon.
• Audrey returned to Backlund after planting mushrooms and worried that Loen’s nobles would withhold food from the poor.
• Sno told Audrey the nobles would not be able to take food if they fled Loen, prompting her to head to the charity warehouse and prepare to help.
• Audrey saw a dazzling white moon rise near the western horizon and blot out the stars.
• Klein considered whether Senior Feng Xue knew about the Starry Sky and concealed an Origin Quality, but remained wary of asking him directly.