Chapter Summaries

Angel examined the Power Furnace’s ability to turn killing intent into sustained combat strength before Boiling Gentleman abruptly returned them from Black Dream Space to the laboratory. There, they discovered twelve escaped Void Travelers, while Angel wondered why Spotty Dog wanted only the one trapped in the Zhen Birdcage.

• Angel praised the Power Furnace’s ability to sustain Mystic Mech Valen at peak strength through slaughter and nightmares, and considered asking Boiling Gentleman how to refine one.
• Boiling Gentleman announced a minor situation outside and brought Angel back from Black Dream Space to the laboratory beneath the Dome.
• A transparent Snot Monster attacked Angel, but Angel deflected its fierce wind with the Green Pattern in his right eye.
• Boiling Gentleman used black-mist tentacles to capture twelve Void Travelers that had escaped through a crack in the transparent pipeline door.
• Angel deduced that Mystic Mech Valen’s earlier red light had damaged the door and that the Void Travelers had gathered near the Zhen Birdcage to rescue their imprisoned companion.
• Angel noticed Spotty Dog ignored the captured Void Travelers and wondered what made the fatter Void Traveler in the Zhen Birdcage special.

Angel discovered that most Void Travelers could not communicate mentally, unlike the unusual one in Zhen Birdcage. Boiling Gentleman gave Angel the birdcage and the other Void Travelers, which Angel passed to Spotty Dog, before they returned to discussing the Power Furnace.

• Angel tried to communicate mentally with a regular Void Traveler and found it could not respond, confirming that the one in Zhen Birdcage was exceptional.
• Angel told Boiling Gentleman that the Void Traveler in Zhen Birdcage interested him, and Boiling Gentleman offered it as a gift.
• Angel accepted the gift, and Boiling Gentleman added the other Void Travelers before handing him Zhen Birdcage.
• Angel gave Zhen Birdcage to Spotty Dog, which wrapped its tail around it.
• Angel resumed discussing the Power Furnace with Boiling Gentleman but refrained from asking for its crafting method again.

Angel left Boiling Gentleman’s modification laboratory with a nearly depleted Twisted Seed offspring to study, then reached the door leading out of the demiplane. He opened it and prepared to investigate the magic patterns beyond the Black Dream Tunnel.

• Angel said farewell to Boiling Gentleman, who led him through the Misty Candle Corridor toward its exit.
• Angel saw the decaying Twisted Seed mother body and took one of its nearly lifeless offspring after learning that he could sustain it with energy.
• Angel replenished the offspring with Nightmare Realm aura, protected it with Nightmare Illusion power, and stored it in his bracelet.
• Angel reached the ancient metal door and opened it, sensing spatial energy and airflow shift as the passage to the real world formed.
• Angel saw the Black Dream Tunnel beyond the door and prepared to examine the magic patterns.

Angel bid farewell to Spotty Dog and Boiling Gentleman after Spotty Dog freed the Void Travelers from the Zhen Birdcage. He then examined the ruin gate’s magic patterns, confirmed they matched those of his temporary home, and prepared to activate the gate’s ruin map.

• Angel thanked Spotty Dog, embraced it, and told it to return to Minister Dim with Boiling Gentleman.
• Spotty Dog left the Zhen Birdcage behind, then used its tail to open it and release the Void Travelers into the Black Dream Tunnel.
• Angel let the Void Travelers escape, and Boiling Gentleman promised to deliver Spotty Dog to Minister Dim and bring back new Light Solvent before leading it away.
• Angel examined the magic patterns on the ancient gate and confirmed that the ruin and his temporary home had been created by the same person.
• Angel realized the independent magic pattern on the gate represented a ruin map, and he planned to disable the array’s defenses while preserving the lines needed to power it.

The wizards above the Star Pool debated Angel’s fate after three days without word from him, and Rhein decided to enter the ruins. As Rhein approached the passage, a glow emerged from within, prompting everyone to rush toward it.

• Wallace, Iron Armor Granny, and Nis worried that Angel might not have survived three days in the ruins, while Sanders maintained that Angel was likely still alive because the Dream Wilderness remained stable.
• Rhein decided to enter the ruins himself, and Iron Armor Granny agreed to oversee the situation outside.
• Rhein transformed into a black shadow and sped toward the passage at the center of the Star Pool, while Sanders stayed behind to help hold the line if demonic beasts emerged.
• A faint glow drifted from the passage, and the wizards hurried toward the center of the Star Pool, suspecting that demonic beasts were about to emerge.

Angel emerged from the Star Pool Ruins, where Sanders and the others confirmed his identity and Rhein checked him for signs of corruption. Angel warned them that a powerful Minister had descended, and Rhein stayed behind to reinforce the Wall of Condensed Light while Angel and Sanders returned with the Tree Spirit.

• The group gathered above the Star Pool passage and recognized the approaching figure as someone who resembled Angel.
• Angel emerged disguised as Jager, then dropped his transformation and revealed his true appearance.
• Rhein examined Angel for anomalies and found no signs that he had been corrupted.
• Angel confirmed that a powerful Minister had descended into the ruins.
• Rhein sent Angel, Sanders, and the Tree Spirit back while remaining behind to reinforce the Wall of Condensed Light.

After returning from the Star Pool Ruins, Angel told Sanders and the Tree Spirit about the damaged magic array, the map, and the hidden room. He believed the magic patterns on a knight’s armor could reveal how to enter it and estimated he could decipher them within a week.

• Angel returned to the ruins and explained that he had repaired the magic array behind the Star Pool Ruins’ gate, prompting Sanders to question why he had not sent a message sooner.
• Angel confirmed that the Star Pool Ruins had an array and independent magic patterns like his own ruins, though its map was no longer useful because the ruins had changed.
• Angel revealed that the mushroom forest was Duoling Garden from the Nightmare Realm.
• Angel explained that the map described a hidden room accessed by activating a magic array using the Wenlens Ordering Method and Bailuka Encryption.
• Angel brought out a knight’s armor bearing damaged magic patterns and proposed that they were the hidden room’s activation array, which he might decipher within a week.

Angel showed Sanders and the Tree Spirit the undead soul of Reeves, then decided to reveal Dream Wilderness to Savage Cave’s leaders. He took out five glowing monocles as he prepared to explain it.

• Angel showed Sanders and the Tree Spirit Reeves’s soul inside the Church of the Dead, and they recognized him beneath the mushroom growing from his head.
• Angel explained that Miying had parasitized Reeves and affected his soul, and that Reeves had partly awakened after resting for two days.
• The Tree Spirit grieved for Reeves and feared that the missing Savage Cave wizards had also died.
• Sanders explained that he had disclosed their dream messages to prevent greater losses but had kept the underlying truth secret.
• Angel decided to reveal Dream Wilderness to the senior figures who had gathered, and Sanders supported his choice.
• Angel took a small bag from his bracelet containing five glowing monocles.

The wizards discussed how Angel survived the ruins and speculated about Sanders and Angel’s unusual dream communication, concluding that ordinary Dream Messaging Art could not explain it. After Rhein reinforced the Wall of Condensed Light, he left to see Angel while Iron Armor Granny agreed to watch over the ruins.

• Wallace wondered how Angel had escaped the ruins unharmed, but Iron Armor Granny warned him not to pry into Angel’s secrets.
• Wallace explained that Dream Messaging Art could send one-way messages only to a nearby person who was dreaming, so it could not account for Sanders and Angel communicating across the Dream Realm.
• The wizards suspected Sanders and Angel had devised a new spell, but chose not to ask Sanders about it.
• The Wall of Condensed Light flared and slowed the wizards’ use of magic and mental power after Rhein reinforced it.
• Rhein asked Iron Armor Granny to watch over the ruins while he went to see Angel, ignoring Nis’s request to come along.

The Tree Spirit brought Reeves, whose soul Angel had rescued, to Rhein and the others so they could question him about the ruin. Reeves’s account raised urgent questions about the red light and Nightmare Realm creatures, while Angel also sent five monocles for the group to wear before meeting him.

• The Tree Spirit arrived at the observation pavilion with the Church of the Dead and a pouch sent by Angel.
• Nis awakened Reeves, who confirmed that Angel had saved his soul.
• Reeves recounted his experiences in the ruin, including the red light, Misty Gold, and Miying, but knew little about what happened after Nightmare Realm creatures appeared.
• Wallace and Liana asked to accompany Rhein to see Angel, while Nis’s request was ignored again.
• The Tree Spirit opened the pouch and revealed five monocles, explaining that Angel had asked everyone to put them on.

Liana and the others received monocles from Angel, and suspected they were a new communication device that might replace Savage Cave’s crystal balls. Rhein activated one and saw a string of unfamiliar numbers appear on its lens.

• Liana, Iron Armor Granny, Wallace, and Nis suspected the monocles were communication devices, while Rhein reacted with unsettling calm.
• The Tree Spirit said Angel had asked him to deliver the monocles and suggested Angel had been afraid to bring them himself.
• Rhein took a monocle, and Liana, Iron Armor Granny, Wallace, and the Tree Spirit claimed the others, leaving Nis without one.
• The Tree Spirit explained that each wearer had to channel energy into a monocle to register it for personal use.
• Rhein activated his monocle and saw a row of strange numbers appear on its lens.

Rhein entered a dream through Angel’s monocle and found himself in a vivid world alongside the others who had used it. Wallace’s secret-code test suggested they had independent consciousness, leaving open whether they had truly met in the Dream Realm.

• Rhein guessed that the monocle’s counter tracked its remaining uses, then allowed its strange force to draw him into a dream.
• Rhein crossed the Dream Bridge and Dream Gate, arriving beside a lake in a world that felt more real than a dream.
• Rhein found Liana, Wallace, Tree Spirit, and Iron Armor Granny in the same place, each examining the world and their bodies.
• Wallace recited a Podo Secret Code, and Rhein verified that Wallace showed signs of independent thought.

Rhein and the others confirmed that they had independent thoughts in a shared dreamlike world, and Iron Armor Granny and Tree Spirit argued that it might be a real, novel place where people could communicate across any distance. The group suspected Angel had brought them there and that he might use it to transform the Tea Party.

• Wallace and the others calculated their Podo Secret Codes, and Rhein concluded from their distinct thoughts that they had independent minds.
• Wallace voiced the impossibility of everyone meeting in a shared world despite having separate dreams and random entry points.
• Iron Armor Granny suggested the world could explain how Sanders and Angel communicated through dreams and urged everyone to investigate what seemed unbelievable.
• Iron Armor Granny and Wallace examined the world's unusual magical power and found that it could be absorbed from the air and used to cast spells.
• Tree Spirit said Angel would know the truth about the world and proposed that it could be the major change Angel had predicted for the Tea Party.
• Tree Spirit pointed out that the world was novel and full of strange rules, including giving him a humanlike physical body.

Angel and Sanders arrived in Firstheart City, where Angel explained the Dream Wilderness and confirmed that he had created it. The group was left stunned by the implications of entering the demi-plane through a login device.

• Angel and Sanders jumped from a steam airship and landed before the group.
• Angel confirmed that he intended to hold the Tea Party in Firstheart City and led everyone toward the city while answering their questions.
• Angel explained that Firstheart City lay between the Dream Realm and reality, and that many of its residents were consciousnesses of people who had died in reality.
• Wallace deduced that the world's rules had been deliberately shaped and asked Angel whether he controlled them.
• Angel revealed that he had created the Dream Wilderness, described it as a demi-plane, and briefly explained how it had come into being.
• The group realized that people in the Southern Wizarding World could enter the Dream Wilderness through a login device and were left stunned.

Angel showed Rhein, Liana, Wallace, the Tree Spirit, and Iron Armor Granny how the Dream Wilderness enabled face-to-face communication across vast distances and explained its access controls. He brought them to Skyvault Tower to review Frod’s research topics, leaving them to consider the Dream Wilderness’s immense potential.

• Liana, Wallace, and Rhein reacted with shock as Angel explained that monocles let users enter the Dream Wilderness and communicate across the Southern Region.
• Angel explained that only those with a Nightmare Soul Physique could learn the special Dream Entry Technique, and that his Gatekeeper authority controlled access to the Dream Gate.
• Rhein and the others recognized the Dream Wilderness as a potential era-changing innovation, while the Tree Spirit suggested that communication was only its most basic application.
• Angel led everyone through Firstheart City to Skyvault Tower and described the city, including how Dream Realm residents were born.
• Angel explained Frod’s role and Luo Oath, then handed out Frod’s selected research topics about the Dream Wilderness.

Rhein and the others learned about the Dream Wilderness’s potential, while Liana discussed Angel’s plan to host future Tea Parties there. After Tree Spirit agreed to provide the Life Pool’s energy aura, Angel turned the gathering to what he had seen in the ruins.

• Rhein read about Virtual Magic and recognized the Dream Wilderness’s immense potential, but worried about controlling access to its undiscovered rules.
• Liana found Angel’s Tea Party proposals in the research subjects and asked about making the Dream Wilderness a venue for future gatherings of top-tier witches.
• Angel described part of his plan but left Liana’s questions about attracting witches and providing luxury unanswered.
• Liana agreed that the Tea Party could forgo a venue inside the Eternal Tree if Tree Spirit provided the Life Pool’s energy aura.
• Angel set aside the Tea Party discussion and said the main subject was what he had seen in the ruins.

Angel told the wizards about the dangers within the ruins, and Rhein decided to focus first on the approaching Miying crisis. As Angel prepared to return to the ruins, Gloria arrived in Dream Wilderness and took Toby away to train him.

• Angel recounted the ruins’ Nightmare Realm creatures, dangerous locations, and Heart’s Descent, leaving the group concerned that the situation could become a catastrophe.
• Rhein said he would investigate the mysteries of the ruins but prioritized the Miying crisis, and Angel offered to hand over three Miying larvae.
• The group split up to explore Dream Wilderness, while Angel prepared to leave and await Rhein in the ruins.
• Toby rushed into Angel’s arms, trembling, just before Gloria landed on Skyvault Tower’s terrace.
• Gloria scolded Angel for neglecting Toby, then took Toby to the Stone Pillar Colosseum for training.
• Gloria said she supported Angel’s plan to introduce Dream Wilderness at the Tea Party and left while looking forward to a new era.

Angel discussed the functional mushrooms from Duoling Garden with Sanders and Rhein, including Yamen’s potential as a teleportation network and the danger posed by Miying. Rhein took a Miying juvenile for research, while Angel tried to contact Regina for help and learned she was in Fantasy Mechanical City.

• Sanders and Angel discussed Iron Armor Granny registering in Firstheart City, then examined the Miying juveniles and other mushrooms Angel had brought from Duoling Garden.
• Angel explained that Proliferation could stabilize half-plane space and that Yamen could enable medium- and short-range spatial displacement.
• Rhein arrived, agreed to fund Yamen cultivation for Savage Cave, and promised free cultivation materials for Angel’s mushroom juveniles.
• Angel explained Miying’s traits and dangers, and Rhein took a juvenile to Dumartin for research while Sanders suggested asking Regina, the Mushroom Witch, for help.
• Angel contacted Rosen Yada to request a meeting with Regina, and Rosen said he would ask Antonio to reach her in Fantasy Mechanical City.

Angel sought Regina through Bauxia, who was relaxing with Regina inside a Drama Shadow Box illusion. He asked Regina for help with Miying and revealed that Living Threads originated from a mushroom called Illusion Performance.

• Antonio told Angel that Regina was resting in the Research Institute and could not be contacted directly, but Bauxia might help him reach her.
• Bauxia agreed to meet Angel and appeared with Regina in a golden sea-of-clouds illusion created by a Drama Shadow Box.
• Bauxia teased Angel about the story Love in the Sea of Clouds, and Antonio interrupted when it seemed to allude to Rosen's romance.
• Angel explained that he had contacted Bauxia to speak with Regina, and Bauxia readily let them talk.
• Regina asked what urgent favor Angel needed, and he linked his request to Living Threads before revealing its source was the Illusion Performance mushroom.

Angel arranged for Regina to come to Savage Cave to study his unusual mushrooms, while Sanders warned him to avoid becoming involved in Bauxia’s suspected life-alchemy research. Angel then told Sanders what he had concealed about the ruins and began repairing the knight’s armor, leaving the chapter with both of them working in the laboratory.

• Regina became fascinated by Illusion Performance, Miying, and the Message Mushroom, and decided to travel to Savage Cave with her laboratory equipment.
• Angel and Sanders agreed to prepare a sealed laboratory for Regina and require her to sign Taro’s confidentiality contract before studying the dangerous mushrooms.
• Angel recalled that Bauxia wanted magic energy arrays that could transform life matter, and resolved to avoid participating in her potentially forbidden life-alchemy research.
• Angel told Sanders about the Moon Sacrifice Day invitation, Spotty Dog, Boiling Gentleman’s laboratory, and the other mushrooms he had found in the ruins.
• Sanders examined Angel’s souvenirs while Angel repaired the knight’s armor, restoring nearly one-fiftieth of its damaged magic patterns before heading downstairs to the laboratory.