Chapter Summaries

Angel asked Baruba to organize the laboratory before Regina arrived, while Baruba continued helping with New City's construction under Frod. After Sanders found no useful results in studying the mushrooms and Twisted Seed, Angel kept the seed to raise until he found a suitable creature for it to possess.

• Angel woke Baruba from the Dream Wilderness and told him to follow Frod's instructions on New City's construction, setting aside blueprints he could not handle.
• Angel learned that Tree Chat had helped Baruba grow more comfortable talking with Babaya and Ku Doudou.
• Baruba accepted Angel's request to clean and organize the laboratory, then began working there.
• Angel saw Sanders studying the Twisted Seed and learned that his research into it and the mushrooms had produced no leads.
• Sanders returned the specimens to Angel and suggested using the Twisted Seed on a suitable target; Angel decided to keep it supplied with Nightmare Realm aura until he found one.

Angel finished inscribing defensive magic patterns in the laboratory, and Sanders told him he would leave Savage Cave to rescue Su Mishi, whose Nightmare Domain was collapsing. Sanders planned to use Dream Wilderness’s Nightmare Domain and asked for Angel’s help, leaving Angel to suggest they communicate through messages in the tree cluster instead of bringing a servant.

• Angel inscribed restraining and defensive magic patterns in the laboratory for Regina’s upcoming mushroom research.
• Sanders told Angel he might leave Savage Cave and explained that Su Mishi’s illusionary message had been a plea for help.
• Sanders recounted how Flora and Su Mishi encountered powerful Red Plague believers while investigating the Blood Fusion Virus, and how Su Mishi’s Nightmare Domain nearly collapsed during their escape.
• Sanders said Su Mishi was stranded overseas and could not use a teleportation array, so he planned to rescue him with help from Dream Wilderness’s Nightmare Domain.
• Angel agreed to help Sanders and suggested they exchange urgent messages through the tree cluster instead of bringing a servant.

Angel brought Sanders to the Mathematics Pavilion to ask Jon about Tree Chat, where they unexpectedly encountered Iron Armor Granny. Jon confirmed that Tree Chat had entered internal testing, and Sanders understood that its saved messages could preserve information for later reading.

• Angel led Sanders through the Dream Wilderness to find Jon in the Mathematics Pavilion.
• Angel and Sanders found Iron Armor Granny speaking with Jon, and Angel introduced Jon as his enlightening mentor.
• Iron Armor Granny praised Jon's knowledge, then left after inviting him to speak again.
• Jon told Angel and Sanders that Tree Chat's initial development build had entered internal testing and credited Babaya and Ku Doudou with helping develop it.
• Jon explained that Tree Chat allowed users in the Dream Wilderness to summon a window and chat in real time.
• Sanders realized that saved text messages would let users return to information later, unlike conversations that vanished after they ended.

Jon demonstrated the Mother Tree Interlink’s consciousness-activated surface network to Angel and Sanders, who explored its chat and forum functions. As they tested the interface, mysterious lights entered both sections, and a new pale-green bubble appeared asking where it was.

• Jon showed Angel and Sanders the stone disc and explained how its surface network differed from the immersive Mother Tree Network.
• Sanders and Angel used the disc, and Angel discovered that its interface contained a chat group and a forum.
• Angel read chat messages from Jon, Ku Doudou, and Babaya, then sent a golden-bubble exclamation that prompted Ku Doudou and Babaya to suspect he was Lord Pat.
• Angel browsed Jon’s forum posts about New City planning and the surface network, including comments from Baruba and Sanders.
• Two points of light entered the chat and forum, and a pale-green bubble appeared in the chat asking where it was.

Angel and Jon discussed how Dream Plant Fairies could enter the surface network, exposing the need for privacy as the Mother Tree Network developed. After helping Sanders access the network, Angel found the Tree Spirit outside Firstheart City and realized the Tree Spirit sensed a connection to the Civilization Mother Tree.

• Dream Plant Fairies briefly entered the surface network, and Jon warned Angel and Sanders that their unrestricted access threatened privacy.
• Angel promised to explore privacy protections, while Sanders recognized the Mother Tree Network’s potential for academic exchange.
• Angel made transparent sheets that let Sanders access the network, and Sanders later exchanged comments with Jon in the Mother Tree Forum.
• Angel used the Dream Gate to locate the wizards and found the Tree Spirit in a mountain hollow outside Firstheart City.
• The Tree Spirit said he sensed a nearby consciousness calling to him, and Angel understood that it was the Civilization Mother Tree.

Angel discovered that the Tree Spirit had exceptionally high compatibility with Tree Civilization and considered him a suitable future bearer of its authority. After showing the Tree Spirit the Civilization Mother Tree and learning that his main consciousness had entered the Dream Wilderness, Angel offered him a deeper way to experience the Mother Tree through the Mother Tree Network.

• Angel concluded that the Tree Spirit’s resonance with the Civilization Mother Tree made him an ideal candidate to receive Tree Civilization authority.
• Angel brought the Tree Spirit to the Civilization Mother Tree, where he studied its city, Dream Plant Fairies, and inspirational aura.
• The Tree Spirit confirmed that his main consciousness had entered the Dream Wilderness, while fragments in his avatars could still notice events in reality and send him vague feedback.
• The Tree Spirit touched the Civilization Mother Tree, causing it to tremble faintly, while Angel saw Tree Civilization’s authority respond eagerly to him.
• Angel offered the Tree Spirit a way to make deeper contact with the Mother Tree and identified it as the Mother Tree Network.

Angel returned from the Star Pool Ruins and coordinated Miying research and Dream Wilderness plans with Rhein. He shared limited information about the ruins with Maya and heard prophecies that could affect the region, including an undead threat in Alya Duchy and an unresolved prophecy concerning Guman Kingdom.

• Angel introduced the Tree Spirit to Jon in Firstheart City, then returned to reality to decipher the damaged magic patterns on the knight armor.
• Rhein declined Dumartin's offer to research Miying, and Angel said the Mushroom Witch was on her way to Savage Cave; Rhein approved Regina's research assignment and arranged assistants and supplies.
• Angel explained his New City plans to Rhein, but before they could meet its designer, Maya contacted them through Crownstar Cathedral's signal tower.
• Angel told Maya he had returned safely from the Star Pool Ruins and agreed that she could share some information with Tuvalu, while Rhein required detailed discussions to go through the Sea God.
• Maya recounted prophecies, including a threat of revived undead in Alya Duchy; Rhein decided to post a mission to eliminate them, and Maya began describing another prophecy concerning Guman Kingdom.

Maya warned Rhein about prophecies concerning the Guman Kingdom and the Budding Cult, then shared a vision of a world-changing transformation arriving with the Tea Party. In the Dream Wilderness, Rhein and the Tree Spirit praised Jon’s New City blueprint, and Angel claimed he could build it using materials beyond the finest known foundations, leaving them wondering how he would do so.

• Maya told Rhein that a prophecy showed the Guman King’s palace burning for three days, and Angel considered whether Xius and his sister were responsible.
• Maya reported that wizard organizations had found three confirmed Budding Cult gathering places overseas, and Rhein said the Tea Party’s screening would be stricter.
• Maya told Dodolo that the Crownstar Seer had predicted a world-shaking transformation from the south during the Tea Party, and Dodolo said he looked forward to it.
• Rhein examined Jon’s New City blueprint in the Dream Wilderness and praised its design, while the Tree Spirit agreed it could become a great city.
• The Tree Spirit questioned whether the Dream Wilderness had enough materials to build New City, and Angel said he would use materials better than Demon-Absorbing Soil and Energy-Purifying Water.

Angel revealed that the Dream Conch could bring non-living objects from reality into designated locations in Dream Wilderness, giving Rhein and Tree Spirit a way to develop its vast potential. After Rhein left to plan Savage Cave’s response, Angel continued repairing armor, learned Dodolo and Maya would arrive in two days, and received word that Regina had arrived.

• Angel explained that the Dream Conch could pull objects into Dream Wilderness at locations he chose, and that Firstheart City had been brought there the same way.
• Rhein and Tree Spirit realized the Dream Conch could provide an ongoing supply of materials for wizard research, and Rhein left to consider how Savage Cave should proceed.
• Angel returned to reality, resumed repairing the knight armor’s magic patterns, and reflected that the Dream Conch and Dream Wilderness depended on his control.
• Dodolo told Angel that he and Maya would leave Crownstar Cathedral and reach Savage Cave in two days, and Angel invited Dodolo to visit the ruins for a talk and a Dream Wilderness login device.
• Tree Spirit sent Angel a message that Regina had arrived.

Angel brought Regina to the ruins to research Miying, the dangerous mushroom that could release parasitic spores and cause a catastrophe. After showing Regina several other mushroom juveniles, he prepared assistants for her, and Regina was ready to begin her research immediately.

• Angel met Regina outside the ruins and led her to the laboratory on the third underground level.
• Regina examined the Miying juvenile, and Angel explained how it could parasitize wizards and spread dangerous spores.
• Angel showed Regina five other mushroom juveniles, including Message Mushroom, Illusion Performance, White Embryo, Proliferation, and Shell.
• Regina eagerly inspected the mushrooms and agreed to study Miying first before asking about the others.
• The Tree Spirit brought eight peak-level apprentices to assist Regina, and she agreed to let them learn from her.

Angel warned Regina that he would not help Bauxia pursue dangerous life alchemy, then completed the repair of the magic pattern on the knight’s armor. He prepared to activate the pattern and investigate the hidden room, and the Tree Spirit agreed to accompany him.

• Regina cautioned Angel not to help Bauxia with life alchemy, and Angel agreed while noting that Bauxia might seek clues elsewhere.
• Angel gave Nis a monocle, allowing him to enter Dream Wilderness, and spent five days deciphering the damaged magic pattern.
• Angel discovered the armor’s blood ink mixed Brain Whale pre-cranial blood with blood from beneath a nearshore whitefin whale’s fin, then made a suitable replacement.
• Angel repaired the magic pattern, leaving it ready to teleport someone into the hidden room, but chose not to activate it without preparation.
• Angel summoned the Tree Spirit and told him the repair was complete, and the Tree Spirit offered to accompany him into the hidden room.

Angel and the Tree Spirit entered the hidden room corridor and encountered different deadly threats when the bedroom door opened. They identified the red light as Nightmare Light, but did not know how to deal with it.

• Angel prepared a barrier around the study, arranged for Baruba to evacuate the others if danger arose, and activated the magic pattern on the knight armor to enter the hidden room with the Tree Spirit.
• The Tree Spirit scouted a corridor ending at a closed door, and Angel opened it with a Phantom Limb.
• A knight in armor attacked Angel with powerful sword flashes, while the Tree Spirit saw abysses and thorned black vines; the Tree Spirit pulled Angel out of the red-lit area.
• Angel and the Tree Spirit found the corridor undamaged and the knight gone, then realized the red light from the doorway matched the Nightmare Light described by Reeves.
• The Tree Spirit concluded that the Nightmare Light had made them experience different threats, and Angel wondered how they could proceed.

Angel and the Tree Spirit tested ways to pass through the Nightmare Light, discovering that it could not be blocked and that even Angel's Phantom Limb was drawn into its nightmares. They tried using the Tree Spirit's leaf substitutes to reach the door, but he failed to return, leaving Angel waiting for another clone and searching for a different solution.

• The Tree Spirit entered the Nightmare Light with a mirrored shield and leaf substitutes, but the light defeated both his physical and energy-based defenses.
• Angel's Phantom Limb entered the light and dragged him into a nightmare, so he severed it to escape; the Tree Spirit then explained that his substitutes had saved him twice, briefly releasing him from the nightmares.
• Angel and the Tree Spirit devised a plan to use five leaf substitutes to buy ten seconds, while Angel set up a force field to pull the Tree Spirit out of the illuminated range.
• The Tree Spirit regained his senses after sacrificing a leaf and rushed through the door, but he did not return before the ten seconds elapsed or during Angel's five-minute wait.
• Angel returned to the corridor's start to wait for another Tree Spirit clone and considered how Nightmare Realm creatures might control the Nightmare Light.

Angel learned that the room contained far denser Nightmare Light than the projection outside, which had killed the Tree Spirit’s avatar. After Angel’s Green Pattern Domain Field protected a Phantom Limb from the projected light, he stepped into the illuminated area to test it himself.

• The Tree Spirit told Angel that the Nightmare Light inside the room was concentrated and had killed his avatar after rapidly consuming four leaf substitutes.
• Angel and the Tree Spirit concluded that the light outside the door was a projection, and Angel proposed using Nightmare Realm power to resist it.
• Angel sent a Phantom Limb wrapped in Nightmare Realm aura into the light, but he was drawn into a nightmare until the Tree Spirit severed the limb.
• Angel activated the Green Pattern’s Domain Field around a second Phantom Limb, which remained unaffected by the light for at least forty seconds.
• Angel decided the Domain Field might work and stepped into the illuminated area to test it directly.

Angel and the Tree Spirit confirmed that Angel’s Domain Field could protect against the Nightmare Light and cautiously explored the hidden room. They found signs of its absent owner and ended at a desk piled with records behind an old workbench.

• Angel tested his Domain Field against the Nightmare Light outside and inside the room, confirming it could protect his Phantom Limb from the light’s erosion.
• Angel and the Tree Spirit entered the room carefully and found an empty coat rack, suggesting its owner had not returned.
• Angel discovered an empty universal magnetic board and a nearby bed holding a piece of unusual Star Iron, which he stored for later study.
• Angel and the Tree Spirit followed the room’s walls and found an old, frequently used workbench with no integrated recording function.
• Angel spotted a tall chair and a desk piled with parchment and bound pages behind the workbench.

Rhein emerged from seclusion and received the Tree Spirit’s warning that Angel had found a dangerous hidden room containing Nightmare Light. In the room, Angel and the Tree Spirit investigated its records, and Angel discovered an illustrated guide describing a mirror called Voice of Oblivion.

• Rhein checked for news, sent messages through the Mana-Siphoning Path, and considered a future policy for Savage Cave centered on Angel and protection from the Budding.
• Rhein received the Tree Spirit’s message that Angel had deciphered the damaged magic patterns and that Nightmare Light made the hidden room dangerous, prompting the Tree Spirit to urge Rhein to come over.
• Angel and the Tree Spirit approached the desk in the hidden room, found an item analysis table, and began examining the scattered papers and bound volumes.
• The Tree Spirit read Records of Kulori, Volume One, and told Angel that its dated notes mentioned Kulori and a person named Belos.
• Angel opened a book bearing Kulori’s name and found an illustrated entry for Voice of Oblivion, a mirror that could make someone forget a repeatedly recited name and everything associated with it.

Angel realized Kulori’s illustrated catalog recorded mysterious objects and considered whether the Hupa Coefficient measured their strength. As Angel and the Tree Spirit continued reading, the catalog revealed that mysterious objects could take unusual forms and have effects that defied ordinary expectations.

• Angel read about the Star of Hope and concluded that its ability to open a path through seemingly fixed fate suggested it was a mysterious object.
• Angel saw that the Time Postcard belonged to the Order Guild and used its ownership and illogical effect to confirm that the catalog recorded mysterious objects.
• Angel reconsidered the Voice of Oblivion’s low Hupa Coefficient and suspected that the word “root” in its description might indicate its true ability.
• The Tree Spirit said Rhein had emerged from seclusion and was coming to meet them, then returned to reading Kulori’s records.
• Angel skimmed the catalog and learned that Heartbeat of the Lonely Clown’s heartbeat was its mysterious core and that it had a Hupa Coefficient of 61.

Angel read Kulori’s illustrated guide to mysterious objects and inferred that the Hupa coefficient might measure their degree of disorder. After Rhein arrived, the group learned from Kulori’s records that he was a mysterious alchemist, then searched the books for information about the ruins and the coefficient.

• Angel read about the Growth Ray and City of Reincarnation, noting their high Hupa coefficients and their connection to disorderly objects.
• Angel learned from Kulori’s notes that people could alter events in Poetry City to escape City of Reincarnation, and concluded that Hupa coefficients might correspond to degrees of disorder.
• The Tree Spirit told Angel that Rhein had arrived, and the group followed the wall route to meet him.
• Rhein said he had escaped an overlapping spatial collapse outside, then asked Angel what he had discovered.
• Angel showed Rhein Kulori’s notes on mysterious objects, and the Tree Spirit confirmed from Kulori’s records that Kulori had joined the Order Guild after crafting a mysterious object.
• Rhein began reading Kulori’s later records while Angel skimmed the alchemy books for information about the Hupa coefficient.

Angel studied Kulori’s records, learned how the Hupa Coefficient measured a mysterious object’s stability and disorder, and discovered that the Blackening Spell might be connected to crafting mysterious objects. The chapter ended as Rhein prepared to share the useful information he had found in the records.

• Angel found that Kulori’s alchemical books were mostly design blueprints and explained to the Tree Spirit that he was searching for information about the Hupa Coefficient.
• Rhein directed Angel to Kulori’s Records, Volume Twelve, where Angel read Kulori’s derivation of the Hupa Coefficient and learned how it assessed a mysterious object’s stability, disorder, and danger.
• Angel read that Hupa was revered as an alchemist close to truth and that Kulori had calculated a mysterious potion’s coefficient at about 40.
• Angel found Kulori’s account of rumors that he had inherited the Blackening Spell and inferred that the spell might be related to crafting mysterious objects.
• The Tree Spirit told Rhein that Kulori had crafted a steel seal and that Moon, his Order Guild-assigned follower, was a legendary-rank figure.
• Rhein asked the Tree Spirit about earlier records, then announced that he had found a great deal of useful information.

Rhein explained how Kulori obtained Nightmare Light and how a teleportation array linked the Star Pool Ruins to Angel’s hidden room. Angel and the others explored the room to locate and control the array, and finally found it inside a circular iron enclosure.

• Rhein revealed that Belos brought Nightmare Light back from the Nightmare Realm and that its vanished container had caused it to fill Kulori’s laboratory, now known as the Star Pool Ruins.
• Rhein explained that Kulori had a second laboratory built as a twin to the Star Pool Ruins, then used a teleportation array to channel Nightmare Light into Angel’s room for research.
• Rhein warned that Nightmare Realm creatures might teleport into the room, so Angel moved his Domain Field and resumed searching for the hidden array.
• Angel used the item-placement analysis table to identify three tools as discarded semi-finished components of an unknown alchemical tool, and Rhein gave them to Angel to keep.
• Angel, Rhein, and the Tree Spirit explored farther into the room and found the teleportation array inside a circular enclosure of golden iron railings.