Chapter Summaries

Angel demonstrated his alchemical skill to Sanders and independently created a microscopic illusion in a Falcon Demon statue. Sanders then revealed that Angel had emitted a faint aura from the Nightmare Realm during his match with the Parasite Maiden and asked him to explain what had happened.

• Angel found Sanders examining his revolver and Mechanical Wrist Crossbow, and told him he had made the revolver himself.
• Sanders tested Angel by asking him to smelt Falcon-Demon Blood Copper, and Angel expertly used the Thermal Fusion Method.
• Angel carved the copper into a Falcon Demon statue and embedded a microscopic illusion in it before solidifying the figure.
• Sanders activated the statue, praised Angel’s alchemical and illusion talents, and returned his weapons.
• Sanders said he had detected Nightmare Realm aura coming from Angel and had rescued him from the underground market before the Striped Green Velvet spores could kill him.
• Sanders asked Angel to recount his match with the Parasite Maiden and explain why it had triggered the Nightmare Realm aura.

Angel recounted how the Parasite Maiden tried to take his body and soul, and explained why he believed Baroque had arranged the attack. Sanders took him to consult Lord Nis about the strange gray mist in Angel’s soul, warning him not to mention the Nightmare Realm or the Nightmare Soul Physique.

• Angel told Sanders he was certain Baroque had secretly arranged for the Parasite Maiden to fight him after learning Angel was Sanders’s disciple.
• Angel described how the Parasite Maiden occupied his body with Striped Green Velvet spores, then vanished after the strange gray mist in his soul attacked her.
• Sanders said he would investigate Baroque and explained that he had returned the spores to the Striped Green Velvet mother body, which remained inside Angel and could nourish his soul.
• Sanders took Angel on a Falcon Demon to seek help from Lord Nis, the Savage Cave wizard most knowledgeable about souls.
• Angel asked why he could sense the Parasite Maiden’s emotions, and Sanders guessed it might relate to the Nightmare Soul Physique.
• Sanders told Angel not to mention the Nightmare Soul Physique or Nightmare Realm to Nis, and to speak only of the strange gray mist in his soul.

Sanders brought Angel to Nis's hidden valley, where Angel saw the strange souls and met Saka again before entering Nis's laboratory. Nis showed Sanders a corpse revived with a succubus soul, and explained that Saka had obtained it for him.

• Sanders told Angel that Liana could help him with alchemy questions and warned him not to touch anything on soul wizards' territory.
• Sanders led Angel through an illusion array into Nis's valley, where countless naked souls watched them.
• Angel encountered Saka at the cave entrance, but Saka only recognized him after he had gone inside and began to suspect he was Sanders's student.
• Nis showed Sanders and Angel a young girl's corpse brought to life with a succubus soul, which tried to seduce Sanders.
• Sanders asked whether Nis had gone to the Abyss Plane to obtain the succubus soul, and Nis said Saka had gotten it for him.

Sanders brought Angel to Nis to investigate the gray mist affecting Angel’s soul, and Nis completed an experimental report for separating Angel’s soul body. While they worked, Angel realized that Saka’s interest in him might stem from his soul and began considering how to deal with the dangerous soul wizard.

• Saka greeted Angel, and Nis introduced him as his disappointing disciple.
• Nis offered Sanders a succubus girl, but Sanders refused, and Saka killed her to collect her soul.
• Sanders used an illusion to keep Saka from hearing while he and Nis discussed Angel’s soul condition and gray mist.
• Angel studied Sanders’s illusion and realized Saka was gazing at him with the same affectionate expression he had shown the Milk Baron.
• Angel set aside plans to kill Saka and decided to search Cloudtop Library for soul spells to prepare for dealing with Hukedik.
• Nis finished an experimental report on perfectly separating Angel’s soul body and said only the procedure remained.

Nis brought Angel to begin a soul experiment, but Sanders grew suspicious and checked the procedure. Angel discovered that Nis had added a bodily nourishment ingredient that increased blood circulation through arousal, exposing Nis's concealed trick.

• Nis tried to begin Angel's soul experiment, but Sanders insisted on verifying the data first.
• Sanders reviewed the procedure and handed Angel the addendum explaining how to preserve his body's vitality during the experiment.
• Nis grew uneasy when he realized Sanders had given Angel the sheet describing the nourishing fluid.
• Angel identified the listed materials and pointed out the unusual Meroscorpion Flower.
• Sanders recalled that the Meroscorpion Flower promoted blood circulation through arousal.

Angel identified the dangerous interaction between Meroscorpion Flowers and Abyssal materials in Nis's nourishing fluid, while Sanders exposed Nis's plan to use Angel in an experiment. The chapter ended with Sanders revealing that Nis's antidote contained a charm demon's bloodline essence.

• Angel explained that Meroscorpion Flowers could act as a catalytic balancing agent when combined with Abyssal magical materials, and Sanders recalled an alchemist confirming the effect.
• Sanders discovered that Bewitching Fragrance from an Abyssal charm demon had mixed with the nourishing fluid, creating a dangerous reaction with the Meroscorpion Flower.
• Nis admitted he had planned to test the reaction on Angel and offered a pale pink injection that he claimed would prevent harm and provide benefits.
• Sanders deduced that Nis had meant to use Angel as a test subject after Saka refused the injection.
• Sanders revealed that the injection contained the bloodline essence of a charm demon.

Angel refused to absorb Succubus bloodline after suspecting it could feminize him, and Sanders arranged to use Fragrant Blood Orchid for Nis's experiment instead. Nis tested Angel's soul compatibility and found it suitable for separation, with unusually pure soul quality, then questioned whether Angel belonged to the Illusion school or the Soul school.

• Nis urged Angel to absorb Succubus bloodline, while Sanders described its risks and possible effects, including Liana becoming more womanly.
• Angel suspected the bloodline might cause feminization and firmly refused to absorb it.
• Sanders supplied Fragrant Blood Orchid for the experiment, then reminded Nis that Nis owed him a favor.
• Nis tested Angel's soul compatibility and found no problem with separating his soul from his body.
• Nis noted that Angel's soul quality was exceptionally pure, even purer than Saka's, and asked Sanders whether Angel belonged to the Soul school rather than the Illusion school.

Sanders and Nis separated Angel’s soul from his body to study it, while Angel explored the strange space within his soul and encountered Striped Green Velvet. After Angel emerged, Nis began preparing experiments on the gray mist inside him, which Angel could sense but not control.

• Nis placed Angel in a nourishing solution and used soul-luring grass to draw his soul out of his body while Sanders watched.
• Angel’s soul explored a chaotic expanse, found a glowing Striped Green Velvet flower bud, and followed a pull toward an opening.
• Nis extinguished the soul-luring grass after Angel passed through the opening, completing the separation of soul and flesh.
• Angel tried to pass through the glass chamber, struck it, and then climbed out through its opening in his conjured clothes.
• Sanders and Nis asked Angel about the gray mist in his soul, and Angel sensed it but could not release or control it.
• Nis told Angel to get onto the experimental table so they could locate and stimulate the gray mist.

Nis used the Myriad Light Instrument to investigate the gray mist in Angel’s soul while explaining the Soul Land and the nature of souls. Angel sensed Saka’s murderous intent, and Sanders had Nis lower his spiritual barrier and physical signs so Angel could test whether he could sense Nis’s emotions.

• Nis brought out the Myriad Light Instrument and began testing which wavelengths could reveal the gray mist in Angel’s soul.
• Nis explained that the gray mist might be contamination bound to Angel’s soul and described the Soul Land as a possible other dimension.
• Angel sensed Saka’s desire to kill him and refine his soul into a third star, then told Sanders and Nis what Saka was thinking.
• Nis showed little concern about Saka’s intentions, while Sanders urged Angel to grow stronger and said he would take Angel’s soul if Saka killed him.
• Nis asked Angel to sense his thoughts, and Sanders told Nis to remove his spiritual barrier and reduce his physical signs so Angel could try again.

Angel’s examination with Nis revealed that he could sense emotions in his soul state and that the gray mist in his soul might be a powerful soul art. Sanders connected Angel’s back wound to a dangerous inner region of the Nightmare Realm, then proposed lending Angel soul power so he could test the mist.

• Angel sensed Nis’s lewd thoughts, and Sanders explained that Angel’s emotional sensitivity came from his Nightmare Soul Physique rather than an innate gift.
• Sanders told Angel that his wound likely led to a dangerous inner region of the Nightmare Realm and advised him to keep its nature from Nis for now.
• Nis used spectrum 3722 to reveal gray mist in Angel’s soul and observed that manipulating it changed Angel’s soul in a way resembling a soul art.
• Nis demonstrated Soul Roar with Susan and concluded that Angel’s gray mist might be a powerful soul art, though Angel lacked the soul power to release it safely.
• Sanders suggested lending Angel soul power so he could try releasing the gray mist.

Nis lent Angel refined soul power, tempering Angel’s soul until he could control and release the gray mist. When the mist spread through a testing cavern, Nis recognized it as the law’s rhythm he had encountered before, and Sanders identified its pattern as gravity.

• Sanders persuaded Nis to lend Angel refined soul power, and Nis warned Angel to stop absorbing it once he could control the gray mist.
• Nis used his Soul Ribbon Technique to leave his body and supplied Angel with shimmering soul power, which formed a Soul Furnace and strengthened Angel’s soul.
• Angel moved away when his soul reached its limit, while Nis returned to his body weakened and complained that the process had cost him four or five years of cultivation.
• Nis took Angel to an underground testing cavern, where Angel released the soul power and gray mist within him.
• Nis recognized the gray mist’s aura as the law’s rhythm he had encountered before and accused Sanders of tricking him again.
• Sanders realized that the gray mist carried the pattern of gravity.

Angel activated the gray mist with Nis’s soul power and discovered that it let him control the Gravity Veins, while Sanders and Nis realized Angel may have entered Spirit Stillness when the World Will imparted laws. The chapter left Sanders questioning what interrupted Angel’s unusual state and what conditions had enabled it.

• Nis angrily accused Sanders of tricking him into sacrificing cultivation to study the gray mist, but Sanders said he had only been testing a possibility.
• Angel used Nis’s soul power to activate the gray mist and recognized it as the Gravity Veins, then hurled an iron block at Sanders to test his control.
• Sanders blocked the iron block and observed that Angel could apply gravity to external objects, a feat beyond Toby’s current ability.
• Angel said he could not use the Gravity Veins again for now, then recalled entering a strange, quiet state when the World Will imparted laws.
• Sanders and Nis identified Angel’s description as Spirit Stillness and considered whether the law-imparting event had triggered it.
• Angel recalled sensing the rhythm of the laws before dull drumbeats disrupted his state and pressed him to the ground.

Angel learned that his interrupted Spirit Stillness had left Gravity Veins dormant in his soul, usable only by expending scarce soul power, and completed the union of his flesh and soul. As Sanders prepared to leave Soul Valley, Nis warned that the soul-linked Gravity Veins might carry risks, and Sanders urged Angel to study dangers before they arrived.

• Sanders explained that Angel had briefly entered Spirit Stillness and comprehended Gravity Veins, but the interrupted insight had become a soul-powered ability rather than a spell cast with magic power.
• Nis complained that he had lost five years of cultivation, then threatened to make Saka repay his losses; Angel reflected on the improvements to his soul and resolved to kill anyone who threatened him and Mentor Jon.
• Nis opened the Soul Land in Angel's body, and Angel returned to his flesh and woke in the nurturing fluid.
• Sanders and Nis discussed people pursuing Sanders, the Kalabites' interest in living creatures, and Lord Monchi's plans; Sanders gave Nis the Succubus bloodline essence, and Nis considered giving it to Hukedik.
• As they left Soul Valley, Nis warned Angel that the Gravity Veins might harm his soul, and Sanders advised him to understand and reduce risks before they arrived.

Sanders warned Angel against abandoning his own path to chase the power of the gravity vein, then tested him with an illusion that made him believe he was falling. Angel completed a dangerous wind spell to save himself, only to learn he had injured the Falcon Demon in the illusion; Sanders then asked whether he had noticed the Harmonic Illusion within it.

• Sanders explained that apprentices who studied the same question could reach different answers and cautioned Angel to follow his own path rather than chase power.
• Angel asked Sanders whether the illusion that had trapped Saka was a basic illusion, and Sanders praised Angel's analysis before asking about Harmonic Illusion.
• Sanders dropped Angel from the Falcon Demon, leaving him to believe he was falling toward the ground without help.
• Angel used an improvised wind spell based on the Cleansing Spell model, exhausting his magic power before Sanders secretly supplied more.
• Angel's wind tornado seemed to wound the Falcon Demon, but Sanders revealed that the fall had been an illusion and healed the bird.
• Sanders asked whether Angel had noticed the Harmonic Illusion, and Angel wondered if the wind's sound had concealed it.

Angel learned that Harmonic Illusion used sound to disrupt or guide the heart and impair judgment, while Sanders explained how he had used it on Angel and Saka. Back at Demon Illusion Island, Lord Rhein arrived at Sanders’s request on Samantha’s behalf, and Sanders told Angel to stay for a later discussion.

• Angel realized that the Demon Falcon’s heartbeat, rather than the wind, had triggered Sanders’s illusion and that Harmonic Illusion focused on the human heart.
• Angel concluded that the heartbeat had disrupted his judgment, and Sanders explained that he had hypnotized Saka with a pendulum’s sound so Saka would lose himself in a pleasant dream.
• Sanders advised Angel to study psychology and other illusion branches, then returned with him to Demon Illusion Island.
• Angel found the manor unnaturally silent under a group-wide silencing effect and saw Sanders’s Black Demon Shadow Servants bow to Lord Rhein.
• Rhein told Sanders that Samantha had asked him to come, and Sanders agreed to speak with him inside.
• Sanders told Angel not to leave because he had something to discuss with him later.

Angel learned that Rhine Mute, the Silent Warlock and ruler of Savage Cave, had visited Sanders before leaving for the Cloud Tower. He then discovered that Toby had fought seventeen Sky Tower matches in his place, advancing him to the fourteenth floor while wrecking his carefully cultivated reputation.

• Gude explained that Rhine's sound-suppression domain made loud speech quieter, and Angel learned the visitor was the legendary Rhine Mute.
• Angel meditated by the stream until Rhine's silence domain ended, then received Sanders' summons to the study.
• Angel met Toby and Black Demon Shadow Servant 233, who explained that Toby had fought all seventeen of Angel's matches while Angel was unconscious.
• 233 told Angel that Toby had won every match in one strike and advanced him to the fourteenth floor, earning him the nicknames One-Strike Man and Scoundrel Man.
• Angel learned that Toby's brutal victories and his earlier fight with Parasite Maiden had worsened his reputation, though some women admired his appearance.

Angel thanked 233 for fighting in his place, then spoke with Sanders about living-creature smuggling and bloodline choices. He checked Sky Tower’s notice board for his next matches and left before a White Bear arrived looking for him.

• Angel received his match records from 233 and learned that Baroque had given 233 an unregistered information card without asking questions.
• Sanders told Angel that Lord Rhein wanted to borrow Wizard Garden for smuggling otherworldly lifeforms, then advised him to choose a Nightmare Realm Demonic Beast if he pursued a bloodline implant.
• Sanders reminded Angel to thank Mirror Princess for saving his life, and Angel decided to finish a music box with an illusion as a gift.
• Angel went to Sky Tower and found that Milk Baron had eleven matches scheduled the next day, enough to reach the fifteenth floor.
• Angel overheard apprentices condemning Milk Baron’s reputation and left the area; White Bear arrived shortly afterward but failed to find him.

Angel searched for an alchemical wizard robe, failed to find one in the underground market, and visited Promi Alchemy Shop, where he encountered Fusa, Lafitte, and Black Jack negotiating for a saber. The chapter left Angel listening as Fusa argued that their offer of fifteen magic crystals was the weapon’s maximum value.

• Angel visited a tailor shop and learned that it sold ordinary clothing rather than alchemical wizard robes, then searched the stalls without success.
• Angel returned to Promi Alchemy Shop and overheard David arguing with three customers about buying a weapon.
• Angel recognized Fusa, Lafitte, and Black Jack, and Fusa apologized for their earlier misunderstanding about Melanel.
• Fusa introduced Black Jack as their new boss, and Black Jack admired Angel’s outfit before Angel went to speak with David.
• David told Angel that Black Jack’s group wanted to buy the Tang saber, and Fusa offered David fifteen magic crystals for it.

David refused Fusa and Lafitte’s offer of fifteen magic crystals for the Tang sword, and he and Angel discussed working together in alchemy. After learning that Angel was Sanders’s apprentice, Black Jack flew into a rage, returned to Promi’s shop, and attacked him, but an unseen shopkeeper intervened.

• David declined to sell the Tang sword to Fusa and Lafitte, despite their offer of fifteen magic crystals.
• Angel offered to teach David alchemy, and David asked what had happened during Angel’s match against Parasite Maiden.
• Black Jack learned from Lafitte that Angel’s mentor was Sanders and angrily turned back toward Promi’s shop.
• Black Jack attacked Angel with the Hanged Man's Invitation to Death card after entering the shop.
• A deep-voiced man kicked Black Jack out of the shop and cut his card in two, warning him not to start a fight there.

Angel and Promi dealt with Black Jack after he attacked Angel, and Angel exposed Black Jack’s supposed grudge as an excuse for his stagnation. After thanking Promi for saving him from Parasite Maiden, Angel said his matches would likely end the next day and asked about Promi’s desired alchemy weapon.

• Promi tied Black Jack upside down outside the shop after Black Jack attacked Angel, while Fusa and Lafitte pleaded that they had entered Savage Cave with Angel.
• Promi explained that Black Jack had long obsessed over becoming Sanders’s disciple and had refused other wizards’ invitations, while Angel argued that this was merely an excuse for his lack of progress.
• Angel allowed Black Jack to leave this time but warned that he should be killed if he caused trouble again; Black Jack left after saying he would return to buy the knife next week.
• Promi offered Angel wine, but Angel declined and thanked Promi for saving him during his battle with Parasite Maiden.
• Angel told Promi that he expected to finish his matches the next day and asked about the requirements for the alchemy weapon Promi wanted made.