Chapter Summaries

Little Saim was attacked by the farmer’s ghost, a Mirror Wraith, and became trapped between two apparently real copies of his room. At the lumber factory, Angel and Frod investigated the Wraith’s movements, and Angel pointed out a window as a possible clue.

• Little Saim read about Mirror Wraiths in the Soul Record and realized the knights had removed the castle’s mirrors to guard against one.
• The farmer’s ghost seized Little Saim beneath his desk, but he struck it with an oil lamp and fled toward the door.
• Little Saim found rooms on both sides of the doorway and was attacked by two farmer’s ghosts, which broke his ribs and tore flesh from his arm.
• Angel arrived at the lumber factory and confirmed that the farmer’s ghost was a Mirror Wraith that had left traces of death energy near mirrors.
• Frod explained that the knights had removed the factory’s mirrors except for two in separate warehouses, but Angel questioned whether any other mirrors remained.
• Angel entered an empty room, tapped its windowpane, and asked Frod if he saw it.

Angel and Frod discovered that the farmer’s ghost could use reflective surfaces, including knights’ armor, to reach Star-Lake Castle and attack Little Saim. As Angel studied the illusion trapping the rescuers, Little Saim tried to escape through a mirrored corridor and found another room beyond the window.

• Angel explained that the mirror wraith could inhabit glass, and Frod realized it might use reflective armor to travel up the mountain toward Little Saim.
• Angel and Frod reached Star-Lake Castle, where Angel spotted an unnatural darkness in Little Saim’s window and Dru sensed a heavy deathly aura inside.
• Six wizard apprentices entered Little Saim’s room and became trapped in a deathly illusion that Angel named Deathly Mirror Image.
• Little Saim was battered by two farmer’s ghosts while Angel observed the illusion from outside and confirmed that Little Saim was injured but still alive.
• After the ghosts turned toward approaching footsteps, Little Saim struggled into a mirrored corridor and opened a window, only to find another reversed room beyond it.

Little Saim escaped the synchronized mirror rooms by setting fire to a bookshelf, destroying Mirror Wraith’s clone and freeing the trapped apprentices. After the Silver Heron Royal Wizard Corps and Frod intervened, Angel and Dru helped rescue and treat him, and Angel praised his actions.

• Little Saim tested how objects synchronized between the mirror-image rooms, then set fire to a bookshelf to see whether changes in the energy realm would affect both rooms.
• The flames appeared brighter in the opposite room, and the farmer's ghost lunged at Little Saim before a pulling force dragged him away.
• Six members of the Silver Heron Royal Wizard Corps appeared, and Frod revealed that Little Saim’s fire had burned Mirror Wraith’s clone and freed the trapped apprentices.
• Frod carried Little Saim through the flames and out of Star-Lake Castle, where Dru treated his severe injuries and Angel watched.
• Little Saim explained his experiments, and Angel praised his ingenuity while warning him to plan an escape route before starting a fire.

Angel explained how Little Saim’s fire in the real world injured Mirror Wraith’s hidden avatar and broke the Deathly Mirror Image, after which Frod captured Mirror Wraith. Angel kept the Soul-Absorbing Bottle to study the mirror image and then investigated the cavern, where the skeletons raised new questions about the mysterious ritual.

• Angel explained that Little Saim’s fire was reflected into the mirror-image space, burning Mirror Wraith’s avatar and allowing the trapped apprentices to escape.
• Angel warned Little Saim that luck and his Near-Spirit Body could not replace preparation, while praising his role in the incident.
• Frod returned with six dispirited wizard apprentices and confirmed that Mirror Wraith was trapped in the Soul-Absorbing Bottle.
• Angel decided to study the Deathly Mirror Image before giving Mirror Wraith to Tulas, then went with Frod to the underground cavern.
• Angel checked Sunny and found the cavern’s deathly energy unchanged, with 360 skeletons seated in grottoes along its walls.
• Angel recalled that the skeletons may have been slaves selected at Dawn Town’s slave market thirteen years earlier and wondered who had arranged the ritual and why.

In Rosewater Hall, Sanders encouraged Angel to study the Mirror Wraith’s rare mirror-image space ability, while Angel considered investigating the underground altar and seeking Dodolo’s foresight. Angel also learned that Gloria had tricked a Golden Apple from a treant and was hiding from it by staying offline.

• Sanders urged Angel to try simulating the Mirror Wraith’s spatial illusion, noting that Angel’s Void Illusion Gate suggested he might have some aptitude.
• Angel drank Azaz’s milk tea and learned that the Dream Wilderness had given Azaz more than twenty hours of peace from Sebastian’s intrusive voice.
• Angel discovered through his god’s-eye view that Gloria had used poisonous-mushroom camouflage to trick a Golden Apple from the treant, then logged off to avoid being discovered.
• Sanders offered to help Angel investigate the underground altar and suggested he consult Nis if needed.
• Angel planned to remain on Revelation Continent to study the altar and the Mirror Wraith’s ability, and to ask Dodolo for a possible foresight.

Angel brought Dodolo to inspect the underground altar on Revelation Continent, hoping his prophecy would reveal clues about its makers. Dodolo produced two fragmented images that suggested people involved in the sacrifices, but their identities remained unknown.

• Angel summoned Dodolo and explained the underground cavern, its living-sacrifice altar, and the missing symbol on its stone slab.
• Angel took Dodolo to Wizard Nis, who was studying the slab in New City with Tulas and Mandhaila nearby.
• Dodolo examined the symbol and, after half an hour, told Angel he had seen scattered, incomplete images.
• Angel helped Dodolo project the images onto parchment, and the first showed a bound young man facing a figure whose polished boots bore an emblem.
• Dodolo displayed a second image of a cloaked figure walking up the altar steps, but it revealed no clear identifying marks.

Dodolo’s visions revealed that a group in the underground cavern had performed a ritual involving extraordinary organs and a symbol from the Quest World, while leaving several clues for Angel and Nis to investigate. Angel arranged for Frod to pursue those clues, and Nis studied a numerical range Dodolo had identified for the stone slab’s useful node.

• Dodolo showed Angel and Nis an image of containers holding extraordinary limbs, prompting them to question whether the cavern’s ritual was more than organ smuggling.
• Dodolo revealed three cloaked figures with numbered face tattoos beside a patterned female arm; the person marked 0 used a Quest World symbol matching the one on the stone slab.
• Nis said he would ask Iron Armor Granny about the symbol and tried, unsuccessfully, to recall where he had heard of people with numbered tattoos.
• Angel asked Frod to investigate the boot emblem, the black-and-red arm patterns, and the numbered tattoos.
• Dodolo gave Nis a numerical range for a useful node on the stone slab, though he could not identify the node himself.

Angel tested the Mirror Wraith’s mirror-image space and discovered that it could reproduce symbols from the Quest World and project a real forest beyond the scene reflected in its mirrors. He followed the Mirror Wraith to a sacrificial altar on an island, where he suspected it had planned to sacrifice Little Saim, and began questioning what power the ritual could grant it.

• Angel found that the Mirror Wraith’s illusion could reproduce the Staven Safe Zone symbols on the cavern’s stone slab, revealing a new ability of its mirror-image space.
• Angel explored the space’s layered caverns and entered a passage that led to a lifelike mountain forest rather than another copy of the cavern.
• Angel followed the path to a lake and sensed the Mirror Wraith’s presence on an island surrounded by death aura.
• Angel crossed the lake and found the Mirror Wraith standing at a sacrificial altar ringed by poles bearing five human heads.
• Angel recognized the altar as a site for an evil ritual, asked whether it was where the Mirror Wraith had performed a sacrifice in Dawn Town, and guessed that the empty pole had been meant for Little Saim.
• Angel questioned whether the Mirror Wraith expected the altar to give it power and asked what the source of that power was.

Angel watched Mirror Wraith summon an incomplete otherworldly giant eye through the altar, then discovered the eye was a hostile being from another world. As Angel prepared to destroy it, Mirror Wraith devoured its power and transformed, leaving Angel to face the undead’s newly increased strength and control over the mirror space.

• Angel stepped onto the island, and Mirror Wraith’s black flames grew into a massive shadow as the altar’s sacrificial heads poured black mist into it.
• A giant intelligent eye emerged from the shadow, noticed Angel, and attacked him with a rain of black-red bone blades, but Angel blocked them.
• Angel recognized the eye as an otherworldly life-form and prepared to destroy it with magic.
• Mirror Wraith turned on the giant eye and devoured the shadow and its energy while Angel held the eye at bay.
• Mirror Wraith’s body grew larger and changed as its energy surged, strengthening its control over the mirror space, and Angel realized this had been its true purpose.

Angel explored Mirror Space, where the Mirror Wraith gained Deathly Qi Materialization after devouring an otherworldly life-form. Angel drove it back with the Prelude of Reincarnation and sealed it, then discussed the unknown entity with Frod, who shared intelligence from Dru about the cavern.

• The Mirror Wraith created a huge head from deathly qi and attacked Angel, who tested its new ability while forcing it to develop its combat intelligence.
• Angel used the Prelude of Reincarnation to disperse the Black Mist Tower and drive the Mirror Wraith out of Mirror Space, then sealed it in the Soul-Absorbing Bottle.
• Angel told Frod about the Mirror Wraith’s evolution and its encounter with the otherworldly life-form, then showed him an illusion of the giant eye.
• Frod ruled out Loft World’s evil gods, and Angel also ruled out Abyssal Demon Gods as possible identities for the entity.
• Frod told Angel that Dru had sent intelligence about the cavern and handed him a sealed letter.

Angel learned that the boot emblem linked an underground altar mastermind to the Badger Family, then heard how Dangros accidentally burned part of the royal palace and Cypress Street while helping Fritz. In the Dream Wilderness, Iron Armor Granny revealed that Dodolo’s prophetic scenes had shown her an old acquaintance.

• Angel and Frod read a royal letter identifying the boot emblem’s likely connection to the Badger Family, a noble house in the Night Lily Kingdom.
• Frod told Angel that Dangros had helped Fritz melt Rock-Born Liquid Sol, triggering a fire that damaged the palace and Cypress Street before Dangros absorbed the flames.
• Angel learned that Fritz had been confined by Neya and that Dangros was feeling downcast, and he planned to visit it later.
• Angel entered the Dream Wilderness to meet Nis and found Iron Armor Granny waiting there.
• Iron Armor Granny said she had become interested in the underground altar after seeing Dodolo’s prophetic scenes because she recognized an old acquaintance.

Angel, Iron Armor Granny, and Nis investigated a severed arm found in a cavern and learned it belonged to Ginny Watson, the Night Butterfly Witch, who had vanished a century earlier. Nis traced clues about the cavern’s numbered-face figures to two Talents who had since died, but Sky Mechanical City located Mia’s notebook containing their report.

• Iron Armor Granny identified the arm in Dodolo’s vision as Ginny Watson’s right hand and explained why Ginny had left the Southern Region.
• Nis recalled hearing two Talents report a supernatural incident involving people with number tattoos chasing someone through flames and smoke.
• Nis and Iron Armor Granny contacted Sky Mechanical City and learned Mia had died more than twenty years earlier and the two Talents had died in the Purification Garden.
• Nis told Angel that Mia had kept a record of the Talents’ report, and Sky Mechanical City had located her notebook.

Angel learned from Mia’s notebook that two brothers on Sidro Island witnessed hooded figures with numbered facial tattoos pursuing a short-haired man in 7346 New Calendar. Because the incident occurred on the coast north of Sidro Mist Island, Angel and Iron Armor Granny suspected the figures came from the nearby Mist Belt, and Angel ended the discussion by revealing that one may have come from Feilong Continent.

• Iron Armor Granny explained that Antonio had retrieved Mia’s notebook after Angel asked to see it, and passed on Antonio’s messages about Angel’s reputation, new work, and news of Dongla.
• Iron Armor Granny warned that Dongla might challenge Angel when she returned, and Angel said he planned to unveil the Dream Wilderness login device at the Tea Party.
• Iron Armor Granny read Mia’s report about two brothers who witnessed hooded figures with numbered facial tattoos pursuing a short-haired man across Sidro Island in 7346 New Calendar.
• Angel recognized Sidro Island as Sidro Mist Island and learned that the brothers’ home lay near the Mist Belt, leading Iron Armor Granny to suggest that the figures may have come from it.
• Nis offered to post a well-paid mission to investigate the traces on Sidro Island, and Angel revealed that one of the hooded figures may have come from Feilong Continent.

Angel showed Nis, Tulas, and Mandhaila an illusion of Mirror Wraith activating an incomplete Four-Cornered Living-Skull Descent Ritual and absorbing the summoned divine consciousness to gain a new ability. Iron Armor Granny identified the entity as Hundred-Eyed Babbit, a wild god from the Savage World, and the group concluded that the ritual may have spread to Dawn Town from the Feran Continent.

• Angel told Nis that the knight order had traced the emblem on the leather boots to the Badger Family of the Night Lily Kingdom, and Nis planned investigations on Sidro Mist Island and the Feilong Continent.
• Angel gathered Tulas, Nis, and Mandhaila and explained that he intended for Tulas to devour Mirror Wraith and try to obtain its Soul Sleight.
• Angel used an illusion to show the altar, which Iron Armor Granny identified as an incomplete Four-Cornered Living-Skull Descent Ritual missing Little Saim's head.
• The illusion showed Mirror Wraith activate the incomplete ritual, devour the summoned consciousness, and evolve a second ability before Angel forced it out of the mirror-image space with Prelude of Reincarnation.
• Iron Armor Granny identified the summoned giant eye as Hundred-Eyed Babbit, a wild god from the Savage World, and Angel suggested its ritual had spread from the Feran Continent to Dawn Town.

Angel and the others discussed the Hundred-Eyed Babbit and whether Tulas could absorb the Mirror Wraith, whose new abilities made success seem unlikely. Angel revealed that Tulas once possessed Spatial Translocation, giving Nis hope that Tulas might be compatible with the Mirror Wraith, and agreed to bring them both for Nis to examine.

• Iron Armor Granny said the Hundred-Eyed Babbit was unlikely to threaten Angel and agreed to alert the Tree Spirit and the Extreme Sect about its escape from the Feran Continent.
• Nis warned that Tulas probably could not absorb the Mirror Wraith because their souls might not be compatible, and Iron Armor Granny rebuked Nis for suggesting Little Saim kill people to create special wraiths.
• Angel explained that Tulas had once been a special wraith with the innate ability Spatial Translocation, which disappeared after Angel used Prelude of Reincarnation on him.
• Nis realized Tulas's former spatial ability might make him compatible with the Mirror Wraith's Mirror Space and said he needed to examine them both before judging.
• Angel agreed to bring Tulas and the Mirror Wraith to Nis for appraisal, while Nis also shamelessly invited Mandhaila to visit Soul Valley.

Angel investigated the fire-ravaged Cypress Street, learned from Connelly how the city’s artistic culture had pressured her son, and discovered that the flames carried Dangros’s power. He entered the Silver Heron Palace to retrieve Dangros and found it rolling happily over rubies beside Fritz, who Neya had released from confinement.

• Angel met Connelly on Cypress Street and learned that she believed her son had become obsessed with art to fit in with Saint Saim City’s culture.
• Connelly explained that Queen Luo Lin had promoted art to restore hope after a devastating war, but the city’s artistic pursuit had become hollow and coercive.
• Angel found that a spark from the street fire carried Dangros’s scent and pure special fire power, then headed to the Silver Heron Palace to retrieve Dangros.
• Neya led Angel through the hidden passage into the Silver Heron Royal Wizard Corps and confirmed that Dangros was inside.
• Angel found Dangros luxuriating on refined rubies while Fritz treated it with fiery-red liquid, and Neya explained that she had released Fritz from confinement after Dangros pleaded for him.

Angel investigated Dangros’s behavior in Saint Saim City, learned that Quenching Liquid had left him intoxicated, and took Fritz’s potion formula. After returning to Star-Lake Castle, Angel found that Sunny had mastered Soul Sleight and made Dangros reflect on the damage he caused.

• Angel examined Dangros and learned from Fritz that Dangros had sought him out to be smeared with Quenching Liquid.
• Fritz recounted the events behind the fires in Saint Saim City, and Angel accepted his Boiling Blood Red Water formula while advising him to study potioncraft fundamentals.
• Angel predicted rain as he departed with Dangros, and a downpour began shortly afterward.
• Angel returned to Star-Lake Castle, where Frod told him that Sunny had successfully learned Soul Sleight.
• Yada complained that Frod had interrupted his possession of a maid, while Sunny teased him and Frod ordered them to behave.
• Dangros arrived soaked and confused, and Angel put him in the fireplace to sober up and reflect on his actions.

Angel made progress analyzing Mirror Space and confirmed that Boiling Blood Red Water could become a successful, inexpensive bloodline-cleansing potion. He also passed the confirmed Badger Family clue to Nis, who prepared to send a mission team toward the Feilong Continent.

• Angel refined his understanding of Mirror Wraith's abilities, validated the principles behind Fritz's Boiling Blood Red Water, and found that the Void Illusion Gate's energy had replenished.
• Angel learned from Frod that Dru's knight order had confirmed the crest belonged to the Badger Family through records and a sea merchant's testimony.
• Angel used the Holographic Tablet to discover that Mirror Space's outer illusion nodes were arranged according to spatial metrics, revealing a new and difficult area of research.
• Angel told Nis that the Badger Family crest had been confirmed, and Nis sent instructions to the Feilong Continent mission team to set sail.
• Nis credited Dodolo's coordinate ranges with narrowing his calculations and explained that the Sidro Mist Island team had already departed while the Feilong Continent team had waited for his order.

Angel learned that Feiluo had joined the mission to Sidro Mist Island because of his long-standing admiration for Jinny, then found Sanders and Gloria discussing a journey into the Nightmare Realm to search for Gloria’s body. Angel agreed to consider joining them, and Sanders offered to show him the maps and information he had gathered after Angel returned from the Tidal Realm.

• Angel learned that Feiluo had accepted the Sidro Mist Island mission because he had admired Jinny since his apprentice days.
• Angel went to Skybridge Garden and found Sanders discussing a possible Nightmare Realm expedition with Gloria.
• Gloria invited Angel to join her and Sanders in searching for her body, and Sanders warned him that the area contained legendary creatures.
• Angel agreed that they could explore the outskirts and said he wanted to see whether a certain person would appear again.
• Gloria left after telling Angel she did not need help with the Golden Apple, and Sanders said he would share his maps and research after Angel returned from the Tidal Realm.

Angel learned that Rhein’s negotiations with the Elemental monarchs were progressing, then left for Roydes to visit the Ashen Time Caravan and obtain materials. Elsewhere, a bearded captain and his scrawny companion decided to investigate a wounded woman who had drifted ashore on their island.

• Sanders told Angel that Witch’s Confession had exposed the private thoughts of several Elemental monarchs, including Sandstorm Sandstorm and Fallen Soil Chenier, while most regions had agreed to continue talks in the Fire Territory.
• Angel discussed his Mirror Space research with Sanders, who offered to share records of his Nightmare Substitute spell and promised to send information about Gloria’s physical body.
• Dru told Angel that an apprentice had found traces of Sands of Time in Roydes, and Angel set out to meet the Ashen Time Caravan and buy materials.
• On a fog-shrouded island in the Devil Sea, a scrawny man told a bearded captain that a badly wounded, beautiful outsider woman had drifted ashore and been taken by Boss Man.
• The bearded captain decided to sneak over with the scrawny man to see the woman for himself.