Chapter Summaries

Angel let Old Potter continue exploring the Dream Wilderness and dismissed Dox’s suspicions about Savage Cave’s secret. After Gelos tried to apologize for the arrests in Princess Town, Lady Mero returned with Little Tom’s aptitude test results: his spiritual power value was an astonishing thirty.

• Angel confirmed that Old Potter remained in the Dream Wilderness and told Lady Mero to let him sleep while she took Little Tom for an aptitude test.
• Angel deflected Dox’s questions about what Lady Mero would understand at Savage Cave, and Dox speculated about a secret Angel was hiding.
• Gelos told Angel that Blaze had recovered, then admitted he felt responsible for Motiya imprisoning everyone; Angel dismissed his confession and suggested he speak with Lady Mero.
• Lady Mero returned with Little Tom and reported that his spiritual power value was thirty, astonishing Angel and Dox.

Gelos recounted how his father’s execution and his family’s exile had separated him from Motiya, the princess who had claimed she wanted him as a child. Years later, Motiya found him again as the master of Princess Town, leaving Gelos’s past entangled with the Royal House’s tyranny.

• Little Tom thanked Angel for helping him join Savage Cave and went to meet the other gifted ones, hoping to gain the power to avenge himself on the Guman Royal House.
• Dox praised Little Tom as the gifted one most likely to become an official wizard, and Angel argued that praise could help temper him rather than lead him astray.
• Angel invited Gelos to explain his experience, and Mero told him that responsibility would be judged after they returned to Savage Cave.
• Gelos explained that his father had been executed after approving an opera whose author was linked to dissidents, while the rest of his family lost their property and were exiled to a frontier province.
• Gelos recalled meeting the domineering young Motiya, who said she wanted him, before his family’s exile separated them.
• Gelos said that Motiya had found him again years later, now as the master of Princess Town.

Angel left the others to deal with the guards and secretly went to a hill overlooking Princess Castle, where he sent an object into the castle. Inside, the Princess was testing potions on servants to stop a spreading mushroom growth, until an eerie laugh echoed through the castle.

• Gelos explained that he and Motiya had barely known each other, then left to care for Blaze.
• Angel asked Old Potter to handle the approaching guards and arrange for talented people to meet him, then secretly created an illusion in the secret room and left through the Void Illusion Gate.
• Angel watched Princess Castle from a nearby hill and sent an object flying into it.
• The Princess forced servants to drink potions, but they mutated and burst apart without stopping the mushrooms spreading over her, the Gray Crow wizard, and others.
• The Gray Crow wizard urged the Princess to spare the remaining servants, but she refused and ordered more people brought in.
• An eerie laugh suddenly echoed through the castle.

Old Potter reported Princess Town’s turmoil to Angel, who discussed the castle’s mysterious explosion with Dox and relayed Lord Rhein’s response. In Dream Wilderness, Angel found Tulas eager to return to Firstheart City and realized Tulas had not developed the longing for Mandhaila that she had hoped for.

• Old Potter learned that Motiya planned to requisition shop goods, then watched a brilliant explosion erupt from Princess Castle.
• Dox followed Old Potter to Angel’s secret room and questioned Angel about the blast, but left without resolving his suspicions.
• Old Potter told Angel that Lord Rhein would investigate Lady Mero’s capture and that Angel could contact him through Tree Chat.
• Angel entered Dream Wilderness, read Nis’s message about Kant, and went to find Tulas outside Nis’s residence.
• Tulas said he wanted to return to Firstheart City alone, and Angel realized he was not concerned about Mandhaila’s whereabouts.

Angel returned to Dream Wilderness after helping Mandhaila act against Motiya and tested Tulas’s reaction to her absence, finding him oblivious to her feelings. He then told Iron Armor Granny about the gifted ones and learned that Witch Maya had seen them in a prophecy.

• Angel told Tulas that Mandhaila had returned to the real world for a few days and asked him to leave her a message; Tulas said he knew and showed no concern.
• Angel sent Tulas back to Firstheart City and reflected that Mandhaila’s feelings for him were unlikely to be returned soon.
• Angel met Iron Armor Granny, confirmed that Mero and the other captives had been rescued, and recounted his visit to Princess Castle.
• Iron Armor Granny showed Angel a prophecy scene of gifted ones arriving by steam airship, including Blaze being spared from bullying when Sibyl appeared.
• Iron Armor Granny explained that Witch Maya had seen the scene during Stargazing Day and that they would watch the gifted ones for promising recruits.

Angel learned that the Guman King’s Abyssal secret rites were tolerated because their outcome might offer the major wizard organizations a chance at Legend, while they used him to counter the Extreme Sect. He remained wary of involvement in the Guman Kingdom and wanted to know Savage Cave’s position in the power struggle.

• Angel told Iron Armor Granny that he had sent Mandhaila to Princess Castle, and she offered to teach him how to use her while warning him away from Guman Kingdom affairs.
• Iron Armor Granny explained that the Guman King’s secret rites were watched by both the Extreme Sect and major wizard organizations, but the organizations tolerated him because his experiment might produce a path toward Legend.
• Angel understood that the Guman King used the organizations to hold the Extreme Sect at bay, while the organizations hoped to learn from the experiment’s result.
• Iron Armor Granny identified Lord Monchi as the ringleader among the wizard organizations and said his obsession with reaching Legend made him willing to gamble on the experiment.
• Iron Armor Granny warned that the greedy Guman King was likely to meet a bad end, and Angel wondered where Savage Cave stood in the conflict.

Iron Armor Granny explained why Savage Cave had joined Monchi’s effort in the Abyss but took a different stance in the Guman Kingdom. Angel learned that Savage Cave was secretly seeking to stop the kingdom’s ritual and avert catastrophe, and he concluded that its position would not undermine White Bear’s values.

• Angel recalled Savage Cave’s involvement in the Battle of Lasudelan and recognized that the major wizard organizations had supported Monchi in the Abyss because of their interests there.
• Iron Armor Granny explained that Savage Cave had no comparable core interests in the Guman Kingdom and only maintained the balance to prevent the secret ritual from causing a catastrophe.
• Iron Armor Granny revealed that Rhein was coordinating with other organizations and secretly investigating ways to destroy or weaken the ritual, while the Frost Moon Alliance wanted it completed.
• Iron Armor Granny outlined how Monchi, the Extreme Sect, and the Guman King’s forces differed over when the Guman King should die and what should happen to the ritual.
• Angel said Savage Cave’s stance would spare White Bear from having his values shaken, since White Bear had suffered under the Guman King.

Iron Armor Granny explained Savage Cave’s layered missions and warned Angel that Dream Wilderness would draw attention from rival organizations. Angel then recounted Mandhaila’s attack on Motiya and decided to leave the Guman turmoil to the wizards assigned to handle it.

• Iron Armor Granny explained that Horus’s post in Sky Mechanical City concealed a mission to exchange intelligence and strategies with the city, while Galinaya’s journey to the Abyss concealed a search for information about the Guman Kingdom’s secret ritual.
• Iron Armor Granny warned Angel that rival organizations would watch him more closely once Dream Wilderness became public, and Angel acknowledged the danger.
• Angel told Iron Armor Granny that Mandhaila was calming her negative energy and could return to Dream Wilderness using the one-time Dream Entry Technique he had given her.
• Angel recounted how Mandhaila controlled part of Princess Castle’s magic-energy array, repeatedly attacked Motiya, and contaminated her soul before leaving the castle.
• Motiya fell into a coma after Mandhaila’s attack and Angel’s special potion covered her body in mushrooms, while Iron Armor Granny noted that her survival could provide a reason to intervene in Guman’s affairs.
• Angel agreed to leave the Guman matter to the arriving wizards rather than involve himself.

Angel warned Old Potter to prepare for turmoil in Princess Town, then fortified the tavern’s secret chamber as a refuge and hidden outpost. While working, he discussed Tulas’s reaction to Mandhaila’s absence, and Mandhaila left believing that Tulas missed her.

• Angel told Old Potter to cooperate with the Savage Cave investigators, avoid Princess Castle, and consider leaving the Guman Kingdom before chaos erupted.
• Angel began reinforcing the secret chamber with magic energy arrays and used Mandhaila’s dark aura to create a rune that could preserve food and nourish souls.
• Mandhaila questioned Angel’s food-preservation rune and then asked what Tulas had said about her absence.
• Angel told Mandhaila that Tulas had simply said he knew she might be gone and then returned to Firstheart City.
• Mandhaila interpreted Tulas’s departure as proof that he felt lonely without her, and Angel chose not to correct her.

As Princess Town came under martial law, Old Potter led Mero and the Talents to Angel’s newly prepared secret chamber for shelter. Angel emerged after experimenting on Mandhaila, examined the injured Crown Parrot, and invited everyone inside to test the chamber, leaving himself and Dox outside as the others entered.

• Old Potter reported that Princess Castle had sealed Princess Town and advised Mero to hide with the Talents in Angel’s secret chamber.
• The group found a changing message on the chamber door, then watched Mandhaila emerge after arguing with Angel about being used as an experiment subject.
• Angel stored Mandhaila in his bracelet, explained that the chamber’s illusion and magic energy array were complete, and invited the group inside.
• Angel examined Abruie’s injured Crown Parrot and suspected it had been bitten by a phantom beast in Phantom Beast Forest.
• Angel warned that the chamber could punish people who broke its rules, and Dox and Mero led the Talents through the door while Angel and Dox remained outside.

Angel and Dox entered the Twelve Zodiac Palaces, a quiz challenge created by Angel’s malfunctioning magic energy array. Dox struggled with the first palace’s questions while Angel secretly blocked the arrays to bypass the challenges, and they headed toward the second palace.

• Angel invited Dox into the secret chamber, and the door announced that twelve challengers had entered and the game had begun.
• The chamber separated the challengers and presented the Twelve Zodiac Palaces, where clearing each palace required answering common-sense questions.
• Angel told Dox that his attempt to create a Concealment Box had gone wrong and produced the quiz game and its expanded space.
• At the Sweet Zodiac Palace, Dox answered the first question correctly but got the next two wrong, then tried to attack the Sugar Cube Girl.
• Angel reappeared and said he had been blocking the magic energy arrays to bypass the quizzes, then led Dox toward the second palace.
• Angel explained that the questions counted as common sense in the Sugar Cube Girl’s country, though not in the Southern Region.

Angel and Dox reached the final Zodiac Palace, where Dox passed the Red Tea Grand Duke’s trial with Angel’s help. They followed a Rabbit Hole to an underground cavern, where Angel revealed that Chacha was a rabbit.

• Angel and Dox passed through the Zodiac Palaces, but Angel warned that they could not cheat in the final one because Chacha threatened to leave the magic energy array.
• Dox answered the Red Tea Grand Duke’s first two questions correctly using his spiritual perception.
• Angel answered that rabbits were the Red Tea Grand Duke’s favorite animal, and the Grand Duke changed his answer when the narrator’s chilling voice challenged him.
• The Red Tea Grand Duke gave Dox the Bitter Stone, and Angel led him to a hidden Rabbit Hole at the end of the path.
• Angel and Dox descended into a vast underground cavern, where Angel introduced the rabbit there as Chacha.

Angel and Dox watched Chacha’s footage of challengers struggling through the Constellation Palace trials, while Chacha punished Dox for speaking too loudly. Old Potter and Madam Mero reached the tenth palace, Abruie surged ahead with help from her Crown Parrot, and Little Tom stood out among the Gifted.

• Chacha punished Dox with a green hat that sped injury recovery but made him speak only in babble for ten minutes.
• Angel persuaded Chacha to brew Dox’s Bitter Stone and show footage of the challengers clearing the trials.
• Sibyl, Blaze, and a fat man endured the Fresh Milk Constellation Palace trials; Blaze and the fat man escaped, while Sibyl was drowned by the illusion and moved on after a harrowing experience.
• Dox laughed at Sibyl’s ordeal, so Chacha gave him another green hat and silenced him again.
• Old Potter and Madam Mero reached the tenth Constellation Palace by piecing together clues, while Abruie began advancing quickly after her Crown Parrot woke at the sixth palace.
• Little Tom’s performance drew Angel’s attention among the Gifted.

Angel stopped Little Tom from bypassing the Zodiac Palaces by dying, while Abruie and the Crown Parrot arrived at the Rabbit Hole. The Crown Parrot recognized the mysterious aura in Rabbit Chacha, whose origins Angel explained, before Chacha transformed the parrot and left Dox to endure another round of punishment and mockery.

• Little Tom repeatedly died to rush through the Zodiac Palaces, so Angel had Rabbit Chacha require him to survive each punishment before advancing.
• Little Tom endured the poisonous Sea of Flowers and found a safe route to its central tower, while Angel welcomed Abruie as the first arrival.
• The Crown Parrot sensed a faint Mystic Spirit scent from Rabbit Chacha, leading Angel to explain how the Black Hat Coronation had brought Chacha into being.
• Rabbit Chacha turned the Crown Parrot into a rabbit, and the parrot began trading insults with Dox while Chacha repeatedly silenced him with green hats.

Angel introduced Rabbit Chacha as the controlling intelligence of Rabbit Hole and explained its clearance rewards to Old Potter and Lady Mero. After leaving the secret chamber with Dox, Angel revealed that he had taught Chacha how to destroy the Mystic Magic Pattern if the chamber’s anchor was discovered.

• Angel introduced Rabbit Chacha to Old Potter and Lady Mero, and Chacha used Abruie to explain that Zodiac Palace rewards could be combined for a tea-based reward.
• Old Potter and Lady Mero prepared tea for Chacha, but both blends failed its rules, leaving residency in Rabbit Hole as their reward.
• Lady Mero settled the gifted ones into Rabbit Hole while Old Potter toured the chamber, and Angel spoke privately with Chacha before departing with Dox.
• Angel told Dox that Chacha was an incomplete creation and that Teapot Kingdom was part of Chacha’s existing knowledge, then opened a Void Illusion Gate to leave the chamber.
• Angel offered Dox a contract to join Savage Cave, but Dox tore it up and left Princess Town with Angel following him.
• Angel revealed that he had taught Chacha to self-destruct the Mystic Magic Pattern if an enemy discovered the chamber’s anchor.

Angel and Dox escaped Princess Town by exploiting a blind spot in its magic energy array, then discussed the Crown Parrot and Kael during their journey toward Sandworm Market. Angel remained curious about Kael’s connection to Isos and the blueprint, while Dox wondered whether Angel had been sent to test Kael.

• Angel used an illusion to lead Dox past Princess Town’s guards and barriers without detection.
• Angel explained that paying with magic crystals had kept them outside the town’s surveillance, and Dox suggested Motiya had used the array to select prisoners as prey.
• Dox planned to investigate the Crown Parrot’s origins, and Angel asked him to share anything he discovered.
• Angel questioned Dox about Kael, learning that Kael traveled among ruins and lived in a cavern beneath Sandworm Market’s black market.
• Dox doubted that Kael was hiding an undiscovered ruin and asked whether Isos had sent Angel to test Kael.

Angel returned to the black market with Dox and brought him to Kael, where they learned that Isos wanted Angel to craft an item from a dangerous, concealed alchemy blueprint. The chapter ended as Kael prepared to show Angel the blueprint so he could understand what it was for.

• Angel returned to the black market with Dox and used Dangros's sandworm blood to pay the cactus's entrance fee.
• Angel and Dox reached Kael's home, where Kael explained that he had solved Isos's spatial puzzle and opened the mentor's letter.
• Kael learned that Angel was the Transcendent Wizard rather than the spatial mentor he had assumed, and Angel gave him advice on spatial theory.
• Angel proposed a wager over Isos's task, but Dox declined and stayed to hear about it.
• Kael explained that the alchemy blueprint he found was protected by enchantment magic patterns and would self-destruct if they were mishandled.
• Kael told Angel he knew what the blueprint was for and offered to show it to him.

Kael retrieved a dangerous alchemy blueprint from his mentor Isos’s Skinner Box, and Angel recognized clues linking it to a maze and a short sword that was probably a key. Kael revealed that he had found the blueprint in the Garden Maze, which Angel knew as Abyss City, the ruin where Sanders had once entered the Nightmare Realm.

• Kael tried to open Isos’s Skinner Box by touching it, but it bit him, and Angel healed him and charged him for the potions and black market ticket.
• Kael showed the Skinner a coded parchment, prompting it to open and let him retrieve the alchemy blueprint.
• Dox suffered increasing mental pressure while looking at the blueprint, but Angel studied it without apparent harm before folding it away.
• Angel inferred that the blueprint depicted a short sword that was probably a key, and asked Kael whether he had found it in a maze.
• Kael explained that he had found the blueprint in the Garden Maze after reading Gaya’s Travelogue, while Angel recalled that Sanders had discovered the maze’s true name, Abyss City, before entering the Nightmare Realm.

Angel agreed to help Kael and Dox find the hidden door opened by a dagger blueprint, which he believed was connected to a mysterious wall in the Nightmare Realm. After Kael and Dox left, Angel began deciphering the blueprint in the underground cavern.

• Angel explained that the alchemy blueprint could produce a dagger that served as a key, while Kael said he and his mentor had not discovered what it opened.
• Angel told Kael and Dox that he could help locate the hidden door, citing records in secret accounts and warning that the site might already be a ruin.
• Kael agreed to follow Angel's arrangements, and Angel said he would decipher the blueprint before leaving Savage Cave.
• Kael and Dox departed, while Angel set up a bath of quenching concentrate for Dangros and sent Swift Spirit to guard the cavern entrance.
• Angel recognized that the blueprint's spiritual-force impact matched the one from the wall in the Nightmare Realm's Garden Maze, and suspected the dagger could open that wall.
• Angel sat down and began deciphering the blueprint.

Angel spent more than twelve hours decrypting a booby-trapped alchemy blueprint, using a costly supply of potions to sustain his mental strength. He unlocked the blueprint and discovered a new mental-attack magic energy array, while Kael feared he would be forced to reimburse the potions.

• Angel cautiously decrypted the blueprint’s intertwined patterns and discovered that its hidden traps made the task far more difficult than expected.
• Kael and Dox waited for hours, worrying about Angel, until he summoned them to the underground chamber.
• Kael entered the chamber and collapsed after seeing the mountain of expensive potion bottles Angel had used during the decryption.
• Angel told Dox that Isos had concealed how difficult the decryption would be and revealed that he had successfully unlocked the blueprint for an unusual dagger.
• Angel realized that the lock contained an unrecorded magic energy array that inflicted mental attacks, though it could not adjust their intensity.
• Dox joked about how Angel might punish Kael, while Angel reflected on what he had learned from the array.