Chapter Summaries

Angel made Kael take responsibility for the short sword’s materials and insisted that he would control any exploration of the door it might unlock. Dox joined the planned expedition, and Angel agreed to travel with him on the condition that he stay quiet and follow orders.

• Angel told Kael that he would not demand a share of any discoveries but would decide whether they opened the door linked to the short sword.
• Kael admired the short sword’s appearance, and Angel corrected his mistaken identification of its Nightmarelight Crystal and Illusory Spirit Diamond components.
• Angel gave Kael a three-page list of materials to purchase and told him he would reimburse the full cost, so Kael left to find them.
• Dox explained that he had arranged with Kael to join the ruins expedition as free combat support in exchange for a few scraps.
• Angel accepted Dox’s participation and asked him to keep quiet and avoid acting on his own during their travels.

Angel sought Iron Armor Granny’s support after Isos assigned him an unexpectedly difficult alchemy blueprint, and she agreed to tell the Tree Spirit so Isos would answer for what Angel was owed. He then taught Leon sword techniques, checked in with Wang Wang, and ended the chapter waiting to resume alchemy.

• Angel went to the Dream Wilderness and told Iron Armor Granny and Naimeicui how Isos’s assignment had left him feeling wronged.
• Iron Armor Granny explained that Isos might have underestimated the blueprint’s difficulty, but promised to tell the Tree Spirit and ensure Angel received what he deserved.
• Angel visited Leon in Firstheart City and used illusions to show him the sword techniques he had learned from Dox.
• Angel messaged Sanders about the real-world ruin exploration, then contacted Wang Wang and learned it had endured several hundred minor accidents while traveling through the void.
• Angel asked Wang Wang to have Spotty Dog contact him if it went to Heart’s Desire, then chatted with Wang Wang before ending the connection.

Angel prepared to refine Kael’s materials while wizard organizations gathered secretly on Pamiji Plateau to confront the Budding Believers. At Cross Tavern, Dox revealed that a cloaked guest belonged to the Noah Family and went to meet him.

• Kael returned with the materials Angel requested, and Angel checked them before sending Kael away to prepare for the refinement.
• Angel considered whether he might need an alchemy assistant in the future, then began preparing to use Dangros in his current refinement.
• Wizard organizations secretly gathered on Pamiji Plateau after prophecy wizards traced high-ranking Budding Believers there, planning to contain the cult and drive it from the Southern Region.
• At Cross Tavern, Dox and the bartender discussed several guests posing as wandering apprentices, including members of the Kendra and Watson Families.
• Dox told the bartender that the cloaked guest at table twenty-two came from the Noah Family, then left the bar to approach him.

Dox met his old friend Wai Noah at Cross Tavern to ask him to use his Death Scent talent to assess an upcoming ruin expedition. After Black Earl’s nose detected misfortune and ordered Wai to accompany Dox, Dox left to tell Angel and Kael what had happened and seek their advice.

• Dox met Wai Noah, who brought Black Earl’s nose with him, and asked Wai to help assess the danger of Dox’s planned ruin expedition.
• Wai used his Death Scent talent on Dox’s blood, but could not smell anything himself; Black Earl’s nose detected the scent of misfortune.
• Wai told Dox that Black Earl had ordered him to join the expedition to ensure Dox would not die, and Dox realized Wai was following Black Earl’s will.
• Dox asked Wai to find out whether the whole expedition team would be safe, then left Cross Tavern after asking the bartender to look after Wai.
• Dox headed for the black market outside Sandworm Market to explain the situation to Angel and Kael and ask what Black Earl might be planning.

Angel weighed whether to cancel the ruin exploration after Dox revealed that Wai Noah and Black Earl had become involved. Iron Armor Granny and Rhein reassured him that Black Earl was unlikely to act personally, but Rhein had not yet explained whether Wai’s presence would help or hinder the expedition.

• Dox told Angel that Wai Noah could not sense danger around the ruins either, and urged him to cancel the trip and accept compensation for the materials.
• Angel asked Dox and Kael to leave while he considered the proposal, then entered the Dream Wilderness to consult Iron Armor Granny about Black Earl.
• Iron Armor Granny contacted Rhein, who confirmed that he knew Black Earl and said he could guess why Black Earl had sent Wai along.
• Rhein explained that Black Earl was too lazy to leave home and that Wai carried only one of his organs, a nose, which Ermi and the others could handle if necessary.
• Angel asked Rhein what Black Earl wanted and whether Wai’s involvement would ultimately benefit or harm the expedition.

Rhein explained that Black Earl’s curiosity and possible reliance on Noah Clan blood made him send descendants to investigate strange ruins, while Angel remained determined to explore the Garden Maze. Angel completed a dagger and entered its alchemical omen, where a young painter asked him for love poems.

• Rhein speculated that Black Earl’s consciousness depended on Noah Clan blood and used descendants to explore mysteries, though it also protected them.
• Iron Armor Granny realized Noah Clan witches might avoid Tea Parties to keep Black Earl from learning about enticing mysteries; Rhein said Black Earl’s nose had likely been intrigued because it could not detect anything at the ruins.
• Angel said he would explore the Garden Maze, and Iron Armor Granny encouraged him to investigate Abyss City’s possible secret and promised to hear his stories.
• Angel returned to the underground cave and continued forging a dagger with Dangros, completing its final magic pattern half a day later.
• Angel experienced the dagger’s alchemical omen, where a cloudlike young man asked him to suggest love poems for a painting he planned to give the woman he loved.

Angel passed the alchemical omen inside the short sword by discovering that the veiled man was Augustine and reciting a love poem Augustine had written for Margaret. After leaving the omen, Angel wondered whether Augustine Noah was connected to the Noah Clan and whether the sword’s door led to something related to him.

• Angel recited “Kiss” and “When You Are Old,” but Augustine asked him for another poem that matched his own style and could express his feelings for Margaret.
• Angel recognized Margaret’s name from the love poems in her room in Abyss City and recited one of Augustine’s poems for her.
• Augustine was satisfied, wrote the poem on the painting, praised Angel, and revealed his name as the omen formed an exit door.
• Angel emerged with the short sword completely tamed and concluded that Augustine was Augustine Noah.
• Angel questioned whether Augustine was related to the Noah Clan and whether the sword’s door was connected to him.

Angel finished forging a short sword that functioned as a key and might be a high-grade item, then warned Dox that the door it opened could be connected to the Noah Clan. Dox learned that taking Wai on the exploration seemed harmless, but Angel left him with reason to be cautious.

• Angel inspected the short sword and confirmed that its hidden key function made it high-grade, though it was only mid-grade as a weapon.
• Angel praised Dangros for helping forge the sword, then gave him one bottle of concentrated quenching fluid instead of the hundred he requested.
• Dox and Kael entered after the alchemical anomaly disturbed the black market, and Angel gave Kael the finished short sword.
• After Kael left, Angel told Dox that his source considered taking Wai on the exploration harmless, but revealed that the door might be connected to the Noah Clan.

Angel prepared with Dox, Kael, and Wai for an expedition to a destination possibly connected to the Noah Clan, warning Kael to be cautious around the team’s interests. Before departing, Angel acquired Kael’s research notebooks and bought a discarded Plane Growth Crystal infused with fire element, leaving Dangros to enjoy it.

• Angel warned Dox not to trust Wai too much, and Dox agreed to probe whether Wai knew their destination was connected to the Noah Clan.
• Angel told Kael to restrain himself during the expedition and avoid interfering with other stakeholders’ interests, especially Wai’s.
• Kael gave Dangros a discarded Plane Growth Crystal that contained abundant fire element, and Angel paid Kael for it so he could study the unusual crystal.
• Kael offered Angel his mentor Isos’s cultivation notebooks along with his own detailed notes, and Angel accepted them and offered to answer Kael’s questions about spatial studies.
• Angel reminded Dangros not to absorb too much, then meditated until it was time to leave in three hours.

Angel and his companions traveled to Bilen Tree Court, where Angel bought maps of the Garden Maze before Dox took Wai away to explore the forest services. Black Earl stayed behind, leaving Angel to study the maps as the group prepared to continue toward the ruins.

• Wai recognized Angel as Sanders's apprentice after Black Earl's nose detected his scent, and Wai learned that Angel was the Transcendent Wizard.
• Angel agreed to let Dox protect two apprentices traveling to Bilen Tree Court, and Dox shielded the group during the teleportation.
• The group arrived safely at Bilen Tree Court, where Angel learned about the market's history and the Bilos Family's businesses.
• Dox led Angel and the others to Bilos Mission Hall, where Angel bought a rough terrain map and a hand-drawn aerial map of the Garden Maze.
• Dox dragged Wai away to explore the forest services, while Black Earl chose to stay with Angel.

Angel studied maps of Abyss City while Black Earl’s nose followed him to a treehouse, where they traded questions about the ruin exploration. Black Earl revealed that a scent had drawn him to the expedition, leaving its source unknown.

• Angel compared a topographical map and an aerial view of Abyss City to locate the underground passage.
• Angel coaxed Black Earl into speaking and learned that Rhein had said Black Earl was curious about mysteries and would protect Wai.
• Black Earl admitted he had followed Angel partly because he hated Sanders and wanted to beat Angel up, but promised to keep him safe.
• Angel hinted that Sanders had shown him the key’s location in the Nightmare Realm, and Black Earl said he would verify the explanation with Sanders.
• Black Earl revealed that he had allowed Wai to join because he smelled something that made his blood boil.

Angel prepared a way to escape the ruins after learning that Black Earl sensed a powerful strangeness, while keeping his knowledge of the Budding Believers’ presence on Pamiji Plateau to himself. He also investigated Ermi’s newly emerging emotions, then rejoined Dox and Wai as Black Earl accused him of preparing to flee.

• Angel questioned Black Earl about the strangeness that stirred his bloodline, and Black Earl said his premonition suggested it was not a mysterious object.
• Angel realized the Budding Believers had appeared on Pamiji Plateau to target him, but decided not to reveal that he knew about them.
• Angel spent the night making an array plate that could rapidly open a Planar Corridor, then gave it to Ermi as an emergency escape tool.
• Ermi asked Angel what to do with X0, so Angel gave it a Silence magic-pattern leather scroll and sent a recording puppet into Ermi’s shadow to observe its changes.
• Angel told Rhein through Tree Chat that Ermi seemed to have developed emotions, but kept the Budding Believers from him.
• When Angel met Dox, Wai, and Kael, Black Earl’s nose accused Angel of preparing to become a deserter, and Angel replied that everyone prepared for danger.

Angel led the group from Bilen Tree Court to the Garden Maze, the ruins of old Abyss City, to search for an entrance to its underground waterways. Their first route was buried beneath rubble and soil, and Wai began clearing it as Black Earl knocked Dox over for insulting earth wizards.

• Black Earl spoke aloud for the first time in front of the group and mocked Dox after intercepting his Mind Tether conversation with Angel.
• Dox opened the exit from Bilen Tree Court, thanked the two maple trees with the help of his natural-type green sandworm, and joined the others aboard Angel's Gondola.
• Angel and Dox discussed Dox's sandworm and Angel's elemental creatures as Swift Spirit flew them to the Garden Maze.
• Angel recognized the Garden Maze as the ruins of old Abyss City and landed at a clock tower that stood near an underground waterway entrance.
• Dox cleared rubble from the entrance and uncovered a sealed manhole, then ordered Wai to remove the soil beneath it.
• Wai began lifting the soil while Dox joked about earth wizards, and Black Earl's stone slab flipped Dox onto his back.

Angel and his companions searched the Garden Maze for an intact entrance to its underground waterways, but each passage they found had collapsed. After hearing an ordinary person’s anguished shout, they turned toward its source, leaving the search unresolved.

• Angel told the group that the nearby underground waterway had completely collapsed and explained why they could not simply dig down to their destination.
• The group traveled to a fountain overgrown with Blood Thorn, but Angel decided its underground entrance was likely blocked too.
• Angel chose a garden farther north as their next search area, and Wai used his earth sense to scout while Dox sent sandworms underground.
• Wai found several more collapsed entrances, and Black Earl sealed his mouth after he complained about the difficult search.
• When an anguished shout came from nearby, Angel identified its source as an ordinary person, and Wai led the group toward it.

Wai killed the One-Eyed Wraith that the short-haired woman had led to the group, while Angel investigated whether the creature was connected to the underground labyrinth. Black Earl’s prophecy spell said the Wraith had not come from the labyrinth, but its trail could lead them to the labyrinth’s true entrance.

• A short-haired woman ran toward Angel and the others with a One-Eyed Wraith in pursuit, hoping to draw the creature away from herself.
• Kael struggled to identify the Wraith until Dox recognized it, and Wai began fighting it after Dox challenged him.
• Wai’s initial attacks missed, but the Wraith mistook him for an easy opponent and entered his earth force field, where Wai killed it with Razorstone Bolts.
• Angel examined the corpse and asked Dox to use the Eye of True Sight to trace where the Wraith had come from, but Dox found no spiritual intuition guiding him.
• Black Earl used Lucky Choice and learned that the Wraith had not come from the underground labyrinth, but that tracing it could reveal the labyrinth’s true entrance.

Angel and the others questioned Mia about her encounter with the One-Eyed Wraith and learned that the Hero Squad had secretly dug underground passages in the ruins. With Mia leading them toward the third sector, they set out to find the Hero Squad and the entrance to the underground maze.

• Angel calmed Mia and persuaded her to explain how she had encountered the One-Eyed Wraith in the third sector, where it killed two members of her group.
• Dox prompted Mia to recall the White Crocodile Adventurer Group’s conflict with the Hero Squad, which had driven the group’s surviving members away.
• Mia revealed that the Hero Squad had hidden underground and entered the third sector through tunnels they had dug.
• Angel and the others recognized the underground passages as a possible entrance to the maze and decided to search for the Hero Squad with Mia’s help.
• Mia agreed to lead the group to the third sector, believing they intended to avenge her adventurer group.

Angel and Dox searched the Third District for the ostentatiously dressed members of the Hero Squad after Mia revealed how to identify them. They found a woman in a flamboyant red outfit, but the chapter ended before they confronted her.

• Mia led Angel and the others through the Fourth District and admitted that it had no ruling adventurer group, unlike the White Crocodile Adventurer Group's former hold over the Third District.
• Angel used Swift Spirit's wind blessing to speed the group to the Third District, while Black Earl advised him on developing Swift Spirit and Dangros.
• Mia explained that the Hero Squad had more than sixteen members, possibly up to twenty, and that they stood out because they dressed like ostentatious heroes.
• Angel sent out scouting puppets and Dox deployed Wizard's Eyes to search the crowded district for the Hero Squad.
• Dox and Angel each found a potential target, and Dox described a woman dressed in a striking red outfit through Angel's illusionary puzzle.

Angel and Dox searched the ruins for Hero Squad members with Mia’s help, eventually identifying a boy whose appearance matched the hero Flash. They followed the boy’s disguised mother to a hidden cellar, where the group descended to investigate.

• Mia identified Miss Red as the leader of the Raging Fire Adventurer Group and recognized the Viper Adventurer Group’s leader, while ruling out several other figures as Hero Squad members.
• Angel showed the group a skilled woman who used disguises, but Mia could not confirm whether she belonged to the Hero Squad.
• Angel revealed a child in a hero outfit resembling Flash, then showed how the boy would look as an adult; Mia confirmed his strong resemblance to Flash.
• Angel traced the boy to a ruined building and found a concealed cellar entrance beneath rubble, which his mother had hidden with a trap and a falling stone slab.
• Angel invited Mia to follow the group into the cellar, promising a defensive spell once they confirmed the occupants were Hero Squad members, and Mia jumped inside.

Angel and his companions confronted a disguised Hero Squad member and her son, then questioned Mia about the group’s past. After Mia left under Angel’s defensive spell, Angel used a Nightmare Illusion on the woman and began asking about the Hero Squad’s underground passage.

• Angel, Mia, and the others found the disguised woman and Kolo in a cellar, where Kolo’s attempt to trigger a hidden crossbow was interrupted by a frightening vision.
• The woman and Mia argued over the Hero Squad’s conflict with the White Crocodile Adventurer Group, and Angel confirmed that the Hero Squad had not killed its defeated enemies.
• Angel told Mia she could leave and gave her a defensive spell that would last six hours; she departed the cellar.
• Black Earl warned that the spell might tempt Mia to seek treasure instead of escaping, while Angel said he did not care what she chose.
• Angel used a Nightmare Illusion to reveal the woman as Ma Qiusha, also known as Camilla, and asked whether the Hero Squad had an underground passage and how to enter it.

Angel questioned Ma Qiusha, learned of three possible passages into the underground maze, and led a vote that selected the cellar entrance. The group opened a hidden door in the cellar and prepared to explore the underground structure.

• Kolo mistook Ma Qiusha for dead and charged at Angel’s group, but Angel stopped him and explained that his mother was alive.
• Angel summarized Ma Qiusha’s information about three passages and asked the group to choose which route to investigate.
• Kael and Wai voted for the second passage, while Dox chose the cellar route; Angel and Black Earl also selected the cellar, making it the majority choice.
• Dox considered changing his vote but decided to keep the cellar route, and Angel activated the hidden mechanism behind the cabinet.
• The wall opened to reveal a small door, and Kael speculated that the passage might date from before the Garden Maze became ruins.