Chapter Summaries

Greipnir brought Lita, a Crystal-Eyed adolescent, to Angel, Luigi, and Laplace, where he asked for help leaving Crystal City. Lita revealed that his mother had gone beyond the snow mountains, and Laplace suspected his family’s troubles concealed a deeper secret.

• Luigi and Angel discussed borrowing spare display booklets from the Crystal-Eyed Race before Greipnir emerged from a passage with Lita.
• Greipnir explained that Lita waited daily for his missing grandmother, Xiluda, and Lita corrected her, saying Xiluda had gone to the Ghost Domain.
• Lita asked Greipnir to take him away from Crystal City, so Greipnir shielded the group with a star-speckled dome before questioning him.
• Lita said his mother had gone beyond the snow mountains, and Laplace explained that this meant she had bathed in one of the lakes associated with bearing a child.
• Lita revealed that his mother had grown cold toward him and that a servant had urged him to leave Crystal City, raising doubts among the group.
• Angel shared his suspicions with Laplace, who said Greipnir had sensed hidden secrets behind Lita’s situation.

Greipnir took Lita to find Fada while Angel, Laplace, and Luigi headed to the Encircling City Gathering and learned about its venues and the Yingji Race’s hierarchy. Laplace explained that Fada’s efforts to make Lita leave Crystal City suggested he was in danger, though Greipnir still had only suspicions about the secret behind his situation.

• Greipnir gave Angel the gathering’s exhibition catalog, then led Lita into a dark passage to deal with his problem and seek out Fada.
• Laplace told Angel that an Yingji Race general could grant him permission to study heartfire, and Luigi explained the race’s military ranks and why a Three Stars general might know of Laplace’s original body.
• Laplace and Luigi brought Angel through a ring fortress, where they explained that the Encircling City Gathering’s main venue showcased the races’ technologies and knowledge.
• Laplace warned the group to discuss Sacred Corpse Crystal cautiously, while Crystal-Eyed Race guards detected several mentions of it and chose to focus only on persistent reports.
• Laplace relayed Greipnir’s suspicions that Fada wanted Lita out of Crystal City because he faced danger there, based on Fada’s strange actions and his mother’s sudden change in behavior.

Laplace told Angel how Tunita, the Crystal-Eyed Race’s greatest prophet, had survived a disastrous expedition into the Empty Mirror Sea, while Greipnir investigated Fada for clues about the Sacred Corpse Crystal. As Angel and the others discussed promoting the Login Device, they reached an empty ring fortress where crystal dust began forming a humanoid shape, and a guard ushered them toward a VIP room for a ceremony.

• Laplace explained that Greipnir suspected the Sacred Corpse Crystal concealed a secret tied to Tunita, the Crystal-Eyed Race’s greatest prophet.
• Laplace recounted how Tunita had survived after his companions were lost in the Empty Mirror Sea and had later become a respected prophet before dying two thousand years ago.
• Angel, Laplace, and Luigi discussed promoting the Login Device through the Ancient Tooth Fairies and the Hundred Dragons Divine Kingdom.
• Angel and the others reached a deserted ring fortress where crystal dust rose from a mirror surface and gathered into a humanoid outline.
• A guard confronted the group, but crystal dust changed his response, and he invited them to wait in a VIP room during a small ceremony.

Laplace, Angel, and Luigi monitored the Crystal-Eyed Race’s ritual from Passage 003 while Greipnir investigated clues about Lita in Xiluda’s study. Greipnir also shared the history of Tunita, whose inventions and work had transformed the Crystal-Eyed Race before his death.

• Laplace led Angel and Luigi out of the Ring Fortress toward Passage 003, while a guard reported their presence and ordered the area cleared before the ritual.
• Angel used an illusion livestream to watch the guards clean up, and Laplace explained that her mirror surface was concealed in a deeper layer of space.
• Laplace told Angel that Greipnir wanted to learn about the ritual because Fada had hinted that Lita’s secret involved the Crystal-Eyed Race.
• Greipnir searched Xiluda’s study while watching the livestream, and Laplace said Greipnir believed the remaining clues about Lita were there.
• Greipnir shared Tunita’s history through Luigi: after returning alone from the Empty Mirror Sea, Tunita rose to become a prophet, invented the Crystal Shell, and began Crystal City’s expansion before dying of old age.

Angel and Luigi watched a Crystal-Eyed Race ritual in the Ring Fortress, where Kasata used energy drawn from Crystal City to form a person from crystal dust. After the ritual ended, Angel and Laplace erased their spying traces, and Fada deciphered the revived person's words to Kasata: “You... how did you grow old?”

• Angel speculated that Lita's situation and the Crystal-Eyed Race's secret involved inheritance, and Greipnir said he was close to the secret she knew.
• Kasata, a Crystal-Eyed Race elder who had spent years in the restricted area, appeared at the Ring Fortress as the guards saluted him.
• Kasata raised a crystal scepter while the guards chanted, and Laplace sensed that Crystal City was supplying energy to the ritual.
• The crystal dust condensed into a Crystal-Eyed Race member, who recognized Kasata before Kasata sent him through the mirror and ended the ritual.
• Angel and Laplace destroyed the livestream and its traces, then Luigi told them Fada had deciphered the revived person's question to Kasata: “You... how did you grow old?”

Angel and his companions encountered a member of the Changhuo Clan while traveling toward the Encircling City Gathering, and Laplace explained the clan’s talent for stirring up conflicts. The group continued toward the gathering, while the mystery surrounding the young Crystal-Eyed Race member and Kasata remained unresolved.

• Luigi told Angel that Greipnir had recreated the Crystal-Eyed Race member’s appearance, and Fada said she had never seen the distinctive long-eared figure in Crystal City.
• Luigi relayed Greipnir’s suspicion that a temporal distortion had affected the Crystal-Eyed Race member, while Greipnir searched Xiluda’s study for evidence.
• Angel, Luigi, and Laplace traveled along a main passage toward the Encircling City Gathering as branching routes began to converge.
• A tall, black, rod-shaped being emerged from a side passage, noticed Laplace, and fled into the darkness after she gave him a cold look.
• Luigi identified the being as a member of the Changhuo Clan and condemned the clan for provoking disputes, while Laplace explained its history and ability to read the times.

Luigi and Laplace discussed whether the Changhuo Clan had secretly fueled the split between the Tooth Fairies and the Ancient Tooth Fairies, but prophecy and a lack of evidence left the accusation unresolved. At the gathering, Angel spotted another human, who approached and asked whether the group were humans too.

• Luigi blamed the Changhuo Clan for possibly stirring up anti-intellectual sentiment that led the Tooth Fairies and Ancient Tooth Fairies to split.
• Angel suggested prophecy could reveal the Changhuo Clan’s involvement, but Laplace explained that prophecies showed no interference and could be blocked.
• Laplace said the Changhuo Clan might not be innocent, though it would conceal any role in provoking the split to avoid retaliation.
• The group encountered pale-green slimes from another world, and Angel wondered whether other humans might attend the gathering.
• Angel saw a long-haired human accompanied by an Earsi Race member and imagined he might be another Hollow Man like Aguro.
• The ponytailed man approached Angel’s group and asked whether they were humans too.

Angel met Rice God, a Blood Hunter from the Drifting City, and learned from Laplace that Blood Hunters hunted humans who allied with wild gods as well as some half-bloods. After Rice God hurried off in pursuit of someone, Angel and his companions reached a free-trade cavern near the Encircling City Gathering and decided to browse while they waited for Greipnir.

• Angel confirmed that Rice God was human and learned that he was a Blood Hunter descended from Southern Region wizards and born in the Savage World.
• Rice God gave Angel an illusory Blood Hunter emblem that could be used to contact him, then rushed away with an Earsi Race man to pursue someone.
• Laplace explained that Blood Hunters hunted human traitors who cooperated with wild gods and that extremists also hunted half-bloods, while Rice God appeared to be a conservative.
• Angel examined Rice God's emblem and discovered that its connection worked through a drop of diluted blood.
• Angel, Laplace, and Luigi arrived at a free-trade cavern near the Encircling City Gathering, where Luigi went looking for musical scores.
• Laplace suggested they browse the stalls and wait for Greipnir because the gathering's display platform had not yet opened.

Angel and Laplace explored the Mirror Realm’s stalls before meeting Luigi and a mysterious man in black, who invited them into a Pirus shop to view his hidden goods. The chapter ended as they entered a compartment where the man in black kept his treasures.

• Angel and Laplace inspected a Glorystone Clan gem shop, then noted several other stalls whose goods interested Angel, including a rainforest shop selling plants that grew without soil.
• Laplace spotted Luigi speaking with a man in black, and Angel joined them; Luigi lent Angel a pouch containing a hundred Condensed Crystals.
• The man in black offered to show Angel goods he had not displayed, explaining that he had rented space in a Pirus shop and set up a street stall because the shop had few visitors.
• Luigi said he wanted to appraise a church musical score, so Angel, Laplace, and Luigi followed the man in black through the mirror into the shop.
• Inside, they saw a green-skinned Pirus threatening a hamster powering machinery, and the man in black led them toward a curtained compartment containing his treasures.

Angel and Laplace examined the black-robed man’s catalogs while Luigi read religious sheet music, but they found little worth buying. The curiosities list revealed that the man sold information about mysterious objects, including Growth Ray, and Angel remained unsure whether the information was valuable.

• Luigi inspected the religious sheet music while Angel and Laplace looked through the black-robed man’s catalogs.
• Laplace chose to review the tools catalog, while Angel returned the knowledge and materials lists without finding anything he wanted.
• Angel noticed that bloodline-related entries appeared frequently in the knowledge and materials catalogs and wondered whether the black-robed man was a bloodline wizard.
• Angel kept the miscellaneous catalog after noticing its unidentifiable unknown items, prompting the black-robed man to hope he could negotiate a sale.
• Angel and Laplace discovered that the curiosities catalog listed information about two mysterious objects, including the Unknown Smooth Arm and Growth Ray.
• Angel recognized Growth Ray from Kulori’s notes and judged that information about it was not especially valuable.

Angel examined the curios list and learned that Hecate's Breath was a secret treasure for balancing multiple bloodlines, though it did not suit him. He inspected a Spiral-Patterned Pointed Fruit and learned from Laplace that it let beasts speak, then turned his attention to Granny Cocoro's Ritual Box.

• Angel asked to inspect the Spiral-Patterned Pointed Fruit, and the black-robed man replaced two mysterious-object clues with Hecate's Breath, a rentable secret treasure.
• Angel read that Hecate's Breath helped balance multiple bloodlines, but said it was not useful to him because he was not a modification-branch wizard.
• The black-robed man placed the pointed fruit on a pedestal, and Angel used the Eye of Nalda to examine its contradictory appearance and unfamiliar inner energy.
• Laplace identified the fruit as one cultivated by a Beast Speech Prophet of the Hundred Beasts Tribe and explained that it let beasts speak rather than granting them intelligence.
• Angel lost interest in the pointed fruit and looked at the final curiosity, Granny Cocoro's Ritual Box.

Angel recognized that Granny Cocoro's Ritual Box might be connected to Milk Spring Village and considered buying it, while Luigi chose two religious scores. The seller revealed the box cost twenty thousand magic crystals because it had flaws, and showed Angel the box as the chapter ended.

• Angel recalled that Cocoro was the family name of Milk Spring Village's ruler and suspected the Ritual Box came from the village.
• Angel questioned the seller about the box's origins, and the seller said he had found it with a corpse and a notebook in some ruins.
• Luigi asked the seller the prices of two scores, and the seller quoted twenty condensed crystals for Ode of Tainted Blood Purification and two hundred for Sacred Canon of the Dark Alley.
• The seller hinted that Angel and Luigi might settle their purchases through an alternative transaction, and Angel asked how much the Ritual Box cost.
• The seller named a price of twenty thousand magic crystals, admitted the Ritual Box had flaws, and brought it out to show Angel its four marked corners.

Angel learned that Granny Cocoro's Ritual Box could enhance food but might also cause dangerous, unpredictable mutations, and he considered buying it. He then had Laplace inspect unidentified goods while the black-robed man probed his views on bloodline factions, leaving a possible deal open.

• The black-robed man explained that the Ritual Box required wind, water, fire, and nature energy, and warned that its food mutations could produce foul black mist that lingered and tainted the soul.
• The black-robed man shared theories that the mutations might stem from the Ritual Box's ritual, while Laplace explained how ritual procedures could give tools unpredictable effects.
• Angel said he intended to buy the Ritual Box but postponed discussing its price and asked to inspect unidentified items from the miscellaneous-goods list.
• Laplace selected more than ten unknown items, and Angel used the Eye of Nalda to record their information before Laplace went inside to identify them.
• The black-robed man questioned Angel about the Wheatfield Manifesto and bloodline wizards, and Angel said he had no allegiance to either blood source or pureblood ideals.

Angel questioned the black-robed man about his bloodline ideology and learned about the mysterious Unknown Smooth Arm before Laplace identified three stones among the offered items. Laplace judged only the Genesis Stone valuable, and Angel prepared to negotiate for it.

• Angel inferred that the black-robed man was likely a bloodline wizard from the Savage World, then asked about the Unknown Smooth Arm and heard that it made hair grow wherever it touched.
• The black-robed man explained that the hairless ape arm could cause uncontrolled hair growth, while Angel declined to pay for further clues.
• Laplace returned from inspecting the items and told Angel she had recognized three stones, only one of which was valuable.
• Laplace identified the first stone as a fossilized Yellow Smartweed and the second as a fossilized Lirus nest, neither of which she considered valuable.
• Laplace identified the glowing goose-yellow crystal as a rare Genesis Stone, and Angel decided he wanted to obtain it.
• The black-robed man asked Angel whether he had found any items he fancied.

Angel agreed to help Parrot leave the Mirror Realm and reach the Southern Region, receiving Granny Cocoro's Ritual Box, a clue to the Unknown Smooth Arm, and two unknown items in return. After their deal was settled, Angel and the others returned from the partition to find Luigi identifying the hamster as the Invention Mouse.

• Angel and Parrot entered an isolated partition, where Parrot revealed his face and explained that he had once belonged to a Void Merchant Caravan under the codename Parrot.
• Parrot asked Angel to take him out of the Mirror Realm, explaining that he had been unable to find a passage usable by a human.
• Angel agreed to help Parrot leave within the next few days, and they signed a contract.
• Parrot gave Angel Granny Cocoro's Ritual Box and information about the Unknown Smooth Arm in the Ordovician World, then let him choose two items.
• Angel chose the Birth Stone and the yellow smartweed fossil, and Parrot removed the blood-mist barrier.
• Luigi said he remembered the hamster and wondered if it was the Invention Mouse everyone in the inner city had been discussing.

Angel and Luigi investigated a hamster that Luigi mistook for the famous Invention Mouse, only to learn it was a lazy descendant. After Angel found no hidden talent in it, Parrot offered to show them other hamsters, and the group continued on without buying one.

• Luigi recognized the hamster as resembling the Invention Mouse described in an old research report, and the Pirus merchant explained that it was a lazy descendant sold off as useless.
• Luigi handed Angel the sheet music they had obtained, and Angel examined the hamster but found only a blank mind focused on food and female hamsters.
• The Pirus merchant offered to sell the hamster, but Angel declined and left the shop with Luigi and the others.
• Parrot caught up with the group and told Angel that other Pirus merchants had brought similar hamsters, then refused Angel’s offer to leave Crystal City with them.
• Luigi asked Angel whether the hamster had a secret, but he did not turn back to buy it.

Luigi, Angel, and Laplace searched the Encircling City Gathering stalls before heading to the main site, where Angel opened the showcase catalog and learned about the Crystal-Eyed Race’s Crystal Shells and the catalog’s purchase queue. They moved on to Pirus’s showcase page, with Luigi looking for Invention Mice and Angel focusing on the featured Eye of Thunder.

• Luigi kept searching for sheet music, while Laplace wondered whether Blood Lure Powder could help her catch fish and decided she might need a better fishing rod.
• Luigi met Angel and Laplace near a bakery and invited Angel to use Granny Cocoro’s Ritual Box, but Angel refused until four people were present.
• Angel opened the showcase catalog and Luigi explained the Crystal-Eyed Race’s Crystal Shell products and their measurement unit, Si.
• Luigi joined the queue to ask about Rock Crystal Cluster, saw that the estimated wait exceeded twenty-four hours, and canceled his place.
• Luigi opened Pirus’s showcase page to look for Invention Mice, while Angel examined Pirus’s featured product, the Eye of Thunder.

Angel and Luigi examined the Pirushu’s wares in the display booklet, but Luigi angered a merchant and got them blacklisted from all Pirushu products. The booklet then announced new pages for the Gosen Mirror Domain, which Laplace identified as a separate Mirror Realm with little-known but seemingly powerful forces.

• Angel studied the Eye of Thunder’s activated image, and Luigi found that asking about it required joining a long consultation queue.
• Luigi searched for invention rats, then opened a Pirushu shop’s page and encountered a merchant selling Golden Silk Stomach Pouches.
• Luigi challenged the merchant’s price and claimed ties to Sage Pika, but the merchant removed him from the conversation and blacklisted them from all Pirushu products.
• Luigi vowed to visit the Pirushu station at the Encircling City Gathering’s main station to confront the merchant.
• Angel examined the Mirror Sea Scholars’ listing for the Secret Treasure Er. Kni Flame Banner as the display booklet announced special pages for the Singers and Winged Forest of the Gosen Mirror Domain.
• Laplace explained that the Gosen Mirror Domain was a separate Mirror Realm whose ecology resembled the Day Mirror Domain’s, though it seemed to have more powerful forces.

Laplace explained why the Singers and Winged Forest were dominant factions in Gosen Mirror Domain and suggested that Ghost Domains might connect Mirror Realms. Angel and his companions continued through the passage, intending to contact Grudge Woman Town’s Scarlet Lantern Demon Queen through the catalog once Luigi could raise their permissions.

• Laplace described racial and composite factions, then identified the Singers and Winged Forest as Gosen Mirror Domain’s two dominant races.
• Laplace explained that the Singers included legendary beings and that the Winged Forest could travel through the void and cultivate vegetation there.
• Luigi and Angel wondered how the foreign-domain races had reached Day Mirror Domain, and Laplace proposed that they might have come through the Ghost Domain.
• The passage grew emptier as other races hurried to expand their catalogs, while Luigi vowed revenge on the Pirus who had blacklisted him.
• Laplace explained that Mirror Realms might connect through passages in their Ghost Domains and suggested asking the Mirror Ghosts of Grudge Woman Town.
• Angel decided they would need to wait for Luigi to raise their catalog permissions before contacting the Scarlet Lantern Demon Queen.

Angel examined a heart-shaped metal box from the Gosen Mirror Domain and discussed the neighboring Mirror Domains with Laplace. They reached the Crystal Pool near the gathering’s main station, where Angel declined to enter despite the chance to win a crystal embryo.

• Laplace showed Angel a heart-shaped metal creation that had washed out of the Sea Eye in the Empty Mirror Sea, and Angel discovered it concealed a ruby necklace.
• Angel and Laplace considered whether the creation came from the Heart Kingdom in the World Within the Shell, but Laplace said that world was extremely far from the Wizarding World.
• Laplace told Angel that three Mirror Domains neighbored the Day Mirror Domain: the Gosen Mirror Domain, the Painting-Painting Mirror Domain, and the Angular Mirror Domain.
• Laplace said the Painting-Painting Mirror Domain was stronger than the Day Mirror Domain, while the Angular Mirror Domain was about the same strength.
• Angel and Laplace reached the Crystal Pool, where Crystal-Eyed Race soldiers offered visitors a chance to win a crystal embryo and receive a customized Crystal Shell.
• Laplace asked Angel whether he wanted to try the Crystal Pool, but Angel refused because he distrusted the Crystal-Eyed Race.