Chapter Summaries

Angel’s attempt to make Magic Bread with the Mystic Ritual Box triggered a foul black-smoke mutation that engulfed the Rock Hall’s first floor. After escaping and inspecting the damage, Angel and Laplace explained the accident to Kuntela, and Angel claimed he had a way to clear the fog.

• Angel’s Magic Bread ritual turned into a torrent of foul black smoke, forcing Angel and Laplace to flee through a Void Illusion Gate while Kuntela escaped through a spatial fissure.
• The smoke swallowed Alshanjo, who retreated into the Crystal Book, and overtook the Rock Hall’s first floor while the partitioned levels remained safe.
• Angel and Laplace examined the contaminated wind avatar and concluded that this mutation was less dangerous than Parrot’s apple cider vinegar mutation.
• Kuntela returned to confront Angel, and Angel explained that he had tried to make food to accompany the wine but had triggered the Mystic Ritual Box’s Mutation effect.
• Kuntela asked how they would clear the fog before Lady Mollyan returned, and Angel said he had already thought of a method.

Angel used Kuntela’s spatial rift and his Purification Field to remove the foul black mist and clean Rock Hall. In Book Hall, they found Alshanjo unconscious after drinking contaminated Blue Duke Wine, which he later praised as an extraordinary delicacy and wanted to reproduce.

• Angel guided the foul black mist into a spatial rift, then purified Rock Hall and replaced the polluted water in its fountain pool.
• Angel, Kuntela, and Laplace found Alshanjo unconscious beside an empty bottle of Blue Duke Wine, which the mist had contaminated.
• Kuntela determined that Alshanjo was only drunk and said he had knowingly consumed the blackened wine.
• After waking, Alshanjo asked whether the black mist could be reproduced and explained that it had made the wine taste like an exquisite delicacy.
• Angel learned the Mystic Ritual Box’s mutation could not be controlled, while Alshanjo lamented that he could not make more of the wine.

After Alshanjo left to search for contaminated water, Angel learned that Kukulus’s first Mist Island Dragon Tomb trial tested its ability to comprehend the Dragon-Eating Sunflower’s Assimilation talent. Laplace reported Kukulus had reached 31% completion, while Angel and Laplace considered whether the ability rewarded by the trial might eventually affect reality.

• Alshanjo left the hall on a Crystal Book page to search for contaminated water, and Kuntela followed him.
• Laplace told Angel that Kukulus’s trial had placed it in the memories of the newly born Dragon-Eating Sunflower Ye Fulan, where it had to comprehend Assimilation before Daoqiong Mojie arrived.
• Angel worried that Kukulus faced an almost impossible challenge, but Laplace argued that the trial was manageable because Ye Fulan had once learned the talent itself.
• Laplace reported that Kukulus had reached 31% completion on its first attempt, easing Angel’s concern that it would die in the trial.
• Laplace explained that Assimilation let Dragon-Eating Sunflowers blend into their surroundings and conceal their auras.
• Laplace questioned whether a Wonderland reward that became an internalized ability could be used in reality, while Angel privately believed the Dream Crystal Plain and reality might intersect.

Luigi and Angel reassessed their attempt to promote the Login Device to Kukulus after Kukulus explained that the Dream Crystal Plain had limited appeal for mature Mirror Dragons. Luigi left after revealing that dreams had returned to the Mirror Realm, leaving Kukulus to reconsider its plans and observe Ruskania sleeping.

• Kukulus told Luigi that the Login Device appealed to Ruskania and young dragons but offered little to mature Mirror Dragons, and asked for customized rules to let the Mirror Dragons watch over their younglings.
• Angel and Luigi decided to cool their promotion efforts, and Luigi told Kukulus that its Login Devices were gifts and that they could discuss the matter later.
• Kukulus asked to meet the being behind Luigi, but Luigi said the Dream Crystal Plain’s creator, if one existed, was beyond his knowledge and power.
• As he left the Cloud Grotto, Luigi told Kukulus that dreams had returned to the Mirror Realm.
• Kukulus considered the Dream Crystal Plain’s relationship with the world will, decided to seek more information from the Mystic Dragon, and noticed that sleeping Ruskania seemed to be smiling.

Kukulus began organizing the Dragon-Eating Sunflower bloodline information it had brought back from Mist Isle Wonderland, while Angel and Laplace left the Rock Hall with Luigi. After Luigi learned Pisi’s location and the group departed the base, Kuntela met Ufuli, who asked Kukulus to seek help investigating hidden objects held by the Singers and the Featherwood Clan.

• Kukulus decided to study the Dragon-Eating Sunflower bloodline information and pursue the Assimilation trial rather than abandon it.
• Angel and Laplace met Luigi, who recited poetry before learning that Alshanjo was drawing water and that Pisi was at Pirus’s base.
• Luigi mocked Pisi’s contract document and persuaded Kuntela to guide him and the others out of the Hundred Dragons Divine Kingdom’s base.
• Kuntela encountered Ufuli, who relayed Mollyan’s request for Kukulus to contact Grandpa Wan about hidden objects belonging to the Singers and the Featherwood Clan.
• Ufuli asked Kuntela to seek Eya if Grandpa Wan did not respond, then departed in a dark cloud as Kuntela continued toward the Cloud Grotto.

Kuntela found Kukulus in the Cloud Grotto and relayed Mollyan’s request for Eya to come, while Kukulus investigated whether his study of Assimilation had made him blend into the surrounding clouds. After Kuntela confirmed the effect, Kukulus remained uncertain about the Login Device’s significance and decided to focus on clearing the Dragon-Eating Sunflower’s trial and consult Eya when it arrived.

• Kuntela entered the Cloud Grotto and found Kukulus beside the sleeping Ruskania after initially being unable to see them.
• Kukulus told Kuntela that Mollyan wanted Eya to come, gave it Eya’s Dragon Pact on a Dragon Scale, and sent it to contact Eya.
• Kuntela described how Kukulus and Ruskania had seemed absent from the grotto, leading Kukulus to suspect his study of Assimilation had affected reality.
• Kukulus asked Kuntela to leave and return five minutes later, and Kuntela reported that Kukulus was then visible but difficult to distinguish from the clouds.
• Kukulus considered asking Luigi about the Login Device but decided to continue the Dragon-Eating Sunflower’s trial and wait to discuss the matter with Eya.

Angel and Luigi headed for the Pirushu station to add pages to their display booklet, but crowd-control measures sent them to the 5480th level instead of the 5500th. As they climbed the stairs, Laplace revealed that her main body had found a strange painting in the Empty Mirror Sea and offered to show it to Angel.

• Luigi sensed that Pisi was at the Pirushu station on the 5500th level, and Angel agreed to go there before deciding whether to visit the exhibition stands or find Sypolov.
• The Crystal-Eyed Race guard explained that the crowded 5500th-level transfer points had caused destinations to shift downward, so Angel and Luigi were sent to the 5480th level.
• The guard directed them to a stairwell, and Angel, Luigi, and Laplace began climbing the twenty levels to reach the Pirushu station.
• Luigi complained that a White Mirror Priest had received different treatment, and Angel suggested that Luigi was simply too low-profile to be specially accommodated.
• Laplace told Angel that her main body had found a painting that emerged from a Sea Eye in the Empty Mirror Sea, and Angel agreed to see it after they found a place to rest.

Angel and Laplace entered the Consciousness Void so they could travel to where Laplace’s true body was. After emerging, Angel prepared to see her true form, though Laplace kept his perception blocked for his safety.

• Angel and Laplace waited for Luigi in a nearly empty tooth-dyeing shop while a long queue stretched outside Pirus’s station.
• Angel hid the shop’s windows with an illusion, then asked Laplace to show him the painting she had mentioned.
• Laplace formed a mirror from points of light and drew Angel into the Consciousness Void, where she explained that his apparent body anchored his consciousness.
• Angel compared the Consciousness Void to higher-dimensional passages he had visited, while Laplace described it as a dangerous, hidden world where consciousness gathered.
• Laplace and Angel traveled through the void to her true body, and Laplace told Angel that touching the mirror would take them out while his perception remained blocked.

Angel entered Laplace’s true body as a speck of conscious light and learned that the wasteland, needle forest, and enormous moon he saw were parts of her body. Laplace led him to a crystal house left by Tunita, where the painting she had promised to show him was stored.

• Angel followed the pull into a mirror and fell through strange visions before landing on a wasteland beside a black needle forest.
• Laplace appeared with black hair and golden eyes, and Angel recognized the thunderous sound from her hair as her heartbeat.
• Angel realized he was standing on Laplace’s true body and learned that the full moon he had seen was her eye.
• Laplace explained that the needle forest was her hair, which she used to make Time Doppelgängers, and led Angel through it.
• Laplace showed Angel a crystal house built by Tunita and said the painting was inside.

Angel and Laplace met Little Peach, a mobile Mystic Spirit speaking through a moving oil painting, and learned she would answer questions only after Laplace performed a whale-drawing-water spectacle. Angel tried to offer his own performance instead, but Little Peach dismissed human acts, leaving him to ask what might satisfy her.

• Angel and Laplace entered the crystal cottage and found Little Peach speaking from a moving painting of a dancing figure.
• Laplace explained that Little Peach was a Mystic Spirit, that the painting was only her medium, and that she wanted to see Laplace draw in the Empty Mirror Sea’s memories like a whale drawing water.
• Little Peach refused to reveal her true body or answer questions until Laplace fulfilled her request, which she said was a rule of equivalent exchange.
• Angel asked whether the Book of Kel had guided Little Peach and learned that she believed he had been governed by fate.
• Angel offered to perform in Laplace’s place, but Little Peach rejected human performances, so Angel asked what kind of act she would appreciate.

Angel and Laplace secured Little Peach’s promise to answer questions after Laplace performed Whale Siphon, giving them three chances to ask about fate or secret knowledge. The chapter left Laplace testing Little Peach’s abilities with a request for a secret neither she nor Angel knew.

• Angel offered to perform for Little Peach, but she insisted that Laplace perform Whale Siphon instead.
• Laplace agreed to devour the Empty Mirror Sea’s memories, and Angel returned to the void of consciousness while she performed.
• Angel glimpsed the immense scale of Laplace’s true body and wondered about Little Peach’s identity.
• Laplace told Angel that Little Peach would answer questions and explained that they had only three chances for questions about fate or secret knowledge.
• Laplace used the first chance to ask Little Peach for a brief secret about the Mirror Realm or the Wizarding World that neither she nor Angel knew.

Little Peach revealed that most of the Singers and Featherwood Clan would leave the troubled Gosen Mirror Domain, with the Day Mirror Domain among their possible destinations. Angel learned that Little Peach came from the Peach Heart Theater and asked how to advance into the mysterious.

• Little Peach offered Laplace secret information linked to the clues “calamity” and “Gosen,” and Laplace chose Gosen.
• Little Peach said the Gosen Mirror Domain had encountered serious trouble, prompting most Singers and Featherwood people to consider migrating to other Mirror Realms, including the Day Mirror Domain.
• Laplace declined to spend another question learning what trouble had struck Gosen or whether the migration would bring good or bad results.
• Angel guessed that Little Peach came from the Peach Heart Theater, and she confirmed it.
• Little Peach refused to explain why the Peach Heart Theater had chosen the Eternal Night Kingdom, but Angel inferred that its arrival there was deliberate.
• Angel asked his first official question: how to advance into the mysterious.

Little Peach explained two methods for reaching the mysterious level, then revealed that the calamity threatening Laplace was Xulifa, a mysterious puppet that had devastated the Gosen Mirror Domain. Xulifa was already flying toward the Day Mirror Domain, and it had selected a Singer who was about to arrive there for a challenge.

• Little Peach told Angel about the Observation Method and the Method of Seeking the Unusual for advancing into the mysterious level.
• When Little Peach could not answer Angel’s question about his future advancement, Angel changed his question to ask about the calamity connected to Laplace.
• Little Peach revealed that the calamity was Xulifa, a mysterious puppet of disorder that could destroy worlds.
• Little Peach explained that Xulifa appeared when a wish-maker failed Guaduola’s task, and its punishment could spread into a true calamity if left incomplete.
• Little Peach said Xulifa’s confinement-space punishment had spread through the Gosen Mirror Domain, driving the Singers and the Winged Forest to migrate.
• Little Peach revealed that Xulifa had selected a Singer who was about to arrive in the Day Mirror Domain for a challenge.

Angel and Laplace learned that the Calamity Puppet was likely to enter the Day Mirror Domain through the Mirror Ghost Domain, threatening the entire region with Confined Space. They planned to contain arriving Singers and Featherwood Clan members, track the Puppet with the Mirror Dragons and other powers, and have Angel produce Login Devices for the Dream Crystal Plain.

• Little Peach explained that Laplace had a strong fate-line connection to the Calamity Puppet, but said it did not prove they would meet.
• Little Peach warned that anyone approaching the Singers clansman in a Ghost Domain passage could become the Puppet's next target, and implied the Puppet would reach the Day Mirror Domain before she abruptly left.
• Angel and Laplace concluded that the Calamity Puppet would come through the Mirror Ghost Domain and discussed how to respond to the approaching Confined Space.
• Laplace relayed Gleipnir's plan to bring the Singers and Featherwood Clan members under control, learn the Puppet's challenge, and monitor its movements across the Day Mirror Domain.
• Gleipnir planned to consult the Mirror Dragons and connect the surveillance network to the Dream Crystal Plain, while Angel agreed to refine as many Login Devices as possible.
• Angel returned with Laplace through the void of consciousness, leaving for Crystal City in a markedly heavier mood.

Pisi arrived at the tooth-dyeing shop to escort Angel and Laplace to the Pirushu Outpost, where Luigi was waiting with the Sage. After registering the guests for passage through the outpost, Pisi led them into its public square, where Pirus merchants showcased products and invention concepts.

• Pisi entered Softskin's shop, dismissed the shop owner, and apologized to Angel and Laplace for the disturbance.
• Pisi explained that Luigi had sent him to receive Angel and Laplace because Luigi was with the Sage and could not leave.
• Pisi registered Angel and Laplace to use the Pirushu Clan's internal passages and led them through the merchants' corridor to the outpost.
• Angel and Laplace reached the outpost's public square, where a Pirus inventor secured tens of thousands of crystals in investment for the Golden Silk Glove.

Angel learned from Pisi how Sage Pika Xiu’s investment campaign enlightened the Pirus people, then agreed to meet Sage Pika about the Eye of Thunder and the Calamity Puppet Xiu Lifa. Sage Pika was unavailable because he was meeting with the Crystal-Eyed Race, so Angel and Luigi considered visiting the market while they waited.

• Pisi explained how Sage Pika Xiu funded the “You invent, I invest” campaign, and Angel reflected that the Sage had accepted losses to inspire lasting change among the Pirus people.
• Pisi said Grand Duke Pi Xiu had expanded the invention-investment campaign to include outsiders, and Angel explained how Pika Xiu’s vision required time for Pirus creations to gain acceptance.
• Luigi criticized Pisi over Blind Pi Pi’s treatment of him, then told Angel that Sage Pika held the Eye of Thunder and could be told about the Calamity Puppet Xiu Lifa; Angel agreed to meet him.
• Luigi said he had marked Blind Pi Pi and planned to keep him afraid rather than confront him immediately.
• Pirus guards said Sage Pika was meeting a high-ranking member of the Crystal-Eyed Race, who wanted both a Crystal Shell and the Eye of Thunder.
• Luigi suggested that Angel, Pisi, and he visit the market to see the Golden Silk Stomach Pouch before returning to Sage Pika’s residence.

Angel and his companions visited Pisi’s orderly market stalls in the square, where Angel bought a Golden Silk Stomach Pouch and a communication button to study. After learning that the clever first-generation Invention Mouse Pifeifei was not for sale, Angel asked Pisi to find some of her descendants for them to see.

• Pisi led Angel, Luigi, and the others to the busy square, where vendors had set up stalls beside the long queue for the Crystal Palace.
• Angel praised Pisi’s orderly market, while Luigi accused him of dressing up a sales opportunity as a service to the people waiting.
• Angel bought a Golden Silk Stomach Pouch on credit and examined how it relied on Aggregation Energy, then purchased a button that could contact a creature after absorbing its bodily fluids.
• Angel asked Pisi about the Invention Mice, and Pisi explained that Pifeifei was a brilliant first-generation mouse who was staying with the Pirl Family and was not for sale.
• Angel chose to see Pifeifei’s descendants before considering the mouse at Parrot’s place, and Pisi went to find someone from the Pirl Family.

Angel and Luigi reviewed the Pirl Family’s roster of Invention Mice, but Angel tried to decline them as not special enough. Pirdan then revealed that he had seen an unusual gray-furred Invention Mouse raised by a merchant.

• Pisi brought Pirdan, heir and butler of the Pirl Family, to meet Angel and Luigi.
• Pirdan presented a roster describing the thirty-six Invention Mice the Pirl Family was trying to sell.
• Angel and Luigi reviewed the mice, and Angel judged that none of them seemed particularly remarkable.
• Pirdan recommended one mouse for being durable and not holding grudges, but Angel said the mice were missing a certain flavor.
• Pirdan recalled a special gray-furred Invention Mouse raised by a merchant, and Luigi asked him to explain what made it unusual.

Pirdan told Angel, Luigi, and Pisi about Naksu, an Invention Mouse who may have pretended to become mediocre after showing exceptional early intelligence. Angel agreed it was a possibility, so the group arranged to meet Naksu’s merchant while waiting for their booklet pages to be added; Luigi then asked Pisi what he thought of the Singers and the Featherwood Clan.

• Pirdan explained that Naksu had developed self-awareness early, named itself similarly to Pifeifei’s original name, and briefly showed remarkable learning ability before becoming known as mediocre.
• Pirdan said he suspected Naksu was feigning mediocrity because the merchant had once caught it secretly reading papers, after which it never read them again; Angel said this behavior supported that possibility.
• Pisi invited Angel and Luigi to see Naksu, and Pirdan left to find the merchant near the Fourteenth Passage.
• While waiting, Angel and Luigi listened to Pirus inventions being presented onstage, including a mechanical wing and a bionic arm, and observed that green-skinned Pirus were receiving investment opportunities.
• Pisi arranged for added pages about the Singers and the Featherwood Clan to be inserted into the exhibition booklet, then explained that Luigi would need approval from several authorities to add pages of his own.
• Luigi asked whether Pisi had met the Singers and the Featherwood Clan and what he thought of them.

Luigi and Angel examined the Singers’ catalog and learned that Cantor’s Stele could gradually increase Aggregation Energy across a broad area, while the more powerful Song Tower could purify Aggregation Energy throughout an entire mirror space. The Crystal-Eyed Race planned to build a Song Tower, and Luigi wished he could afford one himself.

• Pisi said the Singers and the Featherwood Clan seemed weakened after a difficult journey through the Ghost Domain in the Mirror.
• Luigi examined the Singers’ catalog and learned Cantor’s Stele increased the gathering and concentration of Aggregation Energy across its musical range.
• Pisi explained that Cantor’s Stele had worked as described when displayed, and that its range could cover the Pirushu outpost.
• Luigi learned that a Song Tower could draw purer Aggregation Energy throughout the mirror space where it stood.
• Pisi said constructing a Song Tower would cost about five years of the Crystal-Eyed Race’s Crystal Condensate production, and that its elders had contacted the Singers about building one.
• Luigi wished he could build a Song Tower and silently looked at Angel.