Chapter Summaries

Angel learned that the Divine Blood Clone had lost her ability to speak as a side effect of giving him a powerful, one-time blessing. He expanded a library and created language-learning resources for her, leaving her to begin relearning the Common Language.

• Angel learned from the Phantom Clone and Laplace that the Divine Blood Clone's Tier 3 blessing had erased her knowledge of the Common Language, though she could relearn it within weeks.
• Laplace explained that Angel's one-time blessing suggested either extraordinary research talent or exceptionally difficult future research, and praised him as a genius.
• The Divine Blood Clone decided to start learning language again, and Angel offered to create Common Language books and an illusion theater to help her.
• The Divine Blood Clone requested a story like Rebirth: I Am the Goddess, with herself as the goddess protagonist, and declined to use the sacred Temple of Rigor as an entertainment setting.
• Angel expanded the existing library, filling its first two floors with language-learning books and turning the third into a hall for illusion Shadow Boxes; the Divine Blood Clone then entered to study.

The Void Shadow Clone reported that Xiluda had reached a strange mirror-space full of ritual materials and could collect them through a two-dimensional image. After entering Knight Castle in the mirror, she gathered Evil Spirit-tainted items and faced a choice between meeting the Evil Spirit Knight and exploring further.

• The Void Shadow Clone told Angel and Laplace that Granny Dragon Raven had agreed to help Blood Calamity locate the Calamity Puppet and that Xiluda was with her.
• Laplace learned from Gleipnir that Xiluda’s situation had taken an unexpected turn, and the Void Shadow Clone recounted Xiluda’s journey through the Mirror Ghost Domain.
• Xiluda found a mirror-shaped sacrificial item that let her control a crystal Matchstick Man and bring ritual materials from its images into the real world.
• Xiluda gathered rare sacrificial items and followed a forest path to Knight Castle, where a cartoon butler invited her to meet the Evil Spirit Knight.
• Xiluda explored the castle hall, collected several Evil Spirit-tainted ritual items, and considered whether to visit the Evil Spirit Knight or search the other rooms.

Xiluda explored the castle’s outer rooms in the Mirror Game, avoiding suspicious Matchstick Men before accidentally triggering a dressing-table fee and a Spirit-Transference Ritual. She entered the ritual and found herself inside the mirror as the fashionable-haired Matchstick Man, while her own body remained outside with someone else’s eyes.

• Xiluda avoided the attendant room after its two figures hinted at a rebellion and seemed disappointed when she left.
• Xiluda passed up the maid’s glowing fruit and entered the empty dressing room, where she redesigned a glowing wig.
• Xiluda saved her wig design and learned that she owed a fee for using Edward’s dressing table.
• Xiluda failed to pay before the countdown ended, recorded the Mirror Game’s discovery in a crystal embedded in Granny Dragon Raven’s scale, and was pulled into the mirror.
• Xiluda found herself in the dressing room as the fashionable-haired Matchstick Man and saw her own body outside with someone else’s eyes.

Granny Dragon Raven used the Mirror Game and the Spirit-Transference Ritual to confirm that Xiluda had been trapped in the game, then helped her exchange places with the Pointed One. Xiluda remained at Granny Dragon Raven’s research base, weakened and studying ritual magic, while Granny Dragon Raven prepared to investigate the mirror further with another human test subject.

• Granny Dragon Raven found Xiluda’s crystal memory and the Divine Hair Gift Ritual Codex, then learned from the codex about the Spirit-Transference Ritual.
• Granny Dragon Raven used a Pointed One to activate the Mirror Game and recognized the fashionable-haired Matchstick Man as Xiluda from her mention of Lita.
• Granny Dragon Raven concluded that Xiluda and the fashionable-haired Matchstick Man had exchanged souls, then guided the Pointed One to use the dressing mirror and trigger another transfer.
• Xiluda’s soul entered the Pointed One’s body, while the Pointed One’s soul entered the Mirror Game, leaving Xiluda weakened by the ritual and her body-soul mismatch.
• Xiluda stayed at Granny Dragon Raven’s research base and studied the Divine Hair Gift Ritual Codex as she sought a way to overturn the Spectacle Ritual.
• Granny Dragon Raven rescued a Southern Region human who had wandered into the Ghost Domain and planned to use him to continue studying the Mirror Game.

Xiluda discovered the Radiant Soul-Seeking Ritual, which led Dragon Raven Granny to a temporary passage into the Day Mirror Domain where Xiluda’s body had gone. As Gleipnir began divining for the body and Angel considered the Mirror Game’s origins, he noticed a contradiction in Xiluda’s account of taking objects from it.

• Dragon Raven Granny used a human player to tell the Pointed One that leaving the Mirror Game immediately could destroy her soul and that she needed to find a way to strengthen it or replace the Spirit-Transference Ritual.
• Xiluda found the Radiant Soul-Seeking Ritual in the Divine Hair Gift Ritual Codex and used ownerless offerings from the Mirror Game to track pheromones from her body.
• Dragon Raven Granny followed the ritual’s radiance to a temporary passage into the Day Mirror Domain, where Xiluda’s body had recently gone; Eya began locating the passage because the Calamity Puppet might have used it too.
• Angel and the others discussed whether the Mirror Game was an artificial item with rule-based power, and the Void Shadow Clone suggested that Edward might know its creator.
• Gleipnir began divining for Xiluda’s body using her Crystal Shell, while Angel realized that Xiluda’s earlier looting of glowing objects seemed to contradict her claim that taking owned objects triggered the Spirit-Transference Ritual.

Angel and the others examined clues about Knight Castle, especially why Xiluda had taken ritual offerings without triggering the Spirit-Transference Ritual. Gleipnir's divination revealed that Edward had first gone to a place Angel recognized as Crystal City, while Granny Dragon Raven began investigating the butler and Evil Spirit Knight.

• Angel recalled that Xiluda had taken a rope, a flower, and a cup from Knight Castle without triggering the Spirit-Transference Ritual, and he discussed possible reasons with Laplace and the others.
• Angel proposed that the butler and Evil Spirit Knight might oppose the castle's NPCs and be trying to prevent intruders from activating the ritual with owned objects.
• The Void Shadow Clone returned from delivering Angel's message and said Granny Dragon Raven had already begun trying to approach the Evil Spirit Knight.
• Angel met Prophet Yota, who gave him a Crystal Shell containing about ten thousand Sacred Corpse Crystals from military and civilian graveyards.
• After Gleipnir's divination, Luigi showed two points in the void and revealed that Edward had first gone to a place Angel had never visited but knew; Angel identified it as Crystal City.

Angel and the others reasoned that Edward could sense danger and might be hiding in Crystal City by blending in with the Crystal-Eyed Race. Gleipnir tracked him to a shop on the 5503rd floor of the Ring Fortress, where the crowd outside and the guard’s explanation left her group and the observers in Silver Forest Space looking uneasy.

• The Void Shadow Clone deduced that Edward could sense danger, explaining how he had navigated the Mirror Ghost Domain and why he might risk entering Crystal City.
• Angel and the Void Shadow Clone considered how Edward could conceal Xiluda’s identity and exploit the Crystal-Eyed Race’s power while hiding among them.
• Laplace used illusion nodes to broadcast Gleipnir’s pursuit of Edward, then added a four-second delay to ease the strain of transmitting in real time.
• Gleipnir’s divination led her group to Edward’s presumed location on the 5503rd floor of the Ring Fortress, in Pirus territory.
• Gleipnir approached a Crystal-Eyed Race guard outside the crowded shop where Edward was hiding and asked what was happening inside.
• After the guard explained the situation, Gleipnir’s group and the observers in Silver Forest Space wore strange expressions.

Angel and his companions learned that Edward had made Baibo Tooth Staining popular by offering hairstyling and wigs, then watched as Gleipnir and Butler Fan infiltrated the shop. Gleipnir reached the hairstyling area and identified Edward working on a customer, while a wig containing the power of the starry sky caught her attention.

• A Crystal-Eyed Race guard explained that Baibo Pibai had revived his tooth-staining shop by partnering with a master hairstylist to offer hairstyling, hair dyeing, and wigs.
• Angel, Luigi, and Laplace concluded that the mysterious hairstylist was Edward, and Laplace confirmed that the customers had not been affected by an outside force.
• Gleipnir and Butler Fan used a starry-sky concealment ability to vanish from view and entered Baibo Tooth Staining, while Gleipnir set up a star ring to hinder Edward's escape through space.
• Gleipnir noticed a black wig containing the power of the starry sky but left it untouched to avoid alarming Edward or harming the crowd.
• Gleipnir passed through the wall into the hairstyling area and saw Baibo Pibai, a customer from the Yingji Race, and Edward styling the man's hair.

Edward sensed that the Crystal-Eyed Race had noticed him and calmly waited for Gleipnir to reveal herself. He sought a peaceful conversation by presenting himself as harmless and offering information about the Mirror Game, and Gleipnir agreed to talk elsewhere.

• Edward sensed someone watching him while Baibo Pibai tried to raise his rent, then persuaded Baibo to check the queue outside.
• A Crystal-Eyed Race guard detained Baibo and brought him to Pisi, while Edward finished styling the Yingji Race soldier’s hair and watched the soldier leave.
• After realizing he had been targeted, Edward called out to the doorway and met Gleipnir, an elderly woman wielding the power of the starry sky.
• Edward explained that he had mentioned Bubble to attract Gleipnir’s attention and asked whether she had come to capture him.
• Gleipnir asked Edward to explain who he was, how he had taken over the body, and where its original owner was, and Edward suggested they talk elsewhere.

Gleipnir brought Edward through a starry gate to Silver Forest, where Angel, Laplace, and the others questioned him about his origins and the body he occupied. Edward began explaining how he came from the Herun Family in Lorenbier, but had not yet revealed where the body's original owner was.

• Gleipnir opened a starry gate and persuaded Edward to enter, while Butler Fan followed her through it.
• Laplace ended her illusion broadcast, and Edward emerged from the starry gate into Silver Forest.
• Edward chose to approach the Tea Party, where he met Angel, Laplace, Luigi, and the Void Shadow Clone before Gleipnir and Butler Fan arrived.
• Gleipnir had everyone introduce themselves and warned Edward that she could use divination to check his answers.
• Edward agreed to share what he could and began describing his origins in Lorenbier and his upbringing in the Herun Family, which traded in furred races.

Edward, a gifted wigmaker, was abducted by the Legendary Wizard Ronan and taken to Instrument World, where moonlight consumed souls and marked those exposed to it. After building a successful hair and makeup business in Instrument Town and surviving the Red Moon, Edward learned that finding a hidden Secret Ground might be the way to escape.

• Edward wove Ronan's blood-stained hair into a living wig, and Ronan abducted him and brought him to Instrument Town.
• Edward learned that moonlight drained soul power and marked people, then rented a room by proving his hair and makeup skills to the mayor and winning the mayor's wife's support.
• Edward opened a shop, earned soul coins from customers, and learned that marked people could not leave Instrument World.
• When the Red Moon bathed the town in light, Edward spent most of his soul coins maintaining a barrier and escaped being marked.
• Edward rebuilt his savings as his shop became famous, and visitors from major cities told him that the route out required finding a Secret Ground hidden in a dangerous place.

Edward spent centuries searching Instrument World for a way out, returning to Instrument Town weary but still determined. A Starlight Jellyfish customer revealed that his home, Knight Castle, was a secret place and offered Edward a chance to leave if he became his personal cosmetics and hairstyling artist.

• Edward prepared for wilderness expeditions, searched the Secret Forest, and returned to Instrument Town after disasters rapidly consumed his supplies and damaged his carriage.
• He continued earning soul coins and gathering information across many cities, repeatedly exploring the wilderness for secret places over centuries without giving up his desire to escape.
• After returning to Instrument Town to rest, Edward accepted a commission to make a wig from a Starlight Jellyfish's shed tentacles.
• Starlight Jellyfish told Edward that he had to play the role of a young lady to avoid misfortune and quietly revealed that he was doing so to get out.
• After Edward described his centuries-long efforts to leave Instrument World, Starlight Jellyfish offered him work as a personal cosmetics and hairstyling artist, saying it could give him a slim chance to escape through Knight Castle, a secret place.

Edward explained how he entered Knight Castle, learned its role-playing rules, and used a Makeup-Changing Mirror to induce Xiluda into making a purchase that triggered a Spirit-Transference Ritual. He admitted he had sought a way out of Instrument World, and Gleipnir ended by asking whether the mirror Xiluda used had fallen into his hands.

• Edward recounted how Bubble guided him through the watery mist wall into Knight Castle and helped register him as the castle’s makeup and hairstylist.
• Edward learned that residents had to play their assigned roles and that the hidden land’s Spirit-Transference Ritual could exchange a resident’s soul with an outsider’s.
• Edward explained that he placed his Makeup-Changing Mirror in the dressing hall, where Xiluda used it and, lacking Soul Coins, triggered the ritual that put her in his body and him in hers.
• Edward admitted he had hoped Xiluda would use the mirror but said he had left her to choose, and Gleipnir judged his account consistent with what she knew.
• Gleipnir asked why Edward had not communicated with Xiluda directly, and he explained that the hidden land’s rules prevented residents from sharing information with false bodies.
• Gleipnir asked whether the mirror Xiluda had used as a window into the hidden land had ended up in Edward’s hands.

Edward explained why he had left the mirror behind after taking Xiluda’s body, and Gleipnir’s group confirmed they had already found the mirror and rescued Xiluda. He then recounted how he escaped the Dark Mirror Domain and reached the Crystal-Eyed Race’s territory, hoping to learn how to use Xiluda’s power.

• Edward said he had been too weak after the Spirit-Transference Ritual to open his Exile Space, so he left the mirror and Xiluda’s heavy book behind and gave Gleipnir the location where he had abandoned them.
• Gleipnir consulted Angel and the others through a Mind Tether, and they judged Edward probably sincere about Xiluda.
• Gleipnir revealed that her group had already found the mirror and rescued Xiluda before meeting Edward, and Edward realized that she had been testing him.
• Edward described using a wig made from Void Borer skin to sense spatial weak points and escape the Mirror Ghost Domain into the Day Mirror Domain.
• Unable to find a way out of the Day Mirror Domain, Edward followed the gathering of mirror-dwelling races to the Crystal Kingdom, hoping to learn how to activate the power in Xiluda’s body.

Edward explained how he entered Crystal City and described Bubble, the Starfaller jellyfish he had known in the Instrument World. Angel and Laplace considered whether the Instrument World was a special or newly created world, while Edward’s account revealed that Bubble had survived there without developing Homesickness Syndrome.

• Edward recounted how he entered Crystal City in Xiluda’s body and partnered with a Pirus Tooth Staining Shop owner.
• Angel learned that Edward had entered the Instrument World from the Material Realm, then emerged into the Mirror Ghost Domain, and discussed the possibility that the Instrument World was an artificial world with Laplace.
• Edward explained that his experience with Mirror Realm lifeforms had let him recognize the Mirror Realm’s aura.
• Gleipnir asked about the starry power in a wig, and Edward said it came from Bubble’s tentacles and described their long friendship in Knight Castle.
• Edward recounted how Bubble had lived as a Sea-Tower Person on Sea-Tower Star, became a Starfaller, and was captured and sent to the Instrument World.
• Edward explained that Bubble believed the Instrument World had kept it safe from Homesickness Syndrome.

Evil Spirit Knight explained why Bubble had avoided Homesickness Syndrome, and Edward told Gleipnir how Bubble’s loneliness and connection to Evil Spirit Knight might help her rescue it. Gleipnir decided Evil Spirit Knight could be their best lead on bringing Bubble out of the Instrument World in its own body.

• Evil Spirit Knight explained that Bubble avoided Homesickness Syndrome because the Instrument World’s laws had not fully manifested.
• Edward described Bubble’s loneliness and his promise to find it a Star Spirit Sorcerer, while Gleipnir recognized that Bubble could benefit her astrological work.
• Gleipnir concluded that bringing Bubble out of the Instrument World in its own body would be safer than using the Spirit-Transference Ritual, but she had no way to do it.
• Edward suggested that Evil Spirit Knight might know how to leave the Instrument World with one’s true body because he had been present since the Secret Land was established.
• Edward described Evil Spirit Knight as gentle and friendly toward outsiders and explained that he had rescued Bubble and made it the castle’s little master.

Edward described the Evil Spirit Knight as distant and unreal, prompting Angel to speculate that someone outside Knight Castle controlled the role. Edward then revealed that ritual offerings appeared mysteriously in the castle and were connected to role-playing, leaving the group with a new clue to investigate.

• Edward told Gleipnir that the Evil Spirit Knight seemed blurred because he had rarely seen him up close and had never seen his face.
• Edward said the other castle characters feared and hated the Evil Spirit Knight, though he did not know their views directly.
• Angel suggested the Evil Spirit Knight might be a player who rarely logged in, possibly controlling the role from outside Knight Castle or even outside the Instrument World.
• Angel asked Edward about Knight Castle, and Edward explained that ritual offerings appeared without warning and took forms connected to their owners.
• Edward said ritual offerings appeared more often when characters followed their roles, and he described the many offerings in his and Bubble's rooms.

Edward explained how role-playing produced offerings and how outsiders paid a price for using offerings owned by the castle’s residents. Angel questioned how the rules accounted for exceptions and why offerings existed, and Edward revealed that ownerless offerings in the forest sometimes vanished, suggesting someone was collecting them.

• Edward explained that fitting a role’s character setting produced offerings, and outsiders who used offerings owned by a role had to pay with soul coins or their bodies.
• Gleipnir and Angel compared Knight Castle’s role-playing rules to the rule-based abilities of Unfallen King City and the Dark Mirror Domain.
• Angel questioned why Xiluda had taken offerings without paying a price, and Laplace proposed three possible explanations; Edward confirmed that the Evil Spirit Knight was the castle’s master, ruling out one possibility.
• Angel and Gleipnir wondered why offerings appeared and whether anyone used them, and Edward said he had never seen the Evil Spirit Knight collect or use offerings.
• Edward recounted finding a Dead Man’s Rope in the forest and seeing it vanish weeks later, then described tracking other ownerless offerings and finding a tombstone-shaped one gone, leaving only a muddy puddle.

Edward explained that the missing tombstone and dead man's rope were likely taken by people from the Instrument World, and he recalled clues suggesting other hidden lands might exist. Angel became more interested in studying the mirror, while Gleipnir decided to keep Edward with her and defer his further punishment until she met Xiluda.

• Edward ruled out the Evil Spirit Knight as the one who removed the offerings and speculated that people from the Instrument World had taken them.
• Edward told Angel that nobles knew legends and stories about multiple hidden lands, then recalled Bubble mentioning an envoy from King Insect Forest.
• Angel connected the possible hidden lands to the Instrument World and said studying its mirror might help him understand the Dream Crystal Plain.
• Laplace and Gleipnir agreed that Angel could study the mirror when Xiluda brought it, and Butler Fan supported the plan.
• Gleipnir decided Edward would follow her for now rather than remain in Silver Forest Space.
• Edward asked about his punishment, and Gleipnir ordered him to obey her until she could discuss the matter with Xiluda.

Gleipnir and Angel examined Edward’s wig-making talent and discovered that even a wig made with only fairy blood could rival a low- or mid-tier alchemy tool. Angel suspected the talent might be connected to mystery, and recalled how Tang Xia’er’s False Teeth had emerged as a mysterious object from its owner’s death.

• Gleipnir planned to retrieve Bubble’s starry-sky wig from the Tooth Staining shop and asked Edward about the Astral Spirit behind Bubble, but Edward knew little beyond Bubble’s reverence for its lord.
• Angel asked about Edward’s wigs, examined a fiery red one, and learned it could stimulate and clear blockages in a person’s bloodline.
• Edward explained that the wig was made from ordinary human hair and pure fairy blood, prompting Angel, Laplace, Gleipnir, and Luigi to recognize its remarkable alchemy-tool-like effect.
• Edward clarified that the wig was among his finest creations, that special effects appeared only rarely, and that his best wigs reached at most mid-tier alchemy-tool strength.
• Angel compared Edward’s unusual talent to mystery and recalled the story of Tang Xia’er, whose lifelong toothaches went unrecognized until his death gave rise to the mysterious object Tang Xia’er’s False Teeth.