Chapter Summaries

Gabriel cleared the Silent Corridor’s Beacon Challenge by combining sound frequencies into the command “Light up as a whole,” then began the Curse-Killing Challenge against two giant stone guards. It failed its last attempt without finding the hidden incantations and exited the instance dungeon.

• Gabriel gathered more than one hundred fleeting noises, formed the sound frequency for “Whole,” and lit all 108 lamps in the Silent Corridor at once.
• Gabriel encountered two giant stone statue guards and triggered the Curse-Killing Challenge, which required it to find and release an incantation for each guard.
• Gabriel dodged the guards’ sword and flaming sound-frequency arrow, while Angel and Laplace identified the hidden incantations as “Sword Shatter” and “Bow Break.”
• Gabriel captured and released a sound frequency resembling “flight,” but the sword-wielding guard struck it with a web of sword light and caused the challenge to fail.
• Gabriel revived before the statues, failed to locate the incantations, and exited the instance dungeon.

After failing the Curse-Killing Challenge, Gabriel visited a Crystal Cavern and met Laplace and Angel, who invited it to Text Manor. There, Laplace explained the manor and asked Gabriel to join Dream Mirror, leaving it considering the invitation.

• Gabriel left the Trial Wonderland after failing the day's challenge and decided to visit a Crystal-Eyed Race outpost.
• In a Crystal Cavern, Gabriel met Laplace and Angel, who identified it and invited it to talk at their manor.
• Gabriel used the Manor Pass to enter Text Manor, where Laplace explained that the manor and its surroundings were created through words.
• Laplace and Angel introduced themselves, and Gabriel shared the information it had previously given Yifuda.
• Laplace told Gabriel that it had opened a Trial Instance and invited it to join Dream Mirror, and Gabriel wondered whether it could.

Angel offered Gabriel a place in Dream Mirror and gave him an illusion doll so he could speak without triggering his crow’s-mouth misfortune. Their conversation revealed Gabriel’s sharp, unrestrained personality and led Laplace to explain that Special Talents came from the will of the world; Gabriel was left considering what that meant for his place in Dream Mirror.

• Gabriel hesitated over Laplace’s invitation to join Dream Mirror, and Angel began asking him questions while assuring him he could decline to answer.
• Gabriel explained that he could speak but avoided it because his words might bring misfortune, so Angel offered him an illusion doll to speak through.
• Gabriel used the doll to speak for the first time, revealed his childish-sounding voice, and complained that he did not know why Chaotic Evil Maw possessed intelligence.
• Gabriel mentioned that Raguel had taught him, then asked why Dream Mirror valued Special Talent Holders.
• Laplace told Gabriel that Special Talents were bestowed by the will of the world, leaving him deeply shocked.

Gabriel recounted how Raguel awakened it in the Loft World and revealed that a strand of an evil god’s divine intent was hunting it. Although Gabriel wanted to join the Dream Mirror Organization, it made its acceptance conditional on resolving that threat, leaving Angel and Laplace to consider whether to get involved.

• Gabriel told Angel that Raguel had found it trapped in a mirror, awakened it, taught it language, and tricked it into signing a contract.
• Gabriel explained that Raguel still believed it was the mirror spirit of the Curse Mirror, while Angel suggested they become colleagues before discussing its past further.
• Laplace invited Gabriel to join the Dream Mirror Organization again, and Gabriel said it would join if the organization could help with its pursuer.
• Gabriel revealed that a strand of an evil god’s divine intent was hunting it, though the strand was not Legendary-level and the evil god did not care if it died.
• Gabriel confirmed that Raguel’s world was the Loft World, and Angel wondered whether the Dream Mirror Organization should risk getting involved.

Laplace agreed to help Gabriel escape the Evil God's thought by sealing the spatial nodes into the Day Mirror Domain, while arranging for him to join Dream Mirror under a hundred-year contract. Gabriel accepted the terms and began explaining his history with the Curse Mirror and the nature of Holy Visage Artifacts.

• Laplace questioned Gabriel about the Evil God's thought and offered to help if he joined Dream Mirror, and Gabriel accepted.
• Angel warned Laplace that the Loft World concealed dangers even to Miracle-level beings, and Laplace explained her plan to seal spatial nodes so the Evil God's thought would be trapped in the Dark Mirror Domain with the Calamity Puppet's disasters.
• Laplace and Gleipnir prepared a contract requiring Gabriel to serve Dream Mirror for one hundred years in exchange for benefits and protection, and Gabriel agreed to sign it.
• Angel asked Gabriel about the Curse Mirror, Holy Visage Artifacts, and why the Evil God's thought was pursuing him.
• Gabriel began recounting his service to Raguel and explained that Holy Visage Artifacts were special items from the Loft World, comparable to secret treasures, whose effects weakened outside it.

Angel and Laplace explained world characteristics and Sacred Relics to Gabriel, who recounted how it had helped Raguel wield the Curse Mirror before an evil god’s thought destroyed the mirror and attacked their allies. Gabriel had escaped to the Day Mirror Domain, and Angel left open the possibility that Raguel survived while guessing that Gabriel’s talent was curses.

• Laplace explained that Sacred Relics gained power from Loft World’s characteristics and that trial-goers gained characteristics after clearing Trial Instances.
• Gabriel suggested Loft World’s characteristics came from a High God’s divine kingdom, but Laplace revealed the five-god origin story was fabricated and that she had witnessed Loft World’s history in the Empty Mirror Sea.
• Gabriel explained that the Curse Mirror had functioned as a Level 0 relic when it cast curses through him, because its backlash did not rebound onto the mirror.
• Gabriel recounted how an evil god’s thought attacked the Curse Mirror after Gabriel’s curse failed, shattered it, and forced him to flee while Raguel stayed behind to fight.
• Angel noted that he had not seen Raguel die and suggested he might have survived, then guessed that Gabriel’s talent was curses.

Angel learned that Gabriel’s talent was Dark Word Spirit, a powerful crow’s-mouth ability that made bad words come true and could turn good outcomes into bad ones. Laplace concluded that Gabriel’s talent may have been innate and became a special talent after Gabriel became the Curse Mirror’s mirror spirit and absorbed its power.

• Gabriel explained that its Dark Word Spirit made spoken curses come true, while written words were safe from its ability.
• Laplace described the talent’s limits and strength, including its greater effect in the Mirror Realm and its inability to create disasters from nothing.
• Gabriel recalled first discovering the ability when its curse caused a pursuing Triangle-Head Iron Man to fall into a hidden trap.
• Gabriel told Laplace that its curse grew much stronger after it became the mirror spirit of the Curse Mirror.
• Laplace theorized that Gabriel was born with an ordinary Dark Word Spirit talent, which transformed after merging with the Curse Mirror’s special power.

Gabriel discussed how the Curse Mirror may have evolved its Dark Word Spirit and joined Laplace and Angel in analyzing its trial challenges. It also described the Loft World as a brilliant civilization nearing collapse, leaving Angel with a glimpse of its dangers and splendor.

• Gabriel considered Laplace’s theory that the Curse Mirror had fused with and strengthened its Dark Word Spirit, and Angel explained how curses could become blessings.
• Laplace described the Light Word and Fase’s Treatise on Talents, while Angel wondered whether Time Sacrifice involved using time-talented people as materials.
• Gabriel asked about Dream Mirror, and Laplace told it that it would work as her assistant alongside Gleipnir and meet Gray Porcelain.
• Gabriel recounted the Beacon and Curse-Killing challenges, and Angel suggested the hidden curses might be concealed in dangerous or familiar places, such as inside the stone statues.
• Gabriel explained that Chaotic Evil Maws were sexless and said Raguel had taught it through stories and novels.
• Angel asked about the Loft World, and Gabriel described it as a resplendent golden age threatened by evil gods, the Black Abyss, and cultists.

Laplace challenged Gabriel’s account of Loft World, claiming its history and Orthodox churches were tied to evil gods rather than opposing them. Angel then introduced information from Order Guild Inspectors suggesting that Loft World’s relationship with extraordinary power had changed over the past few centuries.

• Laplace told Gabriel that its understanding of Loft World’s prosperity and the Orthodox churches’ role might have been distorted, and said the churches were connected to evil gods.
• Laplace cited the Temple of Desire’s transformation into the Temple of Life and identified Shigao as the final Pope of the former and first Pope of the latter.
• Gabriel recalled suspicious incidents involving the Orthodox churches, including their failure to seal the Black Abyss Sea and General Kabi’s escape, and concluded that Loft World was even more desperate than it had believed.
• Angel objected to Laplace’s claim that humans could not threaten evil gods, saying Loft World’s circumstances in recent centuries were different.
• Angel explained that an Inspector from Savage Cave had shared information from Hundred Birds, an Inspector from Loft World, about how extraordinary power had once belonged only to church members but had changed over the past few centuries.

Angel and Gabriel explained sequence advancement, a system developed by the Loft World's secret churches that could produce powerful sequence users capable of threatening evil gods. Gabriel linked their account to a story from the Omniscient Magic Mirror, and Angel and Laplace were left questioning how many pathways existed and how the system had arisen.

• Gabriel described sequence advancement as a progression through sequences using medicinal powders, rituals, and digestion, with users risking loss of control if they advanced incorrectly.
• Angel explained that the Inspector of the Loft World believed sequence users' power bore the shadow of evil gods yet was especially effective against them, and that one user had nearly stolen an evil god's divinity.
• Gabriel recalled that Afitos, the mirror spirit of the Omniscient Magic Mirror, had told it a similar story in which a Fate Hair Artisan nearly contained an evil god's Spark before the Twisted Fate Light killed him.
• Laplace concluded that sequence users who had nearly stolen divinity must have approached legendary strength and reconsidered her doubts about the system.
• Gabriel identified several pathways and their sequence names, including the Monarch, Ghost, Shaman, and Puppeteer Pathways, and said there were likely dozens in total.

Angel searched Wonderland Authority for Fairyland Instances tied to Loft World and the Four-Sided Wizarding World, finding dormant Loft World instances and surveying those already associated with other regions. He identified a potentially activatable Haunted Laboratory instance but remained unsure whether to bring it into the world.

• Gabriel and Laplace debated whether Loft World's risky sequence advancement system could have developed within a few centuries, and Laplace suggested that a Loft World Fairyland Instance could help reveal its origins.
• Laplace explained that Fairyland Instances drew on projections from across the pan-plane, and Gabriel eagerly agreed to help her catalog them so it could learn of any Loft World instance.
• Angel searched Wonderland Authority and found multiple dormant Loft World instances, no Eastern Realm instances, one manifested Northern Territory instance, and numerous Southern Region instances, including Black Cat Café and The Fantastic Voyage of Young Rivi.
• Angel discovered that the dormant Haunted Laboratory instance had activation conditions Gabriel could likely fulfill, but he worried it might spread or force people to subdue it.
• Laplace noticed Angel spacing out, and Angel said he had received intelligence; Laplace suggested it had come from a Dream Mirror colleague.

Angel discussed a new Fairyland Instance with Laplace, then investigated materials for making Orichalcum while Gabriel signed a contract with Gleipnir. Gabriel’s Raven mouth triggered a Light of Birth and Destruction that shattered a mirror space, leaving Gleipnir wary of its power.

• Angel told Laplace about the Haunted Laboratory instance and explained why Gabriel needed to be kept unaware of its descent conditions until it was given an infiltration task.
• Laplace urged Angel to search the Day Mirror Domain for instances to test whether the Wonderland Authority could capture dreams from the past, but Angel had to stop after a torrent of chaotic data struck his consciousness.
• Angel asked Napoli about Algalong’s Orichalcum and examined the materials Napoli had gathered, accepting Napoli’s offer to lend him the fire spirit Little One for forging.
• Laplace told Angel that Gleipnir had witnessed Gabriel’s Raven mouth while they were signing a contract in a mirror space.
• Gabriel wished the barren mirror space would receive the light of death, and a Light of Birth and Destruction soon shattered it.
• Gleipnir and Gabriel escaped through the Mirror Corridor, after which Gleipnir quickly signed the contract and sent Gabriel away.

After Gabriel joined Laplace as an assistant, Angel stayed at the Artifact Embryo Factory to refine a chip-making machine that could free him from enchanting embryos by hand. Laplace brought him a kelp wig from Edward, and Angel found that its hat kept his thoughts clear as he began work.

• Gleipnir signed a contract with Gabriel, sent it back to Grudge Woman Town, and shifted its work to assisting Laplace online.
• Angel abandoned his plan to go online after seeing millions of artifact embryos arrive and decided to attempt refining a chip-making machine.
• Angel sketched a rough magic-pattern framework and asked Napoli to prepare materials and a workshop for the refinement.
• Laplace returned from Silver Forest Space with a wig Edward had made from a marine creature, tucked under a deerstalker hat.
• Angel put on the hat wig and found that it cleared his sluggish thoughts, even while he used his computational power.

Angel gave Laplace an illusion puppet for Gabriel and then crafted a decorative device intended to engrave chips. He finished the device but had not yet tested whether it would work.

• Angel created an illusion puppet for Gabriel and told Laplace it could run for about half a year before needing a Nightmare Stone or his help.
• Angel offered the puppet as a welcome gift for Gabriel’s new position, asking only that Gabriel work more seriously.
• Angel chose a Head Demon skull as the platform for his magic patterns and shaped it into a glass sphere with a suspended power source.
• Angel engraved the sphere with the Droplet Method and refined transparent particle conduits around it, forming a device resembling a glowing, ringed star.
• Angel left Napoli’s workshop and headed to the item-embryo warehouse to test whether the unfinished magic array could operate.

Angel tested his newly refined chip-making machine and found it enchanted vessel blanks at roughly 98% efficiency, then traced its flaw to the tubing material. He left Napoli to test replacement tubing while he prepared the machine bodies, setting up a search for a design that could reach a 100% success rate.

• Angel entered Warehouse 38 with Napoli and tested the chip-making machine on three piles of vessel blanks using different energy levels.
• The first test enchanted about 98% of the vessel blanks, and the other two tests produced rates of 97% and 99%.
• Angel refined ten modified machines and tested them with Napoli, but their enchanting rates varied from 50% to 95%.
• Angel discovered that prolonged particle flow changed the flexible tubing and caused deviations that reduced the success rate.
• Angel refined glassy star-shaped machine bodies and gave Napoli diagrams so he could test different tubing materials and find one that achieved a 100% success rate.
• Napoli began distributing the tubing designs to assistants from the various workshops for refinement and testing.

Angel tested whether Fantasy Alchemy could create a functional chip-making machine and found that a manifestation could work after he injected it with an extracted alchemical effect. He concluded that Fantasy Alchemy had a path forward and prepared to seek inspiration by experiencing life as a Head-Mirror Race member.

• After leaving Napoli's workshop, Angel stayed near the Artifact Embryo Factory while he waited for Algalong's Orichalcum and began experimenting with Fantasy Alchemy at the Illusion Cottage.
• Angel tried to enchant an imaginary skull and use an imagined engraving pen, but neither approach worked on manifestations.
• Napoli found Angel testing a chip-making machine in Warehouse No. 38 and mistook him for secretly refining flexible tubes; Angel left without explaining the test's result.
• Angel revealed to himself that the machine was a Fantasy Alchemy manifestation given an extracted transcendent effect, which let it enchant artifact embryos at a rate below 30%.
• Angel viewed the experiment as proof that Fantasy Alchemy had a viable path, then took out the Head-Mirror Race character card he had rented from Xiluo in hopes of finding inspiration.

Angel used the character card “Tomorrow's Star Standing Proudly Atop Mirror Mountain” and gained inspiration for consciousness resonance waves and mental illusions, while confirming he was nearing the threshold of Imaginary Alchemy. He surveyed the growing Dream Crystal Plain, then returned to Modern City with six hours left on the main quest and considered using money to force the Prada Beauty Pageant's chief planner to change course.

• Angel experienced life as a Head-Mirror Race idol, and the clashes between their values and human concepts sparked inspiration for consciousness resonance waves and mental illusions.
• Angel recorded the new technique, confirmed he was close to Imaginary Alchemy, and entered the Dream Crystal Plain.
• Angel observed Rabbit Town's growth and asked Rabbit Girl to coordinate new racial territories and spawn points, while Dudu Bi continued developing the magic energy array.
• Angel watched Laplace, Turing, Gabriel, and Gray Porcelain assess instances and considered using Turing's Traffic Insight to stir up disputes over access, but learned Turing could not use that ability remotely.
• Angel entered Modern City at the Beverly Care Center and reviewed the Prada Beauty Pageant main quest, deciding that throwing money at the chief planner might be the quickest way to complete it.

Angel sought a fast way to earn Modern Coin for the second main-quest round and learned that Sixty-First Town had the best black market for selling dismantled cards. While searching Modern City for possible side quests, he found Zuniga asleep in the Central District and headed toward him, but then noticed something else through his God's-eye view.

• Angel decided to pursue one million Modern Coin and considered earning it by dismantling and selling cards.
• Connors told Angel about legitimate and black-market sales channels, recommended the black market in Sixty-First Town, and said the Care Center had only two hundred thousand liquid Modern Coin.
• Angel rejected taking funds from the Care Center and went out into the acid rain to return to the surface and travel toward the Central District.
• Angel spotted a flamboyantly dressed woman asleep backstage at a fashion show, apparently targeted by a Fashion Demonic Beast.
• Angel noticed that Zuniga had fallen asleep on a Central District street and suspected another Fashion Demonic Beast had targeted him.
• Angel decided to visit Zuniga for a possible side quest, then noticed something else through his God's-eye view.

Gleipnir explained how Star Worm uncovered the link between Prada Media Company's decline and Pai Pai's missing Carnival Night Clown, revealing a route to completing the second main quest. She told Angel that a new rumor might lead them to a sealed Carnival Night Clown, but its clues depended on two expandable entries: “ritual” and “prayer.”

• Angel found Gleipnir waiting in Sona District for midnight and asked why she had entered Instance.
• Gleipnir told Angel she wanted to capture Fashion Demonic Beasts and complete the second main quest, then recounted meeting Star Worm at Prada Media Company.
• Star Worm told Gleipnir that he had completed the Doodle Imp's graffiti quest and learned that Pai Pai's Carnival Night Clown had been central to Prada Media Company's success.
• Star Worm's quest guidance revealed that Prada Media Company could recover by regaining a Carnival Night Clown rather than merely raising money for Yusuf.
• Gleipnir revealed a new rumor about a sealed Carnival Night Clown in a room lost in the cracks of darkness, and said its “ritual” and “prayer” entries could be expanded in the Text Panel.

Angel learned that the Location and Sacrificial Offering Rumors would complete the ritual needed to find Carnival Night Clown, and agreed to help Gleipnir and Star Worm finish their quests. As the lake rumor began, a woman in white appeared and pulled Gleipnir into a challenge space.

• Angel and Gleipnir agreed that Gleipnir would attempt the lakeside rumor while Angel prepared Modern Coins and would take over if she was still inside after an hour.
• Angel checked Star Worm’s progress at Prada Media Company and learned that Star Worm was still trying to obtain Kaushike’s side quest, “Time Is a Circle.”
• At nine in the evening, Gleipnir heard cursing from the lake and saw a woman in white emerge from the water.
• The woman in white vanished from the lake and appeared behind Gleipnir, who entered a challenge space after meeting her gaze.
• Angel saw Gleipnir faint safely on the shore as the woman in white disappeared in a scattering halo of light.