Chapter Summaries

Angel monitored Gleipnir as she entered a fashion-design challenge tied to Anna, a drowned designer whose approval was required for success. After Anna rejected Gleipnir’s first design, Gleipnir began searching for a unique style, while Angel traveled through Modern City toward the unconscious Zuniga.

• Angel examined Gleipnir’s challenge and learned she had to create a distinctive fashion design that would soothe Anna’s soul.
• Gleipnir drew a retro Southern Region wizard robe and submitted it to Anna, who rejected it with a black X.
• Gleipnir searched Anna’s discarded designs and discovered that wizard-style clothing had already appeared among them, so she began planning a different design.
• Angel rode the Silverwing Express to the Central District and found several entrances to the Underground District, but chose to head toward Tina Entertainment instead.
• Angel crossed the rain-soaked streets toward Zuniga, who was unconscious beneath a high-rise near Tina Entertainment.

Gleipnir tested whether Anna’s room influenced her designs, but Anna rejected five drafts she completed outside, leaving her uncertain how to clear the task. Meanwhile, Star Worm investigated Kaushike’s past through his photographs, and Angel helped the sleeping Zuniga by leaving money for the bakery clerk to take him to an inn if he did not wake.

• Gleipnir completed five designs in the corridor, but Anna marked every draft with a black X when Gleipnir submitted them at the lake.
• Angel reasoned that Anna likely judged designs by her own standards, leaving Gleipnir unsure how to complete the task.
• Kaushike led Star Worm to his dormitory and showed him a wall of photographs from his past, which Star Worm searched for clues to the quest Time Is a Circle.
• Angel found Zuniga asleep on a bench outside a bakery, where a young clerk had sheltered him from the rain.
• Angel left one hundred Modern Coins for the clerk and told him to take Zuniga to an inn if he did not wake, then vanished into the rain.

Zuniga was pulled into the Smoke Screen Scholar’s challenge space and began searching for the hidden creature, while Angel learned that touching Zuniga had given him a separate task in Tina Entertainment. Angel planned to find the fifteen hidden skeletons after leaving the Underground District and investigated the rare Smoke Screen Scholar.

• Zuniga was caught in acid rain, transported to a mist-shrouded city, and realized a Fashion Demonic Beast had drawn him into a challenge space.
• Zuniga touched a mist child and received the task of finding the true mastermind among the Mist Spirits within forty-eight hours.
• Zuniga climbed to a rooftop to survey the city, then considered delaying the search in case the Outsider from Beyond the Heavens came to interrupt him.
• Angel left Modern Coins for the bakery clerk, entered a sewer leading to the Underground District, and reviewed the two challenge tasks he had received.
• Angel decided to search Tina Entertainment for fifteen hidden human skeletons after leaving the Underground District, then tapped the Smoke Screen Scholar entry for more information.

Angel changed his route toward the Underground District after finding the sewer entrance blocked by acid-rain drainage, while Gleipnir continued struggling to satisfy Anna's trial. Angel identified Anna's influence as a possible clue to clearing it, and Gleipnir entered the room to try designing under that influence.

• Angel found that the sewer slide was locked while acid rain drained through it, so he chose an unguarded shopping-mall entrance to the Underground District instead.
• Gleipnir presented Anna with her Sea of Stars gown design, but Anna returned it marked with a black X.
• Angel suggested that Gleipnir lower her design standards and consider whether a draft closer to Anna's own skill might soothe her undead spirit.
• Angel realized that Anna's influence inside the room might be a clue, and Gleipnir agreed to draw there rather than in the hallway.
• Gleipnir entered the room and began a new design under Anna's influence while Angel left to handle his own mission.

Angel infiltrated Tina Entertainment, learned how its nightly mage performances attracted Fashion Demonic Beasts, and uncovered information about the rare Silk Marionette form called Fairy-Silk Puppet. While searching for an easier way to collect the fifteen sets of human remains required by his mission, he discovered a hidden three-level laboratory filled with corpses and considered using it as his source.

• Angel entered Tina Entertainment and watched mages perform on a stage where magical effects stirred the audience's emotions.
• A mage teased the Flamingo man about his obsession with Fairy-Silk Puppet, and Angel learned from Lizi that the nightly events helped employees attract Fashion Demonic Beasts.
• Lizi explained that Fairy-Silk Puppet was a scarce special form of the Silk Marionette, prized for its beauty in Modern City.
• Angel asked Lizi about the human remains mission and used his God's-eye view to locate remains scattered throughout the building, including some beneath their sofa.
• Angel discovered a concealed three-level laboratory where human experiments had left corpses throughout the facility, and he considered taking fifteen sets of remains from there.

Angel learned about the Smoke Screen Scholar from Lizi and suspected its smoke-created Mist Spirits were connected to the creatures in Zuniga’s challenge space. He shared the creature’s abilities with Gleipnir as she worked on Anna’s design task, leaving Angel with a new idea.

• Angel used Nightmare Illusion to question Lizi, who agreed to retrieve fifteen human skeletons from Tina Entertainment’s underground laboratory.
• Lizi explained that the Smoke Screen Scholar was a rare Fashion Demonic Beast from Mistforest City, known for its innate smoke control and its Mist Spirit Creation ability.
• Angel described the hundreds of thousands of smoke creatures in Zuniga’s challenge space, and Lizi said they could be Mist Spirits sustained by the challenge space’s laws.
• Lizi left for the laboratory while Angel considered a new plan based on what she had told him.
• Gleipnir discovered Anna preferred bright, contrasting colors as she tested design sketches, then Angel contacted her and explained what he had learned about the Smoke Screen Scholar.

Angel explained that the Smoke Screen Scholar could create Mist Spirits as doubles, and Gleipnir concluded Laplace was better suited to wield the ability because she had far greater computing power. Angel then contacted Laplace as she investigated a cramped cave Instance, Mata Temple, which was designed for small creatures and could not be entered by her group.

• Angel told Gleipnir that the Smoke Screen Scholar's Mist Spirits could serve as doubles and assistants, with their number and quality determined by the controller's computing power.
• Gleipnir explained that Laplace had much greater computing power than the other Time Doppelgängers because she had been born directly from their main body, and agreed Laplace should receive the Smoke Screen Scholar.
• Angel located Laplace near Rabbit Town, where she and Gray Porcelain were investigating an Instance discovered by Woodleaf Clan adventurers inside a narrow cave.
• Laplace sent Turing and a Woodleaf Clan member into the cave to record the Instance's crystal creation because the rest of the group could not fit.
• Angel told Laplace that the Instance was Mata Temple, a maze of narrow underground tunnels inhabited by subterranean creatures and ruled by rats.
• Angel explained that Mata Temple was suited to naturally small creatures such as the Woodleaf Clan, while Laplace and Gabriel would struggle to move through its passages.

Laplace and Angel devised a possible way to use Mist Spirits to let Gray Porcelain judge the Mata Temple Instance’s danger, and Laplace agreed to wait while Angel pursued the Smoke Screen Scholar. Angel then uncovered remains beneath the cleaning room floor and accepted a quest to identify the murdered woman and return her remains home.

• Gray Porcelain could not judge the Mata Temple Instance’s danger from Turing’s recording, so Angel proposed letting him control a Mist Spirit and see through its eyes.
• Laplace asked Angel to save the Smoke Screen Scholar puzzle piece and fragments for her, and agreed to wait until Angel unlocked the third round of the main quest.
• Angel checked that Lizi had reached the underground laboratory, then noticed Authority Information around remains beneath the cleaning room floor.
• Angel accepted the Eavesdropper quest, which required him to spread gossip about a deputy minister or higher to more than twenty people.
• Angel excavated the remains, discovered they belonged to a murdered woman, and accepted the Return Home quest to identify her and return her remains to her home.

Angel delegated the Homecoming and Walls Have Ears missions to Lizi, then received a Gossip Fiend puzzle fragment with the Codeword Analysis ability. He kept the page for now and claimed a Smoke Screen Scholar fragment, revealing its Mist Spirit Creation ability.

• Angel decided to entrust the Homecoming mission to Lizi, who could use her position at Tina Entertainment to identify the missing person.
• Lizi used illusion magic to remove fifteen Skeletons from the laboratory, but Angel told her to return the bones and asked her several questions.
• Angel left Tina Entertainment and received a Gossip Fiend puzzle fragment for completing Walls Have Ears; its preview ability was Codeword Analysis.
• Angel learned that entry-level book pages generally sold cheaply, while Styling Clown and Prologue: Co-Frequency pages could be worth much more, and he decided to keep the Gossip Fiend page for now.
• Angel claimed the reward for High-Rise Hide-and-Seek and discovered that the Smoke Screen Scholar page had Mist Spirit Creation as its first ability.

After a failed challenge task, Zuniga pursued clues about the Outsider from Beyond the Heavens and learned that the stranger who had helped a bakery clerk was likely his target. Daily News revealed the Outsider had erased a disaster at Beverly Care Center in Fourteenth Town, prompting Zuniga to head there.

• Zuniga woke in a bakery after fainting when his City Hide-and-Seek task failed, then searched the area for the Outsider from Beyond the Heavens.
• A bakery clerk told Zuniga that a mysterious, faceless person had given him one hundred Modern Coins to help Zuniga; Zuniga accepted the money and gave the clerk a pebble pendant.
• From a rooftop, Zuniga used Targeted News on the clerk, April First, and learned that the Outsider had once looked at April First without discovering a hidden truth.
• Zuniga used Daily News and learned that the Outsider had silently erased a disaster at Beverly Care Center in Fourteenth Town.
• Zuniga decided to investigate Fourteenth Town, left the rooftop, and Angel later emerged from Tina Entertainment Tower and headed toward the nearby shopping mall.

Angel traveled to Sixty-First Town and entered the Deep Earth Black Market to find a place to trade. There, he met a guide named Little Green and tested whether she recognized Zuniga, while Zuniga himself was returning to the West District on a train and repeating the date April 1st.

• Angel remembered that Zuniga had awakened after their shared challenge, then used the God's-eye view to find him riding a Silverwing Express train toward the West District.
• Angel observed Zuniga murmuring “April 1st” before continuing through the Underground District toward Sixty-First Town.
• Angel reached prosperous Sixty-First Town and spotted the Dark Round Table's black curtain, where Fashion Demonic Beasts had drawn people into mission challenges.
• Angel followed a fashion mage into the Deep Earth Black Market and found that most traders gathered at a precarious tower of shipping containers and wooden huts.
• Angel approached the Wandering House guide Little Green and gave his name as Zuniga to see whether she recognized it, but she showed no sign of knowing him.

Angel visited the Deep Earth Black Market with Little Green and learned about its book-page trade and bounty boards. He followed her to the Hermit Society’s supposed branch, where his God's-eye view revealed that its headquarters was a makeshift operation preparing to impress him.

• Little Green explained that the Black Emperor had designed the Deep Earth Black Market and that style-type magicians came there to seek inspiration and attract Demonic Beasts.
• Angel paid Little Green to guide him and told her he urgently needed to sell book pages.
• Little Green described the options for selling pages and recommended matching them with buyer bounties listed on book-page shop boards.
• Little Green offered access to her guide team’s bounty-board records and led Angel to the Hermit Society’s supposed branch.
• Angel secretly watched Little Green instruct the makeshift crew to stage the branch as a professional operation, then chose not to expose their deception.

Angel visited the Hermit Society’s branch in the Deep Earth Black Market and learned about its hidden operations while preparing to have them find a sales channel for him. The little witch was trapped in a challenge space, so Little Green stepped in to handle Angel’s request with help from Bambu.

• Little Green led Angel through the Hermit Society’s elaborate branch and its illuminated Starry Sky Garden.
• Angel used his God's-eye view to discover that Little Green had gone through a Spatial Gate to a hidden loft, where members were trying to wake a sleeping little witch.
• Little Green learned that the little witch had entered a challenge space after being targeted by a Fashion Demonic Beast, and she summoned Bambu to assist with Angel’s request.
• Little Green brought Bambu to Angel and introduced it as the Starshine Butterfly Spirit, a special form of a Starshine Illusion Butterfly.
• Angel agreed to let Little Green handle his inquiry, and she offered to find suitable sales channels using page merchants’ bounty lists.

Angel agreed to join the Hermit Society after Little Green explained its membership benefits, costs, and anonymous social network. He completed his registration, and Bambu converted the form into Corner Codes.

• Little Green explained the Hermit Society’s events, information services, communication device, and membership fees and tasks to Angel.
• Angel decided to join after learning that members could remain anonymous and keep their identities concealed.
• Angel reviewed the terms and registered under his real name, choosing the Heat Series as his specialty.
• Angel listed Traffic Bat and Fashion Cutter as Demonic Beasts he commonly used so he could qualify for relevant tasks and membership points.
• Little Green duplicated the registration form, and Bambu swallowed a copy and produced patterns Angel recognized as Corner Codes.

Angel joined the Hermit Society, received a ring communicator, and learned that its network used Fashion Demonic Beasts as relays. He tested the device and discovered that communication consumed energy points, leaving him with questions about the society and the little witch who powered its relay.

• Little Green explained that the Hermit Society transmitted information through Fashion Demonic Beasts, and Bambu finished registering Angel as a member.
• Kalien welcomed Angel, while Bambu transferred his membership information to a silver ring communicator.
• Angel traced the ring’s energy connection to the sleeping little witch and suspected that her Fashion Demonic Beast served as the society’s relay.
• Little Green showed Angel how to activate the communicator and use energy to select its holographic icons.
• Angel contacted the Hermit Society receptionist, but the call ended when his energy ran low, and Little Green explained that communication consumed energy points or membership points.

Angel learned the Hermit Ring’s communication limits and used it to investigate the value of his Styling Clown book page. Bambu found several suitable bounties, leaving Angel to choose between a safer Fashion Guild buyer and a more convenient but riskier independent magician.

• Angel learned that the Hermit Ring required a receptionist to connect calls and that the Hermit Society charged for confidential or technical information.
• Little Green explained the most valuable bounty categories and estimated that Angel’s Styling Clown could sell for more than two hundred thousand Modern Coin, depending on its precognitive ability.
• Angel told Little Green that his Styling Clown had the Transforming Styles ability, and she asked Bambu to check the bounty boards.
• Bambu sent Angel listings for Styling Clowns with Transforming Styles, including two three-hundred-thousand-Modern-Coin offers: one from a Fashion Guild magician and one from an independent magician in Sixty-First Town.

Angel let Little Green negotiate for the eight-hundred-thousand bounty while he secretly returned to the Hermit Society to investigate the Little Witch and its members. He learned that the Society wanted to recruit him because he was unaffiliated, but the Little Witch’s name remained unknown until he touched her hair and her Text Panel appeared.

• Angel asked Little Green to negotiate the eight-hundred-thousand bounty, with instructions to settle it quickly and abandon the deal after half an hour.
• After Little Green left, Angel secretly returned to the Hermit Society’s headquarters and overheard Kalien explain why the Society wanted to recruit him.
• Angel found the Little Witch asleep in the attic and learned from her maid that nobody knew her true name, while Lila led the Society and its backing might come from another city.
• Angel asked the maid to fetch Kalien, then touched the Little Witch’s hair, causing her Text Panel to appear.

Angel inspected his “Miss Halloween” quest and found it far easier than the Little Witch’s “the Adams Family” challenge, whose bizarre residents kept her progress at zero. He then learned the Little Witch’s true name, Estrella Cecilia, and discovered that she was the last direct descendant of the Cecilia Family, whose bloodline could trigger an impossible side quest.

• Angel read his “Miss Halloween” quest, which required him to prepare Halloween-style looks for twenty people and attend Danni’s sparsely attended party.
• Angel watched the Little Witch struggle to style the six dangerous, difficult-to-please members of the Adams Family, leaving her quest progress at zero.
• Angel inspected Danni’s Halloween party and found no hidden obstacle beyond its lack of participants, then decided to postpone his quest.
• Angel used his illusion to question Kalien about the Little Witch and learned her true name was Estrella Cecilia.
• Angel saw Estrella Cecilia’s NPC information reveal that she was the last direct descendant of the exterminated Cecilia Family and that contacting her could trigger an impossible side quest.

Angel questioned Kalien about the Little Witch, the Cecilia Family, and the Hermit Society, learning that the witch’s bloodline traced back to Desire Chasm City’s Dark Corner Witch. After hearing what Kalien could share about the city and the Society, Angel erased Kalien’s memories of him and sent him away.

• Angel inferred that the Little Witch’s “Witch’s Bloodline” quest required entering Dark Corner, and Kalien confirmed that the Cecilia Family’s bloodline was said to originate from the Dark Corner Witch.
• Kalien explained that Dark Corner people were humanoid beings associated with Dark Corner, and that Desire Chasm City had records of them because it had existed for thousands of years.
• Angel learned that Kalien and the Little Witch had come from Desire Chasm City, where the indulgence, moderation, and abstinence factions competed, and that Kalien could not recall specific details about the city.
• Kalien told Angel that the Hermit Society had been founded to protect the Little Witch, that Lila was its president and a powerful magician, and that she had gone to recruit people outside Modern City.
• Kalien revealed that the Little Witch had a higher chance of obtaining rare abilities when she completed Fashion Demonic Beast quest challenges, and Angel erased Kalien’s memories of himself before sending him back outside.

Angel learned that the little witch’s talent increased her chances of unlocking rare abilities but made her challenge missions extremely difficult, and he decided to try the Miss Halloween mission in hopes of sharing that benefit. He arranged for the Hermit Society to advance him four hundred thousand Modern Coins for the Styling Clown page, then wondered whether Wonderland Authority was impersonating President Lila during her conversation with Little Green.

• Angel learned from Kalien that the little witch’s talent rewarded her with better chances at rare skills but made her missions exceptionally difficult, and he saw that her progress on the Style Eye challenge was still zero.
• Angel decided to pursue the Miss Halloween mission and returned to the Deep Earth Black Market to meet Little Green, who said a buyer would arrive in two hours and might pay more than four hundred thousand Modern Coins for the Styling Clown page.
• Little Green offered to have the Hermit Society advance Angel four hundred thousand Modern Coins while she negotiated with the buyer, and Angel accepted.
• Little Green took Angel to the Desire Hotel, where she applied to President Lila for the funds through her Hermit Ring.
• President Lila promptly approved the request, and Angel suspected that Wonderland Authority might be acting as a proxy because Lila was outside the Instance.