Chapter Summaries

Angel revealed that his Fashion Cutter had the rare Golden Scissors ability, and Little Green explained its value before arranging paid work for him dismantling Kalien’s special pages. After using Prologue: Resonance to share his energy bars, Angel said he had a 91-point Manufacturing cap, then asked Little Green about Brand-Name Cat.

• Angel dismantled the Styling Clown page with Golden Scissors, shocking Little Green.
• Little Green explained that Golden Scissors could dismantle any kind of book page and warned Angel that powerful groups might target him, while promising the Hermit Society would protect him.
• Angel accepted Little Green’s offer to earn 200,000 Modern Coins for each of two special pages he would dismantle for Kalien.
• Little Green worried that Angel lacked enough Manufacturing Points, so Angel secretly inserted Prologue: Resonance and then said his Manufacturing Point cap was 91.
• Angel asked Little Green about Brand-Name Cat, and she wondered whether it belonged to the Brand-Name Series.

Angel learned that Brand-Name Cat might be a high-level Manufacturing Series Demonic Beast, while concealing that Lily Tina Wilson was facing its challenge. He accepted Kalien’s Hermit Society mission and dismantled Kalien’s Creation Prologue, then discovered that Kalien’s Mist Orb page contained a footnote for him to remove.

• Angel told Little Green that his daily news ability had reported someone encountering Brand-Name Cat, and Little Green offered to ask Kalien about it.
• Kalien arrived, confirmed Angel had the Golden Scissors, and offered him a member mission worth four hundred thousand Modern Coins and one thousand membership points.
• Angel accepted Kalien’s mission to dismantle two special book pages and cut the Creation Prologue from Kalien’s Magic Book.
• Kalien showed Angel his completed Mist Orb puzzle and explained how its three fog abilities worked together.
• Angel touched the symbol beneath Fog Deployment and saw a small page appear, which Kalien identified as a footnote.

Angel learned that Kalien’s Footnote: Phantom Mist worked exceptionally well with Mist Deployment, but Kalien wanted to dismantle it and pass it to a Manufacturing Series magician. While Kalien rested, he explained the Brand-Name Series and the Brand-Name Cat, leaving Angel close to completing his tycoon task and unlocking the Brand-Name Cat puzzle.

• Angel explained that Footnotes affected only one skill, and Kalien decided to dismantle Footnote: Phantom Mist despite its perfect fit with Mist Deployment.
• Angel found that dismantling the Footnote would cost 50 Manufacturing Points, but waited while Kalien recovered from dismantling Prologue: Creation.
• Little Green asked Kalien about Brand-Name Cat, and Kalien said the reported challenge in Modern City would probably fail.
• Kalien explained that Brand-Name Demonic Beasts were rare, sought after, and guaranteed to possess a hidden or special ability.
• Kalien said Brand-Name Cat abilities tended toward support, while Angel considered whether its abilities would be useful after unlocking the puzzle.

Angel helped Gleipnir realize that her designs needed popular elements, leading her to create a pop-style dress featuring the Clown Emperor. Anna accepted the design, thanked Gleipnir, and vanished as the challenge space ended.

• After dismantling two special pages, Kalien collapsed, and Little Green took him back to the Hermit Society before leaving Angel to continue his errands.
• Angel checked on Gleipnir and learned that Anna rejected her completed designs, leaving Gleipnir unable to identify what was missing.
• Angel noticed the Clown Emperor posters and suggested Gleipnir add the character to her clothing design as a popular element.
• Gleipnir drew a pop-style dress featuring the Clown Emperor, and the feeling of Anna's disapproval disappeared.
• At the lakeside, Anna accepted the design, conjured the dress onto herself, thanked Gleipnir, and vanished as the challenge space faded.

Gleipnir received the Sacrificial Offering Rumor, and she and Angel planned how to obtain the offerings needed to summon the Carnival Night Clown. Angel contacted Little Green to ask the Hermit Society about the ritual, leaving the nature of the offerings for her to judge.

• Gleipnir examined her rewards, received one Faceless Monster puzzle piece, and learned that the Makeup Removal ability could affect other people.
• Gleipnir read the Sacrificial Offering Rumor, which identified light, sound, and food as the Carnival Night Clown's desired offerings.
• Angel suggested borrowing recordings of past Prada Beauty Pageants for the sound offering, while Gleipnir went to meet Star Worm and Angel searched for the other offerings.
• Angel told Gleipnir he had earned one million Modern Coins by selling dismantled book pages, giving them a financial fallback if they needed more time.
• Angel contacted Little Green through the Hermit Society and asked her about the ritual offerings; Little Green asked which offerings he meant.

Angel explained the Carnival Night Clown worship ritual to Little Green, who deduced that its light offering was the Fashion Demonic Beast light that shone on champions of the three major competitions. Little Green helped Angel obtain competition footage and arrange the ritual’s supplies, leaving him with several leads to pursue through Prada Media Company and the Hermit Society.

• Angel met Little Green at the Desire Hotel and used Nightmare Illusion to suppress her speculation before explaining that the ritual was connected to the Carnival Night Clown.
• Little Green inferred that the light offering was the light cast on a champion during one of the three major competitions, likely produced by a Fashion Demonic Beast, and suggested buying competition regulations from Prada Media Company.
• Little Green arranged for Bambu to send Angel a one-time viewing of the previous Modern Fashion Show, and Angel bought two additional viewings with membership points.
• Little Green confirmed Angel’s guess that competition recordings could provide the sound offering and offered to supply top-grade face paint and fabric for the food offering.
• Little Green offered to find a merchant selling carnival paper-lantern oil wax and planned to charge Angel an errand fee.

Angel relayed Little Green’s clues about the competition recordings and received supplies from Kalien while investigating how Star Worm entered a challenge space. Star Worm uncovered a hidden prison image showing a second Kaushike, then fainted, leaving Angel to suspect Kaushike had controlled a Fashion Demonic Beast.

• Angel told Gleipnir that she should find footage of the Prada Beauty Pageant because the Carnival Night Clown might recognize its sounds.
• Star Worm found that four central photos on Kaushike’s photo wall concealed a single image of Kaushike imprisoned behind bars.
• The imprisoned Kaushike and the Kaushike in the room raised their heads in unison, and Star Worm fainted after encountering a Fashion Demonic Beast.
• Kaushike carried Star Worm to the bed, restored the photos, and returned to his security post after suggesting Star Worm should try whatever had brought him there.
• Angel wondered whether Kaushike had caused Star Worm’s encounter, then bought paint and fabric from Kalien with member points.
• Kalien told Angel that people could rarely control Fashion Demonic Beasts if they found one in an independent state and had a way to restrict its movement.

Angel examined Star Worm’s challenge quest and realized its subjective letters could be difficult to answer, so he and Gleipnir planned to seek other quests. After Little Green delivered carnival oil wax, Angel asked the Hermit Society for help, leaving his request unstated.

• Angel inspected Star Worm’s random quest to host Troubleshooting Mailbox and discussed its difficulty with Gleipnir.
• Angel read letters from a murderer and a girl describing bizarre transformations, concluding that satisfying the listeners would be difficult.
• Gleipnir decided to seek a quest of her own, while Angel offered to help with money if it proved too hard.
• Little Green returned with a bucket of carnival oil wax, which Angel accepted as sufficient.
• Angel told Little Green he wanted to ask the Hermit Society for help, and she became serious.

Angel arranged for the Hermit Society to send people to Danni’s Halloween party, then learned that Time Radio could hear sounds from the past and considered its potential. On the Silverwing Express, he claimed his reward and inspected Brand-Name Cat, discovering it had a hidden third ability.

• Angel asked Little Green to hire about twenty people to attend Danni’s Halloween party, offering fifty Modern Coins per person and asking them not to mention him.
• Little Green explained that Time Radio was a scarce mid-rank Fashion Demonic Beast that could hear past sounds with its ability Echoes of the Past, which had exposed the Cecilia Family’s secrets.
• Angel hid the paint, fabric, and oil wax with Nightmare Illusion Magic Hands, left Deep Earth Black Market, and boarded the Silverwing Express for the North Ninth District.
• Angel claimed the reward for completing the task “Who Is the Wealthy Family? I Am the Wealthy Family!” and examined the Brand-Name Cat puzzle page.
• Angel saw that Brand-Name Cat’s puzzle was one-third complete and that its third ability was hidden.

Angel considered whether to unlock Brand-Name Cat, whose preview ability was Elegant Socialite, and decided he would use it himself after Gleipnir declined it. Meanwhile, Gleipnir spotted a spy connected to Prada Media Company and went to the building to find Star Worm, whom Kaushike confirmed he had seen.

• Angel studied Brand-Name Cat's vague Elegant Socialite ability and weighed unlocking it against trading it away.
• Gleipnir identified Arina as a spy planted in Prada Media Company by Tina Entertainment and considered both reporting her and taking her side quest.
• Gleipnir declined Brand-Name Cat, and Angel decided he would unlock it himself, though he first wanted to see what quest Gleipnir received from Star Worm.
• Gleipnir visited Prada Media Building and asked Kaushike to help her find Star Worm.
• Kaushike recognized Gleipnir and nodded when she asked whether he had seen Star Worm.

Gleipnir visited Kaushike to check on the unconscious Star Worm and received a cryptic task to discover Ululu’s unknown secret. She left the investigation to Angel, who located Ululu near Modern High School in the South Third District.

• Kaushike let Gleipnir see Star Worm, and she discovered the random task “Her Secret,” which required testimony, a witness, and physical evidence about Ululu.
• Gleipnir and Kaushike agreed Star Worm should stay in Kaushike’s dormitory while he remained unconscious and possibly under a Fashion Demonic Beast’s influence.
• Gleipnir asked Kaushike about the Prada Beauty Pageant, but he denied knowing anything useful, so she planned to seek information about Light Sacrifice from Yusuf.
• Gleipnir discussed the task with Angel, who volunteered to investigate Ululu while Gleipnir pursued information about Light Sacrifice.
• Angel located Ululu near Puluo Street and focused his attention on Modern High School nearby.

Angel investigated Ululu’s home but found few clues, then received the “Her Secret” mission from Star Worm. A family photo led him to search Modern Elementary School’s archives for information about Ululu and her family.

• Angel inspected Ululu and her spacious home but found no obvious abnormalities or clues to her secret.
• Angel met Gleipnir at Prada Media Company, and they decided to investigate Ululu’s family and friends for testimony and witnesses.
• Angel received the “Her Secret” mission from Star Worm and left for South Third District while Gleipnir stayed behind.
• Angel found a family portrait showing young Ululu with her parents, a baby, and a Great Dane, dated July 1st, Modern Calendar Year 693.
• Angel noticed Ululu’s school uniform resembled Modern High School’s insignia and searched Modern Elementary School’s archives for her records.

Angel investigated Ululu’s school and family records, then visited her parents to learn about her hidden past. Wuluoluo accused Ululu of trying to kill him and killing his beloved dog, Supa, leaving Angel startled by the revelation.

• Angel found Ululu’s Year 696 graduation file, but her school records contained no unusual clues.
• Angel located Wuluoluo and Silusha at their South Twelfth District home and learned about their family.
• Angel entered the apartment and used Nightmare Illusion to calm and control the couple and their housekeeper.
• Wuluoluo called Ululu a born evil seed, while Angel sensed that he still held a faint hope she had changed.
• Wuluoluo recounted how seven-year-old Ululu shoved him down the stairs, leaving his legs disabled.
• Wuluoluo said Ululu had also killed Supa, and Silusha revealed that Supa had been Wuluoluo’s dog.

Angel connected the parents’ account of Ululu’s past to a strange letter in the Time Radio challenge, uncovering evidence that she had suffered cognitive impairments as a child. He left to meet Ululu and learn how she understood her illness, while the task still lacked a witness and physical evidence.

• Silusha and Wuluoluo told Angel that Ululu had locked Supa in a basement, where the dog starved to death, and that Ululu had also pushed Wuluoluo down the stairs.
• Angel recognized that their account matched details in an unsigned letter from Star Worm’s Troubleshooting Mailbox challenge, including Supa’s other name, Subi, and Wuluoluo’s fall after Ululu slapped him.
• Silusha explained that Ululu had once been quiet and helpful, but developed headaches, double vision, and cognitive impairments around age six; doctors treated her with medicine, and later declared her recovered.
• Angel’s task progress registered Silusha’s account as testimony, but still showed no witness or physical evidence.
• After learning that Ululu had shown no further abnormal behavior, Angel left the Platinum Building and headed to meet her in the South Third District.

Angel investigated Ululu’s illness and searched for evidence tied to her secret, locating the unopened letter she had sent to a radio program ten years earlier. He reached Ululu’s home and found that she resisted Nightmare Illusion, leaving him to wonder whether that resistance was connected to her secret.

• Angel asked Lizi to investigate the radio program Troubleshooting Mailbox and its old letters, and she learned the program had been canceled after complaints.
• Angel used his God's-eye view to find Ululu’s unopened letter in the radio station storeroom and told Lizi where to retrieve it.
• Angel reasoned that the testimony and physical evidence might have multiple possible sources, while the witness would likely reveal the truth behind Ululu’s illness.
• Angel traveled by skybridge to Fangxieli Commercial Building and entered Ululu’s apartment, where she had just come out of the bathroom.
• Angel calmed Ululu with Nightmare Illusion but noticed that she resisted it, despite not being a magician.

Angel questioned Ululu about her childhood and discovered that her memories of her illness, her father’s fall, and Supa’s death differed sharply from her family’s accounts, though she believed them sincerely. He concluded that her condition had been cured long ago and suspected the mission’s witness was the Fashion Magician who cured her.

• Angel found that Ululu resisted Nightmare Illusion unusually well, then adjusted her perception of him and questioned her about her past.
• Ululu described childhood memories of eating medicine as carrots and visiting a hospital as a manor, unaware that her recollections were distorted.
• Ululu said she pushed Wuluoluo after he slapped her, but her account conflicted with the timing and circumstances described by others.
• Ululu claimed she locked Supa in the basement after it bit her younger brother, though Angel concluded her account distorted the events and the length of time Supa was confined.
• Angel learned that Ululu had written to the Troubleshooting Mailbox and reasoned that the mission’s witness was likely connected to the end of her illness.
• Angel asked whether Ululu had met anyone memorable or magically gifted around age seven or eight, suspecting a Fashion Magician had cured her.

Angel obtained physical evidence for Ululu’s case by opening her letter, then learned that a mysterious homeless man had kept her from suicide as a child by telling her stories. Ululu recognized the man as Zuniga, whom Angel believed was the key witness, and Angel headed to the West Fifteenth District to find him.

• Angel used a concealment illusion to board a train with a Modern Broadcasting Station staff member and opened Ululu’s letter, which counted as physical evidence.
• Ululu told Angel that, when she was seven, a homeless man listened to her troubles and told her warm stories for seven nights, stopping her from jumping off a rooftop.
• Ululu sketched the man, and Angel created an illusion of an elderly man whom Ululu immediately recognized.
• Angel identified the man as Zuniga and concluded that he was likely the witness who had cured Ululu.
• Angel left Ululu and headed to the West Fifteenth District, where Zuniga was located.

Angel watched Zuniga investigate the Beverly Care Center while Gleipnir searched for the Light Sacrifice, learning that the needed lighting fixture from the Prada Beauty Pageant had been sold to the Kuai'er Theater. Gleipnir headed there to negotiate for it, and Angel learned that the Prada Media Company was struggling after Tina Entertainment poached its magicians and core personnel disappeared.

• Angel found Zuniga watching the Beverly Care Center from a rooftop as Rumor Kid reported the center's people and layout to him.
• Gleipnir told Angel that she had bought beauty pageant recordings and learned the Light Sacrifice was a fixture that had witnessed generations of champions.
• Gleipnir learned that Yusuf had sold the original beauty pageant lighting fixture to the Kuai'er Theater and traveled there to negotiate for it.
• Gleipnir explained that Tina Entertainment had poached many of the Prada Media Company's powerful magicians, while Pai Pai and other core personnel had disappeared.
• Gleipnir said Yusuf had turned the beauty pageant into a flesh-selling show to keep the struggling company alive.

Angel returned to Beverly Care Center to test whether Zuniga could recognize an Outsider from Beyond the Heavens. Zuniga identified Angel immediately, and Angel revealed that he could also see Rumor Kid before heading to meet Zuniga.

• Zuniga told Rumor Kid that the Outsider from Beyond the Heavens was not inside Beverly Care Center but would return, so he stayed to wait.
• Angel approached the Care Center without his Nightmare Illusion Nodes and saw that the witness task remained incomplete until he spoke with Zuniga.
• Zuniga watched Angel without looking away, confirming to Angel that he could recognize an Outsider from Beyond the Heavens.
• Zuniga sent Rumor Kid into the Care Center, and Angel looked directly at the invisible Rumor Kid and told it to lead him to its master.
• Angel left the Care Center for the building where Zuniga waited, while Rumor Kid realized Angel could see it and knew where Zuniga was.

Angel followed Rumor Kid into Zuniga’s building, where hidden energy transformed the upper floors into a sealed, altered space. As Zuniga guided him toward a face-to-face meeting, he told a story about liches and their hidden coffers, then compared himself to one and guessed that Angel could monitor and control people.

• Zuniga watched Angel approach and suspected that Angel had been observing him continuously.
• Angel detected concealed spiritual energy beneath the stairs, but stepped forward after Zuniga used Rumor Kid to offer him a choice.
• Angel’s step transformed the upper floors into a strange passage behind a barrier, while the residents above the third floor fell asleep.
• Zuniga guided Angel onward through Rumor Kid and questioned him about being an Outsider from Beyond the Heavens; Angel called himself a Challenger and hinted that others would come.
• Zuniga told Angel how liches preserved parts of their flesh and souls in hidden coffers to return after death.
• Zuniga compared himself to a lich and guessed that Angel could monitor him and hypnotize or control others.