Chapter Summaries

Angel and Sanders visited Nis in Soul Valley to ask about Hukedik’s soul abilities. Nis revealed that Hukedik had learned the Soul-Dimensional Path, a spell that let a soul connect to the space of thought and cast spells, but not cultivate.

• Sanders opened the illusion-hidden path into Soul Valley and warned Angel not to study its defenses.
• Angel and Sanders met Nis in his Soul-Soothing Stone tower, where Nis teased Sanders about showing off Angel.
• Sanders asked Nis about Hukedik, and Nis inferred that Angel had defeated his student without seeking revenge.
• Nis said Hukedik had comprehended soul veins in Soul Soil but had gathered too little power of law.
• Nis explained that Hukedik had learned the Soul-Dimensional Path, which let a soul draw on existing magic power and cast spells but not meditate or grow its magic source.

Angel learned that the Soul-Dimensional Path could preserve a wizard’s innate radiance within the soul when the body failed, and Sanders confirmed that a crystal Angel found might contain its inheritance. After meeting Saka in Soul Valley, Angel discovered that Saka had supplied the undead resources he wanted to test Prelude of Reincarnation.

• Nis explained that the Soul-Dimensional Path let wizards preserve their innate radiance in their souls when their bodies collapsed, though casting through the soul risked contaminating it.
• Angel met Saka in Soul Valley, where Saka commented on Angel’s strength and then vanished into the mist.
• Sanders told Angel that the crystal likely contained the Soul-Dimensional Path and offered to test whether Angel could learn it quickly in the Gravity Garden.
• Angel decided to obtain undead resources and test Prelude of Reincarnation, then learned that two units had become available at the usual price.
• The apprentice at the resource distribution hall told Angel that Saka had turned in the undead resources.

After acquiring undead resources that Saka had submitted for him, Angel returned to Demon Illusion Island and witnessed a world-shaking Black Cloud descend over the island. As Savage Cave tried to determine what had stirred the world’s will, Spivey suggested that Angel might be responsible.

• Angel learned that the duty apprentice had spread news of his search for undead resources, paid two hundred magic crystals, and collected both units from Saka.
• Angel returned to Demon Illusion Island and waited in the second-floor living room while Lord Rheinmut visited Sanders.
• A vast Black Cloud filled the sky over Demon Illusion Island, and lightning struck illusion beasts and Black Demon Shadow Servants as Angel wondered whether Rhein had caused the phenomenon.
• The Tree Spirit rescued Yethswe after lightning struck her, then told her the world’s will had likely been stirred by something on the island.
• At Lokhwashe, Flora, Liana, and Spivey discussed the Black Cloud and whether Rhein might be approaching legend; Spivey proposed that Angel had caused it.

Flora and Liana debated whether the strange black clouds were connected to Angel, while Maya concealed her suspicions from Wanzhi. As the storm intensified over Angel, Sanders pulled him out of the path of a lightning strike, and Lord Rhein appeared beside them.

• Spivey suggested that Angel had caused the phenomenon by creating a powerful alchemical item, but Liana dismissed the idea and mocked him.
• After Spivey left, Flora defended the possibility that Angel was involved, despite agreeing that it seemed unlikely.
• On Starry Sky Island, Wanzhi questioned Maya about the phenomenon, but she claimed she could not discern its cause and urged him to wait.
• Dodolo sensed something in the direction of Demon Illusion Island, and Maya privately suspected the phenomenon was related to Angel.
• As lightning targeted the immobile Angel, Sanders dragged him away before the bolt struck the balcony railing.
• Lord Rhein emerged behind Angel, who thanked Sanders and greeted him respectfully.

Angel suspected Gloria’s new spell was connected to his Mystical Manifestation, while Sanders warned him to keep the secret as Gloria’s spell stirred a powerful Omen over Demon Illusion Island. The chapter ended with Rhein asking whether Gloria’s new spell continued her path of creation or took a different one.

• Rhein recognized Angel and discussed Gloria’s new spell with Sanders, who questioned the coincidence of her creating it on Demon Illusion Island.
• Angel connected Gloria’s spell to the Mystical Manifestation and feared others would exploit it if they learned what it could do.
• Sanders silently warned Angel not to reveal his suspicions while Rhein teased him about Samantha and his views on having children.
• Sanders summoned Pogu Pellets to protect the manor from the wildfires and lightning, then explained that the illusory beasts resisted most energy attacks.
• Rhein and Sanders compared Gloria’s new spell with her Creation Art, and Rhein asked whether it followed the path of creation or a different one.

Gloria faced the Great Will while creating a spell, and its pressure battered Demon Illusion Island before subsiding as she passed the test. As Savage Cave wizards gathered to watch, Sanders revealed he planned to retrieve Gloria’s lost body from the Nightmare Realm.

• Rhein and Sanders discussed whether Gloria had changed paths and recalled the spectacular phenomenon produced by her Creation Art.
• The Black Cloud’s pressure surged, forcing Angel to his knees while Sanders told him to endure it.
• Gloria’s Spirit of True Knowledge emerged from the Magic Cottage and faced the Great Will, while her apprentice body remained behind.
• Gloria passed the Great Will’s test, and the Black Cloud vanished, leaving Demon Illusion Island scarred by fires and destruction.
• Formal Wizards arrived outside the island, and Flora teased Angel about using a Night Familiar bloodline before Sanders explained that a Nightmare Realm bloodline would suit him better.
• Angel realized Sanders intended to retrieve Gloria’s body from the Nightmare Realm.

Gloria’s spell creation on Demon Illusion Island drew the attention of wizards across the region, while Sanders explained that the Great Will’s reward might not produce an outward phenomenon. Gloria finally began to change as everyone waited to see what form her reward would take.

• Angel realized Gloria had followed Sanders because she needed his help finding her lost physical body in the Nightmare Realm.
• Flora asked Sanders whether he had helped Gloria create her new spell, and Sanders decided not to reveal the mysterious tangible object to her.
• Wizards gathered around Demon Illusion Island and speculated about Gloria’s spell, while Maya could find no connection between the spell and Angel.
• Book Elder noticed Gloria’s achievement from Iron Armor Fort and suggested that outsiders might not have truly gotten there first.
• Sanders explained that the Great Will could reward spell creators with an inward experience rather than a visible phenomenon.
• After remaining motionless in midair for a long time, Gloria finally began to change.

Gloria completed a spell and displayed the Great Will’s reward, using its power to restore Demon Illusion Island and create new life. She then approached the Kula Kuka tribe’s flowerhouse to give Angel a gift, drawing further attention to their connection.

• Gloria’s spell manifested real objects that appeared and vanished, and Sanders and Rhein recognized that she had persisted on the path of creation.
• Gloria opened her eyes, looked first at Angel, then used the Great Will’s power to restore Demon Illusion Island and create ordinary creatures from nothing.
• Gloria descended near the Kula Kuka tribe’s flowerhouse and privately told Angel she would give him a gift.
• Flora asked Angel what Gloria had said, but Sanders warned her not to demand the contents of a Voice Transmission.
• Rhein noticed Sanders’s protectiveness and began to suspect Angel was connected to Gloria’s spell.

After Gloria used the mysterious sensation in Angel’s illusion to break through and create the Birth Art, she weighed whether to exploit or protect Angel and chose to remain his ally. She entered seclusion to consolidate her insights while the wizards speculated about her breakthrough, and Rhein left after warning Sanders about the coming trip to the Abyss.

• Gloria created a golden milk-fruit tree and sweet flowers as a gift for Angel, then realized Sanders was warning her to keep Angel’s mysterious ability secret.
• Gloria decided to preserve her good relationship with Angel, conceal his special trait even from Candy House, and find an explanation for her conspicuous attention to him.
• Gloria entered seclusion to record and consolidate the insights granted by the Great Will.
• Wizards and apprentices gathered around Demon Illusion Island and speculated about Gloria’s spell and the island’s strange events.
• Rhein told the wizards that Gloria would explain her creation when she visited him, then reminded Sanders to be cautious about their upcoming journey to the Abyss.

Angel and Sanders discussed Gloria’s mysterious spell creation and the danger of Angel’s mysterious manifestation becoming known. Angel then chose to use the diamond-shaped crystal, and Sanders guarded him as he pressed it to his brow to receive its inheritance.

• Sanders soothed Angel’s unease about Rhein and said his encrypted note would tell Gloria what to do.
• In the Gravity Garden, Sanders and Angel concluded that the mysterious manifestation may have contributed to Gloria’s spell, though her years of effort were chiefly responsible.
• Sanders warned Angel to keep the manifestation secret until he became a true-knowledge wizard, especially from Flora, and urged him to grow strong before others discovered it.
• Angel decided to use the diamond-shaped crystal after weighing its possible benefits and risks.
• Angel pressed the crystal to his brow and prepared to send his spiritual power into it while Sanders stood guard.

Angel received the Soul-Dimensional Path inheritance and gained a solidified spell model that let him use cantrips while in soul form. After testing his newfound abilities, he challenged Sanders to a fight and was quickly beaten, though Sanders said Angel might be able to injure an official wizard if he struck first.

• The diamond-shaped crystal entered Angel's brow and gave him the Soul-Dimensional Path inheritance, including a spell model that did not occupy a spell slot.
• While Angel absorbed the inheritance, Sanders tested the five mysterious manifestation objects and considered what they might reveal.
• Sanders identified Angel's strange spell model as a manifestation of law veins, and Angel confirmed he could cast cantrips while separated from his body.
• Thrilled by his new abilities, Angel challenged Sanders to a fight and was beaten in less than a minute.
• Sanders said Angel could potentially injure an official wizard if he used his Gravity Veins and Nightmare Illusion spells effectively and got the first move.

After recovering from Sanders' beating, Angel reviewed Sanders' tests of the mysterious manifestations triggered by his Demon Falcon ornaments. Sanders asked Angel to make more varied samples before he left Savage Cave in a month, while explaining that Gloria would stay there and that he had comprehended an Enlargement Spell.

• Sanders healed Angel and warned him to avoid casting cantrips in soul form because foreign magic could contaminate his soul.
• Sanders said Little Spot had returned to the Nightmare Realm and that they would leave it alone for now.
• Angel discovered that Sanders had triggered all five Demon Falcon ornaments and read his detailed research, which lacked enough samples for a firm conclusion.
• Sanders asked Angel to craft more alchemical illusions before Sanders left Savage Cave, and Angel agreed since he had time apart from testing Prelude of Reincarnation.
• Angel asked about Gloria, and Sanders said she would remain in Savage Cave under Lord Rhein's protection and warned Angel to avoid her.
• Sanders showed Angel the second-level Enlargement Spell he had comprehended, and Angel spent two hours reviewing the test data and asking questions.

Angel left Gravity Garden to visit Toby and learned about a new communicator and Liana’s potion-making expertise from Sanders. At the flower room, he identified Gloria’s golden tree as a harmless Milkfruit Tree and allowed Toby and the Kula Kuka people to benefit from its sap.

• Sanders warned Angel to take precautions while testing the Prelude of Reincarnation, recommended that he exchange for an upgraded communicator, and gave him a crystal rose granting passage to Rose Garden.
• Angel saw the Black Demon Shadow Servants mourning No. 41, whose body had been destroyed by lightning and whose soul Gude had collected.
• Angel found Toby and the Kula Kuka people fascinated by the golden tree outside the flower room, then used the Eye of Nalda to identify it as an apprentice-level magical plant called a Milkfruit Tree.
• Angel confirmed that the Milkfruit Tree’s sap was harmless and beneficial, allowed Toby to make one cut, and asked the Moon Bell Orchid Fairy to gather sap for the Kula Kuka people.
• The Moon Bell Orchid Fairy offered Angel its loyalty, but Angel refused and told it to pledge loyalty to Toby instead.

Angel began testing the White Light Bullet from Prelude of Reincarnation on an undead in Demon Illusion Island’s sealed underground laboratory, with No. 233 recording the experiment. The undead writhed and grew increasingly frenzied as Angel observed sharp fluctuations in its negative energy.

• Angel recorded plans for refining a communicator and began documenting his experiments in his notebook.
• Angel asked Butler Gude to assign a Black Demon Shadow Servant to help oversee and record the test, and No. 233 arrived.
• Angel prepared the sealed laboratory, inscribed a Spirit-Sealing Rune, and had No. 233 obtain a communicator to record the experiment.
• Angel fired a White Light Bullet into a male undead and withdrew behind the laboratory’s protective barriers.
• The undead collapsed and writhed in agony as Angel and 233 observed its growing frenzy and the laboratory’s sharply fluctuating negative energy.

Angel observed a male undead transform into a half-undead, with stable energy and chaotic negative energy sharing his body. The creature awakened with rudimentary consciousness and speech, while Angel left 233 to study it and returned to making alchemy illusions.

• The male undead's struggle subsided, and stable energy emerged within him alongside his chaotic negative energy.
• Angel left 233 to monitor the unconscious undead while he crafted crystal-ball alchemy illusions in the laboratory.
• After most of the day passed, the undead awakened, and 233 recorded that its energy had rebounded but remained about half its former strength.
• The undead's face divided into calm and savage halves, and Angel observed that it tracked voices and showed curiosity instead of attacking.
• The half-undead spoke the phrase, “Where... is the banyan flower?” and Angel concluded that it had basic consciousness and retained some linguistic memory.
• Angel told 233 to keep recording the half-undead and test its ability to learn, then returned to the alchemy laboratory.

Gloria emerged from seclusion after using Angel’s mysterious tangible object to break through the hurdles of her Birth Art, and she rewarded him with three Gold VIP Card-grade meals. Sanders, Gloria, and Angel agreed on a cover story crediting Dreamscape Twins for Gloria’s epiphany, leaving Gloria to present it to Lord Rhein under a confidentiality pact.

• Gloria told Angel that the mysterious tangible object had helped her overcome the remaining hurdles in her Birth Art and gave him a card for three Gold VIP Card-grade meals.
• Sanders warned Gloria and Angel that the mysterious tangible object could make Angel a target, so they needed to coordinate an explanation for Gloria’s sudden breakthrough and favor toward Angel.
• Gloria proposed telling Lord Rhein that Dreamscape Twins had inspired her epiphany, and Sanders agreed that the story could hold up because its connection to the Nightmare Realm was genuine.
• Sanders gave Gloria Taro’s Confidentiality Pact, and she signed an agreement not to reveal the mysterious tangible object to outsiders.
• Gloria urged Angel to remember her if he refined another mysterious tangible object before leaving to meet Lord Rhein.

Gloria persuaded Rhein that Angel’s Alchemical Illusion Realm had inspired her sudden insight, and Rhein tried Dreamscape Twins for himself. He came to value Angel’s talent and considered supporting the alchemy branch, then noticed Angel’s personal mark on the brooch.

• Gloria told Rhein that Angel’s Alchemical Illusion Realm had inspired her new spell and invited him to try Dreamscape Twins.
• Rhein entered the illusion and explored it on his own while Gloria waited outside.
• Tree Spirit interrupted Gloria’s view from Rhein’s balcony and teased her by suggesting she consider him as a partner.
• After trying Dreamscape Twins, Rhein believed Gloria’s account and reassessed Angel’s skill and potential.
• Rhein considered allocating more alchemical resources to the Demon Illusion Island branch and noticed Angel’s mark beneath a Veiled Rune.

Gloria’s enlightenment through Angel’s alchemical illusion became widely accepted after Maya verified the connection through the River of Fate. Xilending, frustrated by losing hope of reaching the Path of True Knowledge, decided he wanted to experience the illusion and learned it might be auctioned at Ancient Riverbank.

• News of Gloria’s new method and Angel’s alchemical illusion spread through Savage Cave, while Rhein’s influence helped protect Angel and raise his standing among the wizards.
• Liana confirmed that she had experienced Angel’s illusion, and Maya used the River of Fate to verify that it had helped Gloria attain enlightenment.
• Xilending crushed his inscription pen, then sought Maya’s judgment and learned that the rumors about Gloria and Angel were true.
• Xilending resolved to witness Angel’s illusion for himself, but struggled to find a way onto Demon Illusion Island.
• Black Jack told Xilending that Angel’s alchemical illusion was scheduled for auction at Ancient Riverbank during Cold Arrival Month.

Angel tested the White Light Bullet on a half-undead, finding that repeated shots increased its intelligence and stable energy but never erased its malice. Suspecting the Revolver’s true purpose was still to eliminate undead, Angel began a fourth experiment and aimed to kill the half-undead with the Overture of Annihilation.

• Angel reviewed 233’s report and learned that the half-undead had gained the ability to think and speak, though he remained consumed by hatred for Qi Luo and his stolen West Banyan Flower.
• Angel fired a second White Light Bullet at the half-undead, and 233 later reported that it reduced chaotic energy less than the first shot.
• Angel fired a third bullet, which further increased the half-undead’s stable energy and intelligence without diminishing his hostility toward the living.
• 233 predicted that continued shots would turn the half-undead into a highly intelligent Evil Spirit, while Angel wondered whether the Revolver’s Mysterious effect could instead serve its purpose of eradicating undead.
• Angel began a fourth experiment and activated the Overture of Annihilation, telling the half-undead that this shot was meant to kill him.

Angel tested whether the Overture of Annihilation could reverse undeath, and briefly restored Eck Turner to a soul with his memories intact before Eck dissipated. Angel brought the experiment records to Sanders, who agreed the result merited further study.

• Angel used the Overture of Annihilation on Eck Turner, and 233 observed Eck’s negative energy disappearing while his stable energy remained.
• Eck returned to a soul state, recovered his memories, and described feeling free of the strange voices that had plagued him as an undead.
• Eck began to glow and dissipated despite Angel’s attempt to stop him, leaving Angel to conclude that the transformation had failed to last.
• Angel examined the energy records, gathered his data and recordings, and went to Sanders’s study for help.
• Sanders was surprised by Angel’s account and began reviewing the footage and test records.