Recaps

William and his companions reached the Abysmer Settlement, where he learned more about the Tenth Abyss and its guardian, Black Treant, Lord Carimus. He entered alone and began praying at the Great Tree Plaza to pursue Face Condensation.

• Price described how the Tenth Abyss replicated and enhanced a person's most prominent traits, while William decided to let the Abyssal Substance spread through his body and brain before attempting Face Condensation.
• William and his companions arrived at the Abysmer Settlement, where the coachman identified Black Treant, Lord Carimus, as the Abyss Guardian and warned that outsiders would be treated as intruders.
• William told Jin, Thirteen, and Price to wait for him or return to Rat City, and Jin urged him to continue into the settlement.
• William hurried through the settlement to the Great Tree Plaza, sat among the kneeling Abysmers, and joined their prayers.

While waiting beneath the Black Treant, William used Phobia and outrageous behavior to drive most of the Abysmers away. The Abyss Guardian recognized him and invited him inside to practice Face Condensation in a better place.

• William observed the chaotic crowd beneath the great tree and decided to use the wait to practice socializing.
• William dressed and posed extravagantly, then loudly asked the Abysmers to teach him Face Condensation.
• William approached several Abysmers, frightening them into fleeing, and an old woman decapitated him to make him stop.
• William continued his bizarre performance until his growing Phobia drove nearly all the Abysmers from the square.
• The Abyss Guardian lowered its head, praised William for attracting its attention, and opened a gap in its roots for him to enter.

William rejected Lord Carimus’s invitation and began condensing an Abyss Mask using the virus cultivated from his many illnesses. As his mask formed, Yi Chen forcibly implanted an unfamiliar memory into his mind.

• The Abyssal Substance people watched as Lord Carimus invited William into the Tree Hollow, but William stayed seated and called him a failure.
• William told Lord Carimus to stop talking so he could begin Face Condensation, and asked Little Grape to guard him with the Evil Sun if Carimus interfered.
• William filtered out the world around him as the Epileptic Brain guided the Abyss Virus, which had copied genes and traits from his illnesses.
• Fine, intricate threads emerged across William’s face as he began weaving them into an Abyss Mask.
• Yi Chen interrupted the process by forcing a memory about a fire, firefighters, and carrying a computer downstairs into William’s mind.

William recovered Yi Chen’s sealed memories of killing, which revealed how Director Cao had trained him to execute other children and taught him to cover his eyes to suppress guilt. The memories shaped William’s Face Condensation into a palm covering his eyes, and its completion unleashed a killing intent that drove the other powerhouses away.

• Yi Chen remembered Director Cao making him kill his restrained roommate at age four, then covering his eyes to hide the execution.
• Director Cao had Yi Chen execute more children, and he learned to kill efficiently while using the gesture of covering his eyes to shut out guilt and the dead.
• A classmate once covered Yi Chen’s eyes as a game, and he instinctively killed her with a blow to the neck.
• Back beneath the great tree, William completed Face Condensation with a mask shaped like a palm covering his eyes.
• William’s killing intent forced the other powerhouses to scatter, leaving him alone with the great tree.

After completing Face Condensation, William and Yi Chen set out on the Pilgrimage Path toward the Tenth Abyss, where losing focus or letting the mask cover his head would doom him. Yi Chen took control and began a brutal ritual of devotion, slowly advancing into the darkness as the Abyssal Aura grew stronger.

• After three days of stillness, William rose with a palm-shaped Abyss Mask and spoke with Yi Chen, whose consciousness now coexisted with his.
• William asked Lord Carimus to open the Pilgrimage Path, and Lord Carimus explained its demands and the risk of becoming an Abyss slave.
• William entered the root passage and gave Yi Chen control, trusting him to guide them through the Pilgrimage.
• Yi Chen emerged into the darkness, removed his clothes, and began performing Three Bows and Nine Kowtows toward the Abyss.
• Yi Chen shattered his face and mangled his hands with each kowtow, advancing less than thirty meters in an hour as the Abyssal Aura intensified.

Yi Chen completed a grueling pilgrimage that brought William to the Tenth Abyss, revealing that Yi Chen’s worship centered on a mysterious statue. William descended through the living Abyss to its lowest level, but a door appeared and carried his mask away before the Abyss could take it.

• Yi Chen performed an enhanced series of bows and kowtows, drawing the Tenth Abyss closer while blocking William from retaking control.
• William’s consciousness was pulled into a black room, where he saw the veiled divine statue Yi Chen worshiped and learned the pilgrimage was nearly complete.
• William took control of Yi Chen’s ruined body, recognized the Tenth Abyss ahead, and stepped into its living maw without hesitation.
• As William fell through the Abyss, it stripped away his body until only his hand-shaped mask remained, which reached the lowest level.
• The True Form of the Tenth Abyss approached William’s mask, but a door appeared beneath it and the mask fell through and vanished.

William chose to enter the unknown pathway before meeting the Tenth Abyss, hoping to restore his body and improve his chances of negotiating. He reached the Pathway Vestibule, learned that his advancement would involve Silver Turbidity and Composition, and was led to a pool of Original Plague Silver Liquid.

• William opened the black door in his consciousness and left the Tenth Abyss before facing it.
• William followed the unknown pathway to a door that led into a pure-white room with 108 pathway doors.
• A white-suited servant welcomed William to the Pathway Vestibule and explained the two stages of advancement: Silver Turbidity and Composition.
• The servant told William that his Black Door represented Order and that completing his advancement would give the door a form reflecting his disease.
• William followed the servant to a bathhouse, where he saw a pool of silver liquid that stirred his instinct to evolve.

William entered the Transfer Station’s glandular zone to begin Silver Turbidity, choosing to witness the real immersion despite its disturbing appearance. As his Deep Abyss Mask touched the silver liquid, it rapidly began rebuilding his body and consumed a quarter of the reservoir, alarming the Sick Servant.

• William asked the Sick Servant about the Original Plague Silver Liquid and confirmed that his real body would be immersed alongside his consciousness.
• William chose to view the real Transfer Station and saw the living flesh-brick chamber, the silver-liquid reservoir, and the cellular Sick Servant.
• The Sick Servant explained that Little Grape and Yellow Skin were isolated in an interlayer, and William refused its recommendation to advance within his more comfortable consciousness.
• The Sick Servant lowered William’s Deep Abyss Mask into the silver liquid and withdrew his temporary Sensory System.
• The silver liquid rapidly gathered around William’s mask and began forming a skull, brain, and blood vessels, prompting the Sick Servant to summon the Milkers as the reservoir drained.

William used the Abyss Mask and Mad Brain to collect and transcribe the Ancient Gene fragments in the silver fluid, then matched them against the genes of his diseases. After two months, he told the stunned Sick Servants that he had built a complete Gene Bank, leaving his advancement still to come.

• William’s mask absorbed silver tadpoles and reconstructed his body while collecting Ancient Gene fragments from the silver fluid.
• William returned to the Mad Brain’s library, copied and catalogued the gene fragments, and matched them against the genes of his diseases.
• The Sick Servant monitoring William noticed thorn-like fuzz reading the silver fluid on his skin and watched him remain in the pool for weeks.
• William completed the Gene Bank after two months in the silver fluid, and the Sick Servants and Milkers questioned him when he returned to awareness.
• William told them he had recorded all the gene fragments, stunning them with his accomplishment.

William negotiated with the gland district’s Sick Servants over the Gene Bank he had copied, then began the final stage of Silver Turbidity: gene grafting. He planned to rebuild the order of his body before activating his illnesses, and his preparations left the observers wondering whether he meant to imitate The First Dead or kill himself.

• William argued that the gland district had not forbidden copying the Gene Bank and demanded compensation for surrendering or erasing his memories.
• The Sick Servants admitted their rules were unclear and offered to help his later composition match his illnesses by more than eighty percent.
• William chose to sign a Soul Contract rather than allow the Milkers to erase his memories, and the copied Gene Bank data was sealed against sharing.
• William concluded that he needed to reconstruct his body’s order before connecting and activating his gene fragments, or risk becoming a mass of failed sludge.
• William floated above the pool in a cross-like pose, used Dead Person Makeup, and grew an umbilical cord into the silver liquid.
• The Sick Servants recognized William’s posture as that of The First Dead and wondered whether he planned to commit suicide.

William spent eight days rebuilding his body’s internal order through repeated destruction and reconstruction, then completed the Silver Turbidity process and gained a powerful new form. His advancement remained unfinished, and the Pure White Sick Servant took him to the concert hall for the next stage: composition.

• William grafted non-disease genes to reconstruct his body’s order, repeatedly letting genetic collapse destroy him before Dead Person Makeup restored him.
• The Sick Servants and Milkers agreed to keep supplying silver liquid as William continued his risky process.
• After eight days and 157 destructions, William stabilized a new internal order that could accommodate all his diseases while preserving his human essence and appearance.
• William inserted Ancient Genes into his diseases, formed a silver-tinged framework, and completed the Silver Turbidity process, though his advancement was not yet complete.
• The Pure White Sick Servant told William to proceed to the concert hall for composition, and William agreed to go immediately.

The Sick Servant examined William after his Silver Turbidity and discovered that William had transformed his body into an intricately engineered structure. He also found Yi Chen embedded in William’s back, then led William toward the Composing Chamber and asked him to stay afterward as a specimen.

• The Sick Servant’s cells refused to look away from William, and he used a Giant Eye to inspect William’s body.
• The Sick Servant marveled at William’s redesigned brain, framework, organs, digestive system, and limbs.
• The Sick Servant noticed a presence on William’s back and asked to see it.
• The Sick Servant discovered Yi Chen embedded in William’s back, sharing William’s spine and able to control the Abyss Mask or serve as a vessel for consciousness.
• William explained that Yi Chen was another part of himself, and the Sick Servant led him onward while asking him to remain after composition so his body could be cast as a specimen.

William completed the composing stage of his advancement by creating and performing a piece with Yi Chen, becoming a member of the Old World’s Silver Circle. He sensed that greater heights remained, but believed he could now explore the world and seek a way back to his former home.

• The Sick Servant introduced the Pure White Bionic Human Pipe Organ and explained that William had one week to compose music compatible with his disease.
• William connected to the organ and quickly learned to play it, while the Sick Servant warned him not to use his delirious brain to control the bionic humans.
• William recreated the organ in his Mind Palace, where Yi Chen suggested adapting music from the Orphanage as the foundation for the piece.
• William and Yi Chen finished composing in four days, and the Sick Servant withdrew from their connection when the final performance stirred fear and turmoil in him.
• William completed the performance, received an engraved silver framework bearing his full name and title, and advanced into the Old World’s Silver Circle.

William completed his advancement along the Path of Order in the Gland District and learned that his teacher, Zede, had once been held by the Monastery of Suffering. He returned to the Tenth Abyss for an Audience, where the Abyss reacted with confusion to his transformation.

• William refused an offer to be sent somewhere safe and chose to return to the Tenth Abyss for his Audience.
• The Sick Servant explained the Monastery of Suffering's forced recruitment of people talented in Suffering and said it would no longer pursue William for his contributions.
• William and the Sick Servant found Zede's Humanoid Mannequin, and the Sick Servant warned William not to join Zede in challenging the Monastery.
• William left the Gland District through the transformed Path Gate of Order, and Little Grape and Yellow Skin's consciousnesses returned.
• William reunited with the Tenth Abyss, which tilted its head in confusion at his completed body and advancement.

William completed his audience with the Tenth Abyss and was offered the role of First Emissary, but refused to be imprisoned. After he explained that he wanted to serve as the Abyss’s Spokesperson, the Tenth Abyss accepted his reasoning and began establishing a bond with him.

• The Tenth Abyss recognized William’s devotion, granted him the highest Abyss authority as First Emissary, and reached to bind his soul to the Abyss forever.
• William refused enslavement, and Yi Chen urged him to defend his freedom.
• William used Dead Person Makeup to sever the Tenth Abyss’s reaching arms, then explained that he wanted to become its Spokesperson and recruit talents from the outside world.
• The Tenth Abyss accepted William’s refusal and began examining him, saying his body needed Abyss-related characteristics to form their bond.
• The Tenth Abyss directed its countless small hands toward the Birth Gate in William’s abdomen.

William became the Tenth Abyss’s recognized Spokesperson after revealing his complete silver framework and climbed out with a transformed Birth Gate in his abdomen. He returned to the surface, where Jin and the others had waited for him, and Jin immediately challenged him to a spar.

• The Tenth Abyss established a connection with William, ordered him to send it Abyssals regularly, and warned that he could contact it only in urgent situations.
• William revealed his Pure Silver framework, the Second One, and the name “William.Y. Behrens, The Gestalt One”; the Tenth Abyss acknowledged him as its Spokesperson.
• William climbed out of the Tenth Abyss over the course of a week and returned to the settlement, where Lord Carimus gave him back his briefcase.
• William emerged beyond the Black Curtain after a journey of nearly three months and worried about exceeding his leave from the circus.
• Jin, City Lord Price, and Thirteen rushed to meet William, and Jin kicked at his head before he caught her boot and she challenged him to spar.

After returning from the Abyss, William demonstrated the dangerous power of his Abyss Mask to Jin and Price, then examined Jin’s War Relic. The broken sword bore Sanskrit and a Divinity Aura that reminded William of Yi Chen’s Death Idol, suggesting it came from the same great world.

• At a dinner hosted by City Lord Price, Jin explained that he had found a hidden War Relic in Dark Nest Mine with Price and Little Thirteen’s help.
• William revealed the Abyss Mask, creating terrifying illusions that made Jin and Price flee and caused the restaurant’s alarms to sound.
• William withdrew the mask and warned Jin that contact with the Tenth Abyss was risky before asking to see the relic.
• Jin opened a Cancer Palace containment box and revealed a broken sword with a lotus-shaped guard and pagoda-like hilt.
• William recognized Sanskrit on the blade and sensed a Divinity Aura similar to Yi Chen’s Death Idol, linking the sword to the same great world.

William learned that Jin’s broken sword was a divine artifact and heard Price recount how he and two Pathway Achievers barely defeated a powerful invader during the Old World war. William left with Price, promising Jin a spar after he had rested and adapted to his new body.

• William told Jin that her sword was an artifact associated with a deity, and Jin said she had begun forming a connection with its hilt.
• William asked Price about the Old World invasion, and Price described fighting a bald, three-headed, six-armed invader who wielded ritual artifacts, including Jin’s sword.
• Price said he and two Pathway Achievers killed the invader at the cost of one life, severe injuries, and the collapse of the Dark Nest Mine.
• Jin challenged William to spar, but William persuaded her to wait until he had rested and adapted to his new body.
• William invited Price to travel with him and promised Jin he would return to the Cancer Palace for a spar within about ten days.

William returned to the Fear Circus with Price Silvertail and was forgiven for his late arrival after the Boss approved his new department. The Boss then revealed her true form to William, showing him that the Circus Tent had been woven from her original hair.

• William used his Social Phobia to find the hidden Fear Circus and brought Price Silvertail to meet Gian.
• Gian sent Price for an interview and took William to the Boss, noting that William had gained the Tenth Abyss's recognition.
• The Boss forgave William for exceeding his leave and ordered him to build his new department inside the Acrobatic Troupe until it passed evaluation.
• The Boss dismissed Gian and invited William behind the Black Hair curtain to speak privately.
• William saw that the Boss's true body was a giant Black Flesh Ball rooted in the tent, and learned that the Circus Tent was woven from her original hair.

William learned that the Boss was the First Abyss and discovered her body was shattered beyond repair, held together by Black Hair. The Boss approved another month of leave after William finished the theater’s preliminary work, ordering him to spread fear among the Bloodfolk and kill them if they crossed his path.

• The Boss explained that she had become the First Abyss after witnessing the birth of death and darkness, and said she might leave the Circus Tent to William when she died.
• William examined the Boss through his Madness Brain and found her body was shattered, with hormonal injections and Black Hair barely keeping her together.
• The Boss said her injuries had come mostly from the war and planned to merge with the Tent if she died; William promised to seek a cure in other worlds.
• The Boss inspected William’s abyssal medium and told him to return to the theater’s construction.
• William asked for leave to handle matters involving his organization, the Skin Factory, and the Bloodfolk, and the Boss granted him one month after the theater’s preliminary work was finished.
• The Boss ordered William to make the Bloodfolk fear him before killing them, and William agreed.

William returned to the circus after speaking with Boss, learned more about the prehistoric abysses, and was assigned a newly built theater in the Acrobatic Troupe’s core area. He agreed to bring Natalie Sisters Red Oil Dumplings that night in exchange for a jujitsu massage.

• William left Boss and headed to the Acrobatic Troupe, relieved that she had granted him another month of leave so he could return to Zion with Jin.
• William recalled Boss’s account of the two prehistoric abysses, the First Dead’s origins, and her history with the bloodfolk, then resolved to continue his work on the theater.
• Natalie Sisters met William and explained that Rabbit was away and that she was overseeing the circus.
• Natalie Sisters led William to the theater built in the area reserved for the Acrobatic Troupe’s missing fourth leader and offered to help with its preliminary work.
• Natalie Sisters asked William for Red Oil Dumplings and offered him a jujitsu massage, which he accepted for that night.

William designed improvements for the theater and encountered Catherine, who insisted on sharing his Red Oil Dumplings. After he accidentally hurt her while stopping her from grabbing the pot, she joined him at Softness Hall to eat with the Natalie Sisters.

• William drafted theater redesigns and decided to bring them to the Natalie Sisters while carrying dumplings he had made for them.
• Catherine found William, offered help with the theater, and tried to take the dumplings from his insulated pot.
• William threw Catherine to the ground while protecting the pot, and she cried until he offered her his portion of dumplings.
• Catherine accompanied William to Softness Hall, where Natalie agreed to let her join them for dinner.
• The Natalie Sisters' tension with Catherine faded when William opened the pot and revealed the dumplings.

At Softness Hall, William accepted contortion lessons from the older Natalie Sister to adapt to his newly advanced body. After training through the night, William said the exercises had helped him understand his body, though he still struggled with the hardest pose.

• Catherine and the Natalie Sisters enjoyed a food-born fantasy before the older sister took control and spoke with Catherine about her Boss.
• William diverted Catherine by claiming he and Natalie needed to discuss theater revisions, and Catherine left Softness Hall.
• The older Natalie Sister told William the theater work could wait and offered to teach him contortion in exchange for his Dumplings.
• William copied the older sister’s contortion poses as they trained through the night, helping him adapt to his body after advancing.
• The younger Natalie Sister awoke to find her head separated from her body and saw her sister and William struggling to hold an inverted pose.

After completing an all-night yoga session with Natalie, William returned to the theater to examine the changes in his body. Yellowhide’s report confirmed that he had completed his path and detailed his new disease, abilities, and S-rank title, The Gestalt One.

• William followed Natalie’s yoga movements until he reached a state where his body instinctively copied her poses and he could examine his physical changes.
• William asked Yellowhide to analyze his body at full stretch, then thanked Natalie and left renovation documents before returning to the theater.
• After William left, the younger Natalie proposed playing with him and speculated that he might inherit Boss’s position, prompting her sister to slap and warn her.
• William told Thirteen to receive the circus construction team and avoid disturbing him while he conducted a self-examination.
• Yellowhide’s report identified William as an Old Day Diseased who had completed his path, earned the S-rank title The Gestalt One, and developed the integrated disease Epileptic Syndrome alongside numerous related abilities and traits.

William explored the new Xuexin Brain Network, tested how Edification could guide and develop students, and learned that advancing beyond the Silver Ring required knowledge and the world's permission. As William prepared to return to the human side, Little Grape chose to leave and explore the Old World alone.

• William connected to the Xuexin Brain Network, reviewed student profiles, and assigned study goals to Moses Azmi and two aspiring performers.
• Yi Chen suggested creating an institution to train and screen students, then returned to his sealed place within William's consciousness.
• William enhanced Candle Puppet Thirteen's brain and urged her to develop her own Mad Brain.
• The Yellow Hide explained why Silver Ring progression lacked numbered Plague Values and said becoming a Plague Lord required the world's permission.
• Little Grape decided to explore firewood-related places in the Old World, and William gave it money and a Black Roundworm Organization membership card before it departed.