Chapter Summaries

Galon released Vaporization, transforming into a hybrid being that could draw on powers from another world while retaining his Human Nature. Yi Chen and Mandy attacked him together, but his sunflower-faced form struck them with a psychic ability called Seeding and trapped them in a living plantation.

• Galon forced the demonic fetus back inside himself, regained his clarity, and announced that he would take the promotion seriously.
• Galon activated Vaporization, transforming his face into a sunflower, his arms into mouths, and his lower body into a tentacled priestly skirt that let him float.
• Principal Deslin recognized Galon as the organization's Special Record Combatant and realized he was seeking the First Gentleman position to deepen his connection with the Skin Factory.
• Mandy lost his nerve, but William urged him to keep fighting, and the two charged Galon from opposite directions.
• Galon's sunflower seeds targeted Yi Chen and Mandy with Seeding, transporting them to a living plantation where seeds were planted in their heads and began to sprout.

Yi Chen and Mandy Lusen overcame Sleeper Galon's Seeding and destroyed his arms, but Galon unleashed a devastating attack that swallowed Yi Chen's lower legs and seemingly killed Mandy. Deslin told Yi Chen that the Promotion had changed and there was no need to continue.

• Sleeper Galon used Seeding on Yi Chen and Mandy, but Yi Chen cut the sunflower roots from his brain and activated Dead Person Makeup while Mandy inflamed and disordered his brain to resist it.
• Yi Chen and Mandy charged Galon; Yi Chen survived Galon's invisible tearing attacks through reconstruction and an ash-black rock defense, while Mandy advanced behind a shield made from his skin.
• Yi Chen and Mandy struck Galon's arms, annihilating one and destroying the other beyond regeneration.
• Little Grape noticed the sunflower seeds forming a giant mouth on Galon's face, and Yi Chen warned Mandy before attempting to escape with Spatial Transfer.
• Galon's attack swallowed Yi Chen's lower legs and Mandy's arm, and Mandy's presence vanished as Yuri sat back down under the First Gentleman's gaze.
• Deslin told Yi Chen that the Promotion had changed and that he did not need to continue.

Yi Chen used Moonification Disease and Little Grape’s power to reach Galon and seal the passage connecting him to the Unknown World. Just as the passage closed, Galon dragged Yi Chen inside with him.

• Yi Chen refused to forfeit and decided to use the Skin Bible to seal Galon’s connection to the Unknown World.
• Yi Chen took his final Meat Potion and transformed, arranging Little Grape’s sun and the century-old corpse’s stars around himself as a moon.
• Yi Chen charged Galon amid illusory duplicates, while Galon unleashed grotesque creatures from his wounds.
• Yi Chen pressed the Skin Bible against Galon’s sunflower face and forced the passage to close, sending the sunflower back to its world.
• Galon reached through the shrinking passage, seized Yi Chen’s wrist, and dragged him inside as the passage closed.

Yi Chen entered the In-Between with Galon, who explained his plan to use the Void to help cleanse their world and why he needed to become First Gentleman. Yi Chen abandoned his claim to the position and returned to the church with the sleeping Mandy, where he surrendered.

• Galon concealed Yi Chen’s outsider aura and showed him the chaotic world of the Void.
• Galon explained that he wanted to become First Gentleman to build stable passages to the Void and eventually use it to purge diseases and the Gray Domain.
• Galon told Yi Chen that Mandy was asleep and that he planned to release him after the promotion.
• Inner Heart told Yi Chen that the risks of pursuing First Gentleman were no longer worthwhile, so Yi Chen let Galon take the position.
• Yi Chen shook Galon’s hand and was pulled back through the door into the church with Mandy, then raised his arm and surrendered.

After the Skin Promotion ended, Galon emerged as the next First Gentleman while William forfeited, convinced Galon was better suited to the role. William planned to remain with the organization briefly, then travel to the Old World and visit the Skin Factory, with Deslin urging him to strengthen his Star Magic first.

• The candidates were returned alive, and William forfeited after seeing Galon's essence; Jin was relieved that William would not become First Gentleman.
• Spacy announced the Transfer Ceremony, and Yuri woke Mandy, restored his severed arm, and praised his Promotion performance.
• The clergy sealed Divine Skin Manor while the gentlemen welcomed the candidates outside, where William learned his performance had made him famous across Zion.
• William told Deslin he planned to visit the Skin Factory, and she advised him to advance his Star Magic before traveling through the Old World.
• William agreed to tell Deslin about the otherworld he had seen while she massaged his legs.

Yi Chen spoke with Principal Deslin about Special Record Combatants and his performance in the Skin Promotion, then received advice for his future training. Deslin prepared a bath infused with Star particles and explained her ongoing connection with stargazers in the Old World, while declining to accompany Yi Chen there.

• Yi Chen told Deslin about the world connected to Sleeper Galon, and she praised Galon's cooperation and the organization's prospects.
• Deslin explained that Galon, Zede, and Prophet Yuri were among the organization's Special Record Combatants, and revealed that Yi Chen might receive the designation after returning from the Old World.
• Deslin praised Yi Chen's performance against Galon and advised him to develop a combined technique drawing on the Ashen Eyeball, Moonification Disease, and Star Magic.
• Deslin prepared Yi Chen a bath infused with Star particles and said Old World stargazers supplied meteorite remnants in exchange for her showing them the stars.
• Yi Chen asked Deslin to accompany him to the Old World, but she refused because the academy and organization depended on her presence and her connection with the stargazers.

Yi Chen soaked in Deslin’s Star Fragment bath and advanced his astrology and plague level while entering a prolonged state of starry comprehension. After three days, he awakened with a Nebula Body and improved spatial movement, then prepared to visit the Tailor Association before setting out on a long journey.

• Deslin explained her hereditary Astrology Hyperchylomicranemia, her connection to the Stargazers, and how her blood transmitted Star Fragments; Yi Chen sealed her cut rather than drinking her blood.
• Deslin left Yi Chen to soak while she privately reflected on leaving Zion, and Yi Chen and Little Grape drifted into deep-space consciousness.
• Three hours later, Deslin discovered Yi Chen had drained the bath and reached plague value 3, and she saw his strange, obscured Framework as he remained immersed in the stars.
• Deslin joined Yi Chen in the floating state and connected their consciousnesses, while Yi Chen’s starry comprehension continued for three days and three nights.
• Yi Chen awakened with a Nebula Body and the ability to move spatially within three meters, then left Deslin a thank-you letter.
• Deslin asked where Yi Chen was going; he said he would return books to Mr. Spacy at the Tailor Association, and she told him to come back alive.

Yi Chen received the Skin Bible from Spacy and planned a trip to the Old World, weighing the protection of the Original Tomb against Jin’s invitation to the Cancer Palace. He found Teacher Zed purifying himself among thousands of hanging corpses, then learned the Monastery of Suffering was an Old World prison and was unlikely to send a powerful force after him.

• Spacy lent Yi Chen the Skin Bible and explained that the Abyssal Skin Factory was an Old World Source Plague Zone where visitors had to sign a Soul Contract.
• Yi Chen considered visiting the Original Tomb, meeting Duke, or traveling with Jin to the Cancer Palace for protection, and decided to consult Teacher Zed about the Monastery.
• Yi Chen found Zed hanging among more than ten thousand corpses in a secret Underground Warehouse and joined him on a hook while they spoke.
• Zed said he was purifying himself and advancing along the path of the corpse, and warned Yi Chen not to absorb the warehouse’s atmosphere.
• Zed told Yi Chen that the Monastery of Suffering was a Source Plague Zone and the Old World’s only prison, so its monks were unlikely to spare many resources to pursue him.

Yi Chen asked Jin to accompany him on a trip to the Old World, and she agreed to go after they ate and visited her master at the Cancer Palace. Before they could leave, a cleric summoned Yi Chen and Jin to meet Archbishop Yalleris at the Hall of Glory, where Yi Chen expected to see the completed result of their earlier work.

• Teacher Zed told Yi Chen that his future plan involved killing the Monastery of Suffering’s leaders and prisoners without destroying the Source Plague Zone itself.
• Yi Chen visited Jin and invited her to travel with him to the Old World, and she agreed to accompany him to a tannery and the Cancer Palace.
• Jin and Yi Chen planned to eat steak and invite Regan before setting out.
• A white-robed cleric recognized Yi Chen and summoned him and Jin to the Hall of Glory to meet Archbishop Yalleris.
• Yi Chen realized that the Archbishop’s summons likely meant the finished product was ready.

Yi Chen learned that Zion could upgrade his firearm only by using a Holy Body as its foundation, and a willing Holy Body had already been chosen. With Little Grape offering to take the lead in accepting the weapon, Yi Chen touched the corpse and began the final procedure.

• Regan invited Yi Chen to help with Death Plague research, then agreed to support his journey to the Original Tomb by asking him to collect samples from real dead people.
• Archbishop Yalleris explained that Zion could not open the firearm’s pure-iron ill-substance with current technology, so it had been merged with a Holy Body.
• Yi Chen met War Ironblood—Bartosh Darrell, a former executioner instructor who had died protecting his team in the Gray Domain.
• Little Grape asked Yi Chen to let it handle accepting the firearm, hoping its Ashen Eye might merge with the weapon and improve it.
• Yi Chen touched Darrell’s Holy Body as an Ashen Eye opened in his palm, and ember-like patterns spread across the corpse as its outer shell began to disintegrate.

Yi Chen transformed Instructor Darrell’s remains into a powerful pistol, with Little Grape taking control of the weapon. He prepared to leave for the Old World and seek his own Skin Bible, while Archbishop Yalleris reflected on Yi Chen’s potential and his own approaching rest.

• Yi Chen and Little Grape subdued Instructor Darrell’s revived heart and reshaped his remains into a heavy, deep-gray pistol.
• Yi Chen discovered the pistol could manufacture special bullets from supplied materials, and Little Grape chose to study it as a guest room.
• Yi Chen told Archbishop Yalleris he planned to visit the Skin Factory for his own Skin Bible and to pursue better skin for his Gentleman’s Attire.
• The pistol’s bullet-collection effect clashed with Dead Spine Lake, so Yi Chen holstered the weapon using skin manipulation before leaving with his companions.
• After Yi Chen departed, Archbishop Yalleris praised his ability and wondered whether humanity’s civilization could survive Zion’s fall.

Jin was injured when she tried to inspect Yi Chen's mysterious firearm, but quickly recovered, and the group left the city for the Old World. During the carriage ride, Yi Chen analyzed the gun and identified its name as Bartosh (Bartosz).

• Jin grabbed Yi Chen's holstered firearm, which extracted her flesh and then shot her when she tried to pull it back.
• Jin survived the shot and recovered, while Yi Chen warned her not to touch the unfamiliar weapon; the Archbishop let the three leave despite the damage to his tower.
• Yi Chen, Jin, and Regan ate at Philip's Bull, where Yi Chen reflected on the circus and decided to consult the Duke before seeking it out.
• After drinking, Regan departed, and Jin urged Yi Chen to leave for the Old World that night.
• Yi Chen analyzed the firearm during the carriage ride and discovered its name: Bartosh (Bartosz).

Yi Chen tested Bartosh, the living gun named for Instructor Bartosh Darrell, and discovered how its metal arming and Bullet Workshop worked. After exhausting its ammunition while hunting Sick Ones, he fed the gun a new material through the Suffering Iron Chain and was summoned to design bullets.

• Yi Chen read Bartosh’s abilities and used its arming function to metalize his left arm and connect more closely with the gun.
• Yi Chen fired a workshop-made bullet that Little Grape had equipped with an eye, killing a fungal Sick One from five hundred meters away.
• Little Grape explained that he could add tracking and ocular arts to bullets, and Yi Chen practiced by killing every Sick One and infected creature within a thousand meters.
• Yi Chen ran out of bullet materials, then connected the Suffering Iron Chain to Bartosh, causing the workshop to request that he enter and design bullets for the new material.

Yi Chen entered the firearm’s workshop to help Little Grape turn the Suffering Iron Chain into special bullets, while Jin carried his unconscious body to Holy Grail Mountain. The chapter ended with Jin meeting Olman Yude at the passage and waiting for Yi Chen to wake before they entered the Old World.

• Yi Chen accepted the firearm’s request and entered its workshop with Little Grape to design new bullets using the Suffering Iron Chain.
• Little Grape explained that the firearm’s factory employed the altered consciousnesses of patients killed by the weapon, and Yi Chen calmed the chain before production began.
• Jin woke after a night’s sleep and found Yi Chen unconscious, his consciousness occupied inside the firearm.
• Jin carried Yi Chen up Holy Grail Mountain, where patients avoided her cancer scent and she reached the stone temple in less than an hour.
• Olman Yude welcomed Jin and Yi Chen at the passage and told her to wait until Yi Chen woke before entering the Old World.

Yi Chen and Jin entered the passage into the Old World after Watcher Olman warned them that Sick Ones had gathered around it. After sealing the passage behind them, Olman was attacked by tentacles emerging from his armor and pinned himself to the ground to stop them.

• Yi Chen woke at the passage entrance and told Olman about Lorien, the Patient Zero who had once disguised himself as Yi Chen.
• Olman explained that Old World Sick Ones had crossed the passage repeatedly and might have established an infection zone around it.
• Yi Chen and Jin decided to enter the passage despite Olman's warning that it was becoming unusable.
• Olman uncovered a pus-covered flesh tunnel, and Yi Chen and Jin walked through it into the Old World.
• Olman sealed the passage, then black tentacles erupted from his shoulder armor and whispered to him.
• Olman drove his halberd through his shoulder to sever the tentacles and pin himself down, but something still moved in the wound's shadows.

Yi Chen and Jin crossed a parasite-infested passage and discovered a seemingly ordinary inn on the other side. Though the parasites concealed themselves inside the human-looking guests, Yi Chen chose to accept the inn’s offer of lodging and food.

• Jin analyzed the passage’s parasites, while Yi Chen consulted Yellowhide and Little Grape and prepared for a possible attack.
• Yi Chen and Jin armed themselves and reached an exit sealed with hardened black tentacles, which Jin pried open with his six Cancer Cell tentacles.
• The pair found a crowded inn instead of an armed force, and Little Grape revealed that parasites were hiding inside its human-looking occupants.
• An attendant welcomed Yi Chen and Jin to Loop Inn and offered them a free room and meals.
• Yi Chen accepted the offer, and the attendant led them to a simple room with a pitch-black candle on its table.

Yi Chen and Jin stayed at the inn to investigate its parasites and sampled its disturbing seasonal dishes. After learning the inn served an apparent mother and son as food, Yi Chen paid with an Ancient Coin and began questioning the waiter.

• Yi Chen explained that he stayed to test whether the inn's parasites threatened outsiders and the organization, while Jin eagerly agreed to fight them if needed.
• Yi Chen and Jin went downstairs for a meal, where Jin threatened a burly man over a table before the little girl on his shoulder led him away, saying they were not qualified to cross to the other side.
• Yi Chen ordered the seasonal dishes and recognized the grotesque food as likely made from the mother and son who had just left.
• Jin ate the stew and gave Yi Chen an Ancient Coin, which he used to pay the waiter after learning free guests received only seasonal food.
• The waiter dropped an eyeball into the stew while checking the coin, and Yi Chen said he wanted to ask him a few questions.

Yi Chen and Jin learned that the Black Roundworm faction ran transfer services across the Old World and decided to use one to travel toward the Cancer Palace. They departed the inn aboard a giant roundworm bound for Pus Lake.

• Yi Chen questioned the clerk about passage fees, strength assessments, and the inn’s transfer services, learning that only selected guests qualified to cross worlds.
• The clerk revealed the Black Roundworm faction’s business card and agreed to relay Yi Chen’s request to avoid clashing with the Watcher for a month.
• Yi Chen and Jin decided not to attack the inn and chose to try its inner-to-inner transfer service to reach the Cancer Palace area.
• The clerk arranged transport to Pus Lake, and a giant black roundworm emerged beside the inn to serve as their carriage.

Yi Chen and Jin arrived at Pus Lake, the dangerous moat of the Cancer Palace, where Jin protected Yi Chen with a temporary antigen. After boarding a living boat, Yi Chen learned that he would have to undergo a lengthy baptism before entering the Cancer Palace.

• Yi Chen and Jin reached Pus Lake aboard the Black Earthworm train, and Jin paid the attendant eight Ancient Coins.
• The lake’s environment began assimilating Yi Chen and growing tumors on his exposed fingers, so Jin jolted him back to his senses and implanted a temporary antigen.
• Jin explained that Pus Lake was the Cancer Palace’s moat and warned that its waters contained competing super tumors; Yi Chen changed out of his Yellow Skin clothing.
• Jin summoned a boatman by stirring the lake, and the two boarded a boat made from the boatman’s hyperplastic tissue.
• Jin revealed that outsiders had to endure a baptism to enter the Cancer Palace, especially since its residents distrusted Yi Chen’s Death Attribute.

Yi Chen arrived at the Cancer Palace and underwent its visitor-only Decomposition Baptism, which disassembled his body in diluted Pus Lake water. He used his Mad Brain and an unexpected meditative state to recombine himself, startling the watching staff.

• Yi Chen and Jin approached the Cancer Palace, and Jin explained that the baptism would be uncomfortable and that they had to part ways.
• Jin handed over Yi Chen's suitcase, then entered a transport tube to report to his master while guards led Yi Chen inside.
• Watchers identified Yi Chen as a hybrid visitor and announced that he would receive the Cancer Palace's Decomposition Baptism.
• The baptism's diluted Pus Lake water disintegrated Yi Chen's body, so he protected his Mad Brain with Death Attribute without releasing death itself.
• Yi Chen meditated among the cancerized parts of his body until they recombined, prompting a watcher to recognize that he possessed an astronomer's traits.