Chapter Summaries

Anvis and Claire sailed aboard the Black Ship toward a mysterious island, each wary of the dangers connected to Claire’s misfortune-causing trait. On Blue Star, Jiang Heng waited for Mysterious Era’s open beta as the game’s official team announced new features.

• Anvis learned that Claire had disguised herself and boarded the Black Ship, and he resolved to keep his distance from her on the island.
• Claire reflected on how her strange trait had brought misfortune to people around her and explained that an ancient Stone Tablet had led her toward the Nameless Island.
• Jiang Heng read the game team’s progress report, which announced bug fixes, new gameplay features, titles, and achievements ahead of the open beta.
• Jiang Heng noted that millions of inexpensive Game Helmets had already been sold before Mysterious Era’s official launch.

Jiang Heng entered the open beta as the Players descended across Yar Continent and explored their surroundings. In Aulassian, Prophet Brentz sensed the turning point of fate and ordered Olvasha and Veronica to watch for unusual events.

• Jiang Heng received Little Cat Tiramisu’s teasing message, then entered the Game Pod as the open beta approached.
• Jiang Heng created his character as Last Dragonborn and synchronized with the game world.
• Players appeared across Yar Continent at midnight, marveled at the realistic environment, and began exploring or searching for settlements.
• Brentz sensed the Players’ arrival from Aulassian and declared that the turning point of fate had begun.
• Brentz told Olvasha and Veronica to watch for abnormal occurrences across the continent.

Anvis and his companions reached the vast Nameless Island, where a strange encounter with a Wanderer warned him that the land of Lavanles did not welcome outsiders. A sailor then suggested the Wanderer’s mind had been eroded by a curse.

• After more than half a month sailing through the Sea of Mist, Anvis and the others arrived at the Nameless Island.
• The Black Ship dropped off its passengers at an empty harbor and immediately sailed away without taking on supplies.
• Anvis saw Claire speak with a Wanderer near the docks, then approached the Wanderer with Chom to question him.
• Anvis used Charm Person on the Wanderer, who warned that Lavanles was cursed and did not welcome outsiders before falling silent.
• A sailor approached Anvis and explained that the Wanderer’s mind had been eroded by the curse power in the wilderness.

Anvis entered Lavanles, where Bill warned him about the island’s curse and showed him around. Anvis spotted an unseen black sphere that transformed into several different women, and he suspected a Player had appeared.

• Bill told Anvis and Jom that an ancient god’s curse plagued the island at night and that Lai Temple protected Lavanles.
• Bill guided Anvis through town and pointed out the Sleeping Siren inn and Lai Temple.
• Anvis gave Bill several Silver Gold Coins and watched him return to the docks.
• Jom sensed a trace of the island’s corruptive force on Bill and suggested he might have ventured into the wilderness.
• Anvis asked Jom about a black sphere he had seen in an alley, but Jom could not see it.
• The black sphere transformed into a female Nature Elf, then a Dark Elf, and then a female Dwarf.

Xia Ye Ying Huo’s character creation suffered a synchronization error, but she eventually entered Foreign Harbor City as a Half-Elf and met Anvis. She was left flustered by his handsome appearance, while her attempt to inspect him revealed only question marks.

• Anvis worried about the lack of gender-adjustment options, then concealed himself in an alley and activated his bloodline’s light-element gathering effect.
• Xia Ye Ying Huo’s first character-creation attempt failed to save her appearance, forcing her to remake her character and choose a Half-Elf.
• Xia Ye Ying Huo entered Foreign Harbor City, accepted the Player agreement without reading it, and marveled at her new body and surroundings.
• Anvis greeted Xia Ye Ying Huo, who tried to touch his face, prompting Chom to step protectively between them.
• Anvis gently admonished Xia Ye Ying Huo, who blushed and tried to inspect his information, but saw only question marks.

Anvis used Xia Ye Ying Huo’s quest Panel to offer a series of increasingly dangerous quests, disguising his real motives behind extravagant rewards. Xia Ye Ying Huo left bewildered, while Anvis believed she could handle the challenges with the Old Days Secret Scripture and Chom.

• Anvis introduced himself to Xia Ye Ying Huo, who said her name was Vivian, and offered her a quest to collect ten shells in exchange for coins or a Mysterious Stone.
• The Mysterious Stone jumped from Vivian’s hand and broke, causing Anvis to cancel the shell quest and Vivian to receive a failure prompt.
• Anvis offered Vivian a B-rank quest to retrieve three Ancient Stone Bricks from the island’s ruins, which had a recommended Challenge Rating of 50+.
• Anvis gave Vivian an S-rank quest to retrieve the items from a Heretic God Cult altar in a cave with a recommended Challenge Rating of 80+.
• Vivian left confused by the impossible-seeming quests, and Anvis thought she could manage them with the Old Days Secret Scripture and Chom.

Anvis visited the Sleeping Siren to learn about the island and its valuable resources, discovering how the curse and the temple shaped life there. As he left, he noticed something on the black-cloaked outsider that caught his attention.

• Anvis entered the Sleeping Siren with Chom and learned that most of the town's Professionals were low-ranked, while the temple and an ancient black High Tower blocked Chom's scan.
• Anvis paid for two rooms and asked the bartender about the island and its resources.
• The bartender explained that Emis Heart came from mines in the northwest mountains and Emis Dust was a byproduct of blessings from the temple of Old God Rai.
• The bartender described the dangerous cursed mountains and jungle, the protected town of Lavanles, and the curse's strength at night and during new moons.
• As Anvis left, he noticed something on the black-cloaked outsider.

Anvis left a tavern after spotting someone dressed like a bishop of the Holy Radiance Church, then chose to investigate Old God Rai’s temple while remembering that Evan was missing. Elsewhere, Players pursued quests and race-rolling, and Last Dragonborn helped his clients obtain a rare Dragonborn character as a rival club player reached level ten.

• Anvis noticed a figure in Holy Radiance Church bishop’s attire at the tavern but left without confronting him.
• Anvis reviewed his island objectives, remembered to search for Evan, and decided to explore Old God Rai’s temple first.
• Xia Ye Ying Huo completed the Lost Cat quest and was surprised to see players nearing level ten in the rankings.
• Last Dragonborn repeatedly killed clients’ newly created characters to help them roll rare races, and one client obtained a Dragonborn character.
• Last Dragonborn checked the rankings and saw Silver Blue Arena - Black Cardboard had reached level ten and become an official Professional.

Last Dragonborn reached level 10 by killing players, unlocked a title for killing level 1 players, and considered how the game’s revival system encouraged spending. In Palosia, pickpocket Lenny stole from the player Xing Yu, who detected him and saw Lenny turn into a hostile Red Name.

• Last Dragonborn killed himself to clear his Red Name after reaching level 10, then unlocked the Novice Terminator title for killing over 1,024 level 1 players.
• Players complained on the Mysterious Era forum about limited revivals, expensive Resurrection Crystals, and the cost of reincarnating.
• Lenny, a sharp-eyed pickpocket in Palosia, noticed an influx of strange refugees and selected one with a bulging purse as his target.
• Xing Yu detected Lenny stealing 12 silver and 72 copper, and Lenny’s name turned into a hostile Red Name.
• The author explained that the chapter was posted early as a repeated section because they could not finish the full update in time.

Anvis visited Lai Temple and found no sign that its statue was the target he sought, then questioned explorer Baige Sen about the island’s gemstone mines. Baige revealed that a hidden crystal cave held enormous gemstones guarded by spirits, and that he had escaped with one gemstone using his only Teleportation Scroll.

• Xing Yu shouted that Lenny was a Red Name monster, causing nearby refugees to turn their attention toward the pickpocket.
• Anvis climbed to Lai Temple with Chom and sensed a gentle Force Field from the Moon Goddess Lai statue, but the Old Days Secret Scripture did not react.
• Anvis found Baige Sen preparing an expedition and offered him a Portable Magic Disintegration Gathering Device for information about the gemstone mines.
• Baige explained that gemstones came from deep mountain fissures and could shatter if disturbed with excessive vibrations.
• Baige told Anvis and Claire that he had found a crystal cave beneath the island, where spirits attacked him and he escaped by teleporting away with a gemstone.

Anvis heard Old Explorer Baige Sen’s account of a lost gemstone cave and tried to use a gem from it to locate the site, but his divination failed. After Anvis and Chom left, Baige Sen spoke privately with Claire, who revealed she was determined to remove her Misfortune Trait.

• Baige Sen described the deep gemstone cave, its Crystal Spirits, and how an Earth Dragon’s awakening changed the underground passages until he could no longer find it.
• Baige Sen lent Anvis a large raw Emis Heart gem from the cave, but Anvis’s divination spells failed against the island’s Cursed Force Field.
• Anvis and Chom received a hand-drawn Parchment Island Map, then said farewell to Baige Sen and left.
• Baige Sen raised a soundproof barrier and asked Claire if she had truly decided to seek a way to remove her Misfortune Trait; Claire confirmed she had.

Claire received a warning from Baige Sen’s father urging later explorers to avoid Lavanles and leave the island before a certain time. Anvis discovered a strange oil painting in a ruined house that drew him toward it.

• Baige Sen gave Claire a fragment of Stone Tablet left by his father and told her to remember what had first set her on her path.
• Claire read the fragment’s warning to stay away from Lavanles and leave the island before the time arrived.
• Anvis noticed an isolated patch of ruins on his way to the Black Tower and asked Jom about the house at its center.
• Jom identified the ruins as a Small Anomaly Zone and said they posed no danger to them.
• Anvis entered the house and found a vivid, unusually new oil painting of a Youth and Girl running hand in hand along a sunset beach.

Anvis used Mercury Eye and Extreme Cold Frozen Light to investigate an illusory Oil Painting and a hidden shadow in an abandoned house. He and Chom left the ruins, but dark green spell effects and enormous black Tentacles suddenly attacked them.

• Anvis activated Mercury Eye’s true vision and confirmed that the Oil Painting and parts of the ruined house were abnormal phenomena, not physical objects.
• Anvis struck the Oil Painting with Extreme Cold Frozen Light, causing it to vanish in an illusory ripple.
• Anvis spotted a pitch-black humanoid figure in the fireplace, and Chom dismissed it with an icy sword aura.
• Chom explained that the phenomenon threatened lower-Rank Professionals but posed little danger to them, and Anvis left the house with him.
• Dark green spell effects and enormous black Tentacles appeared as Anvis and Chom stepped beyond the ruins.

Anvis and Jom defeated two cultists who ambushed them, then investigated the sealed ancient High Tower. Anvis sent Pigeon through its magical seal to discover what was inside, and waited for its report.

• Anvis escaped the cultists’ surprise attack while Jom destroyed their spells and captured them.
• Anvis failed to read the attackers’ chaotic memories, and Jom found pendants marked with five-pointed Stars that suggested they belonged to the Heretic God Cult.
• Anvis and Jom reached the Black Tower after nightfall and discovered its entrance was sealed by a self-repairing space-time array.
• Anvis summoned Pigeon and asked it to enter the tower and inspect what was sealed inside.
• Pigeon returned from the tower, and Anvis asked what it had found.

Anvis investigated the mysterious tower’s Seal but chose not to break it, then used the Coin of Destiny to seek the location of the Heretic Cultists who had attacked him. The coin failed to land on the map and rolled to the door, leaving Anvis unsure what the prophecy meant.

• Pigeon told Anvis that the tower’s entrance depended on the angle of observation and that breaking the Seal would slightly affect the island, but Anvis decided against it.
• Anvis and Chom returned to the Sleeping Siren Tavern, where Anvis noticed black-robed people gathered in the hall but saw no sign of fanaticism.
• Anvis examined the Old Days Secret Scripture and the strange pendant left by the two attackers, then spread out the explorer’s map of Lavanles Port City.
• Anvis used the Coin of Destiny to divine where the attackers lived, but the coin bounced off the map and rolled to the closed door.
• Anvis picked up the coin and noted that its remaining power could support about two more prophecies of the same level.

Anvis used a Night Butterfly’s memories to locate two Heretic Cultists, while Xia Ye Ying Huo searched Lavanles for somewhere to sleep and entered a lit mansion. The mansion’s young resident watched the clock strike ten as Xia Ye Ying Huo awkwardly asked to stay the night.

• Anvis let the Night Butterfly into his room, then used an illusion to learn the addresses of two Heretic Cultists from her memories.
• Anvis marked the cultists’ locations on the Island Map while the Night Butterfly remained trapped in the illusion.
• Xia Ye Ying Huo wandered through dark Lavanles after her torch went out and found an unlocked, illuminated mansion.
• Xia Ye Ying Huo entered the mansion and saw a mysterious oil painting and a young girl sitting by the window.
• The young girl looked at the grandfather clock as it struck ten, and Xia Ye Ying Huo apologized and asked if she could spend the night.

Xia Ye Ying Huo spent the night in Lona’s house, only to wake in the harbor town’s ruins afflicted with Dream Erosion. Meanwhile, Anvis and Chom went to Lavanles’s Administrative Hall to research the island’s history and the Heretic God Cult.

• Xia Ye Ying Huo persuaded Lona to let her stay overnight and learned the girl’s name.
• Xia Ye Ying Huo woke among ruins with depleted resources and several negative statuses, including Dream Erosion, which made her want to return there.
• Xia Ye Ying Huo ate Broadleaf Lettuce and Harbor Specialty Salted Fish to restore her stamina.
• Anvis and Chom left the Sleeping Siren for Lavanles’s Administrative Hall to search its records.
• Anvis noticed the exhausted Xia Ye Ying Huo on the way, then entered the empty Administrative Hall with Chom.

Anvis researched Lavanles Island’s history and the Moon Calling Sect in the Administrative Hall’s Archive Room, then headed with Chom to investigate two cultists’ residences. On the way, he saw Claire, disguised as a young man, give Xia Ye Ying Huo a package before entering a run-down district at the edge of town.

• Anvis charmed the gate guard into revealing the Archive Room’s location and searched its records with Chom.
• Anvis learned that Lavanles was settled by shipwreck survivors, that ancient ruins predated the city, and that the Moon Calling Sect worshipped Alien Gods and gathered during full Purple Moons.
• Anvis secretly retrieved the files Claire had read and discovered that the island’s curse had once grown turbulent for seven days while a castle on its highest mountain glowed.
• Anvis saw Claire cast a restorative spell on Xia Ye Ying Huo and hand her a small package before Xia Ye Ying Huo left with what seemed to be a quest.
• Anvis and Chom traveled toward the cultists’ residences and reached a district of increasingly dilapidated buildings.

Anvis and Jom searched the homes of two Heretic Cultists and found a notebook pointing to a Moon Calling Sect gathering in the Mesaigica Wasteland. Anvis left with plans to investigate a cave tied to the Old Days Secret Scripture and the missing Evan.

• Jom scanned the first Heretic Cultist's shack, neutralized its Magic trap, and found nothing valuable inside.
• Anvis and Jom searched the neighboring house and discovered a trapped notebook hidden in a desk drawer.
• Anvis read that the cultists planned to gather at ruins in the Mesaigica Wasteland and learned the notebook could help him locate places its owner had visited.
• Anvis recognized the Night Butterfly leaving with two men and concluded she had helped him find the cultists' homes.
• Anvis decided to explore the Priest's cave first, where he expected to find the Seal and possible traces of Evan.

Crowley Simier investigated the newly arrived refugees’ unusual solidarity and resurrection ability, and feared their arrival could bring conflict to Yar Continent. Meanwhile, Players learned the hard way not to attack guarded humanoid targets, and Anvis ventured beyond Lavanles’s force field to sense the island’s curse.

• Crowley Simier learned that refugees had banded together to kill pickpockets, while attackers discovered the refugees vanished in White Light when mortally wounded.
• City Guards interrogated captured refugees and learned that they had been transferred from a continent that sank into the Endless Sea, leading Crowley to anticipate an invasion and wonder whether he could claim their Resurrection Ability.
• A Player resurrected after attacking an NPC near the guards, while nearby Players mocked him and discussed how the guards imprisoned offenders or cost them Resurrection Crystals.
• Players gradually began learning the rules of Mysterious Era after repeated punishments for attacking red-name humanoid monsters.
• Anvis left Lavanles’s force field and sensed the island’s weak, chaotic Cursed Force Field stirring beyond the town.