Chapter Summaries

Evan used the Storm Cape’s cannons and an enhanced Siren’s Song to halt the Shadow Lizard invasion in the lagoon. The immediate attack ended, but the lizards remained on the reef, and Evan knew the greater danger would come after nightfall.

• Evan trapped the charging Shadow Lizards in a thorny thicket, then ordered the Storm Cape to fire grapeshot at them.
• Thousands of Shadow Lizards emerged from shadows across the reef, frightening the crew until Evan steadied them and ordered them to keep firing.
• Evan directed the Storm Cape toward the lagoon’s center as the lizards swam in from other parts of the island.
• Evan lowered the enhanced Siren’s Song into the water, and its infrasound killed the Shadow Lizards gathered in the lagoon.
• The remaining lizards retreated from the water, while Evan anticipated their return as soon as night brought shadows across the reef.

Evan assessed the Storm Cape’s worsening danger from the giant lizards and decided to brew a Madness Potion that might turn some of them into allies. His first attempt failed, leaving the potion unfinished as the crisis continued.

• Evan explained to Milan and Gary that the lizards could resist physical attacks at night and had to be stopped before nightfall.
• Gary offered to charge into the enemy, while Milan admitted he had no plan, so Evan considered the ship’s weapons and magical resources.
• Evan told Milan to control the Siren's Song while he rushed to his laboratory to brew the Madness Potion.
• Evan prepared the potion with its listed ingredients and added a severed Red-Eyed Gecko tail, causing a violent reaction.
• The potion returned to clear water, and Evan recorded that the attempt had failed because the cicada wings’ spiritual essence had not fused properly.

As sunset approached, the Storm Cape’s crew faced a lizard tide poised to attack through the ship’s lengthening shadow. Evan returned with a plan, and the chapter ended as Madness Potion turned the lizards’ breeding ground into chaos.

• The Shadow Lizards gathered at their breeding ground and waited for darkness, while the crew watched the sunset draw closer.
• The ship’s shadow stretched toward shore, allowing the lizards to crowd into it and prompting the sailors to consider cutting down the masts.
• Milan sensed Evan’s return just before dozens of White Gulls flew out carrying bottles of Madness Potion.
• Evan ordered Gary to bring fresh water, mixed in a blue potion, and told the crew to drink from the barrel.
• The White Gulls dropped Madness Potion over the lizards, whose agitated instincts erupted into uncontrollable chaos.

Evan used the Madness Potion and Sage Potion to turn the lizards against one another and protect the crew, but thirteen colossal lizards emerged as night fell. He activated the Ghost Cloak to hide the Storm Cape, leaving the crew inside a distorted ghostly world.

• Evan's potions caused the lizards to slaughter and devour one another, while the Sage Potion restored the crew's senses.
• Two enormous lizards and at least eleven more emerged from the island and focused on the Storm Cape as night fell.
• The giant lizards transformed into shadows, and the crew realized they could reach and capsize the ship.
• Evan sent Bess away, then used the Ghost Cloak to make the Storm Cape vanish into a ghostly state.
• The crew saw the sea, sky, and island transformed into an eerie world of distorted lines and colors.

Evan and the Storm Cape escaped the Shadow Lizards by using the Ghost Cloak, then Evan prepared the crew for the cloak’s dangerous side effects. The crew waited on deck for sunrise as Evan monitored the time in Data Vision.

• The Ghost Cloak enveloped the Storm Cape, allowing the ship and crew to pass unharmed through the Shadow Lizards’ attack.
• After the lizards failed to find them, Evan explained the Ghost Cloak’s side effects and proposed using the Madness Potion to heighten the crew’s excitement beforehand.
• Evan, Milan, and Gary tied up the crew and gave them diluted Madness Potion, recording their varied reactions.
• When Fleck cried out that he had a bold idea, Evan knocked him unconscious and added the incident to his notes.
• Evan gave undiluted Madness Potion to himself, Milan, and Gary, then stayed with the crew to wait for sunrise.

Evan and the Storm Cape crew endured a night trapped beneath the Ghost Cloak as the Black Dyke’s island reef vanished, finally freeing their ship. After collecting stranded Shadow Lizards for Wild Amulet materials, Evan returned to Nieske with his progress toward becoming a Formal Wizard greatly advanced.

• Evan discovered that overcast skies had delayed sunrise, leaving the crew trapped under the Ghost Cloak with no clear end in sight.
• Milan reported a vague prophecy that their hope lay outside this world, while the remaining lizards vanished into the shadows and the island reef began to dissolve.
• The Black Dyke disappeared, the Storm Cape escaped the lagoon, and Evan dismissed the Ghost Cloak before its accumulated pain and exhaustion hit him.
• Evan captured fifteen stranded Shadow Lizards and prepared their spiritual scales as materials for Wild Amulets.
• Evan ordered the Storm Cape back to Nieske and returned to his laboratory to begin Wild Amulet research, bringing him closer to becoming a Formal Wizard.

Evan began crafting a Wild Amulet from a Shadow Lizard scale, designing it to borrow the creature’s Shadow Transformation ability. He started the activation ritual and left the laboratory to eat, forgetting the lizard egg boiling in his crucible.

• Evan found the black lizard egg in his Magic Pocket and put it in a crucible of water to boil.
• Evan designed a Wild Amulet around a Shadow Lizard’s ability to hide in shadows and inscribed runes on a scale.
• Evan activated the runes, carved an image of the Lizard King into the scale, and arranged the materials for the ritual.
• Evan began the half-hour activation ritual using the Tree of Life Diagram and incense.
• Evan smelled the lizard-meat feast, left the laboratory to eat, and forgot the boiling egg.

Evan discovered that a newly hatched Shadow Lizard had eaten his first Wild Amulet, then decided to turn the unusual hatchling into a magical research subject. He named it Click and began considering its potential as a powerful companion.

• After feasting with the officers, Evan returned to his laboratory and heard chewing in the dark.
• Evan found a black hatchling eating his Wild Amulet and realized it had emerged from the Shadow Lizard egg he had incubated.
• Evan examined the friendly, unusual lizard and considered whether it could grow into a giant creature or serve as a shadow assassin.
• Evan decided the hatchling could be useful for his future biological experiments and named it Click.

Evan met Vinia again in Nieske and learned that she came from the legendary Golden Kingdom. She revealed that an Old Continent adventurer and his wife had reached her homeland five years earlier, and Evan waited to learn more about the Kingdom and its location.

• Evan fed Kaka a sausage from his shadow while examining the Golden Compass during breakfast.
• Evan invited Vinia, whom he recognized outside the restaurant, to join him for breakfast.
• Vinia explained that she had traveled to gather knowledge for her hometown and discover how civilized nations had grown powerful.
• Vinia credited Evan’s earlier explanation of history and revealed that her hometown was the Golden Kingdom.
• Vinia told Evan that an adventurer from the Old Continent and his wife had reached the Golden Kingdom five years earlier, prompting her to travel abroad.

Vinia revealed that the Golden Compass was one of thirteen tokens tied to the Golden Kingdom and the Ocean Goddess Tethys, while Evan learned that Jerros had reached the kingdom and was gathering the compasses. She warned Evan that Jerros was beyond his ability to confront, then prepared to return home, leaving their parting tense.

• Vinia described Jerros’s wife as a Faletis with features matching the missing First Princess, leading Evan to suspect she had eloped with the adventurer.
• Evan asked Vinia about the Golden Compass, and she agreed to explain its origins while they walked away from the crowded restaurant.
• Vinia said Tethys had sent thirteen compasses into the world, and that gathering them could open a door to another realm beyond the Golden Kingdom.
• Vinia revealed that Jerros had reached the Golden Kingdom and was already collecting the compasses, warning Evan that he could not resist him.
• Vinia said she would soon return to the Golden Kingdom, and Evan’s interest in her knowledge gave way to a tense exchange.

Evan tried to persuade Vinia to cooperate with a continental kingdom, but she rejected his offer and prepared to leave. When Bertram Solomon arrived with his Invisible Dog Demons, Vinia revealed her power and defeated them instantly, leaving Evan and Bertram stunned.

• Evan urged Vinia to help the Golden Kingdom by cooperating with a continental kingdom, but she argued that the kingdoms would not share the strength and resources needed to protect her homeland.
• Vinia ended the conversation and turned to leave as Bertram Solomon's patrol passed nearby.
• Vinia identified Bertram's hidden familiar, Kashile, as an Invisible Dog Demon, and Bertram realized she was a powerful nonhuman being.
• Bertram summoned two more Invisible Dog Demons and sent all three to attack Vinia.
• Vinia bound the three demons in pale azure chains before they could touch her, revealing power of at least Third-Order.

Evan and Bertram Solomon confronted Vinia, whose hidden power revealed her to be connected to the god Kurutena. After Evan looked upon her divine form and nearly lost control, he survived by using a Shadow Amulet and Sage Potion, then faced Solomon’s demand for an explanation.

• Vinia revealed an alien aura, escaped through a magnificent Golden Gate, and warned Evan that Adventurer’s Blood could not be removed until he reached the Ocean Goddess’s rank.
• Evan used Spiritual Vision to glimpse the divine being within Vinia and heard the name Kurutena, causing his body and mind to begin transforming.
• Evan entered the world of shadows with a Shadow Amulet and drank Sage Potion to suppress the divine influence; Adventurer’s Blood helped calm the rampage.
• Evan returned to the Material World with two bloodied golden feathers from his back and realized Kurutena had spared him.
• Bertram Solomon confronted Evan and demanded to know how he had provoked an existence of such power.

Evan kept the truth about the Golden Kingdom and Kurutena secret, trading Solomon two Shadow Amulets and rare rum for his silence. Meanwhile, Harkins set out with eighty-seven sea monsters under his command, beginning the Deep Sea Brotherhood’s planned attack through a coming Blue Hole.

• Evan decided to conceal what he knew about Kurutena and the Golden Kingdom, though he planned to tell the Crown Princess that the First Princess was alive.
• Solomon agreed to keep quiet after Evan gave him two Shadow Amulets and a rare bottle of rum, and he made a solemn contract.
• Evan reflected on Vinia’s possession by a god and chose not to pursue the world’s ultimate secret until he had greater strength and understanding.
• Heinmütz and Tienkute opened the Stone Cave gate, releasing eighty-seven newly bred sea monsters into the stormy sea.
• Heinmütz told Harkins that a Blue Hole would appear near Fluorescent Beach in twenty-eight days and gave him a conch horn to command the sea monsters.
• Harkins sailed aboard the Eternal Imprisonment Icon, sounding the conch as the sea monsters followed him toward Fluorescent Beach.

The Netherlands Banking Group’s directors met in Gold Lion City to decide how to respond to the coming conflict between the Pirate King and the Tulip Alliance. They resolved to remain neutral while allowing Alliance mobile forces into the city and coordinating its defense with Bishop Jasper.

• The chapter described how the Netherlands Banking Group became Gold Lion City’s de facto ruler and a creditor to both the Tairo royal family and the Sirius Kingdom.
• Mr. Joel Theodore convened the bank’s sixteen directors to discuss the turmoil in the Leyton River Valley.
• Mr. Swift and Little Durrell argued that the bank’s security and its business ties with the Pirate King made intervention unnecessary.
• A director noted that merchants, including the Alberta Merchant Guild, had traded with the Pirate King, and the board agreed he was unlikely to turn against them.
• Mr. Joel Theodore announced that the bank would stay out of the conflict, permit Tulip Alliance mobile forces to station in Gold Lion City, and coordinate defense with Bishop Jasper.

Evan prepared to become a Formal Wizard while the Storm Cape crew sensed that a major crisis was approaching. After learning Evan had been sent to the Tairo Kingdom, Anita suspected Octopus Ghost’s plans were more complicated than the public intelligence suggested and set out to join him.

• The Netherlands Banking Group chairman ordered his deputy to warn Danfu Mafia to stay inside the Mafia Family manor during the emergency.
• Evan completed several amulets and cultivated three kinds of Animated Plants, but still needed Evil Spirit Dust to brew the Spirit Communication Potion and begin his advancement ritual.
• Evan struggled with increasingly aggressive impulses linked to his Adventurer’s Blood as Data Vision repeatedly warned him of mental-state deviations.
• Milan’s divinations grew unnervingly calm, leading the Storm Cape crew to conclude that a major, far-reaching event was drawing near.
• Molly Stella told Anita that Evan had gone to the Tairo Kingdom to help defend against Great Pirate Harkins’s possible attacks.
• Anita suspected Octopus Ghost’s publicly known plans concealed a deeper truth and ordered Molly to take the Golden Horned Deer north along the Irminger Current toward the Tairo Kingdom.

At a military conference, Rear Admiral Coverdale heard reports of fruitless patrols and investigations into Harkins’s hidden pirates. Thomas Gregory argued that an important informant was concealing them and won an independent investigation team, naming Evan Garratt as his deputy.

• A naval adjutant reported that patrols had found no pirate ships or maritime anomalies.
• Colonel Wilde reported that his mobile force had arrested twenty-three suspected pirates, including five direct subordinates of Harkins, but had learned nothing about their mission or hiding places.
• Wilde said that Earl Mars had cooperated with the investigation in Brandenburg, while the Netherlands Banking Group and Bishop Jasper had obstructed it in Gold Lion City.
• Thomas Gregory suggested that a powerful informant was helping Harkins’s pirates stay hidden, and Coverdale challenged him to prove it within half a month.
• Coverdale assigned Thomas an independent intelligence team, and Thomas asked for Evan Garratt to serve as his deputy.

Rear Admiral Coverdale ordered Thomas and Evan to work together, but Thomas used Evan’s refusal as a pretext to attack him. Evan evaded the attack and began countering Thomas’s swordsmanship, while Thomas’s political motives and personal grudge came to light.

• Rear Admiral Coverdale rebuked Thomas and ordered Evan to serve as his deputy, but Thomas declared Evan would be under his command.
• Evan dismissed Thomas’s demand, and Thomas accused him of defying orders before drawing his sword and attacking.
• Evan slipped through a window onto the bastion’s lower artillery platform, and Thomas pursued him with Crimson Lake Light.
• Thomas revealed his resentment over Evan taking the Naval Rising Star title and his political ties to Iliya’s powerful Merchant Nobility.
• Thomas activated Frost Wolf Swordsmanship’s Esoteric Truth: Mad Bone and lunged at Evan, who evaded the blow with White Sail Swordsmanship and redirected Thomas’s sword.

Evan Garratt faced Thomas Gregory in a supposed swordsmanship spar that Thomas turned into a lethal attack. Evan blocked Thomas’s secret technique with his concealed Sword Staff and countered with a kick that sent him crashing to the ground.

• Evan used Data Vision to assess Thomas and compared their abilities, finding his own physical attributes generally superior.
• Thomas challenged Evan to exchange swordsmanship and launched a rapid assault with Frost Wolf Swordsmanship.
• Evan dodged while appearing increasingly hard-pressed, and the watching officers accused him of fighting unfairly with an inferior weapon.
• Thomas unleashed Great Tusk Bite with Crimson Lake Light, intending to kill Evan.
• Evan revealed his Sword Staff and blocked the strike, then kicked Thomas beneath the jaw and knocked him down, scattering his teeth.

Evan defeated Thomas without killing him, using a wind-shearing sword strike to break through Thomas’s Combat Energy and leave him terrified. The officers realized Evan had hidden extraordinary swordsmanship, while Evan warned Thomas to stay away and hurried off.

• Evan realized that killing Thomas would invite retaliation from Thomas’s powerful family, but Thomas rose again and attacked with Crimson Lake Light’s Lake Light Reflection.
• Evan drew his disguised Extraordinary Weapon, the Swift Sword, and used Mind’s Eye and the Black Panther Amulet to face Thomas’s two charging figures.
• Evan unleashed Pseudo Wind Shear, cut through Thomas’s Combat Energy, and left a shallow mark on his forehead without killing him.
• Thomas collapsed in fear, and Evan warned him not to appear before him again before leaving.
• Rear Admiral Coverdale checked Thomas, while the onlookers marveled that Evan had broken through a Grand Knight’s Combat Energy.

After defeating Thomas Gregory, Evan kept to his patrols while worrying that Adventurer's Blood might push him into reckless choices. Meanwhile, Pirate King Harkins arrived at Tairo's distant-sea border with a fleet of sea monsters and launched a tsunami toward Water City Nieske.

• Evan learned that Earl Wright had instigated Thomas Gregory's challenge and lost his lingering guilt over their fight.
• Evan's swordsmanship became famous across the six-nation joint defense force, though he knew his skill was still far below that of a Swordsmanship Master.
• Evan continued routine patrols aboard the Storm Cape as it returned toward Water City Nieske.
• A Blue Hole released Harkins's pirate ship, the Eternal Imprisonment Icon, and a mass of sea monsters at Tairo's distant-sea border.
• Harkins ordered the pirates to prepare for an invasion through Leyton River Valley, where scouts and an inside man were waiting.
• More than a hundred sea monsters combined their abilities to form a tsunami and carried the pirate ship toward the coastline.