Chapter Summaries

Evan, Olivia, Angie, and Calvin defeated the Deer Bone God and discovered Midola, a giant sentient Armillaria Mushroom living over a Magic Element Node. Evan accepted Midola as the school’s second unusual apprentice and guardian, but an urgent message from Sister summoned him back to the Mist Sea.

• Olivia joined Angie and Calvin in fighting the Deer Bone God, then destroyed it with an enchanted cannon shot that split a distant mountain.
• Evan and the others investigated an active Magic Element fluctuation and found an enormous Armillaria Mushroom concealing the local Magic Element Node.
• Angie sensed the mushroom’s fear and communicated with it, discovering that it was a sentient being with a childlike mind.
• Evan and Angie decided to accept the mushroom as an apprentice, and Evan contracted with it under the name Midola, making it the school guardian.
• A seagull delivered an urgent message from Sister telling Evan to return because something major had happened in the Mist Sea.

Evan and Olivia learned that artifacts from the vanished Kuma Empire had surfaced during the Mist Sea uprising, disrupting their planned attack on Bradley. A gold plate revealed that the Kuma People had sacrificed prisoners to an unknown being called Ai Huote, the Master of the Labyrinth, leaving the siblings to weigh the danger as they prepared to track the treasure and its rivals.

• Anita told Evan that the Mist Sea uprising had brought up Kuma Empire artifacts, and Granie showed the bloodstained objects recovered from the seabed.
• Anita explained that the artifacts might be connected to the Kuma Empire’s destruction and that uncovering their secret could lead to an entire empire’s treasure, so the attack on Bradley was put on hold.
• Olivia translated a gold plate and found a prayer describing the sacrifice of prisoners to Ai Huote, the Master of the Labyrinth, an unknown entity.
• Evan and Olivia considered whether the mysterious being had played a role in the Kuma Empire’s disappearance, while Anita warned that Bradley and Sirius must not obtain the treasure.
• Evan ordered Beth to concentrate the Reconnaissance Network on the Mist Sea, Sirius, and Bradley.

Admiral Trivier and Bradley pursued the newly revealed Kuma Empire treasure as powers across the New Continent hurried toward the Mist Sea. Evan’s fleet waited outside its fog, but on the second fifteen-day period the Mist Sea abruptly swallowed every gathered ship.

• Kellogg and a scholar told Trivier and Bradley that the Golden Plate pointed to a vast Kuma Empire treasure within the Mist Sea, and Bradley vowed to claim it.
• Bradley revealed his ambition to use the treasure to found a pirate nation and become a secular king.
• A day-long rainbow visible only to Extraordinary people intensified the rush of pirates, Sea Hunters, and national forces toward the Mist Sea.
• Evan’s fleet sailed to the Mist Sea’s edge and waited in concealment while Milan prophesied that a new change would occur during the second fifteen-day period.
• At noon on the second fifteen-day period, the Mist Sea’s fog expanded and engulfed the gathered fleet, leaving Milan bewildered by the turn in her prophecy.

A mysterious force drew the pirate fleets through the Mist Sea to an island covered in treasure, where the sight made powerful people vanish and left ordinary sailors to fight over the gold. As the chapter ended, a huge battle erupted among the fleets, with Bradley’s Oathbreaker forces taking concentrated fire.

• Bradley used Shipwreck Bay guide Mr. Wells to lead his forces through the Mist Sea and assigned Nick and Marcus to protect him.
• Evan kept the dragoons together and followed the foghorn and glowing buoys deeper into the Mist Sea.
• Evan’s fleet and the other ships reached an island of Kuma Empire ruins covered in gold and gems.
• Gary disappeared, and Boris followed the image of his wife off the ship; soon every Second-Order or higher Extraordinary person aboard the Morning Star had vanished.
• The ordinary sailors opened fire over the treasure, and the Oathbreaker fleet became the first target of a concentrated attack.

Gary was forced toward the sinister island’s center by a spatial distortion, while Evan and Olivia explored a monster-filled labyrinth and encountered robed worshippers. The chapter left them identifying the worshippers’ prayer as possibly being in the language of the Kuma Empire.

• Gary found a room furnished with objects made from human body parts and fled into the island’s distorted, bowl-shaped interior.
• Gary spotted Boris heading toward the island’s center, but an invisible attacker struck him and a spatial effect forced his movement forward.
• Evan and Olivia fought human-faced rats in the labyrinth and sensed that Anita was nearby, so they set out to regroup with Sister.
• Evan and Olivia used an artificial tourmaline to disappear and avoid drawing the Labyrinth’s attention as they explored its disorienting corridors.
• Evan and Olivia overheard robed figures praying over a Sark Empire soldier’s corpse, and Olivia wondered whether they were speaking the language of the Kuma Empire.

Evan, Olivia, and Sister reunited in the maze, subdued a group of Profane Cultists, and learned that the maze was part of a deadly ritual for the Maze God. After they prepared to search the first level for other stranded people, Evan spotted a strange Atelian girl who vanished into the darkness.

• Evan used lightning to incapacitate four Profane Cultists, while the leader escaped until Sister kicked him back toward Evan and Olivia.
• Olivia interrogated the cultists and learned they had been nobles who worshipped Ai Huote in exchange for immortality.
• The cultists explained that the maze was an inverted pyramid and part of a ritual that sorted people into chosen entrants, ordinary participants, and sacrifices.
• Evan and Olivia suspected Ai Huote was seeking new Divine Authority as the Just Rule Maker, and decided to search the first level for other people teleported into the maze.
• Evan noticed a pale, black-eyed Atelian girl at the edge of the light, but she vanished before he could warn Sister and Olivia.

Milan escaped the maze’s traps and monsters by relying on Treacherous Fate, then joined Evan’s group after they rescued him from a Benthic Demon Fish. The four reached a flesh-covered chessboard checkpoint and faced its pieces with an army of Toy Soldiers.

• A Sea Hunter killed a blood-red gargoyle but died when a trap sealed him in with a swarm of black beetles.
• Milan used Treacherous Fate to navigate the maze safely and encountered an upside-down Atelian girl who asked him for help before vanishing.
• A Benthic Demon Fish blocked Milan’s path, but Evan’s group blasted through it and invited Milan to join them as their Prophet.
• Milan divined that only four Chosen Ones remained among the Dragoons, and the group used the Golden Compass and his prophecy to reach the first level’s core.
• The group faced flesh-covered Black and White Chess pieces on a giant chessboard while three hundred red and blue Toy Soldiers opened fire.

Evan, Olivia, and their companions defeated the chess guardians and entered the second level of the labyrinth as other groups faced their own trials. There, Milan recognized the voice of the Little Evil Spirit Girl singing about the Snake God and wondered whether he was Kukulkan.

• Olivia’s moonlight weakened the twisted chess pieces while her Toy Soldiers overwhelmed them with numbers and Alchemy Bullets.
• Evan and Anita killed the two Black and White Chess Kings, causing the remaining pieces to collapse and opening the passage to the second level.
• Bradley sacrificed a captive to the conch-shell item, which revealed that the answer to the riddle was silence.
• Rudolph used a spellbook’s evil spirit crows to search thirteen cave entrances for the path to life.
• Evan’s group descended into the second level, where Milan heard the Little Evil Spirit Girl sing about the Snake God and asked if he was Kukulkan.

Evan and his companions cleared the first three levels of Ai Huote’s labyrinth and descended to the fourth level, where a monumental archway offered a wish in exchange for a sacrifice. As they began to open it, the battle-worn Oathbreaker Bradley arrived and ordered them to stop.

• Evan and his companions discussed the Little Evil Spirit Girl’s request and decided to ignore it until they escaped the labyrinth.
• The group crossed the second level’s mines and solved its wisdom trial, then navigated the third level’s mirror maze using the Golden Compass and Milan’s luck.
• Evan and Olivia concluded that the labyrinth’s growing order suggested Ai Huote was reshaping his divine authority.
• The four descended to the water-filled fourth level, where an archway promised to grant a wish in exchange for a sacrifice.
• Evan used a water elemental whale to carry the group to the archway and began opening it before Oathbreaker Bradley appeared and shouted for them to stop.

Bradley rushed ahead to claim the Kuma Empire’s treasure and proposed that Anita marry him so he could establish a pirate kingdom. When he attacked Evan, Evan and Anita struck back, and both sides revealed their formidable battle forms as the confrontation began.

• Bradley reached the Fourth Layer’s archway first and decided to seize its treasure for himself.
• Bradley proposed that Anita marry him, promising her a place as queen in his planned pirate kingdom.
• Evan mocked Bradley, and Bradley dismissed Evan as weak before deciding to attack him.
• Bradley charged Evan with his scimitar, but Evan and Anita counterattacked with lightning and dragon-powered blows, sending Bradley into the water.
• Evan activated Thunder God Battle Form, while Bradley surfaced in his enlarged Titan form and summoned Titan Army.

Evan and Anita fought Bradley with help from Olivia and Milan, then pursued him to a black well after their combined attack severely wounded him. Bradley offered corpses and the Sage Conch to the well, and a Pale Thing emerged as the group fled with their eyes closed.

• Evan battled Bradley with lightning while Anita joined the fight, and Olivia strengthened the siblings as Milan attacked Bradley with a Doom Curse.
• Evan and Anita used a double-cast Wind Shear against Bradley, who countered with the Spear of Mars; the siblings were blasted aside, but Bradley was left with a severed arm and half his face cut away.
• Evan, Anita, Olivia, and Milan reached a black well beyond the archway and realized it matched the prophecy about the Pale Thing in the Well.
• Milan interpreted the prophecy as a warning to restrain greed, and the group retreated from the well.
• Bradley killed two Sirius Officers, threw their corpses and the Sage Conch into the well, and waited for his offering to be accepted.
• A pale, swollen creature covered in green eyes and supported by withered legs climbed out of the well as Evan's group closed their eyes.

Evan and the others watched the Azure Beast grant Bradley’s wish in exchange for devout faith, then learned the bargain had transformed Bradley into a servant of Maze God Ai Huote. Milan prophesied that Ai Huote’s offspring would be born through humanity’s surrender to desire, as the Azure Beast turned to the remaining contestants.

• The Azure Beast introduced itself as Maze God Ai Huote’s offspring and offered to fulfill Bradley’s wish in exchange for devout faith.
• Bradley knelt, pledged himself to Ai Huote, drank the silver liquid, and regained his injuries while gaining immense strength.
• Bradley’s new power surged, but the bargain forcibly twisted his mind into piety, and he knelt before the Azure Beast instead of attacking Evan’s group.
• Evan realized Bradley had paid for his wish by losing who he was, while Milan prophesied that Ai Huote’s blasphemous offspring would be born through humanity’s surrender to desire.
• The Azure Beast regarded Bradley as a vessel for its brother and asked the other successful contestants whether they had wishes.

Evan reasoned that Ai Huote’s maze game had helped the ancient god connect with the new world, then secured his group’s release by asking for nothing. After receiving a shard that granted Ancient One’s Cipher, Evan was separated from his companions in Kukulkan’s ruined temple, where a spirit asked him to return “life” to Itzana and left him a Bronze Amulet.

• Evan inferred that Ai Huote had used the maze game and a stolen power from Kukulkan to form a new Divine Authority, and he asked the Azure Beast to let his group leave without a reward.
• The Azure Beast honored the maze’s rules, gave Evan a Gorerton Shard that granted Ancient One’s Cipher, and opened a misty exit for the victors.
• Evan and the others escaped the maze, but Evan arrived alone in a ruined temple dedicated to Kukulkan on the island.
• The Little Evil Spirit Girl told Evan she had separated the group so the God in the Mist could not hear them, and asked him to bring “life” back to Itzana.
• The Little Evil Spirit Girl vanished after making her request, leaving Evan a Bronze Amulet whose vitality felt immense.

As the island’s rules drove the factions toward its central altar, the Dragoons fought off invisible monsters and rival pirates amid a chaotic battle. After the rules ended and Anita suppressed the remaining resistance, Evan took the Bronze Amulet and left Kukulkan’s temple while the mortal naval battle continued.

• Boris and Gary killed an Invisible Leech as the Dragoons advanced through the ruins, wary of the Oathbreaker’s forces and Cabral’s Chaotic Region.
• An Evil Path Alchemist calling himself Samuer attacked the Dragoons with cannon fire, forcing them to dodge and disrupting their advance.
• When Ai Huote’s game rules ended, wolves overwhelmed Samuer, and Anita joined the island battle and suppressed the remaining dissenters.
• Evan saw a seed sprout where the Bronze Amulet had fallen and realized it might contain Kukulkan’s Life Authority, which could allow the god to be reborn through its bearer.
• Evan kept the Bronze Amulet and left Kukulkan’s temple as the bloody naval battle continued in the Mortal World.

The Dragoons and their allies defeated the Oathbreaker’s fleet, captured Samuer, and reunited with Rudolph before fleeing the ancient god’s island. Guided by Mr. Wells, the fleet entered the Mist Sea as the god watched and played its flute.

• Elino coordinated the Dragoons’ fleet through the Mind Network as their ships battered the Oathbreaker’s forces with heavy guns.
• The Chisel Tooth rammed the Winged Bone Dragon and boarded it, while the Morning Star joined the fight and its wolf-hide-clad crew overwhelmed the Chisel Tooth’s sailors.
• Anita ordered prisoners from the Oathbreaker’s faction restrained, and Evan found the captured alchemist Samuer and promised him a chance to live if he cooperated.
• Evan and Rudolph reunited on the island, then led their groups to the shore and ordered their crews not to take any treasure.
• Evan had Mr. Wells guide the fleet through the Mist Sea, while the ancient god watched from its palace and played a shrill tune.

One month after the treasure hunt, Evan and Olivia advanced Georgia Territory’s government and cotton industry while the pirate threat receded and funds for development came from Oathbreaker’s stolen wealth. The chapter ended with Evan arriving at Waterfall Hill, where a Gothic Wizard Tower had been built.

• Olivia woke beside Evan, then left for the harbor to receive steam-powered textile machines and promote the territory’s industrial plans.
• Evan had become Governor of Georgia Territory, and he had appointed Olivia Chief Magistrate while the Marquis’s staff helped establish the Garratt Family’s household.
• Nymph’s Organic Gemstone business brought her wealth and influence, and she set out on a cross-continental journey.
• Bradley, the Pirate King Oathbreaker, had vanished after the treasure hunt, and his escaped subordinate Onions joined Dragoon and revealed Oathbreaker’s secrets.
• Anita and Onions left to search for more of Oathbreaker’s treasure after the treasure hunters who had taken riches from the island disappeared.
• Evan traveled to Waterfall Hill and saw the newly built Wizard Tower on the mountainside.

Evan visited the newly formed Wizard Tower, where Angie showed him its facilities and explained the school’s need for more construction knowledge. He decided to obtain it from the captive Evil Path Alchemist Samuer, setting up the next move against his group.

• Evan inspected the granite Wizard Tower, whose rapid formation had been powered by the Bronze Amulet, then stored the dangerous artifact away to avoid being corrupted by Kukulkan.
• Evan reviewed the tower’s defenses, including Midola’s protective transformation, Angie’s controlled forest beasts, the Animated Guardians, and demonic harpy eagles.
• Angie welcomed Evan inside and showed him the tower’s working systems, while Calvin studied occult knowledge in the library beside Midola’s Mushroom People.
• Angie explained that the school lacked the knowledge and authorization needed to finish the tower’s infrastructure.
• Evan pointed out that captive Samuer could provide the knowledge and said it was time to act against his people.

Hai Shizi’s Kamsid City Guard attacked the Order of Mist Secret Society during a ritual, but a giant emissary of the god stopped him and claimed the cultists as divine assets. A week later, the Mechanical Immortality School gathered at High Cliff Fortress to discuss the Order’s promise of eternal life.

• The Galakrond Family’s armed guards interrupted the Order of Mist Secret Society’s ritual at Octopus Reef and Hai Shizi ordered the cultists killed.
• A towering figure emerged from the sea, extinguished Hai Shizi’s evil fire, and declared the cultists important assets of the god.
• One week later, the Mechanical Immortality School assembled its members at High Cliff Fortress after hearing that the Order of Mist had taken Kamsid City.
• The School’s Formal Wizards debated whether to contact the Order and investigate its promise of eternal life.
• The School Chief murmured about the Order of Mist and eternal life.

Evan reunited with Gell on the New Continent and prepared to launch the next phase of his plan after receiving Sorcery Materials from the Raging Tide Church. At High Cliff Fortress, the Mechanical Immortality School debated whether to cooperate with the Order of Mist Secret Society and pursue immortality through the Maze God.

• Gell’s May Wind detected a sea monster, but Gell found Evan waiting aboard a magically crewed brig and greeted him on the ship.
• Evan exchanged crates with sea fairies for Sorcery Materials and a Gemstone Star, then invited Gell to Georgia Territory for a drink.
• An envoy from the Order of Mist Secret Society offered the Mechanical Immortality School the Maze God’s aid in exchange for cooperation.
• Sidrick delayed the school’s answer, and the Formal Wizards argued over whether to abandon their own immortality research for the Order’s offer.
• A wizard suggested letting volunteers try the Order’s methods as a first step, and most of the gathered wizards showed interest.

Evan led a force of nearly four hundred in a surprise assault on High Cliff Fortress while the Mechanical Immortality School prepared to join the Order of Mist. Shadow Demon Wolves and waves of Puppet Bombs struck the fortress, and the chapter ended with Evan launching more than a hundred bombs underground.

• Evan ordered his force to leave their ships and advance silently through the forest toward High Cliff Fortress.
• School Chief Sidrick told the first group of Evil Path Alchemists that the Order of Mist envoy would conduct their initiation that night.
• Shadow Demon Wolves poured through a portal into High Cliff Fortress and attacked the apprentices as Sidrick identified the invaders as Shadow Creatures.
• Evan opened a ritual passage to the Shadow Realm while Kaka summoned the wolves and Pipi guarded the ritual.
• Evan sent Puppet Bombs toward the fortress, but Sidrick's brass book destroyed the airborne bombs before they hit the bastion.
• Evan launched more than a hundred Puppet Bombs underground, terrifying the wizards inside High Cliff Fortress.