Chapter Summaries

Linsey searched the abandoned studio of a Ninth Stage Awakened and discovered an unfinished painting with the power to incorporate objects and transform them. After returning to the deep sea, his Story Performance activated and drew him toward a friendly target, who turned out to be a Mermaid Girl he recognized.

• Linsey searched the studio and found only ordinary belongings before realizing the unfinished canvas was its real treasure.
• The Decryption Game revealed that the painting could incorporate non-resisting objects by expending source essence and produce positive changes.
• Linsey took the painting and inscribed stone pillar, photographed the studio, and returned to the deep sea.
• Linsey sensed his Story Performance activate and saw a friendly marker swimming toward him.
• Linsey approached the target and recognized a Mermaid Girl, who excitedly called him “Darling.”

Linsey escaped the Red Sea Mermaid's pursuit, then learned from her that a writer from Mermaid Island had also left for the City of a Thousand Sails. The chapter ended with Linsey realizing she might be connected to the danger he had sensed.

• Linsey fled the Mermaid Girl underwater, but she caught up and followed him to the surface in the Yellow District.
• Linsey unlocked the Sports Racing module and gained the Professional Sports skill after his extraordinary dive.
• Linsey rejected the Mermaid Girl, who explained that the Double Serpent Coin had suppressed her mating season before the Art Association confiscated it.
• The Mermaid Girl told Linsey that Mermaid Island's creator had left and confirmed that his writer friend departed shortly afterward.
• The Mermaid Girl said the writer had boarded a passing vessel headed for the City of a Thousand Sails, deepening Linsey's foreboding.

Linsey investigated Anthony and Lina’s situation and realized the Fallen Artist had likely targeted him instead. He decided to find evidence of her fate-manipulating art and report her to the Art Association in the City of a Thousand Sails.

• Linsey suspected the Fallen Artist had followed Anthony and Lina to the city, then changed course to investigate the White Star Family residence.
• Linsey used his map and enhanced perception to confirm Anthony and Lina were safe and overheard them discussing their upcoming wedding.
• Linsey concluded Anthony and Lina had been caught up in events aimed at him, and recognized himself as the likely target of the Fallen Artist.
• Linsey returned to the Orange District and realized he could seek help from the city’s authorities rather than confront the Seventh Stage Awakened alone.
• Linsey decided to find evidence of the Fallen Artist’s illegal actions and submit it to the Art Association.

Linsey processed Abyss Clump Algae into materials and crafted solar panels, batteries, wiring, and electric lights for his shop. As he stood beneath the new lights, he was left alone with an aching longing for a home he could not identify.

• Linsey broke down Abyss Clump Algae into Electrolytic Gel, Deep Sea Hydrothermal Fluid, and Sulfurized Fibrous Body, then sent the stone statue to buy copper and zinc.
• Linsey studied the materials’ crafting formulas and realized the hydrothermal fluid could strengthen a Sharp Jet Stream Sword made from High Pressure Sea Stone.
• Linsey crafted a Blast Furnace and processed materials while making Deep Sea Coating and a Sea Oath Potion.
• Linsey installed solar panels, batteries, wires, electric lights, and an electrically powered Precision Workbench throughout his shop and garden.
• Linsey switched on the lights, felt moved by the sight, and sat alone by the seawater wondering which home he missed.

Linsey tested the strange effects of his upgraded Architecture and Materials Science skill, then found Wala Wala shaken after she forced herself to practice swimming. After watching over her through the night, he returned to his shop and was surprised by the arrival of a white-haired girl in a wheelchair.

• Linsey discovered that Architecture and Materials Science made converted blocks, weapons, food, and potions behave in increasingly impossible ways, at the cost of more source essence.
• Linsey found Wala Wala trembling alone at home and learned she had pushed herself to swim so she could dive with him next time.
• Linsey comforted Wala Wala, stayed beside her as she slept, and found her recovered the next morning.
• Linsey returned to his shop and found a white-haired, red-eyed girl in a wheelchair waiting at the entrance; she greeted him, “Linsey, good morning.”

Linsey confronted Hilude, the Seventh Stage Awakened who had rewritten Anthony and Lina's fate, but discovered that she had come not to fight or restore her plot. She asked Linsey to kill her so he could grow stronger, just as Wala Wala arrived and recognized her.

• Linsey examined the frail girl in the wheelchair and learned she was Hilude from Black Tide Island.
• Hilude admitted that she had rewritten Anthony and Lina's fate to test their love, and Linsey challenged her belief that love needed to be tested.
• Linsey guessed that Hilude had come to force events back onto her intended track, but she said she wanted no changes and asked him to kill her.
• Hilude explained that defeating a Seventh Stage Awakened would strengthen Linsey and urged him to become the hero of her imagined story.
• Wala Wala entered the shop, saw Hilude, and reacted with alarm at her presence.

Linsey refused Hilude’s plea to kill her, despite the power he might gain, and learned that her reckless fate-altering had left her near death. Wala Wala explained their shared past on Black Tide Island and Hilude’s history, leaving Linsey to decide what to do with her.

• Wala Wala confronted Hilude, who collapsed after suffering severe backlash from altering fate and begged Linsey to kill her.
• Linsey refused to take Hilude’s life or let her plan dictate reality, and Hilude fell motionless to the floor.
• Linsey discovered that Hilude was near death because her art had damaged the Source Material within her body.
• Wala Wala revealed that she and Hilude had both come from Black Tide Island, which the City of a Thousand Sails destroyed after its Eighth Stage founder vanished.
• Wala Wala explained that Hilude had been a gifted Awakened raised on heroic adventure stories, whose beliefs clashed with reality and led her down a destructive path.
• Wala Wala told Linsey that Hilude would likely face more than a century in Water Prison if convicted, then asked how he planned to deal with her.

Linsey and Wala Wala brought the captured Hilude to Fimbul Theater to learn the extent of her crimes before deciding her punishment. Seth began examining her past, leaving her fate undecided.

• Linsey and Wala Wala debated how to punish Hilude and decided to keep her alive while they investigated her crimes.
• Miss Fenlei saw Hilude in Linsey's shop and hurried away, prompting Linsey and Wala Wala to take Hilude to Fimbul Theater.
• Fimbul recognized Hilude as a powerful Seventh Stage artist and agreed to help investigate her past.
• Fimbul introduced Linsey and Wala Wala to Seth, a writer who could examine Destiny Scripts.
• Seth agreed to examine Hilude's life script after Fimbul promised not to demand scripts from him for three months.

Seth revealed the harm Hilude had caused through her reckless revisions of destiny, while the group learned that one revision had destroyed her Source Material Skill and memories. As Fimbul proposed stripping her abilities and selling her, Linsey considered a different use for her.

• Seth reviewed Hilude’s past creations and reported fourteen incidents that caused deaths and twenty-seven that caused severe harm, while also noting her acts of resistance and aid.
• Seth explained that a major destiny revision had collapsed Hilude’s Source Material Skill and erased her memories, possibly after she encountered a being of at least the Eighth Stage.
• Linsey suspected Hilude’s downfall was connected to the studio of a Ninth Stage powerhouse, but kept his discovery secret.
• Seth suggested making Hilude suffer or spend her remaining life doing good, while Fimbul proposed stripping her source material and skills and selling her in Platinum City.
• Linsey supported removing Hilude’s skills and noticed that his shop had one vacant employee slot.

Linsey reflected on the control his Game Player skill gave him over Hilude, then gathered supplies to upgrade his shop and visited designer Will. He commissioned Will to design the shop and left the story with the two men reuniting and confirming their agreement.

• Linsey watched Hilude work as a shop clerk under his control and feared the power of his Game Player skill.
• Linsey reached the shop's transaction requirement, gathered the materials needed for an upgrade, and went to the address on Will's business card.
• Linsey met Will's wife, Kona, at the design studio and gave her a White Lily.
• Will returned home, recognized Linsey as the man who had helped him retrieve his drafts, and Linsey commissioned him to design the shop.

Linsey hired Will to design his shop and offered him a valuable antique chair to sell so Will could afford treatment for Kona. When Linsey returned to the shop with Will, they found Wala Wala testing Hilude’s obedience, and Will mistook Linsey for a slave trader.

• Linsey told Will he needed only a blueprint, with a concealed basement, a plant-growing field, and an all-weather fishing platform in the backyard.
• Will warned Linsey that a basement in the City of a Thousand Sails needed strong, corrosion-resistant materials because it would meet seawater.
• Will explained that Kona’s twisted source essence was eroding her body and that her treatment would cost 361 gold coins, which he could not afford for years.
• Linsey offered Will the chance to sell his antique chair and keep enough commission to pay for Kona’s treatment, and Will agreed.
• Linsey and Will returned to the shop and found Wala Wala hanging from Hilude while Hilude wandered under the shop’s control.
• Will overheard Linsey and Wala Wala discussing Hilude’s enslavement and panicked, asking whether Linsey planned to sell slaves.

Linsey had Will measure his house for renovations and showed him the electric lighting system and unusual plants in the yard. Before Will left to design the space and prepare an auction description, Linsey warned him to flee after the sale and revealed that the item’s former owner was stronger than an Eighth Stage Awakened.

• Linsey explained to Will that Hilude was a criminal serving her sentence under his control, not a slave, and Will continued measuring the shop.
• Linsey told Wala Wala he had ways to finish the renovation quickly, then showed Will the house’s solar panels, batteries, wiring, and electric lights.
• Linsey warned Will not to touch the glowing sunflower, and three metal fruits fell from the Shining Iron Stone Tree.
• After Will finished measuring the house, he asked Linsey to discuss the antique he planned to auction.
• Linsey said he would leave the City of a Thousand Sails after the auction and urged Will to take Madam Kona to Volcano City for treatment.
• Linsey revealed that the antique’s original owner was stronger than an Eighth Stage Awakened, shocking Will and Wala Wala.

Linsey synthesized a powerful Lava Jet Stream Sword while Wala Wala struggled to learn swimming and advised him on choosing equipment. Yao Xing then rushed in with news that Mr. Seth had gone mad, leaving Linsey and Wala Wala urgently summoned to the theater before the Art Festival.

• Linsey watched Wala Wala try to swim, and she repeatedly fled the cold seawater.
• Linsey asked Wala Wala which equipment to synthesize, and she recommended the Lava Jet Stream Sword.
• Linsey synthesized the Sharp Jet Stream Sword and upgraded it into a Lava Jet Stream Sword that boosted his attributes and surrounded its blade with lava.
• Wala Wala examined the weapon and asked Linsey to synthesize a Gorgeous Dress.
• Yao Xing arrived in a panic and said Mr. Seth had gone mad at the theater, so Mr. Fimbul had summoned Linsey and Wala Wala ahead of the Art Festival.

Linsey explained that Seth’s madness came from peering into the destiny tied to ruins left by a Ninth Stage Awakened. He showed Fimbul and Yao Xing a stone pillar from the ruins, leaving them stunned while Seth continued raving.

• Seth raved while tied to a chair, and Fimbul asked Linsey to help soothe his madness before the Art Festival.
• Fimbul apologized for Seth peering into Linsey’s destiny and promised to keep Linsey out of trouble.
• Linsey realized the Actors Association might intervene and expose him or suffer a disaster, so he agreed to explain what he knew under strict secrecy.
• Fimbul sent away the theater’s other core personnel and sealed the room with the king’s privilege from The Founding of Solreil.
• Linsey revealed that he had found ruins left by a Ninth Stage Awakened beneath the nearby sea and showed the group an Inscribed Stone Pillar from them.
• Fimbul and Yao Xing were stunned by the stone pillar’s emotional power as Seth continued shouting about crossing the end of the world.

Linsey revealed the location of a Ninth Stage Awakened artist’s underwater studio to Fimbul and offered to sell its inscribed stone pillar, while Fimbul left to arrange its collection. Fimbul returned with a mysterious person who introduced herself as Fenna Dowell, an actress.

• Yao Xing learned from Fimbul that the Art Festival was the next day, while the stone pillar’s emotional power affected them both.
• Linsey told Fimbul about the underwater studio and offered to sell the inscribed stone pillar for valuable goods.
• Fimbul left Yao Xing to watch Linsey and Wala Wala, and Seth remained delirious and in need of help.
• Yao Xing asked how Linsey had discovered the ruins, and Linsey explained that he used a method similar to the one he had used to retrieve her necklace.
• Fimbul returned with a mysterious human whose identity Linsey could not decipher, and the newcomer took the form of a young woman and introduced herself as Fenna Dowell.

Linsey met Miss Actor, whose real name no one could remember, and showed her the Inscribed Stone Pillar. After she identified its power as belonging to Vanna Aurora and warned Linsey about Wala Wala’s ties to Black Tide Island, Fenna asked whether he was traveling with the Human Wisdom Codex to the City of Law.

• Miss Actor explained that an impartial wizard had taken her name, leaving everyone unable to remember it, and she revealed her mind-reading ability.
• Linsey handed Miss Actor the Inscribed Stone Pillar, which she identified as the power of the Ninth Stage artist Vanna Aurora.
• Fimbul presented a detailed map of the City of a Thousand Sails, and Linsey located the Underwater Studio and described how to open its hidden path.
• Miss Actor’s attempt to transform into Linsey failed, so she sent Fimbul, Yao Xing, Seth, and Wala Wala out of the room.
• Miss Actor told Linsey that Wala Wala herself was not a problem, but her connection to Black Tide Island could draw dangerous attention.
• Miss Actor asked Linsey whether he was traveling with the Human Wisdom Codex to the City of Law.

Fenna revealed that Linsey carried the Human Wisdom Codex and warned him that surrendering it could put him in danger. After giving him a powerful blessing and departing, she left Linsey to catch Wala Wala, who spotted a lipstick mark on his cheek.

• Fenna explained that she had sensed the Human Wisdom Codex through her acting and asked whether Linsey would return it to the City of Law.
• Linsey said he would not keep the Codex if the world's stability and order depended on it, and Fenna warned that separating from it could endanger him.
• Fenna kissed Linsey and granted him Desperate Blessing, which could lock his hp at 1 and reverse life and death.
• Fenna warned Linsey to protect his story, advised him to stay in the theater with Wala Wala during the Art Festival, and left by transforming the room into a stage.
• Wala Wala fell through the suddenly opened door into Linsey's arms, then noticed the lipstick mark on his cheek and accused him of lying.

Linsey and Wala Wala reconciled after Yao Xing helped them talk through their tension, and Wala Wala shared the truth of her origins as a child created in a painting. They discussed the Sea of Wandering before Fimbul returned with a possible reward for Linsey.

• Yao Xing asked why Linsey and Wala Wala had stopped speaking, and Wala Wala explained that Miss Actor had kissed Linsey while blessing him.
• Wala Wala revealed that her parents had been characters in a short-lived painting, and that she was born before its world collapsed and sent her into the real world.
• Linsey reassured Wala Wala that she was real to him and his most important partner, easing the tension between them.
• Linsey asked about the Sea of Wandering, and Wala Wala and Yao Xing described it as a legendary destination for dead worlds from which no one could return.
• Fimbul entered carrying an ornate oak box and presented Linsey with the theater's item that best matched his requirements.

Linsey learned the Hallucination Orb contained the remains of Hallucination Dream and stayed at Fimbul Theater during the Art Festival. Wala Wala brought him to her old room, locked the door, and said she wanted to sing for him.

• Linsey examined the Hallucination Orb's powerful crafting formulas and learned that artist-created worlds could be destroyed.
• Yao Xing left to rehearse, and Linsey decided to stay at the theater and later seek out the mysterious lady at the Actors Guild.
• Wala Wala led Linsey through the theater and explained that her parents had been a painting as they discussed her fear of swimming.
• Wala Wala opened her sealed old room on the theater's underground level and showed Linsey the space where she had once rested and prepared for performances.
• Wala Wala locked the door, said she would no longer perform onstage, and offered to sing for Linsey.

On the Art Festival’s opening day, Linsey stayed at the theater with Wala Wala, shared attribute-boosting food and stockings with her, and watched the festivities from the rooftop. They spotted a colossal statue towering over the Orange District and noticed a spectacle in the east.

• Linsey received the Text Record skill and reviewed his task to find the writer behind the altered fate.
• Linsey and Wala Wala left their locked room after sharing breakfast that boosted Wala Wala’s attributes and Charm.
• Wala Wala took Linsey to the theater rooftop to view the Art Festival opening across the City.
• Linsey and Wala Wala saw a statue taller than the City of a Thousand Sails’ seven towers rising over the Orange District.
• Linsey handed Wala Wala something to improve her view, and they turned east to look at a show staged by the critics.