Chapter Summaries

Shade fought the fused Smiths, using Space Stabilization Aura to weaken their spatial abilities and setting a trap with Moon’s Thorn. The monster was briefly weakened, but Shade was badly injured and the battle remained unresolved.

• Shade recognized the charging monster as Mister Smith and Mrs. Smith fused together, then discovered that Mister Smith’s strength surpassed his own.
• Shade used Space Stabilization Aura to disrupt the monster’s movements and defended against Mrs. Smith’s spatial attacks while identifying the pair’s different abilities.
• Shade asked “She” to find four pillars, then lured the monster into a spot surrounded by objects he could use as anchors.
• Shade wrapped Great Sin Chains around the four objects and cast Moon’s Thorn, trapping the monster in a barrier of three-colored thorns.
• The thorn barrier nearly broke as Shade suffered severe injuries, but the monster’s heads screamed and its body collapsed into a brief state of weakness.

Shade defeated the fused Smith couple in the doomsday Past and gained the Twin Lovers card, which held memories revealing Luvia’s secret use of No. 6 Saint Derain Square. Back in the present, he learned the card could summon the monster at a cost, then rested with Luvia after testing whether his wooden staff could release the Man of the Future.

• Shade restrained the fused Smith couple with Moon’s Thorn and killed them with his Thunder Spear.
• Shade found the Twin Lovers card among the monster’s remains and received memories showing Luvia secretly entering No. 6 Saint Derain Square and the arrival of doomsday.
• She told Shade that the card could summon the defeated monster through his wooden staff, but each summoning would advance its disaster in the present.
• Shade learned that the Past World Epoch key could be opened once per natural month, independently of ordinary Time Keys.
• Shade tried to release the Man of the Future card with the staff, failed, and returned to bed beside Luvia and Mia.

Shade met Long-Haired Luvia in a dream, learned that she had restarted the Sixth Epoch six times, and received guidance about the Yggdrasil Key and the dangerous cards. After waking, he planned to investigate the Green Lake Region, where a Tarot reading pointed him toward the twin Follen Brothers.

• Shade asked Long-Haired Luvia why she entrusted him with the Yggdrasil Key, and she said her six attempts had all failed and he represented a new possibility.
• Long-Haired Luvia identified the Yggdrasil Staff as an Angel Level Relic, explained how to turn it into a key, and warned Shade that the cards could hasten doom and should be kept near a god's statue.
• Shade woke beside Luvia, learned that his resistance to curses had let him use the key without the expected two-week penalty, and planned to travel to the Green Lake Region.
• Luvia divined the Twin Cats card for Shade and agreed that it might point to the twin Edwards Family members Eric Follen and Charles Follen.
• Luvia advised Shade to pay attention to the Follen Brothers in the Green Lake Region, and Shade prepared to investigate them.

Shade agreed to help Princess Leisha secretly obtain timely intelligence on the Green Lake Region negotiations, then entered the Space Labyrinth and discovered a new landmark in a busy city. He found himself in a provision-filled basement, where a newspaper headline suggested he had arrived in the Green Lake Region.

• Leisha asked Shade to relay negotiation intelligence from the Green Lake Region before official reports reached Tobesk, and he agreed to help.
• Shade and Leisha discussed the risk of war between Delarion and Kasonlik, and Shade said he hoped any conflict would come at the smallest possible cost.
• Shade sacrificed a White Stone Crystal to the Space Labyrinth and chose a southeast direction to find a new spatial landmark.
• Shade emerged into a dark circular space and detected food smells and many people above, concluding the landmark was beneath a busy urban building.
• Shade found provisions and a newspaper in the basement, whose headline read "Green Lake Winter Ice Fishing."

Shade emerged in Green Lake City and investigated the area around Green Lake Inn, where he learned about the city from a homeless boy. He left the grimy alley for Owl Street and entered the inn to rent a room as a mailing address.

• Shade followed bloodstains from the underground storage room and determined that it lay beneath a busy inn in Green Lake City.
• Shade slipped through the kitchen and back door into Rotten Bug Alley, where he found a boy named John hiding in a rubbish bin with his puppy.
• Shade gave John bread and sugar, learned that he lived behind Green Lake Inn, and asked whether anything strange had happened nearby.
• John told Shade that business at Green Lake Inn was good but reported no recent strange noises or unusual rubbish.
• Shade walked through Rotten Bug Alley to Owl Street and surveyed the foggy, run-down city center.
• Shade entered Green Lake Inn intending to rent a room as his mailing address.

Shade registered at the Green Lake Inn as John Watson and visited Grandma Natalie at the Kingfisher Tailor Shop to ask about Rotten Tail Fish skeletons and the Edwards Family. He received bait for searching Green Lake and arranged to meet a woman with information about the Edwards Family the next morning in exchange for Orichalcum.

• Shade registered at the Green Lake Inn, learned where the Delarion and Kasonlik delegations would stay, and set out to meet the local member of the Guiding Light Hermitage.
• Shade found Grandma Natalie in the hidden room behind the Kingfisher Tailor Shop and gave her Mr. Edmund's note about Rotten Tail Fish skeletons.
• Grandma Natalie gave Shade bait pills to search Green Lake for fish and explained that most clues on the island and at the Edwards old house had already been taken.
• Grandma Natalie sold Shade a map of the island and warned him to act cautiously amid increased Church supervision and the upcoming negotiations.
• Grandma Natalie offered to connect Shade with a woman who had information about the Edwards Family, and Shade proposed trading his Orichalcum for useful information.
• Shade asked whether Tears of Pain were in stock because he wanted the liquid for Dorothy's writing ink.

Shade traveled from Green Lake City toward Mikella Blast Furnace City and unexpectedly reunited with Captain Rades at the border checkpoint. After catching up in a tavern, Shade learned Rades had been transferred to the region and received a special pass to cross the border without inspections.

• Shade hired a carriage south and learned that smoke from Mikella Blast Furnace City polluted Green Lake City.
• At the border checkpoint, Shade recognized Captain Rades and greeted him.
• Shade and Captain Rades went to a tavern, where Rades explained that he had been transferred from the Pantanar Area to manage border registration.
• Rades said he suspected a small clash might occur before the negotiations, probably in Pantanar, while Shade hoped the countries could avoid war.
• Shade told Rades he was investigating the Edwards Family and learned that soldiers had been ordered to keep people off Green Lake's Central Island.
• Rades offered Shade a Special Pass that would let him cross the border without queuing for inspections.

Shade received a Special Pass from Captain Rades and learned about the hardships caused by border inspections in the Green Lake Region. After Rades intervened when drunk Kasonlik men assaulted a tavern owner, Shade continued toward Mikella Blast Furnace City and began speaking with a fellow carriage passenger.

• Captain Rades gave Shade a Special Pass and shared information about border troubles and the schools in the Green Lake Region.
• Rades told Shade about a Kasonlik villager who was unable to complete the paperwork needed to cross the border with her child.
• At the tavern, a drunk man insulted and grabbed the owner, so Rades knocked him and his two companions down and had guards take them away.
• Shade thanked Rades, said the incident showed him the reality of the border confrontation, and parted from the captain.
• Shade boarded a shared carriage toward Mikella Blast Furnace City and observed the other passengers.
• The gentleman who had boarded before Shade asked whether he was from Green Lake City.

Shade traveled to Mikella Blast Furnace City, where he explored its industrial attractions and learned that Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals funded geological research into Green Lake. He returned home after visiting the company’s factory, while a young girl arriving there thought about news concerning Orichalcum.

• Shade met Professor Brownell, who explained that he had brought students to investigate Green Lake and its possible underground mineral veins.
• Professor Brownell told Shade that Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals sponsored research because it believed Green Lake’s unusual water might extend human lifespans.
• Shade reached Mikella Blast Furnace City, gave coins and sugar to a disabled beggar, and watched a patrol officer drive the boy away.
• Shade toured the Glass Blast Furnace, the industrial exposition, and the City Glass Art Exhibition Hall, and bought mirrors as souvenirs.
• Shade visited the Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals factory, then used Leisha's Crystal Shoes to return home.
• A young girl arrived at the factory and thought about Grandma Natalie’s news concerning Orichalcum.

Shade opened a Time Key to the early Fifth Epoch and arrived in the Lost Forest in 923, where he was tasked with helping travelers finish their story with the God of Journey. He found himself in a corpse-strewn, corrupted forest and ran into the fog as danger closed in.

• At dinner, Shade told Dorothy about the Green Lake Region, and Dorothy objected to Leisha involving him in political negotiations.
• Dorothy cheered up Mia by throwing Shade’s cat-shaped glass ornament into the trash, then spent the night with Shade.
• On Wednesday morning, Shade used Mr. Edmund’s Time Key to travel to the past, leaving Mia behind with Leisha.
• Shade learned that the event was a Travelers’ Story Gathering in the Lost Forest in spring of Fifth Epoch 923, and that Father of Infinite Tree had tasked him with helping travelers conclude their story with the God of Journey.
• Shade emerged into a misty, corrupted forest filled with glowing trees and animal and human corpses, then ran toward the fog as the oppressive darkness pressed in.

Shade entered the Lost Forest and found a small camp where four travelers were recovering beside a bonfire. After meeting witch Areira Andreana and learning that the forest was said to be a place for lost travelers near death, he faced the possibility that the camp was only a resting place before death.

• Shade fled through the hostile Lost Forest and reached a tiny camp protected by a bonfire.
• Shade met witch Areira Andreana, her maid Clara, knight Zaffir Yellen, and bard Baron Dika Enriques.
• Shade introduced himself as a man who could use supernatural abilities and asked Areira about Witch Chloe Marcus Marquez.
• Areira said Chloe had returned from the North Continent as a Demigod Witch after only a few months.
• Zaffir and Dika recounted how they had become lost, collapsed from hunger, and awakened at the camp.
• Areira explained that the Lost Forest was said to draw in travelers lost before death, where the God of Travelers might help them find their way home.

Shade and four lost Travelers encountered the god of Travelers, who invited them to play out an adventure story using Game of Life cards. The god assigned the others fictional roles but told Shade that his role was himself.

• The witch told Shade that she and Clara had been searching for a lost friend, and her maid used a relic to estimate that they might wait between one week and three years.
• A traveler emerged from the tent, harming the knight and bard with his presence before restoring the bard and greeting Shade as a Traveler under the Moon.
• The god gathered the group and promised that, after a story, they could leave at dawn and find what they desired.
• The god chose Game of Life cards to create a story in which the group would play characters, and everyone drew a card.
• The knight drew Old Horse, the bard drew Parrot, the witch drew Unicorn, and the maid drew Loyal Dog; Shade's card was blank, and the god said his role was himself.

Shade and his companions began the first day of a seven-day journey shaped by a story narrated by a god, with each traveler given strengths and weaknesses. After refusing an Old Witch’s demand to leave Areira behind, they escaped her attack by giving her Areira’s rare Gem Fire, but then faced a challenge involving three candies.

• The god explained the five travelers’ animal identities, their abilities and drawbacks, and the rule that the journey would end on its seventh night.
• Clara drew an encounter card that led the party to a Candy House, where an Old Witch invited them to lunch.
• Shade and the others refused to enter the house, and the Old Witch demanded that they leave Areira behind in exchange for a candy-making ability.
• Shade’s party refused to abandon Areira, so the Old Witch attacked Bard, but Areira offered her Gem Fire to secure their release.
• The Old Witch presented three candies—one poisonous, one filling, and one granting a candy-making ability—and Shade said he wanted to try the challenge because he trusted his resistance to poison.

Shade and his companions continued their perilous story journey, gaining a candy-making thaumaturgy while Andrea Na suffered and recovered from poison. On the second day, they chose the river and reached a ferry whose Boatman demanded a gold coin from each traveler.

• Shade, Andrea Na, and the bard ate black candies; Shade gained the Thaumaturgy "Candy Making," while Andrea Na was poisoned and the bard became full.
• Shade and Clara tried to cure Andrea Na, but the story's rules prevented them from removing the poison; Andrea Na ate a Red Jasmine Flower and recovered.
• The travelers camped overnight, and the old knight grew exhausted as the journey entered its second day.
• Shade and Andrea Na chose the river over the mountains and larks when the travelers heard three possible routes.
• The travelers reached a wide river and found a black-robed Boatman demanding one gold coin from each of them to cross.

Shade and his companions entered the story of the Travelers, became its animal companions, and defeated a one-eyed Flame Demon to obtain Demon Coins for the Boatman. After the others boarded the boat, the Boatman refused to let Shade cross, saying he was different from them.

• Shade and his companions refused to sacrifice one of their group to pay the Boatman and learned they could find coins from a one-eyed giant.
• A Flame Demon attacked, and Shade and his companions transformed into the story’s Travelers and animal companions.
• Shade fought the Flame Demon while the witch, as a Unicorn, shielded the others, and Shade killed the demon with a Thunder Spear.
• The group returned to the clearing with a sack of five Demon Coins, which Shade offered as the fare for crossing the river.
• The Boatman let the Unicorn, Loyal Dog, Parrot, and Old Horse board but stopped Shade, declaring that his boat could carry only the others.

Shade left the Lost Forest story to search for a way to become a cat and rejoin the travelers, while Areira Andreana continued the journey with her companions. Back home, Shade asked Leisha to seek Miss Galina’s help obtaining a Cat in a Bottle potion and demonstrated his new ability to turn food into candy.

• Shade told Areira Andreana he would return with information about Unicorns, then vanished from the camp; the god disappeared as well.
• Areira Andreana promised Clara she would find Clara’s elder sister, using the Tarot Card Myriad Aspects of Impermanence as her guide.
• Shade returned to Mia, who was still holding the sausage, and asked Leisha to arrange help from Miss Galina in obtaining a Cat in a Bottle potion.
• Leisha agreed to speak to Miss Galina after the Witch Council meeting, and Shade showed her that he could turn food into candy by making snowflakes of sugar and fluffy candy.

Shade met the Sorceress at the Green Lake Inn to discuss the Orichalcum sale and information about the Edwards Family. The cold, disguised High-Ring Arcanist arrived, and their conversation was just beginning when the chapter ended.

• Shade demonstrated his candy-making Mystic Lock to Leisha, then left Mia with Dorothy and traveled to the Green Lake Region.
• Grandma Natalie told Shade that the Orichalcum buyer would meet him at the Green Lake Inn and warned him that she was a cold, unstable High-Ring Arcanist.
• Shade asked Grandma Natalie about a potion that could temporarily turn someone into an animal, and she suggested contacting the Three Great Academies.
• At the inn, Shade learned from Helena Green that the buyer had reserved a table beneath the Green Lake painting.
• The Sorceress arrived, recognized Shade with a brief look of surprise, and sat down to speak with him.

Shade traded a piece of Orichalcum for information about Green Lake Town and the Edwards Family, then agreed to visit the island with the Sorceress as his guide. The two arranged to meet that afternoon under strict conditions, and Shade left to inform Grandma Natalie.

• Shade showed the Sorceress his Orichalcum and asked about the Edwards Family and Green Lake Town.
• The Sorceress said the three brothers who left Green Lake Town had died, and that the Great Fog originated beneath the Edwards Family estate.
• Shade described the island’s dangers, and the Sorceress offered to guide him there in exchange for the Orichalcum.
• Shade agreed to meet the Sorceress at one-thirty, after she removed her gloves and set conditions that she would not protect him and that he must stay at least one meter away.
• The Sorceress gave Shade the codename Apothecary Miss, and he left to speak with Grandma Natalie.

Shade traveled with the Apothecary Miss to Lake Heart Island to collect Rotten Tail Fish bones and begin exploring the fog-shrouded island. After gathering and properly preserving eight fish, they left the materials in the boat and started their expedition.

• Shade returned to Green Lake City, met the Apothecary Miss at the inn, and agreed to travel with her to the island.
• The Apothecary Miss took Shade by steamship across Green Lake and guided him through the White Fog to the island's dock.
• The Apothecary Miss warned Shade about the island's disorienting fog and led him along the shore to a beach where lake debris washed ashore.
• Shade searched the beach and found eight Rotten Tail Fish, then prepared to wrap and store them.
• The Apothecary Miss gave Shade a potion and showed him how to preserve the fish with separate cloth bundles and mugwort.
• Shade and the Apothecary Miss stowed the fish in the boat and began exploring the island.

Shade explored Green Lake Town and the Edwards Family estate with the Apothecary Miss, finding little until she revealed a hidden six-generation family tree. The diagram confirmed Alphonse was adopted and gave Shade new questions about how the known descendants fit into the family.

• Shade searched the abandoned town and the Edwards Family estate but found no valuable clues left by earlier visitors.
• The Apothecary Miss used a potion to reveal a hidden Edwards Family tree on the kitchen wall and said it was valuable enough to compensate Shade for the Orichalcum.
• Shade learned that Alphonse was adopted and that the tree recorded descendants of the family after the destruction of Green Lake Town.
• Shade noticed that Audrey Edwards seemed to fit among Alphonse's descendants, though he doubted the tree or Miss Galina's knowledge because Audrey was believed to have no siblings.
• Shade told the Apothecary Miss that he also knew twin brothers descended from the Edwards Family, whose grandfather was named Edwardz.