Chapter Summaries

Benjamin attended Victor Rayne’s public lecture on anomalies and learned that they evolved by imitating human civilization and were linked to human sapience. After the lecture, he followed a select group of attendees into a secretive hall inside the Psychic Association, where a more serious gathering was about to begin.

• Benjamin entered the Mist City Exhibition Center and took a seat near the exit for the public lecture.
• Victor Rayne explained how the Ghost Ship anomaly changed with shipbuilding technology and proposed that anomalies imitated human symbols and arose from fields of human sapience.
• Benjamin listened closely to Victor’s lecture on anomaly classifications, avoidance, emergency measures, and reporting incidents.
• After the lecture, Benjamin watched most attendees socialize and leave, then waited among the people who remained.
• A waiter led the remaining attendees through a hidden corridor to a large hall, where Benjamin took a seat and surveyed the room.

Benjamin attended the Psychic Association’s internal auction and bought anomaly research materials before winning a sealed Danger Level anomaly for seven thousand gold coins. As he left with his purchases, he sensed dangerous attention behind him, while Harding and Dirk went to provide him with “after-sales service.”

• Elena Walker opened the auction, and Benjamin bought a black stone sealing tablet, anomalous fragments, a research manuscript, and other anomaly-related items.
• Benjamin outbid the other attendees for the final lot, a sealed Danger Level anomaly, and won it for seven thousand gold coins.
• Benjamin paid with coins he had gathered or created through alchemy, packed his purchases into his suitcase, and left the auction early.
• Benjamin sensed several dangerous gazes following him as he walked out of the exhibition center.
• Harding called Dirk away from the surveillance footage, and the two set out to follow Benjamin and guarantee his safety.

Benjamin returned to the Old Bookstore after Psychic Association members secretly dealt with people following him, then gave Eric a medical textbook he created. He suspected a dangerous auction attendee had held back because of the Association and waited for the coming turmoil in Mist City.

• Psychic Association members ambushed the people stalking Benjamin and took them away before he could use them as experimental subjects.
• Benjamin returned to the Old Bookstore and found that Eric had arranged for the shop's electrical wiring and bulbs to be installed.
• Eric asked Benjamin for a basic medical book instead of payment, and Benjamin used Alchemy to create a textbook and gave it to him.
• Eric thanked Benjamin and left the bookstore with the book, while Benjamin examined the sealed metal box and considered his auction haul.
• Benjamin recalled that a sinister auction attendee who had shown killing intent was absent from the group of stalkers and suspected the person knew the Psychic Association would intervene.
• Benjamin concluded that the shadow's familiarity with the Association could signal trouble ahead and decided to wait in Mist City.

Benjamin developed the Glimmer Eye, a tiny anomaly-like investigative organism that could gather information while evading other anomalies. After Black Broker brought him supplies and news of a dangerous new anomaly in the Old District, Benjamin secretly attached a Glimmer Eye to him and prepared to investigate.

• Benjamin used anomaly fragments and the detection principles of the Glimmer Eye to create a concealed investigative organism with a lifespan of about a month.
• Black Broker visited Benjamin with experimental materials and an uncommon Hazard Level anomaly fragment.
• Black Broker reported that a new anomaly in the Old District had killed the first Psychic Association team sent to confront it and might be at the peak of Hazard Level.
• Benjamin accepted Black Broker's goods and paid him, then secretly attached a Glimmer Eye to the inside of his coat collar.
• Benjamin sent the delivered bottles and metal boxes to the basement and considered the new anomaly a promising research sample.

Harding led the Psychic Association’s operation to capture the Hazard Level Shadow Thief, using a shadowless victim and the team’s own shadows as bait. The lights came on across the factory, and the team waited for the anomaly to appear.

• Harding briefed the elite teams on the Shadow Thief’s shadow-consuming ability and its suspected role in deaths and disappearances in the Old District.
• Harding explained that the team sent before them had vanished, so the Association had prepared a sealed factory site with a grid of special lights.
• The Association brought in a paralyzed victim whose shadow had disappeared completely, and Harding asked him to help lure the Shadow Thief.
• Harding ordered the operation to begin, and eight high-powered lights illuminated the factory, leaving the team members’ shadows exposed as bait.

Harding and the capture team lured the Shadow Thief into a sealing array, but it spread across the factory’s shadows and took control of the machinery. Harding unleashed Storm Eye to fight back, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Dirk spotted the Shadow Thief gliding toward the man on the stretcher, and Harding and the team used lights to funnel it into the sealing array.
• The team removed the Shadowless One and the bait, prompting the Shadow Thief to attack; Dirk slowed it with a black filament, while Harding’s Storm Eye aura drove it back.
• The Shadow Thief spread into a dark membrane and used shadows to control the factory’s machines and debris.
• Harding unleashed Storm Eye, summoning a violent storm that pushed back the controlled objects while the Shadow Thief’s membrane remained connected to their shadows.

While the Psychic Association tried to suppress the Shadow Thief, Black-Robed Cultists attacked the factory from three directions and fought the Association’s forces. Benjamin watched unseen, recognized the cultists’ assault as a likely distraction, and turned his attention toward the foggy sea.

• Harding ordered the capture teams to strengthen the sealing formation, compressing the Shadow Thief toward the center of the factory.
• Black-Robed Cultists approached from the east, deflected the watch unit’s gunfire, and attacked with Psychics and armed fighters.
• Two elite Association members stopped a cultist’s black fog attack and battled the five Black-Robed Psychics while the watch unit exchanged fire with the cultists.
• The Association fought Black-Robed Cultists attacking from the north and south as well as the east, while Benjamin used Void-Step and his Anomalous aura to remain unnoticed.
• Benjamin assessed the Association’s superior strength and equipment, then suspected the cultists had prepared more than a three-sided attack and looked toward the sea.

A Shark Monster with Wizard-world biological modification technology disrupted the Psychic Association’s battle and helped the Shadow Thief escape. Harding stayed behind to stabilize Dirk, while the monster fled into the sea and the force behind the rescue remained unknown.

• A Shark Monster burst into the factory, destroyed a sealing-array node, and attacked Harding and Dirk while Benjamin recognized Wizard technology in its construction.
• Harding unleashed more of the Storm Eye’s power as Dirk released Shadow Snake, but the monster endured their attacks and its shriek destabilized Dirk.
• The Shadow Thief escaped through the gap in the array, and the Shark Monster fled toward the sea after taking a storm strike.
• Harding abandoned pursuit to stabilize Dirk’s backlash, while the Shadow Thief and Shark Monster disappeared into the night.

Benjamin pursued the escaped Shadow Thief while the Association’s team captured Black-Robed Cultists, only for the prisoners to die when the eerie entities inside them went out of control. Their attack revealed a likely informant within the Association, but Harding postponed the investigation and ordered the team to restore the sealing barrier and recover the bodies.

• Harding suppressed the Shadow Snake inside Dirk, while Benjamin realized the Glimmer Eye caused instinctive discomfort and needed further improvement.
• Benjamin followed the Glimmer Eyes’ signals and pursued the Shadow Thief through the Abandoned Industrial Zone.
• The Association’s capture teams entered the factory with prisoners, reporting that the east and north sides had been cleared and that no enemies were found in the south.
• The three captured Black-Robed Cultists suddenly died, and Dirk determined that a preset mechanism had released the eerie entities sealed inside them.
• Dirk pointed out that the attackers knew too much about the Association’s plans, suggesting that the Association had an informant among its ranks.
• Harding ordered the team to restore the sealing barrier, reseal the entities in the bodies, and take the corpses to headquarters for examination.

Benjamin lured the Shadow Thief into an alley, studied its ability to devour his shadow, and captured it with a sealing formation. After checking his scattered Glimmer Eyes, he found the Shark Monster had stopped at a location still out at sea and vanished to investigate.

• Benjamin tracked the Shadow Thief to a dim alley and offered his shadow as bait while observing its behavior.
• The Shadow Thief repeatedly bit Benjamin's shadow, but his Body Tempering Method repaired the damage and quickly developed resistance.
• Benjamin recorded the Shadow Thief's energy and feeding patterns as it became unable to bite through his shadow.
• Benjamin sealed the Shadow Thief, compressed it, and stored it in a rune-covered metal box.
• Benjamin checked his Glimmer Eyes and found that the Shark Monster had stopped moving at a location out at sea.
• Benjamin vanished to investigate the Shark Monster's location.

Benjamin tracked a dying shark monster into the sea and analyzed the wizard techniques used to modify it. He concluded that an unknown wizard had built a powerful local network ahead of him, so he resolved to accelerate his own plans.

• Benjamin followed the Glimmer Eye’s signal southwest from Mist City and found the abandoned shark monster collapsing in the sea.
• Benjamin seized the monster and used the All-Purpose Eye and Fate System to analyze its modification techniques as it died.
• Benjamin determined that the techniques were crude, suggesting a wizard had supplied local collaborators with downgraded knowledge.
• Benjamin considered the rival wizard’s organized operation and the competition among mission-taking wizards for limited research resources.
• Benjamin decided to speed up his plans and flew back toward Mist City.

Eric continued studying medicine at the Old Bookstore while Benjamin considered why the Black-Robed Cultists had vanished after the battle in the Abandoned Industrial Zone. Benjamin concluded that the cultists might have a hidden base beyond his surveillance and decided to pursue the suspected mole inside the Psychic Association.

• Eric reviewed his medical book as Benjamin tested his understanding of blood pressure and venous return.
• Benjamin reflected on his failed search for the Black-Robed Cultists' base and considered whether they operated only at night or concealed their location beyond Mist City.
• Benjamin realized the cultists lived as ordinary residents during the day and weighed whether they relied on informants or a method that blocked psychic surveillance.
• Benjamin connected the cultists' knowledge of the Psychic Association's operation to a suspected mole with access to its plans.
• Benjamin watched the morning street and decided to focus his investigation on the suspected mole as the Association prepared to act.

Benjamin continued researching aberrations and the Sealed Rune Slate, while laboratory limits prevented him from expanding his workspace or moving dangerous samples into his Internal Grotto-Heaven. The Black Broker brought a smaller shipment amid the Psychic Association’s crackdown, and Benjamin learned the investigation into the abandoned factory had turned inward toward the Association’s own people.

• Benjamin finished documenting the Shadow Thief and used his findings to improve the lifespan and compatibility of the second-generation Glimmer Eye.
• Benjamin tested the Sealed Rune Slate in his cramped laboratory and avoided further expansion because aberrant energy could destabilize experiments and deeper excavation risked disturbing a deadly Deep-Earth Aberration.
• Benjamin sensed the Black Broker approaching and received him at the bookstore.
• The Black Broker explained that the Psychic Association had tightened controls on aberrant resources and Gene Serum while investigating its own personnel after the abandoned factory incident.
• Benjamin accepted a small shipment and the Black Broker’s intelligence note, then told him to visit less often until Benjamin contacted him.

The Black-Robed Cultists learned that a third party had taken the Shadow Thief and discussed how to track it down. Their leader ordered the Crevice Dweller released so its connection to the Shadow Thief could reveal where the captive was being held.

• The tall Black-Robed Cultist told the gathered cultists that the Shadow Thief had been missing for half a month and ordered them to reduce contact.
• After the meeting, the tall Black-Robed Cultist told the short person that a third party, rather than the Psychic Association, had captured the Shadow Thief.
• The tall Black-Robed Cultist ordered the short person to release the Crevice Dweller, which could sense the Shadow Thief and lead them to it.
• The tall Black-Robed Cultist planned to use the resulting anomalous disturbance to track the Psychic Association's response and identify the third party.
• The short person agreed to make arrangements and left, concealing the Crevice Dweller's wriggling black pattern in their palm.

Benjamin waited for the Crevice Dweller to attack him and examined its connection to the captured Shadow Thief. He trapped the anomaly in a spatial crack and sealed it, leaving the Old Bookstore secure with another anomaly contained.

• The Crevice Dweller emerged from a gap and tried to flatten Benjamin, but his Void Refinement body resisted its attack.
• Benjamin used the All-Purpose Eye and Fate System to study the Crevice Dweller and inferred that it was paired with the Shadow Thief.
• Benjamin created a nanometer-wide spatial crevice with Spatial Stabilization and forced the Crevice Dweller toward it.
• Benjamin pushed the Crevice Dweller into the spatial crack, sealed it with a formation, and secured it on a thin piece from his Internal Grotto-Heaven.

Benjamin fused the Shadow Thief and the Crevice Dweller, creating a Catastrophe-Level Shadow Anomaly. He subdued and sealed it, then returned toward Mist City with plans to study anomaly evolution and attempt more powerful fusions.

• Benjamin flew out over the sea and built a stone platform covered in layered sealing arrays.
• Benjamin released the Shadow Thief and the Crevice Dweller, and the two anomalies fused into a Shadow Anomaly.
• The Shadow Anomaly reached Catastrophe Level in the midnight darkness and began eroding Benjamin’s manifested body.
• Benjamin summoned his Two-Faced Dharma Image, overwhelmed the anomaly, and sealed it in a black sphere.
• Benjamin stored the seal in his Internal Grotto-Heaven and left for Mist City, considering experiments with higher-level and multiple anomalies.

Benjamin studied how anomalous fragments could combine through compatible traits and realized he needed more research materials. Meanwhile, Harding and Dirk identified his Old Bookstore as the source of improved Gene Serum and entered to recruit its owner amid the Psychic Association’s search for strength against a Catastrophe Level anomaly.

• Benjamin tested three Danger Level anomaly fragments and found that their fear, chill, and dizziness effects balanced one another.
• Benjamin concluded that compatible anomalies could fuse through coordinated traits, but he lacked enough samples to test his theories further.
• Benjamin spotted Psychic Association members Harding and Dirk observing the Old Bookstore and anticipated that his shortage of materials would soon be resolved.
• Dirk and Harding connected the bookstore to improved Gene Serum and discussed recruiting its technically skilled owner to help the Association prepare for a Catastrophe Level threat.
• Harding and Dirk crossed the street and entered the Old Bookstore.

Harding and Dirk visited Benjamin at the Old Bookstore and offered him recruitment or cooperation with the Psychic Association. Benjamin chose cooperation to gain access to anomalous materials and research files, then prepared to revise the agreement and demonstrate his value.

• Harding told Benjamin that the improved Gene Serum had been traced to him and explained that the Psychic Association wanted to recruit or cooperate with him.
• Benjamin chose cooperation and requested anomalous materials and nonclassified research data in exchange for improving Gene Serum and assisting with difficult research.
• Harding gave Benjamin the standard cooperation agreement and said Dirk would deliver the revised terms to the Association's legal department.
• After Harding and Dirk left, Benjamin revealed that he had deliberately used the Black Broker to attract the attention of major powers and had anticipated the Association's offer.
• Benjamin went to the basement to prepare a revised agreement and a list of research achievements.

Two Black-Robed Cultists concluded that a mole had enabled the theft and sealing of their fused Catastrophe Level anomaly, and they decided to activate their unfinished backup plan before a Psychic Association Prophet exposed them. The tall cultist, Victor Rayne, then selected retired Psychic Association member Collins as a test subject for his dangerous experiments.

• The tall and short Black-Robed Cultists discussed the stolen Shadow Thief and Crevice Dweller, concluded their fusion had been sealed through a leak, and suspended offline contact.
• The tall cultist revealed that their vitality reserves would last less than a month and that the Psychic Association had sent a Prophet, prompting the two men to approve the final plan.
• The tall cultist inspected a fused-anomaly experiment whose host was losing control, watched it die, and destroyed its remains.
• The tall cultist revealed himself as Victor Rayne, a respected Psychic Association lecturer and anomaly researcher, and went to Mist City Psychiatric Hospital.
• Victor reviewed new patient files, chose retired Psychic Association member Collins as his next test subject, and regarded him as promising experimental material.

Benjamin completed a medicine batch for Harding and received a shipment of rare materials as the Psychic Association prepared for internal upheaval. A Ghost Ship oddity attacked Pier Three, and while Harding and Dirk fought it, Benjamin detected an unidentified man reporting to an unseen ally before escaping the port.

• Benjamin handed Harding twelve improved doses of medicine, and Harding gave him a reduced shipment that included a complete Danger Level oddity.
• Harding warned Benjamin that a mole might cause chaos before the Prophet arrived, then he and Dirk left the bookstore.
• Benjamin sensed explosions at the port, where a Ghost Ship oddity had appeared and begun destroying the docks and pulling workers aboard.
• Harding used Storm Eye to fly with Dirk toward the Ghost Ship, and they attacked it with lightning and Shadow Snake.
• An unidentified man contacted an unseen ally, received orders to withdraw, and escaped the port in a black sedan while Benjamin tracked him.