Chapter Summaries

Lu Yuan and the Lantern Knight investigated Frey’s lost memories and found that she could not recall the potion method or the events surrounding it. Lu Yuan agreed to help recreate the experiment by tracing the missing ingredients, despite the danger of having his own memories erased.

• The Lantern Knight told Lu Yuan that Frey had lost her memories of the night but showed no signs of Contamination.
• Frey confirmed that she could not remember how she had analyzed the Pathway Mutation Potion and that thinking about the missing events briefly stopped her consciousness.
• Lu Yuan guided Frey through the room where she had worked, but seeing where the phantom appeared only confirmed that her related memories had been deleted.
• The Lantern Knight proposed using records and missing ingredients to reconstruct Frey’s actions and asked Lu Yuan to restore the potion.
• Lu Yuan agreed to participate, and the Lantern Knight warned him that the mission was dangerous and that he could not withdraw once it began.

Lu Yuan examined the Pathway Mutation Potion and learned that it was an alchemical creation connected to the Land of the Dead Silence, not an ordinary potion. The Lantern Knight began testing Lu Yuan’s ability to infer how Frey had made it, while explaining why the Academy had reluctantly approved the research.

• The Lantern Knight gave Lu Yuan a booklet listing the seven ingredients Frey had used, and Oden inferred that she had tried to separate the potion’s active components.
• Lu Yuan inspected the potion and saw that Gray-White Text identified it as an alchemical creation that invited people into the Land of the Dead Silence, though he could not see its composition.
• Lu Yuan and Oden concluded that Frey had triggered the creation’s effect and prematurely activated a Pathway mutation, causing her memory loss.
• The Lantern Knight warned Lu Yuan not to touch the potion and to use the limited supply sparingly, then asked him to infer Frey’s method from the ingredients.
• The Lantern Knight explained that the Academy had assigned the research to his group despite String Knight’s doubts and the scarcity of the potion.

Lu Yuan impressed the Lantern Knight with his deductions about how Frey had tried to analyze the Pathway Mutation Potion and was officially assigned to help reverse-engineer it. With four potion samples available, Lu Yuan followed Oden’s plan to begin testing the residue for a contaminating material.

• Lu Yuan reasoned that Frey had separated the potion’s water and suggested isolating its core contaminating material, while warning that purification could be dangerous.
• The Lantern Knight explained that the potion lost its effects within a day of being opened and officially brought Lu Yuan onto the investigation.
• Lu Yuan followed the Lantern Knight into the oval room, where they prepared to use four remaining sets of ingredients and potion samples.
• Frey watched from the side as the Lantern Knight kept her from handling the potion because another attempt could kill her.
• Oden told Lu Yuan to remove the potion’s water, heat the residue, divide it into five portions, and test the first portion with holy water.

Lu Yuan extracted and tested the ingredients in the Pathway Mutation Potion, discovering that adding High-Grade Holy Water created a diluted Invitation to the Land of the Dead Silence. He then concentrated another portion repeatedly until the residue turned black and became so faint that his senses seemed to ignore it.

• Lu Yuan used Water-Separating Stone and heat to extract a viscous substance from the Pathway Mutation Potion.
• Lu Yuan added High-Grade Holy Water to one portion, which reverted into a lighter-blue liquid and earned him Pharmacology experience.
• Lu Yuan read the Gray-White Text's description of the result as a diluted Invitation to the Land of the Dead Silence and reasoned that one ingredient supplied the potion's core effect.
• Lu Yuan followed Oden's advice and concentrated another portion through repeated extractions.
• Lu Yuan watched the residue turn completely black and grow so faint that his senses unconsciously filtered it out.

Lu Yuan realized the refined residue drew a person’s aura into the Land of the Dead Silence, where their Pathway could be contaminated. When a high-level Source of Pollution appeared, Lu Yuan and Frey were pulled into a distorted desolate world.

• Lu Yuan refined the residue until it became a nearly invisible black fragment, and Oden concluded its effect was concealment rather than contamination.
• Lu Yuan theorized that the Pathway Mutation Potion drew people into the Land of the Dead Silence, where something contaminated their Pathways.
• Oden realized that repeated use of the Aura Concealment Potion might likewise expose its user to contamination.
• The Lantern Knight reported that his potion test had failed, then asked Lu Yuan about the tiny fragment.
• Gray-White Text warned Lu Yuan of a high-level Source of Pollution, and the Time Bestower revealed a desolate world above the residue with Frey inside it.
• Lu Yuan’s consciousness was pulled away as the Lantern Knight watched Lu Yuan and Frey sway.

As Lu Yuan's consciousness was pulled toward the Land of the Dead Silence by the Pathway Mutation Potion, Oden tried to follow and protect him but was swept into the Sea of Knowledge inside Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan found himself face-to-face with Frey, while the Sea of Knowledge battered the connection to the Land of the Dead Silence.

• Oden realized the Pathway Mutation Potion was dragging Lu Yuan's consciousness toward a Taboo entity and decided to follow him into the Land of the Dead Silence.
• Oden left his refuge in the Drowner's shell and surged toward Lu Yuan's sanity layer.
• A torrent from the Sea of Knowledge appeared between Oden and Lu Yuan's consciousness, blocking his way.
• The Sea of Knowledge swept Oden inside, then sealed shut as Lu Yuan's droplet-shaped Authority drove the five dark shadows to its bottom.
• Lu Yuan recognized Frey before him, and the two stared at each other in bewilderment.

After being pulled into the Land of the Dead Silence with Frey, Lu Yuan found that his Authority was gone, though the Gray-White Text still worked. Frey recovered part of her memory but could not explain what she had seen, leaving them trapped in a dangerous place where time moved differently.

• Lu Yuan realized he and Frey had been dragged into the Land of the Dead Silence and found that his Authority had not followed his consciousness.
• Lu Yuan used the Gray-White Text on Frey, which identified her as a human soul cast into the Land of the Dead Silence.
• Frey remembered that repeated purification of the Pathway Mutation Potion had triggered its effect and that she had spent four days in the land.
• Lu Yuan realized that four days there had passed in only seconds outside and worried that staying longer would wear away his consciousness.
• Frey tried to recall what she had seen, but pain stopped her, and Lu Yuan concluded that a Taboo being had appeared in the land.

Lu Yuan and Frey found themselves in the vast, fog-covered Land of the Dead Silence, where Frey’s memories offered no reliable route out. Lu Yuan sensed the Authority of the Sea of Knowledge drawing closer and concluded that Frey’s diminished rationality had left her weaker within this world.

• Lu Yuan surveyed the fog-shrouded wasteland and found no clear signs of life or a way forward.
• Lu Yuan asked Frey whether she remembered her route, and she said this location differed from where she had arrived before.
• Lu Yuan decided not to follow Frey’s remembered route and waited for his connection to the Authority of the Sea of Knowledge to strengthen.
• Lu Yuan asked Frey about strange things she had encountered, and she recalled only an uncertain feeling that something ominous had been nearby.
• Lu Yuan concluded that his nearly intact rationality made him stronger in this world than Frey, whose rationality had not fully recovered.

Lu Yuan and Frey left their starting place and headed toward a distant mountain through the fog, while Oden was swept through a dangerous sea of knowledge inside Lu Yuan. At the Knight Academy, Eli and the Astrologer Grand Knight Commander discovered that the star representing disaster had lit up.

• Lu Yuan doubted Frey's belief that no one else was in the world and warned that Heretics or other people might have been dragged there.
• Lu Yuan and Frey agreed to leave their starting place and walked toward the outline of a distant mountain through the fog.
• Oden drifted helplessly through a vast sea of words and knowledge, protected by a faint membrane around his consciousness.
• Eli asked his teacher why the dark star representing disaster had lit up despite the teacher's claim that it never would.
• The Astrologer Grand Knight Commander inspected the scarlet-and-black star and murmured that the foretold event had come to pass.

The Astrologer Grand Knight Commander told Eli that the dark star had begun a prophecy and that Eli was the one destined to confront the coming disaster. In the Hanging Tower, Lu Yuan and Frey remained trapped in a trance despite the Lantern Knight’s attempts to revive them.

• The Astrologer Grand Knight Commander explained that the dark star’s appearance meant the prophecy had begun and that he and Eli needed to travel to the Northern Territory for an astrological ritual.
• The Astrologer Grand Knight Commander told Eli that he was the person who had lit all four statues and that only he could receive the stars’ guidance.
• Eli questioned why he had been chosen, then went to pack so he could leave with his teacher.
• The Lantern Knight carried Lu Yuan and Frey away from the twisting mass in the potion room and gave them Sanity Restoration Potions made with Advanced Holy Water.
• The Lantern Knight slapped Lu Yuan and Frey when they failed to wake, while the room’s Inscription and Sanity Check lamp showed no sign of detecting the danger.

Lu Yuan and Frey entered the true, corpse-strewn Land of the Dead Silence and began suffering severe sanity contamination. As Frey weakened, they turned away from the mountain range, but two Withered Glory Society Heretics blocked their path and attacked.

• Lu Yuan and Frey discovered that bones and corpses covered the land, while Gray-White Text warned of faint sanity contamination.
• Lu Yuan realized Frey was deteriorating faster than he was and decided they should retreat from the mountain range.
• As they walked away from the mountain, Lu Yuan sensed that the Authority of the Sea of Knowledge would take another day to manifest fully.
• Two Withered Glory Society Heretics emerged from the fog and began chanting after recognizing that Lu Yuan and Frey were not believers of the Holy Sovereign.
• The ground shook as dead flesh, bones, and wailing souls surged toward Lu Yuan and Frey, and Lu Yuan noticed that the Heretics seemed protected by the world.

Lu Yuan killed two Heretics and discovered that the Land of the Dead Silence rewarded him with Sanity IV progress, while the world consumed the corpses. He and Frey left to search for a way forward, unaware that more Heretics had appeared where the dead men fell.

• Lu Yuan ignored the Heretics' flesh-and-bone barriers and killed both men with his fists, losing one point of sanity for each kill.
• Lu Yuan gained two half-point increases to Sanity IV and suspected that killing Heretics earned him experience.
• The Land of the Dead Silence devoured the corpses, leaving bones and skin behind, and Lu Yuan warned Frey to report any changes in herself.
• Lu Yuan led Frey away while considering whether more Heretics might provide experience.
• Several Heretics emerged from the mist and bowed devotedly before the remains of the two dead men.

Lu Yuan and Frey struggled through the mist as the world’s contamination worsened Frey’s condition. Lu Yuan realized that Frey’s past four-day stay might mean the contamination did not necessarily mutate a person’s pathway, while pursuers set out to capture them for the Holy Sovereign.

• A hooded leader declared that outsiders had disrupted the Holy Sovereign’s plans and ordered his followers to pursue Lu Yuan and Frey.
• Lu Yuan recognized that something had disrupted his sense of direction as he and Frey traveled through the thickening mist.
• Frey feared she would lose her memories and become contaminated, and Lu Yuan told her to hold on for one day.
• Lu Yuan reasoned that Frey’s previous four-day stay in this world did not fit the rate of contamination they were experiencing.
• Frey concluded that her memory might be wrong, or that the contamination had not been enough to mutate a person’s pathway.

Lu Yuan and Frey walked deeper into the fog, hoping to find a way out without Frey being contaminated. They witnessed a colossal monster battling an unknown figure, then fled as Lu Yuan wondered whether the fighter was the Lantern Knight.

• Lu Yuan reassured Frey that she might avoid contamination and promised to get her out, and she chose to trust him.
• Lu Yuan and Frey continued through the fog until it suddenly froze and a distant blast scattered it.
• Lu Yuan saw a colossal creature of rotting flesh and lost a point of sanity, then warned Frey not to look.
• A pillar of white light struck the creature, and Lu Yuan's perception warned him of a powerful source of pollution.
• Lu Yuan pulled Frey away from the battle and considered whether the unknown fighter was the Lantern Knight, but decided not to approach.

Lu Yuan confronted a group of Withered Glory Society Heretics who wanted to take Frey to their Holy Sovereign. He defeated two attackers easily, but the leader trapped him and launched an assault on his sanity, which his checks resisted.

• Lu Yuan sensed a faint contamination aura and turned to face several Heretics emerging from the fog.
• The Heretics' leader recognized Frey as a devout believer and demanded that Lu Yuan hand her over so they could bring her to the Holy Sovereign.
• The Heretics transformed and attacked, while Lu Yuan told Frey to hide and promised to deal with them.
• Lu Yuan punched through two charging Heretics with ease, and the leader remarked on his immense sanity.
• The leader tore open the ground, bound Lu Yuan's legs with flesh and bone, and sent wailing souls against his sanity, but Lu Yuan passed each check.

Lu Yuan let a cult leader’s sanity assault continue until it stopped yielding experience, then broke free and killed him. He and Frey continued through the fog, with Frey hoping Lu Yuan could lead her out of the Land of the Dead Silence.

• The cult leader engulfed Lu Yuan in a cocoon of flesh and bone, while repeated sanity checks earned Lu Yuan experience and minor immunity to the Land of the Dead Silence.
• Frey believed Lu Yuan was doomed but stepped forward to try to buy him time.
• Lu Yuan burst out of the cocoon, smashed through the leader’s barriers, and killed him.
• Lu Yuan calculated his sanity and experience gains, then walked back to Frey.
• Frey’s fear turned to relief and ingratiation when she saw Lu Yuan approach, and he told her they needed to move faster.

Lu Yuan and Frey fled through the fog after defeating the Heretics, but Frey suddenly weakened as flesh and bones began crawling over her body. Lu Yuan discovered that her sanity was being eroded and that she seemed close to becoming someone’s follower.

• Lu Yuan led Frey away from the fight, suspecting the Heretics could track his location and expecting a larger group to pursue them.
• Frey praised Lu Yuan’s strength and grew hopeful that they could escape, while Lu Yuan promised not to abandon her unless she became completely contaminated.
• Frey faltered and nearly collapsed as her body began to distort, while flesh and bones from the ground crawled up her.
• Lu Yuan saw that the gray-white text had issued no warning, then received a notice that Frey’s sanity was being eroded and she seemed about to become someone’s follower.

Lu Yuan tore the Contamination from Frey and carried her into the fog when she remained unresponsive. As Frey's consciousness sank into forgotten memories, she saw visions of rotting figures protecting or capturing her, a Great Tower of flesh and bone, and a crowd chanting below it.

• Lu Yuan ripped the spreading Contamination from Frey's body and carried her away after slapping her failed to restore her awareness.
• Frey remembered a rotting figure shielding her from a reaching hand.
• Frey saw chanting figures surround her before a rotting figure grabbed her and tried to flee with her, only for the crowd to swallow them.
• Frey saw an enormous Great Tower built from flesh and bone, with cages hanging from its sides.
• Frey saw herself imprisoned in one of the cages above a plain where hundreds of figures chanted and sang.

Frey woke on Lu Yuan’s back after reliving the moment of her death, while a new group of the Holy Sovereign’s followers discovered that Lu Yuan had killed their squad and began pursuing him to reclaim the Seed inside her. The chapter left Lu Yuan carrying Frey through the fog as she thanked him for saving her.

• Frey remembered the Land of the Dead Silence consuming her and fought against becoming the enormous creature before a glimmer of light appeared.
• A group of the Holy Sovereign’s followers examined the remains of the squad Lu Yuan had killed and concluded their enemy had overwhelmed them without resistance.
• The group performed a ritual that captured souls in a pulsing lump of flesh, which pointed in the direction Lu Yuan had gone.
• The group learned that the Holy Sovereign’s chosen person was with their squad’s killer and that the newborn Seed was still inside her, so they summoned reinforcements to retrieve it.
• Frey woke while Lu Yuan carried her through the fog and thanked him for saving her, and Lu Yuan told her she would not die for now.

Lu Yuan carried Frey through the fog as she recovered memories of her first days in the Land of the Dead Silence. She recounted how wanderers had helped her before Heretics captured her and took her to a Flesh tower for a ritual, where something pulled her away at the last moment.

• Frey asked Lu Yuan to carry her on his back so she would not reconnect with the ground, and then described the memories she had recovered.
• Frey said wanderers had sheltered her from Heretics and taught her that they could travel safely only when the fog was thick.
• On the fourth day, Heretics discovered the wanderers' hiding place, defeated them, and captured Frey and other newcomers.
• The Heretics locked the captives in cages covered with Inscriptions and performed a ritual that made the captives' bodies melt into the Flesh.
• Frey said she had held out longer than the others, but something pulled her away just as the ritual was ending.