Chapter Summaries

Esmeralda explained that the World Will’s fading would cause the world’s order to collapse, and admitted that she had helped bring more than twenty billion people from Blue Star to the Karim Continent as part of raising Gu. She then revealed her true form as Katie Meseta, leaving the others to learn that she and Esmeralda were two sides of the same coin.

• Lan Qingyou questioned Esmeralda about why Blue Star’s people had been brought to the Karim Continent, and Esmeralda said the World Will was fading.
• Esmeralda explained that the World Will’s disappearance would make the world collapse and leave Magic and Magic Power far more chaotic.
• Orff confronted Esmeralda over the deaths caused by the Giant Creature Riot, but she replied that more than a hundred billion people had already died with her help.
• Chu Yuan asked whether bringing more than twenty billion people to raise Gu was all for the fading World Will, and Ingrid showed her impatience with Esmeralda’s evasions.
• Esmeralda changed the setting to a Library and revealed herself as Katie Meseta.
• Katie told Lan Qingyou and the others that she and Esmeralda were like the two sides of a coin.

Katie revealed that she and Esmeralda were two reconstructed halves of the same person, with Katie embodying her rational side. After the group asked why the Will of Karim World had transported them, Katie began to explain the continent’s former name.

• Lan Qingyou asked whether to call the woman Esmeralda or Katie, and Katie asked them to use Katie.
• Katie explained that she and Esmeralda were like twin sisters, split into rational and emotional halves.
• Lan Qingyou realized Katie had shaped the group’s impressions of Esmeralda through psychological suggestion, and Katie confirmed it.
• Katie said she had collected the Library’s books while Esmeralda worked on Blue Star, and Orff realized Esmeralda had ordered his Magic printing press.
• Chu Yuan asked why the Will of Karim World had transported them, and Katie began by asking what the continent used to be called.

Katie told the Tarot Villa group that the place they had mistaken for the Karim Continent was Storm Island, and that the giant creatures they had fought were only weak trial enemies. She explained that the World Will had brought them there to prepare them for far greater dangers beyond the island.

• Katie clarified that the group had been transported to Storm Island, not the Karim Continent, and Lan Qingyou realized they had been using the wrong name.
• The group reflected on how they had mistaken the island for a continent and Chu Yuan pressed Katie to explain why they had been forced to transmigrate.
• Katie asked whether the group had fought the Giant Creature Riot, prompting Chu Yuan and the others to grow angry at revisiting what they had already learned from Esmeralda.
• Katie said giant monsters outside Storm Island were only small fry compared with the threats beyond it, and that the island’s Magic Protective Shield kept outsiders away.
• Katie explained that the World Will had arranged the monsters as appetizers to help the group prepare, and mocked them for thinking they had been brought over merely to admire magic.

Katie explained that Storm Island was only a protected beginner’s area and that stronger Abyss Monsters threatened the world beyond it. She began recounting how Albert and Nicolas Flamel proposed a continent-wide sacrifice to create a Heavy Magic Zone, leaving the group with the plan’s purpose but not its outcome.

• Katie told the group that Storm Island’s monsters were only a taste of the stronger threats in the Outer Sea and beyond.
• Lan Qingyou reasoned that the natives’ extinction had left the World Will and the world itself near collapse, prompting Katie to show a map of Abyss Monsters surrounding Storm Island.
• Katie explained that the natives had devised ways to face the Abyss Monsters, including a plan called the Imperial Twin Moons.
• Lan Qingyou recognized Albert and Nicolas Flamel as the Imperial Twin Moons, revealing that she had obtained an alchemist’s manuscript.
• Katie said Albert and Nicolas Flamel had proposed sacrificing lives to raise Magic Power across the continent, creating a Heavy Magic Zone to strengthen magic and let more people wield it.

Katie explained that the continent beyond Storm Island had become a Heavy Magic Zone and that the Dungeons were remnants of its ancient civilization, inhabited by Abyss Monsters capable of mental attacks. She said the Portals would probably close now that the manor's members had gained enough combat experience, leaving them worried about losing access to the Dungeons.

• Katie told the manor's members that a successful ritual had raised Magic Power across the continent, killing people who could not adapt, and that a thousand years of erosion had turned everywhere outside Storm Island into a Heavy Magic Zone.
• Vivian asked whether the Dungeons were areas outside Storm Island, and Lan Qingyou asked whether the Portals connected to the continent; Katie confirmed both.
• Orff dismissed the danger of the monsters, but Katie explained that the Dungeons she had provided were for practice and that Abyss Monsters were far more dangerous than ordinary monsters.
• Lan Qingyou realized that Abyss Monsters could attack minds or influence thoughts, and Katie confirmed her guess.
• David asked whether the Portals would remain usable, and Katie said they would probably close because they consumed too much power and the Dungeons had served their purpose.

Katie revealed that she could shut down the Portal, but explained that the World Will knew only about Storm Island and had sent people from Blue Star to fight another god. The group learned that they and many others had been chosen as part of a selection process, while the Witch, Titan, and vampire races had the best chances.

• Katie said she planned to shut down the Portal now that it had been exposed and the group had gained combat experience.
• Lan Qingyou asked Katie for information about the real Karim Continent, but Katie said the World Will no longer knew what lay beyond the places it controlled.
• Katie compared the World Wills to gods and confirmed that Blue Star's World Will had sent them to fight Karim's World Will's rival.
• Katie explained that the purpose of raising Gu was to select people for the conflict, and said that members of other organizations and the remaining tens of billions had also been involved.
• Katie said the Witch, Titan, and vampire races had the best chances in the selection.

Katie revealed that the Abyss Monsters followed the god the group would have to face, and the Tarot Villa members were struck by a strange mental disruption as they reacted. Lan Qingyou identified it as divine punishment, and the group decided to return so they could recover and think.

• Gu Xiaobei questioned whether the three races threatened the god, but Katie said she did not know why they were targeted or what the god was.
• Katie revealed that the Abyss Monsters were followers of the enemy god, alarming the Villa members.
• Chu Yuan noticed that he and the others had become dazed, while Lan Qingyou remained clear-headed and identified the cause as a Mental Attack.
• Katie denied attacking them and explained that the god had sensed their hostility or improper thoughts and disrupted them with its pressure.
• Lan Qingyou asked Katie to send them back, and Katie agreed.

After Katie returned Lan Qingyou and the others from the Library to the deck, they learned that Esmeralda’s encounter had been an illusion and considered how their abilities and stats had changed. Lan Qingyou arranged Witch Academy combat lessons and confirmed the teleportation would proceed, while Chu Yuan worried that the Portal might close with his people still in a Dungeon.

• Katie swept her hands through the air and returned Lan Qingyou and the others from the Library to the deck, where Esmeralda was gone.
• Nemo asked a Sailor whether anything had happened to them, and he said they had stayed in place; Lan Qingyou realized Esmeralda had pulled them into an illusion.
• Lan Qingyou considered how their stats no longer reliably measured their abilities and decided that members of the Giant Slayer Squad should teach combat at the Witch Academy.
• Lan Qingyou messaged Diana about the events and the lessons, and she confirmed that the next day’s teleportation should go ahead.
• Chu Yuan realized he had forgotten to ask when the Portal would close and worried that his citizens gathering materials in a Dungeon would be stranded on the Karim Continent.

Chu Yuan and the others hurried to contact people trapped in the Dungeon after Katie said she would close its Portal, while Lan Qingyou learned her researchers had made progress on the Shackle Treasure Chest. The chapter ended with Ursula explaining that they could stop time but not preserve anything, and that damage to the Time Magic Array had left its core problem unsolved.

• Chu Yuan and the others contacted their people in the Dungeon, and Chu Yuan revealed he had sent more than twenty million Orcs and Professionals inside.
• Lan Qingyou offered to open a Portal, but Chu Yuan decided not to use it because the World Tree Boat already had a Teleportation Array.
• Lan Qingyou read a message from Ursula saying her team had made progress researching the Shackle Treasure Chest.
• Lan Qingyou went to Ursula, who said they could build their own Shackle Treasure Chests after developing a small core drive Magic Array.
• Ursula told Lan Qingyou that the team could stop time but could not preserve anything, and that a Rib Centipede had damaged the Time Magic Array.

Lan Qingyou began investigating the damaged magic arrays on the Protective Barrier and realized they needed far more researchers than the Witch Corps alone could provide. She mobilized witches across Nemo’s fleet to photograph the arrays while keeping the danger surrounding the barrier secret until they learned more.

• Lan Qingyou examined an aerial photograph of the damaged array and decided to work backward by researching ancient magic arrays.
• Lan Qingyou opened a Portal to the World Tree Boat and brought Ursula to inspect the dense arrays above the fleet.
• Ursula pointed out that the monsters on Storm Island were part of the World Will’s trial, prompting Lan Qingyou to call in more researchers.
• Witches filled the deck, sea, and sky above Nemo’s fleet, photographing the magic arrays before they could disappear.
• Lan Qingyou kept the threat beyond the Protective Barrier and the uncertainty about the Time Magic Array from the researchers.

After the Portal to the Dungeon closed, Lan Qingyou proposed opening portals to old Dungeons in exchange for payment and half the profits. The group discussed the dangers and costs of establishing a base on Karim Continent, then considered asking Alisa’s White Witch faction for help.

• Lan Qingyou learned that the Portal had closed, but the Patriarch had already summoned everyone back safely.
• Death suggested using Lan Qingyou’s Portal magic to reach old Dungeons, and Lan Qingyou demanded payment, energy and materials, and half the profits from Karim Continent.
• Lan Qingyou explained that a Protective Barrier on Karim Continent would require far more energy because of its dangerous conditions and gigantic Abyss Monsters.
• Chu Yuan and the others discussed sending teams through Portals, but Lan Qingyou said only about ten thousand Witches could open them.
• Lan Qingyou suggested asking Alisa’s White Witch faction for help, but the others rejected the idea because of Alisa’s reputation.

Lan Qingyou revealed that she had traded the Emerald Tablet to the White Witch for the Portal spell and biological technology. She refused to approach the White Witch about working together, explaining that the White Witches were busy with research after creating Stitched Monsters from giant creatures.

• Lan Qingyou said she had traded the Emerald Tablet, a World Will reward, for the White Witch’s Portal spell and biological technology.
• Ingrid defended Lan Qingyou’s decision, saying an item could be traded if its owner had no use for it.
• Vivian asked Lan Qingyou to invite the White Witch to work with them, but Lan Qingyou refused because she did not want a rival.
• Lan Qingyou explained that the White Witch was in the middle of critical research and should not be disturbed.
• Lan Qingyou recalled that her group and the White Witches had met while gathering giant creatures, which the White Witches used to create Stitched Monsters.

About a month earlier, Lan Qingyou met Alisa in the air while White Witches and Black Witches fought a Land-Walking Turtle with Stitched Monsters. After chatting over tea and food, they negotiated a split of the turtle’s remains and each side took half.

• Lan Qingyou joined Alisa on her Flying Magic Carpet and watched the White Witches and Black Witches attack a Land-Walking Turtle with Stitched Monsters.
• Lan Qingyou asked Alisa about her Emerald Tablet research, and Alisa said she had a few confusing leads that needed more investigation.
• Lan Qingyou and Alisa argued playfully over food and negotiated how to divide the Land-Walking Turtle’s remains.
• Lan Qingyou and Alisa agreed to split the turtle in half, with the Black Witches and White Witches each taking a share.

Lan Qingyou studied the ancient Time Magic Array to restore the curse that had once made the Cursed Corridor safe and allowed Palpitation Grass to grow, but her repeated designs failed. While flying to the array’s core for a change of scenery, she noticed something strange below.

• Lan Qingyou chose not to interrupt the others’ research and instead examined photos of magic arrays while considering the Cursed Corridor’s changes.
• Lan Qingyou spent nearly half a month trying and failing to recreate the Time Magic Array, then decided to leave her shelter for inspiration.
• Lan Qingyou flew over the newly flourishing Cursed Corridor and saw that excavation had exposed a vast ring and many additional subsystems.
• Lan Qingyou spotted a symbol below and froze, realizing something was wrong.

Lan Qingyou examined the Time Magic Array from above and realized its apparent core was a false lead. She suspected the lone Fire Wine symbol was being used as a substitute for the array’s missing symbol for time.

• Lan Qingyou flew to about a thousand meters and examined the entire Magic Array with her Magic Eye.
• She realized the spot she had smashed was not a core and that the Time Magic Array had no core at all.
• Lan Qingyou studied the array’s symbols and circuits, but found no symbol representing time.
• She considered that the ordinary Fire Wine symbol might represent time by substitution.
• Lan Qingyou confirmed the Fire Wine symbol appeared only once and noted that it had no nearby symbols to connect to.

Lan Qingyou struggled to understand the Magic Array, but a fresh look at its [Fire Wine] symbol led her to wonder whether it meant offering herself. As she flew out to seek inspiration, the wind made her scattered Magic Arrays overlap, revealing a peculiar effect.

• Lan Qingyou recorded the excavated Magic Array and spent two days unsuccessfully trying to reproduce it.
• After noticing that her latest Magic Paper attempt had burned only a small hole, Lan Qingyou examined the [Fire Wine] symbol through it and reconsidered its meaning.
• Lan Qingyou reasoned that the symbol might mean offering herself to the Magic Array, but she could not figure out how.
• Lan Qingyou decided to seek inspiration outside and flew out of the Alchemy Workshop on her Broom.
• A gust of wind scattered and overlapped the Magic Arrays in the workshop, and Lan Qingyou noticed a peculiar effect.

Lan Qingyou discovered that the Full Map was a living Time Magic Array whose hidden sub-arrays rotated its symbols into their true positions. She realized that its central [Fire Wine] represented the creator’s self-ascension into a higher dimension, a process that also meant death.

• Lan Qingyou examined the Full Map after the fluttering Magic Paper gave her a new insight and found subtle errors in the symbols’ positions.
• Lan Qingyou worked through her notes, cursed the array’s designer, then cut out and rotated the map’s symbols until they aligned correctly.
• Lan Qingyou realized that about thirty-three hidden sub-arrays had moved the symbols with magic power and vanished when the main array was damaged.
• Lan Qingyou understood that the aligned [Fire Wine] symbol represented self-ascension, letting the creator use their own self as a reference point for time.
• Lan Qingyou concluded that the array’s creator had chosen this method under pressure, despite ascension into a higher dimension also meaning death.

Lan Qingyou figured out how the Time Magic Array worked and sent Ursula a blueprint to repair it. She planned to inscribe a simplified version onto her own body, gathered help to strengthen herself, and then received news that the Emerald Tablet had been deciphered.

• Lan Qingyou realized the sealed Tentacle of Kesuya made time accelerate as it struggled, and she sent Ursula her revised blueprint for the array.
• Lan Qingyou decided to simplify the array and inscribe it onto her body, using Alisa’s method of making herself the core of her magic.
• Lan Qingyou asked Gu Xiaobei, Ingrid, Vivian, and Ruan Qingyi for food, Rune Stones, energy Crystals, and Enchanted Items to help her body withstand the magic.
• Three days later, Lan Qingyou received a message from the Workshop Witch saying that they had deciphered the information on the Emerald Tablet.

Lan Qingyou learned that Alisa had deciphered the Emerald Tablet’s clues as coordinates beyond the Karim Continent and agreed to explore the location with her. As Lan Qingyou headed to ask Nightingale about her leg spasms, she also discussed using portal-capable witches to establish a toll-based town.

• After nearly jumping up at Alisa’s message, Lan Qingyou felt her legs twitch for about a minute and decided to ask Nightingale what it meant.
• Lan Qingyou asked Alisa about the Emerald Tablet’s thirteen clues, and Alisa explained that her calculations pointed somewhere beyond the Karim Continent.
• Lan Qingyou told Alisa about the larger continent beyond Storm Island, reassuring her that her coordinates might be correct.
• Alisa invited Lan Qingyou to explore the location, and Lan Qingyou agreed to join once she had handled another matter.
• As Lan Qingyou flew toward Nightingale’s shelter, she asked Alisa how many witches could open portals, and Alisa offered to send Artificial Human witches to help build a toll-based town.

Lan Qingyou visited Nightingale Hospital, where she caught Nightingale smiling while playing with children and photographed her. After Nightingale warned her not to share the picture, Lan Qingyou explained that her legs had been trembling and asked for a checkup.

• Lan Qingyou suggested that Alisa could turn her racial magic into a paid service that would benefit the Black Witches, and Alisa decided to work on it while Lan Qingyou was busy.
• Lan Qingyou arrived at Nightingale Hospital and found Nightingale playing with a group of little girls.
• Lan Qingyou photographed Nightingale smiling, then helped the girls fly using her Gravity Talent.
• Nightingale threatened to put bitter Kuningding juice in Lan Qingyou's medicine if she shared the photos, and Lan Qingyou promised she would not.
• Lan Qingyou told Nightingale that her leg muscles had twitched for about a minute, and Nightingale asked her to describe the trembling.