Chapter Summaries

Thor waited for the Soul Tide while Andy and Parker watched him from the Broken Cliff’s shadow and considered the risks of confronting him. After discovering Andy’s probe, Thor investigated the water, found no increase in Soul Fragments, and decided to go farther out to sea himself.

• Andy and Parker discussed Thor’s strength and worried that attacking him might trigger a tracking Curse-Spell from his mentor, Gorsa.
• Andy thought she saw a butterfly near the shore, then noticed Thor stepping deeper into the sea.
• Thor asked the silver butterfly Penny what Andy had done, and Penny revealed that Andy had secretly probed him.
• Thor analyzed Andy’s probe and used his altered skin to absorb and destroy it.
• Thor found that Soul Fragment concentrations had not risen, then flew farther out to investigate the Soul Tide.

Thor searched the sea for signs of the expected Soul Tide, but found that Soul Fragment concentrations were falling instead. After meeting Senior Byron, who had discovered a sunken ship underwater, Thor descended to investigate and found the dark sea filled with glowing Soul Fragments.

• Thor flew offshore and found no increase in Soul Fragments, despite the conditions that were supposed to bring on a Soul Tide.
• A strange sphere rose from the sea and revealed itself as Senior Byron, who had absorbed another Evil Spirit and could not speak.
• Byron told Thor that he had been at sea for five days and had discovered a sunken ship underwater.
• Thor warned Byron about two wandering Wizard Apprentices on shore, then dove toward the wreck with Xiao Zao's help.
• Thor saw many glowing Soul Fragments scatter through the abyss and realized they filled the water around him.

Thor explored the shipwreck beneath the sea and recklessly absorbed the glowing soul fragments, whose impurities overwhelmed his mind before he glimpsed a thread connecting them. He surfaced after nearly drowning, and Xiao Zao carried him to safety while Senior Byron watched with concern.

• Thor learned that Penny had not left his side and wondered whether the Nightmare Butterfly had eaten during that time.
• Thor transformed his arms into Transparent Tentacles and devoured the glowing soul fragments around the shipwreck.
• The fragments filled Thor with energy and flooded his mind with memories, sounds, and emotions, but the Diary did not purify their impurities.
• Thor found a thread connecting the chaotic fragments and nearly touched it before the images and sounds vanished.
• Thor realized he was running out of air, sensed Magic Power in gray stones lodged in the wreck, and Xiao Zao swallowed them before carrying him upward.
• Thor surfaced choking on seawater, and Senior Byron watched him with concern as Minor Healing lit him.

Thor and Byron discovered a strange gray substance that attracted Soul Fragments and began collecting it to study its potential. After escaping Blue Water Bay, Thor learned that Parker and Andy had survived, while Sand arrived seeking his sister’s soul and headed toward the city.

• Thor and Byron compared the Soul Fragments and gray material they had collected, and Byron showed that a red solution made the material’s Magic Power fluctuations turn into Mental Power fluctuations.
• The gray substance attracted nearby Soul Fragments, prompting Thor to wonder whether it could serve as a Vessel for souls.
• Thor and Byron spent the night searching the seabed for more gray material, then left Blue Water Bay after resting and recovering their strength.
• Thor saw that Parker and Andy’s hiding place had been buried in a cliff collapse, and Nightmare Butterfly’s voice suggested they had escaped after being struck by her trick.
• Sand arrived at Blue Water Bay carrying the Wicker Trunk, vowed to find his sister’s soul, and set off toward the city to seek work.
• On his way, Sand saw a group of children heading toward the sea and thought of meeting Miduo again.

Thor returned to the Wizard Tower, transferred Herman into a new female body, and planned to observe Hayden’s checkup with Mentor Rum. On his way there, Thor found another Dead Man Flower and learned from An that Luokai had taught Angela the sacrificial ritual.

• Thor moved Herman into a new female corpse, and Herman began adjusting to the body before Hayden arrived.
• Thor introduced Herman as Aman, then questioned him and Hayden about their experiences entering new bodies and planned further experiments with Gray Matter.
• Hayden asked to miss the next morning’s work to attend his regular checkup with Mentor Rum, and Thor decided to go along and observe.
• Thor headed toward the East Tower and saw a young male servant he had once lived with transformed into a Dead Man Flower.
• Thor asked An whether it had taught Angela the ritual, and An denied it and named Luokai as Angela’s teacher.

Thor learned that Luokai may have exploited the Mutual Aid Society and its members, then joined Mentors Kazi and Rum for a soul-infusion experiment. He discovered that the artificial vessels accumulated stone-like impurities that could make them decay, leaving him wondering whether all such vessels would eventually rust.

• Thor questioned An about Luokai's role in Angela's offering and suspected Luokai might also have been involved in Annie's death and Billy's actions.
• Thor connected Luokai's work with Grudge Spirits to the Magic Arrays he had seen near Mofan Town and Lakeside Cottage, and resolved to search Lakeside Cottage more thoroughly.
• Thor met Hayden outside Mentor Rum's quarters, where Hayden said his Second Personality had warned that avoiding the Corruption would make it come faster.
• Mentor Kazi began operating on a soul-infusion vessel, removing stone-like growths from its arm before asking Thor to continue the work.
• Thor used his Semi-Immersive Meditation Method to spot numerous tiny impurities in the vessel and realized they might cause the artificial bodies to decay from within.

Thor helped Kazi and Rum examine soul-infusion experimental subjects, then learned that their scheduled examinations were ending because the experiment was being terminated. Hayden left without panic after Thor reassured her, and Rum hinted that the Tower Master might explain a breakthrough in the Resurrection Experiment if he chose to tell Thor.

• Thor watched Rum remove an experimental subject’s skull and inspect the dwindling foam used in place of brain matter.
• Rum told a male Apprentice that his examinations were over, and the confused subject left the room.
• Hayden completed her examination, saw Thor nod to reassure her, and left without pleading.
• Rum praised Hayden’s trust in Thor, while Thor wondered how he could keep her safe after the examinations stopped.
• Rum told Thor that the soul-infusion experiment was being terminated so the mentors could focus on a new breakthrough in the Resurrection Experiment.
• Rum said Thor could ask the Tower Master about the breakthrough, if the Tower Master thought he could tell him.

After learning that a Thousand-Eyed Banshee’s eyes had been used in soul infusion, Thor sought out Kongsha, who had vanished from the tower. Menluo revealed that Kongsha had left something for Thor, then pulled something invisible from his own eye socket and invited Thor to take it.

• Thor left Mentor Rum and Mentor Kazi, told Hayden to rest and review his Corpse Room skills, and assigned him to observe experiments on Aman.
• Thor connected Mentor Rum’s soul infusion work to Kongsha’s new skull of eyeballs and went to look for her.
• Menluo told Thor that Kongsha had been gone from the tower for a long time and might have died, but that she had left something for him.
• When Menluo could not find Kongsha’s gift, he went into his room and tore out one of his eyeballs.
• Menluo discarded the damaged eyeball, reached into the empty socket, and extended his apparently empty fingers to Thor, telling him to take it.

Thor received a Hidden Crystal Substance that Kongsha had left for him, along with a message directing him to find her east of Chuishou Valley. The Diary issued a distant death warning connected to his choices, and Thor decided he would visit after the snow melted.

• Penny revealed that the substance Menluo was holding was Hidden Crystal Substance and explained how Thor could keep track of it by storing it in his flesh.
• Thor took the Hidden Crystal Substance from Menluo, who said Kongsha had left it for him and told him to find her on the cliffs east of Chuishou Valley.
• Penny identified the destination as the Four Seasons Forest, also known as Elf Valley.
• The Diary gave Thor a far-off death warning, prompting him to take the warning seriously while saying he would go when he needed to.
• Menluo advised Thor to wait until the snow melted, and Penny explained that the Four Seasons Forest could not be entered during snowy weather.

On April 4, 317 Shuoyue Calendar, Thor completed Witchcraft Arrays on his palms to prepare for a journey to Elf Valley and the dangerous Elf relic. As he readied himself to leave the Wizard Tower, a message ordered him to come out.

• Hayden drew the two halves of Thor's Consciousness Platform Array on his palms, and Thor completed them himself.
• Thor explained that the Arrays would let him enter the Consciousness Platform, where he could use the Diary and his Consciousness Entities to resist the Elf relic.
• Thor tested the finished Arrays and soaked his hands in medicinal solution to stabilize them.
• Thor reflected on the Wizard Tower's tense atmosphere as Mentor Rum's Resurrection Experiment made a breakthrough and mobilized its apprentices.
• The Message Quill wrote two words on Thor's parchment: "Come out!"

Sol reunited with Keli, who gave him a birthday gift containing her newly developed radioactive toxin, which he named Alpha. After Keli left, Sol discovered Byron had been lurking nearby and listening to their conversation.

• Sol opened the Bronze Gate and greeted Keli, noticing her golden hair and other changes after months apart.
• Keli gave Sol a sealed pendant containing her radioactive toxin and admitted she was still working on its antidote.
• Sol named the toxin Alpha, and Keli left after asking him to get her a birthday present.
• Sol heard footsteps in the corridor and confronted Byron, who emerged from the darkness and said he had not meant to eavesdrop.

Thor received Byron’s Gray Matter research notes and learned that Byron was nearing advancement to Official Wizard. After reflecting on his own progress and returning to the Second Warehouse, Thor heard a mental suggestion urging him to smash the glass pendant on Keli’s Alpha Necklace.

• Byron gave Thor his Gray Matter Research Notes as repayment for a debt and a birthday gift.
• Thor learned that Byron had used Gray Matter to make a potion that increased Mental Power and helped him approach becoming an Official Wizard.
• Thor recalled that his own Mental Power already exceeded the Official Wizard threshold and that repeated trips to Blue Water Bay had strengthened him, though no Soul Tide appeared.
• Thor saw Banbu working at Blue Water Bay, then stopped returning after absorbing nearly all the glowing Soul Fragments.
• Thor entered the Second Warehouse with the Alpha Necklace and saw Nick transmitting the suggestion, “Smash it.”

Thor found Hayden’s body collapsing from crystallization and offered to seal him in a solution while attempting to cleanse the Corruption in his Spirit Body. Hayden accepted the uncertain treatment, and as the solution submerged him, he slipped into a dream of his childhood.

• Thor found crystals emerging from Hayden’s eyes, ears, neck, and mouth, and realized his body was failing after the Spirit Body infusion experiment.
• Thor explained that he could dissolve the crystals and try to cleanse Hayden’s Spirit Body, but the process could leave him unable to move and might never let him wake.
• Hayden and his Second Personality both agreed to take the risk, and Thor prepared the solution and cut away the largest crystals.
• Thor lowered Hayden into the solution and told him to sleep and have a good dream.
• Hayden dreamed he was a boy lying in the Small Garden at home, where he refused his father’s threat to stop him from applying to the Wizard Tower.

Sol continued his experiments on Hayden and developed a plan to restore Lady Ula by extending the time before a soul’s rejection of an unfamiliar body. He ended by examining the Alpha Necklace Keli had given him before his planned trip to Elf Valley.

• Sol submerged Hayden in corrosive solution, confirmed he was asleep, and recorded his condition while Penny maintained a dream around him.
• Sol explained that he had developed containers for Spirit Bodies that reduced rejection and could delay it for up to half a year, and he aimed to extend that period beyond ten years.
• Sol reasoned that Lady Ula’s rejection and repeated transfers had worsened her soul’s Corruption, and he devised a repeating cycle of temporary bodies and recovery as a roundabout form of resurrection.
• Sol withheld his theory from Gorsa until he could verify it after returning from Elf Valley.
• Sol took out Keli’s Alpha Necklace and decided to study it for a possible antidote in case someone else could use it against him.

Thor traveled toward Elf Valley with four Consciousness Entities inhabiting corpses, preparing for the dangers ahead and studying Witchcraft along the way. After reaching the dense forest beyond Chuishou Valley, his group continued on foot and encountered an apparent figure in the shadows.

• Thor took four corpses from the Second Warehouse and placed the Consciousness Entities Herman, Morton, Agu, and An into them before leaving the tower.
• Agu advised Thor not to make Gray Matter Potion on the way because excess Mental Power might attract unwanted attention near Elf Valley, so Thor set the idea aside.
• Thor and the Consciousness Entities spent several days traveling through the woods while he meditated and studied Witchcraft.
• The carriage reached the forest beyond Chuishou Valley, where the group left it and continued on foot, with Xiao Zao left to guard it.
• Herman spotted someone standing beneath the branches and shadows and called out to the others.

Thor and his companions encountered Mark, who claimed he had come to guide them into the valley and revealed that Menluo was there as well. After Mark said Thor was already in the valley, they experienced an impossible fall and arrived in the Four Seasons Forest.

• Morton parted the soil and plants, revealing Mark standing motionless and facing the Wizard Tower.
• Mark said he had been waiting to take Thor into the valley and showed a Hidden Crystal Substance concealed in his palm.
• Mark listed people in the valley, including Menluo and Mark, then claimed Thor was there too.
• Thor and the Consciousness Entities suddenly felt themselves falling, though the scenery stayed still, and they landed without serious injury.
• Mark welcomed Thor and his companions to the Four Seasons Forest.

Wilde and Ula discussed Thor’s path into the Four Seasons Forest and Gorsa’s unusual concern for him. An extraordinarily beautiful Half-Elf arrived at the Land Boat and announced they had been asked to kill everyone aboard.

• A cloaked newcomer told Wilde that Thor had gone west into the forest with Kongsha, who held the Key to Elf Valley.
• The newcomer revealed herself as Ula and warned Wilde to stay away from Thor, saying Gorsa had asked her to follow him.
• Ula said she had called the approaching stranger to kill Wilde, then vanished into the ship’s shadow as Wilde staged an attack.
• A powerful stranger approached the Land Boat, and Wilde ordered them to stop before they came within Slender Ghost Shadow’s range.
• The stranger said someone had asked them to kill everyone aboard and revealed they were a Half-Elf.
• The First Mate rallied the crew, while the Half-Elf looked toward Elf Valley and said they would begin because they were in a hurry.

The Half-Elf devastated Wilde’s escort ship with Corruption and pursued him after Wilde fled toward Chuishou Valley. Kismet tried to stop the Half-Elf, but Gorsa intervened, leaving Gorsa and Kismet to clash over Gorsa’s apparent use of the Dark Attribute.

• The Half-Elf’s Corruption drove the escort ship’s crew and Slender Ghost Shadows mad, while Wilde tore at his own face and hair.
• Wilde fled toward Chuishou Valley after learning that Gorsa had sent the Half-Elf, and the Half-Elf transformed into snow to pursue him.
• Kismet appeared and asked the Half-Elf to spare Wilde, but the Half-Elf refused to believe his excuses.
• Gorsa arrived, reminded the Half-Elf of his commission, and sent him after Wilde, then attacked Kismet with a Shadow Monster.
• Kismet shattered Gorsa’s Shadow Monster with his Harp and silent scream, then asked whether Gorsa had switched to the Dark Attribute.

Gorsa drove Kismet to leave, then spoke with the Half-Elf and Ula about death, Corruption, and the Resurrection Experiment. As the frozen Land Boat vanished, Thor and Mark fled through the Primeval Forest from approaching Elves.

• Kismet admitted he followed Thor out of curiosity, but left for Chuishou Valley after Gorsa told him Sky City and Lady Olivia wanted him back.
• The Half-Elf told Gorsa that Corruption was hastening his collapse and that he no longer wanted to live, then agreed to kick Thor out before he died.
• Gorsa questioned Ula about her conversation with Wilde and reminded her that he alone would try to resurrect her through the Resurrection Experiment.
• The Land Boat and everyone trapped in its ice sculpture melted away without a trace.
• Mark shouted that the Elves were coming and ran into the woods, so Thor followed him through the Primeval Forest.

Thor and Mark rested in a Safe Zone in Elf Valley, where Mark explained that the plants might be sleeping Elves. After Thor felt a tree trunk briefly turn into warm skin, he steadied himself and asked Mark to explain what had happened to him outside the valley.

• Thor and Mark ran through Elf Valley with the four Consciousness Entities, and Mark warned Thor that careless use of Mental Power could worsen the tremors in his spiritual body.
• Mark led Thor to a sunlit clearing and explained that the open space was a Safe Zone where they could avoid being approached unnoticed.
• Mark told Thor that the plants and grass might be sleeping Elves, and that forcefully cutting or disturbing them could wake them.
• Thor touched a tree despite Mark's warning, briefly felt its bark turn into warm, smooth skin, and pulled away in shock.
• Thor noticed Penny was missing, chose not to summon her back through the Diary, and waited in case she called for help.
• Thor asked Mark to describe his strange state outside Elf Valley and what had restored him after he entered.