Chapter Summaries

Mark told Thor that Elf Valley was sealed and recounted how his group found an elven Palace whose living contents suddenly came alive. The memory overwhelmed Mark, leaving Thor and his companions trying to awaken him before he could finish explaining what happened.

• Mark’s palm-mouths revealed they were Grudge Spirits from a Candle Pipe, and Mark explained that his group was trapped in Elf Valley and needed Thor’s help.
• Mark said Kongsha had entered Elf Valley with other desperate Level 2 Apprentices, searching for Hidden Crystal Substance and elven ruins.
• Mark recounted that his group found an elven Palace filled with carefully arranged, living plants but no valuables or relics.
• Mark said everything in the Palace came alive as his group prepared to leave, then froze in a distressed state from the memory.
• Herman and Agu offered to use Awaken Consciousness to revive Mark, with Thor prepared to use Consciousness Recovery if needed.

Mark told Thor how stolen treasure had triggered a deadly attack inside the Elves’ Palace, and Thor agreed to join him in finding Kongsha and the others. As they crossed the Four Seasons Forest, Thor realized they were in a World Side and noticed a crowd standing silently behind Mark.

• Herman used Tier 1 Witchcraft to awaken Mark from his confused memories.
• Mark explained that the Palace’s furnishings attacked the group over the stolen Elf treasure, and only four of the twelve people escaped after Kongsha smashed a window.
• Mark said Kongsha had asked Thor for help breaking Elf Valley’s seal, and Thor agreed to meet her and the others.
• Mark led Thor through the forest and explained that using Witchcraft above Tier 1 could draw the Elves after them.
• Thor realized the terrain no longer matched the forest they had entered, and Mark identified their location as the Four Seasons Forest’s World Side.
• Thor spotted a silent crowd standing behind Mark, who could not see them.

Thor and his companions crossed the Four Seasons Forest and found Menluo in a valley settlement, where they learned that time and the seasons behaved strangely. Thor suspected that people’s understanding of familiar things was becoming blurred, and continued questioning them while searching for a way out and an important object.

• Thor used Xiao Zao to dispel the figures crowding around Mark, though the group could not tell whether they were illusions.
• After two hours of strange phenomena in the forest, Thor and the others reached an open valley of scattered houses and found Menluo missing an eye.
• Menluo said elves had attacked him while he was eating, and he confirmed Mark’s account of what had happened in the forest.
• Menluo explained that the valley’s regions corresponded to Spring Season, Summer Season, Autumn Season, and Dead Season, whose boundaries shifted and where elves often attacked.
• Thor noticed that Mark and Menluo seemed confused about winter and decided to watch for other knowledge that had become blurred as he searched for an escape and the object he needed.

Thor explored the Elf Habitat for Hidden Crystal Substance after learning that the trapped apprentices relied on the brief Autumn Season to find food. He reunited with Kongsha, who introduced the timid Level 3 Apprentice Kaxiluo, leaving Thor puzzled by their apparent relationship.

• Menluo and Mark warned Thor about the Dead Season and explained that the apprentices hid in the Elf Habitat to evade attacks during the Autumn Season.
• Thor sent Herman to search for food and assigned Agu and An to look for Hidden Crystal Substance while he searched the houses with Morton.
• Thor and Morton searched two white wooden houses but found no Hidden Crystal Substance.
• Thor encountered Kongsha and learned that her companion Kaxiluo had advanced to Level 3 after arriving in Elf Valley.

Thor and Kongsha discussed Kaxiluo’s advancement and the possible origins of Hidden Crystal Substance before learning that Leon had disappeared. Kaxiluo and Menluo attacked each other, and Thor stopped the fight while suspecting that Kongsha and Mark had wanted one of them to die.

• Thor questioned Kaxiluo’s poor condition after her advancement, and Kongsha said that accepting a Locator had been easy after everything she knew was overturned.
• Kongsha suggested that Hidden Crystal Substance might be left behind when a Consciousness Entity collapsed.
• Herman returned with melons, mushrooms, and Earth Potatoes as summer came back to the valley.
• Kaxiluo told Mark that Leon had disappeared, then Menluo accused her of being more likely to go mad and she attacked him with Witchcraft.
• Xiao Zao restrained Kaxiluo and Menluo, and Thor threatened to turn them into Vessels until they began to calm down.
• Thor suspected that Kongsha and Mark had not tried very hard to stop the fight because they would benefit if one of the Apprentices died.

Thor discovered that Kongsha's face had somehow changed, though he and Agu remembered her as missing the upper half of her face. While searching for clues about Leon's disappearance, Thor, An, and Agu were attacked by a crowd of pale archers that vanished after they dodged; An's robe was left torn.

• Thor asked Kongsha whether the missing apprentices were dead, and she explained that they vanished after showing signs of something wrong, while Leon disappeared behind a Great Tree.
• Thor sent Morton and Herman to handle the food and search the rooms, then led An and Agu into the forest to look for where Leon had vanished.
• Thor realized Kongsha's face had changed, and Agu confirmed that he remembered her without the upper half of her face.
• Thor and Agu discussed the possibility that Kongsha's appearance or their memories had been altered, while Thor searched the area Kongsha had described.
• Thor spotted pale figures behind An and moved her out of the way as they fired a volley of arrows; the figures vanished, but An's Wizard Robe was torn.

Thor investigated the strange attacks near the Consciousness Entity and discovered that the black-robed figures were real creatures connected to Hidden Crystal Substance. After Xiao Zao swallowed a contaminated piece, Thor was ambushed by pale figures demanding their stolen treasure.

• An found a clean tear in her clothes, and Thor concluded that she had been attacked by a powerful enemy.
• Thor led An and Agu in a cautious circuit, then pursued black robes that kept appearing farther away.
• Thor had Xiao Zao ambush the black-robed figure, and the creature dropped Hidden Crystal Substance threaded with black before Xiao Zao swallowed it.
• As Thor returned to An and Agu, pale figures grabbed him and demanded that he return their treasure.
• Thor threw one pale figure over his shoulder, but more than a dozen arms reached for him as mournful voices repeated their demand.

Thor fought off a swarm of Pale Humanoids that could disappear to evade attacks, while An and Agu struggled against the same foes. He discovered that Tier 2 Witchcraft Flash Dust forced the figures to vanish, giving them a way to escape the encirclement.

• Morton and Herman heard an explosion and hurried into the woods, while Kaxiluo, Mark, Menluo, and Kongsha stayed behind.
• Thor blasted a Pale Humanoid with Flame Orbs, then used Touch of Abuse to try to clear a path through the surrounding figures.
• Thor realized the Pale Humanoids vanished to evade attacks and used Touch of Abuse to break out of their encirclement.
• Thor found An and Agu surrounded by Pale Humanoids and recognized that the figures became physical only when attacking.
• Thor burned a Tier 2 Witchcraft Flash Dust Scroll, causing the Pale Humanoids touched by its golden dust to vanish.
• Thor tossed another Flash Dust Scroll toward An and Agu, allowing them to disperse the figures around them.

Thor, An, and Agu escaped the Pale Humanoids by reaching the forest’s edge, where they discovered the Dead Season and a distant Palace. When the Humanoids appeared behind them, Thor chose to enter the barren land.

• Agu used Flash Dust and An used blood threads to help Thor reach a clearing while they fled the Pale Humanoids.
• Thor checked their damaged Consciousness Entities, then carried An onward with Agu as they searched for a way out of the forest.
• They found the boundary of the Dead Season and saw a Palace several kilometers away.
• Thor wondered whether the Diary’s clues about Madness and Kongsha’s strange face connected to the Palace’s missing treasure, but Agu warned against entering while they were injured.
• An spotted Pale Humanoids appearing behind them, and Thor ordered the group into the Dead Season.

Thor, An, and Agu entered Dead Season and were attacked by enormous black tentacles emerging from the ground. An held the creatures back long enough for Thor and Agu to run toward the Palace, but a massive tentacle struck her down.

• Thor saw motionless figures at the forest’s edge and led the group toward the Palace while staying near the forest boundary.
• Black tentacles erupted from the shifting ground, attacking Thor and Agu; Thor pulled Agu out of the path of a crushing strike.
• An realized the tentacles were reacting to fluctuations in Magic Power and used strands of blood to draw them away from Thor.
• As the ground became a vast mass of writhing tentacles, An opened a path toward the Palace and urged Thor and Agu to run.
• Thor and Agu raced toward the Palace while An held back the tentacles, but a huge tentacle slammed her into the ground.

Thor and Agu escaped the Black Tentacles into an endless sequence of halls inside the palace and explored deeper into the strange building. Outside, the Wizard Apprentices saw the Ancient Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp rise over the mountains, while Thor and Agu reached two bizarre staircases and had to choose which to take.

• Thor entered the palace with Agu, checked An's Black Page in the Diary, and resolved to explore the halls.
• Thor identified the attackers as powerful Soul-Devouring Demon Swamps and followed a familiar presence deeper into the palace with Agu.
• Kaxiluo panicked, Menluo pleaded for the stolen treasure to be returned, and Mark considered searching for Thor before Kongsha challenged his motives.
• Black Tentacles rose above the distant mountains, and Mark wondered what Thor had done to awaken the Ancient Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp.
• Thor and Agu explored nine increasingly furnished Circular Halls until they found a black door and two strange staircases.

Thor climbed the Palace’s abnormal staircase and traversed a series of rooms that distorted gravity and reality before reaching a white Throne in an empty expanse. From the Throne, he saw a black-and-white planet that appeared to be his world, including its continents and the northern mountain range.

• Thor climbed the right-hand staircase, where gravity shifted with its angle, and entered a strange space that Agu could no longer see into.
• A chair and footstool restrained Agu and carried him away while Thor explored rooms filled with floating, scattered, and distorted objects.
• Thor closed his eyes in the sixth room as the sights disturbed his spirit, then continued through the remaining rooms by carefully using Mental Power.
• Thor reached the ninth room, where a white Throne stood at the end of a red carpet and called to him in unintelligible words.
• The red carpet vanished behind Thor, revealing a starry sky and a slowly rotating planet whose continents matched the world described in his book.

Thor discovered that the far side of the Black and White Planet was a vast hollow capable of exploding and unleashing devastating tsunamis. Back in the white room, he learned that Penny was with the elves and needed him to recover the Elf King's Head from Kongsha, while he planned how to exploit the rival group’s divisions.

• Thor saw the Black and White Planet turn to reveal an enormous hollow, which exploded and sent tsunamis toward Stat Continent and Nephrite Continent.
• Thor returned to the white room and found Penny speaking from the Woven Painting on the Pure White Throne; she said she was with the elves and asked for his help.
• Penny revealed that Kongsha was wearing the stolen Elf King's Head and said returning it to the Pure White Throne would let them leave Elf Valley.
• Thor agreed to recover the Elf King's Head after Penny promised the elves would grant him access to a more valuable prize, and she offered Hidden Crystal Substance to stabilize his spiritual body.
• Thor considered Kongsha’s ties to Mark, Menluo, and Kaxiluo, and realized revealing the treasure could disrupt their alliance and give him an opportunity.

Thor returned from the Palace and told the Wizard Apprentices that they could leave Elf Valley by entering it again. He claimed the Palace’s Pure White Throne could control the valley, leaving the others to consider his plan.

• Thor found that the Twisted Staircase had made the normal staircase disappear, and Agu revealed that he had recovered two pieces of Hidden Crystal Substance.
• Thor and Agu left the Palace and found that the tentacles and other hostile creatures had vanished from the valley.
• Morton and Herman met Thor, and the group returned to the White House to speak with the four Wizard Apprentices.
• Thor spread his Mental Power to show that his Consciousness Entity was stable, while secretly testing the four apprentices with a message.
• Thor said the apprentices would have to enter the Palace to leave Elf Valley and claimed its Pure White Throne could give its occupant some control over the valley.

Thor persuaded the others to join him in seeking the Pure White Throne as a way out of Elf Valley, then learned that Agu had been sworn to deliver something hidden in his brain to a Half-Elf. Thor concluded that Kongsha had taken the Elf King’s Head from the Throne and suspected others had also been bound by the Palace’s dark presence.

• Thor offered to lead the group to the Pure White Throne and open a passage out of the valley, and Kongsha, Menluo, Mark, and Kaxiluo agreed to go with him.
• Thor questioned Agu, who revealed that voices in a black space had hidden something in his brain and sworn him to deliver it to a Half-Elf.
• Agu said the voices had given him Hidden Crystal Substance and claimed it could be made from the bodies and souls of those who died in the valley.
• Thor explained how the Twisted Staircase led to the Pure White Throne and reasoned that Kongsha had been able to climb it.
• Thor accused Kongsha of taking the Elf King’s Head from the Throne, and he told Agu that others were likely bound by similar oaths.

Thor led the Wizard Apprentices through the forest toward the Elf Palace, using Scrolls and Magic to break through the Pale Humanoids. After Kongsha tried to stop him at the Dead Season, Kaxiluo raced ahead toward the Palace, and Thor warned her to take the Twisted Staircase.

• Thor led the Wizard Apprentices into the forest, where the Pale Humanoids pursued them and blocked their way.
• Thor used Flash Dust and Lesser Flame Orb Scrolls to break through the Pale Humanoids and reach the Dead Season.
• Kongsha attacked Thor with an Ice Blade and rising ground, forcing him back into the forest.
• Thor fought his way through the Pale Humanoids again and returned to the Dead Season, where Kongsha advanced cautiously.
• Kaxiluo raced toward the Palace entrance, and Thor urged her to go to the back of the main hall and take the Twisted Staircase.

Thor was attacked by Kongsha and the Ancient Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp after Kaxiluo was killed at the Palace doors. Kongsha cleared Thor’s Gray Mist and discovered that the wounded figure inside was Agu, while Thor’s fate remained unclear.

• Menluo screamed in the forest, and Herman returned to Thor’s Diary as Kaxiluo approached the Palace doors.
• A sharp post thrust through the doors, and the Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp pierced Kaxiluo twice before she burst into flames.
• Thor fled the tentacles into Gray Mist, while Kongsha ordered more tentacles to strike into the cloud.
• Kongsha watched the mist and saw Thor’s two Black-scarf Guards trapped among the Pale Figures, then noted that Mark had killed Menluo and escaped.
• Kongsha swept away the Gray Mist and found Agu badly wounded beside a Crying Face Gold Coin.

Thor escaped Kongsha and the Ancient Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp by reaching the Palace, where he learned Kongsha had pursued Hidden Crystal Substance to advance and had gained a valuable treasure. When Kongsha invoked the King's command and the swamp’s tentacles entered the Palace, the force that had held Elf Valley in balance broke, unleashing a battle between the swamp and the White Figures.

• Thor used the Double-Sided Coin to switch places with Agu, who taunted Kongsha before she killed him with a tentacle.
• Morton raised a wall to shield Thor, but the Ancient Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp broke through and impaled him while Thor reached the Palace.
• Thor confronted Kongsha from inside the Palace, and she revealed that Hidden Crystal Substance came from Apprentices’ corpses and that she had gained an even more precious treasure.
• Kongsha ordered the swamp to seize Thor and invoked the King's command, prompting its tentacles to enter the Palace.
• An invisible shockwave swept through Elf Valley, awakening the White Figures and sparking a violent battle between them and the swamp’s tentacles.

Thor reached the Palace’s ninth hall, where the Black Room appeared and forced a mysterious command into his mind. After the black-and-white vision shattered, Thor returned to the hall and was pinned to the floor by an ice spike.

• Thor fled Kongsha’s assault through the Palace while its living furniture held back the Ancient Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp’s tentacles.
• Thor reached the ninth hall and found both staircases gone as Kongsha advanced from the eighth hall.
• The hall transformed into a dark space resembling the Consciousness Platform, where disembodied voices ordered Thor to take the King, leave the valley, and find the Half-Elf.
• Penny warned Thor not to take it outside, and Agu recognized the space as the Black Room that had once given him a command.
• Thor’s black-and-white vision shattered, returning him to the ninth hall, where an ice spike pierced his arm and pinned him to the floor.

Thor fought Kongsha, who used the Elf King's Head and her own Mental Power to overwhelm and pin him down. As Kongsha revealed her resentment toward Gorsa and the experiments that transformed her, she stopped Thor from completing his Witchcraft Array and left him immobilized.

• Thor used Soul Fishing against Kongsha while the Pure White Throne held back the Ancient Soul-Devouring Demon Swamp with frost.
• Kongsha detonated her own Mental Power to disrupt Thor's attempt to form the Consciousness Battlefield, then pinned him with Ice Spikes.
• Kongsha stood over Thor and asked whether he found her beautiful; Thor replied that the Elf King was beautiful.
• Kongsha explained that Gorsa had altered and abandoned her after his Resurrection Experiment failed, leaving her unable to advance to level three.
• Kongsha spotted Thor secretly trying to free his hand and drove another Ice Spike into his wrist, exposing his Witchcraft Array.