Chapter Summaries

Thor realized the Tower was inverted and began descending toward what he believed was its top. Meanwhile, Shadow Monsters overwhelmed the manor, and Lucy and Red Beard fled after the creatures killed a Butler.

• Thor worked out that the footsteps came from people walking on the ceiling and that the room he had reached was the Tower’s lowest floor.
• Thor had Xiao Zao bind the little girl in a Cocoon again and started downstairs with her.
• A swarm of Shadow Monsters attacked Lucy, Red Beard, and the others, killing a female Butler by dissolving her body.
• Red Beard threw another female Butler at the Shadow Monsters as a distraction and ran, while Lucy fled after him.

Lucy escaped the manor’s illusion and regained her Magic Power, but the manor’s Corruption began affecting her and Brando. They saw Kismet at a shattered window after he apparently killed the Blue-Haired Wizard.

• Lucy guessed the manor contained separate spaces and discussed the illusion with Brando, who suspected they were trapped in a Consciousness World.
• Lucy prayed to Alik and unleashed lightning, escaping the storage room alone while Brando remained behind as Shadow Monsters attacked the door.
• Lucy returned to the manor foyer, found Brando and Durut still there, and watched Durut and part of Brando crumble into fragments.
• Lucy struck Brando to wake him, and he recovered, but a force from the manor began filling them both with violent thoughts.
• Lucy warned Brando that Corruption was affecting him, then they saw the Blue-Haired Wizard’s corpse fall from a window and Kismet appear above them.

Lucy and Brando resisted Kismet’s attack and traced the Corruption in Old Days Manor to the Tower, while Thor found that the manor’s Radiation had intensified. Thor pulled a mutated face from a bloodstain and identified it as the manor’s original owner.

• Lucy held back from attacking Kismet, but his harp shattered her protective barrier and forced her and Brando back into Old Days Manor.
• Lucy and Brando felt the Corruption grow stronger inside the manor and decided to seek its source in the Tower.
• Thor descended to an underground room, where intense Radiation disrupted his thoughts and magic.
• The girl restrained by Xiao Zao melted into flesh that crawled into a dark bloodstain, and Thor sent Xiao Zao away.
• Thor formed a gray Tentacle, pulled a rotting face from the floor, and recognized it as the mutated original owner of Old Days Manor.

Thor extracted some of the Pollution from the Witch, restoring part of her sanity and learning how she had been abandoned after her failed research. A Tier 3 Wizard’s arrival destabilized the manor’s apparent Dreamscape, briefly revealing a bloodied room and the Witch’s corpse beside a Giant Rat.

• Thor extracted the Witch’s Pollution and found that her Alienation was not completely irreversible.
• The Witch told Thor that her Magic Power had backfired, and her friends and later visitors had sealed her away instead of helping her.
• After the Witch claimed the manor and its inhabitants as her playthings, Thor realized the room was part of her playroom and that they were being controlled.
• A powerful presence entered the space, and Thor recognized that a Tier 3 Wizard had arrived, likely Pearl.
• The manor’s illusion flickered, revealing a wrecked room, the Witch’s mangled corpse, and a Giant Rat with blood on its mouth.

Thor killed the giant rat that had been distorting space in the Old Days Manor and found a Pollution Source in its remains, but it was not the Wind Eye. After space returned to normal and Witchcraft clashed nearby, Thor sensed a spiritual fluctuation from the black stain and wondered whether the manor’s owner was still there.

• Thor exposed the Black Woman as a decoy and attacked the hidden giant rat when his blades struck an invisible corner.
• The rat dragged Xiao Zao into its mouth and tried to escape through shifting space, but Thor used Soul Projection to stop the spatial change and overwhelm it.
• Xiao Zao killed the giant rat and returned with the Blue-Haired Wizard’s monocle, while Thor found a Pollution Source in the rat’s corrupted soul.
• Space returned to normal, the manor’s corpses began rotting, and fighting erupted near the spiraling staircase.
• Thor approached the black stain on the ceiling and sensed that the manor’s owner might still be present.

Thor encountered the Witch as her consciousness vanished, then joined Lucy in facing Kismet, who had turned violently against the others under the effects of chaotic Radiation. Thor used Soul Projection to protect Lucy, and the chapter ended as silent wind chimes appeared above them while Kismet prepared another attack.

• The Witch told Thor she welcomed freedom even if it meant death, then vanished as the Corruption binding her crumbled.
• Lucy entered the basement and attacked Thor with lightning before recognizing him and explaining that chaotic Radiation had driven the group to attack one another.
• Kismet appeared at the door and Lucy said he had destroyed Red Beard's body, badly wounded Brando, and chased her.
• Kismet's sonic attack shattered Lucy's lightning defense, injured her, and left Thor unable to hear.
• Thor attacked Kismet with Soul Projection, created a second version of himself, and moved between Kismet and Lucy.
• Milky-white wind chimes appeared silently above them as Kismet prepared another sonic attack.

Clark trapped Thor and Pearl in a Dreamscape after appearing during the fight with Kismet. Thor realized Pearl had been caught in the dream and tried to distract Clark so she could escape and attack him.

• Clark's wind chimes disrupted the room, and Kismet escaped while Lucy collapsed from the sound attack.
• Thor healed Lucy and offered her a potion, but Clark suddenly seized Thor by the throat and prevented him from using Witchcraft.
• Lucy and Pearl asked Clark to release Thor, but Clark revealed he knew Thor and Pearl were conspiring against him and threatened to eat Thor's soul.
• Pearl transformed into a whirlwind and seemed to kill Clark and Thor, but Ophelia revealed that the deaths were part of Clark's Dreamscape.
• Pearl called for Ophelia to help her escape the Dreamscape, but Ophelia fell silent, while Thor pretended to panic to distract Clark.

Clark subdued Thor and began probing his extraordinary talent, sending him into a dream of his past. Thor relived his Apprentice test, where a strange voice awakened his power, and the chapter left him confronting a Dream Maker in his own Dreamscape.

• Thor escaped Clark's grasp through Flesh-Spirit Fusion and tried to force Clark into his Consciousness Platform, but Clark resisted and made him fall asleep.
• Thor dreamed through memories of his life, returning to the day he took the Apprentice test with Sid and Nick.
• During the test, a strange voice told Thor that he was choosing to faint, and he overcame the puppet's mental assault as it cried, "Gorsa... killed me again!"
• Thor found himself in a grassy field, where Penny warned that someone was going to eat her, so he hid her in his Dreamscape.
• A Dream Maker confronted Thor as a sandstorm swept across the field, accusing him of playing with his Dreamscape without knowing his limits.

Thor woke from his Dreamscape after Clark screamed and collapsed, then learned that Clark had lost his sight and held crucial information about the Star Gate Council. The balance of power in the Land of No Owner was threatened because the Radiance Family’s Tier 4 Wizard was nearing death, and the Star Gate Council had sought to make Clark a successor.

• Thor awoke to find Clark curled on the ground, screaming as blood poured from his face, while Pearl and Ophelia questioned what had happened.
• Kismet killed Lucy before she could pray to Lord Alik, then warned Ophelia against letting another Tier 4 Wizard learn what had occurred.
• Ophelia revealed that she knew Thor concealed a terrifying power and warned that the world was already riddled with holes beyond repair.
• Pearl tried to kill the blinded Clark, but Ophelia stopped her and said Clark could not die yet.
• Ophelia told Thor, Pearl, and Kismet that the Star Gate Council’s second-in-command, a Tier 4 Wizard of the Radiance Family, was nearing death.
• Kismet realized the Star Gate Council had wanted to advance Clark into a Tier 4 Wizard so he could oppose the Judgment Court after the Radiance Wizard died.

Thor and the others left Clark alive after Ophelia argued that his fate should be his own to decide, then discovered that he had lost his eyes. Pearl told Thor that the manor’s anomaly was a false lure involving Abyssal Corruption, while Kismet revived Lucy and began earning her trust.

• Ophelia stopped Pearl from killing Clark, and Thor warned that the Star Gate Council might suspect them if Clark died.
• Thor found that Clark’s eyes had vanished completely, and he connected the injury to the giant from his prophetic dream.
• Pearl told Thor that the manor had no Wind Eye and that someone had likely planted Abyssal Corruption to lure the Wizards there.
• Kismet reattached Lucy’s head with silver threads, then claimed that Clark had been injured in a fight with the Wind Demon.
• Lucy told Kismet that she hated him because he had caused the deaths of two of her friends, and Kismet smiled when she could not see him.

Thor and Pearl reached the tower’s top floor, where Herbert suspected Thor of creating the Fake Wind Eye. As the survivors gathered and discussed those missing or dead, Kismet claimed the Corpse Wizard had led him to the tower before the Chaos Radiation made him attack everyone.

• Ophelia told Thor that Lucy was an artificial Witchcraft construct created by the Star Gate Speaker, though Lucy did not know her true identity.
• Thor and Pearl found Herbert, Brando, Red Beard, and other survivors at the tower’s top floor; Herbert accused Thor of being able to set up the Fake Wind Eye, but Thor denied doing so and Pearl supported him.
• Thor told Red Beard that he had found the blue-haired Wizard’s glasses and a dead rat in the basement, while Brando said Durut had died trying to escape the innermost layer.
• Lucy arrived with Kismet, and Brando questioned why she was with him; Lucy said Kismet claimed Chaos Radiation had affected him when he attacked them.
• Kismet said he had followed the Corpse Wizard to the tower and blamed the Chaos Radiation for making him want to kill everyone.

Gorsa confronted Clark in the basement after Clark’s attempt to become Tier 4 was derailed, and killed him using a simulated Abyss Vortex. Gorsa left corrupted by Abyssal energy and decided to seek help from a capable young acquaintance.

• Clark woke in the basement blind, realized he had erased some of his memories, and began planning to continue his ascension to Tier 4.
• Gorsa arrived, revealed that he was now Second Rank, and confronted Clark for targeting his student, Thor.
• Clark attacked Gorsa with Shell Wind Chimes and drew them both into a Dreamscape, where he believed he had the advantage.
• Gorsa declared that he was the light and used the interplay of light and shadow to envelop Clark and twist his consciousness, perceptions, emotions, and soul energy into a vortex.
• Gorsa returned to human form after killing Clark, noticed that Abyssal energy had begun corrupting him, and decided to visit a capable young doctor.

After Clark was found dead and headless, Herbert and Pearl suspected the missing Corpse Wizard had forged the Wind Eye and escaped Old Days Manor. Thor returned to Rhine Lake, where Marsh told him that the Former Tower Master had arrived.

• Herbert found Clark dead and headless, and Lucy confirmed that Clark had still been alive when she left him.
• Herbert concluded that Clark's killer had entered Old Days Manor with the group and ordered the manor sealed while they searched for the culprit.
• Pearl learned that Blue Hair and the Dwarf Wizard were dead, while the Corpse Wizard's body was missing, and Thor concluded that the Corpse Wizard had escaped.
• Pearl agreed to make Herbert take responsibility for tracking down the Corpse Wizard, and Thor returned to Rhine Lake with An.
• Marsh rushed out to tell Thor that the Former Tower Master had arrived.

Thor received a surprise visit from Gorsa, who found Camus hiding in the basement and explained the history of the Abyss, the Black Tide, and the Wall of Sighs. He left Thor with the warning that another large-scale Abyss eruption would destroy the world.

• Thor ordered Marsh to close the Mushroom Forest passage and sound an alarm if anyone forced their way in, then went to meet Gorsa at Rhine Lake.
• Thor led Gorsa into the Wizard Tower and down to the basement, where Gorsa recognized Camus and revealed that she had disappeared after falling into the sea beyond the Wall of Sighs.
• Camus said she had no duties because she was dead, while Gorsa explained that she had fled the Black Tide and ended up beneath Thor's tower.
• Gorsa told Thor that the Eye of the Abyss had once erupted after Wizards tried to destroy it, swallowing a continent and causing catastrophic Corruption.
• Gorsa explained how the Wall of Sighs, the Red Sea Trees, and Iskape's islands helped defend against tsunamis from the Abyss, then warned that another major eruption would destroy the world.

Gorsa explained the Star Gate Council and Judgment Court’s conflict and urged Thor to advance to Tier 3 within a year so he could represent the Council in the Land of No Owner. Meanwhile, Herbert and Pearl searched Old Days Manor and disagreed over whether Thor could become the Land’s third Tier 3 Wizard in time.

• Gorsa told Thor that the Star Gate Council wanted to support a local wizard as its representative in the Land of No Owner, then urged Thor to reach Tier 3 within a year.
• Thor asked whether Gorsa had killed Clark, and Gorsa admitted it, saying the Star Gate Council’s plans conflicted with his family’s interests.
• Gorsa explained that advancing to Tier 3 required opening a door inside the mental body to draw in and control outside elemental particles, while using the Locator and Mental Power to resist corruption.
• Herbert and Pearl found that Old Days Manor had lost its multiple-space property, concluded its creator had escaped, and issued a wanted notice for the missing Corpse Wizard.
• Pearl proposed Thor as a possible third Tier 3 Wizard for the Land of No Owner, but Herbert dismissed the idea, estimating Thor would need at least five years to advance.

Pearl and Herbert considered whether Thor could become the Land of No Owner’s next Tier 3 Wizard, while Gorsa sought the Black Sea Tree Source Justin had left with Thor. Gorsa took one leaf and revealed that the Judgment Court had turned the original Black Sea Trees into Red Sea Trees that used human lives to appease the Abyss.

• Pearl argued that Thor’s ability to cleanse Corruption and his connection to Gorsa made him a viable candidate for Tier 3 Wizard, and Herbert agreed the Star Gate Council might support him.
• Gorsa asked Thor where Justin had gone, and Thor explained that Justin had died after being interrogated by the Fake Wind Demon and Herbert.
• Thor admitted that Justin had left him a seed, and Gorsa found the Black Sea Tree Source sprout in the basement.
• Gorsa said Thor resisted the Black Tide’s Corruption unusually well, then took one leaf from the sprout as his tuition.
• Gorsa explained that the Judgment Court had modified Black Sea Trees into Red Sea Trees, which used human lives to appease the Abyss.

Gorsa explained that No Man’s Land faced the threat of the Abyss and its Black Tide, then left after Thor treated his Corruption. Thor reflected on how easily he could be pulled into danger, and Brando arrived three days later while Pearl was still absent.

• Gorsa told Thor that No Man’s Land was a likely site for the Eye of the Abyss, where Minor Tides had erupted and an Anchor Point could hasten the Abyss’s arrival.
• Gorsa revealed that he had killed Clark and asked Thor to treat the Corruption in his twisted wrist; Thor absorbed the Black Tide Pollution and sealed his blackened finger away.
• Gorsa said he had finished his business in No Man’s Land and vanished, leaving Thor to reinforce the Pollution’s containment and reconsider his role as a bystander.
• Thor waited for Gorsa to get far away, then recounted the events to Byron, Camus, and the Consciousness Entities, but Pearl did not appear.
• Brando arrived on the third day.

After entering Thor’s Consciousness Space, Brando left delighted, believing he had found a way to advance, but Thor saw a strange multicolored eye open on the back of Brando’s head. Thor recalled a similar mutation in Kent and grew concerned as Brando departed with Jiajiagu.

• Brando visited Thor and asked to enter his Consciousness Space again.
• Thor used a prepared Scroll to bring Brando into the Consciousness Space, where Brando fainted after trying to stay conscious.
• After waking, Brando thanked Thor, said he had found a new goal, and hurried away to conduct an experiment.
• Thor spotted a multicolored eye opening on the back of Brando’s head and told Byron that something was wrong with him.
• Thor remembered that Kent’s corpse had mutated after leaving the Consciousness Space and decided to examine himself more carefully.
• Outside the Mushroom Forest, Brando told Jiajiagu that he had found a direction to pursue and called him Thor’s friend.

After influencing Jiajiagu, Brando left him to continue toward the Purification Wizard Tower as a strange eye emerged from a Seam on Jiajiagu’s head. In the Radiance Family’s hidden council, Norton accepted Gorsa’s choice of Thor as a candidate for Tier 3 advancement and ordered Thor to compete against candidates backed by Keri and Alik.

• Brando touched Jiajiagu’s head, and Jiajiagu decided he no longer minded because they were friends.
• Jiajiagu continued toward the Purification Wizard Tower while a Seam opened on his invisible head and revealed a Seven-Colored eye.
• Norton learned that Gorsa had killed Clark and said Radiance’s lost Tier 4 Wizard would have to be replaced by Radiance itself.
• Norton ordered Parker to tell Keri to prepare for advancement to Tier 3 in the Land of No Owner.
• Parker revealed that Gorsa had recommended his young student Thor for the Tier 3 selection contest.
• Norton allowed Thor to compete and told Gorsa that Keri and Alik would also put forward candidates.

Kismet visited Clark’s former home and confronted the remnant of the dead Tier 3 Wizard, while City Lord Ophelia intervened to destroy Clark’s Dreamscape. The encounter ended with Ophelia gone and Kismet weakened beneath the Great Tree.

• Kismet entered Clark’s petrified Tree House, where he found Clark’s remnant soul waiting in the empty lounge chair.
• Kismet admitted he had followed Gorsa into the Tower and watched him set up a fake Wind Eye, then let Clark’s petrification spread over his body.
• Kismet’s blood formed a sphere bearing City Lord Ophelia’s face, and Clark’s shadow vanished as she appeared.
• Ophelia caused the petrification to retreat from Kismet and warned Clark that she would erase his Dreamscape by removing every vessel for consciousness.
• Ophelia’s blood spread through the Tree House and over the Great Tree and petrified Wizards, erasing Clark’s remnant soul before she disappeared.
• Kismet climbed out from beneath the tree roots, nearly drained of moisture, and dry-heaved against a root.