Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Upgrade”

Key plot points and events

• Green outlines a plan to bring Landon City under his control by linking the Anomalies Bureau, a profitable factory, influential city leaders, and the Shadow Trade Association. Unlike in Friedenburg, the association will focus on rural tenant farmers and the countryside.
• The Shadow Trade Association begins recruiting through varied disguises and tactics, while Green monitors its progress through Soul Link.
• Green returns to Landon City and smoothly takes charge of the Anomalies Bureau. His strength, academy credentials, and rumored ties to powerful figures discourage opposition.
• Vincent’s factory begins trial production with government and Wilson Family support. It makes enchanted armor and weapons, but limited numbers of enchanters constrain output.
• Green sends the first equipment to the Mist World, rewarding the Gnoll auxiliary troops with enchanted armor and battle blades. Rota announces that the gear is a reward for bravery, inspiring the other auxiliary forces to earn similar rewards.
• Newly equipped Gnolls lead an attack on a Half-Orc tribe, routing roughly a thousand warriors with no deaths and only six minor injuries. The victory renews Green’s expansion plans.
• With his forces stronger and his Death Angel avatar available, Green expects to expand widely so long as they avoid a powerful Calamity Rank enemy. Growing Psychic Energy also enables him to advance his Meditation Method: he spends 5,000 energy to break through from level five to level six.

Character developments

• Green increasingly combines political influence, industrial production, recruitment, and military rewards to consolidate power. He is pleased with the Shadow Trade Association’s progress and deliberately uses equipment as an incentive for future loyalty and service.
• The Gnolls shift from reluctant auxiliaries to enthusiastic, motivated fighters after receiving valuable equipment and public recognition.
• The Kobolds, Lizardfolk, and Half-Orcs in Green’s auxiliary army become eager to prove themselves and earn similar rewards.
• Rota acts as Green’s commanding representative, using a brief but forceful appearance to frame the equipment as earned recognition.

Significant themes

• Power built through interconnected systems: Green’s plan ties together government authority, elite support, industry, religious recruitment, and military force.
• Rewards and loyalty: Material benefits and recognition turn reluctant troops into motivated fighters.
• Technology and military advantage: Enchanted equipment dramatically changes the balance of battle, reducing casualties while devastating an equally ranked enemy force.
• Strategic adaptation: The Shadow Trade Association adjusts its recruitment to Landon City’s rural hardship rather than copying its approach in Friedenburg.
• Growth through accumulated resources: Green converts Psychic Energy earned through expansion into a major personal breakthrough.

Character interactions

• Green gives Freya and the others broad strategic direction but leaves them room to run the Shadow Trade Association.
• Landon City’s officials and factions defer to Green, influenced by his demonstrated strength and the rumors surrounding his connections.
• Rota addresses the Gnolls on Green’s behalf, linking their bravery to the rewards and prompting envy—and ambition—among the other auxiliaries.
• The newly armed Gnolls demonstrate their loyalty and strength in battle, reinforcing Green’s plan to use future equipment as rewards for merit.

Key plot points and events

• Green advances from Mid Formal Rank to Advanced Formal Rank, raising his Meditation Method to level 6 and improving many skills. His combat power triples, though reaching Legendary rank remains a distant and exceptionally difficult goal.
• Over the following six months, Green consolidates his strength. His Graveyard’s Undead Legion reaches his mental-power limit, his auxiliary force grows beyond five thousand, and thirteen settlements come under his influence. Two Human Towns surrender and contribute troops. Green also learns of a larger city to the east, protected by Griffin Knights.
• Green’s Main World equipment factory expands to two hundred Enchanting Mages and begins developing giant armor and weapons for Cyclopes. The work is challenging, so Vincent organizes a specialist team. Green reveals a Clay Golem in giant armor as a public-facing explanation, while keeping his Cyclopes as a hidden trump card.
• The Shadow Trade Association spreads rapidly after its first follower gains a genuine Transcendent ability through prayer. It reaches over a hundred thousand followers, including people in nearby Rhine City; roughly one in twenty becomes Transcendent.
• To prevent unrest, Green places stronger new Transcendents in Landon City’s institutions. About thirty join the Anomalies Bureau, while six or seven hundred join the rebuilt Landon Knights Order, bringing it close to its intended strength. Green secures command of the order for Owen. The weakest followers are left to pursue advancement or other work on their own.

Character developments and interactions

• Green grows substantially in power and influence, but increasingly thinks strategically about managing followers and preventing the social instability he witnessed in Friedenburg City. He uses his public reputation and concealed forces to deter scrutiny while protecting his plans.
• Owen, now a level-3 Druid, becomes commander of the Landon Knights Order. His standing is strengthened by Viscount Paul’s open backing and Green’s covert support; the new believers in the order recognize him as their leader.
• Vincent takes charge of a dedicated team of engineers and enchanters to solve the difficult problem of outfitting Cyclopes.
• Mrs. Hilgaf receives the lower-tier Transcendents assigned to the Anomalies Bureau. Doctor Wilkins’s connections help Green recruit enchanters for the expanding factory.
• Green’s dealings with the surrendered town leaders bring him information about the region, while his arrangements for the Shadow Trade Association’s followers turn potential sources of disorder into a local armed force and source of manpower.

Significant themes

• Power and gradual advancement: Green’s rank-up is a major achievement, but the slow path toward Legendary status underscores how rare and arduous true advancement is.
• Faith as both belief and political force: The association offers real abilities without demanding money, yet its rapid growth creates responsibilities and risks for Green.
• Order through opportunity: Green seeks to avert rebellion by giving stronger followers a place in society, contrasting his approach with authorities who neglect their people.
• Public image and hidden strength: Green reveals enough of his power to discourage challengers while concealing his most formidable assets.
• Rebuilding amid scarcity: The weakened Anomalies Bureaus and Knights Orders reflect the wider damage left by invasion and disaster, forcing cities to improvise with limited funds and manpower.

Key plot points and events

• Black-market merchant Roddick visits Director Green with Lola to report that remnants of the Tower of Yin Spirits have resurfaced in Landon City.
• Roddick’s Spirit Sight let him see a black-robed ghost following Lockhart, a former peripheral cult member. The Bureau identified the ghost as David Tru, the Tower’s deceased pope.
• Lockhart had been seeking a meeting with Lady Shirley Will, the Dietrich Family’s representative in Landon City. Green suspects a hidden plan connects the cult and the family.
• Roddick reveals that he has suffered the same terrifying dream for more than ten days: trapped in an abandoned hospital ward, he watches ghosts while approaching footsteps seem to threaten his real death. Green recognizes it as a curse intended to kill Roddick quietly.
• Green orders Roddick to help locate David Tru and sends Lola with Mrs. Hilgaf and an Operations Unit, authorizing them to kill if the cultists resist. Green confronts Roddick’s reluctance and correctly deduces that he already knows the cult’s hideout.
• After Roddick and Lola leave, Green reflects on the danger and expects Mrs. Hilgaf to handle the mission. Then at least three Faith Lines connecting him to High-Rank Apprentice followers suddenly snap, signaling a new crisis.

Character developments and interactions

• Roddick is frightened and self-preserving, but his Spirit Sight has made him a valuable witness. Though he delays seeking help and initially withholds the hideout’s location, fear and Green’s authority force him to cooperate.
• Green shifts from calm, hospitable director to stern investigator. He reads Roddick’s evasions, takes command of the situation, and remains confident in Mrs. Hilgaf’s strength—until the severed Faith Lines unsettle him.
• Lola acts as the competent intermediary: she brings Roddick forward, confirms the Bureau’s investigation, and promptly accepts Green’s orders.
• David Tru emerges as a surviving ghost who still directs the cult’s remnants and may be pursuing an alliance with the Dietrich Family.
• Mrs. Hilgaf is presented as a powerful, increasingly devout agent whom Green trusts to lead the operation.

Significant themes

• Hidden threats and lingering consequences: The Tower’s supposed defeat has not ended its influence; its leader’s ghost and surviving followers remain active.
• Fear, coercion, and survival: Roddick’s curse makes his fear literal, while Green’s authority pushes him into a mission he desperately wants to avoid.
• Information as leverage: Roddick’s knowledge of the hideout is his last bargaining chip, but Green recognizes that he needs the Bureau’s protection.
• Faith and vulnerability: The Faith Lines bind Green to his followers, and their sudden severing exposes a weakness or danger beyond his immediate control.

Plot points and events

• Three of Green’s Faith Links suddenly snap, suggesting their owners have died or abandoned their faith. Mrs. Hilgaf is still alive but badly hurt, and Green senses the familiar aura of the Void Yin Spirit behind her distress.
• Green sends his Death Angel avatar to Martin Manor, where Mrs. Hilgaf’s Anomalies Bureau team—including Roddick—has vanished. The manor is surrounded by a supernatural miasma, and its interior has transformed into a grotesque landscape of flesh, limbs, and human heads.
• Tendrils attack Green as he approaches the main house. He cuts them apart, discovers their corrosive slime, and dispels his disguise to reveal the avatar’s true form.
• Green blasts his way inside and heads directly toward Mrs. Hilgaf, bypassing the manor’s apparent layout by smashing through floors and walls.
• He reaches a monster-filled room where he had sensed Mrs. Hilgaf and the others, but their Soul Link signals vanish. Suspecting a trap, he nevertheless presses on, confident in the avatar’s power.

Character developments and interactions

• Green responds quickly and decisively to Mrs. Hilgaf’s danger, prioritizing her rescue and acting through his powerful Death Angel avatar.
• His caution gives way to boldness because the avatar is far stronger than his ordinary body. He refuses to follow the manor’s apparent rules or let fear dictate his approach.
• Roddick’s earlier reluctance to return to the manor is explained by the horror he likely witnessed there. Green also reflects that Roddick went back only because Green ordered him to.
• Green has no direct conversation with the missing team; their connection is conveyed through Faith and Soul Links.

Significant themes

• Faith and connection: The snapped Faith Links signal death or lost belief, while the surviving link guides Green toward Mrs. Hilgaf.
• Courage and power: Green’s confidence in his avatar lets him confront danger directly rather than cautiously investigate.
• Appearance versus reality: The manor’s ordinary exterior conceals a nightmarish world within.
• Horror with a touch of humor: The grotesque setting is briefly undercut when a door meant to slam dramatically falls off its hinges.

Plot and events

• At Martin Manor, Green finds a dead maid sealed inside a giant cocoon and kills an invisible spider lurking overhead. The creature is only moderately powerful, deepening his doubts that it could have defeated Mrs. Hilgaf. He can no longer sense her through their Faith Line or Soul Link.
• Inside the manor’s main building, Mrs. Hilgaf fights Zombies and spiders while searching for her scattered team. The building has transformed into a decayed, supernatural ruin, and its monsters can appear and disappear without warning.
• The group’s guide, Roddick, suddenly goes berserk and runs upstairs. As Mrs. Hilgaf deals with a swarm of poisonous spiders and strikes an invisible giant spider, her attack brings down a weakened chandelier. When she gets back up, her nearby subordinates have vanished.
• Elsewhere, Roddick wakes in a dim room, immobilized by the same terrifying curse that haunted him before. As frightening footsteps approach, he prays to the Faith Totem Mrs. Hilgaf showed him. His sincere, desperate prayer forms a Faith Line and Soul Link with Green.
• Green senses Roddick’s danger and directly grants him a Transcendent ability. Roddick regains movement and realizes that the power he had dismissed as superstition is real.

Character development and interactions

• Green remains attentive to his followers’ safety. Unable to locate Mrs. Hilgaf, he responds immediately when Roddick’s prayer reaches him.
• Mrs. Hilgaf shows her toughness and battlefield instincts, but the manor’s shifting environment and the disappearance of her team unsettle her. She had urged Roddick to pray if he faced danger.
• Roddick changes from a faithless, self-interested merchant into a desperate believer. His prayer is sincere because he asks for no reward, and his connection to Green saves him from paralysis.
• Mrs. Hilgaf’s forceful leadership contrasts with Roddick’s fear; Green’s intervention links them despite their separation.

Significant themes

• Faith and sincerity: Roddick’s genuine prayer creates a connection where cynical belief could not.
• Supernatural danger and isolation: Martin Manor distorts space, hides threats, and separates the team.
• Power and responsibility: Green uses his ability to protect a follower when there is no time for Roddick to develop his own power.
• Combat versus the unknown: Mrs. Hilgaf can overpower many monsters, but the manor’s uncanny effects make strength alone insufficient.

Plot points and events

• Roddick regains movement in a ruined hospital ward and discovers two seemingly undead corpses in nearby beds, while heavy footsteps approach the door.
• He realizes his body has become skeletal. A message confirms that he has received Divine Grace, become a Skeleton Warrior, and gained Undead traits.
• Roddick escapes through a window when blood-red sunlight destroys the corpses. A hulking creature pursues him through a decaying corridor that transforms into a fleshy passage.
• Pale arms seize and drag him into a Flesh Wall. His prayer for help goes unanswered, but the pursuing creature eventually leaves when it can no longer find him.
• The Flesh Wall releases Roddick outside the manor, where he reunites with the surviving Anomalies Bureau Operations Unit. He has inexplicably returned to human form; Mrs. Hilgaf is missing, as are the three members who died.
• Before he can explain what happened, a gigantic face appears in the sky and opens a vortex. The force sucks in the courtyard, the people, surrounding vegetation, and finally Martin Manor itself.

Character developments

• Roddick moves from panic at becoming a skeleton to using his new body’s resilience and tireless movement to survive. His fear of death briefly diminishes, though desperation returns when the Flesh Wall traps him.
• His faith in the Deity remains strong: he prays again under mortal danger, but this time receives no immediate answer.
• His apparent return to human form is unexplained, leaving his transformation and escape unresolved.

Character interactions

• Roddick reacts to the corpses and fleeing monster as threats, but avoids confronting either directly.
• He prays to the Deity for rescue, without success.
• A blonde Operations Unit member recognizes him when he emerges in the courtyard. The reunion is cut short by the sky’s sudden attack.

Significant themes

• Transformation and identity: Roddick’s shift into an undead skeleton—and unexplained return to humanity—makes his condition uncertain.
• Survival amid escalating horror: Each apparent escape leads to a new danger, culminating in a catastrophe on a far larger scale.
• Faith and uncertainty: Divine Grace once changed Roddick’s fate, but prayer does not guarantee rescue.
• Fragile relief: The reunion with the survivors offers only a moment of hope before the giant face overwhelms them.

Key plot points and events

• Green explores Martin Manor’s main building, recognizing that its distorted space and time come from a natural nexus that its builders have used clumsily. Having lost contact with his allies, he proceeds cautiously rather than rushing.
• He reaches an intact, Psychic Energy–imbued door and opens it carefully. A ghostly woman attacks with a powerful scream, but Green’s Death Angel avatar withstands it, pulls her out, and destroys her.
• Passing through the doorway sends Green into an upside-down room. There he finds a horned figure locked in an iron cage and kills a Void Worm carrying a curse.
• Using Spirit Sight, Green discovers that the apparent demon is actually Lukadier, a Shadow Trade Association necromancer in an Anomalies Bureau uniform. She is trapped in the room and sees Green as a terrifying monster.
• Green’s Death Angel avatar’s cold, deathly radiance gives Lukadier a moment of relief and seems to cleanse her of evil corruption. Her devotion intensifies into fanatic belief.
• Although she recognizes Green as a divine apostle after his appearance changes, Lukadier remains afraid, suspecting that this rescue may be another illusion before she is trapped again.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shifts from urgency to careful investigation, showing restraint around the manor’s strange mechanisms. He recognizes Lukadier and tries to communicate, but their opposing perceptions prevent an immediate reunion.
• Lukadier moves from panic and despair to renewed, intensified faith, but her repeated experiences of apparent escape and recapture leave her deeply distrustful.
• Their encounter is shaped by a supernatural mismatch: Green sees a fellow necromancer, while Lukadier initially sees a lethal monster. The Death Angel’s aura briefly bridges that gap, though it does not erase her fear.

Significant themes

• Distorted reality and space-time: The manor’s shifting rooms and repeated traps make appearances and escape unreliable.
• Fear and misperception: Both characters’ views of one another are filtered through the manor’s supernatural effects.
• Faith amid despair: Lukadier interprets the Death Angel’s radiance as divine rescue, strengthening her belief even as trauma keeps her wary.
• Caution in the unknown: Green’s decision to observe and avoid reckless destruction reflects the danger of confronting space-time anomalies carelessly.

Key events

• Green detects Lukadier’s distress through their Soul Link, boosts her spirits with Death Psychic Energy, and confirms that he is the god she worships. He frees her and learns that her group was separated at Martin Manor; whenever she tried to escape, a huge face swallowed her and returned her to the building.
• Green senses the Void Yin Spirit watching him and retreats his consciousness to the Graveyard. He uses a fragment of the God of Nature’s Divinity to repel it, then returns to the Death Angel Clone—only to find Lukadier has vanished without a struggle.
• Concluding that the manor’s horrors may come from a force other than the Void Yin Spirit, Green considers whether David Tru, the former pontiff of the Tower of Yin Spirits, has become a spirit servant to a hidden Medium. He briefly suspects Roddick but doubts he has the abilities or aura of a Medium.
• Green detects someone using Spirit World Infiltration and follows the trail, smashing through several flesh-covered walls to reach a room lined with portraits. Though the figures look different, every portrait depicts the same man.
• Roddick rushes in, warning Green not to look at the portraits, but Green recognizes the scene as an illusion and cuts him down. Roddick’s body proves to be a rotting corpse.
• Green suspects the interruption was staged either to distract him from the portrait or to draw his attention to it. When he examines it with Spirit Sight, the painted man meets his gaze and smiles. The world then twists around Green, leaving him in an apparent supernatural trap.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shows strong concern for Lukadier, but his relief at finding her is short-lived when she disappears. He remains composed and analytical despite being shaken by the Void Yin Spirit.
• His divine power gives him a temporary defense: the fragment of Divinity makes the Void Yin Spirit retreat, but does not resolve Martin Manor’s other mysteries.
• Green increasingly distrusts the apparent explanations and events around him, testing what he sees rather than accepting it at face value.
• Lukadier is frightened and disoriented after her repeated failed escapes. Roddick appears to warn Green, but the encounter is exposed as a deceptive setup.

Significant themes

• Deception and perception: Illusions, false appearances, and uncertain motives make it difficult for Green to know what is real.
• Limits of power: Divine protection repels one threat but cannot prevent other dangers or explain the manor’s mysteries.
• Isolation and vulnerability: Lukadier’s disappearance and Green’s sudden entrapment show how easily characters can be separated and caught off guard.
• The uncanny repetition of identity: The portraits’ shared subject hints at a disturbing secret tied to Martin Manor and its history.

Plot points

• Green is pulled through the portrait by a distortion in time and space. Calm rather than alarmed, he suspects each distortion is bringing him closer to its source.
• Mrs. Hilgaf arrives with the surviving Anomalies Bureau Operations Unit after fighting their way through the manor. The ascent has been surprisingly easy, but she senses serious danger in the portrait room.
• The team is drawn through the portrait into a dark, mist-filled space. They find Roddick dead on an iron bed, his body brutally mutilated.
• A skinless, muscle-covered monster attacks from the pool of blood beneath the bed. Mrs. Hilgaf blocks it and kills it with a single precise hammer strike. The team is left to decide what to do next.

Character developments and interactions

• Mrs. Hilgaf is established as the team’s strongest Transcendent and a formidable protector. Her fervent faith in Green makes her interpret the easy climb as evidence that a divine emissary has taken the greatest danger upon himself.
• Green’s composure and determination suggest he is deliberately following the distortions toward their origin.
• The Operations Unit trusts Mrs. Hilgaf’s judgment and follows her warnings. Bayley, their leader, checks Roddick’s identity and asks her for direction after the attack.
• Roddick’s death underscores that gaining Transcendent powers did not save him from the danger surrounding the manor.

Significant themes

• Death and fate: Roddick’s earlier escape from the Dream Curse ultimately did not spare him.
• Faith and self-sacrifice: Mrs. Hilgaf’s devotion motivates her resolve to grow stronger and serve as Green’s shield and blade.
• Danger hidden beneath apparent ease: The team’s uneventful progress gives way to an inescapable spatial trap and a sudden attack.
• Strength and survival: Mrs. Hilgaf’s combat skill and defenses make her exceptionally effective against threats that could overwhelm others.

Key plot points and events

• Mrs. Hilgaf and the Operations Unit remain trapped in the strange space. She steadies the group by reminding them that their mission—to destroy the Tower of Yin Spirits’ remaining strongholds and capture its cultists—is unfinished. Reaffirming their faith and duty restores their resolve.
• Cannon fire erupts nearby. With no other clear option, Mrs. Hilgaf orders the team to investigate.
• Earlier, Green arrived in a realistic grassland facing a walled city and castle. Though the environment seems physically real, his instincts tell him it is a constructed or false space.
• Green discovers that Faith Lines connected to three dead Transcendents have reappeared, even though their souls should have gone to the Mist World’s Graveyard. Suspecting that the castle holds the spirit medium behind the trap, he flies toward it openly.
• The castle sends an attack force against him: a Ghost Dragon disguised as a living Green Dragon, fourteen Griffin Knights, a Legendary Arcane Mage, and a Legendary Wyvern Knight. The entity controlling the space names it the Nightmare Kingdom and orders them to kill Green.
• As three Legendary attacks converge, Green activates Divine Power Blessing for the first time through his Death Angel avatar. Its power nearly overwhelms his mind, but the Graveyard’s Town Hall bell rings and brings him back to his senses.

Character developments

• Mrs. Hilgaf shows leadership under pressure. Though uncertain and not naturally quick-witted, she hides her doubts to keep the unit cohesive and focused.
• Green remains cautious and analytical, investigating the space and its supernatural rules before confronting its master. Using Divine Power reveals a dangerous risk: its intensity can provoke overwhelming, violent emotions.

Significant themes

• Faith, duty, and courage: Mrs. Hilgaf uses religious conviction to counter fear and keep her team committed to its mission.
• Leadership under uncertainty: She maintains composure not because she has a solution, but because her people need direction.
• Reality and illusion: The Nightmare Kingdom feels materially real, yet Green senses it is an artificial space capable of giving spirits physical form.
• Power and control: Divine power offers Green immense strength but threatens his self-control; the bell serves as an anchor that restores his clarity.

Character interactions

• Mrs. Hilgaf questions Bayley and the team about their mission, then rallies them with a call to honor their faith and complete it.
• Green approaches the castle, effectively challenging its hidden master, which responds by revealing itself and directing its forces against him.
• Green’s connection to the Graveyard proves protective: its bell interrupts his loss of control after he invokes Divine Power.

Plot points and events

• Green’s Death Angel unleashes Divine Power Blessing, killing the Legendary wyvern knight, the Arcanist, and the young green dragon in rapid succession. The Arcanist’s Floating Orb is destroyed in the process.
• All three enemies revive in Nightmare Castle’s underground magic circle. Rebirth carries a cost: each death wears down the soul’s Divine True Spirit, and revived fighters may lose possessions.
• Hill Morleti suggests escaping Sinai’s control while the castle is threatened, but he and the others decide that staying is safer than becoming ghosts or losing their souls.
• Sinai orders the revived fighters back into battle. They distrust his confidence and plan to avoid risking themselves if fighting resumes.
• Outside the castle, Death Angel kills the Griffin Knights. Sinai retreats rather than attack, knowing that striking the projection of his face would do nothing, while attacking Death Angel directly could be dangerous.
• Nightmare Castle mobilizes more than ten thousand defenders and raises a protective screen. Death Angel approaches alone, and Sinai appears to formally address him.

Character developments and interactions

• Green recognizes both the terrifying danger and overwhelming force of Divine Power. He is frustrated when Sinai refuses to attack in a way that would expose him to harm.
• Hill Morleti shifts from a bold charge to fear and caution after witnessing the slaughter. Though he resents Sinai, fear of becoming a Ghost Dragon keeps him obedient.
• Frio and Aliotega share Hill’s doubts about Sinai’s judgment. Their banter after revival reveals their bitterness, losses, and reluctance to fight for their master.
• Sinai is revealed as controlling and overconfident, yet cautious when personally threatened. His subordinates’ lack of loyalty suggests his rule is precarious.

Significant themes

• Power and its cost: Divine Power can overwhelm Legendary opponents, but direct contact risks consuming mortals.
• Death and dependence: Revival offers another chance, but repeated deaths erode the soul and make the characters dependent on the Nightmare Kingdom.
• Fear versus loyalty: Sinai’s forces obey largely because they fear the consequences of escape, not because they trust or respect him.
• Isolation and odds: Death Angel stands alone against a fortified castle and vast army, setting up a confrontation between individual strength and massed defenses.

Key plot points and events

• Green identifies the Nightmare Kingdom as an extraordinary artifact: a self-contained spatial world whose dream-based laws distorted Martin Manor. He resolves to take it from Sinai Alfred.
• Sinai’s history is revealed. After losing his body during the Void Yin Spirit incident, he found the artifact in the Spirit World, rebuilt himself, and used its power to create a kingdom populated by gathered souls and three revived Legendary fighters.
• Sinai manipulated David Tru and the Tower of Yin Spirits into preparing a ritual to summon the Void Yin Spirit. A sudden Psychic Energy Surge disrupted the ritual, forcing Sinai to use the Nightmare Kingdom to contain it—and warping and corrupting Martin Manor.
• The Death Angel attacks the Nightmare Castle’s Defense Screen. Divine Power nearly breaks through, but the remaining energy from Green’s crystals runs out, and the screen repels the attack.
• To conserve his scarce Divine Power Crystals, Green switches tactics and summons a large undead force: rifle-carrying Skeleton Soldiers, Undead Cannons, Fallen Knights, and heavily armed Cyclopes.

Character developments

• Green remains calm and calculating. He recognizes the artifact’s value, weighs the cost of spending his limited Divine Power, and chooses a more resource-efficient attack.
• Sinai Alfred has grown arrogant and ambitious without realizing it. The artifact itself is not responsible; lingering traces of Divine Power from its former owner are corroding his judgment. Despite his confident boasts, he is privately terrified when the castle’s defense nearly fails.
• Sinai’s past reveals a rise from a low-ranking Medium Apprentice to a Formal Medium, aided by the artifact and a series of unlikely escapes and discoveries.

Character interactions

• Green calmly identifies the Nightmare Kingdom and ignores Sinai’s self-important introduction and taunts.
• Sinai mocks Green’s apparent reliance on Skeleton Soldiers, assuming they cannot threaten the castle. His laughter stops when Green summons much stronger units, particularly the six armored Cyclopes.
• Sinai’s earlier dealings with Lady Shirley Will also show her businesslike refusal to help the Tower of Yin Spirits beyond supplying materials for payment.

Significant themes

• Power and corruption: The residual Divine Power in the artifact subtly distorts Sinai’s ambitions and self-image.
• Resourcefulness over brute force: Green avoids wasting rare Divine Power and adapts his strategy.
• Ambition and self-deception: Sinai interprets his increasing arrogance as evidence of his supposedly natural “grand vision.”
• Unexpected consequences: Sinai’s attempt to control the Void Yin Spirit’s energy instead transforms Martin Manor and draws Green into conflict.

Key events

• Green assembles an intimidating force outside Nightmare Castle: six hammer-wielding Cyclopes, the Shadow Red Dragon Alshfaro, four Angels, and nearly five thousand undead and Kobold Zombies.
• Alshfaro flaunts his strength by breathing fire at the castle’s Defense Screen. The attack does not break it, but his presence frightens the defenders.
• Sixty-four Undead Cannons bombard the castle for fifteen minutes. Their shells ripple the Defense Screen but fail to penetrate it. The barrage, combined with the dragon’s display, badly damages the defenders’ morale; Sinai nevertheless mocks Green and remains confident in the castle’s protection.
• Green decides the ordinary artillery is insufficient and returns to the Graveyard. He spends over two thousand Psychic Energy to convert a huge, abandoned fortress cannon into an Undead Fortress Cannon, then buys an expensive enchanted armor-piercing shell.
• The chapter ends as Cyclopes brace the cannon against its recoil and skeleton gunners prepare it to fire.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains patient under Sinai’s taunts, reassesses his approach when the bombardment fails, and commits substantial resources to a more powerful siege weapon.
• Sinai laughs off the attack, trusting the Defense Screen and trying to provoke Green.
• Alshfaro displays his pride and ferocity, using a close approach and fiery breath to intimidate the castle’s defenders.
• The defenders are shown to fear death and powerful enemies despite their ability to revive, highlighting their vulnerability to psychological pressure.
• The Cyclopes and skeleton crews work together efficiently to maneuver and prepare the massive cannon.

Significant themes

• Fear and morale: The dragon and relentless cannon fire shake the defenders even when their defenses hold.
• Power versus protection: Green’s force looks overwhelming, but the castle’s screen withstands conventional attacks.
• Resourceful adaptation: Green turns to an unconventional, costly weapon when his first plan proves inadequate.
• The cost of escalation: The new cannon promises greater power, but its specialized ammunition consumes enormous resources.

Key plot points and events

• Green fires the Undead Fortress Cannon’s single costly armor-piercing shell at Nightmare Castle’s Defense Screen. The shell breaks through the barrier, which then collapses entirely.
• Green orders a second shot with a cheaper ordinary shell. It tears through the castle, destroying a large section and leaving a crater. Meanwhile, Field Cannons bombard the defenders, who panic and flee.
• Green’s Undead Legion advances. The Cyclopes smash through the fortress wall, opening six breaches for the army to pour through.
• Green’s forces engage the defenders: Alshfaro pursues the green dragon, while Holly and the other angels occupy the mage Frio and wyvern rider Aliotega. All three opponents retreat rather than commit to battle.
• Green discovers that Sinai Alfred, whose soul is fused with Nightmare Castle, has been badly wounded by the destruction. At the castle’s central palace, a surge of unstable Psychic Energy and spreading flesh-like growths reveal Sinai’s apparent descent into madness.

Character developments and interactions

• Green moves from anxious uncertainty to confidence once the cannon breaches the screen. He shifts from costly ammunition to a cheaper shell and coordinates the assault carefully.
• Sinai Alfred goes from shouting in helpless outrage to losing his sanity, because damage to the castle also damages his fused soul.
• The defenders prove far less capable than their polished armor and ceremonial drills suggested. Under artillery fire, they abandon their positions and flee.
• The Legendary opponents avoid direct combat: the green dragon runs from Alshfaro, while Frio and Aliotega retreat as they make a show of resisting. Holly, Rota, and Hill work together to keep the latter pair occupied.
• Green’s forces act in coordination: artillery opens the attack, the Legion charges, and the Cyclopes breach the walls.

Significant themes

• Appearances versus reality: Sinai’s impressive army is mostly untrained, and its soldiers’ fine equipment cannot disguise their lack of courage.
• The cost of power: The cannon’s decisive shot consumes an enormous amount of Psychic Energy, while Sinai’s supernatural bond to the castle turns its destruction into personal suffering.
• Siege warfare and overwhelming force: Artillery, a broken defensive barrier, and coordinated troops transform a seemingly difficult assault into a rout.
• Corruption and madness: The flesh-covered palace and Sinai’s fractured consciousness suggest that Nightmare Castle’s damage is spreading into something grotesque and unstable.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• Green, through his Death Angel avatar, breaks into Sinai Alfred’s corrupted palace. Sinai’s mutated body emerges first as a tumor-covered monster, but Green senses that Sinai’s soul remains inside.
• The Death Angel cuts through the creature’s tentacles and destroys its body with four sword strikes. It then reaches the throne room, where Sinai’s soul—overrun by Divine Power and consumed by hatred—mutates into tendrils.
• Green swiftly annihilates the spirit as well. The palace’s corruption vanishes, and the building is restored to its former golden splendor.
• A crown and scepter appear on the throne, seemingly offering Green the chance to become ruler of the Nightmare Kingdom. Their presence briefly clouds his thoughts, and the Death Angel drifts toward them.
• Meanwhile, Mrs. Hilgaf leads Anomalies Bureau Transcendents through a maze-like area where distance and direction are distorted. By closing her eyes and following the sound of cannon fire, she guides the group out into a grassy landscape.
• Following the gunfire, they reach a hill overlooking a battle: a Necromancy School army is attacking a castle protected by a giant face on its Defense Screen. A Great Dragon and three Black-Winged Angels hover above the attackers, while field cannons and an Undead Cannon support the assault.
• Mrs. Hilgaf realizes they are not in the Main World. She and her companions are stunned by the scale and strange nature of the conflict.

Character developments and interactions

• Green is cautious when the palace door opens unexpectedly, but confident in the Death Angel’s ability to wield Divine Power. He shows no mercy toward either form of Sinai and is surprised by how easily Sinai’s mutated spirit falls.
• Sinai Alfred is revealed to have lost his humanity and consciousness, with Divine Power consuming his soul and leaving only malice. His body and spirit are both destroyed.
• Mrs. Hilgaf demonstrates practical leadership: she recognizes the group’s disorientation, adapts by shutting out visual interference, and guides the others by sound. She remains composed enough to assess the battlefield.
• The Anomalies Bureau team follows Mrs. Hilgaf, relying on her judgment. Once they see the battle, they are overwhelmed and look to her for direction.

Significant themes

• Corruption and loss of self: Divine Power transforms Sinai’s body and erases his remaining humanity.
• Death and renewal: Green’s avatar, associated with death and darkness, destroys the corruption and inadvertently allows light and restoration to return to the palace.
• Power and temptation: The crown and scepter offer Green authority over the Nightmare Kingdom, but their influence momentarily clouds his judgment.
• Disorientation and hidden worlds: Mrs. Hilgaf’s group discovers that perception can be manipulated and that the battle lies beyond the Main World.
• The strange coexistence of ancient and modern warfare: Dragons and angels share the battlefield with cannons, including a specialized Undead Cannon.

Key plot points and events

• Mrs. Hilgaf and Bayley’s group watch the Undead Legion attack Nightmare Castle. Mistaking the Death Angel for a divine envoy, Hilgaf concludes that the battle is being handled by their “Holiness” and tells the group to pray and wait rather than join the fight.
• Inside the castle, Green nearly reaches for an illusory crown, but a bell from the Graveyard warns him in time. The palace’s splendid appearance vanishes, revealing its true ruined state and a grotesque spirit.
• Green’s Death Angel avatar destroys the false throne and exposes Sinai Alfred’s real soul, horribly corrupted by Divine Power. Green then finds and claims a purple crystal sphere hidden in the ceiling—the object that represents control of the Nightmare Kingdom.
• The sphere shows a miniature version of the kingdom, where the ongoing battle is visible. Green cannot imprint his mental power on it, so he stores it inside the Death Angel’s armor and prepares to leave.
• A black-armored stranger blocks the exit. He identifies himself through his dragon-shaped armor as a member of the Black Dragon Knights Order and demands the Nightmare Kingdom, offering compensation. Green recognizes the order as a powerful Rune Federation organization with political influence and a history of provoking the Lorenzo Kingdom.
• The stranger calls the kingdom a “Primordial Void World.” Green reflects on Void Worlds and their possible stages of existence, and suspects the Mist World may be a Void World in its final stage. He also realizes the Nightmare Kingdom is unusual: it has transformed into a wondrous item.

Character developments and interactions

• Mrs. Hilgaf shifts from confusion to certainty, interpreting the Death Angel through her religious beliefs. Her confidence reassures her companions, who are relieved not to fight.
• Green demonstrates caution and decisiveness: he avoids the illusion, defeats Sinai’s corrupted soul, secures the crystal, and becomes wary when the unexpected intruder appears.
• Sinai Alfred is revealed to have been so corrupted by Divine Power that he has lost his reason and nearly all sense of self. The crystal briefly awakens a final coherent reaction in him, but Green cuts him down again.
• Green and the black-armored knight begin a tense confrontation. The knight assumes Green is an ordinary outsider who acquired the world by chance; Green silently weighs the stranger’s claims and the implications of his terminology.

Significant themes

• Illusion versus reality: the magnificent palace and throne are false, while the ruined hall and monstrous soul reveal the truth.
• Corruption and loss of identity: Divine Power has warped Sinai until he is barely recognizable as human.
• Faith and misinterpretation: Hilgaf’s religious framework leads her to misread the Death Angel’s role, though it gives her group comfort.
• Power, ownership, and hidden value: the Nightmare Kingdom is coveted by an influential organization, but its true nature as a transformed wondrous item sets it apart from an ordinary Void World.

Key plot points and events

• Green recognizes that the Nightmare Kingdom may be an exceptionally valuable Void World, but rejects Ferdinand’s proposed deal and attacks his black-armored visitor.
• The visitor is revealed to be Ferdinand’s Shadow Clone. Green realizes the Black Dragon Knights Order has been tracking the kingdom and may have wanted it for some time.
• In Landon City, Ferdinand reports his failure to Consul General Lucas, his uncle and superior. He explains that he discovered the kingdom while tracking Sinai Alfred and entered it using the Void Key.
• Ferdinand had been shocked by the kingdom’s immense armies and had sent a clone to investigate while waiting for the Void Key to recharge. Green’s easy destruction of that clone convinces Lucas that the new ruler is likely a powerful Necromancer—perhaps High Legendary.
• Lucas decides not to seize the kingdom directly. Instead, he plans to expose its existence and provoke conflict between its ruler and the Lorenzo authorities, hoping to exploit the aftermath.
• Ferdinand secretly discovers that the Void Key’s marker inside the Nightmare Kingdom has vanished. Green’s control has drawn the kingdom back from the Void, making its coordinates unusable. Ferdinand hides this from Lucas to protect his standing.
• With the battle over and Sinai dead, the inhabitants of Nightmare Castle sense that the force governing their lives has changed: Green is about to take Sinai’s place.

Character developments

• Green acts decisively and refuses to surrender his prize. Learning that outsiders have found the kingdom makes him more alert to future threats.
• Ferdinand is shaken by Green’s strength and frustrated at losing a chance to gain the kingdom. His ambition and self-preservation lead him to conceal the loss of his tracking anchor.
• Lucas remains calculating rather than impulsive. He abandons the idea of a direct takeover and turns to political manipulation and indirect conflict.

Significant themes

• Power and ownership: Control of the Nightmare Kingdom makes Green a major force, while others see it as a source of immense wealth and advancement.
• Secrecy and rivalry: Knowledge of the kingdom could attract powerful factions, so characters maneuver to conceal, claim, or exploit it.
• Ambition and self-interest: Ferdinand and Lucas prioritize advancement and factional advantage, even when their plans involve risking conflict between others.
• Changing authority: Sinai’s death marks a transfer of power, leaving the kingdom’s inhabitants facing a new ruler.

Character interactions

• Green answers Ferdinand’s attempted negotiation with violence, establishing that he will not bargain away the kingdom.
• Ferdinand reports to Lucas, who questions him, assesses Green’s strength, and proposes a plan to draw the Lorenzo authorities into the conflict.
• Ferdinand conceals the vanished coordinates from Lucas, showing that their family and organizational relationship is also shaped by ambition and fear of professional consequences.
• The inhabitants’ reaction to Sinai’s death foreshadows their transition from his rule to Green’s.

Plot and events

• After defeating Nightmare Castle, Green returns with the Purple Crystal Ball, which contains the Nightmare Kingdom. The green dragon Hill Morleti, wyvern knight Aliotega, and mage Frio pledge loyalty to him. Green assigns them to manage the aftermath while Mrs. Hilgaf and the others return to Martin Manor, now so damaged it must be rebuilt.
• Reviewing the siege, Green recognizes that his victory owed much to Sinai Alfred’s poor decisions and the Death Angel’s success against the defenders’ elite forces. Green’s losses were low, while thousands of enemies were sent to the Rebirth Magic Circle, bringing his Psychic Energy reserves above 18,000.
• Green spends his gains rebuilding his forces and defenses: he transforms Nancy, the last Shield Warrior Angel, into a powerful Lich Fallen Angel; upgrades the City Defense Fortress with stronger walls and a magical Defense Screen; and builds a Lich Mausoleum, only to discover that recruiting Lich Mages requires the additional, costly upgrade to a Lich Temple.
• After completing the temple, Green recruits fourteen Lich Mages and plans to distribute them through his army so their curses and Frost Aura support nearby troops.
• Examining the Nightmare Kingdom, Green finds that most inhabitants have been released from military service and allowed to choose their lives. None elects to leave. Although the Purple Crystal Ball gives Green possession of the artifact, it does not grant him the kingdom’s highest authority.

Character development and interactions

• Green becomes more cautious and strategic. The siege exposes weaknesses in his army, especially its shortage of spellcasters and its vulnerability if the Graveyard is discovered and attacked. He responds by investing in defenses and support units.
• He refuses to fuse his soul with the Nightmare Kingdom to gain full control, despite knowing that Sinai did so. Green fears unknown consequences and will not make an irreversible choice without understanding the kingdom and the Void worlds.
• Hill, Aliotega, and Frio accept Green as their new master, while the former inhabitants of the Nightmare Kingdom remain there by choice under his rule.

Significant themes

• Power and responsibility: Green gains control over a kingdom and its people but allows them freedom rather than compelling them to stay.
• Caution versus ambition: Full authority is tempting, but Green prioritizes his safety over immediate power.
• Preparation and vulnerability: The victory prompts Green to strengthen his defenses before a future attack, rather than rely on past success.
• The cost of power: Upgrades consume most of Green’s hard-won resources, and even a seemingly complete building proves to be only a step toward the capability he wants.

Chapter Summary

Plot points and events

• Green decides to keep the Nightmare Kingdom in the Graveyard for now, postponing any decision about what to do with it. He calmly returns to his ordinary routine, though news of the new Void-world entrance in Landon City soon spreads.
• Nikolayevich, director of the Northwest Province Anomalies Bureau, receives the report. He orders it sent to Kingdom Bureau Headquarters but refuses to notify the Mages’ Guild, still resentful that it abandoned him during the attack on Saint Tower Academy. Having resigned as academy president, he has committed himself to the Anomalies Bureau.
• In the Royal Capital, Hiddink—now a powerful Bureau special adviser and a Mid-Level Legendary Transcendent—reads the urgent report and rushes to brief the Director General.
• King Prady XIV treats the newly discovered entrance as a strategic opportunity. With Lorenzo losing ground to the Rune Federation, he hopes the new world will yield World Origin and help produce another Calamity Rank Transcendent. He also discusses the kingdom’s unsuccessful efforts to recruit an Elder White Dragon.
• Archbishop Skodadi of the Holy Light Church arrives to meet the King. Viscount Mura Dandong expects Prady to compromise with the Church in exchange for its support against the Rune Federation.
• Nobles and Transcendent families begin maneuvering to claim the new world’s World Origin, creating mounting tension in the capital.
• Unaware of the full political uproar, Green returns home and meditates. Instead of entering the Graveyard as usual, he suddenly plunges into an unfamiliar place that is neither the Graveyard nor the Mist World.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains outwardly composed and secretive about the Nightmare Kingdom. His deliberate routine—including eating and sleeping despite his Semi-Lichification—is a way of holding on to his sense of humanity. The chapter ends with him unexpectedly displaced during meditation.
• Nikolayevich has become more bitter and distrustful of the Mages’ Guild after its refusal to help him. He now favors the Anomalies Bureau and instructs Cynthia to report through official channels, excluding the Guild.
• Hiddink has recovered his influence and advanced in power, contrasting sharply with Nikolayevich’s decline.
• Prady XIV is driven by the kingdom’s rivalry with the Rune Federation and is willing to pursue the new world aggressively. His conversation with Mura reveals the pressure Lorenzo faces and its dependence on powerful allies.
• Mura Dandong remains a cautious, loyal courtier. He fears Skodadi, recognizes the Church’s leverage over the King, and privately mourns Lorenzo’s diminished standing.
• Skodadi presents a courteous exterior but is regarded as formidable and dangerous. His arrival signals the Church’s bid to influence the response to the discovery.

Significant themes

• Power and competition: World Origin is seen as a path to Calamity Rank, drawing governments, churches, nobles, and families into a struggle for advantage.
• Political decline and dependence: Lorenzo’s setbacks against the Rune Federation leave the King reliant on the Holy Light Church and eager to seize any opportunity.
• Betrayal and factionalism: The Mages’ Guild’s refusal to aid Nikolayevich has permanently damaged his loyalty and highlights the costs of political infighting.
• Humanity amid transformation: Green’s ordinary habits are a conscious effort to preserve his identity while becoming less human.
• Hidden consequences: Green’s private discovery has triggered a major political upheaval, while his sudden plunge into an unknown realm hints at a new mystery.

Plot points and events

• Green awakens in the corpse of Wood Slater, a young, impoverished baron who was murdered after traveling to Stinnard City to restore his family’s fortunes. Green uses Death Corruption to turn the mortally wounded body into a Lich and establishes it as another avatar.
• Wood’s memories suggest this world closely resembles Green’s own: it has a Lorenzo Kingdom and a capital also called Stinnard City. Green suspects his arrival may be connected to the Nightmare Kingdom artifact.
• Green discovers that he can observe Wood remotely, but cannot move the viewpoint independently. He returns his consciousness to the Graveyard, where he finds the Nightmare Kingdom artifact orbiting a fragment of Divinity.
• Entering the artifact, Green finds that its central castle has vanished and the landscape has become a replica of his Graveyard. He realizes the Nightmare Kingdom takes the form its owner imagines. Its buildings can perform ordinary functions, but cannot summon troops through Psychic Energy as the real Graveyard can.
• Green transforms the Nightmare Kingdom into a radiant, Holy Sanctuary. Its frightened residents take hope from the change, with some praying to the Holy Light.
• He plans to establish a church to shift the residents’ faith toward himself. Elsa and Shelly will lead it, with Roddick—whose report helped Green acquire the artifact—as their senior adviser.
• The city’s structures can train faithful residents into basic Transcendents: sentries, crossbowmen, and priests. Green sees this as a way to build a stronger population and avoid another disastrous rout in battle.

Character developments and interactions

• Green adapts quickly to his new avatar, investigates the artifact, and turns his discovery into a plan for religious influence and military recruitment. He is wary of the Nightmare Kingdom’s power but also sees its potential.
• Wood Slater is revealed through his memories as a desperate young noble whose family lands and life were lost to betrayal and theft.
• Elsa and Shelly are chosen to lead Green’s planned church, rewarding their mother Mrs. Hilgaf’s devotion and service.
• Roddick is given a high-ranking role despite his past as a black-market merchant; Green values his cunning and believes his dependence on Green will ensure loyalty.
• The Nightmare Kingdom’s residents move from fear to hope as the city changes before their eyes, though their existing devotion to the Holy Light poses an obstacle to Green’s ambitions.

Significant themes

• Identity and embodiment: Green extends his existence through avatars and can inhabit the bodies of the dead.
• Power, belief, and control: Green intends to redirect faith through persuasion and institutions rather than force.
• Transformation and adaptation: The Nightmare Kingdom reshapes itself according to its owner’s imagination, while its buildings offer new ways to develop its people.
• The limits of power: The artifact can reproduce structures but not the Graveyard’s unique ability to create undead troops from Psychic Energy.