Phanes

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Phanes (法涅斯) 17
Alias(es)	Primordial; sole High Heaven; first living being; Goddess of Life (borrowed identity); god of fate 17 27 29
Gender	Feminine 17 46
Affiliation	Her world; Sky Tower; Echoes of the Boundary 17 62
Occupation/Role	World Primordial, deity of fate, creator and administrator of the Player System and game 17 27 29 62
Status	Active 77 78
First Appearance	Chapter 17, “The Primordial One, King of All Kings!”

Background / History

Phanes first appears as the Goddess of Life, asking Silver Wolf, Windchaser, and Vernacular Poet to investigate the Abyss’s growing influence. She later privately identifies herself as the world’s Primordial, sole High Heaven, and first living being. Phanes admits that an unknown existence from beyond the universe has been observing Silver Wolf and may threaten the world’s survival 17.

The true Goddess of Life, Sephinia, reveals that Phanes is an outsider who replaced her and assumed her identity. Unlike Sephinia, who governed life and death, Phanes governs fate. Phanes used her authority to create a game that draws players from other worlds into her world, treating their exploration and discoveries as a source of information 27 29 42.

Phanes brought Griffin into the world through physical transmigration and made him her most important “eye” between two worlds. Griffin gathered information, resources, and opportunities for her until the Abyss lured him away. Bone-Eroding Serpent was another favored agent who eventually defected to the Abyss and moved beyond Phanes’s ability to observe 58 59.

Appearance

Phanes has a slender, ethereal appearance and carries herself with the detachment of a being beyond mortal life. Her usual clothing is a nearly pure-white robe, while her silvery-white hair reaches her waist and sometimes floats among the threads of fate. Her eyes contain countless points of starlight 46.

Distinguishing features include:

• White robes that can transform into elaborate, star-adorned ceremonial clothing.
• Silver-white hair reaching her waist.
• Serene features and a bloodless complexion.
• Eyes resembling a star-filled sky.
• Crown-like ornaments and rotating points of light appearing when she reveals more of her divine presence 17 46 58.
• Frequent manifestations within a web of nearly invisible fate-threads 42 45 58.

Personality

Phanes is calm, guarded, and highly strategic. She withholds information from both her players and allies, including the truth about her identity and the full purpose of the game. She justifies manipulation and deception as necessary measures against the Abyss and the approaching collapse of her world 17 29.

Despite her divine authority, Phanes is not emotionally detached from every failure. Griffin’s betrayal visibly affects her, and Silver Wolf’s remarks about her damaged ability to perceive fate can touch a vulnerable point. She also becomes weary and desperate as the Abyss approaches another invasion 30 42 58 59.

Phanes tolerates Silver Wolf’s irreverence because Silver Wolf provides valuable knowledge and power. Their exchanges are marked by sarcasm, bargaining, and mutual suspicion, but they repeatedly cooperate when the survival of the world is at stake 17 22 45 62.

Abilities & Skills

Authority of Fate

Phanes is the world’s deity of fate and perceives reality through vast networks of fate-threads.

• Observes and analyzes the fates of individuals and events 42.
• Warns Silver Wolf that Griffin’s fate has been rewritten by the Abyss 42.
• Uses fate-threads to examine Griffin’s mask, player records, and other objects 58 62.
• Can no longer reliably perceive the Transcender or Bone-Eroding Serpent.
• Her former ability to observe fate has been damaged, and fate itself has fallen into disorder 42.
• Cannot directly activate Yanlin White Tower’s Divine Connection because it belongs to another person 59.

Primordial Power

Phanes is connected to the Primordial, the original impulse that drives living beings to survive, seek hope, grow, and pursue the future.

• The Primordial can temporarily restrain the Abyss.
• Phanes’s connection to this force allows her to understand and oppose the Abyss.
• She describes the Primordial as the meaning behind her own existence 46.
• Her power is a counterforce to the Abyss’s ability to turn impossibility into reality by consuming life, laws, memories, and worlds 46.

Player System Administration

Phanes created and controls the system used by the world’s players.

• Pulls players from other worlds into her world through a game.
• Grants player panels containing levels, classes, skills, rankings, inventories, and other information 17 42.
• Converted Silver Wolf’s original system into a whitelisted player-like system 17.
• Can alter player levels, data, privileges, and rankings.
• Can revoke revival, inventory, forum, and other player permissions 62.
• Promoted Bone-Eroding Serpent to motivate other players 42.
• Claimed that players under her authority could not truly die or perish 22.
• Her control is limited when a player escapes her system and continues operating through the Abyss 62 64.

Cross-World Manipulation

Phanes can interact with and recruit beings from outside her world.

• Opens passages between worlds and provides Silver Wolf with coordinates for another world 17.
• Physically transmigrated Griffin into her world 58.
• Uses outsiders as investigators, agents, and sources of knowledge.
• Treats players’ discoveries, records, guides, and theories as information that flows back to her through the Player System 42.
• Cannot freely observe individuals or spaces beyond her fate-perception range 29 42 59.

Cosmic and Divine Power

Phanes possesses power on a scale sufficient to oppose the Abyss and protect portions of her world.

• Split the moon with a massive sword strike while temporarily driving back the Abyss 49.
• Created or maintained the False Sky surrounding the hidden secret realm 25.
• Helps sustain the protections left behind by Radiant Law, though the durability of those defenses depends on her 61.
• Publicly vouches for Silver Wolf’s group before the World Tree’s residents, causing them to submit immediately 48.
• Can transport players between distant locations and domains 17 30.
• Her power is still insufficient to completely destroy or permanently restrain the Abyss 46 49.

Game Ritual and Card Network

Phanes activated a ritual connected to Elation and used it to establish Echoes of the Boundary.

• Received the ritual as a revelation from Aha rather than meeting Aha directly 77.
• Maintains a hidden network resembling a cosmic tree, through which games and players exchange energy 77 78.
• Identifies the Ace of Spades as a former pillar or stabilizing component of the game, though she does not know its complete history 61 62.
• Maintains another card as the game’s “true pillar” until the game ends 62.
• Allows Silver Wolf to inspect the hidden card-storage space beneath the Sky Tower 77.
• Cannot prevent all cards from disappearing or acting independently, including the missing Ace of Hearts 77 78.

Domains and Systems

• Sky Tower — Phanes’s primary domain, filled with starlight, fate-threads, information streams, and observation platforms 17 42 45.
• False Sky — A concealed structure protecting the secret realm beneath the northern snowfield 25.
• Player System — The game-like system through which Phanes grants access, tracks players, gathers information, and enforces privileges 17 42 62.
• Fate-thread network — The medium through which Phanes observes individuals, investigates objects, and detects changes in fate 42 58 59.

Relationships

• Sephinia — The original Goddess of Life whose identity Phanes borrowed after becoming an outsider deity of fate 27 29.
• Silver Wolf — A powerful outsider, investigator, and uneasy ally. Phanes bargains with her for knowledge while treating her as both a potential ally and a possible threat 17 22 45 62.
• Griffin — Former transmigrated agent and “eye” between two worlds. He later defected to the Abyss 30 58.
• Bone-Eroding Serpent — Formerly one of Phanes’s favored agents and allies. He escaped her control and joined the Abyss 42 58 62.
• Aha — The Aeon of Elation and “God of Games.” Phanes never met Aha directly but received a revelation and ritual associated with him 46 77.
• Radiant Law — A fellow divine authority whose remaining power helps protect the world. Phanes knows of the Ace of Spades but does not possess complete information about it 61.
• Forest Moon God / Sen Yue — A deity governing space and time who is connected to Phanes and was involved in the investigation into the Abyss 22 30 53.
• Vita — The newborn successor to the Goddess of Life. Phanes’s actions indirectly support the transfer of Sephinia’s remaining power to Vita 27 28.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Primordial Revelation

Phanes recruits Silver Wolf and the other travelers to investigate the Abyss’s expansion. After isolating Silver Wolf from the others, she reveals that she is the world’s Primordial and bargains for access to Silver Wolf’s power. In exchange, she provides cross-world coordinates and upgrades Silver Wolf’s Player System 17.

Secret Realm and Sephinia’s Legacy

Phanes sends the travelers to a hidden northern secret realm connected to the Abyss and the War of Fantasy. Silver Wolf later discovers Sephinia, the true Goddess of Life, who exposes Phanes’s borrowed identity and grants her remaining power to Vita through Silver Wolf 23 27 28.

The Abyss and the Transcender

Phanes reveals that an outsider has become a Transcender and may eventually become the core of the Abyss. She asks Silver Wolf to find this being while concealing much of Sephinia’s history and the world’s impending collapse 30.

Ostorli and the Divine Investigation

Phanes assists Silver Wolf indirectly during the investigation into the Ace of Spades, the missing Radiant Law, Griffin’s mask, and Bone-Eroding Serpent. Her information is valuable but incomplete because fate has become disordered and her observation range has weakened 38 42 58 59.

Bone-Eroding Serpent’s Defection

Phanes confirms that Bone-Eroding Serpent was once her carefully supported agent. His defection exposes the limits of her control and leaves her unable to track him after he moves beyond her former range of observation 58 59. Although she revokes his player privileges, the ban fails to stop his access to the Abyss 62 64.

The Game Ritual and Card Mystery

Phanes admits that the game was established through a ritual connected to Elation. She helps Silver Wolf investigate the Ace of Spades, Block A, the Ace of Clubs, the missing Ace of Hearts, and the unnamed wineglass card within the hidden cosmic tree 62 77 78.

Notable Quotes

“I am this world's Primordial, the sole High Heaven, the first living being.” 17

“The Primordial is the original source of all living things.” 46

“These are my honored guests. She is also the Abyss's bane. Do not show them any disrespect.” 48

“He was my most important eye...” 58

Trivia

• Phanes’s game appears to have been inspired by Aha’s connection to games and Elation, although Phanes never met Aha directly 46 77.
• Silver Wolf repeatedly criticizes Phanes for explaining major mysteries only partially, especially the game ritual, the Abyss, and the cards 45 61 62.
• Phanes’s ability to observe the world depends heavily on players acting as her “eyes,” meaning objects or events outside the Player System can evade her awareness 42 45.
• Despite being associated with the primordial force that drives life forward, Phanes is not a follower of the Path of Elation 46.