Chapter Summaries

Mulan infiltrated the Star of Heaven as a sailor and sailed with the merchant convoy. During a storm, he confronted two Sirens who lured sailors overboard, and his killing intent drove them away.

• Mulan earned the sailors’ trust by sharing liquor and jerky, then joined the Star of Heaven’s voyage.
• Several days at sea, Mulan heard a Siren’s song drawing the ship off course while sailors jumped into the stormy water.
• Mulan went onto the upper bridge and saw two Sirens playing with a sailor who had fallen under their influence.
• The Sirens killed the sailor and tried to lure Mulan into the sea, but he warned them to stop treating the humans as playthings.
• Mulan released his killing intent, frightening the two Sirens into diving underwater, then left the sailor’s corpse behind.

Mulan and the Star of Heaven convoy lost their way in unfamiliar waters, survived dangerous currents, and were attacked by pirates. Mulan fought fiercely but concealed his true abilities, and the pirate captain ordered him captured alive.

• The six remaining merchant ships discovered they had drifted into unfamiliar waters and a turbulent current damaged two vessels in a collision.
• A lookout spotted five pirate ships approaching, and the convoy armed itself and prepared to fight.
• Mulan received a rifle, shot pirates from the rigging, and then fought with Sea Soul as the pirates boarded the Star of Heaven.
• Mulan rallied the sailors, helping them turn the fighting aboard the Star of Heaven in their favor and counterattack the pirates.
• The pirate captain joined the battle, disarmed Mulan with a single strike, and ordered his men to take him alive.
• Pirates pinned Mulan down after striking him, while he continued to act like an ordinary veteran.

After the pirate fleet captured the Star of Heaven, Mulan survived by manipulating Raskin into offering him a fair duel and then joined the pirates as Vincent. He settled into the pirate crew and learned about their operations while keeping his own reservations, leaving him newly integrated but not yet corrupted by their way of life.

• The pirates overwhelmed the merchant fleet, and Raskin questioned the captured Mulan, who refused to beg and condemned the army that had made him a scapegoat.
• Mulan provoked Raskin into granting him a duel, fought him despite his injuries, then conceded defeat and gave his name as Vincent.
• Raskin welcomed Vincent into the crew, and an older pirate reset Vincent’s injured wrist.
• The pirates took their captured ships and sailors to their island base, where they refitted the Star of Heaven and sold the seized cargo for a fortune.
• Raskin and the pirates brought Vincent to a tavern, where he drank with them but turned down their offers of women.

Mulan discovered Kilga, a skeletal man who repeatedly returned to life after dying, and confronted him about his mysterious ability. Kilga offered Mulan a deal, and Mulan recognized him from a photograph connected to Leo.

• Raskin told Mulan that a gathering of pirate chiefs would include contests where Vincent could win an Awakening Potion.
• Kilga failed to kill a pig, then was bitten by a venomous sea snake and collapsed in the woods.
• Mulan sensed Kilga dying, found his body, and watched him revive while becoming severely emaciated.
• Mulan questioned Kilga, helped him eat, and threatened to hand him over to Raskin.
• Kilga offered Mulan a deal, and Mulan recognized his face from a photograph Leo had taken.

Mulan manipulated Kilga into accepting a deal after deducing that Kilga had made a wish to the Wish-Granting Pot, then continued posing as a pirate in Raskin’s crew. As the fleet sailed toward Jewel Island, it attacked and sank another pirate ship; the chapter ended with a strange song drifting from a storm ahead.

• Mulan confronted Kilga, deduced that he had made a wish to the Wish-Granting Pot, and persuaded him to make a deal.
• Mulan returned to Raskin’s tavern and continued acting like a drunken, carefree pirate while keeping information about the Wish-Granting Pot from Walton.
• Raskin’s crew left Black Gold Island aboard the refitted Star of Heaven and sailed toward Jewel Island with Kilga disguised among the new recruits.
• Raskin ordered an attack on another pirate ship, and the Star of Heaven rammed it until it began to sink; Raskin’s crew rescued those who agreed to join them and left the rest to die.
• Mulan trained with the crew on the voyage and earned the nickname “Monster Vincent” as the fleet neared a storm accompanied by a distant song.

Mulan joined Raskin’s pirate fleet as it hunted a Siren, then discovered that the Siren was Dolly, his old friend. Dolly said she had come to confirm Dierjia’s sincerity and told Mulan to stay safe before he returned to the ship without revealing their meeting.

• Raskin ordered the pirate fleet to head into the storm and prepare Black Whale Oil and cannons to hunt the Siren.
• When Raskin offered a hundred gold coins to whoever entered the water to lure her out, the pirates pressured Mulan into volunteering.
• Mulan dove beneath the ships and, following the Elf’s warning, found and confronted the Siren.
• Mulan recognized the Siren as Dolly, who said she had been waiting nearby for days to confirm Dierjia’s sincerity.
• Dolly told Mulan to keep himself safe, and he surfaced and pretended he had not found the Siren as the pirates pulled him aboard.

Mulan accompanied Raskin to Jewel Island and met the Pirate King, whose seventh-tier power and brutal control over a Siren revealed the danger facing the sea. Raskin learned that the island’s gathering would rank the pirate leaders anew, and he asked Mulan to help him defend his position.

• Mulan and the pirates spotted Jewel Island, where a vast fleet had gathered and merchants mingled with the crews ashore.
• Raskin took Mulan and his core men through the island’s cavern to meet the Pirate King.
• The Pirate King tortured a chained Siren before announcing that the top twelve pirate leaders would join him in pursuing great wealth and power.
• The Pirate King warned Raskin to watch the Sirens and avoid falling out of the top twelve in the upcoming rankings.
• After leaving the cavern, Mulan told Raskin he envied the Pirate King, and Raskin asked for his help in the ranking contest.

Mulan, posing as Vincent of the Raskin Pirate Crew, watched pirates risk their lives against a sea monster in the Storm Arena before accepting the challenge himself. As the crowd and Pirate King Bloomfield focused on him, Mulan prepared to enter the water.

• At the Storm Arena, pirates died trying to survive for a minute and a half against a sea monster, while Castin and one other challenger succeeded.
• Raskin warned Mulan not to rush into the challenge, but Bronski taunted the Raskin Pirate Crew after several more challengers were killed.
• Mulan claimed Bronski had insulted the crew and got Raskin's permission to take the challenge as Vincent.
• Bronski announced high odds for Vincent's success, and the Raskin Pirate Crew cheered as Mulan stepped onto the platform with a dagger and an iron ball.
• Pirate King Bloomfield showed interest in Vincent, while Mulan worried that his secret might be exposed.

Mulan, competing under the false name Vincent, fought the sea monster underwater and killed it just as time ran out. He survived badly wounded, won the arena’s acclaim, and drew Pirate King Bloomfield’s interest.

• Mulan plunged into the water with the iron ball and evaded the sea monster, though it slashed his back.
• Mulan used the chain to trap one of the monster’s claws between rocks, then stabbed its anus and tore a deep wound along its tail.
• Mulan climbed onto the wounded monster’s back and drove his short sword into its cervical spine, killing it.
• Mulan surfaced on the monster’s corpse and raised his sword to Raskin as the arena erupted in cheers for Vincent.
• Pirate King Bloomfield applauded Mulan and considered him a talent worth nurturing.

Mulan survived the Storm Arena challenge as Vincent, killed a sea monster, and received an Awakening Potion as his reward. After fending off a female pirate and secretly giving Kilga a potion, he kept his true reward for himself and planned to take it in front of others.

• Mulan killed the sea monster, and Raskin arranged for him to receive medical treatment while the arena continued its challenges.
• By nightfall, five of the fifty-three challengers had survived, and the successful pirates received Awakening Potions as Raskin hosted a celebration.
• A female pirate arrived at Mulan's room, but he knocked her unconscious and later told Kilga that she had drunk herself unconscious.
• Kilga visited Mulan, who gave him an Awakening Potion and warned him not to do anything that would get him killed.
• After Kilga left, Mulan examined the cloudier Awakening Potion that was his actual Storm Fighter reward and decided to take it in front of others.

Mulan avoided Tessa’s advances after their drunken night and went with Raskin to meet the Pirate King, who gathered the pirate chiefs to begin the contest for the Twelve Chiefs. The Pirate King opened a passage to the seabed, and the group descended into the whirlpool with Mulan pretending to be terrified.

• Tessa woke beside Mulan, learned they had only drunk together, and told him she had been willing to sleep with him.
• Raskin arrived and summoned Mulan to meet the Pirate King, while Tessa revealed her name and drove off the pirates who taunted her.
• Mulan accompanied Raskin to the Pirate King’s hall, where more than twenty pirate chiefs gathered to compete for places among the Twelve Chiefs.
• The Pirate King announced that contenders would be judged by their ships, fleet firepower, talent, and personal strength, with each chief allowed one challenge.
• The Pirate King used his saber to form a vast whirlpool and open a passage to the seabed, then jumped in as Raskin carried Mulan after him.

Mulan posed as Vincent and impressed the Pirate King by faking a dramatic Awakening Potion transformation. After the Pirate King invited him to join, Mulan refused out of loyalty to Raskin, but Raskin ordered him to serve the Pirate King, leaving Mulan caught between them.

• Mulan inspected the cavern beneath Jewel Island and pretended to be nervous about taking the Awakening Potion.
• The Pirate King questioned Vincent about his strength and encouraged him to drink the potion.
• Mulan staged a painful awakening and convinced the pirates that he possessed exceptional talent and latent strength.
• The Pirate King invited Vincent to serve under him, but Mulan refused and declared his loyalty to Raskin.
• Under pressure from the Pirate King, Raskin ordered Vincent to obey the Pirate King, who renewed his invitation.

Mulan, posing as Vincent, challenged Pirate King Bloomfield to a duel and earned his respect by enduring the display of Bloomfield’s overwhelming power. Bloomfield welcomed Vincent into his company and ranked the Raskin Pirate Crew ninth, while Raskin returned to his crew without Vincent.

• Mulan challenged Bloomfield to a duel, and Bloomfield accepted before the watching pirates.
• Bloomfield caught Mulan’s punch, then unleashed his power and stopped his scimitar just short of Mulan’s forehead.
• Mulan knelt before Bloomfield and pledged lifelong service, and Bloomfield invited him to sit beside him.
• Bloomfield ranked the Raskin Pirate Crew ninth, and Mulan watched the other supernatural pirates fight to study their abilities.
• Raskin returned alone and told Tessa that Vincent was with Bloomfield, then stopped his first mate from harming her because she was Vincent’s woman.
• Raskin told his crew that Vincent no longer belonged to the Raskin Pirate Crew.

Mulan learned how deeply slavery and criminal trade shaped Jewel Island, then awakened magic power quickly enough to unsettle Newt. Newt directed him to the Pirate King's library, where Mulan began searching its magic books, including one called The Elemental Gate.

• Mulan reflected on the slave trade and the pirates’ influence over Jewel Island after learning that many of its residents were enslaved or connected to slavery.
• Mulan showed Newt that he had awakened magic power, and Newt felt unable to teach him properly.
• Newt told Bloomfield that Vincent had awakened magic power within days and proposed introducing him to the magic journal Truth and Magic.
• Bloomfield approved Newt’s plan, and Newt took Mulan to the Pirate King’s underground storeroom and library to study magic books.
• After Newt left, Mulan searched the shelves and found several books he had never read, including The Elemental Gate.

Newt and Nido investigated why the ritual array failed and discovered Leo, Kilga’s surviving companion, being tortured on Jewel Island. After the Elf sensed Leo’s arrival, Mulan used a lesson with the Pirate King as cover while trying to determine where Leo had been taken.

• Newt’s attempts to complete the ritual array failed at the same section, so he asked Nido to help and learned that Leo had been with Kilga.
• Nido led Newt to a slave-breaking compound, where they found Leo badly injured; Newt claimed him as the Pirate King’s property and took him away.
• The Elf told Mulan that someone related to him by blood had appeared nearby, and Mulan realized Leo was likely on Jewel Mountain.
• Mulan visited the Pirate King under the pretext of asking about magic, hoping to avoid suspicion while assessing Leo’s situation.
• After teaching Mulan, the Pirate King reflected on Vincent’s insightful questions and his unusual intuition about magic power.

Newt questioned Leo about the torn nautical chart while Mulan used Nido’s visit to demonstrate his exceptional insight into magic and ritual arrays. After hearing how effectively Mulan had challenged Nido, Newt came to fetch him, apparently hoping to use his intuition to solve the chart’s mystery.

• Mulan repeatedly sent for Newt, while Newt ignored him and had Leo brought to the secret chamber, where he offered the starving captive food and water.
• After eating and sleeping, Leo woke alone and examined a torn nautical chart that Newt and Nido watched through a crystal.
• Newt sent Nido to answer Mulan’s questions, and Mulan inferred that the pirates were investigating a secret treasure chart connected to Kilga.
• Mulan overwhelmed Nido with probing questions about ritual arrays, exposing the limits of Nido’s knowledge before a messenger gave him an excuse to leave.
• After Nido reported Mulan’s keen insight, Newt came to the storeroom and asked Mulan to come with him.

Mulan helped Newt identify and repair a ritual array on a sea chart while hiding his identity from Leo and probing Nido’s perception-sharing ability. The repaired array sent a brilliant beam from Jewel Mountain into the sky, alerting everyone on Jewel Island.

• Mulan saw his tortured brother Leo but avoided revealing his identity, then followed Newt to examine a ritual array on a sea chart.
• Nido shared his perception with Mulan as Newt repeatedly activated the faulty array, and Mulan discovered that six nodes—not the chart’s torn corner—were causing the disruption.
• Mulan guided Nido to sense the six flawed nodes, and Newt decided the array needed magical materials placed at those points to stabilize it.
• Newt placed six magical materials on the chart, and the ritual array activated successfully, sending a beam through Jewel Mountain into the sky.
• People across Jewel Island noticed the beam and turned their attention toward Jewel Mountain.

The Pirate King launched a fleet to find the Wish-Granting Pot after Newt restored the Sea Chart, while Mulan sent Walton information about its true location. The sirens awakened a monstrous sea beast to pursue their revenge, leaving Dolly troubled by the cost of their plan.

• Newt and Nido restored the Sea Chart, and the Pirate King summoned the twelve great leaders and ordered the fleet to sail for the Wish-Granting Pot.
• Mulan considered taking the Wish-Granting Pot to Silias, while Kilga believed Vincent had improved his chances of claiming it.
• Walton received Mulan's coded message from Dolly and learned that a deep-sea beast had swallowed the Wish-Granting Pot along with a ship.
• Walton changed course to follow the Pirate King's fleet, while nearly a hundred pirate ships sailed from Jewel Island under cover of a storm.
• Dierjia led the sirens in a ritual that raised a monstrous sea beast from a trench, and Dolly feared the creature and mourned the sacrifices behind their revenge.

Mulan joined Nido’s fleet as the Pirate King split his forces to intercept the vessel or object carrying the Wish-Granting Pot near the Great Vortex. Nido and Mulan sailed away from the Sea King, trusting the Pirate King to force their unseen target to change course.

• Mulan suspected the Pirate King was spending magic power recklessly because something might have gone wrong with him.
• As the storm intensified near the Great Vortex, Newt explained that its danger came from their proximity to the vortex, not from Sirens.
• The Pirate King ordered Nido and Bronski to take separate fleets thirty degrees off course while he tried to force the target to change direction.
• Mulan asked to accompany Nido, and the Pirate King allowed him to go.
• Newt warned Nido to trust Mulan’s intuition if they faced danger, and Nido promised to bring him back safely.
• Nido and Mulan boarded Nido’s flagship and sailed into calmer waters while Nido used his ability to perceive what the Pirate King could see.

Pirate King Bloomfield used the Thunder Blade to summon a giant whale from the seabed, while Nido’s fleet pursued it into the Great Vortex. As the pirates attacked the beast, the Sirens approached under the power of the Heart of Deep Blue and began wrecking their ships, provoking the Pirate King.

• Pirate King Bloomfield used Nido as an anchor to locate the hidden sea beast and summoned it with the Thunder Blade, creating a vast lightning vortex.
• Mulan led Nido’s fleet through a tsunami toward the vortex, where the pirates saw a whale-like monster kilometers long.
• Mulan recognized that the fleet had reached the Great Vortex, while the Pirate King’s will drove Nido to order the ships to fire on the whale.
• The Sirens used the Heart of Deep Blue to approach the pirate ships from below and stirred the water, sending ships crashing together and pirates into the sea.
• Pirate King Bloomfield roared at the Sirens as Mulan and Nido clung to the railing amid the chaos.