Chapter Summaries

After receiving his knighthood, Mulan left the Royal Palace with Owen and the others and traveled to the Imperial Court Department of Magic. They arrived at the Black Castle, where Mulan learned about its residents, facilities, and his new place there.

• Mulan received the Ring of Light back and left the Royal Palace after his brief investiture.
• Nisheriel and her Ministers discussed Mulan's character and whether he would judge her fit to rule.
• Owen described Nisheriel as a capable sovereign while Mulan and his companions rode through Digo City and saw a steam-powered tram.
• Owen brought Mulan, Dolly, Guy, and Jenny to the Black Castle, where crows and sinister magical creatures watched them approach.
• Owen explained the Black Castle's rules and facilities, and Mulan and Dolly each received a building while Guy and Jenny were assigned a smaller one.

Mulan settled into life at the Black Castle, then awoke from a disturbing dream of a vast, still-living carcass and floating eyes. His new courier, Handel, delivered an assignment, and Mulan prepared to set out with him to learn about the surrounding area.

• Mulan, Guy, Jenny, and Dolly spent a sleepless night adjusting to their new lives at the Black Castle.
• Mulan dreamed he escaped from a gigantic, bleeding carcass as an eyeball rose into the sky and red feathers filled the air.
• Mulan woke in his new home, took a cold shower, and finally heard someone ringing his doorbell.
• Handel introduced himself as Mulan's personal courier and explained how he had earned the post.
• Mulan read an assignment, asked Handel why he had joined the Black Castle, and invited him to come along because he knew Digo and the surrounding area.

Mulan borrowed the Book of Abundance from the Black Castle library and reported to the York District Police Station as a special police official. Inspector Dawson arranged a private office for him, while rumors spread through the station that a wizard had come to work there.

• Mulan borrowed the Book of Abundance and left the Black Castle library through its east exit with Handel.
• Mulan and Handel crossed the street to the Digo National Library, then took a carriage to the York District Police Station.
• Mulan presented his appointment letter to Inspector Dawson and introduced himself as Mulan Johnston, a temporary special police official.
• Inspector Dawson arranged an office for Mulan on the third floor and agreed to send him important or difficult cases.
• Detectives and officers at the station heard that a wizard might have come to work there.

Mulan warned a police team that their investigation in Print District had exposed them to supernatural danger, then removed the gloom clinging to them. He set out with Handel to investigate the household and recruited Evan from the cathedral to help with a suspected possession.

• Mulan summoned four police officers and a detective, learned their team had investigated a sick man in Print District, and warned them to leave the case alone.
• Mulan used his cane to absorb the supernatural gloom surrounding the officers and told them they were safe for now.
• Mulan took Handel toward the household but detoured to Digo Royal Grand Cathedral to find Evan.
• Mulan reunited with Evan and asked him to help investigate the suspected possession, and Evan agreed to bring the Book of the Holy Temple.

Evan, Mulan, and Handel went to Ladder Street to confront an Evil Spirit possessing a young man. Evan drove the spirit out, and the group left after reassuring the man’s mother, though Mulan noticed an eerie eyeball shape clawed into the wood above the bed.

• Mulan led Evan and Handel into Ladder Street to find a possessed man locked inside his family’s home.
• Mulan broke the chain on the door and restrained the man while Evan pinned him to the bed with the Book of the Holy Temple.
• Evan recited a prayer to expel the Evil Spirit, then headbutted the patient when the spirit resisted, bringing the struggle to a sudden end.
• Handel brought the man’s mother inside, and Evan assured her that her son was safe and needed sunlight and nourishing food.
• As they left, Mulan noticed that the patient had clawed an eyeball shape into the wooden board above the bed.

After witnessing the hardship of a fallen soldier’s family, Mulan sought information about eye-related Holy Relics and began contacting the families of his former soldiers about their war pensions. Back at the Black Castle, Dolly shared a warning about the severity of Mulan’s nightmares, and Mulan prepared to send his letters.

• Mulan asked Evan to search Holy Temple records for Holy Relics or special elements related to eyes and requested that he keep the inquiry quiet.
• Mulan decided to find out whether his former soldiers’ families had received their pensions and wrote more than a dozen letters asking about them.
• Mulan returned to the Black Castle, where he met Dolly by a lake and invited her to try his cooking.
• Dolly told Mulan that a Mystic said someone with nightmares as severe as his should have mentally broken down or been devoured by an Evil God, and she had concealed his identity.
• Mulan looked up the addresses of fallen soldiers’ families in his military notebook and added them to the letters.

Mulan shared a meal with Walton, who gave him Sea Soul, a saber once wielded by the Skeleton King, and promised to arrange Mulan’s Awakening potion. The chapter ended with Mulan uneasy about the saber’s mysterious power as crows erupted into flight over the Black Castle.

• Mulan cooked dinner and welcomed Walton, who had followed the aroma to his house.
• While they ate, Walton explained that pirate factions were in turmoil after the deaths of pirate leaders and the lure of hidden fortunes.
• Walton produced Sea Soul from his hat and gave the saber, formerly owned by the Skeleton King, to Mulan.
• Walton told Mulan that the Skeleton King had used Sea Soul to kill at least ten supernatural Sirens and promised to arrange an Awakening potion for him the next day.
• After Walton left, Mulan noticed a crystal-clear eyeball in the saber’s hilt and felt both excitement and fear.
• As Walton walked through the Black Castle, countless crows took flight above the main gate.

Mulan witnessed a supernatural manifestation connected to Sea Soul after crows gathered around his home and the Black Castle’s undead went berserk. The apparition bowed to him and vanished, leaving Sea Soul changed and Mulan shaken.

• Mulan worried that Sea Soul’s eyeball-shaped gem might be connected to his dream, while crows gathered silently around his home.
• Walton and a musician entered the Otherworld to investigate the disturbance and found gargoyles waking and undead wandering toward Mulan’s home.
• Walton destroyed every undead in the Black Castle, and the crows outside Mulan’s house exploded as Mulan collapsed.
• Sea Soul floated before Mulan as a humanoid apparition with the sword’s hilt in place of its left eye, revealing visions of the Wyrd Moon and mysterious power.
• The apparition pressed a hand to its chest, knelt before Mulan, and shattered; afterward, Sea Soul’s hilt held only a round sea-blue gem.

After Walton reclaimed Sea Soul, Mulan recognized the corpse from his dreams as the Second Apostle and reflected on the indifferent Evil God’s gaze. Mulan and Evan researched mystical history and concluded that rituals seeking power from the chaos and Evil Gods created dangerous, uncontrollable consequences.

• Walton visited Mulan, reclaimed Sea Soul, and gave him an address for a smithy to sharpen Fang.
• After Walton left, Mulan recognized the apparition as the Second Apostle, a figure he had once sketched, and remembered the terror and insignificance he felt beneath an Evil God’s gaze.
• Mulan and Evan searched books for accounts of mystical rituals, the chaos, and the Holy Temple’s history.
• Evan found a record describing how the True God awoke after sensing a terrible gaze from the chaos, and he discussed corruption within the Holy Temple with Mulan.
• Mulan and Evan concluded that people’s attempts to gain power by making demands of the chaos and Evil Gods invited grave, uncontrollable danger.

Mulan continued supporting the families of his fallen soldiers while weighing several supernatural paths offered by the Black Castle and Dierjia's royal family. Evan learned he might become a bishop in Valentine, and Mulan was called to handle a difficult case.

• Mulan sent four Silver Didi to each of 237 households connected to his fallen or surviving soldiers, using most of his income to support them.
• Mulan and Evan discussed the Resurrector, Astrologer, Magician, Radiant Knight, and Judge paths, but Mulan chose to keep studying before deciding.
• Evan told Mulan that he was qualified for Holy Baptism and would likely be assigned to Valentine as a bishop.
• Mulan joked about joining Evan in Valentine and buying Holy Water wholesale, then answered a knock from someone bringing him a difficult case.

Mulan investigated a workers’ riot and traced several participants to Moor, a writer whose manuscript described workers uniting against factory owners. After recognizing the work’s significance, Mulan sensed a supernatural threat approaching and urged Moor to flee with his drafts.

• Mulan joined Handel and the York District Police as they headed to a workers’ riot, then watched the police and workers clash until Digo’s troops dispersed the crowd.
• Mulan and Handel followed people from the riot to a building and entered after Mulan used Resonance on its door.
• Mulan confronted an armed man upstairs, revealed he was not a detective, and introduced himself as Mr. X.
• Moor explained that the workers’ unrest was a struggle for them to unite and help themselves, then showed Mulan his manuscript.
• Mulan recognized the manuscript’s significance and advised Moor to protect himself and write with greater detachment.
• Mulan sensed a supernatural force approaching and told Moor to take his manuscripts and leave immediately.

Mulan hurried Moor out of his home and sent him east with Handel while preparing to draw the pursuers away. Using Fang to enter a powerful state of resonance, Mulan lured a black cat into an attack, and a man in an interrogation room warned that something terrifying had come to Digo.

• Mulan rushed Moor and Handel out of the house after carving deceptive symbols into the doorframe.
• Mulan gave Handel a Hexagram-marked flyleaf to swallow so he could sense danger, then ordered him to take Moor east and avoid cold-feeling directions.
• Mulan wrapped a handkerchief around his hand and Fang, entered a sinister state of resonance, and set off alone to draw the pursuers away.
• Mulan circled the city until a black cat appeared, then leapt onto an eave and attacked it with Fang.
• A man in an interrogation room said an evil being had eaten his spirit and urged others to warn the Empress and the Black Castle.

Mulan used Fang to devour supernatural spirits while covering Moor’s escape, then withdrew before the pursuers could find him. In Digo, Queen Nisheriel heard reports of the disturbance, and Walton vowed that the Black Castle would deal with the dangerous being if he appeared again.

• Mulan burned Moor’s building to conceal traces, then hunted a black cat through the gap between the Otherworld and the Surface World with Fang.
• After the black cat dissolved into mist, Mulan retreated and quietly returned to the streets, while the man pursuing him fled Digo with his companion after ordering the captured workers disposed of.
• Mulan worried about Handel and Moor’s safety and reflected that Moor’s writing would likely be denounced as evil by those who could not understand it.
• At Digo Royal Palace, two Royal Police Officers told Queen Nisheriel that an evil being had stirred the workers’ riot and criticized the Black Castle for failing to prevent it.
• Walton told Nisheriel that the being had previously entered the Black Castle and could devour spirits, then advised her to stay indoors while the Black Castle handled the threat.

After Dolly visited Mulan and revealed that they might someday become enemies, she unleashed her pent-up anger as a storm and an incursion from the Otherworld struck Digo. Mulan stayed inside his damaged home while chaos erupted across the Black Castle.

• Mulan returned home after the riot and found Dolly waiting outside his door.
• Dolly told Mulan she was leaving, and they discussed his possible paths and their friendship.
• Dolly said she might one day be Mulan's enemy, then walked away and vowed to destroy everything while pursuing her own aims.
• A violent storm gathered over Digo, and lightning struck Mulan's house as shadows and monsters from the Otherworld appeared in the sky.
• With Walton at the Imperial Palace and Black Castle forces out on patrol, crashes and singing rang through the Black Castle while Mulan stayed hidden at home.

Dolly attacked the Black Castle’s library with overwhelming Siren power, destroying its barrier and flooding the building before the Warlock of Varata’s summoned creature assaulted the survivors. As screams spread through the storm, Mulan hid in an underground storeroom and used the Resurrector Path to appear dead, remaining in that state as something moved through his home.

• Dolly arrived at the library in a storm and used her song and the Sapphire Necklace to shatter its windows and freeze the Warlock of Varata’s barrier.
• The Warlock of Varata summoned the Demon in the Swamp, but Dolly broke through the barrier, pierced him with icicles, and flooded the library.
• The flood receded, and the mud-bodied creature attacked the library staff amid screams and cries of pain.
• Mulan heard a scream near the home of the two brothers who had recently moved in, then hid in the underground storeroom.
• Mulan entered a corpse-like state through basic resonance with the Resurrector and stayed motionless as he heard objects breaking and movement upstairs.

Mulan encountered a mud-covered demon rampaging through the Black Castle and used the Ring of Light to keep it from escaping into Digo City. After he withdrew, the old wizard arrived to confront the incomplete demon he had summoned.

• Mulan pretended to be dead in his underground storeroom until the mud creature broke in, then escaped and shot it with the Ring of Light.
• Mulan followed the creature when it attacked a nearby house, wounded it, and learned that it had eaten people, including Joseph.
• The demon tried to flee the Black Castle, but Mulan chased it and tore one of its wings apart with gunfire.
• The demon spread its mud body toward Mulan, but he dodged its attacks and studied its hunger and malice while keeping it occupied.
• After using most of his ammunition, Mulan retreated, and the old wizard arrived, seeking the demon he had summoned before it reached Digo City.

Mulan helped contain a Warata Demon unleashed during an attack on the Black Castle, then searched the ruined library and rescued its entrance hall attendant. Walton and Menggeli disputed responsibility for the disaster, and Walton said he would report it to the Queen.

• Mulan returned to the battlefield with ammunition, but found Menggeli sealing the fading Warata Demon inside a bottle as the rain stopped.
• Menggeli explained that the incomplete demon had sought flesh and souls, and Mulan followed him to the wrecked library.
• Mulan searched the library and rescued the entrance hall attendant, who had been trapped inside a cabinet.
• Walton arrived and demanded an explanation, while Menggeli blamed the Siren and questioned Walton’s late return.
• Walton said the downpour had blocked detection, accepted shared responsibility, and vowed to report the attack to the Queen.

After studying books on the Warlock of Varata, Mulan realized the old warlock had created the Mud Demon rather than summoned it. The Black Castle began recovering from the attack, and Mulan offered Handel a chance to become one of its students while remaining loyal to him.

• Mulan read about the Warlock of Varata and concluded that its practitioners created demons from obsession and malice.
• Mulan dreamed of a vast winged shadow before waking late and seeing cleaners repair the Black Castle.
• An old warlock told Mulan that the library had lost many books but could recover much of its collection, and that the Black Castle planned to begin teaching classes.
• Mulan visited the York District Police Station, where Handel told him their arrangements had gone smoothly.
• Mulan offered Handel the choice of continuing to work for him without returning to the Black Castle or becoming a student there.
• Handel chose to enter the mystical world while promising to obey Mulan, who decided he needed loyal companions.

Mulan received a warning from the Empress to stop investigating the Workers' General Strike, then found peace while sleeping at Digo Grand Cathedral. There he met Evan's archbishop teacher and learned that Evan would travel to the Sacred Mountain for a rare baptism.

• Mulan read letters from people seeking help and replied to a few of them.
• A messenger from the Royal Palace warned Mulan to leave the strike investigation to the ordinary police because a powerful evil force might be behind it.
• Mulan visited Digo Grand Cathedral, fell asleep, and spoke with Evan's archbishop teacher, who invited him to become a Holy Knight.
• Evan arrived and told Mulan he had been chosen for the Sacred Mountain's highest baptism, where he might sense the Holy Light in Heaven.
• Mulan congratulated Evan and asked him to choose the Valentine Diocese afterward, and Evan agreed.

Mulan learned that Evan would leave for the Sacred Mountain on February 28, then became Professor Jonester at the Black Castle and began teaching theory. He introduced his students to the danger of a demon sealed in a bottle and started a lesson on the transcendent world's fundamental laws.

• Mulan recorded Evan's departure date and resolved to study harder before his friend left for the Sacred Mountain.
• Mulan accepted a position as a theory professor at the Black Castle, gaining access to courses, professors, and most Forbidden Book Rooms.
• Mulan borrowed the demon's bottle from the old wizard and brought it to his first class, where Handel and dozens of other students had gathered.
• Mulan exposed the students to the demon's malice, and the demon offered him a deal and challenged him to a rematch.
• Mulan covered the bottle with his hat to suppress its influence, then began teaching the three worlds theory and the five element foundations for constructing a world.