Chapter Summaries

After uncovering Mikhail’s final wish, the Astral Express crew planned to enter the SoulGlad Grand Audition to reach Penacony’s Grand Theater and confront the Family over the Stellaron. Firefly agreed to finish the journey alongside them, while Gallagher stayed behind after completing his final task.

• Gallagher told the crew that Mikhail had entrusted the road ahead to the Nameless, and Jiang Yu complained that the crisis was ruining their vacation.
• Himeko proposed threatening the Stellaron to force the Family to react, while Firefly warned that reaching the Grand Theater by force would be too dangerous.
• March 7th and July 7th revealed that Robin’s Fan Club had given them invitation tickets to the SoulGlad Grand Audition, which could grant early entry to the Grand Theater.
• Gallagher declined to join the crew, saying his final task was complete, and Himeko invited him to visit the Express someday.
• Himeko offered to work with Firefly, who agreed to finish the journey through Penacony alongside the Astral Express crew.

At the SoulGlad Grand Event auditions, Jiang Yu and his companions drew a crowd of reporters who were mostly fans of Little Fish. Jiang Yu met SoulGlad founder Aetherium Leda and arranged to discuss expanding SoulGlad into the real-world market after the auditions.

• The audition host welcomed Stelle, Jiang Yu, and their companions as contestants, while reporters rushed to question them.
• Argenti carried Jiang Yu away from a reporter who tried to cling to his leg, and several other reporters revealed themselves as fans of Little Fish.
• Stelle, March 7th, and July 7th prepared to enter the venue as the crowd of fans grew around them.
• Aetherium Leda, founder and director of the SoulGlad factory, arrived and asked the group to introduce themselves to viewers.
• Jiang Yu introduced himself as a factory director and proposed developing temperature-adjusting SoulGlad for sale in the real world.
• Aetherium accepted Jiang Yu's contact information and suggested they discuss the proposal after the auditions.

Himeko and her companions introduced themselves to Aetherium before he welcomed them to the Scorchsand auditions and shared the story behind SoulGlad. The contestants learned that the competition had three stages, with the final one pitting them against a reigning, morally questionable champion.

• Himeko introduced the Astral Express crew, while Stelle, March 7th, Firefly, and July 7th gave their own introductions; Argenti’s lengthy praise was cut short by Aetherium.
• Aetherium recognized the Nameless and the Knights of Beauty, then led the group to the audition platform.
• Aetherium recounted how the Watchmaker’s advertisement brought him to Penacony and how Sousa’s drink inspired him to create SoulGlad.
• Jiang Yu and Stelle whispered about business legends, and Stelle concluded that her side was doomed to lose against the Knights of Beauty and Argenti.
• Aetherium explained that the auditions had three stages, with route choices in the first two and a final challenge against a popular contestant who had defended their title.

Stelle, Jiang Yu, Firefly, Argenti, and Tir Anders chose the acting route of the Thirty-Three Arenas Hot Sand Festival. At the first challenge, Tir Anders and Stelle gave unexpectedly intense performances that moved the examiner to tears, leaving Firefly baffled by the judges’ reactions.

• Jiang Yu and Stelle chose the acting route, while Himeko, March 7th, and July 7th went to play Little Hanu’s Adventure.
• Stelle, Jiang Yu, Firefly, Argenti, and Tir Anders entered the Dreamplay Grand Stage and learned the acting challenge rules.
• The examiner asked Tir Anders to perform a pioneering settler’s disappointment with Penacony, and he delivered an enraged threat against the Watchmaker.
• Stelle performed a string of curses against the Watchmaker, and her blunt delivery made the examiner cry with emotion.
• Firefly questioned the Penacony people’s mental state after the examiner praised Stelle’s performance.

Firefly, Stelle, Argenti, and Jiang Yu struggled through a performance assessment, giving the examiner a string of wildly unconventional answers. At the second station, Stelle passed with an absurd physical gag, while Jiang Yu was left unable to imagine what bankruptcy would mean for him.

• Firefly awkwardly declared that she loved a thrilling life, and Argenti insisted Anders had already shown enough excitement.
• Stelle rejected the idea of welcoming rain, while Jiang Yu explained several ways he could make it rain before offering a polite line to comfort the examiner.
• Argenti gave an impassioned confession of guilt that impressed the examiner, and the group advanced to the physical-expression assessment.
• Stelle rolled around in the wet sand to make her companions laugh, earning a pass from the second examiner.
• The examiner asked what they would do after their umbrella business neared bankruptcy, and Jiang Yu realized he had no answer because he could not imagine being unable to earn money.

Stelle and her companions passed the acting trials and speedran the second round before reaching the reigning champion’s arena. There, Sampo ambushed them from the smoke, but Tir Anders kicked him sprawling.

• Stelle turned her acting response into a shameless plea, then finally insisted she would never admit defeat.
• Argenti performed his despair as an anguished confession, and Tir Anders agreed that he deserved to die; Firefly intervened, and the examiner passed the group.
• Tir Anders told the final examiner that the knights’ and Nameless’ hearts remained unchanged, and she passed them.
• Jiang Yu chose the Trial of Time to avoid Hanu Brothers, and the group quickly completed its puzzle and maze challenges.
• The group reached the empty champion’s stage, where a flashbang and smoke bombs revealed a surprise attack by Sampo.
• Argenti shielded Firefly, Stelle, and Jiang Yu as Tir Anders kicked Sampo through the smoke and sent him tumbling to the ground.

Jiang Yu and Tir Anders stopped Sampo from being killed, then discovered that Sparkle had impersonated him and staged an attack with illusions. Sparkle left after telling Stelle that the dream was far from over and handing her the champion’s throne.

• Jiang Yu persuaded Tir Anders to stand down while Sampo lay sprawled on the ground.
• Jiang Yu noticed Sampo’s scent was wrong and rushed toward him as phantoms of Blade, Silver Wolf, and Kafka appeared.
• Tir Anders flattened the three phantoms into murals while Jiang Yu kicked Sampo, revealing Sparkle beneath the disguise.
• Sparkle admitted that she had copied Sampo’s scent and praised Jiang Yu for seeing through her disguises.
• Sparkle told Stelle that the dream was not over and that she was handing over the champion’s throne, then left while rubbing her injured backside.

Sunday congratulated the group and offered an honest discussion about Penacony, explaining that he and the Oak Family rejected the Astral Express Crew’s demands. The chapter then showed Welt and Robin asking the Dream Master to prove the Charmony Festival was not being used to spread the Stellaron’s power.

• Sunday met the group before the Grand Theater, congratulated them, and offered a conversation instead of a material reward.
• Sunday said he, Robin, and Welt had met the Dream Master and that he and the Oak Family could not accept the Nameless’ demands.
• Himeko and Jiang Yu asked Sunday to explain what had happened to Welt and Robin, and Sunday agreed to begin with the meeting.
• Welt and Robin told the Dream Master that the Charmony Festival could spread the Stellaron’s power and prevent everyone in the dream from waking.
• The Dream Master agreed to investigate personally and asked Sunday to question her and Robin to bear witness to the truth.

Welt exposed the Dream Master's devotion to Xipe as a cover for Order, and Sunday revealed his plan to create a paradise through Order. Yaoyorozu Kami intervened to protect Welt and Robin and capture the Dream Master, overwhelming his incarnations as the fight began.

• Sunday questioned the Dream Master under a religious oath, but Welt interrupted and identified the hidden source of Harmony's discord as the remnant Path of a fallen Aeon.
• The Dream Master had Sunday subdue Welt and Robin, then confessed that he and Sunday were not children of Harmony and intended to establish paradise through Order.
• Yaoyorozu Kami attacked, rescued Welt and Robin, and handed them to Dr. Ratio while declaring that she would capture the Dream Master.
• The Dream Master summoned his incarnations to fight Yaoyorozu Kami, whose immense pressure flattened them all with a single slash.

Sunday held negotiations with the Astral Express crew and revealed his plan to show them the choices that shaped his ideals of Order. He drew them into his inner world through Tuning, where they began watching the story of an injured Melodi-Dove.

• Himeko and March 7th challenged Sunday over imprisoning Welt and Robin, and Sunday said their release depended on the negotiations.
• Sunday argued that Order could end the violence caused by the strong preying on the weak, then pointed to Jiang Yu as evidence that a dead Aeon could return.
• Jiang Yu called Sunday’s claim of peaceful intentions hypocritical because he had already imprisoned Welt and Robin.
• Sunday praised Jiang Yu for protecting Robin and suggested Jiang Yu was a god who led the Path of Beauty.
• Sunday vanished and brought the crew into his inner world, explaining that Tuning would let them experience his emotions and past dilemmas.
• An image of an injured Melodi-Dove appeared as Sunday began recounting the first choice he wanted them to witness.

Sunday asked the group to choose whether to shelter a fledgling Melodi-Dove or leave it in a nest, but Jiang Yu rejected the premise and urged everyone to stop debating and focus on Penacony’s urgent problems. The group heard his reasoning, while a livestream audience praised his decisiveness and debated whether he counted as T0.

• Sunday told the group about finding a dying Melodi-Dove with Robin and asked whether they would build it a nest or raise it in a birdcage.
• March 7th, Himeko, and Firefly chose to protect the fledgling in a birdcage, while Stelle asked Jiang Yu for his answer.
• Jiang Yu suggested roasting and eating the dove, then argued that Sunday’s two options were a trap and that their choice could not change the past.
• Jiang Yu told the group to focus on Penacony’s problems and move on, earning Stelle’s admiration.
• Siberian Duck and his livestream viewers reacted to Jiang Yu’s blunt reasoning and discussed whether his resolve made him T0.

Sunday recounted how he and Robin cared for a Little Melodi-Dove before it died trying to fly, but Jiang Yu challenged his account and pointed out the ways Sunday could have saved or taught it. Sunday then began telling a second story about a Dream Chaser from his time as Dewlight.

• Jiang Yu dismissed Sunday's question about the Paths as irrelevant to the Astral Express Crew's urgent problem with Penacony and Order.
• Sunday told how he and Robin released a carefully raised Little Melodi-Dove, which broke its wings and died on its hundred and thirty-seventh attempt to fly.
• Jiang Yu questioned why Sunday had not treated the bird, taught it to fly, or sought help from other Melodi-Doves, and accused him of overlooking his chances to save it.
• Jiang Yu told his companions that questioning Sunday worked better than following his prompts, leaving Sunday silent before he continued.
• Sunday began recounting a story about a Dream Chaser from his time as Dewlight, when he listened to the concerns of Dreamscape residents.

Sunday asked whether he should have stopped the Hound Family from pursuing a desperate Dream Chaser who had sold his children, and the group debated what to do. Jiang Yu proposed arresting and interrogating the man while using his own resources to buy the children back, leaving Sunday unwilling to argue with him further.

• Sunday described a Dream Chaser who sold his two children to seek a better life in Penacony, then asked whether he should have stopped the Hound Family's pursuit.
• March 7th and Stelle favored having the man punished, while Himeko and Firefly would have asked the Hound Family to stop pursuing him.
• Jiang Yu said he would give the man a job and advance him wages so he could buy back his children.
• Jiang Yu proposed arresting and interrogating the man, then buying back or adopting his children himself.
• Sunday held back from rebutting Jiang Yu because he expected the boy to attack him personally and verbally.

Jiang Yu challenged Sunday’s doubts about Harmony and urged him to speak with Robin instead of deciding her fate for her. He then confronted Sunday in his mental space and demanded that he release Welt and Robin or face the destruction of the Festivity Planet.

• Sunday told Jiang Yu that the stowaway would have faced madness or punishment and admitted he regretted his earlier choice.
• Sunday recounted how Robin had been shot in the neck while helping civilians and transporting relief supplies on Casbelinyat-VIII.
• March 7th, July 7th, Himeko, and Firefly reacted to Robin’s injury and debated whether she should continue pursuing Harmony.
• Jiang Yu told Sunday that he should ask Robin what she wanted and support her rather than imprisoning her for his beliefs.
• Jiang Yu summoned Black Cleave, split Sunday's mental space, and demanded that Sunday return Welt and Robin or he would destroy the Festivity Planet himself.

After Jiang Yu confronted Sunday about Robin, Sunday abandoned his alliance with the Dream Master and agreed to help capture him. Meanwhile, Argenti and Tir Anders suspected that their group had been moving through parallel dreams created with a Mirror Holder artifact, and they set out to test the theory.

• Jiang Yu’s words made Sunday realize he had neglected Robin’s wishes, so Sunday decided to free Robin and Welt and help capture the Dream Master.
• Argenti and Tir Anders quietly left Sunday and Jiang Yu, then discussed why the goddess had not appeared despite her mission to protect Welt and capture the Dream Master.
• Argenti and Tir Anders considered whether their apparent journey through reality and the Dreamscape had taken place inside an enormous dream with parallel layers.
• Tir Anders proposed that the Family had used a Mirror Holder shard with a duplication authority to create parallel dreams and explain the two March 7ths.
• Argenti and Tir Anders decided to return to Golden Hour, board The Uncanny Valley, and attempt to cross between dreams.

Acheron shared her memories and warned Dan Heng, Boothill, and Black Swan that the Family might use the Charmony Festival for a scheme tied to Harmony and the fallen Path of Order. As Dan Heng prepared to call for Luofu reinforcements, an enormous Xianzhou fleet arrived before he had even used the Alliance Jade Abacus.

• Acheron told an old man that she feared losing her vivid memories of a Nameless companion who had become a pool of stagnant water, and said her remaining warmth gave her hope of severing Nihility.
• Black Swan described how the Family once turned every resident of Biali-Scamandros into a member after a celebration, and Acheron said Penacony's Harmony seemed impure.
• Acheron, Black Swan, and Dan Heng speculated that remnants of Order or Propagation might be behind the Family's plans for the Charmony Festival, though they had no proof.
• Acheron said she needed to verify something before the festival and proposed leaving Asdana, but Dan Heng chose to summon help with the Alliance Jade Abacus.
• Dan Heng declared that his companions were people he could have only once in his life and picked up the Alliance Jade Abacus.
• Countless stargates opened and the Luofu and a vast Cloud Knights fleet emerged, leaving Dan Heng bewildered because he had not yet used the Jade Abacus.

Jing Yuan explained to Dan Heng why the Luofu and its fleet had come to Penacony: the Luofu had set out on its own after learning that Little Fish had gone missing, and it wanted to make sure the Family had not bullied her. With Little Fish already found and the IPC fleet also on its way, Jing Yuan asked Dan Heng to explain who the people aboard the Astral Express were.

• Jing Yuan boarded the Astral Express after the Luofu fleet arrived near Penacony and reunited with Dan Heng.
• Dan Heng asked why Jing Yuan had brought the entire Luofu, and Jing Yuan explained that the ship had activated itself and led its fleet to Penacony.
• Jing Yuan said the Luofu had learned through Guinaifen's livestream that Little Fish was missing, and that the IPC fleet was coming as well because of concern for her safety.
• Jing Yuan revealed that Yanqing had reported Little Fish was found, but the Luofu still wanted to teach the Family a lesson.
• Jing Yuan turned to the others aboard the Astral Express and asked Dan Heng to explain what was going on with them.

Jing Yuan agreed to bring the Xianzhou forces to Penacony after hearing Dan Heng’s account, while Acheron sensed something unsettling about the Luofu. At the Reverie in reality, Yanqing and the others waited as the Uncanny Valley arrived with Tir Anders and Argenti.

• Dan Heng recounted what Acheron and Black Swan had told him, and Jing Yuan decided to go to Penacony with Yanqing already on standby.
• Acheron sensed an eerie quality in the Xianzhou Luofu and connected it to the strange effect Jiang Yu had on Memoria.
• Little Aha, Little Taiyi, and Little Lan bounced over to join the group, and Dan Heng explained how Little Fish had created them.
• At the Reverie in reality, Yanqing told the gathered guests that Jing Yuan had arrived, while Huohuo, Tail, and Bailu discussed Penacony’s recent oddities.
• Topaz reported that the IPC fleet had arrived, and the Uncanny Valley docked near the Reverie with Tir Anders and Argenti aboard.
• Tir Anders remarked on the ship’s direct journey from the Dreamscape, and Argenti suggested the route might be connected to Little Fish.

Argenti and Tir Anders joined Yanqing’s group in the Reverie and investigated the differences between this place and the Dreamscape they had visited. Yaoyorozu Kami arrived, strengthening their suspicion that they were in a parallel Dreamscape, and Tir Anders proposed that she had crossed between Dreamscape layers.

• Argenti introduced Tir Anders to Yanqing and the others after the two knights returned to the Reverie they believed was the real world.
• Yanqing explained that Little Fish had gone missing, the group suspected a crisis in Penacony’s Dreamscape, and the Xianzhou fleet was preparing to land.
• Argenti said Little Fish might be at Penacony’s Grand Theater and reasoned that events in this Reverie differed from those in the Dreamscape he had previously occupied.
• Yaoyorozu Kami arrived with desserts, claimed she had protected Yanqing and the others at Little Fish’s request, and surprised Argenti and Tir Anders.
• Tir Anders suggested that Penacony contained parallel Dreamscapes linked by paths created through conflicting authorities, and that Yaoyorozu Kami might have wandered between them.

Tir Anders used a device to observe the upper Dreamscape and saw Sunday funnel Oak Family members into the Morning Dew Mansion as suspects in the plan to catch the Dream Master. Jiang Yu treated the Dream Master’s many incarnations as a workforce worth preserving, while Silver Wolf wondered whether he would face punishment for all of them.

• Tir Anders used his fragment to connect to a surveillance device in the Dawn Dreamscape and watch the Morning Dew Mansion.
• The device showed Himeko speaking with Welt and Robin while two Yaoyorozu Kamis ate together and two March 7ths stood near the entrance.
• Sunday ushered Oak Family members into the mansion, telling them they were attending a surprise event and treating all 107,336 as potential Dream Master incarnations.
• March 7th and July 7th questioned why Sunday was admitting so many people, and Jiang Yu said it would ensure they did not miss any incarnations.
• Silver Wolf and Firefly appeared as projections, and Silver Wolf wondered whether the Dream Master would bear punishment for all 107,336 people.
• Jiang Yu gave Silver Wolf a thumbs-up for understanding that the Dream Master’s incarnations made him a valuable worker.