Chapter Summaries

Neph helped Nim use the Sealed Artifact “A Bucket of White Paint” to purify Bartel’s corruption, then attended the Tarot Club, where she explained her connection to the True Creator and prompted the World to deliver his speech about Backlund’s poor districts. The chapter ended with Neph demanding that the World say his lines about workers and child laborers.

• Neph agreed that Nim could use “A Bucket of White Paint” and learned how Arula’s distress over their father’s fate had led to Bartel’s corruption.
• Nim used the artifact to purify about sixty percent of Bartel’s corruption, and Bartel questioned why Neph had not offered it sooner.
• Neph forgave Bartel after he apologized and knelt, then fled the awkward encounter beneath the Black Tower.
• At the Tarot Club, Audrey reported that the task concerning Lanevus was complete, and Neph said she had witnessed that part of history.
• Neph explained that she wanted to give the True Creator a chance because he had saved her, but would seek another Creator if he did not fit her vision.
• Neph kicked the World and told him to deliver his speech about child laborers and workers in Backlund’s East Borough.

At the Tarot Club, Neph arranged trades and questioned Alger about contacting pirate admirals while considering how to escape the Forsaken Land of the Gods. She realized she would need a reliable ship and captain, and was unsure whether Cattleya would become Miss Hermit before Neph was ready to leave.

• Klein read Roselle's Diary, and Derrick said he could soon obtain the True Root of the Mist Treant and its sap.
• Alger offered to seek Beyonder materials at a gathering of pirate leaders, and Neph had the World negotiate with him.
• Neph offered Derrick potion formulas in exchange for the City of Silver's Druid formula, and Audrey requested ingredients for the Psychiatrist potion.
• Alger reported that Qilingus's fleet had been taken over and a new pirate admiral had emerged.
• Neph asked Alger how to contact pirate admirals and learned that some, including Admiral of Stars and Vice Admiral Iceberg, had accessible contact points.
• Neph considered her need to escape the Forsaken Land of the Gods with a trustworthy ship and captain.

Neph revealed that Tracy was a Demoness of Affliction and explained how the Demoness and Hunter pathways could change a person's sex. She also identified the statue found by the City of Silver as belonging to her Lord, explained the True Creator's origins, and urged Derrick to neither trust nor suspect Lovia.

• Neph told Audrey and Alger that Tracy was a Sequence 5 Demoness of Affliction, then described Tracy's traumatic family history and explained that the Demoness pathway turned men into women while the Hunter pathway turned women into men.
• Neph asked Alger to explain the Four Pirate Kings and six pirate admirals, and Audrey later asked why Beyonder potion formulas were rarely traded at gatherings.
• Derrick described the half-destroyed temple and its statue, and Neph identified it as a depiction of her Lord.
• Neph said the True Creator arose from the sun's pain and resentment after saints devoured its corpse, then declared that she wanted to help Him reclaim His power and original form.
• Neph warned Derrick that Lovia was a Sequence 5 Shepherd of her Lord's pathway and told him not to trust her or suspect her.

After Klein showed Neph Lanevus’s badge, she hinted at Amon and an unnamed being she feared, then declined his offer of language textbooks. When Klein later told her he had become a Magician, Neph felt a pang of sadness, returned to reality, and learned that the ritual would take place in two days.

• Klein showed Neph Lanevus’s badge, and Neph recognized it as connected to the Hermits of Fate, whom she called the Amon Victims Association.
• Neph warned Klein that Amon was involved and that an unnamed being could learn about anyone who knew of His existence, but she refused to explain further.
• Neph declined Klein’s offer of textbooks, saying she would rather speedrun learning the languages, and felt ready to finish digesting the Ghoul potion soon.
• On Wednesday, Klein told Neph he had become a Magician, and she congratulated him before asking to be sent back to reality.
• Neph went to fight to distract herself, then met High Priest Nim, who told her the ritual was prepared for Central Square in two days.
• Neph asked Nim for the best view of the ritual, and he led her to a window atop the Black Tower overlooking the square.

Neph watched Moon City hold a ceremony welcoming her as the God of Winter’s envoy, and realized the worship might help digest her potion. As she wondered how to reach the far side of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, someone behind her offered to help.

• Neph’s potion fully digested when Amon’s clock struck the hour, and she watched Nim begin the ceremony in Central Square.
• Moon City residents placed written accounts of their misfortunes in an Ice Coffin and recited the God of Winter’s honorific name.
• Nim presented Neph’s Bucket of White Paint and explained that it could remove corruption from people, objects, and food.
• Nim told the crowd that a miracle would come in two years, and the residents cheered and praised the God of Winter.
• Neph considered how the ceremony could help digest her potions and wondered how to cross the Forsaken Land of the Gods, when a voice behind her offered help.

Amon confronted Neph in Moon City, seized the Blank Canvas, and tested her with his powers while questioning her loyalties and origins. He returned the Canvas and said he had come to play, leaving Neph to ask whether they could cooperate.

• Amon used Jotun to overwhelm Neph and restrained her spirituality before forcing her to face him.
• Amon took the Blank Canvas, examined it, and learned that its owner, a Great Old One, had learned everything from Neph.
• Amon identified Neph's lies and lack of allegiance to the Hanged Man, the Fool, or an Outer Deity, and tried to charm her.
• Neph resisted Amon's charm, asked whether he had come to steal information, and learned that he had tried but had come to play.
• Neph suggested they cooperate, and Amon looked her over in astonishment.

Neph told Amon that Adam was his brother and the divine side of their father, then entered the Blank Canvas and advanced through the Dirge Poet and Winter Envoy potions. She chose to remain in the Pure White Space rather than face Amon, while Amon stayed outside disguised as Neph when Nim came to check on her.

• Neph told Amon that Adam was his brother and their father's divine side, and Amon said he would verify it.
• Neph entered the Blank Canvas and fully digested the Dirge Poet potion despite hearing its murmurs.
• Neph advanced through the Winter Envoy potion, but the strain left her consciousness hazy until starlight pulled it back together.
• Neph realized she could withstand the cold and remain in the Pure White Space, then decided not to return to Amon.
• Amon, posing as Neph, spoke with Nim when Nim entered the room and asked whether he seemed happy.

Neph explored her new Dirge Poet and Winter Envoy abilities while remaining trapped in the Pure White Space, and Klein grew concerned when he could no longer find her through Sefirah Castle. After searching the Royal Museum for Roselle’s hidden Card of Blasphemy, Neph practiced shaping ice and considered advancing the next day.

• Nim told the young man he hoped to help the Lord return to his divine throne, and the young man left him to rest.
• Neph examined the Dirge Poet and Winter Envoy abilities, noting that she could not use the former and could manipulate frost with the latter.
• Klein found only a vast white expanse when he reached for Neph’s Crimson Star, then began the Tarot Club meeting without her.
• Klein visited the Royal Museum, searched Roselle’s reconstructed study for the Card of Blasphemy, and memorized the layout while considering how to retrieve it.
• Klein checked Neph’s Crimson Star again and became more worried when she remained absent.
• Neph struggled to make fine details in an ice sculpture, then decided she might try advancing the next day.

Neph advanced to Sequence 6 as a Faded Painter, gaining new abilities and discovering that the Blank Canvas had opened a connection to the Mind World. She recognized a pure white door there as the canvas’s true form.

• Klein found that the pure white mist behind the Crimson Star remained unchanged and worried that his fellow transmigrator might be trapped.
• Neph consumed the Faded Painter potion and experienced her body losing color and becoming transparent before she pulled her spirituality back into herself.
• Neph examined her new abilities, including adjusting her presence, sensing death, and observing and blurring fragments of other people’s memories.
• Neph discovered that the Blank Canvas counted as part of herself when she adjusted her presence, then enveloped it in spirituality until it disappeared.
• Neph saw the Mind World, found a pure white anomaly beneath her mind island, and recognized it as a door connected to the Blank Canvas.