Chapter Summaries

Lorry learned from Mia that the Yamaha resisted her Beast Tamer abilities as if it already had a master, strengthening his suspicion that the Ghost Ship controlled them. After meeting Edwina at Norgar Island’s port, the group prepared to return to the inn.

• Lorry reasoned that Orbun’s Ghost Ship had used the Yamaha to collect blood, then recalled Mia’s claim that she could not control them.
• Lorry asked Mia about the Yamaha, and she explained that an invisible will resisted her because the insects seemed to have a master.
• Lorry guessed that the Ghost Ship might be the Yamaha’s master and told Mia he would verify the idea.
• Danitz spotted Edwina arriving at Norgar Island, and Lorry led her toward a hired carriage to return to the inn.
• Edwina asked whether the inn was far away and said she would prefer to walk if it was nearby.

Lorry and Edwina discussed his guilt over endangering the crew and his research into the Yamaha insect species. After Lorry discovered he had lost a talisman, they tracked it to a local who was selling it to a family, and Lorry chose to leave it with them.

• Danitz was left behind as Lorry and Edwina walked away, so he took the carriage by himself.
• Edwina thanked Lorry for saving Orpheus and the others, then told him he did not need to shoulder responsibility for the crew’s choices.
• Lorry admitted he still blamed himself for a past incident, and Edwina encouraged him not to condemn himself for doing his best.
• Lorry told Edwina that his Yamaha research had uncovered two blood sacs and strange incantations in the second one.
• Lorry discovered his talisman was missing and used divination to track it southwest with Edwina.
• They found a local selling the talisman to a family, and Lorry decided to leave it with the family’s excited little girl rather than reclaim it.

Lorry and the others discussed how to find the ghost ship, while Edwina judged that using the last surviving Yamaha as bait would probably fail. Elsewhere, Mumulik revealed that Shadow of Order had a way to locate the ship and that his uncle would arrive with a Sealed Artifact the following night.

• Orpheus suggested using the Yamaha to divine the ghost ship’s location, but Lorry said previous divination had failed and Edwina agreed that the ship likely resisted it.
• Danitz proposed using Yamaha as bait, but Edwina pointed out that only one remained and the ghost ship might be intelligent and avoid the trap.
• Lorry said he favored the idea that the ghost ship was constrained by its former owner’s orders, possibly alongside an inability to fully control its own actions, and concluded that luring it out would be difficult.
• Danitz challenged Lorry to offer a better idea, and Lorry said that he had one.
• On Tarakha Island, Mumulik told Gage Lorry that the Yamaha, properly called Blood-Devouring Worms, could not locate the ghost ship unless it recalled them.
• Mumulik revealed that the ghost ship belonged to a Path controlled by Shadow of Order and that his uncle would arrive the next night with a Sealed Artifact formed from a Fallen Earl characteristic.

Gage Lorry learned that Burns Solomon was joining the search for the ghost ship and considered how the Shadow of Order planned to use the Earl's Coronet to draw it out. Meanwhile, Klein received a request from the Magician to borrow a high-level item of the Black Emperor pathway and weighed whether to help her.

• Gage Lorry praised Burns Solomon's strength while Mumulik explained that Burns had taken on a mission to search for the ghost ship and recruit Jodson.
• Mumulik told Gage that Jodson had become the fifth king of the seas after heavily damaging Agalito's Death Announcer.
• After Mumulik asked about the people who might threaten their plan, Gage described the earlier pursuit and later reflected on Burns and the Shadow of Order's resources.
• Lorry reasoned that the Shadow of Order intended to use the Earl's Coronet and the Law of Beyonder Characteristic Convergence to make the ghost ship appear, then began writing a letter.
• At the charity hospital in Olavi, Klein received the Magician's plea asking Mr. World to lend her a temporary High Sequence item of the Black Emperor pathway.
• Klein considered that the Magician might believe the Gentleman Thief Black Emperor could provide such an item, and wondered whether he should lend her one.

Klein accepted a Card of Blasphemy as compensation for the item he had offered, trusting the Magician’s credibility after divination. On Norgar Island, Lorry studied the card’s potion formulas, created two Painter Lorry figures to produce paintings, and sent a dangerous landscape painting to his avatar on Tarakha Island.

• Klein divined that he should choose the Card of Blasphemy as compensation and told the Magician to perform the bestowal ritual.
• Lorry received the Black Emperor card from the lady Messenger and memorized the formulas from its pages.
• Lorry used the Book of Dimensions to create two Painter Lorry figures, who painted until their spirituality ran out.
• Lorry found a disorienting landscape among the paintings and sealed it behind a Wall of Spirituality.
• Lorry asked the lady Messenger to deliver the landscape painting to his avatar on Tarakha Island.

Fors proposed finding a mystical item that would let Albert secretly interrogate prisoners and digest his Interrogator potion. On Tarakha Island, an unusual painting distracted Mumulik and his deputy as the Worm of Time transferred its parasitism to Mumulik.

• Fors learned that Albert wanted Xio to let him interrogate prisoners, but she explained that doing so at the police station would put them both at risk.
• Xio told Fors that six other Beyonders worked at her police station, including one Interrogator, and Fors suggested searching for an item that granted Psychological Invisibility and Hypnosis.
• Fors pointed out that Xio could eventually sell the item to Miss Audrey, whose golden dog was a Sequence 7 Psychiatrist.
• On Tarakha Island, Gage Lorry brought Mumulik an antique painting whose Beyonder power leaked through its seal.
• Gage Lorry destroyed the painting’s Wall of Spirituality, and its forest drew both men’s attention while the Worm of Time ended its parasitism of Gatchi and began Deep-Level Parasitism of Mumulik.

Mumulik Solomon Lorry killed Gatchi, used his Mystical Items to conceal the circumstances, and promised Gatchi’s Beyonder Characteristic as a reward to secure the Shadow of Order members’ cooperation. Lorry then told Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina that he could draw out the Black Emperor pathway ghost ship, and the Golden Dream set sail to find it before their competitors.

• Mumulik Solomon Lorry parasitized Gatchi, weakened him, killed him with Flesh Bomb, and enslaved his Spirit Body with Words of the Dead before making it self-destruct.
• Mumulik fed the remains to Flesh Baptism, then explained the negative effects and abilities of his Mystical Items while reflecting that the Shadow of Order’s Grade 0 Sealed Artifact had stopped him from parasitizing Burns.
• Mumulik told the Shadow of Order members that Gatchi had been controlled by the painting, withheld news from headquarters, and offered Gatchi’s Mentor of Disorder Beyonder Characteristic to whoever contributed most to the mission.
• Lorry visited Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina and told her the ghost ship belonged to the Black Emperor pathway and that he had an item powerful enough to draw it out through convergence.
• Edwina ordered the crew to assemble, and the Golden Dream sailed from Norgar Island as Lorry revealed the Black Emperor card to her.

Lorry used the Black Emperor card to steer the Golden Dream northwest, while the Tarot Club gathered and Cattleya postponed a payment to Fors. In Gurain City, Qiao and Tego left the White Dove bar bewildered after arriving in the Southern Continent.

• Lorry showed Edwina the direction he wanted to sail, and she ordered the Golden Dream to turn northwest.
• Xio attended the Tarot Club gathering, where Cattleya asked Fors to postpone their transaction and Fors agreed.
• Qiao and his group arrived in Gurain City aboard the Flying Bird, and he sent Deancia and the other employees to the Oak Inn.
• Qiao and Tego went to the White Dove bar, then emerged fifty minutes later utterly bewildered.

Qiao paused his investigation after learning that the adventurers he hired had been arrested, while Danitz and the Golden Dream finally encountered the Solomon Empire ghost ship. Lorry offered to stop the ghost ship himself, leaving Edwina and the crew waiting to see how he would do it.

• Qiao and Tego Lorry discussed how to investigate the arrested adventurers, and Qiao bought newspapers to look for businesses for his employer.
• Danitz patrolled the Golden Dream and reassured his crew as they complained about searching for the ghost ship for half a month.
• A tremendous force shook the Golden Dream, and a black, ancient ship emerged from the fog.
• Danitz alerted Edwina, and the ghost ship changed course to flee back into the fog.
• Edwina asked Lorry how to pursue it, and Lorry said he could handle the ship in a minute before leaving the crowded deck.

Lorry used the White Bone Ring to disperse the fog around the ghost ship, then used the Black Emperor card to distort its intention and make it approach the Golden Dream. As Edwina prepared a boarding expedition, Mia’s animals could not withstand the ghost ship’s aura, so Edwina changed plans and asked Mia to get her diamond stud aboard instead.

• Lorry used the White Bone Ring to summon powerful winds that cleared the fog and revealed the ghost ship.
• Edwina inferred that Lorry had obtained and analyzed Kalvetua’s remains, while the crew reacted with shock to his abilities.
• Lorry used the Black Emperor card to distort the ghost ship’s intent, causing it to charge toward the Golden Dream.
• Edwina organized a boarding party, left Orpheus and most of the sailor chiefs aboard the Golden Dream, and had Mia send a black beetle to scout the ghost ship.
• Mia lost contact with the beetle and a gray rat sent along the rope, so Edwina called off boarding and gave Mia her diamond stud to get onto the ship.

After experiments showed that the ghost ship distorted living beings and objects into separate locations, Lorry and Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina decided the explorers should prepare to be isolated. The crew chose who would risk entering, received locating charms, and prepared to board the ghost ship.

• Mia used a bronze whistle to summon a seagull, which vanished as it entered the air above the ghost ship, while she lost her sense of it.
• Lorry used Dream Divination to locate Edwina's diamond earring and concluded that the ghost ship had distorted the seagull, other creatures, and the earring into different locations.
• Lorry and Edwina agreed that the explorers should expect to be separated rather than rely on uncertain conclusions or help from companions.
• Edwina made participation voluntary and gave the crew ten minutes to decide; Danitz, Mia, and Griffin volunteered, while many others stayed behind.
• Edwina distributed charms that could sense one another's locations and explained the abilities of Black Emperor pathway Beyonders before leading the group toward the ghost ship.

After boarding the ghost ship, Edwina vanished, and Lorry and Danitz each found themselves isolated in its strange interior. Lorry discovered that the ship disrupted divination and Spirit World connections, though he could still access the Book World and communicate indirectly with the outside.

• Lorry waited three minutes, divined that Edwina was in good condition, and then boarded the ghost ship.
• Lorry appeared in a bedroom, found that Edwina’s charm did not react, and failed to contact the imagined gold coin he had left on the ship.
• Lorry’s Dream Divination was interrupted, and his attempt to summon the lady Messenger received no response, leading him to conclude that the ship’s connection to the Spirit World had been blocked.
• Lorry confirmed that he could still enter the Book World and communicate indirectly with the outside through his avatars and the lady Messenger.
• Danitz appeared in a dim corridor, tried Edwina’s charm without success, and decided to search for the captain and the others.

Danitz, Mia, and Welin encountered dangerous, heavily armored creatures while searching the rooms, each using different tactics to survive. Danitz reached the end of his corridor and entered the next room, while Welin abandoned his search for valuables after hearing a warning that all intruders must die.

• Danitz searched the cabins despite the captain’s warning, then fought a resilient insect-like creature with crimson and blazing-white fireballs until he killed it.
• Mia drove a similar creature away with medicinal powder, found Solomon Empire gold coins in its room, and left them behind to follow the captain’s instructions.
• Welin weakened two attacking creatures with his bribery ability and killed them with his blade, then took an antique golden wine cup from a room.
• Welin heard the warning that all intruders must die, abandoned the other rooms, and headed toward the opposite end of the corridor.
• Danitz reached the end of his corridor, rested, and pushed open the door before him.

Danitz and Mia joined forces to cross the ghost ship’s corridor, while Lorry used his painted doubles to destroy the blood-red worms and study the ship’s rules. After identifying the final clue in the cabins, Lorry vanished into another corridor and heard Danitz accusing someone of attacking Mia.

• Danitz encountered Mia, who proved her identity by revealing his secret crush on the captain and explaining that Jodson kept his distance from the captain.
• Danitz and Mia compared their corridor encounters, and Mia gave him medicinal powder to repel the blood-red worms as they continued together.
• Lorry used Air Blades to kill the worms in his corridor and transported their bodies to his painted doubles as specimens.
• Lorry told Sebastian he had understood the maze, the worms, and the Spirit World isolation, but still could not decipher the purpose of the Fourth Epoch objects found in the cabins.
• Lorry touched a doorway and appeared in another corridor, where he heard Danitz accusing someone of attacking Mia and realized he had found the final piece.

Lorry used his understanding of the ghost ship’s rules to take control of it and explained its history and the Blood-Devouring Worm mother to Edwina. When they opened the ice coffin at the altar’s center, they found it empty except for the words “Thank you” scratched into the ice.

• Griffin attacked Danitz, but Danitz struck him with a fireball before Lorry arrived and stopped Griffin with Spirit Piercing.
• Lorry used Disorder to dismantle the ghost ship’s maze and take control, then reunited Danitz and Mia with Griffin and the surviving crew.
• Lorry led Edwina through the ghost ship and explained how its maze, Fourth Epoch treasures, and Arbiter characteristic had controlled intruders and severed the ship from the Spirit World.
• Lorry revealed that the ship’s Blood-Devouring Worm mother had been captured by a legendary duke and used to sustain the person in an ice coffin beneath the altar.
• Lorry raised the altar and ice coffin for Edwina, but they found the coffin empty except for the words “Thank you” scratched into its icy wall.

Lorry finished preparing for his advancement after the ghost ship battle, secured the spoils, and discovered that Adrian had changed course to target Pali Beria. He arranged for his lady Messenger to deliver paintings to her, then drank the Fire Thief potion.

• Edwina accepted the Magician Beyonder Characteristic from Lorry and went to check on the injured pirates.
• Lorry used the altar to converge Beyonder Characteristics, stole Cohinem's blood, and sealed the resulting spoils away.
• Lorry returned with Aurmir Wine and considered how to compensate Edwina's crew for their losses.
• The Book of Dimensions revealed that Adrian's plans had changed, leading Lorry to suspect he was preparing to hunt Pali Beria before her advancement.
• Lorry asked the lady Messenger to deliver his accumulated paintings to Pali Beria, then prepared and divined the Fire Thief potion.
• Lorry drank the Fire Thief potion.

Lorry finished digesting his Fire Thief potion and explored the abilities gained from it before drinking a Swindler potion. As the Golden Dream’s crew began sorting the ghost ship’s treasure, Lorry offered the ship to Edwina’s church in exchange for a Prophet potion for her teacher.

• Lorry endured the True Creator’s potion feedback, feared that Amon’s increasingly clear broadcasts would draw His attention, and fully digested his Fire Thief, Mystery Pryer, Swindler, and Marauder characteristics.
• Lorry tested his new abilities, including stealing abilities and items within fifty meters, stronger physical attributes, resistance to mental pollution, and improved detection of valuables; Amon’s influence restricted several abilities to another dimension.
• Lorry drank a Swindler potion prepared by his double.
• Edwina and Lorry watched the Golden Dream’s crew begin organizing the ghost ship and agreed that the treasure should be brought back to the Golden Dream and distributed among the crew, the church, and others involved.
• Lorry offered Edwina’s church the demigod-level ghost ship in exchange for a Prophet potion for her teacher, and Edwina agreed to relay the offer while warning him it might be rejected.
• Edwina said she had not realized the ghost ship was demigod-level and noted that their attackers’ failure to pursue them had likely prevented more deaths.

Lorry bought Edwina’s Dieter whistle for six thousand pounds, paying with Beyonder characteristics, while she described its powers and drawbacks and explained that her altar research had stalled. Elsewhere, Deancia reported that a church bishop might help free Qiao’s captured adventurers, and Pali Beria Lorry prepared a delivered item while fleeing the Rose School.

• Lorry and Edwina agreed to exchange the Dieter whistle for six thousand pounds’ worth of Beyonder characteristics, and Edwina explained the whistle’s abilities and negative effects.
• Edwina told Lorry that her research into the altar’s symbols had made little progress and that she needed access to more confidential materials.
• Deancia told Qiao that a bishop had agreed to look into releasing the adventurers if they were not connected to evil god believers.
• Qiao praised Deancia’s work and told him to leave the matter and help start up the iron mine with the other two young men.
• Pali Beria Lorry escaped her pursuers, wondered about the item her main body had sent, and placed prepared materials into a waterskin.

Pali successfully advanced to the “Desire Apostle” Sequence, battling the potion’s overwhelming desires and destroying much of the forest before escaping the Rose School’s pursuers. In a coastal hotel, she examined her new abilities and considered the risks of linking her survival to another person through Lust Symbiosis.

• Pali mixed the potion ingredients, drank the completed “Desire Apostle” potion, and endured a flood of violent and lustful desires.
• As animals converged on her, Pali assumed her “Devil” form and unleashed her bloodlust, scattering the creatures and tearing apart the forest.
• Pali regained clarity as a “Desire Apostle,” burned away evidence of her advancement, and escaped the approaching Rose School pursuers.
• At a coastal hotel, Pali reflected on how accumulated desire had nearly caused her to lose control and reviewed her four new abilities.
• Pali identified Lust Symbiosis as a means of returning from death through a linked target, but worried that her revival might restore the real Pali Beria instead of herself.

Lorry arranged payment for Jodson and warned Edwina about Groselle's Travels before the Black Emperor appeared near the Golden Dream. Lorry vanished onto the ghost ship as Edwina ordered her crew to prepare to sail.

• Lorry told Edwina he would pay Jodson with either the Dream Stealer potion formula or a Faceless Beyonder characteristic, and Edwina said Jodson would choose the characteristic.
• Edwina warned Lorry that Jodson believed their pathway carried greater dangers at higher Sequences, and Lorry gave her the Faceless characteristic.
• Lorry warned Edwina that Groselle's Travels might be dangerous and asked her to consult his teacher before studying it.
• Burns Solomon used the Earl's Coronet to resist Nast's powers while fleeing with Mumulik, but Nast's command briefly forced Burns to stop and bow.
• The Black Emperor appeared beside the Golden Dream, and Lorry vanished onto its deck as Edwina ordered her crew to raise the sails and assemble.