Chapter Summaries

The Executioners squad confronted Bayers outside Amber City, where the Black Knight killed six of them. Aesop trapped Bayers beneath the Spotlight Bulb and prepared to detonate an Extraordinary bomb, declaring they would die together.

• Captain Aesop led the Executioners squad toward Amber City to report to the local Containment Bureau before hunting Akbin Kewol.
• Bayers ambushed the squad and killed Moor, an Assassin, and a Shark Wrestler.
• Bayers plunged the area into darkness and decapitated three more Executioners while Aesop struggled to locate him.
• Aesop activated the Spotlight Bulb, trapping Bayers in a circle of light and revealing his squadmates' bodies.
• Aesop confronted Bayers with an Extraordinary bomb and vowed to kill them both.

Aesop was killed by the Black Knight, who received a pale yellow orchid from Youlan. Back at Jack Manor, Chen Lun prepared braised pork belly with Froy and received a costly delivery of transcendent materials and Mysterious Books, leaving him broke as he planned his studies.

• Aesop tried to crush a glass sphere, but the Black Knight killed him and caught the sphere.
• The Black Knight thanked Youlan and held the orchid before his helmet.
• At Jack Manor, Chen Lun helped Froy prepare braised pork belly and tried to show her a magic trick before she teased him about his heartbeat.
• Qiong, the Silver Dragon Trade Association's Spirit World Messenger, delivered Chen Lun's premium parcel of transcendent materials and Mysterious Books.
• Chen Lun spent over 9,000 Gold Pounds on the delivery and found that it left him penniless.
• Chen Lun reviewed the thirty-two Mysterious Books, including two that appeared to contain Sequence 8 knowledge, and planned to read the Cat God Scripture for more points.

Mona received Jack's doubts about Akbin's role in the plague, but the Containment Bureau learned that Black Knight Bayers had wiped out an Executioners Squad. Meanwhile, Dongyang and nine other players gathered at Jack Manor to enter the Wonderland dungeon.

• Mona reviewed Jack's report and letter, which questioned whether Akbin was behind the plague and included leads from Jack's field investigation.
• Mona told Ralph that Undead Outsiders had reported traces of Akbin and that the Containment Bureau had sent an Executioners Squad to investigate.
• Mona learned that Black Knight Bayers had wiped out the Executioners Squad, and Ralph decided to request reinforcements from the Adjudicator.
• Dongyang and nine other players arrived at Jack Manor to buy entry tickets for the Wonderland dungeon.

Chen Lun welcomed the players, sold them entry tickets and intelligence about Kazt’s Pollution Tide, and sent them into the challenge. The players arrived in Kazt, where the White Cat Clan’s defenders prepared for the incoming attack.

• Chen Lun treated Polaris to Extraordinary Wine and told the players it was not available for sale yet.
• Dongyang and the others pooled their money to buy Wonderland Entry Tickets and Kazt Town intelligence about the Pollution Tide.
• Chen Lun burned the tickets and sent all ten players into Philip’s Wonderland, where they received the B-rank quest to protect Kazt.
• The players read the intelligence and learned they were to slow the Pollution Tide while Kazt’s defenders dealt damage.
• Two White Cat Warriors led the players into town and onto the walls, where High Priest Daye greeted them.

After finishing the Cat God Scripture, Chen Lun found Philip’s message revealing where he had hidden the final portion of the [Magician] Transcendent Knowledge. While the players defended Kazt from the Pollution Tide, Chen Lun flew to the Gloom Plains and found a Wooden Hut watched by a little girl.

• Chen Lun completed the Cat God Scripture, gained experience and points, and raised his Strength to 50 and his Endurance and Intelligence to 40.
• Chen Lun found Philip’s message in the book, which warned him about the danger near the Gloom Plains and revealed that the final portion of the [Magician] Transcendent Knowledge lay beneath the largest rock.
• The Pollution Tide attacked Kazt, and the White Cat Warriors and players fought back using arrows and fire-based Mechanical Gloves.
• Chen Lun left the battle to search for the next Wooden Hut, trusting his Wonderland authority to let him return if needed.
• Chen Lun reached the enormous rock at the edge of the Gloom Plains and found a Wooden Hut with a little girl sitting outside, whom his [Fate-Peering Eye] identified as an ordinary person.

Chen Lun exposed and killed the Sequence 7 Pollution Creature Little Red Riding Hood, then found the final part of the Fate Faction Sequence 7-Magician knowledge in the Wooden Hut. He now had the complete knowledge and the prerequisites to begin his ascension quest.

• Chen Lun attacked the disguised little girl, forcing it to reveal itself as the four-headed wolf Little Red Riding Hood.
• Chen Lun fought Little Red Riding Hood from the air and on the ground, then killed it with the Silver Sword.
• Chen Lun collected Little Red Riding Hood's Heart and discovered that its red cloak was a single-use item capable of fusing two D-rank Mysterious Objects from the same faction.
• Chen Lun entered the Wooden Hut and found the final quarter of the Fate Faction Sequence 7-Magician Transcendent Knowledge.
• Chen Lun assembled the four parts and received the prompt to begin the ascension quest.

Chen Lun fused the Starlight Veil and Silver Flask into a new Mysterious Object, then collected rewards from the players’ defense of Kazt Town. He received the Wheel of Fortune revolver and used divination to predict its next bullet’s effect.

• Chen Lun triggered the First Performance advancement quest and considered how to fulfill its requirements through deception and changing fate.
• Chen Lun returned to Kazt Town, assessed the players’ battle, distributed attribute points, and fused the Starlight Veil with the Silver Flask into the Star-Mist Flask.
• Chen Lun collected the rewards credited to him for the players’ defense and stored the blessed Kazt Longsword as a spare weapon.
• Noah brought Chen Lun the Wheel of Fortune revolver, which Chen Lun identified as a Fate Faction Mysterious Object with six uncertain effects.
• Chen Lun aimed the revolver at a large black rat and used a playing-card divination to predict that its third shot would inflict a curse.

Chen Lun used the Wheel of Fortune to attract Mr. Bottle in the Spirit World and have him remove curses from Noah and himself. Noah’s curse was lifted, and Chen Lun completed the Black Knight’s trial before returning with rewards and Mr. Bottle’s friendship.

• Chen Lun tested the Wheel of Fortune’s bullets on a rat and confirmed that the third shot’s curse caused its death.
• Chen Lun brought Noah into the Spirit World and cursed himself with the Lost Wayfarer bullet to draw Mr. Bottle’s attention.
• Chen Lun wore the Silver Flask, and Mr. Bottle appeared and mistook it for a pot like his friend Mr. Pot.
• Mr. Bottle devoured Noah’s curse and Chen Lun’s curses, purifying both of them.
• Chen Lun received Mr. Bottle’s friendly favor, completed the Black Knight’s trial, and gained experience, money, favorability, and Moon Faction knowledge.

Chen Lun and Noah left the Spirit World after an unknown Shadow Eye tried to scrutinize Chen Lun, but Noah returned to Jack Manor without him. Meanwhile, Drink and Akbin prepared to enter Amber City, and Sunny Drizzle's group faced an assassination attempt against Count Lawson at a jewelry exhibition.

• Mr. Bottle gave Chen Lun a copper bell before departing, and Chen Lun and Noah prepared to return to the real world.
• The Shadow Eye's scrutiny was negated by Maggie's Tears, but Chen Lun sensed danger because his Luck was negative after using the Wheel of Fortune.
• Noah returned to Jack Manor alone and wondered where Mr. Jack had gone.
• Akbin said the Shadow Eye had suffered a backlash and planned to finish an experiment at a fifth plague-stricken village before entering Amber City with Drink.
• Sunny Drizzle, Honey Pomelo, and Honey-Trap Fool guarded Count Lawson at a jewelry exhibition in Apatite City.
• Sunny Drizzle spotted a newspaper boy drawing a flintlock as Count Lawson was about to board his carriage and shouted for everyone to protect him.

Assassins attacked Count Lawson during the jewelry exhibition, but the First Dawn Guild players struggled to protect him. Chen Lun appeared unexpectedly as the Silver Flask Knight and effortlessly blocked the assassins’ attacks, leaving the players wondering whether he was their mission’s helper.

• A disguised newsboy shot at Count Lawson, but a bodyguard took the bullet and the guards subdued the attacker.
• Five assassins from the Black Knife Brotherhood leaped from a building and attacked Lawson, killing several bodyguards as the First Dawn Guild players fought back.
• Honey Pomelo killed one assassin with an arrow, while the remaining four overwhelmed the ordinary bodyguards and split up to attack the players and Lawson.
• Honey-Trap Fool blinded one attacker and Honey Pomelo stalled another, but Sunny Drizzle and the other players failed to stop the assassins heading for Lawson.
• Chen Lun suddenly appeared before Lawson, introduced himself as Silver Flask Knight Frun, and blocked all four assassins’ strikes with ease.
• Sunny Drizzle used Inspect and told the players that Silver Flask Knight was extremely strong and rated Extremely Deadly.

Chen Lun, posing as the Silver Flask Knight Furlan, defeated assassins targeting Count Lawson and refused the players’ offered spoils. Inspired by his generosity, Sunny Drizzle revived her plan to create a guild that helped new players, and Morning Twilight proposed making it a subsidiary of First Dawn.

• Chen Lun killed four assassins while protecting Count Lawson, then used the Bayers Moonlight Sword to slay two more attackers without revealing Jack Spade’s abilities.
• Sunny Drizzle thanked Furlan and offered him the assassins’ mystical remains, but he told the players to keep them because they were still weak.
• Furlan’s selfless conduct reminded Sunny Drizzle of a veteran player who had once helped her, renewing her desire to support newcomers.
• Sunny Drizzle decided to establish a guild focused on guiding new players and discussed her plan with Morning Twilight, Honey-Trap Fool, and Honey Pomelo.
• Morning Twilight proposed making Sunny Drizzle’s new guild a subsidiary of First Dawn, offering it funding and protection while creating a path for promising players to join First Dawn.

Sunny Drizzle founded the Little Silver Fox guild after meeting Silver Flask Knight Furen, and players flocked to his roadside mystery-box stall after forum posts praised him. As Chen Lun sold out his stock, memories returned and he realized that Maggie’s Tears had triggered emotional sensitization while protecting him from a mysterious probe.

• Sunny Drizzle chose the name Little Silver Fox, and First Dawn listed it as an affiliated guild.
• Sunny Drizzle posted about Silver Flask Knight Furen, prompting players to discuss him and his mysterious wares on the forum.
• Chen Lun sold silver jars to curious players, who received items ranging from matchsticks and flintlocks to Mysterious Objects.
• A group of players threatened Chen Lun after one jar contained a flintlock, but he froze as his memories returned.
• Chen Lun remembered that a mysterious probe had triggered Maggie’s Tears when he returned from the Spirit World, causing emotional sensitization.

After accidentally completing his advancement quest and becoming a Magician, Chen Lun discovered that an unknown mystical influence had shaped the coincidences leading to his promotion. He left the source unresolved and began testing his new abilities.

• Chen Lun killed the players who confronted him as Silver Flask Knight Frun, then noticed that [Magician LV1] had appeared on his panel.
• Chen Lun reviewed his records and realized that his actions had completed the advancement quest by changing the course of fate, possibly saving Count Lawson from certain death.
• Chen Lun traveled to Apatite City and saw refugees being driven away from its gates before paying the doubled entrance fee and renting an inn room.
• Chen Lun divined in Wonderland and confirmed that an unknown mystical power had influenced his advancement, though he could not identify its source.
• Chen Lun examined his new Magician class, found that his level cap had risen to 80, and learned the [Magic Trick] skill, which let him infuse and throw playing cards.
• Chen Lun spent a skill point on [Magic Trick], raising it to LV2.

Chen Lun advanced to Sequence 7-Magician, strengthened his abilities, and received a summons from Mr. Bottle before traveling into the Spirit World. The chapter then shifted to Fossil City, where Containment Bureau Chief Adjudicator Rudolf Teka was introduced.

• Chen Lun spent skill points to raise Magic Trick to its maximum level and gained eight versatile magic tricks.
• He used his experience and attribute points to advance to Magician LV21, becoming a middle-sequence Beyonder and improving his abilities.
• Chen Lun noticed that Mr. Bottle's Copper Bell was sending him a message and decided to ask about Amber City's anchor point.
• Chen Lun entered the Spirit World through an azure gap.
• In Fossil City, Containment Bureau Chief Adjudicator Rudolf Teka sat in his office writing.

Howard wrote and revised a script about Jack Spade’s journey, then filed it among his works. In the Spirit World, Chen Lun met Mr. Pot and began testing his strength in a sparring match.

• Howard wrote a script describing Jack Spade’s progress and the tragedies awaiting his companions, then changed its ending to have Jack continue traveling with his Circus.
• Howard signed the script and stored it, titled “King of Clowns,” alongside his other works.
• Chen Lun met Mr. Pot through Mr. Bottle, and Mr. Pot invited him to fight.
• Chen Lun accepted the challenge and revealed his Great Serpent Form before attacking Mr. Pot.
• Mr. Pot matched Chen Lun’s punch and sent him flying with a counterblow.
• Chen Lun charged back into the fight, covering his fists with supernatural fire and unleashing a barrage of punches.

Chen Lun fought Mr. Pot, proved his strength, and accepted Mr. Bottle's invitation to help destroy a source of pollution in the Spirit World. After the fight, Chen Lun healed Mr. Pot and gained his token, leaving him with a new mission and a powerful ally.

• Chen Lun and Mr. Pot exchanged powerful attacks until Chen Lun used a marked card and his trench coat to evade Mr. Pot's devastating punches.
• Mr. Bottle stopped the fight and explained that he and Mr. Pot were recruiting Chen Lun to destroy a source of pollution in the Spirit World.
• Chen Lun accepted the operation and received a C-Rank mission to join Mr. Bottle and Mr. Pot's team.
• Chen Lun healed Mr. Pot with [Awakening of Insects], impressing Mr. Bottle and Mr. Pot.
• Mr. Pot gave Chen Lun [Pot's Copper Bell] so Chen Lun could call on him for help.

Chen Lun traveled with Mr. Bottle and Mr. Pot through the Spirit World to investigate the source of pollution and acquired a powerful trait from each companion. The trio reached the passage and encountered toxic, floating human heads, leaving Mr. Pot injured but healed as the creatures surrounded them.

• Chen Lun followed Mr. Bottle through the Spirit World and learned the anchor for the place where they first met.
• Chen Lun used Animal Mimicry to learn Mr. Pot's Frenzied Pot's Heart and Mr. Bottle's Cursed Skin, replacing two of his existing traits.
• Mr. Bottle led Chen Lun and Mr. Pot to the pollution source and explained that they needed to destroy the passage.
• Mr. Pot charged a group of floating human heads and was badly corroded by their toxic blood.
• Chen Lun healed Mr. Pot as more heads gathered around the trio, shouting strange phrases.

Chen Lun and his companions fought through waves of Pollution Creatures in the Spirit World, using curses, supernatural fire, and blessed weapons to defeat them. After clearing the battlefield, they encountered an enormous mud-and-rock figure wielding a tree as a club.

• Chen Lun learned the Human-Head Jellyfish’s Blood of Decay trait while he and Mr. Pot killed the creatures.
• Chen Lun discovered that supernatural fire could harm the physically immune ghost soldiers, while Mr. Bottle cursed the headless giants and Mr. Pot attacked them.
• Chen Lun and his companions defeated the wraiths and giants, and Chen Lun confirmed that the Human-Head Jellyfish had been formed from the giants’ heads.
• Mr. Bottle collected the curses from the corpses, but the ground began trembling and an enormous mud-and-rock figure appeared in the darkness.

Chen Lun used Moon Wine and Sun Wine to detect the invisible Fairy of the Dark World guarding the Rock Giant’s pollution source. After evading the fairy’s attack and the giant’s club, he and his companions faced the problem that only he could see their enemy.

• Mr. Pot charged the Rock Giant but an invisible attacker pierced its chest, and Chen Lun caught and healed it with Levitation and green light.
• Mr. Bottle and Mr. Pot explained that the attacker might come from a deeper layer of the Spirit World, possibly the Second Layer.
• Chen Lun drank Moon Wine and Sun Wine together, raising his Insight and revealing a powerful Fairy of the Dark World flying around the Rock Giant.
• Chen Lun struck at the fairy with a playing card, but it deflected the attack and charged him; he escaped by swapping places with a marked card.
• The Rock Giant swung its tree club at Chen Lun, who dodged by using Grand Transformation to swap places with a card near Mr. Pot.
• Mr. Bottle and Mr. Pot worried that they could not help because only Chen Lun could see the fairy guarding the pollution source.

Chen Lun and Mr. Pot defeated the Fairy of the Dark World, and Chen Lun gained its Brilliant Wings trait. The group reached the source of pollution, where Chen Lun identified its keeper as a child of the Old God, but even Mr. Pot’s powerful punch failed to harm it.

• Chen Lun used Divination and a trick with Mr. Pot to ambush and badly wound the Fairy of the Dark World.
• Chen Lun copied the fairy’s Brilliant Wings trait, then crushed it and collected its Fairy Heart after killing it for 18,000 EXP.
• Chen Lun, Mr. Pot, and Mr. Bottle climbed the rock giant to reach the source of pollution.
• Chen Lun identified the white beetle maintaining the passage as Child of the Old God-Didak, also called Child of Distadak.
• Chen Lun’s playing card bounced off the beetle, and Mr. Pot’s powerful punch failed to damage it.