Chapter Summaries

Chen Lun escaped a terrifying creature in the Forgetfulness Spring and opened the battered chest, gaining spring water and the Shadow Contract ritual. Back in the real world, he forgot his Fisherman profession and replaced it with Brewer, learning to make mystical liquor.

• Chen Lun fled the enormous creature beneath the pool and returned to the lakeside cabin, where he found over 70 Sanity stored in the statue.
• Chen Lun used the Rusty Toothpick to open the chest and discovered Copper Crowns, a notebook about the Forgetfulness Spring, Forgetfulness Spring Water, and the Shadow Contract ritual.
• Chen Lun left Philip's Wonderland, learned that Polaris and the other players had exhausted their resurrections, and asked Connie to purchase brewing equipment.
• Chen Lun drank the Forgetfulness Spring Water and forgot his Fisherman profession, losing its skills and having points deducted until he could replace them.
• Chen Lun read Blood Brew, chose Brewer as his new secondary profession, raised it to the maximum level, and acquired the Blood Brew skill.

Chen Lun followed the Silver Cane to an abandoned factory in the Outer District, where surviving members of the Circus debated whether to flee or attempt another job. Maggie revealed that the Leader had used peripheral members to test potions, then sensed rats nearby as Chen Lun’s scouts reached the factory.

• Chen Lun maxed out [Blood Brew] and planned to make transcendent wine after Connie bought the equipment.
• Chen Lun used the Silver Cane to track the Circus remnants to an industrial area in the Outer District and sent rats to scout the factories.
• The surviving Circus members argued over whether to leave the city or carry out another job while the Containment Bureau was weakened.
• Maggie refused to join either side and demanded that the peripheral members stay so she could test potions on them.
• Maggie revealed that the Leader had secretly used peripheral members to test potions, then noticed the rats inside the factory.

Jack Spade confronted the Circus in a rat-filled factory, killing two members and offering to take in the survivors. After Maggie mocked his offer, he recognized her past and questioned her about being expelled from the Nature Church.

• Rats surrounded the factory as Jack Spade entered and offered the Circus advice, but he shot a member who aimed a Flintlock at him.
• A short-haired Circus member fled the factory, but Jack's strange power returned her to the room, where she was shot after appearing to threaten him.
• The bearded man stopped the burly man and the other Circus members from attacking, then asked Jack to explain himself.
• Jack offered to take in the Circus, whose leader and supernatural fighters were nearly gone and who faced an approaching manhunt.
• Maggie laughed at Jack's offer, and he recognized her as the Sick Doctor before asking whether the Nature Church had expelled her.

Chen Lun recruited Maggie, Golov, Barton, and the Circus’s peripheral members, becoming the organization’s new Leader and completing the Circus mission. He decided to keep the Circus’s name as bait to draw the Mutual Aid Society’s attention.

• Chen Lun persuaded Maggie to join his team by promising support for her plans to combine nature and flesh and create a healing medicine.
• Chen Lun used a Shadow Contract to bind the Circus’s peripheral members, then Golov and Barton signed it as well.
• Chen Lun signed as Jack Spade, became the Circus’s new Leader, and completed the mission, receiving experience, money, renown, and a mysterious book.
• Chen Lun gave Golov and Barton two Mysterious Objects and promised to help them advance in the mystical domain.
• Chen Lun chose to keep the Circus’s name, intending to lure the Mutual Aid Society into contact with him.

Chen Lun expanded the Circus’s influence and planned to make it a legitimate Beyonder organization while pursuing hidden sequence knowledge. At Jack Manor, he discovered he had forgotten to close his door and ordered Connie to expand production and develop an incendiary bomb.

• Chen Lun sent Barton and a third of the Circus’s outer members to take over the leaderless Iron Fist Gang, then brought Maggie, Golov, and the remaining members back with him.
• Chen Lun drafted and memorized a plan to establish the Circus as a legitimate Beyonder organization, then burned the document and waited for Noah.
• Chen Lun read the Conspiracy Faction book “Close the Door Behind You” and discovered the complete Sequence 9 Thief pathway.
• Chen Lun placed the Order Revolver on Bibu and told the kitten to keep it warm, then went downstairs to breakfast.
• Connie told Chen Lun that Froy had entered his room after he forgot to close the door, and reported on the Circus’s equipment production and expenses.
• Chen Lun gave Connie more funding, ordered additional buildings and expanded production, and handed her requirements for a powerful incendiary bomb.

Chen Lun learned that Froy’s Sun-Averting Potted Plant had gained a new power, Solar Eclipse, and considered using a Sun-trait oil painting to strengthen it. The next morning, he reflected on the strain of repeatedly restoring Sanity through Maggie’s Statue and concluded he should limit himself to one session a night.

• Connie accepted Chen Lun’s requirements and said she expected to make a prototype soon using her flame-related knowledge.
• Froy visited Chen Lun, confessed her feelings, and gave him afternoon tea before showing him the Sun-Averting Potted Plant’s new ability, Solar Eclipse.
• Chen Lun considered letting the plant devour the Sun-trait oil painting in Noah’s possession and told Froy he had an idea for later.
• Froy left after reminding Chen Lun to close the door when he bathed.
• The next morning, Chen Lun recalled restoring Sanity three times in Maggie’s Statue and decided to do it only once each night.

Chen Lun set up brewing equipment in the villa basement and used his [Brewer] ability to make ordinary ginger beer and a transcendent liquor with deep-sea effects. Afterward, Connie told him that Steward Walsh had announced Noah and Rosa would soon visit.

• Chen Lun arranged to turn the basement into a wine cellar and moved the brewing equipment inside.
• Chen Lun brewed ginger beer, accelerating its fermentation with [Brewer], then bottled some for dinner.
• Chen Lun added [Walking Fish Flesh] and [Walking Fish Fin] to the remaining beer and created a transcendent liquor with deep-sea effects.
• Chen Lun decided to let Froy and Connie sample the transcendent liquor and planned to try making red wine next.
• Connie told Chen Lun that Steward Walsh had said Noah and Rosa would soon visit.

Chen Lun welcomed Rosa and Noah to Jack Manor for dinner, where he introduced them to his newest team members, Maggie and Golov. As the guests enjoyed Froy’s cooking, Rosa showed interest in Chen Lun’s team, and Noah grew more convinced that joining it was the right choice.

• Chen Lun gave Connie a bottle of supernatural wine to chill for the guests and thanked Froy as she prepared dinner.
• Rosa and Noah arrived at Jack Manor, and steward Walsh reflected on their reunion after years apart.
• Chen Lun welcomed Rosa and Noah and invited them into the villa for dinner.
• Chen Lun introduced Maggie and Golov as the newest members of his team, prompting Rosa to ask about the group.
• Noah praised Froy’s cooking and felt certain that joining Chen Lun’s team was a wise choice.

Chen Lun hosted Rosa and Noah, revealed his Extraordinary Wine and plans for the Circus, and secured Rosa’s support for the organization. He ended by predicting that a great upheaval would come within a year.

• Rosa recognized Chen Lun’s ginger beer as Extraordinary Wine, and the guests praised its effects and his brewing skill.
• Chen Lun told Rosa he had founded the Circus and asked her to help make it an affiliate of the Silver Dragon Trade Association.
• Rosa agreed to direct the association’s high-end mystical commissions to the Circus and offered to sell its Extraordinary Wine through the association.
• Chen Lun showed Rosa weapons made by the Circus and discussed their potential value.
• Rosa asked Chen Lun about the future, and he predicted a period of turmoil within a year.

Chen Lun welcomed Noah into his team and promised to restore his appearance, while Rosa gave him a Silver Dragon Trade Association token before leaving Amber City. That night, Chen Lun went to investigate Maggie’s loud potion experiments and found her room in chaos.

• Rosa presented Chen Lun with five Starlight Veils and asked him to take Noah into his team, and Chen Lun welcomed Noah aboard.
• Chen Lun examined Noah’s fate and promised he could help restore Noah’s appearance in the near future.
• Rosa gave Chen Lun a high-grade Silver Ring Coin token and said Walsh would contact him about the Circus before she left Noah in his care.
• Chen Lun found Maggie making loud noises in her room and went to check on her potion experiments.
• Maggie showed Chen Lun her wrecked room, where two animated pieces of raw beef fought and one was knocked onto the floor.

Chen Lun collected Maggie’s potions and funded her research into a stamina-restoring brew, then visited Noah to inspect the Bone Key. He learned the key was an A-Rank Mysterious Object called White Bone Gallery, leaving its powers and limits revealed.

• Maggie showed Chen Lun her Spirit-Calming Potion and Blood-Producing Bottle, while her experimental beef potion caused raw meat to erupt with bone spikes.
• Chen Lun took Maggie’s potion stock, gave her 100 Gold Pounds for ingredients, and asked her to develop a stamina-restoring potion alongside the Strong Blood-Producing Bottle.
• Chen Lun visited Noah and saw a portrait of himself on Noah’s easel, which Noah covered after Chen Lun noticed it was nude.
• Noah let Chen Lun examine his Bone Key, and Chen Lun identified it as the A-Rank Mysterious Object White Bone Gallery, which could plunder or copy powers into paintings and grow stronger as its gallery filled.

Chen Lun examined the White Bone Gallery’s powers, requested Feiri’s portrait, and gave it to Froy to devour. He then browsed the players’ forum, learned that two Closed Beta players had become extraordinary, and started watching Su Keying’s teaser video featuring him.

• Chen Lun considered how Noah could use the White Bone Gallery to make temporary copies of extraordinary abilities and wondered why players who lost their powers to it had not been permanently stripped of them.
• Noah told Chen Lun he had adapted well to the White Bone Gallery, and Chen Lun asked him for Feiri’s portrait, “The Unyielding.”
• The next morning, Chen Lun gave Froy the portrait to devour, and she began absorbing it while resting beside him.
• Chen Lun opened the forum and found a pinned “Age of Mysteries teaser” video uploaded by Su Keying, featuring his own image.
• Chen Lun learned that Gan Ziwen and Honey-Trap Fool had become extraordinary during the Closed Beta and considered recruiting them for his elite plan.
• Chen Lun started the teaser video as scrolling comments appeared over a black screen and piano notes sounded.

A promotional video introduces the game's world, Jack Spade, and its brutal supernatural combat. It ends with Jack transforming his Silver Cane into a bladed whip and a giant fireball rising over a square.

• Su Keying narrates as the video shows players arriving in the countryside and a farmer killing one of them.
• A woman explains that the church is being rebuilt after someone killed its people and burned it down, while a wanted poster identifies Jack.
• Jack Spade asks two people to find their companions and kill them.
• Jack blasts Ma Ren, Doghead Gold, Wangwuji, and Iron Fist Gang underlings with his Blunderbuss, then fights and burns a muscular little giant.
• Jack transforms the Silver Cane into a bladed whip as a giant fireball rises above a square.

Chen Lun watched Su Keying’s dramatic video about the battle at the Red Apple Cathedral and praised her editing. He scrolled to the comments, where Su Keying had shared a newspaper photo of him with Polaris and the other players.

• Chen Lun watched a video depicting his fight at the Red Apple Cathedral and his promise to investigate a voice calling to him.
• Chen Lun remarked that Su Keying’s video captured only a fraction of his good looks.
• Chen Lun scrolled to the comments section and saw Su Keying’s pinned newspaper photo of him with Polaris, Ma Ren, Doghead Gold, and Wangwuji.

Chen Lun reviewed players’ reactions to Su Keying’s screenshots and video of him, then turned his attention to Froy’s newly completed Sun Faction Sequence 8-Artisan characteristic. Froy revealed that it had changed, and a black vine’s touch produced a faint blackish-purple glow on Chen Lun.

• Su Keying replied to players and promoted her Jack Fan Club in the comments beneath screenshots of Chen Lun.
• Chen Lun found an embarrassing close-up among the screenshots and read players’ speculation about his strength, motives, and connection to the Red Apple Church.
• Chen Lun decided to accelerate his preparations for Open Beta and thought Froy and Noah would soon be able to hold their own.
• Froy woke when Chen Lun brushed her hair, then told him her Sun Faction Sequence 8-Artisan characteristic had changed.
• Froy extended her hand, and a black vine touched Chen Lun before withdrawing as a faint blackish-purple glow appeared.

Chen Lun learned that neighboring sequence pathways could converge and allow advancement through mutual devouring, though the transcendent law behind this insight could not be communicated by ordinary means. Froy used her new Moon Artisan ability to forge a mysterious perfume bottle, and Chen Lun praised the resulting object despite its dangerous limitations.

• Chen Lun received an incomplete transcendent law explaining that neighboring pathways, including Sun and Moon, could converge and change through mutual devouring at Sequence 4 or above.
• Chen Lun discovered that he could neither speak nor write the law, and Froy said conveying it had weakened the Black Vine temporarily.
• Chen Lun gathered materials and low-sequence mystical substances for Froy to use with her Moon Artisan ability.
• Froy forged the D-Rank Mysterious Object-Resting Perfume, which could put anyone who smelled it into a deep sleep but did not distinguish friend from foe.
• Chen Lun examined the perfume's drawbacks and told Froy it was a fine mysterious object.

Chen Lun accepted Froy’s Resting Perfume as a useful weapon, while a covert letter-delivery network carried a message to Team Leader Mona. In Amber City, Mona briefed Ralph on evidence against the Red Apple Church and revealed that its Grand Bishop had tried to sacrifice the city, leaving their teacher’s restrained response unresolved.

• Chen Lun reassured Froy that his resistance to poison made the Resting Perfume safe for him, then left to attend to business.
• A postman secretly collected a letter addressed to Team Leader Mona and used a Sticky Note Pad to confirm its receipt.
• Ralph arrived in Amber City after advancing to Sequence 7 and was welcomed by Mona as her new subordinate.
• Mona gave Ralph investigation reports implicating the Amber City branch of the Red Apple Church, and they discussed the damage to the church’s local reputation.
• Mona told Ralph that Grand Bishop Rafa had been involved in the Gallery Case and the Battle of Bradley Square and had sent an avatar to sacrifice the city.
• Ralph asked how their teacher had responded to the revelation, and Mona said he had only replied, “Understood.”

Ralph learned that Jack Spade had defeated the Red Apple Church’s Saint incarnation and that Amber City’s rebuilt square would be named for the Black Messenger. A month later, Chen Lun summoned the Silver Dragon Trade Association’s Spirit World messenger and dragged the Crocodile Gentleman out of the Spirit World.

• Mona showed Ralph Jack Spade’s file, detailing how he destroyed the Red Apple Church’s branches and the Circus while protecting civilians.
• Ralph read Rosa’s guarantee and the nobles’ and merchants’ plan to rebuild Bradley Square as Black Messenger Square.
• Mona revealed that Jack Spade had repelled Grand Bishop Rafa’s incarnation, leaving Ralph stunned by the photograph of him.
• Chen Lun used the Silver Ring Coin to summon the Silver Dragon Trade Association’s Crocodile Gentleman messenger.
• Chen Lun paid the messenger’s delivery fee, then seized its wrist and slammed it onto the floor.

Chen Lun uncovered that the Silver Dragon Trade Association’s crocodile messenger was a disguised Con-Artist Doll, then received a report and payment from the Association two weeks later. He continued preparing the Circus for the Open Beta and sought a Spirit World creature who might help remove Noah’s curse, but his messenger Qiong had never heard of Mr. Bottle.

• Chen Lun forced the Crocodile Gentleman to reveal its true form as a Con-Artist Doll, then let it leave after it returned most of the payment.
• Chen Lun sent the Silver Dragon Trade Association a report of the Circus’s goods and requested Deep Sea Faction Sequence 9 knowledge.
• Two weeks later, Chen Lun received gold, a letter, and a book from the lizard messenger Qiong, and learned that potions and Extraordinary Wine sold better than weapons.
• Chen Lun planned further investments in the team’s potions, brewing, and forging, and considered using fruit from extraordinary plants to improve his wine.
• Chen Lun asked Qiong about Mr. Bottle, a Spirit World creature known for devouring curses, but Qiong had never heard of him.

Chen Lun tested Connie’s Blue Ink incendiary bomb in the Spirit World, where he killed an attacking Spirit World Scavenger and learned that the Con-Artist Doll had escaped. Back in his manor, he read a Deep Sea Faction Mysterious Book and received the Knowledge Collector blessing for mastering Sequence 9 knowledge from ten pathways.

• Chen Lun took the Blue Ink into the Spirit World to test its power and encountered a gray-suited Spirit World Scavenger holding the lizardman messenger.
• The Spirit World Scavenger attacked Chen Lun, who restrained him with a serpentine tentacle and killed him with the Blue Ink’s spreading flames.
• A Ram-Headed Humanoid showed Chen Lun that the Con-Artist Doll had escaped after the lizardman skin suit was destroyed.
• Chen Lun returned to his manor and read the Silver Dragon Trade Association’s Mysterious Book, learning the Deep Sea Faction’s Sequence 9 Sailor knowledge.
• Chen Lun received the Knowledge Collector blessing after mastering Sequence 9 knowledge from ten pathways.