Chapter Summaries

As Amber City’s winter worsened and plague fears spread, Chen Lun learned that someone was selling candy as medicine in the name of the Black Messenger. He met Noah to take on commissions for the Circus, then left the bar moments before a disturbance erupted.

• Several Inner District patrons discussed food shortages, disease, and refugees, while an old man offered them candy as plague-prevention medicine in the Black Messenger’s name.
• Chen Lun recognized the supposed medicine as ordinary candy and asked the old man where he could find its seller.
• Noah arrived at the bar, and he and Chen Lun discussed the Circus’s finances and the commissions they had accepted through the Silver Dragon Trade Association.
• Chen Lun warned Noah that a disturbance would soon break out, and they left the bar just before patrons cried out as Dumi collapsed.

Chen Lun visited Rambo and Huggins on Third Street to fulfill a divination commission, while arranging for Noah to gather cursed objects for a plan to remove his curse. He met the couple’s unusually affectionate dog, Frida, and settled in to tell their fortunes.

• Chen Lun told Noah to purchase at least two strange cursed objects so they could begin trying to remove Noah’s High Sequence curse.
• Noah left to paint Huggins’s portrait while Chen Lun went to Rambo and Huggins’s apartment for a divination commission.
• Rambo and Huggins invited Chen Lun inside after discussing that a painter was also coming that evening.
• Frida the Springer eagerly greeted Chen Lun, who joked that he was a pet trainer as well as a Fortune Teller.
• Chen Lun introduced himself to Rambo as Jack Spade and sat down with the couple for tea.

Chen Lun used poker divination to predict Huggins and Rambo’s future, including their dog Frida’s death in an accident involving renovations. After they decided to move to avoid the danger, Chen Lun gained experience and insight into his mystical powers.

• Huggins asked Chen Lun to divine the future for himself, Rambo, and Frida, and Chen Lun read four cards for their health, location, wealth, and happiness.
• Chen Lun predicted that Huggins and Rambo would be healthy and prosperous but would part after thirty-three years, while Frida would die the following year.
• When Huggins asked how Frida could be saved, Chen Lun linked her death to buildings, renovations, and roof tiles.
• Rambo and Huggins recalled their plans to renovate and decided to sell their apartments and move elsewhere to protect Frida.
• Chen Lun received experience, skill points, and an attribute point for using his Beast Tamer and Fortune Teller powers to glimpse and influence Frida’s fate.

Chen Lun noticed a dangerous painting of the Seven True Gods at Rambo and Huggins's home and took it with him. In the carriage, Noah recalled having seen a similar painting and remembered something about its artist, Clarenso.

• Chen Lun used his attribute points to raise Endurance and Intelligence to 36 each.
• Noah arrived to paint Huggins's portrait, and Huggins changed the commission to a family portrait with Rambo and Frida.
• Chen Lun spotted a copy of Clarenso's painting, "The Seven Gods' Banquet," in the corridor and realized it might be dangerous.
• Rambo gave the painting to Chen Lun, who warned him and Huggins about its possible dangers before leaving with Noah.
• In the carriage, Chen Lun asked Noah about the painting, and Noah said he remembered seeing a similar one as a child and recalled its artist.

Chen Lun watched Noah advance after he painted a dying girl in the snow, then returned to the Manor and entered Philip's Wonderland to investigate a familiar cabin he had glimpsed there. The chapter left Chen Lun preparing to test his theory about the Wonderland's wooden house.

• Noah told Chen Lun about Clarenso's life, and Chen Lun stored the oil painting in his Blood-Poem Ring.
• Noah stopped the carriage to paint a sick little girl selling matches, and the experience advanced him from [Sequence 9-Butcher] to [Sequence 8-Gourmet].
• Noah gave the finished painting to the girl's phantom and took a box of matches from her basket.
• Chen Lun and Noah returned to the Manor, where Froy served them tea and pastries and said her mystical accumulation was growing as she stayed awake later.
• Chen Lun entered Philip's Wonderland and reviewed his earlier discoveries of a cabin resembling the Lakeside Cabin in the Gloomy Forest.

Chen Lun returned to Wonderland to reach the second cabin, using tree-ring patterns to navigate the dim forest while avoiding the Barren Giant. He encountered a Lumberjack near the cabin and fought it, discovering that its attacks could travel through trees.

• Chen Lun emerged from a fountain in the Statue-Watching Lake and cut down a tree to use its growth rings as a directional guide.
• Chen Lun followed the tree-ring arrows through the forest and escaped the Barren Giant's attack.
• Chen Lun approached the yellowish-brown cabin and encountered a Lumberjack wielding a logging axe.
• Chen Lun attacked the Lumberjack with his Silver Sword and Supernatural Fire, learning that fire harmed it while physical wounds quickly healed.
• The Lumberjack moved between trees to launch unpredictable axe attacks, and Chen Lun relied on Spiritual Intuition to dodge.

Chen Lun entered a Wooden Hut in Wonderland, found Philip’s message and a fragment of Fate Faction Sequence 7 Magician knowledge, then returned to the Circus. He left believing more huts might hold clues and training, while Maggie continued seeking Noah’s help with her potion research.

• Chen Lun escaped the Lumberjacks and the Barren Giant by rushing into the Wooden Hut, where the pursuers vanished.
• Chen Lun found Philip’s message explaining that the hut was a lingering fragment and that more fragments existed in Wonderland.
• Chen Lun discovered one-quarter of the Fate Faction Sequence 7 Magician knowledge and realized the hut’s missing Spade J matched the card he had received in the Lakeside Cabin.
• Chen Lun took the playing cards and returned from Wonderland, considering that players might help him locate other Wooden Huts.
• Maggie asked Chen Lun where Noah was, and he explained that Noah had gone to paint for a client and told her to wait before recruiting potion testers.

Chen Lun left Jack Manor for a divination commission at the Flower Sword Fighting Club, where he met the club owner, Charles. After speaking with Sibert in the lounge, Chen Lun joined Charles in a private meeting room and found him reading about an archaeological expedition.

• Golov returned to Jack Manor with several Manor Servants, and Chen Lun praised his efforts before telling the team to have dinner together that evening.
• Chen Lun left for the Inner District and went to the Flower Sword Fighting Club for his appointment with Charles Wolf.
• In the club lounge, Chen Lun declined a cigar from Sibert and learned that the club offered swordsmanship lessons.
• Chen Lun met Charles in a third-floor room, where they discussed ancient history and the archaeological photographs in Charles's book.

Chen Lun learned that Earth had replaced one of the ancient Seven True Gods and was cursed for discovering the hidden history. He accepted Bayers Wolf’s test and began divining whether the last descendant of the Wolf Family was in Amber City.

• Charles showed Chen Lun a forbidden account of seven ancient statues, including a god later replaced by Mud Weng, and the historical curse afflicted Chen Lun.
• Chen Lun recognized Charles as Bayers Wolf, the Black Knight, and accepted his hidden quest to pass Bayers’s test.
• Bayers asked Chen Lun to divine whether the last descendant of the Wolf Family was in Amber City, revealing that he was temporarily borrowing the body of a man who had died of heart disease.
• Chen Lun read three black-suited cards and told Bayers that the divination suggested the Wolf Family’s last descendant might not be in Amber City.

Chen Lun learned from Bayers that Froy was the last surviving descendant of the Wolf Family, then returned to Jack Manor for dinner with the Circus. After Noah revealed he had advanced to Sequence 8, Chen Lun announced a practical combat test for the team.

• Bayers told Chen Lun that a Wolf Family descendant was nearby and thanked him for the divination, while Chen Lun considered making Bayers an ally.
• Bayers recognized Froy as the last descendant of his family and resolved to protect her, though he vowed to kill the Containment Bureau’s Executioners.
• Bayers realized he had forgotten to pay Chen Lun and planned to invite him back to the Flower Sword Fighting Club with a complimentary VIP card.
• Maggie tried to recruit Noah for potion experiments, but he refused and revealed that he had advanced to Sequence 8, prompting the other Circus members to feel pressure to improve.
• Chen Lun joined the team for dinner, then announced that he would test their combat abilities after the meal.

Chen Lun brought Froy, Noah, Maggie, Golov, and Barton into Wonderland to test its mechanics and train them by fighting without restraint. After Maggie’s poisons and Golov’s and Barton’s surprise attacks failed to harm him, Chen Lun moved to counterattack.

• Chen Lun led his five team members into Wonderland through a dream and explained that its surroundings restored themselves and that death there damaged spirituality rather than causing immediate real death.
• Chen Lun invited the team to use their powers freely and challenged all five to attack him together.
• Maggie threw her Bone-Eroding Poison at Chen Lun, but he walked through the green smoke unharmed.
• Maggie urged the others to attack as Golov and Barton circled Chen Lun and struck from both sides with short blades.
• Chen Lun blocked Golov’s and Barton’s blades with his Silver Cane, then rushed toward them as they tried to retreat.

Chen Lun overwhelmed Noah, Froy, Maggie, Golov, and Barton in a fight, revealing the strength of his dark-gold snake tentacles. Froy admitted defeat while Noah remained bound in Chen Lun’s grasp.

• Chen Lun dodged Noah’s black-light attack and Froy’s branches, then warned the group that he was going on the offensive.
• Chen Lun severed Maggie’s clawed arm and stabbed Noah, while Golov and Barton’s blades failed to pierce his scales.
• Chen Lun knocked Golov and Barton down, then revealed his dark-gold snake tentacles and drove forward through Froy’s shields.
• Noah attacked Chen Lun from the shadows, but the snake tentacles struck him, restrained him, and lifted him into the air.
• Froy smiled helplessly and admitted that they had lost.

Chen Lun finished an intense combat drill with the Circus members, then investigated the unusual growth and teleportation properties of his Wonderland cabins. Two days later, he went to a western Inner District herb shop to investigate people selling black plague-prevention medicine under the guise of his believers.

• Chen Lun repeatedly defeated the Circus members in Wonderland, earning defeat rewards for Noah and Maggie before sending everyone back to the real world.
• Chen Lun reflected on why he could overpower five Beyonders despite being Sequence 8 and wondered whether his Beast Tamer class was unusually powerful.
• Chen Lun found that the lakeside cabin's grapevine had sprouted and discovered he could teleport directly to Forest One in the gloomy forest.
• Chen Lun named the cabin Forest One, found dangerous Lumberjacks nearby, and noted that paths to its left, right, and rear led to unexplored areas.
• Two days later, Chen Lun visited Robert and Jones's Herb Shop to investigate the black plague-prevention medicine being sold in his believers' name.

Chen Lun investigated Robert and Jones’s anti-plague candy shop and discovered that the couple were Nature Church believers using the Black Messenger’s name to gain trust. He accepted a B-rank quest to investigate the plague spreading across Southern Rock State and uncover the Red Dancer’s role.

• Chen Lun bought anti-plague candy from Robert and tested his claim that the shopkeepers followed the Black Messenger.
• Robert let Chen Lun into the inner courtyard, where Chen Lun recognized the couple as Nature Church believers.
• Robert and Jones explained that they had lost family members to a plague and were selling their medicine to help the sick.
• Chen Lun recalled a similar plague-related storyline from the Open Beta and accepted the B-rank quest, “Plague Tale.”

Chen Lun funded Robert and Jones’s anti-plague work and arranged for a doctor to assist them, while planning to involve Maggie in the investigation. After returning to the Flower Sword Fighting Club, he received a VIP card and watched the members train.

• Chen Lun decided that Maggie would be better suited to pursue the Plague Tale quest and offered to help Robert and Jones fund their efforts.
• Chen Lun gave Robert fifty Gold Pounds, recommended that a doctor join the plague response, and received increased favorability from Robert and Jones.
• Chen Lun returned to the Flower Sword Fighting Club, where receptionist Candice gave him a VIP card and her address.
• Chen Lun discarded Candice’s note and walked through the club, stopping to watch men train in the gym.
• A muscular club member saw Chen Lun outside the training room and boasted that one punch would knock out his teeth.

Chen Lun toured the club’s training rooms and accepted Sibert’s invitation to watch a swordsmanship demonstration. After seeing Wood easily defeat Sibert, Chen Lun declined to spar and left his own combat skills untested.

• Chen Lun passed several weapon-training rooms and noticed that the club’s combat tournaments offered prizes too small to interest him.
• Sibert invited Chen Lun to watch him practice swordsmanship and introduced him to his instructor, Wood.
• Wood demonstrated his polished swordsmanship by quickly parrying Sibert’s attacks and striking him until Sibert admitted defeat.
• Sibert offered Chen Lun a chance to spar with Wood or himself, but Chen Lun politely declined and said he had only come to look around.

Wood accepted Ford’s challenge at the Flower Sword Fighting Club and split Ford’s bullet with his sword, contradicting Chen Lun’s divination. Before Wood could strike Ford down, Mr. Charles intervened and stopped the duel.

• Ford disrupted the Flower Sword Fighting Club’s training and promoted his Firepower Shooting Club, with Marlow defending him as Wood confronted them.
• Wood signed Ford’s liability waiver and agreed to a duel while Chen Lun watched and foresaw Ford being beheaded and Wood dying from lead poisoning.
• Ford fired at Wood, who sliced the bullet in two, sending a fragment toward Chen Lun.
• Chen Lun deflected the fragment with his Silver Cane, and Sibert noticed his quick intervention.
• Wood charged Ford, but Mr. Charles blocked Wood’s longsword with a shortsword and called an end to the duel.

Bayers stopped Ford’s attack, expelled him and Marlow, then invited Chen Lun to spar before the club’s guests. As Chen Lun gained the upper hand, Bayers revealed that the earlier duel had reenacted a cursed event from seven years ago and warned that the curse of “identical history” could threaten Chen Lun.

• Bayers disarmed Ford, knocked him unconscious, and ordered Wood to have Ford and Marlow removed from the club.
• At the guests’ request, Bayers agreed to demonstrate his swordsmanship and chose Chen Lun as his sparring partner.
• Chen Lun attacked Bayers with Sibert’s longsword and overwhelmed him with powerful, rapid strikes, stunning the onlookers.
• Bayers told Chen Lun that their earlier confrontation had reenacted a cursed flintlock duel from seven years ago, in which a stray bullet killed a bystander.

Chen Lun learned Knight Swordsmanship from Bayers Wolf and used the skill to defeat him in a public sparring match, astonishing the Flower Sword Fighting Club. Bayers praised Jack’s rapid improvement but could not explain it.

• Bayers Wolf taught Chen Lun Knight Swordsmanship through a series of combat techniques, and Chen Lun learned the skill.
• Chen Lun spent four skill points to raise Knight Swordsmanship to its maximum level.
• Candice left her post after Rida told her that Mr. Charles was sparring with a handsome young man, and she joined the crowd watching the match.
• Chen Lun used his improved swordsmanship to disarm and defeat Bayers Wolf, whose short sword broke during the fight.
• Bayers Wolf expressed astonishment at Jack’s rapid progress, while the crowd reacted with disbelief.

After defeating Bayers in a swordsmanship match, Chen Lun left the training room and spent New Year’s Eve exchanging gifts with his team at Jack Manor. The celebration ended with Fuluoyin giving Chen Lun a handmade Mysterious Object, Moonlight in the Palm.

• Bayers warned Chen Lun that his talent was dangerous and left before his body collapsed.
• Sibert praised Chen Lun and reclaimed his longsword, while Chen Lun avoided the crowd and left the training room.
• On New Year’s Eve, Chen Lun gave Golov and Barton mystical substances, Maggie transcendent red wine, Noah sweets, and Connie the Hundred Ticks pendulum.
• Chen Lun gave Fuluoyin a Black Mist Cloak on the manor’s balcony.
• Fuluoyin gave Chen Lun Moonlight in the Palm, a glove she had forged that could summon and speak with a recently deceased person’s wraith.