Chapter Summaries

Hobart negotiated with an Earth Mother God Servant seeking a way to redeem Bishop Utravsky, accepting deferred payment in hopes of obtaining the Pharmacist Potion Recipe. The gathering ended with the Bishop’s representative agreeing to the plan, though finding the needed Spectator Beyonder remained unresolved.

• Hobart identified the hooded trader as a follower of Bishop Utravsky and negotiated for the Pharmacist Potion Recipe instead of cash.
• Glaint proposed paying for both the recipe and Hobart’s services, but the God Servant explained that the church could exchange recipes only through Mysticism transactions, not sell them.
• Hobart proposed that the Bishop’s evil personality be separated and fought in the Dream World, with a combat-capable Beyonder defeating it.
• The God Servant accepted Hobart’s advice as worth 150 pounds and agreed that the Bishop could settle the debt later alongside the recipe.
• After leaving the gathering, Xue questioned whether the Bishop would pay, and Hobart said he trusted the Bishop’s desire for redemption and intended to collect the recipe.

Hobart proposed a mutual aid alliance, and he, Audrey, Glaint, Xue, and Fors established the Justice League. He then took a Mutated Eyeball to Gael's herbalist shop and began negotiating its sale, leaving the price unsettled.

• Hobart proposed that the five of them form a mutual aid alliance, and each person offered skills or services they could contribute.
• Audrey suggested naming the group the Justice League, and the five agreed to establish it.
• Audrey asked why the Earth Mother Church had the Pharmacist Potion Recipe, and Hobart explained that churches cultivated Beyonders from multiple pathways.
• After the others parted ways, Xue suggested asking Hobart about the Full Moon Murmurs, but Fors said she still did not trust him enough.
• Hobart visited Gael's herbalist shop and took Gael to the Mercenary Club to discuss selling a Mutated Eyeball.
• Gael questioned the eyeball's origins and rejected Hobart's 100-pound asking price, while Hobart cited its uses in Curses, Rituals, and poison.

Hobart sold a Mutated Eyeball, arranged to sell valuables, and learned that mercenaries had been sent to the Southern Continent by military airship. At home, he tested his connection to the Country of Disorder, successfully confirming his Honorific Name and storing a Secret Supplicant's Extraordinary Characteristic there, but Christine sensed the ritual's abnormal power.

• Hobart sold the Mutated Eyeball to Gael for 85 Pounds and kept 5 Pounds as his commission.
• Hobart left a message at the Mercenary Club offering jewelry and gold worth about 1,500 Pounds for sale.
• Hobart overheard Soldiers discussing a mercenary operation against the Fosac on the Southern Continent, carried out with help from a Military Airship.
• Hobart performed a ritual and confirmed that his designed Honorific Name reached him on the Iron Throne in the Country of Disorder.
• Hobart used the Bronze Gates to bring the Secret Supplicant's Extraordinary Characteristic into the Country of Disorder for safekeeping.
• Christine knocked on Hobart's door and asked if he was all right after sensing abnormal power in his room.

After Christine noticed Hobart’s uncontrolled power, Hobart decided to find a separate place for experiments and Tarot Club gatherings. While observing Elliot in the Southern Continent, Hobart ordered him to follow a suspicious man, leading Elliot to uncover an attack on a convoy.

• Christine checked Hobart after sensing a surge of power, then warned him to watch for signs of corruption after hearing about his encounter with the Aurora Society.
• Hobart decided to rent another place for his experiments and Tarot Club gatherings, then returned to the Country of Disorder to observe Elliot.
• Hobart recognized a middle-aged man from the Mercenary Club who had recruited Spirit Communication specialists for a mission against the Fosac Empire in General Anthony’s territory.
• Hobart projected the man’s appearance to Elliot and ordered him to follow, and Elliot left his Companions to obey.
• Elliot tracked the man through the woods and saw a group attack a convoy near Kansel City using abilities including Imprisonment, Exile, Distortion, and Weaken.

Elliot hid near a Supernatural War between Loen mercenaries and Fosac Beyonders, then seized Extraordinary Characteristics and an item from the battlefield before Hobart helped him escape. Afterward, Elliot sought Hobart’s aid by offering an Extraordinary Necklace as a sacrifice.

• Elliot watched the ambushers overwhelm the Fosac Beyonders, while Hobart observed the battle through True Sight and studied the fighters’ abilities.
• After the fighting moved away, Elliot picked up a Barbarian’s Extraordinary Characteristics and an Extraordinary Necklace, but Hobart warned him away from a strange mask that had made him greedy.
• A Sequence 7 and two Sequence 8s pursued Elliot, and Hobart appeared on the Iron Throne and scrambled space to help him escape.
• Hobart left the Country of Disorder, then returned after sensing Elliot’s call and found that Oliet wanted to sacrifice the Extraordinary Necklace to him.

Elliot thanked the great existence for helping him obtain Extraordinary Characteristics and escape his pursuers, while Hobart recovered from the night’s exertions. In the Southern Continent, Caster concluded that a new powerhouse had appeared, and Hobart rented a house before visiting a client’s farm.

• Elliot offered a Necklace as a sacrifice, and the great existence told him to prepare an altar, use the name “Creator,” and exercise restraint in the Beyonder World.
• Caster learned that an unseen powerhouse had taken Borg Calvin’s Extraordinary Characteristics and an Extraordinary Item, then ordered his mercenaries to withdraw rather than risk a conflict.
• Hobart recovered, found two rental options, and rented the terraced house at Blanca Street 192 for half a year.
• Hobart went to the outskirts to visit Mr. Barton, a farm owner who had requested legal assistance from the Law Firm.

Hobart took Mr. Baron's case and planned to speak with Penny about the divorce and the property Mr. Baron intended to give her. On the Southern Continent, Elliot completed a ritual for the Creator and saw the gates of the divine kingdom appear.

• Mr. Baron told Hobart that he wanted to divorce Penny without dividing his property equally and explained their troubled marriage.
• Hobart advised Mr. Baron to provide Penny with property or money, and Mr. Baron agreed to give her his wool-processing workshop.
• Mr. Baron hired Hobart, who planned to visit Penny at her parents' home the next morning.
• Hobart remembered that Old Neil might be showing signs of Loss of Control and resolved to alert Klein at the next gathering.
• Elliot performed a ritual in the woods, and a black vortex opened to reveal two Bronze Gates.

Hobart received a Spirit Medium Necklace through the Gate of the God Kingdom and learned its abilities and drawbacks. He then visited Penny to discuss Mr. Barton’s marriage, where she revealed that her four-year-old son was born before she married Baron.

• Elliot watched the Gate of the God Kingdom take the necklace and renewed his faith in the Creator, though he could not tell his family elders about the Creator.
• Hobart examined the necklace in the Country of Disorder, learned that it enabled Spirit Communication and Spirit Vision but risked turning its wearer into a Living Corpse, and named it the Spirit Medium Necklace.
• Hobart considered using the Country of Disorder’s power to transmit the necklace’s ability into reality, then left after exhausting his spirituality.
• Hobart traveled to Penny’s home and learned that her son Benny was over four years old and had been born before her marriage to Baron.
• Penny told Hobart that Benny’s father had disappeared after promising to marry her, and that she and her parents had hidden the child from Baron.

Hobart persuaded Penny to take Benny to Mr. Barton so he could explain the truth and help end their marriage. During the carriage ride, Hobart grew suspicious that Aputon might be a Lawyer, and they arrived at Mr. Barton's farm.

• Penny told Hobart she did not dislike Mr. Barton but feared what might happen to Benny if he learned the truth.
• Hobart persuaded Penny to let him speak to Mr. Barton, and Penny's father insisted on coming along with an axe.
• On the ride, Benny asked Hobart about being a Lawyer, prompting Penny to explain Aputon's reputation for arguing.
• Hobart suspected Aputon had taken the Lawyer Potion and learned that Aputon lived with a servant after his mother died.
• The carriage reached Mr. Barton's farm, where Hobart saw Mr. Barton bathing a large white horse.

Hobart helped Penny and Mr. Barton end their marriage peacefully, securing support for Penny and her son before arranging his next legal matter. In the Southern Continent, Elder Calvin rewarded Elliot with the chance to advance to Sequence 7 and named the potion Bribor.

• Hobart told Mr. Barton that Penny would discuss divorce if he did not harm Benny, and Barton agreed to part on good terms.
• Mr. Barton returned Benny safely, promised Penny the wool-processing workshop as a source of income, and asked her to file for divorce.
• Penny signed the Divorce Agreement, and Hobart accepted two pumpkins from her father instead of payment.
• Barton told Hobart that Mr. Barton had settled the 10-pound fee, and Hobart received a letter proposing a jewelry and gold trade for noon the next day.
• Hobart invited Mr. Robin to discuss the case, then told Christine's family how he had obtained the pumpkins.
• Elder Calvin gave Elliot permission to advance to Sequence 7 and told him the potion was called Bribor.

Elliot consumed the Bribor Potion, while Calvin grew concerned about his behavior and asked Harvey Hayden to report what he had seen. Hobart recovered Mr. Robin’s lost money, earned a commission, celebrated with his family, and prepared to sell an Extraordinary Characteristic.

• Elliot consumed the Bribor Potion with Calvin’s help, and Harvey Hayden warned Calvin that Elliot had behaved unusually on the night he obtained the Barbarian Extraordinary Characteristic.
• Hobart negotiated the sale of jewelry and gold seized from Hayman’s hideout for 1,380 pounds and divided the recovered funds with Xue.
• Hobart returned Mr. Robin’s money, collected a commission, and advised him and his cousin to beware of financial traps.
• Hobart calculated that he had more than 300 pounds in cash, bought food and desserts, and shared a celebratory meal with Donna and Tyrone.
• Hobart slept in on Sunday and left home to sell the Secret Supplicant’s Extraordinary Characteristic.

Hobart traded a Secret Supplicant Beyonder characteristic, learned that a ruin expedition had uncovered a message from his father, Rex Heller, and split the profits from earlier jobs with Hugh. He left Hugh with an offer to teach her Mysticism in exchange for accompanying him on an intelligence-gathering trip.

• Hobart attended a Beyonder gathering, where Jacob Otto sought stronger teammates for a ruin expedition and asked whether anyone knew Rex Heller; Hobart offered to pass the request to his father, Christine.
• Hobart sold the Secret Supplicant Beyonder characteristic to an officer for 290 Pounds, then kept 10 Pounds as his disposal fee.
• Hobart told Christine about Jacob Otto's request, and Christine said she understood without discussing it further.
• Hugh visited Hobart at the Law Firm with Fors, and Hobart divided the profits from the Mutated Eyeball and Beyonder characteristic, giving Hugh 180 Pounds.
• Hugh asked about learning Mysticism, and Hobart offered to teach her in exchange for joining him on a countryside intelligence-gathering trip.

At the Tarot Club, Hobart used forged diary entries to give Klein the Creator’s Honorific Name as a possible remedy for Loss of Control, while Klein remained wary of testing it. Alger then offered Hobart Extraordinary Items to fulfill his payment, and Hobart heard the first two options.

• Hobart attended the Tarot Club and gave Klein two pages of Emperor Rosell’s Diary, including a fabricated entry about the Creator treating Loss of Control.
• Klein memorized the Creator’s Honorific Name but decided he would only consider using it if a teammate showed clear symptoms and had no other options.
• Hobart asked Alger about his payment, and Alger described a Pocket Watch whose dangerous laughter effect made Hobart reject it.
• Alger began describing a White Cane that enhanced strength and speed, accumulated power for a stronger strike, and granted swimming and diving ability.

Hobart chose a Silver Ring from Alger and shared a warning about a dangerous Official Extraordinary in Tingen City. He explained the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Conservation to Audrey, who paid him for the knowledge.

• Hobart chose Alger's Silver Ring, whose combat expertise came with excessive caution, and arranged for it to be mailed to the Mercenary Club in Backlund.
• Hobart warned the Tarot Club that an elderly Official Extraordinary in Tingen City was buying Life Alchemy materials and might be preparing an evil Ritual.
• Alger questioned why the churches did not teach the Acting Method, and Hobart explained that the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Conservation was involved.
• Audrey offered Hobart 600 pounds for the explanation, and he told her that Extraordinary Characteristics could only transfer between vessels, not be destroyed or diminished.
• Audrey asked whether Beyonders themselves were vessels for Extraordinary Characteristics.

Hobart taught the Tarot Club about Beyonder Characteristics and warned of Aurora Society members in Backlund, prompting Audrey to investigate No. 388 Queen's Avenue. Klein divined that Old Neil's condition was problematic and went to tell Captain Dunn.

• Hobart explained that Extraordinary Characteristics could serve as Potion ingredients, declined to share further laws, and warned the group about Aurora Society members at Backlund Beyonder Gatherings.
• Audrey traced No. 388 Queen's Avenue to the Mercenary Club, learned from Cons that it handled sensitive military missions, and arranged for a servant to deliver her package there.
• Above the Gray Fog, Klein divined that something was wrong with Old Neil and that reciting the Creator's Honorific Name in the real world was not dangerous.
• Klein visited 36 Zoteland Street, learned that Old Neil was on duty at the weapons depot, and told Dunn that Old Neil's condition was troubling.

Klein detected that Old Neil was close to losing control, and he worked with Dunn and Leonard to perform a ritual that expelled the dangerous force from Old Neil. The chapter ended with an unknown observer writing that the story had been rewritten once again.

• Klein told Dunn that Old Neil's condition seemed wrong, and Dunn planned to examine him and prepare to restrain him if necessary.
• Klein gathered ritual materials and arranged for Leonard and the other Nighthawks to help with the operation.
• Dunn pulled Klein into a dream to warn him that Old Neil's condition had become critical as the first emotionless eye appeared on Old Neil's forehead.
• Leonard helped Dunn restrain Old Neil while Klein completed a ritual praying to the Goddess of the Night.
• The ritual expelled and destroyed the force causing Old Neil's Loss of Control, and Old Neil woke up weak but stable.
• An unknown person in a house outside Tingen wrote that Klein had noticed Old Neil's impending Loss of Control and that the story had been rewritten once again.

Ince Zangwill altered his account of Tingen City in the Antigonus Family Notebook before turning to Hobart’s case for Mr. Polly, whose neighbors disputed whether a Giant Dog lived in the Erlie basement. Hobart found no dog inside, but sensed a distortion like the power of the Lawyer pathway in the Country of Disorder.

• Ince Zangwill stopped the notebook from naming the Goddess of the Night and wrote that Old Neil’s coming Loss of Control would affect Dunn Smith and fulfill Ince’s expectations.
• Mr. Polly hired Hobart to pursue compensation from the Erlie Family after a Giant Dog allegedly wrecked his flowerbeds and killed his chickens.
• Hobart arranged for Mr. Polly to demand 10 pounds in compensation and 10 pounds in legal fees, then confirmed that the Will and Allen families would testify.
• Mr. Erly denied keeping a dog and refused to settle, while barking from the basement intensified their argument.
• Hobart inspected the basement with Mr. Erly, found only tools and clutter, and sensed a familiar distortion associated with the Lawyer pathway in the Country of Disorder.

Hobart investigated reports of a giant dog and suspected the Henry family concealed something unusual. After collecting Mr. Hanged Man’s payment and a ring that enhanced his cane fighting, he recognized the ring’s urge to destroy its packaging as a negative effect.

• Hobart questioned Erlie about the barking and learned that the Henry family lived in the house behind him.
• Hobart heard barking from the Henry family’s basement, but a hoarse voice at the door claimed the family had influenza and refused to let him inspect it.
• Hobart told Mr. Polly that the barking came from the Henry home and heard rumors of the family’s violent, increasingly strange behavior.
• Hobart learned that two packages had arrived for Private and visited the Mercenary Club to collect them.
• Hobart opened one package containing 600 Pounds and put on a ring that filled his mind with cane-fighting techniques.
• Hobart realized the ring’s urge to destroy the packaging was likely its negative effect.

Hobart struggled with the Combat Ring’s excessive caution and learned to use Distortion to identify and resist its negative effects. When Xue and Fors came to ask about Fors’s Blood Moon Whispers, Hobart recognized the Abraham Family’s Curse and explained a possible remedy, though he warned that the solutions were difficult.

• Hobart bought a Military Telescope, wrote to Miss Hugh, and spent the evening coping with the Combat Ring’s cautious impulses.
• Hobart arrived early at the Law Firm and discovered that Distortion helped him distinguish the ring’s negative effects from genuine caution.
• Xue and Fors arrived, and Fors asked why her friend heard insane Whispers during a Blood Moon.
• Hobart identified Fors as an Apprentice pathway Beyonder affected by the Abraham Family’s Curse after consuming unprocessed Extraordinary Characteristics.
• Hobart described extracting and processing the Extraordinary Characteristics as one possible solution to the Curse.

Hobart advised Xue and Fors to let Fate guide their cursed friend’s situation, then explained how Beyonder factions might lead them to Potion Recipes. He organized an investigation into a villager who might share his Sequence, and the three set out for the Backlund suburbs.

• Hobart told Xue and Fors that their friend’s Curse was drawing a mysterious being’s attention and advised them to wait for events to unfold.
• Hobart explained which factions might hold the Potion Recipes for their pathways, giving Fors a new lead in her search for the Trick Master Potion Recipe.
• Hobart proposed investigating a villager who appeared to be a Beyonder of his Sequence, and arranged to meet Xue and Fors at Backlund Bridge.
• Hobart retrieved his Spirit Medium Necklace from the Country of Disorder and prepared for the investigation.
• Hobart, Xue, and Fors took a rental carriage toward the Backlund suburbs.