Chapter Summaries

Hobart opened Tuthuga Port as a lawful haven for pirates, and its services quickly won their trust. As the port filled with visitors, Eris arrived aboard the Black Emperor and attacked the harbor, prompting Hobart to invoke the Lord of Storms against him.

• Hobart collected the six Time Worms Klein had sacrificed, then joined Fors to finish preparing Tuthuga Port for its reopening.
• Tuthuga Port opened with banners granting pirates citizen rights and protecting their deposits and purchases as legal property, while notices made clear that crimes committed in the port would be punished.
• Pirates tested the port's restaurants, courts, brothels, bank, exchange, auction house, and pawnshop, finding a safe place to trade and settle while learning to follow its rules.
• Hobart and Fors prepared to leave for the Tarot Club when Eris arrived aboard the Black Emperor and sent towering waves toward the harbor.
• Hobart stopped the waves, flew above the city, and recited the Lord of Storms' Honorific Name, accusing Eris of attacking civilians as dark clouds gathered over the port.

Hobart summoned the Lord of Storms to drive Eris and the Black Emperor from Tuthuga Port, then revealed to the Tarot Club that two Ancient One-level existences had appeared in the First Epoch and shared his account of the Second Epoch. The gathering ended with Hobart questioning why the Second Epoch’s rival factions had been named for humanity when humans were not then dominant.

• Hobart prayed to the Lord of Storms, whose waterspout battered the Black Emperor until Eris escaped through the Spirit World with a Glass Bottle of mist.
• Hobart restored order in Tuthuga Port, then returned with Fors to the Tarot Club gathering, where Cattleya revealed she had advanced to demigodhood and gave Klein a page of Rosell's diary.
• Hobart told the Tarot Club that the Creator had mentioned two Ancient One-level existences in the First Epoch, and the members mistook his gesture toward Mr. Fool as confirmation that Mr. Fool was one of them.
• Hobart proposed that the first Blasphemy Slate was formed by an existence with Pathways similar to those of the Ancient Sun God, then offered to trade his Second Epoch history for missions.
• Hobart described the Era of Sprouts and the Era of Initial Radiance of Fire, naming the Ancient Gods’ Pan-Humanity and Non-Human factions and questioning why they were defined by humanity when humans were not dominant.

Hobart connected the Second Epoch’s factions and conflicts to the rise of humanity, revealing major secrets about the Goddess of the Night and other ancient figures. After his history transaction ended, Leonard privately asked Hobart for a way to restore an angel to its peak state.

• Hobart argued that surviving Second Epoch records were shaped by human perspectives and explained how the Ancient Gods divided into relatively rational and more insane factions.
• Hobart used the pathways and characteristics of the Ancient Gods to explain why the Destruction Demonic Wolf stayed outside both factions and why the Demon Monarch Fauvety remained apart.
• Hobart described the godly battle that collapsed the Pan-Humanity Faction and revealed that the Goddess of Misfortune later became the Goddess of the Night, shocking Leonard.
• Hobart outlined the Era of Twins, credited Hermes as a pioneer of human mysticism, and explained how the Ancient Sun God’s arrival led to humanity’s rise and the Third Epoch.
• Cattleya asked about the Ancient Sun God’s connection to the first Blasphemy Slate, and Hobart admitted he lacked evidence before the transaction ended.
• Leonard privately asked Hobart whether he knew how an angel could temporarily return to peak condition.

Hobart discussed Eris, Tuthuga Port, and the Creator’s plans with the Tarot Club, then appointed Fors to lead the Traveler Research Society as the port welcomed Edwina and Bernadette. Tuthuga Port’s opening proved lucrative, while Bernadette agreed to lend Hobart the lamp Eris was seeking in exchange for its secret and support against future attacks.

• Hobart offered Leonard two ways to help Pales deceive rules and concepts, and Pales chose the one-use Mystical Item method while requesting a Black Emperor demigod charm as backup.
• Hobart warned the Tarot Club that Eris, now Sequence 3 and supported by the Tamara Family, had taken the Black Emperor, and he explained how Tuthuga Port would attract pirates’ wealth through trade and services.
• Audrey described Herwin Rambis’s attempt to influence her and discussed the churches’ guidance of important believers, while Derrick announced plans to explore the Giant King’s Court.
• Hobart appointed Fors president of the Traveler Research Society, and she planned to establish its headquarters in Long Tail Port and a branch in South Colson.
• Edwina arrived aboard the Golden Dream, and Bernadette later came on the Dawn; Hobart told Bernadette that Eris was seeking a lamp she might possess, and she agreed to lend it in exchange for its secret and Hobart’s aid against Eris.
• Tuthuga Port’s opening generated 100,000 pounds in municipal business revenue and about 150,000 pounds in stolen-goods deals, while Edwina bought Reader pathway characteristics and Bernadette’s crew prepared to invest.

Hobart returned to Backlund and dealt with the accidents at Earl's Light, discovering that gas companies had arranged a frame-up. After Xue investigated the Gas Association and Hobart agreed to help Alice kill James, he announced that Earl's Light would suspend sales in Backlund until the accidents were investigated.

• Hobart returned from Longtail Island, met Audrey, and learned that four electrical accidents had killed five people and hurt Earl's Light's sales.
• Hobart learned that the Gas Association had pushed for an investigation into electric lighting, while Earl's Light's business in other cities and Intis was thriving.
• Xue reported that two gas companies had staged the accidents and that the Gas Association had bribed newspapers; Hobart paid her and asked her to locate gas storage sites.
• Alice asked Hobart to kill James, the Royal Family's former butler, and gave him details about James's transfer and travel plans.
• At the investigative panel meeting, Hobart announced that Earl's Light would suspend sales in Backlund until the four accidents had been thoroughly investigated, shocking Vito and the other attendees.

Hobart rejected the Gas Association’s pressure, established contact between Klein disguised as Dawn Dantes and Chunas, and helped Audrey complete her first two assassinations with Xue. He then sabotaged Backlund’s gas storage sites and secretly arranged James’s death, leaving the city facing a gas crisis and the cause of the attacks concealed.

• Hobart refused to negotiate with the Gas Association, agreed to a military generator research project, and resisted Amyrius and Chunas’s attempt to test his strength.
• Klein, disguised as Dawn Dantes, met Chunas through a conversation about buying a hunting manor, while Hobart made twenty high-level Marauder pathway amulets with The Fool’s help.
• Hobart assured Earl Hall and his family that he would resolve the dispute with the Gas Association, then sent Audrey and Xue to assassinate two Aurora Society members.
• After Xue reported the missions and accepted Hobart’s offer of support for building an intelligence network, Hobart destroyed Backlund’s gas storage facilities in a series of explosions.
• Xue inspected the ruins and found workers preparing temporary gas tanks, while Hobart followed James’s party and secretly caused James’s Extraordinary abilities to fail during an ambush.
• Two assassins shot James, and his blood, bone marrow, and tissue fluid poured from his body until he died.

Hobart retaliated against the Gas Association’s attacks on Earl’s Light, leaving the Association weakened and Backlund’s lighting crisis unresolved. While he was away from the city, the public learned the Gas Association had framed Earl’s Light, and Hobart returned to a dinner where he offered only limited help restoring electric-light sales.

• Hobart killed James and extracted his Extraordinary Characteristics and Mystical Items, then sabotaged the Gas Association’s raids on Earl’s Light and its Power Plant.
• Hobart’s Alterations killed the Beyonders and demigod sent to attack the Power Plant, silencing the Gas Association’s backers.
• Alice examined James’s head at Georgina’s residence, thanked Hobart for avenging Edessak, and arranged to meet him again.
• Hobart negotiated potential electrical research cooperation with Wen Shidun, then agreed with Archibald to search for the City of Yadro the following week.
• The newspapers exposed the Gas Association’s conspiracy against Earl’s Light, and Backlund’s citizens protested while Hobart remained away.
• At Agshid Negan’s mediation dinner, Hobart said Earl’s Light could sell only one hundred light bulbs a day, leaving the prime minister shocked.

Hobart forced the Gas Association to accept heavy compensation and helped Earl's Light resume sales amid Backlund's lighting crisis. He then completed a working Teleportation Array linking Tuthuga Port and Long Tail Port.

• At dinner with Agshid, Duke Negan, and other officials, Hobart demanded that the Gas Association compensate Earl's Light and the victims of the chaos, and Duke Negan agreed to his terms.
• Christine proposed using a concealed space and a separate body to protect Hobart's bloodline while he advanced and dealt with Trensoost's curse, and Hobart began planning the method.
• Earl's Light's sales resumed, and its negotiators secured a 600,000-pound compensation agreement while the company received 36,000 orders in one day.
• Hobart and Fors prepared Teleportation Arrays in Tuthuga Port and Long Tail Port, and Hobart used a Secrets Sorcerer Extraordinary Characteristic to connect them through the Spirit World.
• Hobart activated the array, which began glowing with seven-colored light and formed an illusory door.

Hobart and Fors established their first Teleportation Array and planned further transport links while Hobart prepared to advance to Sequence 2. He also advanced Xue, recruited Witch Research Society members, and began searching with Archibald for the City of Yadro, where he sensed a gigantic plant beneath the earth.

• Hobart successfully tested the Teleportation Array with Fors, then planned to build another between Long Tail Port and Crowlier City and recruited loyal Beyonders to operate it.
• Hobart asked Archbishop Simpson to arrange an identical body and prayed to the Goddess of the Night for a Mystical Item that could conceal an area; she requested his help obtaining a Sealed Artifact from the God of War Church.
• Fors introduced eight Beyonders to the Teleportation Array, while Hobart advanced Xue to Sequence 6 and assigned her to establish an intelligence network in Tuthuga Port.
• Hobart discussed the Witch Research Society's theories with Audrey, promised its members work and advancement opportunities, and later arranged to acquire two bankrupt Gas Companies.
• Hobart and Archibald searched near the Hornacis Mountain Range for the City of Yadro, and Hobart sensed a gigantic plant beneath the ground with the Fork of Healing.

Hobart and Archibald discovered that the City of Yadro lay beneath the Sonia Sea and forced their way inside with the Sun Scepter. They reached a black palace, where Hobart’s Order Crystals protected them from the throne’s influence, but a battle with powerful monsters left them facing new threats.

• Hobart questioned local children and learned that a fisherman had dredged up a corroded Bronze Mirror bearing a Solomon Empire design from the lake.
• Hobart used the Sun Scepter to locate the City of Yadro beneath the Sonia Sea, then brought Archibald into it with a beam of sunlight.
• Hobart and Archibald hid from the city’s monsters and traveled to a black palace, where they defeated a Fallen Earl monster and collected its Extraordinary Characteristic.
• Hobart gave Archibald and his marionette Order Crystals after the Stone Chair in the palace hall began drawing them toward it.
• A Three-Headed Saint Hall attacked Hobart and Archibald, and Hobart manipulated two other monsters into fighting it.
• The Three-Headed Saint Hall escaped into the shadows, while the Light Mass Person and Electricity Person turned their attention toward Hobart and Archibald.

Hobart and Archibald battled several powerful monsters in Yadro’s ruins before Hobart drove off the rule-bound White Villa. They reached the hidden settlement of the Trensoost Family, where Bi Qi’er revealed that his branch guarded a key to the Trensoost Empire.

• Hobart and Archibald fought the Light Mass Person and Electricity Person while the Three-Headed Saint Hall interfered, and the monsters eventually withdrew.
• As dusk transformed the ruins, Hobart and Archibald avoided the White Villa, which followed them and attacked.
• Hobart exploited flaws in the White Villa’s ability to restore rules, damaged it with falling stones and explosions, and forced it to flee.
• Hobart and Archibald found the Trensoost Family’s hidden town, and Bi Qi’er welcomed them after Hobart showed the family badge.
• Bi Qi’er explained that his branch guarded certain things while Hobart’s branch was responsible for welcoming the returning Night Emperor.
• Hobart asked for clues to the Trensoost Empire, and Bi Qi’er revealed that his branch possessed the key to enter it.

Hobart met the Trensoost Family in the City of Yadro, learned about the Solomon Empire and its hidden history, and received a Crystal Key to the Trensoost Empire. After returning to Backlund, he was told that the church could not help refine a body, not even with its angels’ power.

• Bi Qi'er brought Hobart before prime minister Abbott and the Cabinet, who explained the Trensoost Family’s history, the monsters in the ruins, and the strength of the True Creator’s faction during the Fourth Epoch.
• Abbott gave Hobart a Crystal Key to the Trensoost Empire and asked him to try to recover the Tamara Family’s narrow-necked Glass Bottle; Hobart also studied the family’s historical records and learned about Tudor’s mausoleums and the Nether Emperor’s trap.
• Hobart and Archibald left the City of Yadro through a hidden passage, and Archibald refused a share of their spoils because he had pledged to help Hobart find the city.
• Hobart sacrificed a Fallen Earl Extraordinary Characteristic and considered cultivating Elliot or Angus into a demigod.
• Doffis told Hobart that Allen had been waiting with an urgent message, and Allen led him to Archbishop Simpson.
• Simpson told Hobart that the church could not refine a body, even with the help of its angels.

Hobart failed to find a way to refine a body for himself, so he set aside his advancement problem and sought the Trensoost Empire Ship to strengthen his forces at sea. He found the cursed ship, eased its Curse, and secured Servia Trensoost and the crew’s allegiance in exchange for bringing them the Ancient Death God’s corpse.

• Simpson told Hobart that the Life Research Institute could not refine a body from his blood, and Hobart considered whether the Earth Mother had altered his bloodline.
• Hobart traveled to the misty island, met Gonzalo and his captain, and learned that Gonzalo knew where the Trensoost Empire Ship had drifted.
• Hobart reached the Empire, met Duke Servia, and learned that Salinger’s Curse made the crew die repeatedly while leaving them trapped and unable to feel.
• Hobart used Mr. Azik’s mark to reduce the Curse’s effects, then persuaded Servia and the crew to swear allegiance by offering to bring them the Ancient Death God’s corpse.
• Servia explained the ship’s original plan to lure and attack Salinger, and led Hobart toward the compartment where the corpse was meant to be stored.

Hobart restored the Trensoost Empire’s ability to sail and brought its crew into the sunlight, while Edwina investigated a teleportation array connecting Longtail Island to Tuthuga Port. After Xue asked the Creator for help rescuing a friend, Hobart reached a warehouse confrontation involving several Witches.

• Hobart placed the Ancient Death God's corpse aboard the Trensoost Empire, allowing the ship to move again, and guided it through the Underworld to the Mist Sea.
• Edwina used Fors’s document to enter a warehouse at Tuthuga Port, discovered a teleportation array, and traveled to Longtail Island, where she observed its unusual society.
• Hobart accepted Princess Alice’s invitation to a symphony and later received a note from Xue asking for help with an investigation into her father’s death.
• Xue prayed to the Creator for help rescuing her friend from a warehouse, and Hobart saw that Triss and Sherman had been captured by Viscount Stafford and Katerina Pelae.
• Hobart arrived at the warehouse wearing a Black Crystal mask and greeted the Witches inside.

Hobart defeated and killed Katerina, uncovered the truth behind Xue’s father’s death, and recruited Xue as his intelligence officer after revealing the King’s plan to become a god. The chapter ended with Alger witnessing a colossal phantom ship bearing a black-crown flag confront the Flesh and Blood Tree Ship at Tuthuga Port.

• Hobart cut off Katerina’s mirror abilities and burned her to death, then severed her resurrection connection and destroyed her spirit.
• Xue defeated Viscount Stafford with Sherman’s help, but Stafford’s spirit revealed that Mason Dil had been executed after discovering the King’s secret before it disintegrated.
• Hobart took Xue and Sherman away, questioned Stafford’s spirit, and learned that Mason Dil had tried to warn the three major Churches.
• Hobart told Xue that the King sought godhood through a process that had consumed hundreds of thousands of lives, and Xue agreed to become his Intelligence Officer.
• Alger arrived at Tuthuga Port and saw the Flesh and Blood Tree Ship appear, followed by a giant silver-white ship phantom carrying a black-crown flag.

Hobart witnessed the Empire Ship destroy the Rose School’s pirate fleet, prepared his businesses for the coming war, and expanded his political and technological alliances. At the Tarot Club, he negotiated for military intelligence and Sanguine records, then began explaining how Outer Gods had influenced the ancient gods.

• The Trensoost Empire Ship destroyed the Flesh and Blood Tree Ship and its fleet with white flames, while Alger recognized the ship and noticed the order prevailing in Tuthuga Port.
• Hobart prepared for war by arranging construction supplies and telephone plans, then learned from Alice that nobles were withdrawing their investments from Gas Companies and gave her evidence against a Witch leader.
• Hobart negotiated with Princess Alice for information on Loen’s military deployments and reached an agreement with Archbishop Haydn for cooperation between Earl’s Light and the Steam Church.
• Hobart saw Melissa and Tyrone behaving like a couple, told Audrey he planned to acquire Gas Companies, and attended the Tarot Club, where Leonard agreed to trade for a demigod-level Lawyer charm and Cattleya asked about the Teleportation Array blueprints.
• Emlyn agreed to obtain Sanguine records about Empress Ol'Nia in exchange for information about the Bound God, and Hobart told the Tarot Club that Outer Gods had influenced at least two ancient gods before the Second Epoch’s divine war.

Hobart explained how the Outer Gods influenced the ancient gods and traced the Bound God’s enslavement to the Desire Mother Tree, while the Tarot Club discussed the Trensoost Empire and recent events. The meeting ended with Leonard reporting upheaval in Backlund, including a royal secret that Klein recognized as connected to himself.

• Hobart theorized that the Outer Gods sought gods’ Extraordinary Characteristics and that the Blood Ancestor fought to escape the Fallen Mother Goddess’s pollution, while Emlyn mistakenly concluded that she had sacrificed herself to save the world.
• Hobart explained that the God of Spiritual Items had dealt with the Desire Mother Tree, later became the Bound God, and was now polluted and trapped; he said Sua had been created from a Sequence 1 characteristic torn from Him.
• Hobart corrected his account of the Fourth Epoch conflict, revealing that the Nether Emperor, Mr. Door, and several great angels had supported the True Creator’s faction against the Six Gods.
• Alger reported seeing the Trensoost Empire at Tuthuga Port, and Hobart described the ship’s role, its destructive power, and the vanished City of Yadro where it had been found.
• Derrick prepared to travel to Afternoon Town to clear monsters near the Giant King’s Court, while Leonard reported that Backlund’s Gas Industry had lost its struggle against Earl’s Light and that the Church suspected the Royal Family of a secret project.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Hobart warned that war was approaching and discussed George III’s secret preparations to become a god, while Derrick arranged to trade a Lord Tree for electric lights in Silver City. Hobart demonstrated Teleportation Arrays to Loen’s military leaders and escalated his campaign against the Aurora Society; afterward, he studied records about Ol’Nia and questioned where the third Sequence 1 Moon pathway Characteristic had gone.

• The World and Hobart told the Tarot Club that George III sought godhood and that war among the Northern Continent’s powers appeared increasingly unavoidable.
• Hobart offered Silver City electric lighting in exchange for a whole Lord Tree, and Derrick persuaded Colin to postpone an exploration so they could hunt one.
• Hobart arranged a coal-powered generator for Silver City and helped Audrey complete an assassination before watching for Aurora Society agents.
• Hobart showed Alice, Georgina, and Amyrius a Teleportation Array moving cargo between Backlund and Long Tail Port, then offered to reserve future sales for Loen.
• Xue assassinated a target, fought Aurora Society divine envoys with the Sealed Artifact “1-107,” and helped Hobart bait the society into sending stronger forces.
• Hobart read the records about Ol’Nia, theorized about Lilith’s survival and condition after the divine war, and wondered where the third Sequence 1 Moon pathway Characteristic was.

Hobart uncovered the Earth Mother’s plan to trap Trensoost in a body made from Eris and learned that his mother, April, held a secret tied to the Goddess. Meanwhile, Derrick’s electric light brought hope to Silver City, and Hobart recruited Moira and Vina to help manage the Creator’s divine kingdom.

• Hobart reported what he had learned about Trensoost and the Mist of Uncertainty to the Earth Mother, who agreed to refine Eris’s body and revealed that April would explain her secret after advancing to angelhood.
• Derrick lit an electric lamp in Silver City’s plaza, prompting residents to praise the Omniscient and Almighty God; Colin wept as the light shone, and Derrick trained others to maintain the equipment before the expedition to the Giant King’s Court departed.
• A mutated rat wearing a crystal monocle watched Silver City’s electric lights and discussed the technology before returning to its cave, revealing that Amon’s avatars had wagered over which city would find a way out unaided.
• Hobart accelerated construction projects, pursued leads on Eris and the Aurora Society, and arranged for the Balk Family and Gnostic Council to send workers to the Creator’s divine kingdom.
• Hobart welcomed Moira and Vina to the Country of Disorder, clarified that they had come to work rather than serve the Creator in the manner they had imagined, and began explaining their duties.

Hobart trained Moira and Vina to sort prayers in the Creator’s divine kingdom while Backlund’s new industries expanded. When the Fosac Empire bombed the city, Orseya Tamara ambushed Hobart, but he killed her, learned secrets about the Tamara Family, and was then invited by Princess Alice to hear a symphony.

• Hobart taught Moira and Vina how to inspect prayers, keep their work confidential, and manage their duties in the Creator’s divine kingdom.
• Hobart discussed selling electric motor technology to foreign buyers as he anticipated a coming conflict, and Fosac airships began bombing Backlund.
• Hobart repelled bombs near Earl’s Light, but Orseya Tamara attacked him; he pursued her through the streets and killed her after a prolonged fight.
• Hobart questioned Orseya’s spirit, learned the locations of four Tamara Family strongholds and details about the Mist of Uncertainty, then named her short sword Sealed Artifact 1-114.
• Georgina arrived at Earl’s Light and told Hobart that Princess Alice had invited him to hear a symphony.