Chapter Summaries

Klein persuaded Emlyn to search for Beyonder materials for a friend, while Bernadette gave Cyril the dangerous Compass of Never-Ending under a temporary seal. Cyril kept the compass and asked Bernadette to recommend an Artisan to make a messenger-summoning item.

• Klein persuaded Emlyn to find a Thousand-Faced Hunter’s mutated brain pituitary gland and blood, along with Deep Sea Naga hair, and gave him his address.
• Emlyn asked Klein whether he knew a powerful Beyonder who could stand up to a Blessed, but Klein said he did not.
• Bernadette gave Cyril the Compass of Never-Ending, explained its dangerous negative effects, and sealed it for around half a month.
• Cyril chose to keep the compass and asked Bernadette to reinforce its seal when needed, then recorded the Mystical Reenactment of Ugly Duckling.
• Cyril asked Bernadette to recommend an Artisan to forge a messenger-summoning mystical item, and she requested the messenger’s incantation.

Cyril prepared to travel overseas to digest his Scribe potion, then entered the Mirror World and asked Klein to locate Amon’s Mausoleum. After Klein guided him to the entrance, Cyril fought a Skin Shadow inside the mausoleum.

• Cyril told Haven that the bicycle business was progressing and explained his plan to travel overseas to record local scenery, customs, and Beyonder Abilities.
• After Haven agreed, Cyril gathered the Screaming Painting, Peacebringer, and Interrogator Ring, then entered the Mirror World and emerged beside the Tussock River.
• Cyril prayed to the Fool for help finding Amon’s Mausoleum, and Klein used the Gray Fog to locate its entrance and check for nearby Amon avatars.
• Cyril followed Klein’s guidance to a crevice, entered the underground cavern, and passed through an already-open bronze door.
• A Skin Shadow disguised itself as Cyril and attacked him, but his dawn armor burned it and his Sword of Dawn cut it in two.
• Cyril unleashed Storm of Light to sweep the mausoleum passage with a hurricane of sharp light fragments.

Cyril cleared the passage of hidden creatures, gathered their Beyonder materials with help from the Painting Scroll, and encountered a wounded Stone Giant in the hall beyond. He and the Painting Scroll subdued it, leaving the Stone Giant unconscious but alive.

• Cyril swept the passage with the Storm of Light, destroying the creatures hidden there and finding scattered Beyonder materials.
• Cyril drew a crude Zombie on paper and brought it to life, allowing the Painting Scroll to control it and collect the materials.
• Cyril entered a vaulted hall and saw a Stone Giant crawl from a broken corner and charge at him.
• Cyril stopped the Stone Giant with Mental Piercing and Whip of Affliction, then noticed its wounds and a hole leading into the mausoleum.
• Cyril told the Painting Scroll to handle the Stone Giant, and its Wraith Scream knocked the creature unconscious without killing it.

Cyril turned the Stone Giant into a zombie and led his companions toward the tomb chamber, where portraits seemed to threaten anyone who approached. He named the Painting Scroll’s distorted figure Steve and sent him to turn a dangerous portrait facedown.

• Cyril allowed the Painting Scroll’s zombie to turn the Stone Giant into a zombie, though the process weakened and began to weather its body.
• Cyril had the zombified Stone Giant lead the way, but it stopped before a passage lined with Beyonder items and lifelike portraits that carried a dangerous power.
• Cyril reasoned that Steve could survive being drawn into a portrait, then agreed to give the Painting Scroll’s figure a name.
• Cyril named the figure Steve and used a fixed-point Teleport to send him to the far end of the passage.
• Steve emerged from the Painting Scroll and, while being pulled toward a portrait, grabbed and threw down the body Cyril had conjured with Fantasy.

Cyril survived his encounter with Amon in the mausoleum, but Amon stole the valuable relics and Beyonder items before disappearing. Cyril gathered what remained and sought confirmation that Amon had truly left.

• Cyril freed Steve from the frame, then confronted Amon, who said an agreement with the Paranoid prevented him from attacking Cyril directly.
• Amon vanished, taking the Worm of Time Cyril had found, and Cyril divined that he could leave the mausoleum safely.
• Amon returned and stole the relics, magical items, and Beyonder Characteristics left by earlier explorers, while Cyril arrived too late to stop him.
• Cyril summoned Steve outside its Painting Scroll and ordered it to gather the remaining Beyonder materials.
• Cyril returned to the main tomb chamber and asked the Fool whether Amon had truly left.

Cyril explored the main tomb chamber after Amon left and discovered that Amon had switched two magical paintings. After Steve was pulled into the Ghost Portrait Frame, Cyril contained it and considered giving the paintings to a friend familiar with Amon.

• Cyril opened the tomb chamber and found its time-altering power had vanished, though Klein's Divination warned that danger remained.
• Cyril sent Steve into the chamber to inspect a painting frame, falsely assuring it that he had Divined it was safe.
• Steve picked up the Ghost Portrait Frame and was pulled inside as its body disappeared.
• A terrifying force from the frame targeted Cyril, but a twelve-winged Angel protected him, and Cyril covered the frame with a Black Curtain.
• Cyril realized Amon had switched the two paintings and decided he would give them to a friend familiar with Amon.

Cyril emptied the Ghost Portrait Frame, freed its spirits, and examined a mural depicting Amon and his older brother. When Klein looked at a sinister stone door, he was exposed to the Abyss and warned Cyril to be careful.

• Cyril used a Painting Scroll to remove Amon’s coffin and received another Angel’s protection from Klein.
• Cyril opened the Ghost Portrait Frame, and Steve emerged with the ghosts and Spirit Bodies it had recruited.
• Cyril sent the souls into Steve’s Painting Scroll and showed Klein a mural depicting two babies identified as Amon and his older brother.
• Cyril tried to copy a sinister stone door into a painting, and Klein’s gaze triggered a dangerous vision of the Abyss.
• Klein escaped the contamination by switching places with a paper figure, then warned Cyril about the door.
• Cyril told Klein the door led to the Abyss and scolded him for looking without taking precautions.

After collecting the Abyss’s coordinates from Amon’s Mausoleum, Cyril arranged treatment for Lawrence and prepared to go out to sea to digest his Scribe Potion. Before leaving Backlund, he visited Medici with a Ghost Portrait Frame, provoking the evil spirit into attacking him.

• Cyril used his Illusory Door to Record the unopened door to the Abyss and gathered the remaining items from Amon’s Mausoleum.
• Cyril paid Emlyn 100 pounds to treat Lawrence with a prescription and Beyonder Potions, then told Lawrence he planned to go out to sea and needed to Record more Teleportation abilities.
• Verdu demonstrated Teleportation for Cyril, who Recorded several Sequence 5 to Sequence 6 abilities before returning home.
• Cyril took the Ghost Portrait Frame to the ruins beneath Williams Street and offered it to Medici as a gift.
• Cyril put on a Monocle to provoke Medici, who hurled a fireball at him and recognized the frame as Amon’s Ghost Portrait Frame.

Cyril traded the Ghost Portrait Frame and information about a Conqueror Characteristic deal for Medici’s Red Priest Card. Medici and the other spirits decided to leave the ruins despite their fears about the conspiracy and the danger to their fading sanity.

• Cyril offered Medici the Ghost Portrait Frame, and Medici displayed a destructive Demigod-level ability that Cyril recorded.
• Medici accepted the frame after Cyril protected himself with a Black Curtain, then agreed to give Cyril the Red Priest Card in exchange for information about a Conqueror Characteristic deal between the Loen Royal Family and the Demoness Sect.
• Medici handed Cyril the Red Priest Card, and Cyril attempted to bargain for additional Beyonder Characteristics before Medici drove him away with flames.
• After Cyril departed, Sauron and Einhorn warned Medici that the deal could involve a conspiracy and that leaving the ruins would worsen their loss of rationality.
• Medici challenged them to choose between remaining in the ruins and leaving, and Sauron and Einhorn agreed that they should leave.

Cyril began a discreet voyage toward Bansy and attended the Tarot Club after delaying his arrival to evade the ship’s captain. He revealed that he had obtained the Red Priest Card of Blasphemy and asked Mr. Fool for powerful assistance during his dangerous exploration of Bansy.

• Cyril left Haven aboard the White Agate, disguising himself as a tourist and planning to visit several archipelagos while digesting his Scribe Potion.
• Bernadette's letter arrived as the captain inspected the passenger rooms, and Cyril avoided discovery by hiding in Room 301 before returning to Room 306.
• Cyril disrupted the pull drawing his Spirit Body to the gray fog, instructed Steve to guard his room, and then joined the Tarot Club late.
• Alger traded two pages of Roselle's Diary for private information from Mr. Fool about the card on the table.
• Cyril announced that he had obtained the Red Priest Card of Blasphemy and asked Mr. Fool to provide assistance while he explored Bansy's secrets.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Cyril discussed the Hunter Pathway, explained how he obtained the Card of Blasphemy, and offered Alger information about Bansy Island. He left Alger with the option to trade detailed accounts of places at sea or knowledge of the Ghost Empire for the secrets.

• Cyril told the Fool that he planned to digest the Scribe potion and would offer him the Red Priest card after collecting ritual materials aboard his ship.
• Cyril explained that the Hunter Pathway changed its Beyonders into men by Sequence 4 and was adjacent to the Assassin Pathway, while switching Pathways was difficult because of scarce resources and potion influence.
• Cyril told Audrey that he had traded a Mystical Item with an ancient evil spirit beneath William Street in Backlund for the Card of Blasphemy, and said the spirit would likely leave the city.
• Alger asked Cyril about Bansy Island, and Cyril offered the information for a Secrets Sorcerer Beyonder Characteristic or an equivalent item.
• Alger could not afford Cyril's price, so Cyril agreed that detailed information about sea regions or the Ghost Empire could serve as payment instead.

At the Tarot Club, Cyril and Fors discussed Beyonder materials and prices while Alger shared news and customs from the sea. Derrick reported that an expedition to a True Creator temple had ended in corruption, and Cyril explained the True Creator’s possible connection to the Lord worshipped by the City of Silver; Derrick ended by saying Elder Lovia’s imprisonment had been extended temporarily.

• Alger offered Fors Deep Sea Spearfish blood for 400 pounds, while Derrick agreed to hunt a Spirit Eater for Cyril and Fors considered borrowing money and buying Cyril’s Sheriff characteristic.
• Cyril agreed to provide Klein’s World avatar with a Skin Shadow characteristic, and Alger reported that the High-Sequence Beyonder who followed the Dawn had returned without encountering it.
• Alger described the customs of several maritime peoples, including the Sea God worshippers of the Rorsted Archipelago and the whaling culture of the Gargas Archipelago.
• Derrick told the Tarot Club that every member of Lovia’s exploration team had been corrupted at a True Creator temple and killed by the Chief.
• Cyril explained that the True Creator might be connected to the Lord that Created Everything, while Klein identified the Reader Pathway as the source of omniscience.
• Derrick said Lovia’s detention had been extended after the expedition’s corruption was exposed, but the Chief considered her imprisonment temporary because nothing was wrong with her.

At the Tarot Club, Klein advised Derrick not to worry about the City of Silver’s distrust and to focus on becoming stronger. Aboard the White Agate, Cyril received the Skin Shadow Characteristic and Red Priest Card from Klein, learned about the Red Priest pathway, and tried acting as a Scribe by painting on deck, where a young woman and her brother approached him.

• Alger and Audrey explained that the City of Silver’s Chief was seeking a counterbalance, and Klein told Derrick to keep improving and avoid worshipping or contacting the dangerous presence in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• After the Tarot Club gathering ended, Cyril asked Steve to keep watch in Room 306 and used the ship’s connected doors to gather ritual supplies without disturbing the passengers.
• Cyril sent a Skin Shadow Characteristic and the Red Priest Card above the gray fog, where Klein confirmed the characteristic was the main ingredient for a Faceless Potion and examined the card’s pathway and advancement ritual.
• Klein failed to divine the connection between the Red Priest Card and the underground-ruins evil spirit, then speculated that Cyril’s dealings with it might involve a larger conspiracy or a future divine war.
• Cyril painted on the White Agate’s deck to practice acting as a Scribe, attracting a crowd of passengers.
• A young blonde woman and her brother approached Cyril as his painting neared completion, and he told her he still had finishing touches to add.

Cyril’s seascape painting drew attention aboard the White Agate, helped digest his Scribe Potion, and brought him portrait commissions. After finishing Lowen Richie’s portrait, Cyril was confronted by Captain Elland Cagg, who warned him not to use his Beyonder abilities to influence ordinary passengers.

• Cyril finished a seascape, felt his Scribe Potion begin to digest, and declined to sell the painting after confirming it would not harm viewers.
• Cyril agreed to paint portraits for Lowen Richie and Elena, who invited him to paint her and her younger brother beneath a starry sky.
• Cyril painted Lowen’s portrait, received fifty pounds and Lowen’s business card, and declined his invitation to dinner.
• Captain Elland Cagg approached Cyril and warned him not to use his paintings to disrupt order or influence ordinary people.

Cyril spoke with Captain Elland about rules governing Beyonders, then suspected Elland had been testing whether he was a stowaway. After meeting Elena’s family aboard the White Agate, the story shifted to Clarice visiting Haven in Backlund and disappearing when a flying pumpkin carriage appeared outside.

• Elland warned Cyril not to use his paintings to influence ordinary people and offered to answer questions about mysticism aboard the ship.
• Cyril suspected Elland was a Sheriff or Interrogator who had noticed the stowaway, and he resolved to keep using disguises.
• Elena and her family approached Cyril at dinner, and he agreed to paint a family portrait after finishing his meal.
• Clarice visited Haven’s home, asked whether Cyril disliked her, and learned from Haven that Cyril had gone to sea to digest his potion.
• Clarice vanished into the bay-window mirror after noticing a pumpkin carriage flying outside, while Haven recovered from her charm and ran upstairs.

Haven summoned Edefana to deliver a warning to Cyril, while Edefana freed Clarice from his Dream Labyrinth after she prayed to the Primordial Demoness. Edefana told Cyril about the Primordial Demoness and a requirement for her to advance to Sequence 0, then vanished after arranging payment for his service.

• Haven summoned Edefana, who collected his letter for Cyril and left through the ritual doorway.
• Clarice prayed to the Primordial Demoness, whose power shattered Edefana's Dream Labyrinth and freed her.
• Edefana delivered Haven's letter to Cyril and explained that Clarice was a descendant of the Primordial Demoness whom he had trapped.
• Edefana told Cyril the Primordial Demoness had once been a man and shared details of her history with Alista Tudor and the Pale Disaster.
• Edefana said a Demoness seeking Sequence 0 needed true love originating from herself, and warned Cyril not to say or think the Primordial Demoness's name.
• Edefana let Cyril's payment accumulate until he became a Demigod, then vanished; Steve said the Angel might have planted a psychological suggestion in him.

Cyril arrived in Bansi Harbor, shared an Elven dish and its history with Klein, and used his power to destroy a portrait Captain Elland tried to send. After a Mystery Pryer was blinded when he rushed into Cyril, Bansi police took Cyril in for questioning.

• Cyril disembarked at Bansi Harbor, checked into a hotel, and went to a local restaurant after declining Elena's family's invitation.
• Cyril contacted Klein through the gray fog and told him that Bansi's chopsticks and spiced blood dish came from the ancient Elves, who worshipped their king, Soniathrym.
• Captain Elland and his first mate watched Cyril's portrait burn whenever they tried to report his unusual behavior, and Elland decided to wait until Bayam while asking local Mandated Punishers to watch him.
• Cyril sensed Elland's attempt and remotely made the portrait burn, then considered the limits of affecting objects connected to his disguised identity.
• A panicked Mystery Pryer rushed toward Cyril, and the man's eyes burst open as Cyril sensed he was being watched.
• A bearded police inspector identified the injured man as a fugitive and sent his younger partner to take Cyril to the police station for questioning.

Cyril was released from the security bureau but became the Church of Storms’ chief suspect in a loss-of-control incident. He escaped the Mandated Punishers’ ambush and subdued two more investigators at his inn.

• Captain Elland bailed Cyril out, and the two left the security bureau after signing paperwork.
• Sheriff Nicolo and a Mandated Punisher squad intercepted them, saying Bishop Miller had ordered Cyril investigated as the chief suspect.
• Nicolo and the squad opened fire, but Cyril vanished before their shots could hit him.
• Elland learned that two Mandated Punishers had gone to search Cyril’s inn and urged Nicolo to avoid provoking him.
• At the inn, Cyril used the Painting Scroll to incapacitate one Mandated Punisher after the other began bleeding from his eyes, ears, and nose.
• Cyril stopped the wind charm’s effect and heard Steve apologize for letting the intruders enter.

Cyril met Adam through a mysterious doorway and accepted a task, while Adam arranged for the island’s people to forget Cyril’s presence. Back aboard the White Agate, Elland struggled to remember what had happened, and Cyril’s task remained unexplained.

• Cyril learned that Steve could not influence people who could not see him, then decided to change hotels and disguises to evade the Church of Storms.
• Cyril opened a mysterious doorway and entered the Corpse Cathedral, where Adam offered him a task in exchange for a script.
• Adam said he would make the islanders forget Cyril and warned him to finish the task before Leodero noticed him.
• Hermes contacted Cyril through the Mind World, offered help, and warned him that parts of the island’s Mind World were corrupted.
• Adam’s psychological suggestion took effect, and Cyril checked into another hotel without trouble.
• Elland returned to the White Agate with his memories of the night confused and incomplete.

Elland recognized that Bansy Island was affecting people’s memories but chose to keep the White Agate in port, while Cyril investigated the missing Mystery Pryer’s spirit and uncovered signs of a bloody ritual near the police station. The chapter left Cyril retreating from a dangerous presence in the telegraph office and slipping into a lit house beside the police station.

• Elland questioned the first mate about their failed telegraph attempt, learned they could not remember the clerk’s name, and decided not to depart while passengers were still ashore.
• Cyril suspected Adam had drawn Hermes and other Twilight Hermit Order members toward Bansy Harbor, then used divination to locate the dead Mystery Pryer’s spiritual remnant.
• Cyril transferred the remnant’s image onto paper and divined a scene of black-cloaked figures, a blood-red altar, and the harbor being swallowed by blood.
• Cyril identified the ritual’s likely location near the police station and heard ominous chewing sounds inside the telegraph office, so he withdrew.
• Cyril entered a lit house beside the police station, where someone demanded to know who he was.