Chapter Summaries

Cyril pondered his rapid potion digestion, reunited with Owen, and returned home troubled by the Blood Axe Gang’s hideout. He summoned Arrodes, answered its questions, and learned that it saw greatness and colors covering everything in him.

• Cyril realized that his Apprentice potion had digested more than halfway after the night’s events, possibly because powerful Spectators had observed him.
• Cyril met Owen and proposed selling their dangerous mystical item or using it to buy potion ingredients, while saying he could borrow the remaining money.
• Cyril returned home and, unable to sleep, used his blood to summon Arrodes through a full-length mirror.
• Arrodes asked Cyril his name and how he had learned its name, and Cyril answered both questions correctly.
• Cyril asked what Arrodes saw in him, and the mirror replied that it saw greatness, supremacy, exaltation, and colors that covered everything.

Cyril questioned Arrodes about the Blood Axe Gang headquarters and learned that dangerous Great Old One auras lingered there. Adam then tasked him with finding Zoila Hernandez, the gang’s leader, and gave him the Cross of Unlight in advance; Cyril was left preparing to face her and separate power from the Painting Scroll.

• Cyril asked Arrodes what had happened at the Blood Axe Gang headquarters, but Arrodes could not recover the damaged information and reported dangerous auras resembling Cyril’s and exceeding the Seven Deities in menace.
• Arrodes explained that the symbol Cyril had drawn was wrong, gave him the correct mirror-contact symbol, and departed as the Church of Steam approached its main body.
• Cyril considered that another Great Old One’s power might have been involved at the gang’s headquarters and worried about how to handle the High-Dimensional Overseer’s energy in the Painting Scroll.
• Adam spoke to Cyril through a virtual personality in his mind and showed him a wanted portrait of Zoila Hernandez, the Blood Axe Gang leader who had gone mad after hearing a voice from the starry sky.
• Cyril accepted Adam’s task to find Zoila and requested his reward in advance, explaining that he was only Sequence 9.
• Adam gave Cyril the Cross of Unlight, explaining that its purification abilities could help separate the power inside it from the Painting Scroll.

Cyril tested the Cross of Unlight on the Painting Scroll, then absorbed one of the powers it extracted and gained new abilities. After the Cross vanished and the Scroll crumbled, he saw an illusory network of roads behind the washroom mirror.

• Cyril placed the Cross of Unlight on the Painting Scroll and watched its radiance dry and melt the painted surface.
• Harvin woke Cyril, told him to stay home with Little Thomas, and gave him his savings of 113 pounds.
• Cyril absorbed the silver-white power extracted from the Scroll, gaining mystical knowledge, enhanced vision, and greater speed.
• The Cross of Unlight erased the other two extracted powers and vanished, while the Painting Scroll crumbled into dust.
• Cyril entered the washroom and saw a complex web of illusory roads behind the mirror.

Cyril explored the Mirror World but sensed a terrifying presence and retreated before welcoming his sister Beth Gray and nephew Thomas. Above the Gray Fog, Klein contacted Audrey and tasked her with finding and investigating Cyril, leaving Audrey to arrange a concealed outing with Susie.

• Cyril opened a door to the Mirror World, sensed a dangerous gaze, and closed it before returning to clean up.
• Beth Gray arrived with Thomas, and Cyril joked with them about Thomas’s strict upbringing and Uncle Havan.
• Klein divined that contacting Cyril was safe, then reached out to Audrey through the crimson star above the Gray Fog.
• The Fool ordered Audrey to find and investigate Cyril without alarming him, warning that Cyril was cursed and had contacted a concealed existence.
• Audrey agreed to find Cyril and asked Susie to have Viscount Glaint contact Xio and Fors before they went out in disguise.

Cyril met Baros Hopkins in the Garden of Eden and received a fox mask to return there for their trade. He gathered the money and arrangements needed for the Beyonder materials, then secretly left home at night to collect them.

• Cyril entered the Garden of Eden, where Baros Hopkins offered him a beacon and arranged to trade the potion ingredients that night.
• Baros gave Cyril a white fox mask, and Cyril returned to his home with it in hand.
• Cyril disguised his absence, slipped out, borrowed 150 pounds from the bank, withdrew Haven's savings, and arranged with Owen to provide 200 pounds for ingredients.
• Cyril returned home unseen and spent the evening with Haven, Beth, and Little Thomas until they went to their rooms.
• Cyril secretly left home at night carrying the Seer potion ingredients.

Owen consumed the Seer potion and survived a painful reaction caused by his bloodline curse, becoming a true Seer. Cyril explained the Seer’s acting principles and the risks of the curse, while Owen planned to study divination and Cyril considered how to earn money after graduation.

• Cyril brought Owen the Seer potion’s main ingredients, and Owen brewed and drank the potion himself.
• Owen’s body sprouted pale flesh as the bloodline curse erupted, but the symptoms subsided and he successfully advanced to Seer.
• Cyril explained the Seer’s acting principles and warned Owen that increased spirituality could trigger the curse, especially during a Full Moon.
• Cyril told Owen that Vampires could create an artificial Full Moon and that Lilith had once held the position of Moon, then cautioned him against speaking powerful names casually.
• Owen described his new abilities and lamented that the potion had not taught him divination, so Cyril pointed him toward the books on his shelf.
• Owen resolved to study divination, while Cyril considered finding a reliable way to earn money after graduating.

Cyril tried to digest his Apprentice potion by practicing his abilities at night, but a frenzied Vampire attacked him and chased him through buildings. A towering priest of the Mother Earth Church struck down the Vampire and purified Cyril’s poisoned wounds.

• Cyril set out to practice his Apprentice abilities after deciding he could not enter the Cathedral of Holy Wind.
• A bloodthirsty young man attacked Cyril, revealing himself as a Vampire whose claws poisoned Cyril’s back.
• Cyril fled through walls and buildings while using his abilities to evade the Vampire’s repeated attacks.
• Cyril used a Slumber Charm to halt the Vampire just before its claws could tear out his heart.
• A towering Mother Earth Church priest struck the Vampire with silver dawn, dispelled its blood bats, and purified Cyril’s wounds.

Cyril brought a bloodthirsty Vampire to Harvest Cathedral, where Father Utravsky forced him to donate blood to save the Vampire. After leaving the cathedral with much of his Apprentice potion digested, Cyril encountered the Monocle-wearing postman again and was silenced.

• Cyril compensated Father Utravsky for the cathedral damage and donated blood to revive the unconscious Vampire.
• The Vampire recovered, argued with Cyril, and was detained by Father Utravsky after trying to escape the cathedral.
• Cyril left Harvest Cathedral, realizing the encounter had greatly digested his Apprentice potion.
• A postman wearing a Monocle appeared beneath a streetlamp, and Cyril's voice vanished as he tried to speak.

Amon confronted Cyril, tried to parasitize him, and gave him Jacob's Wallet before Adam intervened and brought Cyril to safety. Adam placed protections on the wallet and left Cyril wondering why he had not helped Amon obtain the final Worm of Time characteristic.

• Amon approached Cyril in a postman's disguise, controlled his voice and movements, and tried to put a Monocle on him, but the parasitism failed because Cyril's status was higher.
• Amon offered Cyril an Astrologer Beyonder Characteristic, which Cyril refused, then gave him Jacob's Wallet and warned him that its original owners might cause trouble.
• Adam appeared in the Mind World and used light to remove Cyril from the encounter with Amon.
• Adam told Cyril to keep the wallet, placed restrictions on its Worms of Time, and warned him about using it around higher-Sequence Beyonders.
• Cyril asked why Adam had not helped Amon obtain the final Worm of Time characteristic, and Adam answered that even an Author could not make everything unfold as he wished.

Adam explained his agreement with Evernight and tasked Cyril with investigating the Primordial Demoness's secrets in the Mirror World, promising support for the mission. Back home, Cyril saw Beth and Little Thomas leave, then discussed his late-night writing with Harvin as he worked toward finishing his novel.

• Adam told Cyril that Evernight would help him reclaim his authorities and that the gods preferred the original Lord of the Mysteries to Amon.
• Adam asked Cyril to investigate the Primordial Demoness's secrets in the Mirror World, offering the Twilight Hermit Order's help with his advancement and permission to call for Adam in danger.
• Cyril returned to his room and decided he needed to advance to Sequence 7 before exploring the Mirror World.
• Beth took Little Thomas home after nearly two weeks, and Harvin teased Cyril about her eagerness to leave.
• Cyril told Harvin he had been staying up late to write a popular novel and expected to finish its first volume in two days.
• Harvin suggested the Steam Daily as a possible publisher, noting that its entertainment column had not spread beyond Intis.

Cyril sensed Xio and Fors breaking into his home and confronted them after emerging from his full-length mirror. They escaped by Teleportation, and Cyril opened a door into the Mirror World despite its dangers.

• Cyril worked on his novel, Teyvat Travelogue, while considering whether to explore the Mirror World to digest his Apprentice potion.
• Xio and Fors investigated Cyril on a commission from Audrey, discussing the risks of approaching someone connected to a hidden existence.
• Cyril sensed an Apprentice using Opening Door to enter his home and watched Xio and Fors search his room.
• Cyril emerged from the mirror, restrained Fors, and demanded to know why they had trespassed; Xio shouted for them to run.
• Fors and Xio escaped by Teleportation, and Cyril recognized them and wondered whose commission they had accepted.
• Cyril pressed his hand against the Mirror World's boundary and formed a vague door leading beyond the mirror.

Fors and Xio fled a Spirit World creature and visited an Evernight Church, while Cyril digested his Apprentice potion and advanced to Trickmaster. The chapter ended with Cyril testing his new abilities and reflecting on their weakness.

• Fors and Xio escaped a Spirit World creature, then went to an Evernight Church to pray and check whether they were being targeted.
• Cyril realized his encounter with Fors and Xio had helped digest his Apprentice potion, and he prepared to advance.
• Baros Hopkins watched Cyril leave and traveled through a rift into a dream.
• Cyril mixed the Trickmaster potion from its ingredients and drank it, experiencing a strange vision as the sky darkened outside.
• Cyril completed his advancement, sensed the High-Dimensional Overseer as an observer, and examined his new collection of weak spells.

Cyril visited Owen, who had recently become a Trickmaster, and asked him to divine a suitable gang to target for money. After Owen identified the Black Wolf Gang, Cyril left to prepare for the operation and asked Father Utravsky about buying healing potions or poison.

• Cyril learned that Owen had advanced to Sequence 8 and asked him to divine what the person behind the bounty hunters wanted; Owen interpreted the Justice card as a sign of compatible intentions and little danger.
• Owen explained that the Trickmaster potion involved performance and deception, then used dream divination to identify the Black Wolf Gang as a potentially profitable target with limited risk.
• Cyril recognized the gang's name from a gathering and agreed to spend two days adapting to his potion before planning the operation with Owen.
• Cyril visited Father Utravsky at Harvest Cathedral and asked about buying healing potions or poison; Father Utravsky refused to sell poison because life was precious.

Cyril and Owen broke into a Black Wolf Gang casino to find its cash, but Cyril sensed a hidden threat and the casino’s shadow-wielding guardian attacked them. Cyril dispelled the attack with a blinding flash and used a talisman to put the unseen spellcaster to sleep, while Owen was left dazzled.

• Cyril woke Owen at their hotel, and the two slipped out before dawn to approach the Black Wolf Gang’s casino.
• Owen used Divination to confirm that the gang stored a large amount of cash in the casino and that a low-Sequence Beyonder could call for backup.
• Cyril and Owen entered through a wall, and Cyril knocked out a man in the restroom with an electric shock and a punch.
• Owen guided Cyril through the casino to the third-floor room containing the safe, where Cyril sensed an unseen watcher behind a curtain of shadows.
• A phantom maw of shadows attacked Cyril and Owen, but Cyril’s blinding flash destroyed it and caused the spellcaster behind the door to suffer backlash.
• Cyril used an iron-black talisman to cast Slumber, while Owen, who had failed to close his eyes in time, remained dazzled.

Cyril and Owen broke into an old man’s room to search for valuables, but the man’s Flesh Magic transformed him into a monster after Cyril removed a True Creator idol from the safe. Cyril escaped with Owen by dropping them through the floor to the second story.

• Cyril used Jacob's Wallet and discovered it had stolen Owen’s talisman and pistol before opening the old man’s door.
• Cyril paralyzed the old man, stabbed his eye, tripped him, froze his mouth, and used electricity and ice to keep him from calling for help.
• Owen searched the room and found a safe containing money, gold bars, and an idol of the True Creator.
• Cyril left the idol on the floor, triggering a panic as the old man broke free and mutated into a many-mouthed monster.
• Cyril made a loud bang and flash to alert the Black Wolf Gang, then used Object Manipulation to drop himself and Owen into an empty lounge on the second floor.

Cyril and Owen escaped the casino after a True Creator-contaminated Beyonder lost control, and Cyril attracted the attention of a mysterious woman he suspected was Bernadette. The chapter ended with her asking whether he knew her, while he said he had only guessed her identity.

• Cyril used Jacob's Wallet to pull money and strange objects from the safe while chaos erupted upstairs, and Owen gathered their belongings.
• A flesh-and-blood monster burst into the lounge, so Cyril teleported himself and Owen into a crowded washroom before they escaped the casino.
• Cyril created loud noises and flashes to alert authorities, then decided to take Owen to Harvest Cathedral for purification.
• Bluish-green vines trapped Cyril and Owen in a forest-like space, where a chestnut-haired woman appeared on a swing.
• Cyril suspected the woman was Bernadette, and she asked whether he knew her; he replied that he had only guessed.

Cyril and Owen met Bernadette, who questioned them about their robbery and the Aurora Order Listener’s loss of control. Cyril revealed what he knew about an approaching Backlund catastrophe and Emperor Roselle’s possible resurrection, leaving Bernadette interested in the secret organization behind his information.

• Cyril recognized Bernadette as Queen Mystic, and Bernadette guessed that Owen was a descendant of the Abraham Family.
• Bernadette questioned Cyril and Owen about robbing a gang and the Aurora Order Listener’s loss of control, and Cyril blamed poverty and an accident involving the True Creator’s statue.
• Cyril said he had learned from a secret organization that a higher-level catastrophe might strike Backlund within six months to a year.
• Cyril revealed that Emperor Roselle belonged to the organization and said Roselle should be dead but not completely dead because the Black Emperor could resurrect.
• Bernadette divined and saw a discordant shadow interrupted by a majestic gaze, then questioned Cyril about Roselle changing Pathways.
• Cyril said an Angel of the Spectator Pathway had told him about Roselle, and Bernadette offered him a reward while seeking more information about the organization.

Cyril and Owen escaped Bernadette’s gathering, split the loot taken from Jacob’s Wallet, and hurried home before dawn. Meanwhile, an extraordinary squad emerged from the Black Wolf Gang’s casino, where a priest arrived to ask what had happened.

• Bernadette purified Owen’s lingering contamination, sent him and Cyril away, and gave Cyril the Sequence 6 Scribe potion formula.
• Cyril and Owen ran into patrolling Sheriffs on their way back to Weldi Street and escaped through a courtyard wall.
• At Owen’s home, Cyril and Owen divided the gold, cash, gemstones, and gun they had taken from Jacob’s Wallet.
• Cyril headed home before dawn while Owen prepared to return to school after their vacation ended.
• An extraordinary squad and several black-coated people emerged from the Black Wolf Gang’s damaged casino, and a burly priest descended to question them.

The Machinery Hivemind questioned Arrodes about a casino incident, but the mirror could provide only fragmentary images because powerful forces interfered. Arrodes later reported the exchange to Cyril and revealed that one of his supposed believers planned to steal a Sealed Artifact beneath Saint Hillan Cathedral, leaving Cyril confused.

• A Machinery Hivemind captain asked Arrodes what had happened at the Black Wolf Gang’s casino on Miluk Street and accepted the mirror’s demand for two questions in exchange.
• Arrodes showed flickering images of two figures fighting shadowy forces, then described interference from a corrupt power associated with the Aurora Order and an unknown blocked source.
• Arrodes asked the captain three personal questions, and the captain answered two while choosing punishment for the other, which brought a lightning strike down on him.
• Arrodes told Cyril that it had withheld information about him and his favored one from the Machinery Hivemind.
• Arrodes warned Cyril that one of his believers planned to steal a Sealed Artifact beneath Saint Hillan Cathedral and offered to help, while Cyril wondered who the supposed believer was.

Cyril learned that House, a Machinery Hivemind Mystery Pryer, was his apparent believer and ordered Arrodes to stop him from stealing a sealed artifact without harming him. After Cuckoo Newspaper rejected Cyril’s submission for blasphemy, he began writing a new story set in Zaun.

• Cyril recalled House seeing something within him and considered whether House served him or the High-Dimensional Overseer.
• Cyril told Arrodes to stop House’s plan but keep him alive, and Arrodes agreed to deliver the oracle.
• Cyril noticed he could read emotions and vague thoughts through written words, then ended his exchange with Arrodes.
• Hawen told Cyril he was meeting Professor Portland Mormont to discuss attracting investment for a laboratory.
• Cyril read that Cuckoo Newspaper had rejected his submission for blasphemy and threatened to report him to the Church of Silent Night.
• Cyril decided he needed publishable material to earn money and began a story about Zaun.