Chapter Summaries

In Plymouth, the Blood Cup Archbishop, Flander, and the witch leader began a ritual to use Lily and Jesita’s prayers and tainted blood to affect a hidden existence. Meanwhile, Aaron raised his Origin Quality, nearly lost himself in the Spirit Realm, and struggled to re-form his consciousness when he heard a prayer from the mortal world.

• The Blood Cup Archbishop and Flander coughed up blood that formed Spirit Realm characters, prompting Flander to say they had to act at once.
• The witch leader used her powers to turn private detectives and gang members into dried corpses, while Flander trapped Lily and Jesita in a room with a flood of blood.
• The Blood Cup Archbishop spilled sludge from a wooden cup, and the witch leader saw Lily and Jesita praying to the Spirit of Unknown Void as Flander explained the ritual to contaminate them and affect that existence.
• Aaron used Furnace Fire to melt the remnant of a sixth Origin Quality practitioner and fuse an illusory sun into his body.
• Aaron’s radiance spread through the Spirit Realm, but the inverted pyramid helped him retain a primary consciousness as he accepted his human imperfection.
• Aaron heard a prayer from the mortal world.

Aaron survived an attempt to contaminate him during his advancement and became a Perfect One, gaining the Law of Accident. He discovered Lily and Jesita were under the control of three Crowns and prepared to settle the score.

• A prayer from Lily carried contamination to Aaron during his advancement, but he purified it, severed the connection, and rebuilt his body as a Perfect One.
• Ye Funai's contract brought the Gumon Giant to hide Aaron's location beneath the Mist of History.
• Aaron emerged from the Spirit Realm near Plymouth and heard Lily's prayer again, seeing that Lily and Jesita were trapped in blood and spreading black sludge.
• Aaron recognized Flander, Blood Cup, and a witch as the three Crowns controlling the sisters and resolved to confront them.
• Aaron learned that his new Law was the Law of Accident, which let him bring misfortune to enemies and good luck to allies through unforeseen events.

Aaron used the Law of Accident to disrupt the cultists’ ritual in Plymouth, causing it to collapse and unleash a spreading contamination. Anastasia, Harnot Egg, the grand patriarch of the Death God Cult, and the royal Alchemist arrived, and the confrontation escalated into battle.

• Aaron extended the Law of Accident through the Lily sisters, blinding the witch leader and causing the ritual to fail.
• The ritual’s collapse ended the Cognitive Alteration effect and unleashed blood-mixed sludge that drove nearby people into violent madness.
• Anastasia, Harnot Egg, and the grand patriarch of the Death God Cult arrived as the kingdom declared the Gourmet Association, the Lotus Eaters, and the Witch Sisterhood evil organizations.
• The witch leader attacked civilians, prompting Anastasia to raise walls of ice while the Blood Cup Archbishop answered with a crimson tide.
• The royal Alchemist ordered the kingdom’s forces to take down the cultists under Mitra Palace’s protection.

Percy and the investigators responded to the bells of Mitra Palace as madness contaminated a city block and powerful beings clashed nearby. After the danger passed, Harnot Egg ordered the survivors, the Lily sisters, taken to the church’s prison for treatment and questioning.

• Percy deployed with the investigators and fought off a maddened crowd while resisting the contamination.
• A wave of ice froze the crowd as Percy witnessed signs of a battle between powerful beings near Mitra Palace.
• Two Spirit Realm Longevity Ones descended, but they and the other figures soon departed, ending the immediate danger.
• Harnot Egg ordered teams to rescue the wounded and seal off the contaminated area.
• The Lily sisters were found unconscious with little contamination, and Harnot Egg ordered them taken to the newly built prison for treatment and questioning.

After returning to Green Forest City, Aaron assessed his advancement to Perfect One and visited the Gumon Giants to thank their leader. At the secret realm’s guarded lake, a mysterious being examined Aaron and questioned his identity, leaving its theory about him unresolved.

• Aaron brought Lilliat and Tias back to the Green Banyan Council’s base, then returned to his safe house to rest and review his advancement.
• Aaron noted that he had become a Perfect One, gained a lifespan of two hundred years, and retained Furnace’s ability to gather spirituality through gluttony.
• Aaron entered the Gumon Secret Realm to thank the Gumon Giant leader for its help and investigate the giants’ unusual friendliness.
• A Gumon Giant carried Aaron through layers of Mist of History to a guarded lake, where a vast face formed from blue mist appeared.
• The face called Aaron an ancient one and said it could not see through him, while Aaron wondered what it believed about his identity.

Aaron spoke with Motula, an ancient survivor of the Spirit Realm’s destroyed civilization, who sought an alliance to advance into a hidden existence. Motula explained the Gate of Longevity and how becoming an unbound hidden existence could threaten the Age Controllers, leaving Aaron aware of why Motula was their enemy.

• Motula introduced himself as an ancient survivor, founder of the Society for Historical Studies, and guardian of secret history.
• Motula said he wanted to ally with the existence behind Aaron and asked for help advancing into a hidden existence.
• Aaron learned that hidden existences and Age Controllers shared the same essence and power, while the Age Controllers’ symbolism gave them greater influence.
• Motula explained that the Age Controllers controlled the Gate of Longevity and required those seeking permission to become their servants.
• Aaron realized that an unbound hidden existence could claim a vacant Age Controller position, making Motula a mortal enemy of the Age Controllers and the Keeper of Secrets.

Aaron learned the final Primordials beyond the Long-Lived Ones and agreed to help Motula advance toward Secrecy, hoping the upheaval would serve his own plans. He tested their cooperation by binding them to a preliminary contract witnessed by the Spirit of Unknown Void.

• Motula explained that Ascension elevated Long-Lived Ones into Divine Attendants, while Imprint let an extraordinary being influence lower ranks and potentially revive through them.
• Aaron decided to act as an intermediary and help Motula advance, while considering how to investigate Mother Nature and prepare for opening his Sixth Primordial.
• Motula said he had prepared his advancement ritual but needed an ally against hostile Age Controllers, especially the Keeper of Secrets, whom he suspected of plotting.
• Aaron drafted a confidential preliminary cooperation contract and invoked his Law of Accident as the Spirit of Unknown Void witnessed it.
• Motula added his imprint, and the completed contract bound both parties with the threat of fate’s backlash.

Aaron bought a first-class ticket to South Innis aboard the St. Margaret, intending to spend time at sea while keeping a low profile and investigating the Rancher. When he boarded, he recognized Helen Candy and her orange cat, making him fear the ship was about to sink.

• Aaron declined a missionary's invitation to join the Church of the God of Ice and considered how its miracles could threaten the Church of the Holy Spirit.
• Aaron bought a first-class ticket to South Innis on the St. Margaret under the identity of Jack Corseni, a wandering painter.
• Aaron learned that the newly launched St. Margaret was a luxurious, fast liner capable of carrying 4,000 passengers and crew.
• Aaron boarded the St. Margaret on June 5th and saw Helen Candy arrive with servants and an orange cat.
• Aaron halted when he recognized Helen Candy and concluded that the ship was probably going to sink.

Aaron settled into life aboard the St. Margaret, where he learned that Helen Candy was an earl’s favored illegitimate daughter traveling to the colonies to marry a young officer with a ten-thousand-pound dowry. He suspected the ship was doomed and wondered whether he himself might cause its wreck, just as Kane pointed out a man pestering Helen.

• Aaron enjoyed the luxury of his first-class cabin and decided to treat the voyage as a vacation before dealing with matters in South Innis.
• Aaron joined Kane, Doctor Paul, and Bott for cards in the ship’s bar and asked Kane what he had learned about Helen Candy.
• Kane revealed that Helen was an earl’s favored illegitimate daughter, traveling to the colonies for a political marriage, with a dowry of ten thousand pounds.
• Aaron won the card game and noticed Bott’s interest in Helen, while privately worrying that his own research into the Damo Talismans could draw sea monsters and sink the ship.
• Kane pointed out that an annoying man had arrived and was pestering Helen.

Blitz tried to court Helen Candy while avoiding his gambling debt, but Aaron used the Law of Accident to win a bet that Helen would pour him a drink. When Blitz refused to pay, he stormed off and abandoned his pursuit of Helen.

• Blitz planned to seduce Helen Candy and run off with her dowry, but her two matrons guarded her closely.
• Bott demanded that Blitz repay the 1 pound 3 shillings he owed from a card game, and Blitz denied the debt.
• Aaron bet Blitz 100 pounds that Helen would pour him a drink, then used the Law of Accident to establish their contract.
• Aaron introduced himself to Helen and whispered to her before asking for a drink, and Helen poured him a glass of Firewine.
• Blitz refused to pay Aaron and left in anger, while Aaron wondered what would happen next.

Aaron spent the evening drinking with Helen, who was escorted away by Kent, then wondered what consequences awaited Blitz for breaking their contract. The next day on the St. Margaret, he encountered the wealthy steel tycoon Egger Filler, while Blitz was pushed aside by Filler’s bodyguard.

• Helen explained that she had helped Aaron for fifty pounds and challenged him to drink with her, while Aaron paid her and kept his promise.
• Kent arrived to escort Helen home, and she invited Aaron to paint her and her orange cat, Clark, another day.
• After Helen privately accused Kent of hiding his feelings for her, he denied it and fled the room.
• The next day, Aaron saw Blitz on the deck of the St. Margaret, where bodyguards cleared space for steel tycoon Egger Filler and his children.
• Blitz tried to approach Egger, but a bodyguard shoved him aside, and Helen identified Egger to Aaron.

Aaron witnessed Blitz die while saving Egger’s son, then received the money Blitz owed him from Egger. Back in his cabin, Aaron concluded that the Law of Accident had fulfilled the acknowledged debt through a chain of coincidences and considered what a complete Law might do.

• Helen asked Blitz when he would repay Aaron, but Blitz denied owing any money and tried to leave.
• A gunman shot a bodyguard during a chaotic attack on Egger’s family, and a Beyonder bodyguard’s thrown card accidentally struck the gunman in the chest.
• The wounded gunman fired at little Louis, but Blitz fell in front of him and took the bullet; Aaron picked Louis up as the bodyguards subdued the assassin.
• Captain Wilson confirmed the gunman was a bankrupt merchant ruined by Egger’s competition and reported that Blitz had died.
• Egger agreed to repay Blitz’s debt to Aaron and gave Aaron an envelope of banknotes; Aaron then realized the Law of Accident had brought the debt back to him through fate-driven coincidences.

Aaron attended a banquet aboard the St. Margaret, where he continued testing the Law of Accident while observing Helen, Kent, and the returning Egger Filler. In Plymouth, Bruce’s worsening loss of control drove him to summon the Spirit of Unknown Void.

• Aaron enjoyed the banquet food, rejected Helen’s invitation to dance, and spoke with the despondent Kent.
• Egger Filler returned to high society with his family, while Aaron considered how to test the Law of Accident on the people around him.
• Bruce suffered another episode of physical changes and struggled to regain control through meditation.
• Bruce recalled the worsening ravings and feared that the Spirit of Unknown Void had played a role in the fall of Scarlet Sun, the Creator.
• Bruce prepared a Wall of Spirituality, lit a candle, and began reciting an invocation to the Spirit of Unknown Void.

Aaron introduced William Charles as Three-Eye at the Invisible Cult gathering, where Lilli and Jesita learned why they remained imprisoned and were told to seek Three-Eye's help when the time was right. After the meeting, Aaron saw Bruce praying for salvation and prepared to answer him as an indescribable light descended.

• Aaron introduced Three-Eye to the Invisible Cult, and the members reacted to the new arrival.
• Lilli and Jesita described their imprisonment, and Percy explained the Plymouth pollution incident and the arrival of a Longevity One.
• Aaron told the sisters to wait and said they could seek Three-Eye's help later; William cautiously agreed.
• Aaron ended the gathering and, aboard an ocean liner, used Fool's Crown to see Bruce praying to the Silent Observer for salvation.
• Aaron recognized Mother Nature's contamination on Bruce and decided to respond, and an indescribable light descended on Bruce.

Aaron used the Secret Source’s purifying light to free Bruce from the vines and summon Mother Nature, where he briefly spoke with Lin about her thousand-year struggle with Olivia. Lin warned Aaron about Olivia and the force controlling her, but Olivia accused Lin of being the traitor before the connection ended.

• Aaron’s radiance expelled the vine-like brands from Bruce, and Aaron took control of Bruce’s body.
• Aaron invoked Mother Nature with a withered vine, opening a temporary passage between the mortal world and the Spirit Realm.
• Aaron purified Mother Nature’s figure long enough for Lin to explain that she and Olivia had been fused after a failed ritual and that Olivia had been marked and enslaved.
• Lin named the Cocoon, the Remnant Chrysalis, or the Lady of the Woods as possible forces controlling Olivia, then warned Aaron that Olivia was coming.
• Olivia appeared to accuse Lin of being the true traitor, and the candle burned out, ending the encounter.

Aaron reflected on redeeming Lin and Olivia, then continued studying the Law of Accident while lying low and conserving Power of Secret Source. At a bar, he befriended Kent and used a Death card reading to lead him toward a bet.

• Aaron worried that redeeming Lin and Olivia would require years of accumulated Power of Secret Source and decided to keep lying low.
• Bruce discovered that Aaron’s possession had left him unharmed and in better condition than before.
• Aaron resolved to hold fewer gatherings and continue testing the Law of Accident’s limits.
• A week later, Aaron waited at a bar until Kent arrived seeking a drink to help him sleep.
• Aaron gained Kent’s trust, offered to divine his love life, and interpreted the Death card as a sign of change.
• Aaron suggested that he and Kent make a bet.

Aaron used a dream to make Kent face his love for Helen, then claimed victory in their wager. Kent confessed his feelings to Helen, was rejected, and refused to give up on her even after Aaron said he had no intention of pursuing her.

• Aaron wagered that he could make Kent face his own heart, then drew him into a dream as a Dream Realm Traveler.
• In the dream, Kent experienced a romance with a woman who looked like Helen and awoke shaken by his feelings.
• Kent rushed to find Helen and learned she had gone to Aaron’s cabin to paint.
• Kent confessed that he loved Helen, but she slapped him and fled.
• Aaron declared that he had won the wager, while Kent refused to leave Helen and challenged him to let her choose between them.
• Aaron said he was not pursuing Helen and that he and she had nothing to do with each other anymore.

After Kent violated the Law of Accident, he lost control and died behind the locked door of his room. Aaron recognized the fate-driven chain of events and decided to continue testing what happened when someone defied fate.

• Aaron watched Kent leave and concluded that Kent could not let Helen go after violating the Law of Accident.
• The next morning, Captain Wilson and armed sailors arrived at Helen's suite after black blood appeared beneath Kent's locked door.
• Wilson heard a beastly roar and scraping from inside Kent's room, then asked the passengers to find someone who could handle a mysterious incident.
• Helen told Aaron that Kent was dead and blamed herself for arguing with him.
• Aaron reasoned that Kent's emotional collapse and the Law of Accident had caused him to lose control, and he decided to continue his experiment against fate.

Aboard the ship, Linda led a group of Transcendents to confront Kent, who had lost control and turned into a monster. As Linda prepared to kill him, Aaron stepped in and asked to try healing him.

• Aig ordered Linda to deal with the rampaging Transcendent and had Louis and his sister watched.
• Aaron, Old John, and Leon joined Captain Wilson and Linda to confront the creature behind the blood-covered door.
• Linda, Leon, and Aaron entered Kent's room while Old John set up a spiritual barrier outside.
• Linda shot Kent and restrained him, and Aaron realized Kent had torn out his own teeth and nails to avoid harming others.
• Linda prepared to give Kent a final death, but Aaron stopped her and asked to try healing him; Linda allowed him to attempt it.

Aaron saved Kent from losing control by using a painting to alter his feelings, but the St. Margaret then collided with migrating super-giant sea monsters. Aaron suspected the attacks were fate’s backlash for protecting Kent, and the chapter ended as a huge creature’s waves swept passengers overboard.

• Aaron painted two men embracing and used the knowledge drawn from the burning painting to restore Kent’s human form, though he warned that the treatment could change Kent’s romantic preferences.
• Captain Wilson celebrated Kent’s recovery and promised rewards, but the St. Margaret suddenly lurched after colliding with something in the deep sea.
• Linda used her map to see gigantic sea monsters migrating beneath the ship and warned that the St. Margaret had entered their path.
• Aaron realized fate might be retaliating because he had saved Kent and was determined to protect him from further accidents.
• A colossal sea monster leaped from the water and crashed back into the sea, sending a wave that swept several passengers overboard.