Recaps

After waking in the body of Evan Ludwig Arkham, a destitute Sage University freshman whose experimental drugs and unsafe blood donations left him gravely ill, Evan discovered the Nine Dragons Panel and its ability to reverse the negative effects of up to nine drugs. He resolved to survive and turned his attention to the medicines on his table.

• Evan woke in a shabby apartment in 1910 and realized he had transmigrated into a nineteen-year-old suffering from secondary syphilis and severe exhaustion.
• He recalled that his parents had died by suicide six months earlier, leaving him struggling to afford food and tuition at Sage University.
• To pay for school, Evan sold blood, joined drug trials, and signed a university financial aid agreement that required him to cooperate with professors' experiments.
• After classmates mocked the red sores on his arm, Evan's despair overwhelmed him, and the body's previous occupant died.
• Evan summoned the Nine Dragons Panel, which showed his poor physical condition and revealed his ability to reverse the negative effects of up to nine drugs.
• Evan vowed to survive and examined the unlabeled medicines and syphilis remedies on his table.

Evan tested his panel’s ability to reverse the side effects of medicines and discovered that a mysterious potion from Professor Pulis could permanently increase his physique. After the potion’s rapid effects triggered dangerous hypoglycemia, Evan used brown sugar to recover.

• Evan took two mercury pills, reversed their side effects, and slightly improved his ulcers, nerve damage, and physique.
• Evan tried to apply mercury ointment but stopped when the panel warned that only one medicine of the same type could take effect.
• Evan swallowed an unfinished Night Demon Potion from Professor Pulis and learned that it could permanently increase his physique by 0.2.
• Evan suspected the university was experimenting on students with extraordinary drugs and began reversing the potion’s side effects.
• Evan grew dizzy as the potion consumed his blood sugar, then stumbled to the kitchen and ate brown sugar until the hypoglycemia was resolved.

Evan endured Mary’s abuse while planning to grow strong enough to deal with her and the Gus Gang. After reversing Phenobarbital’s side effects, he woke at three in the morning feeling unusually rested, alert, and perceptive.

• Mary confronted Evan for disrupting her customer and threatened him over the incident.
• Evan recalled how Zack had installed Mary in his home and how she had stopped paying rent while abusing the apartment.
• Evan took two unfinished Phenobarbital tablets and used his Panel to reverse their side effects, improving his memory, reaction speed, and concentration.
• Evan fell into a deep sleep and woke after four hours feeling energized and mentally clear.
• Evan noticed his heightened hearing and checked the Panel, which showed the Phenobarbital active alongside the effects of the Mercury Pill and Night Demon Potion.

After reversing the side effects of the incomplete Night Demon Potion, Evan’s anemia improved and his body grew stronger. He used his heightened concentration to finish his overdue chemistry homework, then headed to school and discovered that the potion was still increasing his Physique.

• Evan learned that reversing the Night Demon Potion’s side effects had eased his anemia and permanently improved his regeneration.
• Evan tested his recovering strength, then focused intensely and completed his chemistry homework in four hours.
• Evan dressed in his worn clothes, left home, and traveled through the crowded streets toward school.
• Evan ate breakfast and boarded a Tram, where he noticed he could keep his balance and grip the strap more easily than before.
• Evan checked the panel and saw his Physique had risen from 0.501 to 0.601 as the potion continued to reshape his body.

Evan arrived late to chemistry class at Sage University but ignored his classmates’ mockery and Professor Mons’s strict questioning. He accurately recited and explained Dalton’s Atomic Theory, leaving the class and Professor Mons surprised.

• Evan rushed from the streetcar to class and arrived shortly before the bell.
• Classmates whispered insults about Evan, but he ignored them and settled into the back row.
• Professor Mons reviewed Dalton’s Atomic Theory and found that the students he called on could not explain it correctly.
• After Professor Mons assigned the class a penalty transcription, Evan raised his hand and offered to answer.
• Evan recited the five tenets and explained how they accounted for the laws of definite and multiple proportions.

Evan impressed Professor Mons by explaining periodic trends, then continued recovering as he ate a substantial lunch and met Professor Pulis. He told Pulis the Night Demon Potion had made him feel stronger and asked whether he had any other medicine.

• Evan answered Professor Mons's questions about the periodic table and halogen properties, earning his praise despite classmates' ridicule.
• Evan's Physique reached 0.701, and his Spirit recovered naturally as his health improved.
• Evan spent eleven cents on lunch and ate alone while other students avoided him because of rumors about his Syphilis.
• Professor Pulis asked Evan whether he had taken the medicine and whether he had experienced side effects.
• Evan described feeling stronger and more confident after taking the Night Demon Potion, then asked Pulis for other medicine and offered to cooperate with his experiments.

Evan received another experimental potion from Pulis and showed improved health and memory during his classes. Pulis revealed the danger of the potions and planned to use Evan as a test subject in his search for a way to overcome sunlight.

• Evan agreed to try Pulis's experimental medicine, and Pulis told him to collect it from the Laboratory before practical class.
• Pulis gave Evan a potion to take once a day for four days and warned him to eat well and exercise because it could make him feel unbearably hot.
• After Evan left, Pulis's assistant warned that combining the Night Demon Potion and Blood Potion could kill him or turn him into an incomplete vampire; Pulis said Evan might become his final test subject.
• Pulis learned that two of the other five test subjects had died and the remaining three suffered severe anemia, then went with his assistant to perform autopsies.
• Evan completed his chemistry practical and summarized Professor Mons's lecture successfully in Mr. Wright's recitation class.
• Evan noticed that his memory and thinking felt much sharper, which he attributed to recovering from anemia and improving physically.

Evan struggled through physical training, then returned home and took an incomplete Night Demon Potion and a Blood Potion. The two potions triggered a chain reaction, and he used his reversal ability to begin countering the resulting side effect.

• Evan noticed potion-trial students growing ill during the run but kept his distance and finished the required exercise.
• Evan skipped evening study, ate Professor Pulis's leftover lunch, and rode a tram back to Gooding Street.
• Evan asked Old Tom to repair his uneven shoes and encountered Zack leaving his apartment.
• Evan locked himself in his bedroom and took one pill from each of his two magic potions.
• Evan reversed the Blood Potion's side effect, then reversed the terrifying side effect caused by the potions' chain reaction.

After the Blood Potion and Blood Wine drove Evan’s body to rebuild at a rapid pace, he turned to strenuous labor to aid the process and earn money. He began work hauling cargo at Bryce Transport Company, where he picked up his first sack.

• Evan felt compelled to exercise as the potions energized and rapidly rebuilt his frail body, while the panel identified the buff as Blood Wine Enhancement.
• When the rebuilding caused intense pain, Evan took five Aspirin tablets, which eased the pain and improved his pneumonia, digestion, hearing, and physique.
• Evan decided that dock labor would provide better exercise and income, changed into his late father’s work clothes, and headed to Hain Street.
• Evan asked Parker, the foreman at Bryce Transport Company, for work, and Parker hired him at the standard hourly rate.
• Evan registered for work, pinned on a numbered badge, and joined the dock crew carrying cargo, lifting his first sack onto his shoulder.

Evan worked a grueling dock shift and grew stronger as the Magic Potions took effect, while the Blood Potion reversed his anemia and improved his blood. He returned home healthier and better paid, but found Mary with a man and silently vowed to deal with her soon.

• Evan persuaded Carey to let him work at his own pace after Parker explained that Evan was Anta's son and a Sage University student.
• As he carried tobacco sacks, Evan felt his strength increase, began hauling two sacks at a time, and received Panel notifications showing gains in Physique and mental energy.
• The Blood Potion and Night Demon Potion side effects reversed, curing Evan's anemia and permanently improving his Regeneration and Blood Quality.
• Evan worked an extra hour, earned thirty-two cents, and surprised Parker with how much healthier and stronger he looked.
• Evan returned to his apartment, heard Mary with a man, and bathed in icy water without feeling cold because the Blood Potion was still working.

Evan took his medicines and slept while a Sanguine secretly drew his blood and a silver-haired woman investigated him, deciding to use a crisis to steer him toward becoming a Demon Hunter. At three in the morning, Evan woke to discover that reversing the potion chain’s side effects had given him a trace Basic Sanguine characteristic.

• Evan swallowed Phenobarbital and Mercury Pills, then fell into a deep sleep.
• A dark-eyed Sanguine passed through Evan’s window and drew blood from his arm with a syringe.
• A silver-haired woman climbed into Evan’s room, identified his drug resistance and fading Syphilis rash, and resolved to make him witness the Sanguine’s danger before rescuing him.
• At three in the morning, Evan woke feeling unusually healthy and saw that the Panel had granted him Basic Sanguine at 2% progress.
• Evan opened the characteristic details and learned how its progress increased his healing, blood quality, and physical strength.

After combining the Magic Potions and Beyonder Characteristic, Evan discovered that Professor Pulis had secretly drawn his blood and resolved to stay cautious while continuing to obtain medicine. He assessed his worsening financial shortfall, decided he needed another drug-testing contract, and ended the night healthier after the potions finished digesting.

• Evan found signs that Professor Pulis had entered through his window and discovered a tiny new puncture mark where Pulis had drawn his blood.
• Evan concluded that Pulis considered him valuable and decided to act unaware, keep taking Magic Potions, and seek more connections.
• Evan reviewed his health and supplies, identified Syphilis and Liver Damage as his main concerns, and considered seeking an Arsphenamine trial.
• Evan counted his money and expenses, realized he needed at least twenty dollars for the month, and decided to find another drug-testing contract.
• Evan studied through the night until his concentration boost wore off, and the medicines finished digesting as his Syphilis rash faded and his Physique rose to 1.003.

After recovering strength from the magic potion, Evan went to Sage University, where Kevins Lebon and his classmates humiliated him and launched a prepared attack. The chapter ended with Evan trapped beneath a blanket as smoke poured in through a copper tube.

• Evan noticed his body had grown stronger, took two Mercury Pills, and ate a large breakfast before heading to class.
• At Sage University, students mocked Evan as “Whore-disease boy,” and Kevins Lebon taunted him for not being invited to his party.
• Thompson grabbed Evan’s schoolbag and tore off one of its straps, but Evan fought back strongly enough to surprise him.
• Two students covered Evan with a blanket while Thompson and another attacker held him in place.
• Lebon’s group slid a copper tube under the blanket and filled the enclosed space with thick smoke, and Evan held his breath.

Evan fought back when Lebon and three American football players trapped him under a blanket and forced smoke on him, using dirty fighting tactics to break free and drive them off. When teachers arrived, Evan had recovered his composure and claimed he was the one who had been bullied.

• Evan grabbed one attacker by the groin, stomped another’s foot, and broke free from the group’s hold with a crazed howl.
• Evan struck Lebon in the forehead with his bookbag, spat on Thompson, and kicked him down onto the marble stairs.
• Evan threatened Lebon with a Fountain Pen and a steel Compass, and Lebon fled in fear.
• Thompson and the other two attackers ran from the hall, leaving Evan alone before the watching students.
• Teachers arrived and ordered Evan to put down the objects in his hands, and he calmly said they were stationery and that he had been bullied.

Evan faced a school inquiry after fighting back against four bullies, and the Dean gave both sides mild warnings despite Professor Mons defending him. Pulis discovered that Evan had absorbed a Sanguine Beyonder Characteristic without suffering its usual side effects, but chose to investigate him before making a move.

• The Academic Affairs Office questioned Evan and the four students, then gave Evan a written warning and ordered him to pay Lebon two dollars while warning Lebon and Thompson.
• Professor Mons challenged Kars's criticism of Evan and later praised Evan's correct answer in biology-related chemistry class.
• Evan noticed that classmates now feared him because of rumors that he had gang connections, then told Pulis that he felt stronger and had fought back against his bullies.
• Pulis told Evan to stop taking Mercury Pills and Aspirin while using his medicine, then left most of his lunch behind for Evan to take.
• Pulis told the Female Assistant that Evan had absorbed a Sanguine Beyonder Characteristic without mutating or developing the usual side effects.
• Pulis refused to capture Evan immediately and ordered an investigation into his Physique and whether anything unusual was behind him, recalling what happened in Innsmouth.

Evan followed Pulis’s regimen, grew stronger, and received a new medicine while trying to find extra work. After a string of mishaps on his way home, he discovered that all his money had vanished from its hiding place and suspected Mary.

• Evan stopped his previous medicines, took two Magic Potions daily, and kept up his classes and dock work while his classmates avoided him.
• Evan’s Physique rose to 1.903, and Pulis gave him two vials of dark red medicine to take after sunset.
• Evan asked Pulis about taking other medicines for extra income, and Pulis allowed it; afterward, Pulis told his Female Assistant not to grow attached to their food.
• Evan was hit by pigeon droppings, delayed by the tram, and partly soaked by laundry water on his way home.
• Evan found his biscuit tin empty and suspected Mary had taken the two dollars and twenty-two cents inside.

Evan threw Mary out after catching her smoking Flying Leaves and searching for his missing money. After narrowly avoiding a fatal accident, he realized a Misfortune Curse was making disasters converge around him and suspected Mary would bring the Gus Gang after him.

• Evan slapped Mary, dragged her out of the apartment, and told her he was keeping her belongings against her unpaid rent.
• Evan found money and Flying Leaves in Mary's room, pocketed the cash, and flushed the leaves down the toilet.
• Evan nearly fell onto a rusty coat hook but saved himself by grabbing a pipe, then recognized the string of accidents as a possible Misfortune Curse.
• Evan suspected Lebon, Thompson, or another wealthy student had cursed him using his stolen money as a medium.
• Evan realized the curse had magnified his anger and feared Mary would go to Zack, turning him against the Gus Gang.

Evan drank Pulis’s finished Night Demon Potion and used its heightened perception and night vision to fight off Zack and four Gus Gang thugs in his apartment. Zack drew a revolver but did not fire, and he ordered more men to come after Evan, who had escaped down the stairs.

• Evan drank the Night Demon Potion, gaining enhanced perception and night vision for twelve hours.
• Evan heard Zack and four young thugs arrive, opened his apartment door, and dodged Zack’s attack.
• Evan knocked down all four thugs in less than ten seconds using his enhanced senses and physical strength.
• Evan heard Zack’s revolver safety click and vaulted down the stairwell before Zack could aim.
• Zack refused to fire indoors, ordered his men to get up, and called for reinforcements to break Evan’s legs.

Evan lured Zack and the Gus Gang to the abandoned South Suburban Old Factory, intending to use his Night Demon abilities and the darkness to make them believe he was a Beyonder. He lost his initial advantage when a beam collapsed and thugs caught him, but he escaped into the dark after striking one with an iron bar.

• Evan told Old Tom he was heading to the old factory, and Old Tom passed the message to Zack, who led about twenty armed youths south to hunt him.
• A crimson-eyed young man tried to follow Zack's group, but a pale-handed figure called him Little Bloodthirsty Beast and led him away under control.
• Evan reached the abandoned factory and waited for Zack's gang, then slipped inside as the youths rushed toward him.
• Using the darkness and his Night Vision, Evan ambushed two thugs, knocking one down and breaking the other's knee with an iron bar.
• A crossbeam fell as Evan tried to move, letting two more thugs strike his back and one seize his arm.
• Evan realized his Physique of 1.9 gave him less of an advantage than he expected, struck the thug holding him over the head, and escaped into the darkness.

Evan escaped the factory after witnessing a Vampire slaughter Zack and the thugs, but he realized the creature might be an out-of-control threat rather than Pulis’s protector. The Vampire appeared behind Evan on the dirt path, leaving him face-to-face with it.

• Evan fled into a factory, where Zack shot a Vampire that healed its wounds and began killing the gang members.
• Evan watched from hiding and recognized the creature as the Vampire Pulis had sent to follow him, while yearning for its power.
• Evan ran from the factory, then stopped on a dirt path when his bruised back became too painful.
• Evan wondered whether the Vampire was uncontrolled and cursed by his bad luck after nearly falling onto a sharp piece of construction steel.
• Evan turned and found the Vampire standing five meters behind him.

Evan was nearly killed by a Vampire, but a silver-haired Demon Hunter arrived and claimed him as her student to drive the Vampire away. Afterward, Evan suspected she had caused the Vampire’s earlier rampage to stage a dramatic rescue.

• Evan froze in terror as the Vampire grabbed his throat, but he invoked Professor Pulis’s name and the Vampire released him after recognizing Pulis’s cologne.
• A silver-haired woman arrived with a sword and challenged the Vampire, who identified her as a Demon Hunter.
• Evan decided the woman might offer him protection, called her his master, and claimed the Vampire had nearly killed him.
• The woman played along, declared Evan to be her student, and told the Vampire to report to Hill Adolf that Evan could remain a Test Subject.
• The Vampire, unable to defeat the Demon Hunter, insulted her and vanished into the darkness.
• The woman cursed the departing Vampire, while Evan suspected she had made him lose control to arrange her heroic rescue.

Hill explained why Evan had avoided potion poisoning and recruited him to become a Demon Hunter, describing the profession’s reliance on magic potions and its high costs. She identified a Tax Collector as the source of Evan’s bad luck and performed a ritual that removed it, leaving Evan feeling lighter.

• Evan asked Hill how the Vampire had lost control, and she admitted she had controlled his mind to stage a rescue.
• Hill offered Evan a place among the Demon Hunters and explained their use of temporary and permanent potions, along with the risk of poisoning and the expense of their work.
• Hill described the Capitalist Beyonder Path and told Evan that a Tax Collector had taken his luck by confiscating his money.
• Evan gave Hill five dollars, and she used essential oil and an incantation to break the bad-luck curse.
• Evan felt the curse lift and joked that Hill’s ritual charged harsher interest than a loan shark.

After helping Evan avoid the fallout from the fight with the gang, Hill explained the Demon Hunter transformation and passed her Master's Beyonder Characteristic to him. Evan began a painful seven-day digestion, while Hill promised to protect him from the shadows.

• Hill gave Evan two dollars back and said the Batrus Family could handle the police investigation, while he could continue attending school and seeking Magic Potions from Professor Pulis.
• Evan explained how he had deduced Pulis was a Vampire, and Hill praised his instincts and described the preparation needed to become a Demon Hunter.
• Evan asked to take the Demon Hunter Potion immediately, so Hill kissed him and transferred her Master's Beyonder Characteristic, which she had been carrying inside her body.
• Evan's Panel identified the substance as an incomplete Demon Hunter Transformation Potion with a 168-hour digestion time, and he chose to reverse its side effect.
• Hill explained that Evan's stomach pain was part of the transformation and advised nutrition and exercise; she then promised to watch over him as they parted at the city crossroads.

Lebon’s curse against Evan Arkham rebounded and killed him. Meanwhile, Pulis ordered his people to keep obtaining Arkham’s blood and sent Leido and the others to help Mr. Sapp, hoping to eventually withstand sunlight.

• Lebon suffered horrific injuries from the curse he had paid the Witch to cast against Evan Arkham, and he died as it rebounded on him.
• Pulis told the young man who had failed to get anything from Hill that the failure was not his fault and sent him away.
• The Female Assistant said she suspected Arkham was lying about the Demon Hunter faction, but Pulis decided the faction could serve as a scout.
• Pulis learned that Nighthawk had confirmed something was wrong with the Arkham Family and ordered Eldin to contact Arkham so they could keep getting his blood.
• After hearing that Mr. Sapp was short-handed, Pulis ordered Leido and the others to help, saying they only needed to hold on until they could withstand sunlight.

Evan drove Mary out of his apartment, used medicine to ease his injuries, and earned eighty cents hauling cargo at the Bryce Transport Company warehouse. Nock warned him that the Gus Gang had dealt with Zack and would leave Evan alone as long as he stayed out of their business.

• Evan returned home injured, ordered Mary to leave, and she handed over the keys before rushing out.
• Evan swallowed Mercury Pills and Aspirin, easing some of his symptoms and pain.
• Evan switched to piecework at the Bryce Transport Company warehouse and hauled enough to earn eighty cents in four hours.
• Evan checked the Panel and learned that reversing the Night Demon Potion's side effects had strengthened his eyesight and Perception.
• Nock told Evan that Mary would not bother him again, the Gus Gang had handled Zack, and Evan should stay out of its business.
• Evan went home and showered as his Regeneration began to ease the bruises on his back.