Recaps

Evan planned to investigate the people behind the virus and Connor’s death while keeping his role in the Factory Owner’s death hidden. At Sapp Manor, Rhys Sapp learned Connor was dead and arranged for Elton’s son to inherit Connor’s factory, while the Gus Gang’s leader received a Money’s Messenger.

• Evan ate the empty potion vials, repaired his broken window, and planned to make potions, retrieve his gun, and visit McRae Detective Agency the next day.
• Penco Elton learned Connor’s Personal Insurance had failed and hurried to Lighthouse Hill to report his death to Rhys Sapp.
• Jack Alcott urged Rhys Sapp to help recover the One-Ninth Silver Key, but Sapp dismissed him after blaming him for letting Bote take it.
• Penco told Sapp that Connor had been investigating Evan and suspected Evan might be working for the Judge; Sapp ordered Connor’s body found and promised Elton’s son Connor’s factory.
• A bird folded from three ten-dollar bills landed on the shoulder of the Gus Gang’s leader in the gang’s hidden underground room.

Evan visited Freem to learn potion brewing while the people investigating Connor Elton’s death watched him as a possible witness. Freem explained how potion failures were handled, and Evan wondered whether a failed potion could be eaten.

• A paper bird inspected Evan’s apartment and reported that Connor Elton’s killer was still unknown, prompting the group to plan to capture Evan for questioning after dawn.
• Evan’s Secondary Brain detected the paper bird’s surveillance, and Evan concluded that the Factory Owner’s associates had tracked him through the potion aura leaking from his apartment.
• Evan ate an enormous breakfast, noticed someone following him, and traveled to Sage University to meet Freem.
• Freem showed Evan his sealed potion laboratory, explained the Golden Three Professions’ weaknesses, and taught him about Crucibles and potion ingredients.
• Freem brewed a Focus Potion and explained the dangers and remedies associated with different kinds of failed potions.
• Evan asked whether someone could eat failed potion waste, leaving Freem baffled by the suggestion.

Evan learned potion-making from Freem and was brought under the protection of Bolton City's Authorities when the Factory Owner Faction watched him. He agreed to help Gray investigate a potion creature in the sewers, then arrived at the police station as two terrified men reported an animated metal corpse.

• Freem finished brewing a Focus Potion, taught Evan the process, and named Purification and Energy Potions as ones whose side effects could exploit Evan's weaknesses.
• Evan told Freem that someone had questioned him about Richard and described a powerful figure taking away the intruder and a Copper Man; Freem arranged for the Authorities to collect Evan.
• Gray and Pegg arrived, introduced themselves, and escorted Evan past the Factory Owner Faction's watchers, with Gray declaring that Evan was under the Authorities' protection.
• Gray asked Evan to help investigate an escaped, toxic potion creature that had killed three homeless men, and Evan eagerly accepted because the case involved Magic Potions.
• At the police station, Gray brought Evan to a side hall where two shaken young men reported that a corpse in a mine shaft had turned to metal, crawled out of a sewer, and bitten Jerry's leg off.

Evan armed himself with a revolver and went with Gray to an abandoned factory to hunt a failed Magic Potion creature. After absorbing its toxic mist and reversing the side effect, Evan gained a tiny amount of the Beyonder Characteristic Black Sun's Wings.

• Evan revealed that his Bloodthirsty Species Characteristic made the room's silver weapons unbearable, so Gray gave him a Colt New Service Revolver and ammunition.
• Gray told Evan that a Potion Monster was hiding in the factory's sewer pipes, and Evan recognized the site where he had fought the Gus Gang and first met Hill.
• Evan entered the factory basement, used Secondary Brain to find the monster, and loaded his revolver with six Copper Plague Bullets.
• Evan shot the Potion Monster and grabbed one of its tentacles, but it slipped free and blasted poisonous black mist into his face.
• Evan inhaled the mist, gained a permanent improvement to his Regeneration and Physique, and reversed the side effect to obtain 0.001% of the Beyonder Characteristic Black Sun's Wings.

Evan devoured the Black Sun Potion Mutant and a Bloodthirsty Species Messenger bat while pursuing supernatural creatures through the sewers. He emerged to find Gray had killed one attacker and driven off another, then handed Gray a bat as evidence.

• Evan crawled through the sewer, found the Copper Plague-stricken Potion Aberration, and ate it, gaining permanent flexibility and a Physique increase.
• Evan chased a supernatural bat through the pipes, ate it, and gained a temporary Physique boost while Secondary Brain killed two other bats.
• Evan returned to the sewer exit and saw Gray fighting two armed attackers, killing the flintlock wielder while the crossbow wielder escaped by liquefying into the soil.
• Evan told Gray he had found the Potion Aberration and handed him a bat, which Gray identified as a mass-produced Bloodthirsty Species Messenger.

Evan and Gray completed their investigation of the Abandoned Factory, where Inspectors Blakes and Landon confirmed the site was clear. On the ride back to the city, Evan studied the Black Sun's Wings Characteristic and its promise of greater endurance and flight, while Gray laughed over Evan's provocation of Blakes.

• Gray sent a report using a paper bird, then waited with Evan for the inspectors to arrive and review the factory.
• Blakes and Landon used their Beyonder abilities to inspect the Abandoned Factory and found no problems.
• Evan threw the dead Bat at Blakes and claimed it could help track its owner, provoking Blakes before Landon thanked Evan for his help.
• Evan asked Gray about his payment and laundry reimbursement, and Gray confirmed the money would arrive in three days.
• On the carriage ride back, Evan read that Black Sun's Wings would improve his endurance and eventually grant him flight.
• Gray praised Evan for embarrassing Blakes and laughed about the Inspector's reaction.

Evan learned that Hill's family had hired the McRae Detective Agency to investigate her secret nighttime outings, unaware that her white-wigged disguise was her Demon Hunter form. He reunited with McRae, who praised his actions against the Phoenix Brotherhood, and the chapter ended with the two beginning a friendly partnership.

• Evan asked Gray about the black sun symbol, and Gray said he did not recognize it but would check the files.
• Gray told Evan that his poisoned partner's arms had mutated, while Evan decided to avoid the Healing Church's Beyonder institutions for now.
• Evan collected his payment at the Police Department and traveled to the McRae Detective Agency.
• Evan overheard Hill's parents hire McRae to investigate their daughter's nightly outings in a white wig, and he recognized them as Hill's family.
• McRae welcomed Evan and praised his courage against the Phoenix Brotherhood, and Evan said he expected them to work well together.

Evan joined McRae’s detective agency, proved his extraordinary strength, and took a commission to investigate Hill. After Hill asked him to make her manager suffer, Evan gave the man a severe, noncontagious cold, and Hill invited Evan to join a demon-hunting assignment that night.

• Evan agreed to work for McRae as a bodyguard and investigator, and McRae took him to track down a gang leader.
• Evan effortlessly defeated six thugs at a warehouse, and McRae paid him by treating him to a meal that cost 1.8 U.S. dollars.
• McRae assigned Evan a two-dollar investigation concerning Hill, and Evan recognized her in the dossier.
• Hill left the library after her manager overloaded her with work, and Evan was waiting outside to walk her home.
• When Hill asked Evan to make her manager suffer without killing him, Evan gave the man a concentrated, noncontagious cold.
• Hill praised Evan as reliable and pulled him along to show him an interesting demon-hunting assignment.

Evan accompanied Hill on a nighttime commission to stop a Ghoul from transforming Dr. Morales’s son. Hill explained that the young man had reached the Dreamlands through a white disc, and Evan recognized him as his classmate Morales.

• Hill told Evan she planned to quit her job soon and revealed that she had learned he killed Connor Elton after rescuing Richard.
• Evan accompanied Hill to her apartment, where she changed into her masked assassin outfit and explained their commission to kill a Ghoul.
• Hill used her Characteristic to immobilize a robber and make him embrace a streetlamp, then told Evan how her ability worked.
• Evan and Hill reached the Morales villa, where Dr. Morales asked them to save his son from a mysterious affliction.
• Hill explained that the white disc had connected Morales to the Dreamlands, where a Ghoul admired his curiosity and was turning him into one.

Evan and Hill fought a Boundary Ghoul that had possessed Morales, but Evan swallowed two potions to gain the sight needed to track it. He carried Hill across the rooftops in pursuit, leaving her wondering whether Evan was the good fortune her teacher had foretold.

• Evan saw that eating the Bat Messenger had permanently increased his Blood Quality by five percent and considered seeking high-quality Bloodthirsty Species blood for potion-making.
• Hill banished the force possessing Morales, then fought an invisible Boundary Ghoul while Evan caught Morales and kept him safe.
• Morales woke in Evan's arms, mistook the situation for a sexual assault, and Evan knocked him unconscious by telling him it had all been a dream.
• Hill explained that a Spiritual Potion would let Evan see the Boundary Ghoul, but Evan swallowed both it and a Shark Potion, including their glass bottles.
• Evan used his enhanced sight to spot the fleeing Ghoul and carried Hill after it at extraordinary speed, while she wondered whether he was the good fortune her teacher had foreseen.

Evan and Hill caught the Ghoul, but two Beyonders from the Secret Codex Brotherhood tried to claim it and attacked them. Evan killed the Demon and infected the Snake Person with viruses, while Hill was poisoned and Evan rushed to help her.

• Evan chased the Ghoul to the northern outskirts, where Hill teleported ahead and sent it flying into his grasp.
• Hill ordered Evan to kill the Ghoul, then fought two Beyonders who shot at her and claimed the prey for the Secret Codex Brotherhood.
• Evan ambushed the Demon from above, survived his flames through rapid healing, and killed him with a punch.
• The Snake Person poisoned Hill and Evan, but Evan resisted the venom and infected the Snake Person with tetanus and rabies before running to help Hill.
• The Snake Person's muscles spasmed uncontrollably as he realized Evan had infected him with viruses rather than toxins.

Evan and Hill survived the Snake Person’s attack, forced him to promise secrecy, and left with the Ghoul’s corpse. As they headed to David’s workshop, Leto watched from the shadows and decided that five percent of the shares would not be enough to keep Evan at a distance.

• Hill recovered from the Snake Person’s venom with an antitoxin while Evan mourned his ruined clothes and retrieved money from the Demon’s corpse.
• Hill had Evan cure the Snake Person, then secured his agreement to conceal what happened and took a drop of his Spiritual Blood as insurance.
• Evan and Hill left the Demon’s Beyonder Characteristic behind because it could let the Hellfire Furnace track or detonate it, and Hill warned Evan against making unnecessary enemies.
• Hill praised Evan’s strength as he carried her and the Ghoul’s corpse toward David’s workshop to meet the other brothers.
• The Snake Person recovered, welcomed the chance to advance after his companion’s death, and crawled over to eat the Ghoul’s corpse.
• Leto and his daughter watched from an oak tree, and Leto concluded that five percent of the shares would not be enough.

Evan met Hill’s colleagues at their Bolton City base after bringing back a Ghoul’s corpse, then tested David Davis’s unfinished Iron Mouth Potion. The potion strengthened Evan’s mouth and teeth, and David’s coworkers beat him for spending research funds on a way to chew Areca Nut.

• Evan landed naked at David Davis’s Villa with Hill and the Ghoul’s corpse, where Richard, Elron Seiforth, and David welcomed him.
• David handled the corpse, then examined Evan’s muscles and explained that he wanted Evan to test his potions.
• Hill told the others how Evan had fought the Demon and Snake Person, and Evan said he took several Magic Potions and ate large meals each day.
• David gave Evan an unfinished Iron Mouth Potion, which strengthened Evan’s teeth, mouth, and windpipe and increased his Physique.
• Evan guessed that David had developed the potion so he could chew Areca Nut, prompting Hill, Richard, and Elron to beat David for misusing the research budget.
• David asked Evan to help him discover a new way to chew betel nut.

Evan learned how the Healing Church used Copperization and why its dangerous side effects made it useful mainly for creating obedient Copper Corpses. After spending the night at the Villa, he discovered his reversed potion side effects had further improved his resistance and physical abilities.

• Richard told Evan that the Virus had a key component from the Healing Church, but Red King Laboratory was not behind it, and explained that he had been hunted after finding a dangerous investigative trail.
• Richard and Erlong explained Copperization's side effects, the Church's experiments and factions, and warned Evan to flee if he saw the red-robed Red Gloves.
• Richard assigned Erlong to watch his current task, sent Evan and himself to follow the Virus lead, and told Hill to fulfill their teacher's request before becoming an expert.
• Evan asked David for Purification Potion and Energy Potion recipes and ingredients, then arranged for David to prepare materials for a Crucible made with Evan's Copper Patina.
• Evan stayed awake listening to Richard's labored breathing, Erlong's anguished pleading, and David's anxious chewing, while Hill slept peacefully.
• Evan woke to find that reversing potion side effects had increased his Electrical Resistance and Physique and granted him a temporary boost to several abilities from the Compound Snake Venom.

Evan volunteered to test David’s Magic Potions, helped McRae verify Hill’s fighting ability and recruit her, and harvested enough Copper Patina from his regenerating body to meet his Crucible material goal. At school, Morales thanked Evan for saving him from becoming a monster, and Lane revealed that he had crossed the Threshold too.

• Evan told David he would take over Magic Potion testing because he understood its side effects and wanted to protect himself from his Ancestor.
• Evan persuaded McRae that Miss Adolf was a capable detective, then helped stage Hill’s fight with a thief so McRae would recruit her.
• Evan woke with Copper Patina covering much of his right buttock, tore it off for the Crucible, and quickly regenerated the lost tissue.
• Morales thanked Evan for preventing him from becoming a monster and apologized for misunderstanding him.
• Lane told Evan that he had crossed the Threshold, recovered his health, and could now win the favor of young ladies.

Evan met Professor Byron, who paid him to test two potions that triggered a dangerous chain reaction, though Evan reversed their side effects. Byron revealed his monstrous form and plans to control Evan, while Evan later carried copper patina to David's villa.

• Lane told Evan that Professor Byron wanted to see him and warned him not to agree to anything too quickly.
• Evan described the Potion Aberration to Byron, then drank an Eclipse Potion and an Anti-Moon Potion for payment.
• Evan reversed the potions' effects after they caused a severe chain reaction, and Byron arranged to meet him again the next day.
• After Evan left, Byron transformed and discussed whether a Black Sun seed could grow inside Evan and how to bring him under control.
• Evan finished his classes, collected two chunks of copper patina from his apartment, and arrived at David's villa after dark.

Evan joined Hill at McRae’s detective agency and received money and two potions, including an Iron Blood Potion. After hiding the potion in his rectum to use in an emergency, he used it to resist a sleep-inducing mental attack and pretended to collapse, drawing out Jack Alcott, an Expert Level Monk investigating his son’s death.

• David accepted Evan’s copper patina pieces and began restoring them.
• Evan brought Hill to McRae, who agreed to work with her and let Evan assist on her night investigations.
• Hill gave Evan his share of the job payment and gifted him an Iron Blood Potion and a Basic Blasphemy Potion, warning that trouble was coming.
• Evan hid the Iron Blood Potion in his rectum so he could activate it without using his hands.
• When an unknown attacker forced drowsiness upon him, Evan broke the hidden bottle, resisted the mental control, and pretended to fall asleep.
• Jack Alcott approached the apparently unconscious Evan, intending to uncover what he knew about Connor Elton’s disappearance.

Evan fought off Jack’s attempt to capture him, using the Iron Blood Potion and his extraordinary regeneration to survive Jack’s attacks. Jack escaped when Evan summoned the neighborhood and local patrols, and Evan left with Gray to report the attack and pursue the bounty.

• Jack tried to weave Desire Threads around Evan, but Evan sensed the attempt and attacked, piercing Jack’s chest and smashing his head.
• Evan ran, but Jack’s invisible threads cut him in half; Evan reattached himself and regenerated while Jack’s headless corpse rose and spoke.
• Evan shouted that a wanted cultist had attacked him, drawing armed residents and patrols to the street.
• Jack fled into the night as Gray and the Healing Church’s night watchmen arrived; Father Jask withdrew after confirming Evan belonged to Gray’s agency.
• Evan told Gray that Alcott had attacked him and that the Iron Blood Potion had prevented his capture, then Gray took him back to the station and mentioned a thousand-dollar bounty.

After Gray explained Status Suppression and Alcott’s fused abilities, Evan met Robbins Vick, the Master-level Nighthawk leading the Special Operations Directorate. Vick asked Evan to lure Alcott out of Sapp Manor, but Evan questioned the plan’s risks and the possibility of a mole.

• Gray explained that Evan’s low Spirit Vision had kept him from seeing Alcott’s fused Characteristics and the Desire Sprites that replaced his destroyed organs.
• Gray brought Evan to the Special Operations Directorate, where he introduced him to Robbins Vick, a Master-level Nighthawk.
• Vick told Evan that Alcott was hiding in Sapp Manor and that the authorities could not enter the estate to arrest him.
• Evan revealed that his bloodline let him adapt gradually to potion side effects, explaining how he had survived drinking a Sun Pathway potion.
• Vick proposed using Evan as bait to lure Alcott out, and Evan challenged the plan by raising concerns about a mole, a trap, and the authorities’ inability to rescue him inside Sapp Manor.

Vic gave Evan five potions and promised to protect his fellow disciples in exchange for Evan helping capture Jack Alcott alive. Sapp restored Alcott’s body, bound him with a debt contract, and sent him to attack Evan, while Evan learned his affinity favored the sun and hid three potions inside himself for protection.

• Vic offered Evan five Magic Potions and protection for his fellow disciples if Evan helped capture Alcott alive, and Evan accepted.
• Sapp used his Capital Domain to heal Jack Alcott, then forced him to sign a contract making him his debtor and servant.
• Sapp ordered Alcott to attack Evan on Gooding Street and supplied Solar Holy Water and silver weapons for fighting the Bloodthirsty Species.
• Evan returned home and discovered that the Anti-Moon Potion’s effects had increased his Silver resistance while converting his Moon Affinity into Solar Affinity.
• Evan hid three of Vic’s potions inside his body as a precaution against Alcott’s expected attack.

Evan was ambushed in his apartment by Jack, a Monk who used Desire Sprites and invisible threads to attack him. Evan resisted Jack's mental control, wounded him with a Copper Plague Bullet, and watched him fall from the sky as the virus took hold.

• Gust warned Evan that an Expert Level Beyonder was approaching, and Evan spotted Jack closing in as Desire Sprites bound him with threads.
• Evan used an Insight Potion to reveal the Desire Sprites, then escaped their threads with Copperization, but Jack's silver sword smashed three potions beneath his pillow.
• Evan used Iron Blood and Intermediate Blasphemy Potions to resist Jack's Desire Control and struck Jack's knee, breaking his leg.
• Jack sent Desire Sprites to bind Evan from above, but Evan destroyed them with his fists and shot Jack with a Copper Plague Bullet.
• The virus rapidly weakened Jack and made his neck swell until he lost control of the Desire Sprites and fell from the sky.

Evan subdued Jack after his viruses and resistance to silver and holy water failed to kill him. He used the Silver Key to halt Jack’s Beastification and extract his memories about the One-Ninth Silver Key, while learning that a Prophet watched him every night.

• Jack collapsed from the concentrated viruses Evan had introduced into his bloodstream, and Evan stopped short of killing him so he could hand him over to Vic.
• Jack’s burning banknotes drove him to attack Evan with silver spikes and Solar Holy Water, but Evan’s resistance and regeneration left him unharmed.
• Jack lost control and began Out-of-Control Beastification, so Evan severed his limbs and used the Silver Key to suppress the transformation.
• The Silver Key rejected Evan’s first supposed secrets and revealed that a Prophet watched him while he slept; Evan then offered an exclusive secret to open Jack’s mind.
• Evan extracted Jack’s memories about the One-Ninth Silver Key and knocked him unconscious.

Evan captured Jack Alcott after stopping his Beastification from endangering Gooding Street, and Vic took Jack away while promising Evan a commendation and bonus. Evan then met Gust, learned he had warned and watched over him, agreed to cooperate with him for payment, and set up a Basic Concealment Ritual at home.

• Evan recalled the Copper Plague from Jack, but Jack's body continued mutating, so Evan prepared to carry him away from Gooding Street.
• Vic arrived and used Shadow to take Jack, while Gray checked on Evan and Vic promised him a commendation, a bonus, and an affiliated position with the Special Operations Team.
• Evan confronted Gust, who admitted he had warned Evan and monitored him because Evan's unmasked Beyonder aura disturbed the neighborhood.
• Gust explained his surveillance ability and proposed an alliance, offering to watch for threats in exchange for Evan's help if Gust was attacked.
• Evan agreed to help Gust when paid, recovered the Silver Cross Sword, and used roadside dirt to create a Basic Concealment Ritual in his apartment.

Evan examined Jack’s memories and learned that the Silver Key might be connected to the First Emperor’s immortality and a Ritual leading to the Heavenly Court. He appraised a protective talisman, then resumed studying while Gust watched the apartment from outside.

• Evan reviewed Jack’s memories, learning that the Silver Key had consumed Alcott I after he ran out of secrets and that Jack had inherited it.
• Evan discovered that Jack’s research linked the Silver Key to the First Emperor, who had supposedly become immortal and led his people in an Ascension to the Heavenly Court.
• Evan learned that the Eastern Continent had vanished beneath the Paradise Storm Ocean and that Jack suspected the Silver Key could enable the Ascension of the Immortal Stairway.
• Evan wondered whether his Ancestor’s immortality and habit of consuming descendants were tied to a Silver Key, then began studying German before his potions wore off.
• Evan used a Ritual to identify the turtle-shell talisman as the Amulet of Four Blessings, which warned against invisible attacks but required weekly immersion in seawater.
• Gust watched the apartment’s protective film block Beyonder fluctuations and wondered how Evan had figured out that Gust could monitor his private habits.

Evan suffered insomnia and a loss of Spirit from the Black Sun Potion, but reversing its side effect increased his Solar Affinity and Black Sun's Wings. As Vic assigned Evan and Gray to investigate the virus, Sapp plotted to trap Evan in debt, and Evan discovered that Byron's Eclipse Potion was erasing Lane's memories before Byron sent him away to recover.

• Evan found that the Black Sun Potion had caused insomnia and reduced his Spirit, then reversed its side effect and increased his Solar Affinity and Black Sun's Wings.
• Vic heard Gray's account of Evan's actions and assigned him to accompany Evan on an investigation into the virus, while ordering a wider search for the Silver Key.
• Willens told Sapp that Jack Alcott had been captured and described Evan's abilities, so Sapp ordered Willens to lure Evan into debt.
• Evan reversed the Eclipse Potion's side effect and realized that Byron was linked to the Black Sun and was using the potion to lower self-awareness.
• Evan noticed that Lane had forgotten their past medical work and recognized that the Copper Pill was erasing Lane's memories.
• Byron questioned Evan about taking another potion and his encounter with Jack Alcott, then told him to return after a few days of recovery.