Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Doctor Armitage confirms Evan has endured the Magic Potion’s side effects unusually well. Evan asks whether he can use the ability contained in the Spirituality-rich sac, rejects it as “utter garbage,” and asks to sell it instead.
• Before they can discuss its value, police arrive and request Evan’s cooperation in a follow-up investigation.
• At the New Haven Hotel, Garp grows worried when Evan misses his night shift. He learns that Albert Trus took Evan away and that more than a dozen of Alcott’s men have not returned.
• The young women under Alcott’s control suddenly regain their senses. They emerge from their rooms at the hotel in distress, accusing Alcott and Albert of assaulting them. Their public outcry shocks the other guests and threatens to expose the scandal widely.
• Police investigators examine a road where a car roof has been torn apart and enormous footprints stretch far apart. They conclude that a single Demon Hunter fought Alcott’s group, defeated Alcott’s Flesh Armor, pursued him, and killed him.
• The investigators identify Evan as the Demon Hunter. They discover he took an Iron Blood Potion in an emergency—apparently biting through and swallowing the glass vial along with its contents.
• The police piece together the attempted abduction: Albert lured Evan with drugged tea. They conclude that Alcott violated Beyonder rules by harming many young women, and learn that his death broke his control over them.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan is shown to be exceptionally resilient and physically powerful, but also pragmatic: he dismisses an ability he dislikes and immediately considers selling it. His actions have made him the focus of the police investigation.
• Doctor Armitage remains a knowledgeable ally, recognizing Evan’s unusual resistance and understanding the risks of the potion he took.
• Garp’s concern for Evan sits alongside his deep disgust for Alcott’s crimes; he anticipates that the women’s revelations will cause a major scandal.
• Sheriff Leon, Marlow, Pali, and Sally investigate together. Their initial astonishment at the evidence turns into respect for Evan’s capabilities, and Leon considers recruiting him for difficult cases.
• The women’s accusations transform a private crime into a public crisis, while the hotel guests’ shock underscores how far the revelations reach beyond the immediate victims.

Significant themes

• Power and exploitation: Alcott’s supernatural control enabled widespread abuse, but his death restores the victims’ agency.
• Consequences and accountability: The victims’ public testimony and the police investigation threaten to expose wrongdoing protected by wealth and influence.
• Evan’s dangerous toughness: His strength and willingness to endure extreme risks make him formidable, though his apparent ability to swallow broken glass highlights how reckless survival can be.
• Class and institutional limits: The police investigators are described as low-paid and limited in status, yet they play a crucial role in responding to Beyonder crimes and assembling evidence.

Plot points

• The police conclude that Iwen Ludwig Arkham is not suspicious and close the case. Captain Leon sees the outcome as a political win: the Spirit Communion Society’s crimes will damage its allies in the Merchants’ Association and earn the Police Faction commendation.
• Sally alerts New Haven’s authorities. Police raid the hotel and escort the rescued young women to safety, while students and their families gather in the lobby.
• Deputy Chief announces that Sage University student Botis Alcott and his accomplices had secretly controlled and enslaved female students. He asks Miss Hurst to assist the investigation, crediting her security guard, Iwen, with helping bring down the gang.
• Iwen arrives battered and disheveled but apparently well-fed. He tearfully recounts how Albert drew him out of the hotel and how Alcott’s gang pursued him. He says they meant to force him to become their inside man and planned to use the same methods on Eldin that they had used on the girls.
• The deputy chief confirms the evidence and explains that Alcott and the others are dead: a killer in the area mistook them for plainclothes officers and killed them. Director Smith is horrified by the implications for the university and insists he cannot be held responsible.

Character developments and interactions

• Leon reveals a pragmatic, faction-minded outlook, treating the case’s political fallout as a greater victory than its moral significance.
• Eldin remains composed and reassuring with Helen, but her quiet authority emerges when she stops Mrs. Victor from shielding her and tells Iwen to explain what happened.
• Iwen shifts from apparent victim to forceful witness, standing by his account despite Smith’s warning about the seriousness of his accusation.
• Morales, who had been watching Iwen suspiciously, concludes that the criminals must have targeted him because they were attracted to him—a comic, self-involved misreading of events.
• Smith focuses on the university’s reputation rather than defending the accused; the revelation that the suspects are dead leaves him panicked and powerless.
• The students’ initial curiosity turns to outrage when they believe Eldin was also targeted. The deputy chief then restores order and presents the authorities’ official account.

Significant themes

• Political rivalry and self-interest: Even justice is interpreted through factional competition and the struggle over money and influence.
• Power, coercion, and vulnerability: The gang’s abuse of the young women—and its alleged plan to target Eldin—shows how supernatural or institutional power can be used to exploit others.
• Reputation versus truth: Smith worries about Sage University’s standing, while the police prioritize establishing the facts.
• Comic misunderstanding amid serious events: Morales’s fixation on Iwen’s supposed attractiveness undercuts the tense scene with absurd speculation.

The chapter is a brief author’s note rather than a story scene. The narrator says readers correctly guessed that they have reached their limit and are trying hard to contact their editor.

• Key events: The narrator acknowledges being overwhelmed and trying to reach their editor.
• Character development: No story characters develop; the narrator’s exhaustion and urgency are emphasized.
• Themes: Reaching personal limits, pressure, and seeking help.
• Interactions: The narrator addresses readers directly, confirming their guess.

Key plot points and events

• Evan’s account of the massacre holds up under questioning. Albert’s betrayal gives the story a believable explanation for why Evan was lured out, while the dead Alcott and his associates cannot contradict the accusations.
• Evan has also used Garp’s dislike of Alcott to suggest a motive for Alcott’s attack on Eldin. He hopes the affair will win favor with the Judges’ Faction and help him pursue future investigations and rescues.
• After hours of statements and paperwork, Garp, Eldin, Evan, and Mrs. Victor leave the police station with the help of the Hurst family’s lawyer, Newt.
• Back at the hotel, Dean Smith tries to settle the deaths privately with compensation. Newt makes clear that money cannot erase what might have happened to Eldin, and Smith realizes the scandal is beyond his control.
• News of the killings spreads quickly through both supernatural intelligence networks and ordinary telegrams. At Hurst Manor, Cyril Hurst learns that Evan killed the attackers and orders the Spirit Communion Society to be rooted out, coordinating with the mayor.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan maintains the appearance of a shaken survivor while privately taking satisfaction in how useful the circumstances are to his plans. He asks Eldin for a bonus rather than making an emotional bid for her affection.
• Eldin thanks Evan for protecting her and expresses relief that Alcott can no longer harass her. She leaves the negotiation over his bonus to Garp.
• Garp approves of Evan’s composure and straightforward request for money. He concludes that Evan is a dependable bodyguard, not someone scheming to court Eldin.
• Smith shifts from haughty dean to frightened, desperate man, recognizing that wealthy families and the Judges’ Faction make the deaths impossible to bury.
• Newt calmly handles the legal side and warns Smith that compensation would not have been enough if Eldin had been harmed.
• Cyril Hurst treats the attack as both a threat to his family and an opportunity to assert Hurst influence. His response is to move against the Spirit Communion Society rather than settle matters quietly.

Significant themes

• A convenient narrative: Evan turns the circumstances and Albert’s past ambitions into a persuasive explanation, showing how a plausible story can shape the investigation.
• Power and privilege: The deaths become a major scandal because the victims are wealthy, while Smith’s usual ability to make trouble disappear with compensation fails.
• Personal motives within larger conflicts: Evan’s case intersects with the Golden Path’s internal factions, the Judges’ Faction, and the Hurst family’s political power.
• Trust and self-presentation: Evan’s modest, practical behavior reassures Garp, while beneath it he is carefully managing how others interpret the events.

Key events

• Evan’s discovery of the Spirit Communion Society’s weakness triggers a major response in Bolton City, where powerful institutions and officials mobilize against the group.
• In New Haven, Evan receives unusually respectful treatment from Jack and Garp after his recent actions. Garp promises him a bonus and praises his potential.
• Evan checks his Panel and sees the benefits of reversing several potion side effects: improved memory, temporary boosts to blood quality and senses, and small permanent gains to Spirit and Physique.
• His enhanced sense of smell and taste leads him to investigate the hotel washroom’s foul odors. By licking a floor tile, he identifies traces of Deep One bodily fluid and reverses its side effect, gaining a tiny permanent Spirit increase. He speculates that Deep Ones may have stayed in the room and notes that the fluid briefly improves swimming speed.
• Evan wakes with a patch of copper patina spreading across his chest, a side effect of the Copper Plague that weakens nearby muscles. He decides to deal with it after returning home and plans to blame his impaired arm on Thompson’s gang.
• Rumors circulate at the hotel about a killer named Alcott and victims from prominent families. Evan keeps a low profile while eating breakfast.
• Because of the killings, the household’s planned social events are canceled and the party prepares to leave for Bolton City at ten. Evan detours to the Armitage Museum, where Armitage gives him a brown paper bag containing his payment.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan’s status among the party has risen: Jack now treats him deferentially, while Garp speaks to him with warmth and trust.
• Evan’s curiosity and opportunism drive him to exploit his newly heightened senses—even to the point of licking a contaminated floor. He is intrigued by the possibility of obtaining more Deep One fluid for its useful effects.
• Despite his new standing, Evan remains irreverent and self-serving, joking about turning a dangerous woman into a “biological hazard” for Copper Plague and scheming to hide his symptoms.
• Garp and Evan share a friendly, teasing exchange about the museum visit and the risk of missing the return journey.
• Armitage maintains a cordial relationship with Evan and pays him for his previous work.

Significant themes

• Power and institutional opportunism: The Spirit Communion Society’s vulnerability draws in people eager to exploit the opening.
• Cost and utility of supernatural abilities: Evan’s enhanced senses are powerful but unpleasant, while his Panel turns hazards and side effects into possible advantages.
• Concealment and self-interest: Evan hides the Copper Plague’s effects and treats even dangerous discoveries in terms of how they might benefit him.
• Dark humor amid horror: The chapter pairs grotesque contamination and body transformation with Evan’s comic, irreverent reactions.

Key plot points

• Evan receives $2,030: a small payment for destroying the Phoenix Brotherhood and most of the money from selling a Beyonder Characteristic. He is thrilled by the windfall and jokes about earning more by killing Beyonders.
• Armitage warns him not to make enemies among fellow Investigators, whose cooperation may be essential against greater threats. Evan clarifies that he means people like Alcott, whom Armitage says should simply be killed.
• Evan reports the Dagon Esoteric Order’s dealings with local factory owners. Armitage says the wealthy, relatively compliant group has resisted his attempts to intervene.
• Armitage reveals that he once helped banish an Outer God—the same entity connected to Evan’s immortal ancestor. He and several allies defeated it, explaining why Richard and Hill recommended Evan to him.
• Armitage identifies Evan’s Homecoming invitation as a deception. His ancestor, Kaisha Mason, is a seventeenth-century Witch and the only one in history to reach the fifth stage, or Higher One. She wants to consume her descendants to preserve her sanity, and the deaths of Evan’s parents and grandparents were part of this pattern.
• Armitage’s proposed defense is to make Evan appear useless or harmful to Kaisha. Since she relies on the purity of her bloodline, Evan must make his blood impure and chaotic, ideally by accumulating multiple Beyonder Characteristics.
• Evan can use Magic Potions and alchemy to alter his blood and physique. Armitage offers him a recommendation to work as an assistant in a laboratory linked to Sage University’s Medical School, where he can learn alchemy.
• Armitage then assigns Evan to investigate a faction in Bolton City secretly producing a highly infectious drug that turns people into mindless walking corpses. Evan recognizes the clues as pointing to the Copperization Curse and the B Virus.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan remains excitable, irreverent, and unusually upbeat—even while learning that his family has been preyed upon for generations. His delight at the money and eagerness to pursue alchemy contrast with the gravity of his danger. He quickly turns the proposed blood contamination into an opportunity.
• Armitage shifts between patient mentor, seasoned authority, and serious Investigator. He cautions Evan about alliances, reveals his formidable past, explains the threat Kaisha poses, and gives Evan both a practical path forward and a dangerous assignment.
• Their rapport is warm and teasing: Evan presses Armitage for details about the Outer God, while Armitage reacts with exasperation to Evan’s enthusiasm but ultimately supports him with training and work opportunities.

Significant themes

• Family as both inheritance and threat: Evan’s bloodline connects him to Kaisha and makes him vulnerable to her.
• Survival through transformation: Evan’s best defense is to alter the very blood that links him to his ancestor.
• Limits of power and cooperation: Even someone who has banished an Outer God cannot solve every problem alone; alliances and organized effort matter.
• Danger intertwined with opportunity: Evan’s need to contaminate his blood may also equip him to investigate the deadly drug operation.

• Key events: The author reports 3,444 first-day subscriptions, exceeding their 3,000 goal and earning a premium subscription tier. To celebrate and thank readers, they plan to post five chapters—about 20,000 words—at 6 p.m. that day.
• Release schedule: After that release, the existing backlog will be exhausted. Going forward, the author plans to publish two chapters (about 8,000 words) every evening at 6 p.m. They also need to prepare chapters for a larger release next month and build a buffer.
• Character development and interactions: There is no story cast or fictional plot; the update focuses on the author’s gratitude toward readers and their request for continued support and patience with the smaller regular releases.
• Themes: Appreciation, reader recognition, ambitious publishing goals, and balancing frequent updates with preparation and maintaining the story’s direction.

Key plot points and events

• Evan keeps the nature of the Copper Plague secret, then accepts Armitage’s introduction to Otto Freim, a Sage Medical College chemist who specializes in blood, drugs, and toxins—and is an Expert-level Good Person.
• Armitage warns Evan that major potion suppliers conduct secret experiments on vulnerable people. He gives Evan confidential addresses and access codes, instructing him to memorize and burn the note.
• Evan asks about Magic Artifacts. Armitage explains the five-tier grading system and demonstrates a basic appraisal ritual in his magic workshop. The ritual reveals that a pocket watch stays punctual but costs its user two dollars every Monday; otherwise, it explodes.
• Evan learns the ritual and is told to try it himself on Wednesday. Armitage offers to help if trouble arises.
• Back at the station, Evan and Garp inspect the sealed Hurst carriage. Evan secretly activates his Demon-Hunting Form in each compartment, allowing the Copper Plague to consume lingering copperization curses. Its growth rate increases, boosting its progress substantially.
• As the train departs, the Copper Plague reaches 55.371%, unlocking its Second Stage: Evan can concentrate viruses and bacteria and infect targets by biting or scratching.
• The new stage comes with a serious constraint: too much copperization could make the Plague revert to the Copperization state. Evan must fill at least 40% of its remaining progress by consuming bacteria, viruses, and fungi, with more toxic organisms producing better results.

Character development and interactions

• Evan shows growing caution and resourcefulness: he conceals the Plague’s true nature, gathers practical knowledge, and exploits the carriage inspection to advance it without revealing his method. His excitement at the Second Stage is tempered by the panel’s warnings.
• Armitage acts as a protective mentor, sharing professional contacts, survival advice, and basic magical instruction. He recognizes Evan’s potential and encourages him to seek help.
• Garp’s relaxed cooperation suggests his respect for Evan has grown; he lets Evan inspect the carriage independently.
• Evan and Armitage’s exchange is trusting and instructional, while Evan’s teamwork with Garp gives him cover for his secret cultivation.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and secrecy: Evan must learn quickly while hiding the unusual nature of his power.
• Power and cost: Magic Artifacts offer useful effects but impose prices or risks; the Copper Plague’s growth also carries the danger of imbalance.
• Ethical corruption: Armitage’s warning about human experimentation exposes the cruelty behind the potion trade.
• Ingenuity under constraint: Evan advances by combining observation, deception, and careful management of his abilities.

Plot points and events

• After receiving a Panel alert about the Copper Plague, Evan decides to investigate Carey, who has syphilis, and Carey’s wife as potential test subjects.
• Evan returns to Bolton City after a successful trip to New Haven. Copper Plague has reached its Second Stage, he has defeated an enemy, and he carries credentials and $2,440. Garp also gives him $10 wages and a $400 reward from the young lady he escorted.
• Still suffering the Shark Potion’s heightened sense of smell, Evan travels home by streetcar. When a pickpocket from the Poison Blade Gang tries to cut open his pocket, Evan breaks one of the thief’s fingers and takes him into an alley.
• The thief tries to bite Evan and threaten him with his diseases, but Evan’s unusually tough skin resists him. The thief eventually gives up and reveals that he has gonorrhea, leprosy, and blood poisoning, supposedly from a doctor who assured him the illnesses would not spread.
• Evan tastes the thief’s blood, and the Panel detects several pathogens—including the unknown Dark Mother Fungus. Copper Plague consumes them all, but the fungus gives it an unusually large 1% progress increase.
• Excited by the discovery, Evan demands the doctor’s name and address, claiming he wants to work with him. He even gives the thief a dime from the money he just took from him, to the thief’s silent indignation.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan is confident, increasingly powerful, and untroubled by the threat of infection. His curiosity about the diseases quickly turns into excitement when the fungus proves valuable to Copper Plague. His cheerful manner contrasts with his casual brutality.
• The thief begins as an experienced, threatening pickpocket but is overwhelmed by Evan’s strength. His confidence collapses into pleading, though he remains wary and resentful when Evan “rewards” him with his own money.
• Garp treats Evan warmly, pays him generously, and praises his loyalty.
• The streetcar passengers keep their distance from the confrontation, while one worker warns Evan about the Poison Blade Gang based on personal experience.
• Evan’s encounter with the thief turns a routine robbery into a lead on a mysterious doctor and the Dark Mother Fungus.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Evan’s enhanced body makes ordinary criminal tactics—and even biting—ineffective, while the thief’s threats lose force.
• The grotesque as opportunity: Diseases that would ordinarily be frightening become resources for Evan’s evolving Copper Plague.
• Comedy through reversal: Evan’s calm politeness, the thief’s desperate collapse, and the “reward” of the thief’s own dime create dark humor.
• Mystery and escalation: The Dark Mother Fungus’s unusually high contribution suggests a rare supernatural or Beyonder connection and opens a new investigative thread.

Plot points and events

• Evan interrogates a frightened young man who identifies Niyo Clinic as the source of his information. The clinic is now run by Mrs. Kemi, after her husband died two years earlier. Evan releases the man but invites him to return for revenge—mockingly demanding that he bring more contagious opponents.
• Back on Gooding Street, Evan is welcomed by neighbors who admire his fine suit and recent rise in status. He checks his apartment for signs of intrusion, then tears a large patch of Copper Patina from his chest to examine it.
• The exposed wound reveals how much his Blood Quality has changed: his blood is gel-like, he loses none through bleeding, and his flesh rapidly begins to heal. The Patina is extraordinarily hard; unable to bite through it even with Copperized teeth, Evan hides it as a potentially useful Beyonder byproduct.
• Evan feeds on fourteen rats, increasing his Copper Plague progress. He later activates its Second Stage: the Patina’s coverage and his electrical vulnerability increase, but he can now Copperize six of his body’s twelve areas, protecting more vital spots.
• Evan visits the docks to find Carey. Foreman Parker gives him Carey’s address and warns that Carey has been acting strangely. Parker reveals that Carey attacked him and left him with a festering, foul-smelling wound.
• Evan recognizes that Parker’s infection may be supernatural and potentially fatal, but admits he cannot yet help. He hopes completing Copper Plague will let him remove viruses directly from other people.

Character developments

• Evan shows growing confidence and power, but also caution: he checks his home for intruders, hides the Patina, and disguises his enhanced resilience beneath winter clothes. His thoughts reveal an attachment to his body and its origins, even as he treats its altered flesh as something to investigate.
• He remains grateful to people who treated him well. His concern for Parker contrasts with his inability to intervene.
• Parker is shown to be vulnerable despite his familiar, forceful manner; his injury suggests he may be in serious danger.
• Carey is increasingly alarming: his behavior has turned violent, and his condition may be connected to an unnatural infection.

Significant themes

• Transformation and bodily cost: Evan’s supernatural abilities offer resilience and strength while altering his body in disturbing ways.
• Power and social change: Neighbors’ admiration highlights how dramatically Evan’s status has shifted from overlooked laborer to someone visibly prosperous.
• Loyalty and responsibility: Evan’s concern for Parker reflects a desire to repay kindness, though his powers are not yet sufficient to help.
• The uncertain boundary between healing and corruption: Evan’s rapid recovery contrasts with the spreading Patina and the mysterious infection afflicting Parker.

Character interactions

• Evan intimidates the young man for information, then lets him go with a taunting invitation.
• Neighbors greet Evan warmly and comment on his clothes, reinforcing his changed standing in the community.
• Evan briefly tends to the stray orange cat, maintaining a small routine of care.
• At the docks, Evan and Parker exchange familiar banter before Parker warns him about Carey and reveals his own injury.

Plot points and events

• Evan reaches Carey’s house and finds Carey violently driving off a young man. Carey has become disheveled, misshapen, covered in excess hair, and surrounded by a black aura—signs that the B Virus has badly damaged him.
• Carey’s beautiful companion, Lily, lets Evan in. Her seductive appearance triggers a powerful desire in him, but he focuses on Carey and forces his way inside.
• Evan discovers hideous, wartlike growths beneath Carey’s clothes. Lily drops her gentle act, identifies Evan as a Demon Hunter, and threatens him.
• Lily attacks with black tentacles and uses a supernatural charm to overwhelm Evan with desire. His talisman and strong mental attributes reduce the effect, but he remains unable to control his impulses.
• Evan’s Copperized body withstands Lily’s tentacles and her companion Carey’s punches. He traps Lily in a crushing embrace, killing her, while Carey collapses after breaking his hands and injuring himself against Evan.

Character developments

• Evan remains perceptive and determined, quickly recognizing Carey’s condition as a likely consequence of the B Virus. His physical strength and Copperization prove decisive, though the charm briefly compromises his control.
• Carey has deteriorated dramatically in a week: he is physically mutated, mentally impaired, and no longer recognizes Evan. His attachment to Lily remains powerful enough to provoke a brief attack when he hears her call for help.
• Lily is revealed to be a Monster and a dangerous manipulator. Her seductive façade conceals hostility and an intent to infect and control Evan.

Significant themes

• The cost of experimentation: Carey’s grotesque transformation suggests the devastating consequences of the B Virus and raises questions about the Red King Laboratory’s role.
• Appearance versus reality: Lily’s beauty masks a predatory nature, while Carey’s outward monstrosity reflects his physical and mental decline.
• Power and vulnerability: Lily’s mental attack nearly overwhelms Evan, but his resilience and altered body let him survive and turn the fight around.
• Love as dark humor: Evan’s charm-induced declarations of affection become lethal, turning romantic language into a grimly comic weapon.

Character interactions

• Evan investigates Carey while trying to understand why a visibly altered trial participant has returned home.
• Lily attempts to distract, threaten, charm, and infect Evan; he resists enough to restrain and kill her.
• Carey first fails to recognize Evan, then attacks him after Lily calls for help, but cannot harm his hardened body.

Plot points and events

• After killing the alluring N’yogtha’s Servant, Evan hears the Old Hunter explain that it is a plague-bearing Monster whose human appearance conceals a dangerous, decaying body.
• Evan chooses to eat the creature’s toxic corpse rather than reverse its effects medicinally. The meal sharply advances Copper Plague, pushing it into its Third Stage.
• Carey is left helpless and losing control: his body is becoming beastlike, and his mind is gone. Evan ends his suffering, then lets Copper Plague absorb the many viruses in his body.
• Absorbing Carey’s pathogens completes Copper Plague’s progress. Evan’s Spirit Vision improves, and the Characteristic’s full effect activates: he can transform composite viruses into a rapidly acting Plague of Copper. The power comes with permanent weaknesses—his body rusts in a random spot each week, and electricity can paralyze him and suppress the plague’s effects.
• Evan returns home, secures the house, and confirms the transformation. His skin becomes solid copper, marked with eerie images of tombstones, skulls, fog, and banners. A vision of an ancient, star-filled graveyard and a vast figure triggers a terrifying mental assault. Evan cheekily greets the presence as a master, is apparently struck back, and wakes on his sofa.
• He discovers that control of his new powers has become instinctive and that his status has advanced to Apprentice.

Character developments

• Evan remains pragmatic, irreverent, and driven by power: he will endure disgusting food or unsettling supernatural visions if they help him grow stronger. His reckless confidence is tempered by new permanent vulnerabilities.
• Carey has lost his humanity to disease and beastification. Evan shows him a brief moment of compassion by ending his suffering, though he then treats Carey’s infected body as a source of power.
• The Old Hunter continues to serve as a source of practical Monster lore, explaining both the creature and the danger of losing control.

Character interactions

• The Old Hunter’s warnings inform Evan’s choices, but Evan knowingly ignores the advice to handle the Monster’s remains with extreme care—he eats them instead.
• Evan gives Carey a swift, relatively dignified death, then uses their wounds to transfer Carey’s viruses into himself.
• Evan’s playful greeting to the immense presence in his vision contrasts with its hostile response, suggesting his irreverence carries over even when confronted by something cosmic and terrifying.

Significant themes

• Power through danger and disgust: Monster remains and disease can yield strength, but obtaining it entails physical, moral, and supernatural risks.
• Loss of control and monstrosity: Carey’s fate illustrates how unchecked bestiality can consume a person; the Old Hunter warns that this danger applies to Beyonders as well as ordinary people.
• Power has a cost: Evan reaches a major milestone but gains unavoidable weaknesses alongside his new abilities.
• Cosmic horror and audacity: Evan’s transformation exposes him to an incomprehensible presence, yet his humor and boldness keep him from responding with simple fear.

Key plot points

• Evan completes the Vajra Indestructible Skill, gaining a brass-covered, armor-like body and improved control over the Copper Plague.
• He tests Plague Control by infecting a mouse with a concentrated blend of pathogens. The infection rapidly destroys it, after which Evan absorbs the pathogens and discovers that doing so can further refine his plague cluster.
• Evan concludes that he can select and intensify specific pathogens, whose effects depend on the target’s resistance and the dose. Their symptoms may begin almost instantly and appear difficult for ordinary Beyonder healing to remove, though he has yet to verify this in combat.
• The reversal of a Lion Potion’s side effects permanently increases Evan’s flexibility and willpower. He estimates that Demon Hunters can safely use only a limited number of such potions.
• Evan goes to Bolton First National Bank to open an account. When he mentions depositing $2,000, the staff immediately offer him VIP service.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan is exhilarated by his new abilities and approaches their testing with scientific curiosity, carefully examining how the Copper Plague works.
• His concern for Hill and Richard becomes a central motivation. Remembering how they helped him without asking for anything, he resolves to protect them from the lasting costs of Magic Potions.
• Evan imagines improving their bodies with extra organs or monster-derived components, reflecting his ambition to develop better Magic Potions and push beyond ordinary limits.
• At the bank, Evan’s polished clothes initially earn him courteous but routine treatment. Revealing the size of his deposit transforms the attendant’s response, highlighting how quickly money changes social attention.

Significant themes

• Power and experimentation: Evan treats his new abilities as both weapons and subjects for systematic study.
• The cost of advancement: Magic Potions can strengthen Demon Hunters while damaging their bodies, prompting Evan to seek safer alternatives.
• Loyalty and gratitude: Evan’s desire to help Hill and Richard grows from their earlier generosity toward him.
• Ambition and transformation: His plans to modify Demon Hunter bodies show his willingness to imagine radical ways of overcoming physical limits.

Evan opened a bank account with his $2,000, resisted the bank’s silver gift, and returned to his life on Gooding Street while Pierson investigated Carey’s death and Lily’s disappearance. After news of the Alcott family’s crimes reached Bolton City, Evan rejected his classmates’ attempts to reconcile and made his contempt unmistakable.

• Evan opened an account with Fleming, declined a fixed deposit, and suppressed the dizziness caused by the bank’s silver fountain pen.
• Pierson found Carey’s corpse and no trace of Lily, then concluded she had likely escaped and decided to report that N’yogtha’s Servant had run away.
• Evan woke with increased physique and spirit, read the news about the Alcott family, and ate breakfast before going to school.
• Evan saw police and detectives at the school and entered a classroom full of students who knew he had been involved in the events surrounding the Phoenix Brotherhood.
• Evan refused his classmates’ belated friendliness, called out their past treatment of him, and punctuated his insult with a fart.

Plot points and events

• After Evan’s fart silences the classroom, two students who had challenged him retreat rather than risk provoking the boy who brought down the Phoenix Brotherhood. Professor Mons begins class, and Evan answers questions brilliantly.
• Detectives investigate students linked to the Brotherhood and seal its meeting room. At a school assembly, the president publicly condemns Alcott and his associates, expels them, and adds their names to the university’s Shame Register.
• Evan declines a medal to avoid publicity, accepts the hundred-dollar prize, and credits Hurst instead. Eldin receives the public recognition. Evan leaves campus and travels to Sage Medical College to meet Doctor Furim, carrying Armitage’s letter of recommendation.
• Furim reads the letter, praises Evan’s actions against the Brotherhood, and offers him a Magic Potion. Evan eagerly drinks the Focus Potion and reports that his mind feels clear. His ability lets him reverse its side effects, while the potion sharpens his focus and memory.
• Furim examines Evan using a hand that sprouts extra fingers. He finds that the potion’s Bestiality has not spread through Evan, as if something has contained it. He warns that Evan has an Ancestor who wants to devour him, though that ancestor’s influence has also given him unusual benefits.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan remains confident, irreverent, and academically capable. He deliberately avoids fame while continuing to pursue potions, and is increasingly open about his unusual tolerance—attributing it to a strange family inheritance.
• Furim appears kindly but is plainly uncanny and knowledgeable about supernatural potion effects. He tests Evan and identifies the danger behind his inherited power.
• The intimidated students withdraw after seeing that Evan is not someone they can safely confront. The ordinary class avoids taking sides and quietly resumes its routine.
• Armitage’s letter characterizes Evan as cheerful, unconventional, and justice-minded, while warning Furim to be prepared for his fascination with potions.

Significant themes

• Public reputation versus practical self-interest: Evan refuses the spotlight because anonymity helps him pursue his goals.
• Power and its price: Magic Potions offer real abilities but carry dangerous side effects and Bestiality.
• Inherited gifts and hidden threats: Evan’s unusual resilience may come from an Ancestor whose protection is tied to a lethal desire to consume him.
• Social conformity and intimidation: Most students follow the crowd, while fear of Evan’s demonstrated strength silences his would-be challengers.

Key plot points and events

• Freem gives Evan a Focus Potion and begins teaching him how to brew Magic Potions. He explains that potions affect Spirituality, and that the brewer’s intent can shape their effects slightly—but focused intent is only a small part of the process.
• Magic Potions consume Spirituality, effectively drawing on the user’s life. They require a Monster-derived main ingredient, mystical supplementary ingredients, and a protective buffer made from sanctified Holy Oil, which the Healing Church monopolizes. Their costly ingredients make potions expensive.
• Their power comes both from the Monster ingredient’s properties and from its Bestiality, which weakens the body’s normal restraints so it can meet the sudden physical boost. Demon Hunters’ Black Blood protects them and helps metabolize toxins, leaving them far less vulnerable than other Beyonders.
• Freem gives Evan a rapid overview of brewing equipment, procedures, runes, impurity removal, temperatures, and timing. Evan absorbs the material with remarkable speed. Freem plans to guide him through his first brew that weekend.
• After Evan leaves, Freem’s monstrous hidden heads emerge, arguing for violence and greed. He forces them back, but his face cycles through conflicting expressions: the Good Person’s core weakness is a body shared by multiple battling personalities, each craving more flesh.
• Evan returns to Gooding Street, eats, then heads to the docks to check on Uncle Parker. He finds Parker’s injury badly infected, yet Parker refuses medical care and keeps working, fearing that others will take his position.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan learns the principles behind Magic Potions, connects them to Professor Byron’s Blood-Burning Potion, and asks perceptive questions about purification and his Demon Hunter resistance. He takes Freem’s warning against pride seriously, then decides he is capable enough to visit Parker.
• Freem acts as a careful, generous teacher, but his composed public manner conceals a dangerous internal struggle. He sees Evan as impressive—and potentially someone who should join his group.
• Parker is deteriorating physically but remains fiercely determined to hold on to his job. His exchange with the new foreman reveals his fear of being displaced.
• The new foreman offers Parker a chance to rest, but Parker interprets the situation as a threat to his status.

Significant themes

• Power has a cost: Magic Potions offer strength by consuming Spirituality and exposing users to Bestiality.
• Humanity and humility: Freem cautions Evan that supernatural power does not make Beyonders less human or immune to arrogance.
• Knowledge and ambition: Evan’s quick learning opens new possibilities, while Freem’s interest in recruiting him hints at the dangers surrounding advancement.
• Precarity and survival: Parker’s refusal to stop working shows how economic insecurity can drive people to risk their health.
• Divided identity: Freem’s condition literalizes the conflict between reason, greed, and violence within a single person.

Plot points and events

• Parker, a harbor foreman, is gravely ill from an infected wound and fears leaving his wife and children behind. His rival, Dan, expects him to die and reports his condition to Manager Mike, hoping to take his job.
• Evan gives Parker a bottle of “medicine” and secretly uses his Copper Plague ability to remove the harmful pathogens from Parker’s body. The bottle is only brown-sugar water, but Parker’s infection stops worsening and he rapidly regains his strength.
• Parker realizes Evan saved his life and vows to repay him. Once Mike leaves, Parker confronts Dan, who backs down.
• Evan returns home and later receives $550 from the Hurst family as a reward for giving Eldin the credit at a commendation ceremony.
• On Mercury Day, Evan attempts a ritual to appraise his silver key. Distracted by the name “Mercurius” reminding him of a Dota hero, he loses concentration. The ritual fails, and a banknote disappears into a floor crack. He discovers that his money has dropped from $550 to $450.

Character developments and interactions

• Parker moves from despair and fear to relief and gratitude after Evan saves him. He conceals his recovery from Mike long enough to expose Dan’s attempt to undermine him, then confronts Dan himself.
• Evan shows both compassion and growing confidence in his abilities, using Copperization to save Parker while passing the result off as medicine. He also remains practical and observant, but his humor and gaming associations sabotage his ritual.
• Dan is revealed as opportunistic: he tries to exploit Parker’s illness to secure his position, but Mike threatens to fire him, and Parker later puts him under pressure.
• Mike trusts Parker’s demonstration of his recovery and rebukes Dan. Garp praises Evan’s judgment and delivers the Hurst family’s reward.

Significant themes

• Power used to help others: Evan’s supernatural ability has an immediate, life-changing effect on Parker and his family.
• Loyalty and gratitude: Parker’s devotion to his family drives his desperation to live, and his gratitude toward Evan creates a lasting bond.
• Ambition and betrayal: Dan’s attempt to capitalize on Parker’s illness contrasts with Parker’s loyalty and Evan’s generosity.
• The risks of magic: Evan’s failed ritual shows that concentration matters and that even a seemingly harmless mistake can exact a cost.
• Comic contrast: A dangerous occult ritual is derailed by a video-game reference, ending not in catastrophe but in the loss of $100.

Key plot points and events

• After losing $100 in an earlier mishap, Evan regains his composure and retries the Silver Key appraisal ritual. His first attempt fails when the summoned soul consumes the offerings and disappears.
• Evan adds a fourth offering to strengthen his control. On the third attempt, he binds the soul with an iron-like spiritual chain and a net, forcing it to explain the key’s properties.
• The One-Ninth Silver Key can open conventional locks and grant its owner’s Beyonder Characteristic an extra ability. Each activation costs Evan an exclusive secret every Thursday; if he cannot provide one, the key will force the truth from him and eat his brain. By paying another secret, he can also extract a memory from a helpless intelligent being, once a week.
• Evan learns the key comes from a great god and decides its secret-based cost is manageable because he knows many things from Earth that no one in this world knows.
• He merges the key into himself. It enhances his Copper Plague ability, letting him turn copperized body tissue into bullets containing their own primer and propellant. The bullets can carry his plague, potentially giving him a powerful ranged attack—if he can get a gun.
• Later, the reversal of N’yogtha’s Servant side effects completes, improving Evan’s toughness, solar affinity, and resistance to electricity. Realizing the creature’s weaknesses, he reconsiders its sludge as something worth eating again.

Character development

• Evan shows persistence and adaptability: after losing money and failing twice, he adjusts his approach rather than giving up.
• He becomes more confident and inventive, using spiritual coercion to control the ritual and immediately imagining practical uses for his new ability.
• His humor and opportunism remain prominent. He treats the key’s secret cost as an advantage thanks to his knowledge from Earth, and quickly plans how to exploit his seemingly unlimited ammunition.

Character interactions

• Evan’s relationship with the summoned soul shifts from failed negotiation to outright coercion. After binding it, he makes it reveal information it initially withholds; once satisfied, he releases it to preserve a useful working relationship.
• Evan also indirectly reassesses N’yogtha’s Servant: the completed side-effect reversal reveals its vulnerabilities and turns his earlier disgust into eagerness to consume it again.

Significant themes

• Control and preparation: The ritual’s outcome depends on Evan’s focus, materials, and ability to restrain the summoned being.
• Power and price: The key offers versatile abilities, but demands secrets and carries a potentially lethal penalty.
• Knowledge as an advantage: Evan’s Earth-born knowledge gives him a unique resource in this world.
• Pragmatism and adaptation: Evan quickly turns new abilities and information into tactical possibilities.

Key plot points and events

• Evan returns home and discovers Richard badly wounded and hiding in the spare room. Richard has two deep claw wounds infected with a spreading supernatural plague.
• Richard explains that he was ambushed by a coordinated group of unusually strong, pain-insensitive fighters whose methods resemble those of the Healing Church. He suspects the conflict may be tied to the Church’s activity around the mines and the Sapp Mining Group, but keeps the full story to himself.
• Evan insists that Richard’s danger concerns him too, then uses his newly completed Copper Plague ability to draw the infection out of Richard’s wounds. Richard quickly recovers, and the plague is recorded as devouring several pathogens, including the unfamiliar Crypt Corpse Plague.
• Richard treats the remaining wounds with herbal salve and reveals that his attacker was a Witch—the same kind of person connected to the Curse Evan previously suffered.
• Richard warns Evan that people who use Characteristics without a matching Beyonder Signifier can eventually reach a dead end, and urges him to choose his future Characteristics carefully.
• Richard shares the analyzed formulas for five Magic Potions. The chapter details the Blazing Sun, Moonlight, and Sleeping Potions, then says he recites the remaining two formulas as well. Evan memorizes the recipes and is eager to try brewing one.

Character developments

• Evan shows greater maturity and resolve: rather than accepting Richard’s secrecy, he argues that knowing the enemy is necessary for his own safety. His new Apprentice ability proves powerful enough to cure a supernatural infection.
• Richard is revealed as both seriously vulnerable and experienced. Even while injured, he assesses Evan’s abilities, shares hard-won knowledge, and expresses pride in Evan’s rapid progress.
• Richard’s account introduces the Witches as users of borrowed Characteristics who face limitations in advancement, adding context to Evan’s own choices about his future path.

Significant themes

• Trust and shared danger: Evan challenges Richard’s habit of withholding information, arguing that secrecy can put them both at risk.
• Growth and responsibility: Evan’s advancement gives him the ability—and the confidence—to protect someone who has long guided him.
• Power has costs: The potion recipes and Richard’s warning emphasize that supernatural abilities and enhancements carry lasting drawbacks, and that choices made early can limit future progress.
• Knowledge as craft: Potion-making depends on practical judgment and personal experience, not merely written instructions or fixed measurements.

Character interactions

• Evan’s initial alarm gives way to decisive care as he carries Richard to bed, examines the wounds, and treats them despite Richard’s warning about the infection.
• Richard resists identifying his enemies, but Evan presses him on the grounds that ignorance could leave him vulnerable. Richard eventually shares some information while maintaining that there are things Evan is better off not knowing.
• After Evan heals him, Richard reacts with astonishment and pride, then shifts into a mentor’s role: he warns Evan about Characteristic selection and patiently dictates the potion formulas.

Key events

• Richard recovers from his wounds and leaves, warning Evan that the Authorities are hunting the Witch and she is unlikely to return soon. He tells Evan he can obtain a gun with his Investigator credentials.
• Evan decides to strengthen himself quickly, especially against sunlight. He visits the hidden potion department at Angel’s Hand, a pharmacy owned by the Byron Group.
• Despite the steep prices, Evan buys two permanent Solar Affinity potions: the Advanced Light Potion for $1,500 and the Intermediate Daylight Potion for $800. The purchase leaves him with only $160.
• He buys a cheap brass syringe and returns home cautiously, checking for pursuers and securing his apartment.
• Evan injects the entire Daylight Potion. Its side effects—dizziness, terror, and a monster hallucination—hit immediately, but his ability to reverse potion effects cancels them. The injection doubles the potion’s usual benefit, permanently raising his Solar Affinity by 40%, while reversal will take 500 hours.

Character development

• Evan becomes increasingly pragmatic and risk-tolerant. Seeing even Richard injured convinces him that waiting is dangerous, so he spends nearly all his money and experiments with injecting a potion rather than drinking it.
• His confidence in his ability to reverse side effects encourages him to push beyond ordinary precautions, though the long reversal time reveals that his power has limits.
• Richard remains protective but cautious, leaving rather than risk attracting further danger to Evan.

Character interactions

• Richard advises Evan to delay drinking the Bloodthirsty Species potion, explains the situation with the Witch, and directs him to the police station for a gun.
• At Angel’s Hand, saleswoman Lucy recognizes Evan’s request for a “Dream component” and guides him to the discreet potion-sales floor. Consultant Bill explains the options and their costs, then handles Evan’s unusually large purchase.
• At home, Evan acts alone, relying on his own precautions and reversal ability as he injects the Daylight Potion.

Significant themes

• Survival through risk: Evan treats rapid self-improvement as essential in a dangerous world.
• Power has a price: Permanent gains require money and carry serious side effects; even reversed effects cost time.
• Resource scarcity: Evan weighs costly potions against limited funds and chooses the cheaper syringe to conserve money.
• Self-reliance and experimentation: Evan uses unconventional methods and his own abilities rather than waiting for help.