Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Evan samples the Poison Blade Gang members’ blood. The Copper Plague absorbs a Bone-Eroding Plague Worm and evolves: diseases in the Plague Cluster can now spread and breed these worms.
• The Panel identifies the worm as a fragment of the power of Mordiggian, the Grim Skeleton King. It parasitizes viruses, consumes bone and marrow, invades the brain, and can eventually turn hosts into Skeleton Puppets.
• Evan connects the parasite to the infected people and zombies in Bolton City. Drawing on clues about disguised Ghouls, recent attacks, and unrest in the Dreamlands, he concludes that Mordiggian-worshipping Ghouls are likely spreading the plague while hiding among other organizations.
• While collecting samples, Evan frightens one gang member into wetting himself, then brings back a larger enforcer for a urine sample. The medical students are embarrassed by the scene and try to reassure the enforcer that they only need his sample for research.
• A supposedly unconscious young gang member tries to attack Evan with a hidden, bone-like parasite emerging from his forehead. Evan dodges, cuts into the spot, and pulls out a four-inch, centipede-like creature called a Mutated Y Virus Parasite.
• Evan eats the parasite. The Panel grants him 0.5% of the Beyonder Characteristic “Mist Brain Plague,” with a 60-hour side effect that he reverses.

Character developments

• Evan shows sharper investigative intuition, linking obscure knowledge and scattered clues to identify a likely hidden enemy. He remains bold and irreverent, but his quick reaction to the parasite’s attack shows his combat instincts and anatomical expertise. Consuming the creature also gives him a fourth Characteristic.
• Saddam and the medical students remain focused on proper sample collection, though Evan’s theatrics leave them awkward and uncomfortable.
• The gang members are revealed not just as diseased suspects but as potential hosts for dangerous parasites; one attempts to kill Evan rather than cooperate.

Significant themes

• Hidden infection and concealed identity: Parasites spread through viruses, while Ghouls may hide in plain sight by taking other people’s appearances.
• Investigation through layered clues: Evan pieces together medical evidence, supernatural knowledge, and earlier reports to uncover a broader conspiracy.
• Power and risk: Evan’s evolving plague abilities let him absorb dangerous organisms, but the parasites’ effects—and the mystery behind their origins—remain threatening.
• Dark comedy amid horror: The humiliating urine-sample episode contrasts with the genuinely lethal parasite attack.

Character interactions

• Evan and Saddam clash in style: Evan uses intimidation and improvisation, while Saddam insists on clean, uncontaminated samples and treats the work professionally.
• Evan terrifies the first gang member and carries off the enforcer, prompting the students to retreat in embarrassment; Saddam then calmly persuades the enforcer to cooperate.
• The young man tries to lure Evan close and attack him, but Evan detects the threat, extracts the parasite, and neutralizes it.

Plot points and events

• Evan examines his new Mist Brain Plague characteristic. It strengthens his mental resilience as it progresses, can infect and influence others through words, and at full progress can attack souls directly. The plague itself is a concealing mist; its effects depend on the ordinary viruses Evan puts into it.
• Evan realizes the characteristic is an ideal match for his Copper Plague, which contains abundant viruses he can use as fuel. He suspects Mist Brain Plague was created from powers connected to the Red King Laboratory and the Bone-Eroding Plague Worm.
• After the medical students finish collecting urine, Evan asks a gang member to take him to the gang leader. Morales understands that Evan is seeking trouble and takes the others away, leaving Evan behind.
• Evan claims he wants to join the gang, but their leader, Pierson, appears. Pierson is a Red King Laboratory specialist and a Dryad user.
• Pierson releases invisible Mutated Root Spores. Evan’s panel reports that Mist Brain Plague consumes them and gains progress, so Evan recognizes the spores as a useful source of growth. Pierson, believing Evan has been subdued, orders the gang member to take him inside as a test subject.
• Evan is actually unaffected and considers whether to let himself be carried into the dark street. Wary of hidden dangers, he decides to retreat and consult Doctor Furim—while hoping Pierson will follow him to Gooding Street. He pretends the spores have weakened him, theatrically coughing and accusing Pierson.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan gains confidence in his new characteristic and identifies how it can cover his weakness to mental attacks. He also shows his usual mix of curiosity, strategic caution, and mischievous manipulation: he welcomes Pierson’s spores as useful, then feigns defeat to lure him into a possible trap later.
• Morales proves perceptive, recognizing Evan’s real intentions and discreetly removing the others from the situation. Tom initially urges Evan not to cause trouble.
• Pierson is arrogant and confident in his abilities, viewing Evan as an easy target and potential experimental subject. His polished appearance contrasts with the gang’s impoverished neighborhood.
• The frightened gang member looks to Pierson for rescue, while Evan casually intimidates him and then uses the encounter to reach the gang leader.

Significant themes

• Power through adaptation: Evan can turn other people’s weapons and experimental creations into resources for his own growth.
• Science and exploitation: The Red King Laboratory’s research appears to involve infecting whole neighborhoods, treating residents as test subjects.
• Concealment and deception: Mist Brain Plague hides its true nature, while Evan conceals his immunity and intentions behind an act of weakness.
• Caution versus recklessness: Though eager to provoke Pierson, Evan chooses not to enter an unfamiliar, potentially dangerous street without more information.

Key plot points and events

• Pierson, a Dryad-pathway Apprentice, tries to capture Evan with roots and spores. Evan breaks free and flees, but only pretends to be injured; once out of sight, he resumes walking normally.
• Evan reports Pierson and Red King Laboratory to Doctor Furim. He suspects the laboratory is connected to the spreading diseases, but withholds his discovery of the Bone-Eroding Plague Worm and Mist Brain Plague to avoid exposing his unusual abilities.
• Furim warns Evan away from the investigation, saying powerful interests are involved, and offers to investigate through his own channels. Evan persuades him to arrange a hospital internship, arguing it will be useful for learning about—and potentially investigating—the outbreak.
• Evan’s potions improve his resistance to the Silver Attribute and convert his Moon Affinity into Solar Affinity. He then takes purification and energy potions, leaving most of his potion slots occupied and limiting his options in a fight.
• Pierson secretly follows Evan to Gooding Street, intending to turn him into a puppet and use him to advance his own career. Gust warns Evan that Pierson is approaching with two Magic Artifacts.
• Evan prepares an ambush, appearing weak from spore poisoning while hiding his Secondary Brain nearby with a drop of his highly toxic blood as a last-resort weapon. Pierson reaches Evan’s apartment and, underestimating his defenses, believes the helpless-looking Evan is an easy target.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan proves resourceful and calculating: he disguises his escape, carefully manages what he tells Furim, and knowingly risks a confrontation because Pierson’s spores could help him progress against the Mist Brain Plague. His ambition and confidence remain strong despite his limited combat resources.
• Pierson is arrogant, opportunistic, and driven by ambition. He sees Evan as a potential puppet and believes his outdated impression of him makes the fight easy. His desire to escape his mentor’s influence motivates the secret attack.
• Furim is cautious and protective, recognizing the danger of the investigation. He nevertheless respects Evan’s determination enough to arrange hospital work.
• Gust warns Evan in time and is pleased that their relationship is becoming more friendly.
• Evan’s classmates, including Saddam, welcome him back; Saddam’s curious glance hints at awkwardness, but Evan gives no explanation.

Significant themes

• Ambition versus caution: Evan accepts danger for the chance to gain strength, while Furim urges restraint and Pierson’s ambition blinds him to risk.
• Deception and misjudgment: Evan uses a false appearance of weakness, while Pierson’s assumptions about Evan’s abilities lead him into a trap.
• Institutional corruption and hidden causes: Red King Laboratory may be creating the diseases it claims to control, and powerful organizations appear entangled in the crisis.
• Power at a cost: Evan’s potion use offers advantages but occupies his limited slots, leaving him vulnerable and forcing him to rely on planning rather than brute strength.

Plot points and events

• Pierson infiltrates Evan’s apartment through a window, releases a concentrated cloud of parasitic spores, and uses barbed vines to lift Evan from the bed.
• He turns his Withered Wood Sword into a living, barbed tongue meant to seize control of Evan’s nervous system—but Evan reveals the apparent sleeping victim was bait. Evan breaks Pierson’s vines, punches through his chest, and poisons him with several diseases.
• Evan restrains Pierson and identifies a centipede-like Mutant Virus Parasite hidden beneath the skin of his arm. Pierson warns that the creature can phase through physical defenses and infect its target.
• Evan tries to pull it out, but it burrows into his forearm. His extreme Blood Toxicity destroys it, though the remains yield only modest progress for his Mist Brain Plague.
• Evan eats the parasite’s remaining body, choosing to use it as a supplement rather than reverse its effects. The Mist Brain Plague’s progress reaches 5.4%.

Character developments

• Evan proves to be a prepared, powerful, and unconventional opponent. He turns Pierson’s spore attack into progress for his plague ability, then treats the dangerous parasite as both research material and food.
• Pierson, a trained researcher and Beyonder, is resourceful but overconfident. Once his usual tactics fail, he is quickly paralyzed, exposed, and left helpless; despite his defiance, he envies Evan’s abilities.

Significant themes

• Preparation and deception: Evan’s apparent vulnerability is a trap, while Pierson’s carefully planned ambush is outmaneuvered.
• Absurdity amid danger: Evan’s concern for the neighbors, casual taunting, and culinary review of a terrifying parasite contrast sharply with the life-or-death battle.
• Adaptation and consumption: Evan converts threats into power, treating disease and monstrous creatures as resources.
• Hubris and envy: Pierson assumes his spores and artifacts guarantee victory, then resents Evan’s superior abilities.

Character interactions

• Pierson attacks Evan with spores, vines, and his transformed sword; Evan counters with speed, strength, and disease-based attacks.
• Their exchange shifts from combat to interrogation: Evan asks about Pierson’s parasite, while Pierson demands to know how Evan resisted the spores.
• Pierson warns Evan about the parasite’s phasing ability, but Evan ignores the danger and tries to extract it—then reacts with comic outrage when it burrows into him.

Key plot points and events

• Evan returns from disposing of a Y Virus Parasite and questions Pierson, a Dryad researcher from Red King Laboratory.
• Pierson reveals the laboratory is mass-producing about a hundred Y Virus Parasites. His team uses the Poison Blade Gang’s bodies to cultivate viruses, because the parasites need the Spirituality found in viruses grown inside living humans.
• Pierson passionately insists the parasites represent a path to power and a chance to behold a great god. Evan dismisses his grand claims.
• Evan decides Pierson knows too much about his virus-based attacks to be allowed to leave. When Pierson reaches for a hidden vial, Evan crushes his spine and stops him.
• The vial contains a concentrated Monster-derived enhancer Pierson had concealed in his rectum. He meant to use it to strengthen and regenerate his body, escape Evan, and eventually kill his abusive teacher.
• Recognizing Pierson’s talent and potential usefulness, Evan cures his infection and proposes an alliance: Pierson will help him obtain more Y Virus Parasites, while Evan offers protection, a steady supply of the virus, and help taking revenge on his teacher. Pierson cautiously asks what he must do next.

Character developments

• Evan remains pragmatic and ruthless, but shows an unexpected respect for Pierson’s ingenuity. He shifts from interrogating and eliminating him to recruiting him as an inside contact.
• Pierson is revealed as a gifted but inexperienced researcher, driven by ambition and resentment toward his teacher. His secret enhancer plan fails, leaving him demoralized; Evan’s offer gives him a possible way forward.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus worldly experience: Pierson is scientifically brilliant but naïve about trust and danger; Evan’s blunt realism repeatedly outmaneuvers him.
• Power and exploitation: The laboratory’s experiments treat human bodies as resources, while Pierson’s own teacher appears to have subjected him to repeated abuse.
• Pragmatic alliances: Evan turns a lethal confrontation into a bargain by identifying what each man wants.
• Ingenuity and survival: Pierson’s unconventional drug-delivery method reflects the lengths people go to gain an advantage.

Character interactions

• Evan dominates the interrogation, while Pierson initially tries to bargain for his freedom and later lashes out when Evan reveals he never intended to spare him.
• Their confrontation exposes the gap between Pierson’s research brilliance and Evan’s combat instincts.
• Evan’s sincere praise and decision to heal Pierson change the encounter’s tone, turning enemies into tentative prospective partners.

Key plot points and events

• Pierson agrees to cooperate with Evan in exchange for access to his viruses and gives Evan a drop of Spiritual Blood as a guarantee.
• Evan learns that Pierson’s orange medicine is purified Black Dryad extract: an expensive physical treatment that boosts vitality, growth, and healing. Pierson uses it to repair his shattered body.
• Before letting Pierson go, Evan uses the Silver Key to suppress his resistance and extract his memories of the Y Virus Parasite. He also gives back Pierson’s Antler Crown and Withered Wood Sword, learning that they protect against fire and let their wielder control an enemy, respectively.
• Pierson promises to find suitable candidates for Evan’s virus experiments—apparently targeting people he wants revenge on—and returns to Poke Street.
• Reviewing Pierson’s memories, Evan discovers that Pierson’s teacher subjected him to prolonged, sadistic abuse and used the Y Virus Parasite’s spores to cause extreme pain.
• The Red King Laboratory cultivated a bizarre, humanlike tree called the Primordial Sage in tanks of revolting organic material. It eventually bore pale, egg-shaped fruit, after which Pierson and the other students were barred from approaching it.
• The laboratory’s secret Sanatorium breeds viruses to feed the Y Virus Parasite. Evan also learns that Pierson had previously seen footage of Evan’s drug trial and had investigated Carey's connection to N’yogtha’s Servant.
• Pierson’s memories end with his teacher implanting the Y Virus Parasite into his arm. The process badly damaged his Spirituality and gave him a vision of the cultivated tree bearing a human face.

Character developments and interactions

• Pierson is revealed as curious, ambitious, and willing to endure great suffering in pursuit of knowledge and power. His hatred of his teacher is rooted in years of horrific abuse, and he may use Evan’s offer to settle scores within the laboratory.
• Evan treats Pierson cautiously but pragmatically: he secures a token of trust, takes precautions against disclosure, then releases him with his artifacts. Pierson, in turn, is grateful and offers future assistance.
• Evan is repulsed by much of what he sees in Pierson’s memories, but remains focused on extracting useful information. He also recognizes that their paths have crossed before.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and power at a cost: Pierson accepts pain and compromise to pursue discovery and a way to oppose his teacher.
• Cruelty disguised as research: The laboratory’s experiments exploit both people and Monsters, while Pierson’s teacher uses the parasite as an instrument of torture.
• Bodies as tools and resources: The chapter repeatedly depicts bodies being altered, healed, cultivated, or used to nourish other organisms.
• Trust, control, and revenge: Evan’s cooperation with Pierson depends on coercive safeguards, while Pierson’s offer to supply candidates hints at vengeance.

Plot points and events

• While examining Pierson’s memory, Evan sees a monstrous, ten-eyed face. The sight damages his Spirituality and leaves him paralyzed as a huge hand reaches for his soul.
• A Fast-Acting Purification Potion breaks his fear-induced paralysis, but Evan remains trapped in the vision. Twisted roots invade his soul, and the Panel identifies a Formless Mind Seed draining his Spirituality.
• Evan commands the Mist Brain Plague to attack. It devours the roots and pushes its progress to 29.4%, just short of its first-stage effect. The consuming mist protects him, but a second vision follows: a dead, rotting desert dominated by an immense tree.
• The tree’s presence further erodes Evan’s Spirituality, and a hand made of tree trunks descends toward him. With no other defense likely to work, he calls on his great-grandmother. Geometric openings appear and transport him to safety in Ancestor Mason’s domain.
• An unseen Familiar tells Evan that his great-grandmother is pleased he survived and will not threaten him for now. Having noticed his potential after his earlier use of Toxic Blood, she expects him to become a Master; until then, he is safe.
• The Familiar explains that Evan encountered a fragment associated with the Primordial Sage, a legendary first intelligent life revered by Dryads and identified by some orders with the Tree of Life. Even a tiny remnant carried grave danger. It warns him not to investigate gods outside his own Profession, then sends him back to his apartment.
• The chapter ends with an author’s note explaining delays to the evening update and a planned major release, due to family travel, while promising several prepared chapters.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan survives through quick thinking, his Plague’s ability, protective potions, and his great-grandmother’s intervention. Though badly shaken, he quickly returns to bargaining, flattery, and jokes—especially when addressing the Familiar. His encounter also makes him realize how far beyond his understanding powerful beings are.
• The great-grandmother remains unseen, but her rescue and her decision to spare Evan for now reveal both an interest in his potential and a willingness to protect him until he can prove useful.
• The Familiar acts as her blunt, mocking messenger. It explains her expectations, warns Evan about the dangers of contact with higher beings, and refuses—or is unable—to answer his question about the Demon Hunters’ god.

Significant themes

• The peril of forbidden knowledge: Looking into beings beyond one’s level can damage the mind or invite contamination, even through a small fragment or memory.
• Survival through resourcefulness and preparation: Evan’s potions, Plague ability, and judgment help him endure threats that brute force cannot overcome.
• Power, usefulness, and conditional protection: Evan is spared not simply out of affection, but because his great-grandmother sees future potential in him.
• Comic irreverence amid cosmic horror: Evan’s profanity, self-interested reasoning, and shameless flattery contrast with the scale and terror of what he encounters.

Key plot points and events

• After glimpsing the Old Tree Man, Evan wakes drenched and weak. His Panel shows three 16-hour penalties: reduced maximum Spirituality, reduced mental strength, and “Sin of Peering at the Gods,” which slashes his success rate in Rituals, potion-making, meditation, spellcasting, and related activities by 1,000%. The effects resist his usual cleansing potions, leaving him unable to safely use Beyonder techniques for the coming week.
• Evan notices that Byron’s improved potions have stronger effects: his Anti-Moon Potion grants more Silver Resistance, while the Eclipse Potion increases his Black Sun’s Wings characteristic—but no longer produces its Self-Awareness effect.
• Meanwhile, financier Willens Sapp learns through the veiled Witch Kaini that Evan will soon be unusually vulnerable. Sapp plans to exploit him financially and make him a debtor. Kaini describes Evan as weak-willed and foolish, while Sapp dismisses him as someone who will bring himself down through his own mistakes.
• Evan and Morales travel to the Medical School. Doctor Furim takes Evan to Sage General Hospital, where a worsening epidemic has overwhelmed staff and strange supernatural disturbances are causing patients and laboratory technicians to go mad, harm themselves, or behave violently.
• Hospital director Doctor Banner reports unexplained cries near a staircase where patients died, and strange markings on a balcony where patients fell; people passing that spot have also inexplicably lost money. With police unwilling to help, Furim assigns Evan to investigate the locations that night.
• Evan accepts the task with comic bravado, joking that although he is afraid of ghosts, that does not mean he is afraid of ghosts. Banner and two nurses are left bewildered by his confidence.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan remains humorous and outwardly confident despite being physically drained and temporarily unable to rely on his supernatural skills. He shifts from potion experimentation to a new hospital assignment, taking on the unexplained disturbances.
• Willens Sapp emerges as a calculating antagonist, intent on using Evan’s vulnerable period to trap him in debt.
• Kaini is a scarred, half-beautiful Witch with Financier and Prophet Characteristics. She views Evan as an exploitable fool, though her remark about hardship arriving before one is ready suggests a more fatalistic outlook.
• Doctor Furim treats the hospital crisis seriously and entrusts Evan with investigating its strangest sites. Doctor Banner gives Evan a tour, shares the staff’s exhaustion and fear, and responds warmly to his jokes.
• Morales begins settling into his Medical School duties, while Evan is sent on a separate, more dangerous assignment.

Significant themes

• The cost of forbidden knowledge: Evan’s glimpse of a powerful being brings severe, lasting consequences, suggesting that supernatural knowledge is dangerous even when obtained briefly.
• Vulnerability and exploitation: Evan’s reduced abilities create an opening for Sapp, who believes people’s weaknesses can be turned into financial control.
• Institutional abandonment amid crisis: The hospital faces a deadly epidemic and supernatural threats while police and special investigators leave staff to manage alone.
• Humor as resilience: Evan uses jokes to mask anxiety and maintain confidence in a frightening, unstable situation.

Key plot points and events

• Evan completes the reversal of the Potion Chain’s side effect, increasing his Black Sun’s Wings characteristic and improving his clarity when facing the Black Sun.
• During his night shift, he eats an enormous free dinner, then investigates the hospital’s supposedly haunted stairwell. His first attempt ends in a startled retreat, which gives the gloomy patients and staff a much-needed laugh.
• Using Demon Hunter Sight, Evan discovers two plague-tainted spirits confined by a magic circle made of dollar bills. Because his current abilities are poorly suited to spirits—and his curse makes rituals dangerously risky—he hesitates to act.
• Willens Sapp, a young Financier and son of a wealthy family, arrives. He reveals that he trapped the spirits to protect the hospital from their plague aura and to deter criminals using the nearby entrance.
• Willens absorbs one spirit into a banknote, but the other begins to Beastify. He suppresses its transformation with more money and asks Evan to help perform a ritual that will make the spirit his debtor.
• Willens denies that he or his family intends Evan harm and says he has been volunteering at the hospital. He also warns Evan that his classmate Eldin may be less innocent than she appears.
• When Evan accepts a banknote, a warning reveals that it resonates with the Money Corrosion and Money Curse still lingering in his body. Evan suspects Willens is using the bill to ensnare him, but pretends to cooperate and eagerly agrees to lead the ritual—planning to use the dangerous Sin of Peering at the Gods against him.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan remains wary and opportunistic. Though his supernatural debuffs make him unusually prone to fear, he recovers quickly, plays to the crowd, and turns Willens’s apparent offer of friendship into a chance to investigate his motives.
• Willens Sapp presents himself as courteous, charitable, and overlooked within his family. His actions show genuine concern for containing the plague-tainted spirits, but the banknote’s reaction makes Evan suspect that Willens’s kindness conceals a trap.
• Evan and Willens engage in polite but guarded conversation. Willens probes Evan’s views on the wealthy and Eldin; Evan responds agreeably while privately assessing him.
• The hospital staff and patients laugh at Evan’s initial fright, briefly lifting the atmosphere. Doctor Banner, however, is embarrassed by the spectacle.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus intention: Willens’s gracious persona may mask manipulation, while Evan’s cheerful cooperation hides his suspicion.
• Money as power and danger: Willens’s Financier abilities use currency to control supernatural forces, and money itself may carry curses or corruption.
• Fear and resilience: Evan’s debuffs magnify his terror, but he regains his composure and uses humor to manage the situation.
• Charity, class, and trust: Willens’s account of family neglect and his hospital service complicates Evan’s assumptions about wealthy people, while the rivalry between powerful families leaves everyone’s motives uncertain.

• Wilens’s plan: Evan agrees to help Wilens perform a Spirit-Driving Ritual. Wilens secretly intends to exploit him: the incantation is a patented version that would make Evan a debtor under Wilens’s Usury Characteristic. He also has other contingencies, including financial coercion and violence.
• The Ritual goes wrong: Evan repeats the incantation, but his Sin of Peering at the Gods makes Rituals almost certain to fail. Strange whispers and Root Tendrils disrupt Wilens’s concentration, breaking the Spiritual link and interrupting the chant.
• Wilens is attacked: A massive supernatural Tree Root pierces Wilens’s soul and drains his Spirituality. He uses a flood of money—and apparently a protective artifact—to sever the Root, but then finds himself in a Black Desert before an immense, mind-breaking tree. The sight overwhelms him; he becomes delirious, eats the desert’s quicksand, and explodes. His body is found dead in the stairwell.
• Evan profits and conceals his role: While pretending to be frightened and later grieving, Evan secretly uses his Mist Brain Plague to absorb the Root Tendrils left in Wilens, gaining progress. He also steals Wilens’s valuable black wallet.
• Character developments and interactions: Wilens’s smug confidence and schemes reveal his predatory use of wealth and contracts; he underestimates Evan and becomes the Ritual’s chief casualty. Evan stays outwardly innocent and helpful while manipulating the situation, exploiting the supernatural danger, and covering his tracks. Their apparent cooperation hides Wilens’s attempted entrapment and Evan’s concealed advantage.
• Themes: The chapter satirizes financial power and predatory debt, presenting money as both weapon and protection. It also emphasizes the danger of forbidden contact with overwhelming cosmic forces, the gap between appearances and motives, and the dark comedy of Evan’s self-serving “gratitude” toward the man who died protecting him from the worst consequences.

Key plot points and events

• At the hospital, Wilens collapses and dies after speaking with Evan. Evan insists he did nothing, and the bodyguards confirm they saw no attack or Beyonder activity. Secretly, Evan’s Mist Brain Plague progress bar has passed 49.4%, and he takes Wilens’s wallet.
• At Sapp Manor, gray-white roots—Formless Mind Seeds sent by the Primordial Sage—target Old Sapp. His Dryad researchers discover that the roots followed the trail of assets linking him to Wilens, who offended the Sage and is now dead.
• Sapp nearly attacks the roots, but his adviser warns that doing so would amount to blasphemy. Instead, Sapp submits to a revolting ritual using excrement, which appeases the roots. He then learns from Doctor Furim that Wilens has died.
• Investigators at the hospital find evidence that Wilens had set a trap for Evan, while Evan appeared unaware and frightened. Sapp’s own investigation supports this account, though he also catches Evan repeatedly searching Wilens’s body before taking the wallet.
• The investigation clears Evan of suspected involvement. In a meeting with Evan, Doctor Furim, Master Nighthawk Vic, and Sapp, Sapp asks Evan whether he has the Silver Key. Evan feigns ignorance.

Character developments

• Evan maintains an image of innocence, calmly repeating his account and exploiting the confusion to take Wilens’s wallet. His concealed plague progress suggests his apparent harmlessness may be misleading.
• Sapp is revealed as powerful but deeply afraid of death and cautious about provoking divine forces. His anger at Wilens’s death is tempered by the need to appease the Primordial Sage’s messengers.
• Doctor Furim acts as a steady investigator and protector, reassuring Evan that Sapp cannot openly attack him.
• Vic supports the investigation’s conclusion and pushes Sapp to state his business directly.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Evan looks innocent, and the evidence supports him, while the narration hints at hidden danger and opportunism.
• Power and its limits: Sapp’s wealth and abilities cannot shield him from supernatural forces or the consequences of his son’s actions.
• Fear and self-preservation: Sapp’s dread of death drives his caution, while Evan uses his apparent vulnerability to deflect suspicion.
• Order and accountability: Even powerful capitalists depend on following established rules to preserve their position.

Character interactions

• Evan persuades the hospital staff and bodyguards that he is not responsible; Doctor Furim later helps protect him from Sapp’s suspicions.
• Sapp’s Dryad researchers explain the roots’ arrival and restrain him from attacking divine messengers, then guide him through the appeasement ritual.
• Vic confronts Sapp over the prolonged scrutiny of Evan. Sapp shifts the discussion to the Silver Key, and Evan responds with practiced confusion.

Plot points and events

• Sapp confronts Evan about the missing Silver Key, a Magic Artifact that escaped into a marmot burrow when Evan killed Little Alcott. Evan says he did not know what it was or have the time or ability to retrieve it.
• Sapp questions Evan’s resistance to sunlight and silver, and his rapid healing. Evan attributes these traits to a Sunlight Resistance potion, an Intermediate Blasphemy Potion, and his unusual physique. Vic confirms Evan’s explanation is credible, though he cannot reveal the details.
• Sapp ends the dispute, lets Evan keep the wallet he took from Wilens, and leaves. Vic checks the wallet for curses and tracking spells, identifies it as a Fourth-Level Magic Artifact, and returns it to Evan.
• Evan reports that plague samples point to the Red King Laboratory and that the Poison Blade Gang was connected to the infected souls. He suggests shape-changing Ghouls from the Dreamlands may be spreading the plagues, citing traces of Corpse Poison and Bone Marrow Parasites.
• Vic is impressed and assigns Evan to continue investigating the Ghouls while he pursues another lead. Later, Sapp’s people remove Wilens’s body and dismantle his remaining rituals.
• Evan spends the day learning laboratory procedures with Freem, then heads home eager to examine the first stage of the Mist Brain Plague. On entering, he finds Professor Byron waiting in his living room.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan remains candid and seemingly naive, using blunt explanations and humor to deflect Sapp’s suspicions. He also shows responsibility by sharing dangerous intelligence rather than trying to handle the plague investigation alone.
• Sapp’s anger over losing the Silver Key is tempered by his dependence on the Judges’ Faction; he ultimately agrees to leave Evan alone.
• Vic shifts from reserved investigator to openly enthusiastic ally after Evan proposes the Ghoul connection. He praises Evan’s insight and coordinates further investigation.
• Freem and Vic share a rare moment of amusement at Sapp’s frustration, then tease Evan about the wallet.
• Evan’s confidence in his growing abilities is tempered by his reliance on potions and his willingness to keep learning.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and unconventional thinking: Evan’s willingness to connect clues across factions gives the investigation a promising new direction.
• Power and interdependence: The Golden Path professions reinforce one another but are weakened outside cities, revealing limits behind their apparent strength.
• Responsibility amid danger: Evan chooses to share evidence that could help prevent further suffering.
• Humor and social maneuvering: Evan’s deadpan excuses and the others’ banter soften a tense confrontation without erasing its stakes.

Plot points and events

• Professor Byron visits Evan to review the side effects of his potions. He appears as a calm, walking half-body, explaining that this is one of his Profession Characteristics. Evan reports only temporary arm numbness, drinks two more potions, and receives $25.
• Evan unlocks the first stage of Mist Brain Plague. Though it briefly clouds his thoughts and brings an unnerving sense of peace, the mist settles around and throughout his brain, greatly strengthening his mental defenses.
• The new stage reduces Evan’s Physique and Self-Awareness, but he considers the trade worthwhile: he may no longer need the Iron Blood Potion to protect his mind. His stats also show gains in Mental, Spirit Vision, Blood Quality, and Solar Affinity. Reaching Expert Level is within reach, and he decides to focus on advancing Mist Brain Plague.
• Evan cannot remove three persistent status effects with his potions. He plans to collect a White Bone Plate from Morales and discuss recent events with Hill.
• While Evan sleeps, Gust worries that his unprotected potion use will attract danger. Despite his reluctance, he secretly shields Evan’s apartment with an earthen dome.
• Elsewhere, two young men associated with the White Bone Saint Child notice the potion scent. One wants to kill Evan for his blood, but the other says they have already chosen a different victim because Evan attracts too much attention. The more unstable man briefly reveals a monstrous, decaying face. They hunt for prey while anticipating their leader’s arrival and hoping to establish a kingdom in the Material World.
• The next morning, Evan counts his money, buys an expensive black suit and shoes, and plans to ask Morales about a Magic Artifact. He catches himself dressing more carefully for this errand than he has for visiting his senior sister, which he jokingly takes as a bad omen.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan is increasingly confident in his growing abilities, especially his new mental protection. He weighs risks carefully, avoids using an unidentified Fourth-Level Magic Artifact, and remains cautious about the ritual and its consequences.
• Byron is unexpectedly gentle and attentive, contrasting with his former arrogance; he records Evan’s symptoms and continues supplying potions.
• Gust shows reluctant but genuine concern for Evan, choosing to protect him without asking for payment.
• The two young cultists reveal contrasting temperaments: one is calculating and restrains the other’s bloodlust, while the other struggles to control his monstrous transformation and violent impulses.

Significant themes

• Power at a cost: Evan’s growing defenses and stats come with lasting losses to Physique and Self-Awareness.
• Protection and vulnerability: The brain mist strengthens Evan against mental control, while Gust’s unseen shield offers another layer of protection against dangers gathering around him.
• Dangerous ambition and fanaticism: The cultists’ plan to create a kingdom in the Material World foreshadows a broader threat.
• Everyday progress amid supernatural danger: Evan’s improved finances and new clothes mark ordinary gains, even as occult risks continue to escalate.

Key plot points and events

• Evan reflects on the dangers of his supernatural work and the need to raise his self-awareness. He suspects poisons and transformations may increase it, while the B Virus may reduce it; the Y Virus Parasite’s reversal results are due later that day.
• He visits Morales to retrieve the White Bone Disc, which Morales has kept boxed up out of fear. Evan warns Morales against pursuing dangerous supernatural work. Morales’s father thanks Evan for saving his son and shares a lead: several plague patients had eaten canned goods from the Puke Canning Factory, suggesting its products may be connected to the outbreak.
• At McRae’s Detective Agency, Evan reunites with Hill. They accept a cheap, simple job checking whether a green flag appeared on a Dock District chimney, mainly because it gives them an excuse to work together.
• Evan asks Hill about Gust’s ability to watch him sleep; she explains that Prophets are literally blind and perceive only abstract symbols. He then asks her to identify the White Bone Disc and a black wallet.
• Hill identifies the wallet as the Delicate Wallet, a Fourth-Level Magic Artifact that can hold cash and other soft paper or leather items. It requires at least five dollars’ worth of ordinary maintenance each week; if neglected, it consumes its contents—or Evan’s flesh.
• The White Bone Disc is a Ghoul Amulet, a Fifth-Level Magic Artifact that detects Ghouls within a kilometer, but also attracts them. They may reach Evan through the Dreamlands and pull his soul there.

Character development and interactions

• Evan shows growing awareness of the risks of becoming stronger, especially the threat supernatural side effects pose to his mind. His casual handling of the dangerous disc contrasts with Morales’s fear.
• Morales admires Evan’s abilities and wonders if he could become like him. Evan discourages him, emphasizing that the work is life-threatening and that Morales has a safer, promising future.
• Morales’s father expresses gratitude for Evan and offers useful information, reinforcing the trust between their families.
• Hill and Evan display easy camaraderie: they tease each other, laugh about Evan’s tricking Sapp, and work comfortably as partners. Hill also demonstrates her ritual expertise when the identifying spirit treats her with conspicuous respect.

Significant themes

• Power comes with risks: supernatural abilities and artifacts bring dangerous costs, from mental deterioration to bodily harm and unwanted enemies.
• Humanity and self-awareness: Evan worries that becoming stronger may make him less human and more vulnerable to losing himself.
• The value of safety and choice: Evan urges Morales not to mistake dangerous work for glamour, while Morales’s father’s clue points Evan toward a new investigation into the plague.

Key plot points and events

• Evan and Hill investigate mysterious green flags appearing on chimneys near Hain Street. They conclude they are likely signals used by an organization of ordinary people.
• Evan asks Hill about ways to improve his declining Self-Awareness. She warns him not to assume he is immune to potion side effects and recommends the permanent Self-Importance Potion, which boosts Self-Awareness but lowers the user’s mood.
• Evan buys three bottles, then spends the following week keeping a low profile while recovering from several debuffs. He attends classes, works at the hospital, reports to Professor Byron, and follows a routine of taking and reversing potions.
• At the hospital, Evan befriends patients and absorbs new viruses, including HIV, while recognizing that this world’s history and science differ from the one he remembers.
• Pierson reports that he has resolved the missing Y Virus Parasite issue and identified an enemy. He promises Evan a chance to kill that enemy and obtain a complete parasite.
• Meanwhile, Bolton City grows increasingly tense: a skin-rotting plague spreads, Poke Street is quarantined, city institutions investigate, and the Healing Church distributes Copper Pills that become popular even among healthy people.
• After a week of intensive potion use, Evan’s stats improve dramatically. His silver and electrical resistance rise from negative values to positive ones, Self-Awareness reaches 60%, and Solar Affinity grows enough for sunlight to ease his hunger.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan becomes more cautious and disciplined, choosing to strengthen himself rather than chase every lead. His steadily improving Self-Awareness reassures him that he can retain his identity even while activating the Mist Brain Plague. The Self-Importance Potion also makes him noticeably more cheerful, prompting him to worry that continued use could make him unnaturally gregarious.
• Hill shows deep concern for Evan’s mental well-being, holding his hands and warning him to take potion side effects seriously. Their warm day together—shopping and walking by the sea—offers her relief from the pressure of deciphering coded text.
• Bill, the potion salesman, explains why the Sunward Potion costs more: Knights’ devotion to the sun makes it popular. Evan buys three Self-Importance Potions despite the expense.
• Pierson keeps Evan informed and promises a future operation against their shared enemy.
• Evan’s friendly manner helps him build rapport with hospital patients, while his conversations with Doctor Furim support his education.

Significant themes

• Strength through self-management: Evan’s progress comes from carefully monitoring his weaknesses, managing side effects, and following a routine rather than acting impulsively.
• Identity and mental resilience: Improving Self-Awareness is essential to protecting Evan’s sense of self as his powers and potion effects intensify.
• Uneasy social crisis: The plague, quarantine, armed patrols, and expanding influence of the Healing Church make the city feel increasingly close to disaster.
• Adaptation and survival: Evan turns even hospital work and sunlight exposure into opportunities to gain knowledge, acquire abilities, and reduce his dependence on food and money.

Key plot points and events

• Evan’s debilitating debuffs finally disappear, allowing him to perform rituals and brew potions again. He counts his remaining money—$715.24—and realizes how much his potions have cost, jokingly thanking the dead Wilens for leaving him an inheritance.
• At Professor Byron’s office, Evan uses Mist Brain Plague to appear mentally sluggish while Byron tests him with the Black Sun Notebook. Byron believes the act and tells Evan to take a week off from the drug trial, paying him $10 a day. Evan eagerly accepts. After Evan leaves, Byron laughs and says the “seed” should soon sprout.
• On Sunday, Evan and Morales head to the Medical School, both weary from demanding work. Evan is assigned to watch Lee Dylan, a hospitalized botanist with tuberculosis.
• Evan has secretly used the Copper Plague to kill some of Dylan’s tuberculosis bacteria, improving his breathing. Dylan has noticed the unexplained recovery and Evan’s quiet kindness, and now sees him almost as an angel.
• Dylan shows Evan a dead elm and explains Dutch elm disease, then describes three other plant diseases: dieback, root rot, and blue stain. Evan realizes plant pathogens might let the Copper Plague counter the Dryad Profession by attacking tree tissue as well as human tissue.
• After work, Evan secretly chews diseased elm wood and eats infected soil. The Panel confirms that the Copper Plague has devoured the pathogens responsible for Dutch elm disease, root rot, and Armillaria, refining its plague cluster.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan remains resourceful and shamelessly practical: he deceives Byron, accepts paid leave, and endures eating wood and dirt to expand his powers. His discovery of plant pathogens gives him a new strategic direction.
• Byron grows more confident in his experiment, convinced Evan is genuinely impaired and that his “seed” is close to developing.
• Dylan is recovering and becomes increasingly convinced Evan has helped him, though he cannot explain how. His scientific expertise gives Evan crucial information about plant disease.
• Morales appears tired and disillusioned with the hard labor of medical training; Evan offers him encouragement.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and deception: Evan hides his abilities from Byron while Byron conceals his own intentions.
• Science and the uncanny: Dylan’s careful observations of disease become the basis for Evan’s supernatural experimentation.
• Quiet compassion: Evan helps Dylan without seeking credit, earning the botanist’s admiration.
• Adaptation and strategy: Evan broadens the Copper Plague’s potential by identifying plant pathogens as a possible weapon against Dryads.

Key plot points and events

• Evan gathers several tree pathogens—Dutch elm disease, root rot, Armillaria, and black rot canker fungus—and absorbs them into the Copper Plague, adding their abilities to his arsenal.
• Pierson visits Evan to arrange an attack on Mairon, an arrogant Expert-level dryad. Mairon has stolen Pierson’s research, mistreated him, and plans to raid a Bloodthirsty Species member at an abandoned chemical plant. Pierson expects Evan to kill Mairon and promises to manage the aftermath.
• Evan prepares carefully: he buys and brews several combat potions, stocks up on food to build energy, and drinks a Night Demon Potion for enhanced nighttime perception and vision.
• Mairon and Pierson head for the factory. Mairon intends not only to capture Bane, a vampire-like researcher, but also to seize the valuable potion formulas Bane inherited from the dead researcher Pulis.
• Inside the factory, Bane struggles to brew the Black Sun Potion, which may overcome the Bloodthirsty Species’ weakness to sunlight. He persists out of loyalty to Pulis and hopes of restoring their people.
• Evan watches Mairon’s approach from one hillside. On the opposite hill, a mysterious woman in an ornate black cloak also observes the factory, suggesting an additional party is about to enter the conflict.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan is resourceful and increasingly confident, combining the Copper Plague’s new abilities with careful preparation. His bizarre casualness—he jokes that he ate dirt—contrasts with the seriousness of his planning.
• Pierson reveals the depth of his resentment toward Mairon and the abuse he has endured from his teacher. Though anxious about Evan facing an Expert-level opponent, he trusts him and has prepared a cover story.
• Mairon is revealed as ambitious and exploitative: his stated mission is to capture Bane, but his real goal is to obtain research that could advance him to Master Level. He openly humiliates Pierson.
• Bane is frustrated by repeated failures but remains determined and loyal to Pulis and the cause of his people’s revival.
• The cloaked woman, whose identity and intentions are unknown, appears to be monitoring the same confrontation.

Significant themes

• Hidden motives and layered conflict: Mairon’s capture mission conceals a personal ambition, while Evan and the cloaked observer have their own unseen purposes.
• Ambition, exploitation, and resentment: Mairon’s abuse of Pierson and desire to profit from Pulis’s work show how power is used to dominate others.
• Loyalty and perseverance: Despite limited talent and repeated failures, Bane continues his research out of devotion to Pulis and hope for his people.
• Preparation and power: Evan’s methodical stockpiling of abilities, potions, and energy sets up a confrontation where planning may matter as much as strength.

Plot points and events

• Mairon and Pierson arrive at the factory to capture Bane and extract the Magic Potion formulas left by Pulis Batrus. Mairon orders Pierson to guard the entrance while he goes inside.
• Evan follows their plan, knocks Pierson unconscious to make the rescue look unrelated to him, and rushes into the production building.
• Mairon has already paralyzed Bane with parasitic spores and strange muscle-piercing effects, then begins torturing him for the formulas. Bane refuses to betray Pulis.
• Evan attacks Mairon. Mairon’s ironwood Magic Artifact lets him pierce Evan’s copperized body, while the spores appear to immobilize Evan as they did Bane.
• Mairon plays a Soul-Sleeping Melody, believing the fight is won. But Evan’s Mist Brain Plague blocks the melody, and the diseases he secretly introduced into Mairon’s body take effect.
• Evan smashes through Mairon’s ironized bark and kills him. He then absorbs Mairon’s spores, increasing the Mist Brain Plague’s progress by 6.3%. Bane is left baffled by the sudden reversal.

Character developments and interactions

• Mairon is arrogant and cruel, treating Pierson like a subordinate and Bane like an animal. His confidence in his spores and artifacts proves fatal when he underestimates Evan.
• Pierson resents Mairon and secretly hopes he will die. He plays his assigned role in the plan, then is knocked unconscious by Evan to protect the deception.
• Bane shows loyalty to Pulis by refusing to reveal the potion formulas despite torture. He mistakes Evan for a powerful ally but cannot understand how Evan defeats Mairon.
• Evan uses patience and preparation rather than matching Mairon’s apparent strengths directly: he exploits the spores to advance his plague ability and infects Mairon with tree-targeting diseases before striking.

Significant themes

• Preparation and deception: Evan’s apparent vulnerability is a trap; Mairon’s overconfidence blinds him to the real threat.
• Loyalty under coercion: Bane endures torture rather than betray his master’s secrets.
• Power’s hidden weaknesses: Mairon’s spores, ironwood, and healing seem overwhelming, but Evan turns each advantage against him through disease and immunity.

Plot points

• After killing Mairon, Evan removes his Dryad Beyonder Characteristic. He prepares to kill the injured Bane, a witness who could expose the covert operation, but Eldin arrives and puts Bane to sleep with an authoritative Bloodline power.
• Eldin catches Evan’s sudden, full-force punch with ease. She reveals that she is a Bloodthirsty Species member as well as a Knight: by day she is powerless, but at night she gains unusual strength and has neither group’s usual weaknesses.
• Eldin explains that she and Pulis had been working together. She wants to recover materials left by her teacher and gives Evan information extracted from Bane’s blood, including an incomplete Black Sun Potion recipe and memories of experiments.
• She warns Evan that Vampire blood can carry memories and Beyonder components—and can transmit dangerous visions as well.
• Eldin offers him protection against the Sapp Group and asks him to become an ally in her plan to escape her family’s likely punishment, with Empress Cain as her intended refuge. Evan agrees to consider the partnership but asks for tangible proof of her sincerity.
• Before leaving, Evan removes the spores infecting Bane, then takes some failed-potion waste from Eldin’s laboratory, joking that he will charge her next time. He departs with Mairon’s body.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan remains wary and self-interested, initially trying to silence Bane and attacking Eldin before learning who she is. He recognizes her strength, absorbs her warnings, and negotiates for material benefit while still helping her.
• Eldin shifts from her public image as a frail ordinary woman to a powerful, enigmatic figure. Her disclosure shows both her unusual dual nature and her fear of the Hurst family’s reaction. She sees Evan as a valuable, trustworthy potential ally, despite teasing his judgment and eccentricity.
• Their exchange is marked by suspicion, mutual appraisal, and flirtatious humor. Eldin offers knowledge and protection; Evan counters with demands for money and contributes by treating Bane and removing the potion waste.
• Bane is rendered unconscious and remains largely unaware of the confrontation, though his blood becomes a source of information.

Significant themes

• Hidden identities and performance: Eldin’s ordinary daytime persona conceals her supernatural nature, while both she and Evan are adept at acting.
• Trust as negotiation: The characters weigh secrets, protection, and practical help against personal risk rather than relying on goodwill alone.
• Power and belonging: Eldin’s combination of incompatible Professions makes her exceptional but also threatens her place in her family.
• Blood as knowledge and danger: Vampire blood serves as a medium for memory and Beyonder material, making it both useful and hazardous.

Plot points and events

• Eldin reflects on Evan’s rapid accumulation of Characteristics and suspects he has found a way to compensate for their weaknesses.
• After killing Mairon, Evan wakes Pierson and hands over Mairon’s corpse and two Magic Artifacts. Pierson extracts the unusually large, two-headed Y Virus Parasite, calming it with his blood so Evan can take it.
• Pierson warns Evan that the parasite must be destroyed before it enters its dangerous Phase State. He also explains that Dryad Characteristics cannot be tracked like Demonic ones, but selling Mairon’s Characteristic in Bolton City could attract attention from the Red King Laboratory.
• Evan eats the complete parasite. His Mist Brain Plague advances to 70.3%, reaching its Second Stage. He hides Mairon’s Characteristic in his Delicate Wallet, which suppresses its aura.
• At home, Evan activates the new stage under Spiritual Concealment. The mist in his brain grows stronger and can now carry spoken words into another person’s mind, potentially clouding their thoughts. The stage’s cost reduces his Physique to 9.282 and Self-Awareness to 40%.
• Evan plans to visit Doctor Armitage in New Haven to handle the Dryad Characteristic and discuss recent events. He also sketches out two experimental ways to carry and administer multiple Magic Potions.
• He eats seven lumps of failed Black Sun Potion residue. Each grants a tiny permanent increase to Black Sun’s Wings, while its Side Effect takes twenty hours to reverse. The next morning, he learns that reversing a Night Demon Potion Side Effect has permanently improved his Blood Quality and Regeneration by one percent each.
• Evan arrives at school intending to ask Professor Mons for leave rather than attend class.

Character developments and interactions

• Evan continues to treat dangerous substances as food and approaches power growth pragmatically, though he jokes about the physical costs and is alarmed by his weakened Physique. His new ability suggests his power may extend from concealment to mental influence.
• Pierson is grateful to Evan and moved when Evan calls him “bro.” He promises to handle the aftermath of Mairon’s death without implicating Evan, framing their relationship as brotherhood. After Evan leaves, Pierson looks forward to taking down others.
• Eldin remains intrigued by Evan’s capabilities and sees his resourcefulness as making him worthy of her attention.
• Mairon’s death reveals that he had been secretly pursuing credit for a Magic Potion-related matter, giving Pierson a plausible explanation for what happened.

Significant themes

• Power gained at a cost: Evan’s new abilities come with substantial losses to Physique and Self-Awareness, forcing him to weigh strength against personal deterioration.
• Improvisation and bodily adaptation: Evan relies on unconventional methods—his wallet, his body, and proposed potion-delivery devices—to manage the risks and limitations of his powers.
• Trust and loyalty: Pierson’s gratitude develops into a declared brotherhood, while both men agree to keep Evan’s involvement concealed.
• Dangerous knowledge and secrecy: The Red King Laboratory’s surveillance, Mairon’s hidden ambitions, and Evan’s concealed Characteristic all underscore the need to manage information as carefully as power.