Aster

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Aster Crowley
Alias(es)	Lovers; Melvin; Claude Chapman; Rachel Jones
Species/Race	Human; transmigrated player from another world
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Tarot Club
Occupation/Role	Death Pathway Beyonder; Spirit Medium; information broker and occult operative
Status	Alive
First Appearance	Chapter 1

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Grave Digger, Level 20 (cap)	1	Arrives in Tingen at the level cap with Necromantic Body, Eye of Death, communication with the dead, divination, ritual magic, and spiritual intuition.
Spirit Medium, level cap raised to 30	13	Drinks the prepared potion without backlash due to his game-like status panel. Unlocks Spirit Contract, allowing contracts with spirits and undead.
Spirit Medium, Level 30; eligible for Spirit Guide advancement	48	Learns that he has reached Level 30 after surviving the encounter with Megose and Mr. A. He begins preparing materials for the next advancement.

Background

Aster was a university student and occasional power-leveling player of the MMORPG Sequence Wars. Less than a month after Version 7.0 released, he was killed by a falling cat and awakened in the body of Aster Crowley. He retained no memories of the original Aster, whose remaining relatives were dead and whose family had declined into bankruptcy. 1 40

He arrived in Tingen on June 27, 1349, intending to locate the game’s protagonist and use that person’s expected rise to demigod level as protection against the coming Apocalypse. His plan immediately failed when he found and purchased the Mysterious Ring—the artifact that should have begun the protagonist’s destiny—at the Evil Dragon Bar’s black market. 1 2

The ring instead brought Aster above the Gray Fog, placing him in the seat associated with the absent protagonist during the Tarot Club’s first gathering. He adopted the codename Lovers and began using remembered game knowledge to alter events, trade Beyonder information, and accelerate his own advancement. 3 5

Appearance

Aster is a tall, thin young man, nearly six feet three inches in height, whose unusually silver eyes are often concealed beneath the broad brim of his bowler hat. His passive undead affinity gives him a persistent cold, gloomy presence that unsettles ordinary people. 1

• Eyes — Naturally silver; his right eye later changes to bronze after his near-fatal encounter with Megose and the subsequent contract with Alidibus. 1 48 50
• Aura — Necromantic Body continuously radiates coldness, making people uncomfortable even when he is silent. 1
• Usual attire — Black formalwear, coat, bowler or top hat, and a large suitcase. 1 16
• Demoness form — Through Witch’s Kiss, he can assume a much shorter feminine body with black waist-length curly hair and golden eyes. 32

Personality

Aster is practical, calculating, and strongly survival-oriented. He habitually evaluates people, artifacts, and crises through the language of game mechanics: levels, equipment, quests, builds, and possible rewards. This perspective gives him unusual strategic insight, but initially makes him detached from the suffering and deaths of those he considers “NPCs.” 1 37 43

He is capable of politeness and restraint, especially when dealing with stronger figures, but is also opportunistic, shameless, and willing to lie, intimidate, or kill to protect his identity. His experience with threats such as Alidibus, Mr. A, and the True Creator gradually tempers his confidence. He increasingly recognizes that the world is real and that his actions carry consequences for real people. 6 14 43 47

Abilities & Skills

Game-like Status Panel

Aster alone possesses a supernatural character panel originating from Sequence Wars. It displays his class, skills, levels, buffs, equipment, and special quests. 1

• Makes his potion advancements safe once he meets the level and material requirements. 13
• Issues daily acting quests that accelerate his progress through the Death Pathway. 2 15
• Identifies some items and status effects, including True Creator corruption and Phoenix-related blessings. 5 29 49
• His game knowledge is incomplete and frequently unreliable because reality has diverged from the original storyline. 2 12

Death Pathway

As a Grave Digger and later Spirit Medium, Aster specializes in undead, spirits, death-related rituals, control, and reconnaissance. 1 13

• Necromantic Body — Grants resistance and affinity toward undead; some low-intelligence undead treat him as one of their own. Its constant cold aura compromises his social presence. 1
• Eye of Death — Detects ghosts and death-related abnormalities, including the resentful spirit in Swain’s commission. 6
• Communicate with the Dead — Allows interaction with spirits and is central to his acting requirements. 1 15
• Spirit Vision — Can be activated or dismissed mentally without a gesture; Aster considers it less reliable than his other senses for detecting undead. 13
• Ritual magic and divination — Uses pendulums, mirror channeling, and other rituals for investigation and risk assessment. 1 23

Spirit Contracts and Spirit Channeling

Spirit Medium advancement grants Aster the ability to formally contract spirits and undead. His capacity is exceptionally high, reaching forty contract slots where a normal Spirit Medium would have around twenty. 13 23

• Uses contracted spirits for combat, surveillance, security, tracking, and impersonation. 15 23
• Can perform Spirit Channeling to extract information from a target, as he does with Sergi and his own mirror reflection. 16 23
• Uses Eye of Slumber to slow a target’s thoughts and incapacitate them. 16
• Maintaining continuous communication with many scouting spirits rapidly exhausts him. 47
• Mirror Self-Spirit Channeling provides reliable answers but risks mental fragmentation and personality splitting if overused. 23

Phoenix’s Embrace and Underworld Passage

After Alidibus takes Aster’s “death” through a deeper contract, Phoenix’s Gaze evolves into Phoenix’s Embrace. 48 49

• Raises the priority of his undead intimidation and undead-related spells. 49
• Gives an additional advantage against Death Pathway Beyonders below demigod level. 49
• Reduces the effectiveness of undead-, dream-, and dusk-related damage against him. 49
• Makes him more vulnerable to purification-, lightning-, and life-related attacks. 49
• Causes Feathered Serpents to detest him. 49

Underworld Passage allows Aster to physically enter the Underworld under Alidibus’s protection. 49 50

• He can alter his coordinates in the Underworld and emerge elsewhere in the mortal world, functioning similarly to short-range teleportation. 50
• Entering the Underworld helps him evade attacks originating outside it. 50
• The ability consumes substantial spirituality, either from Aster or Alidibus. 50
• Abandoning Alidibus’s protection while inside the Underworld may leave him unable to return. 50

Witch’s Kiss

Witch’s Kiss is a dangerous pair of white gloves that can transform Aster into a Demoness persona while concealing him from divination and prophecy below demigod level. 7

• Creates feminine identities such as Rachel Jones for Beyonder dealings and combat. 28 32
• Provides black flames, transparent threads, freezing effects, and identity-based deception. 12 32
• Its virtual personality helps maintain the transformed identity’s behavior but can attempt to seize control of Aster’s mind. 7 32
• Drains blood and spirituality, grows living skin across the wearer’s body, and may permanently transform a user if worn too long. 7
• Aster can seal the gloves with a simplified Wall of Spirituality for safer transport. 16

Combat and General Skills

Aster has practical combat experience from his former player career, including familiarity with Storm, Twilight Giant, Warrior, and Hunter Pathway fighting styles. 6 30

• Uses physical force effectively against ordinary opponents even without Beyonder abilities. 1 30
• Has general combat training and limited firearms mastery. 1
• Can use simplified Twilight Giant techniques, such as crossing a broken staircase without directly stepping over the gap. 6
• Prefers burst-damage fighting and considers his Spirit Medium and Demoness abilities too dependent on control and sustained damage. 42 43

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Mysterious Ring—Death — A brass ring with twenty-two gemstones. It brought Aster above the Gray Fog and fulfilled its mission afterward; he continues to wear it on his right thumb. 2 5
• Witch’s Kiss — White gloves that enable Demoness transformation, anti-divination concealment, black flames, and thread-based attacks at the cost of spirituality, blood, and mental risk. 7 16
• Silver pendant / Death’s Door — A Crowley family relic that improves divination, grants a third-person spiritual perspective, deters some undead and Spirit World creatures, and strengthens necromantic spells. Excessive use causes his spirit to reject his body and makes him impulsive. 17 28
• Fors’s teleportation stone — An escape item obtained after Aster rescued Fors and Xio from ghosts; he uses it to flee Mr. A after discovering Megose. 13 47
• Soul Stealer — A dagger recovered from Rawlins. It becomes sharper after humanoid kills, inflicts stacking slowing effects, attracts powerful Devils, and drives its wielder toward madness. Aster later gives it to Roland as part of payment for a custom weapon commission. 37 43
• Commissioned Beyonder item — Roland agrees to create an offensive item designed for instantaneous heavy damage, with completion expected in roughly half a month. 43
• Messenger whistles — Six three-month ritual items commissioned from Roland for contacting Aster’s messenger network. 43

Relationships

• Klein Moretti / The Fool — Fellow Tarot Club member and the apparent leader of the Gray Fog gathering. Their relationship combines cooperation, mutual suspicion, and guarded exchanges of information. 3 40 41
• Audrey Hall / Justice — Tarot Club associate. Aster sells her the Spectator formula and later sells information about a potential Psychology Alchemists contact. 4 40
• Alger Wilson / The Hanged Man — Tarot Club associate and business partner. Aster obtains materials through him and negotiates commissions for higher-sequence ingredients. 4 5 40
• Swain — Retired Mandated Punishers captain, black-market contact, and increasingly trusted ally. Swain gives Aster Witch’s Kiss, investigates his warnings, and shows concern for his safety. 6 7 49
• Alidibus — Overwhelming undead entity and former messenger. He contracts with Aster, saves his life by taking his death, and protects him during Underworld Passage, though his motives and the “Brewing” ritual remain unclear. 14 48 50
• Fors Wall — Debtor, courier, and occasional collaborator. Aster rescued her and Xio from ghosts; Fors later handles secret transactions and seeks his advice when Xio is imprisoned. 12 13 29
• Azik Eggers — Powerful Death Pathway figure whom Aster recognizes from the game. Aster gives him a clue about his amnesia and gains permission to seek future undead-related guidance. 45
• Roland — Machinery Hivemind-affiliated Artisan commissioned to appraise Aster’s Beyonder Characteristics and create custom equipment. Roland distrusts Aster’s apparent history of killing Beyonders. 42 43
• The True Creator — Hostile divine force whose corruption burdens Aster with the task of stealing Sealed Artifact 1-27 within three months. 29 36

Story Role / Major Arcs

The Missing Protagonist

Aster’s purchase of the Mysterious Ring displaces the game’s expected protagonist and places him among the Tarot Club’s founding members. He immediately begins trying to rewrite outcomes, including Audrey’s Pathway choice. 2 3 4

Spirit Medium Advancement

After working with Swain and obtaining materials through black-market and Tarot Club transactions, Aster advances to Spirit Medium. He contracts Alidibus, survives the spiritual cost, and begins building an undead network for combat and intelligence gathering. 6 13 14

Eternal Life Society and Lanevus

Aster kills the Eternal Life Society infiltrator Sergi after extracting information about the organization and its interest in Crowley family relics. He later hunts Lanevus across Tingen and Kuman City, adopts multiple identities, and ultimately kills Lanevus while gaining True Creator corruption. 16 28 32 37

Theft of Sealed Artifact 1-27

The True Creator assigns Aster the near-impossible task of stealing Sealed Artifact 1-27 from the Church of River and Sea. Though Aster already wants the artifact for his preferred Storm-oriented equipment build, he postpones the attempt after recognizing that a direct assault would expose him and likely lead to his death. 36 37 44

Megose and the Underworld Contract

While investigating red-chimney houses, Aster discovers Megose and the True Creator’s unborn child. The sight nearly kills him, and Mr. A attacks during his escape. Alidibus restores him through a deeper contract, granting Phoenix’s Embrace and Underworld Passage while binding him to the unexplained Brewing ritual. 47 48 49 50

Notable Quotes

“Every power comes at a price. Every blessing requires payment. Whatever you gain, you are bound to give something in return.” 3

“Watch out for coincidences around you.” 49

Trivia

• Aster’s former main class was Calamity of the Storm Pathway, not the Death Pathway he inherited through the Crowley family. 5
• He treats gender transformation as a practical disguise and has a history of impersonating female players online. 29
• His Spirit Contract capacity is twice that of a typical Spirit Medium. 23
• His panel lists him as a favored one of the King of the Astral World and “a lost one who does not belong to this era.” 1