Ch. 26Free Divination

Lorne met a masked woman offering free divination and asked her to uncover the origins of an ancient notebook. Her attempt left her asleep and confused, and afterward she told the Magician that she had experienced an extraordinary dream.

  • A masked woman invited Lorne to try her free Tarot Divination, and he tested her knowledge by asking about Dream Divination.
  • Lorne asked the woman, who called herself a Seer, to divine the origins and history of an ancient book without showing it to her.
  • The woman began Dream Divination while Lorne waited nearly twenty minutes, then fell from her chair when he tried to wake her.
  • The woman forgot what had happened and offered to divine for Lorne again, so he left the tent.
  • The Magician asked the diviner about her potion digestion, and she said she thought she had had an extraordinary dream.

Ch. 27Oh, fate!

After his Notebook vanished, Lorne searched for it and used divination, while Old Tom found the book beside a corpse and sold it to Welch as an ancient volume. Lorne later asked the Wish-Granting Box for help and received instructions to go to Iron Cross Street in ten days.

  • Lorne searched the circus and his route but found no trace of his Notebook, then suspected that his behavior had been unnaturally influenced.
  • Lorne divined that the Notebook was still in the city, but could not determine whether someone had stolen it.
  • Old Tom discovered the Notebook beside a corpse in an alley and took it for himself.
  • Old Tom sold the Notebook to Young Master Welch, claiming it was a genuine book from the Fourth Epoch.
  • Lorne asked the Wish-Granting Box how to find his Notebook, and it told him to go to Iron Cross Street in Tingen City in ten days.

Ch. 28A Clichéd Heroic Rescue

Lorne followed the Wish-Granting Box’s clue to Iron Cross Street while searching for his missing notebook, then rescued a girl from a carriage. He learned her name was Melissa Moretti and watched her leave for school.

  • Lorne discovered that the Wish-Granting Box would not repeat answers and that using it drained his spirituality, so he planned to visit Iron Cross Street as instructed.
  • Lorne extended his stay at the Azure Hotel and spent a quiet evening feeding Lucky.
  • Lorne visited the Wild Heart bar on Iron Cross Street, hoping to find clues about his notebook, but discovered nothing.
  • On the final day of the box’s ten-day deadline, Lucky darted from Lorne’s bag and approached a girl on the street.
  • Lorne used his speed to pull the girl out of the path of a carriage, then paid for a hired carriage so she could get to school.
  • The girl introduced herself as Melissa Moretti and departed while Lucky watched.

Ch. 29Fate's warning and a report

Lorne searched Iron Cross Street for a notebook but received a powerful warning from fate after hearing a distant gunshot. Though he left the area, he suspected a Beyonder incident had occurred and sent Lucky to deliver a report to the police.

  • Lorne recalled Melissa Moretti and wondered why her name gave him a persistent sense that their paths would cross, then focused again on finding the notebook.
  • Leonard asked Pallez about Daly and the mysterious person they had encountered; Pallez said the person carried traces of extremely high-level power and suggested the encounter had been a false alarm.
  • After searching the street all day, Lorne saw Melissa again but chose not to approach her.
  • Lorne heard a distant gunshot and felt fate warn him that something terrifying lay ahead, but the warning vanished before he left.
  • Lorne used Spirit Vision to check the area, returned to the Azure Hotel, and wrote a report about a possible Beyonder incident on Iron Cross Street for Lucky to take to the police.

Ch. 30I think something unclean has its eye on me

Fors received a letter from her first fan, who wanted to become an author, while Klein learned that an anonymous tip had helped the Nighthawks find him. Above the Gray Fog, Klein touched a new crimson star and triggered a burst of light, and Lorne later woke from a disturbing dream convinced something unclean was watching him.

  • Xio gave Fors a letter from her pen pal, and Fors learned that he wanted to become an author after reading her books.
  • Klein asked Dunn how the Nighthawks had found him, and Dunn explained that an anonymous letter to the police had reported an unusual incident on Iron Cross Street.
  • Daly arrived to consult Dunn about a case file and pulled him away before he could finish reassuring Klein.
  • Klein saw a faintly glowing red star above the Gray Fog, touched it, and was engulfed by a beam of silvery-white light.
  • Lorne woke from a frightening dream at the Azure Hotel and told Lucky that something unclean had its eye on him.

Ch. 31The Underground Market and the Five of Clubs

Lorne used the Wish-Granting Box to find a market for spiritually potent materials and followed a suspected Beyonder to the Evil Dragon Bar. There, a man calling himself the Five of Clubs offered to take him to a special trading gathering.

  • Uneasy after dreaming of a mist-shrouded figure, Lorne failed to find the notebook on Iron Cross Street and decided to authenticate and sell the formulas he had copied.
  • Lorne asked the Wish-Granting Box how to reach a market selling materials containing spirituality, and it directed him to Tingen City's Port District.
  • Lorne spotted an elderly gentleman with conspicuous spiritual fluctuations and followed him to the Evil Dragon Bar.
  • A man at the bar mistook Lorne for someone else, then offered to guide him to a special trading gathering in exchange for a cut of its transactions.
  • The man refused to give his real name and told Lorne to call him the Five of Clubs.

Ch. 32My eyes!

Lorne sold two potion formulas at a Beyonder gathering, then a strange encounter with Klein at the Divination Club left both men temporarily unable to see. Afterward, Lorne felt lighter and discovered the strange sensation in his body had vanished, before following chaotic footsteps into an alley.

  • Lorne sold the Seer and Clown potion formulas for 650 pounds at a gathering hosted by the Five of Clubs, but kept the Magician and Monster formulas to himself.
  • Lorne visited the Divination Club, where Klein covered his eyes in pain after looking at him; Lorne then activated Spirit Vision and suffered a similar loss of vision.
  • Lorne staggered out of the club, leaving Klein behind as the other visitors stared.
  • Elsewhere, a man and a Seer identified a wounded Beyonder as a Sequence 8 Robot from the Monster pathway, then fled when they sensed someone approaching before the Beyonder characteristic fully separated.
  • Lorne felt lighter after his vision returned and noticed the strange sensation in his body was gone, then followed chaotic footsteps into a nearby alley.

Ch. 33An Unexpected Find and a Watching Gaze

Lorne found a strange substance on a dead Beyonder, but it vanished before he could identify it, and he began feeling an unexplained change in his body. Above the Gray Fog, Klein divined the person he had encountered at the Divination Club and found the monocle-wearing Lorne, who sensed Klein watching him.

  • Lorne discovered a dead Beyonder in an alley, examined the scene with Spirit Vision, and took a slick transparent substance from the corpse.
  • Lorne hurried home with the substance, but it was missing from his coat pocket when he tried to appraise it with his monocle.
  • Lorne dismissed the loss, then felt unusually hot and sensed that something had changed inside his body.
  • Above the Gray Fog, Klein recalled a strange flash from the Divination Club and used divination to identify the person behind it.
  • Klein saw Lorne wearing a monocle, and Lorne suddenly looked up as if he sensed Klein watching him.

Ch. 34Peeping!

Lorne realized the strange gaze was connected to his earlier nightmare and that his body was still changing, then discovered the watcher peeping at him while he bathed. He collapsed while trying to flee to a church, while Klein was left bewildered by the mysterious connection and Lorne murmured “Robot” in his sleep.

  • Lorne recalled his nightmare and wondered whether an unseen entity was targeting him and causing changes in his body.
  • The Magician scolded the Clown for being lured into an encounter with a woman named Sharon and said he would investigate her and confine the Clown.
  • The Magician learned that the Seer and another teammate had also returned injured after fighting people from the Rose School, and asked where they had left the Robot's Beyonder Characteristic.
  • Lorne felt feverish and went to bathe, while Klein performed a divination and saw a figure in steam before a brilliant light struck him again.
  • Lorne sensed the gaze watching him in the bath, decided to take Lucky to a church, and fainted after stumbling toward the bed.
  • Lucky settled on top of the unconscious Lorne as he murmured “Robot.”

Ch. 35I can report him!

Lorne woke at the Azure Hotel and realized he had advanced to Sequence 8, a Robot, after absorbing a strange substance from a corpse. He decided to identify and report the Seer he suspected of serving the entity that had watched him, while Audrey noticed a change in Mr. Fool at the Tarot Club.

  • Lorne woke at the Azure Hotel with Lucky and discovered that he had advanced to Sequence 8 of the Monster Pathway, becoming a Robot.
  • Lorne concluded that contact with the transparent substance from the corpse had caused his advancement and considered testing whether Beyonder substances could be absorbed through the body.
  • Lorne suspected that the mysterious Notebook and the eye-covered Seer had drawn the attention of a hidden entity that watched him.
  • Lorne resolved to identify the Seer and report him to the authorities so they could investigate the entity behind him.
  • Audrey entered the gray-fog space for the Tarot Club meeting and noticed that Mr. Fool wore pitch-black sunglasses.

Ch. 36She went for it

Klein met with Audrey and Alger, while Lorne investigated a suspicious Beyonder and stumbled upon a chance to invest with Lanevus. At Blackthorn Security Company, Daly kissed Dunn after he suggested she leave Tingen for Backlund, and Leonard walked in on them.

  • Klein wore sunglasses to avoid being blinded again and told Miss Justice that appearances did not matter to him.
  • Audrey asked Klein what would happen if an animal drank a potion, and he sensed that she was nervous and ashamed.
  • Lorne visited the Divination Club to learn the identity of the other man from the earlier incident, but the receptionist did not know him.
  • Lorne overheard a customer discussing an investment with Lanevus, recognized the name from his Transmigration Guide, and went over to ask for details.
  • Dunn urged Daly to move to Backlund, then suggested she meet other young Church members, angering her.
  • Daly kissed Dunn, and Leonard walked into the office while Pallez warned him not to go in.

Ch. 37Gossip

Klein returned to work and learned that Dunn and Daly had become engaged, while Lorne heard Mr. Gracis describe Lanevus’s iron mine in the Hornacis Mountain Range. Lorne wondered whether the mine and the mountain name matched clues from the Transmigration Guide and his notebook.

  • Klein ended the Tarot Club gathering, reflected on his strange encounter at the Seer Club, and planned to rest on his day off.
  • At the Blackthorn Security Company, Rozanne told Klein that Dunn and Daly had grown close, and the others joked about their future child.
  • Daly announced that Dunn was her fiancé, and Dunn confirmed that they were dating before Daly invited everyone to lunch.
  • At the Divination Club, Lorne spoke with Mr. Gracis, who said Lanevus was raising money to develop an iron deposit in the Hornacis Mountain Range.
  • Lorne connected the mine and Hornacis to clues in the Transmigration Guide and his notebook, and wondered if the coincidence was fate.

Ch. 38Daffodil Street and the Society Meeting

After the Wish-Granting Box pointed Lorne to Daffodil Street to find the person involved in the Divination Club anomaly, he ran into Melissa. Elsewhere, the Society debated how to advance its plans and identified Pallez Zoroast as a possible target.

  • Lorne reasoned that the Wish-Granting Box consumed a greater share of spirituality at higher Sequences and asked how to find the person who had experienced an anomaly with him at the Divination Club.
  • The Wish-Granting Box gave Lorne the clue “Daffodil Street, Tingen City,” and he went there to investigate.
  • Lorne noticed Daffodil Street was beside Iron Cross Street and wondered whether the two locations were connected to the anomalies he had encountered.
  • Melissa greeted Lorne on Daffodil Street and recognized him as Mr. Dysenk.
  • At a Society meeting, Two of Spades proposed attempting an advancement, but Two of Hearts and others warned that Evernight might have anticipated his plans.
  • Two of Diamonds suggested Pallez Zoroast as a Sequence 1 with no backer and a weakened main body.

Ch. 39Who Was That Man!

The Tarot Club members discussed Jowes, Evernight, and whether to find Pallez before Amon did, then used a battered wooden box. Elsewhere, Lorne met Melissa on Daffodil Street, and Klein recognized him as the man he had encountered at the Divination Club and above the gray fog.

  • Two of Clubs, Two of Hearts, and Ace of Clubs argued over Jowes, Trunsoest, the Night Emperor, and Evernight, while Two of Diamonds tried to calm them.
  • Two of Spades proposed finding Pallez before Amon could, and Two of Hearts produced a battered wooden box after the members agreed to use it.
  • Lorne met Melissa on Daffodil Street, joked that fate had brought them together, and told her he was looking to rent a house.
  • Klein spotted Melissa chatting with Lorne and recognized him as the man he had met at the Divination Club and seen above the gray fog.
  • Lorne ended the conversation after noticing someone watching him, and Melissa's second brother emerged to demand to know who he was.

Ch. 40Spying? Who Couldn't Do That?

Lorne secretly followed Klein after seeing him with Melissa, then watched Klein’s house with a telescope and became convinced he was tied to a secretive entity. Meanwhile, Dunn and Daly prepared to leave for Backlund, and Klein learned that the Holy Cathedral’s assessors had arrived.

  • Lorne watched Klein and Melissa leave together, followed them home, and bought a telescope to spy on the house.
  • Klein went Above the Gray Fog to divine what Lorne wanted, saw him watching the house, and hurried to the alley after the vision ended.
  • Lorne sensed Klein’s prying gaze, abandoned his surveillance, and left Daffodil Street intending to find evidence against him.
  • Klein returned to work, where Old Neil told him Dunn and Daly planned to travel to Backlund for a special operation, with Frye acting as captain.
  • Dunn called Klein aside and told him that people from the Holy Cathedral had arrived to assess him.

Ch. 41The misunderstanding deepened again

Klein passed the Holy Cathedral’s assessment and received approval to advance, while his suspicion that Lorne was spying on Melissa deepened. Lorne followed an old man to a house, and Lucky opened its door, leaving Lorne poised to enter.

  • Dunn reassured Klein before the Holy Cathedral’s assessment, and Crestet Cecimir announced that Klein had passed and could advance to Sequence 8.
  • Klein wondered why Lorne had watched his home and concluded that Lorne might be pursuing Melissa.
  • Lorne learned that Klein Moretti worked for a security company and considered reporting him as a possible member of an illegal Beyonder group.
  • Lucky slipped from Lorne’s bag and secretly followed an elderly man to an old house, prompting Lorne to follow them.
  • After the man left, Lucky squeezed through a small window and opened the door’s security chain, and Lorne carefully began entering the house.

Ch. 42Cultists and Investigation

Lorne discovered what appeared to be a cultist’s room filled with black-magic notes and a strange bloodlike liquid, giving him a lead for his report. Meanwhile, Klein searched for Lorne at the Azure Hotel but found him gone, then rushed toward a nearby cry for help; the Magician also prepared the Circus to act against Sharon.

  • Lorne found Hermes Script notebooks, resurrection-ritual notes, and a strange dark red liquid in a room, then quietly left with Lucky.
  • Klein used his police badge and a bribe to learn that Lorne Dysenk had stayed in the Azure Hotel but had not returned for several days.
  • Klein searched Lorne’s empty room and recognized a red chimney from his divination about Elliott’s kidnapping.
  • Klein heard someone cry for help and rushed toward the commotion in the crowd.
  • The Magician told the Clown that Sharon was a Demoness, then ordered him to prepare for their move.

Ch. 43Witch Hunt

Klein and the Tingen Nighthawks prepared to capture Madam Sharon after confirming she was a Demoness, while Magician’s team also set out for the same target. Lorne arrived on Olsna Street, where the Nighthawks were heading to confront Madam Sharon.

  • Frye told Klein that an informant had seen Madam Sharon use Beyonder powers, and the team planned to capture her with Sealed Artifact 3-0217.
  • Frye assembled Klein, Old Neil, Leonard, and Kenley, then led them toward Madam Sharon’s residence.
  • Magician told his team that their mission to eliminate the Demoness was also an assessment of their potion digestion and teamwork.
  • A writer in a house with the Red Chimney decided to speed up his work and wrote something on paper.
  • Lorne arrived on Olsna Street and walked farther into the area to find a place to stay.

Ch. 44Staring at One Another

The Magician’s Circus squad launched a raid on a Demoness’s house, but their attack struck a mirror and left them in trouble. The Nighthawks arrived as an injured Clown and two Circus members came face-to-face with them.

  • The Magician split the Circus squad into an assault team and a support team, then led a Clown over the garden wall and up to the second-floor bedroom.
  • The Magician and the Clown kicked open the bedroom door, fired at the bed, and threw an explosive charm inside.
  • The smoke revealed a shattered mirror instead of the Demoness, and the Magician realized something was wrong.
  • The two Circus members waiting by the back door heard the explosion and feared the Magician and his companion were in trouble.
  • Klein noticed a figure falling from the second floor as the Nighthawks arrived at the house.
  • The injured Clown spotted the Nighthawks just as his Potion finished digesting, and he and two arriving Circus members stared at the squad.

Ch. 45Would a fleeing Demoness find her savior?

The Magician fought the wounded Demoness Sharon, while a chance meeting between the Nighthawks and Circus teams at her house escalated into a gunshot. Sharon fled and encountered Lorne, who recognized her alluring presence but discovered she had trapped his ankle with a black thread.

  • The Magician failed to stop Sharon from escaping and waited for his teammates, but grew alarmed when they did not arrive.
  • Klein and the Nighthawks faced the Circus team outside Madam Sharon's house, and a nervous Seer fired a gunshot.
  • Sharon fled through Tingen while badly wounded and heard a Beyonder approaching nearby.
  • Lorne sensed danger as Lucky sprang from his satchel and ran off, then saw the injured Sharon approaching.
  • Lorne recognized Sharon's alluring presence and tried to back away, but found a black thread wrapped around his ankle.

Ch. 46Sneak attacks are wrong

Lorne survived Sharon’s ambush when his revolver accidentally fired and Lucky finished her off. Lucky appeared to have gained the Assassin Potion’s power, and Lorne waited to see what Beyonder substance Sharon’s corpse would produce.

  • Sharon used threads and a black flame to attack Lorne, but slipped on the wet ground and only set his coat alight.
  • As Lorne threw off his burning coat, his revolver fell and discharged, striking Sharon in the chest.
  • Sharon survived the gunshot and lunged at Lorne, but Lucky ambushed her and cut her throat.
  • Lucky showed signs of having gained the Assassin Potion’s power, while Lorne fired five more shots into Sharon’s body to confirm she was dead.
  • Lorne watched Sharon’s corpse, expecting it to produce a transparent Beyonder substance, and wondered why the women he encountered on the Pathway were all alluring.

Ch. 47Fate beyond the script

Lorne’s revolver absorbed the slime left by the fleeing woman and gained silvery-white patterns, while he hurried away with Lucky. Elsewhere, Magician rescued the Circus squad from the Nighthawks, and a frustrated writer tried to revise the fate that had kept the confrontation from claiming any lives.

  • Lucky lunged for the slime, and Lorne accidentally dropped his revolver into it when she kicked his wrist.
  • The slime vanished and left silvery-white patterns on the revolver, which Lorne wrapped in his coat before leaving the alley with Lucky.
  • Clown struggled against the Nighthawks until Magician arrived and rescued the Circus squad with flames, a talisman, and a retreat.
  • A self-writing quill recorded that fate had strayed from its original script and that the confrontation ended without deaths.
  • A hack writer cursed and forcibly picked up the quill to write something new.

Ch. 48Coincidence?

Lorne used divination to confirm that the night’s strange events were coincidental and discovered the powers and dangers of his transformed revolver. At the Blackthorn Security Company, Klein recognized the Beyonder group involved in the operation and the Nighthawks prepared to report the threat, while Klein wondered whether Dunn Smith’s trip and his relationship with Miss Daly were truly coincidences.

  • Lorne divined that the night’s events had been accidents, then used Dream Divination to learn that his revolver fired spiritual bullets with varied effects but could curse, enthrall, and misfire.
  • At the Blackthorn Security Company, Royale asked about Kenley, and acting captain Frye explained that Kenley’s injuries would leave him bedridden for a while.
  • Leonard and Old Neil tried to reassure the team, while Klein said the group they had encountered seemed familiar.
  • Klein recalled that the Magician and Circus Clown had appeared during the earlier battle over the Antigonus Family Marionette and had sought the Secret Order’s notebook.
  • Klein identified the group as likely the same Beyonders who had stolen the Antigonus Notebook, and Frye decided to report the matter to their superiors and consult the other organizations.
  • Walking home, Klein wondered why Dunn Smith had gone to Backlund and whether Dunn’s relationship with Miss Daly was progressing too quickly to be mere coincidence.

Ch. 49Old Neil's Arrest

Klein received the Clown potion ingredients, confirmed through divination that he could advance, and successfully became a Clown. He then learned that Old Neil had been arrested by the Mandated Punishers for allegedly researching black magic, and Frye’s visit to Old Neil’s home suggested the accusation was not a simple mistake.

  • The Magician told the Clown to keep a low profile and reassured him that they could leave once their assignment ended.
  • Frye told Klein the Clown potion ingredients had arrived but shared the captain’s concern about Klein advancing before his return.
  • Klein performed a divination, accepted the potion ingredients from Frye, and successfully advanced to Clown.
  • Rozanne told Frye that the Mandated Punishers had arrested Old Neil for researching black magic.
  • Klein learned of Old Neil’s arrest and wondered whether it was connected to the ritual Old Neil had used to repay his debts.
  • Frye accompanied Old Neil and the Mandated Punishers to Old Neil’s home, where Old Neil’s pained expression convinced Frye the evidence was more than a misunderstanding.

Ch. 50Klein, do you worship an evil god?

Old Neil admitted that the Hidden Sage had influenced him to prepare a resurrection ritual for his late fiancée, and the Nighthawks protected him from the Mandated Punishers while promising to report the matter. After Frye kept Klein and Leonard behind, Leonard asked Klein whether he worshipped an evil god.

  • The Mandated Punishers found Old Neil's ritual materials and urn, and Old Neil broke down, admitting he wanted to see his late fiancée again.
  • Klein and the other Nighthawks arrived, shielded Old Neil, and Frye persuaded the Mandated Punishers to withdraw while the Nighthawks handled the case themselves.
  • Old Neil told the Nighthawks that he had learned a resurrection ritual from the Hidden Sage's murmurs and was willing to accept punishment.
  • Frye decided to report Old Neil's actions to their superiors and reassured the team that Old Neil had not completed the ritual or lost control.
  • Frye kept Klein and Leonard behind and revealed that there had been another accusation; Leonard asked Klein whether he worshipped an evil god.
Arc 2 of 20