Chapter Summaries

Lorne discovered that his Monocle could appraise objects and learned that the wooden box provided incomplete steps for solving problems. After worrying about the mysterious playing card and his homesickness, he asked the Wish-Granting Box how to address his body's abnormal condition and received an instruction to perform divination for others using his own unique method.

• Lorne used the Monocle to appraise the wooden box and learned it could provide one incomplete step toward solving a problem, twice a day.
• Lorne appraised the Three of Diamonds, but its material, age, and Beyonder ability all appeared as unknown.
• Lorne wondered whether the card belonged to an earlier transmigrator and speculated that time flowed much faster in this world than in his original one.
• Lorne slept, then used divination to confirm that the playing card posed no danger.
• Lorne asked the Wish-Granting Box how to resolve the abnormal condition in his body, and it told him to perform divination for others using his own unique method.

Lorne set up a palm-reading stall to fulfill a task and discovered that feeling different from others might trigger changes related to his Monster potion. After improvising a reading for Daly Simone, he fled from a patrol officer while Daly wondered whether he was a Beyonder and thought of Dunn.

• Lorne tried to earn money by reading palms, but passersby mistook him for a pervert and drove away his customers.
• Lorne realized that his Monster-related changes seemed to occur when he felt different or others treated him as strange.
• Daly Simone paid Lorne for a palm reading, and he improvised predictions about her career, past relationships, and love for a conservative man.
• Lorne urged Daly to confess her feelings, and she left after thanking him for the reading.
• A patrol officer ordered Lorne to stop setting up his stall, so Lorne gathered his things and escaped using his Monster-granted physique.
• Daly watched Lorne flee, wondered whether he was a Beyonder, and thought about Dunn as she made up her mind.

Lorne struggled to find income and asked his novelist pen pal, Madam Wall, for advice about writing. After the Wish-Granting Box told him to examine an ancient book with his monocle, he discovered several potion formulas and wondered what the book was.

• Lorne wrote to Madam Wall asking for guidance on becoming a writer and sent the letter with Lucky.
• Lorne considered inventing machinery and copying literature to earn money, but lacked the expertise and publishing knowledge to proceed.
• Lorne asked the Wish-Granting Box how to make money quickly, and it instructed him to put on his monocle and leaf through his Ancient Book.
• Lorne used the monocle while reading the book and discovered potion formulas for the Seer, Clown, and Magician Sequences.
• Lorne realized the formulas could be valuable and questioned what the Notebook was.

Lorne investigated the supernatural Notebook and worked to decipher its Ancient Hermes writing, while a magician reported Secret Order activity in Tingen to Five of Clubs. After two days of study, Lorne translated three frequently repeated words but had not yet discovered what they meant.

• Lorne found that the monocle could not reliably translate the Notebook and decided to research its writing at the library.
• A magician wrote to Five of Clubs that their circus team had arrived in Tingen and found traces of the hostile Secret Order, then sent the letter away with a black hand.
• Lorne studied Ancient Hermes for two days and devised a method of deciphering the Notebook by identifying its most repeated words.
• Lorne translated the words “Hornacis” and “Flegrea,” then paused to feed Lucky and eat after realizing he had skipped both meals.
• Lorne returned to his desk and deciphered the third word: “Antigonus.”

Lorne searched unsuccessfully for information about Antigonus and a way to authenticate the Potion formulas, then took a break by attending a circus. Behind the performers’ routine, a magician discussed the Society’s work, while the King of Spades received documents about Amon avatars and the year 1349.

• Lorne failed to find public records about Antigonus or a lead for authenticating his Potion formulas, and kept the Notebook with him for safety.
• Lorne encountered a clown outside a circus, enjoyed his juggling, and bought a ticket to see the show.
• Lorne watched the lion act, the clowns’ performances, and a magician’s fire trick inside the tent.
• In the dressing room, clowns complained about their assignment, and the magician said the Society sent teams to perform so they could digest their Potions.
• A subordinate told the King of Spades that the Amon avatars hidden among the special operations teams had been eliminated and handed over the requested information.
• The King of Spades read the documents, noted that 1349 was a significant year associated with someone referred to as He, and produced a Monocle.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.