Recaps

Lin Chuan explained why the Nighthawks had approached Klein and admitted he had secretly watched their investigation. Klein decided to join the Nighthawks, then questioned whether Lin Chuan still possessed his original Beyonder characteristics and how much of his former power remained.

• Lin Chuan deduced that Klein had been offered a place with the Nighthawks because the Antigonus Family Notebook incident happened in their jurisdiction and Klein's historical training made him useful.
• Lin Chuan admitted that he had watched the Nighthawks investigate, claiming his perception let him observe from a distance.
• Klein decided to accept Captain Dunn Smith's offer and join the Nighthawks as civilian staff.
• Klein explained that joining would give him access to information, mysticism training, and potion experience that could help him find a way home.
• Klein suggested Lin Chuan was weakened after escaping the land of nothingness and asked whether he still had his original Beyonder characteristics.

Lin Chuan reassured Klein about the danger posed by the Antigonus Family Notebook and explained how the Acting Method worked. Klein understood why the Nighthawks had recruited him, but Lin Chuan warned him not to lose himself in a role.

• Lin Chuan admitted that he had no Beyonder characteristics and told Klein he could recover if he obtained the right characteristics or reconnected with the Boundless Void.
• Lin Chuan explained that the Antigonus Family had been wiped out by the Church of the Evernight Goddess, so any surviving Angel was likely weakened and hunted.
• Klein concluded that the Nighthawks had recruited him mainly because he had encountered the Antigonus Family Notebook and survived.
• Lin Chuan compared a potion to a guarded castle and acting to disguising oneself as an invited guest to enter it safely.
• Lin Chuan warned Klein that Beyonders had to remember they were only acting, or risk losing control by forgetting their identities.

Klein learned that Dunn Smith was a Sequence 7 Nightmare of the Church of Evernight, but Lin Chuan said Dunn likely did not know the Acting Method. Lin Chuan confirmed that the Church knew the method, leaving Klein to wonder why it was not taught to ordinary Beyonders.

• Klein asked Lin Chuan who owned the castle, and Lin Chuan answered that he did.
• Lin Chuan explained that the Church of Evernight's Sleepless Pathway included Sleepless at Sequence 9, Midnight Poet at Sequence 8, and Nightmare at Sequence 7, identifying Dunn Smith as a Nightmare.
• Klein guessed Dunn had used his dream investigation to practice acting as a Nightmare, but Lin Chuan said Dunn probably did not know the Acting Method.
• Klein questioned why the Church did not teach a method that sped up potion digestion and reduced the risk of losing control, recalling Dunn's account of Nighthawks becoming monsters.
• Lin Chuan said the Church's senior members knew the Acting Method and explained that Beyonders without it could spend years stuck at low Sequences or risk forced advancement.
• When Klein began to suspect the Church was withholding the method for the reason he feared, Lin Chuan denied that this was the case.

Lin Chuan explained to Klein why the Churches kept the Acting Method from spreading: it helped Beyonders digest potions too quickly, multiplying competition and the risk of loss of control, while the authorities saw no need to take on the trouble of changing things. He left Klein with the blunt conclusion that the gods did not care.

• Lin Chuan told Klein that Church leaders had discovered the Acting Method themselves and that the gods, rather than Church officials alone, shaped whether it could be shared.
• Lin Chuan explained that anyone who revealed knowledge of the Acting Method to the Nighthawks would have to swear not to tell people who did not already know it.
• Lin Chuan described the laws of Beyonder characteristics and said that spreading the Acting Method would quickly create far more candidates for advancement.
• Klein argued that the Churches could teach the method selectively and reduce the risk of Beyonders losing control, but Lin Chuan said doing so would be a hassle while society remained stable.
• Lin Chuan told Klein that the gods did not care.

Lin Chuan explained to Klein how divinity shaped Beyonders and Gods, warning him not to put Gods on a pedestal. He ended by revealing that the God he considered truly worthy of respect, the one who loved humanity, had died long ago.

• Lin Chuan told Klein that Gods were powerful beings who struggled against their divinity and were not necessarily worthy of respect.
• Lin Chuan explained that divinity emerged in Beyonders at Sequence 4, grew with advancement, and could corrupt them; believers' faith served as anchors to preserve their humanity.
• Lin Chuan confirmed that a God was Sequence 0, the endpoint of a Beyonder Pathway, and could go mad, lose control, die, or be replaced.
• Lin Chuan told Klein that the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Earth Mother, and the God of Steam and Machinery were not among the Gods he respected, then said the God who loved humanity had died long ago.

Lin Chuan told Klein that a God who loved humanity had died after giving everything to the world, then said he planned to stay in Tingen and seek help from a friend he had not yet met. Klein left for the Hound Tavern to pursue work with the Nighthawks, while Lin Chuan set out to find members of the Aurora Order.

• Lin Chuan told Klein that a God who loved humanity had died after sacrificing himself for the world.
• Klein prepared to go to the Hound Tavern on Besk Street, and Lin Chuan said he would stay in Tingen and find a place to stay through a friend.
• Lin Chuan reassured Klein that his history credentials and connection to the Antigonus Family Notebook made him a strong candidate for the Nighthawks.
• Klein left to meet the Nighthawks, and Lin Chuan watched him go before heading out into Tingen.
• Lin Chuan went to seek out the Aurora Order's subordinates scattered throughout the city.

Lin Chuan confronted Hanass Vincent, an Aurora Order believer and Tingen diviner, about the notebook and the danger his actions had brought to the city. He revealed his knowledge of the Order’s secrets and ordered Hanass to summon Mr. Z.

• Lin Chuan was disappointed by Hanass Vincent’s ordinary appearance when he entered the divination room.
• Hanass tried to draw Lin Chuan into a conversation about the truths of the True Creator, but Lin Chuan said Hanass was about to die.
• Lin Chuan sealed the divination room with a barrier and accused Hanass and Sirius Arapis of copying formulas and passing the Antigonus Family’s notebook to Welch McGovern.
• Hanass panicked when Lin Chuan described the consequences of their actions and demanded to know who he was.
• Lin Chuan recited a passage in Ancient Hermes and ordered Hanass to bring Mr. Z to see him.

Hanass Vincent brought Lin Chuan a Secrets Suppliant potion and the materials to contact Mr. Z, believing Lin Chuan was an exalted figure in the Aurora Order. As Mr. Z appeared through the ritual, Lin Chuan drank the entire potion in one gulp.

• Hanass Vincent hurried home to prepare the Secrets Suppliant potion and a ritual to contact Mr. Z.
• Hanass returned to the Divination Club and arranged the ritual at Lin Chuan's insistence.
• Mr. Z answered the ritual from a dim basement and fixed his gaze on Lin Chuan.
• Before Hanass could introduce Lin Chuan, Lin Chuan drank the whole Secrets Suppliant potion.

Lin Chuan drank the Secrets Suppliant potion without reacting and greeted the True Creator through the prayer channel. Beyond the barrier, his true body briefly pressed against it before drifting away, leaving the gathered Outer Deities and Seven Gods wary.

• Lin Chuan drank the Secrets Suppliant potion and listened to the murmurs without showing any physical reaction.
• Hanass told Mr. Z that Lin Chuan might be an Oracle or a Saint, and the two waited as Lin Chuan prayed.
• The True Creator's gaze reached Hanass's room, and Lin Chuan greeted him by asking whether he had eaten.
• Lin Chuan's true body approached and pressed against the barrier, causing the Outer Deities nearby to scatter.
• The Supernova Dominator questioned Lin Chuan, while the Seven Gods watched warily, but Lin Chuan soon drifted away without incident.

Lin Chuan sent a Sequence 4 characteristic through a connection to the True Creator, then used the Faceless One’s galaxy-wide anchors to restore the True Creator’s clarity. The True Creator emerged in a new form and asked Lin Chuan who he was, and Lin Chuan identified himself as the Great Old One Remnant.

• The Seven Gods checked the barrier after the mass of colors departed and found no new Outer Deity power inside.
• Lin Chuan sent a Sequence 4 Beyonder characteristic through the connection to the True Creator, where it transformed into a young man.
• The True Creator attacked the young man with corruption, but Lin Chuan and his true body recited the True Creator’s honorific name.
• Billions of followers in a distant galaxy prayed to the True Creator after the Faceless One’s oracle, giving him precisely balanced anchors.
• The True Creator’s madness faded, and he transformed into a black-haired, black-eyed man resembling Sasrir.
• The True Creator asked Lin Chuan who he was, and Lin Chuan called himself the Great Old One Remnant.

Lin Chuan spoke with Grisha, the True Creator, and claimed to be a Great Old One Remnant from Earth. After a long conversation, Grisha chose to believe him, and Lin Chuan accepted his trust.

• The True Creator recognized the Faceless One from the dawn of the fire era and questioned why Lin Chuan had helped him.
• Lin Chuan asked Grisha to thank him, then discussed Ouroboros, the Ancient Sun God, Sasrir, and the Celestial Worthy.
• Lin Chuan asked whether Grisha believed he was a Great Old One Remnant.
• Grisha weighed the risks and chose to believe Lin Chuan.
• Lin Chuan was surprised by Grisha's trust, then said it was just like him.

Lin Chuan adjusted the anchors stabilizing Grisha and shifted his consciousness to Tingen, where he dealt with a transformed Hanass Vincent and watched Grisha issue a revelation to the Aurora Order. The chapter ended with Grisha realizing that Lin Chuan had been using Sefirah Castle as a rubbish dump.

• Lin Chuan confirmed that Grisha was the True Creator, and Grisha asked him to use his name rather than Sasrir.
• Lin Chuan adjusted the Stellar System’s anchors for Grisha, then withdrew his consciousness from his avatar in the Forsaken Land of the Gods and moved it to his Tingen body.
• Lin Chuan explained that he preferred to control one body because he wanted to maintain his humanity.
• Lin Chuan found Hanass Vincent transformed into a writhing mass of flesh and made him vanish from the White Crystal Room.
• Mr. Z received Grisha’s bloody revelation declaring him a Blessed, while Lin Chuan complained about Grisha’s method of delivering it.
• Grisha realized Lin Chuan was using Sefirah Castle as a rubbish dump and swore in Russian.

Lin Chuan reassured Grisha that he would not accommodate Sefirah Castle and revealed that he intended to accommodate the Knowledge Moor instead, with Grisha agreeing to help him. Later, Mr. Z arrived in Tingen at Lin Chuan’s summons, and Lin Chuan asked whether he had any gold pounds.

• Grisha warned Lin Chuan that accommodating Sefirah Castle would risk losing himself, and Lin Chuan jokingly pretended to accept before clarifying that he would not do it.
• Lin Chuan told Grisha he planned to accommodate the Knowledge Moor rather than rely on Stiano becoming the Demon of Knowledge.
• Grisha agreed to help Lin Chuan and offered to kill Stiano if necessary, while Lin Chuan said Stiano might find a suitable position without a divine war.
• Mr. Z arrived from Enmat Harbor in Tingen using a recorded Travel ability and respectfully greeted Lin Chuan.
• Lin Chuan asked Mr. Z whether he had any gold pounds on him.

Lin Chuan spent most of his remaining money on new clothes, then borrowed twenty pounds from Hanass's old belongings rather than take funds from the Aurora Order. He declared that his priority was to make the Aurora Order great again and began questioning Mr. Z about how the order had fallen from its former glory.

• Lin Chuan bought new clothes and accessories at Wilker's Clothing and Hat Shop, gave Klein five pounds, and was left with only thirteen soli.
• Lin Chuan asked Mr. Z for money, but Mr. Z had only ten soli on him and offered to retrieve funds from the Aurora Order's base in Enmat Harbor.
• Lin Chuan retrieved twenty pounds from Hanass's old clothes and put the Secrets Suppliant characteristic into the Boundless Void.
• Lin Chuan told Mr. Z to make the Aurora Order great again instead of pursuing an assassination, and Mr. Z reacted with fervent devotion.
• Lin Chuan asked Mr. Z when the Aurora Order's ideals had been tarnished and why the Lord's church had declined since the Fourth Epoch.

Lin Chuan challenged Mr. Z to care for the people he had once condemned and take up the duty of purging those who committed evil in the Lord’s name. The next morning, Klein canceled his university interview after joining the Nighthawks, then unexpectedly encountered Lin Chuan.

• Lin Chuan told Mr. Z that oppression had made the people ignorant and desperate, and that the Lord bore their suffering.
• Lin Chuan urged Mr. Z to love and guide the people, purge evil committed in the Lord’s name, and become a light for their salvation.
• The narration recalled that years later Mr. Z would be known as the “Light-Chasing Saint.”
• Klein visited Tingen University to cancel his interview after becoming a civilian employee of the Nighthawks.
• Klein turned at a familiar voice and saw an elderly man and Lin Chuan waiting in the corridor.

Klein met Professor Cohen and Azik at Tingen University, where Lin Chuan used the alias Hercules Hastings and claimed to have donated three hundred pounds for a special library card. After Klein noticed a report about Welch’s stolen possessions and sensed someone watching them, Lin Chuan advised him to seek help from the Nighthawks or go to Saint Selena Cathedral. On the carriage, Lin Chuan explained that he had become wealthy by joining the Aurora Order.

• Klein greeted Professor Cohen and Azik at Tingen University, where Lin Chuan introduced himself as Hercules Hastings.
• Lin Chuan told Cohen he had donated three hundred pounds to Tingen University and received an all-access library card in return.
• Klein read a report about Welch’s murder and missing money, then questioned Lin Chuan about where his wealth came from.
• Klein sensed someone watching them, and Lin Chuan urged him to report the surveillance to Dunn Smith or seek safety at Saint Selena Cathedral.
• Klein and Lin Chuan rode a carriage toward Red Moon Street, and Lin Chuan said he had joined the Aurora Order.

Klein learned that Lin Chuan had joined the Aurora Order and become its Blessed, alarming him because the organization was led by a god. Lin Chuan revealed that he had not concealed himself from that god, leaving Klein relieved that Lin Chuan had not been keen on hiding.

• Klein recalled Old Neil's warning that the Aurora Order was a dangerous secret organization.
• Klein questioned how Lin Chuan had obtained three hundred pounds from the Aurora Order.
• Lin Chuan said he had become one of the Aurora Order's Blessed, leaving Klein stunned.
• Lin Chuan explained that gods were Sequence 0 Beyonders and could not detect a concealed Archangel from afar.
• Klein asked whether Lin Chuan had hidden from the Aurora Order's god, and Lin Chuan admitted he had not.

Lin Chuan told Klein that he had become a Blessed of the True Creator to find a friend devoted to salvation and great love, then accompanied Klein into Saint Selena Cathedral as an avowed believer of Evernight. Meanwhile, Ince Zangwill’s plans were disrupted by Mr. Z’s arrival in Tingen, forcing Ince to leave for Enmat Harbor as 0-08 continued shaping events.

• Klein questioned Lin Chuan about becoming the Aurora Order’s Blessed, and Lin Chuan said he had come to find the True Creator, his friend devoted to salvation and great love.
• Klein and Lin Chuan arrived at Saint Selena Cathedral, where Lin Chuan declared himself Evernight’s most devout believer and entered to hear the sermon.
• The Quill of Alzuhod wrote that Mr. Z had unexpectedly come to Tingen and would discover Megose, threatening Ince Zangwill’s plan.
• Ince Zangwill took 0-08 and prepared to leave for Enmat Harbor so he could respond to the attack on the Aurora Order’s base.
• 0-08 wrote that Ince’s failed advancement to Sequence 4 had made him extreme, obsessive, and irritable.

Klein and Lin Chuan attended Mass at Saint Selena Cathedral, where Klein found unexpected comfort in the service and questioned Lin Chuan’s apparent loss of power. The chapter ended with Lin Chuan silently addressing Grisha in prayer.

• Klein and Lin Chuan entered Saint Selena Cathedral and admired the design of the Great Prayer Hall.
• Lin Chuan thanked a passing gentleman for directing them to the prayer hall, while Klein tried to hide his embarrassment.
• Klein and Lin Chuan sat at the back of the Great Prayer Hall and listened to the bishop’s sermon.
• Klein considered whether Lin Chuan had deliberately weakened himself as part of a plan to recover or ascend to godhood.
• Lin Chuan silently prayed, asking, “You there, Grisha?”

Grisha prepared to reclaim his powers in the Forsaken Land of the Gods while Lin Chuan contacted him and introduced Klein Moretti as his candidate for the Lord of the Mysteries. Grisha warned that Klein’s Seer path was a deadly dead end, but Lin Chuan said he believed in Klein just as he believed in Grisha.

• Grisha prepared to reclaim his powers of shadow and corruption in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Ouroboros brought him rye bread.
• Lin Chuan accidentally transmitted a church sermon to Grisha, who suppressed his anger and asked whether Lin Chuan disliked Amanises.
• Lin Chuan said he preferred working with Grisha over Amanises and introduced Klein Moretti, also known as Zhou Mingrui, as his friend.
• Lin Chuan told Grisha that Klein would take the Seer potion within days and was his candidate for the Lord of the Mysteries.
• Grisha warned that Klein was unprepared to face Amon and the Celestial Worthy, but Lin Chuan said he believed in Klein as he believed in Grisha.

Klein reported that he was being followed, while Lin Chuan secured Grisha's promise to watch over him and reaffirmed that he expected no sacrifice in return for helping him. Lin Chuan then went to the Tingen City Housing Improvement Company and asked to rent 6 Daffodil Street, only to learn that it was occupied.

• After Mass, Klein told Captain Dunn Smith through the confessional that someone was following him and handed over his Special Operations Department 7th Squad badge.
• Grisha agreed to watch Klein but said Klein would have to prove himself worthy before Grisha chose him over Amon.
• Lin Chuan told Grisha he wanted a future without necessary sacrifices and that he demanded no price because hope was priceless.
• Leaving the cathedral, Lin Chuan noticed a Secret Order member watching him and decided to visit the Tingen City Housing Improvement Company.
• Lin Chuan asked Skatter for 6 Daffodil Street, but Skatter explained that its tenants had a long-term lease and offered vacant number 2 instead.

Lin Chuan negotiated to rent 6 Daffodil Street, exposing Skatter’s attempt to overcharge him and paying two hundred pounds to secure the occupied house. Six hours later, Lin Chuan finished a lavish meal at the Bonaparte Restaurant and still had exactly two hundred and seventy pounds in his wallet.

• Skatter quoted Lin Chuan inflated rent for a vacant house on Daffodil Street, but Lin Chuan corrected him with the actual price.
• Skatter apologized for the overcharge, and Lin Chuan let the mistake slide but insisted on renting number 6.
• Lin Chuan offered Skatter two hundred pounds to arrange a six-month lease for number 6 by the next afternoon, and Skatter agreed.
• Six hours later, Lin Chuan finished a meal at the Bonaparte Restaurant and saw that his wallet still held exactly two hundred and seventy pounds.

Klein and his siblings moved into 2 Daffodil Street with Lin Chuan’s help, then shared dinner and talked over sweet iced tea. Klein told Lin Chuan that he had earned enough merit to exchange for a Sequence 9 potion from the Nighthawks.

• Lin Chuan helped Klein, Benson, and Melissa clean and settle into their new home at 2 Daffodil Street.
• Klein and Benson laughed at the sight of each other covered in dust, and Melissa joined them.
• Klein cooked lamb stew after Melissa’s dinner threatened to ruin the ingredients, then he and Lin Chuan chatted over sweet iced tea.
• Klein and Lin Chuan discussed how Skatter had arranged the lease and returned Lin Chuan’s money.
• Klein told Lin Chuan that he had earned enough merit to exchange for a Sequence 9 potion with the Nighthawks.

Klein told Lin Chuan that he had earned a chance to choose a Sequence for helping capture a Secret Order member, and confirmed that he would choose Seer. Lin Chuan explained why Roselle regretted choosing the Savant Pathway, described the Apprentice Pathway, and left Klein alarmed by the high cost of its formula and ingredients.

• Klein explained that the Nighthawks had rewarded him for helping capture a Secret Order member with a chance to choose a Sequence, and he chose Seer.
• Lin Chuan told Klein that Roselle had chosen the Savant Pathway, whose Sequence 0 was Paragon, and explained that its true god prevented others on that Pathway from reaching Sequence 0.
• Klein asked about the Apprentice and Marauder Pathways, and Lin Chuan explained that Apprentices could pass through doors and walls and gained stronger abilities at higher Sequences.
• Lin Chuan offered Klein an Apprentice formula for 150 pounds, then warned that potion ingredients would cost another 400 to 500 pounds.
• Lin Chuan said that Apprentice Beyonders were numerous but usually appeared as Beyonder Items.

Lin Chuan explained why Apprentice pathway Beyonders were often hunted and told Klein that the True Creator had once been the orthodox god of the Solomon Empire. He revealed that he had helped the True Creator recover from a thousand years of madness and became a Blessed to reform the Aurora Order.

• Lin Chuan explained that Apprentice pathway Beyonders could be hunted by stronger opponents who coveted their useful abilities, even after they gained the power to teleport.
• Lin Chuan identified the Secrets Suppliant pathway's Sequences and said its higher Sequences included Rose Bishop, Shadow Ascetic, Listener, and Secrets Suppliant.
• Klein described the Aurora Order as a violent evil cult and asked whether its reputation and the True Creator's were church slander; Lin Chuan confirmed the Order's crimes but said the True Creator had been an orthodox god in the Fourth Epoch.
• Lin Chuan explained that the True Creator lost the War of the Four Emperors and remained mad for a thousand years until Lin Chuan helped him recover.
• Lin Chuan said he became the True Creator's Blessed so he could help reform the Aurora Order's members.