Chapter Summaries

After waking from a long rest, Klein entered Above the Gray Fog for a Tarot Club meeting and questioned Lin Chuan about his connection to the place. He discovered strange symbols on their chairs and concluded that his own symbol had appeared after he drank the Seer potion.

• Klein returned home exhausted, slept, and woke at a quarter past two in the afternoon.
• After lunch, Klein entered Above the Gray Fog early and identified the Crimson Star connected to Lin Chuan.
• Lin Chuan joined Klein and said he had followed the connection directly to Above the Gray Fog rather than finding the Boundless Void.
• Klein noticed an unfamiliar overlapping emblem on Lin Chuan's chair and then saw a similar symbol on his own chair.
• Lin Chuan told Klein to consider what had changed since his last visit, leading Klein to connect his symbol to drinking the Seer potion.

Klein asked Lin Chuan how Tarot Club members could send advance notice if they missed a meeting, and Lin Chuan explained how Ritual Magic could serve as a prayer-based messaging network. Klein devised an incantation to direct prayers to himself above the gray fog, but Lin Chuan asked what offering people would use to reach him.

• Klein asked Lin Chuan to help devise a way for Justice and the Hanged Man to request leave before a Tarot Club meeting.
• Lin Chuan explained that Ritual Magic could deliver prayers to a target and that Klein could use his status above the gray fog to receive them.
• Klein composed the incantation, "The Fool that doesn't belong to this era, the mysterious ruler above the gray fog, the King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck!"
• Lin Chuan praised the incantation and asked Klein what people should offer as part of the ritual.

Klein and Lin Chuan devised a convincing ritual for Klein to answer prayers, joking over whether sweet iced tea could serve as an offering. As the appointed time approached, Klein prepared to establish a connection with Justice and the Hanged Man.

• Klein rejected using gold pounds to please the Fool and proposed combining elements from other rituals, including four candles, regional dishes, and essential oil.
• Lin Chuan pointed out that Klein's chosen herbs mixed ingredients from the Red Moon and Sun domains, and Klein asked him to suggest a suitable replacement.
• Lin Chuan proposed sweet iced tea as ritual essential oil, but Klein refused and instead allowed it as an offering alongside the dishes.
• Lin Chuan suggested hallucinogenic herb and honeysuckle essential oils, and Klein noticed it was almost three o'clock.
• Klein shrouded himself in thicker gray fog and reached toward Justice and the Hanged Man's crimson stars to establish a connection.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Klein confirmed that he could see Justice and the Hanged Man’s auras above the gray fog, while Justice asked the group about the Acting Method. Klein explained it, and Justice and the Hanged Man then asked what they should offer in exchange, leaving Temperance to consider whether he wanted anything from Justice.

• Klein examined Justice and the Hanged Man’s auras and noticed the dragon and storm symbols on their chairs.
• Audrey greeted Mr. Fool, Temperance, and the Hanged Man, and thanked them after Klein congratulated her on becoming a Beyonder.
• Audrey asked what acting meant, and Klein explained the method with an analogy about a castle, its guards, and invitations.
• Alger asked what the group should offer in exchange, and Audrey asked both Mr. Fool and Temperance what they wanted her to do.

Lin Chuan asked Audrey for a thousand pounds and explained how to summon spirit world creatures as messengers. Audrey’s interest was tempered by Alger’s warning, while Lin Chuan described the dangers and requirements of forming a contract.

• Lin Chuan asked Audrey to give him a thousand pounds whenever he remembered to collect it, and Audrey agreed.
• Lin Chuan told Audrey that spirit world creatures could be contracted to deliver messages through the Spirit World.
• Alger warned Audrey that summoning spirit world creatures was dangerous and required a precise incantation.
• Lin Chuan explained that a binding messenger contract needed to be written in a Beyonder language, signed with a suitable god’s honorific name, and empowered by the spirit domain.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Klein asked Audrey and Alger to collect pages from Roselle Gustav’s diary and demonstrated how they could send him text through the gray fog. Lin Chuan teased Klein as Audrey asked about the Spectator pathway’s higher sequences.

• Klein asked Audrey and Alger to provide three diary pages each in payment for his answers, and offered further compensation for more pages.
• Klein produced a parchment and fountain pen that recorded text when someone wanted to express it, while Lin Chuan explained that the parchment did not read minds.
• Klein and Lin Chuan repeatedly erased and restored an insulting word on the parchment, then Klein regretted joining the childish contest.
• Alger explained the rules for acting as a Spectator to Audrey, who asked Lin Chuan about the sequences after Telepathist and where to find clues.

At the Tarot Club meeting, Audrey asked about the Spectator pathway and whether animals could survive drinking a potion, while Lin Chuan revealed the Demoness pathway’s gender-changing advancement. Klein taught Audrey and Alger a ritual to contact him, then discussed whether to invite more people to the club with Lin Chuan.

• Lin Chuan listed several Spectator pathway Sequences, and Alger explained that animals who survived a Sequence 9 potion could become supernatural and possibly human-level intelligent.
• Audrey asked what would happen if an ordinary animal drank a Sequence 9 potion, then confirmed she had no more questions.
• Alger shared information about Ludwell, and Audrey described her family’s concerns about the government’s inefficient system; Klein offered political commentary.
• Lin Chuan explained that the Assassin pathway was also called the Demoness pathway and that all Beyonders became women upon advancing to Witch.
• Klein taught Audrey and Alger a ritual for contacting him and asked them to perform it by Wednesday before ending the gathering.
• After the meeting, Klein told Lin Chuan he could reach other crimson stars but did not want to bring anyone new into the Tarot Club; Lin Chuan suggested leaving the places open for people who might pray to join.

Klein asked Lin Chuan whether the gray fog could store real-world objects, and Lin Chuan explained how to sacrifice items into it while hinting at its connection to the Seer pathway. The chapter ended with Klein learning that each attempt would consume spiritual materials costing nearly one pound.

• Klein asked Lin Chuan whether the gray fog could store objects from the real world, and Lin Chuan confirmed that it could.
• Lin Chuan told Klein to use a sacrificial ritual and the symbol on the back of his high-backed chair to bring objects above the gray fog.
• Lin Chuan revealed that Sequence 0 of the Seer pathway was called the Fool, and Klein wondered whether the gray fog was the Fool's Uniqueness.
• Lin Chuan explained that Klein would need spiritually imbued materials as consumables to open the gate during the ritual.
• Klein asked how much the spiritual materials cost, and Lin Chuan said each attempt would cost just under one pound.

Lin Chuan told Nim he came from Chernobyl, moving the Moon City High Priest to tears as he recognized the end of a 3,720-year wait, and Lin Chuan asked him to gather the city and its field teams. Back in Tingen, Lin Chuan headed to the Evil Dragon Bar while Klein visited the Seer Club and encountered a man who denied being its receptionist.

• Lin Chuan told Nim that he came from Chernobyl, and Nim dropped his lantern and wept.
• Nim explained that Moon City had waited 3,720 years since the first oracle and had never abandoned its mission.
• Lin Chuan asked Nim to take him to Moon City, gather the priests, and recall the teams in the field.
• Lin Chuan returned to Tingen, then left for the Harbor District and the Evil Dragon Bar.
• Klein inspected the Moretti family home and Welch's residence before visiting the Seer Club.
• A brown-haired man at the Seer Club told Klein that he was not the receptionist.

Klein visited a divination club and learned that joining cost more than he could afford. Mr. Z, disguised as the famous Seer Hanass Vincent, offered him a free Tarot reading and began preparing in the White Crystal Room.

• Klein recognized Hanass Vincent as the man a newspaper had called Tingen City's most famous Seer.
• Angelica explained the club's membership and divination fees, and Klein realized he could not afford to join.
• Mr. Z noticed Klein's poverty and offered to divine for him free of charge.
• Mr. Z borrowed the White Crystal Room and brought out Tarot Cards while carrying a book about communicating amicably.
• Klein sat across from Mr. Z, who believed his improved conversational approach had helped Klein lower his guard.

Klein visited Mr. Z in the guise of Mr. Hanass for a Tarot reading about finding respectable work, but the first deck produced three Fool cards. A new spread yielded the Fool, the Hermit, and the Sun, and Mr. Z sent Klein away with advice and directions to the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association.

• Klein asked Mr. Z to divine whether he would soon find a respectable, well-paying job.
• Mr. Z turned over two cards from the first deck, and both showed the Fool, so he left to get a replacement deck.
• Alone, Klein revealed that the third card was also the Fool and secretly replaced it with the Star.
• Mr. Z returned with a fresh deck and laid out the Fool, the Hermit, and the Sun, predicting that Klein would find respectable work if he kept his faith.
• Mr. Z warned Klein not to waste money on divination and recommended that he seek help from the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association if he faced hardship.

Lin Chuan visited the underground market at the Evil Dragon Bar to check the prices of Beyonder materials, where the troubled Ademisaul began silently following him. Lin Chuan bought two materials and left Ademisaul waiting outside the seller’s room.

• Lin Chuan arrived at the Evil Dragon Bar in disguise and made his way to its hidden underground market.
• Ademisaul recognized the quiet he felt near Lin Chuan and followed him while keeping five paces away.
• Lin Chuan asked an elderly seller for a list of Beyonder materials and their prices.
• Lin Chuan paid for Snake-bodied Monster Bird black feathers and a shadow poison flower.

Lin Chuan bought ingredients and persuaded Ademisaul to follow him, then warned Swain of a future loss-of-control incident on August 16. The chapter ended with Swain rushing to prevent it and Klein arriving at Dunn Smith’s office to report someone.

• Lin Chuan bought ingredients and supplies in the underground market, then asked Ademisaul whether he wanted to follow him; Ademisaul agreed.
• Lin Chuan entered the Evil Dragon Bar with Ademisaul and identified Swain as a former Mandated Punishers captain.
• Lin Chuan warned Swain that a former teammate would lose control near the bar on August 16 and described how the Mandated Punishers would confront him.
• Swain recognized Lin Chuan’s possible connection to the School of Life’s Soothsayer Sequence and hurried out, determined not to be late on August 16.
• Klein entered Dunn Smith’s office at the Black Thorn Security Company and said he wanted to report someone.

Klein reported Hanass Vincent’s suspicious behavior to Dunn, who took charge of investigating him, while Klein asked Old Neil to teach him occultism early. Meanwhile, Lin Chuan led Ademisaul to the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association, leaving their purpose there unclear.

• Klein told Dunn about Hanass’s missing accent, his departure from the Seer Club, and his plans to leave Tingen.
• Dunn agreed that Hanass’s behavior warranted investigation and went to search for him with Leonard and Kenley.
• Klein headed to the basement storeroom and asked Old Neil to begin teaching him occultism ahead of schedule.
• Lin Chuan led Ademisaul along the Harbor District road beside the Tussock River.
• Lin Chuan stopped before the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association, and Ademisaul followed his gaze to its sign.

Lin Chuan learned that Grisha had taken a weak flesh-and-blood avatar to Backlund to experience ordinary life and decided to let Ademisaul follow him despite the danger. At the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association, Lin Chuan encountered a wary young man leaving the building.

• Lin Chuan contacted Grisha and learned that Grisha had come to Backlund in a weak avatar to experience ordinary life and had ordered the Aurora Order to establish mutual aid groups.
• Lin Chuan considered Ademisaul's potential on the Wheel of Fortune Pathway and warned him that following could lead to death.
• Ademisaul chose to stay with Lin Chuan, who offered him a 'Monster' potion formula if he left.
• Lin Chuan and Ademisaul went to the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association, where a black-haired, green-eyed young man emerged and eyed Ademisaul warily.

After Mr. Z escaped Dunn Smith’s attempt to capture him, Leonard Mitchell investigated the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association and met Lin Chuan and Ademisaul. Lin Chuan revealed that he recognized the parasite within Leonard as Pallez Zoroast, then put on a Monocle and confronted him.

• Dunn Smith and Leonard Mitchell found Hanass's home empty after Mr. Z used a Recorded Traveler's Door to escape.
• Dunn sent Leonard to investigate the Tingen City Workers' Mutual Aid Association, where Leonard found people distributing food and registering aid recipients.
• Leonard encountered Lin Chuan and Ademisaul at the Association's entrance and praised the aid work while warning that its background was unknown.
• Lin Chuan addressed Pallez Zoroast, prompting Leonard to realize that the old voice inside him had a name.
• Lin Chuan put a Monocle over his left eye, heard Pallez declare that he was not Amon, then moved the Monocle to his right eye.

Lin Chuan left Leonard and Pallez unsettled after teasing them with a monocle, then arrived at Moon City in the Forsaken Land of the Gods. He told Moon City's leaders he was not an emissary of their Lord, but had seen part of the Creator before coming there.

• Lin Chuan removed the monocle and left Leonard and Pallez outside the Mutual Aid Society, calling Leonard the “protagonist of the era.”
• Pallez refused to explain himself when Leonard asked about Lin Chuan and Amon.
• Nim led Lin Chuan to the tower at the center of Moon City while the others waited for the hunting team’s return.
• Lin Chuan surveyed Moon City’s ancient buildings and met with Nim, the Lightning Priest, and the Evernight Priest.
• Nim asked whether Lin Chuan was an emissary of the Lord, and Lin Chuan said he was not.
• Lin Chuan told Moon City’s leaders that he had seen part of the Creator they worshipped.

Lin Chuan told Moon City's priests about the betrayal of the Ancient Sun God and revealed that the True Creator had returned, leaving them free to choose whom to worship. He then headed to the lowest level of the Round Tower to meet a long-imprisoned survivor from an exploration team.

• Lin Chuan explained to Nim and the other priests how Sasrir and three Kings of Angels betrayed the Creator, and how part of the Creator had returned as the True Creator.
• Lin Chuan named Aucuses, Herabergen, and Leodero as the betrayers and warned the priests not to speak their true names aloud.
• Lin Chuan gave the priests his Lord's and the True Creator's Honorific Names, then told them they could choose their own faith.
• Nim told Lin Chuan that a Moon City resident named Adal wanted to join a hunting party, and Lin Chuan said a tragedy involving him would no longer happen.
• Lin Chuan went to the Round Tower's lowest level to meet the sole survivor of an exploration team, who had been imprisoned for forty-two years.

Lin Chuan entered Moon City's holding rooms to meet the survivor who had been there for forty-two years, then revealed that he knew and worshipped Amon. He leaves Amon's phantom trapped before him after cutting it off from its main body and avatars.

• Nim questioned why Lin Chuan wanted guards to escort him into the holding rooms, and Lin Chuan said it was fun.
• Lin Chuan entered a locked room and began speaking with the aged voice of the prisoner next door.
• Lin Chuan claimed to worship Moon City's savior, then declared that the great God of Salvation was Amon.
• Amon appeared before Lin Chuan and offered to make him a blessed, but his attempts to steal Lin Chuan's thoughts and contact his other selves failed.
• Lin Chuan pulled Amon's phantom in front of him and called the situation interesting.

Lin Chuan captured Amon’s avatar in Moon City and revealed that he was an Outer Deity, leaving Amon overwhelmed by the revelation. Amon could not escape or contact his main body and asked Lin Chuan to kill him.

• Lin Chuan extracted Amon’s phantom, wished him into a raven, and used further wishes to prevent him from flying away.
• Amon tried to contact his main body and escape, but found himself trapped as an ordinary raven.
• Amon asked Lin Chuan who he was, and Lin Chuan requested that Amon first explain why he had left an avatar in Moon City.
• Amon said he had left the avatar there on intuition, so Lin Chuan answered that he was a believer in Amon and then revealed that he was an Outer Deity.
• Amon sensed a gaze from the starry sky, collapsed on the table, and asked Lin Chuan to kill him.