Chapter Summaries

Krono Nois Argyle woke in the body of the Argel Family’s sole heir after being pulled into the world of Lord of the Mysteries. As he recovered the body’s memories, he learned the family’s history and how its marquesses had ultimately withdrawn from politics to protect their house and fief.

• Krono recalled putting on an Iron Man gauntlet replica, snapping his fingers, and being dragged through a vortex before waking in an unfamiliar room.
• After realizing he had transmigrated, Krono collapsed from exhaustion, and memories of Krono Nois Argyle gradually surfaced.
• Krono learned that the Argel Family was an ancient Loen marquessate whose military authority had been reduced and whose fief had been moved to Midseashire.
• The Argel Family restored its standing through Marquess Portu Argel’s victories in the White Rose War and the Oathbreaker War.
• In 1034, a Marquess Argel declared that the family would abandon military and political affairs and turn to commerce to preserve its house and fief.

Kronos reviewed the Argel family’s history, his Mystery Pryer training, and the memories merged with his soul as he considered how to survive in the world. At lunch, Marquis Hanno Argel told him he could choose his own path, and the chapter ended with Kronos’s return to the family estate for a matter connected to his teacher, Portland Momont.

• The Argel family’s refusal to enter military service ended its political conflicts and allowed it to build wealth through wine, mining, and investments.
• Kronos recalled that he was a Sequence 9 Mystery Pryer and would finish the family’s five-year silence rule in a week, after which he could drink the Melee Scholar potion.
• Kronos sorted through his merged memories and resolved to test his potential before deciding whether to rely on Mr. Fool.
• Kronos joined Marquis Hanno Argel, Marchioness Audrey Argel, and Annie Argel for lunch, where Hanno told him he could decide his own future.
• Kronos’s connection to Portland Momont was established, and he had returned to the estate on Wednesday because of a matter involving his teacher.

Half a year after Kronos began assisting Professor Portland on the ironclad project, Duke Negan arranged to make him its technical consultant and grant him the naval rank of lieutenant commander. Marquis Argyle explained the Negan family's political maneuvering and told Kronos to end his speech-ban period early, take the Melee Scholar potion, and prepare to navigate both political factions.

• Duke Negan recruited Kronos to assist Professor Portland on the ironclad project, and Kronos accepted after consulting Marquis Argyle.
• Kronos worked at the Royal Navy Base on Rubber Island, where his identity became known among the nobles there.
• Duke Negan arranged for Kronos to become the project's technical consultant and a naval lieutenant commander after his speech-ban period ended.
• Kronos hurried home and told Marquis Argyle about the appointment and the Negan family's effort to draw the Argel Family into politics.
• Marquis Argyle said he had sounded out the political factions and instructed Kronos to end his speech-ban period early, take the Melee Scholar potion, and return to Backlund to manage the New Party and Conservative Party.

Kronos ended his five-year silence and planned to approach Earl Hall about buying his family’s surplus iron. After an Outer Deity’s corruption nearly killed him, the green Time Stone awakened and protected him, leaving him to investigate its powers and consider his future.

• Marquis Argel told Kronos that the family needed him to approach the New Party’s Earl Hall and help sell their surplus iron without drawing the marquis directly into politics.
• Kronos agreed to visit Earl Hall, then spoke aloud for the first time in five years, saying Annie’s name.
• Kronos took Annie riding, but a surge of corruption struck him with an intense malevolent gaze.
• The green stone between Kronos’s eyebrows activated, repelled the corruption, and revealed its Sequence 9 ability, Concealment of Time.
• Kronos studied the Time Stone in his room and reflected on its powers, his pathways, and his prospects for gaining greater strength.

Marquis Argel revealed the Argel Family’s origins in the Moses Ascetic Order and how it gained protection from the Church of Steam and Machinery. He took Kronos to the family chapel, where Kronos prayed for protection and advanced to Sequence 8, Melee Scholar.

• Marquis Argel explained that Abel Argel left the Moses Ascetic Order, joined William Augustus, and established the family line.
• Marquis Argel recounted how Botu and Abner advanced to demigod to protect the family from the royal family, and how Abner’s madness was temporarily suppressed by a Beyonder item.
• Marquis Argel told Kronos that Abel had sought the Church of Steam and Machinery’s protection, and that the church built chapels where the Hidden Sage could not interfere with advancement.
• Marquis Argel opened a hidden passage beneath the study and led Kronos into the underground chapel.
• Kronos prayed to the God of Steam and Machinery, drank the Melee Scholar potion, and began digesting it with a quarter already absorbed.
• Kronos tested his improved physical abilities and senses, then returned to his room with Marquis Argel.

Kronos tested the Time Stone’s new Eye of Time ability and learned how its visions of the past and future varied by target, while limited spirituality constrained his observations. The next morning, he left the Argel Family manor for Backlund University to ask Professor Portland about a way to involve the family’s steel companies in the ironclad project.

• Kronos discovered that the Time Stone’s concealment now lasted a month and that the Eye of Time let him observe timelines, though his visions were limited by distance, viewpoint, spirituality, and the target’s Sequence.
• Kronos tested the ability on objects and people, glimpsed the bedding’s future disposal, and learned that Annie had secretly borrowed his pink crystal ball.
• Kronos recorded his findings after experimenting on animals, ordinary people, and Beyonders of different Sequences.
• Kronos gave the crystal ball to Annie at breakfast, and Audrey, Marquis Argyle, and Kronos understood that Annie disliked its pink color.
• Kronos left the manor for Backlund University to ask Professor Portland about using the ironclad project as an opening for the Argel Family’s steel companies.

Kronos helped Marquis Argyle pursue balanced ties with the New Party and Conservatives, then secured Professor Portland’s ironclad specifications and met Earl Hall to propose cooperation. He offered the Argel family’s resources and technical expertise in exchange for a merchant fleet serving the Southern Continent.

• Marquis Argyle planned to cooperate with Earl Hall and the Rieveldt family while maintaining ties with Philip Negan.
• Kronos explained Duke Negan’s manipulation to Professor Portland, who gave him the revised ironclad specifications and promised support.
• Kronos spent the afternoon receiving visiting nobles at the Empress Borough villa and concluded that Duke Negan’s influence threatened the New Party.
• Kronos studied the ironclad plans, then visited Earl Hall to negotiate a partnership.
• Kronos offered to supply enough iron, steel, and coal for half the ironclad project in exchange for a fleet of merchant ships traveling to and from the Southern Continent.

Kronos’s partnerships with Earl Hall and Earl Levett, along with his appointment to the ironclad project, drew intense attention and prompted the Negan family to seek better relations with him. He traveled to the Royal Navy Base ahead of his commissioning ceremony, where Philip welcomed him, and Kronos discovered the base’s concealed sentries.

• Kronos and Earl Hall agreed to work together on the ironclad project, and news of their partnership spread.
• Duke Negan advised Aguesid that he had underestimated the Argel Family, then sent Philip to build a relationship with Kronos at the Navy Base.
• Marquis Argyle reached an agreement with Earl Levett to ship grain into Midseashire, and Kronos was announced as an ironclad project technical adviser with the rank of navy major.
• Angelo informed Kronos that his commissioning ceremony would take place at the Royal Navy Base, and Kronos decided to go there early to find skilled fighters to practice with.
• Philip welcomed Kronos at the base and explained that concealed sentries had tracked his approach; Kronos used his Eyes of Mystery Prying and spotted Beyonders and soldiers along the road.

Kronos learned why Duke Negan had used the Argel Family to warn the prime minister, then sought out an expert at the Navy Base to practice combat and digest his potion. He began sparring with Gner Bazel, whose battlefield techniques impressed him enough to consider staying longer to learn from him.

• Philip told Kronos that the prime minister had targeted the Argel Family to bind it to the Conservative Party, after fearing George III would support the New Party over the Corn Laws.
• Kronos warned Philip that the nobles should cut their losses if the king pushed through policies favoring the New Party.
• Kronos asked Philip to find him an expert sparring partner so he could practice combat and digest his Sequence 8 potion.
• Philip summoned Gner Bazel, the Navy Base's combat instructor, and Kronos sparred with him while using his Eyes of Mystery Prying to study his subtle techniques.
• Kronos considered staying at the base to learn from Gner, who explained that his moves were techniques for fighting for one's life on the battlefield.

Kronos recruited Gner as a potential bodyguard and began training with him, while also receiving his naval commission as a technical adviser. After the ceremony, Duke Negan took Philip back to Backlund, leaving Kronos at the naval base.

• Kronos admitted he wanted to learn Gner's fighting techniques, and they agreed to spar for two hours each morning in exchange for weekly liquor.
• Philip told Kronos that Gner had been relegated to instructor after injuring a noble tied to the Levett Family, and Kronos decided he might recruit Gner as his bodyguard and right-hand man.
• Kronos trained with Gner in weighted gear, endured a two-hour beating, and learned from Gner's detailed explanations, accelerating his potion digestion.
• Kronos discussed ironclads with the Ship Research Institute's scientists and engineers before attending his commissioning ceremony as a lieutenant commander and technical adviser.
• Duke Negan took Philip back to Backlund after the ceremony, while Kronos remained at the naval base.

Kronos persuaded Marquis Argyle to let him sail with the trading company’s fleet so he could gain experience and advance as a Beyonder. After inspecting the fleet with his father, Kronos was told to work at the company and judge its crew for himself before the voyage.

• Marquis Argyle told Kronos that the family had contracted with the Conston Coal and Steel Consortium and was considering buying a trading company with a fleet.
• Kronos asked to sail with the fleet to the Southern Continent and nearby islands, and Marquis Argyle agreed if he advanced before May.
• Kronos told Marquis Argyle about Gner and asked him to help bring Gner into his service; Marquis Argyle advised Kronos to assess Gner’s character and seek fights with Beyonders to digest Melee Scholar.
• Marquis Argyle hosted dinner at the Navy Base, and Kronos claimed the fine liquor intended for the base commander, leaving the commander with a lower-grade drink.
• Kronos and Marquis Argyle inspected Benjamin Bowen’s seven merchant ships at Pritz Harbor, and Benjamin explained how he had acquired them.
• Marquis Argyle told Kronos to work at the trading company so he could meet its captains and first mates and judge their reliability.

After Gner revealed that a hand gesture made his meditation relieve physical fatigue, Kronos recognized it as a Daoist Nine Secrets hand seal and experimented with the seals himself. He discovered that the Lin seal summoned a resonant voice and calmed his mind, but he could not repeat the experience after it ended.

• Marquis Argyle left Kronos at Pritz Harbor, forcing him to walk back to the Navy Base and go hungry after missing both meals.
• Gner told Kronos that a meditation gesture from a lost book in Emperor Roselle's script helped relieve physical fatigue, and Kronos used his Eye of Time to memorize the gesture.
• Kronos recognized Gner's gesture as the Bing formula's hand seal from the Daoist Nine Secrets and hurried to ask Gner about the voice and visions he experienced.
• Gner said he pictured his first revolver while meditating and experienced no voice or visions, leaving Kronos worried that his own reaction might be connected to the Celestial Worthy.
• Kronos tried the Lin formula's Single Diamond Seal and heard a voice repeat the character Lin as his fear faded and warmth spread through his muscles.
• After the voice stopped and he emerged from meditation, Kronos failed twice to repeat the Lin formula's effect.

Kronos practiced the Nine Secret Hand Seals, reviewed the original novel’s plot, and recruited Gner by offering him a chance to follow the Warrior Pathway. Gner accepted, and Kronos received Marquis Argyle’s reply and a potion as he prepared for his next plans.

• Kronos practiced the Nine Secret Hand Seals and decided to keep them secret while reviewing the original novel’s plot and burning his notes.
• Kronos asked Gner to work for him, explained that he valued Gner’s potential as a Beyonder rather than seeking help in power struggles, and offered him a path to become a Warrior.
• Gner accepted Kronos’s offer, began training seriously, and taught Kronos more combat techniques.
• Kronos stayed at the Navy Base another week to learn from Gner and finish reviewing the plot before returning to Backlund.
• Kronos sent Marquis Argyle a letter, and three days later Professor Portland delivered the marquis’s reply and a potion.
• Kronos learned that Gner’s former general had traded benefits with the Levett Family to secure Gner’s freedom before leaving for the Southern Continent, where he never returned.

Kronos returned to the Argel estate, where he discussed his potion training and plans with Marquis Argyle. His father gave him access to a boxing venue and funded a new company with two million pounds, leaving Kronos in charge as he prepared to pursue his ideas.

• Kronos returned to the estate and reunited with Annie and Lady Argel before meeting Marquis Argyle in his study.
• Kronos told Marquis Argyle that ordinary sparring no longer helped digest his potion and planned to fight Beyonders at a boxing bar.
• Marquis Argyle gave Kronos family notebooks, advised him to learn about the shipping routes, and warned him to consider how he would work with Gner if Gner became stronger.
• Kronos asked for investment money and explained his plans to develop new materials and technology.
• Marquis Argyle agreed to establish a new company, invest two million pounds, and place Kronos in charge, while Kronos recruited two of his father's aides.

Kronos read the Argel Family’s notebooks, then organized the creation of an asset management company and several business acquisitions in Backlund. After disguising himself, he visited the Grizzly Bear Bar to watch its boxing matches and introduced himself to a woman who explained the bar’s rules.

• Kronos read the Argel Family’s records about Beyonder pathways and their experiences, but found only a few brief lines about Mysticologists.
• Kronos instructed Beck Yardinis and Marquis Argyle’s secretarial team to establish Ansair Asset Management Company, transfer Bowen Trading Company shares, set up a metal-materials factory, acquire a majority stake in the Coim Company, and buy two houses.
• Kronos disguised himself and left his villa to visit the Grizzly Bear Bar, where he arrived just before the boxing matches began.
• A woman at the bar explained that a Beyonder item detected visiting Beyonders and described the rules for Beyonders who wanted to fight.
• Kronos introduced himself to the woman as Klein.

Kronos watched fights at the bar and discovered that observing and analyzing combat helped digest his Melee Scholar potion. He entered the ring against a volatile Sequence 9 Sailor, quickly knocked him down, and turned to leave as the Sailor rose with scales appearing on his skin and kicked at Kronos from behind.

• Kronos watched two veteran fighters compete and correctly deduced their military backgrounds and fighting styles; the match's outcome helped digest his potion.
• Kronos predicted the outcome of a later match, but the prediction did not help digest the potion.
• Bernice told Kronos that a Sequence 9 Sailor wanted a fight, and Kronos agreed to face him as a Sequence 8.
• The Sailor insulted Kronos and immediately attacked, but Kronos dodged and struck his elbow and chin, knocking him down.
• Kronos turned to leave, but the Sailor got up with fish-like scales on his skin and kicked at Kronos's lower back as Bernice shouted a warning.

Kronos defeated the Sailor in the ring, then used the Eye of Time to foresee the man drawing a revolver. After Paddy shot the Sailor and Kronos brutally disarmed him, Boris killed the wounded man, leaving Kronos bewildered.

• Kronos used his Eyes of Mystery Prying to assess the Sailor, found a gap beneath his armpit, and defeated him with a targeted punch.
• Bernice explained that the Sailor was known as Mad Dog and had a reputation for cheating in fights.
• Kronos saw a timeline in which the Sailor drew a revolver, rushed to stop him, and was saved when Paddy shot the Sailor's gun hand.
• Kronos beat the Sailor severely, breaking his knee and arms and leaving him barely alive.
• Boris introduced Paddy as the bar's partner and apologized to Kronos for the incident.
• Boris kicked the Sailor, killing him, and Kronos was left confused about why he had done it.

Kronos obtained a Sailor Beyonder characteristic after a fight and asked Boris to connect him with safe Beyonder trading circles. The next morning, he arranged for Professor Portland to help build smokeless-charcoal production equipment and brought him the characteristic to assess its risks.

• Boris explained that the dead Sailor had been expelled from the Mandated Punishers after losing control while forcing down a Sequence 8 potion, and Kronos accepted the Beyonder characteristic in exchange for a possible introduction to trading circles.
• Kronos realized that using his abilities against the Sailor and fighting him had accelerated his potion digestion, then returned home and completed his meditation.
• Beck Yardinis reported that he had registered the Ansair Asset Management Company, completed share changes, and found a factory site, so Kronos named the operation the Walter Factory and ordered Beck to prepare it before May.
• Kronos asked Professor Portland to design equipment for producing smokeless charcoal and lend his reputation to the project, and Portland agreed to assign a student to the work.
• Kronos showed Portland the Sailor characteristic and asked whether its former owner's failed advancement and unstable condition could affect someone who used it to make a Beyonder item.

Kronos inspected the Ansair Asset Management Company and went to examine a prospective factory, where he discovered the Black Skull Gang was extorting the dock’s owner. He confronted the gang’s representative and proposed a profit-sharing arrangement, leaving the deal unresolved.

• Kronos visited the Ansair Asset Management Company, checked its location and layout, and left without interrupting the staff.
• Kronos stopped to worship at Saint Hilarion Church before visiting the prospective factory site near the Tussock River.
• Kronos learned that the Black Skull Gang had driven up the transport company's protection fee and that its representative was pressuring the seller and Marquis Argyle's secretary.
• Kronos approached the gang's representative, learned that the man was connected to gang boss Lima, and warned that his demands could harm the gang's income.
• Kronos offered the man twenty percent of the business's monthly profits instead of shares and told him to deal with whoever had given him the idea.

Kronos arranged to attend three Beyonder gatherings through Violent Bear and hired him to organize regular sparring matches at the Grizzly Bear Bar. The chapter ended with Kronos facing a much faster opponent in the ring and struggling to defend himself.

• Kronos ordered the secretary to speed up the acquisition of the transport company and considered confronting the Black Skull Gang if he could not digest his potion at the Grizzly Bear Bar.
• Violent Bear told Kronos about three Beyonder gatherings: Mr. Eye of Wisdom’s low-level gathering, Mr. A’s more dangerous gathering, and the outdoor fencing fair associated with the Hermits of Fate.
• Kronos asked Violent Bear to arrange sparring matches with the bar’s Beyonders and his official Beyonder friends, offering to pay fifty pounds per fight.
• Violent Bear arranged Kronos’s first match, and a small, skinny man attacked him with blinding speed.
• Kronos barely dodged the man’s opening strike and struggled against his rapid follow-up attacks.