Chapter Summaries

Kronos brought the captured Sea Eastern Green to his manor and trained it, naming it Qing. After Qing quickly learned to obey him, Kronos brought it to Backlund and resumed his routine while considering whether it was safe to give the falcon a potion.

• Kronos and Philip brought the Sea Eastern Green to Philip's manor, where the falconer agreed to help train it.
• Kronos left for his manor outside Backlund and personally trained the falcon, naming it Qing; Qing submitted unusually quickly and completed the initial stages in five days.
• Philip visited Argel Manor, watched Qing hunt a rabbit on Kronos's signal, and regretted not keeping a falcon of his own.
• Kronos returned to Backlund with Qing and kept it at home, delaying a potion until he was sure its wildness had faded.
• Qing began visiting Kronos at the Research Center, where Portland came to see it and Kronos suggested that potions could make a trained falcon a Paranormal Creature.

Kronos investigated Jason’s house while Jason attended a banquet and discovered that its unusually thick exterior walls concealed a network of pipes. He learned that Jason could use his Desire Incarnation to escape through them, leaving Kronos to account for the hidden passageways in his plans.

• Portland agreed to consider a dog for protection, and Kronos arranged for him to receive an enormous one.
• Kronos watched Jason’s house until Jason left for a banquet, then drugged and hypnotized the Devil Dog guarding the yard.
• Kronos entered the house and found that its interior was much smaller than the floor plan indicated because its exterior walls were unusually thick.
• Kronos used the Eye of Time to watch the house being built and saw workers from the Beria Family install interconnected pipes inside the walls.
• Kronos learned that Jason could use his Desire Incarnation to pass through the pipes and move quickly through the house’s walls.

Kronos mapped Jason’s defenses and left without alerting him, then continued planning how to obtain Jason’s Beyonder Characteristic. On the Southern Continent, Gner agreed to accompany Alfred to the Northern Province and explained that he had chosen to serve Kronos of his own accord.

• Kronos used the Eye of Time to locate holes in Jason’s reception room and dining room, woke the Devil Dog, and escaped before Jason returned.
• Kronos watched Jason show no sign of noticing the intrusion, then resumed waiting for opportunities to investigate him while working to strengthen himself.
• At a postwar commendation ceremony in West Balam, Alfred received a promotion to lieutenant colonel and Gner was promoted to major for their squad’s service.
• Alfred invited Gner to join his transfer to the Northern Province, and Gner agreed while warning that he would leave if Kronos ever needed him.
• Gner told Alfred how his military career had been derailed after he injured a nobleman’s son and how Kronos helped him retire from the Royal Navy Base.
• Gner explained that Kronos had never demanded his loyalty, but he had decided to make Kronos’s will his own goal.

Kronos focused on creating Sequence 5 scrolls, completing Distortion and beginning the difficult work of designing Disorder. Meanwhile, Mr. Kask secured the Secretary-General position and was summoned by George III, who questioned him about Kronos.

• Gner told Alfred that Kronos had saved him from misery, then reassured him that they were still friends.
• Kronos secluded himself and completed a Sequence 5 Distortion scroll after four days of practice.
• Kronos began researching Disorder, and Marquis Argel’s butler watched him at work before leaving, convinced his talents mattered more than the family business.
• After five days, Kronos devised a preliminary Disorder scroll design, failed to inscribe it, and continued practicing to find its flaws.
• The royal family exposed and arrested Members of Parliament linked to the Church of Steam and Machinery, then secured Kask’s appointment as Secretary-General.
• George III summoned Kask to the palace and asked him questions about Kronos.

After questioning Kask about Kronos, George III sent Prince Grove to investigate the Argel Family’s strength and resources. Kask feared he was being watched, so he asked Portland to discreetly warn Kronos about the Royal Family’s interest.

• Kask carefully answered George III’s questions about Kronos without lying, and George III sent him home.
• George III consulted Prince Grove, who advised that Kronos was clever and that the Argel Family’s fighting strength needed to be assessed.
• George III tasked Prince Grove with investigating Argel Manor in Backlund and the Argel Family’s resources in Midseashire.
• Kask decided not to contact Kronos directly and waited until the next day to approach Portland at the Higher Education Committee.
• Portland used his bracelet to create an illusion barrier, and Kask told him about George III’s questions and asked him to warn Kronos discreetly.

Portland warned Kronos that George III had questioned Kask about him and the Argel Family, prompting Kronos to alert Marquis Argel to suspend the family's activities. The family went into hiding, unaware that Prince Grove had already finished observing them and the royal operation had ended.

• Portland reassured Kask, then hurried to Kronos's home to warn him about George III's questions.
• Portland told Kronos that George III had questioned Kask about him and the Argel Family, and Kronos decided the matter was not serious.
• Kronos wrote Marquis Argel a letter advising him to halt the family's activities and remain hidden.
• Marquis Argel and Old Man discussed the possibility that a powerful observer had watched them, then agreed to lie low.
• A telegram from Midseashire caused the Argel Family's associates across the Northern Continent to stop their activities.
• Prince Grove had already observed the Argel Family's Beyonders and reported to George III, though he failed to notice their arrangements or Kronos's Concealment of Time.

Kronos used the pause in the Argel Family’s operations to focus on his experiments and gradually learned to sense flaws in the Skill Scroll’s design. When his Fence Association badge summoned him to a gathering in White Cliff Town, he traveled there early and prepared his equipment before the evening meeting.

• Kronos told the butler to notify him before taking action against Jason, then devoted most of his time in the laboratory to developing materials and studying the Skill Scroll.
• Kronos sensed a Beyonder vibration from his Fence Association badge and learned that the gathering would take place on February 23, 1348, in White Cliff Town.
• Kronos recognized that White Cliff Town was near Amon’s mausoleum and decided to attend the gathering himself rather than risk using a Yodsen Marionette to infiltrate the Hermits of Fate.
• Kronos followed the badge’s guidance to a wood east of White Cliff Town, inspected the gathering site, and familiarized himself with the surroundings.
• Kronos checked into an Argel Family inn, laid out his scrolls and Beyonder items, and rested before the gathering.

Kronos attended the Fence Association gathering, where he uncovered the host’s attempt to steal from newcomers and accepted an invitation to a gathering for Mid- and High-Sequence Beyonders. As the host insisted he meant no harm, Kronos’s spirituality warned him that something was wrong.

• Kronos arrived at the woods and learned from the host that his badge needed fresh energy to remain usable.
• Kronos used a scroll’s whirlwind to take the replacement badge from the host, recognizing that the man’s ability was likely theft.
• Kronos found little of interest among the Low Sequence goods, and the host invited him to a more exclusive exchange gathering.
• Kronos suspected the host was leading him into a trap and secretly prepared his Beyonder Items and scrolls for a fight.
• Kronos reached a shelter where five or six Beyonders were gathered, but his spirituality trembled when the host again claimed he meant no harm.

Kronos attended a gathering where the host offered a bone containing the properties of a Demigod’s Marauder Pathway characteristic. Seeing its value and knowing his Artisan could use it, Kronos asked to buy it, while an organizer’s collaborator watched him as a target for a planned robbery.

• A man who had recognized Kronos’s badge recruited three Sequence 6 collaborators to rob him after the gathering, believing Kronos was only Sequence 7 and carrying valuable Beyonder items.
• Kronos entered the shelter, judged that no Demigods were present, and stayed quiet as the gathering began under a Sequence 5 host.
• The host brought out a Demigod’s bone containing an incomplete Marauder Pathway characteristic, explaining that an Artisan could turn it into a powerful Beyonder item.
• Kronos realized the bone was valuable to him because he had an Artisan at home, then asked the host about its price and offered to pay in pounds sterling.
• The collaborator observing Kronos was pleased that he appeared willing to spend heavily and anticipated a lucrative robbery.

Kronos bought a demigod’s bone for fifteen thousand pounds after signing a mystical contract, then returned to find the Trading Gathering continuing under a new host. The gathering resumed with a request for an adult Mind Dragon, an ingredient Kronos recognized as important to the Dreamwalker potion.

• Kronos negotiated the demigod’s bone down to fifteen thousand pounds and agreed to a contract verified by a golden cross.
• Kronos signed the contract as Klein, carefully inspected the bone for signs of tampering, and took it away.
• Kronos mocked the host’s temperament, prompting the host to abandon the gathering and his companion to take over.
• Kronos returned to the shelter as the new host resumed the gathering.
• A participant asked to buy an adult Mind Dragon or information about one, and Kronos recognized it as a Dreamwalker potion ingredient.

At a Fence Association gathering, Kronos traded for the Sequence 5 Lawyer Pathway potion formula and inspected a pair of Sealed Artifact boots. The boots offered powerful earth-based abilities but transformed their user into a giant bear after use.

• Kronos advised a man searching for an adult mind dragon to look in the Southern Continent, then bought a crate of potions from Ernes Boyar, who recognized him from his time guarding Kronos.
• Kronos offered a Mentor of Disorder potion formula, a Sequence 6 Beyonder item, and money in exchange for the Sequence 5 Lawyer Pathway potion formula.
• The seller agreed to the trade for the formula, a suitable Sequence 6 item, and two thousand pounds sterling.
• Kronos chose to trade away the Hat of Order, whose abilities suited the seller, and received the Earth War Boots for inspection.
• The seller explained that the Earth War Boots granted earth-based powers and stamina but caused their user to transform into a giant bear after use.

Kronos completed a trade for the Earth War Boots and left the Exchange Gathering, knowing someone was following him. On the road to town, he was ambushed by four masked Beyonders and fought back with a Decree scroll and his Bright Light War Blade.

• Kronos and the trader agreed to exchange the Earth War Boots for the Hat of Order, the Disciplinary Paladin potion formula, and a hundred pounds, then signed a contract after the Exchange Gathering.
• After completing the trade, Kronos used the Eyes of Mystery Prying to check his surroundings and put on the Earth War Boots before leaving the woods.
• A masked staff member secretly followed Kronos and crushed a badge as he headed toward town.
• Kronos encountered four masked people on the road, identified the thief, a lookout, and the Exchange Gathering host, and realized another Sequence 6 was following behind them.
• The host ordered the group to attack, and Kronos used a Sequence 5 Decree scroll to prohibit theft before unleashing Blade Light Storm.
• Kronos's blade lights cut down the three attackers behind the charging Soul Assurer, and the Dream Stealer and Hypnotist pretended to be unconscious.

Kronos used his scrolls and Distortion Gauntlet to defeat the Soul Assurer and turn the fight against the remaining attackers. As he charged the Dream Stealer, the Wind-blessed attacked Kronos from behind with three wind blades.

• Kronos distorted the Soul Assurer's Requiem so it struck the Wind-blessed, then used a scroll to keep the Wind-blessed drowsy.
• Kronos let the Soul Assurer steal a disposable scroll and slashed his arm before binding him with water and killing him.
• The two sneaks rose to fight, and the Hypnotist persuaded the Dream Stealer not to flee.
• The Dream Stealer stole Kronos's thought, but Kronos planted a thought that made the Dream Stealer strike the Hypnotist instead.
• Kronos charged the shocked Dream Stealer while the Wind-blessed fired three wind blades at Kronos's back.

Kronos defeated the Wind-blessed and his companions after turning their loyalty and anger against them. The chapter ended with the wounded Wind-blessed collapsing and asking Kronos to kill him.

• Kronos used the Dream Stealer to block the Wind-blessed's blades, then attacked the fallen Hypnotist while the Wind-blessed repeatedly intervened to protect his friend.
• Kronos provoked the Wind-blessed into charging him, then killed the Hypnotist and drew the enraged Wind-blessed into close combat.
• Kronos and the Wind-blessed fought with blades and fists as Ernes Boyar and a Vampire watched from a tree.
• Ernes stopped the Vampire from interfering and directed him to tie up the unconscious Fire Thief.
• Kronos's Vampire's Heart helped him recover from punches, while repeated slashes weakened the Wind-blessed until he collapsed and conceded defeat.

Kronos overcame the Distortion Gauntlet’s influence and joined forces with Ernes to question the captured Fire Thief about his attack and the Hermits of Fate. The prisoner revealed little before he suddenly aged and died, leaving the organization’s strength unknown.

• Kronos used a willpower charm to clear his mind, apologized to Ernes, and introduced himself as Klein while Ernes gave his real name.
• Ernes gave Kronos a potion that woke the injured Fire Thief through intense mental pain.
• Kronos tortured the Fire Thief until he revealed that he had targeted Kronos for seeming wealthy and that James Rhodes had joined the attackers after taking offense.
• The Fire Thief said James Rhodes’s grandfather might be a Demigod and confirmed that James had joined the Error Pathway despite his family’s anger.
• Kronos questioned the Fire Thief about the Hermits of Fate, but the prisoner aged rapidly and died just as he began describing an Angel in the organization.

Kronos investigated the Hermits of Fate, looted the bodies of the Beyonders who ambushed him, and burned them to conceal the evidence. Ernes sent Saro to follow Kronos while he stayed behind, just as a group returning from an Exchange Gathering noticed the fire.

• Kronos explained that the Fire Thief had died after an Angel-level secrecy measure stole his lifespan, confirming that the Hermits of Fate had an Angel.
• Ernes revealed that he was a Sanguine Viscount, offered Kronos low prices on potions, and gave him his address before leaving to meet the arriving Sanguine.
• Kronos looted the five bodies, finding an Appraiser's lens, charms, a badge, two more charms, and a porcelain bowl, then collected the separated Beyonder characteristics.
• Kronos dragged the bodies off the road and burned them to destroy evidence, then left after the fire was burning fiercely.
• Ernes and two Sanguine appeared by the fire, and Ernes sent Saro to follow Kronos while he and the other Sanguine stayed behind.
• A masked group returning from an Exchange Gathering passed by and noticed the fire, speculating that it was a bonfire or barbecue.

Kronos appraised the Beyonder Items taken from the five corpses while traveling back to Argel Manor, discovering a taming bowl useful for Qing and a dangerous calamity-summoning badge. He worried that the badge might be connected to the Dream Stealer’s Demigod grandfather, but chose to stop dwelling on a threat he could not yet address.

• Ernes and his companion stayed by the fire until dawn, then buried the remains and traces of the five corpses.
• Kronos bought a novel and traveled by carriage toward Argel Manor, intending to deliver his spoils and speak with Roel Patrick.
• Kronos used the monocle to appraise the porcelain bowl, learning it could tame and communicate with animals, and considered using it to raise Qing safely.
• Kronos appraised the badge and learned it could summon natural disasters centered on its user, then suspected the Dream Stealer’s grandfather might belong to the Wheel of Fortune Pathway.
• Kronos tested how reading eased the monocle’s painful side effect and decided not to agonize over the Demigod, planning to flee or seek help if necessary.

Kronos gave Roel rare Beyonder materials and a demigod bone to craft into Beyonder Items, while planning to tame Qing and improve his Chaos Scroll. Qing returned to Argel Manor and revealed that Kronos could now understand its thoughts.

• In Desi County, an elderly man refused his eldest son’s demand to avenge his grandson and warned him not to leave the county for three years.
• Kronos gave Roel five Beyonder characteristics and a demigod bone, authorizing him to experiment and make items from them.
• Roel explained that a second Fire Thief characteristic would let him confidently craft one item, but he could only do his best with the demigod bone.
• Kronos decided to wait at the manor, sent for Qing, and continued refining his Chaos Scroll.
• Qing returned to the manor, tapped at Kronos’s window, and told him through their newfound understanding that it wanted meat instead of a hard porcelain bowl.

Kronos used a bowl to raise Qing’s loyalty to its maximum, then let the hawk choose between two potions and Qing drank the Spectator potion. As Qing began observing people around the manor, his unnerving gaze alarmed the household until Mr. Todd identified him and reported the matter to Kronos.

• Kronos fed Qing raw beef from the bowl, discovering that each meal increased Qing’s loyalty while the bowl stirred a bloodthirsty feeling in Kronos.
• Over several days, Kronos fed Qing until his loyalty was maxed out, and Qing agreed to become a Paranormal Creature to help his master.
• Kronos offered Qing a Sequence 9 Spectator potion and a Sequence 9 Sailor potion, and Qing chose and drank the Spectator potion.
• Kronos explained that Qing should observe people without joining in, then told him to practice by watching the manor’s residents.
• Qing’s quiet, piercing gaze frightened the manor’s residents, and Mr. Todd spotted him watching and reported the situation to Kronos.

Kronos returned to Backlund after Roel said he needed about half a month to study the demigod bone and craft a suitable Beyonder item. At the Research Center, Professor Portland pushed Kronos to show progress on his materials project and revealed his ambition to make Backlund Technical University a leader in science and technology.

• Kronos explained to Qing that he needed to observe people without making them feel hunted so he could digest his potion.
• Roel presented Kronos with Dream Thief, a necklace that could steal but randomly took one or two hours of the user's memories after each use.
• Roel estimated he needed about half a month to study the Parasite ability in the demigod bone, and Kronos told him to deliver the finished item in Backlund.
• Kronos returned to Backlund, moved into the Research Center, and met Professor Portland, who demanded visible progress on Kronos's materials project before the inauguration.
• Portland said he had started a project at the Mechanical Center and planned to recruit scientists to help the Research Center challenge Backlund University's dominance in science and technology.