Recaps

Klein theorized that Azik’s amnesia came from repeated cycles of death and rebirth, and Azik chose to seek his past rather than wait for his memories to return. After arranging Azik’s help with a plan in Tingen, Klein went home, encouraged Benson to study for a possible government examination, and prepared to divine about summoning the Fool.

• Klein suggested that Azik died and began new lives every few decades, with his past self arranging his identity and finances after each awakening.
• Azik said he wanted to actively recover his memories and agreed to create harmless supernatural incidents near Tingen for Klein.
• Klein asked Azik to target believers of the Evernight Goddess and leave no clues so the Nighthawks would investigate.
• Klein returned home and told Benson about a rumored government recruitment examination, encouraging him to keep studying.
• After eating and bathing, Klein sealed his bedroom with a Wall of Spirituality to divine whether summoning the Fool was dangerous.

Klein tested a ritual to summon himself and discovered that the gray fog responded, but he could not open the incomplete Door of Summoning. After a strange dream featuring Dunn, Audrey recruited Xio to help find the pirate Qilangos in Backlund.

• Klein divined that performing his modified summoning ritual outside was not dangerous, then carried it out in his bedroom.
• Klein went above the gray fog and saw his ritual form an incomplete Door of Summoning, but he could not open it because his spirituality was insufficient.
• Klein returned to his bedroom and fell asleep, where he dreamed that Dunn silently watched him before leaving.
• Audrey visited Philips Department Store with Annie and Susie, then met Xio Derecha while Xio worked as an attendant.
• Audrey gave Xio a portrait of Qilangos and asked her to locate the pirate without alerting him, mentioning the kingdom's bounty of ten thousand pounds.

Xio and Fors planned how to investigate Qilangos, while Klein finished his groundwork at the Divination Club and prepared to ask Dunn Smith for a special application. The chapter ended with Klein telling Dunn that he had mastered the Seer potion.

• Xio studied Audrey's sketch and learned that Qilangos could change his appearance, so she and Fors planned to gather information about his habits and hire a detective to analyze it.
• Klein told Angelica that he would visit the Divination Club less often now that his potion was fully digested.
• Klein received a letter from Mr. Azik saying he would travel to Morse Town from Sunday through Wednesday, and Klein burned the letter after reading it.
• Klein visited the Blackthorn Security Company and told Rozanne that a Seer must revere fate rather than seek improper gains.
• Klein met Dunn Smith privately and said he had completely mastered the Seer potion and wanted to submit a special application.

Klein told Dunn that he had fully mastered his potion and submitted a special application to advance to Sequence 8. He shared his approach with the Nighthawks, and Dunn sent the application to the Holy Cathedral for examination.

• Klein told Dunn about his complete mastery of the potion and his unease over the recent coincidences, persuading Dunn to let him write a special application.
• Klein drafted and typed his application, then told Leonard that he had mastered the potion and planned to advance to Sequence 8.
• Leonard brought Klein to the recreation room, where Klein described how the Mystery Pryer maxim, Madam Daly's example, and his Seer Code had helped him progress.
• Klein submitted the signed application to Dunn, who said he would send it to the Holy Cathedral and told Klein to prepare for an examination.

Klein shared his potion-mastery insights with the Nighthawks and met with Duster Guderian, who reported that Hood Eugen seemed to have gone mad and provided a Mind Reader formula. Dunn arranged surveillance of the asylum and told Klein that the formula could let him obtain the Clown potion once he passed evaluation.

• Klein told Loyao Letting that he had shared his potion-mastery experiences with Frye and the others, and Old Neil admitted that the acting method had come too late for him to benefit from it.
• Dunn Smith gave Klein a letter from Duster Guderian requesting an urgent meeting, then arranged to accompany him while Leonard temporarily guarded Chanis Gate.
• Duster told Klein that Hood Eugen had become strangely uncommunicative and might truly have gone mad, and he handed over a Mind Reader potion formula he could not verify.
• Klein advised Duster to investigate Hood Eugen's recent contacts and report the problem to the Psychology Alchemists, then brought the formula and warning to Dunn.
• Dunn ordered the team to monitor the asylum and told Klein that, after passing evaluation, he would have enough merit to obtain the Clown potion.

Klein returned to his ordinary life after his watch at Chanis Gate and joined Benson, Melissa, and Elizabeth in arranging to hire a maid-of-all-work. The siblings selected three candidates for trial, and Melissa left Klein worrying that he should work harder if he wanted to marry Elizabeth.

• Klein returned home after his watch, slept until noon, and learned that Elizabeth was visiting Melissa.
• Melissa read out her detailed requirements for a maid-of-all-work, and Benson suggested replacing the cooking requirement with a willingness to learn.
• The siblings visited the Help Domestic Servants Association, where they chose three candidates and negotiated the fees for a household trial.
• Klein joked to Elizabeth that he could use divination to choose the best maid, prompting Melissa to watch them closely.
• After they returned home, Melissa told Klein to work harder if he wanted to get engaged to Elizabeth, leaving him bewildered.

Klein continued searching Tingen for houses with red chimneys while Fors and Xio sought Isengard Stanton’s help locating Qilangos in Backlund. Alger learned that Qilangos had gone to Backlund on a commission to obtain a long-desired item, and Klein began another Tarot Club gathering after Derrick advanced to the Bard sequence.

• Benson and Melissa teased Klein about marriage, and Klein redirected their attention toward Benson before Benson denied having a lady he fancied.
• Fors and Xio gave Isengard Stanton information about their target, and he deduced that the man likely lived near the Backlund Bridge Area along the Tussock River.
• Alger tortured a sailor for information, and the man revealed that Qilangos had gone to Backlund on a commission for an item he had long desired.
• Klein searched Tingen for houses with red chimneys but found no match, then entered the space above the gray fog.
• Klein congratulated Derrick on becoming a Bard and summoned Justice and The Hanged Man for a Tarot Club gathering.

Derrick obtained the Mind Reader formula and exchanged it with Audrey for Roselle’s Diary, while Klein supplied annotations and payment details for his blessed. The meeting ended with Derrick revealing that the City of Silver teaches the acting method, including the warning to remember that one is only acting.

• Derrick told the Tarot Club he had obtained the Mind Reader formula, and Klein showed him how to manifest it on parchment.
• Audrey received the formula and thanked Klein after he added annotations explaining alternative names for its ingredients.
• Audrey gave Klein Roselle’s Diary and offered another 300 pounds, and Klein provided an anonymous Bank of Backlund account for his blessed.
• Derrick asked to defer his compensation until he needed a Sequence 8 formula or ingredients, and Audrey learned that the City of Silver teaches the acting method.
• Alger asked Derrick about the acting method’s precautions, and Derrick replied that students were told to remember they were only acting.

Klein reflected on Roselle’s diary, considered the Churches’ secrecy around high-Sequence potions, and heard Alger’s warning that Qilangos was hunting a powerful item in Backlund. The Tarot Club members planned to investigate Qilangos as Klein weighed how to help and explored ways to transfer materials through the gray fog; he ended the meeting focused on advancing and making a Solar Flare Charm.

• Klein read Roselle’s diary entries about High-Sequence Beyonders, the Churches’ potion practices, and the possibility that industrialization could invite an evil god’s descent.
• Alger told Justice and The Fool that Qilangos had entered Backlund on a long-term mission to obtain an item that could help him rise quickly to High Sequence.
• Audrey and Alger discussed their search for Qilangos and reviewed his habits, including his taste for raw ocean fish and hard liquor, his pursuit of women, and his need to stay near water.
• Klein considered recruiting Daly or Azik to stop Qilangos, but found neither option easy to pursue without causing complications or revealing his identity.
• Klein wondered whether he could use sacrifice and bestowal rituals to move items through the gray fog, then ended the Tarot Club gathering.
• Back in his bedroom, Klein looked forward to his Sequence 8 assessment and making a Solar Flare Charm, and expected a report about Mr. Azik’s supernatural incident the next day.

Klein arranged to accompany Leonard and Kenley to Morse Town, using reports of suspected hauntings to secure permission to bring Sealed Artifact 3-0782. He arrived in town with the artifact and planned to make a Solar Flare Charm while the team handled the incidents.

• Klein persuaded Dunn Smith that he should join Leonard on the Morse Town investigation and that the team needed another Nighthawk and a Grade 3 Sealed Artifact.
• Dunn sent Kenley with Klein and Leonard and approved their application to retrieve Sealed Artifact 3-0782.
• Klein waited with Leonard, who warned him not to expect to uncover his secret, and then joined Kenley carrying the Mutated Holy Emblem of the Sun.
• Klein, Leonard, and Kenley traveled to Morse Town with Sealed Artifact 3-0782, and Klein spent the journey handling the artifact.
• Father Syer welcomed the Nighthawks as townspeople gathered, and Leonard reassured them with a display of supposed ghost-hunting supplies.
• Leonard proposed that they have lunch at the church before investigating, while Klein anticipated making his Solar Flare Charm during the daytime.

Klein, Leonard, and Kenley investigated suspected hauntings in Morse Town, using the Mutated Holy Emblem of the Sun to purify the affected homes. Klein’s divination pointed to an inverted Southern Continent mausoleum, and the team returned to the church to take turns keeping watch.

• Leonard chose to investigate Noah’s house first because it was closest to the church, and the three Nighthawks found traces of a weak ghost there.
• Klein performed a public purification ritual with holy water, garlic, and the Sacred Emblem of Darkness, while the Mutated Holy Emblem of the Sun dispelled the sinister aura.
• Klein divined the cause of the haunting and saw an inverted pyramid-shaped mausoleum buried in the ground; Leonard identified it as a Southern Continent symbol associated with Death and its descendants.
• The three Nighthawks purified the other two haunted locations but found no source, and townspeople reported that no strangers had recently arrived.
• Back at Morse Cathedral, Klein proposed a complicated equation for organizing the watch rotation, frightening Leonard into agreeing that one person should keep watch while the other two guarded outside.

Klein used Sealed Artifact 3-0782 to create two Solar Flare Charms, then returned to Tingen and learned that Old Neil was sick. The chapter ended with Rozanne questioning Klein’s claim that Old Neil had once been married.

• Klein performed a ritual with Sealed Artifact 3-0782 and created two powerful Solar Flare Charms despite being engulfed by fierce heat.
• Leonard noticed the sunlight intensify outside the cathedral, then took over guarding the artifact after Klein finished the ritual.
• Klein and the other Nighthawks returned to Tingen, handed in Sealed Artifact 3-0782, and instructed Priest Smeyer to report any further hauntings.
• Klein met Bella, the maid-of-all-work Benson and Melissa had chosen, and joked with Benson about his salary and household finances.
• Rozanne told Klein that Old Neil was sick, and Klein suggested they visit him before remarking that he had once been married.
• Rozanne asked Klein in surprise when Old Neil had ever been married.

Klein discovered signs that Old Neil’s condition was deteriorating and joined Dunn and Loyao in going to his house with Sealed Artifact 3-0611, hoping to stabilize him. They found the house silent, but a piano began playing inside as blood-red water flowed from beneath the door.

• Rozanne told Klein that Old Neil had once said he had never met someone he wanted to marry, contradicting his later claim that his late wife loved music.
• Klein divined that something was wrong with Old Neil and recalled seeing eerie eyes and a figure near him, along with Old Neil’s violent coughing when Klein used Spirit Vision.
• Klein reported his concerns to Dunn, who agreed that Old Neil might be close to losing control and prepared to visit him with Sealed Artifact 3-0611.
• Klein recruited Loyao, and Dunn explained that Old Neil’s former fiancée had died despite his attempt to save her with Ritualistic Magic.
• Dunn, Klein, and Loyao reached Old Neil’s house and received no answer at the door; then a piano played inside and crimson water began pouring beneath the door.

Dunn, Klein, and Loyao confronted Old Neil after discovering that he was trying to resurrect Céleste through rituals taught to him by the Hidden Sage. Old Neil became a monster, and the Nighthawks killed him, leaving Klein stunned by the loss of his mentor.

• Dunn, Klein, and Loyao visited Old Neil after blood seeped from beneath his door, and Old Neil admitted he was trying to resurrect Céleste.
• Old Neil revealed that the Hidden Sage had taught him Life Refinement and resurrection rituals, then realized he had become a monster.
• Old Neil attacked the Nighthawks, but Dunn used Sealed Artifact 3-0611 to quiet him and weaken his assault.
• Old Neil pleaded with Dunn, Loyao, and Klein by recalling their past together, but Klein and another Nighthawk shot him with silver Demon Hunting Bullets.
• Dunn watched Old Neil's remains and said that the Nighthawks were guardians and wretches fighting danger and madness.

Klein and the Nighthawks buried Old Neil after his loss of control, and Klein found notes showing Neil had considered using his own blood for a ritual. Still grieving and angry about the concealed Acting Method, Klein continued his training until Dunn told him that people from the Holy Cathedral had arrived to assess him.

• Dunn covered Old Neil's eyes, and Klein noticed a spirit fading near the piano before the team searched the house.
• Klein found Old Neil's ritual notes, including a plan to draw and preserve his own blood for the Life Refinement ritual.
• Klein, Dunn, and the others buried Old Neil in Raphael Cemetery, where his epitaph read, "If I cannot save her, then I shall go and keep her company."
• Klein collected ammunition, fired at the target, and pushed himself through combat exercises until Gawain told him about losing 325 friends in five minutes.
• Dunn summoned Klein from the recreation room and told him that people from the Holy Cathedral had arrived.

Klein underwent an examination by Crestet Cesimir to determine whether he had mastered the Seer potion and suffered any lingering problems. After passing, he answered questions about how he learned to act as a Seer, and Crestet prepared to share restricted knowledge with him.

• Dunn told Klein that high-ranking deacon Crestet Cesimir would examine him and directed him to the potion alchemy room.
• Crestet tested Klein's potion mastery by subjecting him to darkness and exhaustion, then confirmed that his knowledge was excellent.
• Crestet chanted a discordant melody to test Klein's body, mind, and spirit, and Klein suppressed his destructive impulses while displaying some agitation.
• Crestet questioned Klein about how he mastered the potion, and Klein described his inspiration from Mystery Pryers and Daly while vaguely recounting the Acting Method.
• Crestet praised Klein's understanding of companionship, then asked him to swear not to reveal their conversation before sharing restricted experiences.

Klein Moretti swore on the Church’s holy relic not to reveal the Acting Method to anyone who did not know it, then learned how acting by a potion’s name could reduce the risk of losing control and help digest a potion. After the remaining Nighthawks underwent their examinations, Crestet Cesimir told Klein he had passed and could become a Sequence 8 Beyonder.

• Crestet Cesimir opened the silver-white case and had Klein swear upon the holy bone sword to keep the Acting Method secret.
• Crestet explained that Beyonders could reduce the risk of losing control and digest their potions by acting according to the rules implied by their potion names.
• Klein asked how potion names were discovered and why the Church kept the Acting Method secret, and Crestet said the topic was restricted to the Church’s core.
• Crestet sent Klein back to tell the other Nighthawks to meet him one at a time for the final examination, and Klein reminded Dunn about Loyao, Leonard, and Kenley.
• After an hour and a half, Crestet summoned Klein and announced that he had passed the Holy Cathedral’s examination and could be promoted to Sequence 8.

Klein passed Crestet Cesimir’s examination, received the Clown potion formula and ingredients, and brewed and drank the potion. He successfully advanced to Sequence 8, though the familiar murmurs of Hornacis and Flegrea returned.

• Crestet Cesimir approved Klein’s advancement and warned him that acting, emotional imbalance, and temptation could lead to losing control.
• Crestet gave Klein the Clown potion formula and ingredients, including a Hornacis Gray Goat’s single-horn crystal and a human-faced rose.
• Klein prepared the supplementary ingredients, added the two main ingredients, and brewed the gold, yellow, and red potion.
• Klein used his Spirit Pendulum Method to confirm that the potion was only slightly harmful, then drank it.
• Klein endured the potion’s transformation, regained control of his spirituality through meditation, and recognized that he had become a Sequence 8 Clown.

After advancing to Clown, Klein tested his new physical abilities and learned from Crestet Cesimir about the dangers of powerful Beyonders’ murmurs and how to approach acting. He discovered he could sometimes intuit another person’s next action, then returned to the Blackthorn Security Company still grieving Old Neil.

• Klein tested his Clown-enhanced coordination, balance, strength, agility, and speed, finding that he could control his body with remarkable precision.
• Klein told Crestet Cesimir that he had heard someone murmur “Hornacis,” and Crestet warned him that powerful Beyonders could influence those on the same pathway with malicious messages.
• Klein asked Crestet how to act as a Clown, and Crestet explained that he should grasp the potion’s essence rather than imitate a profession literally.
• Klein foresaw Crestet stepping forward with his left foot and realized the Clown potion gave him fleeting intuitive premonitions.
• Klein tested his ability by throwing the Clown formula paper through a wall, then cleaned the alchemy room and burned the formula.
• Klein returned to the Blackthorn Security Company, thinking of Old Neil and the Nighthawks’ need for another support member.

After Old Neil’s death, Klein learned more about the Nighthawks’ grim practices and sought guidance from Azik about corrupted souls and a mausoleum connected to Death. Azik gave Klein a copper whistle for contacting him before leaving Tingen for Backlund, where Alger arrived as a passenger.

• Dunn told Klein that Cesimir had taken Old Neil’s red eyes to be kept elsewhere, and Klein recoiled at the possibility that remains from lost Nighthawks could be used as Beyonder ingredients.
• Klein told Dunn he wanted to learn tracking and surveillance, and Dunn approved his request.
• Klein visited Azik, who confirmed that a person who lost control had a corrupted soul and warned Klein against spirit channeling when evil gods or devils were involved.
• Klein described his divination of the inverted pyramid mausoleum, and Azik said it felt familiar but did not restore his memories.
• Azik told Klein he planned to leave Tingen for Backlund and gave him a copper whistle that summoned his enormous skeletal messenger.
• Alger Wilson disembarked at Backlund’s docks in the robes of a Church of Storms priest.

After advancing to Sequence 8, Klein adjusted to life at home, continued his training, and learned that his promotion raised his weekly salary to ten pounds. The chapter leaves him being called to help investigate city councilor Mr. Maynard’s murder through Spirit Channeling.

• Klein reassured Bella that she could read newspapers in her free time and told her to serve Sibe black tea and white bread as his everyday meal.
• Klein meditated to control the potion’s power, reflecting on Old Neil’s death and the danger of losing control.
• During combat training, Gawain said Klein could take part in actual combat in two or three days, though becoming proficient would take longer.
• Dunn told Klein that his police rank had changed to inspector and raised his weekly salary from six pounds to ten.
• Dunn asked Klein to use Spirit Channeling to help the police identify the murderer of city councilor Mr. Maynard.

Klein joined Inspector Tolle to investigate Councilor Maynard’s death and used Spirit Channeling to witness the councilor dying during an affair. After Klein drew the woman from his vision, Maynard’s corpse suddenly sat up.

• Klein changed into his upgraded police uniform and met Inspector Tolle, who took him to Maynard’s home.
• Tolle explained that Maynard had been found naked in an unused guest room after hosting a gathering, and that his politically connected family suspected foul play.
• Klein performed Spirit Channeling and saw Maynard having sex with a woman before clutching his chest and collapsing.
• Klein drew the woman he had seen in his vision and packed away his ritual materials.
• Maynard’s corpse clutched the sheets, sat up, and stared vacantly at Klein.

Klein subdued and purified Councilor Maynard after the corpse unexpectedly became a Living Corpse, then discovered that Azik’s copper whistle had likely caused the transformation. He left the investigation to Inspector Tolle, revealing that Maynard had died while with Madam Shermane.

• Maynard’s corpse lunged at Klein, who dodged and used a Requiem Charm before stopping it with a Sleeping Charm.
• Klein performed a ritual to purify Maynard and confirmed that the corpse would not awaken again.
• Klein realized the copper whistle in his left pocket had likely turned Maynard into a Living Corpse and resolved to keep it away from places with many corpses.
• Klein moved Maynard back onto the bed, concealed the mark from his cane, and told Tolle that the corpse had risen and been purified.
• Klein told Tolle that Maynard had died while intimate with the woman in the portrait, and Tolle identified her as the influential Madam Shermane.

Klein rested after investigating Councilor Maynard’s death, then returned to duty and met Duster Guderian to discuss the asylum patient Hood Eugen. Duster revealed that a visitor who used the alias El was really named Lanarvus.

• Tolle told Klein that Madam Shermane had admitted being with Maynard, but the police lacked grounds to charge her and were awaiting autopsy results.
• Klein used Spirit Vision and saw that Shermane’s calm emotional colors contradicted her frightened behavior, while Madam Maynard angrily demanded an arrest.
• Klein returned to Zouteland Street, guarded Chanis Gate through the night, and arranged reimbursement for his expenses.
• At the shooting club, Klein asked Duster about Hood Eugen, and Duster confirmed that Eugen had truly gone mad.
• Duster said that El had visited Hood Eugen three times and revealed that El’s real name was Lanarvus.

Klein investigated Hood Eugen’s connection to the fugitive swindler Lanarvus and planned to seek Madam Daly’s advice on communicating with the mad psychiatrist. Back home, he told Melissa and Benson that his salary had doubled, then prepared to summon a messenger that night.

• Klein questioned Duster Guderian about Lanarvus’s visits to Hood Eugen and learned that the Psychology Alchemists had not responded after Duster reported Hood Eugen’s madness.
• Klein asked Duster to monitor Hood Eugen, press the Psychology Alchemists to help him, and watch for signs that he might lose control.
• Klein returned home and found Melissa dazed after Bella made breakfast from leftovers; Benson emerged from the bathroom and offered Klein some.
• Klein announced that his weekly salary had doubled, and Melissa calculated how long it would take him to save enough money to marry.
• Klein slept, resumed searching for houses with red chimneys, and later sealed his bedroom to try the messenger-summoning ritual.