Chapter Summaries

Dorian Gray Abraham read Fors’s letter, then prepared a reply about acting and the Abraham Family’s curse. In Backlund, Botis and Kisma tracked a cautious woman with possible ties to the Abrahams and watched the Beyonder gathering she might attend.

• Dorian Gray Abraham read Fors’s letter, burned it, and moved to a new residence under a prepared identity.
• Dorian wrote back to Fors, sharing advice on acting as a Traveler and urging him to learn more about the Abraham Family’s curse.
• Botis met Kisma, who explained how the Aurora Order had connected a woman’s inquiries about Scribes, Apprentices, and the Abrahams.
• Botis prepared to investigate the woman at a Beyonder gathering, and Kisma agreed to assist from the shadows.
• Botis concealed part of the gathering venue and used a mirror to monitor it as disguised Beyonders arrived, including a hooded woman carrying a verdigris-covered notebook.

Botis used the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact called the Box of the Great Old One to trap Fors and the other Beyonders from the gathering, then tried to travel to the Ruins of the Gods' Battle. Cattleya stopped him with mysticism spells and made the Box betray him, leaving the two Saints facing off.

• Botis recognized Lemano's Travel Notes and used the Box of the Great Old One to turn Fors, the organizer, the remaining Beyonders, and their room into toys inside its first tier.
• Botis dispelled his concealment and crossed the Spirit World, but discovered that Cattleya had trapped him in an illusion with The Little Match Girl spell.
• Cattleya appeared in a pumpkin carriage under the Cinderella spell and summoned a gigantic cross behind her.
• Cattleya used Banquet of Betrayal to awaken the three figures associated with the spell and make the Box of the Great Old One open against Botis.
• Botis looked down at the open Box as the figures turned toward him, sensing their hunger and malice.

Cattleya fought the Saints Botis and Kisma after Botis exiled the Box of the Great Old One, while Xio blocked his escape and Cattleya revealed her incomplete Mythical Creature Form. The battle ended with an unseen ally’s Dragon Might freezing the enemies as Cattleya launched the Spear of Longinus at Botis.

• Botis exiled the Box of the Great Old One through an illusory door as Cattleya used the Magical Horn to shatter Kisma’s armored form and disrupt Botis’s concealment.
• Kisma reassembled into a layer of flesh and blood, then released a Warlock King soul that bound Cattleya in darkness while Botis attacked her with rapid Blinks and multiple powers.
• Xio learned that the gathering had been disrupted and declared that Teleportation was prohibited in the area, blocking Botis’s escape into the Spirit World.
• Cattleya used Brief Luck to evade Botis’s attacks and revealed her incomplete Mythical Creature Form, overwhelming Botis and Kisma with a storm of knowledge.
• An overwhelming Dragon Might struck Botis and Kisma with Awe, allowing Cattleya to fire the Spear of Longinus at the frozen Botis.

Botis survived Cattleya’s attack by using Restart of Fate, then he and Kisma trapped her and launched a counterattack. A hidden Demigod’s Mind Storm disrupted them long enough for Cattleya to escape, and the two Saints fled before Backlund’s authorities arrived.

• Botis used a shadow substitution to survive the Spear of Longinus, then activated Restart of Fate to restore the room and himself to an earlier state.
• Kisma bound Cattleya with shadows and chains while Botis attacked her with a recorded state of Suah, the God's Abomination.
• A hidden Demigod unleashed Mind Storm, distracting Botis and briefly stiffening Kisma.
• Cattleya used a pea that grew into vines to escape her restraints, then evaded their attacks with The Emperor's New Clothes and disappeared in bubbles.
• Botis and Kisma concluded their targets had fled after drawing official attention, then used mystical means and departed the scene.

Cattleya and Audrey lured Botis into a prepared battlefield, where Mental Plague, Sleeping Beauty, and Frenzy pushed him toward losing control. After Botis was struck by the Mind Dragon’s breath and pierced by the Spear of Longinus, the Box of the Great Old One returned, and he moved to open its third tier.

• Audrey’s Virtual Persona redirected Botis to a deserted forest outside Backlund, where his planted Mental Plague erupted after he expelled her influence.
• Cattleya arrived and used Sleeping Beauty while Audrey’s Virtual Persona inflicted Frenzy, worsening Botis’s unstable mental state.
• Cattleya trapped Botis beneath a field of starlight, but he escaped the attack and destroyed Audrey’s Virtual Persona with a pillar of holy light.
• Botis and Cattleya fought until the Mind Dragon’s breath struck them; Audrey then used Mind Deprivation, allowing Cattleya to hit Botis with the Spear of Longinus.
• Botis collapsed into Worms of Star and reassembled as the Box of the Great Old One returned; he caught it and began opening its third tier.

Botis died when he failed to open the third level of the Box of the Great Old One, and Klein intervened from above the gray fog to destroy a corrupted servant during Cattleya’s cleanup. Cattleya and Audrey left the scene after the dangerous items were sent to Mr. Fool.

• Cattleya and Audrey prepared to use Teleportation charms as Botis tried to open the Box of the Great Old One.
• Botis failed to open the box, then collapsed and disintegrated as the box and his belongings fell to the ground.
• Klein watched through the crimson stars and reflected on the links between ancient fairy tales and mysticism.
• Cattleya sacrificed the box, Botis’s belongings, his Beyonder Characteristic, and nine Worms of Star to Mr. Fool while Audrey kept watch nearby.
• Cattleya destroyed a mutated Invisible Servant with Klein’s lightning, erased traces of the battle, and left The Hermit tarot card at the scene.

After the battle in the collapsed woods, four Church demigods found the Hermit card at its center. Above the Gray Fog, Klein contained the Box of the Great Old One, learned its powers and dangers, and purified Botis’s Beyonder Characteristic.

• Leodero Valentin, Sert, Anthony, and Horamick arrived at the collapsed woods and found the Hermit card embedded in its center.
• Klein’s Sefirah Castle restrained the Box of the Great Old One after it was sacrificed to him.
• Klein divined the Box’s abilities and negative effects, including its unpredictable transportation, deadly randomness, and dangerous third level.
• Klein named the Box 0-61 and sent it to the junk pile, deciding it should be stored in a hidden Spirit World space with water and microorganisms.
• Klein used Sefirah Castle’s power to destroy the corruption within Botis’s Secrets Sorcerer Beyonder Characteristic, then examined Botis’s two eyeballs.

Klein salvaged Botis's belongings and discovered that the Forsaken Land of the Gods blocked the Box of the Great Old One from being bestowed outside. In Backlund, Leonard investigated a strange scene and briefed Church and military officials on the tarot-card incidents, suspecting a link to The Fool's organization.

• Klein examined Botis's remains, stored his dangerous eyeballs, and identified the black pouch as a spatial item he named the Traveler's Bag.
• Klein found gemstones and spiritual materials in the Traveler's Bag, then tried to send the Box of the Great Old One through the Door of Sacrifice and Bestowal but an invisible barrier stopped it.
• Klein used The World Gehrman Sparrow to tell Ma'am Hermit and Miss Justice how to retrieve the Box and release The Magician Fors within twenty-four hours.
• Leonard and his Red Gloves team inspected a corroded, nearly empty apartment building in Backlund but found no further leads.
• Saint Anthony summoned Leonard to a meeting about a high-level battle that left corruption and the Hermit tarot card, and Leonard linked the card to earlier incidents and a possible organization worshipping The Fool.

Leonard’s investigation led the Churches and Military Intelligence Section 9 to name the secret tarot-card organization the Tarot Club and assign him to investigate it. Meanwhile, Audrey collected the Box of the Great Old One after Botis’s death and used it to erase the evidence of a gathering, leaving Fors stunned by the ease of the mission’s end.

• Leonard presented his theories about the tarot-card organization, identified Gehrman Sparrow and the Death Consul as possible leads, and was tasked with coordinating the investigation.
• The demigods agreed to avoid provoking the organization while gathering intelligence, and Leodero named it the Tarot Club.
• Tim woke craving ice cream, made several cups in the Hall family’s kitchen, and left the uneaten cups behind.
• Audrey received the Box of the Great Old One from Mr. Fool and used it to move Fors and the other gathered Beyonders to the Tussock River shallows.
• Audrey told Fors that Botis was dead, Manipulated the other Beyonders into clearing away the gathering’s traces, and prepared to return the Box above the Gray Fog.

After the successful hunt for Botis, the Tarot Club divided the spoils, including the Box of the Great Old One and Botis’s Beyonder materials. Klein kept the most dangerous artifact and asked Fors to tell her teacher he wanted to make a deal with him.

• Klein congratulated the group and gave Cattleya mysticism knowledge, including information about the Sefirot and ancient legends.
• Cattleya chose the Secrets Sorcerer Beyonder Characteristic instead of the Box of the Great Old One.
• Fors chose Botis’s eyeballs and some gems, intending to show the eyeballs to her teacher.
• Xio chose the Traveler’s Bag, while Leonard took three Worms of Star, twenty gems, and some materials.
• Audrey took one Worm of Star and a third of the spirituality materials, leaving Klein with the Box of the Great Old One, five Worms of Star, and the remaining spoils.
• Klein asked Fors to tell her teacher that he wanted to make a deal with him.

Fors offered Dorian Gray Abraham a transaction on behalf of a powerful friend: the Box of the Great Old One or a promise to lift the Abraham Family's curse. Dorian decided to risk his life to meet them, while Leonard learned that Pallez had obtained the Jacob treasure's Sequence 2 characteristic and a Sealed Artifact, then encountered a monocled man at home.

• Fors told Dorian that her group had killed Botis and taken the Box of the Great Old One, and offered him a chance to trade for it or for a promise to lift the Abraham Family's curse.
• Dorian, moved by the prospect of ending the curse, decided to prepare the family's belongings and formulas before traveling to Backlund to meet Fors and her powerful friend, accepting that the meeting could cost him his life.
• Pallez told Leonard that the Jacob Family's treasure was being explored and ordered him to stay beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral while he monitored it.
• Pallez later reported that he had obtained the Sequence 2 Beyonder Characteristic and a Sealed Artifact, then waited until evening to finish absorbing the characteristic.
• Leonard left the cathedral and returned to 7 Pinster Street, where he found a man in a black robe and pointed hat reading a newspaper; the man adjusted his monocle and smiled at him.

Amon revealed that he had spent over a thousand years preparing a trap for Pallez and confronted him and Leonard in Backlund. Klein learned of the danger through Leonard’s prayer and opened a way into the Corpse Cathedral, where Amon turned toward him.

• Amon explained that he had deceived Klein with their search for Kotar and had used a hidden avatar in the Jacob treasure to lure Pallez into his trap.
• Amon’s Corpse Cathedral sealed off 7 Pinster Street and his divine ravings pushed Leonard to the brink of losing control.
• Pallez intervened long enough to drive Leonard out of the cathedral, and Leonard prayed to The Fool for help.
• Klein summoned the Box of the Great Old One and told Leonard to flee to Evernight’s cathedral and pray to Evernight as well.
• Klein used Sefirah Castle and the Box of the Great Old One to open the Corpse Cathedral’s doors, revealing Amon holding a crystalline pillar of Worms of Time.

Klein failed to stop Amon from escaping with Pallez Zoroast's Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic, leaving Amon able to pursue his apotheosis ritual. Pallez survived at Sequence 2 and revealed that Amon's ritual required taking someone else's place during their apotheosis, while Klein continued through the darkness.

• Klein used the Box of the Great Old One to remove the Corpse Cathedral's doors, but the Lord of Storms struck Amon with lightning before Amon escaped into imagination with the cathedral.
• Klein realized Amon had obtained Pallez Zoroast's Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic and planned to discover and sabotage Amon's apotheosis ritual.
• Leonard heard Mr. Fool say there was no need to pray, then learned that Pallez had revived in an avatar at Sequence 2 after Amon killed him and took his characteristic.
• Pallez told Leonard that Amon had allowed him a false hope, and that Amon's apotheosis ritual required taking someone else's place during their apotheosis.
• Pallez warned Leonard to grow stronger and seek Evernight's favor, and Leonard passed the ritual's requirements to Mr. Fool.
• Klein considered Adam's possible apotheosis and his remaining hopes before returning to the real world and continuing through the darkness with his lantern.

Fors brought Dorian the remains of Botis, then introduced Gehrman Sparrow, who offered a way to protect the Abraham Family from its curse in exchange for the Planeswalker potion formula and a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact. Dorian agreed to test the protection himself and recorded the formula, while Klein learned the Planeswalker potion’s ingredients and ritual.

• Fors showed Dorian Botis’s cursed eyeballs and explained that his body had collapsed and dissipated.
• Dorian asked how Fors had digested the Scribe potion, and she credited Gehrman Sparrow with helping her Record powers, customs, and scenery.
• Fors pulled Gehrman Sparrow into the room, and he told Dorian he already knew the ritual to bring Mr. Door back but would not use it because he suspected Mr. Door had been corrupted by the cosmos.
• Klein offered protection from the curse if the Abraham Family converted to the Fool, and Dorian agreed to test the method and provide the Planeswalker formula.
• Dorian recorded the Planeswalker potion formula, including its supplementary ingredients and advancement ritual, for Klein.

Klein learned that becoming a Planeswalker required leaving imprints in dangerous outer space, while Dorian prepared for the Abraham Family curse to strike on the full moon. As the moon rose, Dorian’s curse did not manifest, and he wept with relief.

• Klein asked Dorian where the Planeswalker Beyonder Characteristics were and urged him to find an answer before the red moon became full.
• Dorian suffered a sudden heart pain after Klein left, but he drank medicine from a metal bottle and recovered.
• Alger returned to Bayam as a recruited pirate, met Ralph, and learned that Ralph had founded schools for mixed-descent children.
• Dorian prayed to The Fool and waited for the full moon, while Klein quietly sent a paper figurine through the prayer light to protect him.
• As midnight passed and the full crimson moon shone on Dorian, the curse did not appear, and Dorian covered his face as he began to cry.

Dorian sent Fors details of two Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts for Gehrman Sparrow to consider in exchange for the Box of the Great Old One, and Klein decided the Staff of the Stars would suit him best. Meanwhile, Alger entered a hidden coral palace and absorbed a piece of deep-blue coral.

• Dorian wrote to Fors, confirming his agreement to Gehrman Sparrow’s promise and describing the dangers and powers of God's Painting and the Staff of the Stars.
• Klein watched Dorian’s letter through the prayer light and decided to seek the Staff of the Stars, which might help him escape the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Klein considered how the Abraham Family might become aligned with the Tarot Club if some members converted to the faith of Mr. Fool.
• Alger rode a sea monster to a hidden palace in the waters of the Rorsted Archipelago and examined murals depicting elves and ships crossing an immense darkness.
• Alger climbed to the palace’s thrones and picked up the deep-blue coral, which turned illusory and merged into his body amid flashes of lightning.

Adal’s hunting party in Moon City encountered Gehrman Sparrow, the first outsider they had seen in thousands of years, and heard him say he came from the City of Silver and beyond the cursed land. The story then shifted to war-torn Backlund, where Audrey asked her maid to take her to Saint Samuel Cathedral.

• Adal found a stone amulet belonging to his father in a monster’s remains, and Xin suggested the monster might have killed him.
• Ruth warned that more newborns in Moon City had deformities, while Adal voiced hope that the High Priest would find a way forward.
• Adal’s hunting party spotted an unfamiliar lantern in the darkness and formed a combat line as its bearer approached.
• Gehrman Sparrow introduced himself and told Adal that he came from the City of Silver and outside the cursed land.
• In Backlund in the autumn of 1351, Audrey saw people queuing for food and told Annie to take her to Saint Samuel Cathedral.

Audrey found that the charity foundations had run out of food to distribute, while Klein told Moon City's hunting team about life beyond the cursed land and continued toward the Western Continent. He reached an immense wall of gray fog, and after Door Opening failed, the Staff of the Stars activated on its own.

• Audrey asked Melissa whether food remained for distribution, and Melissa said even the disabled soldiers could no longer receive their full allotments.
• Klein told Adal, Xin, Ruth, and the other members of Moon City's hunting team about the City of Silver and the normal lives people led outside the cursed land.
• Klein identified himself as a missionary spreading his Lord's radiance, and several members of the hunting team followed him through the darkness.
• Klein reached a seemingly endless barrier of solidified grayish-white fog and summoned a Historical Void projection of the Staff of the Stars.
• Klein used the Staff of the Stars to try Door Opening, but the door revealed only more fog before the artifact activated on its own.

The author described how hotel wake-up-call mistakes disrupted his sleep and writing plans during a trip, but he still finished the chapter after returning home. He ended by asking readers to keep comments and reviews focused on Lord of Mysteries, with several named exceptions.

• The author planned to write before checking out and traveling home after the annual gathering.
• The hotel repeatedly woke him around five in the morning after mistaking the China Literature group for another group.
• The author could not get back to sleep, struggled to plot and write, and left the hotel with only five hundred Chinese characters finished.
• After sleeping during the journey, the author returned home, completed and edited the chapter, and warned that the next update might be late or need edits.
• The author recalled regretting earlier comments about monthly ticket rankings and asked readers to discuss only Lord of Mysteries in comments and reviews, except for One Life, Arcane, Martial Arts, Fate Destruction, Crow, and Horse Bandit.

Klein failed to break through the grayish-white fog and approached Moon City's survivors to ask about their records. He healed them and announced his peaceful purpose, then met Nim, who explained Moon City's history and its centuries-long duty to guard the fog.

• Klein tried multiple methods to open the barrier in the fog, but none succeeded.
• Klein questioned Adal about the fog, and Adal said Moon City had records that only the high priest and others consulted.
• Klein used the Unshadowed Crucifix to purify the survivors and the Staff of Life to heal their illnesses and deformities.
• Klein told the survivors he had come to spread his Lord's radiance and asked them to bring their leader to him.
• Nim arrived with Ruth and other Beyonders, introduced himself as Moon City's high priest, and said the city had guarded the fog for 3,722 years.