Chapter Summaries

Gawain learned that Anling Festival had begun as a commemoration of his supposed death and had become a nationwide holiday. He decided to celebrate it with his family, remembering the souls lost in the fire at Old Cecil two years earlier.

• Gawain walked through Cecil City with Heti and Amber and discussed the duchy's prospects for peaceful development.
• Gawain learned that Anling Festival commemorated his death in battle seven hundred years ago and had become a tradition across Ansu.
• Rebecca arrived with Deathbloom Chrysanthemums and explained how her family celebrated the festival, prompting Gawain to tease her for forgetting its origins.
• Gawain decided that Anling Festival should still be observed and said he would celebrate it with his family in comfort for other departed souls.

During Anling Festival in Saint Suniel, Victoria Wilde told Wales Moen that the Verde Family had restrained the throne to protect Ansu and urged him to claim the crown before Edmund did. She planned to seek support from the Founding Duke, whose response remained uncertain as the festival bonfire was lit.

• On Anling Festival, Victoria Wilde pinned a Deathbloom Chrysanthemum to Wales Moen and recalled that Edmund had once described the gesture as a reminder of the Moen Bloodline's dependence on the Verde Family.
• Victoria explained that the Regent Duke system was created after the Mist Month Rebellion to restrain the king and balance the dukes' power, and Wales asked whether it had accounted for Edmund and the Duke of the Eastern Frontier.
• Victoria told Wales that the vacant throne could not remain empty and urged him to become king before Edmund crowned himself.
• Victoria promised to seek the Founding Duke's support for Wales, though she hoped only that he would not oppose the coronation.
• Victoria threw an oak branch onto the courtyard bonfire and ordered it lit, then wondered whether ancestors could truly bless the living.

On Anling Festival, Wales spoke with Veronica about his coming coronation, the war, and the dead, while Gawain used a broadcast to turn the festival into a remembrance for ordinary people and fallen soldiers. After the ceremony, Gawain pardoned Amber’s foster father, Salilendorf, and sent her to the bonfires.

• Veronica visited Wales at the Moen family’s Anling Festival ceremony and congratulated him on becoming king.
• Wales and Veronica discussed the war, the festival’s bonfires, and whether the departed watched the living.
• Gawain addressed Cecil’s citizens through Magic Net projections and honored civilians and soldiers who had died.
• Betty and Rebecca cast branches into the bonfire and remembered those lost from Old Cecil.
• Amber told Gawain about her foster father, Salil, whom a Holy Light Priest had purified after he stole a book and accidentally knocked over a candle.
• Gawain pardoned Salilendorf, and Amber vanished to join the bonfires.

Corpse Hauler Taka discovered that something beneath the Mass Grave was consuming corpses and was dragged underground himself. Beltira arrived afterward, confronted the underground Archpriest Hitton, and reaffirmed that her plan would continue.

• Taka brought a cartload of battlefield corpses to the Mass Grave and left a Deathbloom Chrysanthemum at a wooden altar.
• Taka found the remains of a small bonfire that had burned despite the rain and sensed a strange floral fragrance.
• Vines pierced the corpses Taka had left in the pit and pulled them beneath the earth, and the fragrance overwhelmed him before vines dragged him underground.
• Beltira appeared at the Mass Grave and rebuked Archpriest Hitton, who questioned why she had lit a bonfire for the dead.
• Beltira found a blooming Deathbloom Chrysanthemum in the ashes and declared that Hitton could not stop her plan.

Gawain planned to demolish much of Luan City’s inner wall and install Jenny’s optimized city shields across Cecil to prepare for the Magic Tide. Seeking funds and resources for Cecil’s rapid development, he decided to trade weapons with the Kingdom Army and considered supplying potions to the Eastern Frontier Army.

• Heti reported that Luan City had stabilized, and Gawain warned her to watch for underground remnants of the old church while Amber’s agents handled them.
• Gawain explained that much of Luan City’s inner wall would be demolished to erase its old religious boundary, then showed Heti plans for Jenny’s optimized city-level shield.
• Gawain revealed that Cecil would build shields throughout its settlements to prepare for the Magic Tide, and Heti agreed to plan the project despite its cost.
• Gawain considered Cecil’s growing need for money and resources, then proposed using Stone Fortress as a trade transit zone.
• Heti identified the Kingdom Army’s need for better weapons, and Gawain decided to develop export weapons and trade with the royal family for funds and minerals.
• Gawain suggested the Eastern Frontier Army might need potions because the Holy Light Sect had joined the Kingdom Army, leaving Heti bewildered.

Gawain and Heti planned discreet trade with both armies while Rebecca led Sordelin and the Iron Rangers into the forest to capture Mud Monsters as possible industrial materials. After the team killed the corrupted beasts and collected the creatures, Rebecca also decided to bring back bones to make soup for Ancestor.

• Gawain told Heti to arrange discreet trade with the Eastern Frontier Army and the Kingdom Army and to have weapons designers develop export-model weapons.
• Rebecca and Sordelin led the Iron Rangers into the forest, where they found a gathering of corrupted beasts near a Magic Power Focus.
• Rebecca ordered the Iron Rangers to attack the beasts without damaging the area, and they killed them with concentrated fire.
• Rebecca surprised Sordelin by ordering the Iron Rangers to capture the fleeing Mud Monsters, which she thought might serve as industrial raw materials.
• Rebecca asked the team to bring back some beast bones so she could make soup for Ancestor.

Rebecca and Nicholas Egghead completed a working chassis for the first Magic-infused Vehicle, and Gawain hurried to inspect it. The chapter ended with Heti suspecting that its tires were made from Mud Monster excrement.

• Heti reported that Rebecca had built a pool to raise Mud Monsters for research.
• Rebecca contacted Gawain to announce that she and Nicholas Egghead had completed a usable vehicle chassis.
• Gawain and Heti visited the Machinery Research Institute, where Rebecca presented the prototype and explained its Power Spine framework.
• Gawain examined the vehicle and asked what material the team had used for its tires.
• Heti recognized the rough, elastic tire material and suspected Rebecca had made it from Mud Monster excrement.

Gawain watched Rebecca demonstrate the first Magic-infused Vehicle, whose tires were made from processed Mud Monster secretions. The prototype drove several hundred meters before a vibration-loosened Linkage Rod jammed the machinery, leaving the team with a fixable problem and a successful first test run.

• Rebecca explained that she had made the vehicle’s tires from Mud Monster secretions mixed with Quartz Sand and treated with Giant Wood resin.
• Rebecca started the Prototype Magic-infused Vehicle and drove it down from the Mechanical Platform as the workshop staff cheered.
• Rebecca drove the vehicle around the workshop and accelerated toward the exit, but a mechanical failure brought it to a stop.
• Rebecca and the Technical Personnel inspected the vehicle and traced the failure to a Linkage Rod connection that had loosened from vibration.
• Gawain reassured the team that prototype problems were normal and recognized that the vehicle had traveled four or five hundred meters.

Gawain addressed the shortage of teachers and trained workers by proposing that Cecil use the magic net to broadcast lessons and distribute recorded educational materials. After Rebecca repaired the Magic-infused Vehicle and added an obnoxiously loud warning device, Gawain asked her to help teach ordinary people about magic-infused machines.

• Heti told Gawain that Cecil lacked enough trained teachers and administrative staff to educate the expanding territory.
• Gawain proposed using the magic net to broadcast General Studies School lessons, along with recordings and printed guides on practical knowledge.
• Heti agreed to have Mister Godwin and Mister Santys organize people to prepare the educational materials.
• Rebecca drove the repaired Magic-infused Vehicle to Gawain and demonstrated her loud steel-plate warning device, which Heti criticized.
• Gawain told Rebecca that ordinary people needed lessons on magic-infused machines, and Heti sent her to wash her messy hair.

Godwin Orlando recruited Norris to help expand the lord’s educational series, Fundamentals of All Things. At the Magic Net Broadcast Center, Jenny overcame her unease about teaching on camera and went to begin recording, while Gawain and Rebecca encouraged her.

• Godwin Orlando told Norris that the lord had ordered a series of educational booklets and asked him to contribute agricultural knowledge.
• Jenny reviewed her materials before recording a program about runes and worried that viewers would see her burn scars.
• Rebecca encouraged Jenny not to hide her scars, and Gawain said she had no reason to be ashamed of them.
• Gawain reminded Jenny that she should present the knowledge of her mentor and Mr. Ravenkase with pride.
• After Rebecca cheered her on, Jenny gathered her hair and went into the studio to begin recording.
• Gawain told Rebecca that he and Heti had worried she might blow up the broadcast center.

Great merchant Kord and his son Par arrived in Cecil City and witnessed its modern streets and Magic Net Terminals. At Pioneer Plaza, Rebecca unveiled the Magic-Powered 475 Model, leaving Kord eager to pursue the city’s many business opportunities.

• Kord and Par entered Cecil City, where they marveled at its growth and wide, tall streets.
• A Magic Net Terminal broadcast Gepril’s announcement of a new magic industrial machine exhibition at Pioneer Plaza.
• Kord and Par went to the plaza and watched a massive self-propelled steel vehicle arrive.
• Rebecca introduced the vehicle as the first-generation Magic-Powered 475 Model and explained its origins to the crowd.
• Kord recognized that the vehicle’s engine could create commercial opportunities and urged Par to look for business in Cecil.

Code and Parr arrived in Cecil City, where Code reunited with Gepril, a fortune-teller he had met as a young merchant. Gawain reviewed Rebecca’s universal vehicle chassis proposal and considered expanding civilian participation in new media before meeting the visiting merchants.

• Code and Parr passed through Cecil’s guarded administrative district without paying a bribe and continued to the Lord’s Mansion.
• Code recognized Gepril from a magical projection, and they recalled meeting years earlier when she had been a hungry mage apprentice.
• Gepril told Code that the city was paved with gold, and Code entered the Lord’s Mansion with Parr.
• Gawain reviewed Rebecca’s proposal for a modular vehicle chassis and considered developing commercial uses for newspapers and broadcasts.
• Betty announced Code and Parr’s arrival, and the merchants entered Gawain’s study and greeted him respectfully.

Gawain hired Kord and his family to handle the duchy’s potion trade with the Eastern Territory, then heard Kord’s proposals for advertising and expanding Magic Net Broadcast coverage. Kord’s ideas led Gawain to discard his own unfinished proposal and record a lesson about trusting the people to think for themselves.

• Gawain offered Kord a contract to act as the duchy’s agent for selling potions in the Eastern Territory, and Kord signed it.
• Kord asked about buying magic-infused vehicles and funding Magic Net Broadcast terminals in the Karlov Region.
• Kord proposed promoting local goods through broadcasts and newspapers, and described merchants’ difficulties selling factory products.
• Gawain praised the ideas but emphasized the need for rules against false advertisements and abuse of review authority.
• After Kord and Par left, Gawain burned his unfinished proposal and wrote that the people did not need him to teach them.

Daniel returned to the Imperial Capital with his apprentice Mary and went to the Royal Mage Association to meet President Winsor Mapel. The chapter ended as Daniel and Mary entered Winsor Mapel’s bright office and found her waiting.

• Daniel traveled toward Alderan with Mary and two other apprentices, advising them to behave with confidence and restraint in the Imperial Capital.
• Daniel used the magical bronze mirror bearing his master's symbols to relax as the carriages approached the city.
• Daniel brought Mary to the Royal Mage Association and insisted that the Magic Gate allow her inside with him.
• Daniel and Mary crossed the headquarters while its mages watched them, and Daniel ordered Mary to raise her head.
• Daniel entered Winsor Mapel’s office with Mary and found the president waiting by her desk.

Daniel reunited with his former apprentice Windsor Mapel, now president of the Royal Mage Association, and revealed that his neural-interaction research had partly succeeded. He refused to rejoin the Association, explained that he had left because he could not accept talent’s limits, and departed with Mary into Alderan’s fog.

• Windsor Mapel greeted her former mentor Daniel and met his apprentice Mary.
• Daniel showed Windsor his Artificial Neural Cords and said his research had let him exceed some limits, though he had both failed and succeeded.
• Windsor offered to restore Daniel’s laboratory and Mage Tower, but he declined and agreed only to serve Typhon outside the Association.
• Daniel told Windsor he had left because he resented how talent determined magical achievement, then left with Mary.
• Mary asked Daniel about his past, and he joked that modifying her would waste materials before leading her onward through Alderan.

Gawain reviewed the finalized Universal Traction Chassis with Rebecca and Nicholas Egg, then considered how Cecil’s transportation needs would eventually require more than Magic-infused Vehicles. He introduced Rebecca to the idea of trains, leaving her astonished and asking how they could run on rails without collapsing the ground.

• Nicholas Egg presented the finalized Universal Traction Chassis model and explained its adaptable design for rough roads and different power needs.
• Rebecca explained that the chassis was narrowed to fit the roads of the southern region.
• Gawain reflected on the limits of Magic-infused Vehicles and concluded that the southern region needed trains for heavy, long-distance transport.
• Rebecca interrupted Gawain’s thoughts, and he told her about a powerful engine pulling many carriages.
• Rebecca questioned how such a vehicle could handle the ground, turns, and bumps, and Gawain explained that it would travel on steel rails.

Rebecca eagerly considered how to develop Gawain’s Magic-Powered Train concept, while Camil’s team struggled to make a neural connection chair work. Pittman identified a missing biological component and offered to try making it.

• Gawain described Magic-Powered Trains to Rebecca, who enthusiastically began imagining their design, and he told her to form a research team without neglecting existing projects.
• Camil’s researchers tested the neural connection chair and found it caused dizziness, illusions, muscle tension, and unreliable connections.
• The researchers suspected the chair required bodily modification, but Camil ordered them to adjust its connection points and test it again.
• Pittman arrived and explained that the chair needed an Artificial Neural Cord made from Biomass and Magic Conducting Metal, then offered to try making one.

Gawain and Pittman discussed the Artificial Neural Cord and Pittman revealed his past ties to End of All Things and The Sleeper. Pittman said he had left both cults long ago and wanted to keep that history from Amber.

• Rebecca invited Tir to play in the snow, but Amber secretly threw snowballs at them and started a courtyard skirmish.
• Gawain asked Pittman about the Artificial Neural Cord, and Pittman confirmed it combined druidic techniques with alchemical engineering.
• Gawain explained that the technology came from The Sleeper and warned that it could alter personalities or cause mental collapse.
• Pittman confessed that he had been a Withered Priest of End of All Things and a Nightmare Mentor of The Sleeper.
• Pittman explained that he had joined End of All Things as a young druid, later joined The Sleeper for its knowledge, and eventually left both groups.
• Pittman said he wanted Amber kept apart from his dark past, and Gawain pointed out that her upbringing had hardly been carefree.

Gawain learned more about Pittman’s past in The End of All Things and recruited him to help develop a safer, non-implanted neural interface. The chapter ended with Gawain stopping the girls’ snowball fight after Tir transformed into a Sea Demon and the battle escalated.

• Gawain asked Pittman about The End of All Things, and Pittman explained its ranks, secretive organization, and pursuit of a supposed Great Evolution through Bio-modification.
• Pittman described the cooperation among The End of All Things, the Sleepers, and the Children of the Storm, including the latter’s search in the deep sea.
• Gawain showed Pittman Daniel’s unfinished plans for a non-implanted neural cord, and Pittman agreed to develop and test it with the territory’s resources.
• Gawain offered Pittman triple bonuses if he could turn the blueprints into working devices.
• Gawain saw Tir join the snowball fight as a giant Sea Demon while Rebecca prepared a huge fireball, so he ordered the girls upstairs and ended the fight.

After the first snowfall, Victoria Wilde and Veronica visited Count Pompey to assess the Cecilians’ growing trade and defenses at Stone Fortress. Victoria left for the fortress with a royal-capital convoy, and Gawain instructed Wald Perich to welcome the envoys as a lucrative business opportunity.

• Count Pompey told Victoria Wilde that the Cecilians had fortified Stone Fortress, built Stone City, and opened a busy market to merchants arriving by river.
• Victoria ordered Count Pompey to compile statistics on trade and merchant activity between the south and the Holy Spirit Plain.
• Victoria and Veronica observed Stone Fortress’s restored great shield from Pompey Castle’s terrace.
• Count Pompey handed Victoria rough trade statistics, and she departed with Veronica and the convoy for Stone Fortress.
• Wald Perich informed Gawain that the royal-capital envoys were nearing Stone Fortress, and Gawain ordered him to receive them properly.