Chapter Summaries

After Chanter of the World ended, Joshua faced a crowd of merchants and nobles seeking access to GG’s promotional power. He refused to meet them on their terms and instead welcomed Nolan’s three Sages, leaving the crowd to listen to Gray Robe’s lesson.

• Galolie and the Blackwood Elf left Nolan, and Joshua considered finding new programs after Chanter of the World concluded.
• White Thorn Flower Jazz told Joshua that envoys from major merchant guilds and noble houses had gathered to see him after GG boosted the Kriya Merchant Guild’s sales.
• Joshua rejected Ciri’s suggestion to escape and went to the theater’s main hall to make the visitors recognize his standing in Nolan.
• Nolan’s three Sages arrived, and Joshua pointed out that they were ten minutes late for their agreed meeting.
• Joshua offered the gathered nobles and merchants the chance to stay and listen to a lesson from Gray Robe, and they silently agreed.

Joshua hosted Gray Robe's public forum at Nolan National Theater, where the sage lectured on Nolan's history and revealed his identity as the Spellcaster Forum user Gray-White Owl. The chapter ended with forum users realizing they had argued with a sage, while Purple-robed One showed interest in the aura connected to Joshua's hidden mark.

• Joshua led the three sages to the theater prepared for the forum and arranged to film Gray Robe's lecture.
• Joshua revealed the Daytime Banshees who worked as the theater's camera operators, and Purple-robed One sensed an unusual aura from them and noticed Joshua's arm.
• Gray Robe began his lecture on Nolan's history and revealed that he was Gray-White Owl, a famous Spellcaster Forum user.
• Ciri saw forum users posting in shock and asking Headmaster Lu'ersike for forgiveness, then replied to one thread with a Dwarf meme.

Purple-robed One revealed that her body had only a year left and sought a successor to preserve her knowledge of illusion and mental magic. After demonstrating the magic’s lifelike effects, she caught Joshua’s interest in using it to create imagined monsters.

• Purple-robed One introduced herself as Melrose and told Joshua and Ciri that her body had only one year left to live.
• Melrose explained that she had failed to find a successor for illusion magic and recalled that Ciri had once been a promising candidate.
• Ciri admitted that she had dismissed illusion magic as impractical, and Joshua asked Melrose what the magic could accomplish.
• Melrose created a lifelike orc, an illusionary grassland domain, and a dragon attack, impressing Joshua with the magic’s special effects.
• Joshua asked whether Melrose could create creatures such as Alien, Predator, the Hulk, King Kong, and Godzilla, and she said she could if he described them in enough detail.

The Purple-robed One offered to take Ciri as her apprentice and name her successor, but Joshua asked for a day to consider the proposal. Ciri decided she wanted to accept so she could help make Joshua’s dream come true.

• The Purple-robed One praised Ciri’s talent for illusion magic and offered to make her a Sage’s successor.
• Joshua asked the Purple-robed One to give them until the next day to answer, then led Ciri out of the Art Museum.
• In the carriage, Joshua asked why Ciri seemed reluctant to become the Purple-robed One’s apprentice, and Ciri recalled her dislike of formal studies.
• Ciri admitted she had decided to become the Purple-robed One’s apprentice because she wanted to make Joshua’s dream come true.

Joshua learned about the Purple-robed One Melors’s tragic past and received a Ring of Clarity from Gray Robe, then gave it to Ciri as a gift for becoming Melors’s heir. He promised to negotiate for Ciri to keep her free time at Hearthstone tavern and hinted that he would commission Melors to help with his New Movie.

• Joshua asked the Black Pigeon and Gray Robe for information about the Purple-robed One Melors.
• Gray Robe told Joshua that Melors had lost a child and sent him a Ring of Clarity as a gift.
• Joshua entered Ciri’s room and gave her the ring to congratulate her on becoming Melors’s heir.
• Ciri worried that apprenticeship would keep her away from Hearthstone tavern, so Joshua promised to negotiate for evening classes, days off, and holidays.
• Joshua told Ciri that he planned to commission Melors for work connected to his New Movie.

Ciri asked Sage Melrose to teach her illusion magic, and Joshua demonstrated how the Purple-robed One could create Virtual Creatures from drawings. After testing the technique with an Alien, he showed her the Avatar he wanted her to create, leaving the commission underway.

• Ciri asked Sage Melrose to accept her as a student so she could learn illusion magic.
• Sage Melrose touched Ciri's cheek and said she looked like Ciri's mother, whom she said could have become a great Spellcaster.
• Joshua proposed a commission and showed Sage Melrose a drawing of an Alien to test her ability to create Virtual Creatures.
• Sage Melrose formed an Alien illusion, and Joshua refined its appearance and movements until it frightened a theater maid into fainting.
• Joshua showed Sage Melrose a drawing of an Avatar and said it was the creature he truly wanted her to create.

Joshua showed Sage Melrose how illusion magic could help create a film and explained that he wanted to build a fictional world called Pandora. After studying the concept art he made with Ciri, Melrose agreed to try creating the world with him.

• The Purple-robed One used illusion magic to create an Avatar and recreate a theater from her youth, where she had been dismissed as a lowly illusionist.
• Joshua explained that film could show a world beyond the confines of a stage, but Melrose remained uninterested in helping merely to create a virtual character.
• Joshua clarified that Avatar was the name of a race from Pandora and asked Melrose to keep the concept art he had created with Ciri secret.
• Melrose examined the drawings of Pandora, its creatures, the Avatars, and humanity’s future weapons as the world took shape in her imagination.
• Joshua invited Melrose to help create an entirely new world in a film, and she agreed to try.

At a ball celebrating the arrival of movies in Falosi, Mrs. Si reflected on her late husband and introduced Monica to the influential figures gathered at the Central Theater. Kelunduo III praised Hachi: A Dog's Tale and asked Mrs. Si to help him contact its screenwriter.

• Mrs. Si recalled meeting Galolie's father at the Central Theater and asked Monica to set aside her grief over the Duke's death for the celebration.
• Mrs. Si spoke with Instructor Ficklo about movies as a distinct form of performance and explained to Monica that the ball's guests included many of Falosi's great figures.
• Monica mistook the cross-dressing Kelunduo III for an insignificant man, and Mrs. Si warned her that he was Falosi's ruler.
• Kelunduo III praised Instructor Morgan's Hachi: A Dog's Tale and asked Mrs. Si how he could contact its screenwriter.

Mrs. Si accepted Kelunduo III’s charge to help Falosi begin making films, despite knowing she would have to train directors and cinematographers from scratch. After the ball, she returned home exhausted and reviewed the playwrights’ scripts, considering whether any could become truly grand films.

• Mrs. Si told Kelunduo III that the Black Swan Troupe had learned film production while making Leon: The Professional, and he urged her to adapt Falosi’s plays into films.
• Mrs. Si agreed to lead the Black Swan Troupe’s effort, while recognizing that Falosi lacked directors and cinematographers.
• A Blackwood Elf remarked that Kelunduo III seemed unlike ordinary humans, and Mrs. Si told her that the king preferred men.
• Mrs. Si endured conversations with playwrights who offered scripts for future films, despite feeling unwell.
• On the carriage ride home, Mrs. Si reassured the Blackwood Elf that she had to inherit her husband’s estate for her daughter and his allies, then examined the scripts and found few truly grand works.

Mrs. Si pushed the Black Swan Troupe through a demanding rehearsal before asking Falosi’s leading playwrights to vote on which classic work to adapt into a film. An attendant then announced that Elder Saifaan had arrived, and Mrs. Si suspected he had news of Galolie’s return from Nolan.

• Mrs. Si criticized the Black Swan Troupe’s dancers during an intense rehearsal, and Cuilisi resumed after Mrs. Si rebuked her.
• Mrs. Si met with Morgan and eight other playwrights, asking them to choose which classic work the troupe should adapt into a film.
• Most of the playwrights favored Morgan’s The Eye Collector as an attendant announced that Elder Saifaan had come to see Mrs. Si.
• Mrs. Si asked for Elder Saifaan to be brought in quickly, believing he might have news that Galolie had returned to Falosi’s royal capital.

Mrs. Si reunited with Galolie in Falosi and learned that the Church’s Hall of Inquisition made the city unsafe for her daughter. She agreed to keep Galolie’s return secret and let her stay with Elder Saifaan, but became intrigued by Joshua’s new film project, Avatar.

• Elder Saifaan used a Source Crystal Stone to check that Mrs. Si and those around her were not Hall of Inquisition informants, then led her to Galolie.
• Mrs. Si reunited with Galolie, checked on her, and scolded her for staying up late and neglecting her meals in Nolan.
• Elder Saifaan told Monica that the Sacred Tree had chosen Galolie and that the Blackwood Elves would protect her at any cost.
• Mrs. Si urged Galolie to stay with Elder Saifaan and keep her return to Falosi secret while the situation remained unstable.
• Galolie said Joshua wanted her and Mrs. Si to work on a big-budget new movie, and Frey handed Mrs. Si the heavy envelope containing the Avatar project.

Mrs. Si brought Joshua’s new script to the Black Swan Troupe’s playwrights after they chose Master Morgan’s The Eye Collector for their next film. Morgan agreed to read Joshua’s work before anyone made a final judgment.

• Galolie asked Mrs. Si whether she would work with Joshua again, and Mrs. Si said the next film’s script might already have been selected.
• Mrs. Si struggled to choose between Master Morgan’s The Eye Collector and Joshua’s script, then left Galolie with Elder Saifaan and Monica.
• The playwrights announced that The Eye Collector had been chosen, but Mrs. Si presented another script for them to consider.
• Mrs. Si revealed that the new script was written by Joshua, a young playwright from Nolan, and named his previous works.
• Morgan asked to read Joshua’s script, and Mrs. Si urged the playwrights to reserve judgment until they had finished it.

Morgan persuaded the Falosi playwrights to choose Avatar over his own The Eye Collector, arguing that film should entertain audiences unfamiliar with stage plays. The chapter ended with Morgan warning Mrs. Si that Joshua Anoroth intended to release Avatar worldwide and expose the evil deeds of Holy Church Country and Frost Country.

• Morgan presented the playwrights with Avatar, but they initially agreed to adapt his The Eye Collector instead.
• Morgan revealed the scar he had received while performing in Steel Country and argued that films needed to appeal to people who found stage plays boring.
• Morgan convinced Ai Holm and the other playwrights that Avatar's entertainment value made it the better choice for reaching audiences worldwide.
• After the playwrights left, Morgan told Mrs. Si that Joshua Anoroth could make Avatar without Falosi and planned to show it around the world.

Joshua taught his twelfth Programming Class at Lu'ersike Advanced Magic Academy, then the Prophet privately warned him that war in the Demon Realm might begin soon. As they headed toward the underground entrance, they discussed Joshua’s relationship with Ciri, and he decided to establish a communications network at the front lines.

• Joshua ended his lesson, and the Prophet caught up with him to discuss the approaching war in the Demon Realm.
• The Prophet told Joshua that the war might begin soon, while Joshua said Cecily had already warned him that the Demonic Realm Fortress was tense.
• Joshua drove the Prophet toward the underground entrance, and she questioned his feelings about Ciri and warned that his family might oppose their relationship.
• Joshua said he would visit the Hearthstone tavern to set up a communications network for the front lines.

Joshua welcomed General Fisili and her knights to Nolan as they collected food supplies for the Demon Realm’s border fortress. He sent Fisili back with Magic Net devices, World Tree leaves, and a letter for Nogs, while trying to convince her that humans in Nolan were not automatically enemies.

• Joshua told the Prophet he considered Tylinn a friend rather than a creature he was raising, then discussed Cecily’s hopes for mutual understanding between humans and demons.
• Peste led General Fisili and her armored knights through a portal to collect food Joshua had bought in Nolan, but Fisili prepared for a human ambush.
• Joshua arrived at the mine and explained that the food belonged to him, then learned from Fisili that an annual human attack was approaching the Demon Realm’s border fortress amid a famine.
• Joshua gave Fisili boxes of Source Crystal Stones and World Tree leaves, along with a letter for Nogs, and told her demons could walk freely through Nolan if they committed no crimes.
• Fisili mistook Joshua’s actions for a noble sacrifice and remained wary of humans, so Joshua gave her Source Crystal Stones and warned her not to activate them with Chaos Magic Power.

Ciri showed Purple-robed One games on the Web of Magic, and the Sage became engrossed in Super Mario. Joshua arrived to discuss filming Avatar in the Demon Realm and Falosi, then revealed his identity as a Chaos Demon prince and Bone Duke’s contractor.

• Ciri used illusion magic to create pixel figures from Minecraft and urged Purple-robed One to try games on the Web of Magic.
• Ciri taught Purple-robed One to play Super Mario, and the Sage became focused on the game.
• Joshua entered Purple-robed One’s Mage Tower after accidentally destroying its traps and barriers.
• Joshua asked Purple-robed One to create Pandora with her illusions for Avatar, proposing filming in the Demon Realm, Falosi, and Nolan.
• Purple-robed One warned Joshua that her presence in the Demon Realm could attract dangerous enemies, so Joshua revealed that he was the Third Prince of the Chaos Demon royal family and Bone Duke’s contractor.

Mrs. Si and Morgan agreed that Avatar’s vast world of Pandora would require extraordinary illusions, and Joshua assured them a Nolan Sage could create it. Mrs. Si announced the film to the Black Swan Troupe and revealed that filming would take place in the Demon Realm.

• Mrs. Si and Morgan discussed the challenges of filming Pandora’s unfamiliar landscapes, creatures, and floating mountains.
• Mrs. Si contacted Joshua, who said filming could begin when the troupe was ready and that a Nolan Sage could construct Pandora.
• Morgan urged Mrs. Si to share the news with the actors, who eagerly hoped to appear in Joshua’s new movie.
• Mrs. Si announced that the Black Swan Troupe would film Avatar, an epic story about humanity exploring Pandora.
• Mrs. Si told the uneasy actors that filming would take place in the Demon Realm.

Mrs. Si announced that the Black Swan Troupe would travel to the Demon Realm to film Avatar, and the actors reacted with excitement, curiosity, and some fear. She pledged to protect them and framed the journey as a chance to begin peaceful relations between Falosi and the demons.

• Mrs. Si told the Black Swan Troupe that Avatar would be filmed in Morna, and several actresses eagerly anticipated meeting demons such as Zennas and Léon.
• Old Lieke warned Mrs. Si that the demons, especially the Sin Demons, were dangerous, but said he still wanted to see the Demon Realm for himself.
• Mrs. Si offered anyone who did not wish to go the chance to withdraw and promised to speak with their families if they objected.
• Mrs. Si pledged to guarantee the troupe's safety and said they might be the first human delegation to visit the Demon Realm peacefully.
• Kelunduo III nodded in approval as Mrs. Si told the actors to prepare to travel as representatives of Falosi.

Cecily faced a worsening crisis in the Demon Realm as food shortages, mutations, and the human invasion threatened the royal city. A message from Joshua offered a new hope: a human delegation from Falosi might soon visit, with Joshua among them.

• Cecily told Nogs's Legion Commander that the weak demons who labored to supply the front deserved thanks for protecting the border.
• Cecily killed a mutated Horned Demon and connected its transformation to the widespread Ashing of crops.
• Cecily urged the royal city's citizens to send their children to the academy as she worried that the city's plague and the war would overwhelm it.
• Cecily received a message from Joshua saying that a delegation from Falosi might soon visit the royal city and that he would accompany it.

Cecily secured Notlein’s approval for Falosi’s envoy delegation to visit the Demon Realm, despite the dangers and unrest there. Joshua prepared to travel to Falosi with Ciri and I Nuo before returning to the Demon Realm, where Cecily would arrange their welcome.

• Cecily researched Falosi and learned that Joshua had arranged for its delegation to visit the Demon Realm to film, tour, and see Sin Demons.
• Cecily spoke with Notlein, who ordered her to welcome the delegation and show them the Demon Realm’s sights, but then began coughing and sounded weak.
• Joshua packed for the journey and explained to Ciri that they would visit Falosi before returning to the Demon Realm.
• Ciri agreed to travel with Joshua despite expecting to encounter his family, and Joshua said Cecily had arranged accommodations for the delegation.
• I Nuo joined Joshua and Ciri outside the Hearthstone tavern, and they set off by carriage.