Chapter Summaries

Glen arranged hundreds of mirrors across Greenriel City to measure the speed of light over a path of one hundred kilometers, but the expected light never appeared on the tower’s cloth. The experiment seemed to be failing as Raphael and the other Great Wizards returned from surveying the city.

• Glen and the other wizards finished placing the mirrors according to his calculations, with the council’s permission to use the darkened streets.
• Glen explained that he would send a beam through one thousand reflections over one hundred kilometers and measure how long it took to reach a cloth atop a tower.
• Lynn said the plan was both feasible and infeasible, while the other wizards questioned whether Glen could measure the speed of light.
• At midnight, Glen and five wizards created a fireball and directed its light through a small opening toward the first mirror.
• Nancy watched the tower and timed the beam, but no light appeared after more than ten seconds, and Glen noticed the beam fading quickly.
• Raphael and the other Great Wizards surveyed the city from above and returned with helpless expressions.

Raphael’s test showed that the light beam faded after only seventy-three mirrors, and Lynn explained how the atmosphere scattered and absorbed light. Harov proposed creating a vast Vacuum Domain, and the wizards began a redesigned experiment that left nearly half the city in vacuum.

• Raphael reported that the beam had become invisible after reflecting off the seventy-third mirror, halting the experiment.
• Lynn explained that mirrors lost some light with every reflection and that elements in the air scattered and absorbed it, while light could cross a vacuum without losing energy.
• Harov proposed making a large Vacuum Domain to simulate the cosmos and preserve the beam’s intensity.
• Glen revised the plan to use one hundred mirrors, while Anthony offered to create a stronger light source with Thunder Magic.
• Harov, twenty Great Wizards, and two other Legendary Wizards expelled the elements to create a Vacuum Domain covering nearly half the city, and Lynn expanded his own domain to complete his assigned section.

Glen’s experiment showed that light crossed a hundred kilometers too quickly for the wizards to measure, but a mirror’s destruction exposed the beam’s devastating power. The accident injured more than ten people, and Lynn argued that the experiment still deserved recognition.

• Glen’s beam traveled through a hundred mirrors and illuminated the tower, but Nancy’s Magic Clock recorded no elapsed time.
• Harov, Aurora, and Vittorio could not see the beam’s passage, and Glen concluded that the experiment had failed to measure light’s speed.
• Lynn pointed out that the beam was still heating the first mirror, which soon shattered under the energy it absorbed.
• The exposed beam pierced a wizard’s shoulder, sliced through a wall, and burned a path across the ground before Glen shifted it into the sky.
• Anthony canceled his Thunder Magic, and the wizards found that more than ten people had been injured, though no one had died.

Glen’s light-focusing magic caused a destructive accident but impressed the wizards enough to earn him a Morning Star Medal nomination. Lynn considered how to develop the magic into a powerful solar attack and promised to reveal his own method for measuring the Speed of Light in a few days.

• The wizards examined the damage from Glen’s focused beam and recognized its potential as a devastating combat spell.
• Aurora praised light-focusing magic as a new primary use for light-element magic, and Raphael announced Glen’s Morning Star Medal nomination.
• Glen thanked Lynn for his warning and faced the cost of compensating those affected by the accident.
• Lynn imagined using large-scale light-focusing magic as Legendary Magic he called Sunlight Shower.
• Sanchez asked whether the Speed of Light could be measured, and Lynn said he had a simpler method that would be ready in a few days.

Lynn prepared a new experiment to measure the speed of light using a light beam, a mirror, and precisely made gears. He revealed the gear as the crucial part of the setup, leaving the gathered wizards wondering how it could help.

• Wizards debated whether light traveled at infinite or finite speed, but they could not devise a way to measure it.
• Glen, Fula, and Yoland received the Morning Star Medal for their research, and Lynn had nominated Yoland for his microscope.
• Lynn inspected the gears, lenses, and mirrors that Elock, Pierce, Lydia, and Joanne had prepared for his experiment.
• Lynn gathered wizards in Greenriel City and showed them a light-emitting device aimed at a mirror four kilometers away.
• When the wizards questioned how the short distance could measure light's speed, Lynn pointed to a gear and called it the experiment's most crucial part.

Lynn demonstrated a gear-and-mirror experiment to measure the speed of light, explaining how the rotating gear could reveal whether light traveled at a finite speed. As the gear accelerated, the returning beam and its reflected spot disappeared, which Lynn said proved light had a limited speed.

• Lynn used a semi-transparent mirror, a reflector, and a gear to explain how the gear’s rotation could test the speed of light.
• Glen realized that matching the gear’s rotation to the light’s travel time would let returning light pass through a second gap, and the wizards praised Lynn’s method.
• Lydia started the Internal Combustion Engine, and the 720-toothed gear accelerated under the crowd’s watch.
• The beam and light spot flickered more slowly as the gear sped up, then both disappeared.
• Lynn explained that the returning light was striking the gear’s teeth, proving that light had a limited speed.

Lynn and the wizards measured the speed of light with a rotating gear, finding it traveled about 299,520 kilometers per second. After repeating the experiment to check the result, the wizards considered what the measurement could reveal about the cosmos, while Lynn wondered whether the two worlds shared a universe.

• Lynn explained that the rotating gear could block light between its teeth, showing that light did not travel infinitely fast.
• Lydia increased the gear's speed, and Harov used magic to push it past the engine's limit until a spot of light appeared at fifty-two revolutions per second.
• The gear exploded, but Harov stopped the flying shards with a Slow Field, and Raphael calculated light's speed at 299,520 kilometers per second.
• Nancy realized light could circle the continent about seven and a half times in a second, while Lydia concluded that people saw the sun as it had been several minutes earlier.
• Lynn compared the result with the speed of light from his previous world, wondered whether the worlds shared a universe, and repeated the experiment with other gears to verify the measurement.

After Lynn received another Silver Moon Medal, he was summoned to a council meeting as the wizards prepared to respond to the Church’s invasion. Before he could leave, Daren brought word that the Empire had crossed into Hadratta, while an airship patrol spotted the approaching Griffin Knights.

• Lynn received a Silver Moon Medal for his light-speed experiment, despite disagreement among the wizards over whether the achievement deserved the award.
• Three days after the symposium ended, the council invited Lynn and the other remaining members to discuss the Church’s invasion.
• Daren arrived with intelligence that the Empire’s troops had crossed the border into Hadratta the previous morning, and Lynn read the report with a grave expression.
• Hami recalled how he had left farm work and trained as an airship pilot for Lynn’s dangerous reconnaissance missions.
• During a routine patrol, Hami spotted a vast flock of griffins approaching and recognized them as the Empire’s Griffin Knights.

Hami and his crew tried to escape the Griffin Knights in the invisible Sky Airship, but Devi attacked it with divine spells and badly damaged it. With the airship slowing and the enemy closing in, Hami ordered the crew to fight, and one Griffin Knight reached the vessel.

• Hami ordered the Sky Airship to retreat and turn invisible, but the Griffin Knights tracked it and pursued in formation.
• Hami pushed the airship’s engine to full power and escaped the encirclement, while Devi resolved to capture the vessel and attacked it with Holy Light Impact.
• A deputy tackled Hami down just before the first blast struck the cockpit, injuring the airship and throwing the other crew members against the walls.
• Devi and the Griffin Knights launched a second barrage, damaging the airship and breaking its propeller as its speed fell.
• Hami rallied the crew to fight, and they fired muskets at the approaching Griffin Knights, hitting several griffins without stopping them.
• One Griffin Knight dodged the crew’s first volley and flew up to the Sky Airship before they could reload.

Hami and his crew used liquid nitrogen and a self-destructive airship attack against the Griffin Knights, while Edwell found a way to suppress the white phosphorus fire. Devi survived the blast but was left badly burned and then treated by Edwell.

• Hami threw a vial of liquid nitrogen at a Griffin Knight, freezing him and his griffin as they crashed into the airship’s shield.
• Griffin Knights tore open the airship’s gasbag, and Hami warned his crew that capture would bring them torment and humiliation.
• Hami and the others dropped and ignited more than a hundred white phosphorus shells, destroying the airship and engulfing nearby Griffin Knights in fire.
• Devi escaped the center of the explosion but caught fire, and his burning griffin plunged to the ground.
• Edwell told Devi to hold his breath, suppressed the flames, and removed his damaged flesh before divine magic regrew it.

Edwell punished Devi after the Griffin Knights destroyed Hami’s airship, then investigated the white phosphorus and extreme-cold weapons used against them. In Greenriel City, the Council reviewed the battle report and learned that the Holy Church might have found a way to counter Lynn’s Hellfire.

• Edwell healed Devi, then ordered him to lead every future Griffin Knight charge as punishment for the failed mission and the deaths of more than a dozen knights.
• The surviving Griffin Knights returned with their dead comrades, and the Bishops treated those contaminated by the persistent white-phosphorus flames.
• Edwell examined two frost-covered corpses and sensed the approaching patrol airship four kilometers away.
• Yali saw Hami’s airship destroyed, abandoned his rescue attempt, and fled to carry the intelligence back.
• At Corona Tower, Raphael praised Lynn’s pilots as the Council discussed the battle and the Holy Church’s apparent countermeasure to Hellfire.

Lynn told the council that White Phosphorus Fire could be countered and had become outdated, then warned them that the Church had invaded the Kingdom with a large force led by Cardinal Bishop Edwell. As the council struggled to counter the Griffin Knights threatening their airships, Lynn proposed using lasers.

• Lynn said White Phosphorus Fire was no longer powerful enough and hinted that he had devised a stronger Flame Magic.
• Lynn reported that more than thirty thousand Imperial troops had crossed the border, including the Griffin Knight Order and a silver-armored unit.
• Harov identified the masked leader as Cardinal Bishop Edwell and the silver-armored troops as the Church's Divine Punishment Army.
• Aurora warned that the invading force was likely only a vanguard, while the council debated how to protect the airships from the Griffin Knights.
• Lynn suggested using laser anti-aircraft cannons, and Aurora recognized the idea as his new beam magic.

Lynn explained how the wizards had used an Electromagnetic Railgun to destroy Ella’s projection during the Battle of the Royal Capital and shared his assessment of her condition. The councilors concluded that Ella had likely been weakened by faith, but feared that even the Secret Magic Society might not be able to defeat her if she retained her reason.

• The councilors discussed ways to improve Laser Magic, while Raphael suggested attacking griffins from airships to shorten the distance.
• Lynn revealed that he and Anthony had planned the Magic Kingdom’s establishment and described how over a hundred Official Wizards and Anthony charged an Electromagnetic Railgun to destroy Ella’s projection.
• Lynn recalled that Antioch had used a holy relic and the prayers of tens of thousands of believers to summon the projection, and said his railgun had been his trump card.
• Aurora asked Lynn to assess Ella’s condition, and he explained that her projection seemed less agile and that Ella had likely been affected by faith.
• The Legendary councilors were relieved that Ella might be weakened, but feared that an ancient, rational Ella could be too powerful for even the Secret Magic Society to defeat.

The Empire mobilized its forces for war against the Church while Hattar faced defections and a weakened army in the kingdom. Lynn and Anthony arrived at the Royal Capital, reassuring Hattar and silencing the nobles with Lynn’s fearsome reputation.

• Harov welcomed the news that [Ella]'s power had weakened, but Vittorio and Lynn warned that the Church and its Legendary enemies still posed a grave threat.
• The council swiftly ordered a war mobilization, and more than two hundred airships and four ironclad warships departed as Mary worried about the coming conflict.
• Old York reflected on the rewards and ambitions he hoped to win through the war, then resolved not to let other soldiers take credit from him again.
• Hattar learned that eastern lords had defected and northern counts were resisting his summons, leaving him with only about thirty thousand troops instead of the planned fifty thousand.
• Lynn and Anthony entered the royal hall and reassured Hattar, while the nobles fell silent at the sight of Lynn, who had slain a divine avatar and thousands of guards.

Lynn presented the Land of Wizards’ reinforcements to King Hattar and the nobles of Hadratta, displaying a vast force of airships, firearm soldiers, and unfamiliar weapons. After the parade, Lynn assigned Anthony plans for a laser emitter and returned to develop new Flame Magic as the war against the Church approached.

• Lynn calmed King Hattar and invited the nobles to inspect the reinforcements from the Land of Wizards.
• Lynn led Hattar and the nobles outside, where several hundred airships blotted out the sky above the royal palace.
• Lynn brought the nobles to the square, where twelve thousand troops and heavy weapons disembarked from the airships.
• King Hattar asked Lynn about the strange steel boxes, but Lynn withheld their purpose to protect military secrets.
• Lynn gave Anthony blueprints for a Laser Emitter, then returned to his residence to develop new Flame Magic.

After advancing to Great Wizard, Lynn sought a powerful wide-area spell and decided to create Chlorine Trifluoride as a replacement for White Phosphorus Fire. He used his Vacuum Domain and carefully controlled the elements until he successfully synthesized the dangerous compound.

• Lynn reviewed his status and noted that his increased magic power and control came with only seven Fourth-ring spells.
• Lynn decided to create Chlorine Trifluoride, believing it could serve as an even more terrifying Hellfire than White Phosphorus Fire.
• Lynn retrieved the compound's synthesis information and prepared a Vacuum Domain to keep it from contacting other substances.
• Lynn confined Chlorine and Fluorine elements together and spent the afternoon making repeated attempts to synthesize the compound.
• Lynn finally created a T-shaped Chlorine Trifluoride molecule above his palm.

Lynn created and named a dangerous Chlorine Trifluoride-based spell, Undying Flame, then tested it in a restrained duel against Anthony. The duel ended with Anthony’s copper spikes piercing Lynn, leaving the onlookers horrified and his fate uncertain.

• Lynn used Advanced Material Deconstruction to replicate Chlorine Trifluoride and tested its properties, finding that it ignited and consumed substances while producing toxic gas.
• Lynn named the spell Undying Flame and decided to test whether it could counter magic and divine arts.
• After dinner, Lynn summoned Anthony for a restrained duel, drawing the estate’s researchers and wizards to watch.
• The onlookers debated Lynn’s chances against Anthony, a Sixth-ring Great Wizard, while Anthony treated the duel as a chance to face a former legend.
• Anthony opened with Thunder Strike, but Lynn stopped the lightning with a Faraday Cage.
• Anthony turned metal within the lightning into sharp copper spikes that pierced Lynn, prompting Elock and the others to cry out in horror.

Lynn and Anthony’s training battle escalated when Lynn revealed his Undying Flame, which devoured Anthony’s elemental defenses and nearly overwhelmed him. Lynn extinguished the runaway flames before they destroyed the training ground, and the others asked how the magic could burn in a vacuum.

• The Great Wizards realized Lynn’s apparent wounds were harmless because he had used Polarization Magic to leave a projection in Anthony’s lightning attack.
• Lynn’s Undying Flame consumed the lightning and Anthony’s Vacuum Domain, water curtain, and other elemental defenses, forcing Anthony to retreat behind his Serpent Scale barrier.
• Anthony fired a beam of light through the flames and struck another of Lynn’s projections, while the lasers threatened the training ground and its onlookers.
• Raphael called for the duel to stop, and Lynn suppressed the flames before they could spread further.
• Lynn stripped away the areas still burning and let them extinguish in a Vacuum Domain, realizing he could not yet fully control the dangerous magic.
• Sanchez asked Lynn whether the fire was truly Flame Magic because it had continued burning in a vacuum.

Lynn demonstrated that his Undying Flame could burn iron and stone, even in a vacuum, challenging Adela’s Three Laws of Fire. He began explaining that oxygen was not required for combustion if another oxidizing agent could take its place.

• Raphael asked whether Lynn’s flame came from hell, and Lynn called it the Undying Flame, a flame created through magic.
• Adela argued that the flame violated his Three Laws of Fire and explained his theory to Lynn.
• Lynn summoned the Undying Flame and stopped Adela from touching it, warning that it could burn him badly.
• Adela tested the flame on iron and stone, then witnessed stone burning in a vacuum.
• Lynn told Adela that his laws were largely sound, but explained that an oxidizing agent could replace oxygen and sustain combustion.

Lynn demonstrated that elements other than oxygen could fuel combustion, while Anthony developed a prototype of Lynn’s Laser Magic and lost their duel. As the war approached, Lynn urged caution against Cardinal Bishop Edwell’s Griffin Knights and proposed training trusted wizards to use lasers against them.

• Lydia used the sun as an example to help Adela understand that combustion could use elements other than oxygen, and Lynn extinguished the Undying Flame without explaining further.
• Lynn praised Anthony for creating prototype Laser Magic, and Anthony described how its power could increase through higher energy levels and a narrower beam.
• Anthony admitted defeat in his duel with Lynn, but Lynn called the inconclusive fight a draw.
• Sanchez reported that Edwell had hidden Griffin Knights in the woods to ambush airship scouts, limiting the army’s reconnaissance.
• Lynn suggested teaching Laser Magic to trusted Official Wizards so they could serve as humanoid Laser Emitters and help secure air superiority.
• Lynn rejected Adela’s proposal to attack the griffins directly, warning that the wizards should either avoid acting or destroy the entire Griffin Knight order before it could adapt to Laser Magic.