Chapter Summaries

Roy and Planje entered the Lower City after a deadly black fog incident, where Roy collected Wandering Souls being consumed by the Lord of the Black Fog. Nearby, a child chimney cleaner named Alyosha fell while working.

• Roy and Planje traveled to the Lower City despite the danger, and the coachman warned them to avoid Prime Minister Street.
• Roy waited until the area was less watched, then entered the smoke-filled district with Planje.
• Roy sensed the Lord of the Black Fog consuming souls and secretly gathered nearby Wandering Souls with his Formation Array mark.
• A Chimney Master led several children around the streets to sell chimney-cleaning services, and households hired them.
• Alyosha fell from a chimney, prompting an alarmed cry from inside.

Roy harvested more than three hundred wandering souls and gained a deeper understanding of Soulology before rescuing the chimney-sweeping boy Alyosha from being abandoned. He left Alyosha in the care of a determined nun from the Holy Light Church, then returned to his Temporary Residence to refine the souls.

• Roy stored the wandering souls he had harvested in a Soul-capturing Crystal and reflected on the components of mortal souls.
• Roy saw the Chimney Master and the employer arguing with a white-robed nun over the gravely injured Alyosha.
• Roy paid five gold coins to take responsibility for Alyosha and gave the nun ten more gold coins for his treatment.
• Roy told Planje that the nun belonged to the Holy Light Church and explained that its believers had no supernatural powers, though he had sensed her strong spirituality.
• Roy returned to Temporary Residence and began using his Alchemy Talent to refine the wandering souls.

Roy learned more about the Holy Light Church and advanced his research into souls while growing closer to Sister Winsbell. During a church relief event, black fog descended and Fog Demons began hunting civilians.

• Roy spoke with Sister Winsbell and concluded that the Lord of Radiance sought to preserve the world's order and stability.
• Roy investigated gods, faith, and souls, and realized that his research into emotional energy could help him create stronger golems.
• Winsbell invited Roy to a charity relief event, and Roy agreed to donate ten gold coins despite Domi's protest.
• Roy and Winsbell helped distribute food to impoverished civilians while Roy sketched their suffering.
• Black fog suddenly swept over the relief event, and Roy detected Fog Demons hunting people within it.

Roy witnessed the Black Fog Lord’s minions kill dozens of people in Applaney City, then collected wandering spirits and bloodline factors while helping with the aftermath. As he tried to refine human nature and beast nature from the spirits, he realized that creating souls might be connected to igniting Divine Fire.

• Roy and Winsbell fled the killing fog as Fog Demons suffocated civilians, and Roy collected more than a hundred wandering spirits before the Black Fog Lord’s projection devoured them.
• Roy helped handle the victims’ bodies and considered paying local witches or official organizations to collect corpses and bloodline samples.
• Winsbell explained that many victims were poor residents using inferior coal in homes without proper ventilation.
• Councilor Selvan’s proposal to stop work was rejected by factory owners, who instead backed a new Environmental Protection Act that pushed responsibility onto ordinary citizens.
• At 66 King Street, Roy examined the wandering spirits and wondered how to extract human nature and beast nature from them.
• Roy sensed that forming souls from wandering spirits felt like igniting Divine Fire and could be tied to ascending to godhood.

Roy developed a faith-based bond for his Angel Prototype Zero, White Rose, while managing his work and learning more about Winsbell’s service against the Lord of the Black Fog. The chapter left Roy deciding to visit Winsbell after she was hospitalized with poisoning from the toxic fog.

• Roy realized Soul Base Color could act as an adhesive for a special soul and planned to have White Rose believe in him.
• Athedia told Roy that Snow Castle’s Ice Elemental Mushrooms had yielded a bumper harvest and that Yolanda had given birth to a daughter.
• Planje reported that Winsbell had devoted herself to disaster relief, and Roy defended her good works against Planje’s criticism.
• Roy learned that Winsbell had been poisoned by the poisonous fog and hospitalized, then decided to visit her.

Roy visited the recovering Winsbell, who suspected the poisonous fog had been deliberately sent to harm her relief work, then agreed to help the orphan Alyosha. He promised to fund Alyosha’s identity and education at Anders Noble Academy in the Tulip Duchy.

• Roy visited Winsbell in the church hospital, and she told him that black smoke had suddenly drifted over her while she was handing out free food.
• Planje privately suggested that the Fog Demon had caused the poisoning, and Roy suspected someone might be creating disasters to collect souls.
• Winsbell asked Roy to help Alyosha, the injured boy he had rescued, because the child had lost his job and had nowhere to go.
• Roy questioned Alyosha about his family and work, then falsely told him that he sensed extraordinary power within his soul.
• Roy offered to arrange Alyosha’s identity and send him to Anders Noble Academy, surprising both Alyosha and Winsbell.

Roy arranged for Shelby to transform Alyosha into a noble heir, giving him a new identity and preparing him for school. Meanwhile, Roy completed his experiment and created Soul Pigment, adding the ability to his Origin-tier Talent, Equivalent Exchange.

• Roy asked Shelby to arrange a new identity and care for Alyosha, and Shelby agreed.
• Shelby gave Alyosha a noble family's identity, transformed his appearance, and arranged lessons and a Bloodline Potion.
• Months later, Alyosha told Winsbell he would start school and promised to repay Mr. Yilor for his kindness.
• Roy worked in seclusion at 66 King Street, refining wandering souls with a whitening process and milk-white ointment.
• Roy successfully created Soul Pigment and added Pigment Creation (White) to his Origin-tier Talent, Equivalent Exchange.

Roy refined Soul Pigment and realized his spiritual ability had strengthened as his soul ascended. After helping Winsbell with charity, he learned that Muwis and an associate had rented the house at 65 King Street, directly opposite his home.

• Roy identified and recorded the formula for Pure White Soul Pigment, which required the spirituality of about twenty wandering souls to make enough for his planned White Rose.
• Roy's spiritual vision activated and his ability increased from threefold to fourfold, which he suspected was caused by his soul's increased divinity.
• Winsbell visited Roy with a message from Alyosha and told him that land enclosures were driving more homeless people into the city; Roy gave her gold bars for charity.
• A newsboy sold Muwis a newspaper reporting that a hydrogen airship explosion had killed 125 passengers, and Muwis joked about the disaster.
• Muwis and a middle-aged associate rented 65 King Street, opposite Roy's home, and began moving in furniture and supplies.

Roy began the second phase of the White Rose project, using Soul Pigment and prepared Soul Materials to create a Rose Angel Soul Prototype. The experiment succeeded in forming a spirit inside a Crystal Ball, and Roy considered refining it into a Proto-Apostle for his organization’s assessment.

• Planje told Roy that two suspicious strangers had introduced themselves as new tenants across the street, and Roy suspected they were infiltrators from another faction.
• Roy returned to the Alchemy Room and began refining a Soul Prototype as the next phase of the White Rose project.
• Roy activated the witch formation and used wandering souls, a Memory Stone, and Soul Pigment to form a luminous feminine Spirit Body.
• The Spirit Body descended into a Crystal Ball, and Roy declared the experiment a success.
• Roy considered refining the prototype further or creating a Proto-Apostle to submit for the organization’s assessment.

Roy witnessed worsening hardship in the city and a workers’ march that briefly formed a powerful Spiritual Entity before enforcers violently dispersed it. He protected Winsbell from an attacker, leaving her to question why the Lord of Radiance had not answered her prayer.

• Roy saw more people seeking food at the Holy Light Church and learned that fines and rising grain prices had worsened their hardship.
• Roy observed factory workers marching for better conditions and sensed their shared emotions forming a powerful Spiritual Entity.
• Gang enforcers attacked the marchers, scattering them and causing the Spiritual Entity to vanish.
• Winsbell tried to treat the wounded workers but could not save a dying man, then prayed without receiving a response from the Lord of Radiance.
• A thug swung a club at Winsbell, and Roy stopped him and drove off the other enforcers by invoking the law protecting nobles.

Roy designed a holy emblem to help create the souls and emotional cores of the Rose Angels, grounding them in twelve virtues. Athedia resonated with three of the emblem’s virtues, and Black Cat Domi’s leap caused all twelve roses to glow.

• Roy reflected on how human emotions and faith could condense into Spiritual Power and considered whether the Rose Angels should follow a faith-based or self-powered path.
• Roy sketched a rose-wreath emblem intended to serve as the Rose Angels’ emotional and spiritual core.
• Roy assigned twelve virtues to the roses, intending the emblem to shape the Rose Angels’ dispositions despite the virtues’ contradictions.
• Athedia resonated with the emblem’s petals for fidelity, devotion, and love, surprising Roy.
• Black Cat Domi leaped onto the table, and all twelve roses on the emblem lit up like Holy Fire.

Roy developed the theory of Emotional Temperament to explain how resonance could help form White Rose’s soul, while cultists prepared a ritual to invoke the Lord of the Black Fog. After learning the cultists were active in Applaney, Roy discovered that his neighbor Muvis was a devil on a secret infiltration mission.

• Roy explained that souls contained multiple spiritualities and that Emotional Temperament resonance could help form the Rose Angel’s soul.
• At Number 65 King’s Street, the gray-haired cult leader asked Fudi about their preparations to gather souls and ascend into the supernatural realm.
• In December, Roy signed up for the upcoming black market trade and heard from Shelby that the Lord of the Black Fog’s believers were planning a tragedy.
• Roy met Muvis and Fudi outside their mansion and recognized Muvis’s unusually strong Spiritual Power.
• Muvis identified Roy as a wizard, then revealed that he was a viscount under Lord Ombas on a secret infiltration mission.

Roy negotiated a peaceful coexistence with the devil Muvis, who revealed that he was monitoring the noble Lailebuli and pursuing his soul. Roy decided to watch Muvis in hopes of gaining a share of the spoils, then raided the cultists’ hideout with Planje and discovered a painting that glowed faintly through Hermes' Eye.

• Muvis visited Roy and proposed an agreement to coexist peacefully, explaining that he was a viscount-level devil from the Prison of Abusers.
• Muvis told Roy that evil god cultists had obtained smoke-related Law Residue and that their leader, Lailebuli, was attempting to become a supernatural being.
• Muvis admitted that he wanted Lailebuli’s soul, while Roy became interested in the emotion-driven method called Powered by Love.
• Muvis left a Secret Rune to inform Roy when the cultists went out, and Roy and Planje raided their hideout across the street.
• Roy and Planje found little beyond ordinary valuables and ritual tools before Roy noticed a painting glowing faintly through Hermes' Eye.

Roy found and collected a supernatural painting made with impure Soul Pigment, then flew to a warehouse where the Night Watchmen were raiding Lailebuli’s ritual. The Lord of the Black Fog’s Boon descended, and as Lailebuli transformed into a Fog Demon, Muwes struck him through the heart.

• Roy inspected a supernatural painting containing chaotic Soul Pigment, judged that he could paint better, and took it along with its frame.
• Planje stripped curtains and furnishings from the evil god’s followers’ hideout while Roy headed to the Lower City.
• Roy reached 16 Maple Street and saw Night Watchmen fighting Lailebuli’s followers and their rapidly healing Fog Demons.
• Lailebuli invoked his noble status to restrain the Night Watchmen, who tried to capture him for trial rather than harm him.
• The Lord of the Black Fog’s Boon enveloped the warehouse, and Lailebuli’s body began transforming into a Fog Demon.
• Muwes rose from where he had pretended to be dead and stabbed Lailebuli through the heart.

Muwis revealed that he had bound Lailebuli through a contract and extracted his soul, creating a continuously cycling soul-powered device that fascinated Roy. Roy followed Muwis and offered him a valuable hero spirit in exchange for the soul marble and Muwis’s contract and Soulology knowledge, and Muwis accepted.

• Muwis revealed that he had branded Lailebuli’s soul and claimed the power Lailebuli had gained through their contract.
• Muwis extracted Lailebuli’s soul and trapped it in a glass marble, where an endless cycle of torment and recovery generated power.
• The Night Watchmen attacked Muwis, but he escaped; Roy left Soul Capturing Magic Crystals with Planje and secretly followed him.
• Muwis confronted Roy by the river, and Roy asked to buy Lailebuli’s soul and the technology behind the Soul Marbles.
• Roy offered Muwis a valuable hero spirit in exchange for his Soulology knowledge and Contract Secret Arts, and Muwis agreed.

Roy traded a Tiger race heroic soul to Muvis for knowledge about Fog Demons and Smoke Residue, along with sixty years of teaching services or until Roy mastered the contracted material. He used the knowledge to advance his research into the Rose Holy Emblem, uncovered a clue about a Soul Painting, and completed what he called his Supreme Masterpiece.

• Roy and Muvis agreed to exchange Roy's Tiger race heroic soul for Muvis's research, access to related knowledge, and teaching services lasting sixty years or until Roy mastered the material.
• Roy studied the Hell-related knowledge and identified Lailebuli's soul marble as a Pain Engine that he could incorporate into his Rose Holy Emblem.
• Roy searched for a special painting at the Andora Opera House auction and asked Shelby and Muvis about its origins, but neither knew much about it.
• Roy extracted Memory Stones from the brains of Evil God's followers and learned that the treasures had come from an abandoned ancient castle and were linked to Wizard Huierte's research into Soul Paintings.
• Shelby helped Roy investigate Huierte, who had fallen in the Plane wars, and offered to watch for more clues.
• At the end of March, Roy upgraded the emotion-driven component of the Rose Holy Emblem and announced that his Supreme Masterpiece was complete.

Roy successfully created White Rose No. 0, a powerful artificial soul, then gave it a body and used a love potion to awaken it as a prototype Apostle. The chapter ended with the Apostle opening its eyes, though Roy still lacked a true emotional driver for it.

• Roy activated the magic array and created White Rose No. 0, an artificial soul with 23 degrees of Mental Strength.
• Roy confirmed that the prototype could eventually support Level 3 Combat Power, but it lacked the emotional drive needed to function as a true angel.
• Roy considered finding a virtuous woman, such as Sister Winsbell, to resonate with and wield the Apostle.
• Several days later, Roy made a mature female body from Artificial Meat and infused it with White Rose No. 0.
• Roy gave the Apostle the True Love Potion One Night of Indulgence as a substitute emotional drive, and it opened its eyes.

Roy tested the Proto-Apostle, a powerful artificial spiritual life-form with the Rose Angel’s lightning spell, and explained its abilities to Planje. On the way back, Roy encountered people pleading for help because Winsbell had been arrested.

• The Proto-Apostle embraced Roy, and Athedia dressed it in a maid outfit made from biological armor.
• Roy ordered the Proto-Apostle to attack a tree, and it destroyed the trunk with its Rose Sacred Thunder.
• Roy explained the Proto-Apostle’s high-tier template, spiritual power, and innate lightning ability to Planje.
• Roy tested the apostle’s attributes and concluded that its power could reach over thirty or forty degrees when boosted by love.
• Roy tried to avoid a clash between protesters and military police, but people approached him and asked for help after Winsbell was arrested.

Roy rescued Sister Winsbell from corrupt guards who had arrested her for treating a wounded rebel, then allowed her to continue tending to the injured. As the Rose Holy Emblem behind the Proto-Apostle began to glow, Roy sensed a Mental Wave and looked at her in disbelief.

• Roy learned that black-uniformed guards had arrested Sister Winsbell and went with the church workers to find her.
• The guards accused Winsbell of aiding rebels and demanded money to release her, while she prayed and pleaded her innocence.
• Roy arrived with Planje, the Proto-Apostle, and others, paid the guards, and secured Winsbell's release.
• Winsbell stayed to treat the wounded and left them medicine and food with Roy's permission.
• The Rose Holy Emblem behind the Proto-Apostle glowed, and Roy sensed a Mental Wave from the void.

Roy realized that Winsbell’s trust in him might let her resonate with his Proto-Apostle and become the core of an angel. As he escorted her through the troubled streets, Winsbell voiced doubts about the Lord of Radiance in the face of mortal suffering, and Roy left her considering that holy light might lie within her own heart.

• Roy recognized that Winsbell’s deep attachment to him might make her a potential core for his Proto-Apostle’s evolution into an angel.
• Winsbell thanked Roy for appearing when she prayed for a miracle, and Roy offered to escort her and the other nuns through the chaotic streets.
• Winsbell asked whether Roy believed in God, and he honestly said that he did not.
• Winsbell described the suffering she had witnessed and questioned why an omnipotent Lord allowed it, while an older nun insisted it was God’s trial.
• Roy refrained from attacking Winsbell’s faith and suggested that holy light might exist within one’s own heart.