Chapter Summaries

Richard reached Florence after leaving A Lu Ba Ke Village and explored the vast, prosperous city. He stopped by a plaza fountain, murmuring Florence’s name.

• The chapter described Florence as a major city in the Moore Alliance, where eight Wizard factions converged and maintained a balance of power.
• Richard traveled for three days from A Lu Ba Ke Village and arrived outside Florence.
• Richard entered the city through its guarded gate and observed its massive walls and orderly streets.
• Richard walked through nearly half the city, noting its bakeries, public facilities, and confident beggars.
• Richard stopped before a fountain in a plaza and murmured, “Florence... heh, Florence!”

Richard settled in Floren and searched unsuccessfully for Cat Slave Girl Hai Di before turning to other work. At a gray-market auction, he used the White Feather’s warnings to assess the people around him and decided to call the artifact the Feather of Judgement.

• Richard hired people to search Floren for clues related to Cat Slave Girl Hai Di, but they found nothing, so he continued his research and investigated the Black Spirit King’s secrets.
• Richard attended a secret underground auction to acquire materials he needed.
• Richard recalled that the White Feather could dispel illusions and sense pronounced goodwill or malice, growing warm or cold in response.
• Richard compared the White Feather to the legendary Feather of Truth and named it the Feather of Judgement.
• Richard sensed low-level malice from at least three people nearby and judged that he was not in immediate danger.

At the auction, a Meditation Hat sold for a record price before the host put a young girl up for sale, advertising her language skills and exposing her tattooed body. Richard recognized that she was not Hai Di and decided he still needed to find Hai Di’s whereabouts.

• The host announced that Auctioneer Number Thirteen had won the Starry Night Meditation Hat for thirty-five thousand gold coins.
• The host introduced a young girl as the next auction item and claimed she knew six languages.
• The host tore the girl's upper garment, revealing floral tattoos, and began the bidding at one thousand five hundred gold coins.
• Several bidders raised their signs as the price climbed, while Richard watched without intervening.
• Richard concluded the girl was not Hai Di and resolved to keep searching for Hai Di.

At an auction, Richard saw a painting made with oil from the heart of a former King of Pu Egypt and recognized it as a Corpse Oil Painting. The painting drew little interest from the bidders, while Richard considered its connection to a practice he knew from Earth.

• Auctioneer Number Nineteen won the young girl for 4,900 gold coins and told the host to dress her and send her backstage until the auction ended.
• The host introduced a painting of hell by the deceased painter Xiusterner and claimed its red pigment came from half of King Diter’s heart.
• The host explained how Diter’s heart oil reached the painting after the tomb of his son, King Ameng, was looted amid political upheaval in Pu Egypt.
• The bidders showed little interest in the painting after hearing it was made with oil from a dead person’s heart.
• Richard recognized the work as a Corpse Oil Painting and recalled similar paintings and royal hearts from Earth.

Richard bought the Corpse Oil Painting for its metal frame and returned to Eden Garden with the auction goods. There, he resumed studying a deeper application of magic runes that he believed was the correct direction for his research.

• Richard bid one thousand gold coins on the Corpse Oil Painting because he wanted its frame, then bought several other items at the auction.
• Richard paid for his purchases and returned safely to his rented courtyard in Florence City.
• Richard entered a hidden underground hall, opened a concealed suitcase, and used its light to travel to Eden Garden.
• Richard checked that Eden Garden was in order, adjusted its lighting to match the outside conditions, and went to the Mechanical Processing Sector.
• Richard studied the rune knowledge from the island treasure and concluded that large-scale, interconnected runes could function like highly integrated Spell Chips.

Richard explored how magic patterns could combine with ordinary materials to create powerful spell materials, while investigating the lost Black Spirit Empire. After three days of experiments, he narrowed down a promising material but lacked palladium, so he decided to visit someone who might have it.

• Richard imagined how spell materials could transform technology and wondered why the Black Spirit Empire had perished.
• Richard began laboratory tests using Space Iron Rings to precisely process materials and collect scraps.
• Richard dissolved the auction painting’s frame and extracted rhodium to test in a spell material designed to affect gases.
• After three days of experiments, Richard concluded that rhodium and platinum were unsuitable and that palladium was the likeliest material.
• Richard decided to seek palladium from someone who might have it in stock.

Richard visited Sherlock to discuss a matter and brought an oval metal object and the Corpse Oil Painting to trade. At Sherlock’s home, Richard recognized the maid Lucia as the girl he had seen at an auction, and Sherlock confirmed that Lucia had been sold to him by someone connected to an auction.

• Richard took an oval metal object and the Corpse Oil Painting from his laboratory before setting out to visit Sherlock.
• Richard arrived at Sherlock’s courtyard in Florence City and was welcomed inside by Sherlock Melros.
• Sherlock called for Lucia to bring tea, and Richard recognized her as the girl he had seen being auctioned.
• Richard mentioned the auction, and Lucia trembled as Sherlock reassured her.
• Sherlock told Richard that the person who sold Lucia to him had mentioned an auction.

Sherlock explained that he had bought Lucia from Richard for nine thousand gold coins and freed her, but Lucia insisted that she loved him and wanted to stay. Richard then asked Sherlock for palladium metal, which Sherlock might have in his collection warehouse, and offered him an item in exchange.

• Sherlock told Richard he had bought Lucia for nine thousand gold coins and given her freedom.
• Lucia feared Sherlock wanted to send her away, but confessed that she loved him and wanted to remain by his side.
• Richard asked Sherlock for palladium metal, also known as Ballas Silver, to complete his experiment.
• Sherlock said his warehouse might contain the mineral and invited Richard to search it.
• Richard handed Sherlock an item he had brought as an exchange.

Richard brought Sherlock a pocket watch, but Sherlock already owned a less precise clock, prompting Richard to wonder who had made it. Richard traded Sherlock a painting made with a King's heart, which Sherlock eagerly took to store in his warehouse.

• Richard gave Sherlock a pocket watch, and Sherlock said he already had a similar collectible.
• Sherlock called Lucia, who brought out his small clock for Richard to examine.
• Richard wondered who had made the clock, then handed Sherlock a painting in exchange for the pocket watch.
• Richard explained that the painting's pigments came from a King's heart and described its origins.
• Sherlock declared the painting great art and hurried to place it in his warehouse, with Richard following.

Richard searched Sherlock’s collection warehouse for palladium but found none. Sherlock offered to have his friends search for it and insisted Richard take something from his courtyard in return for the painting and the promised light-operated device.

• Sherlock led Richard into his warehouse and went to frame the painting while Richard searched for Ballas Silver.
• Richard searched the warehouse for over half an hour but found no palladium.
• Richard found Sherlock carving a statue of a girl and heard him explain why he wanted to remember it forever.
• Richard told Sherlock about a light-operated device that could preserve a scene, promising to show it to him privately on a later visit.
• Sherlock offered to ask his friends to find Ballas Silver, but Richard declined because he planned to search himself.
• Sherlock insisted Richard choose anything from his courtyard except Sherlock and Lucia as repayment.

Richard realized Sherlock’s unusually bright silver-white clock might be made of Ballas Silver and decided to find its maker. After learning the maker lived in the dangerous, secluded Rotten Pine Alley, Richard went there while Sherlock continued searching for the metal.

• Richard agreed that Sherlock would help him look for Ballas Silver.
• Richard noticed Sherlock’s clock had stayed bright and silver-white for months, suggesting it might be made of Ballas Silver.
• Sherlock offered to dismantle the clock, but Richard asked him to identify its maker instead.
• Sherlock warned Richard that the clock’s maker was strange, dangerous, and protective of his privacy, while agreeing to keep searching for Ballas Silver.
• Richard traveled to Rotten Pine Alley, a damp and secluded alley north of Florence City.

Richard went to Master Lawrence’s home and encountered Mu Tuo, who attacked him with a flintlock musket but failed to harm him. Mu Tuo and Lei Ke brought out a larger firearm, and Mu Tuo aimed it at Richard and pulled the trigger.

• Richard found Master Lawrence’s courtyard empty and entered through its open gate.
• Mu Tuo confronted Richard with a flintlock musket and fired, but the shot left Richard unharmed.
• Richard pointed out that Mu Tuo had likely forgotten to load a projectile into the musket.
• Mu Tuo ran inside and called for Lei Ke to bring out the weapon their teacher had made.
• Mu Tuo and Lei Ke carried out a large firearm connected by a leather hose to an iron canister.
• Mu Tuo aimed the large firearm at Richard and pulled the trigger.

Richard stopped Mu Tuo and Lei Ke’s Air Gun pellets with an Air Wall and persuaded them he meant no harm, gaining permission to meet Master Lawrence. The chapter left Richard introducing himself to Lawrence while the old man aimed a more advanced gun at him.

• Mu Tuo and Lei Ke repeatedly fired their Air Gun at Richard, but his Air Wall stopped every lead pellet.
• After the weapon ran empty, Richard removed the Air Wall and explained that he had come to meet Master Lawrence, not harm him.
• Mu Tuo went to ask Lawrence for permission to meet Richard, then returned and invited Richard into the main house.
• Richard entered the house and saw Lawrence, a white-haired man in a wheelchair, aiming a silver-white revolver at him.
• Richard introduced himself as Sherlock’s friend and asked Lawrence for help, insisting that he meant no harm.

Richard traded a clock improvement design to Lawrence for all of his Toso Silver, then asked Lawrence to reveal how he had learned to make clocks and firearms. Lawrence hesitated, leaving the exchange of secrets unresolved.

• Richard asked Lawrence for Toso Silver and offered to improve one of Lawrence’s clockmaking techniques in exchange.
• Richard drew a complex design to stabilize a clock’s hands, and Lawrence studied it before accepting that it could solve the problem.
• Lawrence ordered Mu Tuo and Lei Ke to give Richard all the Toso Silver in the warehouse.
• Lawrence asked how Richard had learned the technique, and Richard proposed trading that secret for Lawrence’s own secret.
• Richard asked how Lawrence had learned to make clocks and firearms, and Lawrence fell silent.

Lawrence revealed that his family’s inventions came from books and blueprints inherited from an ancestor of the Black Spirit Empire, and he and Richard exchanged unverified stories about their origins. After dismissing his students, Lawrence prepared for danger, while several days later Muse entered her busy underground hall.

• Lawrence told Richard that an ancestor had left the family Black Spirit Empire books and blueprints that inspired his inventions.
• Richard said that the knowledge he had inherited came from countless people in his homeland, which he called Earth or “E Si.”
• Lawrence and Richard agreed not to investigate each other’s unverifiable secrets, and Richard left with the case.
• Lawrence expelled Mu Tuo and Lei Ke because they had failed to handle Richard and could not protect themselves from hostile Wizards.
• Lawrence cleaned his revolver and said that sending his students away was for their own good.
• Several days later, Muse entered the underground hall where workers were sorting documents and took her place behind the desk.

Muse, newly assigned to manage the East Coast, demanded a concise report from Franklin and reprimanded him for failing to handle a dangerous target decisively. She ordered Franklin to eliminate target Number 378 that night and suppress information about the Black Spirit Empire before it exposed their identities.

• Muse praised Franklin's petal honey water and asked him to report on recent work.
• Franklin described the East Coast operations and explained that target Number 378 was a seemingly harmless contraband seller in Florence City.
• Muse slammed Franklin's head onto the table and scolded him for giving her details instead of simply resolving problems.
• Muse ordered Franklin to make target Number 378 disappear that night and to deal quickly with information about the Black Spirit Empire.
• Franklin gathered several people and hurried out of the hall to carry out Muse's orders.

Franklin and his subordinates confronted Lawrence, and Mu Tuo and Lei Ke died trying to protect their teacher. Lawrence’s bullets failed to harm Franklin, and Lawrence calmly accepted that he was about to be killed.

• Franklin appeared in Lawrence’s house with Ya Te and Promi and announced that he had come to kill him.
• Mu Tuo and Lei Ke returned with Air Guns and refused to leave Lawrence, despite his warnings.
• Mu Tuo fired his Air Gun, which exploded and killed both students.
• Lawrence shot six bullets at Franklin, but Franklin stopped them in midair and melted them into an awl.
• Franklin approached Lawrence, who said he had expected someone to come for him after discovering that he was being investigated.

Franklin killed Lawrence and ordered Promi to burn Lawrence’s house, leaving a Black Spirit Empire emblem at the scene. Richard investigated the ruins and realized the mysterious organization might have returned, leaving him facing a likely new conflict with them.

• Lawrence told Franklin that his ancestors had warned of evil Wizards who sought to prevent the Black Spirit Empire’s legacy from returning, and Franklin killed him with an awl.
• Promi set Lawrence’s house ablaze, and the fire spread through Rotten Pine Alley before Florence’s Wizards extinguished it.
• After researching through the night, Richard saw a notice reporting that the fire had killed civilians and disrupted order in Florence.
• Richard returned to the burned alley under Stealth Technique and Shadow Cloak and found the Black Spirit Empire emblem carved into the ground at Lawrence’s courtyard.
• Richard connected the emblem to the mysterious organization and suspected that its members had targeted Lawrence for his inherited knowledge.

Richard briefed Mu En on his failed searches for Hai Di and the Black Spirit Empire, then pointed him toward the deliberate fire in Rotten Pine Alley as a new lead. Mu En left to investigate, warned that the Wizard organization behind the fire was dangerous.

• Mu En reported that his searches for Hai Di, her black cat, and information about the Black Spirit Empire had produced no leads.
• Richard told Mu En to keep searching for Hai Di and assured him that the Black Spirit Empire investigation should continue.
• Richard explained that Lawrence, whose ancestor had served as an artisan of the Black Spirit Empire, had been killed in the deliberate fire at Rotten Pine Alley, where the empire’s symbol was found.
• Richard urged Mu En to investigate the fire and use his connections to learn about the Wizard organizations that might respond, while warning him not to confront them directly.
• Mu En promised to be careful and left into the darkness after Richard warned him again about the danger.

Richard decided to continue investigating the Black Spirit Empire while prioritizing spell-material research to prepare for future conflicts. In Eden Garden, he refined a palladium alloy and considered whether magic could make a material like metallic hydrogen possible.

• Richard weighed the risks of the mysterious organization and resolved to have Mu En investigate while continuing his research into the Black Spirit Empire's secrets.
• Richard entered Eden Garden's laboratory and examined 107 Alloy, the latest result of his experiments with palladium and other metals.
• Richard concluded that he needed to keep adjusting the amounts of palladium and other Platinum Group Metals in the alloy.
• Richard drew on palladium's ability to absorb hydrogen and considered whether magic and Wandering Energy Elements could help create metallic hydrogen or a more powerful gas-affecting spell material.