Chapter Summaries

Richard tested 237 Alloy in Eden Garden and discovered that it absorbed air before releasing it in a devastating blast. The experiment left most of Eden Garden in ruins, and Richard began considering how to make the alloy practical to use.

• Richard developed 237 Alloy through repeated tests and brought a metal cube to the Spell Testing Field to test it.
• After Richard activated the alloy, it drew in air from across Eden Garden and resisted his attempt to inject more energy.
• Richard forced more energy into the cube, triggering an explosion that sent powerful shockwaves across Eden Garden.
• Richard shielded himself, but the shockwaves damaged or destroyed most of Eden Garden's buildings.
• Pandora climbed out of the rubble and asked Richard what had happened; he blamed the destruction on an accident and told her to be careful.
• Richard walked away, considering the alloy's uses and the need to rebuild Eden Garden, while Pandora realized he had lectured her despite causing the accident himself.

Mu En reported his intelligence work to Richard, then fled through Florence City after sensing he was being followed. In an abandoned courtyard, a man hunting the arsonist organization cornered Mu En, who suddenly smiled after noticing something.

• Mu En told Richard that he had found no leads on Hai Di, had made progress investigating the Black Spirit Empire, and had failed to uncover much about the arsonist organization.
• Richard told Mu En to reduce risky operations, avoid rash moves, and prioritize gathering information safely until Richard contacted him again.
• Mu En left Richard's residence and raced through Florence City to evade a suspected pursuer, hiding for an hour in an abandoned courtyard in the Slums.
• A huge man appeared behind Mu En and revealed that he had tracked him while investigating the informants Mu En had sent against the arsonist organization.
• Mu En searched for a way out, then noticed something and smiled at the man.

Richard and Mu En killed the towering figure who had been pursuing Mu En, then agreed to pause their investigation and lie low. Richard later examined papers found on the figure, while Muse learned that target Number 378 had been dealt with.

• Mu En revealed that he had deliberately lured the towering figure to the courtyard, and Richard appeared behind the figure and stabbed him with a sword.
• Richard’s sword exploded inside the towering figure, and Richard finished him with a 237 Alloy dagger infused with free energy elements.
• Richard advised Mu En to suspend the investigation, hand off his other tasks, and cut contact for a while; Mu En agreed to meet him again in a month.
• At Eden Garden, Richard studied papers taken from the towering figure’s Space Iron Ring and wondered whether they concerned the Black Spirit King's Secret.
• Franklin told Muse that target Number 378 had been dealt with without any problems.

Franklin learned that Ya Te had gone missing after acting alone, but concealed the danger from Muse while arranging a private investigation. Richard set aside the incomplete clues to the Black Spirit King's Secret and began rebuilding Eden Garden, then looked for ways to simplify the tedious work.

• Promi told Franklin that Ya Te had been acting alone and had lost contact, then showed him a Crystal Ball stained red and black.
• Franklin ordered Promi to keep Ya Te's disappearance secret from Muse and said he would have others investigate while continuing Muse's assigned task.
• Muse asked Franklin about the interruption, and he dismissed it as a minor matter before bringing her fresh honey water.
• Richard examined the mysterious organization's materials and concluded that they were connected to the Black Spirit King's Secret but offered too few clues to solve it.
• Richard stored the materials and began rebuilding Eden Garden, then considered how to ease the tedious work because Mu En could not help with procurement.

Pandora worked through Richard’s problem scroll and unexpectedly felt an intuition guide one of her guesses. Meanwhile, Richard considered how to speed up the rebuilding of Eden Garden before a wizard apprentice from Deep Blue Fort and a swordswoman from Jungle Hut burst into his courtyard over a stolen Starry Night Meditation Hat.

• Pandora avoided the difficult calculation problems and guessed answers to a set of multiple-choice questions.
• When Pandora hesitated over one answer, an unfamiliar sensation made her change her choice.
• Richard pondered how to reduce the time needed to rebuild Eden Garden.
• A young man from Deep Blue Fort and a young woman from Jungle Hut leaped into Richard’s courtyard while facing off with drawn swords.
• The Jungle Hut woman told Richard and Pandora she would protect them, and the Deep Blue Fort man demanded she return their Starry Night Meditation Hat.

Richard watched a girl from Jungle Hut and a boy from Deep Blue Fort fight over the Starry Night Meditation Hat until the boy threatened to kill everyone in the courtyard. When he prepared to attack, Richard killed him with an exploding silver needle, leaving the girl stunned.

• The girl refused to return the Starry Night Meditation Hat to the boy unless he paid her forty High-grade Crystal Coins, and they began fighting.
• Richard watched as the evenly matched duel damaged the courtyard and the boy gradually gained the advantage.
• The boy kicked the girl down, and she offered to return the hat for twenty High-grade Crystal Coins while asking him to compensate the courtyard owner.
• The boy threatened to kill the girl, Richard, and Pandora, and the injured girl tried to shield Richard.
• A silver needle struck the boy’s neck and exploded, killing him before he could throw his fireball.

Richard denied killing the Deep Blue Fort boy after the Jungle Hut girl asked him about it, then watched her return to dispose of the corpse and repair the courtyard. After she left, Richard examined Pandora’s partially completed test paper and noticed something that surprised him.

• The Jungle Hut girl asked Richard whether he had killed the Deep Blue Fort boy, and Richard denied making a move.
• The girl left, returned to take responsibility for the damage, and used a magical plant to consume the corpse and bury its remains.
• The girl cleaned up the courtyard, gave Richard three gold coins to compensate for the damage, and left again.
• Richard asked Pandora how much of her test she had completed, and she said she had done the middle half.
• Richard looked over Pandora’s test paper and raised his eyebrows.

Pandora struggled with the calculation problems Richard had assigned her when Clark arrived, convinced that Richard had saved her and determined to repay him. Richard gave in and offered her a tedious, time-consuming task, and Clark promised to finish it before revealing her full name.

• Pandora worked over Richard’s new calculation problems and resented his insistence that she solve them properly.
• Clark arrived at Richard’s courtyard and explained that she had worked out he was the one who saved her from the attacker from Deep Blue Fort.
• Richard admitted saving Clark, and the Feather of Judgement grew intensely warm as it sensed her kindness.
• Clark insisted on repaying Richard, but she refused Pandora’s request to solve the problems because they required thinking.
• Richard told Clark to leave, but she rejected that as too small a favor and demanded a substantial task.
• Richard offered Clark a tedious and time-consuming job, and she promised to do it, giving her full name as Nairid Clark, backward: Clark Delinai.

Richard had Nellide buy supplies for Eden Garden, and she insisted that her work had not yet repaid her life debt. He sent her to find the rare mineral Molybdenite, known in Floren as Gray Moonstone, before she had to return to the Jungle Hut in four days.

• Richard gave Nellide money and a list of supplies to purchase, and she left her Starry Night Meditation Hat as collateral before going shopping.
• Nellide spent six days buying the items on Richard's lists, including asbestos for Eden Garden's high-temperature protection.
• Richard returned the Starry Night Meditation Hat and told Nellide that her debt for being saved was settled, but she refused to leave because she believed she still owed him.
• Richard told Nellide to find Molybdenite, which was called Gray Moonstone in Floren, within four days, and she set out with a scroll describing it.

After searching for three days, Nellide found a mine producing Gray Moonstone and stole a crate of ore while Deep Blue Fort's Wizard Apprentice inspected the site. She escaped into the night as the Wizard Apprentice led a pursuit.

• After three days without news from Nellide, Richard considered searching the Underground Black Market or unofficial auctions for molybdenite.
• Nellide found a mine producing what she believed was Gray Moonstone and debated whether to steal ore or tell Richard where the mine was.
• A convoy from Deep Blue Fort arrived, and Wizard Apprentice Lord Kru learned that the mine's sole crate of Gray Moonstone had disappeared.
• Lord Kru ordered the mine searched, and Nellide emerged from discarded ore carrying the crate and used seeds to grow vines that blocked the guards.
• Lord Kru fired an Energy Arrow at Nellide, but a spell item protected her as she escaped, and he led his men in pursuit.

Nellide delivered the Gray Moonstone to Richard Austin and collapsed after her poisoned wound worsened. She woke in Richard’s room, realized he had saved her again, and learned that the potion he gave her would make her sweat as it drew out the remaining toxins.

• Nellide brought Richard Austin a box of Gray Moonstone, and he confirmed that her debt to him was repaid.
• As Nellide turned to leave, she collapsed near the courtyard gate, and Richard found a spreading black wound on her back.
• Nellide woke in an unfamiliar room and remembered that a spell from Deep Blue Fort had poisoned her.
• Nellide realized Richard had saved her again and worried about repaying him before returning to the Jungle Hut.
• Richard explained that he had treated her poisoning and told her the potion she drank would make her hot and sweaty for about an hour.

Nellide struggled to repay Richard for saving her and decided to promise to marry him rather than stay in Floren. She left their future on a three-year agreement, intending to return after advancing her studies and becoming a Formal Wizard.

• Nellide cooled herself in a bathtub and decided she could return to Jungle Hut while still taking responsibility for her debt to Richard.
• Nellide called Richard into the bathroom and explained that saving her had created a new debt she needed to repay.
• Nellide stood naked before Richard, explaining that her Assyrian Clan's tradition made showing him her entire body a promise of marriage.
• Nellide promised to return in three years, after learning from her teacher and helping a Cat Junior study, and marry Richard once she had more or less become a Formal Wizard.
• Richard fell silent, questioning the meaning of Nellide's promise and the three-year agreement.

Richard reflected on his relentless pursuit of understanding the Wizard World, then began testing whether adding molybdenum to 237 Alloy could improve its magic-pattern properties. He worked on engraving the alloy while Pandora studied arithmetic outside and changed a correct answer into a wrong one.

• Nellide left after reaffirming that she would return to marry Richard in three years, and Richard dismissed the promise as a trivial matter.
• Richard considered how he had suppressed his emotions and sacrificed much of his humanity to pursue answers about the world's reality, history, and Wizard power system.
• Several days later, Richard smelted Nellide's molybdenite ore and obtained molybdenum for his spell-material research.
• Richard produced a dark alloy block containing molybdenum and used Space Iron Rings to engrave precise magic patterns into it.
• Pandora solved the equation 7X=21, then crossed out her correct answer and wrote X=4 instead.

Richard received Mu En’s report about White Stone Tower’s activity and the arson organization’s appearances in Gray Bell Town, then ordered further investigations and continued searching for Hai Di. Meanwhile, Hai Di was revealed to be living in a jungle southwest of Floren, where Nellide returned with a meditation hat for her.

• Mu En told Richard that White Stone Tower was contacting Wizard organizations across Floren, and Richard ordered him to investigate discreetly.
• Mu En reported that the arson organization had appeared in Gray Bell Town, and Richard told him to continue investigating cautiously.
• Mu En said he had found no trace of Hai Di, so Richard ordered him to widen the search.
• Nellide returned to a jungle settlement and told Hai Di that she had dealt with trouble during her absence.
• Nellide gave Hai Di the Starry Night Meditation Hat that their Teacher had asked her to buy, then went to see the Teacher.

Macbeth, Gelo, and Nancy traveled toward another Wizard organization, seeking clues to prevent a greater disaster after White Stone Tower’s destruction. Meanwhile, Richard completed his improved 315 Alloy pellets in Eden Garden, then suddenly left his laboratory after remembering something.

• Macbeth, Gelo, and Nancy reached Taklamakan Lake and identified it from Macbeth’s map.
• Macbeth explained that White Stone Tower’s destruction was likely the start of something more terrifying, and that they were seeking a way to stop it.
• Richard finished making 315 Alloy pellets, which could remain stable in a high-energy state until struck or heated.
• Richard put away the pellets and abruptly left the laboratory after something occurred to him.

Mu En warned Richard that the Black Spirit Empire investigation had become suspiciously easy, and Qiao Si led two Wizards to attack them. Richard resisted Qiao Si’s Mental Spells and killed one of his companions with 315 Alloy bullets, leaving Qiao Si and the remaining Wizard horrified.

• Mu En told Richard that his investigation into Wizard organizations and the Black Spirit Empire had advanced too easily, making him suspect a trap.
• Qiao Si and two Brown-Haired Wizards burst into Richard’s courtyard and revealed they had lured Mu En there with false information.
• Qiao Si boasted that his Mental Spell had trapped Richard, but his repeated attempts to attack had no effect.
• Richard hurled 315 Alloy bullets at one Brown-Haired Wizard, shattering his stone shield and killing him.
• Qiao Si and the remaining Brown-Haired Wizard stared in horror at Richard’s attack.

Richard killed the three Wizards with a chained blast of 315 Alloy rounds and Spell Salt, then began considering how to turn spell materials into weapons. He told Mu En they would leave Floren and Moore, but first they would exploit the mysterious organization’s attempts to trap and investigate them.

• Richard used Spell Salt to detonate the 315 Alloy rounds and destroy the two surviving Wizards’ shields and bodies.
• Mu En watched Richard kill all three Wizards and reconsidered how powerful he was.
• Richard examined the remains of the 315 Alloy rounds and Spell Salt, imagining spell-based hot weapons.
• Mu En asked how they should respond to the mysterious organization, and Richard explained that killing its agents had not made them safe.
• Richard decided they should leave, but first stage a show for the organization and leave it a surprise.

Franklin learned that Qiao Si's group had vanished while investigating Ya Te and secretly prepared to confront whoever was responsible. In Eden Garden, Richard developed a prototype Spell Bullet and considered how to build a weapon capable of firing it.

• Promi told Franklin that Qiao Si's group and their reconnaissance Crystal Ball had gone dark.
• Franklin concealed the news from Steward Muse, then told Promi to gather the team and keep the matter confidential.
• Franklin suspected Qiao Si's group had met the same fate as Ya Te and decided to handle the investigation personally.
• Richard assembled a Spell Bullet from a 315 Alloy projectile and Spell Salt.
• Richard considered the technical obstacles to creating a weapon that could fire Spell Bullets.

Richard abandoned the search for a suitable Spell Bullet casing and developed a caseless design, then prepared to test his new Spell Gun. The chapter ended as he aimed the loaded pistol at a humanoid alloy target.

• Richard realized he could avoid the casing problem by designing caseless Spell Bullets.
• Richard considered caseless ammunition’s advantages and drawbacks and planned to address its heat and storage risks with magic and a Space Iron Ring.
• Richard designed caseless rounds using a 315 Alloy projectile, Spell Salt, and Demonized Toad mucus, with Wandering Energy Elements replacing a primer.
• Richard renovated Eden Garden’s Spell Testing Field by installing it in a deep pit.
• Richard loaded a caseless bullet into his crude Spell Gun and aimed it at a humanoid alloy target.

Richard tested an explosive Spell Bullet and assembled a six-barreled weapon designed to fire Caseless Spell Bullets at extreme speed. Meanwhile, Mu En launched a planned operation in Floren, and Franklin’s team prepared to confront the investigators, suspecting their movements were a trap.

• Richard fired a 315 Alloy warhead that destroyed a humanoid metal target, confirming the Spell Bullet’s enormous power.
• Richard installed six barrels on a rapid-fire weapon, which could fire up to 3,600 rounds per minute at the cost of damaging itself.
• On May 1, Mu En ordered his subordinates to begin their operation in Floren, then left in a hooded robe.
• Promi told Franklin that investigators had appeared again, and Franklin decided to mobilize his team against them.
• Promi warned Franklin that the investigators might be baiting them into a trap, so Franklin ordered his team to bring spell tools and confront them.