Chapter Summaries

Arro questioned the church’s hidden speaker about her claims and explained why he had chosen to improve the serfs’ treatment rather than free them outright. She revealed that her group was an enemy of Jungle Home but shared information with its subordinate forces, leaving Arro warned that more dangers were coming.

• The woman in the church questioned Arro about his actions, and he explained that freeing the serfs would leave them vulnerable and create problems he could not manage.
• Arro and the woman discussed his naïve ideals, and she said she admired his courage and persistence but would still accept the one thousand Magic Stones offered for him.
• Arro asked about the bounties, and the woman confirmed that Jungle Home had placed a five-thousand-Magic-Stone bounty on him.
• The woman revealed that her group opposed Jungle Home but had connections to its subordinate forces and access to information Jungle Home could obtain.
• The woman warned Arro that more dangers would soon pursue him and advised him to find a way to leave quickly, while he remained unsure whether to trust her.

Arro left the church after deciding to protect his preparations and trust the voice’s promise to ease the serfs’ lives. He returned to find White Deer undergoing a Fairy evolution after the Pendant sealed away her true blood.

• Arro weighed the dangers inside the church against White Deer’s safety and his preparations, then decided to leave when the voice promised to help the serfs.
• Arro took the crimson amber, wished the unseen speaker a pleasant journey, and flew away in his Golden Armor.
• Blood Mist gathered inside the church, and a small white bat rose from the blood pool as the voice mourned its destroyed bodies and bid farewell to Little Martha.
• Arro found White Deer’s body hardened and marked with strange patterns, and the Pendant explained that sealing her true blood had triggered her approaching life-cycle evolution.
• The Pendant said White Deer’s Magic Power would increase and might let her resist the true blood herself, leaving Arro stunned by the transformation.

Arro struggled with the possibility that White Deer’s evolution would change who she was, while the Spirit Body comforted him and warned him to be cautious around the dryad. After the Pendant’s Spirit Body withdrew to conserve its dwindling Mental Strength, Arro realized he could not afford to wait any longer.

• Arro questioned whether White Deer would remain the same person after evolving, and the Spirit Body comforted him about his feelings for her.
• Arro asked whether taking White Deer to the dryad would be safe, and the Spirit Body explained that dryads were usually friendly to fairies but could be influenced by them.
• Arro recalled White Deer’s previous safe visits to the Dryad Territory and felt reassured that no hostile fairy was likely behind the dryad.
• The Pendant announced that the Spirit Body was tired, withdrew its magic power, and returned to its ordinary appearance.
• Arro realized the Spirit Body’s need to rest signaled that its Mental Strength was dangerously limited and that he needed to preserve it until Grandfather’s House.
• Arro looked at the wooden girl in the carriage and decided he could not wait any longer.

Arro brought the evolving White Deer to the Dryad Territory, where the dryad admitted it did not know how to help her. Meanwhile, Countess Ilinda revealed that the Count Territory had been sacrificed to the Saint Fernando Empire and asked Baron Claire to take its hope and escape.

• Arro reached Lan'er Village at noon, fed himself, placed White Deer in the deer carriage, and directed the elk toward the Dryad Territory before falling asleep.
• Countess Ilinda told Baron Claire that a wizard’s flight and the chaos at Peran Castle were connected to a larger crisis.
• Baron Claire accused the Ranelli Kingdom and its nobles of abandoning the Count Territory to the Saint Fernando Empire.
• Countess Ilinda explained that the Count Territory and its people were intended as part of a political feast, and said she could not leave because she served as the excuse for the invasion.
• Countess Ilinda asked Baron Claire to take the Count Territory’s hope and leave, and he agreed to hear her request.
• After waking, Arro learned that the dryad had no solution for White Deer’s transformation and asked whether Natural Magic Power could suppress the Blood Bat’s true blood.

Arro brought White Deer Gwendoline Mulberry Leaf and the three Amber Sprites to the dryad, which began accelerating White Deer's evolution to lessen the Blood Bat true blood's effects. After seeing the dryad's vast store of Natural Magic Power, Arro asked to establish a laboratory near its territory.

• The dryad warned Arro that White Deer Gwendoline Mulberry Leaf might undergo aberrant changes and proposed accelerating her evolution before the Blood Bat true blood erupted.
• Arro agreed to let the dryad examine the three Amber Sprites, hoping the blood-red sprite might help White Deer.
• The dryad guided Arro and the elk through its territory to an enormous forest that was actually a single tree.
• Arro saw the dryad's spring of accumulated Natural Magic Power and placed White Deer and the three Amber Sprites on a root platform that sank into the water.
• The dryad offered Arro acorns and agreed to let him establish a laboratory nearby, and Arro left the elk behind and departed on foot.

Arro sorted the threats facing him and prepared to evade the approaching pursuers while increasing his combat strength. At the manor, he gave Little Heli the promised lodestone and heard Bevan explain why larger Hot Air Balloons failed, prompting new interest in the canvas Dylan had acquired.

• Arro assessed the pursuers as the most immediate danger, White Deer's condition as an intermediate crisis, and the Pendant's dwindling Mental Strength as a distant one.
• Arro gave Little Heli the lodestone, and she eagerly planned to make a generator while he told her to wait for further instructions.
• Bevan reported that he had found the flaw in Arro's Hot Air Balloon calculations after building two balloons with canvas from Dylan.
• Bella explained that the balloon's ropes, heating apparatus, fuel, and canvas grew heavier as its volume increased, making the balloon's own weight the central problem.

Arro taught Bevan and Heli to question assumptions and think beyond ordinary frameworks, using the mystery of flight and magic to explain his idea of “Wizard Literacy.” He encouraged Heli to believe that learning could let even a mortal stand shoulder to shoulder with gods, then returned to Bevan’s habit of seeing only immediate problems.

• Arro challenged Bevan’s explanation of why birds could fly and urged him to think more deeply about the question.
• Arro explained that a sense of wonder and freedom from fixed assumptions could help them innovate.
• Arro demonstrated a tiny flame spell and told Heli that knowledge and effort could help a mortal reach godlike heights.
• Heli took courage from Arro’s words while gripping her treasured Copper Pendant.
• Arro told Bevan that he needed to pursue the reasons behind problems instead of focusing only on how to solve them.

Arro corrected Bevan’s hot air balloon calculations, organized work at Peran Castle, and ordered the balloon completed by the next day so it could watch for spies. As Arro finished the balloon, he began making a deluxe glider from canvas and Fire Ant Steel.

• Arro explained to Bevan that his hot air balloon design needed room for weight adjustments and changing air conditions, then taught Bevan and Heli about gases and curiosity.
• Arro ordered Dylan to have the Guards make charcoal ash and to bring Bard’s guards back to protect the castle, while allowing Disaster Victims to pass through the surrounding open space.
• Arro learned from Dylan that nobles had defected and the defensive line was close to collapse, then ordered Bevan to build a passenger-carrying hot air balloon by noon the next day.
• Arro unfolded the canvas in the armory and used the Melting Spell to cut and fuse the hot air balloon’s airbag, working late into the night.
• After nearing completion of the balloon, Arro joined more canvas to make a triangular sail for a deluxe glider with a Fire Ant Steel frame.

Arro built the frame, controls, and powered booster for a foldable Glider, then covered its wings with canvas. The Glider's main body was complete, and Arro began work on its control station.

• Arro forged Fire Ant Steel into tubes and bent them into the Glider's wing, tail, and central platform frame.
• Arro asked Heli to fetch steel wire and Beast Hide Glue while he drilled holes and fitted joints, pulleys, and rivets.
• Heli returned with the supplies, and Arro threaded steel wires through the frame to connect the wings and tail fins to control rods.
• Arro installed a compact Power Core in the tail and connected it to a silver contact on the control rod as a brief-use booster.
• Arro tested the control linkages and fixed canvas over the frame with Steel Nails and the Melting Spell, completing the Glider's main body.

Arro completed a Glider and prepared to leave the Castle, while Heli sensed his departure and asked him to stay. Elsewhere, a hunter learned that Arro was near the Vashi Mountains corridor and decided to pursue him, as another confrontation broke out.

• Arro finished the Glider’s windscreen using Beast Hide Glue and steel wire, then had Heli fetch cashmere and asked Deputy Butler Dylan to prepare dumplings.
• A hunter learned Arro was near the Vashi Mountains corridor and resolved to go after him despite a friend’s warning.
• A group confronted others over suspected spying for the Saint Fernando Empire and ordered them killed.
• Arro completed and painted the Glider white, and Heli admired its appearance.
• Heli asked Arro not to leave, but Arro reassured her that he would return for processed materials and urged her to study the stone and try making a generator.

Arro assessed an underpowered Black Powder bomb and considered how to make stronger explosives, while Old Bard worried that the Castle’s defenses could not withstand refugees and bandits. Arro suspected that Wizards pursuing him would realize he might still have bombs, and expected them to come looking for him.

• A blast woke the Castle’s servants, and Deputy Butler Dylan returned after Arro had left.
• Old Bard criticized the Castle’s thin defenses and urged Dylan to keep news of the Castle sealed, but Dylan reminded him that Arro had made arrangements.
• Arro judged his bomb test weak because residual Ice Element Magic Power had disrupted the Black Powder’s combustion, then recorded his observations.
• Arro considered Guncotton, TNT, and another powerful explosive, but he lacked the remembered knowledge or the fat needed for mass production.
• Arro reasoned that the Wizards pursuing him could connect his Space Ring to the earlier explosion and would eventually come looking for him.

Arro preserved the Werewolf corpse while considering why he felt no sympathy for threats that endangered people. He then began making a Pure Quartz Glass convex lens and telescope components, leaving the lens to cool.

• Arro submerged the Werewolf corpse in Saltpeter water and weighted it down with a bluestone to keep it from decaying.
• Arro concluded that he felt no emotional fluctuation when killing evil humans or Werewolves because he viewed threats to himself as evil.
• Arro crushed Quartz Stone into sand and melted it in a clay kiln, using three Fire Melting Stones to make Pure Quartz Glass.
• Arro shaped the molten glass into a Convex Lens and smoothed its surface with a Curved Scraper.
• While the lens cooled, Arro made three sections of single tube from lightwood.

Arro finished polishing two quartz lenses and assembled a telescope, then tested it from a secluded mountain overlooking Peran Castle. After confirming he could observe the castle from afar, he concealed the telescope and began setting up a hidden camp.

• Arro polished the two lenses through progressively finer materials, fitted them into the Lens Barrel, and found that the telescope needed a longer barrel to focus clearly.
• Arro packed supplies into his Space Ring, flew to a nearby mountain, and chose a sheltered spot facing Peran Castle as a hiding place.
• Arro tested the Quartz Telescope and used a grass-vine net to keep its objective lens from reflecting light.
• Arro hid the Glider, cleared and drained the ground, spread Sulfur powder against insects, and took stored grease from his Space Ring.

Arrow made soap, glass tools, and several mysterious liquids while watching Peran Castle for signs that his bait had been triggered. Meanwhile, Heli decided to build the generator Arrow had mentioned, but had to check her notes for instructions.

• Arrow used the Skull Mask to produce caustic soda, then combined it with accumulated fats and oils to begin making soap.
• Arrow watched Peran Castle, saw no sign that his bait had been triggered, and made glass laboratory tools while the saponification reaction continued.
• Arrow separated soap from the reaction mixture and processed the remaining glycerin into several mysterious liquids.
• A muffled clap of thunder sounded as Arrow finished working for the night beneath his Glider.
• Heli thought about Arrow and White Deer, then went to the laboratory to build the generator and consulted her notebook for the instructions.

Heli built a simple generator after studying Lord Arrow’s explanations of electricity, then tried to use it to charge the Copper Pendant. When lightning struck the pendant, she saw a vision of unfamiliar people and places, including a Giant Stone Bridge.

• Heli studied Lord Arrow’s explanations of electrons, electric current, and magnetic fields, then understood how to build a generator.
• Heli assembled the generator from resin-coated copper wire, a magnet, and other parts in the laboratory.
• Heli turned the Rocker Bearing and produced a faint electric arc between two copper wires.
• Heli connected the copper wires to the Copper Pendant and turned the crank again.
• Lightning struck the Copper Pendant, which blazed with light and showed Heli a vision of strange dolls, an ordinary young man, Flat Girls, white houses, towering buildings, and a Giant Stone Bridge.

Arro carefully produced and tested nitroglycerin as a new weapon, discovering its explosive power far exceeded ordinary black powder. He considered its potential against Formal Wizards but concluded that its dangers and his limited storage made large quantities impractical.

• Arro cautiously collected a pale yellow oily liquid from his reaction vessel after preparing it in ice water.
• Arro tested the liquid and identified it as nitroglycerin, measuring its ignition temperature and explosive power at roughly eighteen times that of ordinary black powder.
• Arro compared nitroglycerin’s cost and power with the strength of Formal Wizards, while recalling how Clown Tides had helped contain the explosion at the Academy.
• Arro resolved not to target a Formal Wizard without hundreds or a thousand pounds of nitroglycerin, then considered how cheaply a generator could produce that amount.
• Arro recognized that carrying large quantities was too dangerous and that his Space Ring had little room remaining after accounting for the Glider and his supplies.

Arro designed and crafted five hand grenades from Nitroglycerin, disguising them as Exploding Fire Stones. After finishing the weapons, he watched a path at the edge of Peran Territory and saw the bait arrive.

• Arro decided to use his limited Nitroglycerin to make hand grenades, designing casings with internal baffles and Fire Element Magic Patterns.
• Arro shaped five casings from Fire Ant Steel and carved concealing patterns intended to make them resemble Exploding Fire Stones.
• Arro filled and finished the five grenades by drawing their Magic Patterns, sealing them with ink, and coating them with Rust Prevention Oil.
• After the rain receded, Arro ate a steamed bun, raised his telescope, and spotted the bait arriving at the edge of Peran Territory.

Arro watched fleeing Freemen pass the castle and wondered what had driven them from their homes. While waiting for someone important to appear, he began making a microscope and reflected on why the world lacked such instruments.

• Bevan watched a crowd of frightened Freemen leave the path to avoid something above the castle, while Arro observed them from a distance.
• Arro wondered why the Freemen were fleeing and considered whether Wizards might be behind their desperation, but recalled that Wizards generally avoided doing work themselves.
• Arro returned to making a microscope, relying on the Hot Air Balloon and gunpowder bombs to watch and protect the territory.
• Arro considered how difficult microscope-making was and how a lack of collaboration could leave researchers stuck on small problems.
• Arro inspected his crude microscope and accepted that it was worthwhile because no one else had one.

Arro used his handmade microscope to confirm that the blood of this world contained red blood cells, supporting the idea that ordinary living creatures shared the cellular structure of his previous life. He then considered whether meridians existed in living bodies and whether understanding them could help him activate a Martial Arts System and become a Formal Knight.

• Arro examined a drop of his blood with his handmade microscope and confirmed the presence of red blood cells.
• Arro concluded that biological knowledge from his previous life could apply to ordinary creatures in this world, then questioned how Void Energy changed supernatural beings and Formal Knights.
• Arro wondered whether Knight Training could be accelerated by discovering how Void Energy altered the body.
• Arro recalled claims and research about meridians in his previous life and considered using them, along with wizard abilities, to activate a Martial Arts System.
• Arro reasoned that meridians could only be observed in a living, intact, moving organism because they vanished or stopped when the body was dead or dormant.

Arro considered how to investigate the effects of Knight Training on the body and decided to retrieve specimens from Peran Manor for study. He flew there by Glider, but frowned at what he saw on the ground as he arrived.

• Arro confirmed that cells in this world resembled those from his previous life and considered experiments to determine how formal knights were strengthened.
• Arro planned to examine tissue from the formal knight he had killed and the Werewolf, then checked the Castle and found its defenses stable for the moment.
• Arro packed his equipment and flew toward Peran Manor, using the Glider to bypass much of the ground route around the sinkhole.
• Arro opened the Glider's windscreen to slow down, controlled its sudden pitch, and spotted something below that made him frown.