Chapter Summaries

Rorschach studied the dwarven Power Furnace’s operating data and began writing a paper on heat engines and efficiency. As the Tower of Stars holiday approached, he continued his research while realizing he needed warmer clothes.

• Snow led Rorschach to an Alchemy Department worker, who gave him a copy of the Power Furnace’s operating data.
• Rorschach returned to Kano and began organizing the data to understand how the furnace worked.
• Kano gave Rorschach research papers, then told him to leave for the evening because he had social engagements.
• Rorschach drafted a paper explaining reversible processes, the Carnot Cycle, and the efficiency limit of heat engines.
• Rorschach recorded questions about mana and energy conversion, then checked his Mana Condensation proficiency before falling asleep.
• On the second-to-last day of the ten-day visit, Rorschach noticed the cold in the cafeteria and decided he needed warmer clothes.

King Charles XVI heard reports of a fire, falling grain production, and increased Imperial troop movements while worrying over the Holy Kingdom’s debts. Meanwhile, Rorschach, Paulina, and Pascal set out to shop for clothes, using an aether-powered alchemical horse after they found no coachman.

• The Captain of the Guard told Charles XVI that the Luowei Merchant Guild building had burned, and Charles ordered him to investigate the cause and losses.
• Duplessis warned Charles that grain production and tax revenue had fallen, interest payments threatened the kingdom, and Imperial troop movements had increased.
• Paulina marked affordable clothing shops on Rorschach’s map, and Pascal changed his mind about joining when he learned Master Kano had lent them a carriage.
• Rorschach considered selling shop maps, while Pascal proposed adding customer reviews and charging shops to improve their ratings.
• The three found that the carriage had no coachman, so Pascal brought out an aether-powered alchemical horse for them to use.

Rorschach, Pascal, and Paulina shopped for winter clothes on Dupont Street and encountered Valan, the shop assistant they had met earlier. After Valan lost his job over gambling debts, the trio rescued him from the Seine, where he revealed a marked piece of Donkey Skin.

• Rorschach and his companions met Floran on Dupont Street, and he warned them about the casino nearby.
• Paulina bought a teal-blue dress and warm outerwear at Madame Pingdu's shop, while Rorschach bought ready-made men's clothes at another shop.
• As the trio crossed the Seine toward the market, Pascal prepared to jump in after a drowning man, but Rorschach led them to the opposite bank instead.
• Rorschach used an unnatural current to carry the drowning man safely to shore, and Paulina warmed him with magic.
• The rescued man turned out to be Valan, who explained that his creditors had found him gambling and Madame Pingdu had fired him.
• Valan showed them a worn piece of Donkey Skin with several lines of writing branded onto it.

Rorschach examined Valan’s donkey-skin talisman and warned him it might be genuine, then shared a meal and bought fish with Pascal and Paulina. Returning to Dupont Avenue, they found Valan thrown out of a den of extravagance by four burly men.

• Rorschach read the talisman’s Yabberish inscription and advised Valan to give the potentially genuine wish-granting hide to the church or sell it to him.
• Rorschach, Pascal, and Paulina ate at a small restaurant, where Paulina used Purify Food on their meal.
• The three bought fish for Gaisde and noticed that market prices had risen by about ten percent in ten days.
• Rorschach froze the fish with Frost Touch and stored it in his ring before returning with Pascal and Paulina to Dupont Avenue.
• Valan rolled out of a den of extravagance as four burly men followed him.

Rorschach fled the casino and was sheltered in the monastery beside it, where he met Archbishop Duplessis, the monastery’s last graduate and the Holy Kingdom’s Cardinal Chancellor. After leaving, Rorschach’s troubles continued as banker Necker Jean recognized the casino’s badly beaten gambler Valan.

• Rorschach used Mage Hand to silence Valan as Pascal rushed Paulina away, then was led from the casino crowd into a nearby monastery by an elderly cleric.
• The cleric explained his view that the casino maintained order, and Duplessis introduced himself as the Archbishop of St. Miller's Church and questioned Rorschach about his journey and the kingdom’s roads and officials.
• The cleric revealed that Duplessis had once been his student and was now the Holy Kingdom’s Cardinal Chancellor, then sent Rorschach out through the back door.
• Necker Jean, newly selected to become the Royal Palace’s Minister of Finance, reflected on his plans to free the king from the influence of the Holy See and Mage Guild.
• Necker spotted Valan being beaten outside the casino and recognized him, while Valan begged him for help.

Necker rescued Valan from a gambling house and saw him as a useful bargaining chip, while Rorschach developed an absolute-temperature scale and presented his thermodynamics paper to Master Kano. Kano was impressed by the paper but challenged Rorschach’s claim that heat was a form of energy.

• Necker confronted the gambling house’s men, defended Valan, and recognized the young noble’s connections as potentially useful in negotiations with the Holy Kingdom.
• Rorschach spent a new ten-day period collecting data and revising his paper while traveling between the Alchemy Department and the Magic Tower.
• Rorschach pressured Pascal into helping him measure hydrogen gas, then used the results to estimate absolute zero at about negative two hundred and eighty degrees and define the Rorschach Scale.
• One month after arriving at the Tower of Stars, Rorschach gave his first draft on the ideal efficiency limit of a Steam Engine to Master Kano.
• Kano praised Rorschach’s imaginative methods but pointed out that the paper began by treating heat as a form of energy.

Rorschach challenged the Caloric Theory by demonstrating that mechanical work and electrical energy could raise water’s temperature just as heat did. The experiments convinced Snow that heat, work, and electrical energy were interchangeable forms of energy, strengthening the case for Conservation of Energy.

• Rorschach told Pascal a story about a polar alchemist whose Caloric Theory could not explain warming from friction and drilling.
• Rorschach and Pascal went to the Alchemy Department, where Snow and several men had prepared two water-heating devices.
• They released equal weights to drive a paddle in one device and a generator in the other, then recorded that both heated the water to nearly the same temperature.
• Rorschach explained that the results showed mechanical work and electrical energy could convert into heat without magic.
• The group repeated the experiments at different falling heights and found that the height was proportional to the water’s temperature increase.
• Snow accepted Rorschach’s claim that heat, work, and electrical energy could be measured in the same units.

Rorschach completed his expanded paper on thermodynamics, and Kano invited him to join an expedition to a stable Sub-plane. Rorschach agreed to go, and Kano planned to take him to its teleportation entrance in four days.

• Kano reviewed Rorschach’s paper, offered him a new research direction, and agreed to submit it to the Mage Guild.
• Kano asked Rorschach to join an expedition to a barren Sub-plane where humans could survive and the Mage Guild planned to build an outpost.
• Kano explained that the King was negotiating with the Mage Guild to claim land in the Sub-plane, while the Church had yet to get involved.
• Rorschach agreed to accompany the expedition and reminded Kano to pay his travel allowance.
• Kano said he would take Rorschach to the Sub-plane’s teleportation entrance in four days.

Rorschach tested Oscillating Quartz and created a spell that suppressed mana within a limited radius. He sent letters to his family and Teacher Caroline, then confronted a trading company employee who had withheld part of his payment.

• Rorschach used Oscillating Quartz Sand to create an explosion that interrupted magic, and his panel recorded Rorschach's Mana-Sealing Shriek (White).
• Rorschach wrote to his parents about conditions in Valuana and his upcoming journey, and wrote to Teacher Caroline about his alchemy progress and questions about mana.
• Rorschach struggled to find a carriage and heard from the driver that hard times had driven many carriage operators to seek work elsewhere.
• Rorschach delivered three Light Spells to a Pachalucca Trading Company employee, who offered him only four of the eight gold coins they had agreed upon.
• Rorschach pressured the employee into paying six gold coins, reclaimed his spell scrolls, and waited as the man returned to the trading company.

Rorschach joined an expedition to explore a newly discovered sub-plane and helped establish a camp in its barren, scarlet landscape. When the Mages failed to create water, Rorschach offered to try.

• Rorschach left Stella Garden with Kano and packed supplies for the journey.
• Francois explained how Archmage Granor discovered a magic circuit in a dried well and used it to reach the sub-plane.
• Leader Nemo gave Rorschach an identity tag, and eight Archmages powered the array to send the expedition through.
• Rorschach and the advance team arrived in a lifeless wasteland where the abundant aether made magic arrays work without conductive mediums.
• The expedition set up camp, and Rorschach helped raise a clock tower while the Mages struggled to create water.
• After Ina and Nemo failed to fill the reservoir with Water Creation, Rorschach offered to try.

Rorschach created water in the Sub-plane by converting concentrated aether into water elements, allowing Nemo’s team to fill the temporary reservoir and continue their mission. The team began building sturdier cabins, but Francois found their construction method too slow.

• Ina and Nemo warned Rorschach to conserve his mana, but he cast Rorschach's Water Creation and produced a large volume of pure water.
• Rorschach explained how to convert aether into water elements, and Nemo and Ina successfully created streams of water by following his guidance.
• Rorschach formed a five-meter sphere of water and poured it into the reservoir, filling it to one-third of its capacity.
• Nemo gathered the mages and apprentices to plan construction of sturdier buildings for the outpost.
• Rorschach used Mage Hand to drive wooden stakes while Francois cast Earth Wall Technique to build a cabin frame, but Francois complained that the work was too slow.

Rorschach helped replace the slow house-building plan with cave dwellings carved into the plateau, then gained the new Mana Control ability. He discovered that he could sense and shape nearby aether with far greater precision.

• Francois told Nemo that he could not maintain the quality of his Earth Wall Technique without proper rest, so Rorschach proposed building cave dwellings instead.
• Nemo and the construction workers tested the plan, and Francois used Burrowing Claw to help them excavate while workers reinforced the caves with brick.
• Ina demonstrated Stone Shaping Technique, forming a smooth, dense cave dwelling and furniture, and Rorschach learned from her precise mana control.
• After confirming the caves were stable, the crew switched to cave construction, while Ina focused on shaping the dwellings and Rorschach moved excess earth with Mage Hand.
• Rorschach's Mana Condensation entry transformed into Mana Control, letting him sense aether within roughly ten paces and reshape it as naturally as a limb.

Rorschach learned the principles of the Stone Shaping Technique from Ina and managed to shape an earthen dwelling after a failed first attempt. As the workers settled in to rest beneath the Sub-plane’s ever-bright sky, Rorschach lay down and wondered whether he would dream.

• Rorschach observed Ina casting the Stone Shaping Technique and unlocked the spell’s remaining steps on his panel.
• Rorschach attempted the spell, lost control of the activated earth, and created only an irregular hole.
• With Ina’s advice, Rorschach narrowed the spell’s range and successfully shaped the soil into an earthen dwelling.
• Rorschach saw Francois and the workers competing to dig out the Artificial Team’s second and third dwellings.
• At the fourth bell, everyone prepared to sleep, and Rorschach lay on his earthen bed beneath the Sub-plane’s bright pink sky.

Rorschach woke from a vivid dream of a forest destroyed by fire and found the world outside his cave plunged into darkness, with glowing beings leading him to a blue forest. There he met a deer-headed spirit who revealed that the place was an afterimage of the Wasteland in Dryads Forest and warned that outsiders would become wandering ghosts if they came unprepared.

• Rorschach dreamed of a giant beast and a forest being ravaged by fire before the dream shattered.
• Rorschach woke at night and found the camp dark, with mages, apprentices, and workers glowing faintly.
• Pink balls of light blocked Rorschach from reaching Captain Nemo, then guided him down into a ravine.
• Rorschach followed the lights into a glowing blue forest and encountered a deer-headed being beside a spring.
• The being told Rorschach that the forest was an echo of the Wasteland in Dryads Forest and warned that unprepared outsiders would become wandering ghosts.

Rorschach dreamed that Deluyats warned him of the approaching Boundless Crystal Sea, gave him a protective mark and amber guide, and tasked him with killing Deluyats's corpse. After waking, Rorschach warned Ina and Francois, who alerted Captain Nemo while Francois proposed trying the Teleportation Array back.

• Deluyats showed Rorschach the crystal tide destroying a beast and warned that the calamity would continue until Deluyats's corpse was buried again.
• Deluyats gave Rorschach a mark to draw with blood, an amber guide, and a blessing to kill Deluyats's corpse in the Real Realm.
• Rorschach woke at noon, learned Captain Nemo had taken the apprentices out, and hurried to tell Ina and Francois about the dream.
• Ina sent a warning to Captain Nemo through her brass disk, while Rorschach suggested expanding the cave shelters against the crystal tide.
• Francois urged them to test whether the Teleportation Array back could be activated before following the dream's instructions.

Kano discovered that a growing Transmutation Dust Flow was disrupting the Star Chart and teleportation systems, while the sub-plane’s aether concentration surged. With return teleportation failing and communications impaired, the separated teams began preparing to find shelter and regroup.

• Kano examined the deviating Star Chart, identified a Transmutation Dust Flow, and ordered Granoir and Snow to help investigate the threat to the sub-plane.
• Rorschach and the others felt the rising aether concentration, and Ina instructed the apprentices to control their breathing and draw on the ambient aether.
• Francois completed the return Teleportation Array, but its blue light destroyed a wooden stick, so Ina called off the attempt and organized the group to seek shelter.
• Nemo’s team detected the severe aether surge and learned from a garbled base signal that teleportation had failed, so Nemo prepared them for a forced march and sent a message three times.
• Ina received Nemo’s message stating that his team was at a huge cave with shelter and could reach the others in two hours.

As the sub-plane’s sky darkened and rain began to fall, Rorschach and the others followed the Forest God’s dream instructions to a cave for shelter. A beetle trapped in amber then led Rorschach deeper inside, and a cave-in revealed a hole that might lead toward the Deer-headed God’s remains.

• Ina ordered everyone to assemble and move toward shelter while Rorschach tried chanting the Forest God’s name and vomited amber and blood.
• Rorschach’s blood formed a pattern that calmed the aether and created a patch of living greenery, revealing a divine spell called Deluyats Forest.
• Francois led the assembled group through the darkening, foggy landscape as aether condensed into rain, and they reached the cave ahead of schedule.
• Nemo questioned whether destroying the God’s Corpse was truly necessary to stop the disaster foretold in Rorschach’s dream.
• The beetle inside Rorschach’s amber flew deeper into the cave, and a rumble opened a hole as Rorschach asked why it was there.

Rorschach and Ina entered the cave to search for the god's corpse while the others used a blood-powered ritual to shelter themselves from the falling pink matter. Elsewhere, Kano and Granoir discovered that Transmutation Dust turbulence had disrupted teleportation, leaving Francois and Nemo's expedition without a reliable way to escape.

• Nemo, Ina, and Rorschach reinforced the cave ceiling, but the falling pink matter pierced Ina's defensive spell.
• Francois and Nemo used their blood to activate the Blood Sigil, which grew a forest that protected the group from the falling matter.
• Ina arranged for the others to replenish the magic array in shifts and joined Rorschach inside the beetle's amber bubble to search for the god's corpse.
• Kano dragged Granoir to the instruments room and explained that stellar deviations had accelerated the Transmutation Dust turbulence, leaving Sub-planes exposed.
• Granoir and Kano activated a new Teleportation Array, but the turbulence obstructed the passage, so Kano ordered researchers to calculate an adjustment.

Rorschach and Ina fought the dead Catoblepas inside its intact molt and destroyed it. A new creature, made of rotting animal parts embedded with pink crystals, emerged from the remains and roared.

• Rorschach and Ina entered an intact molt and discovered a huge creature approaching through the darkness.
• Rorschach lit the battlefield with fire, revealing Catoblepas, a corpse whose aura dried and decayed everything nearby.
• Ina attacked Catoblepas’s hollow eyes, then lifted herself and Rorschach into the air and wounded the beast with Vinia's Light (Gray).
• Ina pinned Catoblepas’s neck with Stone Claw Technique while Rorschach used Stone Shaping Technique and Mana Control to suppress its energy and make it burst apart.
• An amber bubble protected Rorschach and Ina as Catoblepas’s remains dispersed, and a new crystal-studded creature emerged from the collapsed molt and roared.

Rorschach and Ina battled the corrupted Chimera as it grew more dangerous and began casting a spell. Rorschach used Oscillating Quartz to interrupt it, then summoned Deluyats Forest (Red), whose power reached the gaunt figure inside the crystallized beast.

• Rorschach trapped the emerging Chimera in compressed, molten earth, but it exploded free and charged through his stone wall.
• Rorschach and Ina took to the air to evade the Chimera, which gathered a decaying aura and began chanting a spell.
• Ina's Silver Stars failed to stop the casting, so Rorschach scattered Oscillating Quartz and used Projectile to spread it around the monster.
• The Quartz disrupted the Chimera's aether, crystallizing its body and causing a shockwave that injured Rorschach and Ina and destabilized the cave.
• A gaunt hand reached out from the shattered crystal shell, and Rorschach summoned Deluyats Forest (Red), whose blue fluorescence absorbed the frenzied aether and enveloped the remains.