Chapter Summaries

Lan Qingyou watched Steel Wool explore a silver-white underground laboratory and saw them collapse after approaching a mysterious blue light, then appear enlarged on the surface. She suspected the light had transformed Steel Wool but concealed the laboratory from Riesling and the others.

• Steel Wool explored an empty laboratory stained with old blood and approached a glowing blue pillar rising from a deep pit.
• Steel Wool's vision went black briefly, then returned to the Karim Continent, where Lan Qingyou saw that Steel Wool had grown much larger.
• Lan Qingyou concluded that exposure to the light had caused Steel Wool to grow and wondered whether the laboratory belonged to the traitorous alchemist from the Aurelius Family.
• Riesling asked Lan Qingyou whether she had found useful information, but she chose not to reveal what she had seen.

Lan Qingyou concealed what she knew about the beam while [The Fool] Hersi noticed clues in her vague account. Hersi proposed that ancient laboratories on the Karim Continent might explain the monsters’ increased magic power, leaving Lan Qingyou worried that the others would uncover the truth.

• Lan Qingyou claimed she had found no useful details beyond evidence that something on the Karim Continent caused monsters to undergo Gigantification.
• [The Fool] Hersi analyzed her wording, and the others began to see that her information pointed toward something on the Karim Continent.
• [The Magician] David redirected attention from Gigantification to the monsters’ unusual quality and quantity of magic power.
• [The Fool] Hersi suggested that ruins might contain ancient research laboratories whose results or unfinished products had leaked out after Kahamama caused soul contamination across the Karim Continent.
• Lan Qingyou silently resolved to act before the others solved the mystery, even if she could only destroy the beam.

The Tarot Villa discussed how ancient ruins might explain the mutated monsters and offer valuable discoveries, then considered exploring more of the Karim Continent. As Chu Yuan proposed expanding their mapping efforts, Professor Sai urged the group to hold off for now.

• Hersi explained that ancient ruins could cause nearby monsters to mutate and noted that unexplored ruins might contain valuable knowledge and tools.
• Freyja asked whether undiscovered sites such as an ancient Alchemy Workshop could still exist, and Hersi said most of the Karim Continent remained unexplored.
• Chu Yuan proposed making exploration and ruin searches a shared objective, with his beastfolk helping open new areas.
• Professor Sai advised Chu Yuan to delay expansion, prompting Chu Yuan to ask why they should waste their current opportunity.

Samael proposed using pollution-resistant plants and animals from the Seaside Town testing ground to secure newly explored areas of the Karim Continent. The group planned to coordinate with Alisa and the Ball, then looked to Lan Qingyou to speed up the organisms’ growth.

• Samael rejected Chu Yuan’s suggestion to pause expansion and urged the group to proceed cautiously while continuing at their current pace.
• Samael revealed that Jiang Lan’s Seaside Town testing ground contained plants that could grow without a Purification Magic Array and resist pollution from Kahamama’s soul.
• Samael explained that spreading the resistant plants and animals could make explored territory visibly habitable and help secure it against threats.
• Jiang Lan proposed discussing the plan with Alisa and the Ball, while Chu Yuan offered to contact the Ball.
• Chu Yuan pointed out that the organisms needed time to grow and turned to Lan Qingyou, whose Time Magic might accelerate them.

Lan Qingyou hesitated to use her dangerous, untested Time Magic, but Jiang Lan revealed that she and Alisa had prepared specimens designed to withstand it. Intrigued despite her annoyance at Alisa’s involvement, Lan Qingyou agreed to try using the magic.

• When everyone looked to Lan Qingyou for an explanation, she said she had not mastered Time Magic and was unwilling to use it because it was dangerous and difficult to control.
• Jiang Lan assured Lan Qingyou that she and Alisa had prepared seeds and organisms capable of withstanding her magic.
• Jiang Lan explained that the thousand-year-old specimens Lan Qingyou had supplied were more fragile than Storm Island’s evolved native life, forcing her to redo her research with lower parameters.
• Lan Qingyou privately resented Alisa’s involvement but found the environmental restoration experiments intriguing.
• Lan Qingyou asked whether they should give her Time Magic a try.

Jiang Lan gave Lan Qingyou seeds for a future experiment with dangerous Time Magic, while Steel Wool reunited with its former owner after searching for her for over a hundred years. The group discussed how to shrink the giant creature, and Lan Qingyou left to design a magic item for it.

• Lan Qingyou accepted Jiang Lan's seeds but said she needed time before trying the Time Magic experiment.
• Steel Wool woke, recognized Lan Qingyou, and crashed into the Protective Barrier while trying to reach her.
• Lan Qingyou asked the others how Steel Wool could be made smaller, and David suggested teaching it a Transfiguration Spell.
• Vivian and Orff discussed using a magic item or fantasy tree material to give Steel Wool a size-changing ability.
• Lan Qingyou told the others to return to their earlier work while she considered how to make the magic item.