Chapter Summaries

Fran used the Northern Lands Society’s correspondence office to order magical creature materials from the Adventurers Guild in White Dragon Port, including materials needed for equipment and Song of the Deep Sea Sequence 6. After Fran left, Dorian recognized her name as the author of a mathematical paper.

• Fran brought about ten thousand gold coins to the Northern Lands Society’s correspondence office and asked Emmett to send a letter to the Adventurers Guild in White Dragon Port.
• Fran paid for express service and ordered magical creature materials for forging equipment, offering four thousand gold coins and requesting delivery.
• Fran placed a second order for materials needed for Sequence 6 of the Song of the Deep Sea’s Transmutation sequence, offering two thousand gold coins for express delivery.
• Fran left the office and passed Dorian, who had once traveled with her, without revealing that he knew her.
• Emmett told Dorian that a mage named Lai had a four-digit Mana Communication System score, and Dorian wondered if she was the author of “Mathematical Analysis of Fireball.”

Fran discovered that her Composite Spell drew power from a running machine, then left the Northern Lands Society with Aila and her followers for the Antir Region. In White Flower Territory, Finley received Count Ian, who had arrived under Duke Theodore’s orders, while Maeve accompanied him.

• Fran learned that her Composite Spell’s power and mana cost depended on a steam engine she had built, and decided to develop the spell further using machines as references.
• Anna told Fran it was time to leave, and Fran used her book to grow taller before setting out.
• Brian saw Fran emerge from the Northern Lands Society and watched its followers bow and address her as their Proxy.
• Fran left with Aila’s group in dire-wolf-drawn vehicles, then reunited with the Black Horse outside the Northern Lands Society and headed east toward Antir.
• Finley welcomed Count Ian, who said he had come on Duke Theodore’s orders to stay in White Flower Territory, and Finley noticed Maeve with him.

Maeve stayed in White Flower Territory under orders from the Transmutation School, while Count Ian arrived and discovered Finley was expecting an Alliance mage. Fran arrived to conduct a confidential experiment, leaving Count Ian questioning why White Flower Territory had been chosen.

• Maeve recalled that the Ocean Society’s recommendation had required her to remain in White Flower Territory and continue reporting what she saw.
• Count Ian told Finley not to hold a banquet or announce his visit, and Finley wondered why the count had come.
• Finley admitted that he had agreed to let the mage served by the Sunflame Arts user conduct an experiment in his territory.
• Fran entered White Flower Territory with Aila and an unusual procession, while Finley and Count Ian hurried to greet her.
• Fran identified herself as a mage of the Transmutation School and refused to disclose details of her experiment.

Fran concealed her true affiliations while negotiating with Count Ian and Finley over her experiments in White Flower Territory. Ian suspected her arrival was connected to Duke Theodore’s plans, and Maeve’s contact at the Transmutation School ordered her to test Fran.

• Fran let Maeve reveal that she was a Transmutation School mage, then claimed she had not known about the school’s cooperation in the Antir Region.
• Count Ian told Fran to seek Duke Theodore’s approval for future land requests, and Fran said her undertaking was personal before leaving to prepare her experiments.
• Ian questioned Maeve, who said she had never seen or heard of Fran in The Alliance or the Transmutation School.
• Ian explained that Duke Theodore had sent him to White Flower Territory with a weapon capable of severing its Territory Blessing if the political situation worsened.
• Maeve returned with a message from her contact at the Transmutation School, who doubted Fran belonged to the school and instructed Maeve to test her.

Fran began recruiting followers for her faith in White Flower Territory while arranging a hundred workers for an experiment. She showed Anna a rune-powered rifle and told her to prepare people to occupy a mine.

• Fran's people preached to a guard, and Finley confronted her after suspecting they were using cult methods to control him.
• Fran clarified that the guard was freely being invited to join their faith and asked Finley to provide a hundred strong workers, whom Brian would organize.
• Fran showed Anna how to operate a rifle powered by a Wind Element Jet Scroll and demonstrated its force by blasting a crater into a wall.
• Fran told Anna that more rifles would be available soon and instructed her to gather people to occupy the mine.

Maeve visited Fran to test whether she was truly a Transmutation School mage, but Fran's expertise convinced her that she was. Maeve returned to Count Ian with Fran's advice and said they would have to wait for the person in charge to arrive.

• Maeve entered Fran's room and asked how to use mental power to improve the performance of a transplanted organ.
• Fran identified problems with Maeve's transplanted organs and explained that proper preservation and maintenance mattered more than mental-power techniques.
• Fran used her Transmutation School identity to gain time and build support in Antir, hoping to avoid interference from Duke Theodore.
• Fran gave Maeve detailed advice on organ transplantation, leaving Maeve absorbed in the new knowledge as she returned to her room.
• Count Ian asked whether Fran was a Transmutation School mage, and Maeve answered that they would have to wait for their person in charge because Fran's expertise convinced her.

Anna and Aila led believers of the Lord of Radiance to seize a mine in River Valley Territory for Fran. After taking control of it, Anna prepared for the territory lord’s forces to investigate while Aila continued carrying out the Proxy’s orders.

• Anna learned that Aila had become a Formal Rank Professional and assigned her to lead the believers against the miners.
• Anna’s group approached the mine, and Anna killed the gate guard with a single arrow.
• Aila blasted open the mine gate with Holy Light Strike, and the believers stormed inside.
• The attackers quickly overwhelmed the guards and officials, who surrendered after seeing the believers’ strength.
• Anna questioned an official about when Ore collectors would return, then ordered the guards separated from the miners.
• Anna told Aila that River Valley Territory would send increasingly powerful forces to investigate, but she would handle them.

Sean Laurenbu searched the Kingdom of Lorinvik for a matter connected to his dead son, Connor, after Star Guidance warned him not to miss it, but he found no clues and decided to wait. In White Flower Territory, Fran ordered that most of the Sect follow her to a remote location, though some might remain in White Flower City.

• Sean received a report that his search for clues about Connor in Lorinvik had found nothing and ordered the investigation to continue.
• Sean read Charles’s recruitment call from the Astrology School but chose not to answer it because Star Guidance had warned him of something important connected to Connor in Lorinvik.
• Sean recalled that repeated uses of Star Guidance gave the same warning, though his other spells and searches had revealed no clues.
• Maeve left Fran’s room excited by the knowledge Fran had shared with her, and Brian brought Fran details about the Sect’s followers.
• Brian suggested that the Sect stay in White Flower City, but Fran said most of its forces had to follow her to the location commanded by the Deity.

Fran insisted that the Sect settle in a remote wasteland, then built experimental mining equipment to help exploit Anna’s newly taken mine. She demonstrated the machine to the miners and left them to try it, while planning to recruit Forge School apprentices to help with her work.

• Brian objected to Fran’s choice of the remote wasteland, but accepted her decision after she explained that the Deity could transform the place.
• Fran considered the difficulty of making and maintaining machines alone and decided she could ask Harbos to send Forge School apprentices to help her.
• A signal from Anna prompted Fran to leave, and she rode Black Horse to the mine, where Anna reported that the guards might be persuaded but the miners resisted preaching.
• Fran ordered Anna to keep the guards locked up, put the miners to work in exchange for food, and later move some miners to build houses at her designated site.
• At the mine, Fran used magic and Dragon Flame to build a drilling machine, then demonstrated it to the frightened miners and told them to try operating it carefully.

Fran worked on equipment and production plans to build a weapons factory at the mine, while considering how Anna could help her more. The chapter ended with Fran deciding to wait until they reached the Floating City to look into a Second Order Promotion Method for Anna and to have her keep practicing Combat Techniques.

• Fran smelted iron ore into a sealed storage tank while explaining that she was designing an ore-processing machine.
• Fran asked Anna to carry equipment to the mine and reflected on the tools and machines she was building to automate production.
• Fran planned to transport ore from the mine to a factory, produce a hundred guns, and refine her steam-engine-based Composite Spell.
• Fran considered helping Anna advance to the Second Order but judged that Anna needed to develop stronger skills and practice her Combat Techniques.
• Fran decided to wait until they reached the Floating City before looking into a Ranger Promotion Method for Anna.

Fran’s changes transformed the mine, expanding production and spreading belief in the Lord of Radiance as she began building an organized following. She completed her Composite Spell, Steam Concerto, and noticed that the Panel had listed a new Profession: Arcane Mage.

• Anna found the mine’s storeroom overflowing with ore and saw that Fran’s tools and metalwork had rapidly changed the mine.
• Fran and the followers increased the miners’ work hours but provided food and fairer treatment, leading many miners to openly believe in the Lord of Radiance.
• Fran used the miners’ conversion as a first step toward organizing the followers into a coordinated system capable of supporting her larger plans for Antir.
• Fran tested a Steam Engine, cast her Composite Spell, and felt it draw power from the machines around the mine.
• Fran saw Steam Concerto listed as a mastered spell on her Panel and estimated that improving it could strengthen her physique and help her advance as a Specialized Mage.
• Fran noticed a new Profession listed on her Panel: Arcane Mage (One and a Half Stars).

Fran gained the Arcane Mage Profession and discovered that its Arcane Familiar trait greatly enhanced her spell-creation ability. She planned to return to White Flower City for food and workers while preparing to develop her territory openly, despite the many political and practical tasks ahead.

• Fran realized [Hydraulic Power] had not earned her the Arcane Mage Profession because it adapted an existing spell structure rather than creating a dedicated one.
• Fran gained the Arcane Mage trait [Arcane Familiar] and spent three hours finding improvements to [Steam Concerto].
• Fran concluded that Arcane Familiar greatly boosted her creativity with spells, though it did not help her develop machines.
• Fran decided she could not hide the mine's growth from the lord of River Valley Territory and would need a new food supply once the delivery man was captured.
• Fran planned to return to White Flower City to ask Finley for food, bring a hundred workers to the mine, and check on the believers spreading the faith.

Lucy arrived in White Flower City to investigate Mage Lai, who was accused of posing as a Transmutation School mage while preaching about an unnamed god. Unable to confront Lai or determine her motives, Lucy met Maeve and learned Lai had been gone for days, just as Lai rode back to the city.

• A guard told his companion that Gray Robes members had kept him up all night preaching about their great lord.
• Lucy questioned the guards, using her voice to make them reveal what they knew about Mage Lai and the Gray Robes.
• Lucy concluded Lai was likely not a Transmutation School mage and worried that she might be a Second Order Mage too powerful for Lucy to confront alone.
• Lucy met Maeve, who explained that Mage Lai had left several days earlier while her followers continued preaching.
• Lucy and Maeve heard a horse approaching, and Maeve identified the returning rider as Mage Lai.

Fran met Lucy, the head of the Transmutation School in Grey Soil Province, and revealed that she belonged to the Ocean Society. Fran then proposed extending the forbidden Mage’s Skull research to other Professionals, leaving Lucy frightened but acknowledging the idea.

• Fran identified Lucy as the head of the Transmutation School, and Lucy asked how Fran had chosen her organs.
• Fran used a Siren’s vocal cords to control Lucy briefly, and Lucy recognized the organ and apologized after concluding Fran was a Second Order Mage from the Ocean Society.
• Lucy asked why Fran had come to Grey Soil Province and reminded her that The Alliance required registration.
• Fran asked Lucy about the prohibited Mage’s Skull, which could increase a mage’s Divine Power.
• Fran suggested testing whether the skulls of other Professionals who used Divine Power had similar effects, and Lucy swallowed in fear before agreeing.

Fran explained to Lucy her experiments into how believers gained power from Deities, proposing that spirit bodies in their souls were responsible. Lucy recognized the value and danger of Fran’s idea, promised to keep it secret, and left while Fran wondered why she could not stop herself from sharing her thoughts.

• Lucy initially doubted that Fran was a Transmutation School mage, but Fran’s Siren organs and experimental work changed her view.
• Fran told Lucy she had examined dead believers and found that their power came from spirit-body reactions associated with their souls.
• Lucy recognized that Fran’s proposal could transform the Transmutation School, but feared Fran might kill her for learning sensitive research.
• Fran reassured Lucy, demanded that she keep the experiment secret, and let her leave.
• After Lucy departed, Fran wondered whether a trait made her instinctively voice her ideas.

At Horn Pass, Cliff warned himself that the coming war against Lorinvik would be deadly, while Sam mocked his past surrender. When Cliff discovered that soldiers guarding the alarm bell were hiding a secret, they killed him on Marquis Crawford’s orders to prevent anyone from sounding the alarm.

• Sam mocked Cliff for surrendering to Finley, but Cliff calmly explained that fighting Finley and his formidable squire might have killed him.
• Sam told Cliff that they had been ordered to guard Horn Pass’s wall overnight as Lorinvik’s forces were expected to attack.
• Cliff recognized that Lorinvik would likely kill captured enemy knights and decided he needed to survive by holding out at the fortress.
• Cliff went to the alarm tower and found soldiers blocking him, despite his assignment to guard it.
• Cliff began to leave, but a soldier stabbed him in the neck, and another revealed that Marquis Crawford had ordered them to stop anyone from sounding the alarm.

Anna caught three miners trying to escape from the railway worksite and sent them to Brian, who said the Proxy had forbidden executions and would put them to work. The captured miners were taken to a construction site where a hundred people obtained from the lord were being gathered, though few had accepted the faith of the Lord yet.

• A miner tried to flee while Anna’s workers laid railway tracks, and two others joined him.
• Anna’s group stopped the three escapees with an arrow and brought them before her.
• Anna had the captives tied together and sent them away with a Gray Robes follower.
• The follower delivered the three men to Brian at a construction site where a hundred people from the lord were gathered.
• Brian said the Proxy would not allow the escapees to be executed and planned to assign them work.

Fran learned that Lucy planned to hunt a protected Earth Spirit using Duke Theodore’s Territory Destroyer, and agreed to wait until her experiment ended before Lucy acted. Fran then considered helping Duke Theodore as a way to counter Lucy’s plan and the Kingdom of Lorinvik.

• Fran heard Lucy explain that a Second Order Mage from the Ocean Society had hired her to obtain living First Order land monsters, including a protected Earth Spirit.
• Lucy revealed that Duke Theodore had requested a Territory Destroyer, which she planned to use to damage the territory and conceal the Earth Spirit’s death.
• Fran recognized that Lucy’s plan could ruin a fifth of White Flower Territory and expose Fran to an investigation, but agreed not to interfere until her month-long experiment was over.
• After Lucy left, Fran rejected killing her as too troublesome and decided to give Duke Theodore some help.

Fran reassured Finley that her followers were not preaching a known continental religion, then revealed she had obtained the Territory Token he needed to become a true lord. Finley agreed to keep it secret and estimated that it would take him about a month to claim his territory.

• Fran told Finley that the Deity her followers preached about was unknown elsewhere on the continent, though her explanation did not fully ease his worries.
• Fran asked Finley about his friendship with Elan and confirmed that Finley had won his title only three or four months earlier and still lacked the Territory Token.
• Finley explained that Duke Theodore had misplaced the Territory Token and that finding it could have ended the war.
• Fran opened a box containing the Territory Token, and Finley recognized it and thanked her for arranging to obtain it through Elan.
• Fran warned Finley not to tell anyone, including Count Ian and Theodore, about the token before he became a lord.
• Finley estimated that the Territory Token would allow him to become a true lord in about a month.

Fran spent half a month organizing workers and building the Base Camp’s railway and coal by-product factory, then headed to White Flower City to address shortages of skilled workers and teachers. Meanwhile, a Knight Attendant reported to Lord Morris that the mine had been attacked and its guards had disappeared.

• Fran found that Brian had assigned nearly everyone to work and ordered him to free up at least half the workforce.
• Fran realized the Base Camp lacked a railway and Ore, so she designed a freight train, led workers to finish the track, and established procedures for hauling and inspecting Ore.
• Fran oversaw the construction of a coal by-product production line and trained workers to make tools, but faced shortages of labor, literacy, and materials.
• Fran decided to return to White Flower City to find a literate teacher, said goodbye to Brian, and rode off on Black Horse.
• A Knight Attendant told Lord Morris that he had found the mine gate open, its guards missing, and two gray-robed people who attacked him.