Chapter Summaries

Iris misunderstood the Felistin Family’s marriage-alliance offer as evidence that Fran liked Philly, then met with Harbos to discuss Fran’s awards and concealed identity. The chapter ended as Iris prepared to tell Harbos what she had just learned about Fran.

• Ruge offered Iris three possible arrangements involving Philly, including a recognized marriage alliance with 'Lai,' and asked her to pass them along.
• Iris concluded that Fran had feelings for Philly and agreed to relay Ruge’s proposal without promising how 'Lai' would respond.
• Iris met Harbos, who had secretly traveled to help Fran claim the Amber Law Award without drawing attention.
• Iris confirmed that Fran had advanced to the Second Order, won the Gold Alchemy Award, and might reach the Fourth Order after receiving the Arcane Mage Award.
• Iris told Harbos she had learned why Fran had caused her so much trouble recently.

Valerie returned to Number Nine Floating City and reviewed Oinrich’s preparations for an operation to capture the Sky Dragon. With many Fourth Order Mages arriving for the Amber Law Award, they planned to activate the Floating City and rush it toward the Cult of the Sky Dragon.

• Valerie arrived at the Aether Palace, where Oinrich reported the preparations, including a completed device for detecting a Deity.
• Oinrich told Valerie that several important Mages had not returned, but more than twenty Fourth Order Mages were on Number Nine Floating City and others were on their way.
• Oinrich explained that the Law School was bringing many Mages to the city for the Amber Law Award, giving the Alchemy School a chance to compel them to join the Sky Dragon operation.
• Valerie ordered Oinrich to tell Lexi to delay activation until more Fourth Order Mages arrived, then push the Floating City to maximum speed toward the Cult of the Sky Dragon.

Fran took Philly aboard an airship for the Bohan Academic Exchange Project, where they met Alwen and the project director, Mage Gareth Peri. After seeing the participants, Philly suspected the trip was more like a sightseeing excursion for young elite Mages than serious research.

• Fran ignored the Felistin Family’s messages, refused to hear Iris out, and had “Lai” take Philly to the airship with the project documents.
• “Lai” met Alwen aboard and learned that the Alchemy School had distributed the award-winning paper without naming its author or explaining it to the gathered Alchemists.
• A group of young Mages arrived with two older Mages, and “Lai” presented her documents to the project director, Gareth.
• Philly watched the young Mages discuss balls and a mysterious street, then questioned why “Lai” had joined the project.
• “Lai” pointed out a quieter group of Mages reading academic papers, but Philly still regretted leaving the Mana Telecommunications System.

The Alchemy School took control of Number Nine Floating City, drove away the airships, and began preparing to move the city beyond The Alliance. Grand Mage Elijah realized the move would force visiting High-Order Mages to cooperate, and Iris told him she had not expected events to unfold this way.

• The Alchemy School Special Emergency Committee ordered Number Nine Floating City to enter preparation status and expelled the airships waiting to land.
• The Floating City's engines activated as the city prepared to move beyond The Alliance.
• An Alchemy School messenger told Elijah that he would have to assist when the city reached warning status, while Elijah's attempt to contact the Law School's chief was blocked.
• Elijah ignored knocks and calls from his Law School colleagues, who suspected he had lured them to the city in collusion with the Alchemy School.
• Elijah called Iris, objected that the Law School had not agreed to help the Alchemy School, and heard her say she had not expected this outcome before she ended the call.

Harbos visited Fran amid the Alchemy School’s sudden state of preparation and explained the Forge School’s Third Order promotion method. Fran learned that the method involved forging a weapon capable of harming a Third Order professional, and Harbos revealed the elemental weapon he had made.

• Harbos went to Fran’s house early because Iris was being questioned over suspected collusion with the Alchemy School, and the city’s state of preparation made covert attacks less likely.
• Fran welcomed Harbos, who praised her Second Order advancement and recognized her specialized spell based on the Steam Engine.
• Harbos reassured Fran about advancing young and said he would explain the Third Order promotion method required to establish the Forge School.
• Harbos recounted discovering a forging method in four murals and gave Fran the requirements for the Hammer Wielder Profession.
• Harbos demonstrated an irregular blue weapon crackling with electricity and identified it as an elemental weapon.

Fran learned about Harbos’s elemental weapon forging technique and watched him create a dagger from fire elements. She remained unsure how the method worked, but her Panel showed that she had gained the Energy-Forging Method skill.

• Harbos explained that his elemental weapon technique had failed to help other mages advance, and Fran accepted that she could still pursue Fourth Order by another path.
• Harbos contained dyed fire elements within a prepared circle and demonstrated forging them into a crimson dagger.
• Fran asked how Harbos could manipulate the fire elements with his hands, and he said he could not explain the technique beyond following its steps.
• Harbos said the technique only worked on elemental materials, then explained that elemental weapons’ effects matched their crafting process.
• Fran noticed a new Energy-Forging Method skill on her Panel, marked Uninitiated at 0/10.

Fran and Philly arrived at Number Thirteen Floating City, while Fran continued struggling to learn Harbos's Energy-Forging Method back on Number Nine Floating City. After Harbos received orders for an operation connected to the Sky Dragon, he brought Fran along as his assistant, leaving her expecting to encounter the Sky Dragon.

• Lai and Philly arrived at Number Thirteen Floating City, where Philly complained that both the city and Bohan were beneath a respectable mage.
• Fran continued practicing the Energy-Forging Method with Harbos, but made only two points of progress because neither of them understood how to learn it properly.
• A Third Order mage delivered Harbos an Alchemy School deployment order directing him to stay in the rear during the operation against the Sky Dragon's isle and await further orders.
• Harbos told Fran she would accompany him as his assistant to keep her safe from enemies who might target her.
• Fran read the deployment order and realized Harbos would likely intercept the fleeing Sky Dragon, meaning she would probably see it herself.

Fran considered her limited options for facing the Sky Dragon and chose not to risk using Star Gazing Art. Meanwhile, Valerie prepared a covert operation to capture the Sky Dragon, but the target began moving away just before the attack.

• Fran concluded that only Blood of the Furnace and Burning Sun Power might hurt the Sky Dragon, and neither gave her a real chance of victory.
• Fran decided not to use Star Gazing Art and planned to warn Harbos as soon as she spotted the Sky Dragon.
• Valerie ordered the Law School to send about thirty Third Order Mages to attack the Cult of the Sky Dragon, then assigned the remaining forces to a secret plan.
• Alva flew out of the Floating City with four Fourth Order Mages, while Valerie and Oinrich used a detector to approach the Sky Dragon under concealment.
• When the Sky Dragon suddenly moved away at fifty kilometers, Valerie broadcast the order to attack.

Alva’s interception team prepared for a white giant dragon while he questioned Fran about Mage Lai, and Fran and Iris used a private conversation to cover up Lai’s whereabouts. The Sky Dragon burst through the clouds, bleeding and pursued by black streams stretching from Number Nine Floating City.

• Alva instructed the five Fourth Order Mages to guide their Spells and questioned Iris about why she had not brought Mage Lai as her assistant.
• Fran told Alva that Mage Lai had joined an Alchemy School field project bound for Bohan, making him uncertain about his suspicion that Lai and Fran were the same person.
• Iris used a Wonder Item to speak privately with Fran and praised her for giving Alva a plausible explanation.
• A tremendous rumble interrupted Fran as the mages prepared to unleash their Spells.
• The wounded Sky Dragon burst through the clouds, with black streams from Number Nine Floating City gripping its body.

The Alliance’s mages used time manipulation and black streamers to trap the Sky Dragon as the Floating City closed in. Just as Fran reached him, the Sky Dragon’s body collapsed, leaving his fate unresolved.

• The Sky Dragon detected the approaching Floating City, tried to flee, and realized the Stars had erased a stretch of time to keep him within range.
• Oinrich and Valerie began the Floating City’s final operation, and Valerie used the Mage Tower to guide black streamers onto the Sky Dragon.
• The streamers restrained the Sky Dragon, but he drew on his strength and widened the distance from the Floating City.
• Fran and the other mages attacked the Sky Dragon as black strands covered him, while Fran heard a voice warn her to stop seeking the voice of the Stars.
• The Sky Dragon’s body suddenly shrank and vanished, leaving his twisted skeleton exposed before Fran could reach him.

After the operation at Number Nine Floating City, Fran reflected on the danger behind her prophetic abilities and decided to avoid using Star Gazing Art unless necessary. While shopping for rare materials at Number Thirteen Floating City with Philly, she was led into an alley and ambushed.

• Valerie told the mages that the operation had ended with few spoils: the Sky Dragon's remains were a skeleton assembled from human and Demonic Beast bones, while the Law School's battle had caused heavy damage but no mage fatalities.
• Harbos took Fran back to Ashgold Path, where she considered the Sky Dragon's warning about Star Gazing Art and chose not to ask the Lord of Radiance about The Stars for now.
• Fran planned to disguise herself before the Amber Law Award ceremony so Elijah would not recognize her.
• At Number Thirteen Floating City's trading district, "Lai" and Philly asked a stall owner about more precious materials, and he led them into a narrow alley.
• The stall owner turned on them, throwing sand and dust toward Fran as disorderly footsteps approached.

Lai defeated the ambushers who lured her into an alley, then confronted a Second Order fighter who attacked her. She discovered that the fighter carried a pouch marked with the symbol of the Goddess of Ocean Currents.

• Lai burned the lime with Sunflame and blinded the ambushers with Light Prayer.
• Lai trapped the attackers in Heart of Quicksand and struck a hidden enemy behind a wall with Mental Spike.
• A wounded Second Order fighter charged Lai, but she stopped him with a Sunflame-coated baseball bat.
• Lai told Philly to summon the Security Team while she examined the fallen fighter.
• Lai found a pouch on the fighter bearing the symbol of the Goddess of Ocean Currents.

Lai investigated a suspicious address on Number Thirteen Floating City and captured a Church Warrior of the Goddess of Ocean Currents. The woman’s confession revealed that her mission involved equipment connected to the Champion Mage main competition.

• Lai learned from the arriving security mage that Number Thirteen Floating City had suffered a sharp rise in conflicts and serious cases.
• Lai followed an address taken from a defeated Second Order Professional to a house in the Professionals’ residential district.
• Lai blasted open the house with [Greater Fireball], entered with Philly, and quickly subdued a woman hiding upstairs.
• Lai identified the woman as a Church Warrior of the Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents and interrogated her.
• The woman admitted that her mission involved equipment for coordinating with the Champion Mage main competition.

Lai investigated a Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents agent and uncovered a plan to disrupt the Champion Mage Challenge by smuggling prohibited equipment, bribing contestants, and tampering with safety devices. Since she would compete as Philly, she decided to use cooperation over the Mana Telecommunications System to push the organizers toward stronger security while protecting her identity.

• Lai reasoned that the Alliance's growing activity could provoke the Gods' sects to undermine its order, and interrogated a Church of the Goddess of Ocean Currents warrior she had captured.
• The warrior revealed that her only instruction was to cause as much destruction on the Floating City as possible, trusting that her god would protect the believers.
• Lai learned that the Church planned to disrupt the Champion Mage Challenge by supplying contestants with gray-area equipment, paying some to throw matches, and possibly tampering with shield devices.
• Lai realized the interference could threaten her own competition and concluded that warning the organizers without evidence would not be enough.
• Lai decided to use a Mana Telecommunications System agreement to demand recorded footage, concealed contestant identities during the draw, stronger security checks, and information confidentiality.

Fran collected Temporal Change Residue in Number Nine Floating City, then learned the Energy-Forging Method from Harbos and successfully used it to shape wind elements. She realized the method could only forge energy tied to each practitioner, leaving Harbos to consider what that meant for their work.

• Fran collected enough Temporal Change Residue for roughly ten tons of time-slowing devices and stopped to avoid raising questions about her identity.
• Harbos explained how he had forged Blood of the Furnace into weapons that dissolved after a month at most.
• Fran gained entry into the Energy-Forging Method after listening to Harbos's account and attempted to forge wind elements.
• Fran shaped the wind elements into a rough oval weapon that cut through a bundle of straw, despite losing half the material.
• Fran told Harbos that the method could only forge the kind of energy each practitioner had mastered, so she might never make a wind-element weapon.

Fran practiced forging elemental weapons with Harbos and devised a plan to create a weapon capable of harming a Third Order Professional, though it would require much greater skill and control. She then visited the Felistin Family estate as Lai’s agent to discuss the Mana Telecommunications System for the Champion Mage Challenge, and told Camilla that Lai had agreed to proceed.

• Fran combined fire, wind, and earth elements to forge a flawed longsword, while Harbos praised her progress and predicted she could reach Third Order within ten years.
• After Harbos left, Fran reasoned that she could use repeated Elemental Conversion followed by Elemental Regression to forge a suitable weapon, but would need a higher Energy-Forging Method level and sufficient strength to manage the unstable elements.
• Fran practiced the Energy-Forging Method, then went to the Felistin Family estate as Lai’s agent to discuss applying the Mana Telecommunications System to the Champion Mage Challenge’s main tournament.
• Camilla met Fran at the estate, and Fran said that Lai had already decided to agree to the proposal.

Fran presented Lai’s authorization for the Mana Telecommunications System and negotiated a Golden Contract with Camilla for its use at the Champion Mage Main Tournament. Camilla was left puzzled by Lai’s motives as Fran pressed the family to act before the deadline.

• Fran showed Camilla authorization documents bearing Lai’s and the Northern Lands Society’s seals.
• Fran proposed a Golden Contract and explained that Lai would agree to the system’s tournament use once additional conditions were settled.
• Camilla read Fran’s draft, which set stringent system tests and made the committee responsible for failures, while requiring little of the Felistin Family beyond oversight and recommendations.
• Fran urged Camilla to negotiate with both the family and the committee within the remaining ten days, and said she would return every three days.
• Fran told Camilla she was staying at Lai’s former residence on Ashgold Path, leaving Camilla with a vague sense that she had noticed something important.

Fran attended the Amber Law Award ceremony at Silver-Scale Manor in disguise, where Elijah questioned her about her identity and knowledge of Law School Spells. As the ceremony began, the mages gathered learned that her paper on the Profession of Territory Mage had no qualified competition.

• Fran dressed in an assortment of mage accessories and flew with Harbos to Silver-Scale Manor for the ceremony.
• Iris ushered Fran to a private room and showed her the Amber Law Award bearing Fran's name.
• Elijah questioned Fran about Law School research to determine whether she was a Law School mage, but her disguise kept him from recognizing her.
• Iris reminded Fran to discuss her research experience when she accepted the award.
• Mages in the hall said Fran's paper proposing the Profession of Territory Mage was the only achievement qualified for the award, and the lights focused on the stage.

Fran accepted the Amber Law Award, publicly identified herself as a Forge School mage and Harbos's disciple, and explained her Territory Mage research to the assembled mages. After the ceremony, she advanced to the Third Order and considered traveling to the Ocean to investigate the Ancient Domain.

• Elijah discussed Fran's identity with a Law School colleague and said he planned to invite her to the Territory Mage Working Group in the Ocean.
• Fran accepted the Amber Law Award and announced that she was a Forge School mage and Harbos's disciple, astonishing the Law School mages.
• Fran explained how she had cultivated the Antir Region and developed the Territory Mage profession, while omitting details she could not openly discuss.
• Fran declined invitations from Elijah and other mages after the ceremony ended.
• Fran checked her status at home and discovered that her Arcane Mage profession had advanced to the Third Order, granting her the Arcane Exhilarator trait.
• Fran considered going to the Ocean to become involved in matters concerning the Ancient Domain.

After winning the Amber Law Award, Fran decided to join the Territory Mage Working Group and travel to the ocean, while Harbos concealed that he would also be sent there on Alliance business. Meanwhile, 'Lai' and Philly finally prepared to leave Number Thirteen Floating City with the Alchemy School project, whose roster had changed and now included the notable Mage Aurora.

• Iris told Fran that they should leave Number Nine Floating City, and Harbos explained that a new assignment would keep him from teaching Fran for several months.
• Fran chose to accept Elijah's invitation to join the Territory Mage Working Group and travel to the ocean, and Iris and Harbos approved her plan to depart in five days.
• After Fran left, Harbos told Iris that his ocean assignment was confidential and asked her not to tell Fran.
• On Number Thirteen Floating City, 'Lai' and Philly learned that the delayed project airship would finally depart for Fallen Forest Province, and 'Lai' noticed that many of the project mages had been replaced.
• Mage Aurora arrived just before boarding, and 'Lai' learned from a colleague that Aurora had won the Silver Alchemy Award and was mentored by a Fourth Order mage.