Recaps

Sylutia left Quebes and traveled by giant falcon to Chicas, where Chidi welcomed her and explained that she would take an assessment for a recommendation to study in the Mage Alliance's central region. The story left her entering the riverside city with Chidi to find an inn.

• Sylutia said goodbye to Knox, Griffin's family, Rosalie, and Vierluna before departing beneath the Lighthouse.
• Knox introduced Sylutia to Knight, gave her a suitcase and two letters, and sent her toward the Mage Alliance.
• Knight carried Sylutia across the mountains to a black tower outside Chicas, where she met Chidi and delivered Knox's letter.
• Chidi told Sylutia that he would take her to a local Mage Alliance branch for an assessment the next day.
• Chidi led Sylutia into Chicas, which he described as a major route for the Mage Alliance's industrial goods.

Chidi took Sylutia, traveling under the name Hedra Griffin, to Switch City and helped her earn a gold recommendation letter for the Mage Alliance academies. With the letter, she could travel to Asura in three days and begin a new life.

• Chidi showed Sylutia around Switch City, explained the Mage Alliance, and gave her a blue butterfly pocket watch.
• The next morning, Chidi brought Hedra to a guild for a special qualification assessment and registered her as Hedra Griffin.
• Two recognized mages tested Hedra’s spell knowledge and abilities, then gave her an excellent evaluation.
• Chidi showed the examiners Knox’s letter confirming Hedra was Master Knox’s personal apprentice, and they issued her a blue-and-gold recommendation letter.
• The examiners said Hedra could take the train to Asura in three days and qualify to enter any academy.
• As they left the guild, Chidi encouraged Hedra to be confident and let her talent and beauty shine.

Sylutia began her journey by train to Asura, where she would study at the Mage Alliance, while Chidi returned to a hidden tomb and spoke to the woman he hoped to revive. Elsewhere, Lovier boarded an airship for the Mage Alliance, Camilla was exiled to human lands, and a surviving horned girl followed a letter of recommendation toward the passing train.

• Chidi escorted Sylutia onto the student train, gave her instructions and a contact in Asura, then sent her pastries by crow after she departed.
• A conductor and a black-coated mage stopped Erwin from entering Sylutia's private carriage, and the mage scolded him before returning to the front of the train.
• Chidi visited Vidinoya's coffin beneath Blackbird Tower and said that he hoped a ritual would bring her back.
• Lovier left her family and boarded an airship bound for the Mage Alliance with her golden cat.
• Katera stripped Camilla of her rank and status and exiled her to human lands south of the Ice Sea.
• A horned survivor followed a letter of recommendation toward the Mage Alliance and saw a black train crossing the wilderness.

Sylutia arrived in Asura, registered for school, and settled into her residence at 109 Narcissus Street. She met her roommates Aurora and Lovier, whose lavish arrival transformed their dormitory, and the three began getting acquainted.

• During a train stop, Sylutia introduced herself as Hedra to Atali and a young man from Servis, and they chatted about their homelands.
• Three days later, Sylutia reached Asura Campus, registered, and received a room at 109 Narcissus Street.
• Sylutia traveled to the residence by Steam Locomotive and settled into a four-person dormitory, where Aurora arrived as her first roommate.
• Lovier arrived with more than twenty helpers, had the dormitory cleaned and redecorated, and introduced her cat Ranran to Sylutia and Aurora.
• Lovier welcomed Sylutia and Aurora as her friends and offered to make their life together comfortable with her monthly allowance.

Hutao rejected her assigned housing and stayed with her aunt, while Sylutia, Lovier, and Aurora bonded over dinner and their first night together in the Academy District. The three roommates fell asleep side by side, having quickly grown comfortable with one another.

• Hutao complained about being assigned to Narcissus Street, and her aunt agreed to let her stay at the mansion and seek the school's approval.
• Sylutia, Lovier, and Aurora went to a restaurant, where Lovier paid for a seat on the quieter fourth floor.
• Lovier shared that her family ran a flower business in Elafondi and showed the Radiant Lily crest that glowed with light.
• Aurora said she liked dolls and that her father had made the doll she carried, while Sylutia talked about her home in Quebes.
• Lovier used a heated crystal orb to warm the bathwater, and the three roommates pushed their beds together and went to sleep beside one another.

Sylutia, Aurora, and Lovier registered at No. 89 Middle School and learned about the Mage Alliance’s demanding courses, academy admissions, and student support. Sylutia said she hoped to attend an academy affiliated with the Mithril Clock, the school she had been sent to study so she could help transform the Woodland Alliance.

• Sylutia woke first, bought pastries, and helped Aurora wake Lovier, whose cat Ranran finally roused her.
• The three roommates ate breakfast and walked to No. 89 Middle School to register.
• A staff member explained the school’s courses, academy requirements, and the Mage Alliance’s time-limited support for students.
• Sylutia, Aurora, and Lovier discussed their academy plans: Aurora chose Rorick Academy, Lovier remained undecided, and Sylutia aimed for a Mithril Clock academy.
• Sylutia revealed that the Woodland Alliance had sent her to understand the Mage Alliance’s transformation and eventually lead change at home.

Sylutia, Lovier, and Aurora began classes in Asura District, learning about daily expenses and required subjects while adjusting to school life. Lovier’s lavish payment for an evening tour made her famous among the new students and discouraged many would-be suitors.

• A staff member explained housing, food, clothing, transportation costs, and the Second Order advancement students would need to afford their future expenses.
• Sylutia, Lovier, and Aurora discussed rents in their home districts as classmates noticed their beauty and speculated about their families.
• Lovier balked at the cafeteria’s smoked meat, and Sylutia let her skip it before afternoon lessons outlined the subjects new students had to master.
• Anderson and Andre invited the three girls to tour Asura District, but Lovier mistook their courtship for a paid carriage service and offered them a gemstone.
• Anderson and Andre accepted Lovier’s payment and showed the girls around, then took them back to their lodgings after explaining the sights and their family’s local influence.
• Lovier’s story spread among new students, causing many potential suitors to back away while Sylutia and her companions settled into school life.

Sylutia reflected on the Mage Alliance’s industrialized system for training Transcendents and the resources and social divisions behind its growing strength. After arriving on Wasp Street to buy herbal ingredients, she saw Orc laborers driven from shopfronts into an alley as rain began to fall.

• Sylutia left school early and rode a public carriage to Wasp Street to buy herbal ingredients.
• Sylutia compared the Mage Alliance’s assembly-line training system with the Woodland Alliance’s more scattered approach and estimated the Alliance had far more Third Order Transcendents.
• Sylutia considered the resources that sustained the Mage Alliance’s student training and the internal divisions that its leaders had yet to notice.
• Sylutia arrived on Wasp Street as rain began to fall.
• Shopkeepers chased Orc laborers sheltering beneath their eaves into an alley.

Sylutia bought ingredients in Asura and was stranded on the rainy streets when the last carriage passed. A group of Orcs tried to rob her, but she fought back with powerful thread birds and left their leader kneeling in blood.

• Sylutia bought a large order of rare ingredients and paid four gold coins at a shop.
• After missing the last public carriage, Sylutia walked home through the rain along Agate Street.
• Several Orcs surrounded Sylutia and demanded her belongings, money, and Blue Butterfly Pocket Watch.
• When an Orc tried to grab her, Sylutia summoned a purple bird of sharp threads that wounded him and defeated the other attackers.
• Sylutia summoned three thread birds to trap the Second-Order Beast Fang leader, who surrendered as the street filled with blood.

Sylutia returned late to the dorm soaked and bloodied, then told Lovier and Aurora how she had fought off four Orc robbers on her way home. After hearing her story and seeing her Flying Bird spell, her roommates made sure she ate and the night passed safely.

• Lovier and Aurora worried when Hedra had not returned by eight and prepared to go look for her.
• Sylutia came back with muddy, bloodstained clothes and explained that an unexpected incident had delayed her, then showered.
• Sylutia told Lovier and Aurora that four Orc robbers had stopped her on the walk home and that she had used a modified spell to defeat them.
• Sylutia demonstrated a purple Flying Bird woven from threads and said she had taken the defeated Orc to a police station.
• Aurora and Lovier offered Sylutia snacks and desserts, and the three spent the rest of the night together.

Sylutia visited the police after being summoned, while officers recounted how she had subdued and brought in the Orc who mugged her. The chief arrived at the Police Station, intending to speak with her about not acting recklessly.

• Sylutia left class to speak with people who had arrived in an armored steam locomotive, then returned without explaining the visit to her classmates.
• Students speculated that Hedra had been questioned because she had been mugged and guessed that Lovier would help her recover the money.
• A Police Station employee recounted how Carter found Sylutia leading a bloodied Orc by threads and learned that she had subdued him and stitched the other injured Orcs' wounds.
• Carter wrote the report while frightened, then watched Sylutia clean the blood from her clothes and leave before the Orc collapsed.
• The chief approved Carter's leave and said he planned to ask Sylutia not to act recklessly.
• The chief appeared at the office door as the staff discussed Sylutia.

Sylutia earned the highest mark in Potions class with a Rare-quality Light Body Potion, prompting the teachers to report her talent. Meanwhile, Anali worked at a restaurant in the Asura District and learned that the bully who had robbed her was imprisoned.

• Sylutia, Lovier, and Aurora brewed Light Body Potions in class, and all three earned Excellent ratings while Sylutia produced a Rare-quality potion.
• The teachers praised Sylutia's skill, discussed her earlier encounter with the police, and decided to include her performance in their report to the higher-ups.
• Lovier and Aurora discussed the high value of Sylutia's potion as the three friends went to dinner.
• Anali washed dishes at a restaurant on Agate Street while trying to earn money despite having classes during the day.
• A customer recounted how a young girl had defeated Ango and his gang and taken them to the police.
• Auntie Kujina told Anali that Ango had been imprisoned and encouraged her to study and keep pursuing a better future.

Sylutia joined classmates for a weekend meal and explored Beetle Street with them, where she met Yingzi, a woman from the East who recognized her as coming from the same distant land. Yingzi hinted that advancement had to match a person's true self, leaving Sylutia with a new insight about choosing her own path.

• Lovier persuaded Aurora to go shopping with her over the weekend while Sylutia planned to dine with classmates who had appreciated her help in potion class.
• Sylutia met five classmates, including Willen and Alice, at Madame Wenli's Shop and learned about their backgrounds over lunch.
• After lunch, the group entered Wisteria Moon, where its owner, Yingzi, welcomed Sylutia as a fellow Eastern visitor.
• Yingzi told Sylutia that she had traveled west in search of rare purple flowers that would help her advance.
• Sylutia understood Yingzi's point that advancement had to reflect who a person was and what they pursued.

After being detained as a suspect in a series of murders targeting Orcs, Sylutia was released when another killing occurred, but feared the police might keep suspecting her. Aurora agreed to contact her family for help investigating the murders.

• Sylutia agreed to stay at an inn beside the Police Station for three days while officers questioned her about the thread-caused murders of Orcs.
• An officer told Sylutia about four earlier killings and explained that the police had been ordered to find a lead within two weeks and arrest the killer within a month.
• Lovier and Aurora visited Sylutia at the inn, brought her food, and told her about the upcoming Silver Bell Festival celebrations.
• On the fourth day, the Police Station chief told Sylutia that an Orc child had been murdered and released her despite the killer remaining at large.
• Back at the dorm, Sylutia shared her concerns, and Aurora offered to contact her family for help with the investigation.

Aurora introduced Sylutia and Lovier to her cousin Brandon, who proposed turning Hedra’s case into a popular play to attract attention and protect her from being blamed by the police. Later, beneath the window, Sylutia reflected on the Woodland Alliance’s choices and decided she would not resent them for placing her at risk.

• Aurora took Sylutia and Lovier to meet her cousin Brandon, a theater manager in Asura District.
• Brandon argued that publicizing Hedra’s case through a hit play would shield her from the police and draw influential people’s attention.
• Aurora and Lovier considered why the victims were orcs, while Sylutia noted that the killer’s risks made simple cowardice an unlikely motive.
• After everyone went to bed, Sylutia sat beneath the living-room window as her hair returned to silver in the moonlight.
• Sylutia reflected that the Woodland Alliance had sent her into danger because of the Mage Alliance’s pressure, but she would not hold a grudge against them.

Brandon adapted Sylutia’s account of the robberies into an opera, while Sylutia demonstrated her Flying Bird spell and agreed to help the theater. After the first rehearsal, Aurora, Sylutia, and Lovier suspected the killer was building a legend to gain Aspect Power and planned to rewrite his story to undermine him.

• Brandon took Sylutia’s account to the theater writers, who developed a revenge story in which the protagonist would die after a dangerous confrontation.
• Brandon invited Sylutia to become a songstress, but she declined and demonstrated her self-created Flying Bird spell using Bionics School techniques.
• Sylutia agreed to help the theater with her spell and received an invitation granting her backstage access and free weekend opera visits.
• A week later, Aurora brought Sylutia and Lovier to watch the opera’s first rehearsal, and they discussed the killer’s slowing crimes.
• Aurora and Sylutia suspected the killer was creating a legend to gain Aspect Power, so they proposed rewriting the opera to make his legendary persona seem weak and pathetic.

Sylutia joined the Police Station’s investigation into the theater murders and used her keen observations to help narrow down the suspects. Disguised as a noble guest at a dessert banquet, she obtained the waiter’s fingerprints, leaving the investigation with evidence to compare against its suspects.

• Sylutia, Aurora, and Lovier divided their roles: Sylutia investigated with the Police Station, Aurora followed the theater’s contacts, and Lovier prepared food for them.
• Sylutia helped officers find overlooked clues at the crime scenes, and they narrowed the list of opera attendees to seven suspects.
• An officer arranged for Sylutia to wear a borrowed gown from Black Lily and attend a gathering at Night Fragrance to collect a waiter’s fingerprints.
• At the banquet, Sylutia identified the waiter and asked him to handle a clean tin biscuit box, but Miss Hutao interrupted and sampled the biscuits with dessert.
• Sylutia asked the waiter to return the box to her handbag, capturing his fingerprints for the Police Station to compare with the evidence.

Sylutia connected the murders to Abis Jellivan, a former School No. 89 student skilled in Sobis Magic Thread Manipulation, and helped the police trace his address. When the officers found his apartment empty, she searched the building and discovered him lying in wait on the top floor.

• Sylutia learned that the waiter was likely a scapegoat and reasoned that the murderer’s thread skills pointed to a former student of School No. 89.
• A teacher identified Abis Jellivan as a gifted graduate whose failed advancement ritual had left him disgraced and out of sight.
• The police searched rental records and found Abis Jellivan’s address at 341 Lupine Street.
• The officers found Abis Jellivan’s apartment ransacked with its bedroom window open, and the chief led a search through the surrounding alleys.
• Sylutia searched the building and spotted transparent threads set as a trap on the sixth floor.
• Abis Jellivan emerged from an abandoned room and asked Sylutia how she had found him.

Sylutia advanced to Second Order and defeated Abis Jellivan’s attacks, but he escaped the building after drinking a Light Body Potion. She and the officers pursued and captured him, and the chapter ended with the Police Station chief thanking Sylutia and the newspapers praising the officers for solving the case.

• Abis Jellivan attacked Sylutia with sharp threads, but she deflected them with her Thread Bird and advanced from First Order to Second Order.
• Sylutia’s stronger Thread Bird cut through Abis Jellivan’s threads, but he destroyed it with a Garnet ring and fled through a window using a Light Body Potion.
• Sylutia recognized that Abis Jellivan had used a potion she had brewed and sent white birds after him.
• The officers caught up with Abis Jellivan, and Sylutia’s birds bound him until the officers surrounded and arrested him.
• The Police Station chief thanked Sylutia and invited her to dinner, while the next day’s newspapers credited the police with solving the case.

Sylutia visited Orc families harmed by Abis Jellivan, using her own money to help them and learning about the poverty and fragile lives of marginalized laborers in the Asura District. She left with a better understanding of their conditions and a growing reputation among the Orc community.

• Lovier regretted that the Police Station received the credit for Hedra’s work, while Aurora explained why the officers benefited from the publicity.
• Sylutia learned that Abis Jellivan had targeted Orcs out of resentment and decided to visit the victims’ families herself.
• Three days later, Sylutia, Lovier, and Aurora visited an elderly Orc and his two grandchildren, and Sylutia gave the family two hundred silver coins.
• Sylutia visited several more families, refused one family’s demand for extra money, and heard them mock her after she left.
• Sylutia reflected on the hardship and social exclusion faced by Orc laborers, and her visits gradually earned her a reputation and local gossip.

Sylutia intervened when Chili Face threatened to sell Duss’s daughter over a debt, using her Thread Bird spell to defeat his gang and negotiate a settlement. After learning how authority and dignity shaped underworld negotiations, she helped Duss’s family and considered writing a book about orc culture.

• Vidley explained that Chili Face demanded money or Duss’s daughter after Duss damaged school equipment and was beaten for refusing to surrender her.
• Sylutia offered three gold coins to settle the debt but demanded that Chili Face compensate Duss for his injuries.
• When Chili Face threatened her, Sylutia subdued him and his gang with her Thread Bird spell and magic threads.
• Chili Face accepted the coins, agreed to arrange treatment for Duss, and gave him a month off work.
• Vidley explained that letting Chili Face choose the doctor preserved his authority and prevented the dispute from escalating into war.
• Sylutia gave Duss’s daughter, Milika, forty silver coins for the family’s needs and decided she might write a book about orc culture.

After final exams, Sylutia received an invitation to Rorick Academy’s Silver Bell Festival and learned what attending could offer. She decided to go, and Madam Grace advised her to learn Suspended Puppet and offered to prepare an outfit for the festival.

• Aurora explained the benefits of attending the Silver Bell Festival and gave Lovier her invitation to Vichia Academy.
• Sylutia visited Madam Grace at the Black Lily clothing store during the holiday break.
• Sylutia asked Madam Grace about Rorick Academy and the Phantom Puppet School after receiving an invitation.
• Madam Grace described Rorick Academy’s puppets and recommended Suspended Puppet as the secret art for Sylutia to learn.
• Madam Grace offered to prepare Sylutia an outfit for the festival, and Sylutia walked out into the falling snow.

Sylutia brought a festive hot pot meal to Agate Street, where residents shared news about students’ secret rankings. Hedra ranked third, and Aurora and Sylutia reconsidered how conspicuous their talents had made them.

• Sylutia served a hot pot meal to Lovier, Aurora, and the children and residents of Agate Street, who praised her cooking.
• Aurora explained that a School No. 24 student had defeated ten opponents using a Blood Law Aspect Power spell.
• A resident shared the teachers’ secret rankings: Xinke was first, Waldrin second, and Hedra third for her Magic Thread Manipulation.
• Aurora said she would likely rank around the fifties and reflected that she had chosen to leave the Opera School’s path despite her family’s high expectations.
• Sylutia worried that she had drawn too much attention and decided to be more humble and cautious, while Lovier felt proud of her roommates.

Sylutia prepared for the Silver Bell Festival and traveled by a flying mechanical carriage to Rorick Academy after activating her invitation. She arrived at the academy’s grand hall, where mechanical dolls welcomed guests and performed.

• Sylutia read the invitation’s instructions, prepared for the festival, and went to sleep.
• Anali told the restaurant proprietress she had no classmates to attend the festival with, so the proprietress invited her to spend the day together.
• Aurora and Lovier prepared for the festival, while Sylutia wrote to her family and teacher and planned to attend Rorick Academy alone.
• Sylutia activated her invitation in a plaza, and a flying mechanical carriage from Rorick Academy arrived to collect her.
• Sylutia reached Rorick Academy and entered its vast hall, where mechanical dolls served guests and danced on a central stage.

Sylutia attended Rorick Academy’s Silver Bell Festival, learned about the origins of the Phantom Puppet School, and discovered a lead to a Scripture for a Seventh Order profession. After the performances, two professors noticed her and quietly planned to compete for her as an apprentice; the midnight bells then rang across the Fourth Continent.

• Sylutia learned how Secret Speech memories could give mechanical puppets their behaviors as she explored the Gilded Hall.
• Sylutia met Ticis and her grandmother, then watched the festival’s musical, mechanical-puppet, griffin, and scarecrow performances.
• The hosts recounted how the countryside puppeteer founded the Phantom Puppet School, and Sylutia discovered a lead to the Scripture: Town Puppeteer and the Seventh Order profession Dream-Weaving Puppeteer.
• Sylutia entertained Ticis with birds woven from threads, while Senior Condner and a professor decided to compete for the chance to teach her.
• At midnight, bells rang throughout the Mage Alliance and across the Fourth Continent.