Recaps

Hermione presented the completed Mage Project to Ian and the Council, explaining how people could become mages and what limits their abilities. Ian approved worldwide screening for mage talent, while Amelia worried that the project might deepen social divisions.

• Ian reunited with Hermione at the First Tower, and she led him and the Council delegation to her laboratory.
• Hermione explained that mages needed to sense magic power and possess a Magic Body, and that their cores could store varying amounts of magic power.
• Ian and Amelia discussed introducing meditation lessons for children and addressing the risk of magic poisoning when Leyline Nodes were activated.
• Hermione revealed that mages controlled environmental magic better than most wizards, but attempts to create multiple cores had destroyed the test subject’s ability to use magic.
• Ian approved worldwide screening for mage talent, and Amelia privately worried the project would divide the population into mages, wizards, and ordinary people.
• As Ian prepared to leave for another tower, Hermione telepathically insisted that she and the others accompany him next time.

Ian and the Council inspected research at the Third and Tenth Towers, including bloodline transplantation, Dragon Kings, and an ancient Lemurian spaceship. Ian left concerned that activating the Leyline Nodes could reconnect the Empire to other dimensions and create a new danger.

• Pheobe Delacour reported that bloodline transplantation failed on ordinary people, while mages survived but inherited magical creatures’ traits and instincts.
• Pheobe showed Ian and the Council the recreated Ice Dragon King; Ian suggested each Dragon King was unique and could be reborn after its predecessor died.
• Ian told Amelia that he sought knowledge from other worlds to prepare the Empire for threats such as Herpo and Dragonkind.
• Tower Masters Obudu Alvoroto and Sali presented an ancient Lemurian spaceship whose engine had used energy from an Elemental Pool.
• Alvoroto and Sali explained that the Solar System’s magic vacuum and the Lemurian Cataclysm might block contact with other dimensions, leading Ian to worry that activating Leyline Nodes could restore those connections.
• After inspecting other towers, Ian and Amelia went alone to the Fourth Tower.

Ian inspected the unfinished Uranus Project Floating City and explained his fears for the Empire before attending the ceremony for the Arcane Empire’s first expedition beyond the Solar System. The chapter ended as Commander Shepard ordered the fleet to start its Void Engine.

• Nicolas Flamel and Perenelle showed Ian the Floating City’s unfinished systems, including challenges with its Void shield, core enchantments, and energy-hungry Void Cannon.
• Ian advised the alchemy masters on technical improvements and explained that fear of losing the Empire had driven his preparations for the expedition.
• Ian and the Council delegation arrived in Jupiter’s orbit and met Arthur Weasley and Commander Shepard at the observation station.
• Ian addressed citizens across the Empire and blessed the volunteers departing to search for habitable planets, civilizations, and knowledge.
• After Arthur confirmed the fleet was ready, Commander Shepard ordered the Void Engine started.

Ian sent an expedition fleet to a distant star system, then prepared to depart through a World Gate while arranging safeguards for the Empire. He entered the Void, beginning his journey into the dimensions beyond.

• Ian ordered the fleet to activate its Void Engines, and it reached a distant star system to scan for habitable planets.
• Ian told Dumbledore to monitor the universe’s reaction and discussed the Empire’s unresolved magical limitations and dormant ancient beings.
• Ian prepared to travel with Morgana, taking the auxiliary server, controlled Obscuruses, and Rowena’s Void Energy devices.
• At a secret meeting, Ian assigned Grindelwald to watch the Atlanteans, arranged protection for Harry, ordered Luna to monitor the Empire, and established an emergency plan if Herpo crossed the boundary of life and death.
• Ian visited McGonagall at Hogwarts, reassured the Sorting Hat, and promised to take care before leaving.
• Ian checked his equipment at the Belize Laboratory and stepped through the World Gate into the Void.

Ian entered the Fullmetal Alchemist universe and waited to see whether the Gate of Truth would react to his arrival. With no warning after three days, he began secretly collecting alchemical knowledge and set up a laboratory in Amestris.

• Ian used Harry's Luck attribute to guide the World Gate to a new universe, then entered it after concealing his arrival with barriers.
• Ian identified the world as Amestris and chose to wait three days for a warning from the Gate of Truth before investigating further.
• Morgana reported that the Elric Brothers were in Liore and that Ian's magic power was suppressed, though he could still protect himself.
• After three peaceful days, Ian used invisibility and Apparition to steal alchemical texts and read the memories of renowned alchemists.
• Ian found Dr. Marcoh and obtained the complete Philosopher's Stone formula from his mind, then bought a mansion and converted it into a temporary laboratory.

Ian studied Alchemy, discovered that magic power could drive and amplify transmutations beyond Equivalent Exchange, and prepared to perform Human Transmutation to investigate the Gate of Truth. The chapter ended as lightning swallowed him inside the Transmutation Circle.

• Ian drew a Transmutation Circle and used Leyline Energy to turn stone slabs into a spear.
• Ian tested Alchemy with his magic power and produced a much larger battle-axe, finding that magic power increased the mass and volume of transmuted products.
• Ian spent days studying Alchemy and experimenting with transmutations, while avoiding Human Transmutation.
• Ian completed an unprecedentedly complex Transmutation Circle and began Human Transmutation to see Truth and test his theories about the Gate of Truth.

Ian attempted Human Transmutation, learned from the Gate of Truth that souls could not be restored after returning to the Cosmic Energy current, and confronted Truth about the Akashic Records. He was expelled from the Gate with a plan to use Father’s National Transmutation Circle to reach that higher knowledge.

• Ian used two prisoners as the price for creating a body and attempting to recall a soul through his Transmutation Circle.
• The Gate of Truth appeared, and Ian learned that souls returned to the Cosmic Energy current and could not be recalled after death.
• Ian asked Truth whether he could interfere in the world’s affairs and whether Truth accessed the Akashic Records.
• Truth sent Ian back to the laboratory after he suggested that both of them might borrow access to a higher knowledge base.
• Ian resolved to pursue the Akashic Records through Father’s National Transmutation Circle and destroyed the mindless body he had created.

Ian investigated the Gates of Truth and discovered that every soul, including those of clones, could manifest one, opening the possibility of teaching alchemy across the Empire. He planned to study the local Philosopher’s Stone next and establish an identity in this world.

• Ian questioned Morgana about the Authority she sensed in Truth and found her Gate of Truth beside his in the Soul Dimension, where it connected to the Prime Universe’s main server.
• Ian tested a wizard, a Muggle, and their clones, projecting his own Gate of Truth into a prisoner’s Soul Space and causing a new gate to appear.
• Ian concluded that all beings with souls could have Gates of Truth, though possessing one did not guarantee alchemical ability.
• Ian demonstrated pure Alchemy without magic and considered developing a personal style called Lightning Alchemy.
• Morgana listed the next research topics, and Ian chose to begin with the Philosopher’s Stone before establishing an identity in the world.

Ian studied Philosopher's Stones and discovered that wizard souls produced the most powerful stones, then visited Izumi Curtis to exchange alchemical knowledge. Izumi learned that her Human Transmutation had never summoned her son's soul, and Ian left her a potion to treat her damaged organs.

• Ian used a thousand clones to create a Philosopher's Stone and found that stones made from wizard souls were most powerful but carried the strongest resentment.
• Ian ordered Morgana to calculate the optimal ratio of soul energy, vitality, and magic power for improving Superior Philosopher's Stones.
• Ian traveled to Dublith and introduced himself to Izumi Curtis as an alchemist seeking to exchange knowledge.
• Ian and Izumi used their Gates of Truth to trade alchemical knowledge, and Izumi realized that her Human Transmutation had never brought back her son's soul.
• Ian asked Izumi to marry him, then proved stronger than Sig in an arm-wrestling contest after Izumi refused.
• Ian left Izumi a potion that could heal her damaged internal organs, and he departed while Izumi and Sig considered his offer.

Ian investigated the world’s qi and Chimera research before realizing Morgana had forgotten to warn him about September 4, 1914. He arrived at the Elric brothers’ confrontation with Shou Tucker and separated Nina from the Chimera, leaving Edward amazed and hopeful about restoring Alphonse.

• Ian concluded that he needed to travel to Xing to study qi and its potential for improving magic.
• Ian and Morgana discussed using soulless, chip-controlled Chimeras as inexpensive soldiers, though their upkeep would require enormous resources.
• Morgana realized she had forgotten to remind Ian of the date, and Ian immediately teleported to the building where the Elric brothers confronted Shou Tucker.
• Ian stopped Lisa Hawkeye’s bullet by decomposing it, then examined Nina and determined that he could separate her soul from the dog’s.
• Ian used a Transmutation Circle and material ingredients to restore Nina as a girl and separate her from the dog.
• Edward was shocked that Ian had performed the transmutation unharmed and wondered whether Ian could restore Alphonse.

Ian Alvin Bones saved Nina from her Chimera form, then explained why his method could not restore the Elric brothers’ bodies and demonstrated his power to the suspicious group. He stayed invisible until Scar killed Shou Tucker, using the moment to extract Scar’s memories of research into Alchemy and Xing’s Alkahestry before disappearing.

• Ian used Legilimency to soothe Nina’s trauma and put her to sleep, then told Edward and Alphonse that his method could not recover the bodies they had paid to open the Gate of Truth.
• Ian introduced himself as a traveler from Cretan and explained his theory of teleportation, while declining to reveal what he had paid to use it.
• Ian demonstrated Flame Alchemy without transmutation gloves, silencing Mustang, Hawkeye, and the Elric brothers before making himself invisible.
• Ian remained hidden and waited for Scar, who arrived that night and killed Shou Tucker.
• Ian used Legilimency on Scar to copy his brother’s research on combining Alchemy with Xing’s Alkahestry, then vanished into the darkness.

Father ordered Lust and Gluttony to capture Ian Alvin Bones by using Nina Tucker as bait, but Ian anticipated the plan and defeated them. He replaced them with puppets under Morgana’s control and took the real Homunculi to his laboratory to study Gluttony’s pseudo-dimension.

• Father ordered Lust and Gluttony to bring Ian back, and Envy proposed kidnapping Nina Tucker to lure him out.
• Lust and Gluttony arrived at Nina’s safe house, where Ian was waiting for them.
• Ian deflected Lust’s attack with an electromagnetic field and used a calibrated sound wave to immobilize both Homunculi.
• Ian made Flesh Puppets from Lust and Gluttony’s blood, implanted Philosopher’s Stones in them, and had Morgana take control of the copies.
• The disguised puppets left to report to Father, while Ian sealed the real Lust and Gluttony in containment vessels and returned to his laboratory.

Envy returned to Father with news that Lust and Gluttony had failed to capture Ian, while Ian dissected the three Homunculi and studied their Philosopher’s Stones to find a safer path of evolution. After learning the truth about the Stone, Edward and Alphonse decided to seek Ian’s help, and they left with his address.

• Envy reported that Ian had trapped Lust and Gluttony, and Father ordered Envy to investigate Greed while sending Lust and Gluttony after Scar.
• Ian revealed that he had captured Lust, Gluttony, and Greed and used Morgana’s memory analysis to study how Homunculi were created.
• Ian concluded that fusing a Philosopher’s Stone directly with his magic core could corrupt his soul, then prepared to experiment on Gluttony’s False Gate of Truth.
• Edward and Alphonse learned that Philosopher’s Stones were made from living people and decided to seek Ian’s alternative method for restoring their bodies.
• Edward found Ian’s business card with his temporary Central City address, and the brothers hurried out to find him.

Ian weighed whether to contact his family in the Arcane Empire, then hosted Edward and Alphonse and explained why he could save Nina when they could not. The brothers left questioning whether to preserve their humanity or pursue power without limits.

• Ian and Morgana agreed not to contact the Arcane Empire until they understood Truth and the world's underlying laws better.
• Edward and Alphonse found Ian's hidden mansion, which only people carrying his token could see, and Ian explained the difference between Alchemy and magic.
• Edward asked why Ian had saved Nina without a Philosopher's Stone when the brothers had failed to save their mother.
• Ian said the brothers had accepted human limits to preserve their morality, while he had sacrificed parts of his humanity to gain power beyond those limits.
• Alphonse asked whether Ian regretted his choices, and Ian said he did not regret his path but sometimes regretted sacrifices others had been forced to make.
• Edward and Alphonse left the mansion troubled by whether they should keep their moral boundaries or do whatever it took to achieve their goals.

Edward and Alphonse refused to follow Ian's path and left to seek a human way to restore their bodies. Ian then infiltrated the Führer's residence, captured Pride, paralyzed King Bradley, and read Bradley's memories, discovering surprising information.

• Edward told Alphonse they would not follow Mr. Bones's path, and the brothers left without explaining themselves to Lieutenant Hawkeye.
• Ian appeared in King Bradley's study and struck Bradley, rupturing his lung and paralyzing him with a nerve-blocking technique.
• Pride revealed himself and attacked Ian, who mocked the Homunculi as parasites dependent on humanity.
• Ian used a powerful flash to suppress Pride's shadows, sealed him in a compressed stone sphere, and kept him as a research sample.
• Ian used Legilimency to read Bradley's memories and learned something that surprised him.

Ian discovered that Bradley’s extraordinary physique came from intense training combined with the world’s Dragon Vein energy, then released his Homunculus specimens and captured Envy after rescuing Hughes. He left Hughes’s apparent death in place, planning to stage his rebirth.

• Ian examined Bradley and found that his dense muscles, resilient organs, and heightened neural speed had resulted from extreme training rather than magical enhancement.
• Ian sensed Dragon Vein energy entering his body during sword practice and considered adapting the technique for the Arcane Empire’s knight orders.
• Ian released Pride, Lust, Gluttony, and Greed after extracting the information he needed, prompting Father to suspend operations against him.
• Envy attacked Hughes after Hughes discovered the Nationwide Land Transmutation Circle, but Ian secretly rescued Hughes and replaced him with a convincing corpse.
• Envy transformed into a beast and attacked Ian, who defeated him with lightning and flames before sealing him in a containment vessel.
• Ian took Hughes’s bloodstained photograph and said that Hughes’s funeral would proceed as planned before he staged Hughes’s rebirth.

Ian revived Maes Hughes and kept him from exposing the Nationwide Land Transmutation Circle, showing him the funeral held in the world’s belief that he was dead. Hughes chose to travel with Ian to Xing, though Ian’s motives and plans remained unclear.

• Hughes woke in Ian’s villa, discovered his wounds had healed, and tried to leave to reveal the Nationwide Land Transmutation Circle.
• Ian showed Hughes the funeral being broadcast, where Hughes watched Roy Mustang, his family, and others mourn him.
• Ian explained that he had saved Hughes because Hughes was a character he wanted to protect, and said he knew the story’s ending would stop the conspiracy.
• Hughes questioned Ian’s motives and learned that Ian was Ian Alvin Bones, the alchemist who had saved Nina Tucker.
• Ian offered Hughes the choice of staying inside the sealed villa or accompanying him across the desert to Xing, and Hughes chose to go with him.

Ian and Hughes reached the ruins of Xerxes, where Ian revived a temporal imprint of the ancient city so Hughes and the Ishvalans could study its knowledge. While exploring its alchemy institute, Ian witnessed the birth of the Dwarf in the Flask and considered whether its connection to the Eye of God could help him link Morgana to it.

• Ian gave Hughes a restorative potion, then showed him a photograph of his five wives after Hughes bragged about his own family.
• Ian and Hughes reached Xerxes, where Ishvalans confronted them, and Ian claimed to be Cretan and offered them a chance to learn from the ruins.
• Ian used the Echo of Time to project Xerxes as it had been centuries earlier and explained that the city was a temporal imprint rather than real time travel.
• Ian assigned the Ishvalans to study ancient crafts and survival techniques, while Hughes examined Xerxes' governance and military systems.
• Ian explored the Royal Alchemy Research Institute, witnessed the Dwarf in the Flask manipulating young Hohenheim, and theorized that the creature came from a fragment of the Eye of God.

Ian studied the Dwarf in the Flask’s alchemy and showed Hughes the truth behind Xerxes’ destruction and Amestris’s planned nationwide sacrifice. After revealing that someone else would stop the threat, Ian took Hughes to Xing.

• Ian rejected connecting Morgana to Truth and instead observed the Dwarf in the Flask teaching Van Hohenheim, gathering alchemical knowledge.
• Ian ended his illusion of ancient Xerxes, showed the Ishvalans and Hughes the ruins’ vast Transmutation Circle, and sent the Ishvalans away.
• Ian took Hughes back in time to witness the Dwarf in the Flask sacrifice Xerxes’ million people to create Father and give Hohenheim an immortal body.
• Hughes panicked about Amestris’s fifty million people, but Ian explained that Father had built the country as a sacrificial trap and that Hughes could not stop him yet.
• Ian studied the ancient array and considered adapting it to reach the Akashic Records, then abandoned the plan as too risky.
• Ian teleported Hughes to Xing, where Hughes complained that Ian had made them walk across the desert despite knowing the spell.

Ian and Hughes reached Xing, where Ian used the emperor’s desperation for immortality to arrange an exchange between Western Alchemy and Alkahestry. After rapidly analyzing Alkahestry, Ian identified the Dragon Vein and qi as sources of life energy and turned his attention to learning how qi could strengthen wizards.

• Ian told Hughes that Xing’s dying emperor wanted a way to extend his life and predicted that the emperor would summon them.
• At the imperial banquet, Ian opened a rift to his dimensional library and offered Xing access to its knowledge in exchange for Alkahestry.
• The emperor summoned Xing’s finest Alkahestry practitioners to Ian’s Dimensional Laboratory for an exchange of knowledge.
• Ian healed a severely wounded rabbit and concluded that Alkahestry used the planet’s Dragon Vein to repair and reorganize life.
• Ian transmuted herbs into a pill in one attempt, impressing the Xing practitioners and confirming that he had analyzed Alkahestry’s principles.
• Ian turned to studying qi, hoping to use it to strengthen wizards and overcome their physical weakness.

Ian fused magic and aura to create Battle Aura, a powerful energy that could be used by wizards, Muggles, and people with Mana Rejection Syndrome. He planned to make Battle Aura universally accessible by transforming the Solar System into a high-magic environment, but Hughes interrupted his research with news that the Emperor of Xing wanted to meet him.

• Ian studied aura and concluded that its physical-limit breakthrough plan could not give wizards the leap in power he wanted.
• Ian repeatedly adjusted magic’s frequency and ratio with aura until he created Battle Aura, which let him shatter a steel sword and leap more than five meters.
• Ian and Morgana tested Battle Aura and found that it could accumulate throughout the body, though it extended life less than ordinary aura.
• Ian successfully induced a Muggle and a person with Mana Rejection Syndrome to produce Battle Aura, then found that physical training alone increased it too slowly.
• Ian ordered Plan B to transform the Solar System into a high-magic environment so ordinary people could passively absorb magic and convert it into Battle Aura.
• Hughes sent Ian an urgent message that the Emperor of Xing wished to see him, and Ian left the Dimensional Space to return to the real world.

Ian refused the Emperor of Xing’s demand for immortality and escaped an attack on his residence with Hughes. The emperor’s attempt to transfer his soul into golden armor failed, and he died of old age in despair.

• The Emperor of Xing questioned Ian about immortality, while a hidden guard identified Ian’s immense life energy and reported a soul-anchoring technique found in The Library.
• The emperor decided to seize the technique, and Ian sensed soldiers surrounding his residence and prepared to leave with Hughes.
• Royal forces bombarded the residence, but Ian shielded himself and Hughes, then incapacitated thousands of soldiers with Wide-Area Resonance and vanished with Hughes.
• After Ian escaped, the emperor’s condition worsened, and he ordered royal alchemists to perform the Pseudo-Immortality ritual.
• The emperor’s soul could not leave his body, and he died of natural aging several days later.

Ian concluded that Truth might be testing humanity and questioned whether his own existence was part of a script, but he decided to pursue strength rather than dwell on the possibility. He turned to Scar's Brother's Research Notes and set Briggs Fortress as his next destination.

• Ian observed that the Elric Brothers' story had returned to its original course despite his interventions, and Morgana found no evidence of a force correcting fate.
• Ian theorized that Truth judged alchemists through the prices exacted for human transmutation and that Edward would ultimately earn Truth's approval by giving up alchemy to save Alphonse.
• Ian reviewed how his interventions had changed events involving Greed, the truth about human transmutation, and Gluttony's false Gate of Truth without changing their outcomes.
• Ian feared that he might be a character in a higher being's script, then dismissed the speculation and resolved to become strong enough to challenge whoever controlled it.
• Ian studied Scar's Brother's Research Notes, which described combining Xingese Alkahestry with Amestrian Alchemy and breaking Father's seal on the nation's alchemy, and chose Briggs Fortress as his next target.

Ian brought Edward and Alphonse to Briggs Fortress, where Major General Olivia Armstrong confronted him about his claims of ruling an empire from another world. He showed her his starships and their devastating power, leaving Olivia eager to hear more about his empire.

• Edward recognized Ian in the infirmary, and Olivia explained that Ian had defeated her patrol after she suspected him of spying for Drachma.
• Olivia assigned Edward and Alphonse menial work, then took Ian to her office to question him about his proposal.
• Ian opened a dimensional gate and brought Olivia to a hangar filled with enormous starships.
• Ian showed Olivia a warship’s bridge, where Morgana launched a simulated low-yield cannon strike that obliterated a vast area.
• Ian invited Olivia to join his empire and lead its Starfleet, and Olivia asked him to tell her more about it.

Ian showed Olivia the power and scope of his Arcane Empire and offered her a path to become its future commander, but she refused to abandon Amestris. After Ian addressed her objections, Olivia agreed to join him on the condition that if she ever became stronger than him, he would dismiss his other wives and belong to her alone.

• Ian transmitted basic knowledge of the Arcane Empire to Olivia, leaving her stunned by its advanced magic, technology, and interstellar power.
• Ian explained that Olivia would have to enlist as a private and rise through the ranks before he appointed her marshal, rather than being made commander-in-chief immediately.
• Olivia refused to leave Amestris, citing her responsibilities, lack of feelings for Ian, and his existing wives.
• Ian offered to wait while Olivia pursued her ambitions, promised to restore her youth later, and insisted that he would not give up his other wives.
• Olivia accepted Ian's proposal on the condition that if she became stronger than him, he would dismiss his other wives and belong to her alone, and Ian agreed.