Chapter Summaries

Professor Bryce chose Wayne as his assistant and invited Li Mo to become his research partner, letting Li Mo select Anna as his assistant. After receiving a Mystical Artifact from Bryce, Li Mo began writing a paper on the self-excited DC generator, with Bryce’s support to protect his work and its credit.

• Professor Bryce named Wayne his assistant, then offered Li Mo a partnership because of Li Mo’s exceptional talent.
• Li Mo chose Anna as his assistant, and Bryce promised all three exemptions from basic courses and recommendation letters for entrance exams.
• Bryce gave Wayne a pocket watch and Li Mo a dip pen, and Li Mo asked to keep the miniature globe he recognized as a Mystical Artifact.
• Bryce lent Li Mo the office key and permission to use the observatory telescope, then left for an academic affairs meeting.
• Wayne and Anna cleaned the office while Li Mo settled at his desk and began writing his paper on the self-excited DC generator.

Li Mo continued his astronomical work while Matthew sought a way to regain face and Helen argued with her father before being abducted near the docks. At the observatory, Li Mo traced the thread on a miniature globe and froze at the result.

• Students and teachers discussed Li Mo’s success in mathematics and his partnership with Professor Bryce, while Matthew resented being outperformed and visited a secret underground club.
• Helen praised Li Mo’s achievements to Mr. Green, argued with him over his fear of Li Mo’s curse, and ran out of the house in tears.
• Helen reached the guarded docks, where a man in a black trench coat warned her about an industrial dye leak; after she left, someone grabbed and drugged her.
• Li Mo recorded observations of the red and white moons with Anna and noted that long-term observations would be needed to understand their orbits.
• Li Mo traced the figure-eight thread on the miniature globe, then froze at what happened.

Li Mo discovered that a Mystical Artifact’s glowing points marked locations, including the Mondel Town docks, and sensed danger there. He agreed to write papers on calculus and pure mathematics, then ended the night with Anna in an awkwardly intimate mishap.

• In his Focus state, Li Mo saw seven glowing points on a brass globe, identified one near Mondel Town’s harbor docks, and sensed danger when he considered investigating it.
• Mr. Harrison urged Li Mo to pursue pure mathematics, and Li Mo proposed writing a rigorous algebraic definition of limits alongside his paper on a self-excited DC generator.
• Mr. Harrison and Professor Bryce agreed to review Li Mo’s promised papers, though they privately doubted he could finish them so quickly.
• Anna carried the exhausted Li Mo home and told him to take on less work, while silently praying that the Moon Goddess would restore his Mysticism Perception.
• When a stray cat startled Anna, Li Mo slid forward and grabbed her breasts; he then squeezed them and told her they felt good.

Li Mo learned that Helen had disappeared and joined Anna and Wayne in considering where to begin searching for her. Suspecting Matthew might be involved, Li Mo proposed investigating the murder at the spinning mill.

• Anna beat Li Mo after he joked about touching her breasts, and they returned home together.
• Li Mo learned that his father was still at the spinning mill, then discovered that Mr. Green was searching for Helen, who had gone missing.
• Mr. Green left after Li Mo denied seeing Helen, and Anna told Li Mo that the police were looking for her.
• The next morning, Li Mo told Wayne about Helen's disappearance, and Wayne suggested Matthew might have taken her.
• Li Mo said they should begin by investigating the spinning mill murder, while Anna went to retrieve a revolver and Wayne revealed the sword hidden in his cane.

Li Mo and his companions sought Sheriff Sanders’s help investigating Helen’s disappearance and the murder at the Matthew family’s spinning mill. After learning that Anna could use mysticism rituals, Sanders shared the case files, and the group examined clues pointing to a professional killer and seawater at the scene.

• Li Mo learned that his father, Li En, had been found but was unwell and resting at home.
• Li Mo, Anna, and Wayne met Sheriff Sanders and asked to investigate the spinning mill murder because they suspected it was connected to Helen’s disappearance and Matthew.
• Sanders hesitated to share police information because Li Mo had lost his Mysticism Perception, but Li Mo introduced Anna as a talented mystic.
• Sanders eagerly gave them the investigation reports after Li Mo confirmed Anna could perform rituals, then offered to take them to the crime scene.
• Wayne inferred that the killer was a trained professional from the victim Thomas’s strength and the signs of struggle, while Li Mo asked about water stains near the body.
• Sanders said the water stains were salty and he believed they were seawater.

Li Mo investigated Thomas's murder, using Anna's vision and forensic deductions to identify clues and preserve fingerprints. The evidence pointed toward the docks, where Li Mo suspected a larger plot involving Matthew, Professor Bryce's tide research, and the military blockade, so he hurried back to the academy to find Bryce.

• Anna performed a ritual at Thomas's room and saw a tall person in a dark trench coat kill him after Thomas tried to hide something in the wardrobe.
• Wayne and Sheriff Sanders reasoned that Thomas knew his killer and had taken something dangerous enough to be killed over.
• Li Mo deduced that the killer was tall, heavy, left-handed, and connected to large steam freighters, then lifted fingerprints from the wardrobe for comparison.
• Li Mo learned that Helen had last been seen running toward the sealed-off docks and connected the docks to Thomas's murder and the unusual interest in Professor Bryce's tide research.
• Li Mo suspected Matthew and the people behind him planned an operation at the docks based on the autumn equinox tides, and he hurried to find Professor Bryce.

Li Mo questioned Professor Bryce about Helen’s disappearance and used Focus mode to infer that the Empress had sealed the docks to prepare a secret autumn equinox attack involving a powerful Mystical Artifact. He concluded Helen may have witnessed someone spying on the docks and left to find her, while Professor Bryce begged him to keep his deductions secret.

• Wayne reported that Matthew was absent, and Li Mo told Anna and Wayne to wait while he spoke to Professor Bryce alone.
• Professor Bryce revealed that he had reported their tidal findings to the Empress’s envoy and that the Empress had asked for Li Mo by name.
• Li Mo told Professor Bryce that Helen had gone missing after running toward the docks, and Bryce admitted she would not be harmed by the people inside the docks but might have been endangered on the way there.
• Li Mo used Focus mode to deduce that the Empress had ordered the dock lockdown for a secret autumn equinox attack using a Mystical Artifact, and that the blockade had caused the town’s cotton shortage and factory crisis.
• Li Mo inferred that Helen might have witnessed someone secretly gathering information near the docks and hurried off to find her, while Professor Bryce warned him not to share his guesses.

Li Mo prepared flashbangs with Anna and Wayne, then searched the road to the docks for evidence of Helen’s disappearance. Anna’s ritual revealed that Helen had been abducted and taken toward the birch woods, and the three set out at night to rescue her.

• Li Mo bought chemicals and showed Anna and Wayne how to make flash powder, then gave each of them a flashbang.
• Li Mo, Anna, and Wayne searched the road to the docks, where Li Mo found a button from Helen’s coat beside an extinguished gas lamp.
• Anna used Ember Rewind and saw Helen struggle with a man who knocked her unconscious and carried her toward the birch woods to the west.
• Li Mo told Anna and Wayne to rest while Anna recovered, then laid out a plan to rescue Helen and avoid confronting the killer.
• After night fell, Anna checked her revolver, Wayne drew his cane sword, and Li Mo led the group toward the woods.

Li Mo, Anna, and Wayne rescued Helen from a hidden cellar and escaped her kidnapper by reaching the military-controlled docks. After Helen recovered, she recognized the kidnapper in a newspaper advertisement for Dr. Morris’s clinic.

• Li Mo followed faint footprints through the woods, and Anna used a ritual to locate a concealed cellar where they found the unconscious Helen.
• The kidnapper arrived as the group left the cellar, but Li Mo, Anna, and Wayne used flashbangs and gunfire to escape with Helen.
• Li Mo led them to the docks, where soldiers brought them inside the secured perimeter and gave them a place to wait.
• Helen woke, thanked Anna and Li Mo for rescuing her, and blushed when she addressed Li Mo.
• Helen recognized the kidnapper in Wayne’s newspaper as Dr. Morris, the bloodletting practitioner who had visited Li Mo’s house.

Li Mo identified Doctor Morris as the killer and told Sheriff Sanders where to search for him. The Empress's envoy thanked Li Mo and invited him to study in the capital after his entrance exams, while Li Mo agreed without revealing his reluctance to become involved in the war.

• Li Mo, Anna, and Wayne concluded that Doctor Morris had killed Thomas and kidnapped Helen, and Wayne suspected Matthew's family might be connected.
• The Empress's red-haired envoy thanked Li Mo for helping the kingdom and invited him to study mathematics and physics in the capital after his entrance exams.
• Commander Carter offered Li Mo help from the troops stationed at the docks, and a messenger announced that Sheriff Sanders was waiting outside.
• Li Mo told Sheriff Sanders that Morris was the killer and that Helen had been found in a cellar in the birch grove, prompting the sheriff to send officers and hounds after Morris.
• On the carriage ride to town, Wayne lamented missing that the envoy was linked to the Empress, then teased Li Mo and Anna about their closeness while Helen rejected his offer of comfort.

Li Mo and his companions returned Helen safely to her father after rescuing her from Doctor Morris, and Mr. Green swore an oath to support Li Mo. Still traumatized, Helen came to stay at Li Mo’s house, where Anna arranged for all three of them to sleep together.

• Li Mo told Mr. Green that Doctor Morris had kidnapped Helen and that he, Anna, and Wayne had rescued her from the western birch forest.
• Mr. Green thanked Li Mo and swore by the twin moons to support him and never criticize him again.
• Helen asked to sleep at Li Mo’s house with Anna, but Li Mo persuaded her to stay home and talk with her father.
• Li Mo planned a seven-day Mathematics Salon and considered sending his generator paper to the Capital Royal Academy of Sciences.
• Mr. Green brought Helen back to Li Mo’s house after she panicked when the lights went out and begged for Anna.
• Anna bathed Helen and proposed that she, Helen, and Li Mo share a bed, with Anna sleeping between them.

Li Mo learned that Isaac Oliver had manipulated the raw cotton shortage to threaten Li En’s factory, and he planned to use the crisis to move the mill into a new line of business. After Li Mo and his companions returned to Puxiu Academy, Charles Bowen asked him to help Matthew impress Helen.

• Li Mo reassured Helen after she spent the night with Anna, then explained to Li En how Doctor Morris had been exposed and captured.
• Li En told Li Mo that Isaac Oliver had secretly bought up raw cotton and withheld shipping notices to cripple rival workshops.
• Li Mo said his improved spinning machines would free up factory space and hinted that he would reveal a more profitable business plan over the weekend.
• Li Mo, Anna, Helen, and Wayne left for school, where Wayne read news about Morris’s capture, the cotton shortage, and the northern war.
• At Puxiu Academy, Charles Bowen asked Li Mo to help Matthew put on a show in front of Helen.

Li Mo uncovered Charles Bowen’s supposed occult organization as a student-run middleman scheme and refused to help Matthew stage a rescue for Helen. He then announced a mathematics salon where he planned to present the epsilon-delta definition of limits.

• Charles Bowen explained that Matthew had hired his organization to stage a crisis so he could impress Helen, and Li Mo used his focus state to expose the group’s lies and methods.
• Li Mo refused Charles’s offer of up to seven pounds, warning him not to upset Helen and threatening to tell Sheriff Sanders about the organization.
• Li Mo noticed that Helen seemed better than the night before but still lowered her head when she sensed him looking at her.
• Li Mo announced a mathematics salon that afternoon, promising to replace vague intuitions about calculus with rigorous definitions.
• When students doubted him, Li Mo declared that Mr. Harrison would applaud his plan to present the epsilon-delta definition of limits.

Li Mo finished a paper on a self-excited DC generator, then began his lawn salon to present a rigorous definition of limits in calculus. As skeptical teachers and students watched, Matthew waited for the occultists he had paid, unaware that Charles had come to return his money.

• Matthew taunted Li Mo about the salon and looked forward to winning back the fifteen gold pounds he had paid an occult organization.
• Li Mo asked Wayne to set up a blackboard and chairs, then worked through the day to finish his generator paper.
• Professor Bryce reviewed Li Mo's paper, found no obvious flaws, and agreed to study it further before submitting it to the Royal Academy of Sciences.
• Wayne prepared the lawn, and Mr. Harrison invited teachers to attend Li Mo's salon.
• Li Mo arrived with Anna and faced a crowd of doubters, while Matthew waited for the occult organization and Charles came to return Matthew's money.
• The academy bell rang, and Li Mo began the salon by addressing the audience.

Li Mo presented a rigorous definition of limits and proved that a function approaching a finite limit was locally bounded, surprising the teachers and students with material beyond their syllabus. He then posed a control problem about preventing oscillations in steam-engine governors, leaving the class to solve it.

• Li Mo introduced the epsilon-delta definition of a function limit and explained how it replaced ambiguity with precise inequalities.
• Li Mo used the triangle inequality to prove that a function with a finite limit was locally bounded, then carefully filled in steps that had confused the students.
• Mr. Harrison stood and praised Li Mo's detailed proof, prompting the students to applaud while Matthew regretted losing his chance to show off.
• Li Mo described oscillations in centrifugal governors at Mendel Port and textile mills and wrote a cubic characteristic equation for the system.
• Li Mo asked the class to find necessary and sufficient conditions for the system's characteristic roots to have negative real parts and to calculate the required mechanical damper threshold.

Li Mo finished his mathematics salon after Matthew’s attempt to show off ended in an awkward escape, then announced another lecture for the next day. Afterward, Li Mo found Helen waiting alone in the classroom and offered to walk her home.

• Matthew confidently went to the blackboard expecting the Goddess of the Moon to reveal the answer, but fled after nothing happened and pretended to be ill.
• Li Mo wrote the critical damping threshold, concluded the salon, and announced a lecture on continuity, the intermediate value theorem, and the Cauchy convergence criterion for the next day.
• Wayne teased Matthew about whether he had understood Li Mo’s lecture by asking what was special about 1729, leaving Matthew confused.
• Wayne invited Li Mo and Anna to the teahouse, but Li Mo returned to the classroom and found Helen sitting alone because she was afraid to go home by herself.
• Li Mo offered to walk Helen home, and Helen shyly took one of his fingers and thanked him.

Li Mo left the tea room after hearing doubts about the war and wondered who had arrived at the sealed port. The Empress secretly came to Mondel after the Great Sage died, then decided to disguise herself and join Li Mo’s class.

• Li Mo treated Wayne, Anna, and Helen to tea, where Anna asked about the Cauchy convergence criterion he had written on the blackboard.
• A cloth merchant and a fur merchant argued over the war’s progress, and Wayne told Li Mo that the official reports seemed unreliable.
• The Empress arrived secretly at Mondel’s military docks and met Caroline at the governor’s private residence.
• The Empress told Caroline that the Great Sage had died after making a final prophecy that the key to turning the war around lay in Mondel.
• Caroline reported Li Mo’s recent achievements, and the Empress ordered the Black-Robed Court Guards to disguise her so she could join his class as a transfer student.

Li Mo investigated the strange noises in Helen's bedroom and traced them to a loose ventilation valve connected to the house's smoke-extraction system. After he stopped the noise, Mr. Green realized Helen had feelings for Li Mo and considered bringing them together.

• Helen told Li Mo that strange scraping and whistling noises had haunted her bedroom for half a month, so he went with her and Anna to investigate.
• Li Mo discovered that the noises came from the flue and a loose ventilation valve, then quieted it by wedging a coin into the valve's worn slide rail.
• Helen thanked Li Mo, and Mr. Green escorted Li Mo and Anna to the gate as they left.
• Mr. Green asked Helen how she felt about Li Mo and considered helping bring them together after her embarrassed reaction.

Li Mo studied the firestone’s activation and discovered that linseed oil prevented it from reacting, while Anna mistook his distracted replies for a demand that she sleep with him naked. Anna agreed and joined him in bed, leaving Li Mo to realize from the unfamiliar sensation against his back that she had taken off her clothes.

• Li Mo observed the miniature globe without seeing any change, then tested the firestone and found that rubbing it with any part of his body could activate it.
• Li Mo found that rubbing the firestone in linseed oil produced no reaction, and he excitedly recorded the result while Anna watched with concern.
• Anna urged Li Mo to rest, but his absent-minded agreement led her to assume he wanted her to sleep naked with him.
• Anna darkened the room and climbed into bed with Li Mo, who realized from the feel against his back that she was not wearing clothes.

Li Mo and Anna stayed awake together as he explained advanced calculus problems, then woke to awkward tension after another embarrassing night. Meanwhile, Li En planned to use his social connections to pressure Oliver, and Li Mo walked to school with Anna and Helen after accepting a breakfast box Helen's father had prepared.

• Li Mo explained tests for oscillatory integrals and singularities to Anna until they fell asleep.
• Li Mo woke up naked again, and Li En told him he would use the town ladies' connections to prompt an investigation of Oliver and restrict his bank credit.
• Li Mo and Anna left for school, and Li Mo told Li En they had met Mrs. Turner at the Egret Tea Room.
• Green presented Li Mo with a breakfast box he claimed Helen had made, leaving Helen mortified.
• Li Mo accepted the breakfast and walked to school with Anna and Helen while Green congratulated himself on matchmaking.