Chapter Summaries

Anna confronted Li Mo over his misunderstood agreement from the previous night, then chased him down the street after giving him a three-step head start. As Helen joined their run and smiled, an unfamiliar carriage carrying a new transfer student watched the group pass.

• Wayne escorted Helen ahead after Anna asked to speak privately with Li Mo.
• Anna accused Li Mo of agreeing to sleep with her undressed, and Li Mo explained that he had been absentmindedly brushing her off while working.
• Li Mo told Anna that she had misunderstood and complained that her attempt to seduce him had kept him from sleeping well.
• Anna handed Li Mo her schoolbag, counted to three, and chased him as Wayne ran after them and Helen followed.
• Helen began jogging with the group and smiled as Puxiu Academy students discussed her and the arriving transfer student.
• A luxurious carriage with an unfamiliar family crest traveled down the street, and a girl with cool black eyes watched the group from behind its curtain.

Li Mo and his companions arrived at Puxiu Academy just in time for the morning assembly, where he stopped Lawrence and the other students from bullying Perry over his late father’s missing top hat. After Li Mo received special treatment from the prefect for arriving after the bell, a note addressed to him was passed through the auditorium’s assembled students.

• Anna stopped hitting Li Mo at the school gates, and Wayne warned them they had only minutes to reach the auditorium before the assembly doors closed.
• In the cloakroom, Perry confronted Lawrence over his missing top hat, and Lawrence admitted taking it while other students joined in mocking Perry.
• Li Mo told Lawrence to return the hat and stop bullying Perry, so Lawrence had an underling retrieve it; Perry thanked Li Mo and hurried to the auditorium.
• Wayne discovered his walking stick was missing, and Li Mo helped him find it before they hurried to the assembly as the bell rang.
• The prefect punished two late first-year boys but let Li Mo enter without penalty, then directed him to Class One’s column.
• Students passed a note addressed to Li Mo through the auditorium, and Wayne handed it to him.

Li Mo received new privileges and widespread respect after his mathematics salon, while planning to investigate how Mystical Rituals drew energy. On his way to class, he recognized a silver emblem on a girl’s coat as the one he had seen on the Scarlet Moon and avoided confronting her by using Matthew’s excuse.

• Li Mo read notes asking to buy his calculus notes, inquire about the steam-engine salon, and attend the salon, while Colin confirmed Li Mo was exempt from attendance requirements.
• At the morning assembly, the dean encouraged students to attend the lawn salons, and Li Mo briefly activated Focus while wondering how Mystical Rituals drew energy.
• Anna and Helen remarked on the unusual politeness they had received, and Wayne explained that Li Mo’s salon and new school privileges had impressed the students.
• Li Mo noticed a girl walking past him without acknowledging him and saw a silver emblem on her coat that matched the emblem he had seen on the Scarlet Moon.
• When the girl turned and asked if something was wrong, Li Mo felt pressured and said, “Damn... why did it have to be now...?”

Li Mo saw a mysterious symbol on a Puxiu Academy girl's jacket that Anna and Wayne could not see, and decided to investigate by becoming her friend. Meanwhile, Matthew tried to recover from his public embarrassment and planned to impress an incoming transfer student with political talk.

• Li Mo questioned the girl about her jacket indirectly after seeing a symbol on it, but Wayne and Anna said they had seen no design.
• Li Mo returned to class, where his classmates greeted him warmly and Lily offered cookies for him and Anna.
• Matthew arrived late and endured classmates teasing him about his failed lawn salon performance, then claimed family business would keep him from the next salon.
• Matthew heard that a girl from out of town was transferring into Class One and decided to impress her by discussing politics.

Li Mo met the new transfer student, Estelle Xi, and invited her to his mathematics salon. When Matthew boasted that his family had hoarded cotton using advance military intelligence, Estelle questioned him and Li Mo offered to show her an improved spinning machine.

• Mr. Harrison introduced Estelle Xi as a new student in Class One, seated her beside Li Mo, and directed her to ask him for help with her studies.
• Estelle asked Li Mo a mathematics question, agreed to attend his afternoon salon, and asked him to call her Xiao Xi.
• Matthew introduced himself to Estelle and boasted that his family had stockpiled Mondel Town's raw cotton after learning of the northern sea blockade, driving prices up and hurting local workshops.
• Estelle questioned Matthew about whether his father knew he was revealing the family's actions, while Li Mo sensed her anger.
• Li Mo described an improved spinning machine that could use far less cotton and produce stronger, finer thread, and Estelle asked whether it had been built.
• Li Mo said he would take Estelle to the factory to see the machine after the salon.

Estelle drew Matthew into revealing his family’s corrupt dealings while Anna and Wayne stayed with them. At the observatory, Li Mo rejected Lydia’s attempt to win his silence and suggested Professor Bryce had known about her offer to sell assessment questions all along.

• Li Mo left for the observatory to study nearly ten years of observation ephemerides and asked Anna to get to know Estelle.
• Estelle encouraged Matthew to talk, and he revealed how his family profited from a blockade order, improper bank loans, and plans to overcharge the Quartermaster’s Office.
• Estelle recorded the names of Matthew’s family’s contacts as he prepared to disclose more about their tax evasion.
• Lydia begged Li Mo not to tell Professor Bryce she had offered to buy assessment questions and offered to do whatever he wanted in return.
• Li Mo told Lydia Professor Bryce might have known about her offer as a screening method, then went inside and left her stunned.

Li Mo analyzed ten years of lunar observations and discovered that the Red Moon behaved like a massless celestial oscillator, then connected its harmonic frequency to the energy-absorbing silver threads of a Mystical Artifact. He suspected that an opposing phase could interrupt the artifact’s ritual and asked Professor Bryce for tools to test his theory.

• Professor Bryce gave Li Mo ten years of orbital records for the Silver Moon and the Red Moon.
• Li Mo confirmed the Silver Moon’s orbit and found that the Red Moon’s distance, orbital period, and lack of gravitational effects contradicted ordinary celestial mechanics.
• Li Mo analyzed the Red Moon’s data and determined that its orbital motion followed a stable fundamental frequency and its harmonics.
• Professor Bryce told Li Mo that he had accidentally activated a Star-Track Resonance Time Calibration Instrument that would run for forty-eight hours and consume an ounce of Star Silver Powder.
• Li Mo observed the artifact’s silver threads and found that their energy-absorption rhythm nearly matched the Red Moon’s harmonic frequency.
• Li Mo proposed disrupting the artifact’s resonance with an opposing half-wave phase and asked Professor Bryce to fetch a vernier caliper, a brass probe, and linseed oil.

Li Mo experimented on a time calibrator to disrupt its ritual, accidentally caused an explosion, and then discovered how to reverse the energy flow back to the Red Moon. He concealed the discovery from Professor Bryce by triggering another small blast, leaving the professor terrified by Li Mo’s smoke-covered appearance.

• Li Mo used linseed oil and a brass probe to weaken the calibrator’s silver threads, but the trapped energy caused an explosion that injured his cheek and knocked Professor Bryce down.
• Li Mo analyzed the explosion and calculated how to reverse the energy flow through the silver threads instead of merely blocking them.
• Li Mo inserted three probes at calculated positions and successfully sent energy from the calibrator back to the Red Moon.
• Li Mo realized others must not learn that he could stop Mystical Rituals, then withdrew a probe and caused a smaller explosion to conceal his discovery.
• Professor Bryce searched the smoke for Li Mo and found him gathering Star Silver Powder while grinning and laughing eerily.

After an explosion destroyed the Star-Track Resonance Time Calibration Instrument, Li Mo began developing a quicker method for calculating higher-order Mystical Artifacts before rushing to the academy’s second math salon. He opened the salon with a lecture on continuity, the intermediate value theorem, and convergence criteria, while Estelle watched him with her usual composure.

• Li Mo gathered the surviving Star Silver Powder, and Professor Bryce told him to take the damaged instrument to the Moonfall Artifact Workshop for repairs.
• Li Mo began calculating a standardized Red Moon Harmonic Order Reduction Quick Reference Table to simplify future reverse-engineering work.
• Wayne told Estelle stories about Li Mo’s achievements on the way to the salon, but Anna redirected their conversation to watches.
• Li Mo arrived late and disheveled at the crowded salon, where Anna wiped the dried blood from his cheek.
• Li Mo began his second salon lecture on continuity, the intermediate value theorem, and convergence criteria, and he wondered whether he could astonish Estelle.

Toby sold bread and barley water at Puxiu Academy’s second Mondel Academic Salon, where Li Mo delivered a mathematics lecture that drew enthusiastic applause. After the salon, Harrison introduced Li Mo to Arthur Kent, a visiting council member with an important proposal, leaving Li Mo curious about what Kent wanted.

• Toby sold bread and barley water to the crowd gathered for Li Mo’s lecture at Puxiu Academy.
• Li Mo explained continuity, the intermediate value principle, and sequence convergence during the salon.
• The audience applauded Li Mo, who announced that the salon would continue the following afternoon.
• Li Mo noticed Estelle’s reserved reaction and wondered about her family background.
• Harrison introduced Li Mo to his friend Arthur Kent, who praised the lecture and hinted at an important proposal.

Kent and Mr. Harrison urged Li Mo to leave for the royal capital early, but Li Mo refused and continued with his plans to visit the spinning mill. Caroline and Matthew joined Li Mo’s group, where Estelle’s anger at Matthew’s boast about his family’s wealth left the story.

• Kent and Mr. Harrison pressed Li Mo to travel to the royal capital within two days, but Li Mo insisted on handling family business and holding the remaining sessions of the Mondel Academic Salon.
• Anna cleaned Li Mo’s wounds, and Li Mo led Anna, Wayne, Helen, and Estelle toward his family’s spinning mill.
• Caroline met the group outside Puxiu Academy, greeted Estelle, and asked to join the mill visit to report on local technological innovations.
• Matthew hurried over and insisted on joining the group, claiming he could help Estelle assess the spinning machinery and offering to pay for two large carriages.
• Estelle asked Matthew whether he was very rich, and after he boasted about his family’s business, she fell silent with anger.

Estelle and Caroline traveled with Li Mo and the others to a spinning mill, where Estelle ordered an investigation into people listed in a notebook and discussed the decline of mysticism with Caroline. The chapter left them preparing to assess Li Mo’s improved spinning frame and potentially make the mill an official royal partner.

• Matthew arranged carriages and encouraged Estelle to accompany Caroline, believing he had earned Estelle’s favor by helping her connect with the special envoy.
• Wayne teased Matthew about the unsolved 1729 problem, and Matthew hired another carriage to avoid him.
• Estelle gave Caroline a notebook of names and ordered her to investigate their accounts and correspondence under the pretext of reviewing wartime supply quotas.
• Estelle showed Caroline Li Mo’s mathematical notes, but neither of them could understand the material.
• Estelle and Caroline discussed how science and technology were weakening mysticism and threatening the Kingdom of the Fog Capital.
• Estelle instructed Caroline to inspect the improved spinning frame and designate the mill a royal partner workshop if it worked.

Li Mo demonstrated an improved spinning frame that used less cotton and produced stronger yarn, earning the Li En Spinning Mill an imperial charter and major business benefits. When Sarah arrived with another invention, Li Mo revealed it could make steam engines over forty percent more efficient, leaving the visitors stunned.

• Li En worried about Li Mo's facial wound, then learned that Caroline was the royal special envoy visiting the mill.
• Li Mo compared a standard spinning frame with his improved model, which used less roving and produced stronger yarn without any broken threads.
• Caroline designated the Li En Spinning Mill an imperially chartered partner workshop and promised patent certification and priority military orders for Li Mo's design.
• Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Crawford praised Li Mo and offered help with tax relief and financing, while Matthew reacted in shock.
• Sarah arrived with the item Li Mo had requested, and Li Mo announced that it could increase existing steam engine efficiency by more than forty percent.

Li Mo’s steam engine improvement sharply reduced coal consumption, earning him a patent decree, research funding, and tax exemptions for the Li family. As Helen revealed her mechanical aptitude and desire to study engineering, Sarah erupted in fury.

• Li Mo and Sarah modified the steam engine, and a test showed it used more than forty percent less coal for the same work.
• Caroline granted Li Mo a kingdom grade-A military industry patent with royalties and awarded the Li family tax exemptions, research funding, and Li En sixth-class-lord status.
• Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Crawford praised Li En, and Mrs. Crawford offered to redirect a five-thousand-gold-pound support allocation to his family, angering Matthew.
• Li Mo gave Helen a double slide valve, and she explained how its design worked and suggested improvements to the steam engine.
• Helen admitted she wanted to study mechanical engineering, and Sarah erupted in fury.

Li Mo arranged for his family’s factory to begin producing materials for electric light, while Helen began learning engineering from Sarah. After Li Mo returned home, Sheriff Sanders told him that Morris had been murdered.

• Sarah agreed to take Helen on as her engineering apprentice, and Helen eagerly accepted.
• Li Mo told Li En and Sarah to clear the west workshops and make insulated copper wire, carbonized cotton filament, and vacuum glass bulbs for his electric-light project.
• Li En agreed to recruit glassblowers and buy supplies, while Sarah began work on the air pump and sealed iron box prototypes.
• Caroline arranged to take Estelle home, and Li Mo noticed that Caroline watched Estelle while Estelle remained unreadable.
• Matthew stayed behind after arranging carriages for the group, and Wayne, Anna, Helen, and Li Mo rode home together.
• Sheriff Sanders met Li Mo at the gate and reported that Morris was dead and was believed to have been murdered.

Li Mo, Anna, and Wayne went with Sheriff Sanders to investigate Dr. Morris's murder in the police station, hoping Anna's Ember Rewind ritual could reveal what happened. The chapter left them at Morris's cell as Anna began the ritual and Li Mo watched for signs of mystical power.

• Sheriff Sanders told Li Mo that Morris had been found dead in his cell less than an hour earlier and asked him and Anna to investigate.
• Li Mo insisted on going with Anna because Morris had kidnapped Helen and someone else seemed to be behind the case.
• Wayne excitedly named their group the Mondel Royal Chartered Mathematics and Mysticism Chief Truth Adjudication Detective Squad and invented a slogan, while Li Mo fell asleep against Anna.
• Sanders explained that Morris had been held alone in cell four and that patrolmen had guarded the corridor since the shift change.
• Li Mo asked Anna to use Ember Rewind on Morris's body, and she began the ritual as he watched for mystical signs.

Li Mo used physical evidence to reconstruct Morris’s murder and traced a rare uniform thread to Captain Carter, whom he suspected of being a military spy. He warned Caroline that Carter might activate the Mystical Artifact at the docks before the autumn equinox, and asked whether Carter knew how to trigger it.

• Anna failed to use Ember Rewind because a powerful shielding ritual had hidden the crime scene, and Li Mo explained the ranks of mystics to her and Sheriff Sanders.
• Li Mo used Focus to examine the cell, reconstructed how Morris had been killed, and found a distinctive piece of thread beneath his fingernail.
• Li Mo identified the thread as material used in high-ranking harbor officers’ insignia and suspected Captain Carter, commander of the third line of defense.
• Li Mo took Anna to Caroline’s residence and warned that a spy might be guarding the Mystical Artifact at the military-controlled docks.
• Li Mo said Carter would likely activate the artifact before the autumn equinox and asked Caroline whether Carter knew the triggering ritual.

Li Mo learned that the Crimson Corona, a devastating royal artifact, was being transported to Mondel's dock as bait for a duchy spy and a possible coastal attack. After Li Mo and his companions left, Harrison evaded a summons from Estelle and fled town with Kent, leaving Li Mo a coded letter and hoping to recruit him to the duchy.

• Caroline reassured Li Mo that Captain Carter could not activate the Crimson Corona without the Twin Moon Key and secret ritual, and said court guards would watch Carter.
• Estelle asked Caroline to explain the Crimson Corona, which had once destroyed an island and later erased Cullen Stronghold and its sixty thousand troops.
• Caroline confirmed that the artifact could not detonate accidentally, but its twenty-four-hour countdown would seal off a ten-mile radius and prevent anyone from entering or leaving.
• Li Mo reminded Caroline that Doctor Morris had died during the window from 7:40 to 8:20, then left with Anna and Wayne while Estelle asked for Harrison to be brought to her.
• Harrison evaded the envoy's summons, met Kent, and decided to flee town after waiting for Li Mo; he left a mathematics-coded letter for Li Mo and said the duchy's laboratory was where a genius like him belonged.

Li Mo asked Anna to undress so he could study the energy involved in a Mystical Ritual, and she reluctantly agreed. When he entered his Focus state to examine her, he became distracted by her figure and lost his focus, leaving his research unfinished.

• Anna brought Li Mo home, treated his wounds, and helped him get ready for bed.
• Li Mo told Anna he wanted to study how people drew energy during a Mystical Ritual and asked her to remove her upper-body clothing.
• Anna agreed to undress for five minutes, asking Li Mo not to look at her from the front.
• Anna undressed with her back to Li Mo while he shut his eyes and prepared to focus on the research.
• Li Mo opened his eyes but became captivated by Anna's figure, lost his Focus state, and decided to look for a while before starting the research.

Li Mo investigated how Anna’s Mysticism Perception resonated with the Red Moon and theorized that blood vessels acted as antennas. After Anna caught him poking her during the ritual, he proposed further experiments that might restore his lost perception, and she agreed to cooperate.

• Li Mo watched Anna perform a basic ritual and observed that her hair moved without a breeze, though no silver threads appeared on her skin.
• Li Mo theorized that Anna’s blood vessels conducted energy and resonated with the Red Moon, and that innate vascular patterns might determine a person’s talent for mysticism.
• Li Mo wondered whether a change in his own blood vessels could explain why his Mysticism Perception had disappeared.
• Li Mo poked Anna in several places to test whether pressure on her blood vessels affected her ritual, then noticed she was watching him.
• Anna questioned whether Li Mo’s research was proper and pinched his ear after he admitted he had been touching her.
• Li Mo said further rituals and experiments might help restore his Mysticism Perception, and Anna agreed to cooperate.