Charlotte gently rubbed her fingers over the wick of the candle.

A thin layer of black powder appeared from nowhere, floated, burned, and lit the candle.

Phlogiston, the third pillar of alchemy.

Scholars believe it is the personification of flames, capable of causing violent burns.

Visionaries believe that phlogiston-powered muskets will eventually replace steam-powered weapons.

Unfortunately, even with the help of alchemy circles and specialized equipment, phlogiston still cannot be mass-produced.

It is rare and cannot be popularized like steam engines or metal automatons.

Thus, the title of "third pillar" is threatened by the power of alchemical secrets.

Some high-level alchemists can, with a bit of magic and a few simple movements, produce and ignite phlogiston from nothing, earning the admiration of people.

Charlotte despised using such vulgar tricks to display her skills, and at that moment, she was not in the mood for it.

The clash between reality and imagination had caused some doubts, and if she didn’t resolve them, she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night.

“Why is there a bar at the inn?” She threw herself onto the bed, arms and legs spread out, and asked Caroline.

The bed was hard but bearable.

“The innkeeper wants to make money in two ways, and he succeeded.”

Caroline carefully examined the room.

There was a table by the door with a candle on it, looking like a homemade candle.

The window across from the door was small, about the size of a head, and the only exit was the main door.

The room consisted only of that, a bed, and the table.

The wave of steam didn’t seem to have affected the room.

Considering the hostility of the villagers toward them, it seemed the village hid some secrets.

It wouldn’t be good to stay here too long. Once the young lady had enough sleep, they would leave immediately.

The inn was clean, which meant it had regular guests. Staying just one night shouldn’t be a problem.

“I don’t understand, Caroline, why don’t they know about the golden libra?”

“Miss, the cities of the Empire have been separated by the fog for more than two hundred years. Only recently has it started to dissipate. During that time, there was little contact.

The Empire only controlled the Wenze Islands, and the remaining cities have great autonomy. If it weren’t for the holy oil used in baptisms, the nobles would have already declared independence.

Remember, before we moved to Londini, in Kaihaide, you also didn’t use the Libra.”

Your lady, like her father, seemed to understand nothing about politics, not behaving like a countess heir.

But Charlotte’s father—who could also be considered Caroline’s father—had the support of the most powerful family in Kaihaide, and his ability with white alchemy was ahead of its time.

But the young lady... After the destruction of Kaihaide, the power of the Eiberg family had greatly diminished. Now, the family consisted only of her and the count.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Why would the count have allowed her to leave?

“Caroline, I’m a bit hungry.”

Caroline stopped her thoughts.

She was a human doll, and Charlotte was her mistress.

If Charlotte decided to do something, she couldn’t stop her.

Moreover, the search for Charlotte’s parents’ remains wasn’t just a family wish, but an urgent hope for the entire empire.

She set the black box aside and replied to Charlotte:

“I’ll ask the innkeeper if we can use the kitchen.” She then left the room.

The room was left empty, with only Charlotte inside.

She lay on the bed, looking at the night sky.

The moon had already set, and with the effect of the solar eclipse, the starlight was weaker.

Kaihaide, her hometown... She remembered that time.

Before the fog dissipated, her father was one of the few to have visited the Wenze Islands. Back then, crossing the sea wasn’t done by boat; one had to pass through the belly of a whale.

The fog that covered the strait...

Now, thinking back on it, there were many questionable points.

Although Charlotte had never faced great adversity, she could feel that reality was not as simple and romantic as in books.

She didn’t have good political sense, but she knew the Empire would never send an alchemist as great as her father to explore the fog.

Besides, he didn’t take Caroline with him, only her mother.

And what about her? Would she be able to walk the same path?

Charlotte got out of bed, placed her hand on the black box, and activated a mechanism.

A gap split the box into two parts.

She moved the top half, which contained her luggage.

On the bottom half, a wolf was drawn with red lines.

The wolf held a white snake in its mouth.

The snake coiled around the wolf, devouring its own tail.

This was the coat of arms Charlotte had designed for herself.

This was the crest Charlotte had created for herself.

The white snake symbolized the "Ouroboros" of alchemy. The wolf represented the Eiberg family crest—a wolf beneath a red apple tree.

She had thought of adding the snake to the original apple tree, but "the tree entwined by a snake" looked too much like the Church’s sacred symbol, "The World Tree surrounded by the Serpent."

To avoid trouble, she decided to remove the tree.

Thus, the snake coiled around the wolf. The wolf, of course, didn’t like it, and bit the snake fiercely.

And so, Charlotte’s coat of arms was born.

Charlotte activated the alchemical mechanism fixed to the box, and a huge sword silently emerged from the side of the box.

She drew it, the sword was a little taller than her, half the width of her palm, and she didn’t know how it fit into the box.

She didn’t know how it had been fitted inside.

She leaned the sword against the wall, and with her left arm pressed to the box, the box gripped her forearm.

Charlotte stood up, and the other side of the box extended with dozens of sharp mechanical joints, swinging through the air.

Cutting mode.

The box suddenly opened, various parts floating in the air.

The box suddenly disassembled, the parts floating in the air, drawn together by the light of alchemy, forming a musket.

Firing mode.

The weapon transformed back into a box, returning to the floor without making a sound.

The black box, the masterpiece of the brilliant alchemist Charlotte, which won the Grand Prize at the Wenze Empire’s Young Alchemist Competition, and was the great achievement that secured her admission to the Empire’s University Natural Philosophy Faculty, when needed, the box could also be used as a small alchemy lab.

She found some confidence in the black box’s operation.

She wasn’t trying to complete her father’s unfinished mission; she just needed to find her parents’ bodies and bring them home.

The Empire also hoped she would recover her father’s alchemical manuscripts, believing that it could advance alchemy considerably.

Hmph, if they truly think that, why don’t they send their own people to search? And even if it’s just her alone, she will still be able to advance alchemy.

She would become an alchemist even greater than her father.

Charlotte took a deep breath, smelling the aroma coming from outside the door.

Meat and vegetable soup!

As soon as she stored the sword in the black box, Caroline entered with a wooden tray, which held a bowl and wooden utensils.

The aroma came from the bowl.

Caroline placed the tray on the table, arranged the utensils, and said, “The meat isn’t very fresh. Sorry, miss, I did my best.”

The wooden utensils were new, as if freshly made.

“You don’t need to apologize.” Charlotte never resisted the food Caroline prepared.

She was ready to savor it but noticed there was no chair.

This was no problem for the genius Charlotte.

She looked at the black box.

As her greatest creation, the black box was already a fully matured alchemical invention, and it should generate new uses on its own!

For example, a chair.

Although the ingredients were of inferior quality, the dinner maintained Caroline’s usual standard. The fragrance of the braised meat was intense, and the tender meat melted in her mouth.

After finishing dinner, Charlotte lay back on the bed, uncaring of her appearance. She wasn’t used to the hard bed, but sleep slowly began to overtake her.

Just as she was on the verge of sleep, she heard Caroline call softly, “Miss, miss?”

“I’m listening, Caroline,” Charlotte replied, still drowsy. “Go ahead.”

She heard a whisper that sounded like a devil, and her sleepiness instantly disappeared. “Miss, your graduation thesis for today hasn’t been written. You cannot rest yet.”

That night, the entire village heard Charlotte’s anguished scream.