A mechanical punk world where steam and difference engines roar. In the West, the religious empire Elisagna Nuemilan worshiped the sophisticated Difference Engine oracle in the name of "Holy Order";
In the east, the imperial dynasty Qin harnessed the violent beasts of steam and gunpowder to implement a ruthless and efficient Legalist system.
In the gap, the neutral country of Salusgrai shimmered as fragile as glass.
The protagonist, Judah Pedro Fitzgerald Kennedy, a lower-ranking servant of Amilan, carries piety and executes the "Fire" spy plan under the Pope's secret order, sneaking into the Qin Empire's Ironforge with the goal of probing the weakness of the "Dragon Throat" at the core of the "Dragon Roar" cannon.
He went through disguise, integration, and technology theft, witnessed the tragic death of the co-workers who protected him, fled after his identity was exposed, and was eventually regarded as an outcast by the motherland, and was deeply involved in the trial of the collapse of his faith. After being released as a diplomatic bargaining chip, Judah failed to gain freedom and was instead secretly imprisoned in the Imperial Academy, the highest institution of learning in the Qin Empire. On the surface, they are "foreign students" learning Qin skills, but in fact they are prisoners of technological oppression and ideological transformation.
Here, he met Mo Zhai, a Mohist apprentice who advocated "non-attacking benevolent skills", and came into contact with the cold and efficient Legalist work rules. He was even more shocked to realize that his so-called "sacred mission" was just a discarded cover used by the higher-ups of the Holy See to cover up another intelligence channel.
When Qin extended an olive branch to recruit peace, Salusgrai handed over a poisonous blade of revenge. An unexpectedly unearthed Mohist ancient scroll drew the line for Judah that "the heart is controlled by the weapon." He refused to be reduced to a cog of any force. In the ideological prison and battlefield of the Imperial College, he used his broken faith as a salary to ignite the lonely fire of searching for his own conscience and technological ethics.
