New York City, spring of 1929. When the city's new courthouse collapses during its opening ceremony, the two rivaling universities of hermetics and astronomy find themselves embroiled in a far-reaching scandal. For questionable reasons, hermeticist student, Nia Himlan, and astronomer, Aden Fenice, are selected to investigate the extent of their universities' culpability in the incident. Soon, however, their investigation gets hampered by conflicts of interest, and further complicated by the interference of a third university. When further developments make it apparent that the university administrators are more concerned with preserving their reputations than uncovering the truth, Nia and Aden realize that they have much to gain by solving the mystery and everything to lose if they don't. The Mystery Component is the first volume in the alchemy punk series Academia, a story of science, prejudice, and magic.