Chapter Summaries

The night before leaving the village, Su Li and the others prepared to travel to Silver Crown City to pick up Elonore before dealing with the royal capital. As departure drew near, Old Buck gave Su Li a hammer, and Saina quietly cried at the woodshed entrance.

• Su Li told Elena they would go to Silver Crown City for Elonore first and postpone going to the royal capital, and Saina agreed on the condition that Elonore wash the dishes.
• Old Buck secretly prepared a hammer for Su Li, while Saina and Martha spent the day making travel food and packing supplies.
• Elena and Saina settled on using Elena's durable leather travel bag, and Su Li stored the provisions and luggage in his Space Ring.
• Old Buck warned Su Li not to make Saina return crying, then gave him the freshly prepared hammer for the road.
• Deep into the night, Saina sat beside Su Li at the woodshed entrance and cried while he stayed beside her in silence.

Saina, Su Li, and Elena left the village at dawn for Silver Crown City after saying goodbye to Saina’s parents. By noon, they had stopped on the road, where Su Li unpacked Martha’s hard flatbread.

• Saina drank the soup Su Li brought her and said she was ready to leave at dawn; Elena saw them from a distance and ordered the guards to fall back.
• Su Li spotted a winged creature circling above the village before it flew south.
• Elena gave her guards a letter and written order for her father, then sent them back to the royal capital.
• Martha packed Saina, Su Li, and Elena large bundles of flatbread and dried meat, while Old Buck and Martha said goodbye to Saina.
• Saina, Su Li, and Elena rode south from the village, and Saina looked back at her parents until they disappeared from view.
• At noon, the three travelers rested beneath a dead tree, and Su Li took out one of Martha’s hard flatbreads.

Su Li, Saina, and Elena traveled through war-stricken villages before making camp for the night. When three armed men tried to ambush them, Su Li went to confront them.

• Elena and Su Li sampled Saina’s mother’s hard pancakes, and Su Li bought scrap iron and copper ore sand from a refugee for thirty copper coins.
• Su Li repaired the horseshoes and fashioned iron tent stakes from the scrap metal.
• Su Li heard three men approach the camp with crossbows and overheard them planning to steal the horses and bags and seize Saina and Elena.
• Saina and Elena stayed by the tent while Su Li walked toward the scrub woodland, where three young men emerged carrying military hand crossbows.

Su Li killed three deserters and salvaged their Baris Empire crossbow parts, then continued toward Silver Crown City with Saina and Elena. When they met a goblin convoy, he offered the parts to the Silver Claw Merchant Guild for sale.

• Su Li killed three deserters who threatened him and collected their crossbows and daggers.
• Su Li found that the crossbow parts came from the Baris Empire and told Saina and Elena the parts could sell for four to five gold coins.
• Su Li, Saina, and Elena resumed their journey and saw signs that the war's effects were spreading.
• The three encountered a goblin convoy belonging to the Silver Claw Merchant Guild, and its steward offered to buy their crossbows.
• Su Li handed the goblin steward a set of Baris Empire crossbow parts, and the steward examined them and held up three fingers.

Su Li and Elena learned that the Elven Merchant Association was investigating Wading Village and that Elonore had become famous as “Little Silver Moon.” In Silver Crown City, Elonore concealed her advanced circuit skills while Talia recognized that her technique came from far more practice than Violet could have taught her.

• Su Li bargained with the goblin steward for six Gold Coins for three sets of components, then asked about news from Silver Crown City.
• The goblin steward said the Elven Merchant Association was investigating Wading Village and that Elonore had passed the first-tier circuit assessment in twelve days.
• Su Li confirmed that the merchant factions had not begun large-scale clashes, and the goblin steward sent a mechanical insect south with a report about Su Li and his companions.
• Elonore carefully drew a second-tier defensive circuit while Violet praised her progress.
• Talia inspected Elonore’s circuit and pointed out that her practiced control could not have come from only eighteen days of Violet’s teaching.

Elonore failed twice to complete a second-tier defense circuit but vowed to pass the assessment within three months so she could meet Su Li as more than an apprentice. Meanwhile, Elder Elvin learned that the Iris Family’s eldest daughter was traveling to Silver Crown City with a young blacksmith, as Su Li, Saina, and Elena reached Green Ferry and used Elena’s noble permit to pass through the crowd.

• Elonore’s first circuit attempt broke at the nineteenth node, and her second stopped at the thirty-first when Talia noticed her wrist trembling and ordered her to rest.
• Talia gave Elonore a restorative potion and told her to continue practicing the next day; Elonore returned to her dormitory and studied the circuit diagrams, determined to pass within three months.
• Elder Elvin read a report linking Wading Village’s blacksmith shop and an unusually skilled young blacksmith to Red Leaf Manor and the Iris Family.
• Elvin found a separate note reporting that the Iris Family’s eldest daughter was traveling south with a young blacksmith to Silver Crown City.
• At Green Ferry, Elena showed her Iris Family permit, and the guards cleared a path through the crowded checkpoint for her, Su Li, and Saina.

Su Li displayed his short blade’s naturally formed aether resonance at Green Ferry to draw Talia’s attention and secure an invitation to Silver Crown City. Talia investigated the report, while Elonore wondered whether Su Li was the person she had been waiting for.

• Su Li bought beans at Green Ferry and cut hard dried meat with his short blade, revealing its brief aether glow to two watchers.
• A hooded observer reported Su Li’s weapon to an intelligence station, while a black-market broker sent the news toward the Elven Merchant Association in Silver Crown City.
• Talia read the report and reviewed the association’s records of self-generating aether, finding no known human cases.
• Violet brought Talia the archived records, and Talia challenged her to explain Su Li’s weapon.
• Elonore reacted nervously when Talia asked whether she knew the blacksmith, then suggested he might be the person she had been waiting for.

Talia sent Elonore to approach Su Li and investigate his rune-less aether weapon, while Elonore resolved to become skilled enough to stand beside him. Su Li arrived at Silver Crown City with Saina and Elena, whose simultaneous claims that they were his wives left the gate clerk speechless.

• Talia questioned Elonore about Su Li, then ordered her to observe and make contact with him after he entered the city.
• Elonore told Talia that Su Li had arrived with a red-haired noblewoman and a blacksmith's daughter, both of whom she believed were his wives.
• After returning to her dormitory, Elonore practiced a second-tier defensive circuit through the night and corrected the flaw at its nineteenth node.
• Elonore finished a flawless circuit and decided to wait for Su Li at the city gate.
• Su Li reached Silver Crown City with Saina and Elena, and told the young elf guard that they were family.
• When the guard asked how to record their relationship, Saina and Elena both said they were Su Li's wife, freezing his pen.

Su Li entered Silver Crown City with Saina and Elena, where Talia invited him to her workshop to inspect his blade. Elonore reunited with him and her steel plate resonated with the blade; Su Li agreed to let Talia examine it the next day after she found them a suitable house.

• Su Li entered Silver Crown City with Saina and Elena, and an Elven Merchant Association steward delivered Talia's invitation.
• Elonore ran up to Su Li carrying a partly completed circuit plate, and he corrected three flaws in her work before giving her hardtack.
• Talia watched the blade resonate with Elonore's plate, then approached Su Li and asked to inspect the blade.
• Su Li agreed to show Talia the blade in exchange for her help finding a quiet house with a courtyard.
• Talia invited Su Li to her workshop that night, but he said he and his companions needed to eat and sleep and would discuss technical matters tomorrow.

Su Li and his companions entered Silver Crown City, where Talia arranged for him to visit her workshop the next morning. They went to Ginkgo Alley to look for a house, revisiting the place where they had lived for five years in their previous life.

• Talia invited Su Li to her workshop and ordered Elonore to stay with him until the visit.
• Elena and Saina went to ask about housing while Su Li asked Elonore why she had been waiting for him; she said she wanted to become useful to him.
• The group ate noodles together, and Elonore cried as the meal reminded her of her first meal with Su Li in their previous life.
• Su Li told the others to investigate what had changed in Silver Crown City while he visited the workshop, then agreed to look for a house in Ginkgo Alley.
• Su Li recognized Ginkgo Alley as the place where they had lived for five years in their previous life.

Su Li and the women moved into a courtyard offered by the merchant guild, where he inspected Elonore’s circuit work and agreed to help her at the workshop. That evening, his restored Sword Spirit Root resonated with Elonore’s defensive circuit, and he began analyzing its nodes.

• Elonore led Su Li, Elena, and Saina to a small courtyard the merchant guild offered them for free, and they settled in.
• Su Li assigned Elonore to clean the woodshed and identified flaws in the second-tier circuit she had drawn on a refined steel plate.
• Elonore showed Su Li her revised circuit, and he found that she had corrected one flaw but introduced another at the thirty-seventh node.
• Su Li promised to help Elonore correct the circuit at the workshop the next day.
• That evening, Su Li’s dagger resonated with Elonore’s circuit as his complete Sword Spirit Root began analyzing its nodes.

Su Li discovered that the Sword Spirit Root could refine circuit designs and began studying his soul-bound dagger’s patterns at home. As Saina managed the chaotic kitchen and Elonore worked to grow stronger, Su Li delayed meeting Talia and warned that anyone seeking to exploit his talents would have to pay.

• Su Li used the Sword Spirit Root to perfect Elonore’s flawed circuit, leaving her determined to become strong enough to stand beside him.
• Saina took charge of the kitchen while Elena complained about the bedding and Elonore accidentally smothered the stove’s fire.
• Su Li set his dagger beside Elonore’s refined steel plate and found that its light revealed the circuit structure to him far faster than before.
• Su Li asked Elonore to tell Talia he would visit in a few days, and Elena warned him not to reveal his abilities too quickly.
• Su Li told Elena that he was a gold mine, but anyone who wanted to dig would have to pay.

Su Li and the others moved into Courtyard Number Three, settling into a shared home while Su Li modified a stove and planned to resume forging. The chapter ended with the furnace ready to be lit the next morning, as Su Li prepared to make items for Talia to evaluate.

• Su Li chose Courtyard Number Three in Ginkgo Alley and paid three Gold Coins for it.
• Saina, Elena, and Elonore divided up the moving work, while Elonore cracked a doorframe carrying Su Li’s mithril toolbox and began repairing it herself.
• Saina laid out the vegetable beds and chicken coop, and Su Li finished most of the stove modification in the woodshed.
• Elena recorded their assets in a ledger, and Su Li said he would forge ordinary iron tools before making second-tier items for Talia to inspect.
• Su Li checked the modified furnace and told Elonore to help light it the next morning.

Su Li forged a second-order dagger without runes or templates, using his Sword Spirit Root to form its aether circuitry naturally. Talia accepted him as a registered student and summoned him to the Merchant Guild, while the dagger’s aether fluctuations triggered an instrument in Silver Crown City.

• Saina and Elena guarded the woodshed while Su Li forged a blade before Talia, Violet, and Elonore.
• Su Li used his Sword Spirit Root to forge a short blade whose weight changed precisely when he infused it with aether.
• Elonore identified uneven aether output in the blade, and Su Li corrected its circuitry on the spot.
• Talia offered Su Li registered-student status and access to the first- and second-tier archives, then told him to visit the Merchant Guild the next day.
• A monitoring instrument belonging to the Silver Claw Merchant Guild lit up in the eastern district of Silver Crown City.

Barlow sent useful supplies to Su Li, who opened the door to market-price trade with the Silver Claw Merchant Guild, while Talia’s elves delivered even better materials. The chapter ended when Elonore reported that her second-tier assessment had been moved up to three days later, with Elder Elvin among the examiners.

• Barlow connected the weapon-forming fluctuations in Ginkgo Alley to Su Li and sent him coal, iron stock, and laying hens instead of expensive gifts.
• Su Li offered to buy scrap iron, mineral sand, and old weapons from Barlow at market price, and Barlow ordered the guild to keep supplying him without investigating too closely.
• Talia sent Violet with refined materials for Su Li as a registered student, and Elena proposed using the competing deliveries to lower raw material costs.
• Elonore rushed in with news that the second-tier magic-forging apprentice assessment had been moved up to three days later and that Elder Elvin would observe.
• Su Li told Elonore to stop standing around and go practice.

Elonore passed the second-tier Magic Forger assessment after completing and repairing an Aether circuit, using a method Su Li had taught her. That night, Su Li received a cooperation contract and an internal access badge from the Elven Merchant Association, whose unusually broad clearance surprised Elonore.

• Saina, Elena, and Su Li encouraged Elonore before her assessment, and Su Li lent her his bonded short blade.
• Elonore completed all forty-three nodes flawlessly, then repaired a severed main line with a bypass instead of forcing a direct weld.
• The chief examiner declared Elonore passed, while Elvin recognized that Su Li had taught her the unusual repair method.
• An elven messenger delivered Su Li a cooperation contract and a silver badge granting access below the headquarters' third floor.
• Elonore identified the badge as an internal access badge with greater clearance than her master-uncle possessed.

Su Li and Elena revised the Elven Merchant Association contract, and Su Li prepared sample knives for Elonore to deliver. After examining Su Li’s weapon and the contract, the Association’s leaders agreed to cooperate and grant him greater access.

• Elena amended the contract’s supply-price and payment terms while Su Li reassured Elonore that her grandfather’s offer was fair.
• Saina learned the deal could earn about two hundred sacks of flour, and Su Li gave Elonore three short knives to deliver as samples at three gold coins each.
• Su Li used his bonded short knife to understand the circuit diagrams far more quickly than he had in his previous life.
• Talia reviewed Elena’s revisions, judged them reasonable, and told the Grand Elder the contract could be signed.
• Elvin examined one of Su Li’s second-tier knives and ordered that Ginkgo Alley no longer be treated under the rules for ordinary retainers.

Barlow sent Su Li’s household scrap iron, coal, and top-grade flour, secretly including useful mineral slag. Su Li forged the slag into a second-tier kitchen cleaver, while Talia arrived in the afternoon with a compilation of second-tier circuits.

• Barlow ordered another delivery for Su Li and added top-grade flour as a gift for his wife.
• Saina received the goods, and Elena recorded the delivery; Su Li found two unlisted chunks of aether-rich mineral slag hidden among the scrap iron.
• Saina struggled to knead the flour, Elena made the dough harder, and Elonore accidentally covered herself in flour.
• Su Li fused the slag with scrap iron and forged a cleaver with a second-tier toughness circuit, which Saina claimed for the kitchen.
• Talia arrived to deliver a compilation of second-tier circuits and detoured toward the kitchen when she smelled pork ribs.

Su Li accepted Talia’s three-day challenge to study a second-tier circuit compilation and repair damaged protective gear, with rewards tied to how well he performed. As Su Li studied through the first two nights, he drew on his past-life knowledge while Elena sorted circuits by their practical value.

• Talia gave Su Li a second-tier circuit compilation and challenged him to master it in three days and repair damaged protective gear at the merchant association, threatening to revoke his book and access badge if he failed.
• Su Li wagered three crates of refined steel ingots and low-tier stabilizing solution, while Elena negotiated access to the archives’ second floor if he repaired the gear better than its original condition.
• Su Li began reviewing the compilation, relying on memories of studying it in his previous life and his complete Sword Spirit Root.
• On the first night, Su Li studied composite circuit logic while Elonore copied his notes until she fell asleep, and Saina brought them pork rib soup and a meat pie.
• On the second night, Su Li reached the chapter on diagnosing and repairing damaged circuits, while Elena classified useful circuits by whether they could earn money, serve personal needs, or be traded for materials.

Su Li repaired Talia’s damaged second-tier bracer so effectively that it performed better than before, earning access to the archives. In the third-floor archives, he borrowed booklets on armor, short blades, and kitchenware enchantments, then discovered new civilian circuit designs and a battered parchment notebook.

• Elonore identified seven blockages in Talia’s bracer, and Su Li cleared them without dismantling its circuits.
• Talia tested the repaired bracer, found its performance improved, and promised Su Li supplies and second-floor archive access.
• Talia brought Su Li into the third-floor archives and warned him not to touch the third-tier materials.
• Su Li chose booklets on light armor, short blades, and kitchenware enchantments, while Violet laughed at his choice and Talia defended the field’s commercial value.
• Elonore registered the three books for loan, and Su Li found new civilian circuit designs and a battered parchment notebook in the archives.