Chapter Summaries

Su Li, Saina, and Elena visited the eastern market, where Saina bought gardening supplies and Elena gathered information on weapons and smithies. On their way home, they spotted a tall, skinny man in a gray robe standing at Su Li’s courtyard gate.

• Saina guarded her new vegetable patch from Silver, and Su Li built a short fence around it.
• Su Li cultivated while Saina and Elena prepared breakfast, then he agreed to take both women to the eastern market.
• At the market, Elena pointed out cheaply made swords and advised Su Li on pricing their own goods, while Saina bought seeds, spices, a hoe, and clay pots.
• Su Li sensed that the eastern district had denser aether, but decided that moving there would be too much trouble.
• Elena recorded market prices, smithy locations, and quotes as the three headed home, where they saw a tall, skinny man in a gray robe at Su Li’s gate.

Su Li refused Vera’s offer to guard a shipment for the Elven Merchant Association, suspecting the recruitment was a test of his and his companions’ motives. The group returned home, where Su Li explained that the association was trying to learn how they might be controlled or whether they intended to keep a low profile.

• Su Li and his companions found Vera, an outer manager of the Elven Merchant Association, waiting outside their house.
• Vera offered Su Li and Elena one hundred gold coins for half a month of guard work and a tax discount in Silver Crown City.
• Su Li refused the job, claiming he was only a blacksmith and Elena was too timid to fight.
• Vera accepted his refusal politely and left, inviting him to contact the association if he changed his mind.
• Back in the courtyard, Su Li suggested that the fruit basket and job offer were tests of their wealth, ambition, and willingness to work for the association.

Su Li and Elena prepared to sell enchanted daggers at a black market as war intensified across the region. Elena found a hidden market beneath the eastern district, and Su Li planned for them to visit the following night.

• Elena warned Su Li that fighting at the front had intensified, and they agreed to watch prices and prepare more goods.
• Su Li forged five enchanted daggers from scrap iron, adding to the three blades he already had.
• Elena scouted a masked black market in an abandoned sewer flood channel and reported its entrance, dangers, and rules to Su Li.
• Su Li decided that he and Elena would visit the black market the next night.

Su Li, Saina, and Elena disguised themselves in gray cloaks and explored Silver Crown City’s black market to learn its layout, rules, and merchandise. They returned home with a bottle of black pepper, and Su Li concluded that their next visit could be for business.

• Su Li prepared three cloaks and wrapped five enchanted daggers for the group’s scouting trip.
• Elena confirmed the black market entrance beneath a maintenance cover in the eastern district and reported that two orcs guarded it.
• Su Li, Saina, and Elena paid the guards and entered the underground market, where Su Li assessed the crowds, security, and weapons on sale.
• Elena said their goods could sell for several times more in the market, while Saina bought a bottle of ground black pepper.
• The three left the market, and Elena called to Su Li as he considered returning to sell their goods.

After returning from the black market, Su Li, Saina, and Elena argued over who would have his child first. Su Li postponed the decision until he reached Tier 3 and secured their future, but Saina and Elena resumed competing over him as the night ended.

• Elena asked Su Li whether he wanted children, prompting Saina to insist that she should be first because she was his rightful wife.
• Saina and Elena argued over their marriages and past lives before Elena proposed that they have children together.
• Su Li stopped their argument and said they should wait until he reached Tier 3, established their business, and understood whether pregnancy would be safe.
• Saina and Elena released Su Li after considering his concerns, though Elena quietly claimed she would still be first.
• Saina asked Su Li if she could be a mother, and he reassured her before Elena called him upstairs to the hot water.
• Saina rushed out of the kitchen to claim the first turn washing.

Su Li tried to settle Saina and Elena’s argument over who would bathe first by insisting they share the hot water to save firewood. Saina and Elena both entered the cramped bathroom with him, where Saina struggled to remove her clothes.

• Saina rushed upstairs to claim the bathroom before Elena, who had already heated the water.
• Saina and Elena argued over who had bathed first and how long Elena spent caring for her hair.
• Su Li calculated the cost of heating separate baths and proposed that all three wash together.
• Saina hesitated, while Elena neither refused nor moved away, and Su Li went into the bathroom first.
• Saina squeezed into the bathroom and called for Elena, who joined them and slid the bolt shut.
• Saina huddled with her back to Su Li and fumbled with her clothes.

Su Li and Elena visited the black market to sell enchanted weapons he had made, while Saina stayed home to guard the garden after Silver destroyed two cabbage seedlings. The chapter ended with a mercenary buying Su Li's first enchanted dagger for fifty Gold Coins.

• Su Li, Saina, and Elena squeezed into a bath together, where Su Li gained ether through their skin contact.
• Silver slipped through a gap in the garden fence and trampled two of Saina's cabbage seedlings, so Su Li sealed the gap and promised to buy replacement seeds.
• Su Li finished making five enchanted short blades and three enchanted daggers, then set out for the black market with Elena and left Saina at home.
• Su Li displayed three enchanted daggers in the black market, attracting a crowd after a mercenary tested one and recognized its quality.
• Elena insisted on a price of fifty Gold Coins, and the mercenary paid Su Li for the dagger.

Su Li and Elena sold enchanted daggers in Silver Crown City’s black market, where a mysterious messenger delivered a letter from Elena’s father, Old Ford. After Su Li agreed that Elena should stay with him until she reached the fourth tier, they returned home and settled into an evening with Saina.

• Su Li sold all three enchanted daggers for one hundred and fifty gold coins before a gray-robed messenger delivered a letter bearing the Iris Family seal.
• Elena read Old Ford’s letter, which asked her to return and help the Iris Family once she reached the fourth tier, and Su Li advised her to accept the arrangement while staying with him.
• Old Ford sensed Elena’s stable second-tier strength and planned for her eventual return to help the Iris Family challenge the Orenda royal family.
• Su Li told Elena he would help her, not her father, and she linked arms with him as they walked home.
• At the courtyard, Su Li and Elena found that Saina had burned a fish; Su Li promised to buy roast lamb, wine, and new dresses with their earnings.
• Su Li ruled that Saina and Elena would bathe together, and the three hurried upstairs as Su Li continued approaching the third tier.

Elena reminded Su Li that Saina’s birthday was tomorrow, and they decided to buy her a practical bracelet as a gift. The discussion was cut short when Saina rushed back to recruit Su Li for a bargain on pork ribs.

• Su Li ate breakfast with Saina and Elena, who bickered over their claims on him.
• After Saina left for the East District market, Elena told Su Li that tomorrow was Saina’s birthday.
• Su Li suggested forging Saina an enchanted kitchen knife, but Elena proposed buying her a heat-regulating Heart-Knot bracelet instead.
• Elena insisted Su Li buy her a ruby-decorated bracelet as well, and he agreed to purchase both.
• Saina hurried back with news of discounted pork ribs and urged Su Li to bring a sack before the butcher sold out.

Su Li, Saina, and Elena went to the Eastern District market, where Saina bought four racks of ribs at a bargain price. Back in Ginkgo Alley, Elena tried to borrow Saina’s bamboo basket, but Saina suspected she wanted to buy liquor.

• Saina rushed to the market to buy discounted ribs, and Su Li agreed to go with her while Elena followed.
• At the butcher’s stall, Saina bought all four racks for two silver coins and told the butcher that Su Li was her husband.
• Su Li carried the ribs home, and Saina began marinating them in the kitchen.
• Su Li prompted Elena to ask Saina for her bamboo basket, but Saina asked whether Elena planned to buy liquor.

Su Li secretly bought Saina a birthday bracelet and placed it in her apron pocket, making her happy when she found it the next morning. Elena returned from the Eastern District with a gift of her own for Saina, which Su Li overheard her fretting over in private.

• Su Li and Elena bought two matching-knot bracelets, and Elena advised Su Li to hide Saina's in her apron pocket.
• Su Li slipped Saina's bracelet into the apron pocket overnight, keeping Elena's ruby-adorned bracelet for her.
• Saina found the bracelet the next morning, and Su Li wished her a happy birthday; she wore it proudly at breakfast.
• Elena went to the Eastern District and returned carrying a wrapped box, then hurried upstairs to her room.
• Su Li overheard Elena privately worrying about a present she had bought for Saina, then kept what he heard to himself.

Elena arranged a secret birthday gift for Saina, and Saina recognized the rouge as Elena’s present and thanked her with a kiss. The three shared dinner, where Su Li announced plans to visit the East District Black Market, and Saina decided she wanted to buy a pig for sausages.

• Elena asked Su Li to find a way to send Saina away for ten minutes so she could leave her a gift.
• Su Li tricked Saina into running to the general store for salt, giving Elena time to hide a ribbon-tied box by the cutting board.
• Saina found the rouge inside the box, recognized Elena’s lavender scent, and thanked her with a kiss despite Elena’s denial.
• Su Li, Saina, and Elena ate dinner together, and Su Li said he planned to visit the East District Black Market to look for magical ore.
• Saina suggested buying a pig to make sausages, while she and Elena bickered over the idea and Silver’s share of the food.

The Elven Merchant Association discovered that the goblin firm Silver Claw had used low prices, delivery, and credit to take twenty-seven of its clients while its staff went to profit from the war. Elvin ordered the association to rebuild its city service and watch Silver Claw, while Vera recalled that Barlow had also asked about enchanted weapons.

• Vera reported that twenty-seven former Elven Merchant Association clients had switched to Silver Claw, and explained how Barlow had won them with cheaper prices, deliveries, and credit.
• Elvin learned that Silver Claw had financed its expansion with a low-interest loan approved by Horne, one of the goblins' three Grand Elders.
• Vera said the clients were bound by one-year contracts and that buying them out would cost about forty thousand gold coins.
• Elvin ordered staff recalled from the border, prices lowered by five percent, delivery service restored, and Vera assigned to track Silver Claw's expansion.
• Elvin told Vera to keep watching the three people in Ginkgo Alley, and Vera remembered that Barlow had asked about enchanted weapons on the black market.

Over six months, Su Li quietly amassed a fortune by selling enchanted daggers while the Goblin Chamber of Commerce and the Elven Merchant Association fought for customers in Silver Crown City. Back at home, he revealed that he planned to break through the second-tier knight bottleneck that night.

• The Goblin Chamber of Commerce poached customers from the Elven Merchant Association as the two groups battled for control of Silver Crown City's markets.
• Su Li discreetly sold enchanted daggers in the eastern district's black market, earning up to eighty Gold Coins per dagger.
• Su Li returned to find Saina and Elena arguing over Silver, who had stolen a cucumber from Saina's vegetable patch.
• Su Li stopped the argument, then refused Elena's invitation to eat out and said they would have dinner at home.
• Elena sensed Su Li's full aether and learned that he planned to break through that night.

Su Li used a potent potion to break through to the third rank, and Elena and Saina also unexpectedly became third-rank knights. Their combined aether surges alarmed powerful figures across Silver Crown City, while Su Li chose to keep his household’s comfortable, low-profile life.

• Su Li entered the woodshed, drank the royal-exclusive potion, and used his Sword Spirit Root to break through to the third rank.
• Elena broke through to the third rank, and Saina followed after accidentally snapping a cutting board and an iron basin with her newfound strength.
• Old Ford discovered Elena’s third-rank progress in the Iris Family’s bloodline crystal and decided to keep the news secret.
• Elvin ordered the Elven Merchant Association to withdraw its informants from Ginkgo Alley, while Barlow halted business near it after sensing three third-tier knights.
• At a barbecue restaurant, Elena proposed taking over profitable shops, but Su Li persuaded her to avoid conflict and enjoy their peaceful life instead.
• Su Li, Saina, and Elena returned to Ginkgo Alley, where Saina picked up Silver and promised to buy the cat two big fish.

Saina, Elena, and Su Li spent a quiet week in Silver Crown City while food prices rose and the merchant guilds remained silent about their advancement to Tier Three. Elena described the worsening war and the refugees suffering outside the city, leaving Saina troubled by their plight.

• Saina complained about the high price of fish and flour as Elena explained that war and northern refugees had driven food prices up.
• Su Li forged enchanted weapons for sale as their value continued to rise, while the merchant guilds and their spies stayed unusually quiet.
• Saina and Elena argued over household expenses while sharing a meal with Su Li.
• Elena told Su Li that the Baris Empire had breached Blackstone Fortress's second defense line and that Count Remington had failed to hold it.
• Elena said the Free City-State's merchants were profiteering from the war and refugees were dying in the slums outside Silver Crown City; Saina fell silent and cleared the table.

After reaching the third tier, Su Li reassured Saina and Elena that they could flee by ship if war reached the Free City-State. The next morning, Saina caught Silver stealing eggs, and Su Li built a reinforced cage for the chickens before Elena went to the eastern district.

• Su Li told Saina and Elena they could escape the war by buying a ship and sailing away, and Saina said she only needed the family to stay together.
• Saina found only one egg in the chicken coop and caught Silver licking an eggshell in the Old Locust Tree.
• Saina threatened Silver with an enchanted kitchen knife, while Elena argued that the cat should be left alone.
• Su Li stopped their quarrel and used scrap steel and iron wire to build a locked cage around the chicken coop.
• After lunch, Elena put on a black leather bodysuit and left for the eastern district to buy daily necessities.

Elena’s extravagant new bathtub prompted arguments with Saina, while Su Li recognized its runes as a path toward controlling aether more precisely. The chapter left off as Saina crushed one of her new neighbor Bart’s iron-shell nuts between her fingers.

• Elena bought an enormous rosewood bathtub for eight hundred gold coins, and Saina complained before joining Elena and Su Li in it that night.
• Saina and Elena argued over breakfast while Elena explained that the Elven Merchant Association and the goblins had lost business and were keeping quiet.
• Su Li studied the bathtub’s rune circuits and decided he needed to find books about runes.
• Bart, a wealthy northern merchant fleeing the war, introduced himself to Saina and gave her iron-shell nuts as a neighborly gift.
• Saina casually pinched an iron-shell nut between her fingers, and it cracked.

Saina accidentally revealed her immense strength by crushing an iron-skinned nut, frightening new neighbor Bart into fleeing. Su Li then visited the East District Black Market to find higher-tier magic ores, where he turned down a lucrative request to forge enchanted longswords because he needed to focus on making money.

• Saina crushed an iron-skinned nut to powder, and Bart fled in terror, claiming he had gone to the wrong alley.
• Saina complained that her third-tier strength made ordinary things difficult, while Elena laughed at her.
• Su Li left Saina and Elena sleeping at home and traveled to the East District Black Market to look for magic ores.
• A half-goblin vendor greeted Su Li and offered to search for specific ores, but Su Li refused his ale.
• Scarface asked Su Li to supply enchanted longswords for the Blood Hand Mercenary Corps, but Su Li refused the two-hundred-gold deposit and the promised payment.

Su Li met a cloaked female elf in the black market who tested his ordinary short knife and discovered its overwhelming power. She left after recognizing the weapon’s unusual aether, while Su Li returned to the eastern district and bought pork belly.

• A cloaked female elf approached Su Li in the black market and demanded to see a sample of his enchanted weapons.
• Su Li tossed her an ordinary short knife and said she would owe five hundred Gold Coins if she broke it.
• The elf cut through her powerful armored skirt with the knife, startling her four guards and revealing the blade’s tremendous aether.
• The elf returned the knife, praised its craftsmanship, and left the black market with her guards.
• Su Li considered that the elf had come to investigate him, then stopped at a butcher’s stall and bought three jin of pork belly.