Chapter Summaries

A year after Elonore joined the household, Su Li’s attempts to forge fourth-tier weapons hit a limit, so he asked Talia to teach him the Elven Merchant Association’s Active Circuit and was refused. The chapter ended with Su Li sketching a buffer array in the courtyard as Elonore arrived with a food box.

• Elonore handled the household chores and helped Su Li in the woodshed, while Saina and Elena argued over their arrangement.
• Su Li’s twenty-third fourth-tier weapon broke because its circuits lacked a flexible buffer, and he went to the Elven Merchant Association for help.
• Talia refused to reveal the Active Circuit, explaining that it was a closely guarded secret of the Elven Merchant Association.
• Su Li accepted Talia’s refusal and said he would seek another method at the East District Black Market.
• That night, Su Li sketched a buffer array in the courtyard, and Elonore arrived carrying a three-tiered food box.

Elonore brought Su Li the Elven Merchant Association’s secret Active Circuits diagrams, revealing that her grandfather had arranged the delivery to secure Su Li’s loyalty. Su Li accepted the technology and agreed to handle the Association’s difficult work, then Elonore began teaching him its fundamentals.

• Elonore told Su Li she could teach him Active Circuits, but he refused because sharing the secret could endanger her.
• Elonore revealed that her grandfather had sent her with a stack of ancient Active Circuit diagrams as a covert favor.
• Su Li realized the Grand Elder intended to bind him to the Elven Merchant Association by giving him its core technology.
• Su Li accepted the diagrams and promised to take the Association’s troublesome jobs and high-level orders.
• Elonore opened the first diagram and began explaining the basics to Su Li.

Su Li and Elonore continued developing a method to forge swords with the elves’ Active Circuit, while Saina and Elena argued over dinner. After the meal, Elena privately summoned Su Li beneath the ginkgo tree to talk.

• Su Li and Elonore forged a sword by combining his aether output with her elven bloodline, producing a blade with a pale green pattern.
• Su Li praised Elonore’s improving catalyst and proposed doubling the output to attempt a fifth-tier circuit the next day.
• Saina and Elena argued over dinner, and Saina urged the timid Elonore to eat meat to keep up her strength.
• Elena asked Su Li to join her beneath the backyard ginkgo tree for a private conversation.

Elena agreed that Elonore joining Su Li’s circle would be valuable, and Su Li decided to pursue the possibility. In the woodshed, Su Li and Elonore completed a powerful peak fourth-order armor using a method that astonished Talia.

• Elena argued that Elonore’s elven lifespan and elemental affinity could benefit Su Li’s circle, and Su Li said he would think about bringing her in.
• Elena stormed upstairs and slammed the bedroom door, while Su Li sent Elonore to sort scrap iron.
• Su Li decided to buy Elonore decent silk clothes and stop letting her work in rags.
• Su Li and Elonore forged armor from deep-sea sunken iron, with Elonore enduring the strain as she channeled aether into it.
• Su Li finished the armor’s Active Circuit, and Talia watched in amazement as the peak fourth-order armor outclassed the elves’ treasured pieces.

After learning that Elonore had been politically exiled to Silverleaf Forest, Su Li watched her return to the courtyard and try to leave her mithril bracers behind. Saina stopped her from leaving, and Su Li put the bracers back on her wrists, refusing to accept their return.

• Elonore collapsed after using up her aether, and Su Li carried her to a chair before returning to finish the armor.
• Saina complained that Elonore had been missing for three days, while Su Li learned that the coup against Elvin had led to Elonore's exile to Silverleaf Forest.
• Elonore returned in formal robes, removed the mithril bracers Su Li had made for her, and placed them on the stone table.
• Elonore tried to leave, but Saina grabbed her arm and demanded to know where she was going.
• Su Li pried Saina's fingers off Elonore and put the mithril bracers back on her wrists, saying a gift could not be taken back.

Su Li confronted the Elven Merchant Association’s elders to stop them from exiling Elonore, demonstrating his mastery of fourth-tier Active Circuits and threatening to cut off their high-tier forging work. Elder Elvin then appeared and took control of the meeting.

• Su Li left Ginkgo Alley after telling Elena and Saina to keep Elonore from escaping.
• Deputy Elder Thranduil prepared to send Elonore to Silverleaf Forest, claiming her exile would protect the elven race.
• Su Li burst into the elders’ council chamber and displayed a refined-steel plate bearing stable fourth-tier Active Circuits.
• Su Li declared that he would refuse the association’s fourth-tier forging orders and high-grade scrap, leaving Thranduil unable to order his arrest.
• Elder Elvin emerged through the chamber’s hidden door, smiled, and told the elders to sit down.

Su Li helped Elvin end the council’s attempt to control Elonore and agreed to take her into his household. He brought her back to Ginkgo Alley, where she silently reacted to his decision.

• Elvin used his authority to end the dispute over Elonore and ordered the council meeting adjourned.
• Elvin explained that he had engineered the confrontation to make Su Li protect Elonore, and Su Li promised to look after her.
• Su Li bought pork ribs and returned to his courtyard, where Elonore was pulling weeds and Elena and Saina were waiting.
• Su Li announced that the matter was settled and asked Saina to prepare braised ribs.
• Elena asked Su Li for Gold Coins, and he said he had gained no money and owed someone a favor.
• Elonore kept pulling weeds in silence, her ears red as she gripped a weed in her hand.

Su Li told Elonore that the household would officially welcome her with a family banquet, and gave her mithril earrings as a betrothal gift. Saina and Elena prepared food and dressed Elonore for the celebration, which began the next morning in Courtyard Number Three.

• Su Li told Elonore that she would join the family at a banquet the next day and gave her handmade mithril earrings as a betrothal gift.
• Su Li announced the banquet to Saina and Elena, and Saina accepted Elonore as family and planned an elaborate meal while Elena offered to make her a dress.
• Saina cooked pork ribs and chickens before dawn, while Elena sewed Elonore a white silk gown and styled her hair.
• Saina lent Elonore her cherished silver lover's-knot bracelet and hurried back to the kitchen.
• Su Li arranged chairs and opened the expensive liquor as the family feast for four began.

Su Li welcomed Elonore into his home with a simple feast in the courtyard. After dinner, he invited her into the Family Group, triggering a painful breakthrough that left her undergoing a forced rise to the fourth tier.

• Saina prepared a meat-heavy feast, and Elonore joined Su Li, Saina, and Elena at the courtyard table.
• Su Li told Elonore that the courtyard was her home, and the four raised bowls of strong fruit wine together.
• Saina and Elena welcomed Elonore with blunt instructions, and the group ate together.
• After the meal, Su Li clasped Elonore’s wrist and confirmed her invitation to the Family Group.
• The system’s energy surged through Elonore, restructuring her body and drawing in aether as Saina held her steady.

Elena and Saina helped Elonore break through to the fourth tier, and she struggled to control her newfound strength during the family meal and chores. Su Li discussed the coming conflict at the royal capital, while Elonore stayed in Silver Crown City and began adjusting to life in the household.

• Elena suppressed the energy in Elonore's meridians while Saina helped widen them, bringing Elonore safely to the fourth tier.
• Elonore accidentally chipped Saina's pottery bowl as the family teased her and argued over the meal.
• Su Li asked Elena about the shipment of fourth-tier explosive lances, and Elena said Claire had sent them toward Red Leaf Manor.
• Su Li said they would remain in Silver Crown City until the royal capital descended into chaos, then return to deal with what remained.
• Elonore broke a porcelain plate while washing dishes, and Saina told her to practice controlling her strength and sweep the courtyard leaves the next morning.

Saina, Elena, and Elonore reached fourth rank, sending powerful aether fluctuations across Silver Crown City and alarming its merchants and elders. Back at Number Three Ginkgo Alley, Su Li insisted that all four share the oversized bed, leaving them squeezed together for the night.

• Elvin sensed his bloodline's aether in the eastern district and told his attendant the fluctuations came from her home.
• Barlow ordered his shops and caravans to avoid Ginkgo Alley, while Thranduil tore up his impeachment evidence against Elvin.
• Saina, Elena, and Elonore discussed their new fourth-rank strength and chose to stay in the courtyard rather than seek trouble in the royal capital.
• Su Li ordered everyone to sleep in the same bed, and Elonore reluctantly squeezed into the narrow space beside the others.
• Saina and Elena bickered over the cramped bed until Su Li warned them to stand guard outside if they kept arguing.

Su Li decided that he, Saina, Elena, and Elonore would return to Wading Village after nearly three years in the city-state. Saina enthusiastically gathered gifts for her family, and Su Li stored the supplies in his Space Ring before they set out.

• Su Li quietly covered Elonore with the quilt after noticing her blisters and the rings he had given her.
• Saina woke everyone and asked whether they were going to the market, but Su Li announced they would return to Wading Village after breakfast.
• Saina hurried to prepare for the trip, while Elena complained about the village but agreed to go and planned to bring wine.
• Saina gathered salt, flour, cloth, and tobacco for her family, and Elonore helped haul and stack the supplies.
• Su Li used his Space Ring to store the supplies, leaving Saina pleased that they no longer needed to pack them on the horses.

Su Li and his companions rode north through the devastation of war and found Wading Village fallen into ruin. They reached Old Buck's abandoned smithy, where Saina found the old blacksmith still struggling to work.

• Su Li, Saina, Elena, and Elonore rode north from Silver Crown City and passed burned ruins and streams of refugees fleeing the front.
• Elena said the Baris Empire's advance had shattered the northern defenses and that the Free City-State had closed its crossings to refugees.
• Su Li hurried the group onward, and they reached Wading Village near sunset on the second day.
• Saina dismounted and ran toward the village while Su Li followed, leaving Elonore to watch the horses.
• Su Li and Saina arrived at Old Buck's ruined, cold smithy and found him feebly filing a piece of scrap iron with a rusted tool.

Saina reunited with Martha, and Su Li returned to the village with supplies and shared a meal with the family. Old Buck revealed that the kingdom’s fifth-rank commander had died and the northern front was collapsing, leaving Su Li to consider Elena’s likely role in the Iris Family’s plans.

• Saina rushed into the inner room and embraced Martha, then declared that they would eat meat for dinner.
• Su Li brought ribs, liquor, and flour from his Space Ring, while Old Buck welcomed him without asking questions.
• Saina cooked while Elena tended the stove and Elonore washed vegetables, and the group shared a large dinner.
• After the meal, Old Buck told Su Li that soldiers had seized village boys and grain, and that the kingdom’s fifth-rank commander had died in his tent.
• Su Li connected the commander’s death to Old Ford’s secret letter and realized that Elena could be drawn into the Iris Family’s plan to take over Orenda Kingdom.

Su Li and the others spent a cramped night at the smithy before Saina supplied Martha with cloth and money. Su Li invited Old Buck and Martha to move to the Free City-State, but Old Buck refused, and soldiers arrived to seize the food in the courtyard.

• Elena dragged Elonore onto the crowded bed beside Su Li and Saina, and the four slept tangled together in the smithy.
• Saina gave Martha two bolts of blue cotton cloth and hid Su Li’s money in the rice jar for her.
• Su Li offered to take Old Buck and Martha to his house in the Free City-State, but Old Buck refused to leave the anvil and his roots.
• Four irregular soldiers burst into the courtyard, and their dark-faced officer fixed his gaze on the flour sacks and ribs.

Saina drove off soldiers who tried to confiscate the household’s food, and Elena received an urgent order to return to the royal capital after the old royal lord died. Su Li decided the group would go with her to Red Leaf Manor, where the family’s power struggle was beginning.

• An officer tried to seize the flour, ribs, and horses, but Saina crushed his helmet and slammed him into the courtyard while Su Li used Elena’s Iris Family badge to send the soldiers away.
• A knight from Red Leaf Manor arrived with news that the old royal lord had died and the duke’s private army had taken control of the capital’s eastern gate.
• Elena burned the duke’s letter and said she would return to claim the family’s wealth and power before her relatives could take it.
• Saina objected to going back to the royal capital, but Su Li decided they would go, and Saina agreed to protect him and Elena.
• Elonore hurried off to pack their luggage.

Su Li left Wading Village with Saina and Elonore to escort Elena to Saining City, where her father, Old Ford, awaited them at the gate. Old Ford welcomed Elena while privately dismissing her companions, and he noticed the white-haired elven girl as a purchased slave.

• Su Li gave Old Buck two defensive rune tags and left money and flour for Martha and Saina before riding out with Elena, Saina, and Elonore.
• On the southern road, Elena said the Baris Empire’s advance and the royal succession crisis could give her father only a year to seize power.
• After three days of travel, the group reached Saining City, where guards barred ordinary refugees from entering without a pass or fifty Gold Coins.
• Old Ford greeted Elena at the city gate and privately judged Su Li a pretty but useless country blacksmith.
• Old Ford looked over Saina and Elonore and assumed Saina would be driven from the estate, then noticed the white-haired elven girl.

Su Li and Elena returned to Red Leaf Manor with Saina and Elonore, and Old Ford discovered that all four were fourth-tier fighters. Elena told her father that Su Li had helped her companions—and herself—reach that level.

• Old Ford probed Su Li with ether, then sensed that Saina and Elonore were also fourth-tier fighters and realized he could not control the group by force.
• Old Ford abandoned his attempt to intimidate Su Li, welcomed him obsequiously, and personally opened the carriage door.
• Su Li asked Old Ford for a quiet, spacious courtyard, then settled into Red Leaf Manor's reception hall with his companions.
• Saina complained about the manor's furniture, Elena snapped back, and Su Li told them to quiet down while Elonore stood behind his chair.
• Old Ford privately asked Elena how she had returned with three fourth-tier fighters, and Elena said Su Li had helped all three women reach that rank and had raised her to it as well.

Old Ford offered Su Li a title, a fertile fief, and wealth after realizing how powerful he was, while Elena discussed the family’s plans to seize royal power. Elena then announced that she would hold a grand wedding with Su Li, sparking a dispute with Saina over who would be his principal wife.

• Old Ford concluded that Su Li’s power and backing were extraordinary and offered him command of legions, but Su Li asked only for a modest title, fertile land for growing napa cabbage, and money.
• Old Ford agreed to give Su Li two hundred mu of land at Red Leaf Manor and access to the family’s gold vault.
• Elena asked Old Ford about the Iris Family’s plans to move against the royal family, and he said they would wait until the Baris Empire’s forces crossed the Blackstone River, likely for about a year.
• Elena announced that she would marry Su Li in a grand public ceremony at Red Leaf Manor.
• Saina challenged Elena’s claim to be Su Li’s first wife, and Elonore revealed that she had also held a family banquet with Su Li before both women told her to be quiet.

Old Ford embraced Su Li and Saina’s wedding as a chance to display Red Leaf Manor’s strength, and he arranged an extravagant celebration while giving Su Li access to the manor’s wealth. As a wedding etiquette officer criticized Saina’s manners, Saina demonstrated her strength by denting an iron post.

• Old Ford reversed his opposition to the wedding and ordered a three-day feast with invitations for the royal capital’s prominent families.
• Old Ford gave Su Li the keys to the manor’s inner vault and arranged a private villa in the western compound for Su Li and his companions.
• The next morning, Old Ford presented the guest list, and Su Li arranged for all wedding gifts to be delivered to him.
• A female etiquette officer criticized Saina’s posture and table manners while Elena watched and mocked her.
• Saina crushed a deep dent into a thick iron candle post with her hand.