Recaps

The Emerson Family head recognized that Rost Territory’s new seeds would drive grain prices down and planned to shift much of the family’s land to cotton. In the Technology Virtual Laboratory, Roger reassured the Agriculture Goddess and the Nature God that surplus grain would find other uses and told the gods to continue their research while he handled mortal affairs.

• The Emerson Family head ordered the family to sell its stored grain and planned to grow wheat, Golden Ear Grain, and cotton next year.
• The Emerson heir suggested building textile factories, but the Emerson Family head decided to focus on supplying cotton instead.
• The Agriculture Goddess and the Nature God asked Roger whether rising grain production would hurt mortals by collapsing prices.
• Roger explained that people could grow other crops or use surplus grain for alcohol, livestock, and processed foods.
• Roger told the gods to continue researching seeds, crops, and livestock while he made arrangements for mortal affairs.

Roger discussed how improved crops and Magitech Machinery could increase food production and population, while the Agriculture Goddess and Nature God revealed new crops and Druid Potions. As the Magic Net erupted over the agricultural advances, the gods realized the Sky God could help control the weather, and Viscount Rost watched Southlands Development Company's stock rise to fund new magitech workshops.

• The Agriculture Goddess and Nature God told Roger about new high-yield crops, targeted Druid Potions, and fruits that could serve as staple foods.
• Roger approved the new crops and explained how they could help develop difficult land while leaving nobles to choose how to reclaim it.
• People on the Magic Net reacted to Golden Ear Grain and Agricultural Magitech Machinery, sending Southlands Development Company's stock soaring.
• The Agriculture Goddess noticed a comment suggesting that the gods had overlooked the Sky God's ability to improve harvests by controlling the weather.
• Viscount Rost watched Southlands Development Company's stock fluctuate and hoped the rise would fund the company's magitech workshops.

News that Golden Ear Grain could yield more than two thousand jin per mu moved workers across Magitech industrial territories to tears, while Southlands Development Company’s stock soared. Viscount Rost planned to sell his shares at the peak and buy them back after falling food prices caused the market to crash.

• Workers reading about Golden Ear Grain and agricultural machinery wept as memories of hunger overwhelmed them.
• Jody’s companion checked on him, and Jody explained that the news about the new crop had made him cry.
• Workers across factories and territories mourned and celebrated the prospect of abundant food, and reporters shared their reactions on the Magic Net.
• Investors drove Southlands Development Company’s share price above Rost Territory Group Company’s as Viscount Rost steadily sold his shares.
• Viscount Rost expected food prices and the company’s stock to fall after grain flooded the markets, and planned to repurchase shares later.
• The convoy leader brought a livestream camera to Viscount Rost and asked him to answer viewers’ questions.

Viscount Rost showed the livestream audience the enormous Golden Ear Grain harvest and hosted a citywide banquet for Southlands Development Company’s employees. With the company’s vast harvest still underway, he planned to keep its full scale secret until he had sold most of his shares.

• Southlands Development Company’s share price surged as the livestream convinced viewers that Golden Ear Grain would produce abundant harvests.
• Granary officials reported that harvesters gathered 102.72 million jin of grain from 48,000 mu in one day, astonishing the livestream audience.
• Viscount Rost said the harvest would become more efficient as workers learned to use the Agricultural Magitech Machinery, and he led the group into the city for a banquet.
• Viscount Rost explained that the banquet celebrated the company’s harvest and that all available residents would help gather grain starting the next day.
• Viscount Rost revealed that Golden Ear Grain had been milled into flour for the banquet, while the city celebrated its shared harvest.

Viscount Rost oversaw Southlands Development Company's Golden Ear Grain harvest and outlined plans to use its profits to build factories and expand industry. After the company's shares soared and grain prices began falling, he announced that its harvest would yield enough flour to feed 70 million adults for a year.

• People across the city and wealthy nobles were stunned by how delicious bread and pancakes made from Golden Ear Grain tasted.
• As harvesting continued, Southlands Development Company's share price rose, and Viscount Rost described plans to develop agriculture and industry together.
• The company's shares surged after the Stock Exchange opened, and Viscount Rost sold his holdings and those of his acquaintances for 27 million gold coins.
• Over three days, the shares kept rising until Viscount Rost had sold all his circulating shares, while grain prices began to fall as people anticipated the huge harvest.
• On the fourth day, Viscount Rost announced that the company had harvested more than 20 million mu of farms and expected 35.6 billion jin of flour, enough to feed 70 million adults for a year.

Viscount Rost revealed Southlands Development Company’s enormous grain output, alarming landowners and investors as people debated its effects across the Magic Net. When the Stock Market opened, the company’s shares surged briefly before crashing, and Viscount Rost’s people acted once the price hit 0.38 gold coins.

• Viscount Rost announced that Southlands Development Company could produce enough flour to feed tens of millions of people, shocking the livestream audience.
• Landowners feared the grain would undermine their control over tenants and collapse grain prices, while investors rushed to trade but found the Stock Exchange closed.
• Magic Net users argued over the company’s impact as discussions spread among nobles and ordinary people.
• The Stock Market opened, Southlands Development Company’s shares climbed above 1 gold coin, then plunged as buyers stayed away.
• Viscount Rost watched the price fall with delight, and his people sprang into action when it reached 0.38 gold coins.

Viscount Rost announced plans to auction the Southlands Development Company's surplus grain and use any unsold portion for reserves, livestock, alcohol, and processed foods. After profiting from a stock buyback, he urged Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg to apply the same agricultural model on Dragon Island.

• Viscount Rost bought back shares after grain prices fell, restoring his original shareholding while earning twenty million Dragon Gold Coins.
• Viscount Rost announced that surplus grain would be auctioned through the Magic Net or redirected to reserves, brewing, livestock, and food processing.
• People discussed the announcement, considering the proposed uses for surplus grain and discovering that some nobles had burned fields to keep prices high.
• Viscount Rost told Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg that they had profited from the stock market while promoting new grain varieties and Agricultural Magitech Machinery.
• Viscount Rost suggested that Nidhogg establish a Dragon Island Development Company to grow grain and livestock and ship the products to the mainland.

Viscount Rost proposed developing Dragon Island to Nidhogg, then shifted his attention to industrializing the Southlands. North of the Watcher's Wall, Tech Battle Priests advanced toward a new base and prepared to attack the White Walkers.

• Viscount Rost suggested that Nidhogg develop Dragon Island with farms and a company to feed future Dragons and trade with humans, and Nidhogg said he would consult the Elder Council.
• Viscount Rost planned to industrialize the Southlands with livestock farms, Druid Potion factories, agricultural machinery, Magitech Vehicles, food processing, steel, and cement.
• Tech Battle Priests in Warrior Troops 2.0 advanced through the blazing lands north of the Watcher's Wall, clearing monsters with a crimson beam.
• The Battle Priests continued toward a new base as part of a plan to establish bases and automatic defenses across the region.
• The Battle Priests reached a vast plain crowded with White Walkers and waited for the order to attack.

The Technology God Church expanded north of Watcher's Wall by clearing land, receiving airdropped supplies, and establishing new bases. The chapter ended with a captain warning newcomers that White Walkers could keep attacking even after being mutilated.

• A Battle Priest ordered his squad to clear a plain for an airdrop as selected commanders led forces in different directions.
• Tech Battle Priests used spells and Magitech Devices to burn White Walkers and prepare the landing area for descending supply crates.
• The troops established a camp, distributed supplies, and began building fortifications and equipment at bases on the plain and in nearby mountains.
• A captain ordered his squad to install defenses along the cliffs and destroy every White Walker remnant before construction continued.
• A half-bodied White Walker charged from ruins, and the captain blasted it apart before warning the newcomers about the creatures' tenacious vitality.

Apprentice proposed upgrading the Tech Battle Priests’ equipment with aerial forces to improve combat efficiency and prepare for future enemies. He outlined several possible designs, leaving Wild Mage and the others to consider the energy demands and ways to develop them.

• The Tech Battle Priests adapted to a steady approach of clearing areas, securing bases, and establishing communication to guard against surviving White Walkers.
• Apprentice argued that the training exercise should also help them improve their weapons and equipment for future conflicts.
• Apprentice proposed using aerial forces and detection devices to clear battlefields before ground troops swept and occupied them, calling the strategy Air Superiority.
• Wild Mage asked Apprentice for practical ideas, and Apprentice suggested individual flight devices, a troop-carrying Sky Fortress, low-cost bomb-dropping devices, and flying Warrior Troops 3.0.
• Apprentice warned that upgrading their forces in these ways could make energy a serious problem.

Apprentice and Wild Mage developed a combined air-combat plan featuring flying troops, airdrops, and a hovering Sky Fortress that could serve as a mobile base. Viscount Rost approved the project and offered to fund its development.

• Apprentice argued that the air-combat options worked best together and said the Sky Fortress only needed to hover and store enough magic power for short-distance flight.
• Wild Mage agreed to turn the ideas into a project proposal for Viscount Rost.
• Viscount Rost read the proposal after leaving the breeding farm and recognized the strategic value of an aerial force and fortress.
• Viscount Rost approved the project and offered to use his stock market profits to fund it.

Roger proposed a Magic Net marketplace where merchants and manufacturers could sell goods, with Great Dragon Bank handling payments and Great Dragon Express deliveries. He explained that falling grain and land prices would push hoarded wealth into workshops and companies, increasing production, employment, and the circulation of money as the Magic Goddess recognized the marketplace could help stabilize prices.

• Roger told the Magic Goddess he wanted to add a shopping platform to the Magic Net, with payments through Great Dragon Bank and deliveries through Great Dragon Express.
• Roger explained that the platform would let customers compare goods from large factories, small workshops, and household producers, encouraging businesses across many territories to open.
• Roger said broad participation in industrialization would benefit everyone and prevent Rost from carrying the entire burden alone.
• The Magic Goddess showed Roger how grain prices and land prices had fallen while other prices rose, and Roger said these changes were part of his plan.
• Roger explained that nobles would redirect their wealth from land and hoarding into stocks and workshops, putting money into circulation and creating demand for workers.
• The Magic Goddess realized Roger's marketplace could help stabilize prices by expanding the supply of goods.

Roger explained to the Magic Goddess how circulating money through magitech industrialization could improve ordinary people’s lives and drive population growth. After noticing land prices had fallen, Viscount Rost decided to use the Golden Merchants' Guild to buy land while it was cheap.

• Roger told the Magic Goddess that industrial investment, jobs, and expanding markets could create a cycle of growth and increase the population.
• Roger explained that better living conditions would help people survive, while church schools would preserve their faith.
• Viscount Rost read the World Economic News Agency’s report and considered buying undervalued land for future use.
• Viscount Rost decided to have the Golden Merchants' Guild purchase land to protect the transactions from local lords.
• Viscount Rost set aside some of the more than twenty million gold coins he had earned from the stock market for land purchases instead of investing it all in Superfast Rail Transit.

The Golden Merchants' Guild bought land as prices collapsed, while the head of the Emerson Family worried that the changing economy threatened the family's traditional wealth. His heir proposed diversifying into processed food, but the head suspected the guild had a hidden reason for seeking cultivated land.

• The Golden Merchants' Guild used Viscount Rost's funds to buy land whenever its price fell to around 30% of its original value.
• The head of the Emerson Family reflected on how falling grain prices and the family's vast landholdings could leave them burdened with hundreds of thousands of serfs.
• The Emerson Family heir told his father that a Golden Merchants' Guild agent wanted to buy land for workshops and proposed selling some property and developing processed-food businesses.
• The heir explained that selling land could help the family cooperate with the guild, whose extensive supply channels might otherwise shut them out.
• The head of the Emerson Family questioned why the guild would buy cultivated land instead of wasteland and urged his heir to consider its true intentions.

The Emerson Family patriarch recognized that the Golden Merchants' Guild was buying land for its future potential and ordered his family to expand its holdings. Across the continent, the Guild acquired vast tracts of cheap land, and Viscount Rost considered borrowing more money to continue.

• The Emerson Family patriarch told his heir that land could become valuable through new crops and other future uses, so the family should keep experimenting and holding land.
• The patriarch ordered the Emerson Family to buy all available land bordering its territories and sell less promising stocks to fund the purchases.
• The Golden Merchants' Guild's regional manager accepted the Emerson Family's refusal and said the Guild was not afraid of resentment from nobles.
• The Golden Merchants' Guild bought land cheaply across the continent, making the Dwarf Elf and Viscount Rost the world's largest landowners.
• Viscount Rost considered borrowing from Great Dragon Bank to acquire even more land.

Viscount Rost continued expanding the Golden Merchants' Guild's land holdings while the Southlands industrialized and prospered. The Magic Net launched Taobao Mall, Bulk Trading, and the Futures Market, and users discovered that Taobao Mall made browsing and comparing products much easier.

• Viscount Rost explained how land could support farming, employment, industrialization, and future Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit construction, then funded the Golden Merchants' Guild's ongoing land acquisitions.
• Cheap, stable grain supplies helped the Southlands develop workshops, factories, and businesses catering to workers and merchants.
• The Magic Net announced the launch of Taobao Mall, Bulk Trading, and the Futures Market.
• Users questioned why Taobao Mall was needed when bloggers already had storefronts and livestream shopping.
• Users found that Taobao Mall let them search products across countless stores and compare prices more easily.

Taobao Mall’s new features drew widespread praise after users saw how they could compare prices and connect manufacturers with merchants, bloggers, and livestream hosts. While most people focused on those benefits, nobles, religious orders, and large organizations turned their attention to the Futures Market, hoping to understand its investment potential.

• People across Magic Space praised Taobao Mall after discovering that it let them compare prices and find cheaper goods.
• Merchants and manufacturers recognized that the bulk trading feature could connect them directly and make sourcing and sales easier.
• Bloggers and livestream hosts saw that they could use bulk trading to find suppliers and arrange direct shipping from manufacturers.
• Nobles, religious orders, and large organizations focused on the Futures Market and set out to learn how futures worked.

Wool Ryan explained to the Shepherd Pope how the Magic Net’s new Futures Market could help businesses hedge against price drops, while Taobao Mall and wholesale connections could expand sales. He left the Shepherd Pope asking how the Wool Guild should respond to the update.

• The Shepherd Pope asked Wool Ryan whether futures trading could reduce business risks, and Wool Ryan explained how selling wool contracts could offset losses if wool prices fell.
• Wool Ryan described how Taobao Mall, cheaper deliveries, and a growing Magic Net user base could help manufacturers reach more customers.
• Wool Ryan explained how workshops could focus on production while sales merchants, livestream sellers, and bloggers found and sold their products.
• Wool Ryan said that retail, wholesale, and futures hedging could work together to strengthen the market.
• The Shepherd Pope asked how the Wool Guild should respond to the Magic Net update.

Archbishop Audrey saw the Magic Net’s latest update as a way to make product selection easier for the Church of Love and Beauty and called the headquarters’ senior staff together to plan how to use it. The church prepared to search for suitable products and contact their manufacturers, while Audrey insisted that prices remain reasonable and the goods fit the church’s aesthetic standards.

• Audrey reviewed the Magic Net update and saw that its new selling and messaging features could help the Church of Love and Beauty find products and manufacturers.
• Audrey gathered the church’s senior staff and proposed hiring people to search the new features for suitable products and negotiate with their makers.
• A bishop asked how the church should handle products already offered cheaply on Taobao Mall.
• Audrey said the church could charge more than ordinary shops if its prices remained reasonable, because its main advantage was its vast audience, not low prices.
• Audrey stressed that the church’s most important task was selecting goods with the right aesthetic appeal.

Audrey warned the bishops that the Magic Net’s new shopping features required careful product selection, while Viscount Rost recognized how the update could accelerate industrialization and reshape finance. Roger revealed that he had created Golden City’s new Futures Market through the Industry and Craft Authority, and he and the Magic Goddess considered the authority’s potential uses in future battles.

• Audrey told the bishops that the Magic Net update would expand commerce, but they needed to select products carefully to protect their reputation.
• Viscount Rost examined the update’s three new functions and concluded that they could speed up Magitech industrialization and let established factory owners manage capital and risk through the Futures Market.
• Golden City’s buildings and walls shifted as a Futures Market appeared beside the Stock Exchange and Securities Exchange, leaving the city’s residents and Dragons bewildered.
• Roger told the Magic Goddess that he had used the Industry and Craft Authority to transform Golden City and create the Futures Market after forgetting to warn the Dragons.
• Roger and the Magic Goddess discussed how combining Authorities could let Roger create fortresses and Magitech weapons for future battles.

Roger explained to the Magic Goddess why growing Magitech Industry would outstrip the limited supply of precious-metal currency and why credit currency needed an expandable anchor. He said magic power might work in the future, but the Dragons still needed another anchor for their currency now.

• Roger told the Magic Goddess that nobles were releasing hoarded precious-metal coins into the market as they sought new investments, while growing production and rising costs would eventually make currency scarce.
• Roger explained that credit currency could avoid the limits of gold and silver if it were pegged to something widely needed that could grow.
• The Magic Goddess asked what anchor the Dragons would use for their paper currency.
• Roger said magic power could serve as an anchor as Magitech Industry advanced, but the Magic Goddess noted that controlling its distribution would restrict access to magic and that she, rather than the Dragons, would need to issue such currency.
• Roger concluded that magic power might be suitable later, but the Dragons needed to find another anchor for now.

Roger explained to the Magic Goddess that the Dragons could anchor paper currency to debt and use a Mechanical Life to regulate its supply. They discussed how to persuade people to adopt paper money, while a sudden transformation in Golden City caused an uproar on the Magic Net.

• Roger proposed basing the currency supply on debt and tradable assets rather than precious metals, with money issued through bond purchases and loans.
• Roger revealed that he had created a Mechanical Life to analyze data and expand the money supply according to rules he had designed.
• The Magic Goddess questioned how people would accept paper currency, and Roger described the challenge of reaching people who had little contact with Great Dragon Bank.
• Roger and the Magic Goddess shared ideas about popularizing paper currency, but neither settled on a solution.
• Golden City suddenly grew larger and an enormous building appeared out of thin air, causing an uproar on the Magic Net.

The Futures Market appeared in Golden City, and Magic Net users gradually realized how its commodity prices and contracts worked. Wool Ryan saw that many people misunderstood the market’s risks and began considering how he could profit from their ignorance.

• Magic Net users discussed Golden City’s sudden expansion and the newly appeared Futures Market, which they associated with the Technology God and the dragons.
• Users examined the market’s listed commodity prices and learned that they changed every ten minutes and reflected useful reference prices for physical trade.
• Magic Net users debated how futures orders worked and recognized that the features were designed to support production and the circulation of goods.
• Wool Ryan observed that factory owners were overlooking hedging and other risks, and considered using his understanding to make a profit.
• Wool Ryan identified risks including factory failure, low liquidity, failed delivery, and natural disasters.

Foster Mining Company received a surge of steel orders as futures trading drove prices upward, and Viscount Rost secured a three-year supply contract for his companies. Online rumors then fueled the steel boom by promoting mines, scrap iron, and the future demand for steel.

• Foster Mining Company reported that new orders had filled its production schedule for more than half a year as steel futures prices climbed.
• Viscount Rost learned that traders were buying steel contracts and creating the impression that steel was scarce, but he told the company not to raise prices for his firms that year.
• The person in charge of Foster Mining Company worried that traders would be stuck with undeliverable steel, and Viscount Rost proposed a three-year supply contract.
• Viscount Rost and Foster Mining Company agreed to the contract while steel prices continued to rise.
• Posts on the Magic Net promoted high-priced Iron Ore mine purchases, scrap iron collecting, and predictions of soaring steel demand in the Magitech Industrial Age.

Viscount Rost watched steel orders and prices soar as nobles manipulated steel futures and announced plans for new-style housing in Golden City. The scheme expanded toward factories, magitech equipment, and railways, driving steel prices higher still.

• Viscount Rost saw Foster Mining Company's orders booked a year ahead and steel prices rise to more than three times their original level, though he feared a future crash.
• Golden City announced large-scale construction of new-style housing and inns to accommodate a projected capacity exceeding one million people.
• The Golden City Lord agreed to the housing project because the city's population had outgrown its capacity, while investors promised to build the new district.
• The nobles revealed they had joined forces to stockpile steel futures and planned factories, magitech machinery purchases, and metal production to push prices higher.
• The nobles reasoned that Golden City’s housing plans could spread elsewhere and that Viscount Rost would support an ultra-high-speed rail system, while steel futures prices climbed sharply again.