Chapter Summaries

The Lava General and his Battle Priests arrived in the Tulip Kingdom, where its advanced city and gathering of Legendary powerhouses astonished them. After agreeing on a plan to defend the coliseum, the Lava General revealed that the Technology God had given him another task and produced a large box.

• A Legendary guide led the Lava General and the Battle Priests through the Tulip Kingdom’s guarded entrance and explained its path between illusion and reality.
• The Lava General and his soldiers saw the kingdom’s hundred-story towers, glowing lights, and a coliseum built in the sky.
• Legendary powerhouses emerged from the tallest building and met the Battle Priests, each side assessing the other’s strength and numbers.
• The Lava General proposed using the Battle Priests to defend the coliseum, and the Legendaries agreed that one of their own should rotate in as backup.
• The Lava General said the Technology God had assigned him another task and brought out a large box, drawing the Legendaries’ attention and concern.

The Lava General introduced Special-Edition Magic Net Rings and arranged for Magitech Weapons to be sent to the Tulip Kingdom, where forces guarded a rift against an invasion from another world. Viscount Rost and the Wild Mage planned to use the threat to accelerate Magitech industrialization and draw nobles into expanding weapons production.

• The Lava General explained that Special-Edition Magic Net Rings enabled real-time communication, and legendary powerhouses welcomed their usefulness in combat.
• The Lava General arranged future deliveries of Magitech Weapons to the Tulip Kingdom and left with the Tech Battle Priests for the arena guarding the rift.
• Viscount Rost told the Wild Mage that the Tulip Kingdom faced an invasion and proposed expanding steelworks and weapons factories to supply it.
• Viscount Rost suggested capturing a live Void to make rulers recognize the danger, while the Wild Mage questioned whether other nations would cooperate.
• Viscount Rost explained that he wanted the crisis to spur Magitech industrialization, and he and the Wild Mage discussed using the Golden Merchants' Guild and Great Dragon Bank to support noble investors.

Viscount Rost and the Wild Mage planned sweeping infrastructure and industrial reforms, while Roger devised a broader financial system to fund development. The Magic Goddess favored having the dragons issue the new currency, leaving Roger to decide how to put the plan into action.

• Viscount Rost and the Wild Mage outlined plans to expand infrastructure, finance small nobles, attract investors, and prepare nobles for reforms.
• The Wild Mage urged Viscount Rost to consult the gods, and Rost prayed to Roger and shared the plan.
• Roger explained to the Magic Goddess his ideas for a Super Bank, credit currency, stock exchange, and bonds to fund industrial growth.
• Roger proposed using industrial and agricultural expansion, investments, and possible Magitech Weapons stockpiles to manage the risks of issuing currency.
• The Magic Goddess recommended that the dragons issue the new currency and keep it exchangeable for dragon gold coins at first.

Roger proposed that the dragons control a Stock Exchange, Bond Exchange, and an upgraded Great Dragon Bank while he and his allies supervised them. Nidhogg studied the proposal and realized its credit currency system could help new companies grow, though he remained wary of its risks.

• Roger agreed with the Magic Goddess that the dragons should control the financial institutions, with oversight, and said their services could operate on the Magic Net.
• Roger sent his proposal to Nidhogg and continued working on mechanical lifeforms.
• Nidhogg read Roger's plans for Great Dragon Bank 2.0, the Stock Exchange, and the Bond Exchange, and was astonished by the idea of issuing certificates as credit currency.
• Nidhogg recognized that issuing too much currency could raise prices and damage confidence, and he concluded that stocks and bonds could help manage the money in circulation.
• Nidhogg realized Roger wanted the financial system to help new companies, including Viscount Rost's businesses, obtain more funding and develop faster.

Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg and the Elder Council approved the Technology God’s plan to issue Credit Currency and establish a Stock Exchange and Bond Market, then prepared to coordinate its implementation with the Technology God Church. At the Tulip Kingdom’s Sky Arena, Lava General witnessed a Nightmare imitate a Battle Priest wearing a mechanical exoskeleton.

• Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg presented the Technology God’s proposal to the Elder Council, whose members were astonished by the plan to use the Great Dragon Bank’s credibility to issue Credit Currency.
• The dragon elders discussed how convenient banknotes and Magic Net transactions could replace heavy metal coins, while a blue dragon worried that the transition would be too aggressive.
• Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg argued that the Stock Exchange and Bond Market would buffer the change, citing the expected influence of Great Dragon Express, the Golden Merchants' Guild, Rost Territory companies, and the Dawn Southlands Development Company.
• Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg and the elders agreed to begin implementing the plan and invite Viscount Rost and others to coordinate with the Technology God Church.
• At the Tulip Kingdom’s Sky Arena, Lava General saw a Nightmare emerge through a rift and imitate a Battle Priest wearing the 'Warrior Troops' magic-powered mechanical exoskeleton.

The Lava General and the Tech Battle Priests tested a captured Voidspawn to learn how it imitated people and attacked. They easily contained it after discovering that its imitation of the Warrior Troops could not fight, but the Lava General warned that other monsters might pose a greater threat.

• The Lava General examined the Voidspawn and discussed its ability to blend in among humans with the Tech Battle Priests.
• A Tech Battle Priest offered to test the Voidspawn, and the Lava General allowed him to act while promising to keep it in the Sky Arena.
• The Tech Battle Priest attacked the Voidspawn, which imitated the attack's effects but failed to fire.
• The Tech Battle Priests captured the Voidspawn after it imitated the Warrior Troops, whose lifeless bodies left it unable to attack.
• The Lava General concluded that his forces naturally countered these foreign races, then warned everyone not to let their guard down.

Roger and the Magic Goddess sent an Image-Capturing Monster through the portal to scout the world beyond it. Its delayed images revealed a smoke-covered fortress filled with turning gears, and its successful transmissions showed that mana existed on the other side.

• Roger and the Magic Goddess watched the Battle Priests in the Sky Arena and discussed whether to send Magic Life or Mechanical Life through the portal first.
• Roger chose to send an Image-Capturing Monster, gave it instructions to return within ten minutes, and sent it through the portal.
• The Image-Capturing Monster transmitted blurry images of a world filled with massive gears, chimneys, and smoke.
• Roger suspected the other world used steam power for industrialization, while the Magic Goddess wondered whether it had technology like his.
• After ten minutes, the Image-Capturing Monster had not gone far, but its images confirmed that mana was present throughout the area it had explored.

Roger and the Magic Goddess investigated the world beyond by capturing and reading a Voidspawn’s memories. They learned that the world had a god called the Pain Mother and a harsh, strangely underdeveloped industrial society, but the information left major questions unanswered.

• Roger and the Magic Goddess sent the Image-Capturing Monster toward the fortress gates and watched humans escort Voidspawn inside.
• Roger decided to capture a Voidspawn, and the Magic Goddess read its memories without the Tech Battle Priests or Lava General noticing.
• The Magic Goddess learned that Voidspawn were ordinary humans who mutated, and that the world beyond had a god called the Pain Mother.
• The Magic Goddess reported that the Pain Mother was supposedly the world’s only god, though the Voidspawn’s incomplete memories raised doubts.
• Roger and the Magic Goddess learned that the Voidspawn had been a factory worker in a town of two hundred thousand, in an industrial world that burned Graystone and lacked long-distance communication.
• Roger suspected that the miserable way of life in the world beyond was exactly what the Pain Mother wanted.

Roger and the Magic Goddess investigated the world beyond the fortress and decided to strengthen their artificial scouts before exploring further. In the mortal world, the dragons recruited Viscount Rost to help launch the Stock Exchange and Bond Market, leaving him wary of a planned stock-market wipeout.

• Roger and the Magic Goddess concluded that they needed more information about the other world’s powers and weapons before deciding how to handle it.
• The Image-Capturing Monster was stopped by an invisible barrier around the fortress, so Roger judged that crossing it would require a Legendary-level scout.
• The Magic Goddess brought out her strongest temporary Magic Life for testing, and she and Roger later returned to the Divine Kingdom to strengthen their artificial lives.
• The dragons presented their plans for Great Dragon Bank 2.0, the Stock Exchange, and the Bond Exchange to Viscount Rost.
• Nidhogg told Viscount Rost that Great Dragon Express and other major companies would go public, then asked him to use the Ultra-High-Speed Hover Train to wipe out some stock-market money before launching the Bond Market.
• Viscount Rost agreed to cooperate but insisted that the train operation could not damage his reputation, and he asked when the Stock Exchange would open so he could consolidate his companies.

Viscount Rost planned to consolidate Rost Territory’s industries into a powerful public company and used the World Economic News Agency to help prepare people for the upcoming Stock Exchange. The exchange was set to open seven days later, while Rost arranged to return to his territory and complete the consolidation in time.

• Viscount Rost reasoned that merging Rost Territory’s industries and dividing shares among many nobles would preserve his control while creating a durable company.
• Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg learned that the World Economic News Agency belonged to Rost and asked it to promote the Stock Exchange.
• Rost agreed to launch a program explaining the stock market and to cover daily trading once the exchange opened.
• Nidhogg set the opening for seven days later and said the Technology God would provide the exchange on the Magic Net.
• Rost promised to promote the opening and submit the consolidated industry data before trading began, then requested a Dragon to escort and protect him for seven days.

Viscount Rost consolidated his territory’s businesses into the Rost Territory Group Company and began transferring the nobles’ holdings into group shares. As Newsbird Megan’s campaign spread news of the Dragon Stock Exchange, Wool Ryan urged his father to prepare the Wool Guild to go public.

• Viscount Rost established the Rost Territory Group Company and converted the original companies’ shareholders’ stakes into group shares.
• Berlion Rogers agreed to the transfer and said he might trade shares after the stock exchange opened.
• Viscount Rost used the Blue Dragon’s threat to persuade resistant nobles to accept the restructuring.
• Newsbird Megan announced the Dragon Stock Exchange, and the World Economic News Agency promoted its benefits and the prospect of Magic Net trading.
• Wool Ryan told his father that the Wool Guild should submit its information to the Dragon Stock Exchange and prepare to go public.

Wool Ryan persuaded the Shepherd Pope to prepare the Wool Guild for a public share offering, arguing that they should follow the Technology God’s plans and retain control through majority voting rights. Meanwhile, merchants across the continent began responding to the stock exchange, as Dragonkind rapidly built a new stone building in Golden City for its upcoming venture.

• Wool Ryan urged the Shepherd Pope to list part of the Wool Guild on the stock exchange and use the proceeds to develop the guild.
• Wool Ryan proposed selling no more than forty-nine of the guild’s one hundred shares so the Shepherd Church would keep voting control.
• The Shepherd Pope agreed to prepare the Wool Guild’s reforms and contact Dragonkind.
• Sir Ayr of the Graycastle Empire and merchants across the continent began exploring public offerings.
• Dragonkind’s workers rapidly constructed a new building beside Great Dragon Bank and Great Dragon Express in Golden City.
• The lord of Golden City asked whether Dragonkind needed new employees for its upcoming industry.

Golden City’s Stock Exchange opened to a huge crowd, and buyers quickly snapped up the listed companies’ shares. The Hunting Church missed the initial offerings but planned to buy from early investors, and people began reselling shares at higher prices.

• Ten minutes before opening, Great Dragon Bank’s selected traders arrived at the Stock Exchange after completing their training.
• At nine o’clock, the Stock Exchange opened, and thousands of visitors entered to view company information and trade through the traders.
• Buyers rushed to subscribe to shares in companies including Golden Merchants' Guild, Rost Territory Group Company, and Great Dragon Express, quickly exhausting the available offerings.
• The Hunting Pope and a financially skilled archbishop failed to buy shares during the initial rush, but the archbishop proposed purchasing them from early sellers.
• Investors began reselling Golden Merchants' Guild shares for 1.25 gold coins each, and buyers immediately started snapping them up.

The Magic Net Stock Exchange opened, triggering a frenzy of share trading and rapidly rising prices, while a new Bond Market was announced. In Rost Territory, Viscount Rost showed the shareholders their company’s soaring valuation and urged them not to manipulate the market early.

• Traders began selling shares at 1.25 gold coins each, and buyers quickly drove prices higher as the Hunting God Pope placed a large purchase order for Golden Merchants' Guild stock.
• The Stock Exchange turned into a buyers' market, with purchase listings pushing prices up and early sellers rushing back to buy shares.
• At ten o'clock, the Magic Net announced the official launch of the Stock Exchange and Bond Market, explaining how companies and investors could use them.
• As users flocked to the Stock Exchange, reports spread that some traders had multiplied their money several times within an hour.
• Viscount Rost told more than 1,200 shareholders that Rost Territory Group Company’s share price had reached 2.2 gold coins, valuing the company at 8.8 million gold coins, and asked them not to drive up the price yet.

Viscount Rost urged nobles to consider buying shares in Southlands Development Company, explaining its vast assets and heavy debt as reasons its stock was undervalued. As Magic Net stock trading ended amid a buying frenzy, Newsbird Megan prepared Scholar Anthony Houston to host the agency’s first financial analysis show.

• Viscount Rost told the nobles that Southlands Development Company controlled nearly all of the Southlands and combined major development projects, including the Ultra-High-Speed Hover Train.
• Viscount Rost explained that the company had borrowed more than fifty million gold coins from Great Dragon Bank and claimed its market value was far below its worth.
• Nobles weighed the risks of investing, while Viscount Rost kept his larger plan to sell company shares at bargain prices to himself.
• Trading on the Magic Net Stock Exchange closed at three in the afternoon, after millions of people decided stock trading was easy money and shares soared.
• Newsbird Megan recruited Scholar Anthony Houston to host the World Economic News Agency’s first financial analysis show, and Anthony said he was ready to follow the script.

Church leaders discussed how to profit from the Stock Market as its popularity spread across the continent and trading entered its second day. Dragon- and Technology God Church-related stocks soared, while Foster Mining Company lagged despite Viscount Rost’s confidence in its potential.

• The Pope of Horticulture and the shepherd of the Drama God Church discussed using the public’s remaining judgment and emotions to earn money through the Stock Market.
• As the Stock Exchange opened, crowds packed the Dragon Stock Exchange and Great Dragon Banks, while investors celebrated rising share prices.
• Great Dragon Express and other companies related to Viscount Rost surged, while Foster Mining Company remained behind because its early losses and uncertain prospects discouraged buyers.
• King's Hand Bellion questioned Viscount Rost about recommending Foster Mining Company, and Viscount Rost said its vast iron deposits and planned magitech production gave it exceptional potential.
• Roger showed the Magic Goddess the market’s rapid gains and said future listings, including the Shepherd Church’s Wool Guild, would help the market grow.

Church leaders discussed rising stock valuations and planned to profit from them, while the Graycastle Emperor focused on building the empire’s Magitech Industry and asked Ayr how the state could tax stock-market activity. The chapter ended with the Emperor setting aside the tax problem and asking about the progress of listing Ayr’s factory.

• Church leaders praised the Golden Merchants' Guild’s rising valuation and discussed pushing it higher before selling their shares.
• Some church leaders favored investing in Rost Territory Group Company because of its support for the Technology God Church and its Magitech Devices.
• The Graycastle Emperor learned that Ayr’s one million gold coins had grown to four and a half million through stock trading, but told him to prioritize establishing Graycastle’s Magitech Industry.
• The Graycastle Emperor asked Ayr how the empire could collect taxes from investors and nobles making money on the stock market.
• Ayr considered the difficulty of tracking trades and taxing nobles, churches, or companies, and the Emperor then asked about getting Ayr’s factory listed.

Odd Coin Ayr and the Graycastle Emperor discussed listing assets to fund an ultra-high-speed hover train, while the stock market’s soaring prices drew widespread attention. Viscount Rost learned that investors planned to manipulate share prices and asked his aide to confirm their scheme.

• Odd Coin Ayr told the Graycastle Emperor he had consolidated his factories into a company but kept his territory separate, and the Emperor asked him to test the stock market with the company.
• The Graycastle Emperor pointed out Dawn Southlands Development Company’s projected losses and explained his plan to fund rail transit by listing royal and state assets.
• Three days later, share prices had climbed sharply, with Great Dragon Express reaching thirty-two gold coins per share and Rost Territory Group Company approaching a market value of eighty million gold coins.
• Viscount Rost’s aide reported that investors planned to dump Rost shares, inflate Wool Guild shares, cash out, and then buy Rost shares back cheaply.

The Wool Guild and other companies went public as investors rushed to buy their shares. Wool Ryan and the Wool Pope drove up the Wool Guild’s stock price to attract buyers before selling at a profit, while Viscount Rost and Nidhogg watched their scheme and prepared to launch the Bond Market after the anticipated crash.

• The Wool Guild, Gray Fortress Factory Joint Company, and other companies went public, prompting investors to sell established stocks and buy the new shares.
• Viscount Rost lifted restrictions on noble shareholders of Rost Territory Group Company, who began buying its shares freely.
• Wool Ryan persuaded the Wool Pope to keep buying Wool Guild shares and raise their price so they could later sell at a profit.
• Nidhogg told Viscount Rost that the Wool Pope and Wool Ryan had bought nine hundred thousand Wool Guild shares to push the price higher.
• Viscount Rost agreed with Nidhogg to let the scheme continue, monitor the buyers, and prepare the Bond Market for the stock crash.

The Magic Net opened its Bond Market, but investors dismissed bonds as less profitable than stocks. Dawn Southlands Development Company issued bonds that went largely unnoticed, leaving the stock craze unchecked.

• Viscount Rost stopped trying to communicate with Wool Ryan and watched him demonstrate livestream selling on the Magic Net.
• Magic Net sites promoted bonds as another way to invest, and readers learned how companies, churches, and nations could borrow publicly and trade bonds before maturity.
• Magic Net users mocked bonds for offering less than the stock market, while the dragons expected losses from failing companies to teach people about risk.
• Dawn Southlands Development Company announced one-, three-, and five-year bonds paying annual interest of 5.5%, 6.2%, and 8%, respectively.
• Investors and churches dismissed the bonds, with some churches considering borrowing money to invest in stocks instead.