Chapter Summaries

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.

The Clarkson Family entered the booming steel futures market after pressure from its members and quickly profited from selling some contracts. Encouraged by the gains, the family expanded its investments and publicized plans for steel-consuming factories, while its head wondered whether the favorable news driving the boom was genuine.

• Clarkson Family members urged their hesitant patriarch to buy steel futures, arguing that demand and prices would keep rising.
• The family invested one million Dragon Gold Coins but found few existing futures contracts available, so it also signed a steel-delivery contract with Foster Mining Company.
• After selling a portion of its futures contracts for a sixty-thousand-coin profit, the patriarch and other family leaders grew confident and decided to invest more.
• Clarkson Family branches entered the market, and the family released favorable news about planned factories and steel use.
• The patriarch questioned whether the Magic Net’s optimistic reports were genuine or merely publicity like the family’s own announcements.

Viscount Rost anticipated a collapse in steel futures and planned to keep the Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System’s steel demand secret until prices fell, then buy steel cheaply. He reassured Nidhogg that the Great Dragon Bank could use the speculators’ mortgaged assets to support Credit Currency, and offered to take the assets if necessary.

• Viscount Rost learned that speculators had mortgaged valuable property to the Great Dragon Bank and borrowed heavily to buy Steel Futures.
• Viscount Rost predicted the steel bubble would collapse when buyers ran out and planned to purchase the resulting cheap steel for Superfast Rail Transit.
• Viscount Rost decided to keep the rail system’s steel consumption and potential performance secret until after prices crashed.
• Nidhogg worried that borrowers would be unable to repay the Great Dragon Bank.
• Viscount Rost explained that the bank could claim the mortgaged assets and use them to support Credit Currency, offering to take the assets and pay for them over time.

Viscount Rost explained to Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg how Dragon Bank gold reserves, financial infrastructure, and nobles’ growing investments could support the introduction of Credit Currency. They agreed that the plan had manageable risks, though traditional nobles might resist and slaves might be slow to accept paper money.

• Viscount Rost said the Great Dragon Bank, financial markets, and Magic Net provided the infrastructure and credit mechanisms needed for Credit Currency.
• Viscount Rost explained that high-yield crops and futures trading had pushed landed nobles to invest their wealth beyond agriculture and deposit some of it in the Great Dragon Bank.
• Viscount Rost argued that the Dragons’ reputation for possessing abundant gold would reassure people that Dragon Banknotes could be exchanged for precious metals if necessary.
• Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg understood that Dragon gold reserves could serve as the final backing for issuing Credit Currency and said they could begin once the nobles defaulted.
• Viscount Rost warned that traditional nobles might resist surrendering mortgaged assets and that slaves might distrust paper money, but he said these risks would not prevent the currency’s gradual spread.
• Viscount Rost and Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg discussed how to implement Roger’s plan, including using financial means to take landed nobles’ core assets.

Viscount Rost saw Steel Futures and mining investments grow increasingly frenzied as Enron Mining rose on claims of enormous output and applied to go public. He told Nidhogg to let the fraudulent company list, then planned to tighten Stock Exchange rules and later use Enron Mining’s exposure to introduce Credit Currency.

• Steel prices and Futures trading surged as investors rushed in, while Viscount Rost watched the market’s growing frenzy.
• Enron Mining became the world’s second-largest mining company by accepting contracts that exceeded its current output, then applied to go public on the Dragon Stock Exchange.
• Nidhogg questioned whether Enron Mining should be allowed to list, and Viscount Rost said it was an empty shell that should go public so its eventual fraud could help introduce Credit Currency.
• Viscount Rost gave Nidhogg prepared rules to curb misconduct in the Stock Exchange and explained that tighter regulation would push disreputable investors toward the Futures Market.
• Viscount Rost told Nidhogg to let Enron Mining list before the new rules took effect, so it could expand while the first inspections focused on investor violations.

Viscount Rost and Nidhogg moved to address the chaos in the Futures Market, while the Clarkson Family Head struggled to decide whether to sell his steel futures as prices surged again. The Stock Exchange’s announcement exposed how nobles had manipulated the market, leaving ordinary investors to realize they had been caught in the scheme.

• Viscount Rost and Nidhogg finished their discussion, and Nidhogg convened Dragons and professionals to begin measures to rectify the market chaos the next day.
• The Clarkson Family Head reflected on his family’s 1.2 million gold coin profit and hesitated over whether to sell its steel futures.
• Steel futures suddenly surged by fifty percent in one or two hours, raising the Clarkson Family’s profit to 2.3 million gold coins.
• The Clarkson Family Head abandoned his doubts and decided to hold the steel contracts until prices stabilized.
• People discussing the soaring futures prices saw the Stock Exchange’s announcement and realized that nobles had manipulated the market and trapped them.

As powerful investors shifted their money into Steel Futures after new stock-trading restrictions, the market soared and the Clarkson Family rushed to catch up. Viscount Rost then instructed Newsbird Megan to warn people that Steel Futures were dangerously overvalued while promoting safer investments, especially the Southlands Development Company.

• Ordinary people and futures traders realized that stricter rules were limiting powerful figures' stock-market schemes and driving them toward Steel Futures.
• The head of the Clarkson Family ordered aggressive futures purchases, including off-market deals, and other latecomers also rushed to invest.
• Nidhogg admired Viscount Rost for triggering the market shift with a seemingly unrelated move.
• Newsbird Megan told Viscount Rost that new media outlets were promoting Steel Futures and asked whether the World Economic News Agency should respond.
• Viscount Rost told Newsbird Megan to publish an article condemning the promotions, warning that steel futures were overvalued, and recommending land, stocks, established industries, and the Southlands Development Company.

Viscount Rost had Newsbird Megan publish his warning that Steel Futures were overpriced and advise readers to diversify into stocks, bonds, and land. The backlash drove more nobles toward Steel Futures, while Johnny the Actuary used the controversy to promote his media outlet and its bullish message.

• Viscount Rost told Newsbird Megan to publish his warning about Steel Futures and recommend diversified investments, including land, while keeping cash on hand.
• Megan published the article after Rost approved it, and readers widely accused him of trying to lower steel prices for his own benefit.
• Rost told Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg that the backlash could encourage even more people to buy Steel Futures while distancing him from the coming crash.
• Nobles interpreted Rost's warning as evidence that steel was scarce and decided prices should rise further.
• Johnny the Actuary celebrated the attention for Futures Trading Gazette and planned to build its influence by promoting Steel Futures and attacking Rost.

Johnny the Actuary used his Magic Net influence and investments in Steel Futures to attack Viscount Rost, turning public opinion against Rost. Rost responded with another article, hoping to save those who would listen and use the quarrel to draw others into the futures market.

• Johnny the Actuary profited by promoting Steel Futures and decided to write an article condemning Viscount Rost.
• Johnny postponed a meeting with the nobles' Investors' Alliance to finish his article.
• Johnny published a fierce attack on Rost, and nobles and Magic Net users began blaming Rost for their losses and doubting his advice.
• Viscount Rost published a response and said the public feud could attract people to the market and persuade them to gamble.

Viscount Rost continued disputing the value of steel while nobles invested heavily in Steel Futures, but he had expected them to dismiss his warnings. He then invited guests and reporters to see the first batch of Agriculture Goddess-modified Changbai Pigs reach market age after 160 days, leaving their weight and meat yield to be measured.

• Viscount Rost challenged claims that steel demand and prices were sustainable, while Johnny the Actuary and nobles countered that many nobles could invest in factories and construction.
• Nobles circulated fake construction-site photos, and Viscount Rost left the public argument to Newsbird Megan’s articles.
• Viscount Rost visited a breeding farm with the Southlands agricultural archbishop, reporters, and other guests to inspect the first market-ready Changbai Pigs.
• Viscount Rost explained that the pigs had been raised according to the Agriculture Goddess’s methods for 160 days and that their weight and meat yield would show whether they could be adopted on a large scale.
• The guests learned that ordinary black-haired pigs took 300 to 360 days to reach market age, making the Changbai Pigs’ shorter breeding period striking.

Viscount Rost showed nobles that Changbai Pigs could reach slaughter weight in 160 days, grow far larger than ordinary pigs, and yield an extraordinary amount of meat. The nobles began to see large-scale pig breeding as a major opportunity.

• A noble questioned whether Changbai Pigs could truly be ready for slaughter in 160 days, and Viscount Rost confirmed they could.
• Viscount Rost led the nobles through a breeding farm and explained that Automatic Cleaning Magitech Devices kept it free of foul smells.
• The nobles saw a huge, white Changbai Pig and learned that it weighed about two hundred pounds after around 160 days.
• Viscount Rost explained that the pig needed 560 pounds of feed to reach two hundred pounds, while growing it to five hundred pounds required nearly 3,000 pounds of feed.
• Viscount Rost revealed that a two-hundred-pound Changbai Pig yielded at least 140 pounds of meat, astonishing the nobles further.

Viscount Rost showed nobles how his farm raised and mechanically slaughtered Changbai Pigs, convincing them that the system could transform meat production. He offered to provide piglets and farm plans, then invited them to taste the pork.

• Viscount Rost explained that his farm raised 45,000 Changbai Pigs in small pens and invited the nobles to choose one for slaughter.
• The nobles realized the farm’s scale could produce enormous quantities of pork and considered the opportunities for selling fresh meat locally.
• Viscount Rost led the nobles through a Magitech Device that scanned them for safety before staff moved their chosen pig into the slaughtering corridor.
• Magitech Machinery stunned, slaughtered, and disassembled the pig automatically, impressing the nobles with the farm’s efficient process.
• A noble asked how to obtain Changbai Pig piglets, and Viscount Rost offered piglets and farm plans before inviting everyone to share the pork.

Viscount Rost served nobles pork raised and cooked using methods provided by the Agriculture Goddess and the Technology God. The nobles were astonished by its flavor and asked how to obtain Changbai Pig piglets so they could raise them in their own territories.

• Viscount Rost brought the hesitant nobles to the livestock farm cafeteria and served them dishes made with novel recipes.
• Viscount Rost encouraged the nobles to try the food, explaining that the cooking methods came from the Technology God.
• The nobles cautiously tasted the pork and were stunned by its rich flavor and lack of gamey odor.
• A noble questioned whether the meat was really pork, and Viscount Rost explained how improved breeding and cooking had transformed it.
• The nobles praised the demonstration, expressed interest in raising pigs at scale, and asked how to obtain Changbai Pig piglets.

Viscount Rost finalized plans to build Changbai Pig farms, and news of the fast-growing pigs excited people across the Magic Net. Johnny the Actuary redirected that excitement toward a looming steel shortage, leaving readers anxious about whether the farms could spread.

• Viscount Rost presented farm plans and Magitech Machinery prices, and the project was finalized and reported by the World Economic News Agency.
• People across the Magic Net reacted excitedly to the Divine Changbai Pig and discussed buying piglets and building farms.
• Johnny the Actuary praised the pigs but focused his article on how farms would require vast amounts of steel.
• Johnny argued that farm buildings, Magitech Devices, and transportation would drive steel demand beyond current production, making readers worry that farms and pork could not spread widely.

Steel Futures trading surged, and the Dragons’ bank drew in nobles eager to borrow money for more steel. The Duke of the Westlands sought a 10-million-gold-coin loan, which Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg agreed to process in separate batches.

• Steel-related news drove Steel Futures prices higher and increased attention to Johnny the Actuary's futures trading bulletin.
• The Dragons lent nobles 30% to 50% of their collateral’s value, while Great Dragon Bank stopped issuing loans below 100 gold coins.
• The Duke of the Westlands offered land deeds and grain stores as collateral and asked Great Dragon Bank for 10 million gold coins.
• Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg warned the Duke about the collateral requirements and 10% interest, but the Duke said his clan understood the terms.
• Nidhogg agreed to assess the collateral and release the loan in batches.

The Duke of the Westlands borrowed heavily from the Great Dragon Bank and poured the money into Steel Futures, along with many other nobles. Viscount Rost realized the borrowing could fuel another major price surge, delaying his plan to crash the market, and turned his attention back to developing the Southlands.

• The Duke of the Westlands explained that his Steel Futures holdings were worth twenty million gold coins and sought a Great Dragon Bank loan to buy more.
• The Great Dragon Bank issued the Duke of the Westlands one million gold coins every few days, and he invested it all in Steel Futures and future orders.
• Viscount Rost and Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg learned that nobles had borrowed seven hundred million gold coins despite falling land prices.
• Viscount Rost expected the borrowed money to drive Steel Futures higher and delayed his plan to crash the market until the coldest part of Biting Month.
• Viscount Rost set the matter aside and focused on developing the Southlands, especially the Magitech Vehicle Factory and Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System.