Chapter Summaries

Steel Futures prices surged as nobles borrowed heavily to buy and hoard steel, while Roger explained to the Magic Goddess how Viscount Rost and Johnny the Actuary helped fuel the frenzy. Roger expected the bubble to end once the nobles ran out of funds, leaving their mortgaged land available for the Technology God Church and a reshaped world.

• Noble investors poured borrowed money into Steel Futures, drove prices higher, and paid Foster Mining Company to store the steel they refused to sell.
• The Duke of the Dawn Westlands borrowed fifteen million gold coins in total, mortgaging nearly all his land and facing 1.5 million gold coins in annual interest.
• Roger told the Magic Goddess that prices could double again in twenty or thirty days, by which time the nobles would have nearly exhausted their funds.
• Roger explained that Viscount Rost and Johnny the Actuary had convinced investors that Steel Futures would keep rising, with their public dispute strengthening that belief.
• Roger said the nobles' losses would help the Technology God Church reshape the world and argued that workers and managers deserved wealth more than exploitative landowners.

Roger and the Magic Goddess reflected on how the world’s entrenched landowners had blocked change, while the people had been ready for it. Meanwhile, the Rost Territory convoy reached the City-State Alliance after crossing the Graycastle Empire, whose roads impressed the convoy leader, livestream viewers, and emperor.

• The Magic Goddess understood that the world had changed so quickly because it had long yearned for change, and Roger said they had merely followed its tide.
• The Rost Territory convoy crossed the Graycastle Empire and arrived at the City-State Alliance.
• The convoy leader praised the empire’s mage-reinforced roads and imagined Magitech Trucks carrying goods along them.
• Livestream viewers agreed that the roads showed the Graycastle Empire’s strength, while the emperor watched with satisfaction at the impression his efforts had made.

Graycastle’s emperor secured a Magitech Vehicle Factory deal with nobles who had invested in Steel Futures, while Odd Coin kept only his market profits in play. The convoy revealed that it would stop in Epic City before continuing to Golden City, where its arrival would mark the start of Magitech Vehicle sales.

• Graycastle’s emperor arranged for nobles and the imperial house to fund a Magitech Vehicle Factory near the capital, with shares divided among the investors, Rost Territory, Wild Mages, and the imperial house.
• The nobles’ factory investment drove Steel Futures higher, while Odd Coin kept his original capital withdrawn and left only his profits in the market.
• Graycastle’s emperor watched the convoy’s livestream and worried that the trip to the City-State Alliance would determine whether his decision had been right.
• The convoy leader announced that the convoy would first visit Epic City, where writers from Magic Net Books would join its journey to Golden City.
• The convoy leader said that reaching Golden City would mark the start of a new era and the official beginning of Magitech Vehicle sales.

The convoy’s announcement that Magitech Vehicles would soon go on sale sparked intense excitement and speculation about their prices. After traveling through several city-states, the convoy reached the Golden City, where its lord welcomed the representative and confirmed the exhibition area and stage were ready.

• The convoy leader announced that Magitech Vehicles would be released for sale, prompting widespread online excitement and discussion of their cost and demand.
• The convoy traveled through Epic City and several other city-states before arriving at the Golden City.
• The convoy leader saw steel frameworks at the New-Style Housing construction site and discussed the project with the livestream audience.
• The Golden City's lord personally welcomed the convoy and said the requested exhibition area and stage had been prepared.

Viscount Rost scheduled the Magitech Vehicle launch event and assigned it to the convoy leader while preparing to crush Steel Futures. The announced prices stunned buyers and fueled speculation that steel prices would rise, as the Clarkson Family remained heavily invested in steel futures.

• The convoy leader pressed Viscount Rost to set a date for the launch and start sales.
• Viscount Rost set the launch event for seven days later, planned to announce prices the next day, and put the convoy leader in charge.
• The launch event proceeded smoothly, with Magitech Vehicles priced from 888 to 2,888 gold coins.
• People on the Magic Net reacted to the low prices and speculated that vehicle sales would increase steel demand.
• A Clarkson Family elder urged the patriarch to buy more Steel Futures, and the patriarch revealed that the family had less than 400 gold coins in liquid funds.

The Clarkson Family patriarch decided to sell a small portion of the family's Steel Futures to buy a Magitech Vehicle, but the market filled with sell orders that nobody would buy. As Steel Futures prices began falling, he and other investors tried to convince themselves the drop was temporary, leaving their fortunes at risk.

• The Clarkson Family patriarch agreed to sell 1,500 gold coins' worth of Steel Futures to buy a Magitech Vehicle, despite the family holding over 32.5 million gold coins' worth.
• The Clarkson Family patriarch noticed a growing number of Steel Futures sell orders and listed his own at the standard price, expecting buyers to appear.
• Steel Futures sell orders continued to accumulate without buyers, and people on Magic Space debated whether Magitech Vehicle purchases or a price bubble explained the change.
• A Magic Space user reported that Steel Futures prices had started falling, and sellers kept lowering their asking prices without making sales.
• The Clarkson Family patriarch blamed the falling prices on a planned liquidity squeeze, though he feared what would happen to his fortune if Steel Futures collapsed.

Viscount Rost accelerated the Steel Futures crash by repeatedly placing large orders at lower prices, triggering panic among nobles and merchants who had mortgaged their fortunes to invest. As desperate investors blamed Foster Mining Company, Rost defended the company and condemned their speculation on the Magic Net.

• Viscount Rost sold roughly ten thousand gold coins' worth of Steel Futures below the current price, then lowered the price again to break investors' confidence.
• The price fell about 25% in half an hour, and investors began panicking and trying to sell their holdings.
• The head and elders of the Clarkson Family realized their heavily mortgaged assets were at risk, while the Duke of the Dawn Westlands and other nobles faced similar losses.
• Desperate investors questioned how much steel Foster Mining Company produced and accused it of selling without regard for Steel Futures prices.
• Viscount Rost posted on the Magic Net that investors had driven prices up through speculation and had no right to blame Foster Mining Company.
• Foster Mining Company issued an announcement supporting Viscount Rost's response.

Foster Iron Mine offered to buy back Steel Futures at their original price, prompting enraged nobles to blame the company and then Johnny the Actuary. Viscount Rost’s effort to divert their anger from himself and Foster Mining Company unfolded as the nobles sought private buyers for their contracts while market prices kept falling.

• Foster Iron Mine announced it would repurchase Steel Futures at their original prices after fulfilling existing orders and then stop producing.
• Nobles on the Magic Net condemned the offer as an insult, though some recognized Foster Mining Company had set its prices from the start.
• Viscount Rost expected the nobles to direct their anger at Foster Iron Mine or Johnny the Actuary rather than him, since he had warned against overpriced futures and had the Technology God Church’s backing.
• The nobles blamed the Futures Trading Gazette and Johnny the Actuary for encouraging their confidence in rising steel prices.
• As Steel Futures plunged, the nobles began negotiating privately to sell their contracts to other families below the Futures Market price.

Johnny the Actuary fled the Graycastle Empire with his family after the Steel Futures collapse, accepting help from Viscount Rost’s organization to reach the Tulip Kingdom under an assumed name. Meanwhile, the Duke of the Westlands learned that the marquises he hoped would rescue his duchy had also borrowed heavily to invest in Steel Futures.

• Johnny the Actuary feared nobles would blame him for the Steel Futures collapse and decided to flee with his remaining gold.
• A carriage driver told Johnny the Actuary that his wife and children were waiting and offered to take them to the Tiele Chiefdom or elsewhere.
• Johnny the Actuary recognized the rescue as Viscount Rost’s arrangement and chose to travel to the Tulip Kingdom under an assumed name.
• The Duke of the Westlands asked whether nobles under his family would buy or support the duchy’s Steel Futures.
• The Duke of the Westlands learned that his marquises had also taken out loans and invested everything in Steel Futures.

The Clarkson Family head tried to sell the family’s Steel Futures after prices collapsed, but Foster Mining Company refused because its buyback offer had expired. As nobles faced ruin, they blamed Johnny the Actuary rather than themselves.

• Steel Futures prices plunged as desperate investors found no buyers, leaving the Clarkson Family head stunned by the market’s collapse.
• The Clarkson Family head ordered his family to sell all its Steel Futures to Foster Mining Company at the original price.
• Foster Mining Company told him that its offer had applied only to the previous day and that the collapse could no longer be stopped.
• The Clarkson Family head realized that Viscount Rost and Foster Mining Company had repeatedly warned investors about the risks.
• The Clarkson Family head and other nobles decided that Johnny the Actuary was responsible for their disastrous investments.

Graycastle nobles and Church leaders blamed Johnny the Actuary for the Steel Futures collapse after discovering he had disappeared with his family. As they joined the search, Foster Mining warned that falling steel prices and stranded workers threatened its survival.

• Graycastle nobles rushed to the Futures Trading Gazette and found Church representatives already there.
• The Garden Pope said Johnny the Actuary, his wife, and his children had disappeared, prompting the crowd to accuse him of manipulating Steel Futures and flee with the profits.
• Nobles and Church leaders joined forces to search for Johnny the Actuary.
• Foster Mining posted that it had hired many workers and gathered refugees to fulfill steel orders, but feared unsold steel, collapsing prices, and the cost of supporting the workers.

Viscount Rost redirected public anger toward Johnny the Actuary as the Steel Futures crisis deepened and Enron Mining was exposed as having sold far more steel futures than it could fulfill. He and Nidhogg discussed their enormous profits and Rost’s plan to buy up the contracts cheaply before the Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System revived the steel market.

• Investors blamed Johnny the Actuary for their losses and speculated about where he had fled.
• Viscount Rost celebrated as public attention shifted toward Johnny after a night of turmoil.
• An Enron Mining employee revealed that the company had little steel but had sold futures for more than eight million jin, leaving it unable to deliver.
• The Futures Market froze Enron Mining’s margin deposits, and the company’s stock plunged below its floor price.
• Nidhogg told Viscount Rost that the Dragons had earned eighty million gold coins from the trading markets.
• Viscount Rost admitted he planned to buy up the futures contracts at low prices so their holders could not profit when the rail system revived demand for steel.

As nobles despaired over their trapped Steel Futures investments, the Great Dragon Bank announced that it would lease its vast landholdings at just 10% of the harvest. Nidhogg defended the low rent as a way to attract tenants and ensure nobles would give up their mortgaged land.

• The Great Dragon Bank announced that it would lease its lands across the continent at a uniform 10% harvest rent.
• Nobles feared the cheap rent would make their lands worthless, while ordinary people began to see how farmers and city residents could benefit.
• Viscount Rost argued on the Magic Net that farmers barely kept any grain after taxes and that cheaper food would help city workers.
• Nidhogg rejected advice to set rent higher, saying 10% was only the starting point and low rent would help attract enough tenants.
• Nidhogg explained that his goal was to make nobles who had mortgaged their land let go of it, not to maximize rent.

Viscount Rost’s campaign and Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg’s intervention pushed nobles into despair as steel and land values collapsed. The Great Dragon Bank collected debts and collateral, ending with control of nearly half the land in human territory.

• Viscount Rost’s paid commentators voiced nobles’ fears that cheaper Dragon-owned land would make their holdings impossible to lease.
• Destruction Black Dragon Nidhogg urged the nobles to sell land, buy bonds, invest, or build factories instead of clinging to inherited ways.
• Steel prices fell below three percent of their peak, and many nobles surrendered their collateral because they could not repay their debts.
• Land prices collapsed as nobles abandoned their holdings and transferred them to the Great Dragon Bank to offset debts.
• The Great Dragon Bank entered a cycle of acquiring more land and came to control nearly half the land in human territory.

Viscount Rost bought back nearly all the Steel Futures at a fraction of their peak price, then invited influential guests to the Southlands to reveal vast steel rails stretching from the city. The Clarkson Family Patriarch suspected the rails were part of a major new Magitech project that could drive steel prices back up.

• Viscount Rost offered to buy Steel Futures for 2% of their peak price, and most holders sold to recover what they could.
• The Clarkson Family Patriarch questioned why Viscount Rost was buying steel before prices had fallen further and persuaded his family not to sell.
• Viscount Rost bought back more than 99% of the Steel Futures and prepared to reveal his plans to influential guests.
• Viscount Rost welcomed his guests in the snowy Southlands, where they saw steel rails stretching far beyond the city.
• The Clarkson Family Patriarch suspected the rails would support a powerful new Magitech Device and that its reveal could restore steel prices.

Viscount Rost demonstrated the completed Ultra-High-Speed Rail Train to nobles, merchants, and other influential figures, who experienced its speed and stability firsthand. As the train reached normal operating speed, the passengers began asking about its capacity and capabilities.

• The head of the Clarkson Family saw the rails and believed his family might soon rise again.
• Viscount Rost invited the gathered figures and merchants to board the twenty-four-carriage train for its completion ceremony.
• Viscount Rost led the important figures into the luxurious Carriage No. 1 while other passengers boarded the ordinary carriages.
• The train accelerated out of the city, frightening many passengers before its smooth ride and passing scenery amazed them.
• After the train reached normal operating speed, an influential passenger asked Viscount Rost about its cargo capacity, passenger capacity, and speed.

Viscount Rost explained the Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System’s speed, capacity, and costs to powerful leaders, who realized it could transform trade and transport across the continent. He proposed connecting major cities with rail main lines and using Magitech Vehicles to extend the network, leaving the gathering to consider the cooperation such a project required.

• Viscount Rost told the leaders that the rail system could reach 600 kilometers per hour and carry twenty-four passenger or freight cars.
• The leaders calculated that the system could move people and goods across the continent in hours and recognized its enormous potential for trade.
• Viscount Rost estimated that a railway could cost around ten million gold coins and argued that its economic value would outweigh the expense.
• Viscount Rost proposed building north-south and east-west main lines between important cities, then connecting smaller cities and territories with Magitech Vehicles.
• The gathering recognized that building the network would require agreement and cooperation from everyone along its routes.

Viscount Rost presented the Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System’s speed, capacity, and investment plan to powerful figures, inviting them to join its company. After the train reached the Graycastle Empire border in twenty minutes, he reflected that sharing control and profits would help secure cooperation across territories and countries.

• Viscount Rost explained that multiple Ultra-High-Speed Rail Trains could run on the tracks and outlined plans for an independent company with shares open to new investors.
• The powerful figures realized they had been invited to invest in the rail system, whose construction was too costly and complex for one faction to manage alone.
• The train stopped at the border between Dawn Southlands and the Graycastle Empire after barely twenty minutes, compared with at least three days by carriage.
• Viscount Rost considered how cooperation and shared profits could overcome foreign regulations, local lords’ demands, and resistance to railway construction.
• Viscount Rost planned to retain control of the network while sharing profits, and considered creating parent and subsidiary companies as the project expanded.

Viscount Rost saw the Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System as a way to create vast markets at every station and attract nobles who had suffered losses from Steel Futures. After news of the system spread on the Magic Net, people imagined how faster transportation would expand trade and daily life, leaving them eager to learn where the rails would be built.

• Viscount Rost reasoned that rail stations would become major markets and that nobles would eagerly compete to build factories near them.
• News of the Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System appeared on the Magic Net, and users reacted to its speed, capacity, possible routes, and connection to the Steel Futures losses.
• People discussed how the system could let them travel farther, reach better markets, and receive goods more cheaply.
• Viscount Rost's earlier promotion of Magitech Vehicles had helped people understand that improved transportation expanded their range of activity.
• Merchants recognized that the rail system could make long-distance trade profitable for goods beyond luxury items.

The head of the Clarkson Family planned to recover his finances and build a business selling City-State Alliance specialties as the ultra-high-speed rail system expanded. Viscount Rost returned to the Rost Territory because Rost Academy had been completed, launching a long-planned effort to cultivate magitech researchers and business talent.

• The head of the Clarkson Family decided to sell his Steel Futures after prices stabilized, safeguard most of the recovered funds, and start selling local specialties through Taobao Mall and video promotions.
• The head of the Clarkson Family planned to grow the business as the ultra-high-speed rail system connected the Golden City with more regions across the continent.
• People sought Viscount Rost to learn about the rail system’s plans, but Viscount Rost left the Southlands and flew back to the Rost Territory on a Dragon.
• Viscount Rost returned to oversee the completed Rost Academy, created to cultivate scientific, technological, and business talent for the Technology God Church.