Recaps

Xu Yi and Stille rescued Smilla Porter from the Sandy River and learned that Xinfei Merchant Guild’s road and upstream work had ruined his river transport business. Smilla warned that the river’s accumulating sediment could cause a devastating flood, and Xu Yi offered him a job to help address the problem and rebuild his fleet.

• Xu Yi pulled Smilla Porter from the Sandy River after hearing him cry for help, and Smilla angrily accused Xu Yi of destroying his fleet.
• Stille recognized Smilla as the former president of the Porter Merchant Guild, and he explained that the guild had closed after Xinfei Merchant Guild’s road diverted transport business from the river.
• Smilla warned Xu Yi and Stille that sediment from the Sandy River’s upper reaches was making the water muddy and could raise the riverbed until a rainstorm caused a flood.
• Xu Yi examined the muddy water, thanked Smilla for alerting him to the danger, and accepted that he had some responsibility for the problem.
• Xu Yi offered Smilla a job and promised to help him build a new fleet once river transport regained its importance.

Xu Yi persuaded Count Samo to address the Sandy River’s changing condition, offering funding and magical construction machinery while insisting the city repay or compensate his guild. He then questioned Anise about the river’s beastman-occupied upper reaches and suggested they travel there, provoking Stille’s displeasure.

• Xu Yi convinced Count Samo that the Sandy River’s changes warranted action, and Count Samo ordered officials to survey it and report on possible repairs.
• Xu Yi agreed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would provide funding and machinery, while Count Samo accepted responsibility for repaying or compensating the guild.
• Xu Yi met Stille, Sophia, and Kennard outside the City Lord’s Manor, then summoned Anise to ask about the river’s upper reaches.
• Anise explained that beastman tribes occupied most areas around the upper Sandy River because they settled wherever water was available.
• Xu Yi suggested that Anise accompany him on another business trip, and Stille responded with a surge of killing intent.

Xu Yi explained that he wanted to regulate the Sandy River to expand transport and support Bunta City’s growing magic machinery industry. After he shared his ambition to advance technology enough to reach outer space, Kennard offered to become the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s general manager, and Xu Yi accepted him on probation.

• Xu Yi told Kennard that regulating the Sandy River would improve river transport and help Bunta City ship its future goods, protecting its developing magic machinery industry.
• Kennard asked why Xu Yi encouraged competitors, and Xu Yi explained that he wanted magic machinery to improve life across the Sains Continent and eventually enable people to travel into outer space.
• Xu Yi described his hope of finding his true home among distant continents, leaving Kennard puzzled but impressed by his ambition.
• Kennard said he wanted to help change the world and offered himself as the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s general manager, explaining that his family and Walmart Merchant Guild experience qualified him.
• Xu Yi accepted Kennard as general manager on probation and warned that he could dismiss him if he performed poorly.

Kennard Emma reviewed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s pay structure and proposed grading factory workers by the difficulty and technical skill of their jobs. Xu Yi assigned him to produce a detailed report in half a month, then went to Great Mage Camilla’s laboratory, where he discovered she had completed a magical project.

• Xu Yi explained Kennard Emma’s role as general manager at a press conference and reassured him that he trusted his abilities.
• Kennard showed Xu Yi a report on employee wages and argued that factory workers’ pay should reflect the differing demands of their jobs.
• Kennard gave examples from the Automatic Magic Rice Cooker production line, and Xu Yi assigned him to prepare a detailed job classification report within half a month.
• Xu Yi visited Great Mage Camilla’s laboratory after Stille told him she had two pieces of good news.
• Great Mage Camilla beckoned Xu Yi to help with her experiment, and he exclaimed with joy when he saw she had completed it.

Xu Yi and Great Mage Camilla tested a miniaturized Storm Array as the power source for a Wind-Powered Engine, while also learning that the Mages' Guild was moving closer to approving magic patent rights. Xu Yi left encouraged by the engine research and the prospect of building an industrial system on the Sains Continent.

• Great Mage Camilla showed Xu Yi her palm-sized Storm Array, and they discussed how to transfer its power safely into a Magic Fan-sized device.
• Xu Yi and Great Mage Camilla conducted preliminary experiments on the Storm Array, then realized they had worked through lunch and dinner.
• Great Mage Camilla gave Xu Yi the latest Guild Journal, where articles discussed specific rules for magic patent rights and Great Mage Eisenka declared his support.
• Great Mage Camilla told Xu Yi that she and Great Mage Eisenka had been invited to a Mages' Guild meeting on patent rights, and she agreed to attend.
• Xu Yi left for Night Market Street, reflecting on Kennard's help, Camilla's research, and his hope to develop engines and eventually install streetlamps in Bunta City.

Xu Yi traveled to Falling Rain Valley with Kennard, Sophia, Stille, and Anise, where their conversation revealed Anise's unusual understanding of grief and friendship. After arriving, Xu Yi welcomed Kennard to see the Xinfei Merchant Guild's true strength.

• Xu Yi questioned why Sophia had insisted on joining the trip, and Kennard backed him until Sophia grabbed Stille's and Anise's hands.
• Anise bluntly told Sophia not to lie about being hurt, prompting Stille and Xu Yi to explain that humans express sadness in different ways.
• Anise said she would avenge Xu Yi if an enemy killed him but would accept his accidental death as part of nature, leaving Xu Yi to theatrically lament that she would not cry for him.
• The carriage reached Falling Rain Valley, where Kennard and Sophia marveled at its scale and beauty.
• Xu Yi invited Kennard to see where the Xinfei Merchant Guild's strength lay.

Xu Yi showed Kennard the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s expanding production base in Falling Rain Valley, convincing him that the guild was far stronger than he had assumed. He then selected ten trained elf workers to take back to Elder Elusia, while wondering how the orcs would react to seeing them.

• Xu Yi showed Kennard the Steelworks and expanded factories in Falling Rain Valley, where rising demand had prompted major increases in production and hiring.
• Kennard saw the guild’s large workforce of dwarves and elves and concluded that the Xinfei Merchant Guild was not weak and could become one of the kingdom’s first-rate guilds.
• Xu Yi went to the Tire Factory to choose elf workers for Elder Elusia to assess after several months of training.
• Anise presented ten elf workers whom the others had judged to be the best performers, and Xu Yi noted their precise discipline and improved skills.
• Xu Yi told the ten elves that Elder Elusia would likely be pleased to see them, but that the orcs might not be.

Xu Yi persuaded Elder Elusia to expand the Night Song Tribe’s resin-processing work and move more elves into human society, while explaining that the Sandy River’s water problems threatened both the tribe and Bunta City. Elder Elusia agreed to send three hundred elves to Xu Yi’s Plastic and Rubber Processing Factory, leaving the specific arrangements to him.

• Xu Yi told Elder Elusia that the Sandy River could cause catastrophic flooding downstream and said he wanted to negotiate with the Orc Tribe to address its water problems.
• Elder Elusia allowed Xu Yi to bring ten trained elf workers to the Night Song Tribe, where their improved performance impressed the other elves and led them to request training in his factory.
• Xu Yi revealed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had more than a hundred thousand tire orders backlogged and proposed moving production to his larger factory in Falling Rain Valley.
• Elder Elusia said the tribe had received abundant supplies through its work with Xu Yi and that two children had been born in the past three months, then agreed in principle to expand the arrangement.
• Elder Elusia agreed to keep one hundred elves working at the current factory and select another three hundred for the Plastic and Rubber Processing Factory, leaving the arrangements to Xu Yi.

Xu Yi traveled with Stille, Anise, and ten elves to Samora, where he met the merchant guild presidents and proposed building a highway from Bunta City into the Black Rice Wasteland. The chapter ended with Cruz and Reilsa stunned by Xu Yi’s plan to extend the road all the way to the beastmen’s doorstep.

• Xu Yi and his companions arrived in Samora and met Presidents Cruz and Reilsa, who questioned why elves were joining the trip.
• Xu Yi assured Reilsa that the elves would use the Veiling Spell inside beastman territory, then told Cruz he wanted to investigate building a highway to the Black Rice Wasteland.
• Reilsa explained that his caravan relied on veteran guards and described the unspoken rules governing robberies and ransom between human traders and beastmen.
• Reilsa agreed that a highway to Samora would help his caravans and offered to discuss funding it with Cruz.
• Xu Yi clarified that he wanted the highway to reach directly into the Black Rice Wasteland, leaving Cruz and Reilsa astonished.

Xu Yi revealed a valuable nonferrous metal deposit beneath a hill near the Worrel Werewolf Tribe and recruited President Reilsa to help pursue it. He also discovered that the Black Rice Wasteland was rapidly desertifying, and Anise said the elves could restore it, though the Orc Tribe had rejected an earlier effort.

• Xu Yi identified a rich deposit of aluminum, copper, tungsten, and lead beneath a hill near the Worrel Werewolf Tribe, and explained its industrial value to President Cruz and President Reilsa.
• President Reilsa agreed to help Xu Yi and President Cruz investigate the deposit, and the three planned to enter the Worrel Werewolf Tribe first.
• Stille showed Xu Yi that the wasteland’s soil had degraded into loose sand, and Xu Yi warned that overgrazing could turn the region into a desert.
• Anise told Xu Yi that the elves could easily improve the wasteland, but that the Orc Tribe had refused an earlier proposal to plant a forest there.

Xu Yi proposed that the Worrel Tribe partner with the Xinfei Merchant Guild to develop a nonferrous metals mine and build factories and roads in the Black Rice Wasteland, then returned to Bunta City to arrange a million-gold investment with the Amli and Rexton Merchant Guilds. The chapter ended with Xu Yi and Stille learning that Great Mage Camilla had suddenly closed her Mage Tower.

• Xu Yi persuaded the Worrel Chieftain to hear his proposal and offered five hundred thousand gold coins to purchase the tribe's nonferrous metals vein.
• Xu Yi left Anise and ten other elves in the Black Rice Wasteland to map its terrain and locate beastman tribes.
• Xu Yi, President Cruz, and President Reilsa agreed to invest one million gold coins in the mine and roads, with Xu Yi's Xinfei Merchant Guild holding a sixty-percent share.
• Xu Yi refused President Cruz's request to invest in the smelting and cement factories because their technology belonged to the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi and Stille returned to Bunta City and learned that Great Mage Camilla had suddenly closed her Mage Tower.

Great Mage Camilla decided to close her mage tower and join Xu Yi’s Magic Research Institute after seeing how the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s industry had transformed Mildan Village. She explained that committing to magic machinery research would show other mages how magic could improve people’s lives, and Xu Yi recognized the choice’s advertising value.

• Great Mage Camilla told Xu Yi and Stille she intended to close her mage tower and work at the Magic Research Institute, surprising them both.
• Camilla revealed that Mildan Village was being demolished and relocated as part of Bunta City’s redevelopment, and Xu Yi explained that the villagers would receive replacement homes and job opportunities.
• Camilla described how the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s machinery and industry had improved village life, earning Xu Yi the villagers’ gratitude.
• Camilla said her visit had changed her view of magic and led her to dedicate herself fully to magic arrays for magic machinery.
• Xu Yi explained that Camilla’s decision to join the institute would also have an advertising effect.

Great Mage Camilla’s decision to become an official employee of the Xinfei Merchant Guild drew widespread attention and brought the guild a surge of orders and mage applicants. Xu Yi helped the other magic machinery guilds recruit the surplus mages, and the chapter ended with Princess Royal Servini confronting him about their numbers.

• Xu Yi announced that Great Mage Camilla would join the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Magic Research Institute as a special-grade researcher, shocking the kingdom and drawing extensive publicity.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild received a huge increase in orders, while mages flocked to Bunta City hoping to work for the guild.
• Xu Yi turned away some applicants because the Xinfei Merchant Guild lacked the capacity to employ them all and needed quality researchers more than sheer numbers.
• Xu Yi convened the Bunta City Magic Machinery Commercial Association, and its member guilds recruited the mages who had come seeking work.
• More than three thousand mages arrived in Bunta City, and Princess Royal Servini asked Xu Yi whether he planned to use them to stage a rebellion.

Servini warned Xu Yi that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s growing workforce had attracted suspicion, then brought him together with two military officers to discuss the new arms factory. Xu Yi agreed to transfer the skilled slave workers to Servini in exchange for compensation, but his demand that the guild mine all mineral resources in territory controlled by the Kingdom’s military shocked the others.

• Servini told Xu Yi that critics had accused the Xinfei Merchant Guild of plotting and warned him to file Labor Permit applications for its newly recruited elves.
• Servini introduced Xu Yi to Major Maikongli and Major Sahas, who had come to discuss the military’s arms factory.
• Xu Yi said the guild had finished the magic machine tools for two production lines and had prepared skilled workers to train the military.
• Xu Yi offered to transfer the workers’ ownership to Servini, and Servini agreed to do so in exchange for appropriate compensation.
• Xu Yi demanded that the Xinfei Merchant Guild receive the right to mine all mineral resources in territory controlled by the Kingdom’s military, and Servini immediately refused.

After Servini left Bunta City without accepting Xu Yi’s proposed mineral-rights conditions, Xu Yi discussed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s pay structure with Kennard. They then went to the Orchid Grass Residential Community, where villagers were preparing to move into newly built replacement homes.

• Servini, Maikongli, and Sahas departed after three days of talks, while Xu Yi honored the existing agreement and transferred the arsenal workers’ slave contracts to Servini.
• Xu Yi explained to Kennard that he would continue supporting the Princess Royal as long as she shared his goal of improving people’s lives.
• Xu Yi pressed Kennard for a pay restructuring proposal, and Kennard promised to deliver one in ten days.
• Kennard asked how to compensate Great Mage Camilla, and Xu Yi agreed that her pay should be boosted through research bonuses.
• Xu Yi and Kennard traveled to the Orchid Grass Residential Community, where villagers welcomed its sturdy, attractive replacement houses and residents of other villages also asked to move there.

At the Orchid Grass Resettlement Community’s opening ceremony, Xu Yi discussed future housing projects with President Cruz and suggested building homes on nobles’ private estates. After the ceremony began the village relocation, Xu Yi left the publicity event and arrived at the crowded Magic Research Institute, where he encountered an angry Akali.

• President Cruz asked Xu Yi how the Xinfei Merchant Guild would profit from its investment in the resettlement community, and Xu Yi explained that the nearby villages stood within Bunta City’s planned Industrial District.
• President Cruz proposed building homes for sale, and Xu Yi suggested partnering with nobles to develop their private estates.
• Count Samo introduced Bunta City’s redevelopment project at the ceremony, and Xu Yi and President Cruz pledged their guilds’ support.
• Count Samo announced the relocation, and the first hundred village households moved into their assigned homes while reporters interviewed them.
• Xu Yi left the ceremony’s publicity event for the Magic Research Institute and found Akali approaching with a furious expression.

Xu Yi addressed a dangerous experiment at the Magic Research Institute and ordered Avita to establish safety standards. After hearing about major progress on stronger magic arrays for harvesters, he learned the institute might have to close for a few days.

• Akali told Xu Yi that Xiuqi had ignored her warning, causing the Sunfire Array to explode and damage the laboratory, so Xu Yi charged him for the losses.
• Xiuqi challenged the penalty, but Xu Yi insisted that researchers had to consider safety before conducting experiments.
• Xu Yi tasked Avita with creating safety standards for magical research and reassured her that she could handle the responsibility.
• Avita reported that the institute was studying stronger wind arrays for larger Magic Harvesters, and Xu Yi approved research into all four candidate arrays.
• Avita explained that the modified Gale Array 3.0 produced thirty percent more power, and Xu Yi praised the institute’s progress.
• Avita told Xu Yi that the Magic Research Institute might have to close for a few days.

Xu Yi brought the Magic Research Institute researchers to Anvilmar City for the Mages' Guild Qualification Certification Examination and arranged for them to stay at the luxurious Shelton Hotel. After meeting Alex and inspecting the researchers’ new uniforms being tailored, Xu Yi visited Victor and his companions’ household magic machinery shop and warned Urgat that it faced a crisis.

• Xu Yi checked the researchers into the Shelton Hotel and explained that the Guild examination had prompted him to give them a week off and arrange their accommodation.
• Bella and Akali asked Xu Yi about building a road between Bunta City and Anvilmar City, and he said it might be built the following year.
• Alex arrived with five tailors, and Xu Yi had them take the researchers’ measurements for uniforms before leaving with Alex to inspect the shop.
• Xu Yi saw that Victor, Urgat, and their companion had opened a carefully arranged household magic machinery shop on a busy street.
• Xu Yi met Urgat at the shop and told him that the business was facing a crisis.

Xu Yi confronted Urgat over the threat the Walmart Merchant Guild posed to their Xinfei specialty shop, then proposed turning it into an officially supported service center for the guild in Anvilmar City. He left Urgat to discuss a strict new contract with Victor and Mulu, disappointed by Alex’s lack of initiative and his suggestion that Xu Yi visit a brothel, and headed to find Stille and Great Mage Camilla.

• Urgat blamed Xu Yi for the Walmart Merchant Guild’s plans to sell household magic machinery, and Xu Yi learned Victor and Mulu shared Urgat’s complaints.
• Xu Yi explained that the Walmart Merchant Guild could not be beaten on price and presented a contract to make the specialty shop an official Xinfei Product Service Center.
• Urgat praised the proposal but said he would discuss the contract with Victor and Mulu, while Xu Yi warned that he would enforce its terms strictly.
• After leaving the shop, Xu Yi reflected that he had little choice but to rely on Urgat, Victor, and Mulu to represent the guild in Anvilmar City.
• Alex offered to take Xu Yi to a place with attractive girls, prompting Xu Yi to coldly tell him they would go find Stille and Great Mage Camilla instead.

Xu Yi attended the opening of the Walmart Household Magic Machinery Mall in Anvilmar City and discussed its expansion plans with President Lundes. He warned that other cities had less purchasing power and higher delivery costs, and Lundes pressed him to lower prices, revealing the real aim of their negotiations.

• The Walmart Household Magic Machinery Mall opened to a huge crowd, drawn by heavy advertising, limited stock, and opening-day discounts.
• Xu Yi explained hunger marketing to Hank Wilson and President Lundes as they watched customers rush into the mall.
• President Lundes complained that Kennard had joined the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and Xu Yi said he trusted Kennard while preparing for eventual staff changes.
• Hank Wilson gave Xu Yi the Walmart Merchant Guild's proposal to open household magic machinery malls in other major cities.
• Xu Yi cautioned President Lundes that lower purchasing power and transportation costs would make expansion harder than the proposal suggested.
• President Lundes asked whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild could lower prices, and Xu Yi realized Lundes had been leading toward that request.

Xu Yi refused President Lundes's request to cut magic machinery prices and proposed building highways to reduce transportation costs instead. While strolling through Anvilmar City with Stille, he considered founding a magic machinery academy, but their outing ended when they encountered a young man staring greedily at Stille.

• Xu Yi rejected President Lundes's call for the Xinfei Merchant Guild to lower prices and suggested that the Walmart Merchant Guild invest in highways to reduce shipping costs.
• Stille told Xu Yi that the Great Mage had hurried away with someone from the Mages' Guild, then invited him to explore Anvilmar City with her.
• Xu Yi and Stille visited shops and the Rhine River, and Xu Yi proposed creating an academy to train magic mechanical engineers.
• As Stille started leading Xu Yi toward the Lampari Royal Academy, she stopped after spotting a young man and woman across the street, and the young man stared at her with amazement and greed.

Xu Yi and Stille encountered Vincent in Anvilmar City, where he shamelessly pursued Stille in front of his fiancée, Michelle. They left him behind and reaffirmed their love as they continued toward the Lampari Royal Academy.

• Stille identified Vincent as her former classmate and introduced Michelle as his fiancée.
• Vincent invited Stille and Xu Yi to his home, but insulted Xu Yi and claimed he still loved Stille despite Michelle being present.
• Stille rejected Vincent's advances and walked away with Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi laughed at Vincent's behavior, and Stille explained that her old crush had been an adolescent fantasy.
• Stille told Xu Yi that he was the most handsome man to her, and they continued toward the Lampari Royal Academy.

Xu Yi visited the military training grounds, where officers thanked him for improving the army’s equipment and described the kingdom’s severe shortages and battlefield losses. After he recorded soldiers’ suggestions for armor and weapons, Major Maikongli explained that the men wanted to meet him and build a relationship with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, warning that Xu Yi had already become involved in consequential matters.

• Xu Yi met Major Maikongli and military officers at the training grounds, where they praised the Xinfei Merchant Guild for supplying fifty thousand affordable equipment sets.
• The officers recounted the army’s inadequate weapons and armor, including heavy casualties suffered by the Northern Garrison against the Sark Kingdom.
• Xu Yi listened to soldiers’ feedback on their armor and weapons, recorded measurements, and agreed to make improvements.
• Xu Yi watched twenty soldiers perform a skirmish exercise and asked Major Maikongli why he had been invited in person.
• Major Maikongli said the soldiers wanted to meet Xu Yi because his guild’s help could save their lives, then told him that he had already set important things in motion.

Xu Yi signed major military supply and research agreements for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, knowingly entering the Joseph Family’s territory. After Great Mage Camilla told him that the Level Seven Mage certification examination would be held in Anvilmar City, Xu Yi prepared to take it and hoped she might pass him.

• Xu Yi agreed to complete Servini’s slave-transfer paperwork and signed military orders for a weapon-and-armor production line, tires, and specialized magic machinery.
• Xu Yi recognized that supplying the military would challenge the Joseph Family’s near-monopoly and planned to negotiate with the family.
• Great Mage Camilla returned and asked Xu Yi whether he had reached Level Seven Mage strength; Xu Yi said he had.
• Great Mage Camilla told Xu Yi that the mage certification examinations for levels six through nine would be held in each country, so he could take his examination in Anvilmar City the day after tomorrow.
• Great Mage Camilla explained that all five Great Mages in the Lampari Kingdom would attend the examinations, and Xu Yi asked her to give him a passing result; she gave him a cold look.

Xu Yi and Stille attended the Second-Level Mage examination to support the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s mages, where Xu Yi reunited with his former classmate Elwin. Elwin chose to continue adventuring despite Xu Yi offering him a job, and he advised Xu Yi to recruit interested mages at the examination.

• Xu Yi and Stille arrived at the examination grounds, where the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s mages and many other candidates noticed them.
• Xu Yi met Elwin, who said a year of adventuring had improved his combat experience but left his magical abilities nearly unchanged.
• Elwin greeted Stille and praised Xu Yi’s success in founding the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi offered Elwin a position at the guild, but Elwin said he had grown to love adventuring and declined.
• Elwin told Xu Yi that many candidates were interested in the Xinfei Merchant Guild and encouraged him to recruit them.