Recaps

Xu Yi negotiated a revised sales agreement with Hank Wilson and learned that the Walmart Merchant Guild wanted to buy magic locomotives to build foreign freight routes. The guild also proposed partnering abroad to sell Xinfei products and establish factories, leaving Xu Yi to weigh the opportunity against the risk of Walmart taking the lead.

• Hank Wilson offered a new cooperation agreement with better terms, including Walmart coverage of some transportation costs, but Xu Yi said the Feilson Carriage Company had exclusive responsibility for Xinfei shipments.
• Wilson revealed that President Lundes had sent him to buy magic locomotives, and Xu Yi learned Walmart planned an initial fleet of five hundred medium freight locomotives for routes to neighboring countries.
• Xu Yi agreed that Xinfei might supply the five hundred locomotives, but said he had to discuss the request with the Feilson Carriage Company before confirming.
• Xu Yi read Walmart's proposal to sell Xinfei products abroad and potentially establish local factories together, then considered how Walmart's stronger presence could make it the leading partner.

Xu Yi declined to sign Wilson’s proposed contract but agreed to sell the Walmart Merchant Guild five hundred Cargo Magic Locomotives, leaving Kennard to manage the production challenge. In Bunta City, Servini defended the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s expansion beyond the city to Nori, then learned that her elder brother was reorganizing the Northern Garrison to seek glory on the battlefield.

• Xu Yi told Kennard he would not let the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s development depend on others, while remaining open to expanding cooperation with the Walmart Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi assigned Kennard the task of supplying the Walmart Merchant Guild with five hundred Cargo Magic Locomotives and asked him to look after Sophia.
• Servini explained to Nori that Bunta City’s tax revenue had surged and that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s international trade and investments elsewhere were contributing to the kingdom’s wider development.
• Nori urged Servini to restrict the Xinfei Merchant Guild from moving factories out of Bunta City, but Servini said she supported Xu Yi’s broader goals for the Lampari Kingdom.
• Nori told Servini that her elder brother was reorganizing the Northern Garrison because he wanted to prove himself on the battlefield.

Viscount Leslie prepared to leave the Northern Garrison for a post at the Military Department’s General Staff Headquarters, troubled by the corruption and hardship he had seen there. At a lavish banquet, Prince Eric discussed a counteroffensive against the Sark Kingdom and assumed the Stark Family would fund it, while Leslie concealed his true reaction behind a toast.

• Leslie learned from Muller that padded coats cost far less than the Northern Garrison’s official purchase price, and Muller asked him to help the soldiers if he could.
• Leslie confirmed his transfer to General Staff Headquarters, said farewell to Muller, and left with Butler Wenlai to meet Prince Eric.
• Prince Eric welcomed Leslie with an extravagant banquet, while Leslie reflected on the contrast between the meal and the Northern Garrison’s soldiers’ conditions.
• Leslie questioned the cost of Prince Eric’s planned counteroffensive against the Sark Kingdom, and Prince Eric expected the Stark Family to provide full support.
• Leslie raised a toast to victory while hiding a cold smile behind his wineglass.

Mick took the Xinfei Merchant Guild's professional skills assessment at Falling Rain Valley, completing practical tests on a magic-powered lathe before heading to the theory exam. Avita encouraged him that passing the elementary assessment would qualify him to work for the guild, while the results remained unknown.

• Mick waited in the crowded assessment site, reviewing his theory book and worrying about the tests.
• Ankato announced the assessment rules and began the exams, and Mick entered the venue when his turn came.
• A dwarf examiner tested Mick's lathe skills; Mick earned scores of 85 and 80 on two machining tasks.
• The dwarf sent Mick to the theory examination room, where he met Avita and admitted he doubted he could qualify as a senior technician.
• Avita told Mick that passing the elementary assessment would qualify him to work for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and he hurried off to take the theory test.
• Avita watched the crowd, then boarded a Feilson Carriage Company public-service magic locomotive bound for Bunta City.

Avita and Akali tested Akali’s Home Central Remote-Control System at Miss Sophia’s house, finding that inconsistent magic-array standards reduced its effectiveness. President Cruz then offered Akali the option of buying a home through installment payments, an idea he had learned from President Xu.

• Avita arrived at the Amli Merchant Guild’s residential development and found Akali working with her assistants at Miss Sophia’s house.
• Akali estimated that installing the Home Central Remote-Control System would take a week, and Avita suggested using standardized Xinfei household machines to simplify the work.
• Akali tested the system and discovered that differences in magic-array setup standards weakened its performance in the house.
• Avita and Akali agreed to select household machines with compatible frequencies for Miss Sophia and to study the remaining problems later.
• President Cruz stopped Avita and Akali on their way out and offered Akali installment payments for a house.

Akali and Avita discussed buying homes in Bunta City, and Xu Yi agreed to lend Akali money while Avita declined. After learning the Magic Research Institute lacked enough staff, Xu Yi realized that better housing could attract more mages and hurried off to see his grandfather.

• Stille offered to lend Akali and Avita money for a house, but Avita declined while Akali eagerly accepted.
• Xu Yi approved Stille's loan and reassured Akali that he would also lend her money.
• Xu Yi learned that the Magic Research Institute had 359 researchers and that Akali and Avita lacked enough staff for their workloads.
• Avita explained that mages were reluctant to move to an unfamiliar city, and Xu Yi concluded that the guild should address their housing and living arrangements.
• Xu Yi left in a hurry to see his grandfather, while Akali teased Avita about her feelings for him.

Xu Yi visited Great Mage Camilla and saw her demonstrate two strong magic-based methods for welding steel plates. He then offered to raise her annual salary to ten thousand gold coins to attract other mages to the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

• Xu Yi watched Great Mage Camilla fuse steel plates by melting the plates themselves, producing a nearly seamless and exceptionally strong joint.
• Great Mage Camilla demonstrated a second method that used miniature melting arrays along the plate edges, allowing the plates to be joined quickly while keeping their surfaces smooth.
• Xu Yi praised Camilla's research and said the guild needed more mages to work on magic machinery.
• Xu Yi revealed that he had come to raise Camilla's annual salary from over three thousand gold coins to ten thousand to publicize the guild and attract other Great Mages.

Xu Yi persuaded Great Mage Camilla to join the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s recruitment campaign and planned to take the mage Qualification Certification Examination in Anvilmar City. After the guild released the vocational examination results, Mick’s two certifications prompted President Remit to offer him a raise and promotion, keeping him from immediately joining Xinfei.

• Great Mage Camilla agreed to help Xu Yi advertise for more Great Mages, and Xu Yi said he would take the mage Qualification Certification Examination when he visited Anvilmar City.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced that 3,914 workers had passed its vocational skills examination, including 1,739 lathe operators and 716 milling operators.
• Mick collected junior certifications in lathe operation and milling operation, then went to tell President Remit he wanted to join the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• President Remit offered Mick a raise from fifteen to twenty-five gold coins per month and promoted him to production technical team leader.
• After Mick left, President Remit credited President Xu with warning him about skilled workers who might leave and considered which technologies to choose from another Xinfei document.

Xu Yi attended Anvilmar City's monthly grand auction to acquire specific items and bought Archmage Thorne's notes after a brief bidding contest. The auction then prepared to unveil its final showcase item, drawing the crowd's eager attention.

• Xu Yi attended the grand auction and listened as the early lots sold for increasingly high prices.
• Xu Yi bid on Archmage Thorne's notes, competing with bidder number forty-seven until he won them for 5,700 gold coins.
• Xu Yi waited through the later auction lots for the next item he wanted.
• A staff member brought in a small red box with unusual care, and the crowd anticipated the auction's highlight.

At an auction in Anvilmar City, Xu Yi competed for the Deep Blue Sea necklace and faced Young Master Fulaiduo’s challenge to prove he could pay. Xu Yi drove the price to 350,000 gold coins, forcing Fulaiduo to concede and leaving the audience wondering who Xu Yi was and how he had so much money.

• The auctioneer introduced the Deep Blue Sea necklace, made from azure coral stone and crafted by Grand Archmage Lifao with a rumored Forbidden Spell array, and opened bidding at 100,000 gold coins.
• After the bidding passed 200,000 gold coins, Xu Yi offered 250,000 gold coins, prompting Young Master Fulaiduo to question whether he could pay.
• Xu Yi challenged Fulaiduo to prove he could pay his own bid, and Fulaiduo raised the price to 280,000 gold coins.
• Xu Yi immediately bid 300,000 gold coins, then raised Fulaiduo’s next offer of 320,000 to 350,000 gold coins.
• Fulaiduo hesitated and conceded, while the audience wondered about Xu Yi’s wealth and identity.

Xu Yi used the auction and his connections to arrange a meeting with the Lifao family’s heir, then negotiated an advertising deal with Haines for the Xinfei Merchant Guild. The agreement would shield the guild from negative reports for one year while it expanded the magic industry across the Lampari Kingdom.

• Xu Yi explained that Archmage Thorne’s notebook could help the Xinfei Merchant Guild earn millions, while the 350,000-gold-coin necklace was a public relations expense intended to curry favor with the Lifao family.
• Haines told Xu Yi that he had arranged a meeting with the Lifao family head’s only son for the following evening, since Xu Yi could not yet meet the family head directly.
• Haines reported that the Anvilmar Daily’s leaders wanted 10,000 gold coins to accept the guild’s advertisements, and Xu Yi offered 100,000 in exchange for exclusive advertising that month and a one-year agreement.
• Xu Yi asked the Anvilmar Daily and the Lampari Weekly to publish no negative reports about the Xinfei Merchant Guild for one year so it could expand the magic industry throughout the Kingdom.
• Haines agreed to the one-year conditions but warned Xu Yi that he would expose any wrongdoing after the term ended.

Xu Yi confronted Alex about his drunken behavior and Heinz’s proposal to transfer him back to Bunta City, giving him time to reconsider. Meanwhile, the Mages’ Guild certification exams drew unusually many advanced mages, and locals learned that Xinfei’s hiring requirements and generous salaries had brought its mages to Anvilmar City.

• Xu Yi considered buying a residence in Anvilmar City and reviewed Archmage Thorne’s notes on magic flying devices for Avita’s airship research.
• Xu Yi questioned Alex about a supposed refrigerator deal after noticing his drunken state and expensive clothes and jewelry.
• Xu Yi told Alex that Heinz wanted him transferred to Bunta City and urged him to decide whether to return, while Alex insisted he would not go back.
• The Mages’ Guild held its qualification examinations on schedule, attracting more advanced mages than usual because Xinfei required recent certification from applicants.
• Tavern patrons discussed Xinfei’s high salaries and its mages staying at the Shelton Hotel as a procession of box-shaped vehicles arrived outside.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild researchers arrived in Anvilmar City for the Mages' Guild assessment, while Avita and Akali prepared to address a matter involving Vice President Heinz. Xu Yi met Murna Lifao to negotiate for the late Lifao Grand Archmage's research materials, and Murna hinted that he wanted something other than gold coins in payment.

• Akali, Claire, and Bella teased each other after arriving in Anvilmar City, until Avita reminded the researchers to keep technical discussions private and stay with their teams.
• Alex welcomed the researchers to the Shelton Hotel and offered a banquet, which Avita accepted while telling Akali they needed to act early for the president and Vice President Heinz's sake.
• Xu Yi met Murna Lifao at the Shady Cottage and asked whether his family would sell the late Lifao Grand Archmage's research materials.
• Murna said the family had preserved the materials and provisionally agreed to sell them on his father's behalf.
• When Xu Yi offered to pay in gold coins, Murna replied that he had never said the materials had to be paid for with gold.

Xu Yi discussed Murna Lifao’s partnership with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and his upcoming Mage qualification exam with Haines. Meanwhile, Alex tried to end his secret sales of the guild’s research, but a handler’s offer of ten thousand gold coins left him wavering.

• Xu Yi praised Murna Lifao for choosing a long-term partnership that could fund the Lifao Family’s research and Murna’s magical development.
• Haines asked whether Xu Yi would attempt the Level Nine Mage examination, and Xu Yi said he would reveal the result in a few days.
• Alex met a middle-aged man in a secluded house and demanded a higher price, saying Xu Yi had warned him and that this would be their last deal.
• The middle-aged man threatened to expose Alex’s sales, but Alex insisted Xu Yi would spare him for his uncle’s sake and handed over a notebook of research materials.
• The man paid Alex three thousand gold coins for the notebook, then offered him another assignment worth ten thousand gold coins, and Alex reacted with excitement.

The Mages' Guild's record-breaking certification examination brought in enough magic patent protection fees to leave the guild with money to spare. Great Mage Truchi, impressed by the success of magic machinery, asked Great Mage Camilla whether he could open a factory, but she doubted he could manage it.

• President Allen extended the examination period to half a month and offered staff a special daily allowance to handle the increased workload.
• President Allen credited Xu Yi's magic patent proposal for the guild's surplus funds and said more than thirteen thousand patents had been registered.
• Great Mage Torres explained that many mages applied for patents partly to gain prestige, while Great Mage Eisenka revealed he had paid three thousand gold coins in protection fees.
• President Allen said one of the Xinfei Merchant Guild's patents had cost ten thousand gold coins to protect and would be worth far more to acquire.
• Great Mage Truchi asked Great Mage Camilla whether he could open a magic machinery factory, and she said she doubted his temperament was suited to managing one.

Great Mage Truchi sought a steady income, and Great Mage Camilla offered to arrange a meeting with Xu Yi about work at the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Meanwhile, Lampari the Thirteenth worried over Eric’s plans for war with the Sark Kingdom and concealed a serious medical episode, while Xu Yi prepared Akali and Avita for a magic machinery conference.

• Great Mage Camilla told Great Mage Truchi that she earned ten thousand gold coins a year at the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and Great Mage Truchi asked her to arrange a meeting with Xu Yi.
• Lampari the Thirteenth criticized Eric’s plan to reorganize the Northern Garrison and counterattack the Sark Kingdom, warning that the kingdom could not afford another war.
• Lampari the Thirteenth coughed blood in the rear garden, ordered Derma to conceal it, and wondered why he had not been given a few more years.
• Akali announced that she had passed the Level Five Magic Mage assessment, and Avita said she had passed it too.
• Xu Yi encouraged Akali and Avita and led them toward the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s first technical exchange conference on magic machinery products in Anvilmar City.

At the Solaga Art Exhibition Hall, Xu Yi announced that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would transfer technology for household magic machinery under stricter standards and rules than before. He left the technical questions to Akali and Avita as the reporters prepared to learn more.

• Anlisol argued with a reporter that household magic machinery could be art and pointed to its craftsmanship and design.
• Xu Yi confirmed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild planned to transfer some of its Magic Machinery manufacturing technology.
• Xu Yi said the transfers would focus on household magic machinery and that other technology might be transferred in the future.
• Xu Yi announced that recipient guilds would have to follow Xinfei’s manufacturing standards, explaining that standards saved resources without preventing innovation.
• Xu Yi sent Akali and Avita to answer the reporters’ technical questions.

After the Xinfei Merchant Guild earned agreements worth more than fifteen million gold coins from its technology exchange, Xu Yi explained why sharing its technologies served his long-term plans. Back at Count Samo’s residence, he met Great Mages Camilla and Truchi, and Truchi asked whether his salary could be higher than ten thousand gold coins.

• Seventy-six merchant guilds signed 127 technology transfer agreements, and Xu Yi explained to Avita and Akali that transferring the technologies meant sacrificing greater future profits to build a magic industry system.
• Xu Yi left the exchange and learned that Great Mages Camilla and Truchi, merchant representatives, Sihak Kingdom envoys, and a visitor bearing half a jade pendant were waiting for him.
• Xu Yi recognized the pendant and asked its bearer to wait separately, then went to meet Camilla and Truchi.
• Great Mage Truchi asked whether joining the Xinfei Merchant Guild as a Senior Researcher would earn him the same ten-thousand-gold-coin salary as Camilla.
• After Xu Yi promised Truchi the same salary and benefits, Truchi hesitantly asked whether the salary could be higher.

Great Mage Truchi revealed that he was born on Karasga Island and had been supporting its nearly five thousand residents, hoping to end their poverty and piracy. Xu Yi argued that sending money would not solve the island’s problems and hinted that he had a better plan.

• Great Mage Truchi admitted that he needed forty or fifty thousand gold coins a year and that Xinfei Merchant Guild’s salary offer could not cover his expenses.
• Great Mage Truchi explained that he wanted the guild to invest in Karasga Island, where he had been born and where many residents turned to piracy to survive.
• Great Mage Truchi told Xu Yi and Great Mage Camilla that he had long supported the islanders and hoped to make their lives stable enough to seek relocation to Lampari Kingdom.
• Xu Yi warned that even substantial financial support would not stop the islanders from becoming pirates or change their circumstances.
• Xu Yi called Great Mage Truchi’s approach inefficient and said he had a better way to address Karasga Island’s problems.

Xu Yi negotiated with Great Mage Truchi over improving life on Karasga Island and considered recruiting him for the Xinfei Merchant Guild. He also agreed to discuss technology transfers and an embassy banquet, then offered Angklu weapons while refusing to provide military magic machinery for now.

• Xu Yi rejected Great Mage Truchi’s proposal to send large sums of money to Karasga Island and promised to visit the island to consider ways to improve conditions there.
• Great Mage Camilla questioned the value of recruiting Truchi, and Xu Yi explained that another Great Mage would strengthen the guild’s research and attract other mages.
• Xu Yi agreed to let two Anvilmar merchant guilds jointly purchase technology and accepted an invitation to a banquet hosted by the Sihak Kingdom’s ambassador.
• An envoy from the Stantin Duchy told Xu Yi that Angklu was ready to act and wanted weapons, equipment, and military magic machinery; Xu Yi agreed to supply weapons but refused the machinery.
• Xu Yi agreed to visit the Stantin Duchy after the New Year and warned Angklu through the envoy not to hesitate now that he had made his decision.

Xu Yi told Major Maikongli that he had refused to sell military magic machinery to the Stantin Duchy, then learned that the Sark Kingdom had captured a Magic-Powered Stone Thrower of its own. After inspecting it, Xu Yi denied that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had supplied the Sark Kingdom and faced the urgent question of whether the enemy had copied the machine independently or stolen the guild’s designs.

• Xu Yi met Major Maikongli and explained that he had refused Angklu's envoy’s request to sell military magic machinery to the Stantin Duchy.
• Major Maikongli told Xu Yi that Prince Eric was preparing a counteroffensive against the Sark Kingdom but was reluctant to equip the Northern Garrison with the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s machinery because of Xu Yi’s ties to Princess Royal Servini.
• Major Maikongli showed Xu Yi a Magic-Powered Stone Thrower captured by the Northern Garrison during a battle in the Murto Mountain Ranges, confirming that the Sark Kingdom had made it.
• Xu Yi inspected the inferior machine and explained how difficult it was to manufacture, prompting Major Maikongli to question whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild had leaked its designs.
• Xu Yi denied that the guild had helped the Sark Kingdom, and Major Maikongli said the Military Department would investigate if Xu Yi could not explain how the enemy had produced the machine.

Xu Yi received the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s convoy and welcomed the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe, along with Linda, who Stille had sent to keep an eye on him during his trip to Sewell City. He introduced the troupe to Anvilmar City, where Avir’s singing captivated a crowd and began their public debut.

• Xu Yi arranged for engineers to inspect the Magic-Powered Stone Thrower and confirmed he would leave for Sewell City after his examination the next day.
• Kennard arrived with the convoy, including the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe, and told Xu Yi that Stille had sent Linda to attend to him.
• Xu Yi agreed to have Linda and the troupe stay with him at Count Samo’s Outer Residence while Kennard handled the supplies and other preparations.
• At the residence, reporter Rekdo asked Xu Yi about the orc girls, and Xu Yi explained that they belonged to the New Moon Merchant Guild’s song and dance troupe.
• Xu Yi invited Avir to sing, and her performance captivated the gathered crowd.

Xu Yi attended Ambassador Parames’s banquet and discussed investing in the Sihak Kingdom, where corruption seemed widespread but officials could get things done. After warning President Lanke against investing in the Stantin Duchy, Xu Yi heard Lanke raise the possibility of doing business in the Sark Kingdom.

• Xu Yi learned from President Lanke that the Sihak Kingdom offered a stable, prosperous market, though its officials had grown extravagant and corrupt.
• Xu Yi met Ambassador Parames, who knew little about the Xinfei Merchant Guild until Xu Yi proposed investing one million gold coins in the Sihak Kingdom.
• Ambassador Parames eagerly led Xu Yi aside to discuss the proposed investment, and they reached a preliminary understanding.
• Xu Yi told President Lanke that he hoped merchants from Bunta City would avoid investing in the Stantin Duchy because it would only bring trouble.
• President Lanke asked Xu Yi whether he was still interested in doing business in the Sark Kingdom, and Xu Yi wondered what Lanke had in mind.

Xu Yi questioned President Lanke’s proposal to trade magic machinery with the Sark Kingdom while suspecting the kingdom had copied the Magic-Powered Stone Thrower using information from within the Lampari military. After the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe’s performance upset Anvilmar nobles who treated the beastman girls as slaves, Xu Yi devised a charity-focused publicity plan with Haines and asked him to keep Xu Yi’s role secret from Stille.

• Xu Yi told President Lanke he would consider trading with the Sark Kingdom after returning from Sewell City, and Lanke suggested discussing the trade with Count Samo.
• Xu Yi returned to the Outer Residence and learned that nobles at Haines’s banquet had mistaken the New Moon Song and Dance Troupe for slaves and groped the performers.
• Haines confronted the offending nobles, causing the banquet to end badly.
• Xu Yi proposed using Haines’s newspapers and charity performances to introduce the beastman girls to the public instead of pursuing an upscale strategy.
• Xu Yi asked Haines to claim credit for the plan so Stille would not lose confidence in her work.

Xu Yi recruited hundreds of mages for the Xinfei Merchant Guild and entered the Level Eight Mage examination, hoping to attract more Advanced Mages to its research teams. As the examination began, an unidentified mage challenged his right to be there.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild recruited more than five hundred mages after tours of Falling Rain Valley, including twenty-four approved for the Magic Research Institute.
• Akali and Avita stayed in Anvilmar City to hear Xu Yi’s examination results, and Akali playfully encouraged him before he entered the hall.
• Xu Yi noticed President Allen and recalled suspicions that Allen’s son’s guild was producing unusually high-quality Magic Fans through its partnership with Xinfei.
• Xu Yi went to Great Mage Truchi to take the Level Eight Mage examination, where other candidates greeted him warmly because of his reputation and the high salaries Xinfei paid its mages.
• An unidentified mage coldly questioned why Xu Yi was taking the examination, claiming he did not look like a mage.