Recaps

Amplistown prospered after the Xinfei Merchant Guild built a dock, roads, and a Rare Earth Smelting Factory, while the town awaited further factories and jobs. Mage Bukales confronted Baron Lofik over alleged bribes from the guild, but Xu Yi arrived and publicly denied that the baron had mistreated them.

• Lampari workers and orcs arrived in Amplistown, built a dock and a factory, and brought new spending to the town.
• More workers came by magic locomotives and built roads linking Amplistown to the Lampari Kingdom, Milando City, and the Rulson Kingdom.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild hired one hundred townspeople for its Rare Earth Smelting Factory and promised more jobs as new factories opened.
• Mage Bukales arrived and praised Amplistown’s prosperity before accusing Baron Lofik of making unreasonable demands and taking bribes from the guild’s representative.
• Baron Lofik denied the accusation, and Xu Yi arrived, saying the guild and the baron had enjoyed a pleasant partnership.

Xu Yi discussed Amplistown’s development and a proposed technology partnership with Mage Cables, while evaluating the duchy’s cautious approach to cooperation. Mage Cables handed him the Grand Duke’s signed transfer agreement for the rare earth and Magic Crystal mines.

• Xu Yi praised Baron Lofeller’s support, and Mage Cables and the baron commended the changes the Xinfei Merchant Guild had brought to Amplistown.
• Mage Cables criticized the Lampari Kingdom for forcing the Xinfei Merchant Guild out of Bunta City, and Xu Yi ended the discussion to turn to business.
• Mage Cables showed Xu Yi a wind-element array intended to accelerate a Mana Airship during takeoff, and Xu Yi warned that its mechanical stresses would shorten the airship’s service life.
• Xu Yi proposed a joint venture in which the Xinfei Merchant Guild would contribute technology while the Milando Duchy supplied facilities and workers, with technology transfer completed after about a year.
• Mage Cables gave Xu Yi the Grand Duke’s signed transfer agreement for the rare earth mine and the Magic Crystal Mine.

Xu Yi reviewed and signed an agreement giving the Xinfei Merchant Guild mining rights in exchange for production technology and joint factories in the Milando Duchy. He stayed in Milando to await Newman, whose arrival was needed for the important three-party matter.

• Mage Bukales reflected on how Xu Yi’s investments and promises had brought jobs and prosperity to Amplistown.
• Bukales asked about Xu Yi’s magical strength, and Xu Yi said he was a Level Nine Mage but still far from becoming a Great Mage.
• Bukales urged Xu Yi to prioritize magic, arguing that becoming a Great Mage could protect the guild from political pressure, but Xu Yi said the guild’s development mattered more to him.
• Xu Yi approved, signed, and sealed the agreement with the Milando Duchy for mining rights, technology, and joint factories.
• Bukales told Xu Yi that Newman was expected to arrive within two days, and Xu Yi agreed to wait for him.

President Pombelli withdrew the Feilson Carriage Company from Bunta City's urban public transit system after unreliable Lafali locomotives and the City Lord's Manor's subsidy cut made it unprofitable. The announcement angered residents and deepened resentment toward the City Lord's Manor as the new year began.

• The Bunta Daily reported that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had agreed to establish joint-venture factories in the Milando and Rulson duchies in exchange for access to their mineral resources.
• President Pombelli found that frequent breakdowns and accidents involving Lafali locomotives had caused the Feilson Carriage Company heavy losses.
• The City Lord's Manor abolished the special financial subsidy for Bunta City's urban public transit system, and President Pombelli concluded that the company could no longer afford to operate it.
• The Feilson Carriage Company announced that it would withdraw completely from the urban public transit system beginning the next year.
• Bunta City residents were shocked and angry, and many blamed the City Lord's Manor for favoring the ten designated merchant guilds while squeezing the Feilson Carriage Company.

Princess Royal Servini learned that refugees entering her fief had fled forced, unpaid factory labor in other nobles’ territories, where people were worked to exhaustion making magic machinery. Unable to defy the nobles’ rules and keep them permanently, she sheltered them for now and wondered what Xu Yi knew about the kingdom’s suffering.

• Servini questioned refugees who had arrived in her fief and learned they had fled compulsory factory labor ordered by local lords and City Lord’s Manors.
• The refugees described exhausting shifts, deaths from overwork, and little or no pay for producing magic machinery.
• A young refugee pleaded with Servini not to return him to his lord, saying the lord had beaten his parents to death and that Bunta City was no longer safe for runaways.
• Servini ordered her stewards to care for the refugees but recognized that the Nobles’ Council’s rules gave her no right to interfere in another noble’s fief.
• Servini recalled Xu Yi’s worker protections and realized his warnings about nobles exploiting commoners had been right, then wondered what he was doing and how much he knew about the kingdom.

Xu Yi discussed Bunta City’s worsening treatment of independent merchant guilds with President Cruz, who was considering moving the Amli Merchant Guild to the Stantin Duchy. Xu Yi agreed to help arrange the move as he suspected a broader political campaign against rival factions, leaving Bunta City’s future uncertain.

• Xu Yi made New Year courtesy visits to Lord Kamadu and representatives of the ten merchant guilds, prompting President Cruz to criticize his politeness.
• President Cruz told Xu Yi that the City Lord’s Manor had put the Amli Merchant Guild under the Meiya Merchant Guild’s supervision and that Meiya demanded a thirty-percent stake in projects and access to its engineering techniques.
• President Cruz said other guilds, including the Armani, Salank, and Falkor Merchant Guilds, were also being targeted and asked whether the Amli Merchant Guild could move to the Stantin Duchy.
• Xu Yi said he could help arrange the move but warned that the Amli Merchant Guild would have to change its registration and might become a foreign guild.
• Xu Yi suspected the Kingdom’s conservative nobles were driving rival guilds from Bunta City to put it under the control of the ten merchant guilds.

After the Xinfei Merchant Guild left Bunta City, the ten designated guilds’ low wages and closures drove residents to seek work in neighboring lands, leaving the city nearly deserted. Servini arrived in the quiet streets and resolved to begin addressing the crises facing Bunta City and the Lampari Kingdom.

• After New Year, fewer outsiders came to Bunta City, and merchant guilds began closing shops as the city’s economy declined.
• Bunta City residents resented the ten designated merchant guilds and chose to leave rather than accept their low wages and heavy workloads.
• Workers traveled to Amplistown, the Rulson Kingdom, the Black Rice Wasteland, and the Stantin Duchy to find factory and construction jobs.
• As residents and even new arrivals departed, Bunta City became nearly deserted before the second month of the year was half over.
• Servini picked up an Armani Merchant Guild flyer and reflected on how the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s departure had transformed Bunta City.
• Servini decided to begin addressing the crises in Bunta City and the Lampari Kingdom during her visit.

Lord Kamadu reviewed Princess Royal Servini’s application to establish a magic-machinery guild in Bunta City, and the Servini Merchant Guild quickly reopened factories and hired skilled workers with Xu Yi’s support. Xu Yi doubted the guild could withstand the opposition ahead and knowingly left Servini unaware of a method that could ruin it.

• Lord Kamadu realized that Princess Royal Servini’s application for the Servini Merchant Guild threatened the control he and ten merchant guilds had established over Bunta City.
• The Servini Merchant Guild opened amid widespread publicity and, within weeks, installed magic machine tools in former Xinfei Merchant Guild factories in Falling Rain Valley.
• The Servini Merchant Guild opened more than ten household-magic-machinery factories and recruited experienced workers by offering at least ten gold coins a month.
• Xu Yi reflected that his support had helped the guild begin production, but he expected its opponents to find a way to destroy it.
• Xu Yi chose not to warn Servini about the method he foresaw, hoping the setback would make her abandon her hopes or pursue deeper change in the kingdom.

Xu Yi helped Avita complete and test a variable-speed magic array for mana airships, then explained why he wanted the Institute’s researchers to solve more problems without him. The chapter ended with Xu Yi at Xinfei Farm, watching a convoy of Mana Armored Transport Vehicles approach.

• Avita watched Xu Yi draw the complex Stagewise Variable-Guide Hurricane Array she had developed for mana airships.
• Xu Yi finished the array, and Avita tested it by adjusting its settings to produce increasingly strong wind.
• Xu Yi told Avita to integrate the successful array with the mana airship and explained that he wanted researchers to develop products independently.
• Avita asked whether Xu Yi’s withdrawal from research also explained his distance from the Lampari Kingdom’s affairs, and Xu Yi said those matters were complicated.
• Xu Yi left Avita’s laboratory for Xinfei Farm and saw a convoy of Mana Armored Transport Vehicles approaching along the road.

Xu Yi met Lord Wellen at the Guards Corps base, where Wellen asked to buy Mana Armored Transport Vehicles for his war against Count Fran. When Xu Yi raised their cost, Wellen offered him a fief instead, leaving Xu to consider the proposal.

• Xu Yi watched returning guards enter the base and stopped Lord Wellen’s car from driving into the restricted area.
• Lord Wellen explained that he wanted Mana Armored Transport Vehicles to strengthen his forces against Count Fran.
• Xu Yi reflected on Wellen’s rapid conquest of Count Fran’s territory and Angklu’s ambitions in the Stantin Duchy.
• Xu Yi said the vehicles could be discussed but warned that they were expensive.
• Lord Wellen said he lacked enough gold coins and offered Xu Yi a fief in exchange.

Xu Yi negotiated with Lord Wellen to acquire a roughly 240,000-hectare territory for the Xinfei Merchant Guild in exchange for military machinery, factory technology, and Guards Corps support. After signing a preliminary agreement pending recognition by the Grand Duke of Stantin, Xu Yi began to see the land as truly his own, then returned to the Guards Corps and received a backpack of orders from Hart.

• Xu Yi and Lord Wellen bargained over a territory, settling on land between a river near Xinfei Farm and the coast, totaling about 240,000 hectares.
• Xu Yi negotiated the land's price down from ten million to eight million gold coins, to be paid through military equipment, factory construction and technology, and possible Guards Corps reinforcements.
• Xu Yi and Lord Wellen initialed a preliminary agreement that would take effect once Xu Yi gained the Grand Duke of Stantin's recognition as a lord.
• After Lord Wellen left, Xu Yi celebrated the prospect of owning a territory he could govern and defend himself.
• Xu Yi praised the returning Guards Corps at the training base, then Hart handed him a backpack containing orders.

Xu Yi reviewed a rush of military magic machinery orders and received a request from the Lampari Kingdom's West-Garrison Army to supply its troops. Hart also reported that the Single-Soldier Magic Rocket Launcher had performed impressively but cost the guild hundreds of gold coins in rockets; Xu Yi then met Great Mage Camilla at the Magic Research Institute, where she gave him a new toy.

• Hart told Xu Yi that the Guards Corps' military magic machinery had attracted thirty-seven orders, including thirteen from merchant guilds inside the Lampari Kingdom.
• Xu Yi agreed to send the orders to Kennard and considered how to respond to Varian Landis's request for the Xinfei Merchant Guild to equip the West-Garrison Army.
• Hart described how the Single-Soldier Magic Rocket Launcher had routed a group of orcs, then admitted that he had fired fifty rockets costing four to five hundred gold coins.
• Xu Yi warned Hart against wasting rockets and took his combat notes before leaving the training base.
• Great Mage Camilla met Xu Yi at the Magic Research Institute and tossed him a new toy.

Great Mage Camilla gave Xu Yi a Magic Communication Box that let him speak with Stille in real time, and Xu Yi learned that Camilla and Akali had created it by modifying a Spatial Magic Array. He realized the invention could lead to mobile phones in the Sains Continent and warned Camilla that it would have a tremendous impact.

• Great Mage Camilla gave Xu Yi a metal box and told him to feed it mana.
• Xu Yi activated the box and spoke with Stille, who was using another Magic Communication Box at home with Akali.
• Xu Yi joked that Akali's bonus would be docked for hiding the invention, and Akali protested before Xu Yi cut the connection.
• Great Mage Camilla explained that she had modified a Teleportation Array to transmit sound through space.
• Xu Yi learned that Camilla and Akali had used Akali's Magic Array Resonance Technique and realized the invention's potential impact.

Cantona struggled to keep his harvesting business running after a City Lord's Manor regulation forced him to use unreliable Zaotian machinery instead of his proven Xinfei harvesters. As he prepared to pay for repairs or risk defying the regulation, a Pure Black Mana Sedan arrived at Mexilan Village.

• Cantona's Zaotian harvesters repeatedly broke down, leaving the chamber unable to finish harvesting Mexilan Village's fields.
• Cantona's workers urged him to bring back their reliable Xinfei harvesters, while complaining that the City Lord's regulations had also driven up bus fares.
• Makaro reported that the Zaotian Merchant Guild would charge for repairs, potentially costing the chamber close to two hundred gold coins for fifteen broken machines.
• Cantona weighed paying for repairs against abandoning the chamber's core business or violating the regulation by using Xinfei machinery.
• As Cantona prepared to send Makaro back for repair staff, a Pure Black Mana Sedan drove toward the fields.

Baron Rover and Cantona used Xinfei farmland magic machinery to harvest Baron Rover’s wheat despite the City Lord’s Manor’s restrictions. Officials and City Guard soldiers arrived to seize the machinery, and the confrontation ended with a worker impaled on a harvester.

• Baron Rover urged Cantona to bring out the Cantona Chamber of Commerce’s Xinfei machinery and harvest his fief, assuring him he would handle any trouble from the City Lord’s Manor.
• Cantona’s workers harvested most of Baron Rover’s wheat with the reliable Xinfei machines before officials and City Guard soldiers arrived to stop them.
• The leading official presented a Nobles’ Council resolution requiring nobles to obey local City Lord’s Manor regulations and ordered the soldiers to confiscate the machinery.
• Baron Rover and Cantona objected as the soldiers tried to seize the machines, and workers clashed with the guards in the fields.
• A worker fell across a Small Magic Harvester’s tipping hopper with a spike through his neck, and blood stained the field.

King Eric reviewed the kingdomwide backlash triggered by a fatal clash in Bunta City over the city’s requirement to use Zaotian farmland machinery. As cities rejected the Magic Industry Administration and its designated guilds, Eric was left powerless to contain the crisis.

• Bunta City guards killed a civilian while enforcing rules that barred the Cantona Chamber of Commerce from using Xinfei harvesters after Zaotian machines repeatedly broke down.
• Newspapers across the kingdom challenged the city’s authority to mandate a brand and condemned Zaotian’s poor machinery, while some outlets blamed the Xinfei Merchant Guild for allegedly withholding technology.
• Canby told the Lampari Weekly that Xinfei had shared all relevant technology and that Zaotian’s failures stemmed partly from its use of cheap, inferior steel.
• Cities across the kingdom began boycotting Zaotian machinery and then the products of all ten merchant guilds designated by the Magic Industry Administration.
• Count Samo and eleven other cities declared they would reject the administration’s authority and support local machinery guilds, while many more demanded an investigation.
• King Eric reviewed the protests, felt unable to control the cities or government departments, and wondered whether Servini would have fared better as queen with Xu Yi’s support.

King Eric reluctantly allowed Duke Stark to pursue a purge of the kingdom’s opponents, while reflecting on his loss of control and the damage caused by driving out the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Meanwhile, Xu Yi’s guild expanded its sales abroad, and Xu Yi received a title and private fief in the Stantin Duchy, where he would rule his own land.

• Duke Stark called the unrest an opportunity to expose and eliminate King Eric’s opponents, and Eric reluctantly told him to proceed.
• King Eric recognized that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had helped the kingdom prosper, but felt unable to oppose the nobles who had driven it out.
• Xinfei Farm finished its harvest ahead of schedule, and the guild received nearly a thousand orders for new farmland magic machinery from several neighboring countries and duchies.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild surpassed seven million gold coins in sales in less than five months as its markets expanded beyond the Lampari Kingdom.
• Xu Yi secured the Grand Duke of Stantin’s approval for a private fief after spending over one million gold coins and completing the required procedures.
• The Grand Duke of Stantin granted Xu Yi the title of Honorary Lord and his private fief, making him sovereign over that land.

After establishing his territory in the Stantin Duchy, Xu Yi organized a private guard and expanded the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps. When he finally turned his attention to the Lampari Kingdom, he learned that King Eric had begun stripping nobles of their titles and estates, and that Duke Stark had expelled his son Leslie Stark.

• Xu Yi formed a five-hundred-member private guard from the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps, while elf and dwarf warriors joined his service and the corps grew to fifteen hundred members.
• Xu Yi spent several months organizing his forces and planning the Xinfei Merchant Guild's development before gaining free time in July.
• Xu Yi learned that the Nobles' Council had stripped numerous nobles of their titles and property, including two powerful great nobles, and that King Eric had arrested them.
• Xu Yi noted that many punished nobles had supported Servini and wondered why Eric had acted after nearly a year of peace.
• Baron Haines's newspapers published sharp criticism of events in the kingdom, reflecting the discontent of the nobles behind him.
• Duke Stark expelled his son and heir, Leslie Stark, from the Stark Family, shocking the kingdom's nobles.

Xu Yi welcomed Leslie, who had left the Stark Family and come to see the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s latest Mana-Powered Ship. At the shipyard, they watched a massive steel vessel emerge, leaving Leslie astonished by its size and strength.

• Leslie explained to Xu Yi that he had chosen to leave the Stark Family after giving up on changing its path, and that he had come to see the guild’s new invention.
• Xu Yi greeted Freya, and Leslie gave her a red Crystal Jade Pendant before dismissing Xu Yi’s suggestion that marriage might help him return to his family.
• Xu Yi took Leslie to the expanded coastal docks and shipyard, where Kennard prepared to begin the launch ceremony.
• The shipyard gates opened, revealing a steel Mana-Powered Ship more than fifty meters long, and Leslie marveled at the vessel’s immense size and potential.

Xu Yi discussed ocean voyages with Leslie, who ordered a custom military Mana-Powered Ship despite the costs. The successful launch of the Medium Mana Cargo Ship marked major advances for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, though building an ocean-going fleet would take years.

• Leslie told Xu Yi he dreamed of exploring the Endless Sea and becoming its overlord, and Xu Yi warned that the ship was not yet safe enough for ocean voyages.
• Leslie explained that he planned to explore gradually and said he needed combat Mana-Powered Ships rather than cargo ships.
• Xu Yi agreed the guild could customize a smaller, faster warship with weapons, and Leslie paid a deposit for the first one.
• Xu Yi reflected that the cargo ship's launch proved major breakthroughs in engines and large-scale machinery, while the guild's limited production capacity would delay its ocean fleet.

After Duke Stark’s crackdown on the Lampari Kingdom’s nobles brought the realm to the brink of civil war, Eric confronted him over sending the Second Garrison Army against rebellious Colebo City. Eric ordered the army to halt and, for the first time, felt that he had truly acted as king.

• After Leslie’s expulsion, Duke Stark intensified his purge of the kingdom’s nobles, imprisoning Duke Festarlin and stripping four counts of their titles and city lord positions.
• Nobles resisted arrests with armed force, and Duke Stark deployed the Kingdom Garrison Army, prompting powerful nobles to prepare for conflict and newspapers to warn of civil war.
• Eric confronted Duke Stark after learning that Count Arnobi had declared Colebo City independent and that Stark had sent the Second Garrison Army to retake it.
• Eric ordered Stark to halt the army and argued that Count Arnobi’s concerns should be addressed peacefully rather than by force.
• After Duke Stark left, Eric collapsed into his chair, exhausted but satisfied that he had finally acted like a king.

After Xinfei military magic machinery helped Lord Wellen and Viscount Angklu win major victories, lords across the Stantin Duchy sought to buy weapons, while Xu Yi focused on ship development and magic studies. Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania examined him and concluded he might be able to learn the Elf Race-Specific Mana Meditation Method to help him become a Great Mage.

• Lord Wellen defeated Count Fran, killed him, and seized his territory after equipping his Private Guard with Xinfei military magic machinery.
• Viscount Angklu used Xinfei military magic weapons to defeat several lords and expand his domain.
• Xu Yi instructed Kennard not to sell military magic machinery to Stantin lords who might directly conflict with Angklu or Lord Wellen.
• Xu Yi studied magic with Great Mage Camilla and received help from Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania, who were concerned about extending his lifespan.
• Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania examined Xu Yi and decided his body was in excellent condition for learning their Elf Race-Specific Mana Meditation Method.

Xu Yi endured an exhausting examination and body purification by Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania, which improved his mana flow and senses. As the elders continued studying him in the bath, they asked whether he would marry an elven woman as one of his wives.

• Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania examined Xu Yi's body and mana channels until he was physically and magically exhausted.
• Great Mage Camilla told Stille to help Xu Yi rest, warning that the elders might need him again that night.
• Xu Yi woke covered in expelled impurities, discovered that his mana flowed more smoothly, and hurried to bathe.
• Xu Yi found Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania in the bathing pool, but Elder Lysania used water magic to stop him leaving and the elders resumed their examination.
• Elder Lysania asked whether Xu Yi would be willing to marry an elven girl as one of his wives.

Xu Yi rejected Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania’s politically motivated proposals for him to marry an elven girl, reassuring Stille that he wanted her as his only wife. He then examined the guild’s profitable cooperation with the two elven tribes and considered how much greater economic ties might influence them.

• Xu Yi told Stille that he had rejected the elders’ marriage proposals and would not take another wife against her wishes.
• Xu Yi explained that Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania hoped a marriage and children would strengthen their tribes’ integration into human society.
• Stille warned Xu Yi that the elders might persist, but he left the manor to investigate the guild’s elven partnerships.
• Xu Yi asked Kennard to detail the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s cooperation with the Night Song Tribe and the Moon Shadow Tribe.
• Kennard reported that the projects were worth nearly five hundred thousand gold coins and earned the tribes roughly one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand gold coins in profit.
• Xu Yi considered whether expanding the tribes’ profits could persuade the elves to risk their lives for him.

After mastering the elves' special meditation method, Xu Yi returned to his business affairs and met with Commander Landis to discuss a sale of military magic machinery. Landis proposed paying with mineral deposits inside the Sark Kingdom, revealing a plan that made Xu Yi suspect the commander was willing to take extreme risks.

• Xu Yi mastered the elves' special meditation method, which greatly accelerated his mana growth, and Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania returned to their tribes.
• Xu Yi went to Black Rice City, where the merchant guilds governed the sprawling industrial and residential center through the Commercial Association.
• Commander Landis told Xu Yi that the Lampari Kingdom's Military Department would not interfere with the West-Garrison Army's purchase of military magic machinery.
• Xu Yi asked how the West-Garrison Army would pay, and Landis showed him iron, magic crystal, and nonferrous metal mines on a map.
• Xu Yi realized that the mines were in the Sark Kingdom and understood that Landis intended to offer foreign mineral deposits as payment.