Recaps

Xu Yi learned that the Yolai Family had challenged his contract for two iron mines and negotiated with Servini over compensation and a public auction. A week later, Xu Yi arrived at the City Lord's Manor for the auction, where attendees questioned whether his young guild could afford to compete.

• Servini told Xu Yi that the Yolai Family claimed priority rights over the two iron mines and had asked the king to let its agent bid against the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi protested the change to the signed contract, and Servini offered a magic crystal mine and other concessions as compensation.
• Xu Yi argued that the Joseph Family sought control of the Kingdom's iron ore trade, while Servini warned him not to concern himself with royal affairs.
• Servini asked Xu Yi to cooperate with a public auction of the mines in Bunta City, scheduled for one week later.
• Xu Yi attended the auction at the City Lord's Manor, where other guests wondered how his young guild could afford million-gold-coin bids.

At a banquet before the royal auction of two iron mines, Xu Yi discussed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s booming sales and its interest in the mines with Moon Cruz. The guild had 87,463 gold coins left—far short of the likely bids—and Xu Yi met Fuller Morgan’s puzzled gaze across the hall.

• Moon Cruz asked Xu Yi how the Xinfei Merchant Guild had sold 50,000 Magic Desk Lamps in less than half a month, and Xu Yi credited their quality and the guild’s reputation.
• Cruz revealed that the Amli Merchant Guild had secured exclusive cement purchasing rights and explained its interest in owning an iron mine for construction and reinforced concrete.
• Xu Yi confirmed that he intended to bid for an iron mine, while Cruz wondered whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild could afford the 500,000-gold-coin starting price.
• Cruz noticed the banquet hall’s many Xinfei air conditioners and lamps and began to suspect that others had underestimated the guild.
• Xu Yi’s accounts showed 87,463 gold coins remaining after sales, investments, and operating costs, and he met Fuller Morgan’s puzzled gaze across the hall.

Xu Yi attended the auction of two royal iron mines and learned that the Xinfei Merchant Guild needed to provide a 480,000-gold-coin security deposit to bid. He submitted five Chimera Chamber of Commerce banknotes worth 500,000 gold coins, surprising the auction host and the watching merchants.

• Xu Yi confronted President Morgan about the Falkor Merchant Guild's control of Bunta City's iron mines, and Morgan warned him not to bid beyond his means.
• Xu Yi greeted representatives from Sartan City and confirmed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild intended to join the auction.
• Count Samo announced that the kingdom was auctioning fifty-year mining rights to two rich iron mines west of Bunta City.
• The auction host required participants to pay security deposits, with the two mines' combined starting price set at 1.2 million gold coins.
• Xu Yi presented five Chimera Chamber of Commerce banknotes worth 500,000 gold coins as the Xinfei Merchant Guild's security deposit.

The auction for the first iron mine escalated into a bidding war between President Morgan of the Falkor Merchant Guild and President Bruno of the Leo Merchant Guild, with Morgan using a veiled threat to force Bruno to withdraw. Just as the mine seemed certain to go to Morgan, an unidentified bidder called out a much higher price.

• Xu Yi paid a five-hundred-thousand-gold-coin deposit using banknotes issued by the Chimera Chamber of Commerce, surprising the other merchant guild representatives.
• The auction for the first mine began at five hundred thousand gold coins, and President Morgan raised the price to seven hundred thousand to display the Falkor Merchant Guild's determination.
• President Bruno challenged Morgan's bids, driving the price above one and a half million gold coins.
• Morgan threatened that the Leo Merchant Guild might be unable to mine or sell any ore if it opposed the Falkor Merchant Guild, and Bruno withdrew from the bidding.
• As the auctioneer prepared to award the mine to Morgan for one million six hundred and sixty thousand gold coins, an unidentified bidder offered one million eight hundred thousand.

Xu Yi bid 1.8 million gold coins for the two mines, prompting President Morgan to accuse him of disrupting the auction unless he could prove the Xinfei Merchant Guild could pay. Xu Yi returned with Feyeri Ross of the Chimera Chamber of Commerce, who announced that the guild had been approved for a five-million-gold-coin loan.

• Xu Yi bid 1.8 million gold coins after the Leo Merchant Guild withdrew, and President Morgan challenged his ability to pay.
• President Morgan asked Count Samo to expel Xu Yi or require proof of funds, while Xu Yi agreed to provide evidence.
• Xu Yi left the banquet hall to fetch a companion, as President Lanke and President Vincent urged President Morgan to avoid a public dispute.
• Xu Yi returned with Feyeri Ross, the manager of the Chimera Chamber of Commerce's Lampari Kingdom branch.
• Feyeri Ross announced that the Chimera Chamber of Commerce had approved a five-million-gold-coin loan for the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild won Mine One’s mining rights for two million gold coins after Xu Yi outbid President Morgan, who then secured the larger Mine Two for the Falkor Merchant Guild. Xu Yi ended by offering to develop mining magic machinery, prompting Morgan to show interest.

• Administrator Ross announced that the Chimera Chamber of Commerce had approved a five-million-gold-coin loan for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, shocking the banquet hall.
• Xu Yi raised his bid for Mine One to two million gold coins, and President Morgan stopped bidding, leaving the Xinfei Merchant Guild with the mining rights.
• President Morgan bid two million gold coins for Mine Two, threatened other bidders, and raised his offer to 2.3 million before securing the mine.
• Xu Yi told President Morgan that the Xinfei Merchant Guild lacked the strength to compete further, and Morgan won Mine Two without another bid from him.
• Xu Yi offered to develop mining magic machinery for the Falkor Merchant Guild, and President Morgan expressed interest.

Xu Yi settled the mine auction accounts without spending the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s money and proposed leasing a vast tract of royal land to give the guild more secure space. As the year-end holiday began, he paid the workers their wages and bonuses, then went to the research institute to meet Avita and Akali.

• Xu Yi and Servini arranged the auction so the king’s loan was repaid, the Xinfei Merchant Guild obtained one mine, and the Falkor Merchant Guild bought the other.
• Xu Yi rejected Servini’s proposed compensation options and asked to lease a huge area of royal land, leaving Servini to submit the request to the king.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced a holiday from December 25 through January 7 and promised each worker an extra month of base pay as a year-end bonus.
• Xu Yi gave the three hundred slaves small New Year gifts instead of wages, while the nine recently hired mages received more than twenty gold coins each.
• After the workers received their pay and finished tidying the workshops, Xu Yi went to the research institute where Avita and Akali worked.

Xu Yi paid Akali, Avita, and Stille their year-end bonuses and told them their salaries would rise next year. After learning Xu Yi could not return to his hometown for New Year, Stille invited him to her family’s house, but he said he had promised to visit Anise’s people; Stille then insisted on going with him.

• Xu Yi gave Akali seventy-six gold coins, including a fifty-gold-coin year-end bonus, and handed Avita and Stille their own pouches.
• Xu Yi announced that the three women’s monthly salaries would rise from fifteen gold coins to twenty-five next year.
• Stille asked whether Xu Yi was going home for New Year, and he said he could not return to his hometown and would stay in Bonta.
• Stille hugged Xu Yi and invited him to spend New Year with her family, but Xu Yi explained he had promised to visit Anise’s people.
• Akali accused Xu Yi of being a womanizer for turning down Stille’s invitation to visit another girl, and Xu Yi clarified that the trip was for work.
• Xu Yi said he might visit Stille’s family if he returned early, and Stille declared that she wanted to go to Anise’s as well.

Xu Yi traveled with Vivian, Stille, and Anise to the Norma Tribe to inspect its new steelworks. After considering pollution from the factories, he showed the women how dwarves were producing silverleaf steel and promised it would improve next summer’s Magic Fans.

• Xu Yi, Vivian, Stille, and Anise traveled by carriage toward the Dwarf Tribe, and Anise’s candid admission that she had seen Xu Yi naked embarrassed him.
• Xu Yi saw smoke from the Steelworks and Lime Plant and considered how to reduce their environmental pollution.
• Chief Sloopy welcomed Xu Yi and his companions at the Norma Tribe settlement, and Xu Yi asked to visit the Steelworks.
• Xu Yi explained that the dwarves could now reliably produce three varieties of silverleaf steel and described its potential uses for Xinfei household magic machinery.
• Stille, Vivian, and Anise watched the dwarves produce silverleaf steel, and Xu Yi said it would bring a surprise when the Magic Fans went on sale next summer.

Xu Yi proposed improving the dwarves’ polluted living conditions by building new homes for the Norma Tribe and potentially creating a settlement for dwarves from other tribes. The chapter left the larger plan pending royal approval, despite concerns that gathering many dwarves could draw suspicion.

• Anise suggested planting quiet clothes grass at the cement plant to absorb dust, and Xu Yi planned to seek help transplanting it from her tribe.
• Xu Yi confronted Chief Slubi for leaving the dwarves near the plant’s smoke and dust, and Slubi admitted he had delayed moving them to save money for better homes.
• After learning that new homes would cost over two thousand gold coins, Xu Yi pledged three thousand and offered to arrange construction through the Amli Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi proposed building a large settlement for several thousand dwarves, including members of other tribes, and asked Slubi to find a site with room to expand.
• Stille and Slubi warned that gathering dwarves might make the king suspicious, so Xu Yi decided to begin with a settlement for the Norma Tribe and expand only if the king approved.

Xu Yi, Stille, and Vivian followed Anise through the Falling Rain Forest to the hidden Elf settlement, where Elder Elusia agreed to hear their request for help. Xu Yi told her that the Elves and their settlement held many things that interested him, including Elusia herself, alarming the surrounding Elves.

• Xu Yi, Stille, and Vivian traveled from the Angola Tribe into the Falling Rain Forest with Anise, and Anise carried Xu Yi’s heavy crate when he grew tired.
• Anise left the three travelers while she went to meet her people, then returned with a dozen Elves, one of whom aimed a bow at Xu Yi.
• Anise asked Xu Yi, Stille, and Vivian to accept blindfolds so they could be taken to the Elf settlement without seeing the route.
• Anise led them to a clearing filled with tree houses, where Elder Elusia descended to meet Xu Yi.
• Elusia said she understood that humans expected something in return for helping, and Xu Yi said the Elves and Elusia herself greatly interested him, shocking the surrounding Elves.

Xu Yi convinced Elder Elusia that Anise had valuable talents, then examined the elves’ deep pit and judged that his guild’s drilling machine could break through the rock below. He introduced the machine to the gathered elves, leaving them ready to see whether it could solve their water problem.

• Xu Yi explained that Anise had helped design a successful product and argued that she could work for his guild, but Elder Elusia refused to let her leave because she distrusted humans.
• Elder Elusia led Xu Yi, Stille, Vivian, and the elves to a pit where a hard rock layer had stopped their attempt to reach groundwater.
• Xu Yi and Anise descended into the pit together, where he inspected the rock and decided his equipment could drill through it.
• After the elves pulled Xu Yi and Anise back up, Xu Yi opened his case and introduced the Small Magic-Powered Drilling Machine.

Xu Yi helped the elves drill for groundwater, then proposed that Anise become his slave in name so she could safely work at the Xinfei Merchant Guild. Elder Elusia agreed to consider the proposal, and Xu Yi discovered that Vivian’s gift appeared to be made of plastic.

• Xu Yi discussed the elves’ water shortage with Elder Elusia and said he was confident humans could address the river’s change of course.
• The Small Magic-Powered Drilling Machine struck groundwater, sending a torrent from the pit and prompting the elves to celebrate.
• Elder Elusia thanked Xu Yi, who asked her to let Anise work at the Xinfei Merchant Guild and proposed making Anise his slave in name to protect her under Kingdom Law.
• Elder Elusia said she would consider the proposal and ask Anise what she wanted.
• Xu Yi checked on Stille and Vivian, then examined Vivian’s tiger-shaped gift and realized it appeared to be made of plastic.

Xu Yi asked Elder Elusia’s Night Song Tribe to help the Xinfei Merchant Guild develop resin-processing magic and proposed a long-term partnership between elves and humans. Elder Elusia revealed that coexistence was the elves’ last chance to survive, and Xu Yi urged her to let Anise work as a designer rather than appear as his slave.

• Xu Yi asked Elder Elusia’s elves to build resin-melting machinery and research spells for processing resin, and she agreed.
• Xu Yi proposed cooperation, arguing that the elves’ shrinking living space made moving elsewhere no lasting solution.
• Elder Elusia explained that she had sent Anise to Xu Yi because she hoped the elves could live peacefully with humans and feared her race would otherwise disappear.
• Xu Yi proposed that Anise work as a product appearance designer instead of becoming his slave so humans would recognize her value.
• Elder Elusia accepted Xu Yi’s reasoning and bowed to thank him for helping her see that the elves needed to demonstrate their worth.

Xu Yi and Elder Elusia agreed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would restore the Night Song Tribe’s river in exchange for the tribe developing and supplying resin materials. After spending New Year’s Eve with Vivian, Xu Yi visited his factories and reassured Heinz that the guild and magic industry would grow across the Sains Continent.

• Xu Yi and Elder Elusia agreed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would repair the river while the Night Song Tribe researched and produced resin materials for the guild.
• Anise escorted Xu Yi, Stille, and Vivian to the Angola Tribe, then returned to her people as the others hurried back to Bunta City for New Year’s Eve.
• Stille invited Xu Yi and Vivian to celebrate with her family, but Xu Yi declined and returned with Vivian to their rented home.
• Xu Yi and Vivian shared a New Year’s Eve dinner and walked through Bunta City, where Xu Yi reminisced about his family and hometown.
• Xu Yi and Vivian reached the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s factories, where they met Heinz checking the workshops on New Year’s Eve.
• Xu Yi told Heinz that the workshops were the first shoots of a future magic industry empire, and Heinz asked whether that vision would come true.

Xu Yi attended Count Samo’s New Year networking banquet, where he renewed business discussions with Fuller Morgan and met merchants from Karma City. The two city lords opened the event, and Count Samo beckoned Xu Yi as the merchants began mingling.

• Moon Cruz explained that Bunta City and Karma City held annual New Year visits, and praised the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s standing.
• Xu Yi discussed the Amli Merchant Guild’s construction work and its close business ties with the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi greeted Fuller Morgan and offered to show him the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Small Magic-Powered Drilling Machine; Morgan agreed to examine it.
• Count Samo arrived with Count Anneris and merchants from Karma City, and the two city lords gave speeches opening the banquet.
• The merchants began mingling, and Count Samo beckoned Xu Yi.

Count Anneris invited Xu Yi to establish Xinfei Merchant Guild factories in Karma City, promising land and support. Xu Yi agreed to build production workshops and a service center there, and Count Samo explained that the investment would help Karma City by creating jobs.

• Count Samo introduced Xu Yi to Count Anneris, who protested that Karma City's merchants had not been able to buy Magic Machine Tools on the same terms as Sartan City's Fasak Merchant Guild.
• Count Anneris invited Xinfei Merchant Guild to build a factory in Karma City and promised land, assistance, and easier paperwork.
• With Count Samo's support, Xu Yi agreed on behalf of Xinfei Merchant Guild to invest in Karma City.
• Xu Yi and Count Anneris made a preliminary agreement for workshops producing household and farmland magic machinery, along with an after-sales service center.
• After Count Anneris left, Count Samo told Xu Yi that Karma City needed the guild because its factories could provide jobs and steady incomes for local families.

Xu Yi entrusted Heinz with establishing the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s factory in Karma City, while planning to address the guild’s shortage of managers. Servini visited the factory, saw the new machine tools producing farmland machinery, and offered Xu Yi good news about leasing land as payment for an explanation.

• Xu Yi told Heinz that the guild had arranged to lease land in Karma City but lacked someone to manage the new factory, and Heinz volunteered to take charge.
• Heinz recommended Ankato to succeed him as deputy supervisor of the Domestic Magic Machinery Production Workshop, and Xu Yi approved the plan.
• Xu Yi gave Heinz responsibility for investing in and building the Karma City factory, then added managerial positions to the guild’s recruitment drive.
• The dwarves’ new Magic Power Forging Machine Tool production line helped them complete five hundred Small Magic Harvesters in one week.
• Servini visited the factory, praised the machine tools’ speed and precision, and asked Xu Yi to explain their benefits.
• Xu Yi joked that Servini would need to pay tuition, and she offered good news about leasing land in return.

Xu Yi demonstrated the Small Magic-Powered Drilling Machine to President Morgan and negotiated a large order for the Falkor Merchant Guild. After securing the deal, Xu Yi went to the Bunta City carriage service to meet a group of special guests.

• His Majesty the King gave preliminary approval to Xu Yi's request to lease land, contingent on a detailed proposal and the Xinfei Merchant Guild meeting its Farmland Magic Machinery deadline.
• Xu Yi continued developing magic machinery and demonstrated the Small Magic-Powered Drilling Machine, which quickly broke apart a massive piece of siderite ore.
• President Morgan recognized the machine's value for mining and asked Xu Yi to sell it to the Falkor Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi and President Morgan haggled until they agreed on a price of seventy-eight gold coins per machine, with Morgan ordering one hundred.
• Xu Yi left for the carriage service in Bunta City to welcome a group of special guests.

Xu Yi welcomed Akali, Avita, and five of their classmates to Bunta City and showed them the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s operations. After Xiuqi dismissed the guild as small and hopeless, Xu Yi presented its profits, expansion plans, and employee pay, leaving the students reconsidering whether to join.

• Xu Yi greeted Akali and Avita’s five classmates and took them on a tour of Bunta City, the guild’s repair center, and its factory.
• Xiuqi criticized the guild’s small factory and questioned Akali and Avita’s claims about its prospects, prompting Akali to defend the guild and their earnings.
• Xiuqi threatened to leave and bragged that major merchant guilds had invited him, but Xu Yi challenged him to hear the facts before judging the guild.
• Xu Yi told the students that the guild had earned over 203,000 gold coins in revenue and more than 140,000 in net profit during its first six months.
• Xu Yi described planned factory expansions and the salaries and development bonuses available to researchers, while Avita and Akali shared their earnings.
• The five classmates, including Xiuqi, became interested in the guild’s opportunities as Xu Yi watched their opinions shift.

Five new mages joined the Xinfei Merchant Guild, strengthening its Magic Research Institute as Xu Yi funded Avita and Akali’s magical development. Stille agreed to Xu Yi’s teasing proposal that he give himself to her, leaving their relationship at a turning point.

• Five young mages signed contracts to become first-grade researchers at the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Magic Research Institute.
• Xu Yi allocated five hundred gold coins each month to support Avita and Akali’s magic research, which had helped both improve their abilities.
• Stille asked Xu Yi whether she should advertise jewelry for the Salank Merchant Guild, which offered her a thousand gold coins.
• Xu Yi offered to give himself to Stille instead of paying her nine hundred and ninety-nine gold coins, and Stille accepted.
• Xu Yi softly agreed as he and Stille held each other’s gaze.

Xu Yi agreed to develop magic machinery based on the Salank Merchant Guild’s drawings and invited its researchers to consult him directly. He then took Stille’s hand and left with her, while their awkward feelings for each other remained unresolved.

• President Lanke praised Stille’s appearance in the Salank Merchant Guild’s jewelry advertisement and thanked Xu Yi for persuading her to participate.
• President Lanke showed Xu Yi drawings of machines made by the guild’s mages and craftsmen and asked Xinfei Merchant Guild to develop machinery to meet their requirements.
• Xu Yi recognized that the drawings reflected genuine magic machinery research and offered to teach their creators what he knew.
• After Stille finished modeling, Xu Yi took her hand and told President Lanke that they were leaving together.
• President Lanke watched Xu Yi lead Stille out of the guild.

Xu Yi learned that the Mages' Guild was debating whether to require mages to share their research and whether to protect it with patent rights, while the Lampari Kingdom's parliament rejected his Patent Rights Bill. Servini warned him that powerful nobles and merchant guilds were targeting Xinfei, and Xu Yi prepared to face the competition.

• Great Mage Camilla questioned Xu Yi about when he would marry Stille, then showed him a Guild Journal debating whether magic research should be shared or protected.
• Xu Yi read Great Mage Eisenka's argument for exclusive rights to magic research and learned that the Mages' Guild was considering a proposal similar to patents.
• Great Mage Camilla said most Great Mages opposed compulsory sharing and that Eisenka had proposed a resolution protecting mages' research rights.
• Servini told Xu Yi that parliament had rejected the Patent Rights Bill because powerful nobles behind major merchant guilds wanted to enter the magic machinery industry without patent restrictions.
• Servini warned Xu Yi that Xinfei was vulnerable to being swallowed by larger guilds, but Xu Yi vowed to meet the competition and insisted they could not catch his guild.

Xu Yi expanded the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s plans around its newly leased land, including roads, a dwarf settlement, and management of the Sandy River. After Heinz left to oversee the Karma City factory, Stille arrived with a special guest, Gordon Eisenka.

• Xu Yi reviewed the guild’s ten-square-kilometer lease and the plans for a dwarf settlement and Sandy River project near the Falling Rain Forest.
• Xu Yi planned roads linking Bunta City, the leased production base, the dwarf settlement, Sartan City, Karma City, and the Falling Rain Forest.
• Xu Yi encouraged Heinz to manage the Karma City factory, then sent him off as production began.
• Stille arrived, greeted Xu Yi affectionately, and introduced her guest, Gordon Eisenka.

Gordon Eisenka visited Xu Yi and toured the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s factory before proposing a partnership to research magic machinery. Xu Yi recognized that Eisenka wanted access to his unique expertise, but he agreed to the partnership anyway.

• Xu Yi was surprised to learn that the simply dressed visitor was Gordon Eisenka, the kingdom’s richest mage, and welcomed him to the factory.
• After touring the factory, Gordon Eisenka praised Xu Yi’s practical magic work and discussed how wealth could support magical research.
• Gordon Eisenka proposed that he provide connections among mages while Xu Yi contributed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s experience, with their research results jointly owned.
• Gordon Eisenka showed Xu Yi a drawing of a rival magic fan and said a proposed Mages’ Guild rule could protect their research from competitors.
• Xu Yi concluded that Gordon Eisenka’s offer was an attempt to acquire his unique knowledge, but he agreed to the partnership.