Recaps

The Xinfei Merchant Guild crushed the Candel Empire’s invasion of Rulson and expanded its influence, then seized Mero City to demonstrate its military advantage. After Xu Yi defeated two Archmages’ attempt to break a magic cage, the Candel Empire’s leadership began considering extraordinary measures against the Guard Corps.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild’s weapons and airships helped rout the Candel Empire’s invasion of the Rulson Kingdom, while Lampari and Drake forces defeated their enemies and expanded their territories.
• Xu Yi met Duchess Caroline in Duoer City and helped prepare its defenses, promising the system could withstand even Archmages.
• Captain Hart’s Guard Corps attacked and captured Mero City, then repelled Candel reinforcements with Mana Cannons, airships, and anti-magic weapons.
• Archmage Laduka and Archmage Orphalian led thirteen Great Mages against Mero City, but the city’s barrier and Mana Airships trapped them in a Magic Cage.
• Xu Yi freed the mages and demonstrated that Orphalian’s attempt to break the altered mana space would have killed them, winning their agreement to stay out of disputes between the guild and the Candel Empire.
• The Candel Empire’s forces gathered outside Mero City but did not attack, while the Guard Corps remained inside.
• Marshal Sudiman told the Candel Emperor that the Guard Corps had routed the Archmages and Great Mages, then urged him to approve extraordinary measures instead of risking a direct battle.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild and its allies turned back the two great empires with military magic machinery, while Xu Yi used the war to force the Candel and Malo Empires into ceasefires. The Mana Magical Kingdom’s ceasefire ended the war, leaving the guild’s postwar plans unknown.

• Xu Yi admitted to Archmage Camilla that he had been too idealistic and declared that he would answer the empires’ attacks with war.
• The Lampari Kingdom crushed the Marfa Coalition Army with Mana Airships and advanced into the Malo Empire, while the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces captured the Candel Empire’s Southwestern Province.
• Xu Yi rejected the Candel Empire’s initial peace offer, then used successive negotiations and advances to press for terms that would open its economy and prohibit military magic machinery research.
• The Candel and Malo Empires surrounded the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces on the Tara Plain, but Mana Cannons, Mana Tanks, War Chariots, and Airships devastated their armies.
• Xu Yi neutralized the Archmages’ magic with his High-Frequency Magic Particle Stabilizer and explained his scientific approach to magic before demonstrating the power of the Magic Particle Wave-Splitting Beam Cannon.
• The Candel Empire signed a ceasefire with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and Rulson Kingdom, while the Malo Empire made peace with Lampari and Drake, whose territories absorbed the Frank and Sark Kingdoms.
• Wales Duchy captured Dero City with the Xinfei Guard Corps’ help, and the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom counterattacked and secured unrestricted trade through the Southeastern Treaty.
• The Mana Magical Kingdom signed a ceasefire with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, ending the war while the guild’s postwar plans remained unknown.

Xu Yi expanded technology transfers and redirected mages toward industry while announcing his ambition to reach the universe. Lucian survived a trafficking operation with a mysterious girl's help and reached the Xinfei Merchant Guild's recruitment fair, where staff questioned the referral token she had given him.

• Xu Yi expanded technology transfers, and eighty-three countries signed the Mage Peace Pact prohibiting registered mages from directly participating in wars.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild helped end Duke Windsor's rebellion, expanded farming assistance and vocational training, and planned further development of the Tural Autonomous Territory and Demoncloud Continent.
• Xu Yi held a press conference in Bunta City, urged mages to adopt a scientific view of magic, and declared the guild's goal of entering the universe.
• Rondo lured Lucian into temporary work after his money was stolen and kidnapped him for illegal labor alongside other young mages.
• A mysterious girl freed the captives and fought the traffickers while Lucian adjusted her Magic Communication Box to overcome interference and summon help.
• Lucian rejected the girl's offer of a research institute referral as charity, but she left him a token before departing.
• Young Duke Windsor tested a Mana Monitoring System after the kidnapping scandal, and its recording of a stabbing prompted Count Apra to request citywide installation.
• Lucian attended the Xinfei Merchant Guild's recruitment fair and presented the girl's token, but the registration staff member asked what he meant by showing it.

Freya took on greater responsibility for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s communications network as Xu Yi expanded the guild’s work across the Kuranyi Kingdom and faced growing political resistance. After the Mana Magical Kingdom’s protests and obstruction made cooperation untenable, the guild announced its complete withdrawal.

• Director Holly recognized Lucian’s token and arranged a special recommendation, while Lucian chose to take the preliminary examination and advanced to the final.
• Master Akali recruited research assistants for an overseas assignment, and Lucian discovered that Freya had recommended him.
• Akali pressed Freya to consider succeeding her father, while Freya later returned to Xu Yi’s Manor and faced consequences for her risky rescue operation.
• Freya handled the Candel Empire’s request for control of its magic communication network and proposed that the empire expand it while the guild remained involved in operations.
• Xu Yi warned Servini through Raymond about her secret military magic machinery research and prepared to recall the guild’s experts from the Lampari Kingdom.
• Xu Yi confronted General Lefalu after his coup in the Kuranyi Kingdom, restored the young heir to the throne, and launched major infrastructure projects there.
• Freya negotiated with Grand Duke Galbutte over the Candel Empire’s network and raised Teresa’s circumstances, while Xu Yi continued road construction in the Kuranyi Kingdom.
• At the Magic Research Conference, Xu Yi discussed mage rankings and shared the guild’s research, but his plans to cooperate with the Mana Magical Kingdom stalled amid attacks on workers and protests against the guild.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild demanded a complete cooperation plan from the Mana Magical Kingdom by year’s end, then announced its full withdrawal as protests spread across the kingdom.