Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi traveled through the resource-rich but impoverished Stantin Duchy and concluded that its people’s easy access to food had left them idle and unmotivated. After seeing how small Wellen City was and meeting its lord, Swain Wellen, Xu Yi attended a welcoming banquet where Swain’s request was about to become clear.

• Xu Yi saw tropical fruit, coffee, cacao, and rubber growing abundantly along the road, then noticed the Stantin Duchy’s people lived in ragged clothes and dilapidated homes.
• Xu Yi entered a town and concluded that its residents’ lack of effort, encouraged by plentiful natural food and rigid class divisions, contributed to their poverty.
• Xu Yi asked Angklu about the town’s standing and learned that it was the largest city in the northern duchy, though it was little more than a small trading settlement called Wellen City.
• Angklu took Xu Yi to the spacious manor of Swain Wellen, the short, rotund head of the Wellen Family, who welcomed Xu Yi with unusual eagerness.
• At the banquet held in Xu Yi’s honor, Swain Wellen’s reason for fawning over him was revealed.

Xu Yi discussed possible investments in the Stantin Duchy with Chief Wellen and Angklu, focusing on canned fruit and rubber processing. After dinner, Anise helped him secretly leave the manor, though her Shadow Concealment practice was still weak.

• Xu Yi told Chief Wellen and Angklu that the region had investment potential but that he needed to investigate further.
• Xu Yi proposed building a canned fruit factory and a rubber processing plant, and Chief Wellen eagerly offered his support.
• Xu Yi said he would consider investing after meeting the Grand Duke, and the welcoming dinner ended.
• Xu Yi declined the bonfire party and accepted the maids' help with his bath and bedtime preparations.
• Anise knocked the two maids unconscious with mental magic, then discussed elf reproduction with Xu Yi.
• Anise used Shadow Concealment to make herself and Xu Yi vanish from the room.

Xu Yi and Anise contacted the Moon Shadow Tribe, where Xu Yi delivered a letter from Elder Elusia to Elder Lisanya Shadowsong. Anise went with the Moon Shadow elves to explain the letter, while Xu Yi stayed behind and waited for a possible meeting.

• Anise used Shadow Concealment to bring Xu Yi out of Wellen Manor and summoned the Moon Shadow Tribe elves with a song.
• The Moon Shadow elves suspected Xu Yi had charmed or threatened Anise, but his letter from Elder Elusia convinced them it was genuine.
• Xu Yi told the elves he had come only to deliver the letter and expected Elder Lisanya Shadowsong to seek him out after reading it.
• Anise asked to accompany the elves so she could confirm the letter’s authenticity and explain Elder Elusia’s and Xu Yi’s ideas.
• Xu Yi urged Anise to put her safety first, and she left with the Moon Shadow elves while he remained behind.

Xu Yi took two maids from Patriarch Wellen and explained to Angklu that he planned to invest in factories in the Stantin Duchy, despite Angklu's fears about its greedy nobles. After meeting the Grand Duke and ministers in Faraday City, Xu Yi saw that the duchy's leaders were even greedier than he had expected.

• Xu Yi asked Patriarch Wellen for the two maids who had served him, and Patriarch Wellen gave them to him.
• Xu Yi told Angklu he planned to establish fruit canning and rubber processing factories, while Angklu warned that Patriarch Wellen might exploit him.
• Angklu admitted that he had arranged Xu Yi's visit to Wellen Manor in exchange for Patriarch Wellen's support, but said Xu Yi had made him hope the duchy could change.
• Xu Yi met the Grand Duke of Stantin and several ministers in Faraday City, and they pressed him to name a price for the three mines.
• Xu Yi offered between one million and one and a half million gold coins for the mines, and the Grand Duke and ministers eagerly tried to set the price at the upper figure.
• Xu Yi concluded that the Grand Duke and the duchy's other leaders were as greedy and unreliable as Patriarch Wellen.

Xu Yi negotiated the purchase of three rich mines in the Stantin Duchy for 1,350,000 gold coins and planned to have a road built to them. After Angklu questioned whether the deal would benefit the duchy, Xu Yi asked whether Angklu truly considered it a country, leaving Angklu sobbing and Xu Yi reflecting on the duchy's fragmented rule.

• Xu Yi inspected three mines and learned from two Dwarves that their iron and copper deposits were exceptionally rich.
• Xu Yi bargained with the Grand Duke of Stantin and his ministers for three days, settling on a price of 1,350,000 gold coins.
• Xu Yi told the Grand Duke of Stantin that he planned to arrange for the Amli Merchant Guild to build a road to the mines.
• Angklu arrived drunk and accused Xu Yi of helping sell off the duchy for money that would benefit only its rulers.
• Xu Yi asked Angklu whether he really considered the Stantin Duchy a country, and Angklu broke down sobbing and vomited.
• Xu Yi reflected that the duchy was a loose collection of nobles’ territories whose ordinary people had little sense of nationhood.

Xu Yi pressed Angklu to gain authority in the Stantin Duchy, offering to help him in exchange for becoming a leader he could trust. After leaving Faraday City, Xu Yi reunited with Anise and was invited to meet Elder Lysania Shadow Song.

• Angklu apologized for losing his composure, and Xu Yi questioned whether his vision for the Stantin Duchy matched what its people wanted.
• Xu Yi told Angklu he needed a trustworthy leader with the authority to secure an investment, and Angklu asked what help Xu Yi could provide.
• Xu Yi spent two more days in Faraday City, promised the Grand Duke of Stantin that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would begin mining three deposits, and departed with Angklu.
• Xu Yi met Anise in a forest, where she hugged him and explained that she had missed him.
• A Moon Shadow Tribe elf told Xu Yi that Elder Lysania Shadow Song had agreed to receive him as a guest, and Anise joined Xu Yi as they followed the elf.

Xu Yi challenged Elder Lysania Shadow Song’s belief that the Moon Shadow Tribe faced no crisis by pointing out its declining population, and she reconsidered his proposal after recalling the Night Song Tribe’s rising birth rate. Three days later, Xu Yi returned to Samara Town with Anise and three young Moon Shadow Tribe envoys sent to observe his cooperation with the elves.

• Elder Lysania Shadow Song dismissed Xu Yi’s proposal, arguing that the Moon Shadow Tribe could survive without relations with humans.
• Xu Yi asked whether the Moon Shadow Tribe’s population had grown or shrunk, prompting Elder Lysania Shadow Song to confront its century-long decline.
• Elder Lysania Shadow Song recalled Elder Elusia’s report that the Night Song Tribe had welcomed three newborns since cooperating with Xu Yi, and her view of him grew warmer.
• Three days later, Xu Yi returned to Samara Town with Anise, two maids, and three young female elves whom Elder Lysania Shadow Song had sent to learn about the human world.

Xu Yi returned from the Stantin Duchy, checked on road and mine preparations, and reunited with Stille in Bunta City. He gave Vivian two young maids, Liss and Linda, as companions, then hinted that someone he met might help him take control of the Stantin Duchy.

• President Cruz told Xu Yi that the Amli Merchant Guild had sped up road construction with a new technique and discussed the need to resolve President Reilsa's concerns before recruiting orc miners.
• Xu Yi arranged for President Cruz to build a road from Samara Town to the Stantin Duchy and said his guild was still working to develop the engine needed for a Magic Locomotive.
• Xu Yi visited the Worrel Werewolf Tribe, confirmed his plans to recruit orc workers, and then left the Falling Rain Forest after meeting Elder Elusia.
• Xu Yi returned to Bunta City and passionately kissed Stille, who welcomed him home after his long absence.
• Xu Yi introduced Liss and Linda, two girls given to him in the Stantin Duchy, and presented them to Vivian as companions for her upcoming sixteenth birthday.
• Xu Yi told Stille that his trip had revealed someone's true character and that this person might help him take control of the Stantin Duchy.

Xu Yi accepted that he could not personally develop every field and decided to focus on magic machinery while encouraging others to pursue broader knowledge. He announced plans to publish books on magic machinery and establish the Xinfei Academy Primary Division, leaving the academy’s future impact to unfold over time.

• Count Samo accelerated the Sandy River cleanup with the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Large Magic Excavator and prepared to build a dam upstream of Bunta City.
• Xu Yi struggled with his lack of expertise in hydroelectric generators until Stille urged him to focus on what he did best.
• Xu Yi decided to set aside hydroelectric research for now and leave fields beyond his abilities to others, while presenting new ideas for them to pursue.
• Xu Yi published “The world through my eyes” in the Bunta Daily, describing basic principles of nature and the future of magic machinery.
• Xu Yi announced plans to publish books on magic machinery and establish an academy devoted to fundamental knowledge.
• Stille read Xu Yi’s plan for the Xinfei Academy Primary Division and promised to support him, while Xu Yi accepted that the academy’s eventual effects were beyond his concern.

Xu Yi returned to Anvilmar City and presented Major Maikongli with plans for a powerful Magic-Powered Stone Thrower, arguing that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had to control its production. Maikongli accepted that the military could not make the weapon itself and asked its price, which Xu Yi set at one thousand gold coins each.

• Xu Yi explained that he continued pursuing mines in the Black Rice Wasteland and Stantin Duchy because he wanted control of vital resources.
• Xu Yi showed Major Maikongli plans for a Magic-Powered Stone Thrower that could launch one-ton stones and reset in under half a minute.
• Xu Yi described a future rapid-fire version that would automatically load, fire, reset, and reload stones from an ammunition box.
• Major Maikongli praised the weapon and said military approval was likely, then asked how long production would take; Xu Yi estimated at least a week per unit.
• Major Maikongli asked whether the military could produce the weapon using Xu Yi's drawings and technology, but Xu Yi refused and questioned what compensation the military would offer.
• Major Maikongli asked the price, and Xu Yi quoted one thousand gold coins per Magic-Powered Stone Thrower, leaving Maikongli ashen-faced.

Xu Yi negotiated with the Lampari military over the expensive Magic-Powered Stone Thrower and secured veterans to form the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Guards Corps. He also advanced plans with Marquis Yose for a major steelworks, leaving Anvilmar convinced the military would buy the new weapon once it saw a working model.

• Major Maikongli said the military could barely afford three Magic-Powered Stone Throwers, and Xu Yi defended their thousand-gold-coin price while hinting that payment need not be in gold.
• Maikongli introduced veteran Hart, whom Xu Yi hired as captain of the Guards Corps, and arranged for two hundred other retired soldiers to join the guild.
• Xu Yi met Marquis Yose and expanded their planned steelworks near Karamay City to process both special steel and nonferrous metals.
• Vincent glared at Xu Yi when they crossed paths at the Marquis’s Residence but walked past without confronting him.
• Xu Yi left Anvilmar after three days, reasoning that the military would want the Stone Thrower once the guild built one and demonstrated its power.

Servini visited Viscount Leslie at the snowbound northern border, where they discussed the kingdom’s military crisis and Xu Yi’s support for the army. Leslie questioned Servini about her feelings for Xu Yi, and she admitted she wanted to marry him but would not compete with Stille.

• Servini met Viscount Leslie at a Northern Garrison outpost and heard that the Sark Kingdom’s attacks had severely weakened the northern forces.
• Leslie questioned what Xu Yi expected in return for helping the kingdom, and Servini defended his long-term goals and generosity.
• Leslie suggested Xu Yi might seek Servini’s hand in marriage, and Servini said she believed he would never leave Stille.
• Servini explained that marrying Xu Yi could benefit the royal family more than marrying into a great noble family, then admitted she personally wanted to marry him.
• Leslie said Servini would have a chance with Xu Yi but would not compete with Stille, and Servini agreed before they laughed together in the snow.

At Bunta City’s annual meeting, Xu Yi warned Count Samo that factories were drawing workers away from farming and proposed agricultural industrialization. The chapter ended with Count Samo ready to hear how Xu Yi would address the labor shortage.

• Xu Yi raised concerns that Bunta City’s plans to expand farmland overlooked the dwindling number of people working in agriculture.
• Xu Yi explained that factory wages were drawing farmers into industrial work, and the guild presidents described their growing workforces.
• Count Samo realized that nearly two hundred thousand people worked outside agriculture, leaving too few workers to farm.
• Count Samo reviewed Bunta City’s tax figures: commercial taxes dominated, and the Xinfei Merchant Guild and related magic industries contributed most of the revenue.
• Xu Yi proposed promoting agricultural industrialization.

Xu Yi explained his agricultural industrialization plan to Count Samo, proposing that the Cantona Chamber of Commerce lease and manage farmland across three villages. Count Samo considered approving the trial, reassured by Xu Yi’s confidence that it would succeed.

• Count Samo asked whether Xu Yi planned to take five hundred Bunta City workers to the Stantin Duchy, and Xu Yi clarified that he would build the fruit canning factory beside Korol Village.
• Xu Yi explained that agricultural industrialization would consolidate farmland and let the Cantona Chamber of Commerce manage farming, while the City Lord’s Manor collected its usual taxes.
• Count Samo worried that farmers would lose their livelihoods, and Xu Yi argued that most preferred factory work to farming and that over ninety-five percent of households in three villages supported the plan.
• Xu Yi proposed that Count Samo include Korol Village, Kambia Village, and Mexilan Village in the trial and lease their farmland to the Cantona Chamber of Commerce under ordinary tax rules.
• Count Samo questioned whether the chamber could profit from the land, and Xu Yi assured him that Cantona would make the trial succeed.

Xu Yi visited the Magic Research Institute and saw Akali demonstrate a technique that let one magic array control the lamps connected to many identical arrays. He praised the discovery as an outstanding invention, leaving Akali and the other researchers surprised by how important he considered it.

• Sebas worried about the Xinfei Merchant Guild's heavy investment in the Nonferrous Metals Vein, though the guild's profits kept the project affordable.
• Xu Yi reviewed reports from Avita and learned that Akali's Magic Array Resonance Technique could synchronize up to twenty identical magic arrays.
• Akali demonstrated how one control disk switched the courtyard's magic lamps on and off and adjusted their brightness together.
• Akali asked Xu Yi whether the project qualified for a bonus, and he agreed while calling the invention great.
• Akali wondered why Xu Yi valued the discovery so highly when she and her colleagues had considered it minor.

Xu Yi and Cantona planned a joint farm and fruit canning factory across three villages, winning the villagers’ support with local jobs and wages. Xu Yi promised that Bunta City’s fresh fruit would one day reach distant countries, and Cantona decided to trust him and focus on the work.

• Xu Yi instructed Cantona to turn the land around Korol Village into a fruit-growing base, grouping each type of fruit together.
• Xu Yi and Cantona planned for the Cantona Chamber of Commerce to grow staple crops while the Xinfei Merchant Guild built its first Fruit Canning Factory in Korol Village.
• The two organizations divided the available village workers between farm work and factory jobs, offering wages far above the villagers’ former farming income.
• Xu Yi spoke with the residents of Korol, Kambia, and Mexilan villages, and they unanimously approved the joint project.
• Xu Yi told Cantona that Bunta City’s fresh fruit would eventually be transported to other countries, though Cantona initially doubted it.
• Cantona recalled the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s past achievements, decided to trust Xu Yi, and hurried after him.

Xu Yi inspected the Ireland United Merchant Guild’s successful production of canned-fruit lids and learned how its workers had developed their skills through costly experimentation. Freeman then asked him to address cutthroat price competition among small parts-processing guilds, and Xu Yi agreed to propose minimum prices in Bunta City while warning that the guilds would need a broader solution as they expanded.

• Xu Yi met Freeman at the Ireland United Merchant Guild, where Freeman celebrated a large order from the Armani Merchant Guild and credited Xu Yi’s recommendation.
• Xu Yi inspected the guild’s trial batch of tin lids, found them well made, and praised the workers’ technical progress after thousands of failed experiments.
• Freeman asked Xu Yi when the guild could begin full-scale lid production, and Xu Yi told him to wait until the Fruit Canning Factory set its initial production plans.
• Freeman raised the problem of small guilds undercutting one another, and Xu Yi promised to propose minimum prices at the next commercial association meeting.
• Freeman predicted Xu Yi’s influence would eventually extend across the kingdom and continent, and Xu Yi laughed at his confidence.

Bunta City unveiled its rebuilt Civic Square with dazzling Magic Lamps, a statue, and a water display that amazed the crowd. Xu Yi watched from the City Lord’s Manor and lamented that Count Samo had missed a chance to win public support with a speech.

• Bunta City residents gathered outside the sealed Civic Square to see its new look, which Count Samo had promised would amaze them.
• At eight o'clock, fireworks announced the opening, and Count Samo welcomed the crowd as the curtains came down.
• Count Samo activated a box that lit the square with enormous and colorful Magic Lamps, revealing a pool and a statue of a winged, horned horse.
• Jets of water formed a glowing flower and other patterns, captivating the people in the square.
• Xu Yi told Haines that Count Samo had wasted a chance to gain public support by refusing to give a speech, and Haines replied that the Count did not need ordinary people’s approval.

Xu Yi used Bunta City's rebuilt Civic Square to advance a campaign promoting the city through newspapers and a new civic symbol. After the square's lighting project succeeded, he rewarded the Xinfei Merchant Guild researchers, giving Akali a five-hundred-gold-coin bonus.

• Xu Yi explained to Haines that publicizing Bunta City would raise its profile and benefit local merchant guilds.
• Xu Yi described the Unicorn statue's symbolism and Count Samo's plan to publish A Brief History of Bunta City.
• Xu Yi asked Haines to promote Bunta City through his newspapers, then sent him to meet Count Samo.
• Xu Yi met Akali and the other Magic Research Institute researchers and announced bonuses for their work on the Civic Square's lighting.
• Xu Yi awarded the six other researchers one hundred gold coins each and told Akali she would receive a five-hundred-gold-coin bonus.

Xu Yi rewarded Akali and Sanchelli for their magical research, encouraged Sanchelli to keep developing Magic Preprogramming, and arranged assistants for him. He then discussed Bunta City's growing technological ambition with Count Samo and Haines, leaving Haines to wonder whether the city could surpass Anvilmar.

• Xu Yi awarded Akali five hundred gold coins for developing the Magic Array Resonance Technique and gave the other six researchers one hundred gold coins each.
• Sanchelli admitted he felt ashamed of his slow progress, and Xu Yi reassured him about his work on the Magic Delayed-Activation Technique.
• Xu Yi told Sanchelli to choose assistants and awarded him two hundred gold coins for his research.
• Xu Yi joined Count Samo and Haines, who questioned the Xinfei Merchant Guild's generous employee rewards.
• Xu Yi pointed out that Bunta City's City Image Development Project reflected the city lord's ambitions, and Haines began to believe Bunta City might surpass Anvilmar.