Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi demonstrated the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Mana Cannons to foreign ambassadors and explained their prices, ammunition, and battlefield power. He said the guild wanted to sell Military Magic Machinery abroad but could not meet demand because its production capacity was too limited, leaving the ambassadors waiting to hear his conditions.

• Xu Yi showed the ambassadors an Illusion Film of Mana Cannons in battle between the Lampari Kingdom’s Northern Garrison and the Sark Kingdom’s Greedy Wolf Legion.
• Xu Yi priced the demonstrated Mana Cannon at 2,300 gold coins and explained that magic shells, including mana explosive and mana freezing shells, had to be purchased separately.
• An ambassador questioned whether the Illusion Film was genuine, and Xu Yi replied that anyone who doubted it did not have to buy.
• Xu Yi explained that the Xinfei Merchant Guild could not openly supply every country because its production capacity was severely insufficient.
• The ambassadors waited to hear what prerequisites Xu Yi would set for Military Magic Machinery sales.

Xu Yi explained to the ambassadors that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s superior military magic machinery depended on advanced materials, precise manufacturing, and a broader industrial system. He offered to help their countries build that foundation and eventually teach them to manufacture military magic machinery themselves.

• Xu Yi compared the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s mana cannon with one captured from the Sark Kingdom and pointed out differences in their appearance and construction.
• Xu Yi explained that the Xinfei cannon used durable C-308 Special Steel and precise manufacturing, while the Sark cannon’s pig-iron barrel was worn and its poorly fitted bearings made it unstable.
• Xu Yi revealed that leaked information had helped the Sark Kingdom develop its own military magic machinery, but its weak industrial foundation had left it producing inferior weapons.
• Xu Yi told the ambassadors that their countries could not make high-quality military magic machinery without first developing a broader industrial system.
• Xu Yi offered for the Xinfei Merchant Guild to help build their countries’ basic magic industries and teach them to manufacture military magic machinery once they had developed sufficiently.

Xu Yi explained to Servini why he planned to share Military Magic Machinery technology with countries that built up their industrial foundations, rather than helping the Lampari Kingdom conquer the continent. He left after telling her that he could not afford to wait for magic industry to spread slowly, while Servini privately revealed that her efforts to strengthen the kingdom were for him and their child.

• Servini challenged Xu Yi for allowing other countries to learn how to manufacture Military Magic Machinery and urged him to support the Lampari Kingdom instead.
• Xu Yi argued that sharing the technology through industrial-development requirements would spread magic industry more effectively than backing one country to conquer the continent.
• Servini pointed out that the Lampari Kingdom could use Military Magic Machinery to defeat its neighbors, but Xu Yi cited the costs of its war with the Sark Kingdom and the difficulty of governing conquered lands.
• Xu Yi told Servini he would choose the Lampari Kingdom if he had to support one country, but he could not wait for it alone to fulfill his dream within his lifetime.
• Servini accepted Xu Yi's decision, watched him leave, and privately said her efforts to strengthen the Lampari Kingdom were for him and their child.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild’s strategic cooperation plan won support from many countries, while the Malo and Candel Empires sought military magic machinery and factory investments on their own terms. The Mages’ Guild Headquarters then publicly accused the guild of deceiving low-rank mages and revoked its partner status, leaving the dispute to be answered by the mages directly involved.

• Thirty-five countries expressed interest in cooperating with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and the guild proposed a resource and transport development plan for the Venice Duchy.
• The Malo and Candel Empires pursued military magic machinery and technology while offering favorable trade terms, and the Malo Empire invited the guild to build factories.
• The Mages’ Guild Headquarters accused the Xinfei Merchant Guild of misleading low-rank mages, revoked its designated partner status, and urged mages to boycott it.
• Mages’ Guild branches in several countries published the headquarters’ announcement but took no further action, while the Lampari Kingdom branch publicly praised the guild’s support for local low-rank mages.
• The chapter left the conflict awaiting the response of the low-rank mages at the center of the dispute.

The chapter described how low-rank mages formed the backbone of the Xinfei Merchant Guild and showed that the Mages' Guild Headquarters' criticism had not caused them to resign. Sinil visited a tavern in their residential district, where a worker's mention of a wage deduction revealed that he worked for the guild.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild continued operating normally after the Mages' Guild Headquarters criticized its employment of low-rank mages, with no mass resignations.
• Curious outsiders traveled to the Stantin Duchy and observed the large residential district where the guild's employees lived.
• Low-rank mages gathered at the Rolling Stone Tavern to discuss the newly official Mana Racing Car Championship and their bets on its first race.
• Sinil entered the tavern and admired three paintings, learning that an elf had left them as collateral for an unpaid bill.
• A middle-aged man warned Sinil against drinking all three liquors at once and said he had once lost a day's pay and a gold coin after getting drunk.
• Sinil asked the man whether he was an employee of the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

Sinil questioned Xinfei Merchant Guild mages about claims that the guild exploited Low-Rank Mages and prevented them from learning magic. Their accounts convinced him that they valued the guild’s pay and support more than the Mages’ Guild Headquarters’ authority, and the chapter ended with seven mages throwing down their badges.

• Sinil bought Luther a drink and asked whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild treated Low-Rank Mages badly.
• Luther angrily rejected the headquarters’ accusations, describing the guild’s wages, benefits, and magic instruction.
• Luther introduced Sinil to fellow Xinfei Academy graduates, who mocked the claims and explained how their training helped them earn a living.
• The mages condemned the Mages’ Guild Headquarters for trying to interfere with their work at the guild.
• A Third-Level Mage tore off his badge and declared he would leave the Mages’ Guild, and six others, including Luther, threw their badges onto the table.

After the Mages' Guild Headquarters barred Xinfei Merchant Guild employees from its annual mage qualification examination, 237 mages in the Stantin Duchy withdrew and founded the Mage Association. The new association partnered with Xinfei and attracted more than ten thousand members, leaving the Mages' Guild facing a growing challenge.

• Several regional Mages' Guild branches supported the Xinfei Merchant Guild after the headquarters declared it untrustworthy.
• The Stantin Duchy's branch announced that 237 mages had jointly withdrawn from the Mages' Guild after being barred from qualification examinations because they worked for Xinfei.
• Mais Luther condemned the headquarters for abandoning the guild's founding purpose and prioritizing its elders' interests.
• The 237 former members founded the United Association for Mage Livelihood and Employment Security, or Mage Association, to support mages' livelihoods and employment.
• The Mage Association agreed to cooperate with Xinfei, which offered training, 500 recruitment places, and 3,000 job referrals.
• More than ten thousand mages joined the Mage Association within a month, while observers wondered how the Mages' Guild would respond.

Great Mage Ferguson visited the Xinfei Merchant Guild to deliver the Mages' Guild Headquarters’ final warning, but Akali treated his demands as unimportant and gave him no response. He stormed out, while Akali confirmed that the exchange had been recorded as the president instructed.

• Great Mage Ferguson arrived in Xinfei City and learned that Xu Yi had left Akali to receive him.
• Akali brought Ferguson to the guild office, where she said she had no authority to represent the guild and repeated Xu Yi’s dismissive remarks about the Mages' Guild.
• Ferguson demanded that the Xinfei Merchant Guild dissolve the Magic Machinery Patent Protection Federation and the Mage Federation, warning that the Mages' Guild controlled all magic-related rights.
• Akali showed no concern about the warning, prompting Ferguson to storm out and threaten the guild.
• Akali asked the three employees whether they had recorded the meeting, and one confirmed that they had.

Xu Yi oversaw construction of the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s heavily armed offshore base on Giant Deer Island while General Monroe pressed him to sell Guard Frigates to the Rulson Kingdom. Xu Yi made clear that the kingdom would need to pay or offer access to its mineral resources, and Monroe left to report the proposal to King Trutz.

• Xu Yi attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s military base on Giant Deer Island, which would be defended by fleets, guards, Mana Cannons, and Magic-Powered Stone Throwers.
• General Monroe admired the base’s defenses and worried that the Candel Empire Navy might eventually threaten it, while Xu Yi noted that the guild continued selling Guard Frigates to the empire.
• General Monroe asked Xu Yi to sell Guard Frigates to the Rulson Kingdom, but Xu Yi insisted that the kingdom pay the price or consider other arrangements.
• Xu Yi reflected that the Candel Empire’s blockade had damaged the Rulson Kingdom’s trade and finances, leaving it unable to afford the ships needed to break the blockade at sea.
• General Monroe understood that Xu Yi’s proposed alternative was opening the kingdom’s mineral resources to the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and said he would report the matter to King Trutz.

Xu Yi visited the Candel Empire to discuss trade and cooperation, including a major Guard Frigate contract and investment in Tural Province. He unexpectedly met Duke Windsor, a fierce opponent of the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and the two cautiously opened the door to a partnership.

• Xu Yi watched construction begin on the Xinfei Merchant Guild's Giant Deer Island naval base, then traveled to the Candel Empire.
• The Candel Empire Navy cut its personnel and fleet to save money for a fifteen-million-gold-coin purchase of mana-powered Guard Frigates from the guild.
• Xu Yi went to Tural Province to meet Duke Peresko and discuss bringing the Xinfei Merchant Guild into the province's growing magic industry.
• Duke Peresko introduced Duke Chris Windsor, governor of the Southern Province and a longtime opponent of the guild, at a banquet for Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi offered Duke Windsor a chance at a pleasant partnership, and Duke Windsor shook his hand and told him not to disappoint him.

Xu Yi secured secret cooperation agreements with Tural Province and the Southern Province to expand magic industry, while arranging road construction and cargo locomotives for both. Back at the Xinfei Merchant Guild's base, he assessed the spread of magic industry across the empires and considered the Malo Empire's offer of technical support terms, which he judged insufficient.

• Xu Yi and Duke Peresko and Duke Windsor signed private agreements to establish the Tunan Merchant Guild and develop farmland machinery factories and magic industrial bases in their provinces.
• President Cruz signed an official agreement with the two provinces to build four roads, and each province ordered two hundred Large Cargo Magic Locomotives from the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi returned to his seaside manor and marked Tural Province red on his map while marking only a few spots in the Southern Province because he remained unsure of Duke Windsor.
• Xu Yi observed that magic industry had spread widely through the Candel Empire and had developed more deeply in parts of the Malo Empire under Marquis Southgate.
• The Malo Empire requested technical support to manufacture farmland magic machinery and offered a five-percent tariff reduction, but Xu Yi considered the offer inadequate.

Xu Yi planned the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s second naval base and learned that Vivian was still grieving over Teresa’s departure. Stille returned with a warning about Xu Yi’s plan to release an Illusion Film exposing the Mages’ Guild, and he took her to seek her grandfather’s judgment.

• Xu Yi marked Giant Deer Island, its naval base’s reach, and a possible site for a second base on the map.
• Stille arrived and told Xu Yi that Vivian had refused to enter the Manor and still had not recovered from Teresa being sent back to the Lampari Kingdom.
• Xu Yi recalled Vivian’s conflict over losing her friend Teresa and promised to find a chance to talk with her.
• Stille questioned Xu Yi about the Illusion Film concerning the Mages’ Guild Headquarters and warned that showing it could provoke the Guild and endanger him.
• Xu Yi suggested they ask Stille’s grandfather to judge the matter, and Stille reluctantly went with him.

The New Moon Merchant Guild introduced its first News Weekly broadcast in Karamay City, replacing the expected serial drama with reports from across the Sains Continent. The program covered the Lampari Kingdom’s new welfare plan and began an international report about the Mages’ Guild Headquarters’ warning to the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

• The New Moon Merchant Guild screened the first News Weekly broadcast for a packed crowd in Karamay City, hosted by Reinapp and Aurelia.
• News Weekly reported that the Lampari Kingdom had taken over Xilan City and six other cities from the Sark Kingdom under the Ceasefire Agreement.
• The broadcast showed Queen Servini announcing the Kingdom Parliament’s approval of a Basic Welfare Plan that would provide support to every subject starting the following year.
• Reinapp introduced international news, and the broadcast began showing a Mages’ Guild Headquarters representative delivering a final warning to the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

Great Mage Ferguson and President Gascoigne struggled to find a way to punish the Xinfei Merchant Guild after its public exposure of the Mages' Guild Headquarters. Ferguson then saw how thoroughly Xinfei products and businesses had spread through Sky City, leaving him questioning the guild’s hostility toward Xu Yi.

• President Gascoigne blamed Ferguson for mishandling the dispute and ordered him to focus on building ties with archmages in the Two Great Empires.
• After leaving the Magic Throne, Ferguson saw Xinfei Mana Sedans, bicycles, and other products throughout Sky City.
• Ferguson entered a fabric shop and learned its owner was closing to join her cousin’s textile processing factory in the Candel Empire.
• The shopkeeper confirmed that her cousin’s factory was connected to the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and Ferguson realized Xinfei had become deeply established in Sky City.
• Ferguson wondered whether the Mages' Guild had any effective way—or any reason—to punish Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

After the Mages' Guild Headquarters denounced the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Mage Association, low-rank mages continued to support the association and leave the guild. Xu Yi and Archmage Camilla discussed the benefits his industry brought mages, then realized archmages could attack a merchant guild under the guise of a private vendetta.

• The Mages' Guild Headquarters declared the Xinfei Merchant Guild's broadcast fabricated, called for a boycott, and urged mages to leave the Mage Association.
• Low-rank mages remained firm in their support for the Mage Association, with most continuing to withdraw from the Mages' Guild.
• Xu Yi told Archmage Camilla that the Mages' Guild had forgotten its role as a service organization, while she accused him of deliberately drawing low-rank mages away from it.
• Archmage Camilla acknowledged that Xu Yi's magic industry gave low-rank mages a livelihood and thanked him for helping their prospects.
• Xu Yi asked what retaliation to expect, and Archmage Camilla warned that archmages could attack a merchant guild as a private vendetta even though they could not join wars of aggression.

Xu Yi kept the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s conflict with the Mages’ Guild Headquarters from turning into an archmage attack while the guild expanded its magic-industry partnerships. The Venice Duchy advanced to level two and received limited military magic machinery, but its Grand Duke learned that more advanced weapons required higher industry levels.

• Xu Yi reflected that changing how people viewed magic would eventually require persuading powerful mages and archmages to support the magic industry.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild reported that the Venice Duchy had reached magic industry level two and transferred the Magic Repeating Crossbow and Small Magic-Powered Stone Thrower technologies under their agreement.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Amli Merchant Guild sent crews to build a new seaport at the Talan River’s mouth and brought supplies to trade for Venice’s specialty products.
• The Grand Duke of Venice welcomed the fleet, whose cargo included a Handheld Mana Cannon shipment, and admired the weapon’s power and ease of use.
• Gann Solon told the Grand Duke that Handheld Mana Cannon manufacturing required level four and large Mana Cannons required level six, so the Grand Duke asked for the equipment Venice was entitled to receive.

The Venice Duchy used military magic machinery supplied by the Xinfei Merchant Guild to conquer the Samarant Duchy, while the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom destroyed the Tamit Kingdom and alarmed neighboring countries. Garn Solon suggested the Venice Duchy had chosen its target for a strategic reason, leaving Quincy Rachel wondering what made the Samarant Duchy valuable.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild arranged to provide the Venice Duchy with military machinery documentation and technical staff, and to establish a skills academy under unified industrial standards.
• The Grand Duke of Venice equipped the Defense Corps with advanced military magic machinery, and the duchy swiftly destroyed the Samarant Duchy.
• The Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom conquered the Tamit Kingdom in twenty-three days, shocking and alarming the surrounding countries.
• Garn Solon dismissed other countries' doubts about the guild's reach, while Quincy Rachel questioned whether Xu Yi would support the Venice Duchy's invasion.
• Garn Solon pointed out that the Venice Duchy had carefully selected the Samarant Duchy because it was more valuable than it appeared.

Garn Solon and Quincy Rachel speculated that the Grand Duke of Venice was attacking the Samarant Duchy to secure resources and gain the president’s support. During their voyage, their fleet was ambushed by ships carrying many advanced mages, and a figure wielding space magic appeared among the attackers.

• Garn Solon argued that the Grand Duke of Venice had deliberately attacked the Samarant Duchy to force the president to support him, and Quincy Rachel questioned whether the president would approve.
• Quincy Rachel warned Garn Solon to stay alert at sea because the Mages’ Guild might be plotting against the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• On the second morning of the voyage, enemy ships attacked the fleet with powerful spells, and Garn Solon realized the attackers were not ordinary pirates.
• Quincy Rachel suspected the Mages’ Guild Headquarters had sent the attackers, while Garn Solon insisted the fleet could defeat them.
• Quincy Rachel and Garn Solon saw a figure rise from an enemy ship amid a distortion of space, revealing the presence of a space mage.

After learning that repeated attacks had devastated the Xinfei Merchant Guild, Xu Yi blamed the Mages' Guild Headquarters and declared their conflict irreconcilable. He took Archmage Camilla to the guards' training base to show her something, while the chapter also described a suspicious massacre of a Xinfei caravan near Laroul.

• Xu Yi reviewed thirteen incident reports, including three maritime attacks that cost the Xinfei Merchant Guild ships, casualties, and more than seven hundred thousand gold coins.
• Stille suggested cooperation with the Mages' Guild Headquarters, but Xu Yi and Archmage Camilla said the conflict over control of mages and the magic industry could not be reconciled.
• Xu Yi vowed to retaliate after concluding that the Mages' Guild had made the guild pay in blood.
• Xu Yi invited Archmage Camilla to the guards' training base, leaving Stille worried about what might happen.
• The chapter recounted how bandits near Laroul slaughtered a Xinfei Merchant Guild caravan carrying Farmland Magic Machinery, an attack whose motive and brutality puzzled locals.

After Candel Empire authorities abandoned their investigation into the destruction of a Xinfei Merchant Guild caravan, the guild refused to let the attack go unresolved. As merchants and mercenaries debated the guild’s troubles in a Laroul Town tavern, Xinfei mana airships appeared overhead, leaving everyone stunned.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild repeatedly demanded that the Tagna Province Governor's Mansion and Laroul Town garrison office investigate the caravan attack, but the authorities abandoned their efforts.
• Merchants and mercenaries in Laroul Town's largest tavern mocked the guild for pressing the authorities and discussed reports of further attacks on its caravans, offices, and fleet.
• A middle-aged merchant warned that if the authorities would not help a major guild, they would care even less about small merchants, silencing the tavern.
• Enormous shapes darkened the sky, and a mercenary recognized them as mana airships built by the Xinfei Merchant Guild.