Chapter Summaries

Levin Hasoko tried to escape Xu Yi’s chaotic mana space barrier by using Space Collapse, while the Xinfei Merchant Guild prepared a far more powerful attack. Dozens of beams of white light struck him and dissolved both his spell and his body.

• Levin Hasoko realized that the chaotic mana space barrier trapped him and that crossing it would leave him unable to cast spells.
• Levin Hasoko used Space Collapse to draw the magic elements around him under his control and began forcing a path through the barrier.
• Levin Hasoko dismissed dozens of powerful mana fluctuations around him, then feared they could destroy everything nearby.
• Levin Hasoko connected his collapsing mana space to the barrier and began to overcome the chaos.
• Dozens of white beams struck Levin Hasoko, dissolving his Space Collapse and then his body.

Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild confirmed that their attack had killed Levin Hasoko, an Archmage, overturning the belief that Archmages were nearly invincible. Archmage Camilla found Levin’s Doom Elf Ring, accepted his death, and warned that the standing of mages would change.

• Xu Yi ordered Akali to scan the blast site, and repeated scans found no signs of life or distinct mana fluctuations.
• Xu Yi told the shaken group that Archmages were human and could die when an attack exceeded what they could withstand.
• Archmage Camilla arrived and said her opponent had fled during their fight, then learned that Levin Hasoko had apparently died.
• Archmage Camilla returned from the blast site with the Doom Elf Ring and gave it to Xu Yi as proof of Levin’s death and a powerful magical item.
• Archmage Camilla predicted that the standing of mages would be transformed, and Xu Yi said people should respect mages rather than fear them.

After the Xinfei Merchant Guild killed Archmage Levin Hasoko, the continent recognized its power and rushed to secure cooperation and buy its products. By the end of 3793, the guild had become a continent-wide force that many saw as a newborn empire, with the possibility of one day ruling the continent.

• The Mages' Guild Headquarters declared the Xinfei Merchant Guild unwelcome, and the guild severed ties with it before invading and defeating the Mana Magical Kingdom.
• Levin Hasoko and Salandur Clay attacked the Xinfei Merchant Guild's Main Base; Salandur retreated wounded, and Levin died after the guild's forces counterattacked.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild released magical footage and Levin's Doom Elf Ring, convincing the continent that it had killed the archmage.
• The Candel Empire and the Malo Empire signed new cooperation agreements with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and other countries applied for strategic cooperation.
• Orders for the guild's household magic machinery surged, and its products became a craze across the continent during the latter half of 3793.

Kompani returned home from work to find his sister-in-law Winnie visiting with her wealthy-looking husband, Joshua. After introducing Joshua and welcoming them inside, Winnie asked Kompani about his ten-year-old son Hawat’s future.

• Kompani declined his coworkers’ invitation to celebrate payday and gave his closest friend a gold coin for drinks.
• Kompani hurried home and found a sleek mana sedan surrounded by curious children, then stopped his son Saye from touching it.
• Joshua greeted Kompani as his brother-in-law, and Winnie introduced him as her husband from Bunta City.
• Winnie comforted Saye with promises of pastries and sweets, then asked Kompani what he planned for Hawat’s future.
• Kompani glanced at Joshua and invited Winnie and Joshua inside to talk.

Joshua warned Kompani that Alafat Town’s magic machinery factory might face future competition and proposed sending Hawat to the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Magic Practical Skills Training Academy. Kompani agreed, and Joshua then asked him to join a visit to Viscount Risos, leaving Kompani puzzled about the sudden request.

• Kompani explained that he planned for Hawat to learn a magic machinery trade and work at the local factory, but Winnie and Joshua warned that the factory could struggle as competition increased.
• Joshua offered Hawat a place at the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Magic Practical Skills Training Academy, where ordinary people learned practical magic and machinery skills, and Kompani agreed to send him.
• Joshua asked whether Saye could attend an affordable school, and Kompani said he would eagerly send both boys if one existed because illiteracy had held him back.
• Joshua asked Kompani to accompany him to visit Viscount Risos the next morning, leaving Kompani confused about the request.

Joshua of the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Infrastructure Promotion Department met Viscount Rixos to propose an infrastructure development plan for Alafat Town, backed by the Falk Kingdom’s parliament. He secured Rixos’s reluctant approval to make the town the plan’s first pilot site, prioritizing education and training, and arranged to return in two weeks.

• Viscount Rixos received Joshua and Kompani and questioned Joshua about the newly established Infrastructure Promotion Department.
• Joshua explained the department’s infrastructure work and presented a cooperation plan; Rixos questioned how the projects would be funded.
• Joshua showed Rixos an official document confirming the Kingdom Parliament’s support for the plan.
• Joshua proposed making Alafat Town the Falk Kingdom’s first pilot site and prioritizing education and training for its residents.
• Viscount Rixos agreed to consult parliament before discussing the plan in detail, and Joshua said he would return in two weeks.

After meeting with Viscount Rixos, Joshua explained his plans to improve education in Alafat Town and offered Kompani a role in them. The chapter ended with Joshua asking Kompani to become the dean of the town’s planned Primary College.

• Joshua took Kompani aside and introduced him to Hanru Grass Cigarettes, but Kompani stamped his out after learning how expensive they were.
• Joshua asked whether Kompani wanted a Mana Sedan and urged him to imagine a better future for himself and his family.
• Kompani admitted that his lack of education kept him from qualifying as a Senior Technician.
• Joshua explained that he wanted to build a school so every child in Alafat Town could receive an education.
• Joshua offered Kompani the position of College Dean at the Primary College the guild planned to build, and Kompani asked if he was joking.

Winnie and Joshua traveled from Alafat Town to Phlantis City to seek Parliament's approval for an infrastructure pilot project, including a primary academy led by Winnie's brother-in-law, Kompani. After Taylor asked Joshua to give a mage a ride to the guild, Joshua agreed to pick him up the next day.

• Winnie worried that Kompani was unqualified to lead the new primary academy, but Joshua explained that specialists would handle its construction and teaching and that Kompani would serve mainly as a local representative.
• Joshua drove Winnie and Hawat to Phlantis City to submit the Alafat Town pilot plan to the Falk Kingdom Parliament.
• Winnie spoke with Taylor through a Magic Communication Box and learned that the mana signal network's fourth tower was nearly complete.
• Taylor asked Joshua to take a mage who wanted to join the Xinfei Merchant Guild back with them because he had little travel experience.
• Joshua agreed to visit Taylor's Engineering Department the next day and take the mage with him.

Joshua drove Winnie, Hawat, and Mage Sodak away from Phlantis City, but Sodak became badly carsick and ran into the woods. While Joshua and the others waited by the Mana Sedan, a group of armed bandits surrounded them and threatened them.

• Joshua met Mage Sodak at the guild's temporary base and drove him, Winnie, and Hawat away from Phlantis City.
• Sodak became carsick during the journey, so Joshua pulled over and gave him water and medicine.
• Sodak ran deeper into the woods after the medicine upset his stomach, while Joshua served lunch to Winnie and Hawat.
• About twenty armed bandits emerged from the woods, surrounded the Mana Sedan, and threatened Joshua, Winnie, and Hawat.

Winnie fought bandits who wielded Xinfei Merchant Guild individual magic shield devices, and she wondered why ordinary-looking robbers had such advanced military machinery. She used a fire pillar to bypass their shields and set one of the four shield-bearers ablaze, while Joshua and Hawat stayed back.

• Joshua and Hawat moved aside as Winnie attacked the approaching bandits with fireballs.
• The bandit leader and three men blocked Winnie's spells with individual water-powered magic shields, startling her and Joshua.
• Winnie sent Joshua farther away with Hawat and realized the armed bandits might have a purpose beyond robbery.
• Winnie drove off the unshielded bandits with a wall of fire, then considered how to overcome the four shield-bearers.
• Winnie erupted a pillar of fire beneath one shield-bearer, setting him ablaze and sending him running into the woods.

Winnie fought off an eighth-level attack with her Magic Shield Amplification Device, but armed men seized Joshua and Hawat and forced her to surrender. The captors took the three into the woods and revealed that Winnie and Joshua were targeted because they came from the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

• A hidden mage attacked Winnie with Lightning Blade, but she blocked it using her concealed Magic Shield Amplification Device.
• Armed men restrained Joshua and Hawat, and the middle-aged mage threatened Hawat to make Winnie cooperate.
• Winnie surrendered, put on a magic-sealing bracelet, and handed over her concealed devices and other belongings.
• The captors escorted Winnie, Joshua, and Hawat through the woods to a group of carriages and took them away.
• Joshua and Winnie asked why they had been captured, and the middle-aged mage said their connection to the Xinfei Merchant Guild made them valuable.

Winnie and Joshua were abducted by a group seeking Xinfei Merchant Guild research, and they learned that Winnie was the real target because she was a researcher. While their captors camped in the wilderness, the pair secretly used a tapping code to confirm that a delayed Signal Generator should bring help soon.

• The kidnappers stopped at a remote mountain after traveling more than two hundred kilometers, and the middle-aged mage ordered Winnie and Joshua to rest while the men prepared dinner.
• Joshua questioned the middle-aged mage and learned that Winnie was the main target because of her work at the Xinfei Merchant Guild Magic Research Institute.
• Winnie explained that she had little useful technical knowledge, but the middle-aged mage showed her confiscated Magic Shield Amplification Device and said he would take whatever information she had.
• Winnie and Joshua used their private tapping code to confirm that Joshua had left a Signal Generator behind, set to activate after about half an hour.
• The middle-aged mage grew resentful of Winnie's greater standing and wondered whether pursuing magical power had become meaningless as he recalled the strength of Xinfei Magic Machinery.

Winnie, Joshua, and Hawat were taken to a remote manor, where a nobleman tried to force Winnie to work at his secret research facility. Winnie escaped with them and reached a Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps Mana Airship, leaving the kidnappers stranded below.

• Mushel brought Winnie, Joshua, and Hawat to a remote manor and introduced them to the nobleman who ran the Secret Research Facility.
• The nobleman threatened Winnie’s family unless she cooperated, but Winnie refused and used fireballs to distract the guards before flying away with Joshua and Hawat.
• Mushel and two advanced mages pursued them, but a powerful red blast shattered their mana shields and sent them crashing away from the manor.
• A Mana Airship from the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps arrived, and Winnie, Joshua, and Hawat boarded it.
• A Guard Corps officer said they had delayed the rescue to identify who was behind the kidnapping and vowed that the kidnappers and their backers would regret it.

As Bunta City hosted the annual Sains Continent Magic Industry Sector Forum, Xu Yi told Count Sailane that the forum would move to other cities in future to better promote the continent’s magic industry. An urgent report then prompted Xu Yi to expel the Ashur Duchy’s delegation and end all Xinfei Merchant Guild cooperation with the duchy.

• Count Sailane complained to Xu Yi about the strain of accommodating the forum’s growing crowds, but admitted its economic benefits were vital to Bunta City.
• Xu Yi explained that the forum would leave Bunta City next year, with Wimbledon City expected to host it and Angelo City the following year.
• Cindy delivered an urgent report to Xu Yi during his meeting with Count Sailane.
• After reading the report, Xu Yi asked whether the Ashur Duchy had been invited to this year’s forum.
• Xu Yi ordered Count Sailane to notify the Ashur Duchy that it could no longer attend and that the Xinfei Merchant Guild was ending all cooperation with it.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild barred the Ashur Duchy from its industry forum after the duchy’s agents abducted two guild employees, prompting fears that Xu Yi would destroy the small country. Count Birmingham pleaded with Kennard and left to consult his brother, promising the grand duke would give Xu Yi a satisfactory answer.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild revoked the Ashur Duchy’s forum eligibility and barred it from future forums after its agents abducted two guild employees, including a researcher.
• The Bunta Daily reported that Xu Yi had ended cooperation with the duchy and reserved the right to retaliate, leading people to fear the duchy would be destroyed.
• Count Birmingham asked Kennard to arrange a meeting with Xu Yi and insisted the abduction was a misunderstanding carried out without the grand duke’s knowledge.
• Kennard told Count Birmingham that the guild would retaliate depending on the duchy’s response.
• Count Birmingham promised to return at once and discuss the matter with the grand duke, then left.

Xu Yi addressed the kidnapping of Winnie and Joshua by ordering stronger researcher distress signals and planning wider Guards Corps coverage, while directing Kennard to seek an apology and compensation from the Ashur Duchy. A week later, the Fifth Sains Continent Magic Industry Sector Forum closed with record business, and Xu Yi announced that Xinfei would sell basic farmland machinery and Magic Machine Tools technologies.

• Kennard reported that thirty-seven researchers had left the Magic Research Institute the previous year, and Xu Yi said the losses were still minor compared with the sector’s potential.
• Xu Yi ordered Cindy to record a plan for more sensitive Mana Signal Transceivers and told Kennard to prepare a wider distribution of Guards Corps bases.
• Xu Yi instructed Kennard to demand a proper attitude and compensation from the Ashur Duchy, with further measures to be decided later.
• The Fifth Sains Continent Magic Industry Sector Forum concluded with more than four thousand cooperative projects, over 1.6 billion gold coins in orders, and an estimated four billion gold coins in total project value.
• Xu Yi announced that Xinfei would sell basic farmland magic machinery and Magic Machine Tools technologies over the next two years, while keeping mid- and high-end technologies unavailable.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced staged military magic machinery technology transfers to countries with advanced magic industries, accelerating development across the continent. Archmage Salandur Clay arrived at the guild and asked to join its research institute so he could study the power that defeated Levin Hasoko and eventually defeat Xu Yi.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced that three countries had reached level-three industrial systems and would receive military magic machinery technology, naming only the Rulson Kingdom.
• Countries, merchant guilds, and individuals across the continent intensified their efforts in magic industry after the fifth Sains Continent Magic Industry Forum.
• Xu Yi met Archmage Salandur Clay, who had appeared at the guild five days earlier and requested to join its Magic Research Institute.
• Clay explained that he wanted to study the Xinfei Merchant Guild's power because he believed he could not defeat Xu Yi while working in the Mana Magical Kingdom.
• Clay told Xu Yi he intended to defeat him, not kill him, and Xu Yi agreed to let him join.

Xu Yi explained why he had recruited Salandur Clay despite the risk that the archmage might leak the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s technical information. He argued that the guild’s vast, specialized body of magic-machinery knowledge limited what Clay could learn quickly, and planned to put him to work on advanced theory after six months of study; Elder Elusia then turned the conversation to staffing the deep-sea voyage.

• Xu Yi told Elder Elusia that Clay’s prestige and research talent outweighed the manageable risks of bringing him into the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi explained that the guild’s many specialized technologies could not be mastered merely by giving Clay access to its documents.
• Xu Yi said Clay would spend six months learning the basics of magical mechanical theory before beginning advanced research.
• Elder Elusia set aside her questions about Xu Yi’s reasoning and asked him about staffing the deep-sea voyage.

Xu Yi prepared the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s first deep-sea exploration fleet, which set sail to search for another continent and begin a new age of discovery. As the fleet disappeared over the horizon, he turned his attention to the upcoming Magic Industry Sector Standards Conference.

• Elder Elusia told Xu Yi that the Night Song Tribe would send ten elves on the expedition, though she did not explain why the elven tribes wanted to participate.
• Xu Yi reflected on the expedition’s potential to find new land and resources, expanding the magic industry system beyond the Sains Continent.
• After six months of preparation, the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s fleet of five mana-powered cargo ships and fifteen Mana Guard Frigates departed west from the guild’s Main Base.
• Xu Yi watched the fleet vanish beyond the horizon and then focused on preparing for the Magic Industry Sector Standards Conference.

Xu Yi prepared unified standards and professional classifications for the growing magic industry sector while the Mages' Guild's influence waned. Great Mage Ferguson met him on behalf of the Mages' Guild Headquarters to offer a suggestion about assessing mages' magic machinery skills.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild proposed standards and a Magic Industry Sector Management Committee to coordinate the continent's growing industry.
• The Magic Industry Sector Federation approved professional grades for workers, mage technicians, and magic machinery researchers.
• As the industry expanded, the Mages' Guild lost prestige and its branches increasingly pursued cooperation without Headquarters' approval.
• The Mages' Guild Headquarters sent Great Mage Ferguson to meet Xu Yi after five years of silence.
• Ferguson acknowledged Xu Yi's greatly increased magical strength and offered a suggestion about assessing mages' professional magic machinery skills.