Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi rejected the Mages' Guild's attempt to control mage assessments for magic machinery and insisted that the Xinfei Merchant Guild lead any cooperation. Great Mage Ferguson presented a proposal to buy technologies and establish a research institute, then revealed a booklet that startled Xu Yi with its apparent value.

• Great Mage Ferguson asked Xu Yi to use the Mages' Guild's assessment experience, but Xu Yi explained that magic machinery required different knowledge and skills.
• Xu Yi gave Great Mage Ferguson a technical report that he could not understand and urged the Mages' Guild to study the magic industry before seeking to participate.
• Xu Yi agreed to cooperate only if the Xinfei Merchant Guild held absolute control, while Great Mage Ferguson avoided accepting that condition.
• Great Mage Ferguson presented a Letter of Cooperation Intent seeking to buy magic machinery technologies and establish a research institute with the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Great Mage Ferguson produced a booklet as a possible payment for technologies unavailable for sale, and Xu Yi was astonished by its apparent value.

Xu Yi discussed the Mages' Guild Headquarters' confidential magical research with Great Mage Ferguson and negotiated a possible exchange for Xinfei Merchant Guild technology. Ferguson left intending to relay Xu Yi's terms and begin formal negotiations.

• Xu Yi examined a booklet of magical accounts and sketches, valuing two unusual designs more than the ancient Magic Battleship.
• Xu Yi and Great Mage Ferguson argued over whether the Magic Battleship was an antique or a masterpiece of human magic.
• Great Mage Ferguson explained that the four-element magic array and bomb-like device were prohibited research, though their documents remained at the headquarters.
• Xu Yi offered to consider transferring some requested technical documentation in exchange for the confidential research, but refused to share military magic machinery documents directly.
• Xu Yi suggested that the Mana Magical Kingdom could pursue a strategic partnership to obtain military technology, and Great Mage Ferguson agreed to relay his intentions and begin formal negotiations.

After Great Mage Ferguson left, Xu Yi recognized the immense research potential in the Mages' Guild Headquarters' experimental records, which could help the Xinfei Merchant Guild improve magic machinery and find new power sources. He planned to conceal how valuable the records were while using the proposed trade to teach the Mages' Guild the importance of an industrial system.

• Xu Yi reviewed Ferguson's booklet and saw that its records on fire magic and Magic Crystals could help the Xinfei Merchant Guild increase the power output of magic machinery.
• Xu Yi identified research on spiraling air, four-element magic arrays, and spatial collapse as promising ways to improve Mana Airship speed, array stability, and machine power supplies.
• Xu Yi demonstrated a small spatial collapse, recognizing that the device described in the booklet might yield a powerful energy source or weapon.
• Xu Yi decided not to reveal the records' true value and considered the Mages' Guild's request for technology documentation an advantageous trade.
• Xu Yi invoked a possible strategic partnership with the Mana Magical Kingdom and concluded that the Mages' Guild needed to learn what an industrial system meant.

The Candel Empire announced formal cooperation with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and plans to create a committee to develop infrastructure across the empire. Xu Yi discussed the plans and the Lampari Kingdom’s strength with President Cruz, who ended by telling him a rumor about Prince Kane’s father.

• The Candel Empire announced that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would establish an officially recognized industrial base and that a new committee would oversee infrastructure development.
• Observers estimated that connecting the empire’s major cities by road could cost nearly five hundred million gold coins, prompting speculation about agreements with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Amli Merchant Guild.
• President Cruz complained to Xu Yi that the Amli Merchant Guild could not afford to build the proposed roads at a loss and argued that the Lampari Kingdom could defeat the Candel Empire with the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s support.
• Xu Yi told President Cruz that conquering the Candel Empire would be difficult because the real challenge lay in what followed the defeat of its regular army.
• President Cruz told Xu Yi that a widespread rumor claimed he was Prince Kane’s father.

Xu Yi and President Cruz inspected the Candel Empire’s new cement production workshop, built to supply materials for the Three-Year Road Plan. Xu Yi pressed officials to protect workers’ health, while Count Elwin asked him to transfer the technology for producing the workshop’s machinery.

• Xu Yi and President Cruz arrived at the Wimbledon Construction Engineering Materials Base to inspect its first production workshop.
• Xu Yi explained that the Candel Empire, Xinfei Merchant Guild, and Amli Merchant Guild held shares in the base, which was built to supply the empire’s road construction program.
• President Cruz asked Xu Yi to provide Dust-Filtering Plants for his construction sites, and Xu Yi criticized him for neglecting worker health and safety.
• Xu Yi stopped President Cruz from handling wet cement with his bare hand, and Cruz praised the cement’s quality.
• Count Elwin asked Xu Yi to transfer the technology so the Candel Empire could produce the Magic Machine Tool equipment itself.

Xu Yi agreed to transfer magic machine tool technology to the Candel Empire in exchange for major commercial advantages, while assuring President Cruz that the empire could not reproduce the tools independently. He bet Cruz that the Candel Empire would fail to make one within three years, then left by mana airship for the Malo Empire.

• Xu Yi agreed to discuss transferring magic machine tool manufacturing technology with Count Elwin, while President Cruz wondered why he had agreed so readily.
• After two days of negotiations, Xu Yi and Count Elwin signed an agreement covering 127 technical items worth 7.6 million gold coins, and the Candel Empire granted the Xinfei Merchant Guild preferred-partner benefits.
• Xu Yi told President Cruz that the Candel Empire could not manufacture the tools independently without a complete industrial system, then bet that it would fail within three years.
• President Cruz accepted the bet, under which Xu Yi would give the Amli Merchant Guild the same technology for free if the empire succeeded, while the guild would complete a project for Xu Yi if it failed.
• Xu Yi left his mana sedan with President Cruz and departed with his staff aboard a mana airship for the Malo Empire.
• President Cruz considered buying a mana airship, but Xu Yi warned that other countries might follow Lampari's restrictions on aircraft, leaving Cruz uncertain.

Xu Yi secured technology-transfer and research agreements with the Malo Empire, then visited Marquis Southgate’s fief to discuss infrastructure and a possible household magic machinery venture. The chapter ended with Southgate proposing to manufacture products under the Xinfei Merchant Guild brand.

• After three days of talks, Xu Yi and the Malo Empire agreed on transferring Magic Machine Tool technology and jointly researching magic machinery.
• Xu Yi offered support for the empire’s Magic Industry Colleges, and the Malo Empire pledged to build at least fifty within two years.
• Xu Yi arrived at Marquis Southgate’s Private Fief with Akali and her team to survey a Mana Communication Network.
• Marquis Southgate and Baron Franklin told Xu Yi that Xinfei products were highly popular across the empire.
• Southgate proposed that he fund and staff a household magic machinery merchant guild whose products would carry the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s brand.

Xu Yi rejected Marquis Southgate’s proposal to let his household magic machinery use the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s brand, then offered to help supply retired magic-powered repeating crossbows to preserve their partnership. Over the next three days, nobles in the Malo Empire signed letters of intent for Mana Communication Networks, setting up a pilot expansion that could eventually connect the empire to networks across the continent.

• Xu Yi firmly refused Marquis Southgate’s request to put the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s brand on machinery made outside factories wholly funded and controlled by the guild.
• Xu Yi offered to arrange a shipment of serviceable magic-powered repeating crossbows retired by the Lampari Kingdom’s Northern Garrison, and Marquis Southgate accepted.
• During the next three days, Xu Yi met with nobles in Marquis Southgate’s private fief and secured letters of intent from seventeen nobles of marquis rank or above and seventy-six lesser nobles to establish Mana Communication Networks.
• Akali’s team calculated that the proposed networks could cover nearly half the province once installed across the participating nobles’ nearby fiefs and linked with relay towers.
• Xu Yi aimed to expand Mana Communication Networks in the Malo Empire and Falk Kingdom, connect them to Drake Duchy, and ultimately integrate them with the networks in the Stantin Duchy, Lampari Kingdom, and Rulson Kingdom.

As the Xinfei Merchant Guild prepared for its New Year holiday, Xu Yi reviewed its overwhelming backlog and record annual profits with senior executives. Recognizing the guild’s immense strength and prospects, he decided to implement a long-planned reform.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild’s employees rushed to finish work before their half-month New Year holiday, and Ankato joked that their current pace could not last all year.
• Xu Yi and the executives discussed how every department faced a production shortfall, with the household magic machinery department carrying more than three thousand outstanding orders worth over twenty million gold coins.
• Sebas presented the guild’s financial results: annual sales reached 270 million gold coins, and total profit exceeded 103 million gold coins.
• Xu Yi reflected that the guild had become a super-league merchant guild despite being less than fifteen years old, with influence and growth potential surpassing even ancient organizations.
• Xu Yi decided to carry out a reform he had been considering for a long time.

Xu Yi announced that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would restructure by turning its departments into separate subsidiary guilds, while retaining its research institute and military magic machinery department. Count Elwin and Clarence discussed the plan and saw it as an opportunity for the Chimera Chamber of Commerce to act against Xinfei.

• Xu Yi told the department heads that the guild would restructure, and explained that its growth made the old organization inefficient.
• Xu Yi gave department heads the choice to step down if they lacked confidence, but none accepted; he warned that he would remove anyone who failed in their new role.
• Kennard announced a preliminary plan to establish separate guilds for departments including household machinery, iron and alloys, communications, magic locomotives, heavy machinery, and transport.
• Count Elwin and Clarence noted that the Magic Research Institute and military magic machinery department would remain with the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Clarence told Count Elwin that the Chimera Chamber of Commerce would take advantage of what they considered Xinfei's exposed weakness.

Xu Yi worried about the deep-sea exploration fleet’s lack of communication and considered how to create long-distance contact across the Endless Sea. His daughter Freya impressed him by demonstrating a tiny Fireball Spell that left the surrounding mana space stable, revealing extraordinary magical skill.

• Xu Yi worried that unusually cold weather might delay the northern Transport Fleet and that he had no way to track the deep-sea exploration fleet.
• Xu Yi considered whether communications satellites could solve the problem of communicating across the Endless Sea.
• Freya showed Xu Yi a tiny Fireball Spell and told him to examine the magical elements around it.
• Xu Yi discovered that Freya had achieved Surrounding Magical Space Stabilization and praised her remarkable talent.
• Xu Yi reflected on how the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s research and teaching had made magic accessible to ordinary people despite resistance from traditional mages.

Xu Yi explained that Freya’s mana growth had slowed because her body had outgrown the training method designed for her as a child. He promised to develop a new method with Camilla and the other mages, then wondered how Freya’s approach to learning magic could reach more people.

• Freya mastered the Fireball Spell through careful analysis, then learned the Flame Spell and all first-level fire spells with remarkable speed.
• Freya told Xu Yi that her mana had been improving slowly, and asked whether she had reached a bottleneck.
• Xu Yi examined Freya and discovered that she had grown substantially since her mana-training method was created.
• Xu Yi explained that Freya needed a new training method suited to her changed physique, and she eagerly agreed.
• Xu Yi resolved to work with Camilla and other mages on Freya’s new method, then considered how to make her learning approach more widely available.

Enrique argued with Rodman that he wanted to study magic, but his family could not afford to send him to the distant Xinfei Academy. The village elder and chief then revealed that a local magic college would offer him a chance to study, and Rodman agreed to its affordable tuition.

• Enrique insisted that he wanted to learn magic and work for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, while Rodman urged him to become a carpenter.
• Enrique admitted he could not afford to travel to the Stantin Duchy, and Rodman asked him to give up his dream.
• Elder Adonis and Village Chief Bradley arrived with Shandi, who explained that the Chimera Chamber of Commerce and the Xinfei Merchant Guild were opening a basic magic college in Ainoi City.
• Shandi told Rodman that the college accepted ordinary students regardless of magical talent and charged thirty gold coins a year.
• Rodman eagerly agreed to the tuition as Enrique waited excitedly for his answer.

Xu Yi told Kennard not to let fear of the Chimera Chamber of Commerce obstruct the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s development, even as it sought access to the guild’s technology through a lumber-machinery deal. He believed the chamber’s education program in the Candel Empire would ultimately help the Xinfei Merchant Guild attract skilled workers, provided its technology stayed ahead.

• Kennard questioned why the Chimera Chamber of Commerce had begun cooperating with the Candel Empire to establish forty-three Basic Magic Industry Colleges, and Xu Yi suggested the empire wanted to keep basic education under its control.
• Kennard showed Xu Yi a proposal from the Chimera Lumber Guild to exchange five percent of its shares for five percent of the Xinfei Heavy Machinery Guild’s shares while participating in machinery research and development.
• Xu Yi told Kennard that the Xinfei Heavy Machinery Guild should decide how to handle the proposal on its own, even if the Chimera Chamber of Commerce might absorb it.
• Xu Yi reassured Kennard that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would survive as long as its Magic Research Institute, military magic machinery department, and Xu Yi remained in control.
• Xu Yi concluded that the Candel Empire’s education program could train future workers for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, whose continued advantage depended on staying ahead technologically.

The Xinfei Household Magic Machinery Merchant Guild faced a public safety crisis after its fans caused injuries, but its promise to investigate and compensate customers earned praise. Meanwhile, rival guilds announced advances in refrigerators, water heaters, and stoves, leaving Xinfei’s technological lead in question.

• A batch of Xinfei magic fans in the Candel Empire's eastern province came apart during use, and flying blades injured several people.
• The Xinfei Household Magic Machinery Merchant Guild confirmed the accidents, pledged to investigate with the Candel Empire, and promised compensation to affected buyers.
• A Lampari Kingdom merchant guild announced refrigerator technology that improved freezing efficiency and temperatures, and Xinfei congratulated it while offering technical support.
• A Rulson Kingdom merchant guild announced a magic water heater with a heat circulation system that kept bathwater warm.
• Another Lampari Kingdom merchant guild announced a magic-powered stove with multiple heat settings and the ability to cook two dishes at once, raising doubts about Xinfei’s technological advantage.

Riots in the Dero Kingdom left hundreds of Xinfei Merchant Guild employees dead or missing after Prince Wakeli seized power and nationalized magic industry operations, putting the guild under pressure to retaliate. Xu Yi also questioned Sanchelli about using his magic-element theories to build a device capable of rapid calculations, leaving Sanchelli considering the scale of the challenge.

• The Dero Kingdom annexed territory from the Provence Kingdom and the Safina Duchy after gaining military strength through cooperation with the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Prince Wakeli overthrew his brother, took the throne, nationalized the kingdom’s magic industry, and led a campaign against foreign powers.
• Riots swept the Dero Kingdom, destroying foreign-owned businesses and leaving 342 Xinfei Merchant Guild employees confirmed dead and 175 missing.
• Xu Yi listened as Sanchelli explained his developing theory for precisely controlling magic elements.
• Xu Yi asked whether Sanchelli could use a device connected to a Mana Illusion Projector to perform up to a million calculations per second.

Xu Yi sent three thousand Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards to the Dero Kingdom to rescue captured colleagues and punish those responsible, while telling them not to worry about consequences. Back at the Main Base, Ankato sought Xu Yi’s advice over the Candel Empire’s handling of an incident involving Xinfei Magic Fans, but Xu Yi told him to manage the matter himself.

• Xu Yi left Sanchelli to explore microscopic magical research and reflected on how slowly the continent’s mages would adopt data-driven methods.
• Xu Yi ordered Durus to lead three thousand guards to the Dero Kingdom to rescue Xinfei colleagues, assist other guild employees, and suppress the riots.
• The guards boarded ten Large Transport Mana Airships and departed with an escort of thirty Small Guard Mana Airships.
• Xu Yi told Hart that the guards’ harsh response was intended to teach the Dero Kingdom a memorable lesson and spur others to act.
• Ankato accused the Candel Empire of possibly staging the Xinfei Magic Fan incident, but Xu Yi cautioned him against making unsupported accusations and told him to handle the matter as guild president.
• Ankato accepted Xu Yi’s rebuke, then hesitantly asked him for another favor.

Ankato asked Xu Yi for more access to household magic machinery technology and permission to establish an independent research department. Xu Yi agreed to both, while reflecting that creativity and initiative could also bring trouble.

• Ankato showed Xu Yi sales figures and argued that rival merchant guilds’ technological advances had hurt Xinfei’s growth and reputation.
• Xu Yi explained that the Magic Research Institute had developed the rivals’ technologies earlier and admitted he had deliberately allowed other guilds to catch up.
• Xu Yi asked Cindy to arrange an assessment and grant the household magic machinery guild appropriate additional technology access.
• Ankato proposed creating his own research department, and Xu Yi approved it, leaving the amount of support to be negotiated with Dean Avita.
• After Ankato left, Cindy reflected on human creativity and the Elf Race’s defeat, and Xu Yi warned that too much energy and creativity could also cause problems.

During the Dero City riots, Balk left his basement hideout to find medicine for his feverish daughter Xiuika and investigate an escape route, but the Dero recognized him as an outsider and cornered him. As the attackers closed in, a fiery projectile exploded among them, leaving Balk’s fate uncertain.

• Balk decided to leave the basement to find medicine for Xiuika and learn how to escape Dero City.
• Balk disguised his wine-red hair with fireplace ash, found leftover herbs in a ransacked medicine shop, and headed toward the West City Gate to assess the situation.
• A drunken group of Dero confronted Balk on the main road, and he saw them carrying two human heads.
• When liquor spilled over Balk’s hair and revealed its red color, the Dero identified him as an outsider, and he fled into a side street.
• Balk found himself trapped between two groups of Dero until a streak of fire fell from the sky and exploded among the group ahead.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild intervened in the Dero Kingdom’s riots, swiftly defeating its forces and compelling King Wakeli to surrender. Public recordings of the campaign revealed the guild’s growing military power, including its enormous Mana Airships.

• Newspapers and mana illusions publicized the atrocities of the Dero Kingdom’s riots, provoking outrage across the continent.
• Xu Yi announced that the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps would rescue all outsiders and hold those responsible for the unrest accountable.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps arrived in Dero City aboard Mana Airships, killed thousands of rioters, and seized the Royal Palace and King Wakeli.
• The guild’s guards defeated seven battles against Dero reinforcements, while allied forces from the Lampari Kingdom, the Rulson Kingdom, and the Drake Duchy later entered the kingdom.
• King Wakeli formally surrendered one month after the first guards arrived, and the guild publicly screened recordings of its campaign.
• Viewers saw that ten enormous Mana Airships had carried the initial three thousand guards four thousand kilometers from the Stantin Duchy to Dero City in two days.