Chapter Summaries

Akali and the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards fought off a black dragon named Leon until Cassandra arrived and stopped him. Leon turned out to be Cassandra’s childhood friend, and Akali discovered he had come to see the fun things she had brought.

• Akali spotted a black dragon approaching the camp and warned the researchers and guards.
• Zelas ordered the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guards to fire mana rockets, knocking Leon into a hill and stopping his fireball with special cold-mist rockets.
• Cassandra arrived, scolded Leon for attacking the camp, and introduced him to Akali.
• Leon reluctantly shook Akali’s hand after Cassandra hit him for insulting her friend.
• Akali learned Cassandra had told Leon about the fun things she brought, including Mana Sedans and Mana Illusion Films.

Akali and the Xinfei Merchant Guild continued preparing a coastal base on the Demoncloud Continent, securing Leon’s interest in a partnership and learning that a large human settlement existed nearby. After building a Mana Signal Tower, Akali began testing a high-altitude relay to link the continent with Xinfei Island and Fire Rock Island.

• Akali offered Leon Mana Sedans and Mana Projectors to introduce to his tribe, and he agreed to discuss a partnership with them.
• Leon told Akali that tens of thousands of humans lived in a settlement near his tribe, though it was too far away for her to contact immediately.
• Leon flew home with Mana Projectors and Mana Illusion Films while Akali’s team continued preparing the base.
• After a month, Akali and her team built a Mana Signal Tower near the coast and tested relaying its signal through a Dragon-Speech Magic source aboard a Mana Airship.
• Akali sent the challenge of building a stable high-altitude relay device to the Xinfei Merchant Guild headquarters and began constructing a second Mana Signal Tower.

Xu Yi learned that the Xinfei Communications Guild had secured agreements to expand magic communication networks across the Candel Empire and the Malo Empire, while Sanchelli demonstrated a magic array capable of producing 107 different spells simultaneously. The discovery could advance the communication network and might eventually make computers possible.

• The Xinfei Communications Guild’s communication devices sold in large numbers, bringing in over fifteen million gold coins in revenue.
• The Xinfei Communications Guild and the Amli Merchant Guild signed five-year network expansion agreements with the Candel Empire and the Malo Empire, granting the guild operating rights and a share of profits.
• Sanchelli showed Xu Yi a metal disc that kept their separate streams of mana from interfering while producing a whirlwind and a flame at the same time.
• Sanchelli inserted the disc into a larger apparatus, which used magic crystals to produce 107 simultaneous spells that interacted to create a small rain-and-mud cycle.
• Xu Yi recognized that Sanchelli’s invention could meet the magic communication network’s processing needs and potentially lead to computers.

On the twentieth anniversary of his arrival in the Sains Continent, Xu Yi reflected on the industrial changes brought by the magic industry and watched Stille announce the New Moon Merchant Guild’s expansion. Freya decided she wanted to become president of the Xinfei Merchant Guild, leaving Xu Yi unsure whether her ambition would last.

• Xu Yi marked twenty years since arriving in the Sains Continent and felt more at home there than on Earth.
• Freya recognized Stille in a mana illusion and correctly guessed that she was in Anvilmar City with Servini.
• Xu Yi recalled that the New Moon Merchant Guild earned substantial profits from Mana Illusion Films and advertising while expanding its projection-device network.
• Freya explained that Stille’s presence came from being a president and announced that she wanted to succeed Xu Yi as president of the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi wondered whether Freya’s sudden ambition was only a passing whim.

Xu Yi let Freya begin an internship as an ordinary assembly worker so she could learn how the Xinfei Merchant Guild operated firsthand. As Freya left in disguise for the factory, Xu Yi told Stille that he had agreed because Kennard was leaving.

• Xu Yi explained why he had not yet confirmed Freya as the Xinfei Merchant Guild's successor, despite naming her heir to his estate.
• Freya studied merchant guild management for more than three months, convincing Xu Yi that she was serious about becoming president.
• Freya chose to intern as an assembly worker, and Xu Yi warned her that she would receive no special treatment or financial support from her parents.
• Xu Yi gave Freya a magical hair tie from Elder Lysania that changed her appearance, and she prepared to pose as an ordinary job seeker in the Stantin Duchy.
• After Freya left for the factory, Stille asked Xu Yi why he had allowed her to give up part of her childhood, and he answered that Kennard was leaving.

Kennard resigned from the Xinfei Merchant Guild after fourteen years and announced that he would lead a new magic machinery merchant guild backed by the Emma Family. Xu Yi confirmed their amicable separation and promised cooperation, while the chapter ended with uncertainty about how the Xinfei Merchant Guild would respond to losing its chief executive.

• Xu Yi reflected on Kennard's family obligations and the difficulty of finding someone capable of succeeding him as chief executive.
• News of Kennard's resignation spread through the Bunta Daily and Xinfei Magic Industry Weekly, stirring the merchant guilds across the Sains Continent.
• Kennard held a press conference in Anvilmar City, denied that he had left because of a conflict, and announced plans to establish a magic machinery merchant guild.
• Xu Yi confirmed that Kennard's resignation was amicable and said the Xinfei Merchant Guild had already arranged to cooperate with his new guild.
• Reports revealed that the Emma Family backed Kennard's new guild, prompting speculation about its prospects and the impact of his departure on Xinfei.

The Chimera Chamber of Commerce proposed a heavily funded partnership with the Xinfei Household Magic Machinery Merchant Guild and the Xinfei Communications Guild to build a magic network across the Candel Empire’s Southwestern Province. Xu Yi approved the opportunity but warned Ankato and Kakalor to preserve the strengths that had attracted the Chimera Chamber of Commerce.

• After Kennard left, the Xinfei Merchant Guild made few changes and appointed Glerus as its second chief executive officer.
• Akali’s Research Group’s advances and Sanchelli’s multithreaded magic synchronization breakthrough allowed the Xinfei Merchant Guild to expand its household magic machinery network in the Stantin Duchy.
• The Chimera Chamber of Commerce offered to fund most of a large-scale network project in the Candel Empire’s Southwestern Province and take responsibility for its construction.
• Ankato and Kakalor told Xu Yi they supported the partnership despite suspecting the Chimera Chamber of Commerce had ulterior motives.
• Xu Yi endorsed the cooperation and advised Ankato and Kakalor to understand and maintain the advantages that had attracted the Chimera Chamber of Commerce.

Xu Yi reviewed reports showing that the Chimera Chamber of Commerce was deepening its ties with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, then joined Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania at Xinfei Harbor to await elves arriving from the Demoncloud Continent. The chapter ended with the two elders preparing to meet their distant kin.

• Xu Yi examined reports on the Chimera Chamber of Commerce’s many projects with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and suspected the powerful guild was trying to gain influence over his organization.
• Xu Yi asked Cindy to summon Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania to Xinfei Harbor, where a fleet carrying elves from the Demoncloud Continent was expected.
• A harbor supervisor told Xu Yi that the fleet had passed Landori Island and should arrive soon.
• Xu Yi, Elder Elusia, and Elder Lysania discussed their curiosity about the elves’ history and present circumstances on the distant continent.
• Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania said their tribes had no desire to leave the Sains Continent, then discreetly adjusted their appearance as they waited for the fleet.

Xu Yi welcomed Lumi and the newly arrived gnomes and elves from the Demoncloud Continent, hoping to build ties with them and recruit gnomes for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s research. Trand agreed to let Xu Yi announce their arrival, while Lumi and the newcomers hoped to discover whether any other gnomes remained on the Sains Continent.

• Lumi returned with the fleet and joyfully reunited with Xu Yi after finding gnomes on the Demoncloud Continent.
• Elder Elusia and Elder Lysania greeted the arriving elves, while Xu Yi met Trand, the gnomes’ representative.
• Xu Yi proposed cooperation between the gnomes and the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and Trand said it was too soon to discuss an agreement.
• Trand told Xu Yi that he had encountered humans on the Demoncloud Continent over a century earlier, though he did not know how many remained.
• Trand agreed that Xu Yi could announce the gnomes’ arrival so they could search for any of their people still living on the Sains Continent.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild introduced visitors from the Demoncloud Continent at a press conference and gathered country representatives to discuss developing the new continent. During the meeting, the visitors answered questions about their origins, and Elder Trand revealed that goblins—not elves or gnomes—currently dominated the Demoncloud Continent.

• The Bunta Daily announced that Demoncloud Continent visitors would appear at the Xinfei Merchant Guild's press conference in Xinfei City.
• Lumi and ten gnomes joined Miss Soriel onstage, while Xu Yi met with country representatives and rebuked Sasha for doubting the visitors' origins.
• Xu Yi distributed the guild's preliminary development plan, and the Malo Empire's representative asked the visitors about their histories and races.
• Trand said the gnomes' ancestors had migrated from the Sains Continent more than two thousand years earlier, while an elven representative described their tribe as native to the Demoncloud Continent.
• Elder Trand identified the goblins as the Demoncloud Continent's most powerful race, surprising the representatives and prompting them to look toward Xu Yi.

Xu Yi explained that goblins on the Demoncloud Continent attacked the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s expedition and could not be negotiated with, making cooperation with the elves and gnomes risky. He asked nations to review his proposal for jointly developing the new continent, then ordered Glerus to prepare a self-sufficient forward base there within three years.

• Xu Yi told the representatives that the goblins had attacked the expedition on all six encounters and would not negotiate or cooperate.
• Xu Yi explained that the Sansas Elf Tribe and Karom Gnome Tribe had come to seek help against the goblins, and invited the nations to consider the guild’s proposal.
• The representatives began reading the proposal while Xu Yi left the meeting room and asked Glerus how the press conference had gone.
• Glerus reported that the press conference had gone smoothly and that news of the visitors would spread across the continent within three days.
• Xu Yi instructed Glerus to adjust the guild’s strategy and plan a fully self-sufficient forward base on the Demoncloud Continent within three years.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild sent a large fleet to establish a self-sufficient base on the Demoncloud Continent while mineral prices rose on the Sains Continent. In response to the Chino Federation’s price increases, the Xinfei Merchant Guild launched the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild and challenged the federation with lower-priced minerals.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild sent a fleet carrying reinforcements, supplies, three thousand guards, and military magic machinery to build a base on the Demoncloud Continent.
• The Chino Federation, formed by forty-six mineral guilds, raised mineral prices, including iron ore by fifteen percent and magic crystals by ten percent.
• The higher prices squeezed magic machinery guilds, and Xu Yi opposed the Chino Federation’s control of mineral supplies.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced it would establish the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild to secure its own mineral resources.
• The Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild revealed that it controlled and operated seventeen mines and offered iron ore at a price nearly twenty percent below the Chino Federation’s rate.

The Chino Federation and the Valley Coordination Association challenged the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild with coordinated pricing intended to force it out of the mineral industry. The Xinfei Merchant Guild again made no response, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• The Freshwater Valley Merchant Guild and thirty-six other guilds founded the Valley Mineral Coordination Association to contend with the Chino Federation.
• The Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild announced that improved refining technology had raised its monthly steel output to more than six hundred thousand tonnes, and buyers rushed to place orders.
• The Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild reported August output above eight hundred thousand tonnes, sold more than five hundred thousand tonnes, and acquired twelve mines across seven countries.
• The Chino Federation raised iron ore prices above four gold coins per tonne and cut steel prices by nearly twenty percent, and the Valley Coordination Association followed its pricing strategy.
• The Chino Federation's president openly urged the Xinfei Merchant Guild to stay out of the mineral industry, but the Xinfei Merchant Guild gave no response.

Xu Yi helped Lampari Kingdom merchant guilds recover from losses caused by defective steel from the Chino Federation and the Valley Coordination Association. He arranged to supply them with steel on installment and persuaded them to donate defective magic machinery to the Demoncloud Continent, while recognizing that winning back guilds in other countries would take time.

• Faiman Anko and other guild presidents described their losses and damaged reputations after producing defective magic machinery with substandard steel.
• Xu Yi urged the guilds to enforce strict quality controls and offered to provide the Lampari Kingdom’s Magic Industry Administration with Xinfei’s standard operating procedures.
• Xu Yi proposed sending the defective products to the Demoncloud Continent as donations, and the guild presidents agreed, led by the Sakeqi Merchant Guild.
• Li Thorpe announced that the Xinfei Mining Merchant Guild would resume steel supplies, forgive the guilds’ breach of contract, and allow installment payments at unchanged prices.
• The guild presidents praised Xu Yi and promised to buy materials from Xinfei, while Xu Yi reflected that the Chino Federation and Valley Coordination Association still retained guilds in other countries.

Akali continued building the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s coastal base on the Demoncloud Continent while deepening her friendship with Cassandra and avoiding the pain of being near Xu Yi. Cassandra brought her to meet Leon, who had finally returned from investigating the humans near the Black Dragon settlement, and he explained that he had forgotten where they lived.

• Akali reflected on her year away from Xu Yi and on the guild’s plans to develop its base on the Demoncloud Continent.
• Cassandra told Akali that the tribe was making Floating Mana Signal Beacons and that Leon had returned and wanted to meet her alone.
• Cassandra flew Akali to a hill, where Leon was astonished that Cassandra had carried a human on her back.
• After Cassandra ordered him to show respect, Leon transformed into a human and greeted Akali.
• Akali asked why Leon had taken more than half a year to return, and he admitted that he had forgotten where the humans near his tribe lived.

Akali learned that Leon had spotted humans surrounded by goblins and rushed to investigate, using temporary signal beacons to keep in contact with the Xinfei Merchant Guild camp. When Cassandra and Leon refused to intervene because of their oath, Akali flew down alone to help the trapped transport team hold out until a rescue force arrived.

• Leon told Akali that a human town had been built nearby, then became excited about getting more Mana Illusion Projectors and learning what happened in the film.
• Leon reported seeing humans surrounded by goblins, and Akali suspected they were the Xinfei Merchant Guild transport team heading to the Karom Gnome Tribe.
• Akali contacted Captain Rhinehart and, with Cassandra's help, set up temporary Floating Mana Signal Beacons while Leon led them toward the fighting.
• After more than forty kilometers, Akali saw over ten thousand goblins surrounding the transport team and learned that Cassandra and Leon could not help because of their oath.
• Akali told Captain Rhinehart the team was still holding out, then flew down alone to assist until the rescue force arrived.

Akali and thirteen mana airships rescued the Transport Team from a goblin siege, astonishing Leon with the humans’ weapons. The survivors prepared to return to base and discuss how to prevent another communications failure.

• Akali joined the Transport Team’s defense and reassured them that reinforcements were coming, while Leon doubted the humans could save them.
• Thirteen mana airships arrived and bombarded the goblins, killing over a thousand and forcing the rest to flee.
• Captain Rhinehart’s airships rescued Akali and the Transport Team, and Gruel learned that Cassandra and Leon had alerted Akali to their plight.
• Captain Rhinehart urged Akali to establish a magic communication network after the team’s distress signals failed, and Akali explained that her temporary link had also stopped working.
• Captain Rhinehart ordered everyone to return to base and called for a meeting with Akali’s Communications Department to discuss the incident.

After the goblin siege, the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Demoncloud Continent branch debated how to protect its base and whether to confront the goblins, while Akali and Cassandra considered whether humans could reshape the continent. Leon ended the chapter by offering to persuade his people to cooperate with the guild in exchange for Military Magic Machinery.

• Supervisor Barnett and the branch’s department heads set plans to secure the base, limit expeditions, and gradually extend roads and the magic communication network while requesting more Mana Airships and communications support.
• Captain Rhine Hart proposed striking the goblins first, but Barnett and most senior staff opposed provoking them, leaving the decision unsettled.
• Akali asked Cassandra whether the goblins could negotiate, and Cassandra said they would only talk after being beaten into submission.
• Cassandra reconsidered the humans’ strength and wondered whether they might replace the goblins as rulers of the Demoncloud Continent.
• Leon landed in human form and offered to persuade his people to cooperate with the guild if Akali gave him one of every kind of Military Magic Machinery, preferably including a Mana Airship.

Xu Yi approved more supplies for the Demoncloud Continent Branch despite the growing financial and military strain on the Xinfei Merchant Guild. As he weighed the risks of sharing technology, he recalled one particular request for military magic machinery technology that had made him hesitate.

• Xu Yi rejected Captain Rhinehart's proposal to attack the goblins and approved the branch's request for priority material assistance.
• Xu Yi learned that the logistics department was struggling with the branch's growing supply demands, but ordered it to support the guild's long-term plan.
• Xu Yi considered the costs of sending six thousand guards to the Demoncloud Continent while rebuilding the Xinfei Merchant Guild's forces on the Sains Continent.
• Xu Yi reviewed how rival countries and mining organizations might eventually restrict the guild as their magic-industry technology advanced.
• Xu Yi reaffirmed that the guild had to retain control of military magic machinery technology, but hesitated over one individual's request to transfer it.

Xu Yi weighed whether to share military magic machinery technology with Viscount Leslie so Paradise Island could build its own vessels without endangering its partnership with the Xinfei Merchant Guild. A report from the Southern Airship Exploration Team confirmed a continent south of the Sains Continent, and Xu Yi saw a way to resolve his dilemma.

• Xu Yi considered Leslie’s request for military technology and worried that empowering Paradise Island could eventually make it a rival to the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Cindy brought Xu Yi the Southern Airship Exploration Team’s initial report, which confirmed that the team had discovered a continent south of the Sains Continent.
• The report described a vast, hot landmass more than three thousand kilometers across the sea and included a rough map.
• Xu Yi recognized that the continent’s heat came from its location south of the equator and smiled as he realized he had found a solution.