Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi learned that the Abyssal Demon ruins contained structures resembling circuit boards and that their locations formed a magic array. The discovery left him wondering whether the ancient civilization had followed a path like Earth’s, while the purpose of the array remained unknown.

• After his first long-distance call with his family, Xu Yi heard from Akali that the researchers had made a new discovery in the ruins.
• Xu Yi traveled to Space Island, where Akali rushed him onto a Mana Airship headed for the discovery site.
• Akali showed Xu Yi scans of a pillar’s interior, and he recognized that its patterned boards resembled circuit boards from Earth.
• Akali told Xu Yi that the researchers had found thirty-seven ruins and showed him a map marking their locations.
• Xu Yi connected the marked ruins and realized they formed a magic array.

Xu Yi and Akali investigated an incomplete magic array diagram and considered evidence that the Elf Race had learned magic from the Abyssal Demon Race. They traveled to an underwater cave to meet Elder Windini, where Xu Yi discovered an air-filled space protected by an unusual energy barrier and saw two figures ahead.

• Akali told Xu Yi that the magic array diagram was incomplete and that seven corresponding ruins seemed to lie beneath the sea, though they could not locate them.
• Akali explained that Elder Windini believed the Elf Race might have learned magic from the Abyssal Demon Race, prompting Xu Yi to reconsider magic's origins and the continent's history.
• Xu Yi asked why the Abyssal Demon Race had that name, and Akali said Elder Windini might know and was waiting ahead.
• Akali led Xu Yi from the Mana Airship into the sea and down to a lit underwater cave more than four hundred kilometers from Space Island.
• Xu Yi entered a dry chamber within the cave, examined its strange barrier, and followed Akali deeper until they saw two slender figures standing before a wall.

Xu Yi joined Akali, Elder Windini, and Cassandra at a sealed Abyssal Demon structure and unexpectedly opened its entrance by touching it. Inside, they found a central pillar that Akali identified as the core of a magic array possibly meant for travel to another world, leaving them wondering why the structure had responded to Xu Yi.

• Xu Yi examined the sealed dome and learned that Akali and the others had been unable to penetrate it or find an entrance.
• When Xu Yi touched the structure, a doorway appeared in its seamless wall, and Akali led the group inside.
• The four discovered an otherwise empty chamber containing a central pillar larger than the ones in the ruins outside.
• Akali used the Mana X-Ray Projector to inspect the pillar and concluded that it was the core of an Abyssal Demon magic array for traveling to another world.
• Xu Yi proposed building replicas of the pillar's internal components to study how the array worked, while Akali asked why the entrance had opened for him.

After helping Akali study the Abyssal Demon ruins, Xu Yi returned to the Sains Continent, where Yerrogan learned that his return might disrupt the Candel Empire’s plans in the Mana Magical Kingdom. Yerrogan wondered whether the Empire’s leaders could continue tolerating Xu Yi’s influence.

• Xu Yi refused to stay and research the ruins, agreeing instead to help Akali and Elder Windini open the core when needed.
• After spending more than half a month assisting Akali, Xu Yi set off for the Sains Continent after nearly a year away.
• Yerrogan failed another High-Intensity Fire Temperature Array experiment but acknowledged that Dio’s Cross-Sensing Temperature Control Theory had improved the results.
• Dio tried to recruit Yerrogan for work connected to the Empire Military Department, but Yerrogan refused.
• Dio warned Yerrogan that Xu Yi’s return might threaten their planned investment in the Tinifis Mine by forcing the Candel Empire to return occupied land to the Mana Magical Kingdom.
• Yerrogan wondered whether the Empire’s leaders could keep tolerating Xu Yi’s influence.

The Candel Emperor reflected on how the Xinfei Merchant Guild had strengthened his empire while also limiting his power, and reviewed his gamble in attacking the Mana Magical Kingdom. With Xu Yi returned to the continent, the Emperor waited to learn the guild’s true stance.

• The Candel Emperor read an intelligence report announcing that Xu Yi had returned.
• The Candel Emperor recalled how Xinfei’s farming machinery, transport, magic industries, and communication network had strengthened the empire and his rule.
• The Candel Emperor resented Xinfei’s influence and remembered how its military magic machinery had forced the Two Great Empires to submit eleven years earlier.
• The Candel Emperor secretly built up the empire’s military magic machinery while waiting for a chance to challenge Xinfei’s influence.
• After Xu Yi left the continent, the Candel Emperor attacked the Mana Magical Kingdom to test Xinfei’s response, but the guild only aided civilians during the war.
• The Candel Emperor wondered how Xu Yi would respond now that he had returned.

After returning to the Sains Continent, Xu Yi distanced himself from the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s daily affairs while it recruited workers to develop the Demoncloud Continent. When Servini confronted him over claims that his departure had enabled the Candel Empire’s war, Xu Yi denied plotting it but admitted he had expected the war, leaving their strained relationship unresolved.

• Xu Yi returned to the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Main Base and left most daily responsibilities to Glerus.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild struggled to recruit workers for the Demoncloud Continent before announcing that three thousand qualified recruits had joined at once.
• Servini asked Xu Yi whether he had deliberately withdrawn from the Mana Magical Kingdom to give the Candel Empire room to declare war.
• Xu Yi denied acting on purpose but admitted that he had anticipated the Candel Empire’s declaration of war.
• Xu Yi challenged Servini to consider her own responsibility as a country’s leader, while she recognized that his distance stemmed from the Lampari Kingdom’s secret military magic machinery research.

Servini discussed military magic machinery, the Mana Magical Kingdom, and the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s plans for the Demoncloud Continent with Xu Yi, realizing their former partnership had become distant. After their long conversation, she ordered Prince Raymond to tell the Two Great Empires they no longer needed to worry too much about the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

• Servini defended her secret military magic machinery program and asked whether Xu Yi would intervene if the Candel Empire conquered the Mana Magical Kingdom.
• Xu Yi said he would not intervene unless the Candel Empire harmed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s interests, and Servini asked what he would do if Lampari joined the conflict.
• Servini asked about the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s recruitment for the Demoncloud Continent, and Xu Yi explained its plans to develop the region using its inhabitants.
• Servini realized Xu Yi’s plans excluded the Lampari Kingdom and other Sains Continent powers, and she ended the call feeling their relationship had changed.
• Servini ordered Prince Raymond to tell the Two Great Empires they no longer needed to worry too much about the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

After the Mana Magical Kingdom surrendered to the Candel Empire, the continent’s major powers pushed through a treaty restricting the spread of military magic machinery and sanctioned the countries that opposed it. The Xinfei Merchant Guild stayed silent as attention turned to Freya’s upcoming twenty-fifth birthday.

• The Candel Empire resumed its offensive against the Mana Magical Kingdom and forced it to sign a costly ceasefire that also granted the Lampari Kingdom access to its resources.
• The Candel Empire, Malo Empire, and Lampari Kingdom convened representatives from 117 countries to discuss the expired Continental Peace Treaty.
• Seventy-nine countries signed the Military Magic Machinery Proliferation Restriction Treaty, while twelve opposed it and twenty-six abstained.
• The seventy-nine signatories imposed comprehensive sanctions on the twelve countries that had opposed the treaty.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild expressed no opinion on the treaty as Freya’s twenty-fifth birthday approached.

Freya accepted Xu Yi’s nomination to succeed him as president of the Xinfei Merchant Guild, and he stepped down to give her room to lead. After two months away from public view, Xu Yi attended the Mainland Magic Industry Sector Conference and proposed a foundation to support and evaluate technological breakthroughs.

• Freya told Xu Yi that becoming president was her own choice and that she hoped to surpass him.
• Xu Yi resigned as president, nominated Freya, and announced her as the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s acting president.
• News of the succession spread across the Sains Continent, and people speculated about Xu Yi’s future role.
• Two months later, Xu Yi attended the Mainland Magic Industry Sector Conference in a personal capacity and avoided discussing the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi proposed a Mainland Magic Industry Sector Technology Foundation to reward breakthroughs and support promising research.

The Candel Emperor and Marquis Carmen discussed how Xu Yi’s Continental Magic Industry Technology Foundation had damaged merchant guilds in the Candel Empire and considered creating a rival grading organization. Meanwhile, the foundation’s assessments continued to gain authority across the Sains Continent, accelerating research and drawing the attention of countries threatened by its influence.

• The Candel Emperor summoned Marquis Carmen and confronted him over reports of Candel Empire merchant guilds failing the foundation’s assessments.
• Marquis Carmen warned that Xu Yi’s standards could harm the empire’s entire magic industry sector and proposed establishing a rival technological grading organization.
• The Candel Emperor questioned how such an organization could compete with Xu Yi’s reputation and the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s support.
• Marquis Carmen suggested that other countries also resented Xu Yi and could stand behind the rival organization.
• The foundation’s ratings shaped merchant guild reputations, helped researchers gain recognition and funding, and encouraged technological progress across the Sains Continent.

A mass blackout in a Candel Empire town was traced to magic air conditioners operating alongside a new mana supply system, and investigators said the risk applied to air conditioners of every brand because they shared Xinfei-made core modules. The findings damaged Xinfei’s reputation and left people fearing that using magic machinery could be fatal.

• Residents of a town under Claira City fell unconscious for three days, prompting the northern province’s Governor’s Mansion to investigate.
• Investigators first blamed prolonged use of Lituo Magic Air Conditioners during the unusually cold winter.
• A follow-up investigation found that the town’s new remote mana supply system had amplified effects from the air conditioners and triggered the mass blackout.
• The Governor’s Mansion reported that the danger came from air conditioners’ mana air compressor modules, regardless of brand.
• People learned that Xinfei Merchant Guild alone produced the modules used in air conditioners, raising fears about other magic machinery and possible deaths.

After a mass loss of consciousness in the Candel Empire damaged confidence in Xinfei’s products and technology, Freya led the guild’s executives in planning a response. She ordered further safety research and testing, then proposed a major expansion of remote magic transmission across the Stantin Duchy.

• Ankato reported that his tests found no problems with the Lituo Magic Air Conditioners, but the Candel Empire had refused to let the guild examine the collected units.
• Fivenn warned that the public was unlikely to believe Xinfei’s test results, and Freya said the guild needed to show the incident should never have been possible rather than call it a coincidence.
• Freya questioned Ankato and Avita, who acknowledged that unusual mana conditions could affect people and that the risks needed further study.
• Freya directed the Magic Research Institute to investigate the magical phenomena involved and told Ankato to continue pushing the products through extreme stress tests.
• Freya instructed Fivenn to propose building five hundred Mana Supply Stations and implementing remote magic transmission throughout the Stantin Duchy.

Xu Yi learned that magic arrays had been used in the Qidanlu Town Mass Coma Incident, but left Freya to handle the public response while preparing covert measures against those behind it. As the Candel Empire restricted Xinfei’s air conditioners and investigated magic machinery, Xinfei publicly denied the accusations and hinted that the incident had been plotted.

• Ruo Ke told Xu Yi that faint traces of more than two hundred possible magic arrays had been found near Qidanlu Town, and Xu Yi ended the investigation while directing him to prepare for further action.
• Xu Yi explained that Freya should handle the incident as Xinfei Merchant Guild president and said he trusted her response to public doubts about magic machinery.
• On May 1, the Stantin Duchy National Parliament passed the New Energy Plan to expand the Remote Magic Transmission Network and use magic crystals more efficiently.
• On May 3 and May 6, the Candel Empire confirmed its Qidanlu investigation findings, ordered changes to magic air conditioners, and announced a wider investigation of magic machinery.
• On May 4, the Lituo Merchant Guild suspended sales of Xinfei-made air conditioners with Mana Air Compressor Modules and announced plans for its own new models.
• On May 10, the Xinfei Merchant Guild released test data rejecting the alleged danger of its modules and presented evidence that abnormal mana readings in Qidanlu Town were unrelated to its machinery, implying that the incident had been staged.

Xu Yi visited Great Mage Trussier in Lamasia City and confronted him over secret work for the Candel Empire’s military. He offered Trussier a choice: continue helping the military develop magic machinery or cooperate with the Xinfei Merchant Guild to prevent machinery from failing due to external mana fluctuations.

• Xu Yi reflected on how mana sedans, mobile magical communications, and high-rise buildings had become commonplace as the magic industry developed.
• Xu Yi arrived at Great Mage Trussier’s building and persuaded the receptionist to contact him by giving his name.
• Great Mage Trussier welcomed Xu Yi, who confronted him about developing a special magic array for the Candel Empire’s military.
• Trussier admitted he had unknowingly become involved in the military’s project and insisted he would not betray the empire.
• Xu Yi offered Trussier the choice of continuing his military work or cooperating with the Xinfei Merchant Guild on preventing magic machinery malfunctions.
• Trussier asked whether he could choose neither, and Xu Yi left the answer hanging with a smile.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild’s remote magic transmission rollout and new industry standards weakened the Candel Empire’s magic machinery sector and isolated the empire from other countries. The conflict turned violent when the Northeastern Province garrison attacked a Xinfei Merchant Guild mine and was wiped out by the guild’s Guard Corps.

• The Xinfei Merchant Guild announced agreements with seventeen countries to expand remote magic transmission, excluding the Candel Empire.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild and other organizations introduced new standards requiring magic machinery to connect to the remote transmission network.
• Magic machinery guilds in the Candel Empire rejected the standards, and their sales fell sharply, causing closures and the empire’s first wave of unemployment.
• On October seventeenth, the Candel Empire’s Northeastern Province garrison attacked a Xinfei Merchant Guild magic crystal mine and exchanged heavy fire with the guard corps stationed there.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps wiped out the garrison despite being outnumbered three to one.

The Emperor of Candel and his ministers discussed the Northeastern Province garrison’s attack on the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s White Meng Mine, officially blaming rebellious soldiers while trying to contain the damage. Duke Tim reported that the mine workers suffered heavy casualties but the Guild Guard Corps lost only two lightly injured guards, leaving the emperor relieved yet humiliated by the empire’s fear of the merchant guild.

• The Emperor of Candel called the unauthorized attack on the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s mine a rebellion, and Grand Duke Rostov and Duke Infinad backed that framing.
• A palace attendant connected the emperor with Duke Tim, who was reporting from the White Meng Mine.
• Duke Infinad interrupted Duke Tim’s initial account, and Tim described the attackers as soldiers who had gathered to cause trouble and rob the mine.
• Duke Tim reported sixteen workers dead, thirty-seven seriously injured, and over a hundred lightly injured, while only two Guild Guard Corps members had minor injuries.
• The emperor and ministers were relieved that no guards had been killed, but felt humiliated that the empire feared the merchant guild’s response.

The Candel Emperor and Grand Duke Rostov discussed the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps’ strength and the empire’s ability to oppose it after the White Meng Mine attack. A week later, the Candel Empire and the guild issued a conciliatory joint statement, while people speculated that the empire had made larger concessions than it admitted.

• The Candel Emperor asked Grand Duke Rostov to compare the Guard Corps’ battle record with the imperial Royal Guard’s and to estimate the guild’s forces and the empire’s chances against them.
• The Candel Emperor questioned what had really happened in the Northeastern Province and agreed with Grand Duke Rostov that the empire needed to deal with the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• A representative of the Xinfei Merchant Guild requested an audience, and the Candel Emperor and Grand Duke Rostov admitted him.
• A week later, the Candel Empire and the Xinfei Merchant Guild announced that mutinous soldiers had attacked the White Meng Mine, been defeated, and would not be pursued further; the empire also agreed to compensate the guild for casualties.
• The two sides announced a joint research institute near Qidanlu Town to investigate the incident there, replacing the empire’s earlier claim that magic air conditioners had caused it.
• The public concluded that the Candel Empire had suffered a political defeat and offered the guild further undisclosed concessions.

Xu Yi and Leslie discussed Candel’s growing opposition to the Xinfei Merchant Guild, the transfer of leadership to their children, and Leslie’s plans to develop the Levin Continent. Xu Yi defended encouraging rival nations to advance magic industry as part of his dream of reaching outer space, while Leslie warned him not to underestimate the Candel Empire.

• Leslie told Xu Yi that Candel’s nobles had escalated opposition to the Xinfei Merchant Guild into a direct war, and Xu Yi said such resistance would become more common.
• Xu Yi and Leslie compared passing responsibility to Freya and David, as Leslie sought the guild’s help expanding magical communications and building railways in the Levin Continent.
• Leslie reported that the Levin Continent had seventeen steelworks and monthly steel output above three million tonnes, making railway construction more feasible.
• Leslie asked whether Xu Yi regretted not conquering the Sains Continent, but Xu Yi argued that competition among nations drove the development of magic industry and technology.
• Xu Yi said his dream was to travel through outer space and the universe, and Leslie warned him that the Candel Empire might overwhelm him.

After the Sains Continent’s countries began developing magic industry technology freely, breakthroughs spread across the continent while the Xinfei Merchant Guild remained unusually quiet. In April 3817, the guild captured everyone’s attention again by announcing that it would launch a satellite.

• The Two Great Empires and several other countries signed the Military Magic Machinery Proliferation Restriction Treaty without the Xinfei Merchant Guild, which tacitly accepted it.
• The Candel Empire, Malo Empire, and Lampari Kingdom announced breakthroughs in mana cannons and mana engines, and the Xinfei Merchant Guild offered the Lampari Kingdom related engine technology.
• The Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom unveiled a cargo mana-powered ship with a capacity exceeding one hundred thousand tons, while the Malo Empire and other countries announced further advances.
• Countries across the Sains Continent rapidly produced new magic industry achievements as the Xinfei Merchant Guild made few public announcements under Freya’s presidency.
• In April 3817, the Xinfei Merchant Guild announced in the Xinfei Magic Industry Weekly that it would launch a satellite.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild launched its first artificial satellite, a milestone in Xu Yi’s dream of reaching space. The rocket successfully rose beyond the clouds, and Freya celebrated while Xu Yi reminded her to attend to the visiting dignitaries.

• Xu Yi explained to President Cruz how a rocket could send an object into orbit and described the possibilities of other planets.
• Xu Yi reflected that the satellite was an experimental shell carrying a recording device and magic arrays to study the mana space above the atmosphere.
• Xu Yi let Freya lead the launch and declined to appear before the visiting representatives, including Prince Raymond.
• After a brief ceremony, the Mana Launch Rocket ignited and soared into the clouds as the crowd cheered.
• Freya called Xu Yi to celebrate the successful launch, and he told her to make sure the guests were properly taken care of.