Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi welcomed Rem back to the Xinfei Merchant Guild after Vena asked him to hire Rem as a magic machinery researcher. Vena told Xu Yi that her relationship with Rem was over, leaving Rem to work alongside her as an acquaintance.

• Xu Yi invited Vena and Rem to dinner at the Magic Research Facility and asked Rem about his work researching magic machinery.
• Rem admitted his merchant guild had made no progress, but still looked down on the young researchers at Xinfei, and Vena rebuked him for it.
• Vena asked Xu Yi to hire Rem, and Xu Yi welcomed him to the Xinfei Merchant Guild without an assessment.
• Xu Yi explained that Rem would need to sign an employment contract and Confidentiality Agreement, and Vena agreed to explain the requirements to him.
• Vena told Xu Yi she no longer had feelings for Rem and could not return to their former relationship.
• Xu Yi left the facility and saw Vena standing alone at its gates beneath the starry sky.

Xu Yi and Stille teased each other about their relationship before Stille told Anise that Master Kassadin wanted to buy her paintings. Xu Yi urged Anise to overcome her fear of unfamiliar humans and promised to find an opportunity for her to meet them.

• Stille said she would never leave Xu Yi, and they joked about marriage and the admirers who pursued her.
• Stille teased Xu Yi about the beautiful women around him, then drew Anise out of hiding and praised her appearance.
• Stille told Anise that Master Kassadin had offered a thousand gold coins per painting and wanted her to create more artwork.
• Xu Yi reminded Anise that Elder Elusia wanted her to help build understanding between elves and humans, while Anise admitted she feared people she did not know.
• Anise said she trusted Xu Yi, and he promised to find a suitable chance for her to meet other humans.

Reporters gathered for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s second product launch and debated its sales, prospects, and ability to outpace imitators. Xu Yi emerged with Count Sean Samo and an unidentified cloaked figure, whom the reporters suspected was the event’s real focus.

• Reporters from several cities speculated that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s large-scale product launch would bring major news.
• Rhine revealed that the Automatic Magic Rice Cooker had sold over a hundred thousand units, though Xu Yi was disappointed with its performance.
• Rhine argued that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s magic machinery was difficult to copy and that it had hidden ways to defeat competitors.
• Xu Yi and Count Sean Samo emerged from the municipal center with a tightly cloaked, unidentified person following close behind.
• The reporters focused on the cloaked figure and suspected they were the product launch’s true star.

At the Xinfei Merchant Guild's second Product Launch, Xu Yi introduced the Magic Bread Maker and announced that the mysterious artist behind the Magic Desk Lamp advertisement had also helped design several products. He explained the role of the guild's Design Institute, but left the artist's identity unrevealed.

• Xu Yi presented the Magic Bread Maker, drawing cheers from Bunta City residents eager for a machine that could bake bread easily.
• Xu Yi said he and Count Samo had an announcement to make before taking reporters' questions, prompting the crowd to focus on the hooded figure onstage.
• Xu Yi displayed the Magic Desk Lamp advertisement and asked the crowd who had painted it, then said the artist had also helped design the lamp's appearance.
• Xu Yi showed the Automatic Magic Rice Cooker and Magic Bread Maker and explained that their appearance was developed collaboratively by the Xinfei Merchant Guild's Design Institute.
• Xu Yi described how the Design Institute made products both useful and attractive, while the reporters recognized the guild's advantage over its competitors.

Xu Yi and Count Samo introduced Anise Eltitan Wynn Sakranda to the crowd as an elven designer and a sign of the Elf Race's willingness to communicate with humans. Anise faced the crowd's enthusiastic welcome and began introducing herself.

• Count Samo spoke about the disappearance of other races and asked how people would treat someone who was not human.
• Xu Yi revealed the hooded figure as Anise Eltitan Wynn Sakranda, whose pointed ears showed that she was an elf.
• The crowd gasped at Anise's appearance, and a reporter questioned whether she was a real elf.
• Xu Yi described Anise as an ambassador between elves and humans and asked whether anyone wanted to hurt her.
• The crowd declared that they would welcome and protect Anise, and Xu Yi encouraged her to speak despite the possibility that some people might be insincere.
• Anise gathered her courage and introduced herself as an ordinary elf girl from the Night Song Tribe.

Xu Yi brought Anise before the crowds disrupting the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s factory and asked her to convince them to leave. After her polite request failed, Anise bluntly warned that she would return to her tribe and tell the elder humans could not be trusted to interact normally with elves.

• Ankato and Canby told Xu Yi that the crowds outside the factory were obstructing production and delaying orders.
• Xu Yi explained that people were fascinated by elves because they rarely saw them, then brought Anise outside to help them become accustomed to her.
• The crowd surged toward Xu Yi and Anise, so Xu Yi raised an earthen wall and used hurricanes to stop them before a stampede could occur.
• Anise asked the crowd to stop gathering because the attention made her uncomfortable and interfered with the guild’s work, but some people questioned her request and suspected Xu Yi was pressuring her.
• With Xu Yi’s encouragement, Anise told the crowd she was unhappy with being stared at and threatened to return to her tribe and tell the elder that humans could not interact normally with elves.

Anise calmed the crowd gathered outside the Xinfei Merchant Guild factory and defended Xu Yi, allowing the workers to return to their jobs. Xu Yi then confronted production and precision-measurement problems and decided to write a book of design standards.

• Anise told the crowd she would leave unless they treated her normally, then warned them not to disrespect Xu Yi; after they promised, she used the Veiling Spell and the crowd dispersed.
• Xu Yi returned to the office and learned from Ankato that orders for over fifty thousand Magic Bread Makers were due within a week, far beyond the factory’s capacity.
• Xu Yi reassured Ankato that he would negotiate the orders and that a new automatic Magic Machine Tool could eventually boost production, but Canby revealed the design’s precision requirements had stumped his team.
• Xu Yi realized the Sains Continent lacked tools and units for measuring fine tolerances, admitted his oversight, and proposed making a Vernier Caliper and a Micrometer.
• Xu Yi recognized he had never given his engineers a complete set of design standards and decided he should write a book.

Xu Yi learned that Baron Billier Stark regarded the Xinfei Merchant Guild as insignificant and sought Count Sean Samo’s advice about the Stark Family’s intentions. Count Samo explained why the guild was unlikely to face interference for now and urged Xu Yi to strengthen it, leaving Xu Yi reassured and resolved to focus on its growth.

• Xu Yi visited the Stark estate to meet Baron Billier Stark, but Butler Wenlai said the baron was too busy and relayed his dismissive opinion of the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Xu Yi went to Count Sean Samo for advice and worried that the Stark Family might try to take over his guild.
• Count Samo said the Stark Family had little reason to target the small guild, especially while the king’s agricultural machinery plan required cooperation with it.
• Count Samo explained that Viscount Leslie had concealed the guild’s potential from the Stark Family and that the baron’s dismissiveness might simply reflect his personality.
• Count Samo said he supported Xu Yi because the guild’s jobs benefited Bunta City and could improve his standing as its lord.
• Xu Yi accepted Count Samo’s advice and resolved to focus on developing the Xinfei Merchant Guild.

Xu Yi reviewed the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s profits and explained that domestic machinery and industrial machinery had different markets, while Canby worried about the Machine Tool Workshop’s earnings and product reliability. Xu Yi planned customer upgrades and a trip to investigate the Norma Tribe’s steel research and visit the Night Song Tribe, but Butler Wenlai arrived with a summons from the Baron.

• Xu Yi examined the guild’s April sales and profits, including major orders for agricultural machines, drilling machines, and other industrial equipment.
• Canby questioned why the Domestic Magic Machinery Production Workshop earned more than the Magic Machine Tool Workshop, and Xu Yi reassured him that industrial machinery had greater future prospects.
• Xu Yi proposed replacing customers’ older machines with upgraded models to protect the guild’s reputation and said better materials were needed to make more durable products.
• Xu Yi told Canby that he would visit the Norma Tribe to learn about its steel research and bring Anise to guide him to the Night Song Tribe.
• As Xu Yi and Anise left the factory, Butler Wenlai arrived by carriage and said the Baron wanted to see Xu Yi.

Xu Yi met Baron Billier, who demanded an enormous rent increase for the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s land and gave him one day to respond. Unsure what the Stark Family intended, Xu Yi sent Anise on an errand to gather information and went to seek Count Samo’s advice.

• Baron Billier insulted Xu Yi and announced that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s annual rent would rise from fifty gold coins to one hundred thousand, threatening to reclaim the land if Xu Yi refused.
• Xu Yi challenged Billier’s authority to replace the existing lease, but Billier insisted he sign a harsh new contract and allowed him only until the day after tomorrow to answer.
• Xu Yi asked Anise to travel in his place and gather information he needed before deciding how to respond.
• After sending Anise off, Xu Yi went to the City Lord’s Manor to meet Count Samo again.

Baron Billier decided that Xu Yi’s closeness to Princess Royal Servini made the Xinfei Merchant Guild a political risk. After rejecting Billier’s exorbitant rent demand, Xu Yi chose to move the guild’s factories elsewhere, then spotted Rem speaking furtively with an unfamiliar man.

• Baron Billier told Butler Wenlai that he could not stay because his attitude toward the Xinfei Merchant Guild might be mistaken for the Stark Family’s, and explained that Xu Yi was too close to Princess Royal Servini.
• Xu Yi left Count Samo’s manor without a definite answer about Billier’s intentions and refused to publicly challenge the Stark Family over the broken land-lease contract.
• Xu Yi decided to leave the Stark Family’s territory rather than pay one hundred thousand gold coins in annual rent, and Count Samo agreed to help with the relocation.
• Xu Yi headed to the Research Institute to prepare its staff for the move, then saw Rem speaking closely and suspiciously with an unfamiliar man.

After Baron Billier’s demands forced the Xinfei Merchant Guild to leave its factory site, Xu Yi organized the move to Sankton Manor, where temporary workshops would keep production running. The city lord’s and Stark Family’s carriages arrived as Xu Yi and President Cruz discussed the relocation.

• Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild moved their machinery and equipment with help from dwarves, hired laborers, and five hundred City Guards.
• President Cruz visited Xu Yi and asked whether Baron Billier had forced the guild to relocate, but Xu Yi said the move served the guild’s future development.
• Xu Yi explained that the guild would move to Sankton Manor rather than Falling Rain Valley because the unfinished dirt road could not safely carry the heavy machines.
• Xu Yi told President Cruz that he had bought Sankton Manor and its territory three months earlier, and that temporary workshops there would keep production on schedule.
• President Cruz recognized the value of Xu Yi’s purchase, and Xu Yi saw carriages bearing the City Lord’s Manor and Stark Family emblems approach.

As the Xinfei Merchant Guild relocated its factory, Count Samo questioned Xu Yi about mass-producing military equipment and learned about the guild’s advanced materials. He demanded that Xu Yi develop machinery and materials for the kingdom, leaving Xu Yi facing a choice with little real freedom.

• Baron Billier threatened Xu Yi over the factory’s move, but Xu Yi calmly confirmed the guild would finish relocating on schedule and asked whether Billier was sure he would not regret it.
• After the merchant representatives left, Count Samo praised Xu Yi’s arrangements and asked what he thought of the City Guard soldiers.
• Count Samo asked whether the guild could develop magic machine tools to mass-produce armor and weapons, and Xu Yi said it was possible with modifications.
• Xu Yi explained that the guild had developed silverleaf steel and mentioned other alloys and plastic, prompting Count Samo to ask about their suitability for military equipment.
• Count Samo ordered Xu Yi to develop the kingdom’s military machinery and the materials he had described, threatening to leave the guild to fend for itself if Xu Yi refused.

Xu Yi accepted Servini's request for the Xinfei Merchant Guild to develop military equipment, despite his misgivings about entering military manufacturing. After the guild moved its factories out of the Stark Family's territory, he recognized military work as essential to building his industrial empire and sensed someone nearby.

• Xu Yi discussed Servini's interest in military affairs and told her he believed she was unsuited to becoming queen.
• Servini showed Xu a drawing of the Royal Guard's standard armor and asked the Xinfei Merchant Guild to develop a magic machine tool for military production.
• Xu Yi accepted the project, and Servini explained the royal family's limits and the Agriculture Bureau's dependence on grain from the Stark Family.
• The Xinfei Merchant Guild moved its factories out of the Stark Family's territory, and Baron Samo forced Baron Billier to drop his compensation demand.
• Xu Yi considered the guild's new direction, sensed someone nearby, and called for Anise to come out.

Anise returned from the Falling Rain Forest with alloy samples from Chief Slubi and a plastic gift from Elder Elusia, which Xu Yi tested and found suitable for magic machinery. He told Anise that the plastic held limitless value, though she remained puzzled by his excitement.

• Anise arrived after traveling more than two hundred kilometers with a heavy backpack of metal samples and a list of Chief Slubi’s tests.
• Xu Yi examined the twenty-three alloy samples and found that No. 17 had excellent resistance to corrosion and high temperatures.
• Anise gave Xu Yi a finely detailed figurine of Stille and a piece of plastic from Elder Elusia, signaling that the Night Song Tribe’s plastic research had met his standards.
• Xu Yi tested the plastic’s smell, toughness, and resistance to impact, freezing it with Frost Nova without damaging it.
• Xu Yi told Anise that the plastic had limitless value, while Anise wondered why he prized ordinary resin.

Xu Yi explained why the Xinfei Merchant Guild had not yet begun producing its next-generation Magic Fans, while rival guilds tried to win customers with cheaper models. The chapter ended with Xu Yi realizing the researchers had apparently solved remote magic transmission.

• Xu Yi reassured Akali, Bella, and Claire that Xinfei Magic Fans would remain competitive despite cheaper rival products.
• Xu Yi explained that the new fan's structure, materials, and exterior design were being handled by the Structural, Materials, and Design Institutes rather than the Magic Research Institute.
• Akali led Xu Yi into a darkened room, where a ceiling lamp lit without anyone touching it.
• Xu Yi excitedly asked whether the researchers had solved remote magic transmission.

Xu Yi learned that Akali, Avita, and the Magic Research Institute had solved remote magic transmission and gradual magic input, breakthroughs he believed would transform the magic industry. He awarded the institute five thousand gold coins, but Xiuqi refused a share because he had not worked on the projects.

• Akali showed Xu Yi the Magic Chandelier working through remote magic transmission and gradual changes in brightness.
• Akali confirmed that the researchers had also solved gradual magic input, and Xu Yi excitedly embraced the team before Avita reminded him to consider Stille's feelings.
• Xu Yi explained that the breakthroughs could transform the magic industry and people's lives, though the others doubted their significance.
• Xu Yi announced a special reward of five thousand gold coins for the Magic Research Institute, delighting Akali and surprising the others.
• Xiuqi refused the reward, saying he had not participated in either research project.

Xu Yi appointed Avita director of the Magic Research Institute and proposed a guild assistance fund that could help Yelick pay for his father's treatment. He then privately asked Avita about Rem’s frequent absences and requested her help putting on an act.

• Yelick refused his share of the project bonus, and Xu Yi agreed that only the researchers who had worked on the projects would divide it.
• Xu Yi appointed Avita director after the other researchers supported her, and she accepted the position.
• Avita told Xu Yi that Yelick’s father needed at least two thousand gold coins for treatment, so Xu Yi proposed a repayable assistance fund for guild employees.
• Xu Yi asked Avita to help persuade Yelick to accept aid through the fund, and she agreed to handle the details.
• Avita explained that Vena had taken three days’ leave and Rem had gone out; Xu Yi asked about Rem’s frequent absences and requested Avita’s help with an act.

At President Lanke’s banquet, Bunta City’s merchant guild leaders worried over their poor magic fan sales, while President Cruz recognized how their efforts might help Xu Yi expand the market for magic machinery. Xu Yi arrived with Stille, drawing every guest’s attention as the chapter ended.

• The guild presidents discussed their disappointing magic fan sales and feared losses on their investments.
• President Cruz told President Vincent that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had earned heavily by selling production lines and that other guilds lacked its technical expertise.
• President Vincent argued that the guilds could sell their magic fans across the Lampari Kingdom, and Cruz realized this would help Xu Yi popularize magic machinery.
• President Vincent asked whether the Xinfei Merchant Guild could develop machinery to improve the Armani Merchant Guild’s cloth production.
• Xu Yi entered the banquet hall beside Stille, and the guests turned their attention to him.

At the Commercial Association meeting, Xu Yi explained why a rival guild’s modified Magic Fans were inefficient and unsafe, then defended the production standards he had set. He offered the guild presidents a book containing the explanations they wanted.

• President Mita accused Xu Yi of withholding Magic Fan production technology because Milgen Magic Fans were inferior in quality.
• Xu Yi showed that Milgen’s larger blades consumed far more energy and made the airflow uncomfortably strong.
• Xu Yi warned that the modified blades threatened the fans’ stability and safety, and urged guilds to follow his standards.
• Fuller Morgan challenged Xu Yi’s authority to dictate those standards, and Xu Yi declared that his expertise made them the standard.
• President Lanke asked Xu Yi to explain the reasons behind the standards, and Xu Yi presented a book titled “One Hundred Thousand Whys About Magic Machinery.”