Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Why are you in such a rush to launch the Qin?"

While departing from facility M1-001, Lucas suddenly decided to ask what was on his mind.

Although the sooner the Qin and Rain Dragon Z1 stellar processors launched, the better it was for Lucas, the speed the Silverine Factory worked on it wasn't conducive. For instance, if the production deadline wasn't set for three months, the R&D team led by Professor Cayman would have had more than one month to work on the processors. If that had happened, there wouldn't be a need to be in a rush or make mistakes in development, thereby avoiding the situation that had just happened.

"On one hand we have to be ready for whatever the Versailles Group or Novanio Tech might come up with. Those in the know can tell that once the Qin and Rain Dragon Z1 stellar processors are launched, these two companies may be forced to shut down. Even though we haven't publicised the information about these two chips, anyone can tell that the next line of SS chips could cause just that. Even the first version can drop their market shares greatly.

"But there's no way they would sit still and wait for their demise. It's more likely that they're both plotting up something, so the sooner we launch, the better it is for us. That way, whatever they have planned won't be as effective, or might even be annulled.

"There's also another reason."

Maessen didn't continue right away but hesitated. It seemed as if he had something weighing down on his mind.

After a few seconds, he sighed.

"Considering you're quite close to Chairman Mertens, I think there's no problem in discussing this with you."

Lucas' immediately extended his ears as he noticed Maessen's change in tone.

"It's been almost three weeks since the whole fiasco at the Assembly of the People. The agreement was for Lord Noah to step down from the seat in exchange that the next election takes place in three months and he will be allowed to contest."

This was already public news so Lucas didn't react to it.

"Among the other possible future contestants are Sir Fredor Bergs, Vice President Norglass Mertens and maybe even someone from the Dufours household. There are also other possible candidates that may come from families and forces outside the top four like Master Quintien Oder from the Oder family.

"Although Lord Noah's means had offended the top influences of the city, he was still a more balanced and rational leader. However, after that mistake of his, it's unlikely that he would be able to be re-elected again. Lord Noah has lost the trust of the upper circle as he has offended and disappointed everybody, including his most trusted ally."

Maessen sighed as if he was lamenting the death of a close relative.

In his opinion, due to Noah's unique identity as an exile of the Bergs family, he was a perfect balance to the power scale of Baylands city-state. He was of the Bergs family which was allied with the Dufours, but he had the support of the Mertens family that was allied with the Ross family. This bizarre situation has formed a delicate balance in the power struggle within Baylands City-state, as the city lord's unique relationships made it impossible for him to entirely side with any one faction.

Nonetheless, Noah's obsession to have the City Lord Manor control all forces in the city-state led to his downfall.

After failing to manipulate all the forces into a fight using Lucas and the Seven Sparks Forge, Noah had lost the trust of even his biggest back and closest ally, Russell Mertens. This was because in the process of the scheme, even the Mertens family was taken advantage of. This was something Russell couldn't tolerate —his bottom line. Despite that, Noah had crossed it while being aware of this.

"With the city lord position now in the air, it's a bit difficult to predict how business will go then. If the winner is someone from our side, that would be good. But if it isn't, that would go against us."

Lucas nodded in understanding. This was quite common and even so on the blue planet. It was basically why some corporations and individuals who ran businesses preferred to steer clear from politics. By attaching oneself with one side in a political battle, one would become visible to the ups and downs, the benefits and disadvantages of every political battle.

For the top four families, the option of avoiding this situation was impossible. Everyone had an ideology, an opinion and a system that they fancied over the other. There were also different interests involved, some of which clashed with the other and some that were on the same line.

Alas, factions with the history and scale of the top four families couldn't simply play a neutral role even if they tried to. Their scale, influence and power entailed that they would get dragged into the muddy waters of politics whether they wanted to or not.

As it stood now, the Mertens and the Ross families together with their allies formed one major political faction. The Bergs, the Dufours and their allies similarly formed another faction. There was also the faction formed by the other families and forces just below the top four.

Although Noah was from the Bergs, it was undeniable that he had been sponsored by the Mertens and Ross faction. As such, some of his earlier resolutions and edicts had favoured their faction. This naturally generated some negativity towards them from the opposing faction.

Due to these sentiments, if the Mertens and their allies lost the city lord seat to someone from the opposing faction, it could possibly result in the downfall of the two families and their supporters. Even if things weren't that serious, they would still suffer a significant amount of losses in the following years to come.

"Also, your identity is quite special. You might have the backing of a Grandmaster, but there are differences in ranks. Right now, I can bet that all the forces are trying to find out the identity of the Grandmaster backing you. If he or she is at the high rank or mid rank, they'll take a step back and change their approach. But if your backer is only a low Tier 1 Grandmaster, then you shouldn't be entirely relaxed."

"Why?" Lucas asked, slightly curious.

During his stay in Baylands city-state, Lucas had found out that Tier 1 Grandmaster was the highest level a vestige-smith could reach in Baylands city-state. Although within the Apertures Opening stage there was the Tier 1 Apex level vestige-smith who could make Grade 6 vestiges, such vestige-smiths couldn't be found in Eretre. Hence, the lesser ranked Tier 1 Grandmaster —who made Grade 5 vestiges— was basically the peak of the planet.

Even though a Grandmaster wasn't the peak of the Apertures Opening stage vestige-smithing calibre, they were the peak of the planet and so, couldn't be offended easily. Lucas thought this was so regardless of their sub-rank, but Maessen's words made him realise that it might not be so.

"Within Eretre, the Oklo Dynasty is supreme. Inside the royal city, there are a couple of Tier 1 Grandmasters, even at the peak, so a low ranked Grandmaster is nothing to them. As for how that affects you, keep in mind that the city lord is the representative of the Dynasty's authority. This is why it would be for the best that the city lord in the next three months would come from our side."

While Maessen's explanation wasn't detailed, Lucas was able to pick up some hints from it.

In essence, if the opposing faction manages to get a hold of the city lord position, they might be able to pressure Lucas if his 'backer' was only a low rank Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith.

Although Lucas didn't really have a backer, he didn't mention that, neither did he react to Maessen's words. It was better to let everyone remain in the dark and take advantage of this.

'He's not worried. Could his backer be a mid tier or even a high tier Grandmaster?' Maessen wondered as he studied Lucas' expression but couldn't glimpse a clue from it.

"I'll be leaving since there's nothing else left to do."

"You're not staying for lunch?" Maessen offered.

"No need." Lucas shook his head.

'I've already wasted too much time here.'

"One last question before you go." Maessen said.

"Go on."

"Why did you use the Purple Iridium as the stellar energy conductor? To be exact, will there be any issues with it?" Maessen stopped and stared at Lucas.

Truthfully, Maessen wouldn't have asked the question before, but after finding out the unique quality of Purple Iridium, he became slightly worried. Even if the R&D team made adjustments and decided to follow the blueprint, the nature of the Purple Iridium still presented a threat.

While it was true that using a Sapphire substrate layer would prevent the purple aura exuded bu Purple Iridium from infiltrating the above electrical layer, the aura still existed and could cause a problem if a mishap were to happen.

If new faults were to occur in the future after the processor was released, the Silverine Factory would suffer a lot in settling damages and lawsuits.

"You don't need to be worried." Lucas responded as he came to a halt before turning towards Maessen.

"You might be wondering why I used it while knowing this, but this is a feature that grants the Qin its superior performance. Also, the problem of the purple aura only happens under peak performance at a runtime of 8-10 hours. Most times, the Qin won't even reach peak performance for that long in an average consumer's hands. In the case of large data centres that might decide to use our product, they always utilise an external cooling unit. But even if there is no such unit and the Qin operates that long at peak state, the sapphire substrate would still do its job." Lucas explained.

After that, he turned around and left.

With Lucas unwilling to stay, Maessen didn't force him. However, he played the role of a partner properly by having a driver drop Lucas off.

. . .

It didn't take long for Lucas to return to the store. However, he didn't even get to rest for a couple of minutes before Vergil walked up to him.

"Hey, boss. Have you checked your mail lately?"