Birth Of The Crafts-God

Space travel wasn't a new thing in Eretre, especially since hyumankin didn't originally exist here even. When even humans on Earth could enter space, less could be said about hyumans. However, it was still somewhat costly, due to its uniqueness.

Space travel in this world was far much different than on Earth. A spacecraft was defined as a vehicle that could sustain and operate under warp-travel. Anything under that was basically a sare shuttles. In other words, by this logic, every single space rocket and space shuttle the humans on Earth had developed would just be considered a more advanced sare shuttles. It wasn't difficult for a Tier 1 Master vestige-smith to pull that off.

However, travelling with such 'antique' spacecrafts was too slow and dangerous, due to the existence of Astral monsters like Stellar creatures and Void Beasts in space. As such, these vehicles weren't called spacecraft. Only a vehicle capable of operating a warp-tunnel, functioning under one as well as some other cutting-edge requirements, could be termed as a spacecraft. And only a spacecraft would be allowed to exit a planet's atmosphere.

Thanks to all of these conditions, space travel became complicated and costly.

The price of space travel, however, differs from each planet, solar system and star region. For some solar systems and star regions, space travel was accessible even to the roadside beggar, while others would only be able to provide such privileges to the upper class.

For the Kellan solar system, which was located in the smallest and weakest star region, it could be considered poor on a galactic scale. Eretre was even worse off, since out of the three populated planets in the solar system, it was the lowest ranked whether in terms of strength or even finances. As such, although space travel wasn't foreign in Eretre, not every city-state possessed a spaceport. This was all due to political rights, technology and wealth.

Political rights was the ability of a city-state to gain approval from the Oklo Dynasty for a spaceport.

Technology was the ability of a city-state to actually develop and maintain a spaceport as well as spacecrafts.

Wealth was the financial ability to perform all of the above, as even gaining approval from the Oklo Dynasty required a huge sum and renewal fee.

Only three city-states had a space hub: Paros city-state on the Groeten continent, Sunderville city-state on the Normfrost continent, and naturally, Belfargos territory in the Bernin continent.

If the Falcon X9: Yotsuga stellar processor was indeed capable of aiding in piloting a spacecraft, the Versailles Group would have made a large achievement for Baylands city-state. Even the City Lord Manor would side with them in future situations all because of this.

The Versailles Group that many had once thought had reached its peak evaluation and was going downhill, now made an astonishing comeback that would reshape the industry.

"There's going to be a bloodbath tomorrow as soon as the stock market opens."

Many had already begun to realise this.

Those who knew Lucas and had seen him here, turned towards him and snuck glances with looks of pity. Some of them sneered while others remained expressionless.

Giselle was one of the few who stared at Lucas.

"Aren't you worried?" Giselle asked as she noticed that Lucas seemed calm.

"Worried? Why would I?" Lucas retorted.

"The Falcon X9: Yotsuga is powerful enough to be arranged into an array for operating a spacecraft."

It was only one sentence, but Giselle's meaning was very obvious given the current situation.

"Why do you care?" Lucas didn't say anything apart from asking this one question.

"That's because I've decided to align myself with you." Giselle smiled flirtatiously.

Although she said this, Lucas was unable to simply take her words as they were. Thanks to Vergil's explanation, he already knew that Giselle's father is the chairman of New Rovers —one of Baylands city-state's most successful hover car and sare shuttle companies.

The hover car industry was one of the largest customers of the stellar processor industry. This was because it was impossible to build a good hover car and sare shuttle without a stellar processor. An exception could be made for some hover cars but never for a sare shuttle.

Seeing Lucas state blankly at her, Giselle sighed.

"Alright, fine. My father's company is actually a long-time client of Novanio Tech. However, Novanio's improvements and ambition seem to be lacking compared to the other two, so I'm here to find out which side is more advantageous for us to partner with. Since I know what the Versailles Group had to offer, it's only natural for me to figure out what the Silverine Factory is also bringing to the table."

Lucas nodded inwardly as he felt that made a lot of sense. But he didn't let Giselle know his thoughts as he asked her an interesting question.

"From what I know, Novanio Tech only recently set up shop in Baylands city-state. However, New Rovers has been in operation long before. I'm curious, who was your previous supplier?"

Someone able to fulfil the orders of a big client like New Rovers would definitely not be a small company. This drew Lucas' interest more than even the announcements.

Giselle hesitated, before she gave a reply.

"...the Silverine Factory."

. . .

The next day,

For those at the banquet, the previous day was destined to be an unforgettable one. The continuous shocking announcements made by the president of the Versailles Group, Emery, made many of them go wild. Even after the end of the banquet, the storm hadn't subsided yet. Many predicted that the stock market would display the true signs of the events, and naturally, they were correct.

Once the clock struck 10:15 am, the Baylands Stock Exchange (BSE) was open.

Orders immediately came flooding in for stocks of Versailles Group, sending the price soaring upwards like a rocket. Within the first 2 hours of the trading session, the Versailles Group had completely recovered from the losses the Silverine Factory's cooperation announcement had caused. This meant that the 10% loss from back then had already been cleared up.

That wasn't all.

Prior to this, everyone was already aware that there was a hidden battle in the stellar processor. The Silverine Factory and the Seven Stars Spring Dealership —sponsored by the Seven Sparks Forge— made up one side. The Versailles Group, the Arkhen Corporation, the Prestige Star Ltd and their allies made up another side which was known as the Coalition. The neutrals and the Novanio Tech made up the final faction.

With the Versailles Group's status expected to rise considerably, many believed that their allies would profit from this as well.

As time went by, even the known customers of the Versailles Group saw an increase in their stock prices. It was similar to the adage when a man achieves enlightenment, even his roosters and dogs ascend. The Versailles Group's bright future inadvertently improved the value of its long-time customers.

The Baylands Stock Exchange (BSE) was open for only six hours a day. However, the first 3 hours were the most eventful.

Apart from the recovery of the Versailles Group's stock and the positive increase for its close allies and partners, the company managed to reach a new all-time high by the third hour. When the stock market had closed, the shares were valued at a price 15% higher than before the Silverine Factory's announcement.

Yet, that wasn't the end of the good news for Emery and the members of the coalition.

As the Silverine Factory and Novanio Tech were direct competitors to the Versailles Group, their stocks suffered a loss in the market. This was because many investors hurriedly ditched them for the hot Versailles Group stock without even caring about their losses.

In their eyes, once the Versailles Group's factory was up and running, the government would come to its support. Some even wagered that public officials had already approached Emery and the board of the company to negotiate with them.

Novanio Tech, which didn't even have a factory in Baylands city-state, was hit quite badly. As if the loss they suffered after the Silverine Factory's announcement wasn't bad enough, their stock price dipped by 6.5% at the end of trading time.

Many had speculated that it didn't fall much below this because Novanio Tech could still make a comeback if they replicated the Versailles Group's method. However, that was easier said than done. Paros city-state had already taken a step back for the Versailles Group, and there was no reassurance that they would do so again for another company —at least not any time soon.

This suspicion led to the devaluation of Novanio Tech stocks, but the small chance of hope was what sustained it from going lower. Nonetheless, the damage was still severe.

6.5% might sound little, but Novanio Tech's evaluation was already in nine digits. Such a loss was at least worth seven digits. That was literally life-changing money, even for a CEO. What's more, this was just the first day of trading activity since the announcement; the situation has a possibility of getting worse if nothing was done about it.

The Silverine Factory was in similar straits, suffering a 13% loss in the stock market today —double of Novanio Tech's loss in terms of percentages.

Even though the Silverine Factory had a manufacturing factory in Baylands city-state, the quality of their products couldn't be compared to the Versailles Group. Also, the allure of a chip that could be used to build a spacecraft was too great, even for the city-state government.

From this, one could easily predict that the city-state government would side with the Versailles Group more, even if the current (or former) city lord was changed or reinstated.

Even the cooperation agreement and rumours of a new stellar processor couldn't save them.