Stationary cement mixers, lines of trenches, and dozens of MGs and mortars lined the rocky plains around the portal. At first, the portal itself was simply a magical disc floating in midair, but the mages had built a second gate structure on this side of the portal to make it permanent. Without the second structure, the gate would eventually grow exponentially in upkeep cost and also possibly allow voidborn creatures to slip through the instability it inherently caused.
Adamantine and Demonite were two incredibly durable metals found rarely on the first layer. Admantine was incredibly impressive to Kyle, having nearly 2.8% the relative durability of Vulframite-a material known for withstanding stellar heat and massive nuclear forces.
Although it was quite rare, Kyle hoped to use it to build special projects and super weapons in the future. It was also decently lighter per cubic meter than steel, so he planned to use it to thinly armor the zeppelin before it entered combat.
Kyle was observing the sprawling military depot on the Lindus-side of the portal when something he thought impossible happened. When it happened, he jerked so hard in surprise that he nearly hit his head on his helmet HUD. His gravimetric FTL communication system had pinged him with a connection.
———
Markus had returned to Pechemvar once again. He had convinced his father to specialize in the steel industry, and now their wagons transported nothing but metal goods from Pechemvar deeper into the empire. They sold them to other merchants for resale and also directly to countless smithing guilds and foundries across the southern plains of the Empire.
The once basic merchants square had been rebuilt into a huge hall with many stained glass windows and dozens of specialized loading docks, not to mention the huge number of both buyers and sellers located in the building. Every time he made the trip, it seemed like some new product had been created or some preexisting one suddenly had a massive jump in quality or drop in price. Pechemvar was rapidly stealing nearly all industry in the southernmost Quarter of Veskaya, and every day hundreds if not thousands of merchants flocked to their product expos and “gallery malls”.
Markus and his family had massively expanded their business. Now that they could afford to equip every caravan guard with steel weapons and armor, most monsters and bandits were no trouble. Business was booming.
Stopping by the store advertising new arrivals, he examined the myriad containers behind the window. “Paint, huh? The price is once again impossibly low.” He called over his accountant. “Tell my father to refer his friends in the dyeing and paint guilds to New Brasilia. They’ll be interested in this for sure.”
He walked through the crowd of merchants towards the steelworks sector. He spotted his attendant-a young woman who had helped him on his first visit. “Ah, Markus! Been a while. I assume your caravan is already parked at lot 31?” “Yes. Could we talk there?”
———
Markus and the girl whose name he now knew was Theovania watched as accountants and workers finalized the order and moved crates of steel and sacks of coins back and forth. “I have some connections for you. I heard the lord is paying for information on mines, particularly for platinum? Also the locations of quartz sand deposits and flint mines?” “Why, yes! You can claim the reward if the locations are verified.” “Ah.”
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He then simply awkwardly turned back to watching the workers loading the carts with crates and caring for the horses.
Little did either of them know, but Kyle was planning to start constructing basic computers for a myriad of tasks. Specifically, computerized gyroscopes and aim stabilizers for a certain airship.
——-
Kyle had his armor use its full computational power to decrypt the connections tags and information. It only took three days, during which he closed the old manual gunpowder plant fully in favor of the new chemical one.
Once the armor was done with the decryption, he had a full suite of data waiting for him. It was an ancient League satellite. Most of its contents were totally corrupted or straight up missing, but the core monitors had stayed active. The satellite recorded its physical age as 185 years old, which matched up with its model's production age, which was 205 years in Kyle’s League military database.
Aside from that, its physical location relative to the planet was also noted-it hung just in low-Lindus orbit. Its sensors had all been destroyed in some cataclysmic event, but it was still a monumental find. Interesting, but not immediately useful.
Laying on the bed across from the armor suit standing opened, he began to fall asleep. Due to the nanoswarm operating in his body, his cells could be repaired or manipulated at a molecular level, so sleep wasn’t really necessary for him. Still, it had been proven that sleeping at least 10 hours a week was good for psychological health.
Just as he was closing his eyes, his main attendant, the guard with the thick drinker's tongue, called from the doorway. “Mail fer ya, m’lord.” Kyle simply scowled and said, “Thanks. Set it on my desk, would you…”
————
The mail ended up being an invitation to some Astercrest’s Noble Academy. Kyle, as a newly instated owner of a lot of land and wealth, was expected to spend two years at the academy. He was sure there was some good reason for its existence, like connection building or whatever, but he saw no reason to go. In two years, he could have a population approaching the millions and basic industrial robots. An academy arc would do him no good. Even though he thought, deep down, that it would be cool to be in one, he knew that it would be mostly a waste of time.
Already, due to migrants, the combined population of Pechemvar had increased from 90,000 to 160,000. As new housing was built every day, he didn’t see that trend stopping anytime soon. Bored out of his mind, he sat down to pen a letter for something he had been planning since his first deals with the Magocracy: starting an academy in Pechemvar.
————
Month 19 of the Two Year Plan
Word had come from Tetrelta of the next conflict the empire was to be embroiled in. The Jade lands had mostly collapsed. Tishlenum held on due to their desert geography, but the more habitable Mohamind had totally fallen in the face of the legions. Fondice, the easternmost and weakest of the three kingdoms of the Jade Lands, had Joined the war with support from the Southern Empire of Lamarc. A couple small kingdoms like Holindor and Aya’Deill had also joined and sent their small standing armies to the frontline, but it wasn’t looking good for the defenders.
Most of the legions and specialist regional troops had been recalled to finish off the Iron Scourge. The two most powerful allies of the empire aside from the Magocracy, Cusson and Maduwan, were also joining in full. Another kingdom farther south was also joining-Canasta, a nation that excelled at horse archers who could bond their spirit cores with those of their horses, making for a fearsome fighting force. The combined push from dozens of Veskayan vassals as well as other nations would hopefully be enough to put the threat down.
