Chapter 50: Sustainability

Three days later...

Sebastian sipped on a cup of tea at a luxurious restaurant in the Central Sector. As he placed the cup down, he could already hear slightly agitated footsteps approaching him from behind.

“The great leader of the Seven Snakes, this agitated. You should be happier – your opening day for the shopping arcade went extremely well, save for the slight delay.” Sebastian spoke without turning around.

“A delay you engineered.”

“An accusatiat novelhall.com

“I know the Ardent Cretins have a tight grip on the unions here. You’ve been pressuring them to increase the price on us for arcite fuel.” Kyle spoke directly as he sat opposite Sebastian, his face clearly incensed.

“Mr. Kyle, I am a proponent of the free market. You cannot sincerely believe I am to blame for the increase in price. Perhaps the market has shifted significantly since you built the shopping arcade.”

“I doubt the market can shift enough for a company to be willing to renegade on a prior contract.”

“Perhaps the company may be facing certain personal issues of their own.” Sebastian smiled.

“Personal issues created by you?” Kyle scoffed.

Sebastian sighed. “I do not control the union of business owners. If they decide to increase the price, I too am at their mercy. And I’ll prefer not to retaliate less the Mad Dog gets loosed on us again.”

“Let’s cut to the chase. How much would it take for you to stand down?”

“Not everything is about money, Mr. Kyle. Isn’t that why you provided an entire free bathhouse service to the entire district?”

“You want me to shut down the shopping arcade.”

“Again, not my wishes. I do not speak for the union. But right now, they are feeling very, very threatened by you. Who am I to restrain them? I am just but one man.”

“Seems that I have been talking to the wrong person then. My apologies.” Kyle got up to leave, not bothering to talk any longer. It was clear that he and Sebastian would not be able to come to a compromise.

Kyle knew why Sebastian had launched an attack: the new shopping arcade was pulling in too many customers and causing the other businesses in the city to suffer. Coupled with the addition of a new transportation hub as well as a free bathhouse, the footfall was tremendous.

Landlords across the south sector were losing their tenants as they were lured by the Golden Snake construction with competitive rental rates and promises of increased traffic. Even local small gangs who ran a protection racket were also threatened by their food market stall owners escaping their grasp, all fleeing towards the shopping mall, selling affordable food for the poor who were already there for the free bathhouse.

Kyle already had plans to establish a cheap food market area next to the shopping mall to centralize the traffic further, increasing his power and influence. However, while he expected local business owners to be angry, he did not expect Sebastian to get involved, especially considering that the shopping arcade was nearly five districts away from where the Ardent Cretins ruled.

He’s threatened by the growing influence I have over the local population. Kyle had been doing public projects ever since he joined – free soup kitchens, public cleanup events and so on. He knew from centuries of crime in the Galactic Era that being in a gang meant making a balance between the amount of good and evil done to society.

The addition of the shopping arcade was meant to make Kyle and the Seven Snakes nearly indispensable in the society of Raktor, where any attacks against them would suffer severe public lash back from the residents, who now had a taste of a higher standard of living thanks to the improved utilities and jobs provided by the gang.

However, this would not come to fruition as long as they did not have a stable supply of arcite ore. Even the black market was somehow afraid of selling directly to Kyle, forcing Kyle to spend far more than what was the market price in order to get it.

It’s an economic war.

Kyle headed back to the shopping arcade, where the footfall had significantly reduced compared to the opening day. The first light-thrower show was a complete dud, causing many to lose confidence in the shopping arcade.

In the office, the rest of the Seven Snakes’ higher-ups were already discussing the situation along. Keith noticed Kyle’s entry, speaking quickly to him. “It’s not looking good, sir. Even our construction company are unable to get new building projects due to the perceived failure of the shopping arcade. Many of the lesser nobles are unwilling to give us the tender either, favouring other companies.”

Damian nodded. “It’s the same with food and water as well. Many of the large suppliers of flour and fish are somehow refusing to supply any restaurant or stall owners that are working under us. If we don’t solve this issue by this month, most of them are not going to renew their tenancy contract regardless of how much footfall we have.”

“We need arcite fuel to keep up the transportation network. Forget about refuelling the shopping arcade – they don’t even want to refuel our wagons regardless of where we drive to.” Monca grumbled.

Reese was clearly dejected, slumping into a chair. The first public showing of his invention had failed tremendously, hitting him hard.

“The fucking Ardent Cretins need to be taken down a peg. Why can’t we do the same thing we did with the Ilysian Punks and just bloody their nose for a bit.” Niko suggested.

“Are you crazy? We might have gotten larger over the past month, but we’re nowhere close to matching the numbers the Ardent Cretins have. Hell, we might not even come out unscathed if we fought the Red Lions right now!” Damian retorted.

“Has Wrent replied to our request for commercial contracts?” Kyle asked.

“No, sir. It seems the Ardent Cretins have already gotten to them.”

“So we are truly alone in this war...” Kyle sat down at his desk, clasping his hands together as he racked his brain, formulating a quick plan.

“Let’s summarize the situation: We can buy what we need, however, the prices are extortion. We are being isolated by everyone under the Ardent Cretins’ thumb.” Kyle began.

“Yes, sir. Assuming we continue to buy at the current black market price we’ve been paying, we’ll run dry in less than a month.” Keith nodded his head.

“The main issue we need to tackle right now is how do we get more arcite fuel. Any ideas?”

Damian raised his hand. “We could try strong-arming the companies into submission.”

“Not feasible. The Ardent Cretins would be guarding them, and I do not want to come into a physical war with them.”

“I did mention we could either look to Versia or the Culdao Peaks for sources of arcite ore, however, it would be a tough ordeal to set up a transportation route that would not be hijacked or harassed by other gangs.”

“So we’re isolated, unable to expand and unable to trade outside the city.” Kyle summarized.

Keith squinted his eyes. “You don’t seem particularly flustered. Do you already have a plan?”

Gordon’s office was now littered with countless pieces of paper as Gordon and Reese argued and jotted down changes, continuously modifying a single engraving.

In the middle of the office was a dismantled light capturer, as well as a pile of depleted arcite ore devoid of any energy.

Kyle was there too, his right hand holding a normal arcite ore while the other held a depleted one.

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Item

[Arcite Ore]

A condensed form of arcia energy, stored in a solid state.

Can be converted into a fuel form, where it can then power engravings

[SYSTEM MESSAGE]

Item

[Depleted Arcite Ore]

Solid arcite ore but lacking in energy

Cannot be used any longer

The system says that it can’t be used, but is that truly the case? Kyle knew that arcite fuel generators effectively extracted the energy from such ore into a liquid form, forming arcite fuel that would then provide power in a similar fashion.

Kyle posited that it was possible to refill the ore again with arcia energy, seeing as arcia energy could be converted into other forms of energy. He just had to find the right engraving.

[Arctech Wagon’s Shaft Engraving] [Arcia Engraver (Intermediate)] [Mechanical Arcia Regenerator] Race Human Class Crime Lord STR 97(+34)(+0) DEX 113(+47)(+3) INT 96(+55)(+3) VIT 69(+2)(+5) CHA 21(+10)(+1) Free Points 0 [EQUIPMENT]

[Magus Ring of Theorin (Intermediate)]

+5 MAX MP, +25% Increased MP Recovery Rate.

[Projectile Defence Vambrace (Basic)]

+3 DEX, +2 VIT. Active Skill: Point Defence – Fires energy bolts to block up to twenty projectiles. MP Cost Per Activation: 3 MP. Duration: One minute or when twenty projectiles have been blocked. Cooldown: Five minutes.

[SKILLS] [Intimidation Aura (Basic)]: Control those who oppose you with fear. [Penchant for Violence (Basic)]: A good crime lord must be fluent in the language of the underworld [This is My Turf (Basic)]: No one gets close to you without your word. [Designate Follower (Basic)]: Can’t be a crime lord without underlings [TITLES] [Former Crime Lord]

A bigshot in your previous life, so much for that, huh?

+10 INT, +10 CHA

[Martial Arts Training]

The best things between you and death are your fists

+10 STR, +10 DEX

[Murderer]

Everyone has to start somewhere

+2 STR, +10% Increased Damage to Humans

[Usurper (Basic)]

So, climbing the ranks huh?

+5 STR, +3 DEX, + 10% damage to those of higher authority

[Potion Inspector (Intermediate)]

It seems that you are somewhat of a scientist yourself.

+10 INT, Increased description of potions examined.

[Potion Crafter (Intermediate)]

This title was supposed to be handed on successful potions, but the failures are pretty hard to watch.

+10 INT, Increased description of potions examined, +10% chance to craft an intermediate potion when using basic materials. 5% increased chance of discovering basic potion recipes per attempt, stacking. Resets on discovery.

[Healer (Basic)]

This doesn’t seem like the right way to use healing...

+5 INT, +10% healing effectiveness

[Martial Arts Instructor (Basic)]

With great power comes great muscular bodies.

+5 STR, +3 DEX, +10% teaching effectiveness

[Arcia Engraver (Intermediate)]

Carving away like a madman is a good way to move up in the world

+10 INT, +6 DEX, +20% chance at improving quality of final Arctech Equipment.

[Torturer]

Pain is the best language to get someone talking.

+5 INT, +2 STR, +2 DEX, + 10% torture effectiveness.

[Tracker (Basic)]

Helps when those keys are always misplaced.

+5 DEX, +25% Increased Vision and Hearing Range.

[Goblin Observer (Intermediate)]

Entering the den of a goblin tribe alone is quite a feat

+10 DEX, +50% success at learning goblin language.

[Goblin Killer (Basic)]

Greenskin bad, humanskin better.

+10 STR, +5 DEX, +2 VIT, +10% damage to goblin-type enemies.

[Arctech Gunsmith (Basic)]

Death handcrafted and delivered at high speeds.

+5 INT, +3 DEX, +10% chance to craft an intermediate pistol when assembling.