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Chapter 303: Dreams of Brass and Steel - Markets and Multiverses
🕑 Added 2024-10-09 07:23:01 +0000 UTCAs the months continued to pass by, the civil war began to intensify. Small conflicts became large, and soon, the rebellion grew to the level of a civil war. The native Zannan people rallied together, with the goal of kicking out the corrupt colonial government. At first, Felix thought that the old government would lose instantly. However, the colonial government held on surprisingly well at first. They had large stockpiles of supplies from Damilius's factories, which made them quite powerful. The production capabilities of an industrialized nation were way too different from that of a colony. However, the initial advantage of the colonial government dissipated after a few months. The supplies from Damilius were formidable... but Damilius was gone. Without the homeland to keep sending ammunition and potions, supplies started to run out. Within four months, the colonial government was low on ammunition, potions, and food. That was when the war started to turn against them.
Local factories couldn't keep up with their needs at all. Once the rebels and the colonial government had similar supply levels, the number advantage of the rebels came into play. The colonial government started losing more ground than they won. Each month, they lost battles and territory as the rebels overwhelmed them. After a year, Felix confirmed that the colonial government was on its way out. They had fought better than expected, but they had no way to turn the war around.
Luckily, the war avoided their town. Felix suspected suspected this was due to Zanna’s scattered population. Apart from a few large cities, the rest of Zanna was small towns and sparsely populated rainforest. Thus, the combatants in the war focused on the major cities on the coastline. The population and resources of Daldyr were meaningless for the overall war, so nobody bothered them. The group had chosen their new home well. The only real change in their life was the daily newspaper.
Originally, there were a few different newspapers. The colonial government published one, while others were written by Damilians who had settled in Zanna. However, as the rebels became more active, a new paper called 'Good Morning, Zanna’ started circulating.
As the rebel forces spread, 'Good Morning, Zanna’ started to become the easiest newspaper to read. This was because many other newspapers faced various circulation problems. Felix had a sneaking suspicion that the rebel army was suppressing negative news. The newspapers that had the most ‘problems’ getting their products out were the papers that criticized the rebel army. Meanwhile, papers that criticized the old government faced far fewer logistical problems. It was a bit frustrating to have the Zannan rebels clamp down on free news so much... but Felix had to admit, he wasn't that surprised. Controlling the press was an easy way to establish legitimacy for the new government, and this world didn't have any ideal of free press. As much as he would have preferred a better environment for newspapers, he supposed it was normal here.
The other thing Felix noticed was news about factories. Both sides of the war were in desperate need of supplies. However, factories on this continent struggled to function. This was because of constant saboteurs with bombs. The level of bombing and subterfuge was absurd. Felix wasn't even sure how both sides kept blowing up the other side's factories. But they obviously had some way to consistently pull it off. This was one of the reasons the supply shortage got so bad for both sides - nobody could keep a factory running for any reasonable length of time.
Felix took that as a strong reminder not to build any factories yet, even though he wanted to. Miria and Anise seemed tired of wars and conflicts, and Felix suspected that a factory would bring an army to their doorstep. The supply situation for both sides was that abysmal. A town with no resources was worthless, but a town with several factories might be worth fighting over. Felix didn’t feel that was a terrible opportunity to grow, but since Miria and Anise didn’t want to participate in the war, he wouldn't do it.
Instead, Felix took that time to work on his inventions. Since it was dangerous, Felix didn’t build any factories. At least, not yet. Instead, he focused on one thing - setting up for when the chaos settled down.
Recently, as he started to find a niche he was comfortable with, Felix had started to think about what he could do for the group in this world. He had come to a conclusion: right now, his focus was to generate the most Achievement he could. This was based on a simple thought. One of Felix's biggest potential weaknesses was his lack of combat strength.
How could he resolve this? One way was to throw more Achievement at his Attributes after returning to the Market.
He might be weak now, but what if he spent enough Achievement to push all of his attributes to Grade 100? In that case, Felix suspected he could steamroll most lower-level worlds. Heck, with Grade 100 in everything, he could probably flatten the guardian that stopped them from buying lives. Felix would never reach that level in a few worlds - but he wanted to get as close as possible.
So Felix wanted to milk the most he could out of this life. This world was a golden opportunity for him to farm resources and grow his strength. What was the best way to do that?
In his mind, the best path forward was to start another industrial revolution. The progress the Zelyrian continent had made had disappeared after the spatial collapse. The Zelyrian continent was ruined. Ennalia was the only country that still had a functioning government. However, they were also the least well-positioned in terms of colonies, only owning a few smaller and weaker colonies.
Right now, this world was in the midst of a big power vacuum. If Felix strengthened Zanna's economy, he would warp the direction of the post-colonial world. That should be worth a crazy amount of Achievement. He just needed to make use of this opportunity and not let it slip through his fingers. However, to do so safely, he needed Zanna to settle down and give him space to develop. And, unfortunately, that was something that wasn't happening right now.
So Felix spent the next two years preparing. He used his exceptional talent for alchemy to build precise cutting and measuring tools. He grabbed block after block of metal from the nearby mine, preparing for the future. He prepared machine parts. He saved money from his alchemy, and stored it away for future cash needs. The moment the chaos settled down, Felix was ready to start his march of factories and railroads.
Luckily, after two years the civil war finally started to settle down. The rebels finally seized the old capital. While there were still remnants of the old colonial government, they had lost their biggest industrial center. While they might still put up a fight, Felix suspected that would end the civil war. The old government didn’t have the means to continue fighting. The old government was no longer a power in Zanna.
That was when Felix ran into an unpleasant surprise. He had been expecting that after the old government disappeared, things would start to settle down. He had been hoping for it, and yearning for the day when he could start his plan.
However, the long-awaited peace did not come.
Once the old government was gone, the coalition of Zannan rebels collapsed. From one unified faction of rebels emerged three new groups. Less than a week after their victory, they started fighting each other. This left Felix grinding his teeth in frustration when he read about it in the news.
The rebel forces had divided into three factions. The first faction was built around hatred. The leader's philosophy advocated extermination of the devils from across the sea.’ The second faction was a group of ‘naturalists,’ who opposed any sort of industrialization. They believed that Zanna should return to its ‘natural’ ways. This group of people seemed to believe in one of the old religions of the continent. Felix wasn't that familiar with old Zannan religions, but he was fairly certain he wouldn't get along with the group anyway. As someone who dreamed of kick-starting a new industrial revolution, he was totally opposed to their goals.
The third group of Zannans believed that Zanna had changed forever after Damilius's arrival. Rather than rejecting industrialization, they wanted to mimic their former overlords. Their grand goal was to establish a monarchy and build a new set of factories. Felix actually liked those goals, at least to some extent. However, he was less of a fan of the man leading the group. The man leading the faction was named Edmund, and he styled himself as a new king that would lead Zanna to glory.
Felix wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to join with any of the factions. The third faction promoted industrialization, so the would probably welcome him. However, some of the rhetoric of the third faction made him uneasy. They implied that they wanted to follow their former overlord in more than one way. Rather than simply being free, it almost seemed like they wanted to establish their own colonial empire. Felix wanted to overhaul the industrial standards of Zanna and make it a power that could keep itself safe - but he didn't want to set up the next overlord. It was hard to figure out how to achieve his ambition without doing so, but Felix felt it was possible to find a balance. He just needed to be cautious and try to support a less power-hungry government.
Sadly, it didn't seem like there were any options that he would be satisfied with. Once again, all of the sides in this civil war sucked.
As Felix pondered the unfortunate second round of the civil war, news came that distracted him from the whole mess. News that shocked him, but would matter far more to a certain other member of their group.
After two years in a coma, Old Mo had awakened.
Author’s Note:
Join my Discord! (I’m much more active there than in the comments section).
Comments
FallenRock
Right? The alteration/manifestation is one of the most powerful magic systems we've seen do far. I understand if he's more focused on binding essence now but he should at least be on par with Anise in terms of fighting ability currently
Arkeus
'things will totally settle down nicely' after a civil war is one of those lies we tell ourselves. Old mo...might actually be really useful here. Also, Felix should be looking to improve his alteration/manifestation ability too. And of course Miria I am unsure has already got her first upgrade to her alteration ability? Might need a lot of work to get a second upgrade for her absorption one.
