Birth Of The Crafts-God

"And how is that my fault exactly? I simply picked the choice I felt best with." Lucas shrugged.

It was true that he didn't think much of his decision. When it came to battle instinct, material science, vestige-smithing and even engineering, Lucas was basically a one-of-a-kind genius. It would be next to impossible to find someone else as good or as adept as he was. However, the same couldn't be said about his experience in finance and business, although he was familiar with some of the terms.

This was kind of contradictory especially since in his first life, Lucas ran a small business. However, that 'business' of his was basically Lucas living a nomadic life and taking orders he was interested in; his focus wasn't on earning money but improving his skill. As he got better at creating magic weapons, the value of the items naturally rose and Lucas made more money. Hence, it wasn't wrong to say that his business management intelligence probably wasn't any better than a highschool student.

Nonetheless, the current situation still favoured Lucas. After all, his plan was to ruin all those who stood in his path, and the Versailles Group had done the same.

"It doesn't matter. This is still good. However, the effects would still be limited." Altimo spoke up.

He wasn't present the previous day and had missed out on the meeting. However, in order to finalise the contract proceedings, Lucas had contacted Altimo and informed him of the development. Although Altimo was now an executive of the Seven Stars Spring Dealership, he was still below Lucas who was the owner. As such, even though he was against the cooperation, he still did as he was told.

"Limited?" Lucas glanced at Altimo.

"Currently, it's merely speculation fuelling the situation we're seeing. The true sharks haven't made their moves yet. Those who are selling are either those who are manipulating the market or those unaware of the truth and falling for the former's schemes." Altimo explained.

He then projected a graph on the table and pointed at certain sections on the graph.

"Take a look at this chart. You can see the growth rate and margins. Also see the decline rates. It's significant, but nothing over the top and still within manageable values. The progress in one a quarter was cut down, but that's not enough to harm their foundations. If anything, I predict there might be a large buy order by tomorrow."

"So, what you're saying is that the largest shareholders of these companies still don't believe that the Qin chips can surpass the SS V1 chips?" Vergil easily figured out the crux of the matter.

"Exactly." Altimo nodded. He then added.

"In fact, they're confident the Qin chips would fail."

The stock market was an interesting side of finance to many. While most times, it appeared to be a table of data that could be calculated and therefore, predicted. Other times, it functioned absurdly from this logic and could easily be influenced by any piece of information related to the companies on it.

The decline in the Versailles Group's stock was one such instance. Even though this was a very valuable company that had an impressive financial history and performance so far, all it took was an announcement to cause a significant drop in price. However, this was still within the manageable limit for the company, although someone would be fired.

According to Altimo, there was still significant faith in the Versailles Group due to their history as well as their solid foundations.

Prior to Novanio Tech's entry into the market, the processor industry was dominated by both the Silverine Factory and Versailles Group. The Versailles Group led in the stellar processor market while the Silverine Factory barely held an advantage in the regular processor market. Even after Novanio Tech's entry, the Versailles Group still held a majority stake in the stellar processor market and a significant one in the regular market, worth at least 30%.

The reason for this was due to their ability to mass-produce chips and their incredible technology that was even slightly more advanced than Novanio Tech. As such, while the news of a new SS chip coming out sounded threatening, it wasn't much.

This was especially so since everyone believed that the Qin chips were made with a base component provided by the Silverine Factory, which wasn't known for its stellar processors. If the choice of the supplier was Novanio Tech instead, the Versailles Group might have shed off 40% of their stock price.

"So, they think I will fail?" Lucas asked with a calm expression on his face.

Altimo didn't respond, but there was no need to do so even.

Truthfully, he didn't believe that the SS V2 chips made with the Silverine Factory's stellar processor could outperform the SS V1 chips. Even though he wasn't a professional in this area, Altimo had already done a bit of research ahead of time; after all, it was clear to everyone that the Seven Stars Spring Dealership would walk a similar path as the Legacy Crafts dealership.

Lucas could easily see the doubt in Altimo's eyes but he wasn't bothered enough to explain about his decisions.

Everyone thought that the Qin chips were made by modifying the Silverine Factory's 'Garland' stellar processor, but that was far from it. The Qin processor was an original product Lucas had been designing in Belfargos territory.

An important core component of racing shuttles were the sensors that helped to control the vehicles. However, in order to achieve maximum efficiency and response time, these sensors didn't rely on typical regular processors but stellar processors.

In the Versoa team, the stellar processor used was designed by the head of the Simulation and Testing department. Since Lucas became the head of the team, he naturally had to work alongside the new department head. Coupled with the fact that Lucas was already interested in stellar processors even before arriving at Belfargos territory, he ended up spending some time to learn about them.

For Lucas, when it came to vestige-smithing, what took others months to learn could be mastered in a few weeks. The only difficulty he faced was in the programming aspect for the chips, but that was sorted out after a bit more effort on learning.

The Qin stellar processor was the result of Lucas' hard work and dedication. Because he had designed it after taking some notes from the techniques of Belfargos territory, it was naturally ahead of what Baylands city-state could offer. It had even surpassed the products of the Versailles Group, which originated from the high tier Paros city-state. Lucas wasn't worried about the reception from the people.

The conversation veered off to the trio discussing how and where to utilise the Qin chips as well as the means of sale.

Originally, Lucas wanted to operate the same method as with the Legacy Crafts dealership, which was to grant the sole distribution rights of the chip to the Seven Stars Spring Dealership. The Dealership would then produce vestiges that relied on the chips before selling them to the market.

However, Altimo argued against it. He understood that Lucas' return was for revenge, and this could also profit the Mertens family. As such, he proposed a different idea instead. The chips could be sold separately but in limited supply. The Seven Stars Spring Dealership would still maintain sole distribution rights, but to prevent claims of a monopoly, other dealerships can purchase from them.

Also, the Qin wasn't the only processor Lucas had made. The second one was called Rain Dragon Z1, and similar to the Qin, it was also a stellar processor. However, the Rain Dragon Z1 wasn't a high-end product.

If the Qin was a flagship stellar processor aimed at the premium side of the stellar processor industry, the Rain Dragon Z1 was aimed at the lower and medium tiers. However, it did possess some advantages over the former.

Because the Rain Dragon Z1 wasn't as powerful, it was much better in energy efficiency and usage while generating less heat. This gave it a theoretically longer runtime than the Qin at peak performance. Also, even though it was weaker than the Qin, the Rain Dragon Z1 could already perform at 73% capabilities of the current flagship products from the Versailles Group and Novanio Tech, which were the KY chip and the Orion Core respectively. What's more, it was cheaper to produce.

With such incredible parameters, the Rain Dragon Z1 was already ahead of other stellar processors on the same grade. It was the equivalent of a peak Grade 3 vestige in the stellar processor industry.

That's right, the Qin —which was superior— was equivalent to a Grade 4 vestige.

At the time the trio were discussing, a knock sounded on the door.

Vergil and Altimo stared at Lucas inquisitively, however, the latter was stunned.

Lucas was confused, after all, he wasn't expecting any guests. Also, this was a store —it didn't make sense why one would knock at the door.

After a second, Lucas swiped his finger in the direction of the door and it opened. Thanks to the system, he was able to control every inch of the store, so this wasn't an issue. Also, there was a similar technology in Eretre, so it didn't draw any attention to him from the Mertens duo.

A young man who looked to be in his mid 20s glanced anxiously inside.

After a bit of hesitation, he carefully spoke.

"Uhm, is the store open yet?"

Lucas froze, not expecting such a question. But after considering it, he recognised that this was a valid question. Even Vergil and Altimo discerned this and immediately displayed wry smiles on their faces.

It has been two weeks since Lucas' return to Baylands city-state, but during this time, he never announced the re-opening of the store. While there were numerous events like the press conference with Russell, the announcement of the collaboration with the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company, the founding of the Seven Stars Spring Dealership and finally, the announcement of the Dealership's cooperation with the SSS Dealership, backed by the Seven Sparks Forge, there was no official re-opening news of the Forge to the public.

It was at this moment that Lucas suddenly realised that he had made a blunder.

The store had been shut down in a high profile fashion and he was even forced into a short exile. But even after returning, Lucas made no effort to reopen the doors of the public. This made many confused as to whether the Seven Sparks Forge had changed its business model from an open store accessible to the public, to an R&D store that cooperated directly with other companies.

"It is." Lucas nodded.

"Melissa."

"Yes, big brother."

The little eleven year old who was sitting at the checkout counter suddenly rushed towards his side.

"Take our customer's order."