Standing above the newly built village of Lancershire, Daneel, Eloise, and Luther were watching as the trinkets that had been sent over were being spread throughout the households.
The past week had been spent rigorously prototyping and developing these one-of-a-kind trinkets and objects that they hoped would soon take over the entire continent.
Eloise had been instrumental in the design of the coin, as she seemed to have excellent taste, while Luther gave many tips about the practicality of things. For example, for it to look amazing, Daneel had initially proposed that they should find ways to make it entirely out of glass, but that had been struck down because it simply did not justify the cost. Instead, one side was made to be metal, and in fact, the final result was better than what Daneel had imagined in his mind.
His plan had been to begin with these two objects, which were ubiquitous in almost all households back on Earth. Trinkets which mimicked their properties were present, too, but again, they were of the sort which were expensive, and needed complete Ether blocks to run.
Combining the resource along with the currency was a genius idea, and Daneel couldn't help but pat his back that he had managed to think of it. Initially, he had been prepared to make it some sort of expendable resource, but with a little tweaking, it had changed into something much better.
Besides, this entire thing had only been possible because similar mechanisms had already been present in the age of the Empire, albeit for different purposes. He had simply taken all of those designs and used the system to simplify them for this age, and this was something even the Big Four would never have cared to do as they only cared about themselves.
In the age of the Empire, Ether blocks had been directly bought by commoners as they had been so much more common, so things like these hadn't needed to be innovated. Instead, this mechanism of cutting Ether blocks into smaller pieces was used for creating miniature trinkets which could be concealed, and the recharging formations were originally created for usage in trinkets which were used 24/7. The idea was that if there was a network of trinkets which gave off light, then the Ether blocks powering all of the individual trinkets would need to be changed periodically, which would be a monumental task. Instead, rechargeable Energy sources had been made so that they wouldn't need to be replaced. Just a formation meant to recharge them could be implemented, and all the resources needed for recharging could be changed at once, at a single location.
This could be likened to a case on Earth with batteries. To power all the lights in a house, wasn't it practical to simply use an electricity line which could be powered by a single resource and easily refilled, instead of using individual batteries which would need to be constantly switched out?
Combining these two almost common innovations had allowed Daneel to create this currency of his.
Editing the formations hadn't been an easy task, at all, and if he didn't have the system, Daneel was sure that he would definitely have had to spend months and maybe even years on it.
At the same time, he had also thought of a plan to subvert any inquiries that might begin into the origin of the formations that he would be using.
If someone asked regarding it, he could simply say that he had found scattered clues in all the libraries which led him to create them. Rayen had already been told to go to the libraries to legitimize this claim, and this was actually quite easy to do as most of the formations in the libraries were meant to protect the things that were kept inside, instead of not allowing new things to be added.
All in all, even though this was just the first prototype, it looked excellent.
The key, of course, was the coin. Each was made using a very unique process which definitely could not be replicated anywhere, and even the process to recharge the coin was proprietary. Hence, now, coins had two different values, with the coins that had Energy being more valuable. If the value had to be increased, they definitely had to be sent back to the Kingdom. And of course… For each refill, a certain fee would be charged, and this was just another way to earn even more money.
As for the entire objective in the first place of taking out all of the resources that Daneel had stowed away, it was simply done by showing the profits of people using these coins, and buying the trinkets. In the same move which he had used in the pyramid scheme, he would be changing the records to show that he was obtaining so much more profit than he was actually getting, which would allow him to supplement the resources he had to develop the Alliance.
In summary, the plan was simple: create the unique resource in the form of the coin which was capable of being bought by normal people, spread trinkets which could use these coins and greatly improve the living conditions of said people, and then modify the records to show that huge amounts of money were being made by this business, all of which would be used to transform the Alliance.
Secondarily, if a dependence could be created using these things...it didn't even need to be said just how much that would strenghten Daneel's position, while also giving him more options regarding what he could do in the Central Continent.
Hence, even though it was in the testing phase, it looked really promising.
Eloise had instantly loved the plan, and she had thrown herself into it, and as for Luther, he had stated the negatives.
During testing, it was almost impossible to block information from going out. If they did so, it would seem suspicious, and Daneel had simply said that they should just allow it to spread.
It wasn't like this would be concealed for very long, either, and he was confident that no one would be able to copy the processes that he was using.
The only one who would be able to do so was the Big Four, but they had no interest in the Central Continent. Even the Sect of Hedon had cut off all relations with the Kingdom of Axelor, as it was now focusing on its personal strength and increasing the levels of the formations around it.
Hence, in the Central Continent, Daneel expected to not face any difficulties, but still, he didn't say so, because it would just be jinxing something that should go well.
The next few days were definitely going to be interesting, so Daneel looked forward to see what would happen.
He was still undecided regarding a few things, such as how they would ensure that continent wide adoption would happen, so the three of them left to take care of this matters.
Unknown to them, a spy had already gained information about what was going on in the village, and he was currently in the process of transferring the information to a certain source.
The spy network had already been abuzz about a certain something happening in this town, and he had arrived right away with a mage. He had entered the village in the guise of a traveler who just wanted a place to rest, and because the people of Lancershire, who had actually named the village in the honor of the kingdom whose king had given them so much to be thankful for, hadn't thought twice before giving him lodging and even hot, piping food.
From there, it had been easy to go to a house and see the two shiny gadgets that were already being used a lot.
One was a large rectangular object in which food items had been placed, and finding out that it was meant to preserve them so that they could be used in the next day, even the spy had been pretty shocked. He hadn't been able to control his jaw from dropping when he was explained with enthusiasm that cooked food could now last for more days than one, and after that, when he had asked whether that food should be eaten cold, he had been shown the other gadget and even been given a demonstration where two-day-old meat had been heated up and served for his pleasure.
He kept eyeing the coin which had powered both of these gadgets, but sadly, he was unable to obtain it to study it further. However, he was able to use the display trinket he had with him to get clear images, and with his job done, he was now heading to a certain location that was east of the Alliance.
After dropping him off in the middle of nowhere, the mage that had been sent to him teleported away, and the spy had to wait for 10 minutes before he, too, disappeared.
He found himself under the ground, in a small cave in the presence of the man who had given him this contract in the first place.
"How are you, good sir. I'm happy to say that I've perfectly finished the assignment. Here are the results."
Saying so, the spy held out a sheaf of parchments on which he had elaborately written about everything he had seen, along with the display trinket which had recorded all of the images from the village.
The man didn't move, following which the spy simply placed the objects on the ground. A voice spoke beside his ear, with said, "Well done. Your payment is in your pocket. You will be called for again if needed."
At the same time, the spy felt a weight at his waist, following which he checked and was delighted to find that it was now full of gold coins.
Bowing politely, he was once again teleported away, following which the man who was clad in a black cloak which was meant to cover both his body shape and his features finally got up from the stone chair that he had made for himself and picked up the objects that were on the ground.
After this, he took out a different display trinket, and as he activated it, a woman whom Daneel would have recognized appeared on it.
She was wearing white clothes, and she was in a meditative pose.
As she opened her eyes, a smoldering flame of anger shone in them.
It was Jessica, who was carrying out her mandatory sentence for conspiring against her fellow seeds.
She listened with a neutral expression on her face to everything that was she told by this man who had once pledged himself to her permanently, and she was also shown the images of the objects that had been introduced into that village.
After he was done, she simply said that he would contact him again, following which there was only silence in the room that she was imprisoned in.
In all four directions, there was only stone which glowed with the light of formations which were actively keeping her here. In front of her were a few Ker gems and the display trinket that she had just used. Well, she was a seed, after all, which meant that even her terms of imprisonment were different than those of others.
Recalling the images she had seen, she couldn't help but grit her teeth as they were replaced by the ones when everything had seemed within her grasp.
At the last moment, though…all of that had changed, and she now found herself without the trust of her mentor, and with a future that was filled with just training and then being forced to fight in a battle that she didn't even believe in.
Her emotions at that moment couldn't even be put into words. Anger, grief, desperation, hopelessness- all of these and more had buffeted her mind until she couldn't even form coherent thoughts, and after that, she had been knocked out before being sentenced to two decades in prison.
Daneel Anivron. Daneel Anivron. Daneel Anivron.
She chanted this name, and each time she repeated it, her conviction to obtain revenge grew.
She couldn't affect him physically, as it would directly be connected to her.
If not…was there something else she could do?
As the gears in her mind started to turn, the fire in her eyes grew in intensity.