Beating Instances through Words Left by the Dead

Chapter 922: Chapter 392: Ron’s Plan (Part 2)

The second incident was this: Xavier saw a female worker who had suddenly died.

It was said that the female worker died after a twenty-hour overtime shift. Her colleagues were indifferent to it; such things were commonplace in textile factories, but Xavier found it unbelievable.

It’s worth noting that when he was young, his hometown had a textile factory.

His family were mere small lords, only able to run a basic water-powered textile factory. The textile process required huge amounts of manpower, and workers needed to work 12 to 14 hours a day just to make ends meet.

The industrial textile factories in Grimland used the most advanced steam-powered looms, with fabric production efficiency sixty times that of the water-powered looms.

But why did Mace say that Grimland’s textile workers needed to work 16 to 18 hours a day to survive, and 20-hour overtime was a common occurrence?

The more developed industry becomes, the higher the production efficiency, so why does the working time for workers grow longer when their living status hasn’t improved significantly?

Xavier, proficient in mathematics and hailed as a genius, was confronted with a problem he couldn’t solve for the first time.

The good news was that he seemed to have found the mission bestowed upon him by the Holy Master: to use machinery to liberate mankind.

The bad news was that the talent given to him by the Holy Master wasn’t sufficient; he couldn’t solve this problem.

Since then, he attempted many inventions, striving to completely remove manpower from production, but all of these attempts ended in failure.

During his research process, as his status rose, he began to meet with many influential figures and learned about forces beyond ordinary human ability, aside from machinery, entities known as Transcendents.

His mind became active with possibilities, pondering whether it was possible to combine Transcendents with machinery?

Soon, he found he wasn’t the only one with such a thought. Some scholars and new aristocrats were also attempting to merge the two, even forming a society called the New Continent Association for this purpose.

Relying on his knowledge of machinery, Xavier easily joined them and learned much about Extraordinary Power within, such as Mysticism, Alchemy, and other subjects.

In the time that followed, he devoted all his energy to the Extraordinary Association, hoping to leverage Extraordinary Power to create the steam engine he imagined.

Time flew by, and he reached thirty-five years of age.

He had not managed to integrate Extraordinary Power with machinery, but his research in Mysticism and Alchemy had become quite profound.

He felt that only a thin barrier remained between integrating the two, just a single opportunity was needed for him to achieve a breakthrough and create a steam engine with Extraordinary Power.

It was at this time that Ron was elected as Prime Minister.

During his inauguration speech, Ron captured Xavier’s attention by turning gears and uttering the famous phrase, ”I hear the roar of the times”.

The year after Ron became Prime Minister, he secretly visited Xavier, seeking his advice on some industrial matters.

Among them was a concept, that of Extraordinary Industrialization.

To consult Xavier, Ron brought out numerous books containing mystical knowledge, the depth of which far surpassed those meager collections of the New Continent Association.

Some of the ideas within were so impressive that even Xavier had to applaud them.

With his endorsement, Grimlan University was established, inviting scholars from all places to participate in research on Extraordinary Industrialization. Members of the New Continent Association easily merged into it due to their ongoing studies.

For the scholars present, Her Majesty Olivia and Prime Minister Ron extended enormous trust, giving open access to all books recording Extraordinary Power.

The New Continent Association had always been half a step ahead in research into Extraordinary Machinery, and within six months, they internally outpaced Grimlan University by researching the Extraordinary Steam Engine.

The moment the Extraordinary Steam Engine was researched, changes arose within the New Continent Association, with many members beginning to believe they should hold a status matching the progressive power they possessed.

To claim their identity, they renamed the New Continent Association to the Steam Council, implying they were the council hidden within the steam, holding the right to influence the entire nation.

Soon after renaming, Grimlan University, under Xavier’s secret efforts, also completed the Extraordinary Steam Engine.

With support from the queen and prime minister, their Extraordinary Steam Engine was larger, better, and more perfected.

This unsettled members of the Steam Council, who had diligently researched Extraordinary Machinery for decades, only to have the fruits of their labor taken by the queen and prime minister. How could they endure this?

To monopolize the Extraordinary Steam Engine, they began plotting an attack on Grimlan University to seize those books containing extraordinary knowledge.

It was at this moment Xavier discovered his former companions had begun spiraling out of control.

Focused entirely on research, his high status in the Steam Council was void of real power, leaving him unable to stop the frenzy consuming everyone.

He could only seize opportunities to anonymously tip off Prime Minister Ron to strengthen defenses at Grimlan University.

But his tip-off did not have any effect, as the Steam Council successfully triggered the library fire at Grimlan University.

Many lost their lives in the fire, with many being replacements for Steam Council members, including Xavier.

Xavier did not endorse the actions of the Steam Council, and from that point on, he resumed his own research, only returning to the Steam Council when needing to consult materials.

The Steam Council’s actions grew more frenzied, yet their madness did indeed bring progress to their research.