One month had passed.
The mountain cold still clung to the higher ridges, but down in Cetinje, the city had begun to stir earlier each morning.
Even as the frost lingered, whispers of spring teased at the air, loosening the grip of snow and stirring the gears of commerce and politics alike.
For Elias, life remained a careful balancing act between obscurity and orchestration.
By day, he toiled in Baron Petrović's cluttered study, translating documents, managing correspondence, and quietly logging mental notes on the changing tides of Montenegrin affairs.
By night, he ruled an empire of copper and code from a candle-lit attic, eyes illuminated by the soft azure of the Eagle View interface.
Tonight, that interface displayed something new compared to a month ago.
[War Factory]
[Units Available: Scout Bike, Troop Wagon, Artillery Gun, Howitzer, Mortars, Ore Miners
Elias leaned back against the rickety wall, fingers laced behind his head, eyes scanning the new options like a king surveying his court.
He could build any of them—right now.
but due to the current system rank limitation, most of the options, well were unfeasible...
Bikes did not mean motorcycles but legit bikes, like cycles, wagons could be useful but he didnt have enough troops to require quick movement yet, then there was the artillery which while powerful for the era, would surely draw attention if he brought them out.
That would invite attention and not the good kind.
And attention was the one thing he couldn't afford—not yet.
Instead, he opened the production queue and scrolled down.
[Ore Miner Unit – Cost: 1,400 credits]
[ETA: 4 hours]
Once more he selected to produce another ore miner, with the others he'd produced earlier in the week, his total of miners would now rise up to three
Thanks to the newly arrived miners his credit reserve was growing right now at a pace of roughly 10.4 per hour, and with the addition of another that would rise to around 15, so long as the copper vein holds out, but even should that deposit run dry, the digging to locate additional veins would be considerably faster than before.
As the War Factory roared quietly to life, smelting ore into usable parts as the shape and structure of a heavy wagon came into shape, with a crew of miners also flashing into existance alongside the driver, Elias turned his focus toward the broader field.
The copper vein had proven resilient—stable and deep at least for now.
He smiled.
At this rate, he'd have another few thousand credits within the week.
And he already knew what to spend it on.
Troops.
At his current credit growth, he could summon around 3 riflemen squads per day, amounting to 15 soliders.
Given that he still had 6 months to go before the outbreak of war, if nothing at all changed and the copper vein held out, he'd have around 2,000 men ready to be sent into the fray to fight the Ottomans.
This would be just a drop in the bucket compared to the actual number of forces that would be deployed in this war, but for Elias it would be his first foray into the battlefields of history.
Ready to claim whatever treasure they could find while getting the chance to increase the loses suffered by the Ottomans, accelerating the Dying nations decline.
~
The Capital.
He couldn't expand militarily here—not with troop and guns—but infiltration was another matter entirely.
And now, with nearly 600 credits in reserve after his construction queue, he was ready.
With a reasonable economy in place to support his whims, Elias turned his focus to the barracks queue, the construction of a telegraph office which was an early predecessor of the Radar dome opened the avenue for him to create spies.
These units were costly at 500 credits per, but given their roles as spies they could likely join him and mix in with the Montenegrin elite, or even travel abroad to sink themselves into the neighboring nations, or further afield into the great powers of this world.
Let's queue four spies for now, and save the rest to raise military forces, that we can have a portion enlist into the regular army acting like spies themselves as they rise up from within the military to command the nations own forces as well, while the rest will form the basis for our mercenary corp and set off for the eventual battleground between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
With his spies queued up, he then selected to produce 2 more engineers, and another 15 riflemen squads.
Spies would allow him to gather information from the aristocracy, overhear military briefings, and perhaps even slip into embassies or courthouses.
Too bad he couldnt yet create the thief units.
They could procure alternate funding sources if necessary.
Pawnshops.
Gems.
Locked safes in the right merchant's home.
Not to mention, information for sale was always abundant—if one knew how to listen.
He could have his shadow network built beneath Cetinje by the time the kingdom even realized someone had struck a match.
As Elias reviewed troop movements across his current field of vision—still limited to the highlands—he noticed something peculiar.
RFL-Alpha had gone further away from the base than ever before.
"System. Status on RFL-Alpha."
'Currently engaged in extended recon-hunting trade route. No threats detected. Standing orders observed. Unit morale: High.'
The unit had simply gone deeper into its self-assigned duties.
Engaging with villagers.
Gathering wild meat via hunting.
Keeping low.
He almost admired them.
They weren't just obedient—they were adaptive.
Midnight came and went.
Snow fell softly outside the attic window.
In the capital, all was still—save for one candlelit room where a man from another time was planning the overthrow of empires with the precision of a surgeon and the patience of a farmer.
The world was vast.
But his reach was growing.
And then—just as he was preparing to shut the interface for the night—the system chimed.
Softly.
Almost… cheerfully.
'Supreme Commander, would you like to conduct the Lottery Draw today?'
Elias froze.
He hadn't heard that one before.
"System… clarify. What lottery?"
'The Commander's Lottery is a randomized reward protocol. Monthly optional draw. May result in bonus resources, rare units, tech fragments, or construction packs.'
He leaned forward slowly.
Eyes narrowing.
Because fate had given him a chance once.
And if this was another?
He wouldn't waste it.
Assuming it was like any other lottery, the chances of actually winning were remote, beyond remote, but still the tantilizing thrill of getting a booby-prize that only amounted to a few thousand credits was also appealing to him, considering he could always just draw again next month.
though when he raise the all powerful question of why he was only just now hearing about the lottery his system did not dein to give him a response.