The attic was still.
The frost clung to the edges of the window like veins of ice across cracked glass.
Elias sat in the candlelight, the Eagle View interface casting its ghostly glow across his face.
'Supreme Commander, would you like to conduct the Lottery Draw today?'
The prompt blinked again.
Taunting him.
Tempting him.
Elias smirked faintly.
"Yeah. Let's roll the dice, might as well since i should have three draws worth of luck saved up."
'Command acknowledged. Initiating Supreme Commander's Monthly Draw...'
The interface shimmered like heat over asphalt.
A vast digital wheel unfolded before him—segments flashing with symbols, icons, and names drawn from every corner of the Command & Conquer universe.
Buildings.
Elite Units.
Crates of rare materials.
Even AI personalities.
The wheel spun fast—too fast to read—and slowed by degrees.
Click.
Click.
Click.
It passed a Mammoth Tank.
A Stealth Generator.
A hero unit from the Tiberian timeline.
Click.
Stopped.
Category Selected: Structural Enhancements Subcategory: Passive Infrastructure – Experimental Design
Prize Drawn: Prototype Tiberium Power Plant (GDI Variant – Modified)
The air in the attic seemed to still, the system's voice taking on a reverent tone.
Reward Acquired: Tiberium-Infused Power Generation Structure.
Installation: Locked to HQ Base only.
Power Output: 1000 (Equivalent to Nuclear Power).
Contamination Risk: Zero.
Containment Technology Pre-Installed.
Elias sat forward sharply, eyes wide.
"A Tiberium… power plant?"
He stared at the projection now displayed—a sleek fusion of early 20th-century architecture and futuristic infrastructure, with glowing green conduits pulsing through armored housing.
It looked more like an alien reactor than a single reactor stack nuclear powerplant.
"System. Explain—how does this thing function here? There's no Tiberium in this world."
'Tiberium cores provided internally via sealed quantum microcell. No mining required. Plant designed for off-grid scenarios.'
Reviewing the data provided to him with regards to the new structure it was pretty clear to him this was a significant upgrade.
Power Output: Equivalent to three modern plants. Required Maintenance: Minimal.
Detection Risk: Low if visually camouflaged, since aside from the stacks height there was no smoke or anything that would give away the plants position.
It was everything his base needed.
A quiet revolution in wattage, enough power to supply his base even after it expanded quite a bit, and by that time he should be able to amply defend the place.
Elias sat back slowly, exhaling a long breath.
This… changed the game.
He could run a Tech Center, airfields, and eventually propoganda centers—if he had them—without draining his early economy.
It was power independence.
Placing the Tiberium Reactor inside the second ridge shelf—east of the War Factory.
This way short of being seen from the air one would need to enter the mountain valley in order to see the powerplant, meanwhile as the new reactor hastily began construction from the provided pack, Elias was able to retreive some credits by selling off the origional powerplant seeing as it was not required any longer.
And just like that, the next layer of his base began to evolve—quietly, in the dark.
As nations slept.
As generals read maps by candlelight.
As kings thought the world still belonged to them.
Hours passed.
In Cetinje, morning broke slowly, a dull light filtering over church spires and tile rooftops.
Elias sipped cold coffee and opened his notebook.
Plans changed now.
No more just surviving.
A second Barracks.
With future draws if he was just as lucky he might be able to create shadow units that would operate independantly with the power of the modern age to overwrite the wars of the past... if he was that lucky of course.
He flipped to a clean page.
At the top, in clean block letters, he wrote:
Operation Ironweb
The plan?
Have the barracks produce riflemen units by the squad, and have those forces head off leaving their gear behind in the base to venture off and enlist in the principalities' armed forces which predominantly conscripted its forces from the population.
Then his newly enlisted forces would use their system provided military experience to quickly find promotions for themselves, rising up quickly as bright stars of the montenegrin army, by the time the battle of Grahovac would break out, Elias was certain he could have his men in commanding positions to drive the ottomans back further and faster than origionally, and with that expand the borders of his future kingdom, not only securing the Montengro borders against the Ottomans but possibly even pushing the borders back further expanding the young Principalities size if even only a little.
Elias would choose this option for himself except that while his age was locked it wasn't like he was immortal, seeing as the system had told him he could still die, just not by old age.
As his forces would infiltrate the military, he would continue establishing himself as a noblelike person within the country since the principality was ruled by a young Prince who'd only just risen to power, but was working toward converting the former Bishopric into a constitutional monarchy, with backing and support Elias sought to get himself into a political position where he could present himself as an availible option or with means to present a pleasent alternative once the future king was disposed of and his successor crowned in his place.
But even then, the absolutist rule of Nicholos I would not lessen his grip upon the people until 1905 when the nation would be granted its first constituation.
That was to slow for Elias, if things went as he planned a popular front would force the prince to grant the constitution earlier than this, or possibly not at all if the popular front grew vast enough for the Princes abdication in favor of another candidate.
Just thinking about it Elias couldnt help but pray a little bit in his heart that his luck would produce a grand result in the way of giving him the ability to produce, Kane, or even Yuri within the next few years.
With their charismatic and hypnotic personalities he could quickly spread his vision to the public and in doing so force either a compromise from the Prince, or an armed response drawing the nation into a civil war that would not last for very long but at the expense of a good number of the citizens lives.
But then as he scribbled down numbers, if the copper vein held out and he chose not to expand his ore miners further, he'd net around 15 credits per hour amassing just over 300 credits per day.
If he used that fully that meant the creation of 3 squads of riflemen per day, then multiplying that, meant 1,095 or so squads created per year equalling a grand army total of around 5,500 soldiers.
More than Montenegro would field in the first war against Ottoman opression, and with time, he'd have far more forces than were engaged in the second Ottoman war twenty years later during the Herzegovian uprising.
Montenegro would be a sleeping giant, ready to unleash its might upon the world at Elias's say so, but for now he simply would wait, engage in the battles he wanted to with his mercenary force, while expanding his reach abroad and at home, all the while saving up his credits to make the largest purchase available to him which was to rank up his system and gain access to newer era's abandoning the cannon, and muskets of the napoleonic era in favor of the breechloaders commonly found closer to the start of the 1900's.