Chapter 75: The Dragon-Slayer Becomes the Dragon
"Archmagos, I have just one question. Even if we increase the number of workers tenfold, can we make up for the orders we've missed?"
Veyl did not answer Omega's question. Of course, he knew they couldn't. But that was no reason for them to shirk their work. For every day they were idle, countless Imperial battlefields were short of weapons. Work was their duty, their obligation, their very reason for being.
Seeing the Archmagos's silence, Omega continued, "I believe that this war was a danger, but also an opportunity. Now that the danger has passed, we must seize the opportunity! An opportunity to break the old and build the new! We must seize it! To make Teyedan great again! I have prepared a proposal. Archmagos, Magi, please take a look. If the plan goes smoothly, in just ten years, Teyedan will be reborn, and its future will be even greater! Give me a chance, and I will deliver results that will satisfy you!"
After his one-man show, Omega pulled out a holographic projector he had prepared and played its contents. Everyone present was captivated by Omega's plan.
The final outcome of this father-son showdown was that Omega, using his own backside as collateral, signed a wager with the Archmagos. If Omega's results satisfied Veyl, the Archmagos would approve his plan and grant him the authority to carry it out.
For the first time since coming to this world, Omega was completely unrestrained. The first thing he did was to hold a mass meeting for all the low-ranking Tech-Priests.
At the meeting, Omega once again became a life coach, a guiding light for the Tech-Priests. He told them that he would lead them to create a brand new Teyedan, a Teyedan without year-round work, without endless overtime, without endless kowtowing. As long as they were believers of the Omnissiah, they would have ample time in the future to pursue the path He had shown them.
With the titles of the Fabricator-General's biological son and the Son of the Omnissiah, Omega had considerable influence among the low-ranking Tech-Priests. The atmosphere at the meeting, with Omega painting a grand picture, was as if the sun had risen on Teyedan with his arrival, as if their futures would be bright with him leading the way.
Only Rhea and Louis and the others felt that this scene was very familiar. Their bodies were telling them: Run! Now!
"No one is running!" Looking at the tech-slaves below, Omega revealed a sinister smile under his hood.
Omega did not choose to repair the damaged factories first. Instead, he led the Tech-Priests to upgrade and modify the existing production lines. The goal was to break down the complex workflows that had to be done by humans into individual actions, to replace humans with mechanical arms, to achieve fully automated production. He told the Tech-Priests that to liberate the workers was to liberate themselves. To simply use humans as machines was the greatest waste of "intelligent humanity."
While modifying the production lines, he also arranged for the Tech-Priests to train the workers, requiring that before a worker could start, they had to be familiar with the production process they were responsible for.
Using his knowledge and "talent," Omega successfully completed the modification of several production lines. After a trial run and resolving the issues that had been discovered, Omega invited Veyl and the other Magi to inspect his results, and at the same time, to shut up his "true client-dad," who was always sending messages asking for progress.
The "true client-dad" had the same problem as any other client: he was always pushing, always changing things. And his understanding of the technology was limited. He was not at all confident in his "contractor-son's" work, always feeling that Omega was trying to pull a fast one on him.
Seeing that there were finally results, Veyl dropped everything and, with a group of Magi in tow, went to find his "contractor-son."
The first thing Omega said when he saw Veyl was, "Why is your shield on?"
The Archmagos, who had activated it out of habit, was a little embarrassed. He didn't quite know how to answer, so he pretended not to hear and changed the subject. "Omega, show us your results."
"Alright. Father, you should turn off your shield. People will think someone is trying to assassinate you." With that, Omega led the way, with the embarrassed Archmagos and the strange-looking Magi following behind.
The moment they entered Omega's new workshop, the Magi noticed the difference. There were no grotesque servitors on the production line. Instead, there were rows and rows of mechanical arms, endlessly repeating their tasks. The eerie, grotesque feeling was gone, replaced by the mechanical beauty of the Machine God.
"Praise the Omnissiah!" a Magos whispered in praise.
Omega, leading the way, heard the praise and couldn't help but strut a little. He pointed to the production line and said, "This brand new production line can achieve unmanned, 24/7 production. We use modular mechanical arms to replace servitors, steel to replace the weak flesh. They are more stable than servitors, have lower environmental requirements, are easier to maintain, and simpler to repair. There are no parts that violate the prohibitions. I have just broken down the originally complex production process, again and again, into single actions, and have given them to the mechanical arms to complete.
"The trained workers are responsible for a small part of the work that was originally done by a Tech-Priest. A few dozen workers working together can replace a Tech-Priest. And one Tech-Priest can be responsible for several production lines. They only need to train and manage these workers, and to deal with the problems the workers cannot solve. This production line no longer uses the physical strength of a person, but their intelligence.
"More standard products, higher production efficiency, lower labor costs. As long as we replace the original old production lines with this automated production line, with our current number of Tech-Priests and workers, we can completely achieve the output of an original macro-clade. In the next few years, as the population recovers, our output of conventional weapons will even surpass the number we were originally able to provide to the Imperium."
Veyl was excited! He knew his son could do it. He was a real pain, but he was also a real talent. But a discordant note always appears at the most harmonious moment.
A disheveled little wretch—no, a cog-head—burst out of a closed door in the workshop, running and shouting, "I can't take it anymore! I can't take it anymore!" But he hadn't run more than a few steps before he was hit by a blue electric current from the door. He convulsed, fell to the ground, and rolled a few times.
The Archmagos, a veteran of the "slaughter-field," activated his shield in an instant and pulled Omega behind him. The other Magi also reacted. And then they saw a "blue man" walk out of the door. It was Omega's old acquaintance, the blue master, whom Omega had hired to "keep an eye on the place," responsible for administering electro-therapy to the deranged Tech-Priests.
Omega poked his head out from behind the Archmagos and said impatiently, "How many has it been today? Drag him back. Can't you see I have honored guests here?"
The blue master apologized with a fawning smile to the little brat who had once been so timid in front of him, but who now showed him no respect. "A mistake, a mistake. It was too sudden. I didn't react in time. My fault, my fault." With that, the blue master saluted Veyl and the others, then dragged the still-convulsing cog-head back into the room, cursing as he went, "You ungrateful wretch! Such a good opportunity, and you think you're too good for it? Now my bonus is docked! I'll add thirty percent to your electro-therapy voltage!"
It couldn't be helped. The recovering Teyedan had no spare cash to support these idle members of society. The black brotherhood had to eat too.
The Archmagos and the others followed the blue master into the room—Omega's sweatshop. They saw a vast number of Tech-Priests, each at a workbench, hand-crafting mechanical arms. "What is this?" the Archmagos asked, pointing to the Tech-Priests, who all looked half-dead.
Omega, like a black-hearted capitalist whose hypocritical mask had just been torn off, jumped up and down, shifting the blame. "If it weren't for you always pushing me, would I have locked them up to make mechanical arms? And I'm not making them work for free! I'm paying them!"
The Archmagos's gaze shifted to the large screen Omega was pointing at. It showed how many mechanical arms could be exchanged for what technology. The number of zeros after the lost technology at the top was frighteningly long.
The thing was, modifying the automated production line required a large number of mechanical arms. But the production line for the modular mechanical arms had not yet been put into production. To get results as quickly as possible and shut his client-dad's mouth, Omega could only have the Tech-Priests use their traditional skills and hand-craft the mechanical arms.
The short deadline and heavy workload made the Tech-Priests complain endlessly. At first, Omega had used "the difficulties are only temporary, the future is bright" to motivate them to work harder. But the mechanical arm production line had run into a problem that needed to be solved. Seeing that the promised deadline was approaching, Omega had to resort to the "trade mechanical arms for knowledge" tactic to buy time.
The problem with the mechanical arm production line was solved, but installation, blessing, and debugging also took time. Because this production line was designed and produced by Omega from scratch, the equipment needed to be hand-crafted, and the blessing process took much longer than modifying an old production line.
After a long time, the cog-heads who were tightening screws were no longer happy. They all suspected that Omega's bloodline had awakened, and that he was starting to learn from the Archmagos how to not be human. And since Omega had led them in a parade and a strike, a few of the more quick-witted cog-heads, under the leadership of a few others, decided to give Omega a taste of being an Archmagos, and at the same time, to erase a few zeros from the exchange table.
But they never expected that Omega had already anticipated this. Before they could even start their uprising, the surviving members of the Electro-Priest Brotherhood had been hired to keep an eye on the place. At this point, Omega dropped the act. He told them directly that once they entered this door, it was not up to them when they could leave. Whether they wanted to work or not was not up to them. He directly appointed the blue master as the person in charge. He didn't care about the methods; all he wanted was to see more mechanical arms.
The blue master, to the one who had given him a hand at a critical moment, pounded his chest and said, "Don't worry, young master. I have plenty of ways to make them work obediently!"
After hearing Omega's explanation, Veyl had no complaints. He even thought that Omega was still too young. Giving them a reward? To serve the Omnissiah was the duty of every Tech-Priest. They should be grateful. They must know what a blessing it was