Maximilian did not waste an hour. The discovery of the brownish black substance—the crude oil—was a strategic jackpot that eclipsed the value of the iron mines tenfold. While the Imperial War Council was meticulously debating the nature of his 'forbidden sorcery,' Max was already initiating the meticulous process of securing and exploiting his new resource. The castle was now secondary; the river flats, the source of the "Toxic Taint of the Demon," became the epicenter of Valum's operations. Max's first step was absolute secrecy and comprehensive security. He immediately deployed the Tier 1 Scorpia Vanguards in overlapping, continuous patrols around the entire lowland region. Their mission was clear: no one, under any circumstances—not farmers, not miners, and certainly not any wandering Imperial Inquisitor or spy—was to approach the seeping ground. He ordered the construction of a double perimeter fence, fortified with the same Maxim machine guns that guarded the great Valum wall, positioned to create an unassailable kill zone. The second, crucial step was environmental protection—a measure motivated by necessity, not ecology. The farmers' reports of the substance ruining the fields confirmed its toxicity. Max immediately redirected the entire body of engineers and former civilian workers to construct earthen trenches and rudimentary catchment pits to contain the free-flowing crude oil, preventing it from leaching into the river and polluting the territory. He wanted the resource contained, not wasted or advertised.
Simultaneously, Max began the urgent design and fabrication of the specialized equipment needed for extraction and refining. The surface seepage was useful for analysis, but Max knew the true power lay deep beneath the ground. He repurposed the heaviest, most powerful steam engines from the iron mines, quickly modifying their chassis and adding long, reinforced steel drill bits. This was the birth of the world's first rotary drilling rig. The goal was simple but revolutionary: to drill deep enough to hit the oil reservoir and bring the high-pressure crude to the surface. He set a furious two-week deadline for the first successful deep well. He entrusted Elias, his chief foreman, with the immediate task of constructing a basic batch still—a rudimentary refinery. Using large, heat-resistant metal vats and copper coils, the goal was to distill the raw crude into its first, most basic products. "Elias," Max instructed, drawing complicated schematics in the dirt. "We need to separate the fuel. The light fraction, the gasoline, will power our new, smaller engines for transport. The heavy fraction, the diesel, will replace the mana-oil in the larger airship engines for safety and efficiency. And the thick residue, the asphalt, will be used to pave the roads leading to our mines for quicker logistics. This 'taint' is the future of Valum. Guard it with your life." The transition was dizzying. The steady, predictable rhythm of iron mining gave way to the volatile, experimental chaos of the oil field. Max moved his personal command post to a small, fortified shack overlooking the river flats, pouring every available resource into realizing the power of petroleum.
While Max was obsessively focused on logistics and chemistry, the political dam holding the Everwinter Empire together finally burst. The news of Scofield's effortless collapse—attributed by the nobles to the Empire's weakness and not Max's technology—had sent shockwaves of ambition and contempt across the continent. The southern region, controlled by Duke Collin of House Dunbar, was historically rebellious and resented the Emperor's distant rule. Duke Collin, a shrewd, ruthless man known for his vast wealth and large private army, saw his chance. He viewed Emperor Alaric's immediate retreat into the Grand Isolation Doctrine—the decision to quarantine Valum instead of crushing it—as an act of paralyzing weakness. The Emperor was scared of an enemy he couldn't see, confirming Collin's belief that the magical and feudal age was rotting from the core. One week after Scofield fell, while the Imperial Scrying Mages were still trying to divine the chemical composition of Valum's airship fuel, Collin convened his own council in his opulent southern fortress.
"For generations," Collin declared, standing before his assembled nobles, his voice booming with confidence, "we have served the Everwinter Throne. And for what? To be ruled by a hierarchy of weaklings who tremble at the sight of a single upstart, a mere bastard boy who has seized our iron. Duke Alexander is a coward, and Emperor Alaric is a fool. He hides his armies behind a quarantine line because he fears a few trinkets of dark magic! This Empire is a husk, its power dissolved by its own incompetence." Collin raised his hand, gesturing to the lack of Imperial response to Scofield's fall. "The power we are witnessing is not magic; it is opportunity. The Western Duchy is in chaos, the Imperial armies are immobilized by fear, and the Throne is paralyzed by its own rigid doctrine. They will spend months consulting with mages who understand only fire and ice. They will not act." He drew a heavy, ancient sword from his scabbard and thrust the point into the wooden floor. "The time for service is over. The time for ambition is now! The south is rich, its armies are loyal, and its leadership is strong! I will not submit my dominion to a fearful old man who allows a common boy to mock his authority!" With a resounding crash of metal and a unified roar from his vassals, Duke Collin of House Dunbar declared his full independence from the Everwinter Empire and proclaimed himself King Collin I, King of the Southern Dominion. The news was immediately dispatched across the continent by fast riders, shattering the Empire's forced calm. Maximilian's singular, focused act of resource acquisition had successfully destabilized the entire political map, igniting the first true internal rebellion the Empire had faced in centuries. The Emperor had feared Max's technological terror; now, he faced a massive, conventional military rebellion fueled by political contempt. Max's genius had not only secured Valum's resource base but had also bought him invaluable time by diverting the Empire's focus and splitting its armed forces. The battle for the Western Duchy had just become the beginning of a continent-wide war.