For the next several weeks, Marcus continued his daily schedule, even attending classes.
It was that precious monotony that he loved since his first life.
But eventually, prototype prosthetics were done, alongside exoskeletons for general use.
With all that done, the last touches were made by Marcus before he went to see Ruben, who was waiting for him.
"How do you want this proceeding? Are you planning to reveal yourself?" He asked worried, but then Marcus pulled out a set of blue eye lenses from a small case he had in his pocket.
His eyes were now light blue.
"Not only do I look different from my old self, if I invert my dressing style from my older days, Britannians, even my father would have a hard time believing that it's me." Marcus chuckled, as he was dressed quite basic, something the Prince would never do.
Behaving in a way that is opposite to what people expect is the best method to hide one's real identity, not to mention that his mannerisms are different from Lelouch's.
He has confidence that people won't recognise him.
"Very good. Now we can proceed without worry." The old man nodded; he was happy that the projects were progressing without any issues.
He started to get worried that he was throwing money into a black hole, but his investments began to pay off in a matter of a few short months.
So far, the Prince's ideas were bulleyes. Area 11 is full of metal to scrap, not just weapon, but military equipment as well!
And that means good money. They are responsible for scraping all of the Glasgows and sending usable materials back to the homeland, where they can be reused for the new Sutherlands.
But Marcus got an even better idea, not just reselling the usable parts, but other parts he melted into ingots and sent all the Tungsten back…for a price.
Military contracts are a good source of business.
"Precisely, all the preparations are complete; we can begin with our preparations."
The pair left the academy complex and took a limo to an arranged meeting with military officials.
The place for this meeting was in the Viceroy's Palace. Only that the Viceroy is not here yet. In fact, one is not even selected yet.
So far, it will be with Executives and Ministers who were intrigued by what Marcus has prepared.
As the limo drove into the Viceroy's government building, Marcus could see new Sutherlands being brought in. Their colour is distinctive compared to the green colour of Glasgow.
Glasgows followed the old ideology of greenish tank colour; it was the generation that was separating from the old style of warfare.
That is why Sutherlands are blue.
Regardless, they went to a specially prepared hangar, where rows of colonial officials, military industry executives, and Imperial officials were waiting for them.
After the car stopped, the pair exited the vehicle and walked over to the waiting Britannians.
The bunch of people were baffled to see someone as young as Marcus being here.
"Mr Ashford, I assume this is the boy you were talking about?" The Minister of Health asked, he was a bit surprised, not simply because of the boy, but why he was here as well!
He got an invitation from the Minister of War. Health and War don't usually go hand in hand…
"Indeed, this young man here is Marcus Goldman, one of the greatest students my Ashford Foundation has produced! Since we don't make Knightmares anymore, my foundation now focuses on education.
That's how I stumbled upon this young genius." Ruben spins a tale about Marcus, before looking at the young boy.
"Marcus, show them what you have developed."
"Thank you, Mr Ashford." The Inventor Prince nodded before looking at the gathered people. Behind him, helpers brought over a table full of items that were hidden under a blue cloth.
"Our Holy Britannian Empire is no stranger to conflicts. Thanks to these conflicts, we have the greatest soldiers in the world.
But these conflicts produce casualties; it's a natural order.
Some of them die in the glory of combat, and some survive with grave wounds and injuries.
Injuries are so bad that they remain crippled for life.
But this is where my creations come to play." Marcus removed the blue cloth and showed what was on the table.
It had robotic hands and legs… some of them even looked like gloves.
"Our Empire already has prothetics… but…" He walked over, took a metal glove, put it on, and then took a piece of wood and squeezed.
The wood in his hand ended up being crushed and turned into a pile of wooden scraps.
The gathered people sucked in cold air, seeing this.
Their boredom was gone; instead, they looked intrigued.
"Such strength! Incredible!"
"At first I was conflicted to accept your invitation, Ruben, but this is…" The government officials were pleased to see that this trip was not for nothing!
The only reason such big shots even arrived was for Ashford connections. It was a gamble on the old man's side. He was risking a lot, but it would seem it was paying off!
"This is not all." Marcus continued.
"Any soldier who lost a hand or foot, if equipped with one of these, will be reborn and capable of continuing to fight.
But it's not just the end." The inventor motioned for one of the helpers.
The helper nodded as a few moments later, a new setup was prepared.
It was a regular soldier dressed in a bit bulkier military gear.
"The classic suit these soldiers wear will be equipped with improved joint servomotors.
That means that these men can perform longer without rest, as their bodies are lighter, and the best part is that these improvements can help with recoil in weapons.
That means they can carry weapons with greater recoil without worry."
The group were already salivating, regular troops with heavier weapons!? That's an instant sell for them!
Not only that, but these prosthetics will help them use regulars and not foreign legion! This will satisfy the nobles.
"Wonderful!!! I am convinced! Mr Goldman and Mr Ashford, we would like to propose a contract! I assume that you can provide for the entire Britannian military?" The Minister of War was already rubbing his hands. He can't wait to bring this before the Prime Minister!
"Sure, we can organise. The only issue is logistics and resources." Marcus replied with a bright smile. He got them where he wanted.
"We can arrange such things once contract details are ironed out." The Minister of War shrugged it aside; all he cared about was whether this could be made!
"The Ministry of Health would like to sign a similar contract with prosthetics, not just for our soldiers but for civilian use as well."
"Of course." Marcus smiled even more. He was certain this would work, but it was even better than he had imagined.
~~~
After the meeting and more demonstrations, the pair were returning to the Academy. Ruben Ashford was a bit worried after what he saw.
"Those Exoskeleton suits… they look dangerous, I thought you desired to get your revenge against the one who assassinated your mother." The old man asked.
"But this is like giving more weapons to your enemy." He pointed out one crucial thing from all of this.
"It's nothing more than bait. These inventions were nothing more than a ticket to get into their market, and allowed me to buy limited products.
At the same time, it will lower their guard against Anaheim Robotics." Marcus explained as he watched the city under construction.
Watching so many solar panels is something of a strange experience for him. He was never a big fan of such an unpredictable power source.
Just imagining something like the inability to work because it's cloudy? Crazy!
'I need to finish my Fusion Reactor as soon as possible!'
"It means that they are inconsequential in large-scale things. If we were playing chess, I was offering a pawn for the enemy's Queen, making the Queen move into a position that I had prepared."
"I see. Then it's fine. The question is how are we going to provide all those exoskeletons they want and prosthetics."
"Automated assembly lines," Marcus replied in three words.
"I see that you already have an idea of what to do. So I won't question the rest." Ruben sighed; he had underestimated this boy's strategic thinking. It would seem he inherited both of his parents' abilities.
"Indeed. You just concentrate on your part, and before you know it, your family will be back among the ranks of nobility." Marcus smiled.
"So you know." The old man looked a bit surprised to hear that.
"Milly mentioned something about her mother being annoying." The Inventor Prince chuckled.
"Indeed…" The old man looked away, sighing. Why did his son need to marry someone like that…
~~~
The two new contracts were swiftly passed and allocated to Anaheim Robotics, a newly formed company that specialised in robotics. Unlike other foundations and corporations, they fill a niche that was not in Britannia.
And that is developing support for foot soldiers. Like body armours, exoskeletons are designed for more difficult tasks. If they lose a limb or two, Anaheim Robotics will design and develop prosthetics.
In truth, this was a cover for Marcus so that he could access Britanian resources, as there is an array of metals that are prohibited and are exclusively used for military purposes.
It's a consolidation of power and one of the perks of the war machine that is the Britannian Military.
And now Marcus has access to this 'sugar'.
The moment he got his paycheck, which made him a millionaire overnight, he ordered more Sakuradite and an array of rare metals like Palladium.
All of this was to construct his Fusion Reactor.
Soon enough, the name of Anaheim Robotics and Marcus Goldman began to spread through the Britannian people.
While impressive, not many were interested; the hype was all about Knightmares, not power suits. So while noteworthy, Marcus didn't reach to that spotlight. Instead, all he got was a nod of acknowledgement from the nobility.
All they saw was another method to increase the survivability of pureblood Britannian troops, not to win wars.
That's why no one stuck around to learn more about this individual.
Which was what Marcus wanted. If he created a weapon, then…well, no doubt he will have a royal on his doorstep by now, but he made a shield, and that's not something they care much about.
Sure, they will allocate funds, but that's about it. It's like being a fan of football and joining a basketball club; people will entertain this person for a bit, but that's about it.
And so, Marcus' projects continued without a hitch; he got his resources and kept flying under the radar.
Before long, all of his required resources arrived at his workshop, and he began to assemble his Fusion Reactor.
With the help of a small army of Legion Bots, he finished it in two weeks; well, bots did, and all he did was oversee the construction.
Once the assembly was done, Marcus activated the energy gathering function, which means that instead of causing a blackout in the whole Settlement, he made the reactor slowly gather all required energy with Sakuradite batteries.
"...Almost there," Marcus mumbled under his breath as he watched the core piece of the Fusion Reactor heat up.
The Inventor Prince was watching the whole thing from behind several layers of glass; the reactor room was a floor below his workshop. Well, more precisely, he slashed his workshop into two rooms.
Anyway, four sakuradite rods send a high amount of energy to collide, to create an atom fusion inside the core of the Fusion Reactor.
"So that's how it looks."
The Inventor turned his head to the side and saw Milly looking at the Fusion Reactor.
"Oh, it has been a while, Milly." Marcus laughed, seeing the girl. It had been nearly three months since she was in his workshop.
"W-Whatever! I have no idea what you will do, so I kept my distance, but my curiosity got the better of me." She explained herself.
"Yet, you can't keep yourself away." He shook his head in amusement as he watched her stutter and blush.