Season 3 chapter 105
The Fifty-Year Monopoly
Malesh completely ignored the question of price, choosing instead to systematically pile on even more leverage.
"Well, we are going to supply you with a lot of extended services as well," Malesh continued flatly. "We are officially attaching a fifty-year repair warranty to the reactor. If anything happens to the containment shell, Kavilson Steel engineers will repair the reactor for fifty years, entirely for free."
Thukesh blinked. "Wait, free labor?"
"The labor is free, yes," Malesh corrected smoothly, his inner capitalist shining through the deadpan mask. "But the specialized equipment and proprietary alloy parts required for those repairs will absolutely not be free. However, we are generously offering those repair components to the government at a permanent fifty percent discount."
Kniya clapped his hands together, his chaotic energy bouncing off the walls.
"And let me tell you one more massive thing!" Kniya announced cheerfully. "I know exactly what you are thinking right now! You are asking yourself, 'How are we going to actually get the Fisluation fuel to run these machines since it is an incredibly rare material?' Well, do not worry! We are also going to legally sign over our private Fisluation island, which contains a massive, historically proven amount of Fisluation reserves! If you don't believe it, you can send an audit team to check the rock!"
The Head Development Officer violently dropped the dossier onto the table.
"Wait a fucking minute!" the HDO yelled, completely losing his bureaucratic composure. "Are you telling me that you are also going to provide us with the actual Fisluation territory?!"
"Yes," Malesh nodded calmly. "We are providing you the island. We are providing the refining technology. And we are also providing you with the highly classified Liquid Processing technology that you can use to safely extract the Fisluation sand directly from the radioactive ores without blowing up the continent. It will be a really useful thing for you because now you are getting the island, the ores, the extraction method, and the reactor all in one package."
The HDO stared at the two billionaires, his mind racing.
"Well, there is one major thing that I need to ask you right now," the HDO demanded, his eyes narrowing with deep political suspicion. "Tell me the exact name of this island. Because I have absolutely never heard of a domestic island containing that much raw Fisluation."
Malesh adjusted his glasses, completely unfazed.
"I think so you would know it strictly by its federal designation," Malesh stated precisely. "DI'an Territory Number 7704. The Quagnore Islands. They are officially named as this on your own federal maps. You can just check that."
The HDO completely froze. A massive wave of realization hit his face.
"Quagnore..." the HDO muttered, his eyes widening in pure shock. "Yeah... yeah, I definitely heard about that place years ago! There was some massive radioactive stress recorded on the telemetry, and the federal government secretly sold that island off to a private individual to avoid a public panic! I had absolutely no idea that you two were the actual owners of the Quagnore Islands!"
"We have excellent lawyers," Kniya smirked.
"Well, whatever the hell that is!" Thukesh Blester interrupted, his stress levels absolutely skyrocketing as he clutched his stomach. "What is the final amount?! What is the actual amount you are expecting from us for this entire deal?!"
The Seventy-Five Trillion Hammer
Kniya stood up from his chair. He slowly smoothed out his casual T-shirt, looking down at the two highest energy officials in the country with the absolute, uncompromising arrogance of a man who held the entire world in his hands.
"With only a single corporate deal, we are offering you absolutely everything," Kniya declared, his voice echoing powerfully through the luxurious office. "We are giving you the commercial reactor blueprints. Thirty-plus newly invented hyper-alloys. The mass production technology transfer. The specialized Fisluation refinery blueprints. The proprietary Liquid Processing extraction method. A fifty-year maintenance warranty with heavily discounted parts."
Kniya slammed both hands onto the mahogany table, leaning directly into their faces.
"And the absolute ownership of the Quagnore Islands."
Kniya's psychotic, ruthless capitalist smirk stretched from ear to ear.
"And the total cost for this entire, world-changing package..." Kniya whispered, dropping the ultimate corporate nuke. "...is exactly Seventy-Five Trillion Credits."
The 9% Problem
The sheer, astronomical weight of the number hung in the air, practically suffocating the two government officials.
"Seventy-five... trillion?" the Head Development Officer repeated, his voice cracking. He violently shook his head, completely losing his bureaucratic composure. "Well, this amount is way, way too much! I cannot even begin to comprehend that level of immediate federal expenditure!"
The HDO leaned forward, desperately trying to inject some macroeconomic reality into the billionaires' heads.
"Let me provide you an interesting comparison, Kniya!" the HDO argued frantically. "We have the fourth largest GDP in the entire world! Our national GDP is 5,200 trillion credits—5.2 quadrillion! And our budget is absolutely not just capped at some arbitrary number; by law, we are only allowed to authorize a budget of 832 trillion credits, which is exactly 16% of our GDP! You are sitting here, casually asking us for 75 trillion credits for a single technology package! That is approximately 9% of our entire national budget!"
Thukesh Blester wiped his forehead, his stomach cramps violently returning.
"He is right!" Thukesh groaned. "Well, I know that you are offering a lot. You are offering really, really a lot of things for this technology—the island, the alloys, the monopoly—and it is a great thing! But we cannot just magically manifest 9% of the government's budget in a single afternoon!"
Kniya leaned back in his plush leather chair, entirely unmoved by their panic. He casually popped another piece of mint gum into his mouth. His chaotic, arrogant energy instantly vanished, replaced by a razor-sharp, highly lethal corporate threat.
"Well, let me tell you one exact thing, gentlemen," Kniya stated, his voice completely cold and devoid of mercy. "A lot of other massive global powers are extremely interested in this technology. If you are not interested in securing the future of this Republic because your bureaucracy is too scared to open its wallets, that is absolutely not a problem for me. I can just pack up these blueprints, walk right out that heavy oak door, and sell this entire monopoly directly to Arvonia. Imagine the Arvonian military with limitless energy and thirty unbreakable hyper-alloys. What do you think about that?"
The room went deathly silent. The word Arvonia was the ultimate geopolitical nuke. If the rival nation acquired this Fisluation technology, the Republic of DI would be completely obsolete within a decade. They absolutely could not let this machine fall into Arvonian hands.
Thukesh and the HDO exchanged a look of pure, unadulterated terror.
"We... we need a period of time to discuss this," Thukesh stammered, immediately standing up, his legs actually shaking. "Just wait here."
The Flawless Telemetry
Malesh didn't argue. He simply produced a thick, heavily sealed dossier, and dropped it onto the mahogany desk with a heavy, authoritative thud.
"If you want to check that this thing is actually working, you can send your highest federal officials to the Kavilson R&D labs to see the proof with your own eyes today," Malesh challenged deadpan. "But until then, we brought the photographs, the telemetry data, and the necessary technological details with us. Here is all the documentation you are currently required to read."
Thukesh and the HDO frantically grabbed the dossier. They ripped it open, their eyes aggressively scanning the highly classified photographs of the glowing blue core, the complex thermal equations, and the diagnostic bulb radiating limitless power.
The HDO's eyes darted frantically across the pages, his bureaucratic mind violently struggling to process the sheer impossibility of the numbers in front of him. He flipped to the containment schematics, tracing his trembling finger over the thermal output charts.
"This output scale..." the HDO whispered, his voice completely dry, his face turning pale. "This single reactor core... you are showing a sustained kinetic conversion rate of over ninety-nine percent. Our best coal and steam turbines barely hit forty. You are completely defying the established laws of thermodynamics! This is impossible!"
Kniya burst out laughing, leaning over the mahogany table and aggressively clapping his hands together like an absolute maniac.
"Defy the laws?!" Kniya yelled, his chaotic, unhinged energy instantly dominating the entire room. "We didn't just defy the fucking laws of thermodynamics, gentlemen! We literally bought them, dragged them into the Kavilson R&D labs, and aggressively rewrote them from scratch! We patented the absolute final draft! You are currently looking at the literal death of the entire fossil fuel era right there! That is not just math—that is the absolute future of the entire fucking world! You are welcome!"
As they continued to read the telemetry, the HDO's hands literally began to shake. The math was flawless. The proof was absolute.
"We are providing you with a humongous amount of things," Kniya grinned, leaning in like a predator.
Thukesh looked up from the documents, his face pale with awe and corporate terror.
"So... what do you want from us?" Thukesh asked, his voice trembling slightly. "You are actively offering us a literal monopoly on the future of the Republic's energy. What is the actual price for this?"