Chapter : 659

"As you all know," Lloyd said, turning back to face them, "the greatest limiter on any kingdom's power is not the size of its army or the gold in its coffers. It is the food in its granaries. A nation that cannot feed its people is a nation on the brink of collapse. The last two harvests in the northern provinces have been poor. The King is concerned. The Arch Duke is concerned. The threat of famine is a shadow that hangs over us all."

He let his gaze sweep across their faces. "What if we could banish that shadow forever? What if we could take a single seed and imbue it with the very essence of the sun itself? What if we could create crops that grow faster, stronger, and yield not double, but triple the harvest of a normal plant?"

The room was utterly silent. The sheer, audacious scale of what he was proposing was difficult to comprehend. It wasn't a business venture; it was a miracle. It was the power to play God.

Borin was the first to break the silence, his voice a choked whisper of pure, unadulterated awe. "By the forge of the gods… triple the yield? Is such a thing even possible? The energy required…"

"It is," Lloyd said with absolute, unshakeable confidence. He tapped the slate board. "The principle is based on a refined understanding of bio-alchemy. We are not creating life; we are simply… optimizing it. By creating a resonant frequency between the seed's own life force and the latent energy within a Sunstone, we create a feedback loop. The seed draws ambient energy from the world around it at an exponential rate. It doesn't just grow; it flourishes."

He had spent the better part of a night rehearsing this speech, weaving just enough plausible-sounding magical theory into the grand promise to make it irresistible. He was selling them a dream, and from the looks on their faces, they were buying it.

"This," he declared, his voice ringing with passion, "is our true legacy. AURA will make us rich. Project Brine will make us powerful. But Project Sunstone… Project Sunstone will make us essential. It will make House Ferrum the bedrock upon which the entire kingdom’s prosperity is built. The King will not just be our patron; he will be our client. Our debtor."

He looked directly at Mei Jing. "Think of the strategic implications, Mei. A monopoly not on a luxury good, but on life itself. The Altamirans and their pathetic schemes will be reduced to dust."

He turned to Tisha. "Think of the good we can do, Tisha. An end to famine. Prosperity for every farmer. A stronger, healthier kingdom for everyone."

He addressed his alchemists. "Alaric, Lyra, Borin. This is the ultimate challenge. A new science. A chance to write our names in the history books not as soap-makers, but as the architects of a golden age."

And finally, he looked at Jasmin and Pia. "This is why we build. This is the future our work will fund."

His performance was flawless. He had appealed to their ambition, their idealism, their intellect, and their loyalty. He had presented them with a vision so grand, so noble, and so incredibly profitable that it dwarfed everything they had done before. He had made the salt project, the very secret the traitor had already stolen, seem like a triviality, a minor distraction on the path to true greatness.

The bait was not just laid; it was gilded, perfumed, and served on a silver platter. Now, he just had to watch and see which of them was hungry enough to take it. He saw the awe in their eyes, the dawning greed, the intellectual curiosity. But somewhere in that room, behind one of those trusted faces, he knew there was a different calculation being made. A calculation of risk, of opportunity, and of duty to a different master. The Sunstone Gambit had begun.

The atmosphere in the study was electric. The concept of Project Sunstone was a thunderclap that had shaken the foundations of their understanding. Lloyd’s vision was so audacious, so utterly transformative, that it left his team grappling with the sheer scale of its implications.

Chapter : 660

Mei Jing, the pragmatist, was the first to recover her voice, though it was a little breathless. "The leverage… it would be absolute," she murmured, her sharp eyes distant as her mind raced through a thousand strategic scenarios. "We wouldn't just be influencing the market; we would be the market. Grain is the true currency of the world. He who controls the granaries controls the thrones." Her gaze met Lloyd’s, and for the first time, he saw something bordering on worship in her eyes. He had presented her with the ultimate weapon of economic warfare, and she was captivated.

Tisha, ever the humanist, was thinking on a different plane. "No more hungry children," she whispered, her hands clasped together. "No more farmers losing their land after a bad harvest. My lord… this isn't just a project. It’s a gift. A gift to the entire kingdom." Her eyes were shining with unshed tears of genuine, heartfelt emotion. She saw not a weapon, but a salvation.

The alchemists were in a state of near-religious fervor. Borin was practically vibrating in his seat, muttering about "resonant energy fields" and "cellular acceleration." Alaric was already sketching frantic equations on a spare piece of parchment, trying to deconstruct the theoretical framework. Lyra, ever the logistician, was the anchor of calm in their sea of excitement.

"The security for such a project would need to be absolute," she stated, her voice cutting through the emotional haze. "If word of this were to leak… every kingdom, every major house, every clandestine organization on the continent would descend upon us. We would be painting a target on our own backs the size of the moon."

"Precisely, Lyra," Lloyd affirmed, nodding gravely. "Which is why, for now, knowledge of Project Sunstone does not leave this room. Not a word. Not a whisper. Not even to your most trusted subordinates. We are in the theoretical stage. The work will be conducted by us, and us alone, in a secure location I am having prepared. The secret is our most valuable asset. It is the only thing that protects us."

He made a show of looking each of them in the eye, his expression one of profound, shared trust. "I am placing my life, and the future of this house, in your hands. I am trusting you with a secret that could remake the world. I know none of you will betray that trust."

It was a masterful piece of psychological manipulation. By overtly stating his trust, he was also implicitly stating the consequences of breaking it. He was binding them to him with the weight of his own feigned vulnerability.

The meeting continued for another hour, with Lloyd fielding their excited questions, elaborating on his fabricated alchemical principles, and outlining a fictitious timeline for development. He watched them all, a silent observer in his own play. He noted who asked the most pointed technical questions (Alaric and Lyra), who was most interested in the potential profits (Mei Jing), and who was most concerned with the ethical implications (Tisha). Jasmin and Pia remained quiet, as they always did, absorbing the information with wide, awestruck eyes. There was no flicker, no tell, no crack in any of their facades. The traitor, whoever she was, was a consummate professional.

Finally, he brought the meeting to a close. "I have compiled my preliminary research," he announced, walking over to his heavy oak desk. "The core schematics, the foundational equations… they are all here." He tapped a thick, leather-bound portfolio. "I will be keeping them here, in my study, under lock and key. This will be our bible for the coming months."

He made a deliberate show of unlocking a specific drawer in his desk, placing the portfolio inside, and then locking it again with a heavy iron key. He pocketed the key, the gesture clear and definitive. The secret was secured.

"That is all for today," he concluded. "Go back to your duties. Let us continue to build our public empire, while in the shadows, we prepare to forge a new world. But remember," he added, his voice dropping to a near-whisper, "the sun casts the longest shadows. Be careful."

They filed out of the room, their minds buzzing with the intoxicating possibilities of Project Sunstone. They left behind them a room charged with ambition, hope, and a single, beautifully crafted lie.

Lloyd remained in the study long after they had gone, the silence returning. He walked over to the desk and ran his hand over the polished oak of the locked drawer. The bait was in place. It was a tempting, glittering lure, promising power and wealth beyond imagining.