System binding complete.The Volt Ant System has been successfully bound to host: Ethan Cole.System level: 1.
Items available to the host: one hundred million electromagnetic leaf-cutting ants. The ants can feed on leaves and other plant matter to generate electricity. They reproduce at a rate of ten percent each month.
Current efficiency: one kilowatt of electricity per one hundred ants, per day.
Super Battery Program: the system can transform a storage battery, giving it a capacity of up to one hundred million kilowatt-hours of electricity, with a monthly loss rate of one percent.
The host may earn "Power Value" by selling electricity. Power Value can be used to upgrade the system and exchange for new items.
…
Hearing the voice in his head, Ethan Cole drew in a long breath and lit a cigarette.
Two years had passed since he had been reborn in this parallel world, and at last his golden finger had arrived. His father had handed him a small power plant, barely enough to keep him occupied until it ran itself into the ground. But now things were different. Now, he would build an energy empire.
Unlike his old world, Bluestar, the electricity industry in Elarion was privately owned. His father had bought this modest plant back when it was still profitable, but rising costs had thinned its margins to almost nothing.
Worse, demand for power was climbing fast. More households had appliances, yet power generation was unreliable. People flooded the forums to complain about the local grid.
The companies weren't to blame. Every risk was borne by the owners. The storage loss rates of current technology were horrifying, and even the strongest plants struggled to stay afloat.
But Ethan had what they didn't — a source of power so cheap and stable it would overturn the industry. His heart raced just thinking of how far he could expand.
He stubbed out his cigarette just as a middle-aged man entered, frowning.
"Mr. Cole," the man said, "the coal price changes every day, like a monkey climbing higher. If this keeps up, we won't be able to afford fuel."
This was Uncle Lewis, who had helped Ethan manage the plant since his father's time. He handled everything from salaries to supply runs. Now, even he looked uneasy.
"The grid pays sixty rupees per kilowatt-hour," Lewis went on. "We can generate maybe three thousand a day. But our entire margin depends on coal. With coal at eight hundred rupees a ton, and all the added costs — circuits, equipment, labor — we're left with scraps. At this rate, the plant won't last much longer. I was thinking… maybe you could travel west, find a cheaper supplier?"
Ethan waved the thought away with surprising ease.
"Uncle Lewis, coal prices are too high. Transportation costs too. I've decided — no more coal for our plant."
Lewis froze. Then he panicked.
"Mr. Cole, there are hundreds of workers here. Hundreds of families behind them. Even if profit is thin, at least the plant survives. What if coal prices drop again? We can't just stop."
Ethan realized the man had misunderstood. He took out his cigarette case, slid one across the table, and said calmly,
"Uncle Lewis, I don't mean to shut down. Quite the opposite. I'll raise wages. Treatment will be better than ever. But coal power is obsolete. We need change. We'll take the environmental route."
Lewis blinked, bewildered. "Sir… don't joke. We don't need higher salaries. We just want stable work. And as for 'environmental protection,' you know as well as I do — it's expensive, and it can't produce enough."
Ethan only smiled. "You underestimate me. I studied energy abroad. This is my field. Leave the work in my hands, and soon you'll see."
…
Once Lewis left, Ethan opened the safe in his office. Inside lay the blueprints of the entire plant.
Their facility stood in Eastmere, near the coastal city of Seabridge. The urban core wasn't large. Most industrial demand was swallowed by Seabridge itself, leaving smaller players like Ethan to fight over scraps. His plant wasn't big, but it wasn't tiny either. If he could supply cheap and steady electricity, he could corner the entire Eastmere grid — then expand to Seabridge and beyond.
His eyes lingered on the main workshop on the blueprint — the core of their coal-burning operations. It would have to go. The cooling tower and ash storage warehouse too. All would be replaced by ant-breeding grounds.
As for the workers, there was no problem. Where once they shoveled coal into furnaces, now they would tend to the ant ponds, feeding them leaves and nutrients.
Following the system's instructions, Ethan called a coastal manufacturer and ordered a thousand square meters of electromagnetic collection plates. They would be laid beneath the ponds to harvest the ants' energy, channel it into the grid, and store it in the battery.
Hanging up, he stepped out of his office.
Workers greeted him as he walked the corridors. Though young and sent to this plant only after graduation — a "training ground" given by his father — Ethan had earned their respect in two short years. He never withheld wages, and the benefits here were better than at most larger companies.
…
Reaching the main workshop, he found the foreman and gave his first order.
"Use the last of the coal reserves. Run the machines at full capacity. Maximum output."
The foreman frowned. "Mr. Cole, our reserves are so low. What happens when it's gone? And you know the loss rate of the storage batteries. If we're lucky, we keep half within a week. Once we're empty, our users will turn to other companies."
He wasn't wrong. But Ethan only clapped him lightly on the shoulder.
"Do as I say. Burn the rest in two days. Triple overtime pay."
Leaving the workshop, Ethan entered the storage hall. His eyes fixed on the massive banks of batteries humming in the dark.
Without hesitation, he willed the system to activate the Super Battery.
A surge of blue light, invisible to all but him, washed across the room.
Super Battery activated. Storage capacity upgraded. Maximum: 100 million kilowatt-hours.