NOVPUBIt saw that the current situation in the Palante Empire had become — 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
[Public Opinion: 132→145/1000 (the support rate and cohesion of the populace)]
[Parliament: 419→305→252/1000 (the support rate among the high-ranking officials of the Palante Empire)]
[Military: 124/1000 (using the Honing Empire as a reference)]
[Finance: 221→222/1000 (the current productivity status of the Palante Empire)]
[Diplomacy: 115/1000 (diplomatic relations with the Demon World and the surrounding nations that have yet to surrender)]
The overall probability of victory unexpectedly remained locked at zero, as the comprehensive data began to worsen.
They had been in the Shadow World for over a day now.
There are still just over 43 days left.
On the first day, Lanci, after becoming acquainted with and winning over those around him, delivered a public speech in front of the media upon taking office. Public opinion rapidly rose from 132 to 145 and seemed to be still slowly climbing according to the speed of dissemination.
However, since he publicly expressed the idea that they should actively resist, he appeared to have offended the conservatives, and the parliamentary support plummeted from 419 to 305, and then fell again due to the recent quarrel with Duke Moriarty.
The change in finance might be due to Lanci’s inspiration, as the people gained more confidence and productivity weakly increased.
Military and diplomatic factors showed no changes.
"If I had continued to refute Duke Moriarty’s words just now, I would have left behind written evidence of ’rejecting all possibilities of negotiation,’ as he was setting a trap for me. Duke Moriarty likely had arranged for a meeting recorder to be in the next room, documenting our conversation, which would have become a handle for the conservatives to impeach me, so I absolutely could not afford to admit it just now,"
Lanci whispered in response to Little Black Coal.
"Meow."
Cat Boss had an epiphany.
There were indeed such traps.
You were lucky, kid, to have realized it just in time, or else the parliamentary score might have plummeted by 100 and declared game over.
No, wait. Aren’t you a bit too proficient at this?
How did you, an art student, turn into such an old hand once you got to the parliament?
...
Ichrite Academy, Sage Academy Conference Room, the meeting room with light-colored walls was bathed in sunlight, reflecting the vitality of the green plants always present on the spacious window sills.
But at this moment.
The room was in a state of disarray, with the discussion occasionally turning fierce over contentious topics.
"Now Lanci has several options. First, he can only take care of either public opinion or the parliament. He needs to try to balance them as much as possible and use his knowledge to transform the Palante Empire, and in a short time, try to boost either military or financial strength. Only then will there be any hope to change the 0% chance of winning."
Many professors were discussing.
The chairs and tables were arranged in a round-table format, with several large round tables surrounding a central projection screen.
Each table was occupied by a group of five or six teachers, all either frowning deeply at the magic screen, or actively engaging with others.
This resembled less of a meeting and more of a seminar or review session.
"Actually, Lanci’s progress in boosting public opinion wasn’t too bad. If it weren’t for the Parliament being tough to deal with, a fully-committed him might be able to achieve a relatively high level in this area by the end,"
Seeing Lanci caught in a dilemma within the Shadow World, those on the outside similarly noticed the fluctuating relationship between [Public Opinion] and [Parliament] in this Shadow World.
Although Lanci seemed to have some ability to improve public opinion, the corresponding cost was a significant drop in the Parliament’s approval rating.
The public truly prefers a prime minister who can lead them to victory, while the Parliament is mainly controlled by conservatives, with a rigid structure that Lanci cannot shake in the short term.
However, these two factors are clearly secondary.
The formula for predicting victory is unclear, but one thing is certain, military power and finance are the two indicators most closely related to the success rate in this Shadow World. Even if public opinion and Parliament were rated very high, if the military is weak or the finances are too low, the chance of success will still be zero.
"Now time is Lanci’s capital, each day is practically a consumable for him. Besides the necessary time to stabilize public opinion and Parliament, it’s up to him how he chooses to dedicate his time to improving the other three factors,"
"As a magic artisan from another era, Lanci is trying to revive a dead horse as though it were alive. In over forty days, he should be able to boost a bit of military power, but unfortunately, he’s not a Seventh-order or Eighth-order magic artisan and unlikely to achieve any significant improvement,"
"In peacetime, Lanci could focus solely on profit, boosting finances by sacrificing diplomacy, but in wartime, it’s hard to conjure up productivity from thin air, and there’s no more room to lower diplomatic relations. Inspiring the public, although it can also have a weak effect on productivity, ultimately there’s a limit,"
"As for diplomacy, it’s mainly because it takes a long time. The above four indicators usually take days to measure, but if you choose the diplomatic route, it will consume weeks at least, and if it fails, it’s purely a waste of time with zero gain,"
Vice Dean Ron of the Sage Academy put away his pen, summarizing the conclusions they had drawn over the past two days.
He glanced at Dean Loren sitting in the main chair of the conference room, then at the silver-haired woman from the Church of the Goddess of Destiny next to him—the legendary Lady Saint of the Northern Continent—and decided not to say anything more.
He knew that at this moment, Dean Loren was already overwhelmed.
Ever since rushing back to the Capital City Ekrite and then returning to the emergency meeting room of the Sage Academy, Loren had barely spoken a word.
This Seventh-order Shadow World was no longer just an internal meeting of the Sage Academy. Professors from the Magic Engineering College and the Alchemy College were also invited to discuss and analyze the situation in real-time.
They needed to provide feedback to the South Continental Kingdom Union Council and the Shadow World Management Association. If the Shadow World plunged into a rampage or lost control, causing unpredictable natural disasters, the Council and the Association would be ready to respond to the aftermath of the disaster immediately.
Currently, according to their assessment, this Shadow World was not an ordinary Seventh-order, but one of extreme strategic difficulty.
"Loren..."
The Bingxue Witch clenched her teeth as she sat next to Loren. She had followed him to the conference room of the Ichrite Academy, seemingly causing the surrounding air temperature to drop.
She initially planned to take her time visiting Ekrite on the South Continent to check on Hyperion’s living conditions. She did not expect to be hit by a bolt from the blue as soon as she arrived in the Hutton Kingdom.
Upon learning the situation, she almost choked Loren, demanding that he return her Hyperion.
There wasn’t a live broadcast on Hyperion’s side. It seemed she did not want to record her surroundings, and currently, only Lanci’s condition was visible. They didn’t even know if Hyperion was still safe.
"..."
Now, Loren was sweating profusely, sitting on pins and needles.
He didn’t know how he was going to survive the next forty days.
He had hoped that after spending half a year, Lanci would have learned quite a few new skills and perhaps had some hope of getting through the Seventh-order Shadow World. However, seeing Lanci’s first day in this Shadow World, his heart grew even colder.
This Shadow World favored strategy and mechanics over combat; even if he were thrown in, it wasn’t likely that he could have much hope of getting through because he couldn’t possibly fight the entire Huo Ning Empire alone.
He not only did not understand why Lanci had suddenly returned and started stirring things up again, but also felt as though he was about to begin fighting against the whole world.
The Hutton nobility, the King, the Kingdom Association, the Church, everyone was bombarding him with questions!
