Chapter 64

• Adrian didn’t share my optimism.
• At first, he had been all in—ready to push forward with our plans in the Southern sector. But that was before the game changed. Originally, we thought we’d only be up against Sandoria Group, but now Westhaven Industries had thrown its weight behind them, sending three hundred thousand additional employees into Ilyrian and Simonton. The playing field was no longer what it had been.
• Our opponents now commanded a workforce of around five hundred thousand. Meanwhile, our team barely topped one hundred and twenty thousand employees. Even when you factored in Rafael’s team—overworked, underfunded, running on limited resources—we were still underprepared. Our total manpower didn’t even come close to their combined forces. At best, we had about three hundred thousand—less than half of what we were up against.