"The Company's affairs are already on the right track, so the next step should be to develop our influence within the Outsider World. Although Nadtong has already been established, if you don't have your own muscle, and you get killed by someone else, they'll only step in afterward—and by then, it'll be useless.
"Therefore, cultivating an influence next is crucial. But if we start by raising children from a young age, it takes far too long, and by the time they can actually be of use, it's much too far off. Recruiting ordinary people is also troublesome, as granting them easy access to Qi creates complications. We have to tie ourselves to the powers that be—at least a portion of the benefits must be yielded, while simultaneously demonstrating our own value.
"The formula for the smart pill has already been researched and improved to a certain degree, but we cannot immediately manufacture it on a large scale in this era. First, we lack the production conditions; second, we lack a faction capable of protecting us. Handing it directly over to the state right now is not entirely safe, and it would easily expose us. However, we can modify the components in the formula and slightly tone down the effects. At the very least, there's no problem positioning it as a brain-boosting nutritional supplement.
Chapter 78