Spring 1912. The air over Pune, usually thick with dust and the scent of spices, now carried a new aroma: the acrid tang of coal smoke and the metallic perfume of hot iron. The grand opening of the "Adav Steel Works" was a modest affair, eschewing British pomp for a quiet blessing ceremony attended by local dignitaries and a nervous Arthur Finch, who wondered if his faith in the boy genius had been misplaced.
Adav, now thirteen, stood beside his father, his expression serene as the first molten iron, a river of liquid fire, poured into the gargantuan Bessemer converter. A roar erupted as the powerful air blasts ignited the carbon within, sending showers of incandescent sparks into the sky, painting the dawn in hues of orange and red. The ground vibrated with the immense power contained within the crucible.
The first ingot, pulled hours later, was a sight to behold. It was darker, denser, and had a finer grain than any steel produced in India, or indeed, most imported from Britain. The British engineers who had scoffed at the "native's folly" were summoned, their professional skepticism turning to open-mouthed awe as they tested its tensile strength and purity. The results were undeniable: Adav Steel was superior.
And then came the price. Adav had crunched the numbers for months, refining his operational costs with the Codex's [Economic Simulator]. Due to his hyper-efficient design, optimized material usage, and innovative labor management, he could produce steel at a cost significantly lower than any competitor, British or Indian.
The orders flooded in. Railway companies, desperate for quality rails, flocked to him. Construction firms, previously reliant on expensive imports, clamored for his girders. Adav, through his father, secured contracts not just in Bombay Presidency, but swiftly expanded to Bengal and Punjab, undercutting British monopolies at every turn. His initial strategy was simple: volume and quality. He wasn't just competing; he was dominating. The quiet merchant family from Pune had just forged the beating heart of India's nascent industrial revolution