Aiden Monteverde had successfully secured Pacific Power Grid (PPG), turning the Dimaculangan Clan's hostility into a powerful publicity campaign and a fortified asset. Power was essential, but true modern dominance required information and communication.
His next target was the Telecommunications Sector, the most tightly controlled and lucrative monopoly in the country.
The New Target: PrimeNet Solutions 📡
Aiden focused on PrimeNet Solutions, a regional internet service provider (ISP) servicing the same large industrial zone and residential area as his newly acquired PPG.
PrimeNet's Strategic Value:
Synergy: Running fiber lines alongside PPG's power lines created massive operational synergy, reducing costs and permitting infrastructure protection.
Market Stagnation: PrimeNet was crippled by slow speeds and high prices, a direct result of being a small player constantly sabotaged by the two dominant national telecom monopolies.
Owner Fatigue: The founding family, the beleaguered Cardenas Family, was exhausted from years of brutal competition and legal warfare initiated by the oligarchs. They were actively looking to sell before they went bankrupt.
Aiden saw this as the perfect opportunity to buy a functional, existing network at a deep discount, then use the System to fund a revolutionary, market-breaking expansion.
The Acquisition: Buying Despair
Aiden approached the Cardenas Family not with a hostile takeover, but with a clean, compassionate buyout.
"Your competitors are not interested in buying your company; they are interested in burying it," Aiden told Mr. Cardenas. "I am offering to buy your entire stake—your infrastructure, your customer base, and your legal liabilities—at a fair valuation, and I will pay 100% cash up front."
The Cardenas Family, wary of oligarch involvement, reviewed the offer. Aiden's holding company was anonymous, legitimate, and the payment guarantee was impeccable.
Total Acquisition Price for PrimeNet: $₱600,000,000$ (Six Hundred Million Pesos).
Aiden transferred the massive sum immediately.
[Transaction Log: Spending Event]
[Amount Spent: ₱600,000,000 (PrimeNet Acquisition)]
[Purpose: Asset Acquisition (Telecommunications)]
[REIMBURSEMENT EXECUTED: +₱1,200,000,000]
Aiden had spent $₱600$ million and instantly received $₱1.2$ Billion in return. He now owned a telecom network and had doubled his capital, making this the most profitable real estate transaction in history.
Phase 2: The Infrastructure Revolution 🚀
Mere ownership was not enough. To dominate, PrimeNet needed a total overhaul. Aiden renamed the company Archipelago Connect (AC) and initiated a revolutionary upgrade.
He immediately tasked Dr. Elias Reyes (COO of PPG) to collaborate with the AC engineering team.
The Strategy:
Fiber-Optic Overlay: Use the same trenches and infrastructure easements already owned by PPG to lay down a massive new network of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) cables. This synergy instantly slashed civil engineering costs.
Speed Dominance: AC would immediately offer speeds ten times faster than the national monopolies, at half the price.
Job Creation: Aiden mandated the immediate hiring of hundreds of local technicians for the rollout, utilizing the System's rule that rewarding innovation and hiring people counts as spending.
The Investment:
Aiden committed a massive sum to the total infrastructure upgrade—the single largest expenditure of his career to date.
Total Fiber-Optic Network Investment: $₱1,500,000,000$ (One and a Half Billion Pesos). This covered equipment, installation labor, and initial advertising.
[Transaction Log: Spending Event]
[Amount Spent: ₱1,500,000,000 (Network Infrastructure Investment)]
[Purpose: Asset Enhancement (Archipelago Connect)]
[REIMBURSEMENT EXECUTED: +₱3,000,000,000]
Aiden had spent $₱1.5$ Billion to build a lightning-fast telecom network and was instantly reimbursed $₱3$ Billion by the Infinite Capital Engine. The competition could not possibly match the quality or price, as their costs were multiplied by corruption and normal business margins, while Aiden's were multiplied by two.
The Reaction: The Telecom Titans
The two massive, entrenched telecom monopolies, controlled by the powerful Santos Family and the Sy-Lao Conglomerate, finally took notice. They saw the rapid, inexplicable transformation of PrimeNet into Archipelago Connect.
They could tolerate Aiden having a power company, but telecom was their heartland.
The Counterattack was swift:
Legal Warfare: The Santos Family immediately filed a massive lawsuit against AC, alleging unfair competition and infrastructure easement violations.
Physical Sabotage: Teams were dispatched to sabotage the newly laid fiber lines, slicing cables in the dead of night.
Aiden simply smiled. He had anticipated the violence.
He tasked Atty. Clara Villanueva with filing a countersuit so comprehensive and damaging it would make the Santos lawyers pause. He then deployed Sentinel Dela Cerna and his armed ASL teams.
Sentinel placed discreet, armed teams to patrol the sensitive new cable routes, particularly in remote areas. On the third night of the expansion, a team of saboteurs hired by a Santos-linked firm was intercepted not with violence, but with overwhelming, documented photographic evidence and a non-lethal, legal citizen's arrest.
The message sent back to the Santos Family was chilling: Aiden not only had unlimited capital but also had perfect security, perfect legal defense, and the financial power to buy the best technology and talent in the world.
The expansion of the Empire of the Archipelago was now fully underway, powered by electricity and wired by fiber.