They weren't the only ones who were confused, all of the other underworld emissaries in the hall were also quite puzzled. There was a very simple and direct benefit to entering the energy resource market: the one who entered the market first would be able to recover their funds the quickest, and dictate terms to all those who entered the market after them.

The Cathayan Underworld had already won the race to develop the new energy resource. Lights had already appeared over the entire city, which meant that they had a lead of several years on the Argosian Underworld when it came to the construction of ancillary facilities. By the time the Argosian Underworld developed their energy resource and reached the stage that the Cathayan Underworld was currently at, the Cathayan Underworld would've most likely already developed phones.

Thus, no underworld would choose to use the Argosian Underworld's technology. Regardless of how close their nation was with the Argosian Underworld, there was no way that they would stubbornly choose to use the Argosian Underworld's technology at the risk of incurring mass dissatisfaction from their populations.

Furthermore, the Argosian Underworld wasn't going to continue investing in the research and development of the energy resource anyway. In a race of technological output, a lead of several years was absolutely decisive. Thus, the Argosian Underworld would rather scrap the Prometheus plan and...