Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

The Symbiotic Contract was not brought to this throne, and he had already confirmed this.

When the distance between contract holders became too great, their life force would continuously deplete. Using this, Hughes had conducted several tests.

For example, he returned to the Golden Throne at the farthest possible position, then had the Sirens move closer or farther away.

At the same time, he switched between the palace and other bodies.

The final conclusion was that the party bound by the Symbiotic Contract was this body of his, the Lord Hughes.

Even if he descended into another body, he would not have the ability of the Symbiotic Contract.

Meanwhile, the Sirens could still exchange life force with the empty shell of Lord Hughes.

The Symbiotic Contract was not bound to his soul. Or rather, ”Hughes” was not the kind of soul that this contract could restrict.

This did not surprise him. The Golden Throne clearly had an extremely high rank, and it was impossible for a mere Symbiotic Contract to bind it.

But now, he suddenly discovered that he could still use the Mind Link, even though he did not have a Symbiotic Contract with the Sirens here!Hughes fell silent. He tapped his fingers lightly on the table, resting his head on his other hand in contemplation.

””

”I still have the ability of Mind Link. There are two possibilities.”

”First, the Hughes in the throne has a Symbiotic Contract, which is why I can use the Mind Link.”

”The other possibility is that this is an ability I inherently possess.”

To be honest, both possibilities were somewhat hard to believe. If it were the first, he could not explain why there was a Symbiotic Contract.

The Sirens’ contracts required physical contact to be established, had they been here before?

This was not the sea. The Sirens had to sign a contract with him to gain the ability to walk on land. If an uncontracted Siren had been here, how could it have arrived?

Could it be that this palace was once in the sea?

Hughes shook his head. This kind of speculation was meaningless. Guesses without any real foundation were no different from fantasies.

The other possibility was that he naturally possessed the ability of Mind Link. This seemed reasonable, but—

”But why can’t I use it when I descend into a body?”

”Could this ability only work here?”

Yet another hypothesis that was difficult to prove or disprove.

”Forget it. I should return to the island first. There’s still too little known information, I’ll explore further in the future.”

”But the Moths Chasing Fire seem to hold many secrets. They even understand the difference between Evil Gods and Outer Gods. Perhaps they know something about this palace.”

”I’m looking forward to tonight’s banquet more and more.”

Hughes turned to look at the noble youth’s body. Before descending, he unwillingly called out again.

『Is anyone there?』

『Can you hear me?』

『Are you there?』

『…』

After descending into Lord Hughes’ body, the first thing Hughes did was open the Mind Link.

『Monica?』

『Uh, I’m here.』

Receiving a response inexplicably relieved Hughes. He had encountered far too many bizarre situations today.

Seeing that communication with the Sirens was still normal actually gave him a sense of reassurance.

『How much do you know about the Mind Link?』

『I don’t know much… Oh, wait, I do. Ask away.』

『Is the Mind Link exclusive to Sirens? Have you ever heard of other races having it?』

『Wait a moment… Hmm, it seems so. I’ve never heard of other races having it.』

『Can this ability only be obtained through the Symbiotic Contract?』

『I think… Yes, that’s right!』

Hughes frowned.

『Why are you speaking so strangely?』

『Because, hehe, I actually don’t really understand this stuff. I asked Una—she knows a lot.』

『…Then why didn’t you just let Una talk to me?』

『You didn’t connect with her. You only linked with me, so you can only hear my voice.』

That made sense. It was just like having a chat app open to only one conversation… Wait?

Hughes suddenly froze.

If there was no link, then communication was impossible…

Mind Link…

Could it be that when he was on the throne, someone could actually receive his messages, but because they weren’t linked, it didn’t work?

But how exactly could he establish a link?

Wait a minute, I remember researching the Mind Link within the Symbiotic Contract before…

Hughes fell into deep thought.

It seemed to have been during the first time he and Ash infiltrated the sea together. Back then, Ash was still a Bloated Monster.

He had discovered that Mind Link could travel in a straight line within the visible range, but its effectiveness would rapidly decline if obstructed. He had concluded that it was very similar to radio communication.

Later, in the stone cave, after signing a Symbiotic Contract with all the Sirens, he found that the power of the Mind Link had strengthened, even very thick rock layers could no longer block it.

At the time, he hadn’t thought much about it. But now…

It really was like radio communication, and the strengthening of the Mind Link was akin to increasing transmission power.

Radio communication had extremely broad applications. Walkie-talkies were a form of radio communication.

The simplest walkie-talkies usually had a few fixed channels that could be selected by turning a dial. As long as two walkie-talkies were on the same channel, they could communicate with each other.

Anyone who had used these simple walkie-talkies had likely encountered this situation before, someone else was already using the channel.

In such cases, anything spoken on that channel could be heard by others, and vice versa.

This was because radio communication was not inherently point-to-point but more like shouting loudly so that anyone on the same channel could hear it.

Civilian walkie-talkie frequencies were limited, 409–410MHz, with only about twenty channels in total. It was easy to overlap, and a U-band handheld radio could scan them all in a short time.

(Note: Using a radio transmitter requires certification, and radio stations themselves need to be registered. Do not attempt without a license—it is illegal.)

This meant that—even if he had no idea what ”frequency” the other party was on, it was not entirely impossible to establish contact.

As long as he scanned channel by channel, he would eventually find the right one.

If the Mind Link really functioned like radio communication…

If someone was actually using the Mind Link and listening on the other end…

Then one day, Hughes would be able to test all possible ”frequencies” and establish contact.

『Lord?』

『…What is it?』

『Nothing, you suddenly went silent, and I was a little worried.』

『Have Una organize information about the Siren clans. I’m quite interested in their history now. As for you, Monica—』

『Uh, I’m here.』

『You’re coming with me to the eastern laboratory. I want to see what kind of things you’ve been summoning.』

(End of Chapter)