Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Hughes couldn’t help but shiver.

In his memory, the churches of the Church of Candlelight were usually located at the heart of a city, just like this one near the center of Castel.

If churches in such prime locations needed defenses...

Suddenly, Hughes found himself more intrigued by history.

He looked at Chloe with a hint of anticipation.

“Well...”

Chloe scratched her head, her orange-red hair turning into a tangled mess, stubbornly poking out from beneath her nun’s veil.

“Actually, I’m not too sure. I’ve never seen a church activate this before. I even suspect that its primary purpose is still purification of pollution.”

Her knowledge of the protective inscriptions mostly stemmed from personal interest.

Even within the Church of Candlelight, information about these precious inscriptions was scarce. Nowadays, the priests had nearly forgotten how to activate them.

As for purifying pollution, Chloe wasn’t very optimistic.

If the protective inscription was truly effective at purifying pollution, the Church of Candlelight would have been using it all the time.

There would be no need to waste so much effort producing Moon Candles, those were a heavy burden even for the Church of Candlelight.

“We’ll try it when we have time. For now, let’s focus on expanding the church first. You’re right, this thing will be of great use to Castel.”

Hughes patted the stone wall with satisfaction.

“By the way, I remember you mentioning that the protective inscription needs an energy source?”

“That’s right. But it’s not a big problem, it just needs fuel. Anything that can burn will do. Although it requires a substantial amount, we’re not short on that.”

Chloe’s confidence naturally came from the fact that physical pollution could be burned.

She had already conducted comprehensive tests on the pollution with the Moths Chasing Fire.

That stuff was incredibly durable when burned, according to Hughes, it had an absurdly high calorific value.

However, it had its downsides: it wasn’t easy to ignite, nor was it easy to extinguish.

In simple terms, it was best suited for conditions where continuous operation was required.

Steam engines powered by this fuel would be difficult to shut down, as stopping would require clearing out the rampaging pollution, a job almost exclusively fit for the Sirens.

Extraordinary beings like Chloe had to stay far away.

Oddly enough, ordinary humans had slightly better resistance to pollution than extraordinaries, but none compared to the Sirens who shared Hughes’ purification abilities.

Using pollution as fuel for the protective inscription was a perfect fit.

Once activated, the inscription would run continuously and wouldn’t need to stop anytime soon.

“I’m planning to build a massive underground furnace that will burn pollution to power the protective inscription, once the church expands, it should cover the entire island. I’ll design the furnace to fit that scale.”

“Sounds good. But... underground? Have you considered the heat dissipation issue?”

Chloe froze. She really hadn’t thought about that.

She had never built machinery underground before.

To her, lighting a furnace was just lighting a furnace, did location matter that much?

Due to the placement requirements of the protective inscription, the furnace could only be built underground.

In fact, heat dissipation had always been a tricky issue for underground facilities.

The earth retained heat very well, typical underground parking garages didn’t even need air conditioning to stay warm in winter and cool in summer.

But installing equipment underground meant heat dissipation couldn’t be ignored.

Forget the furnace for a moment, even the underground railway Hughes planned had encountered several issues.

Modern subways used electric motors for power, but early trains were powered by steam engines.

Back then, they had to design special cooling channels to handle waste heat; otherwise, the train cars would quickly turn into steam rooms.

At least steam engines could release heat through water vapor.

But Chloe wanted to build a furnace underground.

Hughes couldn’t even imagine how scorching it would get down there.

Would they need Sirens wielding Flesh Magic just to add fuel?

One volcano on Castel was enough, no need to create a second one!

“Sigh. You focus on modifying the protective inscription for now. Send me the furnace design, I’ll make some adjustments and redesign the cooling system.”

“How about adding more ventilation shafts?”

“That would help, but only to a limited extent. You’re burying the furnace underground, so we’ll need a more efficient cooling system. We might even need to redesign the furnace’s materials, I’m not sure if the current fire bricks can withstand the heat.”

Hughes shook his head. He already had some ideas in mind for this issue.

For example... water cooling.

Many nuclear reactors were built near the sea or rivers to use water for cooling.

Castel was an island, it might be possible to design an underground waterway.

Why did it feel like they were cramming more and more things underground?

The Network Path Project might need to be upgraded to version 2.0 soon.

If they kept digging like this, Castel might one day become completely hollow beneath the surface.

The underground palace beneath the manor was already outgrowing Hughes’ estate.

“Alright, you’re the lord, you have the final say.”

Chloe shrugged and sat on the table where the priest usually led worship.

“But I need to remind you of something. We should act quickly. Modifying the protective inscription will be noticed because the church’s anchor point is connected to it. You remember what an anchor point is, right? I just explained it to you a few days ago.”

Hughes nodded. Ever since learning that Castel had lost contact with the other Church of Candlelight churches, Chloe had spent some time explaining the entire communication process to him.

He found the mysterious Sea of Unawareness particularly fascinating.

Who would have thought that the Church of Candlelight could establish anchor points within it to communicate across vast distances?

“The changes I plan to make this time will definitely cause turbulence in the Sea of Unawareness. An unstable anchor point is very noticeable, it will attract the Church of Candlelight’s attention.

For some unknown reason, our anchor point is currently disconnected from the outside world. While this means we’re completely cut off from external news, it also prevents the Church of Candlelight from spying on us. Those Whisperers are such a pain.”

Chloe clicked her tongue in frustration, as if recalling some unpleasant memories. Her brows furrowed tightly.

“Then let’s hurry. I’ll gather a construction team to prioritize the church’s renovation. The Sirens will also expand the church’s outer walls toward the coastline until all fortifications are covered. We can simplify the internal structure, the coastal fortresses are what really matter.”

“No problem. I’ll start modifying the inscription right away and send you the furnace design.”

“Wait a minute.”

“What now?”

Chloe stopped in confusion.

“What else is there?”

“Have you considered what this new church should believe in? It can’t still be the Church of Candlelight, right?”

Chloe blinked.

“You want to create a new church?”