Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

A bigger new furnace?

Hughes looked at the researcher with a trace of confusion.

He had already planned to build the furnace a bit larger. If it were too small, it simply wouldn't be able to contain the Pollution Beast.

Besides, this furnace was going to supply power to the entire island in the future. It was a long-term project, so it made sense to include some design margins.

With this in mind, Hughes opened the blueprint the researcher handed over. But the moment he glanced at it, he almost threw it out instinctively.

What the hell was this!?

"You want to hollow out the entire Castel Island and turn the center into a gigantic furnace!?"

Only then did Hughes remember that these researchers in front of him were, after all, cultists of the Moths Chasing Fire. A little radical thinking was to be expected.

But this was *too* radical!

What he said wasn't wrong. Centralized management could effectively lower risks. And given Castel's rate of development, it wasn't entirely unreasonable to think that such a massive amount of energy might one day be required.

There was another benefit too.

Others might not realize it, but Hughes was well aware of future development trends. Castel would definitely undergo an industrial revolution of electrification one day.

If the central furnace was used to boil water, not only could it supply steam, but it could also easily be upgraded with a steam turbine. The biggest difference between a steam turbine and a regular steam engine was—steam turbines were better suited for power generation.

Human technology, at its core, was all about boiling water. On Blue Star, most thermal power plants used steam turbines to generate electricity. According to Hughes's plan, Castel would eventually need a considerable amount of electrical power.

So, while the researcher's proposal seemed absurd at first glance, upon closer examination, it was actually quite feasible.

Just use more steel, that's all.

"My lord, there's one more advantage to doing this." Seeing that Hughes was showing signs of being persuaded, the researcher eagerly added fuel to the fire.

"If the furnace we build is large enough, we can also integrate the Network Path System. Right now, it only serves as a transport route, but with a furnace like this, those paths can be used as direct maintenance access points leading to all parts of the furnace. It would drastically reduce the construction time."

Two birds with one stone.

Castel's underground network was already becoming fairly extensive. The Network Path Project had been proposed early on, and the Banshees had been intermittently working on it. Especially during the war, when the surface became a complete battlefield, the network system had proven to be extraordinarily effective.

It might look like a simple set of tunnels, but the boost it gave to troop mobility was immense. When the outer fortresses were breached, withdrawing the soldiers inside should have been an impossible task. Yet with the help of the network, the Holy Guard managed to save a significant portion of their forces, making the later defense of the main cathedral feasible.

Kyle and the others had even used the underground network to rescue the unconscious Banshee. If not for the network, how could a group of ordinary Holy Guards have possibly carried a heavy Banshee off the battlefield?

"And also—"

The researcher spoke again, hesitating slightly this time. "If Castel is ever equipped with a power system, this furnace could provide the necessary energy."

Castel equipped with a power system?

Hughes blinked, needing a moment to understand what the researcher meant.

He wanted to give Castel—the entire island—some *mobility*!

What was this, the Wandering Castel Project? Leave it to a Moth Chasing Fire cultist to think this far ahead. Was this what they called advanced thinking?

"My lord, we were trapped on the island this time. Castel nearly got submerged by the sea. That got me thinking…"

"If Castel could move—whether it sailed like a ship, walked like an animal, or even flew like a Skyveil Behemoth—it could've avoided this crisis."

He had a point.

Hughes was silent for a while, then spoke with difficulty, "Your idea is very good, but have you considered how massive this project would be? Installing a power system for Castel—I won't even mention how we'd separate Castel from the bedrock below—just making it move would require an unimaginably huge amount of energy."

"The Pirate King can provide that kind of energy too, my lord." The expression on the researcher's face was clearly fanatical. "This is the Pollution of the entire Storm Ocean. It's a force capable of changing the world. Isn't it a waste to use it just to supply the island's factories?"

Hughes swallowed hard.

Honestly, it was… kind of tempting.

The Pirate King had successfully absorbed the pollution of the entire Storm Ocean into himself. If they could harness that power, not only might Castel stand up—it might even *fly*.

Humanity had pursued controlled nuclear fusion for the sake of limitless energy. If Hughes could truly lock the Storm Ocean's pollution into a furnace—

Then perhaps, an eternally burning sun would no longer be a dream.

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His heart was pounding wildly. Who could resist such temptation?

"You... you can head back first. I'll keep this plan with me. At present, building such a massive furnace would be far too large a project. Its feasibility is still questionable, I…"

Hughes's lips felt dry. He looked at the Moth Chasing Fire researcher, and after a moment of hesitation, gritted his teeth and murmured, "Refine it further. I'll handle the rest."

The researcher's face lit up with joy and he turned to leave, only to be stopped by Hughes.

"Wait a moment. What's your name again? I'll have someone check in with you about the progress later."

"Tartaglia. You can call me Tarta. I grew up in the Empire's Western Frontier—though it's been destroyed by war now."

Hughes nodded.

If building the giant furnace was merely a technical challenge, then transporting the Pirate King was outright audacious insanity. No one had the faintest clue how to move that colossal being back and stuff it into a furnace.

Hughes's entire plan wasn't much more complicated than the old joke about putting an elephant in a fridge: suspend the Pirate King, transport the Pirate King, cram the Pirate King into the furnace, and light the fire.

Yes, that really was his original plan—crude, simple, and barely even a plan. But once they actually tried to implement it, the people of Castel realized just how absurdly difficult it truly was.

First of all—how were they even supposed to lift the Pirate King?

Right now, the Pirate King resembled a queen ant. Though it didn't have much offensive power, its massive body alone made it far from something that could be casually handled. Just figuring out how to tie it up with suspension cables was already baffling the Banshees encircling it.