Chapter 167: The Great Sage and the Mechanic Society

What to burn?

What a good question. Zeus's understanding of machinery is far beyond this era, but even on Blue Planet, there are only a few things that can be used as industrial fuel.

The first type is solid materials, such as coal, firewood, straw, etc., which have been used by humans for thousands of years.

Then there are petroleum and natural gas, including various alcohols and alkanes. They are the blood of modern society. Everything from running cars to rockets relies on their combustion.

Going further up, we reach nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, from uranium to deuterium, tritium, and helium-3. The brilliant radiation is also the shine of civilization.

So, what exactly is considered strange fire?

If this is the case in this world, mortals naturally correspond to the extraordinary, thinking of the pollution burning obediently and steadily in the previous evil god's steam engine. Perhaps the Mechanical Temple is also taking advantage of the pollution?

This is interesting.

"Are you sure that the Mechanical Temple does not have any extraordinary paths or extraordinary people?"

Chloe pondered for a moment and said, "I think you have some misunderstandings about the Mechanical Temple. The Mechanical Temple does not have any extraordinary paths. It is not an extraordinary organization, but it definitely has extraordinary people."

Chloe rubbed her eyes with her hands as she spoke, then held up a brass holy emblem: "I am."

“.”

The breathing of the people around them stopped as the steam pipes vibrated. All eyes fell on Chloe. The brass holy emblem swayed gently in the light of the steam engine, and Hughes' eyes twitched.

"Are you also from the Mechanical Temple?"

He took the holy emblem from Chloe and examined it carefully.

Dark golden ripples flowed on the surface of the brass holy emblem, and between the steam gear patterns etched on its edges, dark red copper rust similar to blood vessel circuits snaked around, appearing to wriggle like biological tissue under the light of the boiler fire.

It's so beautiful. But why does brass have red patina?

No, it wasn't rust, it was more like some kind of blood stain.

Zeus turned the brass holy emblem over. When the emblem was tilted to a certain angle, a three-dimensional relief similar to the gyri of the human brain would appear on its surface. These parallel lines, which originally symbolized rationality and order, now became so strange and distorted, and as he turned it, they seemed to be gradually wriggling.

This. Xiu Si felt extremely contradictory. If he only looked at the design of the holy emblem, it had an extremely industrial aesthetic, with crisp and simple lines, which perfectly matched his aesthetic taste. However, there were a lot of messy decorations on it, and both the color and shape were extremely distorted, which made him feel uncomfortable all over.

The combination of these two completely different styles creates an indescribable sense of weirdness, as if pouring a bottle of strawberry yogurt into a pot of delicious stew.

They are all delicious things, but when put together they just make people feel disgusted.

"I did join the Mechanical Temple - this organization may not be what you imagined." Chloe took back the brass holy emblem. "The Mechanical Temple is not actually its real name. It's just that because they look too much like a church, people gradually started to call them that. Some people also call them the Mechanicus, but its original name is actually the Mechanicus Society."

Chloe's eyes showed a bit of longing: "It is said that it was just a loose organization of purely academic nature at the beginning, but after the disappearance of the great sage Bruno, the Mechanics Society began to slowly gather its power and no longer shared knowledge for free."

"Sharing knowledge for free? I remember that the only people willing to share knowledge were you, the Fire Moths? Did they share, too?"

"Of course, they were the first group of people to start sharing knowledge. When they first drew the blueprint of the steam engine on the blackboard, the Fire Moth was just a branch of the Candlelight Society. In the era of the Great Sage, the Mechanics Society was also a symbol of progress and openness. Who would have thought that they would become extremely conservative now?"

Chloe's tone unconsciously lowered. "The Fire Moths have been cooperating with them since then. All the previous chiefs have been members of the society. This tradition has been preserved from more than a thousand years ago to this day."

"Unfortunately, we are no longer fellow travelers now."

She spoke with a bit of boredom, casually stuffed the holy emblem into her eyes, took a few steps back, bit her lower lip lightly, and leaned against the door frame with her arms clasped together. The flickering firelight fell on her nun's uniform, stretching her shadow long. She was clearly standing in the crowd, but she felt a little lonely.

The Mechanical Temple was originally an open and inclusive academic organization? What on earth had they gone through to go to the other extreme? Hughes fell silent, feeling a tightness in his chest. The people in this world had also worked hard to pursue technological progress, but in the end, they all returned to extreme conservatism.

"Anyway, I know them fairly well. The Mechanical Temple is now just a group of mortals who crazily worship all kinds of machines. They don't have this weird steam engine, and their technology basically doesn't involve the extraordinary, at least the older ones are like that."

"It doesn't involve the supernatural? It doesn't seem like the saying that steam can be desecrated by ordinary fire."

"That was later. They gradually became more and more extreme, with more and more weird and complicated rules. They worshipped technology crazily, but strictly prohibited people from interpreting it. The foundation was wrong, so I would not be surprised at any result they derived."

The factory became quiet again. In the combustion chamber of the steam engine not far away, the physical pollution was still hitting the furnace door, and the dripping sound was like raindrops falling on the ground.

A somewhat timid voice broke the silence: "I... I have an idea."

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Xius turned his head and looked over. He blinked and asked in surprise: "Gaia?"

"Yes, Lord, and Chief. I have an idea that may be tested."

Xius glanced at Chloe next to him. She leaned over and whispered, "Gaia has joined the Fire Moths. Don't worry."

This makes me even more worried. Gaia is already very impatient, and coupled with the Fire Moth's unreliable style, it feels like it's not a one plus one equals two situation. Maybe I should consider getting someone else to take charge of the explosives production line. Zeus sighed secretly.

He didn't want to wake up and see Castel flying in the sky.

"Go ahead."

Gaia nodded gratefully and said, "My Lord, I think we can find another steam engine to try the ritual of the Mechanical Temple. I'd just like to find an ordinary steam engine that doesn't have a summoned machine soul."

Xius and Chloe looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other's eyes. They both understood the implication of Gaia's words.

"Do you think it was the Machine Soul that caused the abnormality in the ritual of the Mechanical Temple?"

(End of this chapter)