Chapter 322

Chapter 286: Power

“This Hafdar… seems to be a noble of the ancient civilization of Northern Ufeiga. I don’t know why it became undead in the tomb… From its ramblings before its phantom vanished, it is clear that its power is gradually recovering, which is evidenced by the recent significant enhancement of its curse against the Boyle Family.

“Another point worth noting is… that the ancient civilization of Northern Ufeiga, which has already perished, seems to be related to the paths of ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Silence’…”

Dorothy thought to herself, making this judgment based on the contents of the “Eulogy of the Regretful Dead” chanted by Hafdar. This poem seems to have been created by the undead of such an ancient civilization, and the entire content of the poem is a confession, a confession to a deity named the Judge of Heaven, lamenting their own self-degradation as the beings of ‘Enlightenment’ fell into the realms of the dead beings ‘Silence’.

If the description in this poem is true, then it signifies several important pieces of information. In ancient times, besides the Star Number Repair Association, the ancient civilization of Northern Ufeiga might also have some connection to ‘Enlightenment’. The Judge of Heaven could be the deity worshipped by the ancient civilization of Northern Ufeiga, although it is unclear if it still exists. The opposition between ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Silence’ seems to represent the dichotomy between the spirits of the living and the spirits of the dead, and despite their opposition, there appears to be a possibility of mutual conversion.

“Northern Ufeiga… may also hold clues related to ‘Enlightenment’…”

Dorothy reflected, but she did not plan to venture that far just yet. Given her current lack of spirituality, she was not in a hurry to explore the path of ‘Enlightenment’. At present, she had more hope in Adele being able to find her teacher’s relics than in the elusive clues from Northern Ufeiga.

“However, perhaps I will visit Northern Ufeiga eventually, not just to search for clues concerning ‘Enlightenment’. Neve seems quite motivated to lift her family’s curse…”

Dorothy mused. From Nephnis’s recent response, it was evident that Nephnis had undergone a significant change in attitude toward the extraordinary, clearly expressing her desire to delve deeper into the mysteries and the extraordinary.

After her thoughts, Dorothy glanced at the moon outside the window, tidied up the items on the table, and prepared to turn off the light and go to sleep.

“Ha… Better go to sleep quickly. I have to go to the library tomorrow… Still have things to do…”

…

As the moon set and the sun rose, sunlight poured in.

Although it was noon, many students still lingered in the vast library of Royal Sacred Crown University in the northern suburbs of Tivyán.

“Ugh…”

In a remote corner of the library, Nephnis was sitting at a desk yawning. After blinking a few times, she lowered her head to look at the dense text in front of her, which was a Secret Transmission.

Across from Nephnis, Dorothy was sitting there with a pile of books stacked high in front of her, with several sheets of blank papers laid out in between. Using pencils, rulers, and other tools, she was intently working on something on the paper. Upon hearing Nephnis’s yawn, she looked up at her and said,

“Senior Nephnis, you must not have slept well after staying up all night yesterday. You can go ahead and take a nap; you can take a break from studying the Secret Transmission…”

Lifting her head, Dorothy said to Nephnis, who shook her head to wake herself up and quickly responded,

“No, it’s alright, Miss Dorothy. I’m just a bit tired; it’s not to the point where I need to sleep right now. I can still read a bit more.”

Nephnis replied, and just as Dorothy thought, after learning about her family’s curse, her motivation to study had indeed increased significantly. Now she was studying the Secret Transmission with a self-driven enthusiasm, and Dorothy no longer needed to remind her excessively.

Although she had promised Nunut not to provoke Hafdar, Nephnis was still thinking of ways to lift her family’s curse.

Nephnis understood that if she wanted to lift the family curse, one day she would have to face Hafdar, the ancient undead that even her grandfather avoided. If she wanted to confront it, she needed to attain a considerable level in the path of the extraordinary. Thus, with the factor of the family curse in play, Nephnis’s motivation to learn about the extraordinary knowledge skyrocketed. Dorothy’s elective courses suddenly became essential, which she was quite pleased to see in Nephnis’s transformation.

Thus, Nephnis continued to study the new Secret Transmission. Although Akka was helping her with Poison Recognition, reading the Secret Transmission itself was still quite exhausting. After reading for a long while, she took a break to drink some tea, and during this time, her attention shifted to Dorothy, who was busy drawing and writing among the stacks of books.

“Miss Dorothy… what are you drawing?”

“Uh-huh, just drawing some design plans,” Dorothy replied, and upon hearing her words, Nephnis felt a bit surprised.

“Design plans?”

With a tone of evident curiosity, Nephnis picked up a sheet of paper from the table and found it covered with geometric lines and numbers. These lines outlined something she had never seen before, and Nephnis deduced… that this might be some part of a machine.

“Part?”

Nephnis murmured in curiosity before turning her attention to the books in front of Dorothy, discovering they were all about mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and other related subjects, which stood in stark contrast to the Secret Transmission she was reading.

“Miss Dorothy… are you designing some kind of machine?”

“Uh… sort of. It’s just a small idea, and I have some time these days, so I thought I’d try it out.”

Dorothy replied and looked down at her drawings. Most of these papers depicted various parts, and some had combinations. Upon closer inspection, it became evident that Dorothy had given names to these parts or combinations.

Cylinder… Piston connecting rod… Crankshaft flywheel… Injector… Igniter… Valve structure… and so on…

Many of these names were ones Dorothy had heard of in her previous life. These components were part of Dorothy’s design, and once completed, when all these elements were assembled together, they would become a crucial invention: the internal combustion engine.

Indeed, after spending many days in the library, studying a sufficient amount of foundational knowledge, Dorothy had finally embarked on her journey of invention. To fund her incredible expenditures on the path of the extraordinary, she planned to create a major invention to earn money, which would be the internal combustion engine.

At first, Dorothy had thought about building automobiles and airplanes, but she suddenly realized that to create those two things, advanced technology like the internal combustion engine was a prerequisite. Thus, she decided to focus on inventing the internal combustion engine first to solve the issue of power before moving on to the next step.

The world where Dorothy currently resided was in the midst of the first Industrial Revolution, characterized as a steam revolution, emphasizing the improvements and large-scale application of steam engines. The second Industrial Revolution would be the electrical revolution, where the widespread use of internal combustion engines gave rise to the inventions of automobiles and airplanes.

Therefore, the internal combustion engine was a critically important invention, and Dorothy firmly believed that once she succeeded in mastering the internal combustion engine, she wouldn’t have to worry about money in the future!