Chapter 323

Chapter 287 Invention

In the northern suburbs of Tivyán, within the library of Crown University.

At noon, in a secluded corner of the library, Dorothy was still sitting at her desk, diligently working on the design drawings for an internal combustion engine. A large stack of books in front of her contained the foundational knowledge necessary for her task.

“Miss Nephnis… what exactly is this machine you’re designing used for?” Nephnis, sitting opposite Dorothy, asked curiously while looking at a few parts drawings. As an archaeology major, she was completely bewildered by these mechanical diagrams.

“It’s hard to explain the purpose right now. You’ll understand once the actual thing is made,” Dorothy responded to Nephnis.

“I see… So Miss Nephnis, you’re also a mechanic? You mentioned that you are a student at Crown University. Could it be that your studies are related to this?” Nephnis continued as she listened to Dorothy, surprised to find out that a high-ranking member of a secret society was actually studying mechanics. Generally speaking, shouldn’t someone in archaeology, folklore, or history fit the role better?

“These are all self-taught,” Dorothy replied nonchalantly, causing Nephnis to widen her eyes in disbelief.

“Self-taught… with so many books, Miss Nephnis has actually self-taught…”

“My extraordinary ability accelerates learning speed. These books may seem numerous, but they aren’t much for me,” Dorothy continued drawing while responding calmly. Hearing her words, Nephnis nodded in understanding.

“An extraordinary ability that accelerates learning efficiency… how nice…”

Looking at the secret transmission in her hand, Nephnis remarked, reflecting on her own abilities which allowed her to interact with ghosts and dead people. She sincerely thought that Dorothy’s abilities were quite impressive; at least they would make daily life much easier.

Nephnis continued to look through Dorothy’s drawings curiously, trying to figure out what kind of machinery they were for, while Dorothy continued to draw.

Dorothy had long wanted to make inventions to earn money. Among her various inventions, the internal combustion engine was a key prerequisite technology. Fortunately, Dorothy knew the principles of internal combustion engines from her past life. After supplementing her knowledge with the rapid learning ability of an omniscient, recreating the engine wasn’t difficult. The internal combustion engine Dorothy was currently designing was based on principles from her previous world, combined with the knowledge here, creating a new type of machinery.

The first industrial revolution was the steam revolution. This world had been through over fifty years of development since the start of its first industrial revolution. With this accumulation of experience and knowledge across various disciplines, along with established industrial standards, it was ready for a second industrial revolution—the electrical revolution. What was lacking were a few key technological breakthroughs, after which the world could undergo significant changes. The internal combustion engine was one such breakthrough, and another was the widespread use of electricity.

Dorothy was aware of the immense wealth contained in these revolutionary inventions. She was already preparing to become a small-scale inventor.

With these inventions, Dorothy foresaw an inexhaustible source of wealth, no longer needing to worry about finances.

‘Besides the internal combustion engine, there’s also the reform and widespread use of electricity, alternating current, electric lights, telephones… I know the principles behind these things. With the learning ability of an omniscient, creating them wouldn’t be a problem. Perhaps then, I could drive the world towards a second industrial revolution with my own efforts…’

While drawing the designs, Dorothy pondered, feeling excited at the prospect of changing the world. She could already envision the streets of Tivyán filled with cars instead of carriages, electric lamps replacing streetlights, power poles lining the streets, and public electric trams running through the city in a few years.

With this excitement, Dorothy continued to draw the blueprints for her designed internal combustion engine. All the blueprints were nearly complete, and once finished, she planned to have a zombie puppet take them to a factory and skilled workers in the city to create a prototype.

Thus, Dorothy diligently drew her designs, making good progress. If nothing went wrong, the world’s first complete set of internal combustion engine blueprints would be born this afternoon.

Just as Dorothy was enthusiastically working on her designs, a voice belonging to the system suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

‘Officer, your current actions have significant impact, possibly attracting the attention of powerful divinity… It might cause unforeseeable serious consequences… Warning, your current actions have significant impact, possibly attracting the attention of powerful divinity… It might cause unforeseeable serious consequences.’

The system’s emotionless warning echoed in Dorothy’s mind. Hearing this, Dorothy froze, her pen pausing mid-air, stunned.

‘What? Powerful divinity’s attention?!’

Dorothy thought in shock, then looked at the blueprints in front of her, her mind in turmoil. Finally, after a moment, she managed to calm herself.

‘What the hell? Creating an internal combustion engine could attract the attention of a powerful divinity? From the reason given, it seems the impact is too great…’

Dorothy pondered, knowing that the system’s warning function was something she was aware of. During her training in time-slowing dragon roar, the system had warned her that a large-scale time-slowing dragon roar could attract divine attention. Therefore, she wasn’t surprised by the warning itself, but rather by the fact that inventing an internal combustion engine triggered it.

‘According to the system, if an invention causes significant and far-reaching effects on the world, it will attract divine attention. Deities will cast their gaze upon those who cause such effects. For example, a large-scale time-slowing dragon roar over ten kilometers would do so… An invention like the internal combustion engine seems to be similar… And it seems even more severe, directly indicating strong divine attention.

‘It’s true… As a key technology for the second industrial revolution, once invented and widely adopted, it would bring significant changes to society. If other inventions follow suit, the second industrial revolution would be complete… Such a fundamental social change would certainly attract the attention of deities…

‘This is what I think about why deities would pay attention to the invention of the internal combustion engine.’

‘But this makes things difficult… If I invent the internal combustion engine now, the deities would immediately lock onto me. The consequences would be completely unpredictable… I can’t fathom the attitude of the deities. I’m only a black tier, and if the deities have any ill intentions towards me, I wouldn’t be able to resist…’

Dorothy pondered, feeling extremely conflicted. Inventing the internal combustion engine was part of her long-planned scheme to earn money. Now that it was actually invented, it might attract the attention of the deities, leaving Dorothy unsure of what to do and starting to furrow her brow in deep thought.

‘Sigh… It seems that before I am strong enough, it’s better not to provoke the attention of the deities. I don’t know which powerful deity the invention of the internal combustion engine would attract… Even if I knew, I couldn’t interpret their attitudes and intentions. If it’s a negative attitude, wouldn’t I be courting disaster? So it’s better to be cautious…

‘Finally, after some thought, Dorothy made her decision. She decided to temporarily abandon the work on the internal combustion engine. The main reason was her uncertainty about the deities’ attitude towards her. Attracting divine attention without permission carried great risks. If the deities had malicious intentions, she might be unable to resist. Such a risky move was not something Dorothy would do lightly.

After careful consideration, Dorothy decided to delay her invention plans. This left her feeling quite depressed.

‘d*mn… I originally thought this would help me get ahead financially… Looks like that won’t happen now…

Throwing down her pen, Dorothy thought gloomily. After a while, she took a deep breath.

‘Sigh… Well, there’s no point in dwelling on it now. Until I understand the deities’ attitude, I should put aside the inventions. I’ve grown tired of staying in the library. Let’s go to town and have a cup of coffee.’

Thinking this, Dorothy turned to look at Nephnis across from her.

“Hey, Nephni, stop looking at the drawings for now. Let’s go have a cup of coffee… Huh?”

Dorothy was about to ask Nephnis to join her for coffee when she noticed something odd. Nephnis’ expression was vacant, staring blankly at a drawing in her hand. Dorothy recognized it as one of her internal combustion engine component design drawings.

Nephnis held the drawing, her eyes fixated on every line, shape, and number, her focus unnaturally intense. After scrutinizing one drawing, she immediately picked up another and began examining it.

Seeing this, Dorothy was startled. She knew what was happening—Nephnis had been poisoned by the knowledge!

‘Nephnis has been poisoned by my internal combustion engine design drawings?!’

This absurd thought shocked Dorothy, who only reacted a few seconds later. She immediately tried to stop Nephnis, rushing forward to snatch the drawing away.

“Don’t look anymore!”

“Give me… give me… Miss Nephnis, please give it to me… I want to continue witnessing the power of steel hearts… the greatness of iron and fire…”

Nephnis mumbled deliriously, trying to reclaim the drawing from Dorothy. Dorothy recognized this as a sign of addiction from the poison.

Facing this situation, Dorothy immediately cleared the poison from Nephnis using a prayer to Akka. Once the poison was cleared, Nephnis, who had been struggling with Dorothy for the drawing, suddenly froze. After a few seconds, her eyes regained clarity.

“Huh… What just happened to me?”

Regaining her senses, Nephnis touched her forehead and shook her head. In front of her, Dorothy remained silent.

“You looked at my drawings, and they contained poison. You didn’t pray as you usually do, so you got poisoned. I prayed to Akka to clear the poison.”

“Huh… Is that so? So, Miss Nephnis, you were designing machinery related to mysticism? That’s why the drawings contained poison… I apologize, I didn’t know that mechanical knowledge could contain poison. I assumed the knowledge on these drawings was mundane, so I didn’t pray while reading and accidentally fell under its influence…”

Rubbing her head, Nephnis said apologetically. Hearing this, Dorothy looked serious.

‘I never expected that such knowledge would contain poison…’

Dorothy thought to herself, never having imagined that inventing the internal combustion engine to initiate a second industrial revolution would not only attract divine attention but that the drawings themselves would also contain poison. To this world, the technology of the internal combustion engine was considered esoteric knowledge.

This scenario further overturned Dorothy’s thinking. She had previously judged that the distinction between esoteric and secular knowledge was whether it contained poison.

Previously, the knowledge Dorothy encountered that contained poison included lost history, eerie literature, and divine rituals. In her eyes, mechanics, physics, mathematics, and other sciences were always considered mundane knowledge. Having encountered knowledge and even physical examples of internal combustion engines in her past life, she easily assumed that such scientific creations belonged to the “mundane” category.

However, the current situation told Dorothy that the reality of this world was far more complex than she thought. The distinction between mundane and esoteric knowledge might not be as straightforward as she imagined.

This world had deities, it was built on spirituality, and its essence was entirely different from her previous world.

Dorothy pondered silently, then attempted to extract the knowledge from the internal combustion engine she had designed. She extracted four points of “Stone” and three points of “Enlightenment.”

The internal combustion engine drawings… seemed to be considered a secret transmission in the “Stone” domain.

—

This concludes the translation.