The Divine Armor of the Old Century（Book 1）

Chapter 79

In the heart of Old Dunling, under the fractured dome, there lay a hidden place known to few. An elevator connected it to the outside world, while all other communication relied on a system called the pneumatic tube logistics. Documents zipped through these tubes, coursing beneath the shattered dome, shrouded in a veil of mystery. Even those who dispatched the capsules had no inkling of their final destination.

This was the nexus where all documents converged. During the Hundred Years' War, Engelwig had lost a wealth of books, which made document preservation a paramount concern for every department in the new era, even for the Purging Mechanism.

Countless tubes cascaded from the dome like falling stars, plunging into an insulated liquid-filled pool below. Lights gleamed at the pool's bottom, illuminating the copper pillars within, casting an otherworldly glow reminiscent of an ancient ritual.

The man in the gray robe gazed at the copper pillars, entranced, oblivious even when the elevator doors slid open once more.

"What are you looking at?" Arthur asked, stepping out of the elevator.

"Those difference engines," the gray-robed man replied, pointing to the machines submerged in the insulating liquid. They stood like copper pillars, with rubber-coated cables weaving through them like seaweed in the ocean's depths.

These marvels of the steam age could perform calculations with unprecedented speed and accuracy, transforming complex functions into simpler differential equations, replacing square operations with mere addition. The collection here was but a fraction; the largest array was being constructed at the Perpetual Pump for the benefit of the mad scientists.

"Sometimes I wonder if we've taken the wrong path," the gray-robed man mused after a long silence. "Much like steam technology, we've hit a bottleneck. No matter how we refine it, we can't break through the limit. Did we take a wrong turn from the very beginning?"

He pondered, staring at the ritual-like copper pillars, wondering if a future civilization might worship these remnants of technology as divine relics.

"Even these difference engines. Our answer to any problem is to build a bigger version of it, like the Furnace Pillars or this Babbage array," he continued. "This isn't progress; it's evasion. If we continue like this, we'll choke on our own bloated achievements."

Arthur remained silent. His friend, the technological heart of Engelwig, was troubled, and if he couldn't find the answers, who could?

"You went to the world's end, didn't you? Did the Keeper not give you an answer?" Arthur asked. The gray-robed man handled such matters, and Arthur didn't even know where the world's end was—it was a secret held only by his friend.

"No, he didn't even meet me. I almost froze to death on the ice plains," the gray-robed man sighed, then turned to Arthur. "But we have more pressing issues with Ende Town. Why did you agree to this? Letting a hunter from the Demon Hunting Order lead the charge? You know what secret blood entails. That hunter is a walking contamination source. If he loses control, the threat will be immense."

"I believe he can be trusted," Arthur said calmly.

"But you haven't even met him, Arthur. Are you letting some so-called intuition guide you? That can be deceiving," the gray-robed man retorted, clearly displeased.

"I know, but I have my reasons. Remember the intelligence we've been gathering at the Seven Hills for six years? Our intel department finally cracked a crucial part. Things are more complicated than we imagined."

"How complicated?" the gray-robed man asked, a stern look in his eyes.

"Very," Arthur replied, his voice as cold as steel. He glanced at the pool, its water glowing from the lights below, the difference engines churning out heat, dissipated by the insulating liquid.