Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 172: Guardian Inscription

The red-haired nun grabbed the somewhat decayed wooden door, carefully lifting it slightly before slowly pushing it open.

The hinges creaked loudly as sunlight spilled onto the weathered stone tiles.

"This church was built by the first group of settlers who came to Castel. Back then, the Church of Candlelight was still trying to expand outward, and we, the Moths Chasing Fire, were constantly being driven around. Who would have thought that today we’d actually be living in their church?" She walked straight into the church.

"Come in, let me show you my latest discovery."

Hughes stepped in slowly. He had been here many times before, but never had he examined the church so closely.

The old stone walls were already somewhat weathered on the outside.

The white paint smeared on the inside was newer but couldn’t cover the cracks between the bricks.

"This is the church you’re talking about?"

Hughes’s tone was full of doubt.

"That’s right. And actually, we have this isolation from the outside world to thank for it." Chloe crossed her arms with a smug look.

"When I was checking the anchor point, I suddenly realized that since there’s an anchor here and it’s an old church, it’s likely that it has a guardian inscription."

"So, I searched the whole church from top to bottom, and guess what? I actually found it!"

Her voice grew increasingly excited.

"A guardian inscription! Do you know how precious this thing is? Ever since the last White Calamity, the Church of Candlelight has been unable to engrave any new guardian inscriptions. Now, these things are as rare as holy relics, once broken, there’s one less forever. If it weren’t bound to the church and immovable, they would’ve already sent someone to dig it up."

Guardian inscription? This was the first time Hughes had heard of such a thing.

It sounded like some sort of defensive mechanism, definitely connected to the supernatural world.

But now that he thought about it, he seemed to have some impression of it.

When he had first entered the church, Hughes had used his detection ability from the Symbiotic Contract to scan the building.

What was the result back then?

Naturally, Hughes placed his hand on the stone wall.

Granite, inscription: #￥%@&

Yes, that was it.

But what was the use of it? He looked up at the decaying pillars and the drafty windows, then shrugged. "You called me over just for this? No matter how strong this guardian inscription is, even if it can really protect the church, what’s the point? We’re not about to fight sea urchins here."

This rundown church was almost at the center of Castel, just slightly to the east.

If the battle line was really pushed this far, whether they could hold this place or not wouldn’t make much difference.

Hughes really couldn’t imagine what use the guardian inscription could have here.

If it could prevent pollution, that would be somewhat useful, but the Sirens weren’t afraid of pollution anyway.

"No, no, no, my dear Lord, your thinking is still too narrow." Chloe wagged her finger.

"This church’s guardian inscription can only protect the church itself, yes, but it doesn’t specify how big the church has to be."

"???"

"Suppose I expand the church a little, like extending the outer walls all the way to the coastline, or making the rooms big enough to house a few factories."

"?!?!"

"Or maybe be even bolder, turn the entire Castel Island into a church."

"!!!!"

Hughes was stunned. Could it really work like that?

It only protected the church, so why not just expand the church’s boundaries?

"Can you really pull off such a loophole? It sounds like you’re just playing word games." Hughes was full of skepticism.

"Normally, it wouldn’t work. But I can make a small modification to the church’s guardian inscription. While I can’t expand it infinitely, I can definitely cover all of Castel. The only problem is that the original energy supply wouldn’t be enough, we’d need to add a new power source."

"Wait, didn’t you just say the Church of Candlelight had lost the technology for guardian inscriptions? How can you modify it?"

"The Church of Candlelight lost it. Moths Chasing Fire didn’t," Chloe said matter-of-factly.

"They’re always sealing away their technology, putting all sorts of secrecy measures in place. Half the time, they seal it so well they can’t find it themselves. But we’re open-source, we’re not afraid of losing anything."

The term "open-source" was something Hughes had accidentally mentioned a few days ago, and Chloe had happened to overhear it.

She had instantly fallen in love with the phrase, feeling it perfectly captured the spirit of Moths Chasing Fire, and immediately adopted it.

However, in this world where knowledge was polluted, open-source on Earth cost money, here, it could cost lives.

"Anyway, I found the core of the inscription, it’s underground right here. I’ve checked it, and modifying it won’t be a big issue. As long as we expand this church enough, it’ll be stronger than any steel-reinforced concrete fortress!"

Chloe’s eyes were practically glowing as she spoke.

Hughes had seen this fanatical passion for technology in her before, she had once used herself as an experimental subject without hesitation.

Now, tearing down a church, especially a Church of Candlelight, didn’t weigh on her conscience in the slightest.

And if this thing could truly defend against enemies, Hughes didn’t mind having a bigger church on the island.

He sighed. "Tell me about the effects of the guardian inscription."

Chloe gave a satisfied smile and pointed toward the church’s outer wall.

"Look at those walls. They’ve barely ever been maintained and have weathered badly. They weren’t even built with any defensive needs in mind. But as soon as I activate the guardian inscription, this thing could withstand a direct hit from a battering ram!"

"Does it increase impact resistance from all angles? What about weight-bearing capacity?"

"Exactly! It enhances the building’s strength across the board. It’s somewhat similar to the Sirens’ flesh magic, oh, and it can even block pollution, just like flesh magic!"

Comprehensive reinforcement? That meant it didn’t just improve shear and compressive strength, this could indeed be extremely useful.

Those sea urchins crashed around recklessly underwater, and the Sirens could lose chunks of flesh just from brushing against them.

Hughes had been concerned about whether their fortifications could withstand such forces.

But with the guardian inscription, there was now an extra layer of security.

"You said it could also block pollution?"

"Yes, though I don’t know much about that aspect. I’ve never actually seen the Church of Candlelight activate a guardian inscription before. I found the method to modify it from an old book."

Hughes blinked. "Never activated it before?"

Well, thinking about it, when would a church ever need defending?

Or rather, what could possibly be large enough to threaten a church?

Hiss... thinking about it this way, the fact that the Church of Candlelight carved guardian inscriptions into every church was deeply unsettling.

Did it mean that, in the past, believers often had to seek refuge inside churches?

That they needed specialized guardian inscriptions to reinforce the structure and prevent it from collapsing?