Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 52: Extraordinary Curse

"Spreading knowledge about contamination will strengthen it, and once the [Cognitive Barrier] is broken, the contamination will be greatly amplified."

"When an extraordinary being’s [Cognitive Barrier] is broken, the effects are even more terrifying, not only does the contamination intensify, but it also easily triggers an outbreak."

"The Sirens present at that time were all extraordinary creatures. They had only a very shallow understanding of contamination before, and I essentially shattered all of their [Cognitive Barrier] in an instant."

"An outbreak of this magnitude would normally result in all of them being devoured by the contamination on the spot, transforming into the kind of monster Monica became."

"Fortunately, their... is it called Flesh Magic? It successfully isolated the contamination, preventing it from fully eroding them."

"But Monica was already contaminated. Flesh Magic only served as a barrier, and at that moment, the contamination within her erupted a thousandfold, directly shattering the Flesh Magic."

"Afterward, the contamination outbreak triggered by the broken [Cognitive Barrier] had nowhere to go, and ultimately, it all converged onto Monica, making her stronger and stronger."

Nora sighed.

"Do you realize that if not for the special ability of the [Burier]—who could forcibly ‘bury’ her at the cost of death—your Sirens alone would have been powerless against her?"

"The contamination that had gathered by then had already reached a terrifying level. No matter how many times you killed her, she would be resurrected by the contamination, growing stronger each time, until she eventually swallowed the entire Castel, becoming the second storm eye over the Storm Ocean—a storm eye formed entirely of contamination."

Hughes’ eye twitched.

"So if you hadn’t mentioned contamination, would none of this have happened?"

"Yes." Nora sighed. "I’m very sorry. That’s why I decided to bury her, since this was, after all, a problem I caused. I just didn’t expect..."

‘Didn’t expect that I could purify the contamination, right?’ Hughes thought to himself.

Silence fell between the two.

"Aren’t you going to ask me why I can purify contamination?" Hughes hesitated before speaking.

"You don’t even understand contamination. How could you possibly know the reason?"

"..."

Hughes could roughly guess that this had something to do with the strange Golden Throne.

Strictly speaking, his soul wasn’t even in this body.

Those Symbiotic Contracts were likely not binding to this physical shell but rather to his true self, high atop some unknown throne.

He remembered clearly how the contamination had fled frantically upon touching him, as if he were the real source of contamination.

"You don’t need to worry. The Church won’t do anything to you," Nora glanced at Hughes.

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"Even if I can... purify contamination?"

"Yes." Nora’s gaze darkened slightly. "As long as you are not the one bringing contamination, the Church doesn’t care about you."

"The Church is not interested in solving problems. The Church only eradicates problems."

"Why?" Hughes blurted out, unable to understand.

"[Contamination] cannot be studied. [The Extraordinary] cannot be understood. Everyone who has ever tried to solve these problems has become a new problem, a bigger problem."

"Only those who have lost their sanity—heretics—would dare to seek the truth."

Nora shook her head. "I won’t tell you more. And you’d better not try to understand it either. The [Cognitive Barrier] is your last line of defense."

Hughes closed his mouth.

He wanted to say that he wasn’t afraid of these issues. His soul was protected by that ancient palace and the Golden Throne, these cognitive contaminations couldn’t threaten him.

It seemed he wouldn’t be able to get more information from her.

The two tacitly changed the subject.

"A lot of things that break the [Cognitive Barrier] must be extremely dangerous to spread, right?"

"Yes. The Church has an entire set of procedures for handling forbidden knowledge to prevent the instantaneous breaking of the [Cognitive Barrier] and the resulting mass contamination."

"I can’t reveal the details to you. That knowledge itself is forbidden. Besides, I don’t know much either."

Hughes nodded with a complex expression.

The level of strangeness in this world was beyond his imagination. Perhaps he needed to reconsider his attitude toward the extraordinary.

"I have one last question,"

"You know, I’ve interacted with quite a few nobles. Why do they know almost nothing about extraordinary powers?"

With the vast resources controlled by the nobility, it was inconceivable that they would be completely unaware of the extraordinary.

Whether it was his biological father, Duke Cohen, or the Empire itself, they all seemed to exist in a world separate from the extraordinary.

Searching his memories, he couldn’t find any connection between them.

Nora slowly raised her head at his words.

"Perhaps the term [Extraordinary Power] has misled you. How about using another phrase instead—[Extraordinary Curse]?"

"Power is merely a byproduct. Pain and madness are eternal."

"The more power you use, the deeper the curse takes root."

"The fact that nobles have no contact with the extraordinary is a reflection of their wealth and power. And this is my advice to you as well."

"Stay away from the extraordinary. The [Cognitive Barrier] is not an obstacle preventing you from understanding the world, it never was."

"There are always nobles who try to exploit loopholes, but their wailing heads have nearly filled up the choir."

"Power, wisdom, immortality, talent, the extraordinary can give you anything you desire. But everyone who reaches out regrets it."

"And unfortunately, there’s no turning back."

"Remain ignorant. That is the last mercy of this world."

Nora left by boat.

That day, Hughes sat in his armchair for a long, long time.

Everything Nora had said had shaken him to his core.

He suddenly realized that this world was completely different from what he had imagined.

It was as if he had been sailing on a calm sea, with clear skies and gentle winds.

He had assumed this was an ordinary ocean.

Until he submerged his head beneath the water and locked eyes with an unfathomable, colossal entity.

For a moment, a wave of fear washed over Hughes.

Was everything he had done really the right path?

He had always believed that the tide of industrialization would sweep across the entire world.

That he would use production capacity and firepower to establish new rules for this world.

That his tanks would clash against this world’s cavalry.

That his enemies would raise their shields against his cannon fire.

Could these things really happen?

In this eerie world of the extraordinary, where even hearing a name could spell doom, could gunpowder and bayonets really resolve everything?

Hughes sat in his armchair in silence, his thoughts drifting aimlessly.

Symbiotic Contracts, the Life Pool, the contamination in the depths of the sea, the Sirens…

Hughes suddenly realized that since his arrival, most of what he had accomplished had relied on extraordinary power.

If he considered only what he had achieved through pure science, there was nothing.

Perhaps so-called science, so-called industrialization, was merely a tool to fulfill his fantasies.

In the end, wasn’t he still doing things according to the ways of this world?