Chapter 74: Zeorando And The Fancy Steam Engine

We went out. My body didn't want to move but we had no choice. The pace was slow and the stairs were like a death sentence. But at least I was being useful in my own eyes. The town didn't look as busy as the day I came. There was still a faint smell of blood and rot in the area. It made tears well up in my eyes thinking all of that might have been my fault for being here. But according to those demons this time it wasn't my fault. So I had at least some consolation. However the dead won't come back and since part of it was my fault, I just couldn't rest easy.

"What happened to the people of the slums?"

"They were all… gone." Gorgan's voice stuttered for a second.

"I see." I already knew it was something like that. The three siblings had died right in front of me. The rest weren't so lucky either

Gorgan continued. "They were buried in a mass grave just next to the slums. There were few survivors but-" He sighed again. "Let's just say they didn't find this city trustworthy anymore and left."

I couldn't say anything. Silence was all I was capable of.

We went to the place Gorgan had in mind. It was the same place I saw the day I arrived at the city. A single brown-colored two-storied building. It had two giant turbines. Some of the houses close by had similar but rather small turbines. This particular region of the town looked a little advanced, only marginally though.

"Whoa!"

We went inside and saw the same man I saw up in the wall, who was by the canon. It was funny how I remembered stuff from that crisis of a night despite nearly ending up dead. There were a bunch of other people here too, but he was most likely the mastermind. I didn't think I'd be this excited. It was like that field trip I took to a local museum when I was ten all over again. I was probably more excited now.

"Look at all this stuff!" I said bathed in excitement.

"Why do you look so stoked?" Gorgan found my ramblings a little weird.

"Why aren't you? I've never seen these things outside of museums."

There were bearings, gears, pistons, nuts, bolts, screws, and a lot of analog stuff I didn't even know the name of. Analog stuff had always been my jam. I didn't know why but I was always attracted to this stuff. Maybe that's why I dismantled every toy I ever got as a present. Maybe that was also why I stopped getting any presents past the age of ten.

"Mu-si-what?" Gorgan fiddled and tilted his head in confusion.

I hadn't accounted for his not knowing. This world didn't have the system for displaying things to display their ancestry. So I should have known.

"Who is this gentleman?" a slightly high-pitched voice said.

I looked back and it was that old man; probably close to sixties. He had a solid beard and was quite round. His bead reminded me of my own beard and I subconsciously touched my chin. I still didn't have a beard.

"This is Daarc. Daarc this man is the mastermind of everything you see here. He is Zeorando." Gorgan introduced me to the man.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." I shook his hands.

"It's always a pleasure to meet another fan of science." So the term 'science' is universal? Tad surprising but I didn't really care. "So what brings you here?" The man didn't seem suspicious of me. Maybe because Gorgan was here?

I got down to business. I didn't have much time left but honestly I didn't want to stay up on my feet. All I wanted was to lie in bed. And all that excitement didn't really help. I just ended up more tired. "We're here to take a look at your boat. Has there been any progress?"

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He scratched his chin. "I can't seem to wrap my head around this one."

"Do you mind if I take a look at it?" I was fairly confident in my understanding of mechanical physics. Besides, I really liked the steam age, so I was well versed in those things.

We went further inside and saw the engine. It was the very definition of an old single piston engine; very basic stuff. Even the boiler room was outdated. Then again steam engines themselves were outdated to begin with. But what intrigued me most was that it used the user's mana to function along with coal, increasing its torque by threefold. This is amazing!

I calmed my nerves. "I think we should separate the boiler first. Adding another piston and making it a complex system should make this a bit more effective." I blurted some fancy stuff without even considering anything. I might have really been a jerk.

Zeorando didn't waste time with theatrics and went straight to business as well. "What is this guy talking about? It doesn't make any sense!"

Sigh* so I have to explain stuff too?

At first the old man was not even listening to me. But as I continued to explain, he became like a curious toddler. The more I answered the more he asked. People from around the place gathered before me and it was like I was teaching a bunch of middle schoolers. At one point I became too stressed and had to take a forced break.

I drank something that resembled and smelled something in between tea and coffee. Maybe it was tea, but I couldn't tell. "These guys are very hard workers."

"Yeah," Gorgan said.

I sat and admired the sky. It was clear but some white clouds were there. Hard to believe just two weeks ago all that stuff happened. I sighed and kept on sipping.

One of the workers ran to my side. "Daarc, come see, it's done."

I gulped down and tea and almost burnt my tongue. "Already!" But it probably hasn't even been two hours since I came here. It was unbelievable, and I was skeptical.

We went there and saw it. The design was there, the problem was whether it would work or not. He fired it up and it started. Everything was working, but not for long.

"Sigh* now comes the hard part of troubleshooting!" I looked around. This angle seems wrong. I had found the problem(s). The piston was placed at a wrong angle. The cylinder was too cold as well.

Round two began and the guys were too hyped. We fired it up and again and this time it started up and then quickly died down, again. I scratched my head, clearly tired. I breathed rapidly. I hadn't done any hard work yet my body couldn't really keep up.

But we went on. After four mind-blowing rounds, we finally succeeded and it was already evening. The engine was stable as long as it could be fed mana and coal consequently. Someone will definitely faint if they used it for longer than ten minutes at a time. So we were taking turns and checking if everything was alright. We kept at it for another hour and finally tweaked it so one person could use it for half an hour without fainting.

The guys wouldn't stop shaking my hands. It was like I was a celebrity or something. I felt awesome, but who doesn't want to feel like that? But just this once, I felt useful. I felt like I could change. I felt like I'd be able to become better and stronger.

"Oh and don't forget about that!" I said.

"I most definitely won't. It's too damn interesting."

Me and old man Zeorando cooked up the blueprint for something special. I wonder if it'll be ready the next time I come to this land.. Gorgan on the other hand, looked more than just uncomfortable.

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