Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 623 Let's Face the Stellar Furnace
The priests in the Silent Church are mostly stubborn. They say good is good, and if it's bad, they won't say it, but it's also hard to get them to praise something against their will.

After walking around half of Castel Cathedral, even a composed and steady burialist like Helena couldn't utter a word of praise.

The priests, dressed in long robes, merely nodded to each other in greeting, without any solemn rituals. The believers discussed things enthusiastically in the hall, showing no respect for the church itself.

Those towering banshees simply left down the corridor, without bowing or offering praise, as if they were no different from mortals.

The walls, hall and corridors are not decorated with ingenious designs, nor are there any inscriptions of scripture, and there are no statues or paintings of sages or saints in the church.

Instead, there were many pipes of varying thicknesses on the ceiling and walls, which had no sense of holiness whatsoever, and it was unclear what they were for.

To put it simply, this doesn't really look like a church.

Helena sighed inwardly.

If it were in her hands, she definitely wouldn't have designed it this way.

If the church's scriptures are not inscribed throughout the church, how can believers memorize them? If the church is not sanctified through decoration, how can people feel reverence?

If none of these exist, then what will unite believers? Will it be through those channels and those machines?

"Everyone, please come with me to tour the Stellar Furnace," Nini's voice rang out from the side.

Helena then perked up a bit. She had heard the term "stellar furnace" many times before, and she figured it must be something that the church could boast about.
It's just a church, but its most prized possession is its furnace.
Shaking her head, Helena suppressed the involuntary sense of disdain that welled up inside her and reminded herself to be humble and sincere; they were just guests.

As Helena entered the courtyard, her eyes lit up.

The main hall of Castel Cathedral is unremarkable, but the atrium here is much more impressive.

Castel Cathedral is a typical fortress-style building, surrounded by tall buildings that form a wall, but hollow in the middle.

Like a bundle of securely tied timber, a few pieces were removed from the middle.

This is the empty courtyard in the middle.

Surrounding the atrium is a spiral staircase that connects the various floors. Sunlight streams down from above, and the graceful geometric angles create a clean and tidy aesthetic.

Countless pipes meandered out from underground and led to various parts of the church.

Between the floors, there are grooves that connect the upper and lower levels, with square boxes rotating up and down. Occasionally, someone will seize the opportunity to step in and be quickly carried away by the transmission mechanism to several floors away.

The Parthenost elevators, which Castells had previously only installed in the underground where the banshees were, are now being installed in several places in the church, facilitating movement up and down the atrium.

The principle of the elevator is very simple. The priests in the Silent Church understood it after watching for a while, and even the most stubborn burialists couldn't help but marvel at the ingenuity of the design.

It seems Castells is capable of some design work, but why doesn't he use it for good, instead focusing all his time on making machinery and equipment?
Helena felt somewhat regretful.

"Several elevators have been installed here, mainly because there is a lot of underground space in the atrium, and it is not convenient to go up and down. We take the elevator down."

As Nini led the people of the Sanctuary along, she explained, "Originally, the atrium here was open, but later too many people developed Castel syndrome. It's easy to have an attack when looking directly at the stellar furnace from here. Someone once fell in because of this, and if the banshee on duty hadn't caught him, he probably would have gone straight to the stellar furnace to shine."

"So, ever since then, a locking mechanical structure has been installed on this side of the cathedral." Nini stepped into the courtyard and lightly tapped the ground with the tip of her tail, producing a dull metallic clanging sound.

"This ground can be opened, but it's usually only opened when the airship takes off, or when the reactor is being inspected or hoisted. Hmm?"

Nini paused for a moment, then smiled.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Lord has just granted me special permission to open the cover so that you may have the honor of visiting!"

Nini looked at the surrounding operating mechanisms, but before she could even speak, a female demon, who loved watching the drama unfold, had already taken the initiative to go over and activate them.

The banshees pulled down the lever, the gears clicked and clattered, and a piercing mechanical sound rang out. Suddenly, a crack appeared in the ground in the courtyard.

Some of the buried people in the Silent Church curiously gathered around, and they were surprised to find that the underground part of the church was quite deep, and in terms of height, it even exceeded the above-ground part.

What lies beneath that depth that warrants such a deep construction?
With a tremendous roar, the ground in the central courtyard first sank slightly, and then, like flower petals, it spun and receded in all directions from the hidden grooves in the ground.

The steam engine roared, making the entire church tremble slightly.

The first thing that catches the eye is a dense array of thick pipes.

They had seen many of these pipes in the church, both in the corridors and the hall, but they never knew what they were for.

But at this moment, seeing these pipes converging and leading underground, the buried people had a vague guess in their hearts.

The underground section was a bit darker, as the sunlight above the atrium couldn't reach it, but there seemed to be a huge light source below, casting the surrounding walls an orange-red hue.

The air seemed to have become scorching hot.

The sweltering, dry heat characteristic of a furnace surged out from below with a roar, the heat making the priests gasp and involuntarily take a step back.

Taking this step back greatly reduced their view of what lay below, but they seemed to sense something.

thump.

Like a heartbeat, a powerful rhythm swept across all the priests in the silent sanctuary. Their bodies remained still, but in that instant, they felt as if their souls had been swept by a storm.

There seems to be something enormous below.

Yes, enormous, that's their only feeling.

That being must have had more noteworthy features, but all they could perceive was its immense size, like a towering mountain with cliffs, waterfalls, and deep valleys, yet they could only see the cliff face in front of them.

The priests in the sanctuary suddenly realized that perhaps it was not that the existence was too vast, but rather that they were too insignificant.

But they are priests of the Silent Sanctuary, extraordinary beings above the mortal realm, buried beings who pierced through the high walls of reality with their will and touched the sea of ​​ignorance. They are so vast that even they cannot see the whole picture. What is existence?
Helena was startled and felt a chill run down her spine. She turned around and, sure enough, could no longer find her anchor.

The moment she realized this, she was already lost.

(End of this chapter)