After the new weapons meeting ended, Louis did not leave the Workshop District immediately.
Guided by Mike, he quietly skirted the crowd outside, passed through a long corridor mottled with rust, and entered a secret workshop hidden behind the Red Tide Forge.
An oddly shaped device stood in the center of the workshop.
A cylindrical iron tank roughly two meters tall occupied the heart of the room.
Its casing was cast from an alloy of cold iron and alchemical copper and coated entirely in black heat-resistant paint. It was hardly elegant; even its seams were smeared with thick alchemical putty to prevent leaks. Crude as it was, it possessed a raw industrial power.
"This is the... 'Steam Engine' you mentioned before." Mike patted the iron tank with a hint of pride. "We call it 'Iron Tank No. 1.'"
Louis gazed at it, a flicker of realization crossing his eyes.
It had been during a casual conversation several months ago.
He had mentioned steam engines from his memories of Earth, but he did not know their precise construction. At the time, he had merely been talking offhand.
He had never expected Mike to actually turn the concept into reality.
Even if the thing before him was still little more than a strange tank, it already represented an entirely different path of development for this world.
Louis smiled and nodded. "...Let's give it a try."
Mike immediately called over several craftsmen.
Two of them first opened the firebox door at the bottom and shoveled out the remaining ash.
Then they carefully placed fuel bricks refined from qi vein stone at the bottom of the firebox, laid out dry kindling and ventilation grass stalks, and finally sprinkled on a pinch of red phosphorus powder.
Whoosh! Blue-edged flames leaped up instantly, and the furnace