Chapter 55: The Roar of the Furnace, the Epoch of Steam, and the Lurking Shadow

The Corrupted Claw's retreat was like the blinding sunlight after dark clouds scattered, illuminating the rebirth of the Thornheart domain. The Emerald Thorn Bastion slowly gathered in its radiance; the emerald veins covering the root tendrils faded, transforming once more into dark-gold guardian roots, like slumbering giant serpents coiled beneath the earth. The great four-colored thorn emblem at the bastion's center also dimmed, condensing into a miniature mark seared onto the crossguard of the "Vein Arbiter," as though it had never appeared—yet it left behind a heavy, steadfast will of protection.

At the center of the hollow, the piece of "Emerald Heart Shard" in Lin Mo's hand radiated a warm, vast life aura, like a second heart for the domain. He gently set the shard down near the edge of the crack by the Vein Heart, and immediately several dark-gold roots tenderly wound around it, forming a natural cradle. The green glow from the shard and the orange-red light of the Vein Heart reflected each other, producing a marvelous balance and nourishment. The speed of green spreading across the nourished land around them visibly quickened; more moss stubbornly covered the scorched black, and even a few hardy radiation grasses sprouted fresh shoots at the edges.

"A miracle! This is nothing short of a miracle!" Copper Beard circled the Emerald Heart Shard, his rough fingers carefully touching the warm crystal as he sensed the surging life force within, his eyes blazing with fervor. "With this! The Earthfire Furnace's stability will at least triple! The quality of the Fire-Pattern Steel we forge can climb another step! And Miss Xiang Lingna's 'Emerald Nursery'! Wrench! Don't just stand there! Get to work! Start right now!"

The dwarf craftsman's roar was like a spark lighting the furnace. Wrench, reborn from the calamity, also burst out with twelvefold vigor; his earlier fear was flung beyond the clouds. Under Copper Beard's command, the two worked like tireless worker ants, using metal wreckage gathered from the ruins, armor fragments from the Black Scorpion "Path-Clearers," and the high-purity Fire-Pattern Steel ore exposed beside the crack, and launched into a feverish construction effort.

Copper Beard's precise mechanical prosthetic hand became the core tool. Using the micro cutting torch and hydraulic device built into the prosthetic, he precisely cut and bent thick metal plates, erecting the furnace's skeleton. Wrench, meanwhile, unleashed the goblin's manic imagination, taking charge of designing the complex energy conduits and condensation system, splicing together with all manner of salvaged pipes and parts, muttering mad things like "Steampunk is the real romance" and "Thermal conversion efficiency must exceed 80%."

Lin Mo became the central hub of energy supply. He sat cross-legged beside the vein crack, one hand lightly resting on the hilt of the "Vein Arbiter," the other hand guiding the orange-red energy stream radiating from the Vein Heart. Under his guidance, the vast yet gentle vein energy flowed along the energy circuit laid by the dark-gold roots, pouring ceaselessly into the furnace core taking shape—a massive crucible riveted from layers of heat-resistant alloy plates, its interior carved with rough energy-guiding patterns.

"Energy stable! Output power… 40%… 60%… 80%!" Wrench called out excitedly, watching an energy indicator he'd rigged from a discarded instrument dial.

"Good! Raise the temperature!" Copper Beard bellowed, and his mechanical prosthetic hand slammed down hard on a thick valve!

Boom—!!!

The embers of earthfire deep within the vein crack were fully ignited! Orange-red blazing flames, like a waking dragon of fury, roared along the fuse-pipe Copper Beard had designed and surged into the furnace crucible! The terrifying heat instantly turned the crucible's inner walls red-hot! The several pieces of raw Fire-Pattern Steel ore placed inside beforehand softened and melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, transforming into rolling, lava-like orange-red molten metal!

"It worked! The Vein Furnace! Ignition successful!" Wrench danced about in excitement.

A satisfied smile appeared on Copper Beard's face too, but his eyes remained sharp: "Don't celebrate too early! Temperature control! Pressure control! Energy circuit load test! Miss Xiang Lingna! Is the cooling water ready?"

"Ready!" Xiang Lingna answered crisply. The simple water-purification device she had built at the hollow's low ground using the steam-condensation principle was already operating; clear water flowed along bamboo pipes into a massive water tank converted from an assault-platform's armor. She carefully controlled the valve, feeding cooling water into the cooling pipes encircling the furnace.

Hiss—!

Vast clouds of water vapor rose, then were vented through the exhaust chimney Copper Beard had designed, producing a deep, rumbling roar. The furnace ran steadily in the balance of high heat and cooling; orange-red molten metal churned within the crucible, radiating scorching breath and the fragrance of metal. Above the wastes, for the first time, the roar of industry sounded!

"Thornheart" had officially entered the age of steam and earthfire!

Sister Ai Li leaned against a rock warmed by the Root Domain, quietly watching the scene. The wound on her chest, under the combined effect of the green glow radiating from the Emerald Heart Shard and her own Moonlight power, was healing at an astonishing rate, leaving only a faint silver scar. She tried mobilizing the Moonlight power within her; a point of faint yet unusually condensed silver radiance gathered at her fingertip—no longer violent, but like cold moonlight, carrying a will of purification. She looked at Lin Mo's back, then at the silver radiance on her fingertip; deep within her cold eyes, a flash of complex light passed—her power was no longer out of control, but it came with a heavier responsibility and… a faint, unfamiliar sense of connection.

Everything in the domain seemed to be moving in a good direction. Yet a trace of unease lingered in Lin Mo's heart. The venomous roar from the Corrupted Claw's retreat still lingered in his ears; the Doctor's whisper of "Seed of Annihilation" was like a nightmare. What made him even more wary was that, when he was channeling the full force of vein energy to keep the furnace running, deep within the core of the 【Seed of Life】, that dark-purple thread—finer than a hair, almost imperceptible—seemed to… twitch slightly? Though extremely faint and gone in an instant, it was like a cold needle pricking his perception.

An illusion? Or… was a hidden danger lurking?

Meanwhile, in that shadowed corner at the hollow's edge that had recorded everything, those two tiny "eyes" flickering with cold red light—the micro surveillance device codenamed "Observer's Eye"—worked in silence. It compressed the footage of the furnace's roar, the waveform of the vein energy's stable output, the life-spectrum radiating from the Emerald Heart Shard, the characteristic signature of the Moonlight energy gathering at Sister Ai Li's fingertip, and even that almost imperceptible anomalous fluctuation in the 【Seed of Life】 when Lin Mo channeled energy… all the data, compressed into an extremely faint signal stream disguised as natural background radiation noise, was transmitted continuously outward.

The signal pierced through the chaotic energy field of the wasteland, crossed vast distances, and ultimately flowed into the core of a massive underground base bristling with precision instruments and streams of ghostly-blue data.

Inside the base's main control room, a giant screen was split into real-time surveillance feeds of the "Thornheart" domain. A figure in a white research robe, gold-rimmed glasses reflecting cold light, stood quietly. His face showed no expression—only absolute reason and calculation. In one corner of the screen, lines of data scrolled rapidly:

【Target: Thornheart Domain】

【Status: Stable development. Vein Furnace operating normally (efficiency assessment: B+). Emerald Heart Shard (faint) confirmed. Life Bastion (Thorn Domain) energy pattern recorded (threat level: A). Target Lord (Lin Mo) energy control improved (potential threat level upgraded). Target individual (Sister Ai Li) Moonlight power stable (purification attribute/exploitable).】

【Anomalous fluctuation detected: Unknown interference signal discovered in the Lord's core energy source (Seed of Life) (characteristic: high decay/will residue), intensity: extremely faint, status: latent.】

【'Seed of Annihilation' protocol readiness: 78%… 79%…】

The Doctor's cold finger swept through the void, pulling up another encrypted file, its title starkly:

"Corrupted Origin Annihilation Residue Analysis Report—Codename: Root Erosion"

He looked at the residual data model of the Corrupted Claw's core origin captured before it was annihilated by the Moonlight Purification Spear, then compared it with the characteristic of that anomalous fluctuation in Lin Mo's 【Seed of Life】 on the screen; behind his gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze flickered with… a cold, all-seeing calculation.

"The mark of the Corrupted Claw… fusing with the Seed of Life… an unexpected variable…" the Doctor murmured, his voice utterly flat. "'Seed of Annihilation'… perhaps… needs parameter adjustment… adding… a 'catalyst.'"

He pulled up a new interface, displaying a complex energy model undergoing constant computation. At the model's center was the orange-red light cluster representing the "Thornheart" Vein Heart, while at the model's edge, an extremely faint dark-purple data stream was being carefully guided by the Doctor—much like implanting a virus—toward the core of the orange-red light cluster…