Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 436 [The Named One]

When Hughes signed the symbiotic pact with the Banshees, he gained the ability to sense the composition of matter through physical contact.

This ability helped him many times, such as when he first came into contact with the Fire Moth and discovered Brother Kesch's identity.

However, this ability is not very useful because it only provides a word as a result. If you don't know the meaning of the word, there's not much you can do.

For example, the [named person] that comes to mind right now.

He had absolutely no idea what a "named person" was. Hughes had previously encountered other superhumans, such as the "nymphs" of the Fire-Chasing Moth or "buried ones" like Nora, but this strange ability had not given any warning, as if it had only touched mortals.

Even the banshee, the harbinger of death, is no different from an ordinary person.

The only one that was somewhat special was the one lying in the stellar furnace. When Hughes came into contact with Him, the prompt he received was "contamination"—which was normal, since His body was full of contamination and He had long since lost His own consciousness.

This was the first time he had sensed the term in a living person.

Excluding Brother Kesch, although Hughes didn't inquire in detail, it must have been some kind of non-human creation, and his perception at the time was also a collection of materials.

The little girl in front of me is probably no ordinary person.

And Gwen?

He immediately thought of Gwen from the worker Hughes link—a Northerner, a refugee, and the age matched; it must be the person in front of him.

But shouldn't Gwen be a mortal? She almost starved to death before, but luckily Jeremiah helped her find wild vegetables, and Beatrice provided her with some secret methods to exercise.
hiss.

Could it be that she somehow managed to come into contact with the extraordinary? Are the extraordinary so easy to access? Doesn't it require many specific resources? And even if someone is extraordinary, they wouldn't alert this [named individual], would they?

Gwen was looking up, her snow-white eyes looking at her innocently.

Countless thoughts raced through his mind, but Hughes forced them down. He exchanged a few casual pleasantries and left. He needed to investigate what exactly a "named person" was. Bloodharbor had just begun construction; he didn't want any more complications.

And now he needs to confirm something else.

Then his itinerary took a turn, and he went to a literacy class.

Zoe was still teaching, and Hughes waited patiently for half a day before chatting with her after the class ended.

How are the literacy classes going lately?

"It's not bad. More and more people are coming to class recently. Many people who used to just want to freeload are now studying seriously."

"Is there anything special happening at Blood Harbor, like the various rumors?"

Zoe's literacy classes reached the lower classes of Bloodharbor, and she and the Secret Order could easily obtain information from them.

Since Gwen was already a member of the Secret Order, Hughes didn't want to alert her, so he came to Zoe's place first.

Zoe paused, her face darkening. "You found out after all, my lord."

Hughes raised an eyebrow. Had he really found something?

"There are people in the secret order who secretly worship you, and this is gradually spreading to Blood Harbor. I often hear similar news."

"."

Okay, I'd rather not have this gain. "Was it that kind of worship I was thinking of?"

Zoe nodded somewhat awkwardly: "They still worship you as a god and call you Lord, but they no longer show it, nor do they proselytize openly."

Hughes remained silent for a while before sighing, "It seems that the popularization of education in Bloodharbor still needs to be accelerated."

Blind faith is difficult to resolve directly through coercive means, and may even have the opposite effect: the greater the external pressure, the stronger the faith becomes.

But education can.

If people know the principles behind those miraculous creations, there will be no messy superstitions. Just like the Guardians of the Church, they have witnessed Castells' greater power, but they do not blindly worship Hughes; they only have a more moderate form of worship.

This is the significance of education.

"My lord, will this cause cognitive interference?"

Hughes was taken aback. Ah, this...
Hughes couldn't sit still any longer. He shoved the documents in his hand into Zoe's hand, turned around, and left, saying, "I'll go ask!"

Zoe didn't notice that when Hughes handed her the document, their fingers touched for a fleeting moment.

Hughes returned to Castells by boat that very night; if it weren't for his image, he would have swum straight back.

His abilities gave no response when he touched Zoe; Zoe was no different from anyone else.

That's strange. Hughes thought the [Named One] was related to his link threads, since Gwen was the person he linked with. Could he have made a mistake?
Perhaps Gwen herself is special?
Upon returning to the island, Hughes immediately summoned Richard, Tata, and the other members of the Fire Moths.

After briefly recounting the situation, he asked with some concern, "Everyone, something like this must have happened in the supernatural world before, right? Could it cause problems like cognitive interference?"

Cognitive interference is essentially an individual's will breaking through the high walls of reality, and people worship it as a god, which is highly problematic no matter how you look at it.

First, there are enough people, and second, their ideas are very firm. After all, they have formed an underground society, so there must be a large number of people who seriously believe in it.

Furthermore, these people share a similar understanding, all worshipping him as a deity, thus uniting the will of many.
The more I think about it, the more dangerous it seems!

The Fire-Chasing Moths exchanged glances, but Richard spoke first: "My lord, do you consider yourself a god?"

"of course not."

“Then there’s no need to worry.” He pushed up his monocle and nodded, saying, “The essence of cognitive interference is actually a confrontation of will. This is why objects are more prone to cognitive interference, such as the soap that had the problem before, because they don’t have their own will.”

"For living beings, every moment is a struggle against the world with their will. For example, right now, you know who you are and what you look like. This is your cognition, and it leaves your reflection in the world."

Hughes frowned and thought for a moment: "It sounds as if I don't actually exist in this world."

"The present world is a projection of the sea of ​​ignorance. Our world is merely an appearance, which is why we can obtain information through the sea of ​​ignorance—because those obstacles do not exist. The world is an illusion of the soul."

What kind of amazing theory is this?
Hughes's head was throbbing; this was just too idealistic!
He firmly believes that the world is material, or at least a significant part of it is material, and that the impact of cognitive interference or willpower resistance is very limited.

"For example, the wall you see in front of you may not actually be able to block you; it may not even exist in the dimension of the sea of ​​consciousness."

"Klein bottle?"

Now it was Richard's turn to be stunned: "What?"

(End of this chapter)