Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Richard was a little surprised, but he knew that Hughes had a means of remote communication with the Sirens, so he quickly gathered his things, picked up a suitcase, put on a black mask, and headed out.

『How’s the situation?』

『At the eastern cave, more than thirty murlocs have gathered. This time, they came out quickly, and there are whirlpools in the seawater. It feels like there’s something else, I suspect it’s a sea urchin.』

『I remember there’s an underground network there, right?』

『Yes, that area was originally used to store entity pollution. After Castel Cathedral was built, the pollution was moved underground beneath the church, leaving this cave empty. We’ve set up many arrangements here.』

Hughes recalled the terrain there. The seaside cave was where he had first seen the Sirens in battle.

Back then, their enemy was Monica, who had been corrupted by pollution.

Speaking of which, Monica had been unusually quiet lately.

She hadn’t even spoken in the group chat, who knew what she was up to?

『We’ll charge in as usual, but this time, we’re better prepared. The coastal cave is our home ground. Even if there’s a sea urchin, I’m confident we can take it down.』

『Then I’ll wait for your good news. We’ll be in the network tunnels. Your reserve team is also there, right? No need to worry about our safety.』

Hughes didn’t have any extraordinary abilities, and Richard wasn’t suited for direct combat.

The best they could do was avoid getting in the way.

Following the tunnels, the two quickly arrived beneath the eastern cave.

By then, many Sirens were already hiding inside, preparing for battle.

After greeting them, Hughes quietly stayed to the side, while Richard whispered to him.

"Lord, I can use my Extraordinary ability to observe the battle above. Would you like to see as well?"

"This can be shared?"

"Normally, it can’t. In theory, only those on the Chrysalis path can share this vision. But..." Richard hesitated.

"The Chief said you’re special, so maybe it’s worth trying."

"I’m special?" Hughes pointed at himself in surprise.

Oh, now that he thought about it, there had been something strange about the way he healed Chloe.

It wasn’t surprising that Chloe considered him special.

Recalling how he had suddenly gained Chloe’s eerie vision back then, Hughes felt that this might actually work.

"Chloe never mentioned this to me, but we can give it a try. How do I cooperate with you?"

"No need to do anything. Our Chrysalis vision is quite unique, just don’t be frightened. I’ll begin now."

After saying this, Richard removed his monocle, carefully wrapped it in a handkerchief, and placed it in his coat pocket.

His body suddenly collapsed as if all strength had left him.

Then, like a puppet lifted by invisible strings, he stood up in an eerie, dangling posture with his head lowered.

At the same time, Hughes’ vision went black.

His normal forward-facing sight suddenly expanded, encompassing all directions, front, overhead, sides, behind, until it covered every possible angle.

His view was no longer obstructed by his physical body.

Even the dirt and rocks in front of him couldn’t block his ever-expanding sight.

His perspective suddenly shifted, rising high into the air.

From a first-person view, it transformed into something resembling a real-time strategy game.

Hughes had played many such games before.

After fumbling a bit, he quickly grasped the controls.

With a thought, he turned his gaze toward the seaside.

There, a group of murlocs was crawling out of the sea, while Ash and the others hid behind a rock wall, ready to strike.

『It actually... worked. This is unbelievable... Right, Lord, this is an ability unique to us Chrysalis users. We can communicate directly through our consciousness. I’ll teach you how to use it.』

『No need. I already know.』

『?』

Richard was more shocked today than he had been the day he became an Extraordinary being.

Hughes should have been using these abilities for the first time, yet he handled them... so smoothly?

Richard could sense Hughes’ perspective.

At first, his movements were clumsy, but within moments, he was skillfully zooming in and out, adjusting angles and positions, like he had been using this ability for years.

How... how was this possible!?

Richard prided himself on being a quick learner.

He grasped new concepts instantly, thanks to his years of dissecting corpses, which had honed his spatial reasoning.

Yet, even so, it had taken him a full week to become proficient with the Chrysalis aerial view.

And Hughes... mastered it in mere moments?

Richard fell silent.

He had once been proud of his one-week achievement.

According to records, most Moths Chasing Fire extraordinary people took several months to get used to it.

He had thought himself talented.

Now, he realized how utterly mistaken he had been.

Hughes had even executed that seamless follow-camera movement.

Richard himself still struggled with it.

Yet Hughes picked it up without any guidance?

Richard was devastated.

But soon, he realized he had been shocked too soon.

The Chrysalis ability was called [Self-Binding].

Aside from providing a freely movable perspective, it also allowed for consciousness-based communication.

The function wasn’t complicated, nor was it particularly versatile, it simply let users talk directly through their thoughts.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple.

Without practice, controlling one’s scattered thoughts and condensing them into coherent words was extremely difficult.

So, Richard intended to teach Hughes the trick to mastering it.

But Hughes outright refused.

Then, just as effortlessly as before, he mastered it instantly.

—Well, if he could get used to camera controls that quickly, then learning conscious communication in an instant wasn’t that surprising either.

Just as Richard was marveling at this, he suddenly noticed something appear in his mind’s communication space, something he had never seen before.

『You have joined the group chat: Perspective Script Testing Group.』

Wait, what the hell was a group chat?

『Ash, say something.』

『Alright, Lord, I’m here.』

Richard’s eyes widened.

He recognized that voice.

It belonged to Ash, the commander of this battle.

What did this mean?

Had he somehow linked up his consciousness communication with Ash?

But he hadn’t even given her permission to share!

Wait, Ash wasn’t even on the Chrysalis path!

How could she be part of this ability?

Could it be...

Richard stared at Hughes in shock.

But Hughes wasn’t paying attention to any of this.

Instead, he casually sent several images in the group chat, snapshots of his aerial view.

Each image captured the murlocs’ positions from different angles.

The ones hiding in obscure spots were even marked with red boxes.

Wait... this consciousness communication can send images too?

Why had no one told him that was possible!?

Richard was utterly confused.