Ezra finished eating before Lucy did. Since his portion was smaller, not because he disliked the food, but because his body simply could not handle as much as hers.

After letting the food settle, he walked into the living room.

The moonlight streamed through the windows and spread across the polished floor.

Sitting atop a smooth crystal block was his Starlix Z11. The crystal itself was square-shaped, and beneath its transparent surface flowed strands of colorful gas-like energy that drifted slowly around one another, and a cable extended from the side of the crystal and connected to a wall socket designed with a single pin port.

The crystal block served as the phone’s charging device.

Ezra picked up the Starlix Z11 and immediately opened the Grand Lumithar Shopping Complex page.

The pale glow of the screen reflected against his face as his finger moved across the display. Furnace after furnace appeared before him.

The first listings were the cheapest models.

A Normal Base Furnace.

Which was nothing special.

Just an oven chamber, a fire chamber, and a chimney designed to release smoke.

Including shipment and installation fees, the price was only thirty gold coins.

He continued scrolling.

The next model was a Second-Grade Steam Furnace.

And even without reading the specifications, the grading alone told him everything he needed to know about its performance.

One hundred and eighty-six gold coins.

Shipment included.

Installation included.

Still cheap.

Far too cheap.

Ezra quietly read through the detailed descriptions.

His eyes moved across every line.

The fuel efficiency.

The internal temperature.

The pressure ratings.

The durability.

None of it met his requirements.

All these low-tier furnaces are affordable, but there is no way their combustion temperatures can reach the range needed to process the metals I intend to use.

The thought surfaced naturally in his mind, while he rested his chin against his hand.

"I need one that can work with high-tier ores," he muttered. "At least for now."

His finger moved faster.

The prices began climbing.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

Tens of thousands.

Then he finally arrived at the Fourth-Grade Steam Furnace.

The moment he opened its specifications, his eyes paused.

This one could work with most of the materials Vera had provided.

The problem was not its capability.

The problem was the number displayed beneath it.

One million five hundred thousand gold coins.

Ezra stared at the screen.

His expression barely changed.

However, inside his head, calculations had already begun.

How much money would remain after I buy this?

How much will I even still need for the black-market purchase?

What about future expenses?

Raw materials too? I will definitely have to buy more.

More tools?

And unexpected failures also?

Each number stacked upon another.

The result was painful.

"Well..."

He sighed softly.

"There is no choice."

He proceeded with ordering it.

"Master."

Lucy walked into the living room, while she cleaned her wet hands with a napking.

"Did you find a good furnace?"

She leaned slightly forward, trying to peek at the screen.

"Yeah."

Ezra nodded.

His attention remained on the order confirmation page as he filled in the remaining details.

"Then all that’s left is getting the materials Lady Vera mentioned from the black market."

Lucy sounded strangely excited despite having absolutely no idea what Ezra planned to do.

"Yeah, but that can wait,"

Ezra replied.

He finally set the phone down.

"The furnace installers will arrive tomorrow and before anything else, I want to study some information first."

Lucy nodded.

A second later, a notification appeared at the top of the screen.

Ezra glanced at it.

Vera.

Without hesitation, he opened the message.

’You have three seconds to read this.’

Jewel_of_Ash

Ezra’s eyes narrowed slightly as another message appeared.

’Cryden Town. Velcryon city. Third back alley. Find the only bar in that district.’

Jewel_of_Ash

Another message followed immediately.

’Keyword: I want to buy Melic. The black type.’

Jewel_of_Ash

Then another.

’Time up. Speed’s star.’

Jewel_of_Ash

The messages vanished almost instantly.

However, Ezra had already memorized every word.

His memory was far too good to forget something after reading it once.

He typed a brief reply.

’Thank you.’

Ezra_Ashenlocke

After sending it, he switched off the phone and returned it to the crystal charging stone.

Golden light spread across the glass surface.

The charging crystal brightened slightly.

The battery indicator glowed yellow, showing it was already half charged.

"I’m going to sleep, Master."

Lucy’s voice broke the silence.

"Good night then."

Ezra stood from the couch.

"Good night, Master."

A small smile appeared on Lucy’s face as she walked to her room.

Ezra gave a slight nod before heading toward his room.

The next morning arrived quickly.

The sky was still pale when Ezra resumed his exercise routine, although because his injuries had not fully healed, he avoided pushing himself too far.

The moment pain began spreading through his body, he stopped.

Being stubborn was pointless. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Afterward, he headed into the kitchen.

Lucy was still occupied with her morning chores when the smell of cooking began spreading through the house.

A few minutes later, she entered the kitchen.

Then stopped.

Blinking.

She stared at Ezra in amazement.

The young noble stood before the stove with a calm expression while handling several cooking utensils with surprising familiarity.

The movements looked smooth and natural.

As though he had done this hundreds of times.

Lucy found herself silently watching.

After all, noble children usually didn’t cook.

Most couldn’t even prepare tea properly.

Yet Ezra handled everything with ease.

Naturally, all of this came from the Book of Memories.

Ezra’s past self was clearly experienced when it came to cooking, although life had rarely given him the opportunity to prepare proper meals for himself.

Most of the time, survival was more important than taste.

Back then, a meal usually consisted of watery rice, stale bread, and water.

On days when luck decided to show him a little kindness, he could at least eat properly cooked rice accompanied by thin stew and a single egg serving as the only source of protein on the plate. During even rarer occasions, he would bring home leftover takeaway food from the restaurant where he worked and enjoy what felt like a feast compared to his usual meals.

That miserable lifestyle only changed slightly after he retired from the army.

At least, it should have changed.

During his years in the army, Ezra had deliberately learned more about cooking.

He studied recipes whenever he had spare time, memorized ingredients, and learned preparation methods from anyone willing to teach him. The reason was simple.

He wanted to reward himself.

After spending years enduring hardship, eating poor meals, and surviving day by day, he wanted to sit down one day and enjoy proper food prepared by his own hands.

However, reality didn’t care about those hopes.

By the time he finally retired from the army and had enough money to cook whatever he wanted, something inside him had already broken.

The taste was gone.

Completely gone.

No matter what he ate.

No matter how expensive the ingredients were.

No matter how perfectly the meal was prepared.

Whenever food entered his mouth, he could only taste blood.

Nothing else.

A faint shadow passed through Ezra’s eyes.

For a brief moment, a memory surfaced from deep within his mind.

An apartment.

A dining table.

A steaming meal prepared with great care.

Then came the sound of retching.

Again.

And again.

And again.

The image of himself kneeling beside the table while vomiting over food he had spent hours preparing flashed through his mind before disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.

The kitchen around him returned to focus.

The soft sound of boiling broth echoed from the pot.

Steam drifted upward.

Sunlight spilled through the nearby window and illuminated the wooden counter.

Ezra silently pushed those memories aside.

Instead, he focused on the recipes stored within the Book of Memories.

Page after page appeared inside his mind.

Countless dishes.

Countless ingredients.

Countless preparation methods.

Fortunately, many spices and cooking materials from his previous world also existed within Britannia. While there were differences here and there, the similarities were enough for him to recreate a large number of dishes if he wanted to.

"But there are clearly some spices missing."

Ezra lightly rubbed his chin.

"And some foods don’t exist here at all."

His gaze continued moving through the endless list of recipes.

Burger.

Spicy Wings.

Fried Coated Chicken.

Chips with Ketchup.

The more he looked, the more interesting the idea became.

Even though his expression remained completely calm, his throat moved slightly.

He swallowed.

A food business...

Wouldn’t that actually work?

I don’t know much about running one, but the more I look at these recipes, the more ridiculous the opportunity seems.

The Burger, Fried chicken, Spicy wings.

And even ketchup alone would probably attract attention.

His thoughts drifted further.

The food industry.

Restaurants.

Fast food chains.

Recipe patents.

The possibilities seemed surprisingly large.

"That really isn’t a bad idea."

Ezra nodded twice.

The thought quietly settled into the back of his mind.

Not something for now.

But definitely something worth remembering.

Soon afterward, he finished preparing breakfast and personally served the food onto the table.

Lucy only joined him later after completing her morning duties around the house. She had spent part of the morning cleaning several rooms and checking the Steam Engine Power Core that supplied energy throughout the residence.

Only after all of that was finished did Ezra finally make his way toward the library.

The large room was quiet.

Rows of bookshelves stretched from one side of the room to the other, their dark wooden surfaces carrying hundreds of books arranged in careful order.

Sunlight filtered through the tall windows and scattered across the floor, creating bright patches of light among the shadows cast by the shelves.

Ezra walked between them slowly.

Eventually, he stopped in front of a particular section.

Steam Engine Engineering.

Without hesitation, he began pulling books out.

One.

Then another.

Then another.

By the time he returned to his reading table, several thick books were stacked in his arms.

Each volume was massive.

Some contained more than five hundred pages.

Others exceeded one thousand.

Every single one focused on the study of Steam Engines.

The reason Ezra had chosen this subject before immediately pursuing his inventions was actually quite simple.

Ever since he left the trial base, he had noticed something strange.

Compared to the civilization recorded in his memories, Britannia existed in a very unusual position technologically.

In some areas, it seemed behind.

In other areas, it appeared strangely advanced.

The imbalance was obvious.

Britannia couldn’t simply be judged using the standards of his previous world.

Because of that, Ezra understood that recklessly introducing technology from Earth would be foolish.

Although, there were already countless ideas he could bring into this kingdom.

Ideas capable of shocking nobles.

Ideas capable of making scholars lose sleep.

Ideas capable of causing entire industries to change.

However, that was not what he wanted.

At least not yet.

What Ezra truly wanted was something more stable.

Something smarter.

Rather than replacing Britannia’s technology, he wanted to combine it with the knowledge from his previous world.

He wanted to create something entirely new.

To do that, he first needed to understand the foundation upon which Britannia’s civilization stood.

And that foundation was steam.

Steam powered factories.

Steam powered transportation.

Steam powered homes.

Steam powered industries.

Understanding steam meant understanding the kingdom itself.

That was why this was the first subject he had chosen to study seriously.

Ezra sat down and opened the first book.

Then he began reading.

Time passed quietly.

The library remained silent except for the occasional turning of pages.

One hour became two.

Two became three.

The pile of books gradually shifted as Ezra moved from one source to another.

At the same time, sheets of paper began filling with notes.

Steam pressure.

Fuel consumption.

Heat transfer.

Boiler construction.

Mechanical output.

Efficiency ratings.

The more information he gathered, the more focused he became.

Then suddenly...

Ezra paused.

His pen stopped moving.

He glanced away from the book, looking at his left thoughtfully.

Something he already had a feeling about, the first time he saw the Mining city of Metallica clicked to him again.

His eyes narrowed slightly back on his jotter as he reviewed the information he had gathered.

The steam engines from my previous life’s knowledge seem to operate differently.

The thought surfaced unexpectedly.

At first, the difference had been subtle enough to ignore.

Now it was impossible to overlook.

Ezra immediately activated the Book of Memories.

The pages moved fast as it stopped on the information he was looking for.

***

[Steam Engine]

Classification: Thermal Mechanical Engine

Technological Tier: Early Industrial Revolution Technology

A steam engine is a machine designed to convert heat into motion through the controlled expansion of steam. Though seemingly simple in concept, its invention marked one of the greatest technological leaps in human history, allowing machines to perform labor once requiring hundreds of workers.

Operational Principle

The process begins with the combustion of fuel. Coal, charcoal, wood, oil, and other combustible materials are burned within a furnace, generating immense quantities of heat. This heat is transferred into a sealed boiler containing water.

As the temperature rises, the water gradually transforms into steam. Unlike liquid water, steam occupies a far greater volume, causing pressure to build within the confined chamber. Once sufficient pressure has accumulated, the steam is directed through valves into a cylinder.

Inside the cylinder rests a piston. The incoming steam forces the piston forward, transforming pressure into mechanical movement. Through connecting rods and crank mechanisms, this movement is converted into rotational force capable of driving wheels, gears, pumps, and countless other machines.

After the steam completes its power stroke, it is either expelled or condensed back into water, allowing the piston to return to its original position before the cycle repeats.

Core Components

The engine is composed of several critical systems. The boiler serves as the primary pressure vessel, storing water and converting it into steam. The firebox provides the necessary heat through continuous fuel combustion, while the steam cylinder acts as the chamber where pressure performs useful work.

The piston converts steam pressure into linear motion, which is then transferred by connecting rods into larger mechanical assemblies. To maintain smooth operation, a flywheel stores excess rotational momentum, reducing fluctuations between power strokes. Overseeing the entire process are a series of pressure valves, responsible for regulating steam flow and preventing dangerous over-pressurization.

Engineering Principles

Steam engines operate through the interaction of three fundamental principles: thermal expansion, pressure generation, and energy conversion.

When heat is applied to water, the liquid expands into steam. The resulting expansion creates pressure within a confined space. By directing this pressure against mechanical components, thermal energy is transformed into motion. The entire machine exists for this singular purpose: converting heat into work.

The Limitations

Despite their revolutionary capabilities, steam engines possess significant drawbacks. They consume vast amounts of fuel and water, making long-term operation expensive and logistically demanding. Their boilers require constant maintenance, as excessive pressure can lead to catastrophic explosions capable of destroying both the machine and its surroundings.

Furthermore, considerable energy is lost through heat dissipation, steam leakage, and mechanical friction, limiting overall efficiency.

Applications

Steam engines became the foundation of industrial civilization. They powered locomotives that connected distant nations, drove factory machinery that produced goods on an unprecedented scale, operated mining equipment deep beneath the earth, supplied pumping stations with continuous force, and propelled massive warships across oceans.

Entire economies were built upon their operation.

The Summary

The steam engine is the discipline of imprisoning heat within steel and water. Through controlled pressure and calculated release, humanity learned to transform fire into motion, motion into labor, and labor into progress. It stands as one of the first machines that allowed civilization to command power beyond the limits of muscle and manpower.