Struggle in the Steam Age

Lawrence woke up at six o'clock the morning after receiving the invitation. He was so excited and nervous that he couldn't fall back asleep. After all, the members of the Federal Science Association are equivalent to the members of the National Academy of Sciences in the previous life. How can this make Lawrence, who was an ordinary person a few months ago, not excited about it?

Lawrence got up from the bed when he couldn't sleep, and after washing up carefully, he went outside to buy some breakfast. When he put the breakfast on the table, the two ladies also finished washing and came to the table.

More than an hour later, the carriage booked yesterday arrived at the door. Lawrence and Safir, who were wearing travel clothes, put their luggage on the carriage together, and then the two set off.

There were two tickets in the envelope yesterday, and the letter also stated that besides Lawrence himself, he could bring another relative or friend as a witness of this critical moment and share the joy. Obviously, Lawrence didn't know many people in this city, and the people from the Church of Knowledge had already set off two days ago.

So Lawrence tried to invite Safiel, and she blushed and agreed to Lawrence's invitation after shyly laughing and fighting with Fatina for a while.

At around 8:30 in the morning, they arrived at Eagle Fort Central Railway Station. This is a very tall large building made of beige stone, with a transparent dome made of black steel and transparent glass on top.

"Platform 15, Platform 16—this is here." Facing the ticket, Safiel pulled Lawrence forward and ran all the way, and soon they came to a platform through a cast iron bridge.

On the tracks beside the platform, smoke from steam locomotives hung above the chattering crowd. The shouts of peddlers hawking various things were mixed with the humming of the crowd and the sound of dragging heavy luggage.

The railways in this world are completely different from the last one. With a gauge of 3.5 meters, a carriage width of 7 meters and a carriage height of 6.5 meters, the whole train looks like a moving steel fortress. If you insist on comparison, this train is closer to the armed train in the anime "Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress" that Lawrence watched in his previous life.

At the front of the entire train is an armed armored carriage, and the second section is the steam locomotive that emits thick white smoke. After all, the wild in this world far away from the control of intelligent creatures is not very safe. Therefore, if you want to pass through those places safely, the necessary force is absolutely indispensable.

When getting on the train, Lawrence and the others briefly registered as Transcendents. This registration was mainly to ensure that once an accident happened to the train in the wild, they could organize manpower to fight in time. Of course, you can also choose not to register, but then unless there is a special license, the weapon can only be checked.

Spatial equipment such as spatial pockets are not only expensive but also very rare. Generally, extraordinary people can only carry their own weapons with them. It is also because of this that under normal circumstances, extraordinary people will register at the door of the carriage when they take the train.

After the registration was over, Lawrence and the others walked into the carriage with their weapons. The interior of the carriage is divided into upper and lower floors, and the tickets given to them by the Science Society are two seats facing each other by the window on the second floor. A few minutes after they sat down, the big clock on the station reached nine o'clock, and with the sound of a whistle, the train started slowly.

There is nothing to say along the way. After all, Lawrence and the others took the train for three days and three nights when they arrived here, so naturally they have no interest in traveling by train. Therefore, the two people mainly spent their energy on communicating what the other party has done in the four years since they separated.

While they were chatting, the train slowly left the city, and the scenery outside the window changed from neat farmland to dense forests, swamps and grasslands. Occasionally, some supernatural creatures tried to attack the train, but these low-level monsters were quickly wiped out by the steam cannons on the roof.

When it was time to eat at noon, Lawrence finally found the commonality of the two world trains, that is, the food sold on the train must be much more expensive than outside. Fortunately, Safir prepared some beef sandwiches wrapped in greased paper in advance, so that they didn't need to eat these things on the train.

After more than eight hours of travel, the train finally approached its destination. A small clean city consisting almost entirely of white buildings appeared from the window of the train.

This is the Eagle's Nest Special Zone, the capital of the White Eagle Federation, and also the seat of the Federation Science Association. Different from the bustling and noisy Eagle Fort, the city looks a lot cleaner and tidier. Some colorful two- and three-story buildings are revealed from behind the lush trees, giving people a sense of tranquility.

In fact, in the early days of federal independence, some people suggested setting up the capital in Eagle Fort or Victoria Harbor City in the south, two of the most prosperous cities in the New World at that time.

However, considering that the relationship between the newly independent Federation and Britons was not good at that time, it was really easy to be attacked if the capital was built by the sea. At the same time, those two cities had already developed well at that time, and the cost would be too high if they wanted to obtain enough land to build the facilities required by the Federation. So after discussion, everyone finally chose this small settlement that was originally inland to build the capital of the Federation from scratch.

After leaving the train station, Lawrence and Safir split up: Safir took his luggage and went straight to the hotel that the Federal Science Association had booked for them, while Lawrence rented a carriage and drove to the church of the Church of Knowledge.

"Ah, my little Lawrence, I'm very glad to see you." After entering the church and stating his purpose, a church worker quickly called out the person who had arranged to receive Lawrence in advance. But what Lawrence didn't expect was that the person who received him was Priest Carter.

"Did you come here just for me? This is really too much trouble for you." Lawrence showed a flattered expression after seeing Priest Carter.

"Of course not." Priest Carter patted Lawrence's shoulder with his broad palm and said. "It's just that the priest sent me to deliver some things here, just to be able to tell you about tomorrow's process by the way. After all, I helped guide that member in the church two years ago, so I have some experience in this regard."

Fortunately, it may be considered that most of the scholars who joined the society are not very good at dealing with people, so the whole ceremony seems relatively simple. It only took 20 minutes for Priest Carter to introduce the entire process. After listening to the process, Lawrence found that the only troublesome part of the whole ceremony was the need to deliver a speech after obtaining membership.

"Don't worry, Lawrence." Seeing the embarrassment on Lawrence's face when he heard the speech, Priest Carter comforted him. "It's just a process. I remember that many people's testimonials are only a few words. Just say something, there is no need to have too much psychological pressure."

It took 20 minutes to piece together a simple testimonial based on the templates in memory. After confirming with Priest Carter that there was no problem, he returned to the hotel and had dinner with Safir. After chatting for a while after the meal, they went back to their rooms early to rest.