It had been colder before, but once the temperature stayed constant, you wouldn't wake up from the cold—you'd get used to it.
Now, with the "1.0 Heating System," the temperature had risen, but the temperature change, resulting from the hot water cooling in the copper pipes, felt uncomfortable.
So—
He planned to build a "2.0 Heating System" before dark to provide continuous heating for the camp.
...
The plan was simple.
In the current heating system, rainwater was collected from the external copper pipes and then heated in the boiler inside the wooden hut, before flowing into the copper pipes inside the hut to generate heat.
However, without a circulation pump, the entire process required some manual operation and couldn't be fully automated.
What he needed to do now was manually create a "circulation pump" to provide a pressure source.
First, he spent 2 Eerie Stones to create an Animal Trap, and then used 10 Eerie Stones to upgrade it to "Spike Trap."
He chose the upgrade direction "Power Enhancement" to increase pressure.
Next, he created a cubic copper pipe, one meter wide and one meter long, standing it upright on the Spike Trap. The whole structure looked like a ⊥ shape, but since the Spike Trap was also one meter wide and long, they fit together perfectly.
Half an hour later.
"All done."
Chen Fan stood outside the camp, looking at the structure that resembled a black piston, hands on his hips, slightly panting but smiling with satisfaction.
Success!
The Spike Trap triggered when they felt a certain pressure, and the dark, hard wooden spikes suddenly shot out. He modified the Spike Trap by cutting off the tips of the wooden spikes, greatly reducing their destructive capacity. Then, he peeled the pelt from a Monkey Head Ghost and covered the "Spike Trap" with it.
This way, when the Spike Trap was triggered, they rapidly pushed up the pelt.
It's like—
A large leather piston.
Moreover, the Spike Trap is extremely energy-efficient. It can be triggered countless times before the Eerie Stones used to create it are depleted, making it almost like a perpetual motion machine.
After that, he connected a thick copper pipe to the stove to serve as a large boiler. Then, he linked the "piston" and the boiler with a narrow copper pipe.
The top of the copper pipe piston was unsealed, and from near the top, the narrow copper pipe extended horizontally through the city wall all the way into the wooden hut.
When rainwater filled the cubic copper pipe standing upright outside the camp, the Spike Trap would sense the weight and trigger, pushing upward, setting the rainwater rushing through the horizontal narrow pipe near the top into the boiler in the wooden hut.
This would send the original hot water in the boiler into the copper pipes inside the hut, while cold water would stay in the boiler.
Waste hot water would flow out of the hut through the copper pipe.
By this point, the "2.0 Heating System" was complete!
For aesthetics, the horizontal copper pipe extending from near the top of the "piston" had been laid flat against the ground and the wall. Although this had consumed a bit more Eerie Stones, it reduced the risk of collapse. After all, copper pipes were just a building module and were not particularly sturdy.
There were other solutions, such as utilizing the energy released when the boiler boiled water, but this had its drawbacks.
For now, this solution was the simplest and most resource-efficient.
Of course, there's plenty of room for optimization, but just leave those tweaks until later times. Rome wasn't built in a day.
...
Crippled Monkey and the others gathered around the piston that stood pressed against the city wall. After listening to Chen Fan explain the mechanics principles behind it, they were all dumbfounded, unsure of what to say.
"..."
Pockmark Wang glanced at the five Spike Traps by the farmland, then at the piston standing upright, his eyes full of confusion.
Spike Trap...
Could they be used like this?
Why hadn't he thought of that?
Then he looked at Chen Fan's back, a flicker of fear in his eyes. He had thought Chen Fan's rise was due to inheriting some Architect legacy from his mother, but now it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
Knowledge could be passed down, but could intellect?
A young master who got bullied by everyone in the Chen Clan but suddenly became enlightened upon arriving in the wilderness?
How was that possible!
Whether in his way of doing things or his personal demeanor, he was completely different from the Chen Fan Pockmark Wang had seen in the Chen household. As he waited for the day to break free from the family's control and soar, he had hidden his abilities for so many years —such a temperament was almost frightening.
"Young Master!"
Crippled Monkey, excited, limped around the piston again and again. "I never imagined Spike Trap could be used like this. And I can sort of tell that this structure, which you've named the piston, could have even more uses, right?"
"Of course."
Chen Fan stood with satisfaction outside the camp, looking at the crude piston and smiling faintly. "This piston is just a basic application. I've named this method... mechanics."
"Mechanics?"
"You can simply think of it as boiling water."
"Oh, I see..."
This was a fantasy world,
but—
He was not a native of this world. A Spike Trap that triggered when it sensed pressure and was incredibly energy-efficient was more than just a Spike Trap in his hands.
"Um..."
At that moment—
Wang Kui timidly raised his hand and ventured, "Station Master, this heating device is almost perfect, but its main water source is rainwater. When the rainy season passes, and winter comes, how will this device operate?"
Once he finished speaking, the others looked at each other in surprise.
That was right.
Winter was the coldest season, the kind of cold that could kill people. Without a rainwater supply, wouldn't this heating system become useless?
"No need to worry."
Chen Fan casually replied, "Currently, the wastewater from the heating copper pipes in the wooden hut is discharged outside. When the rainy season is over, we just need to add a buffer device and connect the wastewater discharge pipe to the piston. That way, we can recycle the water."
"It's the rainy season now, so there is no shortage of water. This also saves some Eerie Stones on making copper pipes."
"Every bit saved helps."
The next moment—
"Station Master!"
Zhou Mo's shout came from outside the camp. After passing Crippled Monkey's check, he led his subordinate to Chen Fan, excitedly saying. "Station Master, we had a good haul today, and on the way back, we also..."
"Eh?"
Zhou Mo suddenly noticed the black, upright copper pipe on the ground nearby and asked in surprise. "What's this?"
"..."
Chen Fan smiled, took the "Big Blade" Extraordinary Treasure from his pocket, and tossed it to Zhou Mo. "Let them explain it to you. I'm going inside to rest. Report to me later. It's almost dark, so everyone should get ready."
"This blade is for you."
"Ahem."
Crippled Monkey coughed lightly into his fist, then said seriously. "First, everything I'm about to say must not be spread. This is a new architectural secret method devised by the young master. The young master has named it 'mechanics.'"
"It's a secret not to be passed on."
"This structure you see is called a piston. Inside, there's a Spike Trap that serves as the pressure source, and..."
Crippled Monkey, seeing Zhou Mo's increasingly confused expression, spoke with even more enthusiasm, unable to suppress the smile on his face.
This was his young master's masterpiece!
The only one of its kind in the entire Rivernorth City!
A while later, Zhou Mo looked seriously at Crippled Monkey.
"Brother, you don't have to worry about me spreading it."
"Because I didn't understand a word you said. Even if I wanted to spread it, I couldn't."
"But..."
"This blade is really good."
Zhou Mo lowered his head to look at the Extraordinary Treasure blade in his arms, grinning from ear to ear, too fond of it to put it down. He walked toward the camp, simpering.
"Ah."
Crippled Monkey sighed helplessly. These people were so uncultured. Back in the Chen Clan's family school, he had always been top of the class in theoretical courses.
The piston invented by the young master was much more valuable than that crappy blade in your hands, you know?
He could vaguely sense that this wasn't just a heating structure. It was the foundation of a whole new era belonging to the young master.
Like... a cornerstone.
In the blink of an eye, tall buildings could rise, and guests from all over the world could be entertained.