The explosion showed Shen Cong the great power of a Firestarter fragment, and it showed him that the Fire Cloud Totem could really be built.

*A radiative eye really is an effective way to push a Firestarter fragment's energy up to the threshold in the fire cloud state. Now I have a way to trigger the Firestarter energy. What's left is to turn this uncontrolled burst of energy into work.

If the energy in a Firestarter fragment couldn't do work, it still came to nothing.

The simpler way to get work out of it would be to build something like a nuclear reactor, heat a boiler and turn the Firestarter fragment's energy into electricity.

But the energy in a Firestarter fragment seems to be a very new kind of energy. Maybe I can use it directly and skip the trouble of building power-conversion equipment... I should find some engineers to help design it. My own skills are limited, and it's hard for me to put it to use on my own.

The secret of the Firestarter fragments might get out because of this.

Even if it gets out, it's no big deal. It's only tapping the energy inside Firestarter fragments. The new government needs lots of energy to grow, but it has fewer Firestarter fragments in reserve than I do. After all, the Firestarter fragments in the oases can't just be moved... It'll be hard for the new government to use Firestarter fragments to develop weapons.

Even if they develop weapons, it doesn't matter. As long as I hold the same technology firmly in my own hands, they're not much of a threat to me.

The new government and I work on technology together, and more heavyweight tech like this is bound to come along later. I can't go on treasuring my own worn-out broom. It does me no good. Reaching the sky soon is what really matters.

Shen Cong thought it over for a long time.

In the end, he decided to open the development of Firestarter fragments to the new government and pick engineers to take part.

November…