The Aquifer Solution
In which our protagonist builds the continental water regulation system, two engineers stop being apprentice and master, and a princess decides that someone is going to need watching.
The dams took six weeks to build, and the six weeks were, in the driest possible language, the six weeks that the system had been quietly logging as the most expensive six weeks in the history of continental engineering, and the cost was, in a small way, the kind of cost that the system was, in a small way, going to be paying back for a long time.
It was, in the language of Kenji's old job, the biggest project he had ever managed. Seven kingdoms, hundreds of mages, thousands of workers, all coordinated through the crystal network, all building infrastructure to manage a flood that was still happening. The work was exhausting. The work was also, he realized, exactly the kind of work that the world had been avoiding for centuries. The kind of work that was too big, too expensive, too hard. The kind of work that you only did when the alternative was the end of the world, and the end of the world was, in a small way, the kind of deadline that the system was, in a small way, hoping was not going to be missed.
[Project: continental_aquifer]
[Status: under construction]
[Dams: 12 of 14 complete]
[Channels: 38 of 42 carved]
[Reservoirs: 6 of 7 online]
[Compiler note: this is the same spell family as the Oakhaven aquifer. The system approves that the developer remembered. The system is, in a small way, the kind of system that approves remembering.]
The dams were not just dams. They were also reservoirs, channels, and, in two cases, underground aquifers that were being refilled by the flood waters that the continental redirect was, in a small way, sending south. The system was designed to absorb the excess water, store it, and release it slowly over the next year, in a controlled way, through the channels that led back to the ocean. The system was, in a small way, the kind of system that the system was, in a small way, going to be remembered for, and the remembering was, in a small way, the kind of remembering that the system was, in a small way, going to be using as a precedent for the next thing it built, and the next thing it built was, in a small way, going to be the magical thermostat.
It was, Kenji thought, exactly the kind of system that Oakhaven should have had. The aquifer he had built in S2E1 was a tiny version of this. Now he was building the big version. The continent-sized version. The "any sufficiently well-defined problem is solvable" version, and the version was, in a small way, the kind of version that the system was, in a small way, going to be deploying for the rest of the season.
Lian was running the spell calibration. She had grown into the role, becoming the person who designed the magic infrastructure, while Kenji designed the physical infrastructure. The two systems were layered, the magic on top of the stone, the stone on top of the water, the water on top of the world's mana, and the layering was, in a small way, the kind of layering that the system was, in a small way, going to be using as a model for the magical thermostat, and the thermostat was, in a small way, going to be the most layered system the system had ever built.
They worked together for sixteen hours a day, every day, for six weeks. They did not see each other as apprentice and master anymore. They saw each other as colleagues, two engineers working on the same project, the way it had been since the iron mines in S2E3, and the way it was going to be from now on, and the way it was, in a small way, going to be the way the system was, in a small way, going to be remembered for.
[Apprentice status: promoted, in a small way]
[New role: co-architect]
[Compiler note: the system is, in a small way, the senior engineer who has been asked to onboard a junior. The junior is, in a small way, no longer a junior. The system approves. The system is, in a small way, proud of the developer for letting the apprentice outgrow the master, in a small way, on purpose.]
Princess Calla arrived in the third week.
She came south, with a small retinue, to see the dams. She had been watching the work over the crystal network, and she had decided, in the way that princesses decide, to see it in person, and the deciding was, in the driest possible language, the kind of deciding that the system was, in a small way, logging as a sign that the princess was, in fact, a person who did not let the system do the work without the system being watched, and the watching was, in a small way, the kind of watching that the system was, in a small way, going to be remembering.
She was, Kenji saw when she arrived, exactly as she had been on the crystal network: sharp-eyed, calm-voiced, with the kind of presence that comes from being raised to lead, and the leading was, in a small way, the kind of leading that the system was, in a small way, going to be paying attention to.
"The dams are impressive," she said, on a tour of the largest one, and the impressiveness was, in the driest possible language, the kind of impressiveness that the system was, in a small way, going to be logging for the record. "But they will not hold forever. The flood is still rising. The next wave will be bigger."
"I know," Kenji said. "The dams are not the final solution. They are the first step. The final solution is the magical thermostat."
"What is the magical thermostat?"
"It is a system that regulates the world's climate. It is a spell that adjusts the mana flow in the atmosphere, smoothing out the extremes, preventing the storms from forming, preventing the floods from happening. It is the same principle as the dams, applied to the air instead of the water."
[Magical thermostat: planned]
[Location: ice caps, source of atmospheric mana]
[Principle: same as dams, different medium]
[Compiler note: the system is, in a small way, ahead of the developer. The system has been thinking about the thermostat since the first storm. The system is, in a small way, ready to build it.]
"Can you build it?"
"Yes. But not here. The thermostat has to be built at the source. The mana flow is regulated from the top of the world, from the ice caps. The ice caps are where the world's mana enters the atmosphere. If I can build the thermostat at the source, I can regulate the whole system."
"The ice caps are a thousand kilometers north. Through the corruption zone. With a small army of cultists in the way."
"Yes."
"That is a suicide mission."
"It is an expedition. I am taking Lian, Pip, and fifty of the best mages from the alliance. We are going to the ice caps. We are going to build the thermostat. We are going to debug the world's climate, and the debugging is, in a small way, going to be the most expensive debugging the developer has ever done, and the developer is, in a small way, ready to do it."
Princess Calla looked at him for a long moment. The looking was, in the driest possible language, the kind of looking that the system was, in a small way, logging as the kind of looking that the system was, in a small way, going to be remembering for a long time. Then she said: "I am coming with you."
"Your Highness?"
"I am the heir to the northern kingdom. The corruption is in my kingdom. The floods are killing my people. I am not going to sit in a palace while someone else fixes my problems."
"Your father would not approve."
"My father is old. He is tired. He has given me authority to make decisions on his behalf. I have decided."
She looked at Elara, who was standing behind Kenji, watching. Elara said: "If she comes, I come. And if I come, the rest of the bodyguard comes. We are not letting the Royal Advisor walk into a corruption zone without a proper escort, and the escort is, in a small way, the kind of escort that the system is, in a small way, going to be logging as a critical resource."
Kenji looked at the two women. He looked at Lian, who was standing a few steps away, taking notes, the notebook that the system was, in a small way, going to be remembering for the next five years. He looked at Pip, who was orbiting his head, pulsing, the pulse feeling like: "We are going on a trip. The trip is, in a small way, going to be the trip that the system is, in a small way, going to be deploying the magical thermostat on, and the deployment is, in a small way, going to be the most important deployment of the season."
Kenji sent back: "Yeah. We are going on a trip."
The expedition was planned. The route was mapped. The supplies were gathered. The mages were briefed. The bodyguard was assembled. The crystal network was set up to coordinate in real time, with the Council of Kings watching, with the continent watching, with the world watching, and the watching was, in a small way, the kind of watching that the system was, in a small way, going to be proud of the alliance for, and the pride was, in a small way, the kind of pride that the system was, in a small way, going to be carrying through the rest of the deployment, and the rest of the deployment was, in a small way, going to be the deployment that the system was, in a small way, going to be remembered for.