132 George's Day 3

Arnold, it should be noted, didn't actually care very much about shops or houses or balconies or anything of that sort.

"Pillars." He said straight out as soon as they met. "We need solid steel pillars reaching up from twenty feet underground all the way to the ceiling. On top of that, let's put on these antennae."

"Antannae? I thought they were fishing rods." George squinted at Arnold's drawing.

"Actually, they're there to catch lightning, not fish."

"Lightning? You want to catch lightning?"

"Jim does. We can't catch all of it, but what we can catch can be converted into either mana or electricity. He's not good with mana conversion, but he has this way of storing electricity in these little canisters…"

"What about what we can't catch?"

"That goes into the ground. That's why these pillars need to go all the way down… oh, and we need to wrap them in something that prevents people from getting zapped if they step too close."

"Please do. So what's this label here about catching rain? Why should we catch rain?"

"Why, for water! We already want the water storage tank up top, right? Why not just collect whatever the sky dumps down on us? We can put up a glass dome when it rains, so that it all drips down into these gutters here, and then flow into the treatment tank here… long story short, it would save us a lot of time and energy carrying or pumping water up all the way from the river. Plus it would be cleaner than river water. Do you know what kinds of creatures live in there?"

"But the river water is cleaned up by the treatment plant anyway, right?"

"Yeah, but why waste energy when we could literally just sit around and collect water as it falls?" Arnold nodded, as if to himself.

"Just… don't make that dome too tall. I'm worried about strong winds."

"Oh, we can plant some bushes and small trees on top of the hill to help with that. The kind that bends with the wind, and all. That should help. Actually, we could turn the whole hilltop into a water catchment area…"

"Just build a lake, please." George pointed. "Have it here, near the dome. We can connect a supply pipe from there to the treatment plant."

"A lake on top of the hill… I'm worried about whether the hill can stand up to all that weight."

"Aren't we reinforcing it with steel beams?"

"We are, but… you want to move the forge in as well, right? That's a lot of heavy equipment and a lot of impact vibrations."

"We can put the forge in the basement levels. Or have it in tunnels far away from the main open area. We could have the forge in the hills next to Kara, or under what used to be the Encles settlement. Heck, we could put the forge in the Pit."

"The hills next to Kara sound about right. That should give them room to grow. I'm thinking that the area that used to be the Encles settlement could be used for other water-related things."

"Such as…?"

"Such as a watermill. That could really help in making flour or processing lumber. Also, Jim mentioned he might be able to collect some energy from turbines like that."

"Why not just stick a windmill on top of the hill while you're at it?"

Arnold grinned. "That thought occurred to me, too."

***

Hours later, George slumped down to dinner with Taj, Nadia, and Izak in the center of the Guild Hall.

"You want us to expand the farm?" Taj stared. "But the Wilds!"

"Doom told them not to attack the farm."

"There are occasional raids anyway. Some crops were destroyed, some food was stolen…"

"But everyone's safe, right? Nobody got hurt."

"Yet if we expand the farm, aren't we provoking the Wilds? They might just decide to do away with Doom's instructions and attack us anyway. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that the best way to get rid of animals was to remove their food source." George pointed out. "Right now, that's the reforested area. If we expand the farm more, we reduce that area, and thus, starve them out…"

"And they're going to try to eat us next." Taj shook his head. "I'm sorry, George, but it's just too risky. We have a very fragile peace right now. Let's not endanger it."

"Maybe you're right." George sighed, leaning back on his chair. He rubbed his shoulder, then his eyes, tiredly. The strain of this morning's practice was starting to show up very prominently. "What if we expanded the other way? Take over the area that used to be the town?"

"We could do that." Taj nodded slowly. "But why? What's the big hurry about increasing our farmlands? We seem to have less people to feed now than we did before."

"We want to be able to store up food for a time when we need it. I want a year's supply of grain stored up in Kara-Goth in the event of a siege. This Beast Tide could turn on us again at a single word from Doom. If that happens, we lose the farm immediately. Also, I'd rather use the land while we can, as much as we can, and farming is the only thing we can safely use it for."

At that point, Taj and Nadia exchanged glances while Izak's face looked gloomier and gloomier.

"Are you all right?" George asked Izak.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm fine." Izak said, but he didn't look up from his plate. "I think… I better go check on… something… Sorry, I gotta go."

George watched him go, blinking. "Is he always like that?"

"Not usually. He's actually a rather cheerful boy, especially now that we have our own farm." Nadia said. "It's just that he… well…"

"What?"

"He was looking forward to talking to you. He wanted to invite you to join his adventuring team and go exploring the new tunnels under Kara-Goth, and patrol the farm perimeter against Wilds, and play basketball with the rest of the kids." Nadia shook her head. "But you're not like other kids."

George groaned. "Sorry. It sounds like fun, it really does. But I can't, not yet. Right now, I'm really swamped…"

"That sounds more like Taj then someone his age." Nadia let out a small laugh. "It's okay, George. I'm sure he understands."

***

That night, George had a quick bath and then sat up in bed trying to read a book on Basic Earth Magic. It was one thing using magic tools like scrolls and wands, but according to Lydia, higher level mages preferred to use magic without tools. In fact, a basic requirement for a Third Circle mage was to be able to use magic without any items at all.

A 1st Circle mage was the kind that used consumables; scrolls and talismans and items that carried its own charge that was expended after use.

A 2nd Circle mage was a tool-user, who could channel mana into tools to empower them to do what they were designed to do.

A 3rd Circle mage didn't need tools to use magic. A 4th Circle mage could create magic that others could use; being able to inscribe scrolls, for example. A 5th Circle mage could modify magic items, customizing or upgrading magical tools rather than just copying designs. A 6th Circle mage was someone who had invented his own magic items and tools, something of his or her own unique design. Lydia said her teacher was like that; he had invented a sort of device that automatically handled the making of his coffee…

But the most powerful mage Lydia knew was her school headmaster; he was a 7th Circle mage, who was able to affect magic outside himself and his equipment, that is, he was able to channel magic in the environment. He could make instant void zones where there was no mana and nobody could cast magic. He could make areas where mana was especially strong and you'd be able to cast magic more easily. He could make areas become stronger or weaker in a certain element, so that only magic of that element would be easier to cast, often to the detriment of all others. Something like that.

There were legends about even higher level magi. Magi who could affect magic in other people; those were scary. Magi who could change the very rules of magic. Those were even scarier. But as far as Lydia knew, those were just legends. She had never met anyone with that sort of power. So far.

If they had higher level magi here… someone like Lydia's headmaster… fighting off the Beast Tides… would be so much easier…

George yawned, trying to read, to focus, as he laid there in his comfortable bed after a long, hard day.

Getting magi to come here to the Frontier couldn't be easy… it may prove impossible. In the end, the only… real reliable way to… have a high level mage here… was to… become one… himself…

He fell asleep on that thought, and that was how he ended his day.