Music for today:
Nothing I found was fitting, I'll add music if I find something
Chapter 507: To the Future
Mid Morning - Late Fall : Year 39 : Poseidon, Draconic Continent
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Days seemed to pass between our breaths after that.
Eventually returning to the central cavern while Hera went for another swim, Reon shared a map of the cavern and surrounding cave network with me, looking like an oversized anthill, before providing another that showed exactly what he wanted.
But it didn't end at just straightening, widening, or organizing existing tunnels as he initially proposed.
"I think it would be better for the future of the city to redo the cave network entirely."
"Mm, I see..." Looking over the drawings, he not only depicted a major reconstruction of the existing tunnels, but the addition of new webs entirely—not just connecting to the central cavern through the existing 'highways', but by countless new proposed entrances. "So you're wanting to mesh the new set of bridges and roads in the main cavern directly with this outer network?" -It's quite intricate...-
"Correct." He nodded firmly, "This new layout will help the cavern breathe more, and combat issues like traffic, airflow, and the transportation of heat and moisture before they become a problem."
-He's given this a lot more thought than I expected.- But I was thankful for it. While I did wish to preserve some of the historical sanctity of the city like Reon, it was inevitable that its reincarnation would be larger, and have different requirements.
"If we expect humanoids to be able to find this place habitable as well, we need to take climate control very seriously, and unfortunately, the existing network just isn't meant to handle air and heat to that extent."
As it was, the tunnel network needed more places for air to move in and out to let it breathe properly. -And while it looks complicated,- Meshing directly with the complex, multi leveled network of roads that would eventually fill the central cavern, -It actually looks like it'll work pretty well...- Seemingly accounting for everything I could think of. "And I expect you'll use runes in the walls to guide everything around?"
"Exactly!" He nodded with a cheery flick of his tail seeing that I was following. "I may need some researchers to help figure out the logistics of it, especially in regards to the heat, but it should be possible."
And I agreed. -This is actually quite exciting!- Rebuilding an entire city from basically nothing was going to be a monumental undertaking, however, something about it was.. fun.
As if helping me forget the horrors breathing down my neck for a moment, while chewing through rock like an organic excavator, I felt like a kid digging in the sand at the beach.
And with Reon catching me when I forgot something, like temporary support beams in the larger, kilometer tall passages, I just enjoyed myself.
Day by day, the network of tunnels expanded, and with it, entire sections of the cavern finally started to exchange stagnant breath. -Even without runes, the tunnels are making the air move...-
With all the new entrances, air that was trapped in small depressions of the cavern walls were finally allowed to move, and with it, the whole cavern equalized.
By the time I finished the excavation, the temperature had dropped several degrees, the moisture content was spread out enough for the air to spell fresh, and while I was worried there would be a constant, resonant hum from the new network of entrances, Reon had already accounted for it. -How impressive...-
But that outer network was just the beginning.
Eventually moving on to building the submerged foundations and pillars of the new bridges, roads, and draconic columns that would fill the main cavern itself, I did a little more than Reon asked, going in and greatly strengthening not just the new foundations, but the existing columns as well.
Thankfully, as the water in that part of the aquifer wasn't dissolving my flesh, I could really take my time—cementing the foundations into the sloped bottom of the aquifer, while taking some spare time to retrieve and spread out aquatic plants and coral that would help filter the metal content out of the water over time. -It won't ever be drinkable but it'll at least keep people from dying if they fall in...-
It was just the beginning of a several year project, but as I started seeing it laid out in front of me, it was impossible not to smile. -This place is going to be beautiful...-
Soon enough, greenery would take over everything, and with the contrast of the marble-like stone that would decorate many of the buildings, I couldn't have been more excited to see how it'd all flesh out. -I wonder what Hera will think...-
Looking down through the central island, now coated in white stone, I churned a bit of divinity to feel her presence echo back, seemingly having finally made it to the inner chamber with the echo's core. -Seems like she's still doing well.- Having consistently felt odd shifts in the mana flowing into the cavern from below, it was clear she was doing something, and didn't seem to be in any sort of trouble.
So, in the end I chose not to distract her.
Continuing with whatever work Reon had for me, I got back to excavating, even beginning the carving of some colossal highways that would lead directly to the base of the mountain outside, where Reon proposed ports would be constructed. -Channels for immigration and trade.- They were also fantastic funnels to help with things like security and regulation. -But these will take some time.-
With each of the four channels being almost ten kilometers wide, it would take more than my own effort to construct.
But, it made the few weeks I had to work on it exceptionally productive.
Even if it would soon come to an end.
Beginning to get a little worried about Hera after both her, and the mana in the cavern became unusually still, I decided to try and probe a bit.
While I was trying not to disturb her, I just didn't feel comfortable with the silence.
So, after some thought. -I wonder if I was just talking too quietly for her to hear me before.- Spinning up a little extra divinity, I tried once again to get my voice to reach her. "~You doing alright down there?!~"
And while previous attempts returned silence, I almost immediately got a response. "~Y..Yeah? I think?~" Her voice was crystal clear, yet she was deeply hesitant.. as if unsure about something...
-That's not a good sign...-
But, it wasn't at all what I thought. "~S-Sorry, it's a little hard to hear you over this thing!~"
"~Huh?~" -Over what..?- "~Over the core?~"
"~Y-Yeah! This thing is freakishly loud. I don't understand how we couldn't hear it in the cavern.~" Pausing, the presence of her divinity shifted, as if moving within the space around the core before pausing again. "~It's actually good to know you can hear me! Do you think you could help me?~"
-Uhh...- "~May..be..?" Confidence drained from me in an instant. "What's up?~"
"~I don't think breaking the core is such a simple matter.~" Her voice reached me with a troubled quiver. "~From what I can tell, it's getting mana from deeper within the planet somewhere, and.. I'm not sure... My gut is just saying not to break it. I don't know why.~"
-Interesting... I wonder if a piece of Delphi's echo is stopping her...- My first thought was that perhaps something in her soul was programmed to preserve the core since it once housed an echo, perhaps believing it still did, but after further thought... "~Alright.~" I chose to value her decision as if it were my own. "~How do you want me to help?~"
"~W-Well.. if I can't break it, how do I keep souls from settling into it?~"
-I mean...- "~I'd think a reincarnation circle, but putting that right beneath the city might not be the best idea...~" While it would indeed stop souls from getting into the core, there were too many caveats.
As I knew it, reincarnation circles worked by concentrating mana into a singular point so dense that souls treated it like a black hole—getting sucked in before being cleansed and pushed out like radiation from a quasar. -So long as that point is denser than the core, nearby souls will be pulled into the rune rather than settling in it.- And in theory, so long as the rune was being supplied more mana than the souls being cleansed could consume, I could vent the excess into the city.
However... -I'm not sure I can trust that a rune right beneath the city wouldn't pull in that many souls...-
Being right beneath the city, if the force of the rune was strong enough, souls would inevitably accumulate around it like the Tree of Prayer.
But in the end, while thinking in the right direction.. I was approaching it wrong.
"~What if, instead of a proper reincarnation rune, you just used something similar to make the whole core uninhabitable..?~"
The moment Hera's words reached me, my tail froze, and my mind paused.. hesitant to jump to the conclusion I made. "~How so..?~"
"~I'm.. not sure...~" Even Hera had pause at the mention of it. "~You would know better than me, I'm just thinking.. what if instead of shattering the core entirely, you just.. make it so nothing can inhabit it..? Like making it into an artifact, or something?~"
-W..What..?- It would be an artifact on a scale nothing in this world could even approach, but... -Now that I think about it.. that might just work...-
I merely needed something for it to do... Something not too mana hungry, that still churned things enough to ensure nothing in the core ever stayed stagnant.
-Something like...- "Reon!" Turning as an idea settled, I scanned the cavern for him. "I got an idea for you!"
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