Chapter 4

Just think about it. Someone who had lived 300 years had actually forgotten what having hot tea was like. What kind of a life was that?

I bent down to meet Bear’s gaze.

“Master Windom, you won’t just be having hot tea now. You can have hot stew.”

“Hot stew?”

“That’s right. You can have a huge pot of hot water and put all sorts of things in there to cook up the perfect stew for yourself. I’ll think about how to make it work.

“Once the temperature control in Icicle Mountain is fixed, you can control the temperature of the whole cave system. Then, we can have a warm room where we can cook and eat stew.”

Bear looked at me. His expression did not change much, but I noticed that his grip on his teacup had loosened.

“Why are you so nice to me?” he asked.

“Because I’m your HVAC engineer. Satisfying my clients is my duty.”

He looked at me with a complicated look in his eyes.

From that day onward, he started speaking to me. It was only a handful of sentences every day, but we were like friends.

The system notified, [+10 Friendliness; Current friendliness: 15/100.]

It was a low level, but that was fine.

When it came to HVAC, one could not rush. I had to get the client to trust me and find me reliable. From there, I would be able to do bigger projects.

Bear’s projects were the biggest.

The School Tournament had begun, and Bear had me watch the proceedings.

“It helps to see how others fight.”

I was confused by this.

“Master Windom, I fix the temperature. I don’t fight.”

Bear replied, “The principles behind the arrays used in fighting and the ones used in constructing a ventilation system are the same.”

I gave it some thought, and it sounded quite right. The core function of a temperature system was control, putting energy in the right place in the right way. Fighting was the same.

I went to watch the tournament.

In the arena, I saw all sorts of fancy magical tricks and arrays. However, to me, they were all HVAC systems with an acceleration array underneath. It was just a booster system to improve the flow of magical energy.

When someone laid a protection array around them, that was an insulation layer that reduced energy consumption.

When someone laid a trap array, that was a valve that cut off the opponent’s flow of magical energy.

As I watched, I noticed a problem.

Everyone used arrays that were “fixed frequency.” No one used “variable frequency” arrays.

No one used arrays that could change based on the changing rhythms of the fight. Everyone laid their arrays, fed in magical energy, and powered through.

It was as if everyone in this world had decided to use fixed frequency AC but not variable frequency AC.

The more I watched, the more I wanted to try something.

On the third day of the tournament, my chance came.

One of the beginner students had set up an ice trap array in the arena. The student’s opponent was trapped inside and was about to yield.

However, the array fulcrum was suddenly overloaded, and cold air blew in the opposite direction, sealing the student in ice.

The audience erupted into a furor.

The judge was about to call the match to a stop when I stood up and yelled, “Hold it right there!”

Everyone looked at me.

I did not pause to think about it. Racing to the arena, I knelt by the array fulcrum and took a look. It had overloaded.

The flow of magical energy was too much, and the array fulcrum could not handle it. It was just like an AC compressor being overloaded. What came next was either a power trip or the thing would simply break.

I got some magic ink out and added an adjustment by the fulcrum that gave it a distribution node.

The audience was completely silent. Everyone was scared that any sound would disturb my array-laying.

Three seconds later, the cold air flowed in the new direction it was given, and the fulcrum was not overloaded anymore. The frozen student slowly moved their limbs and came out of danger.

Everyone sighed in relief. Then, there was a passionate burst of discussion.

The student I had saved looked at me and asked, “How did you do that?”

“Distribution,” I said. “Your fulcrum was overheating, so I just let it breathe.”

The student blinked at me, expression still confused.

Clearly, the student had no clue what I was talking about, but that did not matter. Bear understood.

From his seat, he looked at me with something in his gaze that I had never seen before.

After the tournament, Bear came looking for me.

“Wisteria, I have a task for you,” he said.

“What task?”

“There’s an ice dungeon under Icicle Mountain.” His tone was bland, but his fingers twitched. “I sealed something inside 300 years ago. The seal is weakening.”

“What’s inside?”

“An ice wyvern.”

I was stunned. Ice wyverns were old and formidable beasts in this world. Supposedly, one icy breath could freeze and crack mountain ranges.

“What will happen if the seal weakens?”

“The ice wyvern will break the seal and escape.” Bear looked at me. “If that happens, Icicle Mountain will be buried under its icy breath. Nothing will be able to survive in a 30-mile radius.”

I inhaled deeply.

“So you want me to fix the seal?”

“Not fix,” he said, “I want you to redesign it.”

Bear looked into my eyes.

“All the current seals are ‘fixed frequency,’ using the same amount of power to control the ice wyvern. However, the ice wyvern is growing in power. The seal won’t become more powerful and will be broken sooner or later.”

I understood.

“You want me to make it ‘variable frequency’ and vary the amount of power used to seal the ice wyvern. You want it to automatically get more powerful and save energy when needed.”

Bear looked at me with shining eyes.

“That’s right.”

I was quiet as I thought about it for a while. Then, I said, “Alright, but I have some conditions.”