Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 62 - Automated Watering System

Looking their best, the fairies gathered inside the Monarch of Solitude's little farmhouse. There might be many creatures gathered, but Rino accommodated them indoors cosily. He did not have a castle or a huge town hall for these things, but it did not really bother him. This farmhouse was functional, and as long as everyone kept their hands to themselves, he did not see a need to immediately start building any new structures.

"Thank you for gathering here on short notice," Rino cut to the chase. "I organised a meeting to explain about the sudden growth of potato plants in the field that you might notice."

His statement grabbed everyone's attention, and Rino slowly explained his future plans to expand the fields with the possibility of growing more variety of crops. The gardeners listened and agreed in unison when Rino shared his goals with them. Their leader was far-sighted and wise. Solitude was in good hands.

"However, I always believe that there is a more efficient way of doing things. Therefore, I would like to share with everyone my design for an automated watering system that will cover every field. This way, the fairies can put their abilities to better uses."

Sharing a hand-drawn diagram of his sprinkler design with a room full of people wasn't easy. Many of those lingering at the back squinted to get a closer look, so Rino decided against it. Only those who were involved in building the automated watering system will remain behind for a closer look. The lich still had to talk it over with the gnomes and ask for their opinions.

Rino's idea was fairly simple. There were no advanced magic arrays that allowed a chain magic circle to activate from one point yet. Even in the previous world, Rino planned the city revamping project to light up the streets with magic and transfer water for every household within the royal capital to enjoy clean water and lights.

If he could do that back then, he could do it again in this world, starting from nothing. His arrival wasn't the most glamorous. There were no red carpets and orchestras to announce his presence. Instead, Rino remembered waking up to the taste of mud in his mouth. What a start!

Compared to that, this project would really propel the age of magic in this primitive world to unimaginable heights. Rino looked forward to becoming the first kingdom devoid of humans and full of magical advancements.

"We need a lot of runes," Rino stated. Thankfully, he knew a renewable rune resource. Since he was sharing a soul with the World Tree, the World Tree should be able to tap onto his high regeneration abilities too.

"The fairies will assist me in building this mana network in the fields during the day. The gnomes will build the sprinkler posts after testing the sprinkler's effective distance with me. Fronzo, you and the shadow minions are in charge of weeding and maintaining the potato plants. Keep the pests away and prepare to harvest them when they are ready."

His speech was short but effective. There wasn't a single person in this farmhouse who did not understand their role in the massive project.

"If there are no questions, please continue what you were doing before I disturbed you. The gnomes should remain behind. We will start with the prototype testing. I need your help."

Thrilled that the king would be joining them, the gnomes gave each other hi-fives and ran after Rino once the farmhouse was empty again.

Not rushing, the lich took his time to rearrange the furniture in the house and even prepared some water for the gnomes. It was a pity he did not have food around, only potatoes and clean water to entertain guests with. No wonder Noir left so hurriedly! He was a terrible host.

The eight little men accepted the clay mugs happily, not commenting on the uneven shape or surface. The king must have made this himself, and they were honoured to use what the king used.

"Here is my design of the automated watering system," he showed them the design.

The concept was simple. Rino wanted to use some sort of chamber or pipe to contain all the water inside and make a very small opening at the end of that pipe. The water rune will be affixed to the bottom of that pipe so that when it is activated, the amount of water coming from that rune will rapidly fill the pipe and build pressure within that chamber to force a thin jet of water to shoot further than it normally would.

Using that, Rino wanted to measure the maximum effective distance that the water could shoot and decide how many 'sprinklers' he needed to make to cover one acre of field.

"Will it turn?" one gnome asked after looking at the design of that water pipe. The wind rune used to turn the pipe in one direction at a slow speed was the most interesting part of this water chamber design.

Rino nodded and explained how the sprinkler should work to the gnomes, who were amazed.

"My king, you are very talented! We've seen something like this that humans use to get clean water. However, it uses the force of the world to drip water downwards. We have never seen anything defying the force of the world before that does not have wings!"

Rino blinked. What were they talking about? This wasn't even magic. It was just physics. Pressure was built up if there was more force behind what the output allowed. Could it be that this new world he was brought to lived in an age of complete ignorance for mathematics and science too?

Discovering that the world was behind in arts, science, technology, and magic, Rino decided.

He wasn't simply going to build a kingdom for an idle life. He was going to build a kingdom that individuals were free to build upon his founding knowledge. He was going to create a creator's paradise where automation and advancement of technology ruled.

But first, he had to play teacher to these ignorant citizens.