The Aqua Vita pipe was a great advance, but it had a serious issue. Yes, the water was pure and refreshing; however, along a mile-long portion of the lining, Glassrot made an attack very severe. You can think of it a bit like a horrible, crystalline fungus that made the area brittle and hazy, thus gradually it was spoiling the water with silicates. New Root, the initial city to be fed by the Aqua Vita, which is said to be a god's sweat gland that had turned to stone, had locals getting Stonegut, as if their insides were gradually turning into rock.
Kira the engineer with a very practical approach was looking at a map of the conduit with disbelief. She was working in the control room and her hands were firmly planted on the table. We could get past the Glassrot area but that option entails cutting off water supplies to New Root and three other small towns. They will definitely have to endure dirty water again. On the other hand, maybe trying to remove the rot is an option, but it is so deeply intertwined that it feels like taking bad stuff out of your brain.
Looking at the map and the location of the Glassrot, Leo could only feel displeasure with the area. He said slowly It's not just a bad spot; it's something entirely new. It's like it's fed by the silicates in that old god stuff. We just gave it a nice way in our pipe.
Then, we simply take care of it, said a former Carver who is currently engaged in repair works.
Or, we exploit it, said Elara, entering the room. Benny was with her, and both of them seemed like they had just come in from a windy place. Everyone turned their faces towards them, some with irritation, some with interest.
Elara approached the map and indicated the Glassrot with her finger. The fungus turns silicates into tiny crystal particles. To put it simply, it is a natural glass producer. The artists from New Root have been complaining that they cannot get clear glass for their greenhouses. Everything is getting cloudy, made from old materials.
The whole room fell silent as they all understood what she was saying.
Kira could hardly believe her ears if she could say it herself. You say we... farm this stuff?
Benny explained we don't grow it. It's highly attracted to certain things, especially silicate deposits. We construct a channel to draw it away from the water along with the silicate stuff it likes. Let it make the crystals there. After that, we take the crystals for windows, lenses, or even new crystals.
It was something the old Cult would despise. Rather than fighting the problem, they would go on and work with it even if it was a disease.
Maxine, whom they reached out to, quickly responded: Glassrot follows a pattern. It is attracted to certain things. It's achievable.
A crew was put into motion. They employed things that produced a sound that the Glassrot liked and thus they were able to attract the fungus away from the water, leading it to a trench filled with ground god bone that had a lot of silicate. The Glassrot came after them, a slow, gleaming wave, thus leaving the pipe clean.
After a month had passed, the trench was filled with hard, transparent glass. Miners—who formerly were engaged in other activities—were taking it out. First clear windows were installed in a greenhouse in New Root. Light, coming through the sky and the transparent glass, touched the plants. It was not much light, but it was direct.
The first crop in the greenhouse was not abundant, but the vegetables were nice and clean. People of New Root ate them as if they were luxuries. They didn't just solve a problem. They transformed a bad thing into a good one.
New idea was introduced to the Stewards' rules:
The bad thing is not the problem, the problem is trying to defeat it. Sometimes, the bad thing is just a resource that we haven't discovered yet.