After 22 days of tectonic sense, we didn't find any mana crystals in the new tunnel. However, I did mark a few points of interest that we can come back to at a later time. One of the points looks promising as another sulfide ore deposit. The new tunnel itself is contributing somewhat to water flow down to the central area and out the two side tunnels as well, which was one of the added benefits I'd hoped we'd get from doing this. At the very least, there is now a small trickle of freshwater into the central area.

I'm thinking of potentially building a small storage tank for the fresh water to fill before it runs out of the central area to work as a buffer. That would allow a larger number of individuals to continually stay in the central area without needing to wait for water to collect in a cup to drink. I do wonder somewhat what effect these tunnel's water drainage is likely having on the spring sources above ground. We're essentially draining the aquifers at a lower level, so we're probably killing a few surface springs by doing this. On the other hand, we're also likely preventing some amount of water waste that would simply run to the ocean, so it's hard to gauge the net effect of this process.

As for getting the population ready for the eagles and the new bathhouse, I started going neighborhood by neighborhood in the city at around dinnertime, and talked to those who would listen. Between word of mouth spread at work areas, and general dealings between individuals, it only took twenty days before most of the population was aware of the upcoming status quo change. The handful of remaining dwarves from Kao's island were optimistic at the prospect of a proper ship coming to pick them up once the threat of leviathans abates.

I'm personally going to go double check all the different preparations around the island to make sure we're ready. I can always delay moving the crystal if the need arises. A few months of ether and nitrous oxide should provide us with an ample stockpile for attempting to handle a few eagles that get out of line, though each one will likely consume a considerable amount to properly move them.

I spent 68 days checking that everything was in order. The nests that the demons had built were impressively natural looking. I was a little worried they might not be able to make convincing nests, so I'm glad to see their success. According to them, there are 88 nests placed strategically around the higher parts of the mountain. The paths up to the nests could still use a little work, but they're manageable currently.

The feeding area is neat, with dozens of food bowls with subterranean access and storage. I'm interested in seeing how that ends up functioning, though it seems somewhat dangerous to observe and work there. The bathhouse area is impressive and already has water flowing throughout it, just waiting for the crystal to be installed. All the various chemical processes were also proceeding nicely, so I'm confident to say we can install the crystal when it's finished growing in about a month.

On the fifth day of the new year, we began the process to install the finished crystal. The whole thing ended up being a five day endeavor. First, I had to break the apparatus I used to grow it. I quickly became aware that, even deep underground here, I needed to sheath it in a stone covering almost a foot thick. The apparatus it grew in had thick walls so I hadn't noticed before, but even being close to it felt oppressively dangerous, like the energy emanating from it would arc out if I got too close.

Once it was sheathed, we opened the artificial flooring layers, then attached cabling and slowly hoisted the massive crystal up and out from the growth area. The crystal with it's sheath weighed at least a dozen tons, probably more. Moving something of that size took a considerable amount of time, even with roads and a crane.

Further, even in the sheath, once the crystal was on the surface, it was clear that this wasn't like crystals we'd had in the past. There was a considerable mana pressure in the surrounding area. It wasn't so much as to be uncomfortable, but it was far beyond anything we'd previously felt.

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When we finally got it moved into the bathhouse and positioned, and I removed the stone sheath, a few things happened. First, as soon as a small amount of the sheath was removed, the crystal was blindingly bright, and the water itself began to almost crackle with energy. Later that day, it became apparent that the crystal had likely been releasing some amount of ultraviolet light in addition to visible light, because a few hobgoblins developed sunburn. Myself, and other harder skinned individuals didn't notice any negative effects, and even those with the sunburns healed shortly thereafter.

However, we needed to make some changes to the bathhouse interaction area. In the following three days, we needed to add some steam vents, since some of the water was actively boiling away while interacting with the crystal. All the ovens in the city also started going haywire, producing drastically more heat than they previously did. Ultimately, we needed to remove one of the heat crystals, and also give it a slight insulating layer to prevent it from overcooking items.

Even further away from the city, mana engines began running much more vigorously than before. A few entirely broke down due to being overstressed. It'll probably take a month or two to properly re-tool all the various mana driven manufacturing lines to be in accordance with the new ambient mana levels.

Given the sheer amount of mana interaction happening, I had the atmospheric recording team spread out around the island to begin taking readings with manascopes. Over the course of twelve days, the mana readings were nothing short of astounding. Throughout the half of the city close to the mana crystal, mana levels were literally off the chart for the high capacity manascopes I'd made, putting it well over 50 CU. By the far side of the city, they only got down to 43 CU. Even on the furthest side of the island, the readings were still at 10 CU, which is about 5 times the regular mana level that we would expect at noon.

At some point, I'll need to make an even higher capacity mana scope to allow us to measure these incredibly high ambient mana levels. Unfortunately, that will have to wait, because we've developed a much bigger problem, beyond the need to repair and adjust mana-powered devices. Leviathans.

I was shocked when I saw them. Not just one, but dozens of them. They never came to the shallow waters, probably due to their size, but they were all fairly close to the island, and staying there. Horrifyingly, different kinds of leviathans would clash with each other, and it seemed like it was only a matter of time before it caused a problem for us. Giant eel like leviathans fighting huge crabs, and a massive fish-like things brutalizing something that looked like a massive jellyfish.

If it was all physical combat, it'd be less concerning, but their fighting is occasionally accentuated by a massive outburst of magic. Whether it's something that sounds like a massive explosion, or a huge number of fish suddenly washing up on shore all cooked alive, it's a serious problem.

The only thing that I can think of is that the increased mana levels from such a large crystal extend out into the ocean, and are actually attracting the leviathans here. I'd also wager that beyond the increased mana levels, there is probably a wider area of low mana. Based on the atmospheric info we'd gathered previously, winter has the lowest ambient mana levels due to it's coincidence with eclipses. When we had smaller crystals, we probably deprived the nearby ocean of more mana overall, redirecting it over the island. In winter, the levels got low enough that the leviathans, like the eagles, were no longer comfortable in the area. If prevailing currents run towards the mainland, it would explain their absence, and why the eagles felt the need to migrate.

Now, we're probably generating something like a dead zone around our island. If I had to guess, it'd look something like a bullseye, with our island and the nearby ocean having high mana, and a wide zone of low mana. All the leviathans have since moved inward, and are now trapped, unwilling to move out through the low mana area to escape.

That also probably means that the mainland will think it's safe to travel here when it isn't, though they'll probably be able to safely turn away given the visibility of leviathan fights occurring. We're going to have to slay these leviathans soon, or else we're going to have a problem. The area they seem to cling to is about a ten mile extension out from our island in each direction, and they're actively destroying the aquatic ecosystem we rely on for food.

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