How long did a person need to prepare themselves before they could choose to count hundreds of millions of lives as a "cost," a price paid for civilization's survival?
Gawain felt that the answer was probably "forever"—no one could ever truly prepare themselves for such a thing. No one could treat it as a mathematical problem with a clear conscience. It was something that could never become "only natural." The scale of the Sanctuary City Cluster meant that more than half the world's population would inevitably be left outside the barriers to face the impact of the Magic Tide, while the survivors who emerged from the shelters would spend at least a generation slowly coming to understand and remember that price.
But if there was no other choice, this terrible option would still become an executable plan. Whether it was himself, Rosetta Augustus, Bercetia, or the two dragon leaders, everyone here understood one truth—most difficult choices in this world were not made with a clear conscience.
You might not be willing, but you could not refuse to choose. As Veronica had once told Gawain, every sacrifice represented the incompetence of the decision-makers—yet decision-makers would continue making decisions, and sacrifices would forever accompany the progress of civilization.
It was under such circumstances that the Typhonians presented their solution. Gawain believed that Rosetta Augustus fully understood the significance of that solution.
But this should not be the only solution.
"The Sanctuary City Cluster plan bypasses the engineering challenges of a planetary barrier, but the price is limited protective coverage and staggering casualties," Gawain said, lightly tapping the table. "And I have another question about it... We all know that the foundation for generating a Non-directional Thought Tide is a Neural Network. We need a large number of 'Calculation Nodes' densely connected to