The workshop stayed quiet long after everyone left.
Too quiet.
Ace sat alone at his worktable, staring at the dead scarf laid neatly in front of him.
No glow.
No warmth.
Just fabric.
Ravenna hovered nearby, unusually silent.
"They're stripping enchantments at the conceptual layer," she finally said.
"Magic tied to emotion, belief, meaning. Anything dependent on resonance."
Ace nodded slowly.
"So anything that relies on magic alone is unstable."
"…Yes," Ravenna admitted.
Ace exhaled.
Then—he laughed.
A short, tired laugh.
"Figures."
Ravenna blinked.
"…That's your reaction?"
Ace hopped down from the stool and padded across the workshop.
"You know what I used to do in my old world?" he said casually.
"When systems broke for no reason?"
Ravenna tilted her head.
"Panic?"
"Document," Ace replied.
He pulled out a blank ledger.
Wrote at the top:
PROBLEM: External interference
CONSTRAINT: Magic unreliable
GOAL: Restore function without enchantment
Ravenna's feathers ruffled.
"You're… planning?"
Ace's tail flicked.
"I've been through worse. Clients who changed scope mid-project. Systems sabotaged by politics. Deadlines that ignored physics."
He placed the scarf flat.
"This isn't magic failure," he said calmly.
"This is dependency failure."
He picked up a needle.
Plain steel.
No runes.
No glow.
---
Design Principle #1: Magic Is Optional
Ace threaded the needle.
He didn't chant.
Didn't focus mana.
Didn't call on emotion.
He stitched.
Slow.
Precise.
Intentional.
The scarf didn't glow.
But—
When the boy returned the next morning and put it on—
He stood straighter.
Not because of magic.
Because it was warm.
Comforting.
Well-made.
The girl noticed.
"You look calmer today," she said softly.
The boy smiled.
"…I feel like myself."
The scarf stayed gray.
But it worked.
Ace watched from the doorway.
And smiled.
---
Design Principle #2: Meaning Comes From Use
Next—
The Minotaur returned.
Ace didn't re-enchant the skirt.
He reinforced seams.
Adjusted fit.
Balanced movement.
"Try dancing," Ace said.
The Minotaur hesitated.
Then danced.
No glow.
No magic.
But he laughed.
Loudly.
"I still feel brave!" he said, stunned.
Ace nodded.
"Because the courage was always yours."
---
Design Principle #3: Systems Over Symbols
At the dragon's hoard—
Ace didn't rely on labels.
He taught the dragon habits.
Daily sorting.
Clear zones.
Rules.
The mimic intern woke up—not magically—
but because Ace kicked it gently.
"WORK HOURS."
It snapped awake instantly.
"INTERN READY."
The hoard stayed organized.
Not perfect.
But stable.
---
That night—
Ace stood before the Relic of Dimensional Memory.
"You wanted to see what happens when you remove magic?" he said quietly.
The relic pulsed faintly.
Ace leaned closer.
"I don't fix things with power," he said.
"I fix them with process."
The relic vibrated harder.
Ravenna whispered,
"Ace… it's reacting."
Ace didn't flinch.
"Whoever's watching," he continued,
"You miscalculated."
The relic flared—
Showing fragmented images:
The figure.
The gears.
The shadow.
Ace's eyes narrowed.
"You thought I'd fail without shortcuts."
He turned away.
"But I built my whole life without them."
The relic dimmed.
Somewhere—
Very far away—
A figure frowned.
"…Interesting."
Ace curled up on his worktable that night.
Exhausted.
But steady.
For the first time since the interference began—
Things weren't fixed.
But they were working.
And that terrified the one watching.