With Elian’s spirited cry, construction on the Valeria Dam broke ground. But nature was not so easily tamed. This was the North, where winter never relented throughout the year — a brutal cold of minus thirty degrees that froze even running rivers solid.
“My Lord! We have a problem! The cement is freezing and cracking the moment we pour it!”
The foreman came running with a broken chunk of concrete in his hand. Water and cement were supposed to combine in a chemical reaction and set — but before that could happen, the moisture was turning into ice crystals, expanding in volume and splitting the concrete apart. Even after Elian had spent a small fortune mixing rapid-hardening cement with fire-attribute mana stone powder, the North’s cold had exceeded all imagination.
“As I thought… the mana stones alone aren’t enough.”
Elian bit his lip. He could generate heat, yes — but the problem was that the mix froze in the split second before that heat could even kick in. Just then, Elian’s gaze landed on the North’s most powerful cold-wielder, standing off to the side of the construction site with his arms crossed.
Wait. If he controls ice… doesn’t that mean he can also stop things from freezing?
Elian’s eyes lit up like a merchant who’d just caught the scent of money. He jogged straight over to Calix.
“Your Grace. I am in need of your distinguished abilities.”
“I’ve heard the situation, but… I’m not so sure. I can’t use fire-attribute magic. My mana freezes everything.”
Calix looked down at his own cold hands and answered flatly. But Elian shook his head and pushed forward without shame.
“No, no. You’re the master of ice, Your Grace. So just give the water a little order. Tell it — ‘Hey, hold off on freezing for ten minutes.'”
“…What?”
“Supercooled state maintenance, if you will! I’m asking you to suppress the water from turning into ice just long enough for the cement to generate its own heat. Be our human cooling regulator.”
Telling the lord of the North to play cement babysitter. Calix’s brow furrowed. But Elian didn’t back down. He pointed over to the enormous mixer they’d prepared in place of a concrete truck. Strange, grinding noises rang through the middle of the construction site.
Creak, grind — clunk, whoosh.
It was Elian’s own invention — unofficially dubbed Manual Mixer No. 1. Workers hanging off either side of a massive steel tank were throwing every ounce of strength they had into cranking the handles. Interlocking gears turned and rotated the heavy drum.
“Faster! Mix it before it sets!”
“Foreman! My arms are about to fall off!”
The workers’ cries of suffering rang out — but inside the drum, the grey cement mixture churned with satisfying, wet slaps. A hundred times more efficient than stirring with a shovel.
“Your Grace, all I need you to do is run your mana through that tank so it doesn’t stop. The workers turn it, you keep it from freezing. A perfect division of labor, wouldn’t you say?”
“You’re telling me… to babysit cement?”
“Babysit?! Do you have any idea how much that one batch costs? If you don’t help me, every last point I bled for will evaporate into thin air! Please, come on — you’re really going to let me throw all that money away?”
Elian stamped his feet and made the face of a man grieving over wasted money. Calix couldn’t help a disbelieving laugh. Not asking him to save a life — asking him to protect the price of cement.
“Haah… fine. I’ll do it.”
Calix relented and placed his hand on the mixer with an air of resignation. Cool blue mana wrapped around the tank. Even in the minus-thirty air, the moisture in the mixture held its liquid state under Calix’s absolute control. In the meantime, the mana stone powder underwent its chemical reaction and began releasing a surge of intense heat. The moment the cement was poured and applied—
“It worked! It’s setting! His Grace has held back winter itself!”
A cheer erupted from the workers. Elian stood by the tank, clapping slowly, and murmured to himself.
“As expected of the Grand Duke. Using talent like that for free. I really am the luckiest man alive.”
Whether Elian’s satisfied smile was born of affection for Calix or of pure joy over saved labor costs — it was impossible to tell.
* * *
Day twenty of construction.
The dam grew taller with each passing day. Calix was on-site nearly every day, faithfully playing the role of human regulator. Even for a Grand Duke, the mana expenditure must have been immense — and yet he held his post without complaint.
Every time Elian came running with sparkling eyes calling, “Your Grace, I’m counting on you again today!” — he simply couldn’t refuse. Though if he was being honest, his deepest reason was that he wanted to stay close to Elian’s side in case anything happened on the site.
Completion was approaching ninety percent. All that was left now was to dismantle the cofferdam that had been diverting the river, then fit the sluice gates onto the main body — and they’d be done. But then, strange signs began to appear.
“My Lord, doesn’t the weather seem a bit… off?”
The foreman wiped sweat from his brow and asked. Elian had felt it too. It was warm. This was the North in winter, and yet the air around the construction site was thick and humid.
Is it the heat from the cement curing?
Elian tilted his head. Just then, a red System warning window flashed in front of him.
[Warning: Collision between ‘World Setting’ and ‘Reality’ detected!]
[Cause: The North’s theme is ‘Eternal Winter’ and ‘Ordeal.’]
[Detected: The structure built by the player (the dam) is generating excessive ‘abundance’ and ‘hope,’ destroying the plausibility of the original genre (Ruin genre).]
“…What?”
[System: The world is attempting a ‘forced correction’ to fix the error.]
Before Elian could even process what the message meant —
Patter. Patter.
Fat raindrops fell from a clear sky. Impossibly — not snow. Rain. The heavy, saturating kind you’d only expect in the middle of monsoon season.
“Rain? It’s raining in the North — in winter?”
While people murmured in confusion, the sky darkened in an instant as storm clouds rolled in. This was no ordinary natural phenomenon. It was a powerful immune response from the world itself — the setting rejecting the hope beginning to bloom within a story meant to be one of ruin and despair.
Crash—! Roarrr—!
Rain poured down as though the sky had split open. Simultaneously, the perpetual snow and ice upstream began melting at an unnatural speed. The artificial heat generated by the force that sought to preserve this world’s order of ruin was turning the valley ice into water in an instant.
“T-this is bad! The water level is rising!”
The foreman’s cry of alarm rang out, and the worker on the watchtower fired a mana signal flare as he screamed. The valley water upstream — which should have been frozen solid — had become a massive surge and was bearing down on the dam.
“No! The cofferdam won’t hold!”
The lower section of the dam hadn’t fully set yet. If that wall of water hit now, the foundation would be swept away and the entire construction site would be destroyed.
But what flashed through Elian’s mind wasn’t fear.
My cement! My rebar! Do you know how much that all cost?!
It was the thought of sunk costs.
“Everyone evacuate! Run to higher ground! Leave the equipment — just save yourselves!”
Elian screamed at the top of his lungs — and then ran against the flow of fleeing workers, straight down toward the base of the dam.
“Elian! Where are you going?!”
Calix lunged forward and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
“Let go! I have to block it! If the cofferdam bursts, my entire fortune goes with it!”
“Are you insane?! Is money worth more than your life?!”
“Yes it is! If that collapses, I’m bankrupt!”
Elian screamed with wild eyes. Calix was beyond exasperated. Worrying about bankruptcy in a life-or-death situation. But Elian’s eyes were completely serious. He truly had the look of a man ready to go down with the dam rather than watch it fall.
Crack—!
Just then, a horrible splitting sound came from below. A small fracture appeared at the center of the cofferdam, and water began to jet through.
“No! No no no! My money!”
Elian wrenched himself free of Calix’s grip and threw himself toward the fracture. Sliding down the slick scaffolding, he flung open the System Shop mid-air.
[Purchase: Emergency Repair Ultra-Strength Steel Pile]
[― 500 BP]
“You money-guzzling monster! You’d better be worth every point!”
Thud.
A two-meter pitch-black steel pile dropped from the sky. Elian strained and heaved it up with both arms.
“Ha. You’ve truly lost your mind.”
Calix frowned and followed after Elian. It was madness. Throwing himself in front of a crumbling dam in a downpour — for money. But what could he do. His lord had gone completely money-mad. As the one who served him, the only option was to protect his life.
The construction site, emptied of everyone else.
In the fury of the raging river and the pouring rain, only two men remained.
Elian stood before the fracture, awkwardly hugging a steel pile bigger than his own body. The water pressure slamming against him had shoved his backside out behind him in the most undignified stance imaginable. Calix came down and stood behind him.
“Move aside. I’ll freeze it shut.”
“Freezing won’t work! It’ll just melt again!”
Elian cried out urgently. The cofferdam was seconds from bursting. There was only one way now.
“Your Grace! Help me!”
Elian called out in desperation, rear end stuck out behind him.
“Get behind me and drive it in! Quickly! Shove it into the hole!”
Calix’s expression twisted into something deeply complicated. The situation was dire — and yet the words that had come out of that mouth were so incredibly… loaded.
“…What?”
“Hurry! The water’s getting in! Grand Duke! Please, just once… just once, drive it in for me!”
