Chapter 138

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Hear what?”

“The young lord of this estate.”

“You mean Lord Lloyd?”

“Yeah, him. They say he uses some incredible summoning magic.”

“Summoning magic?”

This was the eastern region of the Frontera County—at the construction site of the terraced farmlands along the eastern mountain range.

A refugee laborer, hauling dirt, jerked his chin toward one side.

“See that? You saw it too, didn’t you?”

Where he pointed—

Ppodong was there.

With a chubby ten-meter-tall body, he was shaking his enormous round butt as he dug into the ground with vigorous energy.

The laborer said, “That big rat there—they say the young lord summoned it.”

“That? Are you serious?”

“That’s what I heard.”

“Come on, that makes no sense.”

“What do you mean it doesn’t make sense?”

The first man asked.

His coworker replied, “Think about it. Just look at how big and strong that mouse is. That alone proves it’s an incredible summon, doesn’t it?”

“Right, and?”

“To summon a creature that powerful, you’d need equally powerful summoning magic. But Lord Lloyd—he doesn’t even look thirty yet.”

“So you’re saying he’s too young to have learned such advanced magic?”

“That’s what I think.”

“Then what’s that creature?”

“He probably picked up a young monster from the eastern mountains and raised it himself.”

“Hmm, I think you’re wrong.”

“How so?”

“What monster in the world grows to the size of a house just by eating one seed—and then shrinks back down to the size of a fist?”

“…You drunk or something?”

The coworker tilted his head.

The first man chuckled.

“I saw it myself. The young lord fed that mouse a red seed earlier. And then, poof—something the size of a fist turned into that giant monster right before my eyes.”

“You saw it with your own eyes?”

“I’m telling you, yes! Plenty of others saw it too—go ask around.”

“Well, if that’s true…”

“Then that young lord’s really something else.”

“Guess so.”

He could control massive summoned beasts freely.

And not only that—he was designing and overseeing an enormous construction project.

Rumors spread rapidly among the refugee workers.

They said he must’ve been a summoning prodigy since birth.

That he could close his eyes, open them again, and a whole building would appear.

Or that he was a man sent by the heavens themselves to save them from disaster.

Speculation, exaggeration, and wild imagination filled the air.

The refugees’ ears buzzed with curiosity and awe.

And really—who could blame them?

They’d never seen such creatures before.

Ppodong and Bangul, who grew when eating sunflower seeds.

Hamang, who swelled up after drinking immense amounts of water.

Bibeong, who sometimes came down from the mountain to carry heavy loads.

And now the new addition, Ggoming.

None of them had ever been seen in books or tales.

Working on the terraced farmland site, they finally witnessed the true power of these fantasy creatures—
and the young lord who commanded them with ease.

It was no wonder they were amazed.

As time went by, the refugees’ admiration for Lloyd grew even more fervent.

Even the laborers on site looked at him like fans greeting a superstar.

And Lloyd?

He didn’t bother correcting their “misunderstanding.”

In fact, he encouraged it.

“That’s what you call the power of image, right, Ggoming?”

“Ggoming?”

“Wanna fly a little higher?”

“Ggoming!”

‘Flap! Whooosh!’

Ggoming’s response came with a powerful gust of wind.

Its three-meter wings beat furiously.

A strong wind rose, and the ground fell away beneath them—as Ggoming soared fifty meters into the air in an instant.

“Whew.”

Lloyd gripped the feathers on Ggoming’s back tightly.

Was this what it felt like to ride a roller coaster without a safety bar?

It was both terrifying and exhilarating.

He looked down at the construction site below.

“Waaah—!”

A loud cheer rose up from the workers.

The refugees carrying dirt looked up and waved.

Lloyd waved back.

The cheers grew louder.

A satisfied smile spread across his face.

‘Now, those people—and their families who hear about this—will all think I’m some extraordinary man.’

When in truth, he wasn’t.

He was simply using RP, a mysterious hidden resource.
And thanks to having read ‘The Iron-Blooded Knight’, he could occasionally predict certain events.

But no one knew that.

They only saw him as remarkable.

‘Then I’ll just have to reinforce that belief.’

That was the power of image.

A force everyone had experienced at least once—where the same action could inspire admiration from one person but ridicule from another.

That mysterious force—image—was what Lloyd believed in.

He’d learned it painfully well back in Korea.

‘Always treated like a nobody.’

He’d been poor.

No home, no family.

He lived in a cramped goshiwon.

Owned only a few faded sweatshirts that he rotated all year.

To save money, he got his hair cut every few months at the cheapest neighborhood salon.

A shabby appearance, a slumped posture weighed down by lost confidence.

As a result, people treated him terribly everywhere he went.

At convenience stores buying triangle kimbap.

At stationery shops buying pens.

Even at barbershops.

Whether clerks, owners, or random people—they all looked down on him.

Sometimes they didn’t just look down; they outright suspected him.

‘I was even once accused of stealing something I didn’t take.’

Back then, he’d cried from humiliation.

Now, he could only smirk bitterly at the memory.

‘That’s why I need to build an image for myself. It doesn’t have to be true. People believe what they see more than what’s real. And that belief can become power when it counts.’

That’s why—

He rode Ggoming through the skies.

Regularly inspecting the site from above.

There were practical benefits too.

‘Man, this is so convenient.’

After eating a red sunflower seed, Ggoming’s body was now two meters long—just right for Lloyd to ride comfortably.

From the air, he could observe the vast construction site at a glance.

‘This project’s scale is huge. Almost as big as the Marez reclamation site.’

But unlike Marez, which was a flat marshland—

this one was on steep slopes.

‘If I had to climb up and down those slopes all day, I’d be drenched in sweat.’

Thanks to Ggoming, his calves were spared from exploding.

Of course, for close-up inspections, he still had to dismount.

“Ppodong?”

“Ppodong?”

“The section you dug today isn’t quite level.”

“Ppododong?”

“You’ll need to dig a bit deeper. And Engineering Squad 16!”

“Yes, sir!”

“From here to there—once Ppodong levels the ground, you smooth and compact it. You know the drill.”

“Yes, sir! Absolutely!”

Thus, countless slopes were shaped as planned.

Ppodong used immense strength and speed to carve the terraces.

Then the engineering corps followed, leveling and refining the cut surfaces.

Meanwhile, the refugees transported the excavated soil down the mountain.

And the one handling that massive amount of earth—was Bibeong.

“Bibeong! Bibeong!”

Among the fantasy creatures, he was the strongest.

But he couldn’t participate in the digging itself.

With his nearly 3,000-ton body, he risked collapsing the site.

So instead, he was tasked with filtering the excavated soil.

“Bibeong! Bibeong!”

‘Shuuuaaa!’

A colossal sieve—10 meters wide and 15 long—was held in his hands.

“Bibeong! Bibeong!”

‘Fwoosh! Fwoosh!’

Bibeong shook the giant sieve.

The soil on top sifted through it.

Stones, roots, and debris were separated.

Only particles smaller than 19 millimeters fell below—to be used as backfill between the slope and the gabion retaining wall.

‘This part’s crucial. The type of backfill determines the wall’s stability and drainage.’

Lloyd personally inspected the soil.

And he had Ggoming assist as well.

“Alright, Ggoming, you know what to do, right?”

“Ggoming?”

“Today we’re making big, beautiful nets. Let’s go!”

“Ggoming!”

After eating a red sunflower seed, Ggoming soared up.

It flew across the air in a tight lattice pattern.

And from its backpack, it released webs.

‘Shoooaak!’

The silk fell along its flight path—weaving a perfect mesh over the ground.

It landed and stuck firmly.

Then Lloyd shouted,

“White Lancers, move out!”

“Woooh!”

The White Lancer Corps grabbed their shovels.

Their shoveling speed left ordinary soldiers in the dust.

They spread the filtered backfill soil evenly over the web.

Then compacted it.

When that layer was done, Lloyd called again.

“Ggoming! One more!”

“Ggomiming!”

‘Thwack!’

Another web mesh fell precisely over the compacted soil, adhering to it.

Then more soil was added, and compacted again.

The process repeated.

Ggoming flew, spreading webs.

The Lancers shoveled and compacted the soil.

Layer after layer, they built it up—

until more than ten alternating layers of web and soil covered the steep slope.

It looked like a stack of thick savory pancakes.

‘Good. Construction’s going perfectly.’

The webs between the soil bound everything tightly together.

The friction they created prevented the soil from sliding or sinking.

Lloyd then covered the front with gabion cages.

Ggoming spun intricate web frames like wire mesh, enclosing the slope.

Then the engineering corps poured in rocks and gravel.

“Ready—set—pour!”

“Heave-ho!”

‘Rumble! Crash!’

Precisely measured quantities of stone filled the cages.

Finally, Lloyd reinforced the entire wall by wrapping it again in webbing—securing it tight.

And so, the first section of the retaining wall was complete.

‘Perfect. Just as planned.’

A proud smile spread across Lloyd’s lips.

The soldiers, workers, and refugees all glistened with sweat.

From that moment, identical construction spread across the mountain slope—digging, shaping, layering, stacking, compacting, and building.

The steep hills transformed into countless steps, each ready to become fertile farmland.

The work continued—through sleet, sunshine, snow, and cutting winds.

Yet the construction never stopped.

This wasn’t work for others—it was for themselves.

It was the reclamation land that would become their new home.

Their sweat and effort drove away the cold.

Days passed.

Ten days, a month, two months.

By the time white magnolias and yellow forsythias colored the mountain valleys—in the early touch of spring, cries of triumph rang out.

“This is it! One last push!”

“Let’s go!”

“Two! Three! Pour!”

“Hoist it!”

Rocks and stones poured down, filling the last cage.

The final section of the wall—marking the end of a massive terraced reclamation project that had spanned the entire winter—finally stood tall.

But Lloyd didn’t relax.

He didn’t cheer.

He didn’t get swept up in excitement.

The workers had every right to celebrate.

That was human nature.

But he couldn’t allow himself to.

Even if everyone else laughed and cheered—the one supervising and responsible for all of it had to remain calm.

Only then could accidents be prevented.

“Alright, everyone, listen up! What’s the most important thing after finishing construction?”

“Site cleanup!”

“And where do most accidents happen?”

“On sites that aren’t properly cleaned up!”

“Good! Then start cleanup! Move!”

“Move!”

The engineering corps, well-trained in Lloyd’s style, took the lead.

They organized the others—soldiers and refugees alike.

They tidied, cleared, and finished the site.

Only once the cleanup was complete did everyone truly feel the work was done.

But even then, Lloyd didn’t let himself celebrate.

‘Not yet. There’s still one final test left for me.’

He turned toward the completed retaining walls—rows upon rows supporting vast terraces.

Pride and tension gleamed in his eyes.

And the next day—dark clouds gathered above the eastern mountains.

Drizzle at first—then pouring rain.

Sheets of water pelted the estate and the mountain slopes.

It was the annual spring monsoon.

Lloyd’s eyes sharpened.

‘Alright. Time for the real test.’

The greatest challenge for any retaining wall—drainage and settlement stability.

It was time to prove it in the real world.