The Will to Live Is My Strongest Skill

Iron quietly called for Elyria. The very next instant, the spirit materialized right in front of his face. Planting her little hands on her hips, she gave him a stern look:

​"Now what do you want from me?"

​"Could you spawn some water and fish for me?" Iron asked.

​Elyria spread her arms and hesitated:

​"Water and fish?.. Hmm, I don't even know..."

​"Come with me, you can see for yourself," Iron suggested.

​"I don't want to go anywhere," the spirit snorted, turning away.

​"Don't you want our home to look much cuter and cozier?"

​Elyria instantly froze and nodded enthusiastically:

​"Well, obviously I do!"

​"Perfect, let's go then."

​They stepped inside the house, crossed the hall, and rounded the desk. Iron flipped open the hatch and led the spirit down. Climbing down the ladder and walking through the narrow metal corridor, Elyria kept looking around:

​"Just tell me already, why do you need water and fish down here?"

​"You'll see for yourself in a second."

​Stepping past the narrow passage by the ladder, they stopped in front of the labyrinth. Iron pointed at the empty cavities between the glass panes and explained:

"Look. All this empty space inside the glass needs to be evenly filled with water. It'll be a massive aquarium. Anyone will be able to come down here and just stand, admiring this... beauty."

"Are you serious?!" Elyria’s eyes went wide with surprise as she looked from Iron to the transparent walls. "It's really going to be beautiful?"

"Mhm. So you can get started."

​The spirit smiled in delight and flew over to the two massive glass sections flanking the entrance. Spreading her little arms out, she froze. Right in the center between the glass panels, a tiny green dot flared up.

​A moment later, the dot gently drifted down to the glass floor and burst, scattering into a hundred glowing droplets. From the flash, crystal-clear water came rushing out. In a matter of seconds, it filled the entire glass section from the floor all the way to the ceiling, without spilling a single drop outside.

​Iron stepped closer and lightly tapped the glass panel a couple of times.

​"Perfect," Iron nodded. "Now do the same thing in all the other sections."

​Darting from one wall to another, Elyria filled the remaining cavities in seconds: the central cube, the winding corridors of the labyrinth, and the side tunnels running beneath the passageways to the left and right wings.

​In less than a couple of minutes, the entire space inside the glass structures had become one vast, water-filled network.

​Inspecting the flooded glass sections, Iron turned to the spirit:

​"Now you just need to materialize the fish."

​Elyria lowered her eyes and twiddled her fingers:

​"Sorry, but I can't make fish yet."

​"What do you mean you can't?"

​"I just can't, okay!"

​Iron crossed his arms and said sternly:

​"If you don't make them right now, you'll be working for me all week with no days off."

​Elyria instantly flared up. She flew right up to his face, looked him dead in the eye, and squeaked indignantly:

​"What?! Why?! What did I do to deserve a punishment like that?!"

​Looking into her wide, hurt eyes, Iron mentally noted:

​Looks like she really isn't lying.

​"Alright, forget I said anything," he sighed.

​Before Elyria could even open her mouth, Iron vanished from the underground hall. The very next instant, he materialized on the bank of a deep river flowing nearby in the dense forest.

​Lumon, scan this river, Iron commanded mentally. Highlight only the fish that are suitable for our aquarium.

​"Acknowledged. Scanning biological resources."

​The river water lit up, and dozens of the right fish were highlighted with bright outlines. Iron reached out a hand and simply clenched his fingers into a fist. Space trembled slightly, the highlighted fish instantly vanished from the water, and right along with them, Iron himself disappeared from the riverbank.

​A split second later, he was standing back in the dungeon. With a light splash, dozens of river fish appeared inside the flooded glass labyrinth. They flicked their tails in confusion, but quickly got used to the clean water and began swimming down the winding corridors.

​Iron slowly walked along the transparent wall, watching the fish swim, and pondered:

"Got the tenants moved in. Now I need to figure out how to keep the fish safe: set up filtration, an oxygen supply, and food..."

​Leaving the fish to get used to their new home, Iron turned around and climbed the ladder back up.

​Stepping out of the Main Building into the fresh air, Iron immediately spotted Eliza unloading another bundle of logs onto the ground.

​"Eliza, come here!" Iron called out to her.

​She dusted off her hands and walked over to him:

​"What's up, Iron?"

​"Come with me. I just finished something, and I need you to evaluate the result."

​They entered the Main Building and turned into the side passageway connecting the hall to the left wing. Barely stepping over the threshold, Eliza froze. Right under her feet, beneath the glass floor, brightly colored fish were swimming. She dropped to her knees and pressed her palms against the glass, studying them:

​"Actual fish?! You really did it?!"

"As you can see," Iron said with a smirk. "But that's not all. We can go a floor down, I built a whole labyrinth out of these aquariums."

​"Really? Show me!"

​Iron led her to his office, flipped open the hatch, and climbed down first. After descending the ladder and passing through the narrow metal corridor, Eliza froze at the entrance to the underground hall. A giant labyrinth stretched out before her, illuminated by the soft glow of recessed lights. Fish were swimming inside the glass walls.

"Wow..." Eliza breathed, looking around as she hurried from one wall to another.

​Watching her excitement, Iron silently asked Lumon:

​Well, Lumon, do you understand human logic?

​"Analysis of emotional responses indicates a lack of practical utility," he replied. "No logic detected."

​Yeah, to be honest, I don't fully get it either, Iron chuckled to himself.

​At that moment, Eliza turned to him, and her excitement gave way to slight concern:

​"Listen, how are you going to keep these fish alive? Clean the water, feed them?"

​"Well... I built all this first, and only just remembered that the animals need to be taken care of."

Eliza let out a heavy sigh and shook her head:

"How could you forget about the animals like that?"

​"Well..." Iron started, but Eliza immediately cut him off:

​"Alright, let me help you."

​"You'll help?" Iron asked in surprise.

​"Of course."

​"Well... Alright," the engineer said, turning toward the exit.

​Going back up to the office, the first thing he did was pull out some paper. Iron spread it out on the semi-circular desk and called Eliza over.

"Look," Iron pointed at it. "There's obviously nothing on it yet, but just imagine."

​"Okay," Eliza nodded.

"To keep the underground water from stagnating and turning into a swamp, we need to design an automatic circulation system. Pumps will create pressure to circulate the water through closed filters with activated carbon and quartz, while oxygen is supplied through hidden aeration valves. As for the food—I remember the composition of the nutrient pellets from... Uh, from the pa-ast really well: the right mix of compressed microalgae, protein, and minerals."

​Eliza listened to Iron with interest, but then shook her head:

​"The technical side sounds good. But the aquarium itself is bare inside."

​"What else is supposed to be in there?" Iron asked in surprise.

​"What do you mean? Animals need a home! The central cube is just begging for a beautiful stone castle. And we could add something unusual to the side section... like a flying ship, so the fish can swim right through its hold and deck. And we absolutely have to decorate the bottom: add thick seaweed, bright underwater flowers, smooth river stones, and coral formations."

​Iron gave her a skeptical look:

"Is that really all that necessary? They're just regular fish, they don't care."

"Of course it's necessary!" Eliza snapped. "Without decorations, it just looks like an industrial tank. But with a castle and plants, the place will become truly alive."

Iron looked at her, sighed, and surrendered with a faint smirk:

"Alright."

​Iron started drawing up schematics, embedding the filtration channels into the foundation of the future stone castle and disguising the aerators as decorative details on the sunken ship.

​While they finalized the blueprints, the sun over the camp gradually began to set. In the central square, Clerk was wrapping up work. Looking over the impressive mountain of harvested logs, he called out loudly to the workers:

​"That's it, enough for today! You all did a great job today, go get some rest."

​The four newcomers—Kren, Nastya, Vadya, and Kane—breathed a sigh of relief. The exhausted workers stretched their stiff shoulders and aching backs with relief, nodded to Clerk, and slowly began to disperse around the camp.

​At that moment, Elyria materialized in front of Clerk.

​"Clerk, Clerk! Could you help me with something?" the spirit asked hopefully.

​"Yes, of course, Lady Elyria," Clerk replied.

​"Awesome!" she cheered, instantly flying off toward the residential sector.

​Clerk walked after her. Approaching the prepared plot for the new house, Elyria hovered in the air and looked at him a bit sheepishly:

"If I can't get it to work again... will you help me build the house?"

​"Of course I will, no question," Clerk smiled.

​Elyria hovered a bit lower, squeezed her eyes shut, and concentrated as hard as she could. A tiny green dot began to glow in the air in front of her. The glowing mass rapidly expanded and solidified, taking the shape of a wooden house before their eyes. A moment later, the spirit opened her eyes and looked proudly at the result.

​The house had indeed appeared, but it was completely missing a roof.

​"That's exactly what I was talking about!" Elyria threw her little hands up in frustration. "Why can't I ever get this stupid roof right?!"

​Clerk looked over the log frame with a smile and calmly reassured her:

​"Don't worry, Lady Elyria. The roof is the easiest part. Tomorrow the guys and I will build you a perfect one."

​"Really?! Thank you so much, Clerk!" the spirit beamed, and with a happy squeak, she started twirling above the structure.

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