The mountain did not care about approvals.
It did not respect stamped documents, progress reports, or moral victories. When the rain came, it came without witnesses—and when the ground decided to move, it did not ask permission.
The storm arrived at dusk.
Not violent at first. Just persistent. A steady monsoon rain that soaked into old soil, into forgotten fault lines, into slopes that had been ignored for decades because no one important lived beneath them.
Luke felt it before he saw it.
Not fear—pressure.
[System Alert: Environmental Hazard Detected]
Threat Level: High
Type: Landslide Probability – 78%
Time Window: 6–8 hours
Government Response ETA: Undefined ("Monitoring")
"Monitoring," Luke repeated softly, standing in the rain.
That word had buried more villages than earthquakes ever had.
By nightfall, the first crack split the upper trail. A sound like slow thunder rolled through the trees. Dogs began to howl. Elderly villagers gathered under eaves, staring at the dark slope that had fed them for generations and might now kill them.
The elders looked at Luke.
Not for orders.
For certainty.
Luke moved.
No speeches. No hesitation.
He activated the group channel he had created months ago—originally for digital work coordination.
Tonight, it became something else.
"Everyone between sixteen and thirty-five," Luke said into the device, voice calm and precise. "Grab headlamps. Gloves. Shovels. Meet at Marker Point C. Ten minutes."
They came.
Not because he was appointed.
Because he had never lied to them.
[Skill Activated: Leadership – Crisis Vector]
Effect: Panic Suppression
Secondary Effect: Voluntary Mobilization +45%
Luke divided them into units.
• One group diverted surface water using temporary trenches
• One reinforced weak soil faces with sandbags and timber
• One evacuated the lowest homes—quietly, without calling it evacuation
He did not use dramatic words.
He used numbers.
Angles.
Load tolerances.
[Skill Active: Analytical Intelligence → Seismic Grading (Applied)]
Function: Soil Stress Prediction
Result: Optimal Retaining Wall Placement Identified
When the slope finally gave way, it did not roar.
It sighed.
A controlled collapse—earth sliding into channels Luke had already redirected. Mud slammed against newly built barriers, stopped, settled, and stayed.
The retaining walls held.
The village did not move.
By morning, the rain softened.
Sunlight revealed a scar across the hillside—but no bodies beneath it.
No homes lost.
No names to carve into stone.
The government arrived six hours later with cameras and concern.
Luke did not stay to greet them.
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
Mission Status: Landslide Protocol – SUCCESS
Casualties: 0
Karma Gained: +1,200
Hidden Buff Unlocked: Civil Engineering Instinct
Village Status: Self-Sufficient Infrastructure Tier I
That evening, the elders gathered again.
This time, they did not ask him to speak.
They asked him to stay.
"You should run for mayor," one said quietly. "Someone like you could change everything."
Luke looked at the village—mud-stained, exhausted, alive.
And for the first time since returning, he felt the weight of something heavier than responsibility.
Expectation.
Leadership, he had learned, was answering a cry.
But power—
Power was knowing when to step away before the cry turned into dependence.
He bowed slightly.
"We'll talk tomorrow," Luke said.
And the mountain, for once, was silent.