The Overlord's Strategy

The Immortal Supreme Dominance Invincible Legendary Ironclad Frontline Army Dessert Desert Expeditionary Battalion had successfully completed its mission and returned.

The battalion’s primary objective had not been combat within the Dessert Desert, but rather the extraction and transport of useful resources. The results were an overwhelming success.

By handing over vast quantities of knowledge to the Dessert Legion commander known as Shuc-rimmurath, they had secured an overflowing supply of food resources and ultra-high-strength metal shells that far surpassed anything their current smelting technology could produce.

Although the god of the Dessert Desert, Biin, had driven them out because he refused to tolerate any other entities remaining in his world immediately after a World Collision, they had still managed to construct factories for resource production, establish actual mass-production lines, and even set up protective barriers and facilities so the factories could be reactivated the moment connection with the Dessert Desert was restored.

For now, it was a resounding success. Wahando, one of the leader entities of his world, received the report and greatly praised the achievement.

“Loyalty! Thank you, sir!”

Though they were already heroic entities, medals still held great significance. They had not yet been promoted to symbols or Ascendants, but they had obtained immortal life. There was every possibility they would continue to leverage their talents and aim for even higher positions.

At the very least, the expeditionary battalion commander needed to reach a higher realm. He would be dispatched to the Dessert Desert on a continuous basis, both to conceal the ‘mistake’ he had committed and to manage the enormous resources and profits being harvested from that land.

And their system processed tasks with frightening speed.

First, appropriate rewards were given to those returning from the expedition.

Using clear, objective standards, rewards of such excellent quality that no one could complain were prepared and distributed immediately. Thanks to the Time Manipulation Right, while others worked busily, these soldiers could leisurely enjoy daily life and leisure, relieving their accumulated fatigue. This also reinforced the perception among the rest of the population that those who worked hard would receive fair compensation.

The information they brought back was distributed to the administrative, industrial, military, academic, and civilian sectors. The system began moving like perfectly meshed gears, praising the brave and valiant heroes who had achieved results in the Dessert Desert and reproducing their great accomplishments with maximum efficiency.

The very first step was to raise the young of the [Dark Rim] they had obtained in large numbers and secure territory to create an artificial Creamland. Following the manuals they had brought, they began the work of cultivating the [Dark Rim] and domesticating those ferocious creatures into livestock.

The vast amounts of cream they had acquired were processed into preserved rations and stored inside time-manipulated spaces until the next World Collision. While the food was already resistant to bacterial intrusion and could be preserved almost indefinitely, they took every possible measure to make the preservation even more thorough.

The numerous materials they brought were processed into military shells and weapons. Most importantly, the greatest trophy of all—Shuc-rimmurath’s shed carapace—was meticulously processed through both mystical and engineering methods before being attached to their ‘final weapons,’ the colossal created beings.

The giant hermit crab monstrosity now fused with Shuc-rimmurath’s shell had become so powerful that not only the Dessert Legion but even Mihun’s monks would hesitate to face it. It would be used to counter ‘monster forces’ that ordinary ‘elite but normal armies’ could not hope to match. In other words, it existed to prevent in advance the kind of mistake Dindinaron had made.

The entire process flowed like water. It was not perfect. Occasionally someone misplaced documents by mistake, manpower that seemed sufficient turned out to be lacking, or too much manpower was invested in one area.

However, a truly perfect system was not one that never made mistakes, but one that contained mechanisms to restore itself no matter what errors occurred.

Rather than rigid, uncompromising strictness, it was an incredibly tough and resilient system—like a rubber band with tremendous elasticity. Wahando had completed his world with exactly such a system. Therefore, these minor errors were easily corrected through the system’s inherent perfection without any need for divine intervention.

Meanwhile, the levels of Wahando’s Technology and Industry—which handled the processing of the shells and analysis of the cream—had reached a staggering 15. Considering that only ten World Collisions had occurred, this was an extraordinarily high figure.

They had already surpassed the medieval era and were stepping into the transitional period between medieval and early modern times… With just a little more effort, they could establish a credit-based monetary economy, limited heavy industry, and complete proper factories by producing automated devices using water wheels and rudimentary gears.

And his Politics had reached its absolute peak at level 16. In terms of points, it exceeded ten million. It was an overwhelming number; there was likely no one in the entire game with a higher Politics level than Wahando.

To illustrate just how high that was: more than eighty percent of all players had a lower total world score than Wahando’s Politics score alone. (Though it was true that even more players had a lower total score than Biin’s Life score.)

In exchange, his Culture and Faith were somewhat lacking at level 10 given the overall level of his world, but such shortcomings had to be accepted.

Thus, Wahando’s Politics had already far surpassed his Life score of 2.2 million points. With a population of roughly 850,000 that followed his commands with 100% obedience, they had gone beyond perfect command compliance. They had reached the point where they executed orders at the highest level even before the commands were issued. He had truly arrived at the pinnacle of governance.

There were two major reasons this level of development had been possible.

First, even in his previous life, Wahando had been pathologically obsessed with systems and discipline. He was an expert who constantly created and revised manuals according to the flow of existing technology, finding ways to achieve maximum efficiency, and applied them at the right moments to continuously refine the hermit crabs’ system to perfection.

Second, he poured every ounce of the divine power derived from his Faith into maintaining this colossal system.

Wahando did not use his divine power to create things or issue direct commands. He simply gave guidelines and endlessly imprinted those guidelines into every single living being.

From bitter experience, he knew that problems in a system almost never arose because the manual itself was flawed. They occurred because someone forgot the manual, failed to follow it, or because an unforeseen situation not covered in the manual had appeared.

Therefore, he created a ‘manual for dealing with situations not covered in the manual.’ He designed it so that even an idiot could achieve ‘average’ results simply by following the manual, and he spread that flow across the entire world.

This in itself was already a kind of mystery. The hermit crabs possessed no special ability for it, nor were they a life form naturally suited for it, yet they had become something akin to a single mentally connected collective.

That was why Sesaisa’s consulting was useless here. Both the hermit crabs’ Mind and Wahando’s Faith had melted completely into a single system. They were merely components serving to complete the ideal, perfect militaristic autocratic state that Wahando ultimately sought.

“It is time.”

With the next World Collision now fast approaching, at a single command from Wahando, the hermit crabs moved in perfect unison. They converted every last point they had accumulated in Life, Industry, Culture, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Politics into one single category.

Military.

The industrial labor force that had maintained a high but otherwise ordinary level ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of military strength now converted every resource they had stockpiled into weapons and equipment. The livestock herds they had raised until they filled nearly half the world were slaughtered at terrifying speed and turned into military rations—tasteless but highly nutritious and long-lasting. The vast farmlands that had existed solely to raise livestock and livestock feed were entirely repurposed into military training grounds.

Those who had been excellent industrial laborers but mediocre soldiers were rapidly trained according to the manuals, raising their previously ordinary-high Military stat all the way to the absolute pinnacle of the game.

The entire process was thoroughly orthodox. Wahando did not involve himself in this extreme militarization of the state.

The main body of Wahando had opened a community channel with the lower members of the Cartel. He was completely devoted to devising strategies—figuring out which opponents would yield the greatest benefit if each lower member collided with them—and to establishing a grand strategy by scouting out worlds that his own world and the other three members of the Meteors would collide with. He only occasionally glanced at his world to confirm that it ‘hadn’t collapsed.’

In a sense, it was the ultimate automation. It was different from Biin’s method of inciting conflict among his creations, different from Sesaisa’s tyrannical theocratic rule where the god did whatever he pleased, and different from Mihun’s near-complete laissez-faire approach to fate manipulation.

This was also Wahando’s personal philosophy. It was somewhat ironic, but Wahando was an atheist. He saw himself not so much as a god, but merely as a long-lived and powerful leader.

And as a leader, he believed the ideal system was not one that collapsed the moment the leader stopped micromanaging, but one that ran perfectly even if the leader never lifted a finger.

A leader should only make decisions on unexpected situations and critical matters. Everything else should be written into the manual. Even if ‘all my citizens are complete idiots,’ the best political system was one that would still function perfectly as long as they followed the manual.

High Politics meant a stable society with a high floor. Rather than the method used by the other three members of the Meteors—where extremely talented geniuses or monsters led society—Wahando preferred a system where even idiots could fulfill their roles in society if they simply followed the minimum guidelines.

Of course, those who could not even follow the ‘minimum’ were all purged. But if the standard wasn’t particularly high and they still couldn’t meet it, then they deserved to die. Wasn’t that simply evolution? Wahando thought so and moved on without dwelling on it.

He had also assigned suitable opponents to Biin, Sesaisa, and Mihun.

A suitable opponent was exactly what the name implied. An enemy they seemed capable of defeating, yet one that would also provide significant benefits upon victory. After gathering limited information from the community, he had narrowed it down to about three candidates and sent them over.

This was not some scheme to deliberately weaken anyone. These were opponents who would genuinely benefit the Cartel.

The reason? Well… one could cite many things—cooperating with the Cartel would be advantageous for now, or that the Cartel was currently their only possible ally—but at the root of it, he simply wanted his ‘friends’ to succeed.

“You’re having quite sentimental thoughts, Lord Wahando.”

“Shut up.”

“Hehe. You don’t have to hide it from an angel.”

“I said shut up. I’m not saying anything.”

Biin was a good guy. He had become a friend to Wahando, who had gone his entire life without friends—only enemies, profit-loss calculations, and alliances.

Sesaisa wasn’t exactly a good guy. He was sly and underhanded, but he still counted as a worthy rival-friend.

Mihun felt less like a friend and more like a respected elder, but that very distance somehow made him feel even closer and more comfortable.

Wahando wanted to win the game. Or, failing that, to extract the maximum possible benefit and drop out midway.

Either way, what Wahando wanted right now was to stay with the friends he had never met in his long life and had only encountered after a long time within the game. He wanted to win together with them, or even if they dropped out midway, to keep talking with them for the rest of his life.

It would have been nice if, during the final four, all four members of the Meteors remained and simply ended things with a peaceful negotiation… but that was probably impossible as long as Mihun, the player who would never back down, was among them.

Still, both in his previous life and now, whether something he wanted was possible or impossible was something he would never know until he tried.

The moment the eleventh collision began, Wahando could be instantly destroyed and defeated by his opponent’s bizarre plan. The same was true for the other Meteors.

Or perhaps some unknown player—maybe the overwhelming ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rank one who had grown in secret while they weren’t looking—would simply crush everyone else and take the win.

The game had only just finished its tenth match. There were still 1,048,575 opponents remaining.

Even after eliminating a million more, the path to victory was still far away. With that thought, Wahando slowly closed his eyes.

Still, no matter how much he tried to focus only on the ‘present,’ there was one thing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he couldn’t help thinking about, knowing just how overwhelmingly powerful his own faction had become.

The championship frontrunner. In other words, the overall rank one.

What kind of strategy was that being using to approach the world?