World Collision — The Fifth

My current world has several impressive metrics.

First, the total score sits at Level 7. After four world collisions, reaching Level 7 puts me near the absolute top tier. I don't know the exact ranking, but the top 100 are supposedly all above 90,000 points. There's a catch, though.

Those players probably never bought a mythic trait. Most of them climbed through cooperation rather than war, which means even a 90,000-point world gets split between two people.

I estimated that at most a thousand players could afford mythic traits, but the actual number was far ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lower—only 136. I kept a close eye on the community until it shut down, so I'm certain.

Most of them aren't in the top 100. They're the ones who worked alone and bought their traits through aggressive trading. Plenty of players were desperate to sell points. Those who rose through alliances instead bought multiple legendary-to-epic traits between two to eight people, so the balance roughly holds.

Second, Life is officially ranked first. Anything less would be unacceptable.

Third, Military is also at Level 7. Even worlds with high military scores usually sit at Level 5 or 6. Compared to the 2,000–8,000 range, this is complete domination.

Mystery and Faith both jumped to Level 1 the moment I installed the Spiritual Realm. It's sudden, but not unwelcome. My total score went from the 60,000s into the 70,000s.

【Creator. I believe I have reached the limit of my growth.】

“Already?”

Yogur-tosoth has been devouring nectar and learning magic from Sesaisa while training on its own. Hitting the cap makes sense. It's literally consuming every resource my world has to offer by itself.

In Panwol, unique creations had to undergo an Ascension Trial every five levels. The stat cap at Level 5 is 32,674. To push beyond that, the entity must take the trial regardless of its grade.

Even in a fantasy world where a single swordsman can split mountains or a mage can burn oceans, letting one overpowered unit destroy civilizations single-handedly would be problematic.

That's why the trials exist every five levels. Some creations like fairies are exceptions—Abhojuth sits at Level 8 without a trial, just like the Nectar Well. Higher entities that evolve from regular ones follow different rules, but that's beside the point.

The moment I recognized Yogur-tosoth's growth, the angel presented me with three options.

“I have prepared the following Ascension Trials for Yogur-tosoth.”

Any one of them can be completed first. There's no need to ascend immediately after passing. The direction of Yogur-tosoth's growth depends on which trial it clears.

“Think we can finish one in the next collision?”

“Unlikely. Achieving a Level 6+ feat during the fifth stage is extremely difficult, and the Dessert Legion will probably annihilate the enemy before they even get the chance to resist.”

“Yeah, figured.”

“Even if we did complete one, it wouldn't necessarily be good. It would mean the opponent is strong enough to warrant a Level 6+ feat.”

Yogur-tosoth doesn't really need to get stronger anyway. It's already consuming far too many resources as it is.

With this alone, the next collision is already in the bag. A simple drop of candy and Bisyakheet should be enough to crush them through the monster meta. If the enemy puts up unusually fierce resistance, I'll just summon Yogur-tosoth and end it.

“Simple and crude.”

That's how strategy works when you're overwhelmingly powerful—things get simple.

Still, other metrics on my status window are a bit more complicated.

“Huh? Why are the stats like this? Isn't this wrong?”

The angel, despite being part of the organizers, doesn't seem to understand the game rules.

“Better than a player who doesn't know the rules. Please explain the current status window situation. I'm merely a low-level proxy for the organizers. I know the rules, but any actual strategy and interactions must be explained by you, Biin-nim.”

How absurd.

But she's not wrong. I do enjoy explaining things. Watching the angel's reaction to my anti-intellectual build is pretty satisfying too.

Since my other consciousnesses will handle everything anyway, I might as well use this chance to explain the anti-intellectualism build to her—and organize my own thoughts.

In this game—or rather, as a god ruling over worlds—what is the most important stat?

If you asked every single player, all one billion of them would give the exact same answer without exception.

“Life is the most important stat.”

After all, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Life reaching zero means total annihilation. It's the clearest possible defeat condition. Naturally, Life comes first.

Even players who aren't running an absurd Life build like mine would agree.

So what's second? Again, every player gives the same answer.

“Second is Military.”

Obviously. Without Military—combat power—you can't protect Life. Sometimes Military is valued even more than population.

People aren't raised to be protected by the military. The military is raised, and people exist to support it. It's a grotesque system, but that's how nations and worlds function.

Now, the next question.

Out of the eight stats, which is the third most important?

Here, the one billion answers split into six groups:

Industry, Technology, Culture, Politics, Mystery, Faith.

All six are crucial pillars of civilization. Each can serve as the foundation for a nation or world, and none clearly outranks the others.

The Fantasy World Creator was the same. It was as if some transcendent being had designed it—perfectly balanced without any patches, with seemingly infinite strategic depth. No matter which stat you centered your build around, you could reach roughly the same peak. When worlds collided, victory depended less on raw stat superiority and more on stat synergy and strategic superiority.

That's why the game community was always arguing: “Which stat should you focus on to build the most superior civilization?”

The answer depends on the world and environment you receive… but still.

Elguano, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠player from a non-Earth world who encountered the game in its original form, believed Culture should be the foundation.

“I think if you just max out Culture in this game, you can at least build a civilization that reaches the middle ranks.”

Technology-focused builds have the highest ceiling. Industry-focused builds have the highest floor. That's common knowledge.

But the most stable growth across all situations comes from Culture.

Middle of the pack.

That was important to Elguano. No matter how much he thought about it, he never believed he could win among a billion players. So reaching the middle was what mattered.

What does Culture actually do? While every stat has various effects, Culture's core function is promoting regular entities into higher entities.

It also increases the chance of regular entities ascending into unique entities, or for unique entities to be born naturally.

The in-game explanation states that Culture represents the manifestation and flow of Charm. High Charm means an entity is superior. In high-Culture civilizations, superior entities are more likely to appear, increasing the odds of unique or higher entities emerging.

I never fully understood the philosophical or game-mechanical explanation… but the formula was clear: Culture = Charm = Powerful Heroes.

“Whether in reality or in games, a small number of elites ultimately lead nations and civilizations. What's the point of raising thousands or tens of thousands of mediocre nobodies? Just raise a few elites with the highest stats and let them lead the idiots. At least that way you can avoid the worst outcomes.”

Since it's a fantasy game, a well-trained hero can literally fight off a million-man army. One person handling the administrative work of a thousand is apparently possible too, because it's fantasy.

So all you need is good heroes. Elguano, who built his strategy around this, survived through cooperation, betrayal, confrontation, and renewed cooperation across four collisions. With luck on his side and a legendary trait purchased during the shop phase, he finally succeeded in creating his ideal hero.

“I-I did it! I created a legendary entity in only the fifth stage!”

A major factor was an early-game event that let him create one unique creation for free. Instead of making an energy-hungry powerful monster, he chose a Representation—a hero of his race.

Pouring every resource his world had into Culture, combined with the legendary trait bought during the shop phase, he completed it.

Health is a bit lacking, but otherwise it's well-rounded. Its greatest strength is the legendary trait Dimension Traveler, allowing it to cross dimensional gates from the very first stage.

Its high Charm makes it an excellent diplomat, easily charming the leadership and populace of enemy civilizations.

Its terrifying combat power lets it terrorize enemy civilizations alone if things go south, then escape.

Its versatile Authority and high Mana give it excellent survivability, so the risk of being captured and killed while operating alone is low.

Its Intelligence is high enough that it can be thrown into an enemy world at the start of a collision and handle things independently.

Elguano proposed to his allies and subordinate gods that they boldly send this legendary creation through the first dimensional gate into the enemy world. Everyone agreed. This was a strategy that absolutely could not fail.

“Hahaha! With just Sicadoz, we'll make it to round 15!”

“Right! Once we raise this one properly and keep sending follow-up heroes, reaching that point will be nothing!”

And so, during the fifth world collision, the opponent they faced was Biin. A lone player with no subordinates or allies—either extremely aggressive or extremely unlucky.

“Alright then. Go, Sicadoz! Show them your power!”

【Yes, my god. I shall complete the mission you have given me.】

The “unbeatable strategy” named Sicadoz, having consumed every resource its civilization possessed, boldly crossed into the enemy world…

“By the way, Elguano. The name Biin sounds familiar.”

“I think he was pretty famous on the community boards. What was it again…?”

The hero Sicadoz landed in a strange, jelly-filled swamp covered in rocks and trees.

“?”

“What the…? There's no trace of civilization anywhere…”

Sicadoz looked around and spotted the Nectar Oasis, and at its peak, an unidentified yogurt-colored bubble.

“?”

【?】

Both Sicadoz and Elguano rubbed their eyes and looked again.

「Individual Total LV.5: 32,674」

No matter how they looked at it, there was a demon at the Level 5 stat cap, preparing for its ascension trial.

At that moment, one of Elguano's fellow gods spoke.

“Ah. I remember now. The crazy bastard with 30,000 Life points was named Biin.”

In that instant, all three allies and six subordinate gods in Elguano's world felt a chill run down their spines.

“Sicadoz!!! Come back right now!!! Get away from that demon!!!”

The moment the Dimension Traveler Sicadoz opened a return gate with its Authority and threw itself through in desperation—

A storm summoned by Yogur-tosoth erupted at the spot where it had stood, evaporating part of the oasis.