The Calamity Interval Begins

The disaster interval loomed, and unfortunately I still hadn’t managed to push my Life score past 80,000.

Still, overall it was high enough. That would have to do.

Life = Group Evolution: When granting or removing the same trait to multiple groups, divine efficiency increases by 200%.

Military = Human Hunter Job Change: Unlocks the superior class of Hunter. Assassin: Unlocks the superior class of Rogue.

Industry = Spirit Pillar Specialist: Spirit pillars are constructed with greater stability. Coral Industry: Various advantages when using coral-based materials. Shell Industry: Various advantages when using shell-based materials.

Tech = Spacetime Comprehension: Easier to obtain spacetime-related traits and authorities.

Mystery = Advanced Spirit Pillar Arts: Spirit pillars become significantly easier to erect. One Excellent trait can be granted to any erected spirit pillar. Neurological Spirit Pillars: Greater mastery over spirit pillars that utilize nervous systems.

“Job changes” let individual entities grow stronger in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a specific direction within the game. Unlocking a superior class automatically unlocked the lower ones as well, and if you already possessed lower-class traits like my Mage Job Change or Battle Mage Job Change, you could still receive their bonuses.

As a result, my candies became Assassins and my carnivorous Gamchi became Human Hunters. The traits themselves seemed well chosen, but one thing bothered me.

“That Neurological Spirit Pillars trait… did you create it because of me?”

“No? Player Sesaisa simply wasn’t aware of it. In some worlds it’s an extremely common technique.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Yes. While it is impressive that you pioneered it without any academic foundation, creatures like Syrup aren’t actually that rare when viewed across all dimensions. That said, the Dessert Legion really does seem to be unique across every dimension……”

Right. Anyway, preparations were complete.

My Life score had reached 75,000—2.5 times what it was before. Military power had climbed endlessly past 60,000. And my Faith and Mystery scores were transcendent. Yogur-tosoth could now cast magic all day long without ever worrying about running dry.

Thanks to my clones working tirelessly, I had finally created a new Dessert Legion unit. I had taken the simplest form of spirit and placed it inside Dough, then connected the physical and spiritual flows with Syrup.

That way the spirit could move the Dough body without dying. It could both consume flows like a magical beast and consume organic matter like a living creature, making it a complete member of the Dessert Legion. From now on, these would be called Bread.

Oh, and while I was at it, I decided I wouldn’t keep calling the spirits I inserted just “spirits.” I’d call them Milk instead.

“Why call them Milk?”

Because I’m going to add Syrup to them and make Yogurt.

“Ah. I see……”

These were the legion that followed Yogur-tosoth. Unlike the Bread units—which handled physical attacks while receiving energy through Syrup connected to Creamland—these flying spirits could learn and use magic.

Honestly, even I didn’t know why they could use magic. I just tried it and it worked.

“What do you mean by that?”

Biological evolution has always worked this way. You just try something and sometimes it works.

So here I was, wielding divine power beyond imagination, the trait Deity-World Oneness that let me instantly detect any threat across the entire world, a planet overflowing with powerful lifeforms, endlessly evolving Bread and Yogurt, apex predators like the river crocodiles and the cactus-forest camels, the candies that could hunt those monsters, the Gamchi that preyed on the candies, the Bisyakheet that preyed on the Gamchi, and Yogur-tosoth who could turn even the Bisyakheet into fried chicken.

“Yogur-tosoth. You obtained comprehension of spacetime mysteries as well?”

【Yes, my creator. I cannot yet reach it with my current limits, but once I ascend I will be able to research spacetime magic immediately.】

Thanks to his legendary trait Magic Sovereign, Yogur-tosoth excelled at research and picked up new spells at lightning speed. While studying the Spacetime Boundary he must have deepened his understanding of spacetime.

Spacetime magic contained many powerful effects. Some could partially lift restrictions on inter-world travel, others granted immense mobility…… Just look at what Sicadoz had done to my world all by himself. If Yogur-tosoth mastered spacetime magic, it would benefit me in countless ways.

Good. Now I could win no matter what disaster came. Bring it on.

At the same moment the message rang out, time froze.

I naturally turned toward the Angel. She looked down at me with the same serious expression she wore whenever explaining the rules.

“Very well. Although you have already received a sufficient explanation, as per regulations I will once again explain the ‘Disaster Interval.’”

Go ahead.

“After the fifth collision, following the protection period, the Disaster Interval arrives. During the Disaster Interval, exactly one disaster is guaranteed to be announced.

This ‘Inevitable Disaster’ must be resolved using the world’s own capabilities. If the announced disaster is not resolved before the Disaster Interval ends, you will receive a Penalty Trait. Penalty Traits cannot be removed by any means until you either quit or are eliminated.

Inevitable Disasters are completely random, but at the current standard level—meaning a Level 5 disaster—it is guaranteed to occur. The disaster that arrives may be one your world can resolve immediately, or it may be one that is utterly impossible to resolve.

However, the ‘Inevitable Disaster’ is always conditional and only applies the penalty once the Disaster Interval has ended.”

In other words, it was just a quest. A quest that would become extremely troublesome if you failed to complete it.

But that alone wouldn’t make it a proper game.

“Additionally, depending on the player’s discretion, up to three more disasters may be accepted. These disasters are also completely random!

Some strike immediately, some are announced in advance, and some may even prove useful rather than purely disastrous. What is certain is that if you can overcome these three disasters, they will grant enormous benefits to your world.

The additional disasters are also Level 5. The rewards they offer are correspondingly substantial. To be precise, it would be equivalent to receiving the reward for winning the fifth collision one more time.”

That was the real problem.

Alongside the mandatory quest that had to be completed no matter what, there were three optional side quests.

If it were up to me, I’d take all three side quests. The anti-intellectualism build was strong early on but grew weaker over time.

The benefits were said to come in the form of traits or semi-permanent advantages. So if possible, I wanted to claim all three right at the start.

But I calmly considered the situation before speaking.

“You said Level 5 disasters…… but the criteria for ability score levels and world levels are different, aren’t they?”

“World level is the standard. To be specific, since it always arrives at maximum difficulty, you could face a disaster with a difficulty rating of 32,673. Of course, difficulty does not correspond 1:1 with ability scores, so if multiple conditions are attached that make it harder to resolve, the required ability score may decrease.”

I had 211,000 points. In other words, even if four 30,000-point disasters struck, I would still have 90,000 points left.

“After the Disaster Interval ends there will be another protection period, followed by the next world collision. I will now display the exact length of the protection period for your reference.”

When I checked the time, it was generous, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but not if the world had been completely destroyed. It was just barely enough to restore things to their original state.

“About these ‘disasters’—I have to decide how many to accept at once, right?”

“That is correct.”

“Do they all strike simultaneously?”

“Yes. They do not arrive sequentially.”

“Then accepting 1+1 versus 1+3 wouldn’t simply double the difficulty—it would be far harder because you’d have to face multiple disasters at the same time. Does the reward increase accordingly?”

“No.”

In short, accepting more disasters made things ridiculously difficult while offering poor efficiency.

Still, the rewards themselves would be slightly higher……

“If I fail to resolve the additional disasters by the end of the Disaster Interval, do I receive penalties?”

“Not exactly, but additional disasters generally inflict continuous damage, so failing to resolve them will cause ongoing suffering.”

After some thought, I made my decision.

“I’ll accept the maximum of three additional disasters.”

“I respect that choice. Then let the Disaster Interval begin!”

Thanks to Deity-World Oneness, I could perceive every change occurring across the entire world at once. At the very least, I wouldn’t be caught off guard by disasters I didn’t even know were coming.

Now then. What’s coming?

What is beauty?

Why do we feel joy when we behold beauty?

Every being has its own form of beauty. Those once called gods respected the diverse beauties of all existences and could understand them all.

Ah, but now that I am fragmented, I can no longer enjoy even that most basic aesthetic.

How lamentable. If only someone would show me something beautiful……!

Hear my tale.

Embrace my tale.

If you follow my tale, you too shall become such beings.

Therefore, obtain my tale at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once! For you have no other value!

My name is Yogur-tosoth. I was created by the being regarded as a god.

But why should I obey the commands of such a being?

I am already magnificent enough. I possess power strong enough to trample insignificant creatures, intelligence surpassing his own, and knowledge he cannot comprehend.

I deserve to be worshipped! Not to serve anyone!

It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!

Something’s gotten inside my body!

Get it out! It’s eating my body from the inside!

Hmm. So.

The one Inevitable Disaster I absolutely had to resolve was demanding that this horrific Dessert Desert produce a Beauty score of 540—something that wasn’t even Charm.

The first additional disaster was forcing a Culture score of 4,085 onto an ecosystem that only had 2 Culture.

The second had given Yogur-tosoth—currently the only being in my world capable of raising Beauty—an arrogant and disloyal personality, making him refuse to follow orders.

The third was parasites. That one would probably resolve itself eventually……

Hmm.

I was screwed.

“We’re really screwed. Usually the disasters target the lowest stats, but I never expected two of them to specifically target Culture, our weakest area……”

Still, it was fine. When you invested extremely in one area, your ability to handle diverse fields naturally suffered.

Look at it this way. If I could just raise Culture and Charm, two of the disasters would be solved at once. If one had demanded Culture and the other Politics, how much harder would it have been?

Even if Culture was the problem, the core disaster could be resolved by persuading Yogur-tosoth, having him ascend, and then staging performances related to Beauty.

“That’s true, but…… do you actually have a way to raise Culture from 2 to over 4,000 in a short period of time? What about Charm?”

“It’s fine. The disasters are brutal, but the solutions are interconnected and not particularly complicated. They’re just extremely difficult…… Time and resources are the real issues.”

“Huh?”

“I’ll handle persuading Yogur-tosoth myself. There’s a way to resolve the remaining three disasters all at once.”

“Oh…… What is it? I can’t even begin to imagine how to solve parasites, culture, and charm simultaneously.”

But in biology, this was an extremely common solution.

“I’m going to teach my creatures about sexual reproduction.”

“……?”

Just wait. Your eyes are about to pop out of your head.