Main Plan, Sub Plan 2
The ever-so-proud Marquis Sesaisa began his tale with unmistakable satisfaction.
【Huhu. Biin. Your idea was quite splendid. Connecting the Spiritual Realm and the territory through the flow generated by meat, you say.】
“Uh. Yeah.”
【But there’s no need to rely on the flows of those crude, weak, tiny, inferior meats! I couldn’t bring myself to slaughter the meats I raise, so I evolved the defeated enemy races instead—enlarging their brains and creating circuits that link those brains and nerves.】
“That kind of setup wouldn’t stay alive.”
【Lament! There was that minor issue. Fortunately, there exists the mystery of raising the meats slain by the enemy. And once I applied the remarkable meat-manipulation technique you demonstrated, I could create a vast circuit that proliferates and consumes on its own, extending indefinitely!】
This guy really has lost it. Probably because he was never a living creature to begin with. I know brains are efficient, but I never imagined someone would grow living things just to cultivate brains and nerves, then connect them through necromancy.
【Compared to yours, the efficiency and maintenance cost are lower, but the performance in linking the Spiritual Realm and the territory is several times better. In that regard, yours is truly remarkable technology. As expected from someone who specializes in meats.】
“Thanks for the compliment. It’s a technique I can’t replicate, though.”
【I appreciate it! Now then, as always, I’d like to request your consulting services. My main body that crossed into your world is having quite the time. I never expected you to wreck the Spiritual Realm structure like that. Still, that being called Shuc-rimmurath is magnificent.】
Whatever. I have my own work to do.
Sesaisa’s world was, as always, an ecological disaster.
I view things from the perspective of ecosystems, but this guy only ever thinks in terms of “flows” and “Spiritual Realm currents.” He pays zero attention to terrain structure and just obsessively links natural magic terrains, which makes the ecosystem horrendously inefficient.
“I’m going to edit the terrain a bit.”
【Don’t touch the Spiritual Realm.】
“Damn it. The Spiritual Realm and terrain are linked.”
【Still, you can’t. This is necessary for Sesaisa’s ideals.】
Odd phrasing.
“Got some grand plan?”
【Of course. Everyone has a victory plan, don’t they? Lament! I know you’re ignorant of mysteries, but I still can’t share my ultimate dream with you. Unless, of course, you decide to fully cooperate with me.】
“Huh? What’s this? You thinking of cooperating with me?”
Sesaisa, in his giant elephant avatar, replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
【Honestly, I’d like to keep cooperating with you. We’ve been winning so far, but who knows if we’ll survive the next match.】
“Fair point.”
【In that sense, partnering with you—who perfectly compensates for what I lack—would likely yield impressive results. However, merging our worlds right now is impossible.】
Obviously. The Dessert Legion is incompatible with other ecosystems.
No matter how much I might want to cooperate with other worlds, I can’t fully control my creatures, so I can’t accept surrenders even if I wanted to. Even if I wished to ally with Sesaisa’s world, the Dessert Legion and his elephants would never fuse efficiently.
【From the way you’re talking, it seems you have no intention of cooperating.】
“I want to win alone.”
【Hmm. Why?】
Huh? Why?
When I paused, Sesaisa waited a moment as if he’d asked something strange, then continued.
【In short, Sesaisa has a dream. If I cannot become a true god, I want to use the knowledge gained here to become emperor in my homeland.】
“Is your world a class-based society?”
【Class-based? What’s that—wait. Are you saying your world had no classes? So distinct that you needed a separate term for a system with ranks?】
“Ah~ Well, there’s implicit stuff, but nothing institutional.”
【Be surprised! Remarkable. How can there be no distinction of rank?】
“There’s no magic in my world. No matter how strong someone is, they’re still beneath those who hold power. Maybe it’d be different if magic existed. Anyway, in principle, anyone in our world could rise in status if they had enough power and wealth.”
Then Sesaisa said something unexpected.
【Really? Even in my world, where there was almost no meat, status was still divided according to the magnitude of power.】
……Huh?
“What does the absence of living creatures have to do with that?”
【Huh?】
Sesaisa stared at me as if I’d said something bizarre, then seemed to realize something and explained.
【Ah. I see. There was no mystery at all in your world?】
“Yeah. At least as far as I know.”
【Be astonished! So that’s why you know so much about meat. Hmm. It’s not particularly advanced knowledge, so I’ll explain: for a powerful flow to dwell, meat is required.】
“What?”
So without living creatures, you can’t use powerful magic?
【Naturally. Didn’t I explain this before? ‘The currents of the Spiritual Realm are fluid and difficult to stabilize.’ The same applies to spirits made purely of flow. Those dwelling in mediums like stone or water are somewhat better, but still pathetic.
However, meat creates an intermediate point between the material world and the Spiritual Realm through organs like the brain. As a result, it can produce stable, clearly defined flows in material form.】
“Huh.”
【Sesaisa’s world truly had too little meat, so most beings made purely of flow never obtained even a small meat body in their lifetime. Sesaisa, at least as a marquis, managed to obtain a somewhat decent meat body, but unfortunately it was still inferior to even the most worthless meat in this world. That’s why I like my race. They’re big, strong meats.】
What? So “meat” wasn’t even meant as an insult. It’s just that in their world, creatures made of meat are so rare that they call them that?
That reminded me of something.
Back in the game, no civilization ever made the main plan fail.
Even in the extreme late game, when civilizations were dragging around magic-science space battleships and performing dimensional jumps, they still had farms.
They massively improved agricultural efficiency, fully automated it, or created incredibly efficient crops through magic fusion—but farms still existed.
It’s common sense, really. Even on Earth, there were technologies to produce food in factories, but factory efficiency could never match biological efficiency.
Robots capable of precise movements and computers with ultra-high-speed calculation are clearly superior to humans in performance, but their production and maintenance costs are far higher. So no matter how advanced science becomes, you still end up growing crops on farmland. At least within 30 levels?
But the question I had while playing was: why were there no “perfect magic civilizations”? At first I thought it was for balance. A pure spirit civilization that doesn’t eat would be unbeatable against biological civilizations.
Yet when I tried it, even starting with pure magical creatures—spirit civilizations—in the mid-game they started acquiring biological bodies. Even those that began as elements ultimately became living creatures.
Come to think of it, it was the same with life. Creatures possessing mystery are superior to ordinary creatures. Ultimately, living beings are destined to use magic.
I thought this was just the concept of a fantasy game, but now it seems beings at both extremes—matter and flow—were advancing toward the middle from opposite sides.
“Ah. Wait, Sesaisa.”
【Hmm?】
“I just realized something. I’ll share it with you, so if you have any ideas, speak up.”
So I explained the hypothesis I’d just come up with about the opposition and correlation between life and magic. Sesaisa grew excited.
【Oho! I see! I hadn’t thought that far. So even meat cannot become a great existence without mystery and flow?】
“Probably.”
【If the greatest meat expert, you, and the greatest mystery expert, this Sesaisa, cooperate, we might create something truly remarkable. For example, a method to permanently grant flow to living creatures.】
“Huh?”
【Why?】
Why? Because the moment I heard that, the face of the dinosaur immortal who taught me the inheritable magic Caramelize (Yo-su-gong-bop) flashed through my mind.
From that perspective, Mihun might have the talent to create the perfect midpoint between life and magic. Though he lacks knowledge of ecosystems and Spiritual Realm currents.
“There’s a player I know who can do that, but lacks knowledge of ecosystems and Spiritual Realm currents.”
【Be awed! Can you introduce them?】
“Hmm. If you get too strong it might be troublesome, but if there’s a suitable price, maybe……”
【A suitable price. Sesaisa is a great scholar well-versed in general mystery studies, the Spiritual Realm and territories, external structures of flow, and all magic-related mysteries. Is there something you need?】
His direction seems different from Mihun’s. Mihun naturally raised the level of the land, while Sesaisa is the type who raises faith and mystery values through auxiliary structures like the Spiritual Realm.
“Ah. Right, Sesaisa.”
【What is it?】
“This seems like a pretty important question for me—do you know what pure flow-based spirits eat to survive?”
【Naturally, flow. Though I suppose the real question is what kind of flow and by what principle they consume it?】
Yeah. Even back when I played the game, this was a weakness of mine. To starve even spirit-like civilizations to death, I need to understand these “magic ecosystems” as well.
【Very well. It’s not particularly advanced knowledge, so I’ll explain in detail. There are various types of flow……】
I listened carefully to the ridiculously complicated explanation. All to complete my main plan—to obtain a method to truly starve every opponent to death.
【So ordinary spirits are divided into at least seven types……】
The explanation was disgustingly long and complex, but I listened. I gritted my teeth and listened.
While editing the ecosystem and learning diligently, it was time to move beyond the ecosystem and organize the cities built by Sesaisa’s elephants. After all, livestock can be raised in cities and villages too.
But there was something there that shouldn’t have been.
“Hey, Sesaisa. Those guys—are they a race you defeated and enslaved?”
【Ah, no. During the last disaster phase, they suffered greatly, so I found someone in the community doing consulting work similar to yours. That person lacked knowledge of the Spiritual Realm at a level comparable to yours, so we exchanged knowledge. They also built the meats’ cities.】
Watching the “hermit crab” race building houses for the elephants, I had a strange thought.
I’d seen these guys in Mihun’s world too. Weren’t they supposed to be some kind of assistant race?
So they’re specialists in industry and urban planning? They’re building houses and making tools here just like they did there. Their hermit-crab appearance was so distinctive that I recognized them immediately.
Hmm…… Well, it probably won’t have anything to do with me. I’m not going to build cities, and I’m certainly not going to operate large-scale factories like that.
“My world’s Spiritual Realm seems almost complete. Consulting ends here. I’ll introduce you right away.”
【As always, it was a good deal, Biin. I’m curious about that great expert.】
“A bit of an eccentric, but…… well.”
Cheating in a deal is impossible. I hand over information about Mihun.
Sesaisa is gradually recording the knowledge he’s sharing with my clone in the original ecosystem. Now I can roughly repair the Spiritual Realm even without Sesaisa’s help.
But the same goes for him. We’re both still wrecking things overall, but at least we understand ecosystems now.
Ultimately, we won’t be able to extract each other’s core knowledge, and at some point we’ll either fully cooperate or go to war. In the end.
……
“Lord Biin. Do you not want to kill Lord Sesaisa?”
“I don’t know what he thinks.”
I don’t consider him a friend. I think of him as a business partner. Both he and I only think about stripping each other bare.
Without distinguishing between “good intelligent beings” and “bad intelligent beings,” I simply dislike all intelligent beings. That’s why I dislike Sesaisa too. Even though he’s not a living creature, he still possesses the worst traits of intelligent beings.
“But?”
I’m no different. I just think that way.
The topic drifted away ambiguously, but I still couldn’t answer why I had to win the game alone.
Nor what I would do if I dropped out midway. What would I, the sole survivor atop a world where I’d slaughtered every intelligent being, do then?
——And my consciousness shifts back to my original ecosystem. It’s time to prepare for the seventh collision of the “minority rounds,” a major turning point.