At four times the normal speed, Ren's little people quickly discovered a technological ruin belonging to the Dwarves.
After obtaining this intelligence, a book appeared on Ren's sand table.
Ren opened it immediately.
It contained information about the Dwarves, and his little people now had knowledge about them as well.
"This intelligence can be used," Ren said, continuing to send letters.
He hadn't forgotten the role he played in this game: guiding the Dwarves and Elves to fight against the Flügel Race.
Ren didn't believe his little people could handle the Elves, who could see through identities.
So for now, Ren focused on the Dwarves.
He then sent out two more exploration teams.
Since this sandbox game only had four races and lacked black and gray species, it was already on easy mode, so Ren acted a little more boldly.
Meanwhile, on Jibril's side, she was waging war while also paying attention to caves, jungles, and other areas, hoping to find traces of Immanity.
She encountered Dwarves along the way, and naturally, she didn't hesitate to attack, destroying their technology while continuing to search for any sign of monkeys (Immanity or human).
Her strategy was simple: win the war through sheer strength.
Jibril didn't want to give Ren time to develop, but the more she rushed, the safer Ren became.
"Where could he be hiding?" Jibril frowned at the sandbox before her.
She had scoured every mountain where someone could hide, yet she still found no trace of Immanity.
Unlike Jibril, who attacked freely, Ren had his little people plant nocturnal fungi at the camp.
The exploration teams were beginning to make indirect contact with the Dwarves.
[Discovered a ruin.]
Soon, Ren's little people brought him a piece of intelligence: the Flügel Race had clashed with the Dwarves, destroying the high-tech they had just created.
"Already fought them?" Ren measured the distance to his main base silently.
There was still some distance, so he increased the game speed to eight times.
Ren kept issuing orders to his little people.
His hand sending letters seemed to cramp from the effort, as the number of little people grew rapidly, the explored map areas expanded, and the food in the main base increased.
[Successfully established diplomacy with the Dwarves.]
"Good. With the Dwarves' help, we've delayed things considerably, but the Elves are still in self-preservation mode."
Ren had to drag the Elves into the conflict; just relying on the Dwarves wouldn't be enough to defeat the Flügel Race.
It was a Ghost who made diplomatic contact with the Dwarves.
They hadn't revealed the Immanity' existence, but Ren knew this was purely a transactional diplomacy—it could easily fall apart.
Ren didn't care if the relationship lasted or not.
He just needed to survive this game.
He immediately wrote the information about the E-Bomb and sent it to the ghost.
The ghost in the sandbox immediately tried to make contact with the Dwarves.
With the information about the E-Bomb provided by the ghost, the Dwarves' eyes lit up, and they began studying the E-Bomb with great effort.
"Hm, with this boost, we should be able to go toe-to-toe with the Flügel race, but we still need to drag the Elf race into this," Ren quickly came up with a plan.
He decided to let the Dwarves research E-Bomb and leak the estimated power of the attack to the Elf race.
Knowing the Elf race's nature, they would definitely accelerate their research on similar magic to counter it.
Without hesitation, Ren immediately gave orders to the little people who had found the Elf race's location, marking the coordinates and leaving messages in the Elf race's language.
If one message wasn't enough, he left several copies.
The ghosts placed intelligence every hundred meters around the area, ensuring that some Elf race members would investigate.
At eight times normal speed, the progress was rapid.
Soon, some members of the Elf race discovered the information.
Some didn't believe it, while others began heading toward the Dwarves' remains.
"Finally, they've taken the bait."
Ren quickly ordered all the ghosts to retreat and left the E-Bomb information at the Dwarves' remains.
To cover a lie, he needed to do more to fill its gaps.
Fortunately, in this sandbox game, the E-Bomb had been revealed by Ren to the Dwarves, which added credibility to his plan.
"Next, I need to lead the Dwarves and the Elf race into battle, and also lure the Flügel race. It has to be a two-on-one situation," Ren said, frowning.
Because he and Jibril were the real opposing players, and Jibril had initially acted to track Immanity traces, this bait carried a certain risk.
According to the game rules, if his town's destruction rate exceeded 70% or the population death rate exceeded 85%, he would lose.
His win condition was to defeat the Flügel race, by any means, or survive three days after the Flügel race discovered Immanity, which in-game equaled six years.
Ren was confident that no matter what happened, Jibril would use immense power to suppress it.
Even if she knew the Elf race and Dwarves were walking into a trap set by Ren, she would remain fearless.
At eight times speed, the game progressed rapidly.
Ren built residences in multiple regions, increased the population, and guided the direction of the war, enjoying himself thoroughly.
The Dwarves had originally wanted to drive away the Elf race but ran into the Flügel race instead.
The Flügel race had already destroyed many of their facilities, making research difficult.
It was a meeting of enemies, and tempers flared.
Ren's faction naturally stayed far away from their battle.
When gods fight, even watching can be deadly, and one couldn't go to the scene afterward. It was extremely tricky.
But that didn't matter.
Ren only needed to ignite the Elf race's anger and the Dwarves' hatred toward the Flügel race.
He needed to expand and prolong his own defeat, which would also extend the development time for the Dwarves and Elf race.
[Town Destruction: 5%, Population Decrease: 8%]
Watching the messages sent from the sandbox, Jibril had already started locating Immanity settlements.
Ren was not panicking. Time in the sandbox game went by eight times faster, allowing him to quickly evacuate nearby people while continuously expanding hidden shelters.
This game was terrible. He only had one path to follow. Even if the Flügel gave their full strength, combined efforts of the Dwarves and Elves might not succeed, let alone when these two groups were wary of each other.
From start to finish, he had only one path: survive the Flügel' attacks for three days.
The little people, with their own personalities, voluntarily redirected the attacks toward the Dwarves, using their lives to extend humanity's survival.
It was this spirit of sacrifice that slowed the Flügel' assault. Ren was moved by the characters in the game.
Yes, Riku and the others sacrificed unconditionally to end the great war and create a better living environment for Immanity.
"We must minimize the casualty rate as much as possible," Ren said, almost without closing his eyes. After all, one night's sleep in real life meant a year had passed in the game.
More and more people had become ghosts. The Flügel were war machines, and these ghosts' purpose was to ensure human settlements remained undiscovered.
They voluntarily disturbed traces around them and continued to use their lives to attract the attention of the Flügel.
Watching the population slowly decline, Ren's heart ached. To survive six years in this hide-and-seek game, Immanity had to sacrifice some of its own.
**********
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