Ren lifted the child Jibril into his arms.
In her child form, she looked incredibly cute, and he felt a little fond of her.
Seeing her on the verge of tears, he explained, "It's precisely because I know I can't defeat any race that I never consider starting a war. This game is just like a farming and development game for me, where I avoid natural enemies along the way."
"But this is a war game," Jibril tried to object. She had used all her energy to create this sandbox game.
"Yet I'm playing a farming game," Ren replied with a smile, then continued, "I'm not trying to twist words. I just mean taking something that had a zero probability of happening and turning it into something that could theoretically succeed. If it can theoretically succeed, then it's either success or failure, which gives me a 50% chance of success."
"This…" Jibril, a war weapon, was stunned. She felt Ren made sense, but something still didn't feel right.
"Enough. In this game I win, as long as you don't reveal our existence, it's fine," Ren said, patting her small head. He really liked her child form. The God of Games hadn't appeared yet, so the game didn't have any compulsory enforcement.
"Hmph. You think I can't lose?" Jibril stomped over to Ren with her tiny legs. By their agreement, she now belonged to him.
"Ha! Suit yourself. By the way, I have a name—Ren, not 'Bald Monkey.'" He continued to rub her head. He hadn't had a chance like this before and was enjoying it immensely.
Soon, Ren returned to the cave and handed Jibril all the information he had recorded.
Looking at the twisting and turning characters, Jibril asked curiously, "What kind of writing is this?"
"Japanese characters. Learn them. Use your glasses. Do you know why you can't win against me in games?" Ren advised.
"Why?"
"Because you don't understand me. You can defeat Dragonia because you know their habits and fighting style. But you know nothing about me. Losing to me is normal," Ren explained convincingly.
"Hmph. I won't lose in battle."
"But I'm not fighting you at all. When we first met, did I intend to fight? Everything I've done is just to survive." Ren rolled his eyes.
Meeting Jibril had been unbelievably unlucky for him.
Jibril thought carefully but couldn't recall any such intentions. Unimportant things never stuck in her memory.
Seeing her confused expression, Ren had nothing more to say and continued to examine the books on the Flügel Race.
Since they were war weapons, their descriptions of other races were very detailed.
Finding the books uninteresting, the young girl started chewing on the Japanese characters.
Once she actually tried to learn, she realized just how difficult this language was.
Ren's stomach growled. He looked at Jibril, who was still wearing her glasses and studying seriously. It was clear she had absorbed the lessons.
Ren got up, planning to go out for food.
After the all-night game with Jibril that had lasted several days, the food they had gathered earlier was long gone.
"Where are you going?" Jibril looked up at him.
"To find food. I'm hungry."
Jibril flew above Ren's head and clung directly onto him.
Her child-sized body fit perfectly. Mainly, she didn't want to walk, so she stayed hanging there and continued studying.
It wasn't surprising that after the war, the Flügel Race became the most knowledge-focused race. They were naturally gifted in this area.
The sky darkened with Black Ash storms again.
Ren tightened his black robe and headed toward the distance.
Nothing around here was safe to eat.
He arrived at a jungle that had been severely damaged.
Yet the destruction had created several cover spots, where the Black Ash couldn't reach.
The food here was undoubtedly safe.
Ren quickly slipped inside, while Jibril adjusted her position and continued hanging on his head.
She didn't return to the Flügel Race to recover; her child form had to last for a long time.
Inside, it was already crowded.
Ren had sensed it beforehand. From the presence, one was Immanity, and the other was another race.
Clearly, they had noticed Ren and Jibril too, and were hiding carefully without making a move.
Night-walking fungi grew within, emitting an eerie green glow.
Ren slipped in, appreciating the unusual scenery.
Hiding in the shadows were Riku and the other person.
They were sweating coldly, seeing the small child that Ren carried.
She was small, but those wings… as a member of the Flügel Race, she was a war weapon.
They absolutely couldn't be discovered.
"Schwi, can we win?" Riku whispered to his companion.
"All survive-and-escape chance: 0%. Victory chance: 30%," Schwi quickly stated their current situation.
The main reason was that Jibril's power hadn't fully recovered.
"Should we avoid contact as much as possible?" Riku murmured.
Soon, the person with a fully covered hood removed it.
Their features were indistinguishable from Immanity.
"Is that an Immanity?" Riku hadn't expected Immanity to be with the Flügel Race.
"Ren, are those red dots Immanity?" Jibril quickly sensed the presence of others, but the red dots on her glasses made her curious.
"Yeah, they're Immanity. Learn my language, or you'll end up losing your underwear to me," Ren said, patting the child on his head.
"Hmph, if you have the guts, stop playing games and fight me," Jibril said, clearly not convinced.
"I can't win in a fight," Ren said confidently and started picking food.
"You're Immanity?" Riku asked, seeing that the other had noticed them, and pulled Schwi out.
"Oh? Scrap iron and a monkey?" Jibril blurted out.
"Have some manners. You can't even beat a monkey like me, so you have no right to mock others," Ren said, tapping the brain bug on his head, then looked at Riku.
"Yeah, I'm Immanity. As for her, she's a Flügel. She's stuck with me for various reasons and won't leave."
"Hello," Riku greeted as well.
"Immanity… I underestimated you," Jibril said very seriously.
If it weren't for this moment, she wouldn't have imagined Immanity surviving well in this world without other races noticing. Now, she realized how knowledge could be very important.
"Won't she expose us?" Riku asked, trusting that Ren was on the Immanity side.
"I made a promise with her. She lost the war game to me and won't tell anyone," Ren said, tugging at the hair falling on his cheek.
"War!"
"Game?"
Riku and Schwi had different points of focus.
"It's a war simulation game, but more like a management simulation," Ren said, stroking his chin seriously.
"Hmph," Jibril snorted lightly.
"If you need intelligence on the Elves, I can provide it," Ren said quietly.
"This…"
"You want more people to survive, right? Then accept my goodwill. Compared to you, I fall short," Ren said.
He could easily read the other's intentions. It was simple: he had their intel, they didn't have his.
"Then I'll accept it. But falling short compared to me? That's impossible," Riku said, naturally willing to set aside his doubts to save more lives.
"Of course it's possible. I can't lead an entire race to survive in this world. They trust you unconditionally, don't they?" Ren thought, sighing at the thought of the people destroyed by the Black Ash later on. How could he ever compare to them?
**********
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