The ecosystem is an arena where the strategies of all living things collide.
Although the word 'strategy' is used here, it's not like some creatures consciously develop a strategy and say, "Oh, this is how I should live."
To be exact, it feels like all kinds of creatures just live by doing whatever they are good at, but those who somehow survive just continue doing what they were doing, and those who die can't leave behind their strategies, so the actions of those who 'continued to live by doing what they were originally doing' have become completed strategies.
Sometimes, when a mutation occurs, you do something a little different from what you were doing before, and then you succeed again. That's how it is.
But this 'strategy', at one point, was thought to be determined solely by genes.
I thought that what was programmed into our genes was absolute. It led to a kind of fatalism, determinism, eugenics, and so on.
But research has shown that this isn't the case. Even with the same genes, genes possess the flexibility to adapt to different environments.
The simplest example is intelligence: the ability to think and make different judgments based on the environment.
But the body itself can also change. Essentially, when the environment becomes hostile, some water fleas develop horns and adopt a sort of fighting stance.
If the environment is moderate, they don't build expensive organs like horns, but rather focus their resources on more productive pursuits like eating and reproducing.
Insects can also change their bodies to better adapt to hotter/colder environments due to rapid temperature changes. If they fail to predict the climate, they die en masse, but anyway…
It is also divided into rather large generations. There is research showing that children of generations that experienced famine in Homo sapiens are obese.
Even after famine has subsided, the mechanism of preserving food for children and conserving energy is simply instinctively ingrained in the body. Parents cannot consciously alter their children's genes.
This genetic flexibility: a mutation that occurs only occasionally, after hundreds of generations.
Organisms were able to thrive more because genes generated appropriate responses for each generation, each individual, and each environment, rather than relying on each other.
Flexibility is a crucial element in strategy, isn't it? A strategy that can only handle one program is useless in an environment with so many variables.
Look at card games, AOS where you pick heroes and fight. Also, look at games that incorporate some kind of competitive element. While high-performance games are certainly the most useful, those that are equally useful are those that are flexible and can be utilized in various ways.
In theory, a creature capable of adapting to all circumstances would be considered a true ultimate organism. Adapting to all circumstances means no threat can stop it from reproducing, and thus it will never go extinct. The ultimate in biology. It's even grandly called "Darwin's Demon."
I'm a bit off topic. Anyway, I thought that only applied to literal biological threats.
But I guess that wasn't the case. There was a mysterious adaptive life form that changed its form depending on the concentration of magical energy around it.
"Actually, it's not such a strange creature. It's common in a world with mystery."
"Ah. I see."
"But I'm not sure what would happen if you took it to the extreme."
If life forms that change their survival strategies in response to magic can appear in a much wider variety of forms, the strategic scope of my ecosystem will be greatly expanded.
To be honest, if these kinds of creatures became mainstream, there would be no need to struggle with a lack of magical power. Just feed half of them enough magical power, and the other half would just starve without it.
No, it's not like they're starving. It's just that they thrive in an ecosystem without magic, so we're helping them adapt a little to an environment with magic.
"I don't know if this is really a good thing or a bad thing."
It's a good thing, because it saves more lives. I decided to closely observe the toads that grow larger when the surrounding area is overflowing with magic.
Through divine power, we first analyze the body's structure. We can even analyze genes in detail, and the results reveal something.
First, all toads grow larger only in response to a specific flow. The problem is that I don't know exactly what that 'specific flow' is.
Seisaisa said the types of flow are virtually infinite. Perhaps it's a category I can't encompass. This prevents the toad from growing into a giant with just any magic.
Second, the toad's gigantism gene exists, strictly speaking, as a bodily organ. Without surrounding magical power, this organ simply shrinks and serves no purpose.
I checked because it seemed absurd, and it really doesn't do anything. No matter how much I looked into it, it just consumed energy and didn't do anything meaningful.
However, if a specific flow exists, this organ is suddenly activated.
Biologically, it absorbs and releases growth hormones and specific streams, causing toads that have already reached full growth to suddenly resume growth and continue to grow larger. This is enough to transform a toad no larger than the palm of a hand into a giant monster two meters in diameter.
Third, this change is irreversible. In short, the enlarged toad cannot return to its original form.
The larger toads become stronger and consume more energy, and since they have no problems reproducing because the eggs can be fertilized externally, they can breed with normal toads.
But there's a problem. Their lifespan is 1/10th the normal lifespan. And it's not just lifespan that's been shortened. More precisely, the cause of the shortened lifespan is the problem.
The toad continues to suffer as it grows larger. As I mentioned before, living beings cannot grow beyond their permitted size. Yet, something the size of a palm grew larger than a person.
Just how far beyond the acceptable limit did they go? In human terms, it's equivalent to an average-sized woman growing to over 30 meters tall. If there were no physical abnormalities, that would be even more astonishing.
And they suffer from all sorts of bizarre problems that come with their large size, including intellectual disability, sensory abnormalities, skeletal abnormalities, muscle ruptures, and more.
So why do these genes persist? It's simple. First of all, toads are incredibly strong, even at two meters tall. That's because frogs are incredibly cute and comical. They're carnivorous, after all.
It's monstrous how they can leap several meters in a single leap, and their dependence on water reduced by so much that it makes me wonder if they're dven amphibians.
It's just became a super toad.
"That's amazing. If we just improve this, it would be quite strong, right?"
Honestly, I agree. The category of frogs is actually quite broad.
The term 'frog', is used loosely, referring to all creatures belonging to the 'order' of frogi. To give a better idea of how broad an 'order' is, dogs, cats, bears, raccoons, mongooses, weasels, and seals are all grouped together under the 'order' of carnivora.
So I decided to test how strong it was. Using the 『Creation of Heaven and Earth』, I removed the toad from its habitat and placed it adjacent to the martial monsters' habitat.
The toads and the monsters both look confused. They sense the surrounding terrain has changed.
First, the toads sense the increased magical power around them, and their genes activate. Their organs become resounded, and they greedily ate the surrounding food, growing in size.
The martial arts monsters are still cautious. They don't know how to interpret the new terrain. If they were smarter, they might realize it was 『Divine Unity』, but『Divine Unity』is still unfamiliar to the monsters.
The martial monsters discover the giant toad. What was once the size of a palm has now grown to the size of a human torso. The martial arts monsters are momentarily startled by this unfamiliar creature.
"We eat!"
"We try?"
They get closer. Instead of rushing at them, the toads run away. It runs away quite quickly, and the monsters are also fast. It must have been unable to shake off the monsters, who had mastered martial arts, so they were caught and made into a meal.
Oh, and the martial monsters don't know how to use fire, so they just ate the raw food.
But when they come across something jelly-like, they would set the surrounding area on fire, and cook the food with it. Can I assume that they were using flint? Have they really entered the realm of Homo erectus?
I don't know. The frogs enjoy eating the toads, and the toads are still no match for the frogs.
I observed a little more. The martial monsters here are not large in stature. They are only ten days old, thanks to the toads that hunt for food at a breakneck pace.
The physiques of the toad and the frog are reversed.
"That thing got bigger."
"They can still catch it."
The monsters, each armed with their own weapons, charge at a lone toad, about 1.7 meters in diameter. The toad reacts, but now instead of dodging, it charges in return.
But the martial monsters' insane reflexes easily dodge it and they ram their spears into its body. At this point, the hunt is easy, but…well…
Five days later, a young tadpole is eaten by a toad. The enraged tadpoles, now two meters long, attack and devour the tadpole.
In battle, whether it extends its tongue, approaches a toad and strikes with its forelegs, jumping up and pouncing on it, it avoids all attacks and tears its body to pieces.
After all, the toad still couldn't defeat the martial arts monster.
But what about the magic monsters?
"Is there a difference?"
No. There isn't any. The magic monsters just watch, and when the toads come running, they just spit out magic and chase them away. The magician is really a scammer.
"It's a weaker creature than I thought."
Just looking at the weight class, a toad with a diameter of 2 meters can easily hunt a singular martial arts monster and a magic monster.
But the problem is that both martial and magical monsters are highly intelligent, pack creatures who understand strategy and tactics. Just as a pack of wolves can hunt a huge cow, the weight difference between them and a toad is meaningless.
Then there's no point in fighting creatures stronger than the Sugar Lumps. At best, they'll only prey on crickets, bugs, or other wild animals that can't use magic.
"Is this a huge failure?"
Well, you have to see that. Because the perspectives are different.
"Perspective?"
The ecosystem is ultimately about competing for resources, whether with other competitors or with the same species.
In that sense, a creature that can use mysticism can use the resource of magical power in addition to ordinary nutrients, or in other words, matter.
In that respect, the Sugar Lump is a creature with quite a bit of formidable combat capabilities. A strong body, exceptional intelligence, powerful hunting skills to support it, and martial arts skills powered by powerful magical powers based on the nectar ecosystem…
Within my ecosystem as a whole, they are in the lower-middle class. At the top are Caramel Camels, and at the top are Bisyakheets. However, the resources consumed by the sugar lumps are also quite substantial.
"The toad lost just because he was poor?"
That's right. This toad lives in an environment without magic, and when the magical pressure around it increases, it senses there is a strong predator' and simply grows in size.
It was a creature that grew in size for some sort of defensive purpose. It was able to hunt larger prey, but that was only a secondary effect.
So to speak, the middle class of my ecosystem is these toads.
I can't use mysticism like the rich guys, and I can't waste mysticism like the conglomerate Bisyakheet. If I have magic power, I become stronger, and if I don't have magic power, I become stronger.
A creature with moderate flexibility that can become weak.
However, if the middle class and lower classes become thicker, the upper class also benefits greatly.
Anyway, these guys can occupy the position of 'low-level soldiers' who can survive even in environments with low magical power.
What matters in an ecosystem isn't just strength. Did dinosaurs go extinct because they were weak?
Rather, they grew large and still became extinct.
Ultimately, in an ecosystem, there needs to be an irreplaceable position.
I see potential in these toads. Before this ninth conflict, I'd like to strengthen the survival strategies of these weak creatures, not the wealthy.
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