"Well, since you decided to move forward from the disembarkment point, I'll give you double the points."
And the angel, as always, showed three attribute cards.
『Grand Memorial: When a person dies and the funeral is properly conducted, the
『Monetary Economy: When you use a currency to conduct economic activities, your credit rating goes up slightly.』
『Near-Death Experiences: Exploring the Great Boundary becomes a little easier. With proper procedures, it can even be done consciously.』
To be honest, I was disappointed when I saw them. All three of them were underperforming.
"Is this all you can show me?"
"Hmm… Even if you say that, they are all
"No, why are you showing me the superior grade traits? I have two mythical grade traits."
"If you ask why… 1~5 are normal, 6~10 are excellent, 11~15 are extraordinary, 16~20 are heroic, 21~25 are epic, and 26~30 are legendary. That's how it's decided."
"If we exclude the prime numbers that have the unconditional territorial nature and the multiples of 4, there won't be any sections that give me proper compensation, right?"
"That's true. In reality, after 30 rounds, you win, so there's no special feature provided."
Come to think of it, this is a bit odd. Why are they selling mythical traits for +4 levels in the current round instead of pricing it around the 30th collision? Of course, I like it, but… I could have just bought that section's trait for that point price.
Is it because of game logic? Strangely, it seems like they've put in effort to make it 'fun', let's call it balance.
Anyway, I chose [Near-Death Experiences]. Everything else was crappy, so this was the only thing I could use.
And I think about the game.
I participated as a gamer, not an ecology expert. It turns out the game is quite good.
It seems like they're bringing in experts in specific fields, successful businesspeople or national leaders, or something like that.
I'm not really an ecology expert, so I'm more of an amateur. I went to university, but I didn't pursue a PhD or anything. I'm just an amateur ecologist, scraping together information and buying knowledge from others (or getting points in return), getting all the way to round 9.
So, I reached the drop-off point. I made it through about a third of the game. There's still a long way to go, but… I still feel a sense of accomplishment.
It's something I've rarely felt before.
"Why am I doing this?"
I need to split into two avatars. One that just provides information in the community, and one that's a trashy human being.
Let's just dump all the psychological conflict and agony onto the person in charge of humanity. I sigh deeply, take a deep breath… Actually, I can't do that in the spirit form of God, but I'll try to keep that mindset for now.
I opened my mouth without thinking.
"Hey angel. Can I disembark now?"
"Uh, yes?"
"I got the trait and doubled the points, so why not?"
"Hmm~ No. You're free to return the points and return the amount of points equivalent to the price of the newly acquired trait. It's around 300,000 points, so it's not a small loss."
"Is that so? Can I really now?"
"Why are you like this? You've been going so well so far… Is it because of your conscience? Did you suddenly feel guilty about annihilating all the players you defeated…? You're quite the contradictory person."
"It's similar, but the reverse."
"Yes?"
"I'm wondering if my soul won't be destroyed even if I lose the game right now."
The angel then closed her mouth.
It's like in a less well-made game, there's no motion for a specific action, so you do a specific action and then suddenly change your posture.
"Why do you think that?"
"Actually, the fact that there's a guy named Mihun makes the game's reward system seem honest. You guys probably give out real rewards to the winners, right? If Mihun wins, he gets promoted to a god or something."
"Yes, of course."
"I don't know if this is an incredibly complex scam. Since there's a player named Mihun who provided the game's stage, the reward structure itself must be completely real… But what I'm questioning right now isn't the reward system."
"Then?"
It's the penalty.
This game. Why does my soul disappear when I lose?
I mean, at first I thought it was obvious. Of course, if you lose in a game where you create a god, your soul will be destroyed.
Well… it's common, right? In genres like subculture, web novels, webtoons, Japanese comics, and other genres that deal with harsh battle royale games.
But when I actually entered the game and saw it, the scale was too big. There are over 1 billion players participating. The world is hundreds of times larger than the Earth. It even has mythical traits.
Considering things like 『Creation of Heaven and Earth』, it could become several thousand times larger.
The organizers manipulated time as they pleased, and the participant, Mihun, said that he could destroy the galaxy by manipulating time, and negotiated and played with the organizers to reach a higher level…
They say all sorts of things like they're competing for the lives of a billion people which I still don't know exactly what that means.
Then, a single human soul has no value.
"Not really."
No, it's really not worth it. The organizers are too omnipotent.
People are just born when a man and a woman meet, spend one night together, and 10 months later, they are born.
So the soul is just a union of sperm and egg? What value does that have? On Earth, women throw away half their souls every month, and men throw away hundreds of millions for a single pornographic film.
Biologically, there is no such thing as a soul. Explanations like the spirit world and such are impossible.
Even if this comes out, I have no interest in it. Honestly, it just feels like a fantasy setting.
At this point, I'm starting to wonder if the organizers are really lying, if they're hiding the truth. Well, I'm starting to doubt it.
In short, isn't soul extinction just a lie to make you focus on the game?
In short, is the 'me' here really my soul on Earth? Or is it just a copy of my personality, like the clones I command, that I've used to participate in the game?
"You have a bold imagination."
"Is it really that bold?"
"No. 15% of the game participants think exactly like you, Mr. Vein."
As expected. In fact, given the organizers' omnipotence, it's hard not to have those doubts.
However, I believe that it is true that I am being compensated because I know Mihun, and I do not think that there is a penalty.
Many of the remaining players probably don't even know about Mihun's existence, so they might not even know if they really are giving out rewards. Mihun isn't the type to hide his identity, but he's not one to openly reveal it either.
"However, as you know, the organizers have no choice but to reply that compensation will be paid properly and that if you lose, your soul will be destroyed."
I know. That's the official answer, I guess.
But what I'm concerned about now is something completely different. I can't say it with my own words.
"Wait a minute, Mr. Vein. You don't think your soul will be destroyed if you lose the game right now… Is that why you are dissatisfied?"
I didn't mean for you to say it with your own mouth.
"Excuse me, sir? I want to be clear about this. Are you a suicidal person?"
I don't have the courage. I'm also very foolish.
But I always had this desire to die. I guess I didn't grow up in a very good environment.
"Uuuuuum. Lord Vein. Then, what do you mean by killing everyone you've met so far…? Is it because you want to make yourself into a bad person? Like the Demon King or something, begging others to kill you because you're a bad guy?"
Well… I really do hate humans, but maybe I'm half baked like that.
"Which one?"
"How can the human mind be so determined? It's all so complicated."
Okay. complicated.
When I made hundreds of millions of dollars in coins, honestly, I was incredibly happy. But on the other hand, I felt guilty because I earned it by preying on other people.
I was so happy when my mother, who had abandoned me, came back. I thought she had come to ask for money, so I wanted to kill her.
When I went into seclusion in the countryside because I didn't want to lend her money, I thought my mother was a loser. On the other hand, I felt guilty for abandoning her.
I hate humans.
But I want to like humans.
I like the creature called Homo sapiens.
In that ecology, I only feel disgust.
I hate myself so much I could die.
But I don't have the courage to die.
I'm sick of life and I want to die.
But the game is so much fun and the food tastes good when you're hungry.
I want to become a demon king who has completely abandoned humanity.
Otherwise, I might be able to stop this contradictory, trashy self-loathing and contempt.
All the bad guys in the world affirm themselves, so if I become a trashy villain, wouldn't I be able to affirm myself like this?
"So, you want to destroy all your opponents, but you also want the organizers to lie and say that you don't want all your opponents to actually be destroyed?"
Shamefully.
If I were a shameless, shameless bastard, I would get cursed at less.
If someone just does bad things and says, "Actually, I was tormented by a guilty conscience", is that a reason to sympathize? They're trash who deserve to be killed.
I don't want to be that kind of ugly trash, but the path of the Demon King is truly difficult.
And so, today, I am mired in self-loathing. While my other avatars are enjoying the changing and evolving the ecosystem, craving yogurt and getting angry, and truly expressing human emotions.
As the person in charge of humanity, I can just fall into a pitiful state of self-loathing, and all the other clones can prepare themselves to become thorough demon kings, destroy their enemies in the next world collision, and also cleanly destroy themselves if they are defeated.
"Mr. Vein, I repeat, the host's response is consistent."
"Right? I have no intention of quitting the game either. So what if I get fooled? I'll just play again.
I guess that's okay since I was having fun.
Games are fun. The reason I didn't kill myself is because [The Fantasy World Creator] you guys created was so much fun, and the competition right now is also so much fun.
Ultimately, I'm here as a gamer. Gamers can choose evil alignments simply because they haven't chosen this path before, or they can kill people in the game at will.
I'm just like that. I just use the rules of the game to get the most out of it.
"In that sense, what I am going to say from now on is not from the organizers, but from me, the angel."
…? What is it? Criticism? Or comforting me like last time? What is it?
But the angel answered neither of the two.
"Mr. Vein. Try to become a better person.
I don't blame you for aiming to become a Demon King who has abandoned humanity. Seriously. People are free to pursue whatever they want.
But now, Mr. Vein is not aiming for the Demon King, but for humans and himself.
You are just running away. That's not becoming a Demon King, and it can't be said that you are pursuing anything."
I couldn't say anything.
"If winning means becoming a demon king who has truly abandoned humanity and what you do is no different from committing suicide out of self-loathing, then there is no need to win, right?
I sincerely hope you win, Mr. Vein.
After you win, completely abandon humanity and wiping out all players, what do you plan to do?
I think if you can understand that, you'll become stronger."
The angel advised me like this.
As the alter ego in charge of humanity, I couldn't help but worry a bit.
Think about 'what kind of' life you will live, not 'how'…
Is being a Demon King a means of living 'how', or is it a direction towards 'what kind of' life?
Do I understand what it means to be a Demon King?
The clone in charge of humanity is in such agony.
I left it to my own devices and naturally shifted my consciousness to the community side.
It seems like the situation has become a factional war, so the Meteor Cartel is also expected to be in trouble in many ways.
— — — —
— — — —
(UNEDITED)
Volume 4 Review
This is a review of Volume 4 (episodes 76-100). As always, you don't have to read it.
-Saddam-
Me: Ah, you wrote well today too~ Since the paid subscription, you've been publishing two Stone Age series at the same time every day. Writing three stories a day feels so refreshing! Hahaha!
Editor: Sir, an unprecedented situation has occurred.
Myself: Yes?
Editor: The author wrote the manuscript too quickly, so the 58th episode was made paid on August 16th.
The series hit its 100th episode on September 5th, but the cover hasn't been released yet and the manuscript hasn't been reviewed for publication.
Myself: Eh.
Editor: And considering that this serialization cycle includes Chuseok, you must write up to episode 126 by September 12th.
Myself: Eh.
For that reason, from the weekend to the Chuseok holiday (September 14th to 18th, 2024), we'll be publishing one episode per day, rather than two. It simply wasn't possible to write 126 episodes by the 12th. Frankly, I'm not sure about the publishing cycle after that.
This is a happening that only occurred between the platform, editor, and writer, and readers who will read it later will not know much about it. Now, let's start with the real review of Volume 4.
-Questions & Answers-
Question 1. Do the Wahwando races lack self-awareness? Are they like ants or bees?
Answer: No. I have an ego. But when I think about it rationally, I think it's better to conform to the system, so I just follow it.
Question 2. If a player gets off, disappears, or joins as a subordinate god, their characteristics will be deleted. Then, will the terrain and intelligence of creatures that gained intelligence through the creation of the world or through fairy tales be restored?
Answer: Yes.
Question 3. Does this mean that truth verification is absolutely necessary? Or is it necessary to verify the truth? Do I have to do my best to get a loogie?
Answer: The latter. If you're willing to risk your soul to prove your truth, you must protect it if you can. If you thought you could but couldn't, that's fine. However, if you need to give points and don't have them, we'll auction off all your assets in the world to take them away.
-Setup problem-
In fact, the identity of this work lies in its setting explanations. Honestly, I don't think many readers who've read up to episode 100 will complain about the excessive setting explanations. Even if you just read episodes 1-10, the setting is already crammed in.
Even considering that, the 4th volume's setting explanations were a bit too much. Especially with the introduction of two new species. Even readers who enjoy setting explanations can't help but feel a sense of fatigue.
So, I promise you, from now until the tenth world collision, there won't be any new ones. And even after that, I'll try to limit the number of settings you have to memorize between collisions to one or two.
And, although it has already been organized in the original serial publication notice, it is available on other platforms.
Since those of you who are watching can't see the summary, I will write down the descriptions of the creatures that have appeared so far in the review of episode 100.
--Basic creatures--
Jelly-based lifeforms: Any lifeforms that evolved from nectar jelly.
Nectar Jelly: A creature that eats nectar from Nectar Lake and spits out water and magic.
Jelly: A type of jelly with a dull, hard shell. It feeds on rocks and other jellies. Its ecology resembles that of a herbivore.
Pudding: A relatively agile and powerful jelly species with tentacles. It feeds on other jellies. Its ecology resembles a carnivore.
Gummy: A type of jelly that cannot move. Its ecology is similar to that of trees or coral.
Candy: A small carnivore with a water-like ecology that reproduces asexually and quickly hunts its prey among jellies.
Yokan: A combination of four types of jellies.
Sweet Tooth: Pterosaurs with beaks and membrane-covered wings (but different from Earth's pterosaurs). They could fly and occupied the ecological niche of all flying creatures, including birds and bats.
Gel: A type of bacteria. They cannot grow in size due to their slimy substance and occupy an ecological niche similar to mushrooms and molds.
Topping: A magical life form that consumes magical power and emits heat.
Syrup: A life form fused with gel and topping. It coexists with other life forms, granting them magical resistance, mystical abilities, and more.
Milk: A crude spirit creature
Yogurt: Milk mixed with syrup. Can be used for magic.
Dou: Metal lifeforms. The crudest of all.
Bread: A metal lifeform. Made by combining syrup and milk with metal dough.
Rice cake: A mixture of dough and syrup, or jelly-like creatures added to it. A predator that hunts with its neck.
Caramel: Normal creatures that have been caramelized (by the magic technique). Can use Mystery.
Sugar Lumps: Evolved from monkeys. There are herbivorous magical Sugar Lumps and carnivorous martial Sugar Lumps.
Gum: Mutants of amphibians that grow larger or change their form in response to magic.
--Elite Soldier--
Dark Rim: A direct descendant of Shuk-Rimuras. A powerful predator.
Bisyakheet: The strongest flying monster.
Caramel Camel: Caramelized camels.
--Corps Commander--
Nectar Spring Fairy Abhojuice: Responsible for coordinating the ecosystem of the Nectar Spring.
1st Corps Commander Yogur-Thoth: A flying bubble tentacle monster that uses powerful
2nd Corps Commander Shuk-Rimuras: A metal giant monster made of metal that devours everything and constantly creates new life forms.
3rd Legion Commander Nyaltartep: A gardener who grows all the plants and controls the bugs.
-Mitomok-
He was a venture capitalist who ruled the jungle slingshot monkey civilization. In fact, he was a bit stronger in the original development. However, it seemed that his skills should have been clearly inferior to Ogolaot's, so the development was revised and many of the difficult parts were removed. The defeat itself was as originally intended.
Overall, it seems like the main character is being bullied a lot, right? Even Terracion gets bullied a lot, right?
But the 20,000 year history of Datang…! Compared to the suffering that the All Chauns and Datuns had to endure…!
Yes, yes. We can't bring back elements that were so badly received in the previous game, right? We're only about a third of the way through, so the true powerhouses and the most ruthless of the ruthless will all show up in the latter half.
-ReviewReview-
It's now episode 100. Because it's being serialized simultaneously, there are a ton of typos, but with the other works coming to a close, I'll be able to focus on the semi-intellectual demon king and calmly review my work.
Actually, because of this work's serialization, the serialization of that work is going down… I'm definitely writing quickly, so why is the deadline behind?
Anyway, chapter 100 is just the beginning for this web novel, so let's work towards a positive ending. See you in the next review!
— — — —
— — — —
TL Section:
Seeing the author's glossary, I figured it's good to organize the names here a bit as well, mostly for my own sake.
— —
Organizations:
[Meteor Cartel]:
[Vein](MC) - The Demon King of Mass Extinction
Mythical traits - 『Divine Unity』『Creation of Heaven and Earth』
[Seisaisa] - Tyrant of Hell
Mythical traits - 『Incarnation』『Perpetual Eternal Space』
[Mihun] - The Immortal
Yeon Dan-Woo, Legendary AscendentBisar Tribe, evolved from Vein's Bisyakheets
Mythical traits - 『Nullity Nature』『Weapon of God』
[Wahwando] - Overlord of the Asura Way
So-Ra-Gae, the name of Wahwando's main species
Mythical traits - 『Time Manipulation』『Duality of Life and Death』
— —
[Mythical Alliance]
- [Ogolaot], [Deivo], [Zenzan Zujo], and [Huuthu] were eliminated by the 4 members of the [Meteor Cartel]
[Pan-Dimensional Pirates]
- Currently has 13 members that deceive, spy on and plunder other worlds using the mythical traits 『Deceiver of the World』,『World Collision Controller』, and one other unknown trait
- Nicknames of its members are currently unknown
— —
Nicknames of Several Players:
[Oswald] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 1st collision
- Another player from Earth
- His world was turned into a desert by Vein's jellies and his human-like species died of thirst
[Teimong] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 2nd collision
- A conquering queen from a different dimension
- After her world of mystery focused species was devastated from the 1st collision, Vein desertified her farmlands and her species starved to death
[Eung] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 3rd collision
- A cooperative type player who created rock-elemental lifeforms from his desert terrain
- He cooperated in the 1st collision with an unnamed player with a species of hump back hamsters
- He and the player with the hamster species defeated the war-focused insect species of [Sansan] in the 2nd collision
[So-on] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 4th collision
- A politician from a different dimension
- A
- A pitiful player who met [Vein] after his mutual consultation with [Seisaisa]
[Elkaider] - Disembarked after the 6th collision
- A gambling addict from a different dimension
- Met [Vein] in the shop section after the 4th collision
- Hired [Vein] for consultation
- [Vein] took pity on him and only extorted 3,000 points from him in addition to the spiritual structure he made as well as his knowledge on spiritual structures
[Elguano] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 5th collision
- A
- Created the Legendary Symbol {Shikadoz} with a
[Wuancho] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 6th collision
- A pitiful player who failed to overcome the Disaster Phase and died without resistance
[Mukite] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 7th collision
- A cooperative type player with average stats for a world entering the 7th collision
- His Legendary Creation {Tademoira} was a flower spirit that cause great destruction on Vein's ecosystem through pollen
[Ogolaot] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 8th collision
- The largest ranch manager in his previous dimension
- Leader of the [Mythical Alliance] with the mythical trait『Creation of Heaven and Earth』
- Due to his peaceful personality, he misjudged the situation and chose to defend against Yogur-Thoth instead of pushing through Vein's ecosystem which led to his downfall
[Deivo] - Defeated by [Wahwando] in the 8th collision
[Zenzan Zujo] - Defeated by [Mihun] in the 8th collision
[Huuthu] - Defeated by [Seisaisa] in the 8th collision
[Mitomok] - Defeated by [Vein] in the 9th collision
- A businessman whose business failed due to his unbendable convictions
- He owns 2 Legendary traits but is bad at judging external situations and was easily provoked by [Vein], launching an all-out attack instead of the defensive strategy his world was built for
[A'kraun]
- Traded with the Fragment of the Old God with [Vein] for points
[Terracion]
- A cooperative type player who was once ranked one in total world score and ranked two in
- Owner of 2 mythical traits,『Fairytale World』『Center of the Universe』
- His string of bad encounters led him to declare war on the [Pan-Dimentional Pirates]
— — — — —