The Anti-Intellectualism Demon King’s World Invasion

Chapter 26. Unity of the Divine Realm

Common – Superior – Elite – Heroic – Epic – Legendary – Mythical

In the game, the ranks were divided into these seven categories. Well, to be honest, higher ranks are simply better. The difference between the common rank trait “Toughness” and the mythical rank trait “Immortal” is enormous just by looking at the names.

However, it cannot be said that the ‘superior version’ of a legendary trait is a mythical trait.

Because from the heroic rank onwards, traits can have the “unique” attribute. This means that the traits cannot be compared in terms of superiority.

Let’s compare the heroic rank unique trait “Perfect Breathing: Can survive just by breathing” and the mythical rank unique trait “Absolute Independence of Time and Space: Immune to all time and space-related attacks and can acquire time and space-related powers without limit.”

What would be good for my dessert legion right now… Who uses time and space-related attacks in the early stages? Of course, in the very late stages, the Absolute Independence of Time and Space would be better. But at the stage where I need to feed my troops, I can’t choose that.

So, what mythical trait should I choose? Looking at it, some of the few mythical traits were already owned by other players.

“Hmm?”

“Another top-ranking player has bought it.”

“Can’t I buy it if another player has it?”

“Not just any trait, but all traits above the ‘legendary’ rank are not only ‘unique’ but also ‘one-of-a-kind,’ so if another player has it, you can’t choose it.”

I see. Come to think of it, there was such a rule in multiplayer.

“Mythical Beast: Creates a mythical creature that is the incarnation of the world itself. The total stats are equal to the current civilization’s stats at the time of collision. (Owned by another player)”

“First Sanctuary: The first land received in the game is declared the first sanctuary. As long as the first sanctuary is not occupied, all creations’ stats are greatly increased, the probability of higher entities appearing is increased, and the terrain level of the first sanctuary is increased by 4. (Owned by another player)”

“Mythical Wonder: A structure built by oneself has reached the mythical realm. Designate an already built structure or create one by consuming resources. The structure immediately gains one mythical function, can grow and expand without limit, and can repair itself. (Owned by another player)”

All the intuitively good ones are taken. They would be quite useful if I could use them.

“But all mythical traits are good.”

“Of course. It has to be useful to me, right now, and continuously in the future.”

I heard that the ‘top ranks’ in the game all have over 90,000 points.

Crazy people. I think there are about a thousand players like me who are trying to gather points through labor to buy mythical traits, and other players might take them first, so I have to choose quickly.

“Angel, what trait do you think is good?”

“How about this one?”

“Biopunk: You have found a new direction that achieves perfect harmony between life and science. The ‘life’ and ‘technology’ stats are integrated, and the combined value becomes the current value. Creations gain other stats equal to their ‘health.’ Now, whatever you increase on either side will increase together, and they will decrease together as well.”

“With this alone, the dessert legion can be reborn as the highest level of scientific civilization in this game! The dessert empire reborn as a super-biological civilization can achieve great victories!”

“Rejected.”

“Why! There’s nothing objectively better than this!”

“It doesn’t align with my philosophy.”

“Where has the Demon King, who would stop at nothing to win, gone?”

It doesn’t align with the philosophy of anti-intellectualism, and if you choose that, you’ll have to raise the levels of ＜Industry＞, ＜Politics＞, and ＜Culture＞ from now on.

In the current state, if you choose that, the ＜Life＞ stat will likely remain stagnant until the fourth collision, and I’ll have to manage a world that’s practically in a state of anarchy in the meantime. I could still win, but… I’m not used to that kind of play.

“Alright. How about this then?”

『Super Integrated Hive Mind: The consciousness of all entities within the world is connected. The world’s ＜Politics＞ stat becomes the ＜Mental＞ stat of the entities, and from now on, all entities perfectly align with the will of the god and move with perfect efficiency.』

“With this, the Dessert Legion will be like a single organism! Apjuice and Yogurtos will also merge into one, becoming an invincible biological legion!”

“Rejected.”

“Why not this time?!”

“My ecosystem’s core build accelerates evolution through fierce struggles of predation. If I choose that, it won’t work. I saw it get stuck in ＜Evolution＞ when I chose that during a game in the past.”

And philosophically, it doesn’t seem like an anti-intellectualism build.

“Ugh. Mythic traits are so unique… How about this then?”

『Transcendent Species: From now on, all level and trait restrictions on ordinary creations are removed, and they grow endlessly as if they were unique, without promotion tests. All creations can consume all types of energy, and their energy efficiency increases to the extreme.』

“With this, the Dessert Legion will become monsters beyond imagination.”

“This is worth considering. But let’s think about whether to choose it now.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The monster legion build has its limits.”

The angel’s eyes widened.

“Oh, really?”

“No matter how powerful you make the monsters, they won’t last beyond the 30th round. The ‘Monster Apocalypse’ strategy using legendary and mythic creatures has its limits… At the level of this game, it will get stuck around the 20th round, maybe a bit earlier or later.”

“I thought you were planning to go with the Monster Apocalypse strategy until the end of the game.”

No, that’s not possible.

Simply put, the stats that can be raised through the evolution and growth of creatures are clearly lower than the explosive synergy produced by the combination of technology, magic, politics, culture, society, population, and industry in a united civilization.

Creating a bunch of strong monsters to conquer civilization… That’s nonsense. That’s something that might happen in prehistoric times, not even in ancient times. It’s like saying ‘the country fell because there were too many tigers.’

In this fantasy game, that strategy works to some extent. But it won’t work beyond the 20th round.

Just like the strategy of sending out inedible jellies to starve them only works for a few rounds, at that point, a different strategy is needed.

“I need a plan that increases stability rather than combat power right now.”

“Because the combat power is sufficient?”

“Yes. With the powerful attack power that can end the enemy before even utilizing Yogurtos, the trump card. Right now, as you said, I can almost wipe out most civilizations with the ‘Monster Apocalypse’ state.”

“That’s true.”

“So, rather than gaining an immediate advantage, I need a trait that will be immensely helpful in the long run. A mythic trait that can be actively utilized for at least 20 rounds and possibly up to 30 rounds without losing its power. Since the creature-centric build falls behind in growth in the later stages, it’s better to complement the later stages rather than the early stages.”

“Then how about this?”

The angel immediately recommended the next trait. I looked at it without much expectation this time as well.

『Divine Unity: Completely unifies the god with the world. You can simultaneously impose your will on all creations and points in the world, divide your consciousness by the level of 〈Faith〉, and multiply the total amount and recovery speed of divine power by (〈Faith〉 level + 1).』

However, unlike the previous traits, I quite liked this one.

“Oh. This is the first time I’m seeing this.”

“It wasn’t available in the game perspective.”

“In other words, is it a trait that creates avatars of ‘me’?”

“It’s more than that. You gain senses in all parts of the world, and you can divide your consciousness to focus accordingly. In other words, the number of absolutely loyal subordinates increases by the level of 〈Faith〉, and the divine power also increases by that amount. It is considered a very suitable trait for you, who has no subordinates.”

Amazing. I really like it.

I immediately chose this trait, fearing someone might take it away. There was no need to consider other traits.

Throughout the game, I would have no subordinates, and I would have to monitor and tune the ecosystem from all perspectives. It was a trait that seemed to be made for me.

「Purchasing 『Divine Unity』 for 144,092 points.」

The moment I embraced the trait card, my senses changed.

I already had the perspective of a god, able to overlook the entire world from above.

But now, I could not only ‘see’ all parts of the world but also ‘feel’ them. I don’t know how to explain it, but it felt like every cell in my body was part of the world, and I could feel all those sensations without any discomfort, without my brain bursting, just perceiving everything simultaneously.

Then, consciousness division.

My divine level was 5. In other words, I could divide my consciousness into five parts.

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But five avatars appeared. What? So, six people… Ah, no. Since I can divide it five times, six people is correct. I was a bit confused. It’s a language game.

I looked at myself looking at myself looking at myself. All consciousnesses were me.

Is this the sensation felt by creatures like insects or octopuses, which have separate ganglia in their bodies apart from the brain? It felt like having multiple brains, all connected.

No, it was more than that. They were perfectly connected without any delay.

“Why do you compare it to insects or octopuses…?”

Suddenly, an amazing thought occurred to me.

“Wait, can I assign separate community nicknames and IDs to each divided consciousness…?”

“No, you can’t.”

Damn. Even if I divide my consciousness into six, I can only use one community account… It’s mythical yet trash…

But on the flip side, it means this. From now on, I could perfectly manage my ecosystem while spying on other players’ information or consulting their ecosystems through community activities.

The higher the level of 〈Faith〉, the more convenient it would become. Suddenly, the importance of 〈Faith〉 skyrocketed…

But it’s worth it. Six bodies and consciousnesses. In other words, it’s like time flows six times slower. The divine power also increased sixfold, so there’s not much difference.

I assigned tasks to each of the six consciousnesses.

One. Gather information through community activities and exchanges, and secure points through consulting other players’ ecosystems.

Two to Four. Manage existing ecosystems. Manage by region.

Five. Manage new ecosystems.

Six. Study.

“Study?”

The consciousnesses from two to six each moved, and I, as the consciousness engaging in community activities and communicating with angels, answered.

“I don’t really understand what the 《Spiritual Realm》 and ‘Spiritual Knowledge’ I just received from Elkaider are. All the information Elkaider knew about spiritual studies has entered my mind, but it’s a field I had no connection with, so I don’t understand the content and feel like a student who has memorized the entire textbook without understanding it. I’m trying to organize it.”

“Oh. You’ve finally taken a step towards understanding the mysteries. Elkaider’s knowledge was objectively impressive. Although he lived obsessed with gambling, he seemed quite competent as a civil servant.”

Is that so? Even if you say that, I don’t know how impressive it is.

Sesaisa would be able to evaluate it accurately, but conversely, if it’s knowledge that even he doesn’t know, I don’t know if I should share it.

For now, to study, the sixth consciousness opened the 《Spiritual Realm》 layer of my world. I had never opened it before, so I opened it just to see if it had any other functions.

And at that moment, what I saw before my eyes was.

“Huh?”

Everyone shared what the sixth consciousness felt. And we were astonished.

Compared to the shabby 《Spiritual Realm》 I received from Elkaider, a gigantic spiritual structure and a formidable flow that penetrated the entire world circulated through my existing world, following the rivers, deserts, and freshwater lakes, and poured all the absorbed magical power into the Nectar Oasis.

“This is…”

“Player Sesaisa did this. During the process of radically altering the ecosystem, he meticulously adjusted the tangled spiritual pressure and flow to concentrate all the magical power into the Nectar Spring.”

This guy. Did he do something like this?

I didn’t know because I hadn’t looked at the spiritual realm. And I couldn’t help but marvel at how intricately and finely the spiritual structures here were composed.

I thought Sesaisa had some absurd skill to double the magical pressure without doing anything, but he had just meticulously refined my world with insanely precise construction.

The sixth consciousness then searched through fragments of knowledge and slowly inserted the spiritual realm received from Elkaider into the empty space, as if Sesaisa had intended to install it later.

Compared to Sesaisa’s modifications, it was a patchwork job, but I twisted and intertwined the forms of the spiritual structures with divine power to roughly entangle the spiritual realm there.

At that moment.

“The world’s 〈Mystery〉 score has exceeded 8,579 points, and the level has risen to 7. You can now choose a new trait.”

“The world’s 〈Faith〉 score has exceeded 4,085 points, and the level has risen to 6.”

The spiritual realm absorbed and emitted the world’s flow and magical power like crazy, and although it seemed like I did nothing, it raised the levels of 〈Mystery〉 and 〈Faith〉 by one step each.

What on earth is that? Did Elkaider pass something like that to me?

“Honestly, now that I think about it, taking the 《Spiritual Realm》 from Elkaider and extorting an additional 3,000 points was really too much…”

That’s that and this is this.

Anyway. I’ve grown insanely. The next game will be an easy win.

“The World Collision will begin soon. Only the surviving players will advance to the next round.”

The kind-hearted human who once showed mercy to those who knelt and begged is now gone. It’s time to return as the ‘Master of the Great Extinction.’

“Not a real person…”