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Chapter 4 – Endless Expansion (1)
[Cave Salamander: 1c1601]
[One-eyed Jumping Spider: 1d0080]
Even after ascending to the upper floors, the legion devoured and obliterated everything in sight.
Their genetic pool continued to expand.
Even clusters of mushrooms and moss, which had felt somewhat lively, were thoroughly plundered without exception.
[Since you stopped infusing energy, the legion, which had been liberally expending energy, started to worry about energy efficiency]
“I should have done this earlier.”
[Placing efficiency first means that combat capability is bound to decrease. The number of soldiers decreases, and expansion slows]
“There’s no shortage of time.”
Unless I unscrupulously snap photos in places like supermarkets and feed them those items, they would have to find the solution themselves.
Fortunately, these creatures are quite smart despite not having proper brain tissue.
[Of course. The size of our collective itself is our brain]
“Why are you puffing up with pride?”
I sprawled out listlessly on the bed.
It’s a day off from classes. I was supposed to study, but I just couldn’t focus.
“What kind of species did other players choose? Wolves? Rabbits or something?”
[The varieties are incredibly diverse. There are even intelligent beings among them]
“…What?”
What was supposed to be a casual question returned a rather shocking answer.
Intelligent beings? Wasn’t this all about raising animals together?
[As I said, it’s diverse. Literally]
“Isn’t that wildly unfair?”
While someone is here raising cells, someone else is cultivating civilizations.
[That’s not for anyone to say definitively]
Nonetheless, it was resolute.
Though I couldn’t understand it, I kept my mouth shut.
Whining about it wouldn’t change anything, after all.
I eventually put those thoughts about other players neatly aside.
[The legion has redefined efficiency]
Constant thinking and experimenting.
Faced with a current problem, they drafted a new policy.
This felt right. I hoped they would become self-sufficient.
[By adjusting the number of soldiers and instead increasing each unit’s combat power, finding the optimal number. Some of the fully grown nests also developed a method to go into a state of dormancy, radically conserving energy]
Armed with their newly discovered methods,
Conquest and predation did not cease.
This second floor too was almost entirely under our control.
Our territory continued to expand on the updated map.
[For the third floor, where vertebrates are the majority, we needed powerful soldiers to hunt them]
I brought cola and snacks to watch.
This felt less like a game and more like a documentary.
It reminded me of when I used to enjoy ant farming as a kid.
[We can’t create outcomes beyond the acquired data, but combining and manipulating it is possible]
The most frightening aspect was that, unlike mere beasts, we were a legion.
A collective with a singular purpose moves not just to hunt but to create soldiers for ‘war’.
With each role filled even reducing the numbers, it seemed we wouldn’t lose unless overwhelmed by a bear demolishing a beehive, with sheer overpowering physical force.
After all, we moved with thorough reconnaissance.The next level was inhabited by creatures of similar sizes, so gradually increasing our sizes seemed to be the optimal strategy.
[Once again, it was time to hunt.]
After a short reorganization, the legion entered the upper level once more. The poor indigenous creatures could do nothing but be hunted one-sidedly, unable to stop the horrifying speed at which their predators devoured and evolved.
“Can’t we just focus on increasing the size of a single individual?”
Munching on a snack, I murmured the thought that suddenly occurred to me. At the moment, we were commanding countless soldiers of tiny sizes. Wouldn’t it be better to increase their size and create one big bully? [Efficiency] With just one word, he shut me up. It was a very versatile word.
[And more importantly, we’re still lacking in experience. You, who are just watching, might not understand, but try to put yourself in our shoes. Our world is currently confined to just a few cave chambers.]
“…I see what you mean.”
[These creatures don’t even know what humans are. The information we’ve gathered so far is extremely limited. Despite possessing tremendous hardware, they lack advanced brains, meaning there’s no software to run the hardware effectively.]
“If we keep climbing this cave, might we encounter other intelligent beings someday?”
I found myself growing curious too, just like the entities fervently evolving. Where does this cave end? Is this cave everything there is to the world? Beyond this cave, could there possibly be the real world? […That’s exactly what you need to keep observing and teach the children about. The curiosity and interest inherent to humans.]
Though I couldn’t quite imagine it, it was undoubtedly a possibility. After all, we had come this far from just a simple cellular blob in just three days.
“I brought bread.”
“…”
“This time I won’t snatch it…” The door swung open abruptly. Then, before I knew it, my entire bag of bread was snagged away into the room, and the door was closed again.
[Quality nutrients…]
“Don’t make me laugh. My intestines hardly notice it anymore.”
I sighed and re-entered the room. Today, I spent all day just looking at my phone. After all, ignoring life, soul, games, and such, finding amusement was what mattered.
“The third floor isn’t much, but at this rate, we might as well keep going.”
Compared to the lowest level, which had only a few mushrooms and moss, the third floor had slightly more. We discovered flowing water and plants that grew in the cave, and the variety of small animals active in the area increased. And we devoured them all.
“Can’t we teach them the concept of agriculture? What will we do if they just eat everything in sight?”
[Agriculture is a luxury for us right now.]
Frankly, even as I said it, I realized it wasn’t a great idea. Agriculture in this cave? What a thought. More importantly, agriculture involves utilizing energy I can’t directly access by converting it through plants into fruits or seeds for me to consume. Our species could directly produce energy using the method of the fungi we prey upon without the need for agriculture. The absolute quantity of energy was what mattered. And without preying on others or being fed externally, there was no way to increase that energy.
“Where are you going?”
“Uh… for a walk.”
Ultimately, I left the house once the sun had set.I had been contemplating a solution. Self-sufficiency was essential, but for the aspects that were physically impossible, it seemed better for me to step in.
[“Have you found a way?”]
“I thought about it differently. Not only human-made things can be considered food. Look, some animals derive their energy by chewing on this massive tree.”
[“Our species lacks the ability to digest trees.”]
“So what’s the problem. Just send over those creatures that can.”
I decided to actively use my involvement. Our house is particularly fussy about cleanliness, to the point of not tolerating even a single cockroach, but the mountains behind our home are a different story. I picked up my camera. I figured if I shot wildly, I’d capture something eventually. After all, it seemed we could eat any bug that falls our way right now.
[“Wait, that method is unwise.”]
“Huh?”
[“Don’t just shoot recklessly.”]
Yet, I was tackled before pressing the shutter button.
[“Your account is still at level 1. Meaning, there are limits on the use of your abilities.”]
“I wasn’t aware of that.”
[“There was no need to mention it.”]
…This guy?
But the restriction seemed reasonable. If I, akin to a wealthy and powerful individual, disregarded morals and laws to abuse my powers, it would be outrageous. What if I spent money to buy meat by the warehouse full and then send it off?
“Tell me beforehand next time. So, what can I do now?”
[“At level 1, you can provide a total of 10 samples, and supply up to 20kg of food per day.”]
“…Now I see why you were always pushing for efficiency.”
It was a quite realistic limitation. It made me understand why he loathed wastefulness. It seemed right to exclude anything that could be obtained locally, like water.
“Alright. So far, ants, fruit flies, spiders, bees, beetles…butterflies, pigeons…”
[“You have three attempts left.”]
“Sigh.”
Taking a picture was tougher than thought. I turned on the flash and approached the fallen tree halfway up the hill. The path was busy with night-time walkers around the hill, and I used the flash to closely inspect the tree’s surface. I was looking for termites, insects that feed on wood as their main diet. It seemed easy when watching YouTube videos about going to mountains and catching them.
“What’s the matter? Why?”
[“It’s better to look for termites later, now seems a good time to observe.”]
An alarm sounded. It looked insignificant at first, but it turned out to be far from trivial.
[“In the fourth floor, which we aimed for, there was another legion. They were the ones our initial aerial reconnaissance failed to detect, mostly residing underground and within the soil.”]
“Ants?”
They sounded like ants from the description. Displayed on the screen, creatures clashing their mandibles and based on the hornet were our scouts, facing these beings from the ground. Though larger in size, their overall anatomy resembled ants.
[“Do not underestimate them. The legion rules the fourth tier.”]
A white ant, amidst the standoff, opened its jaws wide and suddenly spewed some liquid like an air cannon. The liquid hit our scout.
The part it contacted began to melt away with smoke, leaving me speechless at the sight.
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