Shepherding Humanity

The reason why the Evil God Cthulhu was so terrifying was without doubt its genetic property—”Unspeakable Horror”, which made it something that could not be directly looked at or heard.

This could be considered a kind of “Death Aura" passive technique which instantly killed any life-form that was lower-leveled than it. Why did the composite creature before him lose this skill?

Xu Zhi looked at the genetic property that replaced it.

Spiked Shell:

This sturdy shell has extraordinary defensive properties, capable of reflecting a majority of physical attacks, as well as partially nullifying mental attacks.

“This must be derived from the Rubik’s Cube’s sturdy structure. Not bad at all.” Xu Zhi thought. “If you consider its immortality on top of that, then it’s truly the ultimate tank!”

It could reflect damage back at attackers with its Spiked Shell.

And even if you managed to kill it after a long and arduous battle, it would recover in an instant. Its three remaining “tank” properties: “Transformation”, “Supreme Regeneration”, and “Immortality” were nothing to scoff at.

“That’s so cheap: ‘Don’t mind me, I’ll just lie down over here. Try and kill me if you can. Just don’t kill yourself while you’re at it.’ Lulz.”

Xu Zhi thought for a moment, then asked the Hive Mind: “Why doesn’t it have the ‘Unspeakable Horror’ property?”

The Hive Mind mechanically answered:

“The previous subject was a conglomerate of 173 different species, while this one is composed of only one. Members of the same species have similar mental waves, which is why its consciousness is not nearly as chaotic.”

Xu Zhi thought about this.

Though they’ve split into different organs, each with different roles, at the end of the day they were still of the same “Rubik’s Cube” species, like how black ants, termites , and flying ants all belonged to the same family.

He immediately understood and raised an eyebrow. “I see. So this is like when a person’s body cells differentiate into blood cells, skin cells, etc… Though their forms may be different, they were all born from the same stem cells in the end.”

It was only natural then that it wouldn’t have the “Unspeakable Horror” property.

This creature may also be made up of separable components, but compared to the Evil God Cthulhu, it was much more similar to a “legit” life-form.

“I’ll consider this a success. But doesn’t this mean that I can now mass produce Demi-God level life-forms? Aren’t I too strong now?” Xu Zhi laughed. “Maybe I should make more of them? And create a Demi-God army!”

He looked towards his room and smirked. “Perhaps, I should replace all my furniture.”

If his table, his chair, his bed and mattress, his lamps, etc… were all composite life-forms at the Demi-God level, then his room would become a truly eldritch and awe-inspiring place—an abode that would finally be worthy of his status as the Creator.

Just thinking about it filled him with glee.

But, the Hive Mind wasted no time in dampening his mood: “Creating too many of these cannon-fodders is not recommended.”

“Cannon-fodder?” Xu Zhi was stunned. But these were Demi-Gods?

The Hive Mind clarified: “The mass-production of artificial life-forms was the specialty of the previous Tyranis Queen. This type of creature was used as cannon-fodder in her conquest of other civilizations… Making too many of them is not recommended. You don’t have the energy to spare.”

So what you’re saying is that they’re too costly for a weakling like me to raise?

Xu Zhi considered his options.

Now that he had the template, there was little difference between making just one creature or making many. But if the creature was indeed a glutton that needed a lot of energy to maintain its bodily functions, then he shouldn’t make too many of it.

He couldn’t afford to.

The Hive Mind continued: “While this creature has infinite potential, and can grow without limit, it’s better to focus on quality over quantity. You should pool your resources and focus on raising only one.”

“What kind of resources?” Zhu Zhi couldn’t help but ask.

“Magical resources.” The Hive Mind replied. “Queen Mother, you intend to make each of its individual “cells” take in the Evil Eye’s genes and embark on the path of magic, correct?”

Xu Zhi nodded.

His thoughts were similar to the players. The creature would become truly powerful if each of its individual organs were capable of performing magic.

“In that case, its 17.321 constituent blocks would be equivalent to 17.321 Mages. This is an army that could conquer entire civilizations. How much magical resources do you think will be needed?”

Xu Zhi broke out into a cold sweat.

This was a bottomless pit!!!

The Hive Mind wasn’t done: “Now, we’ll take a step backwards, and assume that they could grow stronger without consuming any resources. Even if that were to be the case, you won’t be able to leave them to their own devices. They don’t have a mind of their own and cannot train in magic without the Queen Mother’s interference. You will have to directly control their bodies and make them train, one at a time.”

???

17.321 Mages who’d require me to take control on an individual level before they’d be able to train in magic?

Xu Zhi felt an oncoming migraine. “That’s simply impossible!”

Xu Zhi had enough problems just training himself, never mind controlling 17.321 mages to do so.

“It’s not impossible, it will just take forever.” The Hive Mind replied. “Furthermore, once they become Fourth-Level Mages, they’ll graduate from being lower-level life-forms and gain self-awareness. They could train on their own after that.”

“So I’m supposed to train each of them into a Fourth-Level mage in the meantime? Are you kidding me? There are over 17.000 of them; simple effort won’t be enough!”

Xu Zhi was at a loss.

I myself am only a First-Level Mage right now, the Fourth-Level is as distant as the horizon for me, OK?

Leveling up gets incrementally harder with each Level. That was something even geniuses had to deal with. The Emperor of Alchemy, Grantham, took only a month to reach Level One.

A year to reach Level Two.

Seven years to reach Level Three.

And Twenty years to reach Level Four.

So if I’m to individually control each “Cell” and make them train, then for each of the 17.321 Mages, I’ll have to spend 20 years to get them to Level Four?

Zu Zhi immediately stopped thinking about making another creature. The time and effort involved was simply terrifying. It was truly a bottomless pit.

But of course, matching its cost, its limitless potential was awe-inspiring. It was a war machine, a preternatural life-form that no single individual could possibly stand against.

Imagine this: When combined into a single being, a bunch of organisms that weren’t even Level One Mages could gain power equal to a Demi-God.

What would happen then, if they were Level One Mages?

Their power should be able to rival a Level Eight Myth!

Then what would happen if they were Level Two or Level Three? What if each of them was a Sixth-Level Legend or a Seventh-Level Epic? Over 17.000 of such life-forms combined into one being…

The result would be unimaginable!

But of course, over 17.000 Mages reaching that kind of level was little more than a pipe dream.

“If only I could leave this kind of tedious and boring work to my serfs in the orchard.” Xu Zhi’s brows twitched. “Maybe I should open another sandbox, a Magic Training Sim sandbox?”

This was an inspired idea.

He’d allow “Players” to control these 17.000 Rubik Cells, and they’d train them into proper Mages.

The Advertisement should be something like this:

“This Magic Training Sim is the number one choice for players who enjoy relaxing games! Experience the joy of growing stronger while training as a Mage! Embark on an exciting journey of self-discovery!”

Seems feasible.

Xu Zhi tapped his cheek. “But wouldn’t people quickly get bored? You’re just sitting down and meditating after all. What kind of an idiot would actually enjoy this? It’s too harcore and there’s no ‘fun-factor’ at all.”

He’d have to think more on this. If he could open up a new sandbox to the outside world and scam people into working for him… Then his new pet would truly have infinite potential!

“But first, let’s see what’s going on over there.” Xu Zhi decided that he’d get back to this at a later time, and turned his attention to the world in the large sandbox. Using his usual method, he began to spy on the enemy camp.

The forum was extremely active at this time.

As they went about their daily lives, many players had come into contact with the natives, and learned various things.

Very quickly, this post became a hot-topic on the front page:

“What a shocking discovery! I’ve found the Emperor of Alchemy’s dark past as an X-Rated product!”

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