Chapter 8: So Playing Games Can Make You Stronger Too
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At this moment, in the real world, during these few short minutes, Priest, who was in the process of acceleration, had already spent several long hours in the game.
One could see that this peculiar creature, the Calm Cocoon, was now beginning to multiply and thrive in a dense forest. Although they had no hands or feet, they possessed powerful elemental control, allowing them to shape the surrounding elements into the limbs they needed for hunting and construction. Influenced by Priest's instincts, all Calm Cocoons developed the habit of forming two arms, two legs, and one head. It was for this reason that the name "Calm Cocoon" gradually changed to "Calm Elemental Giant."
Standing several meters tall, they walked through the desert carrying elements—earth element in the desert, water element in the water. Naturally, in volcanoes and glaciers, they became fire element and ice element. The form of the Calm Giant would constantly change depending on the surrounding environment and terrain. Because of this extremely powerful and unique ability, the Calm Giant had virtually no natural enemies. Even the "Epic Creatures" roaming the wilderness could not pose a threat to them.
Furthermore, Joshua could see that Priest, as the leader of the Calm Giants, was inciting his kin to hunt an epic beast in the surrounding mountains, the "Grando Giant Scorpion." This massive shelled insect, as large as a small hill and over two hundred meters long, was like a colossal biological warship, possessing physical strength that could dominate the world.
However, facing hundreds of "Calm Giants" who, under Priest's command, moved in unison and dodged with considerable skill, and who would not die as long as their chest cocoons were not shattered, the Grando Giant Scorpion could only meet its end as prey.
After paying the price of dozens of kin being crushed, the seemingly invincible Mountain Giant Scorpion fell at the hands of a mortal race it had always ignored. But in its dying moments, it let out a roar that shook heaven and earth, causing the winds and clouds to change color. The powerful sound waves even tore through the air, killing several nearby Calm Giants.
Although the explanation sounds simple, the actual battle was so arduous that there was no time for lament. In short, when the lucky Priest obtained the SSR epic component "Gigantification Gene" from the scorpion, with the effect of "User's race adult transcendent rank +1," such an incredibly powerful element, he didn't think twice and directly installed this component onto the Calm Cocoon.
This operation, however, was exactly what made Joshua shake his head and sigh.
Equipping the Gigantification Gene and modifying the race immediately caused earth-shattering changes in the bloodline. The Calm Cocoon, which originally had Silver Low-rank strength upon reaching adulthood, directly became a "Gold Race" with Gold Low-rank realm upon adulthood!
Because of the "Gigantification Gene," the Calm Cocoon, whose original adult body size was only about 70 centimeters and controlled elemental body about six to eight meters, immediately became a super colossal creature that was two meters at birth and nearly twelve meters upon adulthood. The elemental body the Calm Cocoon could control expanded to nearly a hundred meters in size. Each individual was comparable in size to the previous Grando Giant Scorpion and even surpassed it in height!
Joshua could see this scene: when the true "Calm Cocoon" grew from infancy to adulthood, its original elemental body would immediately collapse, causing the white, pinecone-shaped core to fall. If it touched the earth, the cocoon would pull up soil and wrap itself into a true mountain giant composed of rock and earth. If it touched water, it would quickly absorb and control the water, wrapping itself in a massive water humanoid.
When the gigantified Calm Cocoon took shape, hundred-meter-tall Calm Giants appeared on the earth. Their bodies were entwined with countless plants, or shrouded in lightning mist, molten lava, and hot winds. Each Calm Giant had a different form, but they all shared the same trait: they were exceptionally powerful, born with the ability to reshape terrain and destroy mountains.
In terms of pure brute force, the Calm Giant had reached an extreme.
But Joshua frowned at this moment and gave his evaluation.
"Too much is as bad as too little."
Holding Number 3's hand, he shook his head and said in a low voice, "Innate power that is too strong is not a good thing for a race and civilization."
And just as the warrior said.
As the game progressed, Priest led the Calm Giants smoothly from the biological stage into the "tribal" stage. The Calm Giants had no natural enemies on the continent. Even epic creatures were merely prey that required a bit more caution. Advancing to the third tribal stage was truly just a minor matter of course.
Priest was initially very excited. He knew he was probably the first player to achieve the "Gold Race" accomplishment. As a man, a normal competitive creature, he naturally felt immense satisfaction and anticipation, wanting to continue playing and see how far the powerful species he had cultivated could ultimately go.
"Continue the game!"
Without hesitation, he clicked "Continue" on the silver menu and continued his journey.
But soon, upon entering the tribal era, he sensed something was wrong.
The reproduction of the Calm Giants was far too slow and too few. In some special years, the population of Calm Giants even decreased instead of increasing!
"You have stepped onto the fork of civilization!"
A huge silver warning bar appeared!
Due to their excessively large size and the difficulty of mating with their true bodies hidden behind elemental shells, as well as their own overwhelming power leading to a lack of desire to leave offspring, after entering the tribal stage, the global population of Calm Giants, originally numbering over a thousand, rapidly declined for various reasons. In a short time, as the first generation of Calm Giants neared the end of their lifespan, the global number of Calm Giants dropped to less than a hundred!
"Not good! At this rate, I can't even meet the minimum population for a tribe!"
Priest's face showed bitterness. Realizing that his game journey might end due to factors outside of combat, he immediately understood where he had gone wrong.
A massive body meant massive food demands. Powerful strength meant low reproductive drive. Coupled with the Calm Cocoon's unique and hidden way of life, let alone mating, the Calm Giants, who needed to scatter for food, couldn't even gather together easily.
You see, when mating, the Calm Cocoon experienced the only moment in its life when it would leave its elemental shell and reveal a weakness. Although twelve meters in size was large, it wasn't invincible; other creatures could hunt them at this time. So, without an absolutely safe area, the Calm Cocoon would not reproduce.
Originally, the tribal stage required racial cooperation, but now Priest couldn't even gather enough population, let alone cooperate, nor could he bear the heavy food burden of a large group of Calm Giants together. With multiple mistakes piling up, it was no surprise that the tribe collapsed instantly.
"No, there's still hope!"
But even so, Priest, who had developed a deep attachment to the Calm Giants, did not give up. Era after era passed in the game. He led the remaining Calm Giants to gather on a fertile coastal plain, planting equally massive divine plants, and occasionally fishing and hunting to ensure self-sufficiency.
As the leader, Priest, along with a few powerful subordinates, lived on a huge mountain peak, where they built an absolutely safe and stable defensive line. Here, he urged his kin to reproduce more and increase their offspring.
As time passed, with Priest's efforts, the giant population stabilized at around a hundred. The eleven most powerful Calm Giants, following the Thunder Giant leader controlled by Priest, lived in the castle on the mountaintop, ruling over all other Calm Giants.
Their names were called the "Twelve Heavenly Gods" by the other weak intelligent life on this continent.
In short, relying on Priest's efforts, practically kicking the other giants' backsides and desperately urging them to reproduce and leave offspring, he stumbled through the "tribal" stage. Leading a group of smaller vassal races that appeared at some point, likely designed as enemies for the tribal stage, he entered the "civilization" stage.
"Civilization Confirmed: Heavenly God Civilization! You have entered the Civilization Era!"
But that was as far as it went.
As the civilization stage entered its middle phase, temples of the Calm Giants were built globally, and Chaos invaders from another world began to appear. Priest immediately understood that his game would likely end here.
The vast, surging Chaos minion armies could not be resisted by a few, dozens, or even hundreds of powerful giants. What was needed was a complete, powerful civilization with its own system, a large population, and many experts to truly withstand such a formidable enemy!
Although the Calm Giants were powerful, their numbers were too few. Even though each individual had Gold High-rank strength after training, and those called "Heavenly Gods" had Ultimate-rank strength, they were still completely overwhelmed and annihilated by the millions of Chaos minions.
One could see the temples of the Calm Giants destroyed, sinful demon fire igniting the holy mountain. Giant, mountain-like beings fell one after another, finally turning into soil and dust.
And when the last Calm Giant in the final defensive fortress—the Thunder Giant controlled by Priest—also died, a black-red dark curtain enveloped the entire world.
"Game Over: Calm Heavenly God Civilization Destroyed"
When Joshua saw these four big characters appear, he was not at all surprised. This was exactly the reason stored in the Crystal Obelisk for the extinction of the super-race known as the "Calm Giant" in the past.
Overly powerful strength and extremely low fertility had stifled the development of civilization and technology. By the time external invaders captured and destroyed them all, they had only just learned how to build houses.
And that little bit of technology was learned by observing the ordinary races who regarded them as gods.
"Priest did fairly well. At least he didn't forget to develop technology. But he still couldn't resist the temptation of power."
Thinking this, Joshua couldn't help but shake his head. "Actually, he had another choice. If he hadn't spent so much time on the race and instead focused on his own character's strength, elevating it to the Legendary rank, then even if the Chaos minions from another world invaded, he alone could have driven them back."
Although it sounded absurd, for a transcendent civilization, sometimes there was no need to force equality among all individuals. Because most of the time, the emergence of an outlier expert was more important to the entire civilization's advancement than a certain technological breakthrough.
At the very least, a Legendary expert could buy enough time under the assault of powerful enemies, waiting for the overall progress of the civilization to appear.
In Joshua's design, the fourth stage, "Civilization," was the dividing line between hardcore and amateur players.
During the fourth stage, "Civilization," all player-controlled civilizations would encounter different Chaos minion invasions from other worlds. Players could choose to be a hero, resisting the darkness's encroachment with their own strength, or choose to be a leader, reforming systems and developing technology, using the entire civilization's weight to fight a true war against the Chaos minions.
This, too, was part of the "Strife of Civilizations."
"However, although he didn't clear it, since he reached the fourth stage, even failure is not without gain."
Joshua turned to look at the other game screens. At this moment, the online player count was approaching seven thousand. It seemed that some hesitant beta testers had started playing after a period of hesitation. But among all players, five thousand eight hundred had already failed, with their races extinct and civilizations overthrown.
Most of them were wiped out in the tribal stage's conflicts. Only one-fifth were destroyed by Chaos invasions from other worlds during the civilization stage.
As of now, except for Loranda and a few others still struggling in the civilization stage, fighting against the otherworldly Chaos, basically all players had been wiped out.
"There will be surprises." The warrior smiled, looking at the mostly darkened screens, and muttered to himself.
...
Moldavia Territory, Southern Outer City District.
In his room, Priest suddenly woke with a start.
"I... was attacked by the Chaos Legion on the castle... I failed..."
His mind was still immersed in the scene of his battle's failure and the destruction of his entire civilization. But soon, Priest realized he had left the game and returned to reality.
"...What a thrilling adventure... I never imagined that even with so many steps simplified, leading a race to become a civilization, and leading a civilization to progress, would be such a difficult thing..."
Although he felt very, very regretful, even to the point of heartache, the rational Priest slowly let out a breath. After all, all the consequences, including the final failure, were his choices.
He had already realized the reason for the Calm Giants' destruction. It all stemmed from his own greed, forcefully loading the Gigantification Gene onto his race. If not for that Gigantification Gene, then with the Calm Cocoon's not-weak strength and its moderately decent fertility, at least it wouldn't have been ground down to death by the Chaos Legion.
The first essential element of civilization is indeed not individual strength, but population!
Amidst the heartache of the game's failure, Priest firmly remembered this key point. Next time he played, he definitely wouldn't make this mistake again!
"Next time, I will definitely... Huh?!"
Priest turned over and got out of bed, preparing to call Su Er to help prepare dinner for the family. But when his foot touched the floor, he suddenly exclaimed, then reached up to touch his head. "Strange... How did my mental power suddenly increase by a large margin?"
"And also... Why do I have the combat techniques of the Calm Giant controlling elements in my mind?!"
Incredible!
And just as Priest was in shock and doubt, all over the world, in every corner, some players of Strife of the Continent who had cleared the third and fourth stages let out exclamations.
They too sensed an increase in their mental power, and all players who had cleared the fourth stage had obtained some skills from the civilization they controlled in the game! And these skills could all be used in reality!
It sounded incredible and strange, but in reality, it was nothing special.
Because this was the reward system Joshua had arranged for the game Strife of the Continent.
When the game Strife of the Continent reached the third stage and the player resolved at least one "Strife of Civilization," they could help Joshua eliminate a portion of the Chaos resentment, allowing him to free up some of his restrained computing power to suppress his divinity. For the warrior, who was a Soulflame King, dissolving Chaos itself granted him a portion of power.
Through the Magic Net, Joshua directly transmitted the power gained from dissolving Chaos to the corresponding players. Players who cleared the third stage could receive feedback in the form of mental or physical strength to varying degrees.
And those who experienced the fourth stage and directly fought against the Chaos Legion were essentially engaging in a direct battle with the Chaos memories in Joshua's mind. As a reward, they could naturally learn corresponding skills and knowledge from the vast database of destroyed civilizations that Joshua possessed.
"This is not just a game."
Looking at the now completely darkened screens, Joshua's data projection slowly dissipated. Loranda's controlled Wizard Civilization, due to its overly singular transcendent power, unfortunately encountered Chaos nemeses with "Medium Magic Resistance" ability when facing three otherworldly Chaos Legions simultaneously at the end of the civilization stage. It eventually fell into a disadvantage and gradually retreated.
At this point, no players of Strife of the Continent were still playing, with only a few newcomers who had just joined preparing to start.
And in reality, both Loranda and Priest noticed the increase in their power. The former raised an eyebrow slightly and showed a smile, while the latter, surrounded by Su Er and his sister, began enthusiastically promoting Strife of the Continent, this newly launched hot game.
Joshua, who had withdrawn from the data space and returned his consciousness to the Lord's Mansion of Moldavia, was unaware of this. But even if he knew, the warrior would not be surprised.
Because they had experienced much in the spiritual world, they were fully capable of bearing this power. "Playing games can also make you stronger" was no empty claim for Strife of the Continent.
And he, taking this opportunity, could silently pass on the essence of numerous civilizations' technologies to the people of Mycroft Civilization through the game.
This was not just a game.