ALL NOVEL chapter 2
Chapter 2. Producer
The first life form to create when forming an ecosystem is clear.
It is the ‘Producer’. A creature that produces energy on its own. On Earth, the history of ‘Producers’ began when a creature called cyanobacteria first started photosynthesis.
Flash!
The first life form was probably not created with such divine light. In reality, the first life form was surprisingly not a ‘Producer’.
Anyway, I created the life form that forms the base of the food pyramid, the very foundation of the ecosystem. It is a small, squishy creature.
「You have created a new life form! What will you name it?」
“Nectar Jelly.”
“I have created [Nectar Jelly].”
“You can freely assign any characteristic to the first life form.”
“High metabolism.”
『High Metabolism: The life activities of the organism are accelerated. Energy consumption increases.』
High metabolism. Since there is a Nectar Spring, there is plenty of energy, so this is good.
“What are you doing right now…? Since you have the first creation privilege, shouldn’t you create the first intelligent being or at least a plant?”
No, there is no need to create plants. We need to create a ‘producer.’
In short, at the bottom of the deep sea, there is a creature called a tube worm that produces energy through chemosynthesis using the heat and sulfur compounds from hydrothermal vents.
It’s an animal, but it’s a producer, and it doesn’t use the mechanism of photosynthesis.
So, I don’t need to use the mechanism of plants that produce glucose and oxygen through water, carbon dioxide, and light.
“The protection period has started. During the protection period, players do not interact with other players’ worlds. After the protection period ends, they will collide with other worlds.”
I will perfect my ecosystem during the protection period. The strategy is already in place. If it succeeds, great; if it fails, only one human will disappear.
Just watch. I’ll make your eyes pop.
While talking with the angel, the Nectar Jelly I created started multiplying at an incredible speed from the Nectar Spring.
It would be more surprising if it didn’t. This barren desert has an abundance of 〈light〉, 〈heat〉, 〈minerals〉, and 〈nectar〉.
Consuming all of that, it produces the most lacking 〈water〉 and the 〈magic〉 needed for the growth of the 《Nectar Spring》 in this ecosystem.
〈Nectar〉 itself is the most efficient resource in the game, and the sunlight in this desert is truly top-notch, so the Nectar Jelly soon filled the spring.
The number of Nectar Jelly increased to the point where it was visible to the naked eye, continuously spitting out water and magic, causing the Nectar Spring, which was at most 50 meters in diameter and 5 meters deep, to overflow as it got diluted with water.
I used the only resource that players can actively utilize and the omnipotent resource, 〈divinity〉, to accelerate this reproduction and growth rate. It was easy to use since it was similar to the game and interface.
“The level of 《Nectar Spring》 is rising.”
As this process repeated, the spring, which was at level 0, became level 1.
The upgraded Nectar Spring became an oasis about 100 meters in diameter and 7 meters deep. Of course, it’s not all nectar; most of it is water, so it’s diluted, but even considering that, the amount of nectar I can use has greatly increased.
And this level 1 seemed to be the limit. The Nectar Jelly consumes nectar and spits out water and magic. And there are no creatures in my ecosystem that consume ‘water’ yet.
The Nectar Jelly, which needs 〈light〉 and 〈heat〉 for reproduction, clung to the sunlit surface of the lake. Because they absorbed both light and heat, the surface of the Nectar Oasis was filled with Nectar Jelly, making the whole thing look like a jelly lake.
Due to the deepened water depth, diluted nectar, and much more scarce minerals, reproduction slowed down, and eventually, the environment reached equilibrium.
“It’s a good build-up. Raising the level of the Nectar Spring with the power of organisms alone in such a harsh and narrow environment. It’s definitely an eye-popping strategy. If you had thought of it like the game days and planted plants right away, it wouldn’t have turned out like this.”
This angel understood. Yes, it’s a build-up.
In a strategy simulation, what do you do if you just start producing combat units right away? First, you gather resources, set up a multi-base to increase resource supply, and then think about building a larger army.
First internal affairs. Then combat. It’s basic.
“So now that the water has increased, are you really going to create plants and build a civilization?”
No. The protection period is still a long way off, so if you’re going to build up, you have to do it to the limit.
Nectar jellies eat nectar and excrete water and magic.
In a few billion years, it will naturally transform into a wonderful ecosystem, but since I am a god, is there any need to go that far?
I artificially accelerate that evolution through 〈Divinity〉 to create new creatures.
「[Nectar Jelly] has evolved into [Rock Jelly].」
Rock jelly is a much larger creature than nectar jelly. Unlike nectar jelly, which was close to bacteria, these guys roughly formed a jellyfish-like body through 〈Water〉 and 〈Nectar〉.
Rock jelly also secretes an acidic solution slightly less potent than human gastric juice, allowing it to directly dissolve and consume rocks, which are also abundant resources in this ecosystem.
The rocks, having their mineral components sucked out, break into stones.
As the surrounding bedrock is split, the nectar oasis expands, and as rock jelly grows, it consumes a tremendous amount of water, reducing the water in the nectar oasis.
Then, the lake’s depth remains relatively unchanged, but its shores are eroded, expanding its area, and eventually, more nectar jellies proliferate on the surface. This increases the water.
Then, the number of rock jellies increases again, and since rock jelly is fundamentally nectar jelly, it produces magic through rocks and sunlight, and in fact, produces more than nectar jelly, ensuring a constant supply of magic to the nectar spring.
This process repeats infinitely until the ecosystem reaches equilibrium.
「The level of 《Nectar Spring》 has increased.」
As a result, the nectar spring has expanded enormously, becoming a massive oasis with a depth of 10 meters and a diameter close to 300 meters.
“Amazing! The nectar spring has already reached level 2! Level 2 is a level that can only be achieved by winning two collisions with other worlds!”
I know. And now, there was a more important result than the growth of the nectar spring.
「The 〈Life〉 score of the world has exceeded 100 points, raising the level to 1. You can now choose a new 〈Life〉 trait.」
Due to the flourishing life in my ecosystem, a new trait has been unlocked. Now, my creatures will become even more powerful.
However, unlike the initial traits where I could choose the desired trait, this time it is random. However, it is structured to select one of the traits that seem most suitable for my creatures.
The angel created three cards with magic that emitted light and floated them in front of me.
“Here are three traits that seem necessary. As you know, (Selection) must designate a specific species, and (Divine Ability) is permanently applied until the end of the game.”
『(Selection) Increased Evolution Speed: Natural mutations become more frequent.』
『(Selection) Increased Energy Efficiency: Creatures can act similarly with less food.』
『(Divine Ability) Artificial Evolution: When directly 〈Evolving〉, the efficiency of 〈Divinity〉 is increased by 150%.』
“Artificial Evolution.”
There is a perfect trait. I can continue to build up by just tweaking these jellies without creating anything new.
“Good. It seems like this is the real limit. Now, are you going to build a civilization? You can create creatures that live by eating jellies without needing plants.”
No. Since the environment is already established, I will go to the end.
“What?”
Rock jelly is adept at breaking large rocks and consuming minerals, but even Minecraft does not classify minerals as a single entity.
Of course, there are minerals and rock residues that the Rock Jelly couldn’t consume. Other creatures that can consume these are evolved from the Rock Jelly.
「[Rock Jelly] has evolved into [Pebble Jelly].」
「[Pebble Jelly] has evolved into [Soil Jelly].」
And the same Rock Jelly also diversifies by consuming various minerals, such as Black Rock Jelly and Gray Rock Jelly.
My damn desert ecosystem was just a mass of rocks with no gems, precious metals, or even common metals, no matter how much I dug. But there was a variety of rock types. Rocks become pebbles, pebbles become soil, and finally, soil becomes sand.
「The level of the 《Nectar Spring》 has increased.」
Now, the Nectar Spring is at level 3. The Nectar Lake has grown to nearly 800 meters in diameter, and the diluted nectar flows into the cracked bedrock, forming rivers and seeping into the softened ground to create swamps.
When the Nectar Jelly creates water, the Rock Jelly grows, and the Rock Jelly eats the rocks and leaves behind pebbles. The Pebble Jelly comes and breaks down the pebbles into soil, and the Soil Jelly eats that and finally spits out sand.
The terrain, which was once just Nectar Springs and rocks, has now transformed into a vast oasis with sand, soil, pebbles, and rock bedrock that the jellies have not yet reached. That rocky terrain will only be accessible when the Nectar Oasis grows larger.
An ecosystem so impressive that it’s almost touching has been completed. Although a few more processes are needed to make it perfect, this alone can be considered a great success.
「The world’s 〈Life〉 score has exceeded 210 points, and the level has increased to 2. You can now choose a new trait.」
Even more touching is the new trait. It’s only natural that traits are pouring in since I’ve abandoned all other growth and invested everything in life production.
The game system emphasizes balanced development, but if you focus entirely on one thing, this is what happens.
The angel recommended three traits again this time.
『(Divine Ability) Evolution Proficiency: When you directly 〈evolve〉, the creature’s body changes more closely to the purpose.』
『(Choice) Increased Energy Efficiency: Creatures can act similarly while eating less.』
『(Choice) Nectar Dependency: The energy obtained from nectar is doubled. You can only consume nectar.』
There was no need to hesitate.
“Evolution Proficiency”
Evolution will continue to be necessary and will be a task, so this much is needed.
“Hey. Shouldn’t we really create a civilization now? It’s become a wonderful land with flowing jelly and nectar, and a civilization that lives off these would achieve incredibly powerful development, don’t you think?”
Civilization, civilization, like a parrot. Sorry, but I have no intention of building a civilization.
“What?”
Civilization is trash. No, to be specific, the survival strategy of biologically increasing intelligence is trash.
Stupid dinosaurs thrived for hundreds of millions of years and were all wiped out by a meteor, but the smartest Homo sapiens built a civilization and destroyed the planet they live on in just 10,000 years.
To truly reign forever as a god, you must not raise intelligent beings.
“Excuse me, but you know this game is about building civilizations in your world and having different races fight each other, right? Since you were a player.”
No, this game was about creating a fantasy ecosystem. At least, it was for me.
I didn’t completely exclude civilization-building play while playing the game, but now I’m more accustomed to other play styles.
So let others start with Stone Age fantasies. I will be building the most ideal ecosystem I can think of.
The ultimate wilderness where no civilization or species, no matter how intelligent, can possibly survive. A perfect ecosystem that surpasses any civilization, possible only in a fantasy world.
“Are you trying to become a demon king who controls monsters?”
Oh. That’s a good phrase.
If other players are gods, then I am the demon king. The creatures I create will be designed to completely destroy their civilizations.