The Nebula’s Civilization

Shaiven, a Nix, believed she had been abandoned by her god.

The Nix species had a matrilineal society, and Shaiven’s mother was the chief of the Golden Eye tribe. Shaiven had no doubt she would become the next chief after her mother.

However, a misfortune occurred. In the northeast, the Gnoll tribe called Ears Cut had appeared.

Golden Eye was the dominant tribe in the region, so in accordance with the will of their Unseen Origins God, they fought the Ears Cut Tribe. But despite their efforts, they suffered a crushing defeat. The many casualties included warriors as well as Shaiven’s mother, the tribal chief. Fortunately enough, the Ears Cut Tribe seemed satisfied with their victory and left after only looting the Golden Eye Tribe, so the other Nixes survived, but Shaiven’s misfortune didn’t end there.

Shaiven should have taken over as the tribal chief, but she had to pay the price for her family’s decision to fight the Ears Cut Tribe, which ended in a crushing defeat. Shavien was kicked out from her home land, and the position of tribal chief went to the new priest that the Unseen Origins God had chosen. Shaiven shuddered in humiliation, insulted her own mother, and bore a grudge towards the Unseen Origins God.

‘I will not forget this anger until I die.’

Shaiven’s rage continued as the Golden Eye Tribe established their country, Golden Eye. It was ruled by a king rather than a chief, and Golden Eye continued to develop as if to mock Shaiven. She fell into despair.

‘My rage will eventually become futile.’

Shaiven decided to end her vagrant life, and at a night where all the stars were obscured by clouds in the deep woods, she cut her wrist. While her consciousness faded, she realized someone was standing near her. The shadow stood in silence, and even though she tried to take a proper look at the figure, she could only see shadow.

Shaiven suddenly became thirsty and asked, “I…I’m sorry, but do you have water?”

The shadow took out a water pouch and gave it to Shaiven. As soon as Shaiven put the water pouch to his mouth, she felt his mouth and throat being refreshed, and her head became clear. As her thirst was satisfied, however, she suddenly felt hungry.

“Do you also have anything to eat by any chance?”

The shadow offered his pouch, and inside was freshly baked bread wrapped in a large leaf. The steaming bread softly ripped apart, and as Shaiven put it into her mouth, she felt his stomach filling up. Once both her thirst and hunger were satisfied, she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

Shaiven scorned herself and asked, “Why am I crying? My desire to die disappeared as my thirst and hunger were sated. I am a coward who doesn’t even have the courage to take my own life.”

The shadow then threw something long to Shaiven’s feet.

“.....!”

It was a knife. Shaiven tried to resist, but her hand shook and moved towards the knife against her will.

“...No! I don’t want to die!”

Shaiven then realized that there was something strange about the shadow she couldn’t see properly, as well as the water and bread that the shadow had given her. Shaiven threw away the water pouch that was in her left hand, spilling blood all over the ground. She then grasped her right hand with her left and examined the bread. The thing wrapped inside the leaf was rotten meat.

“Please!”

Shaiven eventually held the knife in her hand. However, the fear that overtook her suddenly disappeared before she knew it, and her inner self was left with only calmness. She couldn’t understand why she had been so terrified. She realized who the shadow was and why the shadow gave her the knife.

The shadow was the new god Shaiven would serve, and the knife given to her wasn’t simply to help her kill herself, but to make her reborn as a servant of the god.

Shaiven smiled and raised the knife high.

“God of Blood and Rotten Meat, I shall do as you wish.”

And in front of the shadow, she stabbed her own heart.

Shaiven opened her eyes in the dark forest. The blood on her wrist had already dried, but that wasn’t the important matter. She now knew that such a wound wasn’t enough to kill her. Even in the dark forest, she could see clearly without any lights, and her body was filled with energy that she hadn’t had before.

But there was a problem. She was thirsty. She immediately went to find a stream and drank from it, but the water didn’t quell her thirst.

She wandered around the forest. When the sun came up, she felt her body burning, so she hid in a nearby cave. In the cave, there was another vagrant. Shaiven drank water from the water pouch that the kind vagrant gave her, but it still didn’t quench her thirst.

She eventually decided to follow her instincts. She bit the vagrant’s neck and drank the blood gushing out of the arteries until she was full. Only then did she stop feeling thirsty. The blood was what Shaiven’s body had wanted.

Shaiven realized she had become something other than a Nix. After that, she followed the divine revelation given to her by the God of Blood and Rotten Meat. What she did most often was biting the necks of other vagrants and injecting them with poison through her fangs. When she did so, the vagrants would transform from their original species into the same species as Shaiven. And those who were bit by Shaiven would become mentally submissive to her. She led such a group and created his own force.

However, she realized that such a force greatly stood out in countries like Golden Eye and Mangul, so she gave an order to her subordinates.

“Our God wishes for us to expand our species. So all of you, go in separate ways. Hide in other villages and make others our kins.”

Through this, Shaiven was able to gain a few pieces of information. Unfortunately, the second generation she had bitten and transformed weren’t as strong as her, and the third generation were even weaker. The fourth generation even became weaker than they had been before their transformation.

Their kind had other weaknesses as well. Their flesh burned not only under sunlight, but also when they touched silver. This particular weakness became less effective over generations, but that was meaningless as the fourth generation was so weak.

Out of those Shaiven had sent away, some came back and provided Shaiven with new information. There was a story of ancient evil circulating in the area, and out of the ancient evil, Shaiven’s kind resembled beings called Vampires.

‘Does that mean my new god is an ancient evil?’

But Shaiven knew that wouldn’t be a problem. She didn’t care if an ancient evil had given her powers. As long as she could fulfill her wishes, her will was God’s will, but the opposite was also true.

By the time a year had passed since Shaiven served the God of Blood and Rotten Meat, she had planted her confidants in five countries—Golden Eye of the Nixes, Asbestos of the Trolls, Mangul of the Kobolds, Red Fruit of the Renards, and Danyum of the Satyrs.

***

Sung-Woon asked, “Why should I help you?”

His question sucked the air out of the meeting of the five players.

Lunda thought to herself, ‘You bastard, here we go again.’

Wisdom’s star-shaped head slowly spinned.

Then he said, “...Until recently, our food supplies had been unstable because of locusts going after our fertile lands throughout the continent. And we already know that you’re the one behind the locust swarm.”

Sung-Woon nodded.

“So that’s why Crampus and Lunda attacked me. And I defended against the attack. Shouldn’t that be the end of it?”

Jang-Wan opened and closed the big mouth on his lion mask and cut into the conversation.

“Hey you! You just ended the fight without a proper war. Did you ever consider that we’ve let you off the hook easily?”

“Is that what you think?” replied Sung-Woon. “Then there’s only one thing I can say.”

“What is it?”

“Come at me if you’re dissatisfied with the result.”

The lion mask Jang-Wan was wearing shook from side to side.

“Argh! Are you crazy?”

Wisdom reached out to stop Jang-Wan.

“Jang-Wan, Nebula is being cocky on purpose. Don’t get riled up.”

“He’s being like that on purpose?”

“If we follow our emotions and don’t ask him for help, our problem may become bigger. If we get lucky, we might be able to chase out Jeol Woo-Bi’s Vampires on our own, but if we’re unlucky, the Vampires may grow into a greater force. If it comes to that, we won’t be able to negotiate for help. We would have to beg for it… Isn’t that right, Nebula?”

Sung-Woon nodded.

“You have a good head. I can just watch as you guys fumble on your own and get destroyed, so why would I help?”

Lunda thought he was right.

‘Did he just come to have fun at our expense?’

Lunda thought that was possible given Sung-Woon’s personality.

Wisdom made his disagreement known.

“But if we fall apart, things would become troublesome for you as well, Nebula.”

“Why?”

“There are five of us, and one of Jeol Woo-Bi. Wouldn’t it be more difficult for them to deal with all five of us together than pick us off one by one?”

Sung-Woon looked at Wisdom without saying anything.

‘Wisdom. I don’t remember the other user IDs, but I definitely remember his. We played a few games together. His ranking was…around the top 10 for a few months at his peak, I think.’

If Wisdom was a top 10 ranker, Sung-Woon believed that their ability differences wouldn’t be that big, just like between him and Hegemonia.

Wisdom wasn’t wrong. In The Lost World, it was easier to deal with a player that managed several countries than a player who ran one country of the same size as the several countries combined.

‘And if there are multiple players, you can cause discord between them.’

But Sung-Woon shook his head.

“I don’t know. That’s your opinion. I think it’s easier to deal with one player.”

They were negotiating, so there was no need to agree on every single thing the other person said. Wisdom and the other four players would be the ones at a loss without Sung-Woon’s help, not the other way around.

Wisdom’s spinning head slowed to a halt.

“So you see no reason to help us.”

“Yes.”

“Are you saying you won’t help us?”

“Not necessarily,” replied Sung-Woon. “There is no good reason for me to help you, and you are my future competitors. If I am to help you, I need sufficient rewards in return.”

Lunda facepalmed like she knew Sung-Woon would say that, and Crampus revealed his teeth while furrowing his eyebrows and spitting flame. Jang-Wan glared through the eyes of the lion mask. AR covered their mouth with a black fan. And Wisdom’s head started spinning again.

“...We’ll hear you out first.”

Sung-Woon replied, “Three glass craftsmen, candle craftsmen, and brick craftsmen each. And twelve wagons of gold.”

There was another uncomfortable silence.

Crampus then said, “You bastard, you wanted things to turn out this way, didn’t you? You’re not an ally of Jeol Woo-Bi, are you?

Sung-Woon understood Crampus’s aggressive attitude.

Glass craftsmanship had been invented by AR and Jang-Wan, candles were produced by Wisdom, and Crampus and Lunda were the sole suppliers of bricks; in a way, the techniques were exclusive to those players.

And when considering the amount of gold currently in the market, the fortune Sung-Woon had asked for would cause an inflation in Black Scale.

‘I would bury all of it anyways.’

Sung-Woon then said, “Like I said before, if you’re dissatisfied…”

“That’s enough, Nebula. I think we’ll need to discuss this among ourselves first. Could you please leave the chat room? We’ll call you again when we’re done.”

“Alright.”

Sung-Woon could clearly see the outcome of their discussion. And he was soon allowed back in the video chat again.

Wisdom said, “We’ll accept your conditions. We’ll give divine revelations to each of our priests and send the craftsmen this evening. But it’ll be difficult to immediately prepare that much gold. Even one wagon full of gold would be difficult to send to Black Scale, so we’ve decided to send them gradually when we can. I ask for your understanding.”

“Of course, I’m magnanimous like that.”

Then Wisdom said, “So tell us how we’re going to conquer Jeol Woo-Bi and the Vampires. If you had thought of such specific rewards, you must have some measures in mind, right?”

“...Did I have something in mind? No,” Sung-Woon said. “Things have already started.”