What was a Trait? What was divinity?
Back when this had been a game, they had simply been a kind of code, something that manipulated formulas and data inside the system. But now that it had become reality, I had no idea what mechanism actually made Traits and divinity work.
Still, they were probably similar, weren’t they? Some kind of transcendent force. A bizarre power whose principles I didn’t understand, yet which still produced results.
If so, then in a sense, didn’t a Trait that granted a permanent advantage to the entire world the instant it was acquired count as a being with effectively infinite divine power?
「《Nectar Spring》’s level is too high to apply 『Fairyfication』 as-is.」
Nope. So much for infinite divine power.
That made me wonder what “level” even was, then. And “score,” too. What standard was any of it being calculated by?
「As the price for creating [Fairy of the Nectar Spring], the level of 《Nectar Spring》 will decrease.」
What? No. Absolutely not. If that happened, the entire ecosystem would collapse. If the choice was between that and...
“Can’t I offer up the life-forms living in my ecosystem as the price instead?”
Apparently realizing this was important, the Angel answered at once.
“If the condition is to sacrifice life-forms equivalent to 926 <Life> points, then yes.”
My current score was close to 1,600, so roughly seventy-five percent of the world? In other words, an amount of Life score roughly equal to what had been needed to reach Level 4.
“Instead of sacrificing random life-forms, can you make it so individuals die evenly across all regions and all species?”
“That is possible on the condition that you expend all of your current <Divinity> and an additional 233 points of <Life>.”
“Good. Do it.”
Riiiip.
The deepest part of the 《Nectar Spring》 split open as if a mouth had formed inside it.
Then, as if inhaling, it swallowed all the water, jellies, puddings, guppies, Gel, and Toppings inside the nectar oasis. Even that was not enough. With terrifying suction, it dragged in the fish, frogs, Rock Jellies, the livestock and life-forms that had existed in the world I had absorbed only moments earlier, even the insects, pulling everything into the maw of the 《Nectar Spring》 at the center of the ecosystem.
Throb—! Throb—! Throb—!
It greedily devoured life-forms and built itself a body. Perhaps the claim that it was a fragment of a god had not been an exaggeration, because for an instant the silhouette of some incomprehensible deity rose into view—
Then it reshaped itself into the form I thought of as a fairy.
Snap.
It opened its eye—a single enormous gelatinous crystal lens—and spread its mouth wide. A moment later, it stretched its tentacles and cilia toward the sky.
Every part of it was made of the same jelly-like agar substance as jellies, puddings, and Gel, an amorphous being with no real distinction between inside and outside.
「[Fairy of the Nectar Spring] has been created.」
As if to match the immense life it had consumed, it pulsed with life in overwhelming waves. The [Fairy of the Nectar Spring] frantically devoured the surrounding mana, water, and life-forms through its tentacles and mouth, then finally spat thick nectar back out into the world.
And then it cried out in a language I could understand.
【Yiaaaaaaaaah! I praise the Creator who has shaped meeeeeee!】
That majestic figure, producing infinite life and giving birth to the essence of life without end...
「What would you like to name [Fairy of the Nectar Spring]?」
“Abhojuth.”
A perfect name for a fairy of my world.
“That sounds less like a fairy’s name and more like something you’d give a twisted ancient entity.”
Hearing that from something that didn’t even resemble an angel was refreshingly novel.
「You have created [Abhojuth].」
「Abhojuth <Fairy of the Nectar Spring>
Health LV.2: 350
Combat LV.0: 27
Dexterity LV.0: 27
Intelligence LV.0: 17
Charm LV.0: 68
Mind LV.0: 46
Authority LV.3: 514
Mana LV.1: 110
Individual Total LV.1: 1,159」
Just like my world, this thing’s stats were absurdly extreme.
In the game, the average stat line for an utterly ordinary human was 100.
Well, it was a fantasy world, so people could keep growing stronger forever, and Intelligence was such an all-encompassing stat that an Intelligence of 200 did not mean twice as smart as a normal human...
Still, this thing was:
about three and a half human bodies’ worth of mass,
combat power no better than a small dog,
dexterity worse than a chicken,
intelligence better than a mutt but worse than a border collie,
charm about equal to a somewhat ugly human—I vaguely remembered that this concept also included frightening enemies with grotesque looks, charisma, force of presence, and so on—
a fragile mind,
and overwhelming Authority.
Naturally, the source of that overwhelming Authority was obvious.
“Abhojuth. Produce nectar.”
【Yia, yiaaaaaaaah! As you command, my Goooood!】
This thing was a little loud, wasn’t it? Its voice shook violently and sounded grotesque.
Abhojuth threw its eye and mouth wide open, inhaled all the mana it could, and then wildly sprayed nectar from the tentacles inside its body.
Now it could supply nectar directly to the upper regions, not from the lake bottom, but through tentacles stretching upward from the bottom itself.
For the jellies in the upper layers, which until now had only been able to feed on diluted nectar because the real concentration pooled too heavily below, this was tremendous news.
But that wasn’t all those tentacles could do.
With the tentacles extending above the water’s surface, it sucked in air, water, heat, and light, then emitted them downward through its eye. It also stirred its tentacles rhythmically through the lake, creating something like currents.
In other words, it mixed all the water, air, nectar, light, and heat within the lake together.
As a result, the environment inside the nectar oasis—which had previously made survival difficult from the upper waters to the middle layers, lower layers, and even the bottom—was equalized, allowing the life-forms there all to obtain the elements they needed most.
And that wasn’t all.
Through tentacles extending below the bottom, Abhojuth even scooped out the sand that had accumulated there, adjusted the positions of corals and other structures, and descended deeper still.
Like a landscaper tending an aquarium, Abhojuth was capable of managing the inner ecosystem of the nectar oasis beautifully and in perfect balance.
Naturally, that sent the life inside the oasis into explosive growth.
The swelled population of life-forms expelled ever more water and mana. Abhojuth drank the mana and produced still more nectar. With the Sun Toppings overbreeding under the high concentration of mana, the lake shone so brilliantly it almost looked as if it were boiling.
The jellies, now supplied with every element necessary for survival, dug into the bedrock with manic intensity, while Abhojuth extended still more tentacles, constantly adjusting the ever-changing environment of the nectar oasis.
「The level of 《Nectar Spring》 rises.」
Now Level 5, the 《Nectar Spring》 had reached roughly three kilometers in diameter, with a deepest point of sixty meters.
But the average depth had increased far more dramatically, so its size could no longer be judged by diameter alone.
The 《Nectar Spring》 had grown so vast that it had almost completely eaten through the rocky desert I had started with, and if it expanded only a little more, it would swallow the freshwater lake in Oswald Desert whole.
Then let it swallow it. Nectar was not some kind of pollutant. If the creatures in the freshwater lake could eat diluted nectar too, then all the better.
「The level of 《Nectar Spring》 rises.」
At Level 6, the nectar oasis doubled in size again and split into two broad regions: the zone still connected to the original freshwater layer, and the dense-nectar zone managed by Abhojuth.
Oswald Desert and my own desert were also joined into one, as all the rock and sand that had once lain between them was broken apart. That destroyed rock and sand was all turned into shells for other life-forms, or into the remains of such shells.
Now there was no Oswald Desert anymore. No Oswald Oasis either.
There was only the Dessert Desert, and the single nectar wetland spread across it.
“I feel bad for Oswald. Even his name didn’t survive.”
“That’s how it goes for the first one to die.”
If I just sat here and watched, <Life> points would probably keep pouring out on their own. Even though I had consumed a massive amount of life to create Abhojuth, the ecosystem had actually become healthier than before.
The fish and frogs that had once lived in freshwater also continued evolving under the influx of nectar, an ultra-nutrient, and their survival competition with the newly introduced jellies and puddings. Some grew larger. Others became smaller and faster.
It was happening so quickly that I did not even need to interfere.
More precisely, if I did interfere, I would probably ruin the balance instead.
【My Goooood! Am I doing welllllll?!】
“Exceptionally well. You’re really doing great.”
【I am gratefuuuuul!】
I didn’t say that lightly. It really was a highly capable administrator.
That said, I still preferred ecosystems that sustained themselves over ones that collapsed without intervention from intelligent beings.
“You really do have firm tastes. Abhojuth is an intelligent being too, though. That’s acceptable?”
“I don’t mind anything up to about dolphin level. What I hate are intelligent beings that build civilizations and create conflict.”
“Huh.”
“To put it another way, I actually rather like ant civilization.”
“Considering some dolphins are smarter than borderline-intellectual humans, I guess you just hate humans.”
That was about right.
Maybe I would like a civilization built by kind, benevolent, highly intelligent organisms.
「The world’s <Mysticism> score has exceeded 100 and risen to Level 1. You may now select a new Trait.」
「The world’s <Faith> score has exceeded 100 and risen to Level 1.」
Ah. So Abhojuth had pushed those two scores up as well.
Since it was still an intelligent being, and a fairy bound to my world at that, it seemed that part of the mana it absorbed was being converted not into pure nectar, but into <Mysticism> and <Faith> resources and supplied to me.
For the <Mysticism> Trait, I chose 『Increased Mana Pressure』. It was a modest Trait that increased the mana of the world as a whole. It would also benefit enemies if they used magic, but whatever. Abhojuth was swallowing all the mana in my world anyway.
<Faith> had no selectable Trait. It had been like that ever since the game.
But the higher your Faith level and score, the greater the total amount, recovery, and power of the divine force the player could use.
In other words, with Abhojuth alone, I could now intervene in my ecosystem far more actively and boldly.
Fairies were nice. Having one in the ecosystem was not a bad idea at all.
“No... This isn’t the kind of fairy that blesses the civilization I wanted...”
The Angel kept shaking her head as if this was all wrong, but she just didn’t know how to play the game.
Since I needed to manage the massive loss of life I had spent creating Abhojuth, and since my divine power was still rising even now, I diligently accelerated time within the world, improved the species that were essential to the ecosystem but on the verge of extinction, and introduced natural enemies and predators to feed on species that were not especially necessary but had multiplied too far.
How long I stayed absorbed in that work, I didn’t know.
Then I heard a beautiful announcement.
「The world’s <Life> score has exceeded 1,945 and risen to Level 5. You may now select a new Trait.」
Even after consuming life on such a massive scale, it had surpassed its original state.
I looked at the Angel, meaning for her to show me the Trait cards.
With a rather strange expression, she pulled out three cards.
“Hmm... In the current situation, I suppose these are the ones I can recommend.”
『(Selection) Sapientization: The intelligence of one species rises high enough to build a civilization. If the target is already highly intelligent, its intelligence increases even further.』
『(Selection) Enhanced Strength: One species becomes physically stronger.』
『([Nectar Jelly]) Accelerated Metabolism 2: The vital activity of the life-form becomes even faster. Energy consumption increases.』
“Accelerated Metabolism 2.”
“You didn’t hesitate.”
“It’s not that I didn’t hesitate. I just didn’t have a choice.”
“Hm?”
In response to the Angel’s puzzled question, I explained the obvious.
“There’s no point in Sapientization at this stage. I’m already using every resource in the world to maintain ecological balance. What’s the use of making something smarter? Even if intelligent beings appeared right now, they couldn’t build a civilization anyway. That stage has already passed.
Enhanced Strength is the same. If one species becomes stronger, then from another angle, that’s no different from making every other species weaker. If I were the kind of player who focused on raising a single species, maybe that would be different. But as long as my play is centered on the harmony of the ecosystem itself, it was never a real option.”
So the only choice had been to increase the metabolism of [Nectar Jelly].
I didn’t especially like that option either, but there hadn’t been any real alternative.
Well, when you ran an extreme ecosystem build, situations like this were common enough. I had no complaints.
“Hm. I see. In that case, there may be a bit of a problem with giving you Traits at all. Hm.”
Now that Abhojuth would manage my world on its own, maybe it was time to check out that so-called community thing. I wanted to add more fish species that could live in Teimong’s river and the freshwater region.
The moment I decided that, something like an internet screen appeared right in front of me.
Naturally, I operated it as though I were gripping a mouse and keyboard that did not exist.
Hopefully I could get my hands on some lively specimens.