Nexgenesis: The System's Sin and Sovereignty

The Costly Strategy

It was the dark of the night, with the crescent blue moon hanging above us, glistening with its everlasting serenity. 

The vast town before me was overflowing with the Blockheads, creatures of various shades of gray. The Eater, their Master, as I could see, was the darkest being present in this city, sitting in its tent in the center of the town.

‘They are a Ghost species, so perhaps they don’t need fire or light to see well in the darkness.’

The moonlight of the crescent blue in the sky was bright enough that even I could see everything within the vast physical border of this city well… not that there was anything special to see here.

‘I’m pretty sure those creature enthusiasts of the game, who go around documenting and researching all kinds of new beasts in the world, would love to watch the mundane life of these lazy ghosts.’

They were just a little bigger than my palm, so even though they numbered in the thousands, their sole city in this vast plain was no more than a few hundred meters in diameter. 

They had walls made of wood and dry grass, some simple buildings to spend the little amount of their half-time in, and mostly clear areas to walk on. 

As ghosts, they did not need food or solid shelter, so they just slept around the city area, mostly in large groups. As they lived, they absorbed the energy particles from the atmosphere.

Most of them lived inside the city, while a large population of these creatures wandered the plains and explored new places that either had a bunch of new flowers or certain little plants that I knew nothing about. 

I can’t feel the special energy (Mana) like mages do, so I don’t really know what attracts them. However, they chose only certain places to expand their territory, that much I was sure of. 

That much I knew for certain. And some of those places had colonies of Fly people, which the Blockheads would destroy mercilessly, as per my current observation.

‘I would have to observe them a little more if I want to know why they do it and how it might have started, but I can do that later.’

The Blockheads would mostly just divide (reproduce) after absorbing the energy particles in those new places, or sleep like the rest of them in the city. 

‘They also have some way of communicating that perhaps is close to the ant’s pheromone communication.’

They knew how far their city was even though they had no particular sense of direction. They just knew where the Eater and the others were, even if they lost their paths or I redirected them into some other places completely new to them. 

They were a Ghost species that possessed intelligence and lived in a community, something unusual among their kind.

“Even the way these newborns grow by just existing is peculiar.”

Crouching before the border of the city of these creatures, I stood observing the sleeping newborns.

“Hello there.”

They slept in a group of three to thirty, all piled up above one another like a pile of potatoes. 

They were pretty cute creatures that looked better than their older versions. Not that the older ones looked anything ugly— the Blockheads were far better than those Fly fuggos, but the small heads, those almost white bodies, and their small humanoid shapes made them look pretty cute.

But, I couldn't touch these little things directly.

“They sure are ghosts, huh?”

There was a pile of around twelve of them sleeping right before me, at the edge of their city. 

From the looks of it, it seemed like they were only a few hours old and knew nothing of their future yet. There was a little smile on their faces, an innocent smile that children who know nothing about the cruelty of this world mostly have…

Killing them did not feel right. But then again, how can a newbie kill a ghost when they don’t know how to use the Mana or the atmospheric energy?

“It’s pretty simple, actually.”

They are a Ghost species and semi-spiritual creatures. They are immune to most normal physical attacks. 

However, energy, or powers other than the physical force, could easily kill something of the same level as me with practically no stats at all.

“The Fly people used something similar to elemental magic, fire and water magic from what I have observed during their last battle.”

I don’t have water with me in this place, which could have been a problem that might have been difficult in the long run. Thankfully, I’m planning to end this tutorial today and go away from this place.

‘This world is pretty realistic, so if one doesn’t eat something for a while, they would get the <Hunger> debuff, and not drinking water for a prolonged period would result in <Dehydration>.’

There were various debuffs that would affect players in various ways, something all the players of the Nexgenesis found the most annoying. 

However, since these debuffs were a kind of set rule that applied to everyone equally in most cases, even the creatures could be affected by many debuffs.

‘Players can blind them, break their bones and reduce their movement speeds, attack some certain nerve points and hinder their further movements, and much more.’

The Buffs and Debuffs were an element that made Nexgenesis a more enjoyable game than most of the other VRMMOs currently out in the market. There were many reasons people called this 'game' the Second World, and this buff and debuff element was one of them.

‘Will you all burn with this fire, little ones?’

It took me a while, but I had prepared a small fire right beside the place I had been sitting. There was enough firewood and dry grass for fuel, and the destroyed houses of the Fly people had burning charcoal as well, so lighting up a bonfire was pretty easy.

However, just a normal fire was not going to be enough.

“Hmmm. as I thought.”

I placed a few burning sticks around the sleeping bunch of the Blockhead babies. However, the fire that certainly felt hot to me, did nothing to the sleeping babies.

“I feel guilty doing this… you who have not even witnessed the light of this amazing world, please forgive me.”

They usually burned the Fly people at the stake with fire that the Fly people created themselves. 

I already considered the possibility that the normal fire created with wood and grass as fuel wouldn’t be enough to affect the creatures that had no physical body and still could interact with physical objects themselves. 

It was obvious ghosts wouldn't be afraid of normal fire like these.

‘I would need a special fuel to affect them.’

Thankfully, I had that special fuel in good quantity.

“May you find peace, children.”

—Sprink…

Taking out a big pouch I had made with the grass, leaves, skin of the trees, and fabrics from the fallen houses of Fly people from my inventory, I sprinkled the ashes of the creatures the parents of these children had killed mercilessly.

—Zaaaaaaaaa.

And, when these colorful ashes touched the burning orange-yellow fire, a new multi-color fire sparked just as I expected, and engulfed the young, sleeping children…

“Haaaa…”

They were innocent. Their parents and the older ones of their kind were just around them and were watching all this happening with a stunned expression. 

My heart ached as I watched them burn in their sleep…

The disappearing bodies of the young ones was a sight filled with moral sorrow, but I stayed like that, and observed the consequences of my own actions.

[Ding!] 

[You have defeated a Small Blockhead (Newborn).]

[You have received: 3 EXP.]

[You have defeated your first opponent. The opponent is judged to be a rare species.]

[Rewarding additional: 30 EXP.]

[You have defeated a Ghost species for the first time as your first opponent.]

[You have earned the Achievement: Starting with Ghosts (Rare).]

[A rare achievement reward box has been added to personal inventory.]

[Ding.]

[You have defeated a Small Blockhead (Newborn).]×11

[You have received: 33 EXP.]

[Ding!]

[You have leveled up!]

[Level-2 (5%)]

My inventory now contained a simple-looking metallic box (the achievement reward) along with a handmade box containing the Triade honey beads, a box of transparent crystals from the Blockheads, and a smaller pouch of Triade wings’ ashes. 

There were only twelve inventory spaces, so I couldn’t possibly store all the things individually; that's why I had made boxes and pouches for these things.

‘Even though it was very risky since death loomed over my head in these plains, I had no choice but to store them like this.’

I never thought I would get an achievement this soon though. 

It was unexpected, but certainly something I appreciated. 

‘It took a while, but as I roamed around the vast plains in these last few hours, with the help of the knife-like flagpoles, and other materials I got from the ruined colonies of the Fly people, I was able to make the boxes and those pouches.’

They were nowhere as good as the reward box I just got, but they got the job done for now. Making handicrafts was a hobby both my Mum and I enjoyed ever since I was a kid, so making these simple things was no big deal with materials present all around me.

I enjoyed their creation process…

“Gzaaaa…!”

“Gyum! Gyum!!”

“Zaaaaaa…!”

However, I did not like the deaths that I had just caused. Or… the chaos that had erupted because of it.