Nicolai considered his opponents, and how he wanted to approach this game. He was mostly interested in learning and surviving. He knew that the Cultivators would join together against him and attempt to entirely destroy him from early on. With that, he would no longer be able to take part in the game and would win no benefits.

All of them likely had more experience than him.

What was the best way to survive?

The steps within the game likely began the same for everyone.

Gather resources. Use those resources to create better Symbiotes. Use Symbiotes with attacking power to defend what you have taken, and to expand your holdings.

For now, there was little else to do.

Nicolai saw that the Cultivators were already doing all kinds of things, but for himself, he opted to simply follow what the book had said. It explained how to make some basic Symbiotes.

These Symbiotes were not likely to be of much use outside of this boardgame, at least not on their own. They seemed extremely basic and not of the kind that Cultivators would typically be after, because they did not possess Arts. They were more like proto-Symbiotes. Nicolai had never seen the recipes for them before, he hadn't heard of them from Kleos, Maric, or the Memory Tome he'd read.

Their names were equally simple.

Collector. Refiner. Worker. Defender. Scout.

He had started with the last three Symbiotes. A Worker, a Defender, and a Scout. Later on, there were others more dedicated for combat, but for now these basics were all that was within reach.

As his Soul had pressed through the Starting Point, and his awareness had been inserted into the game, he had grown aware of these Symbiotes. They had been instantly broken-in, as the game gave control of them to him.

The Scout was a tiny creature scurrying around on little legs, a kind of lizard-fox—big eyes and ears, slender tail. He immediately sent it out into the fog, as he noticed the other Cultivators doing.

He had two neighbours, as everyone did—the players either side. These had also sent their Scout forward, and he noticed that their Symbiotes disappeared from his vision when entering the fog. When his Scout pressed into the fog, it remained visible and instead the fog around it faded.

So this was a kind of fog-of-war, and players could only see what their own Symbiotes had uncovered. It meant that Scouts were more valuable and important than one might have thought. Information was very important in any situation, and he saw no reason for this to be any different. He knew that given time, the fog would creep back—the guide book had mentioned this.

While his Scout was advancing, he considered his remaining two Symbiotes, the Defender and the Worker.

The Defender was a bit bigger than the others, and resembled a crab. It had two arms ending in heavy clubs, and a solid exterior. Small eyes peered out from recesses within it, and it moved on many legs.

The Worker reminded Nicolai of a monkey. It was a general-purpose Symbiote which could fulfil many functions, but its primary role was creating other Symbiotes.

Nicolai set the Worker to gathering resources from his Starting Point.

He had Red Grass, Dew Pond, Dark Clover, Green Berry, and some Oma Crystal.

With some Oma Crystal, Red Grass, and Dew Pond, he could make a Collector, which would gather more quickly than the Worker.

That was what he'd like to do, but he doubted it was what he could afford to do. Instead, he had the Worker focus on collecting the resources needed to create a Defender. He was pretty sure he would need a second one immediately.

As the resources were gathered, he waited. If he was wrong, then he was gathering the wrong resources and wasting time. He could only wait and see.

But he knew that he wasn't wrong, he felt it from the glances they exchanged, from the whispers of their emotions, bleeding out from the Tier 1's who hadn't quite the spiritual control of their leader. A short time later, he was proven right.

Two Defenders were coming toward him, one from either side; his neighbours.

'Brother,' said the bald man to his right. 'We see that you are having some trouble over there. Don't worry, we will assist you. We, your friends, are sending our Defenders to help you out.'

'Wow, thank you very much,' replied Nicolai.

'So don't worry about that Defender you're building,' spoke Jinxiao from his left. 'You can use those resources for something else, since we'll protect you.'

'Oh, really? How do I stop it?' he asked, emanating confusion.

While the pair attempted to coach him through cancelling the Defender, and he acted as though trying to do so, he was busy pulling his scout back, and had his Symbiotes gather protectively around the Worker, which moved to the left side of his controlled area. All three of them carried the resources as they moved. It had gathered Red Grass, Dark Clover, and Green Berry.

He commanded them to stop and focused his Soul. The Natural Resources had been carefully arranged, according to the Recipe. They began to merge together as his Soul worked on them, drawing on the energies within them.

'Mork! You're still making the defender!' Jinxiao growled at him. 'We told you to make something else.'

'I am making something else,' he told her, creasing his brows—Mork's brows—with the strain of thought. 'I'm making a worker bug. I think.'

'That's a defender, you moron,' said the bald Cultivator. 'Stop making it! You're wasting resources.'

'Isn't this what we're meant to do? Use the resources to make bugs?' asked Nicolai, puzzled.

Baldie scoffed and sneered. Nicolai knew why he considered it a waste. Because already the man saw Nicolai's resources as his resources. Nicolai hid a smile. If you want them, come and take them.

Alas, there was trouble on the horizon. Simulations was doing what it did best, running a simulation of the future. If all actions continued at their current pace—the speed of the encroaching enemy Defenders, his own speed of construction—then the first of the enemy Defenders would arrive before his own was finished.

He and the Modules considered the positions, and the timings, and ran the data on it all. He'd started work on the Defender to the left side of his area, closer to Jinxiao. So, he put his Defender to the left of it, between the work-in-progress and her approaching Defender. He continued to act dumb as they told him to stop doing what he was doing.

The two enemy Defenders came closer and closer, while the creation of his second Defender continued. Most of his focus was on that, as his Soul formed the glue that allowed the reaction to occur. The resources he'd gathered combined under the movements of the Worker, which ran from pile to pile like a hyperactive monkey.

Jinxiao's Defender arrived, boring down in a straight line towards the work-in-progress. Nicolai's Defender immediately moved to fight the attacking Defender. The two crab-like beings began to exchange blows.

She let out a frustrated exhalation. 'Mork, now your Defender is fighting mine. You need to tell it to back off.'

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

'I'm trying!' he sulked. 'It attacks yours no matter what I tell it to do!'

He had his scout come in, and it landed a single hit, doing some extra damage to her Defender. But her Defender retaliated and that single hit almost killed the Scout.

'My Scout tries to attack too,' he mumbled sadly. 'But I think I worked out how to pull it back,' he added, as the Scout retreated from the Defender's next strike, aimed By Jinxiao attempting to finish the Scout off. The Defender's strike hit only air. His mind whirred as he focused on his own Defender, which got in some good hits while her's was distracted.

While Jinxiao called him an idiot and to get some control over his Symbiotes, he considered. The Scout was able to attack, but it could not take an attack. However, it was quite fast, faster than a Defender.

He waited for Jinxiao's Defender to attack his own, and then sent the Scout in; a quick nip. It pulled away before her Defender had recovered from its attack, escaping retaliation.

'Your Scout keeps coming back!' she snarled at him.

He shrugged, helpless. 'I keep trying to pull it away, but it just ends up moving back and forth,' he said, as his Scout slipped adroitly backwards to avoid another of her blows, and his own Defender once more made use of the opportunity.

He was beginning to get a better feel for this. With the aid of the Modules, it was easy for him to control multiple units at once. All the Symbiotes, when left to their own devices, would behave in simple, predictable ways. If he were to pull away all focus, then his Scout would avoid the enemy, his Defender would attack the enemy, and his Worker would keep working but run if enemies came near.

But he could take complete control of any or all of them. This, he realised, was something that most people would struggle with. Glancing around, he noted that the others all tended to focus on one at a time. Only Hao did better, able to control two at once.

Nicolai was able to control all of his simultaneously, with ease. His Defender slipped blows and countered against Jinxiao. His Scout darted back and forth at the increasingly irate Jinxiao's Defender nipping and poking wherever it could, always escaping just in time to avoid her blows. Now she wasn't even trying to counterattack, her brows creased as she focused on controlling her Defender in its fight against his own.

Already he had a significant lead. His Defender was noticeably more hale and healthy than hers. Even if he were to pull his attention away and leave it to fight in its natural manner, he had enough of a lead to win.

That was well in hand. His eyes slid aside, to where the bald Cultivator's Defender was straight-lining through his tile, bearing down on his unprotected Worker and the the in-progress Defender. This was the most dangerous moment. If his Worker died, and he knew it would die as easily as a Scout, perhaps even easier, then his run would be over.

His Scout peeled away from Jinxiao's, scampered across the area—so far as he could tell, the Scouts were the fastest units available—and it lunged at the approaching Defender. The bald Cultivator laughed as his Defender paused, striking out, anticipating he would end the Scout in one blow. But Nicolai's control was perfect. The Scout slipped aside, retreating out of range.

Just like that, he had bought himself a tiny bit more time. His Scout slipped back in and landed a blow. The damage it did was minimal, but the enemy Defender remained frozen in place as it attempted another counter-attack, but once again it was too slow. The snarling Cultivator sent his Defender moving forward again, but the Scout immediately darted in. The Defender stopped even as the Scout came forward, striking out. The man had predicted this attack, and had stopped early.

But the Scout darted away without doing anything, before it was within range to attack, and the Defender's powerful blow struck nothing but air.

He could feel the irritation of the bald Cultivator, hear it in the man's grinding teeth. The Defender strode forward, continuing to the Worker.

'Get the fuck over here!' snarled Jinxiao at the man, 'kill that Defender before it's finished!'

Nicolai gaped at her. 'Kill my Defender? Why would you want to do that? Aren't we friends?'

She goggled at him, and then at her near-death Defender, and then at this Scout, constantly and adroitly harrying the other Cultivator's Defender. 'You… you're not an idiot! You tricked us!' She stared around at the others. 'He's acting, he's been acting all along!'

'I can see that,' snarled the bald man as Nicolai's scout lunged in and delivered another quick attack, then darted away, once more avoiding the lumbering retaliation.

'Just ignore the Scout, go straight for the Worker,' Jinxiao called out, and the man nodded.

Nicolai's Scout continued its work but the Defender ignored it, continuing to the Worker. He kept nipping at it, but the grim faced Cultivator simply had it continue to close the space. If it had struck out even a single time, something it could have done if it only paused for a moment, it would have killed his Scout. But the Cultivator had decided not to risk being slowed down even an instant more by another false attack, and simply kept moving. The damage the enemy Defender sustained was building up, but still nowhere near enough to put it down.

The fight between his original Defender and the attacker was coming to a close. With the lead, he had almost won. But his Defender wouldn't be able to return in time to save the Worker.

'Shit! Get over here and help me!' cried Jinxiao. She tried to have her Defender retreat but Nicolai's harried it, each strike slowing it, and it was unable to get away.

The bald Cultivator smirked. 'Are you facing some trouble, little sister? Don't worry, I can take care of matters alone.'

Jinxiao glared at the man. 'Can you? His next Defender is almost complete, idiot.'

She was right. His Worker had almost finished the job. It had only seconds to go before the reaction was complete and a new Defender was formed.

'Yes, yes, I've got him!' cried the Cultivator, grinning. His Defender was only seconds from the still unfinished Defender. Due to how Symbiote creation worked, it he struck even half-a-second before the Defender was finished, interrupting the process, the Defender would not be formed. It would be destroyed in one blow.

There was one option left to Nicolai. He had his Scout dive between them. It started attacking the enemy Defender in a frenzy, and the Defender was forced to stop as the Scout bodily blocked it. It swung once, and the Scout died.

The Defender marched on…

But in front of it, the Worker moved away as there came a flare of light. The final combination occurred, something Nicolai felt through his Soul.

A new Defender, fully grown and healthy, was formed. It moved immediately to attack the enemy, and Nicolai smiled. Behind, Jinxiao let out a cry of frustration as her own Defender was killed. His original, injured Defender moved to aid the newly created one.

The Worker came forward at this moment, and used some Red Grass on the Defender as it moved towards the fight, healing it slightly.

Seeing this, the other Cultivator turned his Defender to run, but it struggled to move as Nicolai's continued to assault it. Each hit from Nicolai's Defender slowed the retreating one slightly, preventing it escaping. Soon Nicolai's second, somewhat healed Defender joined, and the enemy was unable to flee.

'You damn bastard Barbarian! You're trash, trash!' frothed the bald Cultivator as his Defender was harried, gradually clubbed to death by Nicolai's duo.

'Why didn't you get here earlier?! Now we've both lost our Defenders, you fucking idiot!' yelled Jinxiao at the man.

'Shut up.' Hao's voice snapped like a whip from across the table, and the pair gave a guilty start. 'You are embarrassing us,' he added in a grim tone, while setting a gaze even grimmer on Nicolai. 'So, barbarian,' he began at length, once the others had quieted. 'You tricked us, after all.'

Nicolai's head tilted up, and he turned a slow glance round the table, at them all. They glared back, full of loathing, but not just loathing. He detected a tinge of uncertainty, of worry. In the lackies, at any rate. Hao remained as coolly confident as over. Nicolai smiled, and all trace of Mork's slack and moronic features were gone.

'You're going to pay,' snarled the bald Cultivator. 'You think you can win?! You won't even survive! We'll all come together, and crush you! Right?' He looked to Hao.

'Exactly,' said the young master, smiling.

Nicolai snorted. Just as they had always intended. Nothing had changed, except that he'd survived their first attempt and won an early advantage. Hao said some more but Nicolai ignored the man.

In his time, he'd observed that many liked to try and make themselves seem stronger than they were, to issue threats and vengeful promises. This was a fine strategy, if one was trying to avoid a fight or put fear into an enemy. But if the fight had already started, then hard words and hard looks had no value, they merely showed ones hand.

In his view, one should do the exact opposite. Act a fool, act weak, act injured—or say nothing at all, and conceal your plans as much as possible.

He looked his tile over. The two Defenders would need a lot of Red Grass, both to heal their injuries and also to feed them. Expensive. But keeping them was necessary—this wouldn't be the last combined attack from the Cultivators.

He directed the injured Defender to his Red Grass, which it began to eat. Consuming the grass would cause it to heal from the inside, and he didn't want to keep his Worker busy using the Red Grass on its wounds when it could heal passively over time. If he let the Worker do the healing, the Defender would heal faster and more efficiently, but he needed the Worker for another job.

He had more Symbiotes he wanted to create. A second Worker, for starters. Most of the other Cultivators already had one or two extra, having focused on them.

He wouldn't be able to make so many, having spent so much on the second Defender, plus the ongoing upkeep cost.

He needed more resources. His eyes skimmed over what was present in the area, and his gaze was drawn to Jinxiao and the bald Cultivator's tiles. He spied a few piles of resources. They had both built a Collector, which was carrying so many resources back to their starting point that there was more than their Worker could use. Tidy, unprotected little stockpiles.

The bald Cultivator hadn't even started work on a new Defender—he'd been making another Worker when his Defender was killed, and instead of cancelling that and immediately starting a Defender, he was waiting for the Worker to be finished. Jinxiao, on the other hand, was already working on a Defender—she had been since the moment the fight had turned against her first, since she'd realised she would likely lose it. It would be ready fairly soon, perhaps before his own could reach her.

It was time to do some raiding of his own, and the bald Cultivator was a juicy target.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.