Shepherding Humanity

Xu Zhi was quite satisfied with their reactions.

He only wanted to shock them with his wild claims.

He would take no responsibility for whatever happened later.

He judged that it was necessary to give them an ambitious goal, and encourage them to dream big.

His words were empty, nothing more than a pie in the sky. Whether they could in fact be achieved or not was unimportant, he first had to convince them that this was a path worth pursuing. This path was an awesome and amazing path that would one day lead to a grand and glorious future. Really!

For Xu Zhi, wizards represented discipline. They rigidly adhered to the law of equivalent exchange, and were obsessed with acquiring knowledge. He needed such wizards to move the world in their search for Truth, and build a glorious magical civilization using their knowledge.

No matter what road you take, in the end, a path is something created and walked by men.

I'm just pointing them in the right direction, so that they can progress unobstructed and fully realize their potential.

If they cannot do what I’ve described, then that’s simply because they're lowly mortals who were unable to fully comprehend the teachings of a god, and absolutely not because I was just spouting nonsense.

"Great god of wisdom Hermes, how does the power of Gilgamesh, mankind’s greatest Hero King, compare to yours?" Medea nervously asked.

Xu Zhi thought for a moment and said, "Gilgamesh may have the power of a demigod, but he is nothing before me."

The women went silent.

Xu Zhi remained on his perch, and slowly related to them the mediation practices of Earth. This would be the model for their cultivation techniques.

Then he casually began a lesson on alchemy, directly quoting from ancient alchemical doctrines. Whether their civilization could actually make anything of it was up to them.

After Xu Zhi finished speaking, he withdrew his consciousness from the three-eyed crow and left the sandbox, going offline.

After all, this black crow was an inferior species, a disposable medium for entering the sandbox. There was no need to treat it with care.

The theories he had imparted all had a solid foundation. Meditation practices existed both in the East and West, and Western civilization had various occult texts on Alchemy and Magic.

They have all existed at some point in human history, and didn't just appear out of nowhere.

It’s possible that they had some basis in truth, and were budding disciplines that had been swept aside by the rise of science and technology.

"I’ve planted the seeds of knowledge. Hopefully, beautiful flowers will bloom ."

Xu Zhi didn't know whether they would succeed or not. This was why he had to use the sandbox to test it out after all.

……..

Snap!

The mysterious three-eyed black crow suddenly fell from the tree, but the women present still maintained a respectful attitude.

It wasn't until long after the crow had fallen to the ground that Medea and the others dared to approach. They confirmed that Hermes had left.

"What an unimaginable life-form!"

Medea was burning with eagerness as she quietly speculated: "The great god Mercury must be an abstract existence that can possess any living creature… But of course! He is the deity who reigns over Wisdom and Truth, which are abstract concepts!"

They returned to the tribe, and eagerly tried out the meditation techniques.

The three of them also studied the corpse of the strange three-eyed crow.

They were shocked to discover that it was a never before seen species!

It was as if the mysterious creature had appeared out of thin air. Its structure was completely different from that of common beasts, like it was from another world.

"It’s a creature that's not of this world. Could it be that it came from somewhere else?" Medea whispered.

Circe was also shocked. She had decided to set aside their differences for now, and quietly joined the discussion with her two sisters: "According to the historical records, the Hero King Gilgamesh once sent out hundreds of thousands of mighty warriors to explore our world. There shouldn’t be any location left undiscovered under heaven…"

Heaven!

Suddenly, they slowly raised their heads as one, and looked up into the blue firmament of the sky.

The Great Flood had also come pouring down from the sky.

Could it be that there was a mysterious land up in the sky, a flying continent where all kinds of strange and unknown animals lived? Perhaps, this unimaginably vast realm was where the home of the gods, the Temple of Genesis, resided.

They were shocked as they completely lost themselves in their own imaginations.

……..

Xu Zhi closed his eyes and exited the game interface.

"It’s finally done. I had to memorize it several times so that I wouldn’t say a single word wrong. As expected, acting isn't really my forte. It was quite an uncomfortable experience. If it wasn't for the sake of healing myself, I would have never done this. It’s embarrassing having to remember my lines and keep up my act as I teach them… Guiding a civilization while hiding the fact that I’m really weak is truly difficult." Xu Zhi put down his VR glasses.

As a matter of fact, had Gilgamesh been the same size as Xu Zhi, that mighty personage would have been able to crush him with a flick of his wrist. Even the current three witches were superhumans with power and knowledge far beyond Xu Zhi’s reach.

And yet, he had to fool them…

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

After logging off, he went to take a shower. Once he was done, he started up the “Spore Evolution” game again.

Barely a few minutes later, all the players were back online.

"F*cking Developer! I’ll have your head for this!"

"Suddenly shutting down the service for bug fixing is already bad enough, but how dare you reopen without any notice! You’ve made this game addict waste precious time!"

Though they furiously cursed, they still dove back into the game, and worked hard to evolve new species for Xu Zhi.

Xu Zhi paid no attention to their impotent complaints. He had the generosity befitting of a Creator who was valiantly fighting against cancer.

"I’m using a sandbox world to develop civilization and cure my terminal disease…. Who else in the world could do this? Still, this will be really difficult to pull off."

Since modern science and medicine had failed him, Xu Zhi planned to rely on the occult arts.

He had already planted the seeds.

Among the three disciplines, Xu Zhi naturally had the highest hopes for Alchemy, which could make magic potions that might be able to cure his cancer. This was his main goal, after all.

But, Alchemy was something that only existed in myths and might be difficult to turn into reality.

On the other hand, Meditation and Magic should be quite feasible.

Yoga breathing and Qigong visualization were tried and true meditation techniques to cultivate the body and spirit. If they could build on this, it should be possible to create a magic system.

From that, Magic was bound to arise. After all, if your spiritual power was high enough, you’d naturally develop subtle ways to use your power. There was no need to worry.

"The preparations are complete. Let's see what they can make of it. It's a shame though that there are not enough supernatural species like the Evil Eye to provide them with more inspiration… I really wanted to create a world of magic that was exciting and dangerous, filled with strange and terrifying creatures."

Xu Zhi sighed and silently looked in the direction of the players.

Such misfortune! Why did he have such lazy subordinates!?

Instead of trying to evolve another supernatural species like the Evil Eye, and properly play the game the way Xu Zhi wanted them to, these guys spent all their time discussing crooked things. They were obsessed with finding a way to screw him over.

"Bastards! I need to find a way to squeeze you dry!"

Xu Zhi was out of ideas for the moment. At this time, he heard Chen Xi’s voice from the gate. "Xu Zhi, you promised you'd accompany me to the class reunion. It's time to go."

Xu Zhi was nonplussed. He soon decided that he did not mind going out for a walk. He changed into his new clothes and headed out.

"F*ck, the giant is coming! Earthquake! Run!"

"Retreat, guys. The giant is attacking again!"

"Hehehe, I have six legs. I don't need to run faster than the giant, I just need to run faster than you fools!"

"Dude, you're too much! Next time, I'll evolve eight long and beautiful legs. We’ll see who can run faster then!"

The tiny creatures on the ground loudly screamed as they scattered in all directions. They did not want to be trampled to death in a moment of carelessness. After all, their species could only climb ashore after a long and arduous journey.