It was actually quite magical when one thought about it.
The system built by the deities on the Divine Net to compete for Earth was incredibly precise and realistic, even carrying an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Even the transactions to transfer ownership of servants and factions under their names were the same.
The transferring party had to complete all handover procedures according to the buyer's requirements.
This was the order they had established together, and the vast majority of deities strictly adhered to these rules that, once set, could not be changed.
It was no different for the company Lin Miao was taking over this time.
Strictly speaking, he hadn't bought a company at all, but rather people.
The company's general manager, along with several core Awakened.
Aside from them, the rest were ordinary people who knew absolutely nothing about any of this.
Bowing slightly with a respectful expression, Bai Zhantang spoke with a hint of constraint, “I have already heard from that Great One. He said you are the new...”
Seeing this, Lin Miao waved his hand and gently interrupted with an easygoing expression, offering comfort, “No need to be so formal. Just relax.”
Bai Zhantang, the general manager in his forties, was originally an elite who had graduated from a prestigious university and worked at a major corporation.
Later, he caught the eye of the deity who chose him. With that deity's help, he founded this company and became their most loyal servant.
Whether in terms of age or social status, he was far more successful than Lin Miao. Yet now, he was carefully reading Lin Miao's expressions.
This was because Lin Miao had required the original deity to introduce him to Bai Zhantang as the new proxy.
Appointing one's own proxy as the new boss of the acquired servants to logically take over the faction was a very common practice among deities.
The only difference between Lin Miao and those other deities was that he was masquerading as a proxy, while his true identity was actually a deity himself.
Bai Zhantang said with deep unease in his voice, “Everyone is very panicked by this sudden decision. That Great One suddenly went completely silent without a word.”
With a calm expression and a steady tone, Lin Miao reassured him, “Don't worry. I will convey his words from now on. There won't be any major changes.”
He had absolutely no need to put on airs in front of the man.
All the servants, including the anxious Bai Zhantang standing before him who was carefully watching his every move, had already had their connections to their original deity severed.
All Lin Miao had to do was tell them that all future communications would go through him.
That was enough. After all, once they had tasted the sweet benefits of divine guidance, they could never turn back.
“Then... is it really fine if we just continue working as we did before?”
“Of course. Don't worry too much about me. Bai Zhantang, you will still be the general manager here in the future.”
No servant would worship and follow a deity for no reason.
That kind of blind faith and devotion was something only beings like the Goddess Hestia would demand.
Right now, Bai Zhantang's eyes were filled with the fear of losing everything he had. But Lin Miao had no intention of taking away what belonged to him.
“This is enough.”
Lin Miao picked up the fist-sized magic stone handed to him and smiled slightly.
It bore a label that read: Mid-Grade Magic Stone.
He wondered what kind of value this magic stone would unlock inside the terrarium.
After returning home, Lin Miao immediately tossed the magic stone into the terrarium to see the results.
The magic stone, which was about the size of Lin Miao's fist, was nearly as large as Elise was now.
【Elise is shocked by the gift from the heavens】
Elise, who had only ever seen small magic stones, was clearly stunned by its massive size.
“My God, such a massive magic stone!”
Meanwhile, Celia, who witnessed this through the hive mind, was clearly even more shocked than Elise.
She understood the value of this magic stone far better than Elise did.
Seeing her covering her mouth in disbelief and excitement, Lin Miao felt that all his previous hard work and effort had been worth it.
‘Rather than recycling spent magic stones or spending immense time and labor mining magic stone veins, nothing is more efficient than me providing them to you directly like this.’
Lin Miao had already found a stable way to acquire magic stones in the real world.
As long as he could regularly supply them with magic stones, the colony would be able to complete its evolution at an astonishing speed.
Lin Miao did not consider this cheating.
Compared to those other highly knowledgeable and resource-rich deities, he could not provide his servants with magical knowledge and information.
Therefore, he could only use this method to help them to the best of his ability.
“The Great One has actually resolved even our final worries. Now, all that remains is to turn all of this into reality.”
Having no more worries, Celia accelerated her research progress, quickly entering the final phase.
A brand-new heart forged from magic stones for the ant colony.
This was something only Celia, who was simultaneously well-versed in human knowledge and ant genetic data, could create.
Just as she had said before, after witnessing the highly developed magical civilization of the Empire, she had quickly found her direction and produced results.
‘I wonder if it will succeed.’
Lin Miao was just as nervous as she was. He held his breath as he watched Celia cut open a worker ant's thorax, carefully transplanting a magic stone heart—about the size of Celia's fist—into it.
The bodies of worker ants that had failed the transplantation were already scattered around, but considering the scale and difficulty of the experiment, such sacrifices were considered extremely minor.
【Elise senses the change, trembling with excitement】
The experiment was finally a success, and the effect was instantaneous.
The moment Celia finished suturing the wound, it began to regenerate at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The worker ant suddenly stood up. Elise seemed to sense some unprecedented, massive change from it and began to grow exceptionally excited.
【Elise orders the immediate production of more hearts to be sent to all nests. Elise is convinced that by using the new hearts to redistribute the energy absorbed by the mutated species, they can achieve a brand-new evolution that breaks through previous limits—something that was impossible in the past】
Having been troubled by the bottleneck of evolution for so long, Elise was clearly impatient to test this new power.
“Please calm down, Your Majesty. The magic hearts I make come in different specifications, corresponding to individuals of different sizes.”
However, Celia remained perfectly calm. She produced samples of various sizes and patiently communicated with Elise.
“Small worker ants only require a heart this small. Furthermore, I believe we should not waste precious magic stone hearts on ordinary worker ants. These are the new types of hearts that we should prioritize equipping our elite frontline warriors with by concentrating our resources.”
【Elise believes that using only the largest, most powerful hearts is enough】
“No, they must be used strictly in accordance with their size and the energy they contain. Otherwise, the energy within their bodies will flow backward, carrying a risk of explosion.”
Having now mastered the ecology and physical structure of ants, Celia had already completed all the designs and planning.
Elise, who could freely create mutated species by devouring genetic information, combined with Celia, who could infuse them with brand-new power.
Finally, the abilities of these two had begun to produce a genuine chemical reaction.
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