The Newbie God Is Summoning Heroes From Earth [World Creation/ Management]

While Cedric is on his holiday, Catherina has already spread the internet plant to half of the human world.

Once more than half of the human territory has been connected with the internet, Catherina isn’t satisfied yet and immediately launches a bank that leverages the Adventurer Guild’s influence.

Catherina’s banking plan sparked a fierce economic battle royale between her forces, kingdoms, empires, and others. It took Catherina over a century to fully control the world's economic flow.

She integrated the banking system with the internet, opening convenience stores everywhere and single-handedly launching the era of online shopping.

The spirit of capitalism quickly took hold under Catherina’s leadership.

Lacius, who had just broken free from his petrification, heard the news from the High Priest. He opened the computer plant that’s been installed in his secret room. Lacius tried to access the internet as he had before, but the internet in the Crystal Cube world had changed a lot over a long time.

After trying to verify the change himself to no avail, Lacius finally called the High Priest to show him the change brought by Catherina, while secretly studying how the High Priest operated it.

The sight of an old man teaching a young-looking old man how to use the new internet is utterly mind-boggling. However, it isn’t as disturbing as Lacius’s current state of mind.

After seeing the High Priest demonstrate Catherina’s masterpieces, which include not only internet-based banking and online shopping but also services like an online library, music subscription, movie streaming, simple games, and other money-draining services, Lacius’s mind froze from sheer confusion and shock.

‘Bloody hell, what is happening here?!’ Although Lacius’s mind was in chaos, he still maintained a poker face that didn’t show any confusion. Once the High Priest finished showing all the changes that Catherina brought, Lacius had already learned how to browse, create a bank account, and sign up for some subscription-based services.

“No wonder that dragon asked for the right to monopolize the internet plants. I never thought it could be used this way.” Lacius sighed while rubbing his forehead.

“How much revenue do you think that dragon made from these things?’ Lacius asked the High Priest.

The High Priest paused for a moment before responding, “It’s probably ten times the Temple’s income.”

Lacius asked, “What’s the effect felt by the Temple from these changes?"

The High Priest thought for a moment before replying, “Aside from slightly lowering our income, the popularity of the Temple has also been affected.”

Lacius nodded and told the High Priest to leave.

Once the High Priest left, Lacius closed his eyes, then reopened them while frowning. “As expected, the amount of faith I obtained is much lower than expected."

Lacius’s expression turned cold as he looked toward the Great Dragon Academy.

***

While everyone is adjusting to the changes brought by Catherina, she herself is busy managing two tasks.

First, she has been leading the academy scholars in developing a plant that can serve as a signal tower for the internet plant.

Currently, the Crystal Cube world’s internet system still relies on plants with extensive root systems that can send signals through them. Essentially, all computer plants in the world must be connected to the internet via a root system.

Of course, the way she leads isn’t by joining the research herself. She merely reads the summarized research reports to see the results before investing an insane amount of money to further the research.

Secondly, she has been trying to increase human production capacity and overall intelligence by pouring most of her money into creating basic schools.

She wants to gather as many hiqh quality worker for her own use.

Because this clearly went beyond the deals between her and the Temple, the progress hasn’t been as smooth.

Many kingdoms and empires that have long been dissatisfied with Catherina used their power to prevent her influence from encroaching on their territory. Especially since Catherina’s plan to blatantly raise and poach their human talents not only damaged their pride but also shook every kingdom and empire’s foundation.

This forces Catherina into a tug-of-war.

Yet, even though Catherina is spreading her focus all over the place, the kingdoms and empires still find it incredibly hard to block her growing influence. The only reason these kingdoms and empires last so long is entirely thanks to the Temple’s secret support.

Catherina patiently waited as years went by and the kings and emperors changed, waiting for a gap and an incompetent ruler to rise and give her a chance to deal a heavy blow.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, the forces under Catherina grew stronger as she gathered more talented people who rose to prominence through her indirect support.

To achieve their dreams and repay her kindness, most of those talented individuals who either studied at Catherina's school or received a scholarship from her have joined the Great Dragon Academy to become researchers.

In a few more centuries, they might be able to rival the Temple in terms of power.

***

Compared to Catherina’s mad expansion, Elisa’s situation is much calmer.

After a long time of exploration, the elves under her finally found a mermaid community and began some exchange.

Because Cedric used elves as the foundation when creating mermaids, the mermaids also learned to speak the elven language. However, after years of adapting for underwater communication, there’s a significant difference in dialect between the elves and the mermaid language.

Unlike elves, who speak by vibrating their vocal cords through exhaled air, the mermaids spoke with their mouths closed to preserve air flow.

Fortunately, while creating the mermaids' souls and instilling memories, the System was thorough enough to also include the Crystal Cube world’s elven written language for the mermaids.

Although many generations later, the mermaids have lost much of their written language, there’s still some common ground to help them start understanding each other’s language.

After learning each other’s language, both sides began their official contact.

Because the elves aren't very interested in expanding to the sea, while the mermaids are similarly uninterested in expanding to land, that makes them have no conflicting interests. The situation between the elves and mermaids grew more strained as more exchanges occurred between them.

The mermaids learned from the elves and moved from bartering to creating their own currency using special shells from low-level magical creatures.

These shells can be processed into a magical material for casting spells, thus solidifying their purchasing power.

With the introduction of currency, mermaid merchants started to appear, and seaside towns began to emerge one after another on elven territory.

A few decades after one of the mermaid communities first made contact with the elves, another mermaid community also interacted with creatures from the continent.

Unlike the mermaids that came into contact with the elves, this community mainly lives near the kraken’s territory.

***

On top of a giant coral, the current mermaid leader sat as he listened to the trouble from other mermaids.

After he just finished solving a mermaid’s problem, an excited female mermaid wearing clothes made out of ship sails swam toward him and asked, “Seaton! Seaton! Guess what I found this morning?”

“Did you salvage another colorful rotten piece of wood? A rusted piece of metal? Or is it another of those unknown leathers you wear?” Seaton played along and tried to guess while thinking, ‘If Edlen indeed found another unknown leather, then I might need to explore the surrounding area to look for interesting items to trade with her. I’ve borrowed hers once, and those things are pretty comfortable to rest on.’

“Wahaha! This time you’ve got it all wrong! I’ve found two of those tailless people! I’ve just returned after saving two of them from the tentacles of those giant octopuses!" Edlen proudly huffed while looking at Seaton.

Although Edlen’s discovery is important, Seaton didn’t praise her, saying, “How many times have I told you not to play around those giant octopus’s territory? Do you understand how dangerous those evil giant octopuses are?”

Edlen responded, “But there are many interesting things in that giant octopus’s territory. For example, I finally realized that those colorful rotten woods and metals probably belong to those tailless people. I saw them riding on top of a giant piece of wood and metal before it was destroyed by the giant octopus’s attack.”

Seaton could only smile wryly at Edlen’s stubbornness. Then, he remembered something and quickly asked Edlen, “Wait a moment, where did you place those tailless people you rescued?!”

Seaton recalled that the previous leader said she had met tailless people before. At first, the leader let the rescued tailless people rest on a coral. But they soon realized those people had died.

Seaton thought to himself, ‘If I remember correctly, the old healer living on the coral cave said those people seem to be unable to breathe underwater. That’s why they died after being rescued.’

Hearing his concern, Edlen responded proudly, ”I’ve also heard stories about these tailless people. Ofcourse I know not to let them underwater for long. So I didn’t bring them into the sea and placed them on an island instead!”

Seaton nodded. He asked two other mermaids to bring the old healer, the oldest mermaid in their community, before following Elden to the island where Elden left those people.

***

On an unknown island’s beach, a blonde woman sat while hugging her knee, while a rough-looking man was busy collecting dried wood from a nearby forest before setting it on fire.

Princess Juliana is currently doubting her life decision while absentmindedly hugging her knee, ‘The creator and God of Magic as my witness, I just became a merchant and followed the current era’s trend to escape from my marriage. But lo and behold, instead of returning with riches, I got stranded in the middle of nowhere instead. If I knew this would happen, I would’ve joined the magic association and focused on my magic studies, or married that idiot from the empire instead.”

‘Those cursed octopuses and greedy fortress guards are also to blame! Those bastards actually dare to set the entrance fee as high as the cost of traveling twice back and forth by sea! If it weren't for the fortress’s sky-high entrance fee and insane tax, I wouldn't be forced to take the sea route! If I didn’t take the sea route, I wouldn’t encounter those giant octopuses and end up stranded in the middle of nowhere, waiting for my death.’

‘Sure, the statistic said only 20% of merchant ships successfully traveled back and forth through the sea route. But I thought that with my Peak Level 2 power and a hired Level 3 magician’s power, we should be safe! Who would’ve guessed that magician would get killed by being hit with a broken mast during the giant octopus’s sudden attack?’ Princess Juliana kept silently complaining in her mind until her subordinate clapped his hand.

“Finally done! With this flame, at least we won’t freeze to death.” Feeling the bonfire’s warmth, Princess Juliana calmed down slightly, but her heart was still cold and helpless.

Both sat silently as they processed their current situation.

Occasionally, Princess Juliana will sob in a low voice before falling silent.

Suddenly, Princess Julina’s expression sharpen and she used her blessed power to shoot a blast of water at the nearby seawater, while warning the man sitting in front of her, “Prepare for combat! I just saw a silhouette on that water.”

The rough-looking man stood up and took a relatively long and straight wooden stick. He held them as if holding a spear.

Suddenly, the seawater rippled, and a beautiful female head rose to the surface.

Soon after, four other heads also rose to the surface.

Except for the female head, there are three males and one old female.

Princess Juliana lowered her sight and saw the male head’s bare body. Seeing their bare, chiseled bodies, blurred by the seawater, she gulped.

The rough-looking man saw the princess’s expression and gave her a side eye.