Since Shang was awake during his breakthrough this time, a scene immediately appeared in his mind.
"My third question," a blonde Shang with a sizable belly said. "What kind of mindset should I assume to become more powerful? What's the smartest way to get the resources I need?"
The present Shang wanted to know this answer desperately.
The God on his gigantic throne only smirked. "Quite a good question. I'm surprised you have asked such smart questions up to now. Did you know that several of your predecessors have asked about Earth at least once by now? They were interested in how to get back or how things would go. But you only ask about your new world."
The blonde Shang looked in shock at the God. "I have predecessors?! I thought I was the only one!"
The God only laughed. "Don't think of yourself as more important than you are. You are not the first one, and you will not be the last one."
Shang didn't answer.
"As for your question," the God said, leaning back on his throne. "There is not one single way that is the best. You have to employ different philosophies based on your surroundings and your current power."
"Of course, as an answer, that's just as helpful as not giving you an answer at all," the God said. "So, how about we go over a couple of cases?"
"Let's assume your power is very low compared to other humans around you. It is very difficult for you to gain resources on your own since more powerful humans will have monopolized them at this point."
"The correct way out of this situation is to join a powerful organization. Their greater power will help you get you the resources you need."
"Of course, there are different organizations with different philosophies. If you find an organization that is similar to an academy, you are in luck. Academies are willing to invest more into you than you can provide to them right now."
"In that case, I would advise you to follow the rules of the organization and do what they want. After all, they don't want you to die. If you don't grow more powerful, their investment becomes a loss."
"Now, if the organization is something like a group of mercenaries or assassins, things become different. They are interested in your current power, and they want you to prove your worth right at this moment."
"In that case, try to take on missions that are dangerous but not too dangerous. Trading with an academy means getting more than you pay. Trading with a mercenary group means getting just as much as you pay."
"It's fine to join these kinds of organizations, but you should not join an organization ruled by an individual desperate for power. They will lure you in with promises of wealth and power but will immediately burn you up before the promised time to pay arrives."
After explaining these things, the God explained how to spot these different organizations, and it took over half an hour.
The God was very thorough in answering the question.
"Now, all of this is only relevant if you are one of the weakest humans in your area. Things become different when you are in the middle."
"When you are in the middle, I would advise you to either create your own small group or join a larger group as some kind of officer or manager. At that point, your priorities of what groups you want to join completely flip."
"You don't want to join an academy. The students need more resources than they bring in, which means that these resources come from somewhere. This somewhere represents you."
"Joining an academy as a teacher or something brings you status and a bit of wealth, but it is only something an altruistic person would choose or someone that isn't interested in becoming much more powerful."
"Becoming a teacher means that you already gave up on the path to power."
"A mercenary group is quite appealing in that scenario. You are already quite useful with a lot of power, and the mercenary groups value their strong commanders."
"Creating your own group is also very lucrative at this point. You are powerful enough to go to places that not everyone can go to, meaning there is less competition."
"The best kind of organization to join is some greedy tyrant. The greedy tyrant will siphon all the wealth of the weak and give it to themselves and the few people he needs to run his organization. If you manage to become one of these people, you will gain far more than you are worth."
After that, the God explained more precisely how Shang could identify a good organization and how he could reach the places he needed.
"Now, what if you belong to the strongest people around?" the God asked with a smirk. "What if you are in the top ten in terms of power for your surroundings?"
"In that case…"
"Don't."
Shang's eyebrows lifted.
"There is no good way to advance when you are one of the strongest," the God explained with a smirk. "Sure, by having thousands of people under you, you can gather a terrifying amount of wealth and somewhat useful materials."
"However, the people under you can never give you the things you truly need."
"What you need is something that can only be found by people on your level. If you are in the Fourth Realm, you need stuff from beasts in the Fourth Realm. Your army of Third Realm followers can't help you in getting that. They can only give you a vast quantity of stuff from the Third Realm."
"When you are the strongest, there is only one thing you can do."
"Travel the land and siphon all resources out of it. Kill the strongest beings around you and take their things!"
"And when you see that there is not much more you can get from this place…"
"You leave."
"You leave this place and go to a place with people more powerful than you."
"Go to a place where you belong to the weaker kind of people and take advantage of everything."
"At that point, the entire thing starts from the beginning again."
"This is everything regarding organizations," the God said. "Now, about friends, family, and personal connections."
"Having a friend means undergoing a symbiosis. You work together you get more than you two can achieve individually. The closer you are, the more trust there is between you, and the better your teamwork."
"However, it is important that your friend is comparable to you. If they are weaker, this is not symbiosis but supporting a parasite. If they are stronger, you will be under their control mostly."
"Of course, there are also friends that simply want to help you, even if they are stronger, but you will eventually need to repay them. It's not that you are forced by someone, but that you are just the kind of person that doesn't want to be in debt."
"To summarize: Join something like an academy, work together with your equals, leave the academy, join a stronger organization, become the strongest, plunder the land, leave the land."
"This is the best way to become powerful!"
The blonde Shang nodded in understanding.
Then, the memory ended, and the real Shang opened his eye.
'This is quite different from what teacher and Duke Whirlwind said.'
'Friends are useful, but the friends have to be useful. Being part of an organization is good, but the organization needs to be more powerful than me. There are times when I need to be alone and times when I need companions.'
'I understand.'
'But first, I have to get out of the Grandmountain Kingdom!'
The memories had appeared inside Shang's mind in just an instant, and he had only been in memories for about a second.
He had barely been at the Commander Stage for a second at this point.
And just when Shang stood up, something happened.
The Mana around Shang began to shift.
Shang wasn't sure what was happening since he had never felt the Mana move like that.
It was almost like the Mana was parting, leaving some kind of vacuum in the middle.
Shang looked with shock at the blank spot of Mana.
And then, several worms seemingly appeared out of nowhere, followed by a black-scaled, muscular body with several arms.
BANG!
Shang looked with shock and terror at the thing beside him.
It was an Abomination at the Commander Stage!
But that wasn't the most terrifying part.
Shang could somehow feel the same thing happening at other places in the distance.
Shang almost couldn't believe what was happening.
Several Abominations were appearing all over the Plague Rat Zone!
