“Where am I?”

  It asked but the being received no reply. The being thought that this was strange but he perceived nothingness. Or at least what the being perceived as nothingness.

  The being spent an unknown time alone, the being did not count for how long it had stayed in the same pce.

  Then the being wanted to move and suddenly, something changed. At first, it was a change so small the being did not notice. But at some time, the being did notice and could not help but be surprised. It was because this was the first change the being could perceive.

  “What is this?” the being asked inside his consciousness. The being could feel a small sphere moving in a certain direction. The core of the sphere was quite…hot while the outermost yer of it felt barren, with almost nothing on it.

  “Hmm?”

  Suddenly, the being received a lot of information from unknown sources. The information directly penetrated its mind and rooted into its mind.

  And then it finally noticed something else. It was actually overall information about something it was in charge of.

  [Welcome New Pnet Master!]

  The being was confused. In the long time it had resided, it had never received something like this. This was something new and the being could not help but be curious about it.

  The being also had processed the information it received. It was the relevant information the being received reted to the being’s current status.

  “So I am a new Pnet Master. What should I do next?” the being knew that he had something important to do but it was not sure as to how.

  “Pnet…there is something I have to do to this sphere. I can…do whatever I want to it within my capability, right?” the being asked itself. The being was in doubt about its next move. He checked the overall status of its own pnet.

  The information was like this:

  [Pnet Name: N/A

  Pnet Size: 500 km in diameter

  Energy points: 2000]

  The being only knew that it could do things if it had energy points. Then the being looked around and found the pnet was orbiting around a violet star. It was a distant celestial body but the being realized that the star itself might be huge, huge enough to swallow the being’s pnet whole.

  Then the being decided to first increase the pnet’s diameter. The reason he did this was because of the size of the pnet. It was too small for the being’s preferred size. The being also realized that it could increase the pnet’s diameter by 1 energy point=10 km.

  The being spent 100 energy points and increased the pnet’s diameter to 1.500 km. Then feeling that it was not enough, the being purposely let the pnet being hit with other celestial objects on the cosmos. Whether it was an asteroid in passing, a comet, or even another rge celestial body, the being let his pnet hit them.

  The only requirement was that the size was half smaller than its own pnet. The being also realized that the conversion rate of the pnet’s diameter increased. Now, it was rated 1 energy point for 1 km of diameter.

  “I should be careful when enrging my pnet’s diameter in the future.” The being took note of this and continued to do his own little fun.

  Due to the collision with a comet, the pnet now had some frozen water on its surface. And the diameter of the pnet slowly increased due to the fact that the pnet collided often with other celestial bodies and merged them together. The being realized that it could save energy points doing this.

  So the being let its pnet being hit by smaller objects. Slowly but surely, its diameter increased once again. But the being realized something else. There was something spewing out from the pnet’s inner part and now it enveloped the entire pnet. It was hotter than the surface of the pnet but cooler that the core.

  Then suddenly, the being realized that something else enveloped the pnet. It was what the being called gas. It slowly but surely formed something outside the surface of the pnet. It was the atmosphere.

  The frozen water evaporated. It formed a small cloud hanging on the atmosphere, waiting until it was too heavy and poured down to the surface.

  The being realized that the pnet was cooling down while the surface was also cooling down as the inside of the pnet stopped coming out.

  The being silently watched this process as the pnet’s atmosphere was filled with various gases and the first rge pool of water formed the pnet’s first ocean. Since the being had endured the time it waited before this, the being could wait for changes to occur.

  It waited while also checking on other information. Finally, the being realized who had sent the information to it in the first pce.

  [This is the gift to you from the Universe Council]

  [You have received one small gift package!]

  [Do you want to open it?]

  The being was on the fence because of this choice. Should it open the small gift package?

  The being had read the part where the information introduced to it the duty of a Pnet Master.

  The duty was to develop the pnet, meaning the Pnet Master had to grow their pnet as their main task. The being had been waiting without being given any responsibility so this thing was quite novel to it.

  After some time which the being realized would be quite long, it decided to open the small package gift.

  “Open it.” The being willed it and the notification window showed the result of the being’s decision.

  [You have opened the small package gift!]

  [You have received 2000 energy points]

  [You have received 1 life catalyst]

  “!”

  The being had expected the energy points which was not so surprising. The being was surprised to see something else. The being did not know what to do with the life catalyst at all.

  “Is it something to produce lifeform?” the being could guess the function of the item but the being was not sure.

  A long time passed and the pnet’s condition had improved compared to before. The being scanned the pnet and detected a small new thing on the pnet.

  Currently, there was a rge body of water on the surface of the pnet. It enveloped seventy percent of the pnet thus making the water the rgest on the surface of the pnet. There was some barren nd too but it was desote.

  The being had found that the discovery of this thing could mean a new way for the being to enjoy. It was a cluster of some sort. The being decided to control a bit of his power to nurture this thing. The being wanted to see whether it could pull off something.

  Another time passed and the being discovered that the cluster it had nurtured changed to something else. Something that he had spent some energy points to create.

  [Congratutions to the Pnet Master! You have created the first lifeform on your pnet!]

  [Ever onward to the creation of your first civilization!]

  The being shivered. It finally dawned on its mind that the cluster it had discovered on the pnet was actually the very source of the first lifeform. The lifeform was so small but the being could notice its existence.

  Besides that, the being started to understand its role as a Pnet Master. The whole pnet was its source of being. Without it, the Pnet Master would cease to exist.

  It could only do its usual activity. Observing the pne under its management as well as nurturing the lifeform on the pnet.

  The being once again checked on the status of its supply of energy points.

  […Energy Points: 4355]

  The being also understood another thing. Energy points were obtained by absorbing the energy that came from the star on a small scale. So far, for every ten thousand years, the being received 1 energy point. Of course, that was because the violet star provided the energy for the being as a Pnet Master.

  So far, almost forty-five million and five hundred thousand years had passed but the being felt like this was normal.

  Then after another time passed, the being realized that a new lifeform was born. It was slightly different from the first lifeform but it was slightly more complex. It produced another kind of gas that spread to the atmosphere.

  This kind of gas was slightly different than the one that came up during the eruption of the volcanoes before.

  “How do I know that knowledge? According to the information I have, I know that the Universe Council wanted the Pnet Master to give birth to life as soon as possible but I feel like the process should be like what I have done instead….am I wrong?”

  The being realized that it did not use the life catalyst but managed to create lifeform on its own. So the being did not know when to use the life catalyst. The being had a feeling that it should use it at a critical time.

  The problem was that the being did not know exactly when. So the being kept this on its mind and continued its operation.

  One by one, the first aquatic creature appeared. The being then finally decided not to wait and observed things more closely. First, the being watched over the process of transformation of the lifeform. It turned out that the being recognized that the lifeform had undergone evolution.

  Its pnet was brimming with life as more and more life forms started to fill the primordial ocean of the pnet.

  “This is correct. Since nothing is wrong with this, then I need to think about civilization. What should I do? What should I do?” the being was nervous since it did not have a reference it could use.

  “Wait, I can visit somewhere according to the regution of the Pnet Master. I should try.” The being then remembered a piece of information from the Universe Council.

  It mentioned a pce called Universe Market where various Pnet Masters gathered. It only needed to search on the window panel and found the function of the Universe Market.

  The being willed and then it found itself in a rge square. His body was that of the current dominating species on the ocean, the first jellyfish. His gender was apparently leaning toward male according to the information in the being’s mind.

  With the newfound body in the Universe Market, the being enjoyed it for a moment. After that, he searched the market for information regarding ‘Civilization’. This term appeared when he created the first lifeform and had been lingering on his mind.

  “Are you a new Pnet Master? I have here a newbie guidance to create your civilization. Only 20 energy points.”

  His hearing did not fail him and noticed some people gathered around the corner of the square. He had heard the announcement and decided to look.

  “Fifteen energy points.” He said. He subconsciously wanted to reduce the price but what surprised him more was that the individual agreed without hesitation.

  “Deal!”

  The individual then extended his arm towards him. He also did the same with his small tentacle and the two made contact then he noticed the notification from the Pnet Master window panel.

  [Transaction successful. Deduced 15 energy points from the reserves]

  Some information appeared in his mind. It was reted to the civilization and reted topics to it. The being finally learned something so important for the first time.

  Then he left the Universe Market and kept managing his pnet. Upon returning, he wanted to create as many lifeforms as possible. The reason was that he wanted more options when he created his first civilization.

  Hence, he tried to manipute the life forms on his pnet to breed and multiply. Then he also tried to expand the pnet's diameter once again. The current size was a bit smaller so he tried to increase it.

  [Energy points:4340->3340]

  His energy point was spent as the diameter of the pnet increased once more. But he noticed that the ratio for conversion between energy point and diameter did not increase. This gave him a bit of hope.

  Then another thirty million years passed by quickly. He also gained 300 energy points. But what he also paid attention to was his lifespan. That was right, each Pnet Master had a certain lifespan. Reaching the limit of the lifespan meant that the Pnet Master died and the pnet slowly withered away. But his lifespan was still far, far away.

  [Lifespan: 75 million/ 1 billion]

  [Energy Points: 3640]

  [Pnet Diameter: 3680 km]

  At this time, he looked at his pnet and realized that the ocean was full of vitality. This was the situation he wanted, to create as many life forms as possible. He achieved it and the pnet was on its first life form explosion.

  Various species started to roam the primordial ocean to explore it. As he increased the diameter of the pnet, the size of the nd also increased. Some other nd had formed and created another continent in the other part of the pnet.

  Of course, some celestial bodies also tried to collide with the pnet but the atmosphere made it so that the pnet had its own protection against such things.

  Then he wanted to speed things up since the life forms on his pnet had increased by so much. He accelerated the time flow of the pnet. It consumed energy points but he did not care. What he cared about was whether more species could be created.

  It looked like his hope was not in vain since the time acceleration indeed helped to speed things up. Since the ocean was full of life, the species that lived there evolved to varying degrees. Some of them developed a hard exoskeleton on the front of their head, some developed limbs to ease their movement.

  He looked at the current species and decided to hold off his judgment. He did this because he was not sure whether the aquatic life form was suitable for a civilization. Even though he had some information about some civilization with aquatic creature, what he wanted was something else.

  So he waited. Worse come to worst, he would use the life catalyst on one of the creatures and raise them to the level of a civilization.

  Slowly, the ocean was full but the creatures in it was evolving in a way that they could leave water for a short period of time. Some of them came towards the first and second continents of the pnet. Even only on its periphery, these creatures were the first to be on the nd.

  Then the life forms started to encroached on the nd as it was an uninhabited pce. Land creatures started to appear as well as the first fungi and pnts.

  “So many to choose from…” the being could only stare at it in amazement. This was due to his own hands, his own effort. He wanted to choose but he was still not sure. It was because many of the civilizations that he knew of already appeared within the top figure of the Pnet Master.

  The only option avaible to him now was to create a new race as a basis for a new civilization. He also wanted to create something unique only to him.

  Then when he looked at the time-accelerated pnet, he realized that giant beasts started to appear on the nd.

  He stopped the acceleration, leaving him with 3300 energy points. Fortunately, he did the time acceleration for a short while. Hundred millions of years had passed but it did not affect the lifespan of the Pnet Master.

  He once again scanned the pnet for another new species. Then he realized that his interest was piqued by the creatures who were in the shade of a rge tree.

  The creatures were full of fur. They lived in small groups as they hid themselves from the rger creatures around them.

  The Pnet Master also noticed that the creatures used a rock to pummel their prey or to scare off potential danger.

  “Interesting.” Now the Pnet Master had some interest in the creatures. According to the information he knew of, the creature was called something-something monkey according to the Universe Council.

  He kept watching the creatures. He felt something for the first time in a long while. He did not know what this was but he could not ignore it.

  He saw the creatures struggling, gathering as well as its cycle of life and death. As a Pnet Master, he was also responsible for the afterlife of the living beings on his pnet.

  He spent 100 energy points to create his own afterlife construct. It was a bit more complicated than the simple reward and punishment model that was popur on the Universe Market. He also wanted to create a unique afterlife model.

  This was the current status of the pnet after all of that:

  [Pnet Name: N/A

  Pnet Size: 3680km in diameter

  Energy points: 3200

  Lifespan: 75 million/1 billion

  Civilization: N/A

  Afterlife Model: Library of Consciousness]