Alright, now that I've finished the second step and have taken my atla form, I should be ready for what's next, though I could have done without the agony and all the spikes coming out of me at the end that make me look like an edgelord. I suppose it's time to find out where I am exactly in this new world.

  Robert looks around and sees that he's not far from this world's version of Pluto, merely a few hundred miles from its orbit. So he's in this earth's solar system. A great start, I suppose, if I want to influence the world without being in their missile range.

  Floating there for a moment, he began to ponder exactly how he should start. He didn't want to come on too strong and make this world's earth scramble heroes to deal with him but didn't want to be such a small blip in their notice he didn't make any impact. So what kind of world should he build first for them to really get their attention, the one that would really draw them in?

  "Now I can guess what you're thinking, Robert: What should you build first? What won't cause them to scream in fear and scramble fighters?" I know I've been there before. Damn fishenger of Mack 4, how was I supposed to know a giant eel warship wouldn't go over well and would cause so many subscription cancellations? Simon said frustration coming from his voice clearly still upset at some event he led meant to drum up support, which instead seemed to have caused fear and panic instead.

  "Well, there's a lot to unpack there. What exactly is an eel warship, and who are the fishengers, and what exactly were you doing to them on Mack 4?" Robert asked, very confused and concerned by that comment and feeling the need to ask what exactly Simon meant by that.

  "Oh, it's just a giant ship in the shape of an eel, and the fishengers are a race of fish people mostly based on bass, if I recall correctly, and I only had my ship orbiting their planet as a publicity stunt. I was hoping it would get them to subscribe more to my show." Simon replied with a hint of irritation from the memory of that particular failure.

  "I take it that didn't go over very well." Robert said, trying not to laugh at the image of a bunch of freaking-out fish people getting ready to make an epic last stand against an invasion. While Simon was just on his eel ship daydreaming about subscription counts going up.

  "No, it didn't, but anyway, we're getting off topic. Before you start working on your first game. You, my dear contestant, should probably create a workshop first to work safely from first. Don't want anyone to interrupt you while you're working; gods know I've had a broadcast go wrong when those interstellar pigeons take a dive run at me." Simon said, irritation filling his voice at the memory of interstellar pigeons and all the trouble they can cause.

  "Well, ignoring the mind bomb of interstellar pigeons existing. Are you sure I shouldn't get started on the game worlds? I don't really know how long they'll take to make, and this world could really use them if I get lucky and make one that generates a useful material like you told me could happen earlier." Robert replied nervous but excited at the chance to create an entire world while helping another one.

  "Sorry, my dear contestant, to go stomping on your parade. God knows my viewers are looking forward to seeing what your first game world looks like, but you need a safe place to work; otherwise, you'll probably make a rather large mistake with your worlds while one of the horrors of space is trying to eat you alive." Simon said to Robert in a deadpan voice.

  "Fair point. I wouldn't want to mess up my creations because I'm getting chewed on. Especially considering how complex and time-consuming world creation will probably end up being. Also had kind of forgotten about all the horrors that wander around hero space while ignoring your interstellar pigeons." Robert said with a nervous chuckle, realizing there was a good chance that had he tried to work on a game world before he built a workshop, it would have drawn the attention of something that probably could and would take a bite out of him.

  As if summoned by his thoughts, a huge creature came out of the void of space and slammed into Robert's side, sending Robert flying for several kilometers in space, but just as Robert was going to right himself and get his bearings, the unknown creature came back around for another run at him.

  Though this time the creature bit down on Roberts's left arm instead of just sending him flying. Luckily for Robert, his new Atla form was too tough for the creature's teeth to pierce but was strong enough to drag him along for a ride.

  Though Robert wasn't a willing passenger and repeatedly punched the creature with his free hand, eventually Robert hit something important in the thing's jaw, causing it to let go and break off, once again gaining some distance from Robert.

  No longer surprised and able to right himself, Robert was finally able to get a good look at the creature, and what he saw surprised him greatly. The strange spacefaring creature was a mix of a shark and a worm. It had the main body of a worm with shark fins scattered along its side, though what was most surprising was its heads.

  The creature had three great white shark heads, though instead of having its heads lined up in a line like you would expect, it instead had its heads side by side like the chamber of a gun. Another strange thing about it was how it moved like a corkscrew, as it was always spinning instead of going straight or swimming with its fin like you might expect.

  The creature was spinning itself around for another run at Robert, who was confused about how exactly he was supposed to deal with a tri-barrel shark in space. When he remembered that he was now another species called an atla, which were supposed to be able to control asteroids, and so with that knowledge in hand, he quickly began to form a plan. Robert quickly gathered the asteroids from Pluto's orbit.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Using these asteroids, he formed a small asteroid field around himself. So that every time the creature moved to get him, the asteroids would slam into it, throwing it off course. After several more attempts, the creature eventually gave up and began to go away from Robert.

  "Well Robert, I think you did well when facing your first space creature. I know our viewers certainly enjoyed it, at least from the ratings I'm getting." Simon said he was quite happy that the fight had generated such happy feedback.

  "Simon I think I'm going to want that nice and safe workshop sooner rather than later." Robert said exhaustion coming out of his voice as whatever his body's version of adrenaline wore off and he felt the shock that something had just tried to eat him catch up to him.

  "Alright then, Robert, let's get started on that nice, safe workshop of yours, and hey, lucky for you, it'll be good practice for when you're making game worlds because to make your workshop takes the same process but on a much smaller scale. So let's get started before something else tries to take a bite out of you. I know my viewers will hate it if the show ends too soon." Simon said with a bit of a nervous chuckle, hinting he wasn't entirely joking as the darkness of the void that surrounded Robert seemed to intensify with a malicious anger at Simon mentioning ending the show early.

  "Okay, now you've got me a bit concerned about who or what your audience exactly is, but I'm going to be moving on from that and getting to how exactly I make a workshop." Robert said he was doing his best to ignore the sudden unease and the mental image of ungodly horrors watching him through TV screens right now.

  "Well, it's quite simple, contestant; you first need to hold out your hands and imagine a sphere floating in between them." Simon said in a slow and clear voice, making sure Robert hears every word clearly.

  "Okay, sounds simple enough." Robert said as he then proceeded to do just that. He held out his taloned, razor-sharp hands, imagining a perfect sphere in between his two hands. Now that was the first step done, Robert waited for the next set of instructions.

  "Alright, looks good; now I want you to imagine what the walls of the sphere are made of because this will be what keeps those that threaten you out, but you should also try to make use of all the space in the sphere. So you should use the walls for utility as well as defense." Simon said slowly, once again trying to give helpful advice as well as the next step in the process.

  "Alright, got it. Limited space. So hmmm, what to do? Oh, I got it." Robert said after thinking on it for a little bit. He began to make the walls of the sphere out of metal TV frames that he created by making millions of TVs and then condensing them into thousands of frames to form the walls of the sphere. He then began putting in the necessary electronics into his TV walls. So he could use them to see into anywhere on any world he created.

  Once this wall of TVs was fully finished, it would allow Robert to see all of Allyssa through his wall of hyperdense TVs. Not only would this be invaluable for finding any problem happening in his game world, but because the TVs were very dense, they would stand up to a lot of punishment, keeping Robert safe from surprise attacks.

  "Alright, looks good for what we're doing. Now just put in a gyro chair in the center of your sphere to rotate yourself as you view, and your workshop design will be ready for my audience's viewing pleasure." Simon said with excitement, clearly eager to see the finished product.

  "Alright, sounds good." Robert replied and added the gyro chair. Now with the design complete, they were ready for what Robert figured would be the final step.

  "So my dear contestant, it's now time for the exciting part, which is a guaranteed boost for my ratings. All you have to do is feel the power radiating in your core and push it into your sphere design and make what you've been imagining real and get a new workshop for you to work in." Simon said slowly with very clear words to make sure he was understood so that Robert wouldn't do something wrong with the energy.

  "Okay, let's do this then." Robert replied with just as much excitement, nearly vibrating at the thought about what he was about to do. So just like when he was just a flame, he felt the core of himself and drew out his energy from his core slowly out of his chest, up to his arms, into his hands, then into the sphere.

  The sphere began to slowly fill with a red energy before it filled all the way up, and then a giant explosion of red light spread out and blinded Robert for a moment. When the light finally cleared from his eyes and Robert could see again, he saw that he was now floating in front of the gyro chair in his new workshop. Looking around in awe at the thousands of blank TV screens waiting to be turned on so that he could view whatever the first world he created turned out to be.

  "Well, my contestant, it looks like your workshop is ready to go. My viewers are eager to see what your creations will be. The only question is." Simon said, trepidation filling his voice.

  "What game world do I create first?" Robert finished for Simon as his excitement overtook him, and he wondered as well where the first world he created should start.