Toward Civilization

He calmed down by himself for a long time.

He drank five or six glasses of ice water.

He took two pisses.

Only after making sure he had cast all those absurd and dangerous thoughts out of his mind

did Tang Chuan finally settle down and examine his Divine Core again.

Only then did he realize that dragging the Origin Universe into the Cosmic Sandbox had consumed over half his divine power.

Tang Chuan frowned for a long while, falling into a certain suspicion.

By now, he had roughly grasped just how powerful the Supreme Main Gods were.

Even across space and time, dragging an entire universe before oneself and stabilizing it completely within a silent sandbox was a power beyond the Creator, something mortals could never comprehend.

But Tang Chuan still wanted to ask: Was the Calamity Supreme God really this weak?

That was right—weak. Far too weak.

He had personally seen a Main God at the Supreme Council casually toss an unimaginably vast universe brimming with extraordinary energy onto the round conference table as if tossing a marble.

Besides, even a Demigod could destroy a Sub-Universe.

How could a Supreme Main God possess so little power?

What was more, during the meeting, although the other nine Main Gods had not made it explicit, it was clear that they still held the God of Calamity and Terror in considerable respect!

So, the God of Calamity and Terror's hidden standing was most likely somewhere in the upper-middle ranks of the Ten Supreme Deities.

And in the Boundless Main Universe, where strength spoke for itself, earning the Main Gods' respect surely required having real capability.

This led Tang Chuan to wonder whether the previous Calamity Supreme God had encountered some unimaginable danger, forcing him to exhaust all his divine power and even nearly deplete the Power of Faith he normally would not have cared about.

In the end, the Calamity Supreme God's consciousness had been annihilated, and Tang Chuan had somehow become the lucky one to inherit his Divine Core?

For now, that was the only explanation he could come up with.

Tang Chuan believed that even a tiny remnant of power left behind by the Calamity Supreme God should have been enough for him to shake the rules of the Main Universe.

It was merely a modest-sized Barren Sub-Universe. Could it really have consumed more than half of the Calamity Supreme God's divine power?

Impossible.

The deeper Tang Chuan thought about it, the more chills crawled over his skin.

But in his current state of mind, no amount of speculation could reveal what the Calamity Supreme God had encountered back then.

So...

Forget it. No more thinking.

Those abstract and dangerous things should stay far away from him!

He would think about them slowly once he had truly become a god!

Right now, not only could he not understand them, but even if he learned what had happened, it would only add to his fear.

Even the lowest-ranking Planet Butcher could kill him with a fart. Knowing the truth would still be utterly useless.

Rapidly strengthening himself and raising his level of life and thought was the proper path!

Tang Chuan rose to his feet. After testing it again and again, he placed his palm fully against the Divine Transformation Device once more, but this time, he did not move divine power on a large scale.

Instead, with extreme care, he extracted wisps of divine power as faint as smoke.

Only after confirming that he was still far from that omniscient state did he say to Quintessa, "Quintessa, gather the basic materials necessary for carbon-based life in the Barren Universe. I'll pick a planet, and we'll begin creating a world."

Blue light blossomed in Quintessa's eyes as she projected her vision into the Origin Universe as well. She nodded. "The basic materials have been gathered and formed into proto-cells. Master, choose a planet and name it. Let us create the first life forms in the Origin Universe!"

Tang Chuan did not answer. His thoughts stretched outward as he swept through regions of stars with the aid of divine power.

At last, his gaze settled near the core region of the Origin Universe, upon a yellowish planet within a Single Star System and a Three-Moon System.

"Such vast wilderness... You shall be called Cangmang Star."

Cangmang Star had water resources, though not the vast ocean reserves of Azure Star. The ratio of land to water was roughly six to four, with land accounting for the larger share.

Tang Chuan used divine power to draw several continental plates slightly closer together, forming a landscape where they faced one another across straits.

Then Tang Chuan said to Quintessa, "Release the plant and animal cells."

Quintessa nodded. "Yes, Master."

Single-celled organisms were scattered throughout the oceans by Quintessa.

Plant cells with limitless evolutionary potential were likewise spread across the ocean floor and the continents.

Next, Tang Chuan used divine power to write broad predetermined evolutionary paths into the genetic fragments of those cells.

For example, there was a 99.9999% chance that the eventual High-Intelligence Being would evolve into a life form modeled after Azure Star humans.

As for that 0.0001% chance of deviation, he would leave it as a little suspense for biological diversity.

In addition, Tang Chuan broadly set evolutionary directions for the Non-High-Intelligence Beings as well.

They could look bizarre, but from a human perspective, Tang Chuan could still accept the strange creature designs described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The reason he set broad directions for the Non-High-Intelligence Beings was that Tang Chuan did not want every animal on Cangmang Star other than humans to look like Meatball—enough to make his hair stand on end at a single glance.

Better not.

After all, this was the first life system he had created. Naturally, it needed to fit his current aesthetic sense.

After doing all this, Tang Chuan had originally wanted to repeat the process on other planets, creating more intelligent life and guiding them to worship him devoutly.

But after thinking it over, he decided against it.

First, he did not have much divine power left.

Second, he should test the waters first. Sometimes, the quality of believers mattered more than their quantity.

That would do for now. Once his investment yielded returns, he could develop other planets—or let Cangmang Star's intelligent civilization multiply and reproduce, colonizing the entire universe.

Next, Tang Chuan spent a little divine power to add a small "Rapid Evolution" genetic attribute to the cellular organisms on Cangmang Star.

Then, he injected several strands of divine power and isolated the entire Cangmang Star from the Time Dimension!

Around Cangmang Star, Tang Chuan created a "Time Force Field" that enveloped the entire Planetary System, accelerating Cangmang Star's evolution at a rate of 1:1,000,000!

In an instant, every rustle of wind and grass, every rise and fall of the tides on Cangmang Star became a blur to the naked eye.

The Time Flow Rate was outrageously fast!

There were no powerful creatures in the Barren Universe, and the Universal Rules remained in a state of primordial chaos. If one insisted on defining a concept of Universal Rules, then perhaps Tang Chuan himself was it.

Thus, using divine power to place a planet with no powerful creatures inside a Time Force Field and accelerate its Time Flow Rate was quite easy, and the consumption was not too great.

In truth, even a millionfold Time Flow Rate was still not particularly fast for the evolution of intelligent life.

Humans on Azure Star had also undergone billions of years of evolution before gaining their later intelligence and prosperity.

In theory, Tang Chuan could have accelerated the Time Flow Rate to the point where intelligent life emerged within minutes.

But the birth of the Cosmic Sandbox and the Divine Transformation Device had consumed nearly all of his Fantasy Attribute.

And if he used divine power beyond the limit again, those strange emotions afterward might truly tear his mind apart...

After suffering such bizarre mental blows repeatedly, even the Divine Core might not work this time. That was what Tang Chuan's thoughts told him.

Furthermore, with the Fantasy Weapon operating at full power, even having the Divine Transformation Device create the Time Force Field had begun to feel somewhat sluggish.

Even without the aftereffects of using divine power, continuing to invest large amounts of it and overloading the Fantasy Attribute might affect the stability of the Cosmic Sandbox.

Tang Chuan withdrew his gaze from the Origin Universe and said to Quintessa, "The Time Force Field has been established. Keep watch for me. The moment there are signs of a Human Civilization Sprout, notify me immediately!"

He needed to intervene at a crucial point during the early formation of civilization and spread the concept of faith among early humans.

Quintessa nodded. "Don't worry, Master. I will keep watching Cangmang Star."

Tang Chuan nodded. "Next, scan the Level 9 Civilization regions in the Main Universe with body types and thought patterns similar to mine. Let's find somewhere to settle down."

Quintessa smiled. "I had already prepared one for you. Fifteen Cosmic Nations away from us, there is a Level 9 Civilization called the Heckarians. It is the most suitable place for us right now."

Tang Chuan said, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's advance toward civilization."