Kumodesu

Phase two would be more complex, as I no longer simply placed basic elements into the world. I now had to create a wide range of distinct terrains—swamps, hills, plateaus, plains, deserts...

In short, all kinds of geographical formations.

With all the necessary knowledge in hand, I summoned my thoughts again and began delegating tasks.

But before that, I figured I should check in with my other will.

"Hey, me. How's it going?"

"About a third of the universe is done, and as for the solar system, we've reached seventy percent."

That slow, huh?

It had been more than five days since the start of phase one, and progress had only increased by one part?

"Hey, me. If the solar system is pretty much complete, shift over here."

"Hmm, let me see..."

Given how complicated phase two would be, I needed both of my wills and all my thoughts to focus entirely on this, instead of multitasking.

"Alright then, let's call that side stable for now."

"Good."

We split the work again.

I took charge of ecosystems beneath plains and seabeds, while the other will handled the rest.

This time, I personally got involved. From the previous run, I realized that while thoughts could build faster, the results lacked authenticity.

That made sense—they followed commands for placement, but I had to provide the emotional and sensory input. So I decided to take part from the start.

The same applied to the other will. Since we were synchronized in perception, there was no inconsistency.

As soon as the cold-water zone was completed, I rushed over to inspect it. Everything looked right, but the sensation was... off.

I used [Manifest] to recreate a memory and placed it into the ocean, testing again. It felt better—closer—but something was still missing.

Was the sea too clean?

I figured this issue would be addressed in phase three. For now, I just needed to place basic plant life.

Once done, I moved on to check other zones. With more experience, minor tweaks were enough to finalize things.

Then a mental message came from the other will:

"Which era are we building Earth in right now?"

That made me pause.

"Uh, I think... before life appeared?"

"I think we're doing this wrong, then."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because Earth's geography underwent massive changes before it became habitable. We're skipping natural evolution by placing it all at once."

That startled me.

But I responded, "We're not letting it evolve naturally—we're constructing it from nothing. The question is: should we simulate evolution, or skip to the desired result?"

We paused everything to reevaluate.

Eventually, we agreed to create multiple versions of Earth—each from a different era—and accelerate their time flows, linking them into a coherent historical timeline.

Both of us agreed, and we restarted from phase one.

This time, things went faster.

The first version was a barren Earth—lava, volcanoes, and meteor showers—faithfully recreating the Hadean Eon.

Then we fast-forwarded time, letting the planet cool, rain form, and oceans emerge.

Even though it was simulated, the experience felt real.

"If it feels real to you, then we've succeeded," said the other will.

I nodded.

Next was version two—where the atmosphere began forming and geological layers developed. But UV radiation was still too intense for life.

We let the world continue evolving naturally, but then...

The feeling of realism started to fade.

"You feel that too, right?"

"Yeah, something's off compared to before."

We checked everything again. Visually and logically, it was fine—but the sensory depth was lacking.

Using [Insight] to recreate the previous feeling didn't help.

"I think I know why," said the will.

"[Insight] gives us fragmented understanding across different time points, but not a full continuous experience. When we string them together into a process, the emotional coherence gets lost."

That made perfect sense.

I proposed a fix:

"We can use [Scan] to examine each fragment's sensation, then feed that into [Manifest] to connect them. Then use [Scan] again to amplify each connection… Repeat until we get a complete, coherent feeling."

"Brilliant!" the will agreed.

We got to work immediately. After dozens of trials, we finally achieved what we wanted.

The feeling of sea breeze, crashing waves, bright sunlight, the salty air… Everything felt alive.

I really am a genius.

Version two was complete. We were finally ready to move on to the next stage—

The age of life.

As usual, we continued by creating a new version based on the results of the previous phase, initiating the emergence of life. It started with simple cells, then we let them gradually evolve on their own.

Hmm...

Something didn't feel right again.

"What's wrong, me?" – Will asked.

"I was just thinking... maybe we should divide this phase into multiple parts."

This was an extremely long phase—potentially stretching all the way to when humans first appeared and developed their civilization. Letting everything evolve continuously would not only take forever but also make it hard to maintain quality. The sense of immersion would be diluted too.

"In that case... we should stop at the moment when humans first appear and then split off into a new version." – Will suggested.

I nodded. Makes sense.

But then I thought of another possibility. If we kept evolving this way—recreating the entire history of Earth—could we actually reproduce the entirety of human civilization?

And if so... would I appear too?

Nai wa~.

I'm not joking. I was creating a world from scratch, simulating the actual historical process. If everything proceeded exactly as it did in reality, then I—or some version of me—would inevitably appear in the modern era.

So, if the entire past could be fully simulated, could it keep developing into the future as well? Evolution is based on past data, but if the past is fully complete, could the system calculate and project a plausible future?

The more I thought about it, the more intriguing it became.

Unable to wait, we immediately got to work. Since this phase was somewhat different, we not only let things evolve on their own but also personally moved around to tweak and refine numerous details.

While waiting for this process to progress, we took the opportunity to complete the entire solar system. Previously, I had only set up the sun and the moon to meet Earth's basic needs. But now that we had decided to recreate the full history, I wanted everything to be perfectly polished—from the planets and rings to their gravitational interactions.

"You really are a perfectionist, me," Will teased.

I chuckled.

Don't say that. Even though I hadn't officially acquired the skill, this whole process of reconstruction and evolution was already showcasing its potential. If I ever got the actual skill, just how powerful would it be?

After that, everything went fairly smoothly. Gradually, I began to witness the appearance of the first living organisms—primitive species in the ocean.

And then... the most crucial moment arrived: when the first marine creature stepped onto land to begin evolving...

Oh, I had only ever read about evolution in textbooks before, so I thought it was dull and distant. But now, seeing it unfold right before my eyes, I couldn't remain calm at all.

It felt like I was a living witness to history. And in a sense… that was true. I had followed the entire formation and development of Earth. No one else could claim that experience but me. Just thinking about it made me feel grand.

"Stop fantasizing, me. Get back to work."

Will's voice snapped me out of my daydream.

Seriously… I wasn't fantasizing or anything…

…

The more I watched the evolutionary process, the more emotional I became. I couldn't believe that I—well, all living beings—had once started as a single cell…

<>

Oh, finally leveled up.

I had no idea how much time had passed, but it felt like I hadn't moved for days. Strangely, my body didn't feel anything clearly, and I'd forgotten about the outside world entirely.

Everything inside was still stable, but I figured I should head out and get my body moving again. But the moment I exited, a wave of exhaustion overwhelmed me, and I collapsed to the ground.

God… was I really that hungry?

I used [Scan] to check my condition and was horrified to see my SP completely depleted, with only 1 HP left.

What the hell!?

Was I attacked!?

I immediately checked all the traps and the surrounding area, but everything was intact. There were no signs of external intrusion.

So… was it self-inflicted?

Or maybe a side effect from an unknown skill?

A chill ran down my spine. With just 1 HP, even a mosquito bite could finish me off.

I dragged my broken body in search of food. Thankfully, after replenishing myself, I gradually recovered. I still hadn't figured out what caused the exhaustion, but at least I survived.

I decided to stay outside for a while to recover, leaving the internal world in Will's hands for the time being.

Over the next few days, I reinforced the surrounding traps and prepared emergency food supplies, just in case. Once I felt stable again, I returned to the inner world.

Oh, I'd only been gone a few days, and the first part of Phase Three was already complete.

"You're back, me."

"What's up?"

"Everything's good. We can now move on to part two of Phase Three."

Nice—just as planned.

Time outside was running short—only about one month left. We had to accelerate.

"You think we can make it in a month?" Will asked.

"Nai wa! Only one month left!?"

I was just as shocked. After some careful calculations, I found we had exactly 29 days remaining.

"Unless [Evolution] levels up again, it'll be tough," Will said, shaking his head.

"Should we just use Skill Points to upgrade it?" I suggested.

"Instead, why not level up [Support Evil Eye] and use it to assist [Evolution]?"

Ah, right… I almost forgot. [Evolution] was already high-level, so upgrading it directly would be insanely expensive. But [Support Evil Eye] was much cheaper.

Without hesitation, I acted.

<<500 Skill Points used. Skill [Support Evil Eye Lv0] has become [Support Evil Eye Lv1]>>

<>

<>

<>

<>

Excellent.

But it's only Lv8… still not enough.

"I think one more round should do it," Will suggested.

Though costly, if it helped reduce the workload, I was willing to pay the price. Three days later, I supported [Evolution] again, pushing it to Lv9.

Seriously, this support skill was overpowered. As long as I had enough Skill Points, I could keep leveling up any skill. But I needed to start being more frugal—I'd already spent 1000 Skill Points in just a few days, and I hadn't even picked a new skill yet.

While I was both amazed and slightly bitter about it, the second part of Phase Three had begun. Apes were slowly evolving into primitive humans.

I watched it all. Every moment.

Seeing these once-wild, hunting creatures begin to show early human behaviors left me awestruck. Though all this knowledge had already been implanted in my mind, seeing it with my own eyes was a completely different experience.

This phase was long and spanned multiple civilizations. While waiting, I didn't let the time go to waste—I kept evolving the rest of the planets, shaping a complete solar system. My ultimate goal… was the entire universe.

Sounds ambitious? Who's stopping me?

Everything proceeded smoothly. I had already recreated over three-quarters of Earth's history. Humans had now built a thriving civilization—cities, skyscrapers, advanced technology…

And then I had a curious thought: if everything evolved naturally, where did religion, mythology, and tales of gods and monsters come from?

I used to be skeptical about such things. But now, after witnessing all of history firsthand, I was even more curious. Why did humans create mystical stories when there were clearly no supernatural beings interfering with history?

I thought I knew everything about this world, but apparently not. There was still so much beyond my comprehension. And since belief systems were also a part of history, I couldn't ignore them.

Still... if I really wanted to trace everything back to the source, it would take too long. I decided to shelve that thought for now and carry on.

...

Another ten days passed.

The second part of Phase Three was coming to an end. Human civilization had developed rapidly and was now in the Medieval period. Just a few more centuries left…

Almost there…!

Days passed, and on the fifth day—at last—the entire history of Earth had been fully reconstructed.

Earth was now brimming with towering skyscrapers, bustling cities, and cutting-edge technology.

Humans of this era looked exactly as I remembered them. To my surprise, I even saw people I knew in Japan—watched their lives from childhood to adulthood, every detail.

Oh... so Kimura-kun was the one who took my DVD… No wonder I couldn't find it.

Oh… Shinohara-san actually had feelings for Kazuhito-kun? She practiced confessing to him every day in her room…

I wasn't particularly close to any of them, so I only skimmed through their lives.

Still, it felt like I was invading someone's privacy...

But then again… this was part of history, wasn't it?

I even saw myself… everything I had done and experienced…

Now that I look back, it all feels strangely unfamiliar.

Everything replayed perfectly—until... the moment of my death. Then everything stopped.

What happened?

Hmm..

Could it be that my memories only go up to that point, so the simulation stopped there too? I thought it might be able to evolve into the future…

Maybe I need some other condition?

Perhaps I'll need the skill [Virtual World] to reach that level. I'll just take my time with that one.