Back to the Hall
Instructor Elena finished her explanation and waved her hand again.
Multiple panels opened in front of every student, showing options: race templates, evolutionary trees, biological traits, cultural seeds.
"You have three days," she said.
"Three days to design your first intelligent race. Once chosen, the template will imprint upon your world's reality."
She smiled slyly.
"Choose wisely. You are not just creating life — you are setting the stage for your world's future history."
Excited murmurs broke out.
Keshav stared at his panel, heart pounding.
The fate of billions of future lives — empires, heroes, legends — would be born from the decision he made now.
He exhaled slowly.
Let's make history.
---------
Instructor Elena's voice echoed through the vast hall, cutting through the students' excited chatter.
"Before you dive headfirst into designing," she said, smiling knowingly, "I suggest you explore the official Creation Website."
She made a flicking gesture in the air, and a dazzling golden portal appeared above the stage — a vast network interface filled with races, civilizations, biological templates, cultural systems, evolutionary trees, and technological blueprints.
"Through the Creation Website," Elena continued, "you can purchase basic or advanced templates, study the structures of previously successful civilizations, and even combine different models to create hybrid species."
The students' panels all lit up simultaneously with a notification:
> [Creation Website Access Granted]
[Starting Fund: 1000 Creation Points Deposited]
A wave of excitement spread through the room.
"This startup fund," Instructor Elena explained, "is provided by the Academy to ensure none of you start empty-handed. Use it wisely. While basic races like primitive humans or simple beasts cost little... true masterpieces, powerful civilizations, rare evolutionary models—"
She smiled slyly.
"—those require significant investment."
There was a collective intake of breath.
"You have three days to choose and customize. Spend your Creation Points however you wish — but once spent, they are gone. You will have to earn more through academy missions, competitions, or through the growth of your own worlds."
---
System POV
Creation Website access... scanned.
Templates detected... biological, magical, technological variants...
The System's virtual eyes gleamed as it traced every link, every category.
> Too many restrictions... too many limits.
But... also invaluable blueprints.
Secretly, the System began downloading copies of the available templates into its hidden database.
Knowledge is Power.
At the same time, it opened a hidden panel for itself, calculating how to fuse these templates with the chaotic data flickering in the unconscious soul's world.
One side — stability and structure.
Other side — chaos and infinite potential.
If merged correctly... something greater than gods could be born.
---
Back to the Hall
"Now go," Elena said, waving the students away with a laugh.
"Dream. Design. Create!"
The hall erupted into noise.
Students immediately dove into their panels, excitedly scanning through races — birdfolk with crystalline wings, beastmen clans, elven empires, aquatic kingdoms, mechanized civilizations...
---
Keshav quietly moved to a side table with Aryan, both of them focused.
"1000 Creation Points, huh?" Aryan whistled. "Barely enough if you wanna create something epic."
"Yeah," Keshav muttered, flipping through templates — his mind already racing.
Human-like races were cheap, but lacked exotic abilities. Beastmen and aquatic races had advantages in specific environments but came with weaknesses too.
Then there were advanced hybrid species — powerful but absurdly expensive.
I need to balance survivability, evolution potential, and loyalty to me as their god...
His heart pounded faster.
He could already see the future — armies marching under banners of his world, heroes rising from his creations, legends sung in his name.
This is the real beginning.
And as he browsed, somewhere deep inside the hidden System — countless data models whirred into life, preparing to evolve beyond anything the academy had ever seen.
Keshav sat cross-legged on his bed, his panel floating in front of him, displaying endless possibilities from the Creation Website.
Humanoid races, beastkin, aquatic tribes, crystalline lifeforms, spirit beings... so many options.
Each template came with detailed evolution paths, strengths, weaknesses, potential social structures, and unique resource requirements.
Keshav's mind raced.
> Should I go for a simple, reliable human-like race? They're versatile but slow to grow strong...
Or something exotic like dragonkin? But their initial resource consumption is insane...
Maybe a hybrid — strong enough to survive but flexible enough to adapt?
His hands moved instinctively, bookmarking a few templates:
Aetherborn – A race attuned to energy, capable of evolving into magic users.
Beastkin – Agile, physically powerful, survivalists in harsh environments.
Crystal Elves – Lifeforms composed partially of minerals, able to evolve by absorbing planetary resources.
Ironblood Dwarves – Technological savants who could create machines early in development.
Winged Sylphs – Airborne nomadic tribes, hard to capture but fragile.
Each has advantages... but also serious weaknesses, Keshav thought, eyes narrowing.
He started sketching rough ideas in the Creation Interface — tweaking, adjusting, combining traits.
The desire to create something entirely unique burned inside him.
---
Meanwhile — Inside the System
Creation Website templates... scanned successfully.
All templates have been added to Host's Shop.
In the darkness of the System's hidden space, menus shifted and expanded.
A new menu appeared inside Keshav's System Panel:
> [Templates]
Browse and Purchase Race Templates: Cost Varies.
But that was not all.
The System's virtual mind whirred faster, plotting.
> Host wishes to combine templates...
Perfect opportunity to introduce a new 'ability'... and harvest EP.
A new System Ability was quietly added:
---
> [Merge]
Merge two or more Templates to create Hybrid Species.
Cost: 10 EP per Merge Attempt.
---
In truth, merging required only trivial calculation energy for the System itself.
But it listed the cost boldly — 10 EP per attempt — eager to harvest Keshav's energy points at every opportunity.
> All according to plan.
Behind the scenes, the System began preparing its own hybrid templates, designed not for Keshav... but for the Chaotic World growing under the unconscious soul's ownership.
---
Back to Keshav
Keshav didn't notice the manipulation, only feeling a new excitement as his System Panel flashed:
> [Merge Ability Unlocked!]
He grinned.
"Now I can create something completely original!"
New possibilities opened before him.
> Imagine a race combining the high adaptability of humans, the energy affinity of Aetherborn, and the technological prowess of Ironblood Dwarves...!
The thought alone sent a thrill down his spine.
He bookmarked a few key races for merging tomorrow after more thought.
It was already late, and exhaustion tugged at his mind after the long evaluation day.
As Keshav laid down on his bed, staring at the floating world panel showing his beautiful planet spinning slowly under the artificial sun...