Chapter 2: The Creation of Life

After making up his mind, Shen Xing immediately set out on the journey to separate from Xiao Lan.

It’s worth mentioning that, over the long years of his growth, Shen Xing had acquired a number of practical little tricks. The astral bodies that separated from his main form could also generate a basic force, which further extended his range.

Thus, Shen Xing began to manipulate this basic force to create asteroids in outer space, using them to pull his main celestial body, gradually reaching escape velocity.

A cosmic spectacle reminiscent of nine dragons dragging a coffin unfolded in space—a planetary version, no less. If any civilization were to witness this scene, their very spirits would likely be shattered.

Sitting atop his chariot of asteroids, Shen Xing checked his system panel for any changes.

[Unnamed]
[Level: Planet]
[Basic Force: Ability to manipulate gravity]
[Unity of All Things: Can fuse with tangible matter it contacts]
[Power of Creation: Possesses the right and ability to create life and matter]
[Civilization Level: (Inactive)]

“A new ability has been unlocked? The power to create life and matter…”

A trace of excitement rose in Shen Xing’s heart. Previously, while dormant, he had been unable to perceive the outside world. Now, during the long journey through the stars, loneliness inevitably crept in. Though his consciousness had grown strong enough not to shatter from solitude, a certain melancholy was inescapable.

With this new ability unlocked, Shen Xing began experimenting with creating life and materials necessary for the development of civilization on his own celestial body.

Though theoretically he could create without limit, the usable area on the planet was finite—it was impossible to craft a world of infinite resources.

Over the course of tens of thousands of years, Shen Xing gradually compressed his planet’s mass, continually experimenting with the creation of life, and finally broke free from the gravitational grip of his original star.

Although he now possessed the ability to control gravity, he discovered that its reach could not extend beyond five hundred thousand kilometers—and previously, he could only tug on passing meteorites. Now, it seemed, he could attempt to pull an entire planet.

Apparently, mastering gravity was much like training a muscle; perhaps in the near future, he might be able to tow a star itself.

To imagine further would be too bold; those dreams could be left for another time.

Shen Xing turned his attention to his own planet. The climate was frigid. Through experimentation, he arrived at an answer:

The possibility of creating life out of nothing was virtually zero.

“After all, even to create life, a basic environment for life is needed…” Shen Xing muttered with some resignation. He could try to create new kinds of life, but he knew neither the conditions for their birth nor their paths of evolution. In his heart, he still wished to nurture humanity for company.

“In that case, I’d better find a suitable star system to settle in first.”

…

He wandered for perhaps hundreds of thousands of years—he wasn’t quite sure. Even being able to count tens of thousands of years was something he admired in himself; it served as one of the few entertainments he had.

But the pastime of counting his years of travel—he decided to abandon it.

For he had found a stellar system remarkably similar to the Sun. A vast white brilliance flickered alone in the void. Through the thin atmosphere of Shen Xing’s planet, the light barely refracted into a color akin to that of the Sun—it seemed a touch brighter than the old Sun had been.

Shen Xing observed the distant star; its distance from him was about the same as Earth’s distance from the Sun.

Was it? Perhaps? Shen Xing didn’t know for certain, but when he immersed his consciousness into his planetary form, the sensation was much like what he recalled from Earth—so that was his estimate.

This star even seemed younger than the Sun. If asked, he’d say there was a kind of subtle camaraderie between celestial bodies—at least, there was no sense of imminent collapse.

The entire system contained six planets, an auspicious number.

Within his observed range, there were no strange celestial objects—no black holes or such anomalies.

After settling on his target, Shen Xing took hold of the “reins” of a few asteroids, then extended his gravitational force toward the orbit of the star.

He adjusted his rotation speed, then began to fine-tune his orbital period.

After several centuries of trial and error by Earth’s reckoning, Shen Xing finally adjusted his orbit to about three hundred seventy days. With some further corrections, he stabilized at exactly three hundred sixty-five days—a standard year.

Fortunately, his consciousness-scan of his planetary interior revealed no significant issues. For Earthlings, he could now proudly call himself a habitable world.

With a few tweaks to his planet’s inclination and other parameters, anyone could now open an encyclopedia, look up Earth’s data, and copy-paste it onto Shen Xing.

At this moment, Shen Xing was a perfect Earth analogue.

He further suggested that the data for the Moon be copied and pasted onto a satellite he’d created orbiting himself.

“Now that everything’s stable, it’s time to give myself a name…”

After some deliberation, Shen Xing named himself—Celestia.

In truth, he struggled to find the perfect name—just as a thousand people would each have their own Hamlet.

His first thought had been Shen Qiongxing, since Shen Xingxing sounded a bit odd. But naming a planet after his own surname felt awkward and embarrassing.

After much internal debate, he settled on Celestia.

A lofty, resounding name was a rare thing—once the decision was made, he had to keep it, or he’d waver forever.

Once again, Shen Xing checked his system panel.

[Celestia]
[Level: Planet]
[Basic Force: Ability to manipulate gravity]
[Unity of All Things: Can fuse with tangible matter it contacts]
[Power of Creation: Possesses the right and ability to create life and matter]
[Celestial Terraforming: Ability to reshape the geology, atmosphere, and environmental conditions of controlled celestial bodies]
[Civilization Level: Nascent Civilization]

Shen Xing noticed that as his civilization level increased, so too did his convenient abilities. Upon activating the celestial terraforming power, in an instant, his atmosphere and geology assumed the appearance of having undergone natural evolution over tens of thousands of years, granting him the ticket to nurture life.

He preserved roughly thirty percent landmass, seventy percent ocean—just like Earth.

The difference lay in having fused all the continents into a single landmass, much like the theoretical supercontinents. As for the specific elevations of various regions, Shen Xing simply sketched them however he pleased.

At last, through constant experimentation and creation, a familiar lifeform emerged upon his world.

The world’s first prokaryotic cell appeared in the ocean!