Ariana's body drifted through the silent vastness of the void when a blue screen appeared before her eyes.
For a strange moment, it felt familiar. Like a game. One of those life-simulation games she had already lost.
Her body slowly rotated… and then the nothingness disappeared.
Where there had been only darkness, a colossal sphere of rock now existed. Massive. Overwhelming. Ariana felt the air leave her lungs.
It was like staring at a dead sun.
"W-wait…" her voice faltered.
[This planet is your still-empty heart.]
The system's words echoed without emotion.
[Ding.]
[Skill acquired: Terraform.]
[Single use.]
[Errors are irreversible.]
Tension tightened in Ariana's chest.
A new interface appeared.
[Use Terraform?]
[Yes] [No]
She hesitated for only a second.
The moment she selected Yes, knowledge flooded her—not as text, but as instinct. As if she had always known.
Her body was pulled downward.
Ariana fell.
Her feet touched the rocky surface of the planet with impossible softness. The ground was cold. Lifeless. When she stood, she found herself surrounded by a warped horizon made of nothing but stone, fractures, and absolute silence.
There was no air. Yet she could breathe.
Ariana knelt and placed her hand against the ground.
The planet responded.
She felt it.
Not as sound, nor motion—but as a distant, faint pulse. A heart waiting to beat.
"…It's beautiful…" she murmured.
A tear ran down her face without her noticing.
She stood.
"Alright…" she whispered, wiping her face. "Let's begin."
As she clenched her hands, a fierce energy erupted between her fingers. It was not ordinary light. It was something deeper—something that came from her.
When she opened her hands.
The world screamed.
A colossal tsunami was born from nothing, swallowing mountains, splitting the land, covering everything. Oceans spread without control, without limit, until not a single stretch of land remained visible.
Water. Nothing but water.
"W-wait!" Ariana staggered back in panic. "That's not what I meant—!"
Pain pierced her chest.
Not physical.
It felt as if something inside her were cracking.
Ariana collapsed to her knees as fine fractures spread across her hands, like porcelain on the verge of breaking. A bitter taste filled her mouth.
The planet had responded too strongly.
"Damn it…" her voice was weak. "I… I only wanted seas… rivers…"
She clutched her chest.
The mistake had already been made.
She felt it.
Her power did not come from rigid rules, but from thoughts. Desires. Emotions.
One slip—and the entire world changed.
Ariana rose into the sky.
Below her, the planet was completely covered by an endless ocean, far too silent for a newborn world.
"Let's try… something else."
Her eyes glowed a deep green.
The world answered.
The depths of the ocean began to tremble. Hidden rock masses slowly rose, tearing through the surface of the water. Mountains were born from nothing. Islands emerged first—small, fragile—and then entire continents ripped through the sea, spreading across the planet like freshly opened scars.
The creation was violent.
Sweat ran down Ariana's face. Her body shook. With every new piece of land formed, it felt as if something inside her was being torn away.
A sharp pain stabbed her chest.
For a brief second, images flooded her mind.
The dark room.
The cold glow of the monitor.
Her supervisor's demanding voice.
The exhaustion that never faded.
Her thoughts became chaotic.
"S-stop…" she murmured—too late.
Between the newly formed continents, one island appeared unlike the others.
Its soil was dark. The air, heavy. No vegetation grew there.
Wrong.
Ariana gasped.
Her vision dimmed as a dry cough escaped her lips. Without the strength to remain aloft, she fell from the sky, landing unsteadily on the soft grass of one of the healthy islands.
She knelt, pressing a hand to her chest.
Something had been damaged.
"I… overdid it…" she whispered weakly. "It wasn't just the power…"
As she stood, she looked toward the horizon.
The dark island was there.
Even from a distance, she could feel it—a deep discomfort, like a constant echo in her heart.
Ariana raised her trembling hand.
"Undo it…" she pleaded.
Nothing happened.
[Terraform unavailable.]
[Single use confirmed.]
The silence that followed was worse than the pain.
Ariana slowly lowered her hand.
She could not erase it.
For now, there was no choice but to accept it.
The world now possessed vast continents, deep seas, forests, and green fields—shaped from the memories of her past life. Trees she recognized. Plants she vaguely remembered.
All familiar.
All dangerous.
She had poured too much emotion into a power she did not yet fully understand.
And the world… had listened.
Ariana stared once more at the corrupted island.
[Record confirmed.]
[Action within minimum stability parameters.]
Ariana breathed heavily.
The system's words did not sound comforting, but they brought her a thread of relief nonetheless. If there was a record… then there was progress.
"So… there's still a path forward," she murmured.
Her gaze returned to the corrupted island in the distance.
Not now.
As unsettling as it was, Ariana felt it clearly: there were more urgent matters. A world without life, no matter how beautiful, could not survive.
[Ding.]
[Milestone reached.]
[First stage of world creation completed.]
Before Ariana could react, new information appeared before her eyes.
[Mission assigned.]
[Objective: Create the first living being.]
Her eyes widened slightly.
Life.
The heart of the world seemed to pulse differently at the sound of it.
[Bonus condition available.]
[If the first being demonstrates environmental adaptation, additional rewards will be granted.]
A subtle tightness formed in Ariana's chest.
"Adapt…" she whispered. "So… they can fail."
As if responding to her thought, one final interface appeared.
[Skill unlocked: Generate Life.]
[Description: Materializes life based on the creator's intent.]
[Energy source: Vital Essence.]
[Warning.]
[Complex or excessively powerful creations will accelerate core deterioration.]
[Cooldown: 5 days.]
The silence that followed was heavy.
Ariana slowly closed her hand.
Creating life was not a simple step.
It was a choice.
And for the first time since awakening in the void, Ariana understood something with absolute clarity:
The next mistake would not affect only the world.
It would affect those who lived within it.
She raised her eyes toward the infinite horizon of her newborn planet.
"…What will you become?" she whispered.