Sand table game

“This station reports that the Third-Generation Gene Modification Agent has successfully been released and is expected to officially go into production by mid-this month…”

Bang!

The image on the television screen abruptly cut off.

Lu Chuan’s breathing was ragged, his bloodshot eyes trembling slightly.

“Wang Lei really didn’t lie to me; the Third-Generation Gene Modification Agent has truly been successfully developed!”

Unlocking the genetic lock, absorbing Transcendent creature crystal cores, awakening Transcendent Sequences… Lu Chuan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

“The Third-Generation Gene Modification Agent requires a full three million alliance coins.”

This exorbitant price deterred countless people.

“However, if that game can be successfully released, I might have a chance to complete the injection before I turn twenty-five.”

In his previous life, Lu Chuan was a game designer at a major company, who unexpectedly died from overwork during an all-nightwork overtime.

That’s how he transmigrated into this weak, penniless body.

Although the technology in this world was more advanced than in Lu Chuan’s original world, game development was exceptionally monotonous.

Perhaps because this world was dominated by Transcendent, the games here excessively pursued the bloody and stimulating aesthetics of violence and extreme realism.

Casual games, simulation management, sandbox building… these game genres were almost completely absent in this world.

However, no one doing it doesn't mean there's no market, after all, ordinary people still make up the majority of this world's population.

It’s just that very few people cared about the preferences and needs of ordinary people.

After discovering this market gap, Lu Chuan decided to be the first to try it.

After three years, Lu Chuan modified the explosively popular Sandbox Game from his previous life into an otherworldly version and uploaded it to the largest gaming platform in this world.

After two hours of long waiting, the Creator backend popped up the first message:

“Dear Creator, due to the insufficient completeness of your game “Create World,” this review has failed. We look forward to your continued cooperation.”

Lu Chuan: ???

Insufficient completeness!?

This was simply the biggest joke Lu Chuan had ever heard.

If My World isn't complete enough, are those low-cost, no-name games that start with a dog and one-shot enemies for ninety-nine damage complete enough?

Lu Chuan angrily clicked on “Create World,” the expression on his face stiffening and cracking little by little… The screen wasn't the healing pixel art he was familiar with, but a vast, dark red desert so real it looked like a live-action shot.

The sky was chaotic, with no sunlight, no water, and no life.

【Your world is barren.】

The sudden text appearing in the bottom right corner seemed like silent mockery of Lu Chuan.

“No… this isn’t right, this isn’t my game.”

Years of hard work went up in smoke.

Lu Chuan tried to find the game’s backup data.

None!

Nothing at all!

Not even a trace of his past creation could be found.

“Pfft—”

His body, already riddled with ailments from two failed gene modifications, was already in tatters.

Overwhelmed by anger, Lu Chuan actually spat out a mouthful of blood.

【Your world has extracted a trace of 'Creator's Law'. Do you wish to invest it?】

Lu Chuan stared blankly at the disappearing bloodstain and the suddenly appearing text.

“My game… came true?”

Thinking of this, Lu Chuan was ecstatic.

“Yes!”

The chaotic sky dissipated, and two suns, one large and one small, appeared in the sky, scorching this desolate land.

【Your world is still barren.】

“Suns and moons actually appeared? So what’s needed next?”

Although he couldn't yet determine what this world could bring him, Lu Chuan was very clear:

This was his own opportunity!

Soon, a flash of inspiration crossed Lu Chuan’s mind:

The first life originated in the ocean!

That’s right, he needed an ocean, but not yet.

The land in this world was too flat; suddenly injecting seawater would turn it into a vast expanse of water.

Although the planet Lu Chuan originally lived on started as a vast ocean.

But Lu Chuan didn't believe that this lifeless world, after being submerged, would still have the conditions to form land.

The formation of life on every planet is the result of numerous coincidences.

Lu Chuan didn't have the capital to gamble on every coincidence.

So, before injecting seawater, Lu Chuan manipulated the mouse, attempting to change the terrain here.

Soon, a stepped deep pit, occupying fifty percent of the entire land, appeared.

Lu Chuan then ordered some algae and seawater from a local shop.

In this coastal city, these were very common items.

“I hope this method works.”

【Your world has extracted the environment 'Ocean'. Do you wish to invest it?】

【Your world has extracted the creature 'Sargassum'. Do you wish to invest it?】

【Your world has extracted the creature 'Cyanobacteria'. Do you wish to invest it?】

...A series of prompts reassured Lu Chuan.

It seemed he had initially grasped the method of “creation.”

Soon, the vast world was divided into two halves.

One half was a dark ocean, the other a dark red desert.

Lu Chuan suddenly remembered an ancient Greek legend:

The universe initially began with a primordial chaos.

Then the sky unfolded, mountains rose, oceans gathered, and soon after… the gods appeared!

Lu Chuan began to speed up the flow of time in the game.

Days and nights alternated, time flew by.

Sargassum, Giant Kelp, Agar-agar… died one after another, only Cyanobacteria successfully survived and underwent some mutation:

【Your world has given birth to a new species: 'Glimmer Algae'.】

Glimmer Algae, while absorbing sunlight, water, and the corpses of other algae to sustain life, also generate a special energy.

【A faint trace of dark energy has appeared in your world.】

“Plants that can generate dark energy?” Lu Chuan’s heart pounded, “Does that also mean that this world can give birth to Transcendent creatures, or even Transcendent?”

Glimmer Algae were no longer single-celled algae drifting with the currents; they possessed territorial awareness and ambitions of expansion.

While spreading their leaves on the seabed, they were also attempting to develop onto the shore.

Lu Chuan’s expression subtly changed, and he adjusted the time forward by another five thousand years.

Five thousand years later, the land had rivers and lakes crisscrossing it like the meridians of a human body.

The land was now completely occupied by a type of blue fern; they were the descendants of the Glimmer Algae's vanguard that expanded onto land.

The huge, person-high ferns had deep blue, curled leaves covered with moon-white ancient patterns.

Their leaves curled, withered, and slept during the day; at night, they frantically absorbed water, unfurled their leaves, and converted moonlight into precious dark energy.

Their generations of corpses, beneath the roots of their descendants, combined with the dark red sand to transform into precious soil.

At this moment, the cradle that would nurture the lives appearing in the future river of time began to take shape.

【Your world has given birth to a new species: 'Blue Giant Leaf Fern'.】

【A faint trace of dark energy has appeared in your world.】

Lu Chuan rubbed his swollen temples.

“Although the game now has life, a world with only two species still can’t be considered complete…”

Wait!

Lu Chuan, suddenly realizing something, unconsciously swallowed.

If this world, entirely created by himself, could really be released as a game… “Create the world, influence the world, and finally… conquer the world?”

What kind of surprise could this barren world bring him?

“It's truly exciting.” Lu Chuan exhaled a turbid breath.

This body was too weak; his brain became exceptionally sluggish after ten at night.

“It’s time to call it a day.”

After setting the game's time flow to its minimum, Lu Chuan pre-ordered some plant seeds, some hardy fish, and several tropical rainforest terrariums from the local flower, bird, fish, and insect market.

Affected by dark energy, the variety of creatures in this world was far greater than in Lu Chuan's original world.

After experiencing so many days and nights in this world.

This was the first time Lu Chuan had slept peacefully.

In his dream, faint sounds reached his ears:

【Creation of Heaven and Earth! You have successfully injected the first trace of law into your world, rewarding 'Ancient God's Protection' x1.】

【You have successfully invested the new environment 'Ocean' into your world, rewarding 'dark energy crystal source'.】

【Your world has given birth to a new species: 'Spirit Algae', rewarding 'Ancient God Bloodline +0.01%'.】

【Your world has given birth to a new species: 'Blue Giant Leaf Fern', rewarding 'Ancient God Bloodline +0.01%'.】