Chapter 22: A New Function
Alicia quietly observed her world.
The rivers moved steadily across the land.
The forests had become fuller and more alive than before.
The plains were no longer empty stretches of land, but active places where humans moved, gathered, and learned.
Even the rocky highlands now had life that belonged there.
At this point, her planet no longer felt like a rough beginning.
It felt like a world that was slowly finding its own rhythm.
And that made Alicia feel… oddly satisfied.
Not in a dramatic way.
Just quietly satisfied.
She had spent a long time shaping terrain, stabilizing ecosystems, guiding life, and making sure everything didn't collapse into nonsense.
And now, for the first time, she could look at her world and honestly think:
"…Okay. This is actually working."
Which was nice.
Very nice, even.
But of course, the system was not the type to let her enjoy peace for too long.
A blue screen appeared before her.
[Primitive Planet Requirements]
Increase planetary diameter to 500 ❌
Form stable freshwater and land cycles ✔
Create at least 3 complete environmental zones ✔
Nurture at least 2 intelligent life communities ✔
Reach a sufficient planetary Soul Power density ✔
Unlock and integrate one new planetary function ❌
Alicia stared at the screen for a moment.
Then focused on the final two unfinished requirements.
One of them was straightforward.
Diameter.
That was simple.
Annoying, but simple.
The other one—
Unlock and integrate one new planetary function
—was much more vague.
Alicia thought for a moment.
Then said to the system through her mind,
"What exactly counts as a new planetary function?"
The system responded almost immediately.
[System Explanation]
Planetary functions are large-scale abilities or mechanisms that affect the long-term development of the host world.
Examples include:
climate regulation
species evolution assistance
natural law adjustment
environmental adaptation systems
regional energy balancing
race-path development guidance
Unlocking and integrating one successfully will complete the requirement.
Alicia read the explanation once.
Then again.
And then stayed silent for a while.
"…That's actually useful."
For once, the system had explained something in a way that was not aggressively vague.
That alone was almost suspicious.
Still, the listed options gave her a better idea of what she needed.
This wasn't about buying a random skill and calling it progress.
This was about adding a new layer of world functionality.
Something that would permanently improve how her world operated.
Alicia thought carefully.
Several of the listed options were tempting.
Climate regulation sounded powerful, but her world was still too young and simple for that to be urgent.
Natural law adjustment sounded useful but also deeply dangerous.
That sounded like the kind of thing one should not touch casually unless one wanted accidental cosmic nonsense.
No, thank you.
Then her focus settled on one option in particular.
Regional energy balancing.
Alicia narrowed her thoughts.
That one… actually made sense.
Right now, Life Energy and Soul Power existed across her world, but they were not evenly distributed.
Some places—like the forests—were naturally denser.
Others—like the plains and some rocky areas—were lighter.
That was natural to some degree.
But if she had a system that could help balance and circulate energy more efficiently across different regions, then:
life would develop more steadily
weaker areas could improve over time
different zones could mature properly
and future race development would become smoother
That sounded useful enough to matter.
And practical enough to not immediately destroy everything.
Alicia approved.
"…Yes. That one."
She immediately opened the System Shop.
A blue panel appeared.
[System Shop]
Available Planetary Functions:
Regional Energy Balancer
Description: Automatically regulates and redistributes Life Energy and Soul Power across planetary regions to maintain environmental and developmental balance.
Cost: 200 Life Energy
Minor Climate Adjustment
Cost: 250 Life Energy
Beast Instinct Guidance
Cost: 180 Life Energy
Primitive Race Inspiration
Cost: 220 Life Energy
Alicia stared at the options.
Then immediately focused on the first one.
Regional Energy Balancer
The more she looked at it, the more correct it felt.
It fit everything she had been building so far.
And more importantly—
it would help the entire world, not just one race or one zone.
That was exactly the kind of function she needed.
Without hesitation, Alicia chose it.
"Purchase Regional Energy Balancer."
The system responded at once.
Ding!
[Purchase Successful]
Function acquired: Regional Energy Balancer
Would the host like to integrate this planetary function now?
Alicia did not even pause.
"Yes."
The moment she accepted, her planetary core trembled faintly.
A wave of subtle blue-gold light spread outward from the center of her existence, flowing through the land, water, forests, mountains, and skies.
Alicia immediately felt the difference.
It was not a violent change.
Not some giant burst of overwhelming power.
It was smoother than that.
Cleaner.
Like something previously messy had just clicked into place.
Energy began moving more naturally across the world.
Dense forest regions no longer hoarded so much Life Energy unnecessarily.
Excess Soul Power in one region slowly flowed toward weaker areas.
River systems carried more balanced spiritual nourishment.
The plains, which had always felt a little thinner in comparison, began growing slightly richer.
The highlands also changed.
Not enough to make them lush, but enough to make them feel less spiritually dry.
Alicia observed the shifts carefully.
"…Oh."
Then after another moment:
"…Oh, that's actually really good."
This wasn't flashy.
But it was important.
She could already tell.
The entire world felt more coherent now.
Not identical everywhere—because that would be bad and unnatural—
but more connected.
More stable.
The forests remained dense.
The rivers remained flowing.
The plains remained open.
But now the energy beneath them interacted more intelligently.
That would make future development much easier.
Alicia quickly turned her attention toward the humans.
The settlement near the river felt slightly more nourished than before.
The soil there became more balanced.
Plants would likely grow more reliably.
Nearby beasts also reacted to the subtle change, moving more comfortably through transitional areas that had previously been weaker.
The silver fox was, naturally, already present somewhere in the forest.
Alicia focused briefly and saw it pause near a tree root, sniff the air, then casually move toward a patch of denser spiritual growth as if it had immediately noticed the difference.
Alicia stared for a second.
Then thought:
"…I'm not even surprised anymore."
The fox had apparently decided to be relevant to everything.
She was starting to accept this as one of the world's natural laws.
Still, the important part was clear.
The new function was working.
And not only working—
it had integrated cleanly into the planetary system itself.
The system chimed once more.
Ding!
A blue screen appeared before her.
[Primitive Planet Requirement Updated]
6. Unlock and integrate one new planetary function
Status: Completed
Alicia looked at the screen for a few seconds.
Then smiled faintly.
"…Good."
That felt deserved.
This was not some meaningless feature added just to clear a task.
This was a genuinely useful function.
One that would continue helping her world long after this chapter of growth was over.
That mattered.
Because Alicia was slowly beginning to understand something very important about being a planet core:
The strongest world was not built by stacking random upgrades.
It was built by creating systems that supported growth over time.
And this—
this was one of those systems.
She looked at her requirement list again.
[Primitive Planet Requirements]
Increase planetary diameter to 500 ❌
Form stable freshwater and land cycles ✔
Create at least 3 complete environmental zones ✔
Nurture at least 2 intelligent life communities ✔
Reach a sufficient planetary Soul Power density ✔
Unlock and integrate one new planetary function ✔
Alicia stared at the list.
Then slowly came to one very obvious conclusion.
"…So now it's just diameter."
That was it.
Only one requirement remained before she could advance to the next planetary realm.
Alicia was quiet for a few moments after that.
Not because she was shocked.
Not because she was emotional.
But because the progress felt… real now.
At the beginning, everything had felt confusing and chaotic.
Darkness.
A system.
No body.
No idea what was going on.
And now?
Now she had a functioning world.
A world with life, structure, energy, and growing intelligence.
That was not a small thing.
That was huge.
Alicia let that thought settle quietly in her mind.
Then, after a while, she looked down at her world again and said:
"…Alright."
"One more requirement."
Her awareness drifted over the rivers.
The forests.
The plains.
The highlands.
The humans.
The beasts.
Everything was moving.
Everything was growing.
And everything felt just a little more complete than before.
The silver fox suddenly leapt out of a bush, stole something from another beast, and disappeared before being caught.
Alicia watched the entire thing happen.
Then thought:
"…You know what? I'm not helping you when karma finds you."
The fox, naturally, remained entirely unconcerned.
Alicia almost respected that.
Almost.
Then she turned her focus toward the future.
The next step was obvious now.
She needed more energy.
More expansion.
More growth.
Her world was close.
Very close.
And for the first time, Alicia could feel it clearly:
The Primitive Planet realm was no longer some distant goal.
It was within reach.
And that thought alone was enough to make her quietly excited.
Not wildly.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Because after all this work—
she had earned that much.