It made me realize, this young man was never an Author.

He's always been a gamer.

Games also brought me the most fun, compared to everything else.

I've come across games with nice stories and graphics, but if I didn't like the gameplay, I will drop it.

Not all games need story or graphics—or even a platform to run.

You could even consider the little stuff that kids do, like trying to walk all the way home on the white lines or the good ol' hide and seek.

The crux of games were the rules. From the simple Tic-Tac-Toe to Pen and Paper RPGs. Not every rule was fun for everyone, that's why a wide selection of games exist.

The young man complained that he had no imagination to create a whole world.

"It's not like you need to imagine everything. You just need to declare a rule and 'poof', everything will be made."

As such, he wanted the universe to be just like Earth. With his own Milky Way, Sun, Moon, Mars, and all the other planets.

The pile of poop molded itself into the land, and the whole ocean was purified from filth.

Fishes began to populate the ocean--the survival of the fittest game began, but something was strange.

In the deepest part of the ocean, near the hydrothermal vents, was ship wreckage. The tube-shaped tentacles from the seafloor wrapped themselves around, melding it together.

It became a ship covered in mold and tentacle—reaping the souls of everyone who dared come near.

Meanwhile, in the shallow waters of Pangea was a certain minnow. He had no name, but he knew he was different from others.

First of all, was the status screen in front of him. By eating, he could gain points, which he could use to strengthen his body.

In the beginning, he had no consciousness, only instinct to survive and breed—but after eating a certain shiny thing that floated in a sea cavern, he could think as good as a human being.

His curiosity to explore the world far exceeds his primal instinct. Somehow, finding a mate and breed didn't seem interesting anymore.

He just knew, that there were so many things going in this world, and he didn't want to die before he explored it all.

The second thing--he no longer felt hunger. While he still enjoyed his meals, it wasn't necessary to sustain him.

A lot of time had passed since then. He went from one sea to the other and killed lots of fish.

Even if he ended up dying, he could just revive by paying half of his points.

The fish no longer looked like a minnow. His body parts were a mix of a shark with thick armor and angler horn.

As an apex predator, he could venture anywhere.

Eventually, he came across the abyssal zone, the deep sea. The influx of water pressure nearly caused his body to explode, but by spending his points, he could change into the body type that suits the environment.

With his angler horn showing the way, he found that a lot of fish in this area were blind and pale. They barely had any bone density as well.

It was pitch dark, aside from his light and the signals from bioluminescent fishes.

Some tried to fight him, but most couldn't even penetrate his armor. Their thin skin just made it a free real estate for his shark teeth.

More time passed; he's now a depiction of living monstrosity.

One day, he met with the tentacle ship. Out of all apex predators he fought, it was the weirdest one.

While it laid uncontested with its hard body and tentacles that seem able to crush everything—it was futile against the fish.

The tentacles would tear itself and get impaled by his heavily armored spikes.

The smack of his rear fin immediately capsized the hull; countless tentacles latched onto him, but they quickly turned purple and rot; washed away by currents of the abyssal sea.

"It was quite weak", the fish thought.

While it's hard at the beginning, no one else could pose a challenge to him—not even nature itself.

The only place left was the hydrothermal vent.

He came to a peculiar spot with debris left from the ship wreckage.

Something's glowing and pulsating from below; igniting his curiosity to poke deeper.

With his strength, it was easy to make a large crack on the seafloor. As scorching current pervade his skin, it made him wish to scream the loudest, in his life.

...but he actually survived the magma and even developed resistance to it.

Though, that wasn't the end.

The hot current pushed tons of gasses from below the Earth, the pressure was so big, it propelled him from the undersea to the surface, akin to a rocket launch.

He eventually crashed on the coast of Pangea.

"I could still breathe?"

It was the first time that oxygen filled the surface.

Following him, the fishes started to appear from the coast; growing legs of their own.

Looking at his monstrous display, the legged fishes couldn't move further.

An old coelafish dared to step forward and kowtowed.

"God! Please lend us your wisdom."

It was an old man's hoarse voice. As he turned towards the source, he felt like he's getting a headache.

He blurted, "How the fuck could a fish speak human language?"

The coelafish continued, "We are those who ate the Crystal of Knowledge, and followed your footsteps. Your wish is our command."

The fish thought of many things.

For one, he had lost track of time down there.

Was it a year? Many years, or hundreds of years?

So first of all, he decided to establish a calendar.

From now on, it would be the beginning of the Cambrian year.

He's eventually known as the Elder God of the Fishmen--the Deep One.

gaylolis

Adding the Sci-fi tag for this.

I didn't really do prior research. I just tried to remember my experience watching TierZoo and playing EVO: Search for Eden.

Probably a long arc for once. Need to go 40k since the deadline's incoming but I won't push it too much.