Flashes of lightning illuminate jagged mountains; Thunder booms throughout the sky moments later. Wind and rain batter rocky slopes whilst a lone figure climbs the mountain. The man's bare body is buffeted by both wind and rain, yet he maintains his grip on the rock.
Ben's face is splashed with torrential rain as he inches his way up the slope. His hands and feet struggle to grip the wet surfaces, yet he persists.
"This storm is making things so much harder than they need to be."
Ben curses the weather under his breath as he pulls himself onto an outcropping of rock. He uses his hand to wipe water from his eyes, and spots a small cave.
Thunder deafens Ben as he scrambles along the rocky ledge and into the cave. The cave is more of a hole in the wall than an actual cave, but this doesn't bother Ben. His soaked nude body shivers in the embrace of the mountain.
"I'll rest for a bit. Hopefully the storm will pass while I'm in here."
~
The storm finally passes. Ben is relieved to hear the wind die down, and see clear skies. He crawls out of the cramped cave before standing upright. He stretches, glancing up at the mountain ahead of him.
The shimmering colors of a rainbow catch Ben's eye. He marvels at the size of the thing, but it quickly fades away.
"I'll consider that a good omen."
Ben dusts off his hands as well as his feet. He hoists himself up along the steep incline using small outcroppings as handholds; His feet find the same protrusions to be footholds. Ben scurries his way up the mountain's slope.
~
The all too familiar golden glow of a cube illuminates Ben's face as he finally reaches the upmost peak. Ben could sense it the whole way here, but now he can finally see it.
"This was fun while it lasted, but it's time to go."
Ben's lips form a melancholy smile as he steps up to the cube. He places his palm on the metallic surface, and closes his eyes.
Ben's torn memories stitch themselves together as golden energy flows into him. He remembers splitting himself into five pieces; One piece in a human body, and four in metal vessels which only open for Ben.
Ben's human body suddenly loses consciousness. The lifeless vessel of flesh and bone falls to its back; Ben's true body departs quickly into the sky.
~
"It's good to be god again."
Ben checks the clockwork array beneath his world, and is pleased to see its only been three days since he created the timekeeper. Ben focuses on his realm; His pilgrimage has brought several flaws to his attention.
"It was immensely difficult to clothe myself."
Ben manifests a new plant; The green fern is adorned with broad rubbery leaves. He intends for humanity to create primitive textiles with these leaves.
Ben is satisfied with the ferns, and erases the test specimen before contemplating the next issue.
"Primitive humans won't know how to create fire with friction."
Ben knows that humanity would likely discover fire making methods if left alone, but giving them more than one method to discover is reasonable.
Brittle stone manifests as Ben recalls the properties of flint. Unlike Earth's version of flint, Ben's flint is capable of creating sparks from tiny amounts of friction. Ben tests his new mineral by dropping a pebble onto it; The result is a satisfying shower of sparks.
Ben is pleased with the new sparking stone, and promptly erases the sample in order to move on to the next issue.
"The only threat was that freakishly big centipede."
Ben isn't ashamed to admit that centipede terrified him, but a tribe of people wouldn't have problems killing that monster.
To combat large groups of humans Ben creates the wolf. This particular variant is a cautious pack hunter; They will only attack if they are certain of victory, unless they are starving.
Ben isn't pleased with the idea of humans being wolves' sole food source. To resolve the issue he decides to create a prey animal that can challenge the wolves.
Ben erases his wolf specimen only to replace it with a tawny brown deer. These skittish animals will move in herds and draw the wolves away from the humans.
"Now to address the magnitude of the world."
During Ben's brief journey he saw everything his world has to offer. The scope of his reality felt too small, therefore he'll expand it.
The mountains at the edge of the world begin to rumble. Animals flee toward the center of the realm as they fear an immense disaster. Ben leaves several mountains intact, albeit the majority of the mountain range collapses under the pressure of Ben's power.
The bedrock grows out in all directions whilst void crystal grows in clusters along the bottom of the realm; The realm's size has tripled.
"This is more like it!"
Ben pulls the edges of the world upwards, and creates peaks twice as tall as the original mountains. Clusters of void crystal support these monolithic mountain ranges.
With the boundaries of his world complete, he raises stone and soil to match the original terrain. Ben creates a new lake, and two rivers feeding into it. The forest is extended to cover a little over half the landscape, while the grassland fills the remaining space. Beneath the surface several caves are carved with a natura. Deposits of Tarnum and Nirnum are scattered throughout the rock; Much rarer gemstones are also spread throughout the newly formed terrain.
"I can feel myself getting faint. I'm running out of energy."
Ben pushes himself to finish the expansion with a few adjustments to divine law. The divine law governing weather is extended to cover the new regions, and a new divine law creates immense winds which blow in from the edges of the world. Whether its in the sky or on the mountain slopes, gale force winds will force back anything attempting to leave the realm.
"I can't resist any longer. Hopefully I didn't forget anything..."
Ben's consciousness fades abruptly.
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Make a statue of himself to flex on his creation.
I think he should add valley, trench in the sea and earth, and a shrine and show how the world is made
Nice
Thanks for the chapter!