The Great Firmament's Expansion
Before creating a new legion commander, it seems an unification ritual will be necessary. In other words, synchronization work with the other clones.
──Traveling back in time, right after the eleventh collision. While the meeting-room clone went to meet Mihun and the community clone gathered information, I—the clone in charge of expanding the no-man's land—spread the domain known as the Great Firmament widely across my entire ecosystem.
As I unfolded the Great Firmament over the whole ecosystem, I recalled the Panwol system I had experienced in the game and the text about the no-man's land, which I had once thought was merely in-game lore.
In the game, the no-man's land was divided into three material-realm zones, three spirit-realm zones, and one Great Universe. The Great Nature was, quite literally, the wild. It filled the "inside" of the material realm. Various creatures that players had not created emerged from here. The presence of these beings could also introduce plagues, parasites, pests, and harmful beasts into the ecosystem.
The Great Underworld was, quite literally, the underground. It gave "depth" to the material realm. From this point onward, magnetic fields would form, volcanic activity and earthquakes could occur due to geothermal heat, and underground resources would be produced.
The Great Ocean was, quite literally, the sea. It gave "breadth" to the material realm. Along with marine ecosystems, resources, islands, and coastlines, the sea would generate "climate," bringing typhoons in its wake.
Benefits and drawbacks were two sides of the same coin. Some civilizations viewed the sea as something they could expand across infinitely, while others felt isolated by it.
Active volcanic and tectonic activity might seem detrimental, yet how vast were the mineral resources one could mine from beneath the earth?
The same duality applied to nature: an increase in species could either ruin an ecosystem through invasive influx or bring tangible gains.
These characteristics held true even for the spirit-realm no-man's lands.
The Great Phantasm was, quite literally, the dream realm. It filled the "inside" of the spirit realm.
The Great Boundary was, quite literally, the underworld. It gave "depth" to the spirit realm.
The Great Firmament was, quite literally, the sky. It gave "breadth" to the spirit realm.
For someone from a science-dominated world, this was difficult to grasp, so to put it simply: the Great Phantasm was the world of dreams, illusions, and emotions that people accessed while dreaming. Mysteries related to mind, illusion, and emotion were tied to this place. In other words, it was where intelligent spirit beings—such as elementals—resided among the spiritual entities of the spirit realm.
Umjeory's demon race, which fed on pain and despair, was a textbook example of a species belonging to the Great Phantasm. And from what I had heard, Sesaisa's world was almost entirely connected to this realm as well.
The Great Boundary was the place linked to other worlds known as the underworld. Mysteries of space-time—which I used extensively—along with death and soul, as well as those dealing with blessings, curses, and concepts themselves, all belonged here.
Mitomok's world had also been connected to this place, allowing Jumito to perform rituals and give birth to Wafflach-Nacha.
And then there was the Great Firmament, which I had just expanded and which was the most important of all. Here, elemental mysteries gathered: fire, water, light, wind, lightning, darkness, and so on. This was what gave rise to climate.
However, because this was a fantastical space rather than Earth's sky, even things like rock could coalesce here. What happened then? Floating landmasses drifting through the sky.
Just like the floating terrains already present in my ecosystem—the Sky Garden or the Cloud Bridge—or the Sky Staircase and Cloud Garden found in Mihun's world.
These terrains, which did not exist on Earth, were not landmasses defying gravity. They simply floated within the vast currents of the Great Firmament.
In fact, ordinary residents of a fantasy world would likely retort, "Why doesn't the world called Earth have a Great Firmament?"
Earth's atmosphere was held in place solely by the gravity of a massive landmass; spiritually speaking, it lacked what was defined as the "firmament."
Honestly, as someone from Earth, I could not fully comprehend it. Sesaisa treated it as an obvious academic fact, while Mihun and Wahando simply accepted it as "natural." That made someone like me the odd one out.
Still, one did not need to understand the inner workings of semiconductors to use a smartphone.
Since my study-oriented clone was diligently acquiring knowledge, I had also gained a vague understanding of the Great Firmament. Using the power of Deity-World Oneness, I continued expanding it.
Expanding the Great Firmament naturally meant expanding the sky.
Corresponding to the Great Ocean, its form resembled the sea.
Places high enough to touch the sky, like mountains, became "islands." The sky grew "shallower" around these islands, while the more terrain that did not touch the ground, the "deeper" the sky became.
"If the sea pools 'below' where there is land, then the sky pools 'above,' I suppose."
Just as the "floor" of the sea held landmasses—in other words, the Great Underworld—the "ceiling" of the sky held the boundary of the world. In other words, the Great Boundary. Well… it was hard to understand, but fine. I got it.
This sky served as a medium that stored and transported elemental flows. Once I covered my entire ecosystem with a thick sky, the climates of worlds that had once been separate for each god fragment unified into a single flow.
That unified climate was, frankly, catastrophic. Until now, when grassland and desert terrains were adjacent, each had maintained its own climate—humid and temperate for the grassland, hot and dry for the desert. Now that the sky connected them, climates no longer existed independently, and my world's weather turned chaotic.
The desert terrain around the Nectar Well radiated immense light and heat.
The vast grassland terrain taken from Ogolraeot maintained moderate temperatures and humidity.
The jungle terrain taken from Mitomok provided extreme heat and high humidity.
The coastal terrain taken from Dindinaron brought moist sea breezes and a relatively warm climate.
The desolate wilderness and cultivated lands taken from Umjeory offered a climate with distinct four seasons.
All of these combined, their intensity varying according to the level of the god fragments embedded in the sacred sites.
The 2,048 god fragments I had collected so far—each with vastly different levels—exerted their power through the sky as a medium, forming separate atmospheres that clashed violently, their temperatures, humidities, and wind strengths all differing. The world was ravaged by typhoons born from pressure differences.
Yet this had to be endured. Climate change occurred not only in the material realm but in the spiritual realm as well.
The sky-medium covering my ecosystem began reacting violently as hot-dry, humid-temperate, and sea-breeze climates mixed together.
"What was that all of a sudden?"
"Nothing. I was just imitating Marquis Sesaisa."
I had already consulted with Sesaisa and learned the relevant knowledge in preparation for this. A method to connect the turbulent sky currents to the artificial spirit realm of Creamland, thereby generating even greater faith.
It was like placing a wind farm where the wind blew fiercely or a tidal power plant where the waves crashed violently. Thanks to Sesaisa, I had been able to create it, and I had purchased and learned how to repair and expand it from others.
The world's score has exceeded 14,309,837 points, raising the level to 17.
Magnificent. My faith level had risen by one in a single leap. As expected, expanding into the spirit-realm side produced results on an entirely different scale.
Thus, another clone was born, and my divine power increased dramatically once more. The new clone was assigned to manage the world being torn apart by the broken climate.
The turbulent sky, the countless climates condensing and generating wildly, the landmasses drifting through the heavens—these were held in check by immense divine power and the might of World Shaping.
During the process of covering the world with sky, the chaotic climate gradually stabilized. As the god fragments were relocated, the dominant climate and terrain of the world were established.
Ultimately, the identity of my ecosystem remained, as expected, the desert. Roughly half the world now possessed a desert climate befitting the name Dessert Desert.
When immense light and heat bombarded the surface, evaporated moisture formed clouds and rained upon the jungle, grassland, and swamp regions—though fewer in number than the desert, they still occupied a significant portion. Rivers flowing from these areas created floodplains in the desert, forming fertile wetlands within the scorching desert that the blazing sunlight could not wither.
And there, countless creatures thrived. The desert, filled with sand, gravel, rocks, and salt, would instantly germinate and bloom with flowers whenever rain fell. It overflowed with countless plants, cacti, and Gumi Trees greedily absorbing water. These Gumi Trees bore fruit that lured Gamchi, which gnawed on rocks and drank water even in the desert terrain. Syrup rivers overflowed everywhere, and nectar gushed from the ground, allowing the Gamchi to feed. Thus, despite being a desert, an incomparably healthy and abundant ecosystem took shape.
That was not the end. Just as the sea teemed with the most life, the Great Firmament—the spirit-realm zone closest to the material realm—also hosted an enormous number of living beings. Unlike those dwelling in the Great Phantasm, these were "firmament creatures" with lower self-awareness but immense size and power.
These beings, which lived in the sky and fed on flows, were called "magic beasts" in game terminology. Neither animal nor plant, they were mystical lifeforms that sustained themselves on magic power.
"Yogur-tosoth. Prepare yourself."
【It shall be done.】
From the celestial magic power emanating from the Milky Way under Yogur-tosoth's control, along with the powerful flows emitted by the satellites within it, countless dairy-product legions were nurtured. They ascended into the sky, devouring, multiplying, and evolving. Several clones attached themselves to accelerate this evolution, fusing existing magic beasts with the dairy-product entities.
Though lacking in self-awareness, they now possessed powerful bodies. They became beings capable of emitting elemental mysteries—the very thing Yogur-tosoth had desired—altering climates, consuming those climates, and, in the long term, manipulating climate itself.
Now, at last, I could bestow names upon these nameless milk-based spirits.
"You, who were born from milk and gained physical form, shall be called Cheese."
"I had suspected as much."
"Well, cheese is often served as dessert in the West rather than the East, after all."
It was an extremely broad classification. All magic beasts living in the Great Firmament were lumped together as Cheese.
But since cheese itself covered such a wide range, it hardly mattered.
"For reference, curd is milk that has been coagulated, cheese is fermented curd, and whey is the liquid left after coagulating the curd. Cream and butter refer to the fatty mass extracted from milk."
"Yes. Well. Thank you for the knowledge I had no particular interest in. Do you intend to use all of that as biological classification names?"
Honestly, these creatures had diverged into so many different species that I did not feel like naming each one individually. To my eyes, magic beasts were simply magic as well.
Still, one thought occurred to me. Had the name Milky Way been too straightforward? Should I have called it Milky Whey instead? That sounded a bit odd, though.
"No, well… it hardly matters. Yes…"
I had been observing with great satisfaction as the dairy-product spirits emerging from the Milky Way devoured the firmament's magic beasts and spread widely, when suddenly the sky grew unstable.
"Hmm?"
Then Yogur-tosoth urgently offered counsel.
【Creator. It appears the power of the Milky Way is being suppressed by the sky and cannot fully exert its might. If no measures are taken, it seems we will completely lose control over this celestial army.】
What?
I had thought the sky would be conquered without issue, yet an unexpected problem had arisen… Right. Come to think of it, as the sky thickened, observing the universe became difficult. It had been the same during Panwol.
Even so, I could not reduce the sky I had worked so hard to expand.
It seemed I would need a new legion commander to control the sky. If Yogur-tosoth ruled the cosmos, then a commander who ruled the sky.
And the usable materials were…
I turned the gazes of two clones in different directions.
One toward the Milky Way. The celestial bodies and satellites there, each emitting their own distinct power.
The other toward the underground. The place where all of Umjeory's demons had been swept away by a torrent of emotions, yet had not completely perished—only congealed into a massive, doughy clump of souls.
There were more than enough resources to create a legion commander. If I could obtain a method to turn those two into living beings, perhaps I could create a new legion commander?