[Fast-forwarding is the act of…](Mia)

“It’s alright love... I understand what that means, but how can you do that?”

[By pressing the button master…](Mia)

Huh!? Was I suddenly a horribly stupid player that this genius child got stuck with? And why does it seem that she is starting to pity me for being dumb… Nah! Must be my imagination… right… my imagination….

“Can… can you show me those buttons?”

[Pfft!](E)

I glared at Eternity and she turned around ignoring my hateful gaze. I have a fragile ego, you know!? I won’t be able to withstand such treatment!

At that point Mia grabbed my hand and stood in front of me, blocking Eternity which was still laughing and glaring at her also. This sweet child… but you know, if you didn’t hurt me to begin with, there would be no need to defend me now…

[Here it is master!](Mia)

I wonder why I’m I suddenly feeling the breath of death down my neck. And why is the gorgeous Goddess angry all of a sudden!? Does Mia really dislike her? Kind of weird given that she was created based on her appearance. Or is it because of that?

Shaking the useless thoughts away, I looked at the bottom right of the holographic projection of Midgard, where three buttons were staringback at me: an arrow facing left, two parallel vertical lines and an arrow facing right. The rather retro looking things, made me think of an mp3 player.

When the realization dawned upon me, I randomly pressed them out of curiosity. Once the one in the middle was selected, time literally stopped on Midgard and even rain droplets were suspended in midair, defying gravity. With the one on the left, the droplets flew back into the air, shockingly giving me the option of reversing time. Wasn’t this too overpowered!? I could literally redo anything bad that might happen in the future and…

[It’s not going to last! Once the game begins, only fast forward will remain…](E)

“And you know that because…” - I grumbled unsatisfied at this vicious remark that destroyed my dreams...

[Goddess of Time, remember? Even if that was before coming to visit you, I doubt that the administrator would allow such a scale-tilting tool to remain once the game starts.](E)

“I guess it makes sense…” - I decided to acknowledge in a defeated manner

[Try keeping your finger on it for longer than a couple of seconds.](E)

Following her advice and thinking that as a Goddess of Time, she had a really unfair advantage being able to know what happens in the future, I pressed the fast-forward button for about three seconds and a notification appeared.

Player Michael Corbett, how many days would you like to fast forward?

“E, do you see this?”

[I do… wait, who’s E?](E)

“Eternity is too long… think of it as a pet name.”

[Wasn’t ‘Eternity’ supposed to be the pet name due to the fact that you are unable to pronounce my real name?](E)

“Come on, don’t be such a stick in the mud! We literally made it rain for the first time in the history of this world! That has to count for something…”

[…](E)

[Requesting permission to fast-forward 259 days, 2 hours and 25 minutes master!](Mia)

“Hehe, granted!”

The interface glowed briefly and following that, the real planet began orbiting around the Sun at a faster pace. The speed with which it was rotating around its own axis was quite scary as well…

[Reporting… Due to the gravitational field, the day-night cycle was properly initiated. Due to the Sun gravitational field, the seasonal changes have been initiated as well. Time required for Midgard to spin around its own axis is estimated to be around 26 hours, while a complete rotation around the star should be 372 days, 14 hours and 28 minutes.](Mia)

“Thank you Mia! That’s really helpful.”

While thinking about how those cycles were just a bit longer than Earth’s own, I also watched with interest how the temperature slowly dropped and stabilized at 287.243mK, which according to Mimi, was the perfect one to sustain future life on our world.

That also meant…

Mission complete!

The temperature has stabilized enough to allow future life to sprout on your world.

Not only that, but you have also created a self-sustainable atmosphere around the planet, which in a couple of hundred years, might be able to produce sweet-water in the form of rain.

Reward: sweet-water boost!

“Now that’s a strange reward. E, do you have any idea what that means?”

[Uhm… I’m afraid I do…](E)

Looking curiously at the beauty which replied with a shaking voice, I saw her looking slack-jawed at something, pointing in the general direction where the real planet was, behind the screens. I then noticed the sudden destruction my world was facing…

“Why the fuck is an asteroid heading for my planet out of nowhere!?” - I yelled in panic

[Correction! That’s a comet master.](Mia)

“I fail to see the difference, love! Given its stupidly huge size, does it actually matter what it is?”

Before another snarky reply could be provided, the comet met the planet’s newly developed atmosphere and literally imploded into billion pieces, making my heart-rate plummet to a stop in the process. Then, only a second later an explosion followed and the pieces became a white mist which spread out through the unending clouds above Midgard.

Somehow surviving a 'game over' scenario where a comet ends my world (worse than it did on Earth to dinosaurs) I barely managed to calmed down and breathed out in relief.

[Reporting… The reward containing sweet-water has been distributed around Midgard’s atmosphere. Due to it being overloaded with H2O compounds and a very low temperature, rain and hail will ensue for 132 days, 4 hours and 23 minutes.](Mia)

“Hail!? Will that lower the general temperature of Midgard?”

[Yes master! However it will go up after approximately another 283 days and climb back to its previously set up standard.](Mia)

“How will the rain… no! How will that comet impact Midgard, Mia?”

[Scanning the clouds structure… Analyzing newly acquired data… Compiling… The pressure is already increasing and it should stabilize around 10.300 pascals. Also, the sea level will increase allowing living organisms that feed of carbon dioxide and oxygen to slowly appear. As result, oxygen will be steadily released in the atmosphere at a faster pace.](Mia)

Mission two initiated: Pressure and Oxygen!

Life caught a foothold on Midgard. Regulate the levels of oxygen and pressure in order to increase their progression rate.

Reward: unknown

[Do you think the system will reward you with a proper asteroid this time around?](E)

“Stop with the gloating E… That literally scared the living lights out of me. And I was supposed to have Fear resistance maxed out… Mia, how can I regulate the pressure and oxygen levels?”

[Reporting… After calculations I found regulation of the two factors to be unnecessary. In 1726 years, the goals set up will be automatically met.](Mia)

“Can we fast-forward that much?”

[No master.](Mia)

“…so then, we wait?”

[Yes master!](E)

“…please Eternity, never do that again! Somehow, when you’re saying it, it brings a totally different feeling to the table…”

[Hehe! Caught you there! Is fine isn’t it? We just have to wait it out...](E)

“Right…”

It took probably five minutes of absolute silence to make me lose it and start playing with the World Management interface. That’s where I saw the changes which occurred.

Except population - still locked and not available - all other fields had values instead of question marks. That reminded me that I checked the description only for temperature. Knowing what other hints might be hidden through the texts, should prove useful in the long run… and it was a good way to kill time.

You’d think that with the most intelligent being since the creation of Earth and a Goddess of Time and Fate, there might be chatty atmosphere with a ton of stories going around... however the deafening silence left a really awkward mood which I was unable to break.

What!? I’m not exactly 'the life of the party' type of guy, you know!? The hell I’m I supposed to say to start a conversation with those two beings, without utterly embarrassing myself?

Pressure The most important factor of a planet’s atmosphere, is simply having one. Specifically, having air pressure similar to Earth’s 100.000 pascals at sea level.

From orbit, your planet’s atmospheric pressure will affect the visibility of the air above the surface: too thin and it will be invisible, too thick and it will be opaque. Current: 10825 pascals Growth: 105 pascals/day Goal: 100.000 pascals

So… the current atmosphere is surely too thin given that it was barely created, probably to the point where gases still left it unhindered by gravity, while the Sun’s radiations are more or less lethal to any type of lifeform.

Oxygen For human life to survive, you need 18-24% of the air to be breathable oxygen. Earth’s atmosphere has about 21%, or 210.00 parts-per-million.

Any less and you’ll suffocate, any more and you’ll die of oxygen toxicity.

From the orbit, too little oxygen will make the atmosphere look red, too much will be yellow and blue will be just right. Current: 8250ppm Growth: 625ppm/day Goal: 210.000ppm

Leaving aside the rather stringent requirements, that explains the red film around Midgard. But since both oxygen and pressure levels are increasing, how do I get them to stop afer the target was reached?

I should check with the girls for ideas soon, but before I embarrass myself I should at least explore all other options as well. I could use any piece of extra data I could get my hands on…

Water

One of the most famous keys to life as we know it, is obviously water. Not only is it necessary for the functioning of all life, it also allows for thriving undersea ecosystems.

Your planet’s sea level is measured in centimeters above the world’s lowest geographical point; as it rises, you will see it gradually filling in the lower-elevated regions on Midgard.

Currently frozen in ice: 82765 worth of centimeters above sea level.

Current: 123.587cm Growth: +50cm/day Goal: 600.000 cm

Hmm? Wait! Doesn’t this mean that is a chain reaction? Due to the water supporting plant-life and the other organisms, the oxygen level will increase due to the CO2 consumption and as a result the atmospheric pressure will stabilize. Right?

“Mia, how long will it take for the first oxygen creating organism to be born in water?”

[Reporting… above 1000 years with approximations master.](Mia)

“Why that long?”

[Analyzing data… Compiling… That is because most of the geographic locations of the gathering water master. Time is required for water to naturally shape the land and gather, after which stagnate long enough to allow life to bloom.](Mia)

“Figured as much! That’s good!”

[Is it? That’s quite the time to wait for microbes and small plants to appear underwater…](E)

“True! However…”

Biomass

Before your planet is ready to support human population, you’ll need to start seeding plant life and building a global ecosystem.

Midgard can currently support 750.000 megatons of total biomass. As the biomass of your planet increases, you’ll start to see more and more of it being covered by green lush.

Plant life requires 10000 pascals of pressure as a bare minimum in order to exist.

Be careful of animal and human biomass consumption!

Current: 0mT Growth: 0mT/day Goal: 750.000mT

“…what if we help the waters settle down faster?”

[Eh!? You mean…](E)

“Let’s create some continents! Mia, if we form Midgard’s final geographic ‘look’ ourselves, could we speed up the process of stabilizing the temperature, pressure, oxygen, water and biomass levels at the same time? Or at least, will it help in doing so?”

Why did I think of forcibly creating the continents and the geographic map of the world? Because I saw Mia create those volcanoes and I realized that I can mold this world into whatever I want. So why not use that to my benefit?

[Acknowledged! Scanning current environment for changes… Analyzing provided data… Simulating the requested scenario… Yes! Depending on the size of the land, the variables might change though. Please specify the desired land dimensions, as well as the maximum supported population.](Mia)

“Hmm… for your simulation, two large continents will suffice. One will remain empty for now and the one which will support the building of the civilization should accommodate up to 5 billion people at maximum. The two continents will be connected by a path that’s… 5000km long and 500km wide, acting as a bridge between them. Water can surround both continents, but potable water sources must exist in the form of rivers, ponds and lakes inland. Regarding the mountains, hills and plains or valleys, I will let you decide based on the best arrangement for the water level to raise faster.”

[Acknowledged! Simulating…](Mia)

[You’ve surely though this through. Your reasoning for the empty continent?](E)

“And here I thought you might actually enjoy the later surprise, rather than ruining the fun by knowing what will happen in advance…”

[Oh! That’s right! I don’t need to know that far ahead… I can just wait and see!](E)

I laughed weakly at the sudden revelation this Goddess went through and looked away evasively. Of course, I didn’t do so because I thought that by splitting civilizations into different parts of the world would lead to less wars... or the fact that I thought that a single continent surrounded by water was way too apocalyptic… or that just ripping off Earth and create the same seven continents would be stupid....

What will I do with the second continent? Well, I could use it as an 'expansion pack' for the civilization later on or just build myself a million temples there.

With thousands of years to decide, I’m sure it’s not going to pose an issue.

[Master, I’ve finished running the simulation. Would you like to hear the results?]

“Eh? Mia, did your speech suddenly improved?”

[Yes master, it did. A certain amount of time is required to adapt to the information gathered from your brain.](Mia)

The way she put it… somehow made me feel like crying. Why is my knowledge suddenly treated as a virus that was hard to overcome?

“Oh…is that so… Yes please, let me know the results…”