The day after summoning three replacent sprites, Ethan decided not to rush back to Planet 042.
The University Recruitnt Competition was still weeks away.
There was no reason to act recklessly.
For now, developnt ca first.
His consciousness drifted above the Origin Sphere as he observed the civilization below.
The forest remained peaceful.
Sunlight filtered through the trees.
The spring sparkled beneath the morning sky.
Small groups of sprites wandered throughout the world.
So explored.
So played.
Others simply rested.
The Fire Sprite was attempting to organize the Elentless Sprites.
The results were terrible.
Every few minutes, it beca distracted and ran off to do sothing else.
The Water Sprite eventually took over.
The difference was imdiate.
The Elentless Sprites naturally followed its instructions.
The Fire Sprite seed offended by this.
Ethan laughed.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that the elental sprites possessed different personalities.
The Earth Sprite remained beside the Earth Beast Horn.
The Air Sprite was asleep on a tree branch.
And the Water Sprite had sohow beco responsible for keeping the others organized.
Hours passed peacefully.
Then sothing unexpected happened.
One of the Elentless Sprites wandered farther from the spring than usual.
Ethan barely paid attention at first.
The world wasn't large enough for anything dangerous to exist.
The sprite climbed over a rocky hill near the edge of the forest.
Then suddenly stopped.
The little creature tilted its head.
Sothing had caught its attention.
A faint tallic glimr protruded from exposed stone.
The sprite approached curiously.
It poked the shiny object.
Nothing happened.
It poked it again.
Still nothing.
The sprite then did what every curious creature eventually does.
It tried pulling it out.
The tallic object refused to move.
Several minutes later, the sprite abandoned the effort and wandered away.
Ethan, however, was interested.
His consciousness focused on the location.
The glimr appeared to be part of a larger deposit hidden beneath the rock.
The mont his attention settled on it, a notification appeared.
Resource Detected
Ethan imdiately sat upright.
A resource.
His first naturally discovered resource within the Origin Sphere.
He focused on the notification.
Another window appeared.
Low Grade Iron Deposit
Grade: Common
Contains usable tal resources.
Suitable for extraction.
The description was simple.
Yet Ethan stared at it for several seconds.
Iron.
Actual iron.
Not a beast material.
Not a resource brought back from another world.
A naturally occurring deposit within his own Origin Sphere.
His mind imdiately began racing.
Resources were important.
Extrely important.
Entire technological civilizations depended on them.
Even though Ethan followed the Elental Path, resources still possessed value.
The question was how the deposit had appeared.
The answer wasn't difficult to guess.
World developnt.
As his world continued developing, new resources were naturally erging.
That explanation made the most sense.
The notification had appeared shortly after another developnt increase.
The timing was too convenient to ignore.
Ethan continued studying the deposit.
It wasn't enormous.
But it wasn't tiny either.
Several chunks of iron-bearing stone were visible through the rock face.
The system hadn't indicated any extraordinary value.
Just a standard common resource.
Even so, Ethan found himself smiling.
The discovery represented growth.
Real growth.
His world wasn't remaining static.
It was changing.
Developing.
Expanding.
The Earth Sprite eventually arrived.
The mont it saw the exposed deposit, it beca interested.
Unlike the Elentless Sprite, it imdiately began manipulating nearby stone.
Small fragnts broke away from the surface.
A section of the deposit beca visible.
The Earth Sprite seed pleased with itself.
Several nearby Elentless Sprites gathered around.
They watched curiously as the Earth Sprite continued digging.
The process was slow.
Painfully slow.
But it worked.
A small chunk of ore eventually broke free.
The Earth Sprite proudly held it above its head.
The surrounding sprites stared.
Then imdiately began imitating it.
Within minutes, dozens of sprites were attacking the hillside.
So used rocks.
Others used sticks.
A few simply punched the stone.
The results were chaotic.
Ethan couldn't stop laughing.
The Iron Deposit wasn't the most valuable thing he had ever seen.
But watching ninety-five Elentless Sprites invent mining with absolutely no experience was surprisingly entertaining.
The Earth Sprite eventually beca frustrated.
Several tis it pushed other sprites away from the deposit.
The Fire Sprite arrived shortly afterward.
It imdiately tried heating a section of exposed rock.
Nothing useful happened.
The Air Sprite appeared next.
It contributed absolutely nothing before returning to its tree.
The Water Sprite at least attempted to maintain order.
With limited success.
By sunset, a small pile of extracted ore sat near the spring.
The amount wasn't impressive.
But it was real.
A tangible result of developnt.
As night settled over the world, Ethan opened his interface.
[ Origin System ] [ Synthesis ]
Na: Ethan Reed
Stage: 1 — Novice Creator
World Type: Elental
Origin Energy: 1,030
Origin Credits: 600 CR
System Points: 60 SP
Units: 99
Elentless Sprite ×95
Water Sprite ×1
Fire Sprite ×1
Earth Sprite ×1
Air Sprite ×1
XP: 11 / 1,000
Everything appeared normal.
Yet Ethan felt increasingly optimistic.
The world was changing.
The civilization was growing.
Resources were appearing.
Origin Energy generation was improving.
And he still had over twenty days before the University Recruitnt Competition.
For the first ti since awakening, Ethan felt like he was beginning to understand what it ant to be a Creator.
Not a warrior.
Not a commander.
A Creator.
Soone who built a civilization from nothing.
Soone who guided a world toward prosperity.
Soone who transford potential into reality.
And tomorrow, he would return to Planet 042.
Because while developnt was important, the path ahead still required resources.
Resources that could only be obtained beyond the safety of his own world.
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