"On planet earth. There is a food chain. There is a complex food web. From insects to aves, to mammals to aquatic creatures."

"From plants that transform the elements into form. To those that consume this form. There is a loss in how energy is expressed."

"There is also an accumulation in this scenario."

"If I am to create a body in my image. I will base it off humanity. But there is no need for organs or blood."

Somnus had his own plans.

"Spiritual Superposition!"

"In the works of fiction I had read as a mortal. There was a concept of refining Qi and defying the heavens."

"You have things like spiritual roots, a dantian, a sea of consciousness, a spiritual sense, a soul."

"Just like how genes and the environment shape the organism."

"These creatures will be spiritual in nature."

"My reality is too simple. There is no atoms, no cells in the real sense. But that doesn't mean matter can't exist in other ways."

"The materials that make the environment in dreams don't have an underlying foundation. Things just are."

"A body made of flesh and blood isn't necessarily required."

"Much like how the elves are born from nature. The creatures of my reality will manifest from the clashing of elements."

"A body both spiritual and physical."

The schematic of the body for 'Universe #01'. It looked like a human. But that was only on the surface. There was no sexual organs. There were no internal organs. It did have eyes and a mouth, a nose, and ears. The only internal organ it had was a brain. It also had a nervous system.

There was a skeleton and muscle system. Protected by the ribcage was the 'source'.

Since this reality didn't have genetic data. Somnus designed the source as the information expresser.

In the center of the source was a pea sized crystal.

This was the dantian.

The body didn't require nourishment from the world. The source itself was a sort of the lifespan shackle. The brain was the most important organ. The source was like the heart that pumped energy throughout the body. This included it flowing through the brain.

This powered the sensory organs and made sense of the data of the universe.

The source also determined the shape of the body. A freshly born existence was wearing daoist robes and looked like an adult from the start.

As the source grew older and weaker. So would the body.

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Somnus transported the temple that was both false and true. The first universe's planet was a few motems in diameter. There were beautiful waterfalls. Floating islands connected by rock and vines, and a golden temple that looked timeless.

Zhar regained consciousness. He moved his fingers and looked at his hands.

"I'm back!"

Somnus observed Zhar and watched something interesting happen. Zhar's body started to warp under the laws of this universe. His body was originally a spiritual body turned true. Despite it being spiritual. It still had the the structures of a past era.

Zhar had also acquired a uniqueness that allowed him to retain his memories across the changes in history. This meant he remembered spending thousands of years frozen. He was quite happy to be able to walk around the temple. The feeling of being paralyzed as information was not enjoyable.

The entire universe started to shake. The waterfalls started to flow upwards. Time seemed to stop. A fog filled the entire universe.

A man in a black suit.

A face blurred by fog.

"Welcome back!" Zhar bowed.

Time seemed to resume.

Somnus had sent a thread of his consciousness into a freshly constructed body.

He grasped his hands.

"So weak."

Somnus wanted to practice cultivation. But now was not the time.

Seizing a body meant that the bodies limits would apply to him. He had already become the dream seed and fused with reality. There was no undoing what had been done.

"This is only the beginning!"

"First. I must create a recursion of events that create others existences. A new race."

"I shall call these entities concepts."

Somnus wasn't building your typical world. A thunderstorm started to appear covering the small world. As the elements clashed.

Zhar observed closely. He had no idea what was happening. He almost never did.

"Born from the five main elements!"

"It is neither an elemental or a golem..."

"Behold!"

"A concept!"

Somnus had created a world will for the entirety of 'Universe #01'. Just like how he had made an existence to observe and log time. This was the 'mother' of the world.

The world was shaking and the wind was like a tornado.

Zhar was soaked in water as he tried to not get blown away. Somnus was standing there unmoved as if in his own world.

A sliver of the world will split a thread from its source.

The universe had a source.

Everything had a 'source'.

It was the core part of an existence. This was a rule weaved into the very fabric of the universe.

A women who appeared to be in her twenties manifested in the air. Her robes were white and had the yin and yang symbol engraved into them.

She remained floating.

She was asleep.

Somnus observed her for a few minutes until Zhar started to speak.

"Atesh... I have no idea what any of this is..."

Somnus ignored him and spoke:

"I call them concepts. They are born from the storm of elements in the universe. Their lifespan is a thousand years."

"But the special thing about them is that they get to shape their appearance like clay as they are born. The process of their source getting created is a delicate one."

"But them existing is just the first cycle of their life."

"Right now they are essentially a baby."

"A concept starts like what you are looking at now. In an extremely weak state. But with an instinctive knack for manipulating reality."

"They sleep for a majority of their lifespan. It is the dream that they have that I am more interested in."

"They have a thousand years to wake up from this dream."

"They must become a law of reality. If they can do this."

"Their lifespan becomes infinite!"

"But the process of them dreaming causes waves of chaos in the universe, these waves create more elemental storms. This splits more source from the world will, causing even more concepts to be born. The moment they master a law. Their body will shed its mortal coil."

"This is the moment their source is etched on eternity."

"This is all a test either way. I figure I'd let it run for a few millennia."

Somnus started to become transparent as he dismissed this thread.

"Wait! Take me with you! I-" Zhar didn't want to be alone for thousands of years... again.

"I almost forgot. You are an anomaly."

Somnus flicked his finger and Zhar was disintegrated. His source was the only thing that remained. The women's waves of chaos caused another storm.

Zhar manifested as a 'concept'.

He was sleeping.

"A lifespan of a thouand years... as well as the memories of an entirely different reality. You have quite the advantage compared to the other concepts..."

Somnus vanished.

"I'll let this cook for awhile."