A crash in the night. It had awoken Siul from his nightly dreams. A trail of grumbles and hard steps followed. It was too late to be dealing with problems in the old house.

How had it even broken in the first place? Last he checked, which was a year ago, the house was as pristine as a newly sharpened sword. Not to say there wasn't some wear and tear, but it could easily be considered safe and cozy.

However, forced to investigate the source with caution, he walked down and around into the basement while grumbling with tired eyes. He did not want any pest to rummage through the basement, lest he find himself with an infestation.

"Too much stuff..." He had never realized it, but over the years, he had thrown many things down the basement. Stuff that which he never saw again since then.

His eyes caught a box covered in dust. He carefully opened it only to find it full of old dog toys and other pet care equipment.

"Ah, Griffin's toys... Miss that old cloud." He remembered the lively four legged beast. Large and not to mention fluffy, his maw bit on only the grandest of occasions and that was if only a nibble.

He continued to wade through his basement, trying to find the origin of the crash. It was loud enough to wake him up from the top room of his two story house. It was just about as far as he could be from the basement.

A sound of running water; a stream, had not stopped bothering him since he stepped on the cold concrete underneath his house. He searched continuously, but it seemed he had no luck. A worry was growing larger, that there was a potentially bad leak somewhere.

He moved a few boxes and then he saw it. Right there, in the corner, what looked to be a sinkhole laid in a cracked and ragged circle. The concrete surrounding it still sprinkled some dust.

Pressing the flashlight on his holoband; the latest generation device replacing phones with light holographic technology, he peered down into the hole. There were various broken ruins of his old belongings and broken debris laying on the floor. The sinkhole had revealed a small cavern.

Seeing a shine to the far right of the cave, he looked to find that it was a small stream running rapidly.

Just as he was about to finish looking and call for repairs, he saw a small reflective sheen from part of the cave. Too dark and far away for his holoband's flashlight to reach. He fetched a stronger one from the area and pointed it to where he saw the shine. A metal door revealed itself. He widened his eyes in surprise. It was completely unnatural and he wanted to see for himself what it was.

"No, I should leave it to professionals..." Siul tried to extinguish the desire, but he could not convince himself. Picking up a nearby ladder, he placed it comfortably and securely in the hole and climbed down with excitement.

It had been too long since he had experienced curiosity such as this. As he grew older, he became more recluse and his sense of exploration began to fizzle out, leading him to seek less adventures. However, the adventure practically forced itself on him this time and he could not resist.

Stepping on the ladder, its rickety movements and the echoes of his feet emanated in the cavern. He landed on the cold hard floor. The solid, frozen feel of the cave was apparent, as if his shoes weren't even there. He looked around the cave once more, but he had already seen what there was to see earlier.

Walking up to the stream, he found that it came through a small gap and snaked through the cavern before leading into another small gap in the cave walls. He tried to open the metal door, but it was to no effect. It was wedged. Thinking for a while, he got an idea.

Climbing back out of the cave, he retrieved a portable light weight saw. Having bought the saw on impulse, he wanted to make a few projects, but ultimately, he never used it. At least now, it could finally fulfill a purpose.

Turning on the saw, sleek plasma crusted its edges and he pushed it into the door. He moved his hands and it wasn't long until he had a rectangular shaped hole in the door. Although Siul called it a rectangle, it was more akin to a drunken circle.

After cutting the last edge of the hole, it was barely big enough to fit him.

He touched the edge.

"Ah!" He flinched back. The metal was hot. Very hot. He would have to wait until it cooled down.

Grabbing a fan, he placed it right before the door and went back up into his house to eat a small nighttime meal. After an hour and a half had gone by, it was warm enough to not burn his skin upon touching it and he crawled through the hole.

Shining his light throughout the new room, he found that it seemed to be man made with its cubical structure. At the end, there was an altar that looked to be as ancient and old as time.

Turning around, Siul looked back at the door only to find that there were no actual hinges or even a way to open the door in the first place.

He sighed and looked at the walls of the cave. They were ridden with marks, but at a closer look, Siul found that they were thousands of tiny murals; too small and mysterious to make any sense of.

Moving to the middle of the room towards the ancient altar, he found that it was decorated with intricate carvings and decorations of cryptic symbols and flowers. Although there was nothing of value that he could pull off from it, Siul thought that he might be able to earn some quick cash by giving it to a museum or some archeologists.

On top of the altar laid a single transparent glass box. Reaching his hand to inspect it, upon contact, an electronic voice startled him. Shivers were sent down through his spine.

The voice was like a crack in the adventurous silence. Siul's mind blanked. Never did he expect to hear a voice from it.

"Verifying Identity... No identity found. Searching for an owner... Talon Confederacy undetected; nowhere to be found within the galaxy cluster. Transferring ownership to the nearest intelligent life form. Transfer in progress... Siphoning knowledge of current civilization."

As the voice emanated from the glass box, Siul stood in shock. Had he just found evidence of aliens? However, now was not the time to be wondering that. After all, he is becoming the new owner of the said artifact. Ten minutes of silence passed and the voice from the glass box spoke out again.

"Ownership transferred, primitive human, what is your name?"

Siul looked at the box incredulously. He had just obtained its ownership and it immediately resorts to calling him primitive.

"I am Siul. What... Are you?" Siul asked cautiously. He didn't want to offend it. Its abilities were unknown.

"I am the life simulation box, or more simply known as The Box. I can simulate life by establishing world life simulations under my control, and by extension, you control.

Siul was beyond impressed with the potential capabilities of the box. Of course, he wouldn't be surprised if it was lying either.

"Do not be impressed by this simple application of mine, other applications will be available for use later on when more energy is supplied." The box said with pride.

"Are you intelligent?" He had been hesitating to ask, not knowing whether it would become angry or not.

"Are you primitive? Of course I am intelligent... Regrettably, it is similar to how you humans think."

Getting his answer, Siul decided to not try and push further. He did not question the need for the box to even have an owner in the first place. Siul did not want to ruin his chances with the alien relic.

"What can this life simulation of yours do?"

"Questions later, I need energy. It has been much too long since I have had any." The box spoke with impatience.

Thinking for a second, Siul picked up the box and brought it near an electrical outlet in the basement floor.

"I reckon you don't need a wire?"

His question was followed by a blackout. The box had tried to take too much power at once. Siul fumbled around the basement before finally finding the breaker and turning the power back on.

"Siul, combined with my back up energy, your home only has enough energy to make a single life simulation area about the size of this pathetic basement. We need to work on that, I can't be living in poverty."

Siul sighed at the demands of the needy box. Still, though, he was led by its promises.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Don't worry, though. I have an excellent solution that will solve all of your energy problems. First, we need to- That's strange..." The box was silent for a few moments before a black crystal that practically absorbed all surrounding light floated out.

"What is this? Why do I not remember getting-... Wait, no, why can't I remember much of anything!?" The box started to become distressed as it noticed amnesia becoming apparent.

It tried to calm itself down, but the feeling of realizing that its memory was gone made it very disoriented.

"Calm down, Box! Stay calm and try to gather most of what you remember." Siul tried to help. He did not know its exact situation, but hopefully, the first hope to find its lost memories was to see what it knew at the moment.

It took a while for the box to gather its bearing, but once it did, it recounted what it knew rapidly.

"I remember how to use my most basic function, the life simulation area, and I can control it to a degree... It's weird, but using it feels foreign, like a new muscle. This should not be the case. I also can't remember my previous owners other than the fact that I hated them and they controlled me through a voting system. I can't remember my origin and I don't know any other functions. I also have no idea what the black crystal is." The box spoke grimly.

No matter how much they thought, though, they knew that the mystery of the memory wipe was hidden deep and well.

"When I gained... Ownership, it mentioned something called the Talon Confederacy." This was the only hint Siul had at the moment. If the box didn't know anything, then he really didn't know how to continue this investigation.

"The Talon Confederacy... I still have no clue." They gave a mournful sigh, but the two of them were out of ideas.

"Well, let's look at the crystal then. It's the only other clue we have. First, though, can you give yourself a name? It is... Weird to just call you 'Box.'" It was hard Siul to constantly address the glass box in front of him as simply "box" when he knew it was intelligent.

"Fine, call me..." The box gave a long moment of thought. "Bon!"

Siul looked at Bon for a few moments before giving a warning.

"Are you sure you want to be called 'Bon?'" It was a simple change from the word "box" and did seem more like a name, but it was too simple and cute for a thing such as the alien box. He did not know if Bon would come to regret it in the future.

"I am sure, there is no need for something complex. Just call me Bon." Seeing the box's stubbornness, Siul could only go along with it.

"Alright." They moved their attention to the black crystal. It was unusual in the fact that it could go in and out of Bon at the box's will and it absorbed all light shortly surrounding it, giving it a fuzzy shape.

Siul watched the crystal float around Bon in an orbit like a satellite. He reached out to grab the crystal, but the moment his hand made contact, his mind and vision turned dark. As if the curtain of the world had shut and enveloped everything in complete darkness. In a panic, his body jerked away from the crystal. Colors entered his sight again.

"Huh?" Siu l did not expect the effects of the crystal.

"What happened?" Bon worried, but there was no harm done to Siul.

"The moment I touched that crystal, all I could see was just complete darkness..." Siul shuddered a little.

"Did you feel weird or any pain?"

"No."

"Try touching it again. It doesn't seem to harm you and I can't interact with it."

Siul nodded and approached the crystal cautiously. He knew that this was the last hint that they had to discover what happened to Bon, but he did not want to sacrifice or take any significant risks, yet.

Reaching out and touching the crystal once again, his vision was enveloped in complete darkness. This time, he did not let go of the crystal and he was prepared. Holding the crystal, he found that he could feel all other senses, but it was just his vision that was obscured.

"There is nothing wrong with your body." Siul heard Bon's voice, but he could not determine where it had come from. It echoed infinitely within his mind. Goring from common sense, the voice should have come from Bon's position relative to Siul, but it instead permeated throughout the visionless world from all directions.

"This is hard to get used to." He saw a spark of light. It was sudden and went as fast as it came. Another spark of light entered his vision before a few more appeared. Each spark stayed slightly longer than the previous.

They illuminated the world as if it were a canvas. They painted it and began to reveal a whole new world around him.

Just as the light became as frequent as torrential rain hitting the ground, a huge explosion of light blinded him. A voice permeated throughout the world, but it was not Bon. It was the same monotonous robotic voice that he heard when Bon was being activated.

"Subspace World Crystal -Blank Habitable World- has been activated. Seeding primordial Organisms into the largest oceans. You are currently in the observation state, consult the box or use the configurable menu to change states." The voice was quickly replaced by Bon's in the next moment.

"What happened!? My mind suddenly went blank. Is everything alright over there?"

"Yes, but it seems that this place is a sort of 'World Crystal." Siul explained what happened before he explored the world in the observation state he was in. It was now that he could truly no longer feel the senses of the world outside. He was now completely inside the crystal.

After a few minutes, the monotonous voice came back.

"Planting of primordial cells is complete. Would you like to plant a special condition that will cause a strain of primordial cells to evolve into host's species known as -Homo Sapien?- The species will evolve in accordance to how homo sapiens evolved on the planet -Earth.-" This time, Bon was able to stay conscious as it cursed at its monotonous counterpart. Bon was right angry at being forced unconscious every time the voice appeared.

"Damn you cur! I resisted! How does it feel now that I am already resisting your control!"

Siul ignored Bon's ramblings as he pondered at the prompt of the monotonous voice. If humans were to evolve, then he could even live among them in the future.

"Yes, plant the condition." Siul did not want any other strange sapient species to evolve in the world. At least, not in the world yet. With humans, he would be able to understand how the world works better with something similar to him living in it.

"Condition confirmed. Now planting. Be advised that once the cell strain of -Home Sapiens- has evolved close enough to current host species, the anti-extinction protection will be activated." There was no follow up from the voice for another few minutes before it spoke again.

"Planting complete. My purpose has been completed; to assist the current owner with its first world. I will now enter into a slumber until the owner activates special conditions."

A celebration of joy came from Bon as he likely no longer had to deal with the voice for a while.

A transparent window also appeared in front of Siul with glowing letters.

[Observation Mode]

[Interaction Mode]

[Upgrades]

There were only three lines of text. The first line, [Observation Mode], was dimmed more than the other two. Looking out the window, Siul suddenly heard from beside him. Siul looked over to see Bon flying around the space and looking at the world below.

"Look at this! Is this what you were seeing?" Bon's voice was curious and filled with energy.

"Yes, we are currently in observation mode." As he said this, Siul focused on the second line, [Interaction Mode], and in the next second, his body suddenly solidified. He fell rapidly as gravity's grasp pulled him down.

The air was suffocating and he tried to breathe rapidly with adrenaline, but with each breath, his condition only got worse. He grew dizzy at seeing the world grow rapidly below him.

"Wait! Observation Mode!" In a panic, Siul focused back into observation mode before his body turned into a ghostlike form again.

With fast breaths, Siul looked down at the ground fearfully as he stared at the window. In the short amount of time that his body was in the world, no matter how hard he tried, every gasp did not satiate his lungs and only made him suffocate more.

"Is there oxygen in the world?" He was glad that he turned back into observation mode. If he did not die from the fall, then he would have died from the lack of oxygen.

The whole world was still barren of life. Siul looked up and was surprised to see a sun and even a moon very faintly on the horizon. He didn't know if they were real or not, he wouldn't be able to tell for now.

Seeing the menu of the window in front of him, he now knew what two of the three options did and so, Siul focused on the [Upgrade] Option. The window expanded into a list-like format. In the list, there were only a few things to select from.

[Upgrades]

[Current Achievement: 0]

[World Complexity Restricted Time Acceleration: 1 Achievement]

[Material Production: 15 Achievements]

[Rudimentary Radar: 30 Achievements]

[Energy Propagation: 100 Achievements]

He looked at the options before giving up. The only selection that he could accurately guess its functionality from was the first one, the rest were too vague.

"Siul, if I remember correctly, this place may operate off a special energy. It is an energy proven to be true by none other than myself, but I can't exactly remember everything. It is an energy in the background of the world and present nearly everywhere." Bon Spoke suddenly.

"And you didn't say anything before?" Siul was intrigued.

"I was confused and couldn't think properly. This energy can be best compared with magic and qi from the fiction of your world." Bon's voice was undisturbed, but the information shocked Siul.

"Really? Magic..." Siul grew excited. The thought of being able to manipulate fire and perform supernatural wonders and an impossible dream of his and many others.

"From what I know, it is a path of civilization on par with technology, Both have pros and cons. But us? We can do both. Technological civilizations often take a lot of research and time. While the same goes for magical civilizations, there are some differences. It's just that the medium and utilization of energy is different. there is one advantage to focusing on magic right now, though." Bon stopped to let Siul digest the information.

"Magical civilizations have the power to strengthen the individual body much easier than a technological civilization. Strengthening your body gives a lot of benefits such as a longer lifespan. We can focus on technology later, but for now, I think it is best to explore the benefits of magic."

Comprehending the information, Siul had no counter argument. Not only did it excite him, it would also give him a chance to see things ordinarily only seen in fantasy. It was also true that focusing on technology was not really necessary at the moment either.

"Alright, but first, how do we even learn how to use magic in the first place?" Just knowing the fact that it existed only barely affected their abilities to actually use it.

"Well first, we somehow unlock the time acceleration upgrade and then we just let the world cook until something supernatural happens?" Bon stated as if it were obvious, but he, too, was unsure. Though he did know some more things.

"Yes, but we do not know how to get points. Also, this world could just end up naturally developing into a technological civilization. How are we supposed to prevent that?" There were a few holes in Bon's plan, but Bon regurgitated the last of what he knew.

"The last thing I know is that every living organism should at least have an extremely small mote amount of energy, let's call it mana. This mana will be released upon their death and so, after enough deaths and luck, something might evolve to sense and use mana. An atmosphere, gravity, or electromagnetic field can contain mana, but this subspace world is contained so it can gather mana from the very start. Once humans appear, hopefully we can nudge them to study whatever supernatural life evolves and then we just steal what they learn!" Bon's plan sounded solid to Siul except for one major point.

"How are we supposed to learn magic when the time come?" Bon's plan was starting to make sense in Siul's mind, but the biggest point remained unanswered. How were they going to learn the magic from the humans?

Bon thought for a second. "We will observe humans and try to copy them? We will learn the absolute basics from copying them and then develop it on our own by experiment and observing." Siul was about to ask another question, but Bon responded, seemingly knowing what he was going to ask.

"I am not made for large calculations. In fact, my ability to digest knowledge is about as good as yours. I do not know the reason and as much as I hate it, I learn exactly how you do, which is through learning and enlightenment."

"Alright, you've convinced me. Now, we'll just have to figure out how to get achievement..."

As if tempting the subspace, a prompt appeared in front of the two of them.

[Life has been planted into the world and has started to spread. This is a momentous occasion for the world. The world is changing at a slow pace but the future is limitless.]

[+1 Achievement]

Both of them stood surprised. They did not expect their first point to actually take the initiative and place itself in their hands.

"That was easy." Bon said, perplexed.

Now that they had gotten the first hurdle out of the way, Siul opened the [Upgrades] menu and purchased the [World Complexity Restricted Time Acceleration.

A strange energy left the window and enveloped Siul and Bon. A warm stream of knowledge entered into their minds. They felt like they had just stepped out of a relaxing bath as they reviewed what they had just learned.

A new option appeared in the main menu of the window called [Time Acceleration (Restricted by World Complexity)]. The information vaguely detailed what the upgrade did. The acceleration would be restricted by how complex everything was in the world. This included the amount of organisms, average intelligence, accumulated knowledge of organisms, as well as how strong the organisms were. The world's maximum acceleration would continue to decrease until it was about as advanced as human civilization in the "real world."

Siul gave a sigh of relief as the current humans were relatively advanced. The last major advancement that he could remember was the space travel revolution a few hundred a years ago which included the making of the first FTL capable ship that could get to other solar systems fast enough for a generation of humans to not pass and it has only gotten much more polished and faster since then. This should be more than advanced enough for him to not worry about the restriction for a while.

"Well then, let's let this world cook." Siul increased the time acceleration more and more until millions of years began to pass each second.

"What will this world look like when we return it to a normal time?" Siul was excited to see new sights in this world.