Ethan spent most of the night inside his Origin Sphere.
Not experimenting.
Observing.
The more he watched the sprites, the more differences he noticed.
The Water Sprite preferred staying near the spring.
The Fire Sprite rarely stayed in one place.
The Earth Sprite seemed attracted to solid ground and large rocks.
The Air Sprite constantly sought high places.
They weren't merely Elementless Sprites with powers.
Their behavior itself had changed.
When morning arrived, Ethan finally left his world.
After breakfast, he headed straight for the city library.
As a newly awakened Creator, he had access to far more materials than before.
The Creator section occupied an entire floor.
Rows upon rows of books filled the room.
Elemental Worlds.
Technological Civilizations.
Mystical Species.
Cultivation Histories.
Everything a young Creator could want.
Ethan spent hours reading.
By noon, his expression had become increasingly strange.
The more he learned, the stranger his own situation appeared.
Most Elemental Creators awakened with creatures already tied to specific elements.
Fire Spirits.
Wind Fairies.
Earth Golems.
Water Nymphs.
The exact race varied.
The element did not.
Elementless Sprites weren't mentioned anywhere.
Not once.
It was as if they didn't exist.
Ethan leaned back in his chair.
That wasn't good.
Unknown often meant weak.
But it could also mean valuable.
Very valuable.
Eventually, he shifted his attention toward another topic.
Origin Energy.
This information proved much easier to find.
Every Creator's world naturally generated Origin Energy.
The rate depended on the world's development.
The more developed a civilization became, the more Origin Energy it produced.
Population growth.
Infrastructure.
Environmental adaptation.
Resource exploitation.
Everything contributed.
A developed world generated far more energy than a primitive one.
Ethan finally understood why Origin Energy was considered so important.
It wasn't just a resource.
It was the foundation of everything.
Summoning units.
Editing terrain.
Time acceleration.
Every major action consumed it.
A Creator without Origin Energy was like a warrior without strength.
By the time he left the library, the sun had already begun descending.
Instead of heading home immediately, he stopped by a public information terminal.
The University Recruitment Competition was only a month away.
Naturally, information about previous competitions was available.
Several videos appeared on the screen.
The first featured a Technological World.
Thousands of ordinary humans fought using primitive firearms and crude artillery.
The second featured a Cultivation World.
Martial artists shattered boulders with their fists.
The third featured a Mystical World.
Strange magical beasts filled the battlefield.
Then came an Elemental World.
The moment the battle began, flames erupted across the arena.
Powerful Fire Spirits swept through enemy formations.
The audience roared with excitement.
Ethan stared silently.
Compared to that...
his own civilization looked harmless.
Ninety-nine tiny sprites.
Four of them possessing basic elements.
The gap was enormous.
Yet strangely enough, he wasn't discouraged.
Because while everyone else followed known paths...
he didn't.
Nobody in those recordings possessed a Synthesis tab.
Nobody could create multi-element creatures.
Nobody could stack elemental laws onto the same unit.
For the first time, Ethan realized something important.
His greatest advantage wasn't power.
It was potential.
When he finally arrived home, he immediately entered his Origin Sphere.
The sprites greeted him in their own way.
The Fire Sprite waved enthusiastically.
The Air Sprite jumped from a tree.
The Water Sprite remained near the spring.
The Earth Sprite barely reacted at all.
Ethan smiled.
Then his attention shifted toward the spring.
Origin Energy.
His world generated it naturally.
The amount was small.
But it was there.
And if development increased generation...
then growing stronger wasn't his only goal.
He needed to grow smarter.
Every improvement to his civilization would pay dividends in the future.
As he considered his next steps, a notification suddenly appeared.
A notification he had never seen before.
Origin Energy +1
Ethan froze.
A second later, the message disappeared.
His eyes widened.
The world had generated Origin Energy.
Naturally.
For the first time, he had witnessed it happen.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
It wasn't much.
Just a single point.
But it represented something far greater.
His world was alive.
And from this moment onward, it would continue growing.