2: Chapter 2 Skipping Stones

The tricky thing was, how should he allocate the orbital paths for these five planets to revolve around him?

Looking at the five planets he had personally crafted after becoming the Sun,

Chu Xingyang was in a bind.

First of all, he certainly couldn't just leave them be; after all, this was the first batch of masterpieces he had created since his rebirth.

If left alone, these five planets would fall into his "body" due to gravity.

Chu Xingyang didn't want to personally devour the planets he had worked so hard to create.

But allocating planetary orbits seemed like a particularly troublesome task.

He hesitated for a moment, then remembered the game of skipping stones he played as a child. Yes, skipping stones!

He immediately decided to play a childhood game in this vast space, in his own Solar System—and he'd be the type to throw five at once.

So, he used gravity to seize the five planets and used his consciousness to adjust the force and rotation angle.

Then, looking at the deep cosmic backdrop, he softly shouted in his mind, "Ready! Go!"

The five planets flew out along a curved parabolic path, although two of them had a slight bump midway.

But, the result was good!

They all successfully found their own orbital paths.

The three terrestrial planets were closest to him, followed by a gas giant, while the icy one entered the outermost orbit.

All five revolved around him counter-clockwise. Moreover, their orbital planes were basically aligned, revolving around him on almost the same plane.

Seeing all this, Chu Xingyang was very satisfied; as a star, he finally had planets.

And they were created by his own hands.

He felt that as the creator, he had an obligation to name these planets.

But then he felt that naming was quite a hassle, so he decided to rank them according to their distance from him.

The one closest to him with the smallest orbital radius would be the Eldest, and so on. The icy planet on the outermost edge was naturally Old Five.

Chu Xingyang looked at his five little cuties with satisfaction while rotating on his axis.

Calling them "little cuties" was because of their size. Compared to his own stature with a diameter of 1.4 million kilometers, they were really, really small.

Especially the Eldest closest to him; its diameter was only 5,000 kilometers, truly pitifully small.

Wait! Why does this Eldest one seem a bit rebellious?

The revolution and rotation of the other planets were all counter-clockwise.

Only this Eldest, while its revolution was the same as the other four, its rotation was a very unconventional clockwise.

Does it have to be so unconventional?

Even though Chu Xingyang knew that as a star with the ability to control gravity, he certainly had a way to set the Eldest straight.

Changing a planet's direction of rotation would be as easy as turning over a hand.

However, he wanted to give the Eldest some feedback first: why do you insist on being so different?

Perhaps it was because he was too lonely. After all, in the entire stellar system, only he, the Sun, had consciousness... he couldn't find anyone to talk to at all.

Just as he was feeling infinitely lonely,

A voice drifted over from a very far distance.

"Father..."

Sure enough, even stars can get bored enough to have auditory hallucinations. He hadn't even been married, and now that he's turned into the Sun, how could he possibly have a child?

"Father..."

It was another call. Chu Xingyang instinctively observed his surroundings.

"Dad, I'm here, I'm on the outermost edge."

The outermost? He looked toward the outermost Old Five, that icy planet.

Is it you, Old Five? He called out with his consciousness.

"Yes, Father. I am a mass of consciousness that can only communicate with you and the other four planets, if they have consciousness as well."

It really was Old Five! Chu Xingyang was secretly shocked. How could the planets he created have consciousness too?

Of course, as their creator, it wasn't impossible for them to call him 'Dad.'

Old Five then eagerly made an invitation: "Father, can you come sit with me? I'm bored to death since I can't do anything."

Huh? Go to your place? I'm the Sun; if I move even a little bit, the five of you might end up being reduced to ashes.

"Dad, I'm not asking your physical body to come over. Your consciousness can come."

These words reminded Chu Xingyang—hadn't the system just given him a new skill?

Something called Consciousness Projection.

He immediately decided to see what this was actually for.

Eh? He had to set an image first? Chu Xingyang thought for a while and then brought out his former image as a human.

On the surface of the Sun, a human manifested from consciousness appeared. He stretched his fingers and gripped a few times, then jumped around. Although he knew it was just an illusion, he still felt like he had regained the feeling of being a "human."

He immediately prepared himself with excitement! Holding his breath and focusing his mind, he gazed at the icy planet 3 billion kilometers away.

Whoosh! In an instant, his feet stepped onto the Ice Mantle Continent of Old Five. In human form and with a human gait, he walked upon the surface of this planet.

This is Consciousness Projection? It feels faster than the speed of light.

Chu Xingyang turned back and craned his neck to look at his main body in the sky. Suddenly, he felt a bit of loss; the Sun above had become only the size of a ping-pong ball.

It seems that no matter how massive a behemoth is, as long as one stands far enough away, it will become completely devoid of any sense of pressure. Even a star!

Fortunately, because the planet's air was thin, it was still bright, though he could no longer feel the Sun's warmth.

After all, this was the planet at the very edge of the Solar System, really, really too far away from him.

The surface temperature of Old Five was also terrifyingly low at minus 180 degrees. If a real human flesh-and-blood body stood here, it would have turned into a popsicle long ago.

"Father, welcome to visit," Old Five's polite voice said. "Your projected image is so handsome."

"Oh." Chu Xingyang sat down on the ice surface, calmly observing the surrounding environment.

This was a planet with a harsh environment; it was essentially a big chunk of ice. The oceans were a massive block of ice, and the so-called continents were merely the ice mantle layer of this planet.

The excessive methane in the air caused the thin atmosphere to take on a pinkish-blue color under the sunlight.

Chu Xingyang was admiring the pinkish-blue sky when he saw countless dazzling clusters of light suddenly fall from the sky, like a waterfall made of crystal.

Even though the Sun on this planet was neither warm nor as bright as on Earth, this waterfall still tried its best to reflect as much sunlight as possible, creating a rare, flourishing, and intoxicating scene in this star system.

"This must be the diamond rain," Chu Xingyang said, his eyes glazed with wonder.

"Yes," the icy planet replied, sensing its father's current peace and intoxication.

In fact, a planet's consciousness was just pure consciousness. It had no way to control any changes in its planetary body.

So, this diamond rain was not something Old Five had done intentionally. It was just that Dad happened to arrive at the right time to see this exquisite scenery.

"I really wish I had a friend to watch this unique scenery with," Chu Xingyang murmured to himself.

"Why do you need a friend to watch it with?"

"Inertial thinking? It seems that seeing the scene triggered some emotions, and I suddenly feel a bit lonely."