“So from your observation, there were in fact only five days of creation, plus “the beginning”.”
How so? Get a piece of paper, write down day one, what was referred to (land or water, etc., were not created, just moved around). Continue on thru to sixth.
I would assume the days are not literal.
There could have been billions of years between Gen. 1:1 and the creation days. Old Testament prophets briefly reference a pre-Genesis Earth, populated by nations under the guidance of the one who became Satan. He tried to overthrow God and attacked Heaven (according to the prophets). All that is where John Milton got his plot line for Paradise Lost.
This is pretty much done for us, isn't it? In Genesis, 1: ... 5,8,13,19,23,31 we have the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth days enumerated explicitly, by name.
Now you want to discount the first day and tell me I'm missing something?
... Continue on thru to sixth.
Right, if you discount Day One, ( as you very explicitly and vehemently did, ) then two through six amount to five days of creation ... at most!