NOVEL NEXT I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 17
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"Come on, Jacob. You can go harder than that!"
Smack! Smack!
"I know I can, Julia, but shouldn't I focus more on my technique than my strength?"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"You can do both. It doesn't matter how fast you're going if you're barely making an impact."
I paused for a second and took a deep breath before plunging forward again.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"That's a bit better... but it's still not strong enough. Go harder!"
Smack! Smack!
Sweat dripped down my back.
"Now go faster- faster, Jacob!"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"You're almost there! Just a bit more!"
Smack! Smack! Smack! Slam!
Completely satisfied with that last impact, I stopped and focused on my breathing.
"There you go! That was pretty good!" The elf girl to my side happily cheered, "Look- you even managed to make a small dent in the training dummy!"
I leaned in closer to where Julia's finger was pointing and sure enough, a tiny dent was made on the surface of the dummy. Despite it being half the size of my fingernail, the edge of my mouth perked up and a small smile appeared on my face.
Wow- I guess I really did get stronger!
The durability of these training dummies was no joke- I had been swinging at them with all of my strength since I started practicing, yet this was the first time that I had ever made a mark on one. Of course, it immediately vanished as the dummy regenerated, but it was still an impressive feat nonetheless.
"Squawk..."
"Oi- you really have a dirty penguin brain, Mr. Flippers,"
"What'd he say?"
"... Something that a penguin his age should not know about," I turned to the penguin sitting in a barrel behind me, "Maybe if you could behave yourself, you wouldn't be stuck in barrel jail."
It had already been a few weeks since the two of us had begun training in earnest. With all of my primary, basic, and moderate lifeforms being introduced long ago, there was little for us to do aside from getting ready for the competition.
In a completely objective manner, I was completely ripped at this point. Although I already had decent tone upon my introduction to the academy, I was able to put on a lot more muscle mass since then.
While I was under the assumption that I would need to eat a ton of meat and protein to get the gains, I tried creating stuff such as grilled chicken for me to eat, only to realize that I could not really create organic material with domain creation. Somehow, I was able to get around this in a weird way. After looking through my phone, I was able to find some notes from an organic chemistry class that showed the formulas of the most common amino acids. Once I had a good grasp of the actual structure of the proteins, I was able to create them in their basic forms.
Of course, I had been eating the utterly disgusting pile of powder I created, but I had no idea whether it was making a difference or not. I still figured it was worth the attempt, though.
I glanced over at Julia.
She looks about the same, so maybe it is working after all.
Her eyes quickly met mine and they closed into a slight squint.
“I feel like you’re thinking something rude.”
My eyes slowly shifted away from her.
“You really were!?”
"I'm just joking," I said with a grin, "I was just wondering what you ended up choosing for your lifeforms."
"... Is it okay for me to tell you? What if you get matched against me in the competition?" Julia muttered hesitantly.
"You think we'll have to fight each other?"
"I hope not," Julia sighed, "The instructor said she'd tell us more about the competition today, so maybe we'll find out."
"Well, how about we both say what we picked, so that way neither of us has an advantage in case we do need to fight?" I proposed to her.
"...Fine. As you know, I chose grass, seagrass, and moss for my primary lifeforms. I ended up picking a small fish and a tratter vine for my two basics and I went with a boar and the Alternia Tree as my moderate options."
"Those sound like good picks!" I praised with a forced grin, hiding the pain of being reminded about her two grass choices.
I have no idea what a 'tratter vine' even is. Julia mentioned that the elves from her home lived in giant trees, so there's a good chance she was talking about the Alternia Tree.
"Thank you!"
Julia picked up one of the wooden swords and began taking some practice swings at the dummy.
"Well, I told you what I chose, so what about you?"
"Ah-"
I briefly told her about all the lifeforms I settled on, but as it seemed like she was unfamiliar with most of my selections, I went into more detail regarding what they all did.
When I was done explaining, I noticed a look of dissatisfaction on her face.
"What's wrong? You don't like my picks?" I asked.
"No- it's not that," Julia stopped swinging and let out a sigh, "After hearing what you went with, I think I probably should've chosen more things for people to eat. My elves can still eat boars, fish, and Alterna fruits, but that's pretty much it."
"To be fair, I only have one more food option than you in my realm. Besides, the sheep instructor told us that we could add more later, so as long as you don’t pick another type of grass, you should be fine.”
Julia’s swinging came to a halt and she looked at me with a glare in her eyes.
“What's that supposed to mean?"
"... Shoot."
"You told me it was a good pick!" Julia complained while pouting.
"It is a good choice! Grass is great, I just think it's just a bit boring..."
"Boring?" Julia tightened her grip on the sword and forced a wry smile, "You know... I also think hitting this training dummy is getting boring. How about I make this more exciting by practicing on you instead?"
"C-calm down, Julia. We aren't in the arena, so we can't attack-"
"You sure talk a lot for a training dummy" Julia stated as she slowly advanced towards me.
I took a step back.
She took a step forward.
I took a step back.
She took a step forward.
I took a step ba-
Bang!
"Squawk!?"
I felt an impact on the back of my heel at the same time as Mr. Flippers' shout rang out.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a certain barrel rolling out of the training grounds.
"Mr. Flippers come back!" I called out as I immediately started chasing after him.
"Look at what you did!" Julia shouted following behind me.
"What do you mean 'what I did'!? If you weren't distracting me, this is clearly your fault!"
Despite our bantering, we were able to catch the dizzy penguin and head to class soon after. Just as expected, the sheep instructor finally elaborated on what the competition would be like.
"Alright, class. As promised, I will give you all a bit more information about what to expect during the competition. To begin with, the battles themselves will last from 1pm-7pm heavenly time, which will be 250 years in mortal time. Battle preparation will come before this starting after class at 10am. Seedlings will be able to choose who they are attacking during this time on a first come first serve basis. While there is no punishment for not being involved during a round of competition, it leaves you open to being on defense, and if no one targets you, no points or rewards can be achieved either. If you can not decide who to attack, there is an option to be matched with someone random," the instructor began.
"At the start of the battle period, Seedlings can select one advanced lifeform to be an 'Oracle'. This lifeform will gain a small amount of divinity from the ruler who appointed them and they can be communicated with freely. I want to make something clear: rulers are not permitted to teach Oracles unknown technologies or provide excess information that is not directly involved in an ongoing battle or regarding battle preparations. Interfering with the natural development of the lifeforms through the use of an Oracle is strictly prohibited and rulers who violate this rule will be faced with extreme punishment. The academy does not take this lightly and all communication with Oracles will be monitored extensively."
"Now, we still have well over 300 heavenly days before your first battle will start, so I will end this discussion here. For those of you still anxious about the competition, direct that energy towards improving your skills and monitoring your realms."
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At the same time as I was sitting in class, a small chicken was clucking around on the southeast of the continent.
After the last spring, the number of his chicken friends had increased exponentially. Although he liked the company at first, he quickly realized that there had been less and less food available. While even just a few months back he could find a fallen cherry or mushroom, any that were easily available had long since been eaten by the younger ones. Nowadays, he was lucky to find a stray worm peaking its head out of the ground between batches of moss. Although the moss was plentiful and could be used to fill his belly between meals, it did not offer much nutrient-wise.
The mushrooms seemed to be taking inspiration from the cherries high above, as they begain to slowly migrate from the ground to the trunks of the trees out of the chickens' reach. Despite most of the smaller mushrooms disappearing from the soil, there were some that remained- those that were too large for the chickens to eat. It appeared that in the east of the continent a shift had began to appear in the mushrooms: only those that were extremely large or that were out of reach from the hungry chickens would survive.
Chickens were not limited to the east of the continent, however, and a large population had sprung up west of the massive river that divided the continent in two. The mushrooms here did not fair much better and were almost wiped out entirely by the waves of hungry chickens, as to their disappointment, few mushrooms were large enough or high enough on the cherry trees to survive. It was not until the mushrooms were down to just one small region of survivors that an incident took place.
While wandering through the marshy landscape in the southwest of the continent, one of the chickens wandered across a small mushroom. Happy to find a snack, the chicken took a nibble and kept walking. Gradually, his proud and straight stride developed a slight wobble. Not paying it any mind, the creature continued with a slight pain developing in his stomach. With each step, this pain worsened and his feet grew more unsteady until the chicken finally collasped with a thud.
The first victim of the mushrooms' retaliation had been claimed.
