NOVEL WEB I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 23
Before I knew it, the time had come to introduce my first humans.
The sheep instructor had been speaking extensively about this moment, especially in the past week, but ultimately, the process was roughly the same as when we added the other lifeforms almost one heavenly year ago.
Each Seedling would be able to place 10,000 advanced lifeforms- humans in my case. They could be placed anywhere on the continent.
It was pretty obvious that this would be the case, so I had spent most of the past year heavily debating on whether I should split the humans up into multiple smaller groups or simply place them all together at the temple on the plateau.
That's right- the temple.
During the previous class, the sheep instructor mentioned something about adding a temple. Although she refused to go into detail about what it was for, she made it clear that we needed to place it immediately. There was no way that I was dense enough to miss the implications such a thing would imply. If this competition turned out to be a sort of tower-defense situation, I needed to make sure I was prepared.
I quickly thought of where to place it, and of course, the best spot would be on the plateau that I prepared; its natural defenses and location made it ideal for that type of situation.
So, now a white marble temple with a style reminiscent of ancient Greece sat peacefully in said area.
Back to the topic, the introduction of this temple kind of decided the route that I needed to take with my human placement.
Although I thought that splitting them up could eventually cause competition between the groups and allow them to grow stronger, I ultimately decided to go with the latter of the two options mentioned before.
With the temple now present, the development of this area needed to be prioritized above everything else. The more humans that started in the area, the faster their local population would grow.
There were also some other added benefits to this like how any technological advances being able to be spread rapidly through the connected population. Not to mention, the temple itself might inspire the new humans to build their own shelters.
The risks associated with splitting up the humans were also fairly significant. Having two different areas, although would spur competition, could also cause delayed development and destruction if a war were to break out between them. Given the sheer size of the continent and the abundance of resources, such a war was unlikely, but I did not want to risk a devastating fight killing most of my lifeforms before the competition even started.
Splitting the population would also mean limiting the gene pool, and despite the tendency for the advanced lifeforms to resemble their ruler possibly countering it, I did not want to risk genetic defects from inbreeding running rampant.
In the end, my decision did not matter much. According to the schedule described by the sheep instructor, there would be 10 heavenly days between the placement of the advanced lifeforms and the start of the battles. With this in mind, there would be plenty of time for them to develop a bit and spread throughout the continent. 10,000 years is a lot of time. Honestly, I'd be a bit disappointed if some groups didn't want to explore the world that I worked so hard making.
I wonder what their reactions will be when I first place them. Will they know what to do? There's no one to teach them things like hunting- they'll need to somehow rely on natural instinct. Wait... they won't be starting out as babies, will they?
A cold sweat dripped down my back.
No... there's no way that would happen... hopefully.
The excitement I had been building over the past year was quickly turning into nervousness as I pondered the risk of such a scenario.
"Well... worrying won't change anything. I'll see in a second anyway. Are you ready, Mr. Flippers?"
An enthusiastic squawk shouted out from the penguin on my lap.
"Good. Let's do this!" I declared with a grin on my face.
Before adding any humans, I lowered the time passage of my domain to match that in the realm. Now that the advanced lifeforms were being added, this function was finally made available to us. Nothing felt different- the only thing signaling that the adjustment was successful was the lack of changes on the usually chaotic projection of the planet on the screen above me. Since every second in my domain was about 4.2 days in the realm, I was used to seeing constant movement. It was actually a bit unnerving seeing it so still.
I took a deep breath and clicked on the new human-shaped icon before zooming into the plateau where the temple sat. With my fingers trembling a bit, I placed down my first human in front of the temple.
"Phew."
A sigh of relief escaped my lips upon seeing the young adult looking around curiously. With a new piece of mind, I continued placing a few more humans.
The sheep instructor wasn't wrong... they do sort of look like me.
Their skin colors varied slightly but they all stayed within a margin of my own and although they were nowhere near as muscular as I was now, they still seemed to have some natural tone, which made me smile seeing that my efforts had paid off. Even the girls seemed to have an athletic build.
"..."
"Squawk!"
"N-nothing! I was just making sure they were alright... or something."
I let out a cough and forced myself to look away from the screen.
It was evident that whatever system I was using to create these humans did not provide them with clothing.
I quickly got Mr. Flippers off of my lap before any accidents occurred and gradually placed more humans on the massive plateau. Despite 10,000 humans spawning, there was still plenty of room since the star-shaped plateau was roughly the area of Rhode Island. When I created it to be the capital of my continent, I made it earnestly.
Upon reviewing everything, I found that there was actually a perfect 50/50 male-to-female ratio. For the humans themselves, most of their skin tones ranged between white and tan, their hair colors were all shades of brown (some extremely light and others nearing black), and their heights were 5'4 at the shortest and 6'3 at the tallest.
It looks like their appearances really didn't vary too much from my own.
I sat back and watched the humans wander around while I took notes. It was mid-spring, so they did not seem too bothered by the temperature despite being nude. They also did not appear to be overly hungry or thirsty yet, but a few did wander over to a small lake and take a few sips. Given how there were no other immediate needs, it did not take long for the humans to start trying to 'expand their population’ and for Mr. Flippers’ sake, I turned the view on the screen away.
The sun quickly began to set and the humans laid down upon the soft moss and fell asleep. Given the cool night sky, most were huddled together. Those lucky enough to get a spot in the temple seemed to sleep the most soundly.
I sped up the time in the domain and set it back to match mortal time again once the night had passed. Some of the humans started to stir at the first peak of the sun rising.
Now the real test starts.
I focused my attention on the group that had set up near the temple.
With a night gone by, hunger had begun to set in. Although unfamiliar with the feeling, the humans seemed to know what to do and began searching for something to eat. They first tried what was closest- the moss beneath their feet. Most spit it out quickly finding that it would not bring them nourishment... while a few others stubbornly continued to shovel handfuls of the green plant into their mouths.
"T-they really do take after me," I muttered holding back tears.
"... Squawk?"
The ones not trying to strip the land of its fluffy green carpet moved to the next thing in sight- the cherry trees. Although they figured out that the trees themselves were not something that they could eat, the things attached to them were still up for debate. I watched one put a fallen leaf into her mouth before immediately spitting it out.
"Bitter, isn't it?" I said with a smile.
After shaking her head to get rid of the taste, she soon spotted a fallen red oval near the base of the tree and the girl shyly picked it up. Despite initially hesitating after remembering the bitter taste just moments before, her hunger clearly motivated her to take her first bite.
"Ooo~!"
The girl cried out in excitement and the sweet taste of the cherry... before immediately cowering after hearing her voice for the first time.
Oh my god, that was so cute.
I had been looking forward to finally adding my humans for a long time, but I had no idea watching them would be so fun. They were adorable- it was like watching babies playing. They had so much energy and even more curiosity and a proud smile naturally formed on my face just from watching them learn.
I mean... in a way, they are my babies.
They were created by me, took after me, and were watched over by me. Sadly, there was no way for me to actually be a dad to them, at least for now. With no method of interacting with my realm at least for the next 10 heavenly days. I was stuck purely watching. I desperately wanted to reach out to tell them I was there and teach them how to survive in this new world, but there was nothing that I could do.
"Ha... It hasn't even been a day and I'm already like this. What the heck am I gonna do once the competition starts?"
It was pretty inevitable that I would feel such a strong connection to them, yet no matter how much I prepared for it, the fact that I was attached did not change.
...Do I really need to see them fight? Can't they all just live peacefully like this exploring my world forever?
Such a thought was obviously stupid. The future endeavors of my tiny humans had already been set. I could only take solace in the fact that they had another 10,000 years before they would need to confront such hardships.
For now, they would only need to worry about the little things; like finding food, inventing and making shelter, starting the roots of civilization, and developing and figuring out the basics of language from scratch- all the easy things.
Seriously, what the heck am I doing worrying about the competition now?
I slapped the sides of my face and brought myself back to reality.
There's no point in wasting time thinking about it when I don't even know the details yet. For now, I just have to watch over my humans. What they do during the next 10,000 years will decide their fate.
With my eyes back on the screen, I noticed the girl walk over to another human on the screen who had no luck in finding anything to eat. The girl curiously watched the sulking human sit down in defeat with his head buried in his knees. The girl paused for a few seconds then put out her hand- a cherry resting on her palm.
The man lifted his head and looked at the girl before shifting his focus to the unfamiliar red object she was presenting. He slowly reached out and took the cherry, biting into it.
Yum!
His eyes previously filled with nothing but defeat lit up at the introduction of the tasty fruit. The girl watched him with a smile on her face as he shot up.
The man soon came to his senses and glanced back at the girl who had shown him such kindness and then desperately looked around for anything he could give her back. His eyes soon locked onto a small brown plant growing from the ground in a sunny section between some nearby trees. He dashed over and picked one up before hurriedly returning and handing it to the girl. Surprised, she gently accepted the present and took a bite.
Similar to the man's, her eyes sparkled upon tasting the new food. A smile appeared on both of their faces marking the start of the first friendship in the realm.
As I watched the scene, a new sense of confidence and pride washed over me.
My realm will be in good hands, after all.
