NOVEL WEB I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm – Chapter 6
The program that I was using for the planet construction came with a lot of pre-made resources such as salt, water, gold and iron ore, and even simple types of rocks and soil, but I was not content with just those basic forms of environment. I pulled up a periodic table that I had saved on my phone and looked at all the elements that were missing from the provided template.
"Is it even possible to develop as much as Earth without some of these? I mean there's still a bit of some rare metals in the crust, but the amount is just absurdly small and hard to get to," I mumbled to myself.
A new icon popped up on the monitor shortly after placing my phone on the desk.
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New Layout Available.
Open Now?
Yes / No
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Putting away my surprise, I unhesitatingly clicked 'Yes', only for the periodic table to appear on the adjacent screen. Whenever I selected a particular element on the table, a list of natural compounds and ores containing those elements would appear which I could then select and add to the planet.
That's a big relief, but what about the other creature things? Unless this change happened to everyone's program, wouldn't they be lacking some of these elements?
A look of pity flashed on my face for those poor souls who would never know the joys of dysprosium, while I scattered the new compounds around and into the planet. I particularly added a bit of extra silver and gold in places with the most extreme climates to hopefully encourage trade and settlement. In addition, I also added a bit of excess flint on the surface to hopefully expedite early fire discovery. Even with all these added resources, I still had an absurdly large amount of Resource Points remaining.
I glanced at the clock in the bottom right of the screen and noticed that it was almost time for the next class to start.
"Well, there's still two days to use the rest, so I guess I'll think of something in the meantime. Sorry for not giving you much attention tonight, Mr. Flippers, this is a lot of work," I apologized to the penguin who had been waddling in circles for the past few hours.
The tiny creature gave me a nod of understanding and hopped over to me.
Oh my god, I missed this feeling.
I picked up the adorable animal and held him close to me.
"You're probably even more confused than I am about this whole situation; I haven't even seen an ice cube let alone a fish you could eat," I paused before continuing, "Actually, I'm not even hungry or tired even though I just pulled an all-nighter. Are you hungry at all, Mr. Flippers?"
The penguin gave me an un-enthusiastic squawk which I assumed to be a 'not really', so I let out a sigh of relief.
I'll have to take better care of this guy. Becoming immortal clearly changed something about my body, but I don't know if he got affected too.
"Let's go meet up with Julia. She might be having the same problem as me," I said thinking back to the leftover Resource Points, "We should also ask the instructor about the food issue just in case you get hungry. [Transport to the academy]!"
A blinding light assaulted my eyes and the scenery instantly changed. Instead of the dark room that I had grown accustomed to, the brightly lit audience hall filled my view instead.
"God dangit!"
"Squawkkk!"
The sudden light felt like someone shined a laser in my eyes and it seemed Mr. Flippers felt the pain too.
"We gotta close our eyes or something next time, dude. It's way too freaking bright," I muttered only to get a quiet squawk back in agreement.
Luckily, instead of appearing on the ceiling like the first time, we were transported directly onto the floor which I presumed was the intended method of entry. I looked around the room once my eyes were adjusted and although there were a few creatures wandering around and talking to each other, there was no sign of Julia.
That's weird; I know I'm a bit early, but I thought she'd be here already.
I exited the hall through the large mahogany doors and ventured down the path to the lecture area thinking that she may be waiting in the lecture area. Sure enough, I saw a cute elf girl pacing back and forth in a thinking pose directly outside the class entrance. I let out a cough to get her attention causing the girl to pause and glance over.
"Jacob!"
Julia immediately dashed over and before I had time to respond, she grabbed my shoulders and started shaking me.
"Are you having the same problem!?" she asked, though it was more of a scream.
"Is it about the Resource Poi-"
"YES IT'S ABOUT THE RESOURCE POINTS!" she interrupted, shaking me again.
"P-please stop with the shaking, Mr. Flippers is going get a concussion," I begged while the penguin whined in my arms, "but yeah, I was going to ask you about it too. There's too-"
"little!"
"-much..."
We both paused before locking eyes again.
"Hold on," I began, "you managed to use all of it?" I hesitantly asked.
"Of course I did! What do you mean you have too much!? Even if they gave me double I wouldn't have had enough!" she screamed.
"What the heck did you do with all of it!? How on Earth did you manage to blow through it all so fast?"
"The freaking mana obviously! I used up almost all of what we were given purely on mana and its density is a joke! Seriously, even an expert-level mage could probably only do one intermediate spell a day with that concentration- it's absurd!" she ranted.
"... Is mana really that expensive?"
"Yes! Did you really not try to add any yet? I know we still technically have another two days, but I figured you would've rushed to finish everything the first night," she explained while finally releasing her grip from my shoulders with a sigh.
Mr. Flippers looked up at me with that statement, but I brushed away his judgmental gaze.
"Well, you're kind of right. I finished everything I was originally planning to add..."
"I assumed that was why the little one was looking starved for attention," Julia said teasingly.
Clearly embarrassed and angry for being treated like a kid, Mr. Flippers immediately wiggled out of my arms and let out a grumpy squawk once on the ground. He waddled into the lecture hall while continuing to complain with a series of quiet squawks before disappearing behind the doorway.
Oh my god, that's so cute... I can still see his flipper peaking out.
"Anyway," Julia began taking my attention away from the pouting penguin, "you said you added everything you planned- did you just forget about mana or something? I mean seriously, that's almost as bad as forgetting to add water"
I paused for a minute before answering.
Should I tell her that there wasn't any mana on Earth? I know it was a big deal on her planet, but can it really be compared to water? It didn't sound like she'd die without it... anyway, I guess it doesn't hurt to tell her the truth; I doubt she'll leak it and even if she does, it's not like it could get in trouble for not using it.
With that reasoning in mind, I revealed the secret I hid from her for the long 24ish hours that we knew each other.
Her response was not one of ridicule, rather it was one of doubt and disbelief.
"You're actually serious?" she asked in a whisper so no one would overhear, "How is it possible you never used it? You showed me the painting of that city! There is no way something like that could be built without mana!"
"I can't prove it, but I'm telling the truth. There really wasn't any mana where I came from. New York City was just built by a bunch of manual labor and machinery," I said with a sigh.
"Okay fine. Let's say you really didn't have any mana. You apparently have a ton of Resource Points left over, so will you use it to get some? Even if it's a thin layer, it would be infinitely better than nothing. Mana seriously is useful, especially in whatever combat we're going to be forced to do," she argued.
"Would my lifeforms even be able to use it though? Won't they need some sort of special organ or something?"
"Even some plants in my world can use it! Some animals have special body parts that store it, but as long as it's in the air, anything can technically use it," she explained.
Sweet! Maybe I should just dump the rest of my points into mana then. If I could get a decent amount of mana, wouldn't defending be a lot easier? Even if it's just a bit, maybe some weak spells could be used until actual weapons are created?
"I'll think about it. I already did spend a lot of the points, so I doubt think the mana density would be too great if I added some. Is the density really that important?"
"Yes, it is extremely important!" she shouted before quickly quieting back down upon getting some stares, "the denser the mana is, the more powerful animals can get, higher tier spells can be used, and mana stones and ores can form way faster."
"So, what would happen if a creature tried to use magic in a place that had no mana?" I asked.
"Hmm... I guess if they could use whatever was stored in their body- if they even have the ability to store it. After that's gone, they wouldn't be able to use any."
Yep, it's settled then.
"Alright thank you. We should probably join Mr. Flippers inside though before the instructor shows up," I stated glancing over at the impatient penguin who now had half his body sticking out of the doorway.
With Julia's nod, we made our way to the entrance and the clearly hungry-for-attention penguin hopped in circles until he was picked up. There was only one thing in my mind:
Having no mana will be an infinitely better defense than whatever those weak spells could do.
