I Somehow Got Tasked With Managing A Realm

"Let's regenerate, baby!"

"What?" Julia flinched and asked, flustered at my sudden shout.

"Ah- I made that decision all in my head, didn't I?" I lowered my fist that had been pumped in the air in excitement at my selection and faced the elf girl, "I'm gonna be rocking with regeneration as my choice."

"Huh? Why regeneration all of a sudden? You were just asking me about personality changes and magic defenses..."

Man, did I really keep all of that debate in my head?

While silently questioning my own declining social skills, likely brought about by the extended isolation in my domain, I summarized the whole regeneration selection for Julia.

"That really is a good choice!" she praised afterwards, "It really lets your humans heal all of those things? Are all of the mutations that strong?"

I shook my head.

"No, not all of them. I guess regeneration just synergized well with everything."

It really had a bit of everything I was looking for: a good first tier, it was useful both in and out of combat, and it had a boost when used in mana-rich environments to make potential offensive things easier. As a bonus, the healing factor was also counted as a physical trait, meaning it was further enhanced by divinity, as seen in its description.

My humans being able to naturally heal from non-fatal organ damage and tendon things is huge in and of itself, but teeth being able to heal is also sneakily amazing!

Although I had practically zero memories from Earth outside of a few minutes before I got struck by the green beam and brought into the Academy, I was sure I likely had cavities at some point. In general, it was nearly impossible for a person to live their life without some sort of dental issue. Potentially being able to heal from simple cavities or chipped teeth would be a massive quality-of-life upgrade for the people of my realm that could spare them from decades of tooth pain.

"... I want one of those, too."

A jealous mutter from the elf girl entered my ears, making me smirk.

"You also said you want a temple upgrade and more resource points. At this point, you might even want a second divine weapon- ow!"

My teasing was immediately met with a light bonk on the head with the tip of her bow.

"You can't blame me for wanting them!" Julia pouted.

"Well, you wanted the divine weapon the most last time, and you just ended up getting it. Since you're so confident now, I'm sure you'll win the next battle phase and get a Mutation Orb next," I teased, rubbing the spot she hit, "So be happy with your bow for now!"

Julia's cheeks puffed up more as she turned away and raised the bow above her head.

"I am happy with it! And I know I'm going to win the next battle phase because of it! I just thought the Mutation Orb would be fun to use, that's all..."

Taking her words at face value might make some people think she was acting childish or even bratty, yet a different interpretation was in my mind.

She's in a good mood~

A smile crept onto my face as I looked at her pouty expression.

Maybe I'm just imagining it, but she seems a lot more relaxed after getting that bow.

It was understandable. Julia had gone through absolute torture in the previous battle phases. Even in the second one, where she technically walked away with a Tier I prize, her realm still lost nearly a quarter of its population. There was no doubt in my mind that those losses weighed heavily on her mind, despite the strong metaphorical mask she seemed to wear.

Now that mask had cracked, and underneath it wasn't an expression of pain, but rather one of pouty determination.

As I focused on her grumpy face, one more thought resonated in my mind.

Someone this cute shouldn't have to suffer so much.

While silently hoping she was right about the strength of her bow, I glanced over to Tatton, who was finishing up with the engine's construction on the laboratory's floor.

"Speaking of using the Mutation Orb, how exactly do I use it?"

Without looking up from the machine, Tatton replied, "There are two steps. First, you must select the mutation- the actual method of doing so differs for the Seedling."

"Hmm... okay."

I picked up the Mutation Orb, and the small, game-like screen appeared above it. Though it was a total guess, I double-tapped the Regeneration mutation, which succeeded in highlighting it. As if confirming the selection, the Mutation Orb let out a small flash of light before maintaining a bright glow.

"Okay... I think I got that. Now what?"

"Next, you just have to eat it," he answered flatly.

"... Huh?" I looked down at the red baseball-sized orb in my hand, before snapping my head back toward the robed figure, "I need to eat it!? It's not like I can bite it or anything- the thing feels like it's made of glass! How the heck am I supposed to fit this thing in my mouth!?"

"Squawk~"

"Oi- you're a penguin, Mr. Flippers! You shouldn't have a dirtier mind than Julia!"

"W-what are you accusing me of, exactly!?"

Tatton simply sighed as our trio broke out into sudden bickering.

"I know it may seem odd, but it is not as bad as it sounds. There is no need to cause such a fuss, Jacob," he stated, "Bring it to your mouth and you'll see."

"... Well, okay."

Is it really possible? Tatton isn't the kind of guy to prank me, right?

Hesitantly, I raised the Mutation Orb up to my mouth and opened it as if taking a bite. The moment it made contact with my lips, the orb shrank to about the size of a gumball, pleasantly surprising me.

"Okay, well that's a bit better, but I still think it's a bit too big to safely swallow," I complained, plopping the gumball-sized orb in my mouth and rolling it around my tongue, "Also, it's a bit of a letdown... I thought it would have like a yummy cherry flavor since it was red. It just tastes like glass..."

"Squawk?"

"Why have you tasted glass before?"

I waved my hands to dismiss the two comments from Mr. Flippers and Julia and slowly sank my teeth into the orb.

Oh?

Contrary to the hard feeling in my hand, the Mutation Orb shattered into a powder-like substance upon light pressure with my teeth, and an odd sensation immediately washed over me the moment it absorbed into my mouth.

"It worked... I think," I stated, moving my tongue around my teeth to check for any remaining pieces of the orb, "Is there a way to officially check it?"

Tatton stood up from the engine as I was speaking, "You can be assured that the changes have already been completed, since the Mutation Orb was absorbed into your body. In the case my words are not enough proof, because you selected regeneration as your mutation, the only way to see it for yourself would be to recover from an injury. Of course, I would prefer you not make a mess in my laboratory."

"Squawk~"

As if waiting for the opportunity, two of Mr. Flipper's robotic arms extended outwards, one holding a wrench and the other holding some sort of sharp, metallic scrap.

I scooted back in the chair at the scene, "Uhhh n-no, it's fine, thank you. I'll just believe it."

"I am glad," Tatton nodded, as the penguin's arms lowered in solemn defeat, "I am sure Sky went over this in a previous class, but to remind you, it will take some time before the mutation is fully spread around your lifeforms. It should only take a few generations, however, so every lifeform should have the regeneration mutation well before the next battle phase begins."

"Yes, she actually said that one," Julia chimed in, not making any effort to hide her recent vendetta against the sheep instructor.

Ah- right. That's one of the reasons we came here in the first place.

I finally stood up from the chair with a wry smile on my face and plopped my hand on the elf's shoulder.

"You really still don't seem too happy about those swimmy invaders still being in your realm."

"Obviously!" Julia dramatically shook her shoulder to get my hand off and pouted, "How could I be happy with them still being there!?"

Tatton once again rose from the floor as we were discussing and calmly looked toward us.

"Having those external lifeforms in your realm is not necessarily a negative thing- it may even be beneficial in your circumstances, Julia," he corrected before turning to me, "I will explain in a moment; however, I would like to test out this machine before I do."

Hm?

"You guys finished it already?"

"Squawk!" Mr. Flippers ecitedly waddled out from behind the engine at my question and pointed toward the engine's boiler with his flipper, "Squawk, squawk."

So, they have the water all set, but they need fuel to actually boil it.

I took a moment to ponder his update.

"Right... but what would be the best method in here?"

Tatton looked back and forth at the two of us conversing, "What did it say? Do we need to fix something with that part?"

Oops. I keep forgetting he can't understand him.

I shook my head, "No, it should be ready to go- you just need some sort of fuel to boil the water. Also, you gotta stop calling Mr. Flippers it. He's a he. Even if we're in the Academy, I'm sure some people will try to cancel you for that."

Tatton turned toward Julia, who simply sighed and shook her head, "I've given up on trying to understand some of the things he says a long time ago."

"Why give up!? There's method to my madness! Anyway," I coughed, bringing the conversation back on track, "Do you have like any wood or coal or anything in here we can use, Tatton?"

The robed figure paused, glancing down at the engine's boiler, "I have similar materials; however, those will only be used to induce a boil in the water, correct? To avoid making a mess in my laboratory, I will use a rune as a substitute for any burning."

"Fair enough..."

I watched as Tatton grabbed a rune plate, some sort of engraving tool, and a bright mana stone and plopped them on the other end of the desk. As he began carving some symbols into the plate, he glanced toward Julia and spoke again.

"Now, as for your earlier concern, you are neglecting to take into account the benefits of having a second advanced lifeform in your realm."

"... I really don't see how there could be any possible benefits, though," Julia stated, full of doubt.

"If handled right, there are many. Having a second group of lifeforms capable of granting you divinity should be enough of a benefit on its own."

""Huh!?""

Julia and I both looked at the robed figure as if he said something crazy, which, in our perspectives, he clearly did.

"She can get divinity from those things?" I asked in shock.

"I thought we could only get divinity from our own race!" Julia added.

Tatton shook his head, "That is an incorrect assumption. While it is true that a portion of the divinity they generate will instinctively go toward their original Seedling, the remainder is free to go toward whatever divine being they trust to use their will. If you gain their devotion, the vast majority of the divinity they generate will go to you."

No way... this is also another crazy big reveal! Can he really just keep telling us all of this!?

Tatton continued in spite of my shocked expression, "Julia, your realm in particular has a uniquely advantageous environment for cohabitation with these creatures. They mostly stay in the water, correct?"

"Yes... and they take over my coasts," she added, not missing the chance to diss the foreign creatures, a complaint which Tatton dismissed with a hand wave.

"Yet they do not touch the forests where your main lifeforms inhabit."

"Ah- I see what he's getting at!"

Julia looked over at my sudden interjection, so I readily explained.

"Your elves and those swimmy things have different niches. Your elves mainly eat fruit and hunt boars for food, while the invaders pretty much exclusively eat the fish in your oceans that your elves barely even touch outside of a few settlements on the coast. There's no resource competition at all between the two groups, so they can just grow separately from one another without conflict."

"Without conflict..." she looked at me skeptically, "You're saying there won't be conflict with the things that my realm has been fighting with for the past two hundred years?"

I shrugged, "Just because you're fighting now doesn't mean you guys will be fighting forever. Your elves and those swamp things will be sharing the same planet; they're bound to either get along or tolerate each other at some point."

"That's very hopeful, Jacob," she sighed.

"You might as well be optimistic about it. I mean, it's not like you can just get rid of them, anyway. You said it yourself; they just keep running away every time you try to fight them. It might be best to try to get along with them."

"Ugh... you might be right. I really would just rather them be gone, though."

I couldn't do anything aside from patting her shoulder at her groan, "Well, it's either get along with them or risk them joining in with whatever invaders attack you next."

Julia's eyes widened at my comment, yet before she had the chance to speak, Tatton stood and lifted the rune he had been working on.

"The rune is ready- it is time to test this contraption."

The robed figure walked back over to the engine, where he inserted the mana stone into a carved gap in the middle of the rune's plate. With a small tap of the mana stone, the rune's carvings glowed red, and a strong heat began emanating into the surroundings.

"Whoa!"

"Squawk!?"

I had to squint my eyes at the sudden blast of heat that filled the area, which was strong enough to force Mr. Flippers into a hasty retreat.

"Squawk!"

"Right."

Tatton didn't need me to translate- Mr. Flippers' distant yell to put the rune into the boiler was obvious by his pointed flipper, so he did just that- shutting it inside a cover with small holes designed for currently unneeded air flow. Now encapsulated by the metallic boiler, we were relieved from the rune's heat, which was being focused on converting the water in the upper compartment into steam.

Chugga Chugga Chugga Chugga!

It only took a few moments for the intense heat to boil the water, shooting steam through the pipes, which moved the piston and started the flywheel's rotation.

"Wow... so that's what it looks like! It really does make the wheel spin!"

I couldn't help but smile at Julia's shining eyes.

Oh right- this is her first time seeing the engine in motion, isn't it? Even though I was trying to teach her how to build it, she wasn't able to figure it out.

"I told you so," I teased, "Do you think you'll be able to build it in your domain, now that you have it as a reference?"

The elf girl took another look at the engine and then turned back to me.

"... I'd probably have an easier time getting those invaders out of my realm."

"Where did all of your confidence go..." I glanced over to Tatton with a wry smile, "What do you think of it?"

"It is certainly a fascinating machine," he marveled, though his voice did not encapsulate nearly as much enthusiasm as his words would suggest, "It appears it truly is possible to make such a device without mana."

"Yeah! It's cool, right?"

He nodded, "It is intriguing. Although similar devices can also be made much more efficiently using runes, they come with the inherent reliance on the presence of mana. There is a chance that some of the knowledge further along this line of research can be used to address some of the shortcomings with a project of mine..."

His gaze shifted elsewhere into his laboratory, before centering back on me.

"You referred to this type of research as science, correct?"

"Mhm. I guess this wheel stuff would qualify more as engineering or mechanics, though."

Tatton once again nodded, grabbing a small rune from a nearby shelf and handing it to me.

"Does science have anything that resembles runes? Something that can make complex things happen more directly without the need for such large equipment?"

I blinked at the sudden line of questioning, yet examined the rune nonetheless.

From what they've told me, it sounds like runes are basically flat boards with certain carvings in them that let people channel mana for complex magic. Obviously, there's no mana on Earth, so the whole premise of the question is kind of impossible.

Still, as I looked along the carvings on the small rune in my hand, a certain comparison flashed through my mind.

"It's sort of like a chip..."

"A chip?" Tatton's head tilted, not missing my mutter.

"Yeah... there's something vaguely similar on Earth called a chip. Or maybe it's more scientifically known as a semiconductor? They basically use electricity as a source of power instead of mana, and use different super tiny electronics that store code to tell them what to do."

"So it is true!"

Tatton's excitement from this reveal was nearly one hundred times stronger than what I felt from the actual spinning of the engine's wheel.

Still, I could only nod.

"I guess, so, but that's just assuming my assumptions about everything are correct. Super advanced chips can do things that I doubt even runes would be able to do. I mean, they're what make my phone work," I took my phone out of my pocket as I said this and displayed it to Tatton, "You saw how big our phone prototype was; this thing can do a hundred more things aside from simply calling, yet it's only the size of my hand. It's only possible for that to happen because of things like chips."

The robed figure eyed the phone in my hands, "It truly is a fascinating piece of technology... do you know anything about how to make these chips?"

Yeah, I figured this question was coming.

With a sigh, I was forced to deliver the bad news, "Nope- I know practically nothing about them. These things are crazy advanced; all I know is that they're made out of rare elements like gold on top of silicon plates. To even make them in the first place, you'd need some crazy complex technology and probably some strong acids or whatever that I doubt you have in this laboratory."

I don't remember how long I was at school for before I got sent to this place, but it definitely wasn't long enough to learn how to make those kinds of things.

Tatton was clearly a bit dejected at my answer, but nonetheless asked another question.

"Since your device contains these chips, would it be possible to disassemble it for examination? Perhaps we could learn more about how they function."

I immediately took a step back.

"Uhhh... I'll have to deny that request," I said, slowly returning my phone to my pocket, "These kinds of phones don't really like being taken apart like that. And no offense, but I can already tell you that no amount of examination would let you replicate the chips. It's like going back in time and showing a car to a village that just made its first carriage. Even if they can somewhat see how it works, there's way too much of a technological gap between the two for them to have any chance of making one for themselves."

I thought my response was fairly reasonable; however, Tatton immediately seemed to slip into thought and fall into a brief silence.

"Squawk?"

Seemingly not being able to take the awkward atmosphere, the penguin made a suggestion from behind the engine.

"Oh, that might be cool, Mr. Flippers!"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Tatton turned to me.

"What did it- he say?"

"In our domain, we made a small train thing using that engine. It's basically a small cart on wheels that can roll around over set tracks. Mr. Flippers offered to make you one. Honestly, that's probably near the limits of what I can personally make with what I know."

"The limits of what you know..." Tatton's mutter entered my ears, before he straightened his stance and spoke in his usual tone, glancing between Julia and me, "It is an intriguing offer, but I will need to decline it for now. I am sure there are things you two must do before your class starts. Perhaps next time we can attempt that sort of construction- I do have some things I must attend to, as well."

"Oh, sure. That's fine, we'll head out then. I should probably tell my humans about the regeneration thing, anyway."

After gathering my things and scooping up Mr. Flippers, the four of us went through the elevator-like gateway between the laboratory and Tatton's office. Soon enough, we emerged in the office, yet Tatton stayed put at the passage while we walked to the door.

"You're going back down to your laboratory?" I asked him as I stopped in front of the exit.

Tatton nodded, "Yes- as I said, there are matters I must address."

"A-alright. I'll see you around, Tatton!" I waved, opening the door ahead of me.

"Squawk!"

Just as we said our goodbyes and I was about to take my final step through the doorway, Tatton's voice spoke from inside the room.

"Ah- please do me a favor and close the door behind you, Jacob."

"Hm? Sure... bye bye."

Click.

With a small click, I shut the door as requested and turned around to see Julia giving me a weird look in the hallway. I could immediately guess what she was thinking.

"You felt that, too?"

"Yes... he's acting differently all of a sudden," she revealed, crossing her arms.

"Squawk?"

Mr. Flippers looked between us in confusion, but I simply patted his head.

"Maybe he's just upset that I didn't let him have my phone?"

Julia shrugged at my guess, "Hmm... maybe, but that's kind of petty if that's true. You and Mr. Flippers just taught him how to build that thing- shouldn't he be happy enough with that?"

"To be fair, just because he learned something cool, doesn't mean that he didn't want to learn more," I grinned, "I mean, you just got your bow and you were already talking about how you wanted a Mutation Orb."

Julia rolled her eyes at my sudden teasing, "That's different! I wasn't actually upset or anything, unlike him."

"That's true," I paused, "Or maybe it isn't? We're kind of just assuming that he's upset... maybe he's just thinking hard about something?"

"Squawk!"

"Yeah, like about the train," I smiled at Mr. Flippers' innocent input, "After all of the help he's given us, I kind of want to just give him the benefit of the doubt on this one and not make any judgments on his character. Besides, he's allowed to be upset if he wants to be; he didn't even outright say anything mean. Honestly, that would be the most tame I've ever seen an upset person be."

Julia paused for a moment, "Do you think we're just imagining it then?"

"Maybe? There was definitely something off about his tone, though- something, beyond just his words," I stretched, "Well, it doesn't matter much. I did want to go back to my domain real quickly, anyway. I'll only be a few minutes; should I meet you back here?"

"Okay..." Julia relaxed a bit, putting her thoughts behind her, "How about you meet me at the training grounds? I want to try out my bow some more until the bathhouse empties out."

"Sounds good. I'll see you in a few minutes, Julia!"

"I'll see you soon, Jacob~"

"Squawk!"

With those brief goodbyes, I quickly said the usual chant, and the Academy vanished before my eyes.

Let's put aside Tatton's stuff for now. I wonder how my humans will react to this prize~