"Return to domain!"

The moment the chant was called, both the penguin in my arms and I were transported back into my domain.

Contrary to the usual darkness that normally greeted us in this room half-filled by a massive ice palace, we were instead met with the alarming red lights typical for an invasion declaration.

Perfect- he actually went through with it!

A sly smirk naturally found its way onto my face as I looked at the image of the lumpy toad dude on my screen, hovering above the words 'invasion imminent'. Before I even had the chance to dismiss the alert, the penguin wiggled out of my arms and let out a grumpy squawk.

"Huh? What's wrong, Mr. Flippers?"

"Squawk!"

"... Come on- you're still mad about what I said at Tatton's office? You know I was talking about when you hid under your bed back when Levon attacked."

"Squawk!"

"Yeah, but they didn't know the context!"

"Squawk!!"

"What do you mean 'that's worse'!?"

 "Squawk! Suawk!?"

"... Okay maybe 'intimate' may have been a poor choice of words."

"... Squawk."

"You're a penguin, you shouldn't even know about that anyway."

"..."

I could only sigh at his silent glare, "Fine, I'm sorry. I was just worried about you; Tatton could've kept you in there for like a hundred years while I was in class!"

"Squawk."

The penguin began angrily stomping back into his ice palace, seemingly not accepting my apology.

"You're really leaving? Don't you want to see what happened to our realm when we were gone?"

"... Squawk."

"Fine... I guess I'll stay here by myself," I sighed.

Just as the penguin disappeared into the ice palace, the crystal ball in my hand began glowing.

A smirk appeared on my face at the sight, "It looks like Julia is calling already- at least someone wants to talk to me!"

No sooner than I finished exaggeratingly yelling that last part toward the massive ice palace, a familiar voice came through the ball.

"Ummm... Jacob? Can you hear me?"

"I can- it looks like it worked! You're able to hear me right, Julia?"

"Yes! This is such a cool artifact!"

I couldn't help but smile as I felt Julia's excitement through the orb.

"It really is; Tatton and Mr. Flippers must've worked hard on it," I nodded as I walked over and placed the crystal ball on my desk, "Your domain was at heavenly time when you called, right?"

"Mhm- I called right after I turned off the invasion alarm."

"Ah- right," I quickly dismissed the alert after her reminder, eliminating the red hue from my domain, "We should probably call at mortal time from now on so we don't waste time. Who's attacking you, anyway?"

"Sure, that's fine by me," Julia agreed, "As for who's attacking... I don't think I've interacted with her before."

"I guess it was a random matchup then. What did she look like on the screen?"

"Well-"

Based on Julia's description, it seemed to be an aquatic Seedling with both webbed hands and feet. Her bluish-green coloring for camouflage in murky water and multiple small fins also suggested this fact. With traits like those, I was a bit surprised it kept its bipedal stance instead of going all out into some sort of fish or mermaid.

Although I tried to think of advice to give Julia, I quickly ran into a problem. 

"It's a bit hard to strategize when we don't know how long her lifeforms can swim for."

"That's true..." Julia trailed off with a sigh.

I guess them being in the water doesn't really matter since they'll only be fighting on land. It's figuring out where they'll attack from that's the problem.

"Your continent kind of resembles that bow and arrow shape, right? If they can swim through those large lakes in the center of your realm, you'd lose that terrain advantage in the center. Actually... did your elves develop enough to really make use of that yet?"

"Only a bit, but my realm should've developed a lot more since the last battle phase."

"Hmmm... how about we check out our realms for a bit at mortal time and call back later then? It only makes sense to start strategizing after we know the situation in our realms."

"Yeah... that makes sense. I'll call you back soon, Jacob!"

"Sounds good- I'll be looking forward to it!"

The crystal orb's glow faded with those parting words, allowing me to finally shift my domain back to mortal time.

Alright... it looks like there's still roughly 70 years in my realm until I can choose an Oracle. Of course, then there's still about 42 years after that before I gotta deal with the toad dude.

A small sigh of relief escaped my lips.

Luckily, we didn't waste too much time at Tatton's office; his lab operating at mortal time came in clutch. Well, then again, I guess it doesn't matter much; if this toad dude is as weak to the cold as I think he is, I doubt I'll need much more than the final hour to prepare for him.

"Even if I have more time than I thought, I shouldn't just waste it. Let's see what my humans did while I was gone!"

As I looked at the screen, a loud gasp echoed in my domain.

"THE REALM IS DESTROYED!?"

"Squawk!?"

Mr. Flippers dashed out of the ice palace onto his balcony at my words, only to be met with me sticking my tongue out under the projection of my perfectly fine realm.

"If you were out here with me, you wouldn't have gotten so scared-"

Crash!

"Ow!"

A chunk of ice crashed into my head- perfectly thrown by one of the penguin's new mechanical arms.

"Okay... I probably deserved that, but you should still at least watch with me!"

"... Squawk."

Although clearly still not happy, Mr, Flippers sat down on the ice palace's balcony with a clear view of the screen.

"That was a crazy throw, by the way," I started zooming in on notable sections of my realm for my initial scouting after wiping some small ice shavings out of my hair, "Hmm? That in the mudflats... is that corn!?"

I frantically zoomed in to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

No way- the western continent actually managed to get corn while I was gone!?

Although I was secretly hoping that they'd be able to get it, I figured it'd be a long shot at best.

Wow... they really proved me wrong!

Despite my rush of excitement, I couldn't help but be curious on how exactly they managed to get it.

"Did someone swim and carry some over? Or maybe a piece of corn just like floated over and they were able to figure out how to plant it? There's no way they actually managed to make a boat, right?"

That was the ultimate jackpot in my gamble of withholding the precious crop, but as I scanned the nearby village for any signs of them, my eyes spotted something else that immediately caught my attention.

"T-that's pottery! Those are clearly pots, aren't they!?"'

Sure enough, multiple clay bowls and pots could be seen throughout the village.

It was something that came completely out of left field, in other words, I hadn't even considered the possibility of them making such an advancement while I was away.

"Man... that's so cool! I guess the mud in this area is just super heavy in clay."

I couldn't help but tear up as I looked at some of their work.

Is this what it feels like when a dad sees his kid's first artwork? They did such a good job!

The pots were simple and devoid of any extra details or designs- built solely for their purpose of storing water and food. Even so, I couldn't help but be charmed by their primitive and simplistic constructions.

They've really come so far...

I spent quite a while looking through all of the pottery in nearby villages and admiring their work as a smile naturally formed on my face. Eventually, however, I refocused my attention and continued on with my scouting.

If they really were able to make boats, they'd have be near the river, right?

Sure enough, it was not hard at all to spot what looked to be hollowed-out logs floating across the massive river that split my continent in two.

"No way- they actually freaking did it!"

I nearly jumped out of my chair in excitement at the sight. Although relatively few in number, there were unmistakenly humans rowing across the river in the logs.

"This is insane... they're actually developing so fast! I guess they had to skip over the raft phase and go straight to those canoe things since rope isn't really a thing in the realm yet. Hang on-" a sudden realization hit me as I watched the dugout canoes move across the flowing water, "They couldn't have gotten to the islands with those, right!?"

Frantically, I scanned over my islands before letting out a sigh of relief after finding no traces of humans on them.

After the sheep instructor's freak out in class, I might need to get rid of them just to be safe.

Destroying the islands I worked so hard planning for was something I both really dreaded doing and also likely lacked the Resource Points necessary to accomplish. With this in mind, I could do little aside from doing my best to prevent my humans from settling on them, as I feared that would be the catalyst for the Academy to take notice of their existence.

While scanning over the islands a second time to ease my worries, I checked on the evolution progress of the lifeforms I previously tossed onto them. I wasn't expecting much to change given how recently they were added, and this belief ended up being somewhat true.

There were three islands in my realm, but I only added lifeforms to two of them. The first had moss, earthworms, quasi-ducks, and coastal cherry trees (the subspecies found near the eastern gulf which evolved to withstand the windy storms in the area). Aside from the population of quasi-ducks exploding and feasting on the nearby fish, not much had really changed.

I guess the trees' leaves are a bit different?

It was a bit hard to tell, but it seemed as though branches lower down on the trees were vanishing and the leaves near the top of them were beginning to sort of fan out.

After making a mental note to keep an eye on them, I switched my focus to the second island I experimented with.

This... definitely is an island of mushrooms.

Unlike the first island where I had a plethora of species, this island only had two: the fairy ring mushrooms and the giant mushrooms that evolved from them.

What the heck is even going on in this one?

Mushrooms were everywhere. Aside from a section of the island that seemed to have recently gotten covered by a lava flow, there was practically not a single inch of the island without a mushroom on it. The air was thick with spores- even the water around the island resembled a white sludge due to the sheer volume of spores being washed into it.

I guess I don't really need to worry about people settling on this one... I doubt they can even breathe on there.

As my heart swelled with pity for any poor souls with allergies, I took a closer look at the mushrooms through the dense spore cloud.

Wow, these ones are actually changing quickly!

Changes were clear with just a glance as the giant mushrooms and the fairy ring mushrooms both got noticeably larger- some fairy ring mushrooms now grew to about 8 inches tall and I could easily point out a few giant mushrooms piercing over 6ft into the sky. In addition to this, there seemed to be several subspecies beginning to differentiate themselves in isolated spots around the island.

The mushrooms are almost developing as fast as my humans!

A simple glance at the thick layer of spores was enough for me to deduce that it was the intense competition on the island causing the somewhat rapid evolution.

"It's so freaking cool," I couldn't help but mutter as I deflated back into my chair.

Nothing compares to seeing evolution happen firsthand- it's actually amazing. Man, I might cry if I have to get rid of these islands.

With a groan escaping my lips as I thought of a possible future confrontation, I switched the view on the screen to other places in my realm.

"I guess I should check out the gulf villages next... Oi- what the heck is this!?"

Something immediately caught my attention before I even fully zoomed in.

Those aren't tipis! They made those houses out of wood!

In this area pelted practically nonstop by strong storms, it appeared their flimsy tipis weren't enough to keep them dry. While I remembered seeing small log tunnels scattered throughout the area, once introduced by Uunga to use as emergency shelters, the structures I was seeing now stood almost free-standing and were practical for everyday living

The humans seemed to have driven the trunks of young cherry trees into the ground, creating vertical log walls in a circular pattern before topping it with a thatched roof made of sticks, corn husks, leaves, and moss. Apparently, they lacked the tools necessary to dig too deeply, so these log pillars had support beams that seemed to jut out from under the roof to reinforce these walls. Each shelter was visibly more durable and could easily house many more people than their old tipis could handle.

Aside from the roof, I doubt the storms would be able to blow away much of it! Especially considering the amount of rope these used...

My eyes narrowed as I looked closer at the structures.

"Hang on- that's... actual rope, not sinew, isn't it!?"

I was pummeled with yet another surpise.

Until now, my humans had been using chicken tendons to do things like bind clothing together and connect javelin tips to their shafts. Sadly, these strings were fragile and often did not last long, so they were seldom used outside of those purposes; using such thin sinew to support logs was out of the question.

But those are actual ropes! I thought it was impossible for them to make it without strong plant fibers, so how did... oh right! The corn!

The fibers of the corn plant itself were extremely suitable for such a purpose- its versatility was already becoming abundantly clear in just a single development period.  A sense of pride washed over me at the revelation. 

Man, corn really was a great pick, wasn't it? Rope alone is an insane resource... honestly, that invention is probably right up there with fire and wheels given what they can use it to make in the future.

A sudden contradiction entered my mind.

If they had rope, I'm surprised they didn't use it to make a raft across the river. I'm sure a raft would've been much easier to make than those canoe things... Ah- it must've been someone from the western continent to first cross it then, since they couldn't have rope over there without having corn. I don't think advancing directly to canoes was a bad thing, though.

As I was reflecting on their developments, a few humans walking by easily caught my eye.

"They even have proper clothes now!"

The new fashion was immediately noticeable, now consisting of somewhat unprocessed corn husks threaded together with thin rope. Before this, my humans mainly wore a mixture of chicken skin, feathers, and leaves, which was actually slightly frightening at times. It wasn't surprising to me in the slightest that they switched what they wore the second a new material came along. Although it was still far behind the warmth and protection the mountain chicken hides in the north could provide, the corn husk clothing was undoubtedly a huge upgrade for the rest of my realm.

Once I choose a new priest, I think my first order will be for them to teach those in the western continent how to make them. Be gone, chicken skin! My realm has advanced past the need for such nightmarish clothing!

A shiver shook my body as I thought back to the casually worn clothing of the previous battle phase.

I should do that soon, shouldn't I? Actually, scratch that- I'm doing that now. The sooner they stop wearing chicken skin, the better.

Although I moved to quickly view my temple, I couldn't help but freeze as I looked at the village outside of it,

"Squawk!?"

"Whoa-"

Even Mr. Flippers who was watching the screen from his balcony was in awe over what we were seeing.

For starters, the tipis that last dominated the plateau were nearly completely replaced by huts similar to what was found near the gulf. Not only that, but most of the forested sectors of the capital had been fully replaced while we were away at the Academy.

Since they have corn, I'm not too surprised they replaced the biggest sections with corn fields, but the other ones are chicken farms, aren't they!?

A few sectors appeared to be just that- chicken farms. What seemed like hundreds of chickens could be seen clucking around and munching on piles of corn husks, moss, corn, and other random scraps behind wooden fencing and rope.

I can't believe it! How the heck did they get chickens over here!? They must've carried the chickens back from that one corner of the plateau that's still forested... or I guess they could've carried some up the giant staircase from below the plateau?

Regardless of how they managed to get them- the fact that they had chickens was a game changer for the humans' development.

With a bright smile on my face, I looked up at the penguin standing on the balcony, "Do you see that, Mr. Flippers!? They started domesticating chickens! Look- that guy is eating one of their eggs!"

"Squawk!?"

"Hm? No, it's a good thing! A really good thing, actually! Eggs are such a good source of protein and-"

"Squawk!"

I couldn't help but flinch at his terrified squawk.

"Hm? What's wrong, Mr. Flippers- did I miss something?"

"Squawk! Squawk!?"

"Ah- that's right. Penguins lay eggs too, don't they?"

"Squawk!"

"No, it's different..."

"Squawk!?"

I couldn't help but sigh awkwardly as I paused just before zooming into the temple.

Choosing a priest will need to wait a second... this is gonna be a weird conversation.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Very Rough Map of Julia's Realm (This is just the general shape of it for reference. If you can't see it, that might mean you're not reading this on Scribble Hub):

Jacob's Realm (The islands are slightly larger on the map than in reality; it will be adjusted in the future):

HypnoticNovels

Hello, everyone :D !!!! I'll be honest, I'm not really a big fan of Chapter 63 and 64 :c I'm gonna work hard to figure out better ways to write these sorts of transitional chapters in future; I have some ideas in mind already, so please bear with me!

Luckily, it seems like many of you enjoyed H.3!!! I'm really proud of how that turned out, so thank you all for the support <3 As you all could probably tell, I hid a ton in that chapter- including something that I meant to be a huge revelation that I thought would blow everyone's minds, but I don't think anyone connected the dots lol. That's fine though, it's going to be given a lot more detail in H.4 (which should happen much sooner than H.3 did).

Anyway, as hinted at, Ch 64 will be another sort of transitional chapter before it is time to choose an Oracle in 65~ this next battle phase should be pretty interesting :D thanks for the support everyone <3 it really means a lot to me :D