In the city of the Neanderthals, life had changed a lot in the last year.

Thanks to Sobek's gifts, Neanderthals no longer had to worry about getting food. It was now a guarantee. They still needed water, and in fact they periodically went to the river to fetch it, but with the dinosaurs that no longer attacked them everything had become easier. There were still prehistoric mammals and reptile-mammals, of course, but they were much smaller and less dangerous than the ferocious giants that reigned over the forest.

Thanks to this, working in the fields and farming had become largely obsolete. Food was no longer a problem, so there was no longer a need to produce it. This clearly left many people out of work, as 90% of the city's inhabitants were focused on the primary sector. They hadn't initially noticed the problem as they had to focus on building the armor, but now, after more than a year, the effects of this change were starting to be felt.

Within a year, the Neanderthals had completed all the armor required by Sobek, allowing him to unlock almost all the boxes in the [Armor system]. Once that job was done, the big problem arose: now what would they do?

The Neanderthals certainly weren't sitting idle. One thing that all living species had in common was that they did not like to remain still; they wanted to have a purpose, something to keep busy. Neytiri had found the solution: she had succeeded Nienne about two months earlier, when the woman had died of old age, and she had worked hard to stabilize the city's economy. Under her advice, the Mana had promoted alternative jobs, such as crafts, cooking, weaving and much more. Furthermore, Neytiri had ruled that food could no longer be commercialized, as the magical fruits had been donated by the Great King of the Forest so that the Neanderthals would never go hungry, but all other goods, from houses to trinkets, had to be instead. purchased normally.

This change had enormous consequences, of course. No longer having to worry about getting food, many parents had stopped making their children work from an early age, preferring instead to let them play with their peers. Not only that, but now that they were no longer forced to spend it to obtain food, the parents saved up the money so that they could one day pay masters to teach their children a trade.

Until just a year ago, most Neanderthals assumed that their child would do the same job as their parents. But now that hunger was no longer a problem, the mentality of the parents was becoming much freer, and indeed they encouraged their children to do better jobs than theirs. A carpenter's son could now become a bricklayer, a craftsman or even a guard, since now his parents could afford to pay for his apprenticeship.

Unintentionally, Sobek had set a great change in motion. Neanderthal society was changing and for the better. People had more confidence in themselves and their possibilities and aimed for higher goals. And with so many more people now engaged in research and study, it was likely that Neanderthals would see a real scientific revolution in the near future.

Some Mana were not very happy with this change, as they feared that by giving too much freedom to the people they would forget their place and try to break their sacred traditions. However, Neytiri and many of the younger apprentices were confident that it would actually go the other way. After all, the city was like a body, and just as the limbs could not survive without the stomach and the stomach could not survive without the limbs, so the people needed the manas and manas of the people. They just had to have faith in change and work hard so that the scales always balanced each other, without an excess on either side.

After all, Neytiri had repeated it many times, the Great King of the Forest would not have made such gifts to the Neanderthals if they could have brought suffering.

By the way, Sobek had become the main object of their cult by now. The embroideries and canvases that depicted him had become many more, and even many sculptors were beginning to create statues and bas-reliefs. Sobek was depicted in multiple forms, both in the first way they had seen him (when he was Spinosaurus ingens) and in the next (when he was Spinosaurus imperator). He was often portrayed in his works as a terrible punisher in command of dinosaur armies who hurled his punishment at men who had been evil.

Neytiri was no longer embroidering, since she was too busy with her duties as Mana, but still supervised the work of the apprentices so that they did not make mistakes and ruin the canvases. For some time she had not received the visit of the winged messengers, so she was surprised when the eye of one of them appeared in her window.

By now, seeing the large pterosaurs flying over the city had become normal, so no one worried when one of them appeared in the sky. The pterosaurs themselves seemed to have adapted to that situation, in fact by now they were heading directly to the main halls of the palace or to the Mana rooms and calling them from their windows.

Neytiri leaned out to greet the huge arambourgiania who had come to visit her. The pterosaur had a white, velvety plumage, similar to that of a swan, but was the size of an airplane. "Noble messenger, why are you here? Does the Great King of the Forest need our services again?"

But to her surprise the pterosaur shook its head. "I am not coming on behalf of the Great King of the Forest, but of the Queen of the Sea. She wants to talk to you"

Neytiri was amazed. For a Neanderthal she was already so much being summoned by a god... let alone two! "Take me to her, then" she said climbing over the sill and jumping on the back of the arambourgiania. The pterosaur didn't have it repeated and took off quickly.

Neytiri had forgotten how annoying it was to fly. Every time she did it she reinforced her belief in her that humans weren't made for heaven: if the gods had wanted them to fly they would have given them wings!

This time the flight was a little longer than the last time: Arambourgiania headed south, flying over endless hectares of forest. After almost an hour of travel, the sea finally appeared on the horizon.

Neytiri's eyes widened when she saw it. The Neanderthals knew that the sea existed, because some explorers of the past had seen it; but practically none of those who lived in the city had a real idea of what it was. In the tales, the sea was depicted as a gigantic lake, larger than any other. But now Neytiri saw that the sea was much more than that: it wasn't just a lake, it was a mass of water so huge that she couldn't see the end, if she had one.

Arambourgiania flew over the coast, then finally began to descend, until she reached the surface of the water; there she settled down, using her hind legs to avoid sinking.

Then, suddenly, the water boiled, and a giant reptile head emerged from the depths. Neytiri was frightened to see the appearance of the sea monster, but the creature reassured her: "Do not be afraid, dweller of the earth. I won't hurt you. I am the Queen of the Sea"

Neytiri was somewhat calmed by those words and she looked at the beast. It resembled a crocodile, but was larger, more massive and instead of legs it had fins, like those of fish. And she hadn't come alone: many creatures Neytiri had never seen were gathering around her. Some resembled fish, but were larger and more stocky-bodied, others resembled snakes and turtles mixed together, while still others resembled giant crocodiles with fins and short tails. "Why did you summon me, my lady?" she asked.

"I have learned that you and your people have helped the Great King of the Forest by forging armor for him with which he has equipped his army" the Queen of the Sea replied. "I wanted to ask you if you would be willing to do the same for me"

"For you, my lady?" Neytiri asked.

"Yes. Like the creatures of the earth, the creatures of the sea are also suffering at the hands of the wickedness of those who live beyond your forest" the Queen of the Sea explained. "The Great King of the Forest has already won numerous victories against evil humans and has come to the aid of my people when they need it. Now I want to join him in his war"

Neytiri knew that the Great King of the Forest was winning: the pterosaurs that came to the Neanderthal city had reported information on the progress of the war. Neytiri knew that the Great King of the Forest had reconquered much of the continent and restored the forest where it had been torn.

And now the creatures of the sea also wanted to go to war with evil humans?

"Of course you don't have to do it without a fee" the Queen of the Sea continued. "In exchange for this service, I will teach you how to get a lot of water without great effort. Not only can you drink it, but you can also use it to wash and clean your city"

Like all ancient cities, Neanderthals did not shine with cleanliness. Their only source of water, after all, was the river, and they had to work a lot to get even just the water to drink. Washing and cleaning was not exactly common, and as a result many diseases spread easily. The offer of the Queen of the Sea was therefore more than tempting. "We will gladly carry out your request, my lady" Neytiri replied.

"Thank you. You will have to do exactly as you did for the Great King of the Forest: produce an armor for each species of my subjects. I'll take care of the rest" and after having said these words a specimen of each marine genus presented itself in front of Neytiri: an ichthyosaur, a plesiosaur, a pliosaurus and a mosasaur. "Now listen to me carefully..."

And Mazu explained to Neytiri how to get the water. Obviously, it was all Sobek's plan. Earlier, crocodiles and spinosaurids had discovered that a passage opened under the lake that formed a second lake underground, just below the Neanderthal city; humans had never discovered it because it was about twenty meters deep, and Neanderthals weren't used to dig that deep. Sobek had therefore chosen to exploit this to obtain armor for marine reptiles. After all, he certainly couldn't ask for an 'update' of the work schedule: what would he look like if, as a deity, he hadn't foreseen that sea creatures would also join the war? But if it had been another divinity to ask... well, that changed everything.

Mazu described to Neytiri not only how to find the underground lake, but he also explained some tricks on rudimentary pumps and aqueducts that he had learned from Blue for the occasion. The Neanderthals might have taken some time to complete everything, but when they finished they would no longer have to fear drought.

The deal was simple and the Neanderthals would certainly have agreed. Sobek was not wrong about this prediction.

When they were finished, Mazu slightly raised his body to give the pterosaur carrying Neytiri a base to take off; when the two disappeared on the horizon, the mosasaur and all the other marine reptiles disappeared underwater, returning to Sobek to report the success of the mission.