Farmer

by Tom Larcombe

  An hour later he was viewing the results of his fumbling efforts. When he tried to tug on it, the whole piece he had been planning on using as a sled fell to pieces.

  “Damn it!” he shouted.

  He settled back into a sitting position and drew the pieces over to him.

  Over, under, over, under, over...

  He tried to keep track in his mind but was distracted by his panel lighting up with a notification.

  Success:

  You have obtained the skill Weaving. (Help Weaving for more details)

  Eddie breathed a sigh of relief as the process he'd been trying to follow solidified in his head.

  Just need a way to secure the edges, he thought, they're flexible enough that I can turn them back in and tie them around themselves just past the first cross-piece.

  He tugged on his finished sled and watched as it slid across the ground instead of pulling apart. The hand ax was nearby, so he grabbed it and climbed back up in the tree, quickly chopping down as many branches as he thought he could fit in a single load.

  ~ ~ ~

  When Eddie got the load back to the farm, he immediately set to work trying to weave a barrier around the gap between the top of the stone wall and the lowest rail of the wooden fence set on top of it. By the time he'd finished the first section he'd raised his weaving skill another point. The snarky message from the system when he managed it wasn't a surprise, but still made him chuckle.

  You have upgraded the skill Weaving to (2). Perhaps you should branch out and learn underwater basket weaving?

  Yeah, I know, he thought. It'll probably be useless after this one time, but I didn't ask for the skill, it was given to me.

  The other farmers appeared while he was working and he endured their taunts for a few minutes before standing up and glaring at them.

  “You want something to eat in game?” he asked. “Then don't make fun of what I'm doing. Those damned bunnies are a scourge on the garden. Maybe you should consider helping me if you want to eat.”

  The others disappeared quickly after his suggestion and he continued his work in peace. He managed three loads, which filled in the bottom of the garden wall on three sides, before he decided it was too dark to continue.

  When he got to the barracks, the others seemed clueless. There was no fire going and the other men were just lying on their bunks, complaining.

  Well, at least I wasn't the only one that got duped by the ad, Eddie thought as he heard their words.

  He'd tossed another log into the fire pit each time he got back with a load of willow branches, so now he went and got an armload of firewood and set the wood up to build a fire in the fireplace. The rock he'd used to carry the coals was still sitting next to the hearth and he took it to the fire pit, carefully scraping live coals onto it.

  When he got back into the bunkhouse, one of the other guys was crouched in front of the fireplace.

  “Excuse me,” Eddie said. “I want to light that up.”

  “Yeah, but this isn't exactly going to light easy the way you have it set up, you know?” the guy said.

  “Sorry, I haven't got the first clue how to build a fire right, but I managed it the last couple of nights.”

  “Here I'll show you, do you have any kindling?”

  Eddie had used up all the shavings he'd gotten from making his throwing sticks and staff, but there had been a fair number of thin willow branches that had been dead and dried, brittle enough that he'd tossed them to the side as he'd worked.

  “Would really thin dried willow work?” he asked.

  “Probably, especially since you've got live coals.”

  “I'll be right back then,” Eddie said.

  He set the rock with the coals down next to the other man, then trotted out and grabbed an armload of the dead, brittle willow. When he got back in the other man took the branches from him, broke them down small, then made a little square arrangement out of them in the fireplace, building what looked like a tiny, roofless fort.

  He took several other branches and tucked them in the middle of his fort, finally he took a smaller sliver and held it against the live coals, bending over to blow on the coals, causing them to crackle and turn a brighter shade of orange.

  After a minute or two of blowing there was smoke rising from the end of the willow branch he'd held against the coals. A minute later there was a flash of orange light as the end of the branch ignited. The man kept it against the coals for a few moments longer then, when he was sure it was burning well, transferred the burning branch to the center of his fort.

  Moments later the branches stuffed in the middle of his fort burst into flames and a little after that, the fort itself ignited. The man arranged the logs over it, then sat back and relaxed.

  “That ought to do it,” he said.

  Success:

  You have obtained the skill Fire Building. (Help Fire Building for more details)

  By observing the method in which this skill is performed you have learned enough about the skill to gain it for your own.

  Not all that realistic, Eddie thought, but I'll take it. I just hope the skill doesn't depend on live coals because if I need to actually use it anywhere but here I probably won't have any.

  As he thought about it he realized that he now knew the proper way to use flint and steel or, if desperate, the proper way to light a fire with a couple of sticks. He nodded to himself, sure he could build a fire if pressed.

  “Thanks for that,” Eddie said, “a lot quicker than my recent efforts have been. I'm Eddie, Eddie Hunter.”

  “Karl, Karl Rostov,” the man replied. “And it's not a problem, there's nothing like a good fire to raise people's spirits and these guys,” he turned his head and nodded towards the other men in the bunkhouse, “need it.”

  “Yeah, I overheard. I got taken in by that ad too.”

  “Me too, but hell, I'm in Light Online in full long term immersion. I'm not gonna bitch all that much. I just figured I could do stuff when they didn't have me working. Looks like you've been here a bit, anything to do?”

  Eddie snorted.

  “Yeah, I have been here a couple of days, but they totally screwed up my character somehow. I wasn't even flagged as a player so I was getting shit XP from the bunnies I killed in the garden. Got that fixed and almost immediately got a quest. That's what I was doing out there, a quest to keep the bunnies out of the garden.”

  “Wait, what? Not even flagged as a player?”

  Eddie shook his head.

  “Zero level too, that one was intentional. The guy who built this place was still here when I first logged in. He told me they got a cheaper deal for our access by having us start at level zero.”

  Karl's eyes went distant for a moment.

  “Yup, I'm level zero as well. Well, shit, no wonder I didn't get to place stats or choose skills.”

  “My skill list looked like they'd loaded it up with farm related stuff,” Eddie said.

  “Yeah, me too. Farming, herbalism, animal stuff.”

  “Staves for your weapon skill?”

  Karl nodded.

  “That sucks, there's never any good combat staffs in these games, all the good ones are for casters.”

  “Well, I've got to make another run for a last load of willow tomorrow. If you want I can grab you something like this,” Eddie said, gesturing towards his melee staff.

  “That'd be great, beats the hell out of nothing at least.”

  “I have another idea,” Eddie said. “The food here is incredible. I wonder if anyone knows how to cook.”

  “Hey,” Eddie called out. “Any of you know how to cook, either the game skill or in real life?”

  He got a bunch of blank looks for a reply.

  “Well, I can get it so it's edible at least,” Eddie said.

  He pulled out a couple of pieces of rabbit meat and the spit, then proceeded to get them cooking over the now merrily burning fire. He shoved the spit to one side of the fireplace and the burning
logs to the other, keeping the coals below the meat like Paul had showed him.

  As he turned them to keep them from burning, an idea struck him.

  “Hey Karl, would you turn these for a minute?” he asked.

  “Sure, as long as I get some.”

  “I was planning on everyone having some. I've got more of the meat in my inventory for later on.”

  “Sure then, why?”

  “Well, I don't have cooking, but the guy I told you about did and I watched him. So maybe I can get these to taste a little better than just the meat.”

  “Go ahead,” Karl said, sweeping his hand in a wide gesture, “I got this.”

  Eddie went out to the garden where he'd seen some herbs growing. The bunnies hadn't gone after those yet. He grabbed some basil and rosemary, then headed back in.

  “Thanks Karl.”

  The rabbit meat sliced easily with his utility knife and he stuffed the chunks full of the herbs he'd gathered. As he continued to turn the rabbits, a heady smell drifted through the bunkhouse.

  Success:

  You have obtained the skill Cooking. (Help Cooking for more details)

  Eddie slapped his forehead.

  “Well shit, I just learned the cooking skill. Good thing I hadn't had any sort of build planned for this character yet, my skill list is a mess. At least I'm not near my maximum number of skills yet.

  “They've got a maximum number of skills?” Karl asked.

  “Yeah, when I was skimming the help pages earlier I found it. Evidently you can have up to two times your intelligence in skills. Doesn't matter what level the skill is at, it only counts as one. So I've got a nine intelligence, I can learn eighteen skills. But I keep pulling them by accident.”

  “What have you gotten?”

  “Well, I just got cooking. I got weaving earlier in the day,” Eddie shook his head, “not that that's ever gonna come in handy. I got hunting going after the bunnies, fire-building after watching you, and I got evaluate shortly after I got in game. So that's five beyond the starting skills which were all farming related.”

  “Actually, I can think of a build that doesn't waste very many of those, just the weaving one doesn't fit,” Karl said. “Well, maybe the farming doesn't work well either, depends on how you play it I suppose.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, try for some sort of ranger or scout build. Everything but the weaving and farming could fit that kind of build. Lots of time in the forest, gotta hunt and cook your food. You'd need foraging, but I bet that would be easy to pick up with the herbalism. Just look for the wild herbs in the woods. They deal with wild animals so the animal stuff fits. Hell, I might try for that build.”

  “I don't know how to teach a skill, but I did learn fire building from just watching you, and maybe my own efforts at it the last couple of days, so let me know if you want to pick any of those skills up and we'll see if we can manage it.”

  “Hunting at the very least, we'll need a bow or some kind of missile weapon to do it right though,” Karl said.

  Eddie pulled out a finished throwing stick from his inventory. He'd stuck them there when he was sure he wouldn't need one quickly.

  “I've been using these, that same guy that was here when I started suggested them, I looked them up online and decided to give it a shot.”

  “Online? You can log out? When I checked my log out button was grayed out. I tapped it anyhow and it told me I needed to spend 144 hours online before I could log out. I figure they did that so people couldn't just quit when they found out what kind of farming they were talking about.”

  Eddie hadn't even checked his own log out button. He didn't intend on using it for a long time, but now he wondered. Settings, he thought.

  The settings screen showed on his panel and sure enough, his log out button was grayed out as well.

  “No big deal,” Eddie said. “I was planning on trying to adventure on my days off, so I wasn't going to try to log out anyhow

  “Then how'd you get online?” Karl asked.

  “Oh, sorry, I guess you don't know. They've got a built in browser. Lie back on your bed, or just get somewhere comfortable, then think browser and it'll pop up. Only has a full screen version though so you won't be seeing or doing anything else while you use it.”

  “That's cool, I'll have to try that in a bit. Is that meat ready yet?”

  Eddie laughed and decided that the outer layer of meat was done well enough. He sliced it off and started handing the slices out to the other men in the cabin. Finally, some of them started to come out of their shell, their displeasure at being tricked dwindling as they ate the fresh cooked meat.

  ~ ~ ~

  Chapter Seven

  Freyja's voice was strident as she raced into Odin's hall.

  “Odin! File a report immediately. There are now multiple anomalies in the same zone as the first.”

  “More?” Odin asked.

  “Yes, there are more of those zero level mortals, all crop-tenders, that have arrived there and each of them, including the original, is generating an anomaly at this very moment. I must go and see what I can do. That zone has become unstable due to all the anomalies and I have no idea what difficulties that may cause.”

  Odin stilled and she knew what he was doing. He was filing the report with those who had built the world. She knew that time for the world-traveling mortals passed more slowly than it did for the gods, except when the two were interacting, so the creators should receive the report before the anomaly ended if it lasted as long as the previous ones had. Meanwhile, she needed to be there. She could, at the very least, calm the mortals when they woke.

  I wonder if they'll all have had dreams like the first one did? she mused.

  She disappeared from Odin's hall.

  ~ ~ ~

  Eddie woke with a start, snapping upright. He'd been dreaming again. His entire day had repeated itself in his mind, but just as the darkness was closing in on him a golden glow, one that reminded him of Freyja, surrounded him. The next thing he knew he was waking up.

  Freyja stood beside him. Once again her body was glowing without shedding any light in the bunkhouse.

  “Edward, you must help me,” she said.

  “What?” he asked, his brain groggy from the dream and being abruptly awoken.

  “Walk about the bunkhouse, touch the others. They are all experiencing the anomaly. You were also, but I drew you out of it. I hope that your touch, with my blessing upon you, will do the same for them. I shall work the other side, you work this one. We must awaken them as quickly as possible. The anomaly is causing instability in the world, this area in particular.”

  His eyes snapped wide open as he tried to translate what she'd said.

  Whatever is causing this problem is enough of an issue that it's damaging the stability of the game? What happens when a game crashes with thousands, or maybe even millions, of people logged in with their brain connected directly to the program?

  He jumped out of bed and immediately moved to Karl, who'd taken the bed next to him. Eddie shrugged, not knowing exactly what to do, but she'd said to touch them, so he laid his hand on Karl's forehead. A faint golden glow flashed for a moment before Karl started thrashing in his sleep. He'd been utterly, eerily, still until that moment and Eddie hoped that the thrashing was an improvement. He ran to the next bed down which held another motionless sleeping man. His mind wandered, still not entirely awake, as he leaned over the man.

  I think his name was Steve. I can't believe they saddled all of us with our real names when they created our characters.

  When he touched Steve on the forehead, once again there was a faint golden flash. Steve's body jolted once, then went rigid for a few seconds. After that, it relaxed and Eddie drew his hand back.

  He looked across the hall, where Freyja was taking care of the other men. Whatever she was doing took a lot more time than he'd taken and he assumed she was pulling them out, then checking other things as well.

&n
bsp; Player flags, he thought, I bet she's checking to see if they're missing them as well, and adding them if they are. Not that it did any good for me, well at least not for the nightmare problem.

  He waited patiently, staring at the goddess.

  Tim was definitely right. I didn't notice it so much before, I was too out of it from the dream, but hot doesn't even begin to describe her.

  He then promptly forced himself to think of other things since he wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't be able to read his mind. Pissing off a goddess was the last thing he wanted to do, especially after she'd saved his ass from that nightmare twice now.

  After about five minutes, as far as he could tell, she'd paused beside each of the men, laying a hand on them.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Your assistance allowed me to get to them more quickly than I could have otherwise. I have altered them as I did you, allowing the world to recognize them as world-traveling mortals.”

  “But that didn't help me, I mean, at least not with the night— I mean the bad dreams.”

  “That is true, but now should they die, they will be recognized and able to return. Before the world recognized them correctly, they would not have been recognized and I do not know if the consciousness would have been able to download to the other world.”

  Oh shit! She means that if I died before she'd set the flag, I might have died for real? Brain death in my real body?

  “I'll thank you for them then since none of them seem to be waking up.”

  “They will not wake until morning, I ensured that they would continue to sleep, untroubled by bad dreams or memories of them.”

  “You took their memories?” Eddie asked incredulously.

  He wondered if that was even allowed under all the paperwork he'd signed.

  “No, I have merely ensured that they will not remember until they awaken. The untroubled sleep will allow the world to regain its stability. Whatever is causing these anomalies seems dangerous to the world. It has been reported to the creators though and I expect that they will take care of the problem.”