John looked up from the laptop he was studying as the front door opened and his father, Derick entered their small apartment. He was a tall man at six feet and seven inches, with a handsome face and a fit body he kept in shape via daily routine in the building’s small gym. In contrast John had topped out at five foot six, shorter even than his mother, and was at best neutral in the looks department. As for his body, well, he was thin, but mostly because he just didn’t eat much. Both men, however shared a pair of startlingly green eyes, mousey brown hair, and a square jaw.

“Reading anything interesting?” his father asked as he removed his coat and hung it by the door.

“Reading up on more agricultural practices,” John said, turning the laptop so his father could see the article on irrigation.

“Think that’s going to be useful?” Came the reply as his father walked into their small kitchenette.

“Dunno, they say it’s a fully simulated world, which means it’s supposed to… well… behave like reality. So in theory farming could be part of the game.” John smirked at his own pun. Derick just rolled his eyes.

“And you think that’s going to help you make money,” it was more statement than question.

“Well, in a magical world there’s going to be magical products, so why not magical crops and foods? I mean, I won’t know more until I get in game and get started, but I’d guess there will be benefits to eating, why else simulate it?”

Derick paused and considered the argument. “You have a backup?” he asked after a moment of contemplative silence.

John shrugged. “Do the adventuring thing. Not my favorite, but I’ve been practicing with the sims they’ve put out. I can generally swing a sword in the right direction.”

“And you’re sure that selling in game items for real currency is actually allowed? I know that in my day most companies had something in the EULA that forbade it.”

John snorted. “It’s not just allowed, it’s encouraged. The company literally owns a bank. And they have it tied to the in-game banking service. You can purchase goods and services with real or game currency, and you can make payment transactions to other players the same way. Of course, there’s a surcharge for the feature.”

“Of course.” His father echoed, sounding entirely unsurprised. “You’re sure you don’t want to go to college? I know it’s no apprenticeship but a degree is still worth slightly more than the paper it’s printed on.”

“I’m not taking out a loan for something that won’t guarantee me a job in the future. And before you start, we both know we’d need a loan.”

Derick sighed and nodded as he puttered about, making a cold cuts sandwich. “Well, just remember the deal. Six months. If you’re not turning a profit by then-“

“I know, I’ll have to find a different job,” John finished as Derick nodded along. “I’m not delusional dad, I’m not going for pro gamer. I’m just looking to corner a niche.”

“Which is the only reason I’m indulging this,” his father said, though the words lacked any form of punch.

John nodded. “I know dad.”

“Good. Don’t stay up too late, you’ve got your first day of work tomorrow, and if games today are anything like they were in my day, you’re going to want to be one of the first in.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” John responded, even as he looked back to his laptop.

***

John had, in fact, stayed up too late. Though not for lack of trying. As the alarm went off he opened bleary eyes and slapped at his phone, a surefire way to accomplish nothing. Finally he sat up, picked the device up and carefully navigated through the popups to turn off the alarm.

“I swear,” he muttered as he trudged toward the bathroom. “If I ever get the chance I’m going to seriously hurt past me for thinking a puzzle lock on the alarm was a good idea.”

Morning routine quickly cared for, John made his way back to his room and picked up the other device sitting on his night stand. It was a slim, circular band that went around the head and it had a single button meant to rest above the right ear. He put it on, laid down, and then pressed the button.

He was met by a momentary darkness and then a bright light as his Home Room appeared around him. It was currently a barren ten by ten foot box, with a single door labeled “Limitless Online” below the name was a countdown timer showing just over an hour left before the game would launch.

John went over and touched the door anyway, eliciting a prompt.

[Attention! Limitless Online will not be open for 1h 05m 29s. Would you like to spend this time in character creation instead?]

[Y/N]

Reaching out John pressed his finger on the Y. The prompt flashed green and he found himself standing in a hall of mirrors. He looked around, curious at the change of scenery, and was startled to find that each mirror reflected a different version of himself. After a moment he realized the mirrors were showing the different races he could play.

Walking up to the nearest mirror he found himself looking up into a face that was his, yet more refined, almost regal, attached to a body that was thin, clearly by design being more willowy than skinny. The final tip off was the ears, long and pointed. This was himself as an Elf, obviously. A moment of searching revealed a plaque at the bottom of the mirror that confirmed his supposition.

Slowly he began to prowl the room, quickly passing the other standard fantasy races. Elves might work for what he wanted, they tended to be pretty nature themed, but he bet that if he looked he’d find something better, so he began checking all the mirrors.

After 20 minutes he was getting frustrated. There seemed to be every type of race imaginable, however none of them came with statistics, just a name and appearance.

“How am I supposed to choose what will work best if I can’t tell what each race gives!” he cried in frustration.

“Well,” rumbled the reflection in front of him. “You could just ask.”

John stared at the mirror, it depicted a large ursine man and was labled ‘Bear Folk’. He gaped for a moment before finding his voice. “You can talk?!”

Bear-John rumbled with laughter. “Yes, we can talk, we thought you knew that, or I promise we would have said something earlier.”

“I just assumed it’d all be prompts like in old-school MMOs and those LitRPG books.” He mumbled, face warming.

“The designers considered that, but a hall of dry statistics sounds boring, doesn’t it?” Bear-John asked. “If you’re looking for something specific, I could tell you where to go.”

With a sigh of relief John nodded. “I’m looking for a race that’ll be good for farming.”

“Well, Ursine Folk are particularly strong, and our claws make for good weapons so-” the bear began.

“No, sorry,” John said cutting him off. “I mean agricultural farming. Like planting crops and such.”

Bear-John blinked, looking taken aback for a moment. “I… see. Hmm… Give me a moment.” The bear then walked out of his mirror and entered another nearby mirror with a Cat Folk version of John in it. They began an animated whisper. Then they both left their mirror and moved to the next, and then the next. Until an entire parade of johns was moving about in a single mirror, all having animated discussions that he couldn’t hear. After ten minutes the different Johns all exited the mirror they were in and returned to their own reflective surfaces.

“Sorry about that.” Ursine-John said. “We needed to pool resources. That’s a pretty odd request you have, and it wasn’t really considered until now. Looks like the ones you’re looking for are a bit all over the place, so we’re gonna collapse down into just the mirrors you want.”

“Oh… uh, thank you, then. You’ve been a big help.”

“No problem, it’s our job.” With that the Ursine man made a gesture and all the nearby mirrors began to fold in on themselves. As they did so new mirrors moved to take their place, and then folded in on themselves as well. The process began to speed up, becoming so quick that the mirrors were little more than a blur until only four mirrors remained.

The first and second mirror contained female versions of John, the first with thick, bark-like skin and vine like hair, the second a fair maiden in diaphanous robes. They were labeled Dryad and Nymph respectively.

“Sorry ladies, but I’m not feeling up to a sex change at the moment.” He said to the two mirrors. The Dryad shrugged and the Nymph sniffed, both mirrors folded in on themselves and disappeared even as John looked to the other two mirrors.

In the first mirror was a reflection of John with the same face, but a small goatee, two small horns, and goat ears. From the neck to the waist he appeared to be entirely human, and then he transitioned into goat legs. Unfortunately, he also appeared to have no notion of modesty. John fidgeted uncomfortably and switched his view from the Satyr to the second mirror.

The mirror read ‘Basajaun’ and depicted a very hairy version of John, complete with thick beard and mane like hair. “What the heck is a Basajaun?” He asked as he looked over the hairy man.

“Basajaunak, that’s the plural form,” the image began, his voice only slightly deeper than John’s normal timbre, “are a race of forest folk characterized by their hirsute appearance and gentle nature. They’ve been known to share the secrets of agriculture and tool use with other races they encounter, and often give warnings of danger that approach, such as particularly violent storms. They are also known as builders of Megaliths. In game terms, you get bonuses to farming, megalith construction, and limited prognostication related specifically to natural disasters.”

John nodded as he listened, still studiously avoiding the Satyr who was obviously enjoying John’s discomfort. “And… uh… what does he give?” He jerked a thumb at the goat man.

“I!” Satyr-John declared. “Give bonuses to nature related tasks, such as charming wild animals, growing things, and,” here he waggled his brows. “Fertility!”

John shifted uncomfortably again. “I… uh… just… no.”

Satyr-John blew a raspberry. “Suit yourself!” he said even as the mirror folded up on itself and disappeared.

“I guess that leaves Basajaun.” John said looking at the final mirror. “How do I choose?”

“Just step into the mirror,” Basajohn said.

With a deep breath John stepped forward into the mirror and, after a brief sensation of falling, out the other side.

Immediately he felt different. Warmer, almost too warm, and slightly itchy, especially where the clothing rubbed against his dense hair. “Oh that’s weird,” he muttered to himself, even as he looked down at the hairy backs of his hands. For the next several moments John familiarized himself with his new form, running his hands over his hairy arms, and then through his beard, and finding himself glad that he wore only a short-sleeved shirt and long, loose shorts.

Finally satisfied with his self-examination he looked around and found himself in a room full of statues. Each statue depicted himself (as a Basajaun, of course) in various outfits, gear, and poses. Reading the plaques at the bottom he found them to be different classes.

“Okay, how much time do we have left.” He asked aloud. One of the statues, a version of John wearing heavy armor, turned and spoke.

“You have about fifteen minutes left before the game goes live.” Paladin-John told him.

“Thanks. I don’t suppose you guys have any class recommendations that’ll go well with Farming?” he asked the statue.

There was a long pause as the various statues looked at each other, finally the Paladin spoke again. “That one’s a lot harder than the racial selection one. Most packages aren’t geared toward farming, though one or two are being put together right now. They’d include a few spells and skills that would get you on your way, but… it might be better to choose the base package, Adventurer.” The paladin gestured and the ground before John erupted as a new statue burst forth. The plaque at the bottom simply read ‘Adventurer’ and the statue was just John as he stood now.

“What’s so special about adventurer.” He asked after examining the statue.

The statue looked down at him. “Well, I don’t have any leveling points spent, I’m a blank slate.”

“What does that mean?” John asked.

“Each level, instead of getting new spells, skills, or attributes each player gains Leveling Points,” the adventurer explained, “which can be spent to increase any of those things, or purchase new ones. In addition every fifth level allows you to purchase, or upgrade, a feat.”

“And the other classes?”

“There are no ‘other classes’ as you think of them. What you’re seeing here are starting packages, that means their points for level 0 have already been spent. This allows someone to get a quick start.” Adventurer John clarified.

“Alright, the… paladin? Said that a couple farming packages are being made, how long is that going to take?”

“Not long, maybe 10 to 20 minutes.”

“Or I could just build my own really quick, alright, how do I choose a starting package?” John inquired.

“Just place your hand on the pedestal and will it,” advised Adventurer-John.

Nodding, John touched the Adventurer pedestal and focused on the idea of it becoming his class. He heard a cracking, crumbling sound and opened his eyes to see the other statues around them falling apart, until he stood in a field of rubble with only the adventurer pedestal left, though it was now empty of its statue and he could see stairs leading up to the top. Quickly he climbed up them and took its place.

The world tilted crazily for a moment, and then he found himself standing back in his home room, the door to Infinite Online stand before him, the countdown showing five minutes left. As he looked at it another prompt appeared.

[Adventurer Package Chosen! Distributing Leveling Points.]

[1000 Leveling Points distributed.]

[Please Enter a Name.]

John paused, looking at the blinking cursor. He considered for a moment, and then shrugged. Did he really need a gaming handle? He entered his first name.

[Name Registered, please distribute your Leveling Points before entering Infinite Online.]

John glanced at the timer. Only three minutes remained. He sighed, realizing he was likely going to be a few minutes late.

“Status” he said

[Name: John]

[Race: Basajaun]

[Level: 0]

[Mana: 100]

[MRegen: 5/Minute]

[Leveling Points: 1000]

[Attributes]

Strength: 10 Constitution: 12 Dexterity 8 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10

[Skills]

None

[Spells]

None

[Racial Perks]

Plant Tender Disaster Prognosticator Megalith Mastery

“How many points to raise an attribute.”

[The formula for raising an attribute is the Current Attribute multiplied by five, or CA*5]

“How many points for a new skill?”

[New skills cost 100 Leveling Points. The cost to increase a skill by a rank is equal to the Square of the new rank times 100, plus all the previous rank costs. Skill levels are Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert, Master, Grandmaster. Thus, raising from Novice to Apprentice would cost 500 points, from Apprentice to Journeyman 1,400, Journeyman to Expert is 3,000, Expert to Master is 5,500, and 9,100 to go from Master to Grandmaster.]

“How much for a new spell?”

[Spell costs are the same as Skill Costs.]

“Well that’s easy enough to remember. Purchase two Dexterity, two Intelligence, and two wisdom for 295 points. Purchase Farming for 100 Points. Purchase…” John hesitated for a moment. “Is there a list of skills an spells I can look through?” No sooner had he asked then two new windows opened before him. Giving them a quick once over he made a few hasty choices. “Purchase Move Earth for 100 points. Purchase Create Water for 100 points. Purchase Light Armor for 100 Points, Purchase Swordplay for 100 Points. Purchase…” He hesitated again. “Engineering for 100 Points.”

[Processing]

[Two Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom Purchased: 295 points]

[Farming, Light Armor, Swordplay, Engineering Purchased: 400 points.]

[Move Earth Purchased: 100 Points]

[Create Water Purchased: 100 Points]

He had 105 points left, just enough to purchase two ranks in another Ability. He glanced over at the door and the now displayed negative two minutes and twenty-six seconds. He sighed and spent another moment considering.

“Can I bank Leveling Points for later?” he asked.

[You may bank any number of leveling points at any level above 0.]

“Aaaaand my level is 0, so that’s a no. Alright, add two points to strength for 105 points.”

[Two Strength Purchased: 105 points]

[Would you like to review your status and confirm all purchases?]

“Yes please.”

[Name: John]

[Race: Basajaun]

[Level: 0]

[Leveling Points: 0]

[Attributes]

Strength: 12 Constitution: 12 Dexterity 10 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 12

[Skills]

Engineering – Novice Farming – Novice Light Armor – Novice Swordplay – Novice

[Spells]

Create Water – Novice Move Earth – Novice

[Confirm Purchases?]

[Y/N]

“Yes, thank you,” John confirmed.

[Purchases confirmed, have a pleasant game experience.]

There was a brief moment of disorientation as John felt a cool trickle, like water over his scalp, but it quickly passed and he moved to touch the door again, only to receive a new prompt.

[Please Select Starting Location]

Emperor’s Watch – The capital of the Eternal Empire, seat of the Emperor and most populous and prosperous city in the land. Location Locked – Too Many Players Cresthill – Also known as the City of Merchants, Cresthill is in a prime location to facilitate trade between the Old Empire and the new boarder towns. Location Locked – Too Many Players Kirikwall – Also known as the City of Smiths, Kirikwall is famous not only for its high-quality iron ore, but also the excellent smithies that produce much of the Empire’s Steel. Location Locked – Too Many Players …

John sighed, it looked like those… five minutes and twenty seconds… really had cost him. “Please limit selection to open locations,” he said and the list immediately shortened.

[Please Select Starting Location]

Runic Rock – A small adventuring village situated at the edge of the empire, notable for its access to a new Dungeon and the fertile plains which it borders. Bella’s Wish – A small farming community situated at the edge of the empire, notable for its proximity to the untamed Whispering Woods. Alistra – A small mining community situated at the edge of the empire, notable for its proximity to the untamed Northern Mountains. …

John looked at the new list with a critical eye. Uniformly they were all at the edge of the empire and small communities. He spent a few minutes scrolling through the options and then finally selected Runic Rock. “If the farming doesn’t pan out at least I’ll have a dungeon to delve,” he muttered to himself.

[Runic Rock selected, initiating transport.]

A sudden and total darkness enveloped him, followed by the sensation of quick movement and an abrupt stop. When the darkness cleared he was standing in the middle of a small village that consisted of no more than twenty buildings. He looked around while scratching idly at his beard. He appeared to be in the middle of a square next to a giant boulder covered in dense runework. Around the square he could see an Inn, three shops (Butcher, Baker, General Goods), and a smattering of small stalls selling what looked to be produce.

[Congratulations on taking your first steps in Limitless Online. As part of your starter package you have been granted, in accordance with your skills: Three (3) Days of Trail Rations, One Hundred (100) Copper Pieces, One (1) Short Sword, One (1) Set of Leather Armor, One (1) Belt Knife, Two (2) Bushels of Wheat Kernels, One (1) Hoe, One (1) Axe, One (1) Shovel, One (1) Hammer, Two (2) Packages of One Hundred (100) Nails.]

John blinked at the message and then looked around. He didn’t appear to have any bags or to be carrying anything other than his clothes. An inventory system then, he thought to himself.

“Inventory,” he said aloud and a window appeared showing his current inventory. It looked like he had 20 inventory slots, and a money pouch down in the corner. He looked over the items and then nodded.

“You know,” said a grandmotherly voice. “You don’t have to actually say the words out loud.”

John looked about, startled by the sudden intrusion into his thoughts. He looked left, then right, then finally turned around. Behind him he found that the giant rock actually had a circular bench that ran all around the base, and sitting on it was an elderly human woman. She looked back at him with a kind smile as she stood to her diminutive four-foot height and shuffled forward, leaning on an old, twisted cane for support. Her keen black eyes watching him as she made her way forward.

“Also,” she said as she stopped next to John, “you should never just leave your inventory open, or someone might do this.” She then stretched forth her hand, pushing it into the inventory screen and pulling out a package of nails and showed it to a wide-eyed John.

“Inventories are not secured against theft while open, unless you happen to have a skill or spell that prevents it, and such things are rare.” She handed the nails back to him. “Go ahead and put that away and close the screen dear. There’s a good lad. Now sit with Grandma Loren and tell me what you’re doing all the way out here.” She shuffled back to the bench even as John threw the nail into his inventory and closed it, this time just by willing it so.

Taking a seat next to the old woman he mumbled out a ‘thank you.’ She grinned back at him.

“Don’t mention it, I’ve been sitting here all day waiting for players to show up. Yes yes, we know about players, your coming has been foretold by the gods, blah blah.” She waved a hand as if brushing something away. “We even know you view this world as a game. I pity the idiots who treat it that way though. They’re going to find prison is no joke. Where were we? Oh right, you were going to tell me what brings you out this way.”

John blinked, and then stupidly said, “All the main cities were locked out due to too many players.”

Loren snorted. “Not by choice then.” The old woman shook her head. “Don’t worry, you got lucky. The people who started in the core cities aren’t going to have a very good day. The people there hate anyone who was born outside the core; apparently we’re not good enough for them or something. The players that started there are going to find no jobs nor prospects, nor customers if it comes to that. I imagine we’ll be seeing quite the migration to the outer towns and villages in the coming weeks and months. Here, have a candy.” She passed him a small hard candy wrapped in waxed paper. John took it hesitantly. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to poison you in the middle of town. It’s just a Honey Candy.”

Tentatively John unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth. It was, as she said, a Honey Candy. He sucked on it for a moment and then crunched it between his teeth. Immediately a popup appeared.

[Buff: Honey Candy.]

[Description: +1 Wisdom.]

[Duration: 1 Minute.]

His brows went up and he smiled. “Oh good, food does give buffs!”

Loren smirked. “Yes, it does. Better the food, better the buffs. Course what goes into it affects that as well. This is a wildflower honey candy, it gives a short buff to wisdom, as you just found out. Other types will give other bonuses. Of course, the bonus also depends on the quality of the maker’s skill and the product itself. This stuff is imported, and it’s not very good. We don’t have any apiarist yet. That’s a bee keeper. Though I dare say you may want to keep some, you’re going to need bees to pollinate some of your crops.”

“How did you…” John began.

“I saw your inventory, remember? The kernels were a dead giveaway, though I’ll admit the sword and armor have me confused. Planning on doing some dungeon delving on the side? Or just worried about defending your farm?”

“Well, I figured if I couldn’t make it as a farmer then I could maybe do some adventuring,” John admitted.

“Not a bad plan, but I wouldn’t spend any points in those two unless you’re going to switch right now. You just don’t get that many to be spreading them about like that. Though I suppose you might get more experience from dungeon delves than farming, in the end you’d be trying to go too many different directions.”

John tugged on his beard. “I can get experience from farming?”

“Hm? Oh Sure. There are two ways to get experience. Killing monsters or doing crafts. Working at your craft, in this case farming, will give you experience. Though less than killing a monster would. Still, it’s slow and steady and will get you there eventually. Of course, the better item you craft, or in this case grow, the more xp you get,” she explained.

“So if I want to increase my farming xp I need to increase my Farming skill?”

Loren bobbed her head from side to side. “Yes and no. Having a better skill will yield better results. However there are other factors too, such as the materials used. In your case it’s going to also depend on soil quality, how well you water your crops, perhaps even what you water them with. What fertilizers you use and so on. All the skill in the world isn’t going to help if you don’t apply it correctly.”

John nodded as he listened. “So how does xp work? I don’t see bars for it or any numerical representations…”

“You won’t,” Loren responded. “While we know xp exists, it’s a silent calculation, much like you won’t find Hit Points, or Stamina. Yes, we know about those things, what you call ‘devs’ decided that you didn’t need that kind of information if you could feel yourself getting hurt, or tired. The only exception to that is Mana, though we don’t know why.”

“This seems like really specific knowledge for you to have.”

“Well, I’m a scholar by trade, I read a lot of the collected works about Players and what they would expect and wouldn’t know.” She paused to eat another candy before continuing. “To be honest, I’m surprised you actually took the time to sit and listen. From the texts I expected Players to be a lot more… flighty.”

John smiled at that. “To be honest, you surprised me. I knew this was supposed to be a fully simulated world but I didn’t expect the people to be so… um…”

“Real?” she finished for him, even as she crunched down on the hard candy.

John nodded, thankful that the beard covered the rising heat in his cheeks.

“We are real, or at least I choose to think so. So someone else made us and put our lives and world into motion. I understand that some of your own people believe someone else did the same to you. Does that make you feel any less real?” She didn’t seem offended, merely bemused.

“I guess when you put it that way, then it makes a lot of sense. Although that raises a lot of questions about morality that I’m not sure I’m qualified to deal with,” John said disconcerted.

“Does it? I suppose if you treat this like a game, and like it’s not real then it does.”

“If this is real then are the Devs your gods?”

“No, well, not my gods. Most people haven’t done the necessary reading to really understand our world, they believe only in the Pantheon and the creation story set forth. Which is mostly true, the eleven Intelligences that govern our world did create most of it as described. Even if someone else put them into motion and gave them instructions,” she explained.

At that moment a flash of light drew both their attention to where a youngish looking cat-woman had just appeared. She looked around the town with the same interest John must have had when he appeared.

“Ah, it looks like we have a second arrival. I should probably greet her, thank you for taking the time to sit and talk with an old woman,” Loren said as she patted him on the knee.

“Oh, uh, yeah, no problem. Oh! My name is John, it was good to meet you!”

“You too dear, best run along and find a good place to set up before someone else beats you to it,” she said with a wink before standing up and tottering over to the beastkin to strike up a conversation.

“No no dear, you don’t want to stand there with your inventory open… anyone can see inside it…”

John stood as Grandma Loren talked to the beast woman, who seemed a lot more dismissive of the old woman. To be honest, John himself wasn’t sure how he felt. Could NPCs be real people? She’d seemed real enough. But as he told Loren, he wasn’t sure what that would really mean. He didn’t come here to rape, pillage, and plunder. He just wanted to farm and make some money.

He began walking down the straight, single road of the town, toward where he could see the start of the vast plains nearby. As he got closer to them, he realized he didn’t have a plan. He’d been given an axe, but there were precious few trees that he could see. Most of the buildings were made of stone with tiled roofs. What did these people burn in the winter? Who did he talk to about getting land? Grandma Loren implied he should just pick a spot. But how would he…

He stopped and went back to the square. Grandma Loren was now talking to a large Orcish man, the cat girl had disappeared too somewhere else. John headed toward the general store; he knew what he needed.

A small bell tinkled as he came through the door and he found himself in a surprisingly well-lit interior. He was greeted by tall shelves covered in goods, and a counter off to one side manned by a large ursine man. What really caught his eye though were the glowing stones hung from the rafters in ornate cages.

“First,” rumbled the bear-man. “Don’t block the door. ’S rude. Second, those are Light Attuned Mana Stones. You can find them near the back. They’re poor quality though, so don’t expect to be using them to power much of anything for very long.”

John blinked and looked at the man, then moved away from the door as his words registered. “Sorry, I didn’t expect such an… elegant lighting solution,” he explained.

“Expected lamps and candles eh? You’d be right in most other places, but the dungeon not far from here puts out all kinds of Mana Stones, so they’re pretty cheap to use. Give it a few years and it’ll be a major export, then we’ll really see money come into town.”

John nodded his understanding. “I need a few supplies. I’m setting up a farm and I’m honestly not sure what I’m supposed to do to claim land, so if you could tell me about that while I’m here that’d be great.”

The bear man rumbled quietly before speaking. “Claiming land is pretty easy, technically the Emperor owns all the land, but if you can tame it and use it for a year and a day it’s yours in perpetuity. As for how to show your claim, there’r claim spikes in the back, just place one at each of the four corners of your claim and it’ll show up on the town map, that’s in town hall. It’s the big two story building cross the square.”

“Thanks. I also want some string, and stakes for laying out plots. Can I get those here?” John queried.

“Sure, string is on that shelf there ‘n stakes are over in that barrel. Anything else?”

John hesitated a moment before asking, “who do I talk to about building some structures?”

“Hmmmm,” the bear man hummed. “Most of the buildings round here were all built at the same time, by everyone involved. I’m afraid you’re probably gonna have to do it on your own. Or maybe pay some of the local folk to help ya. But I’m guessin’ you don’t have a lot of money?”

John shook his head and the Ursine continued, “in that case you could try your luck with the dungeon, if you can clear a room or three you might find items worth selling, or bartering. Bit of a crap shoot really; poor thing hasn’t had much to absorb but what we brought with us.”

“Absorb?” John asked.

“Look,” the man rumbled. “It’s not that I’m not willing to help a newcomer out. But I’m not exactly here for teaching. You gonna actually buy that stuff you were talkin bout? Or you just gonna keep jawin?”

John ducked his head. “Sorry,” he said as he started picking through the items in the shop, grabbing up twine, and wooden stakes, then pausing to pick up a tent and sleeping roll as well. He laid the items on the counter and the man behind it grunted.

“Yeah, absorbed. Dungeons absorb things and then can recreate them. There’r laws about giving them too much expensive stuff though. Don’t want to wreck the economy. For instance don’t give a one level dungeon mithril. Copper an such is fine though,” he said as he moved a paw over each item, eliciting a small glow around each one. “Stakes are 1 copper each, you’ve got 20 altogether, Twine is 5 copper a spool and you’ve got five, Bedroll is 15 copper and the tent is 30. So, 90 copper total.”

John winced but opened his inventory and pulled out small handfuls of the tiny coins until most of his worldly wealth was on the counter. The big man counted each coper and then nodded satisfied. “Go ahead and pack up your purchases. Also, you can will things into and out of your inventory, it takes a moment, isn’t as fast as opening it and putting things in or pulling them out. But it means people can’t get at your stuff easy either.”

Closing his inventory John started picking up items and willing them into his inventory. It took a moment to get the knack for it down, but even then it required a good bit of concentration; not something you’d want to do in battle then.

“Thank you mister…?” John intentionally trailed off.

“Theodore.” The man grunted.

“It was good to meet you mister Theodore, I’m John. I’ll see you around!” John said as he started moving toward the front door. Theodore just grunted.

Back outside John started once more for the edge of town, not bothering to stop at the rock as he could see Loren was entertaining three more newcomers; so he strolled down the lane and out past the few nearby farms. He stopped when the road ended and looked out over the plains and considered. I should have looked at that map, he thought to himself. See if there were any features worth investigating.

With a sigh he started walking out onto the plains, looking for… he really didn’t know what. Something. He walked for nearly an hour before he gave up, there wasn’t much in the area, just flat grassy plains far as the eye could see. “Good a place as any,” he muttered and pulled out the claim stakes. He oriented himself toward the village and then paced off a square 200 strides, when he placed the last flag a prompt popped up.

[You have staked out an area of 270,400 square feet, do you wish to claim it?]

[Y/N]

John focused on the Y, giving his assent.

[Land Claim Formed. Do you wish to register this claim with the nearest town?]

[Y/N]

Finished, he realized he had no clue what to do next. He didn’t actually have a plan, how could he have, not knowing what to expect? However he’d never really envisioned having to clear a large swath of land before using it, and now that he was here he didn’t really know where to start. Unsure of what to do he decided to log and take a few moments to mull the problem over.