Logging in the next morning John exited the tent and stretched. It was odd that his virtual body felt the need to stretch, but there it was. Looking around he caught sight of several somethings moving over near the edge of his field. Frowning he started walking that way. The creatures immediately looked in his direction, and he could easily see it was a small colony of rabbits. The rabbits stared at him for a few moments, and then went back to gnawing on the hand length shoots of wheat.

John stared at the rabbits for a few moments, he hadn’t realized this was going to be a problem, though in hindsight he should have known there’d be animals that want to eat his crops. Sighing he began moving in the direction of the rabbits.

“Hey!” He yelled at them as his walk became a brisk jog. “Shoo! Away!”

The rabbits scattered at his approach, running back into the grass at the edge of the property. John sighed as he watched them go. They’d be back, he knew it. Looking at his field he saw that the damage was fairly minimal. There’d been maybe seven bunnies in all, and they had put only a small dent in the tender shoots. Shaking his head he added ‘build a wall’ to his list of things to do.

“Maybe I should get some kind of pet. A dog maybe?” He muttered to himself.

[It seems you’re contemplating purchasing a Pet, would you like to see the selection of Pets that can be purchased?]

“No, please don’t ask again.” John said, annoyed.

With another heavy sigh john checked the soil and got a nagging feeling that it wasn’t quite damp enough. Taking out his wand he began to water the field, emptying his own mana first and then moving on to the partially used water stone he already had slotted. It took maybe a fourth the water as the initial planting had, which was good because John was running out of stones quite fast. He was down to only four out of his initial ten, and while not extremely expensive, they were still an expense.

As he put away his wand John contemplated other options for watering his field. Magic was easiest but with a bit of investment he could dig out a well and put in a windmill pump. He’d need piping and components however. How much, he wondered, was that going to cost? Sighing he shook his head. It’d be better to invest now rather than spend all his money on a short-term solution like the stones. For now though he needed to finish practicing with Mana Manipulation, and then work on measuring.

John sat down at the edge of the field, hoping his presence would deter any unwanted herbivores, and began practicing mana manipulation. He practiced grabbing the mana, pooling it in his palm, and forcing it to take shapes. He practiced until it was time to log for lunch, and then when he returned he continued practicing until he finally got the desired notification.

[Due to continued use Mana Manipulation has ranked up: Novice to Apprentice]

[125 Leveling Points banked]

With a thankful smile he stood up and did some stretches, he then took out some twine and measured off the length of his forearm. The average human forearm was one and a half feet long. He figured it was close enough to work. He then started measuring everything, first with his eyes, then with the string, then he started over again.

John quickly ran out of actual objects to measure, so he started putting out stakes and measuring the distances between them. Then to mix it up he tried to measure distances and place stakes where he thought correct locations were. It was boring, mind numbing work, but he stuck to it until it was time to log out for the night.

He logged in the next morning to find the rabbits once again at his crops. Once more he ran at them to drive them off. The damage wasn’t much worse this time, but it was still adding up. Fortunately it looked like the crops would be too big to be easily eaten by tomorrow. They were growing quite fast and John had to wonder if that was normal. At this rate it seemed like it’d only be a few more days before it was ready to harvest, and he resolved to ask the other farmers in Runic Rock about it next time he was in town. For now though, back to measuring.

John got out his bit of string again and began to once more measure out objects and distances. It took the entire day but eventually Measuring ranked up to apprentice, bringing with it another 125 points. John checked his sheet and was pleased to see he was now sitting at 725 points. He almost had enough for his first feat and he was only level 1. He wondered, briefly, if people who were out-leveling him were finding enough time to grind out points as well.

Logging in the next morning John found the rabbits at it again, and this time they seemed both bigger and less willing to be driven off easily, leaving only reluctantly when he charged them. Frowning, John watched the bunnies go and realized they were going to be more of a problem than he’d thought. They seemed to be getting bolder and bigger, and he wondered if eating crops was some kind of leveling requirement for them. If so, was he going to have to fight monster bunnies?

[Quest: Bunny Business]

[Description: A colony of rabbits has decided your field is ripe for the munching, defend your crops against the fluffy menace. Reward varies based on performance.]

[Reward: 50 – 250 Leveling Points, ???]

John groaned. While it was nice to know quests were a thing, how was he supposed to deal with the rabbits? It wasn’t like they were leaving distinct and clear tracks to their warren, at least, not ones he could follow. Killing them would be easier said than done, they were small and agile and all he had was a sword and a spell that moved dirt.

With a frustrated sigh John looked around. Was it safe to leave his farm to go and talk to Grandma Loren? He also needed to talk to someone who knew farming as well, he had a nagging feeling his crops were growing too fast. He needed a better way to water his crops as well, which might mean working with the local blacksmith to build a windmill or something. It was a shame he didn’t have a way to get more Mana, that would solve his problem neatly.

“Help,” he muttered, “how do I get more mana?”

[Answer: A person’s Mana Pool can be increased by increasing their intelligence, Mana Regeneration is increased with increases to Wisdom. Mana can also be drawn from natural or unnatural sources, such as Mana Wells, Ley Lines, Mana Stones, and in some rare cases people and beasts.]

“Huh.. Help, what’s a Mana Well?”

[Answer: Mana Wells are artificial constructs that gather and contain ambient Magic which can then be tapped for later use through attuned implements.]

[It seems you are interested in Mana Wells; would you like to purchase the Blueprint Interface and the Mana Well blueprint for 50 USD or 50 Gold?]

“Maybe later.” He muttered as he mulled the idea over. An artificial reservoir of mana sounded exactly like what he needed, especially if it charged passively. But perhaps he should check on Ley Lines first?

“Help, what are Ley Lines?”

[Answer: Ley Lines are naturally occurring pathways in which magic concentrates. They can be found almost anywhere, from the deepest of ocean trenches to the highest of mountain tops.]

“Help, how can I find Ley Lines?”

[Answer: A Mana Sight skill level of expert or greater can see Ley Lines in their natural state. Alternatively certain magical items, or rituals may make Ley Lines visible to the user or those nearby.]

“Great… so even if I were standing right on top of a ley I wouldn’t even know it.” John sighed and looked around. It was no wonder that certain stones were almost out of stock, people would go through them like crazy if they needed to do any continuous magic. He couldn’t imagine slinging fireballs would be any less mana intensive than what he was doing.

Sitting down at the edge of his field John pulled up the web interface and started browsing the forums. He started by looking up what people were saying about spellcasting. Most were calling it a trap, saying that the ridiculous mana costs were there solely to make sure mages had to buy mana stones, and that it was too hard to keep ahead of the purchases.

His next search was for Mana Well, which came up with only a handful of results, though one of them seemed more useful than the others, it even had pictures.

“The Mana Well is a structure built to collect and contain ambient mana. As you can see from these various pictures it can take any shape or form so long as the runes, sigils, and lines that cover it are precise and ordered correctly. Why, one may wonder, not just make mana wells out of bricks? The answer appears to be that certain materials have a higher Mana Capacity than others. For instance your basic rock might only be able to hold a small handful of mana, while a high quality mana core would be able to hold hundreds of thousands. Now, it’s unlikely that you’re going to find a mana core that big, we’re not even through the first month of game play after all! But Mana Wells don’t have to be a large static item, despite their name. The runes for a Mana Well can fit on something as small as a 14-inch rod or wand. How fast a mana well recharges seems to be based on the grade of the mana well, a Poor mana well recharges its full capacity in 24 hours, while each increase in quality seems to shorten that requirement by three hours, to a minimum of one hour for Artifact ranked wells.”

John studied the pictures carefully, and even examined the closeups for the rune sequences. He was pretty sure that with this post as a guide someone could build a Mana Well, if they had the requisite enchanting skills. Despite that, something at the back of his brain was nagging him, and it took a moment for it to resolve into an actual question.

“Help, can I draw directly from the Ambient Mana?”

[Answer: Through the use of Mana Drawing ambient mana can be drawn in to refill your mana pool.]

He remembered that Loren had mentioned Mana Drawing as one of the skills he’d find useful, he’d ask her about it specifically when he went into town. He’d also have to ask her about Ley Lines and Mana Wells, maybe he’d get lucky and there was someone who could build one for him.

John looked around again, but couldn’t see any sign of the rabbits; so he deemed it safe enough to take a trip into town. Turning away from his field he struck out westward and began walking.

***

The trip into town was uneventful as was his arrival. The town was mostly as he’d last seen it, players everywhere trying to sell things to each other. Unfortunately for them it seemed no one was buying. Looking around it was obvious there was a glut of low-quality items due to the frequent dungeon delving. The square was relatively open, surprisingly, with just the few stalls of the locals selling produce.

Taking a brief glance at the rock, John didn’t see Loren, so he decided to start with one of the produce stalls. He walked a short way and then stopped at a stall selling an assortment of grains. “Excuse me,” he said to the older man who was watching him intently. “I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me?”

“I’ve time for questions if you’ve got cash for spending.” The man indicated his stock with a wave of his hand.

“Er, sure. How much for a couple bushels of corn?”

The man eyed him. “Kernels or Cob?”

“Kernels.” John replied promptly.

“You’d be the lad who’s starting a farm then?” the man inquired.

John nodded. “I’m John.” He stuck out his hand and the man took it.

“Frank,” he introduced himself. “Two bushels is a lot of corn, son. How much are you planning to grow? Or are you going to mill it down for meal?”

“Well, I was planning on about an acre of corn, I’ve already got an acre of wheat in the ground…” John trailed off as Frank started shaking his head.

“Son, you’ve got too much in the ground at once. How fast is it growing?” Frank questioned.

“It’s a little more than half grown, I think?” John said tentatively.

Frank gave a disapproving frown. “It’s going to be Poor quality then…” He paused and looked at John and revised his statement. “Maybe Common, I hear Basajaunak have a talent for growing plants. But it’s not going to be a good crop I’m afraid.”

John looked at Frank with some consternation. “You can tell that just by how fast it’s growing?”

Frank nodded. “Crop quality changes how fast they grow. It’s seven days per quality ranking for your common crops. More exotic crops have different time tables, but it’s always multiplied by the rank. Poor quality crops take exactly seven days to grow. Even the best cook will have trouble using them to make a passable meal, and they’ll barely sustain you.”

“So my entire crop is basically worthless,” John said glumly.

“It’s still good as seed, son,” Frank offered. “And it’s not like you knew any better. Everyone grows a low-quality crop or two when they start off. Most grow them in much smaller batches. For instance, I’ve got maybe a whole acre planted at once for all my crops combined. I manage Good quality most of the time, and occasionally Great, that’s about the sweet spot for daily use.”

John tugged at his beard. “So I should harvest this crop, keep it as seed, and plant in smaller batches? How do I increase the quality of my crop?”

“Depends on the route you want to take. I use frequent watering, crop rotations, and fertilizer. Ellie uses some similar methods, but she also dabbles in a bit of fertility magic. I hear there are other techniques you can use. I once met a man who sang to his crops, something about infusing his voice with mana. It all comes down to what you’ve got and are willing to do,” the old farmer explained.

“What do you use for fertilizer? Compost?” John inquired.

Frank nodded. “Aye, that, there are also alchemical mixtures you can buy, but we don’t have an alchemist so you have to hope one of the infrequent traders brings some with them.”

“Alright… What kind of pests should I be looking out for? Aside from rabbits.”

“Rabbits? You got rabbits son? Nasty buggers, eat too much of your crop and they become big and belligerent. Best get yourself a good hound or maybe one of them big cats. A wall might work if they haven’t gotten big enough to jump over it yet.” Frank paused for thought and then continued. “Bugs’ll prey on your crops too, probably hasn’t come up yet because it’s only been a few days, but there are a few nasty varieties about. Chickens’ll take care of them for you, so long as you don’t let them out until the shoots are too big for easy eating. Finally there’s blight, which can take out a crop in just a few days. Fortunately Grandma Loren knows Cleanse, which can purify blight as easy as most other diseases, so iffn you get that you be sure to ask her about it.”

“Thanks, that’s all extremely helpful,” John said sincerely.

“You’re welcome. You still want two bushels of seed corn?”

John shook his head. “How much would you suggest?”

“Well, you’d need around three to four pounds for an eighth of an acre, which is what I suggest you start with. I sell at a couple coppers a pound,” Frank explained.

“Four pounds then,” John said decisively.

Frank measured out the corn into a bag and passed it over, John handed him eight coppers.

John took the bag and thanked the man, only to pause when he remembered one last thing he needed. “Sorry, one last question. How do you thresh your wheat? By hand or…”

Frank gave a short bark of laughter. “By Hand! Son, I aint never hand threshed a day in my life. Nah, Ellie owns a Thresher.” He pointed to a middle-aged woman running another stall filled with fruits. “Lets anyone use it so long as they schedule ahead of time and bring their own mana stones.”

“Ah, thanks, I’ll be sure to ask her about it,” John said. “Thanks for your time.”

“No skin off my nose son.”

John nodded and left, though he wasn’t very far away when he heard a soft chuckle and the words “By hand!”