By the time John arrived at the farm it was about an hour until noon and his obligatory log out. Heading down into the cellar, John dried himself with an application of Control Water, and then sat down on his favorite straw bale. Pulling up the web interface he started looking at ways to handle planting and harvesting berries. The task occupied him until it was time to log out, and gave him some good ideas for his berry plants.

Logging back in John went back out into the rain and mud and headed for the third garden plot. Dropping the last 40 bodies into the plot he began decaying them, a task that he was now well familiar with, and resigned to. He couldn’t wait until the spell hit the Journeyman rank, hopefully it would increase in speed again.

Five hours later found him with the now familiar composted mulch which he quickly tilled into the sodden soil. Then he began his planning. The first thing he needed to do was divide the garden bed into four segments. He dug out three foot wide and 2-foot-deep lines, dividing the bed into 4 sections of about 20 feet long each, then filled the lines with stone to create a dividing line that roots wouldn’t cross easily. Next he ran a line of stone (four-feet-wide) down the very center, further dividing the plot into eight beds of roughly 13 feet by 20 feet.

Deciding that the first two beds would be strawberries, John created a 3-foot walkway around the outside of edges, further reducing the plots to 10 by 17 and then formed a raised bed about three feet high, piling all the displaced dirt into them to level them out at the lip. That finished, John decided to call it a nigh; between the clouds, the rain, and the late hour it was almost impossible to see. He conjured a small flame to light the way back to his shelter. Once inside he dried himself off, laid down, and logged out.

The next morning was blessedly rain free. John made his trip out to the tree and fed it mana for the next four hours. It was a nice way to start the morning. The tree was reveling in the feeling of water around its roots. While he fed the tree he thought he felt something else as well, a sort of… echo of magic about it. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but thought it might mean the tree was going to manifest its magic soon.

Finished with his morning ministrations. John returned to his current project. He took out the basket of strawberries and started by cutting them in eighths and placing one eighth of a strawberry (seed side up, and under a very fine layer of dirt) every 12 inches or so. He fell short by several strawberries, managing to only cover about 3/4ths of one bed. But that was fine, he didn’t need two full beds of strawberries right now. Finally ready, he pulled up the information on Hasten Growth.

[Name: Hasten Growth]

[Description: This spell speeds the growth process of all things, causing rapid maturation in plants, and rapid healing in creatures, such healing is time based, and will replicate natural healing.]

[Current Rank: Novice]

[Amount: Small]

[Current Rate: 1 hour per second]

[Mana Cost: 15/second]

John sighed as he read the prompt. He’d been hoping it would mirror Hasten Decay and start at 1 day per second. Apparently that had been too optimistic. Still, one hour to a second was better than one second to a second. Nodding to himself he got to work. Fortunately, with the help of his Domain feat, the area he could cover (when he only wanted to cover a surface area) was quite large, allowing him to hold the spell over the entire garden bed. It wasn’t long before he had little green shoots appearing from the soil and he cut off the spell, not wanting to overdo it. Pleased with the progress, he turned to plant the blackberries next, only to be stopped by a notification.

[Quest “All Roads Lead Somewhere” complete]

[Reward(s): Check the Gateway of Worlds for rewards.]

John was both pleased and disconcerted. He was happy the road was completed, and given what he’d seen of it yesterday it definitely met the standard he’d desired. But the fact that the rewards needed to be collected elsewhere was somewhat disconcerting. Still, it couldn’t be anything bad… right? First thing though, was payment for the Knights, no need to wait on them to come and collect.

With a confident gait John headed toward the Knights’ compound, which now had multiple buildings, a sturdy wall, and even a gate. John paused; he couldn’t help but feel that his own farm was quite lacking in comparison. Still, he walked up to the gate (which was open) and nodded politely to the two knights guarding it.

“Excuse me, but I’m here to see…” he paused a moment realizing it probably would look terribly disrespectful to call Helen by name. “The commander?” he said hesitantly.

“Commander First Class Helen,” one of the knights said waspishly, “is not to be disturbed with petty matters. What’s your business?”

John was taken slightly aback by the tone. Did all of the knights and squires dislike him and this job? Still, he needed to settle accounts.

“I’m here to pay for the finished construction of the road,” he answered truthfully.

“Then you’ll want to speak to Knight First Class Tet, he handles finances and supplies,” the same knight, an elven man, said. “I will escort you to him. To see that you don’t get lost.” The last part carried the clear implication that John wasn’t trusted.

“Thank you,” John said tersely, becoming annoyed at the treatment.

The knight began walking with a long, swift stride, forcing John to scramble to catch up. They entered the compound and made a line straight for the largest of the four buildings that made up with encampment. As they hurried through the compound he could see several sanded arenas and an obstacle course where squires were currently training under the watchful eye of Axia. The training area was quickly left behind as they entered the building, which turned out to be a large warehouse. They walked a short distance to a door in one wall. The knight knocked on it politely.

“Enter,” came an annoyed voice from the other side.

Opening the door slightly the elven knight stuck his head inside. “The Groundskeeper is here to see you regarding the road payment.”

“Send him in,” the same voice said.

The knight stepped back and gestured to the now open door. “I’ll just wait here until you’re done.”

“No. You won’t. Get back to the gate,” came the curt order from Tet, whom John could now see was a large half-orc.

The elven man scowled, but moved to do as he was ordered.

“Come in Mister John, I don’t have all day,” Tet said.

John walked into the office and, at Tet’s gesture, closed the door and took a seat across from him.

“So, you’ve come to pay for the road construction. I take it they’ve finished then?” Tet asked.

John nodded. “Yes, I received a notification not long ago.”

Tet grunted. “Good to know. The road was measured at just over two miles and a quarter so call it two gold and twenty-five silvers,” the man said as he took out a form and began to fill in several boxes. “Will you be wanting a receipt?”

“Uh… no, thank you,” John said hesitantly.

Tet just grunted again. “Just need your signature and the coinage,” he said as he pushed the form across the table and handed John the quill.

John fumbled with the quill for a moment before he managed to scratch out a barely legible signature. Tet frowned. “Never used a quill before, we have… different writing implements in our world,” John explained as he willed the coins into his palm. He set them on the form and slid both back across the desk.

Tet grunted again, this one seemed thoughtful. “Well, it’ll do. Thank you for paying punctually, not often I get people paying before they’re officially informed of a job done.”

“Do the knights often take jobs like this?” John asked.

“It’s not that unusual. Basic engineering is something we try to teach to all our squires, along with basic Geomantic spells such as Move Earth, Create Earth, and Dirt to Stone. Usually we only get such requests in areas where there aren’t people who can already do that sort of thing,” Tet explained. “Now, if there wasn’t anything else, I do have to get back to the accounts.”

“Uh, no, nothing else, thank you for your time,” John said as he stood up. Then, with a grunt of assent from Tet, he left.

The walk out of the compound was just as quick as the walk in, and the guards at the gate didn’t give him any kind of hassle as he left. Though the elven man did glare at him. John determined he needed to do something about this growing disdain for his person, though he couldn’t think of what.

Walking the short distance down the road to the shrine, he nodded to the two knights on duty and entered it. Once inside he paused and looked around. He honestly wasn’t sure what to do from here. Looking around he Inspected the structure once more.

[Name: Gateway of Worlds]

[Quality: Good]

[Description: Made of Nebula Marble this megalithic structure is a wonderful play on the classic Henge. Though its stones were formed in place and not carried from the far reaches of the continent, there was still a fair amount of effort put into its construction. At the center of the Henge is a magic tree that, with time, may just become one of the wonders of the world. This site is also a shrine dedicated to Thuana, Ira, and Ledos, ware to any who might do it harm, their wrath will be swift and just.]

[Shrine Benefits:]

Functions as a Portal Anchor Contains the Ritual of the Space Grove (Active)

[Claim Rewards]

Seeing the new tab John opened it.

[Reward: The Enchanter’s Handbook (Farming Edition) deposited in inventory]

[Reward: Chooker Starter Package deposited in inventory; Chookers deposited at shrine]

[Reward: Displacer Cloak deposited in inventory.]

John looked around, and then down. On the ground in front of him was a gaggle of small creatures that looked some horrific hybrid of dragon and chicken. They had two dragon-like wings with feather covered backsides, a draconic snout on a long, feathered neck, two wickedly clawed feet, and a long saurian tail that came to a sharp, stinger-laden tip. The thirteen chicken-sized lizards looked up at him in return. The largest of them, which had gold and blue feathers and a magnificent set of horns, took up a small rapid-fire noise.

“Chook chook chook chook,” it went, and the gaggle of slightly smaller, unhorned creatures quickly took up the cry as well, until the entire area was ringing with the noise.

John looked down at them, and once more instincts he didn’t know he had kicked in. Reaching down he made a grab for the large one, which he was certain was male. The chooker immediately bit John, however, despite its ferocious appearance and supreme belief in its own prowess, it failed to pierce John’s constitution strengthened skin. John, expecting it to hurt, flinched back in surprise, then scowled as he realized no harm had been done.

Seeing the ‘retreat’ of the tall one, the chooker let out a loud cry of triumph and immediately barreled at John, attempting to scratch, bite, and sting him. The biting and stinging failed to elicit more than mild pinpricks of pain, the claws however left light scratches. Bending down once more John followed his instincts, grabbing the chooker by the back of the neck and the tail he picked it up and gave it a little shake. The chooker immediately went docile, giving a few pitiful little chooks.

John continued to hold it by the back of the neck and opened his inventory, looking for the ‘starter package’. He found he had a new book, a pamphlet, a package simply labeled bugs, and a neatly folded piece of cloth. He took out the pamphlet and closed the inventory. Flipping it open (still one handed) he gave it a brief skim. It didn’t look promising. The entire pamphlet gave off the air of something written by a used car salesman desperately trying to get rid of a broken-down wreck. Flipping through, the high points seemed to be that the Chookers could produce an astounding number of eggs daily (six to be precise), but could also go through an astounding amount of food, needing to eat almost their body weight in bugs and small rodents to do so. The pamphlet didn’t say anything about how to tame or control them.

John eyed the creature hanging from his hand, it gave him a piteous look and chooked again. He looked down at the chookers on the ground, to find he had their rapt attention. Sighing he tried to puzzle through what to do with the creatures. His instincts were telling him that the chooker male would only be docile so long as he held it like this. He’d need to do something else to ensure it didn’t try to assert dominance once more. He wasn’t sure what though. While he pondered the problem he Inspected the creature.

[Name: Unnamed Chooker (Male)]

[Quality: N/A]

[Description: Chookers are a small wyvern-like creature that live in flocks consisting of a dominant (sometimes called ‘alpha’) male and multiple females with the occasional male offspring. These creatures are considered the worst option for meat and eggs because they tend to be aggressive, hard to corral, and difficult to domesticate. Despite that, some people still raise them as they are effective pest control, and their eggs taste delicious.]

John shook his head, there was nothing there about how to tame them. He looked back to the chooker. Putting the pamphlet away he took out the package of bugs. The chooker’s eyes immediately snapped to the package. It chooked quietly and wriggled until John firmed up his grip. Fumbling with the pouch he managed to open it using his mouth and hand, then looked inside. True to its name, it was full of dead bugs of all kinds. Sighing, John walked over to the wall and placed the now open pouch on it. He dipped his hand into it and pulled out a small mass of the dead critters.

Looking at the chooker he tried to let those ever-elusive instincts guide him. He felt that he needed to do something now, but it definitely wasn’t feed the thing. With a slowly dawning suspicion he looked at the bugs, then at the chooker, then at the flock. Who always gets first pick? The alpha, of course. John closed his eyes and screwed up his courage. He ate the bugs.

The chookers around him all chooked, the one in his hand remained silent. He masticated slowly, the crunchy, gushy, uncooked and disgusting bits rolling around his mouth. Sliding between his teeth and leaving an unpalatable flavor in their wake. Finally he swallowed. Taking a deep, slightly nauseated breath, he looked down at the chooker females. Digging into the bag again he tossed bugs down at his feet, the females waited a moment, then tentatively began eating them. Once all the females had finished picking at the ground he turned his eyes to the male. It looked sad and defeated. Finally he dipped his hand into the bag once more and pulled out a small portion which he carefully fed to the male. It ate despondently.

Closing the pouch back up, John put it in his inventory and began walking back to the farm. The small army of Chookers following behind him. As he passed the guards they smirked at him, having clearly caught the exchange between him and his new flock. John just grimaced and carried on. Opening a hole in the wall he brought the chookers inside and then close it up again. Looking about John realized quickly that he was going to need somewhere to keep the things, Currently he didn’t have a coop of any kind, though he had plenty of straw as nesting materials.

Sighing, John dropped the chooker male, which squawked indignantly, flapped its wings, and landed awkwardly. It glared up at John in mute defiance, and John knew he’d have to give more than one example of why he was in charge.

[Skill Gained: Animal Husbandry]

“Yeah, yeah,” John muttered, then conjured a bit of water directly into his mouth. He swished and spat. Then conjured more and swallowed.

Ignoring the flock of reptiles for the moment, John tried to decide where to place the new coop. He eventually settled on putting it at the end of the garden beds, that way the chookers would be close to them, allowing them to more easily clean out small pests such as rodents and bugs. Moving to the southern end of the plots he started digging out a rectangular section of earth. The area was only 10 feet by 20 feet, and he made it no deeper than 3, compacting the earth at the bottom as hard as he could. He then started filling it in with stone, a task that took all of thirty seconds.

Pausing he looked behind him. The chookers had spread out somewhat, though the females were mostly following the male about as it strutted about, observing the area. Hoping the things wouldn’t run off, John turned to the coop he was building and added foot thick walls to a height of six feet, then capped the thing with a slightly domed roof. As he’d been working, John had been considering the chicken coops he’d seen online, and had left large windows near the top of the northern wall, and most of the southern wall to let in light, and a regular sized doorway to the east. He’d install a door for himself, and then a smaller door flap on that for the chookers.

Looking up at the windows John considered what he might do with them. The most obvious answer was shutters. He could slip them into place the same way he slipped the door to his cellar into place. But he’d need to be constantly opening and closing them. Glass would be great, but he had no way to get glass. There was, however, one other option he’d been mulling over. If he could create granite, shale, and marble, why couldn’t he make quartz? With a determined look, John raised his hands and cast Create Earth, focusing on the idea of crystal-clear quartz.

The mana got twisty and squirmy, but John was prepared for that. He clamped down on it with his will and continued to push for the result he desired. After a moment the windows began to fill with the substance. It was harder than creating regular granite, but not as hard as the marble he’d made earlier. It took him only a short while to fill the windows, and he barely felt the strain. The end result was pleasing, crystal clear panes of thick quartz. The only downside was a slight distortion due to the thickness.

Nodding, John poked his head outside and looked around. The chookers were still wandering about the area, but he could see the male eying the fence. The pamphlet had indicated that chookers were prodigious jumpers, even if their wings were clipped. John had no doubt the wall would pose little problem for the creatures, and he had a suspicion these ones didn’t have clipped wings. He needed to get a nesting area designed and established pronto, otherwise the entire flock might disappear over the wall, never to return.

Ducking back inside, he turned to the walls and considered, the pamphlet had said that regular chicken coops could be easily converted to house chookers. Nesting boxes for chickens needed to be elevated about 20 inches off the ground and around a foot cubed in size. The chookers were a little bigger than your average chicken, so John figured that maybe the dimensions used for larger breeds might be more appropriate; that would be about 14 inches cubed. He couldn’t Measure down to the inch yet, of course, but he figured close would be good enough in this case.

With a gesture he started creating nesting boxes on the northern wall, about 20 inches up, and about 14 inches in depth, width, and height. In all he fit in 17 nesting boxes; far more than the chookers should need. He then turned to the southern wall, and raised small stone dowels out of the floor. The first set of dowels, close to the window, were almost four feet tall, and he ran a stone bar across the top of them from east to west. The second set, which were about a foot away from the first to the north, were only a couple feet high, and he ran another bar across the top of them from east to west. He didn’t know if chookers liked to roost, but these bars should be the perfect place to do so. Finally he added two troughs, both shallow, and both elevated about 20 inches off the floor. He filled one of them with water, the other he left for later.

He walked back outside, the chookers were all clustered up near the wall, and the male was obviously considering an escape. John took the bugs back out of his inventory and gave a sharp whistle. The chookers all looked in his direction, startled by the noise. He then opened the bag and scattered some bugs on the ground. The male glared balefully at John, but the females started over to partake of the offering. Reluctantly the male followed them, muscling his way to the front and taking first pick.

Hoping that’d keep their attention for a little bit. John disappeared the baggy and quickly strode toward the cellar. Pulling open the door he walked down inside. Selecting six of the large straw bales he disappeared them into his inventory and made his way back outside. The chookers were wandering aimlessly again, which John took as a good sign. The sooner they associated John and the farm with food the sooner they’d decide that it was a good place to stay.

Moving back to the new coop John began to break up the bales and scatter the straw across the floor. Until it was completely covered, and then put down a thick layer in the bottom of the nesting boxes. That done he went outside to find the chookers once more considering the wall. With a sigh he pulled out the bugs once more and gave another whistle. They immediately turned and a couple of the females even trotted in his direction. He sprinkled more bugs on the ground, which the females were happy to peck at, even if the male was belligerent about it.

John didn’t want to draw the chookers into the coop just yet. It was nearing midday, and usually you lured new chickens into the coop at night, so they’d get used to sleeping there. John wasn’t sure what to do now though. He had to log out soon, which would mean leaving the chookers unsupervised. Would they even be here when he returned? If not, how would the plains handle a chooker invasion? He couldn’t see the little monsters being considered anything but an invasive species.

He checked the pouch of bugs, it was about three quarters full. A couple of the chookers had hesitantly moved toward him last time he whistled. Maybe he could teach them to come whenever he did that? It might take a few days though, not all animals were quick on the uptake. Still, it was a better plan than no plan. For now he’d just have to hope the chookers didn’t run very far. With a resigned sigh, he logged off.

When John returned, an hour later, the chookers were nowhere to be seen. However he could hear them. They were making their customary chooking noise and it was coming from the other side of the wall. Moving over and looking, he could see the grass outside rustling as multiple something ran around outside. Occasionally he’d see the chookers jump and snatch bugs out of the air. It appeared they’d decided to go hunting.

John gave a sharp whistle and watched as some of the movement stopped. One of the female chookers even jumped up onto the wall nearby and looked at him.

“Chook chook chook,” she went, and John fed her some bugs.

Hearing the triumphant chooking of their comrade, several of the other chookers came running and jumped over the wall. John fed them too. Soon he had most of the flock and was missing only the male and a couple females. After a few minutes the last two females showed up as well. Finally the male jumped up onto the wall. Taking one look at the feeding females he chooked aggressively an flung himself at John.

John responded by covering his face and weathering the first part of the assault. Then, when the chooker’s momentum was spent and it fluttered back to the ground, John uncovered and reached down to grab the thing. The chooker dodged, quickly evading John’s grasp. It then attempted to bite him again. This continued for several moments until John finally got hold of the thing again. Picking the chooker up he gave it a good shake. Once more the creature went docile. John sighed, wondering if this would be a regular occurrence.

After a few minutes of consideration, John did a google search on how to deal with aggressive roosters. There seemed to be a variety of different approaches, but one of the most common suggestions was to just carry the rooster around under one arm. John wasn’t sure that was going to work, though his ‘instincts’ didn’t seem to have an opinion one way or another. With a shrug, John tucked the chooker under his left arm and got back to work.

Working one handed was awkward, and the chooker would occasionally struggle for freedom making it more difficult. However John persevered, getting his blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries into the ground, and hitting them all with Hasten Growth until sprouts started coming out of the ground.

Every so often John would pause in his work and let out another piercing whistle. He would then feed the chookers (who were following him about) some of the bugs. After he’d scatter some for the females he would feed a small handful to the male. He sincerely hoped that the chookers were associating the whistling with food, but without letting the male go he really couldn’t test it.

Finally, as night fell, John led the chookers over to the coop and lured them inside using the last a couple handfuls of bugs. He dumped the last of the bugs into the empty trough and then, tentatively, set the male down. The male chooker gave him a glare, then quickly looked away. It strutted over to the roosting poles, jumped up onto one, and settled down. John watched it as it watched the females picking bugs out of the straw and trough. Then, as they finished with all the treats, the females began joining the male on the perches. They hadn’t gone to sleep yet, but they looked to be getting comfortable, so John left.

Heading back to his berry patches, John made sure to give them plenty of water. He then headed for the storm cellar, laid down his avatar, and logged out.