Rich looked around as casually as he could as he headed towards the town grocery store down on main. The evening was cold for September but he an errand to run before he could relax. Getting suspended wasn't any big problem for him. In fact it had let him get away from his asshole English teacher for a few days.The look on the idiot Stevenson kids face when he'd been KO'd had been totally worth it.

Rich walked into the alley behind the store when Jerry was taking his smoke break. He was in his thirties and Rich hated the bastard but he had to best product in town and after his week he was happy to patronize. The man was wearing the store uniform but his shirt was rumpled and he needed to cut his thinning brown hair.

"Ahhhh, if it isn't Rich." Jerry said as he sucked on his cigarette. "I was expecting you. I can nearly set my watch. Saturday night at 6:45." He said, showing his yellow teeth with a smile. Rich rolled his eyes. The guy was a small time pot dealer and acted like he was some sort of mobster. It was ridiculous. Hell, pot was barley even illegal anymore. In five more years Rich would be be buying the stuff in the store and idiots like Jerry would have to stop ripping off high-school kids.

"Yeah, whatever." Rich said as he passed over a few bills and pocketed the small plastic bag. He turned and headed back the way he'd came. He'd just hit the street when A heavy hand came down on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw Mike from the football team holding onto him.

"What the hell man!" He yelled but Mike just squeezed harder. Then someone else had moved in and grabbed his other shoulder. The two large boys started to drag Rich down the street as he struggled.

"Just stop struggling before you make us hurt you." Mike said from his left side. The three of them walked like that for half a block before they headed down an alley and came out in a small parking lot behind the old Tasty-Freeze. Josh Stevenson leaned comfortably against his blue GTO. His blonde hair caught a streetlight lighting up his head in gold. The look on his face however was far from angelic.

Rich gulped. He'd honestly been expecting something like this but he'd been so damn mad that day. What the hell was a little shit like Winston Stevenson doing with Jessica Richards. He started struggling more but the two football players holding him both outweighed and out-muscled him.

"Evening Rich." Josh said as he pushed himself away from the car. He walked towards the trio with unhurried steps.

"Look Josh. It was just a fight. He got his nose broken and he'll be outta school a few days. It happens, we're guys." Rich said, his voice shaking as he tried to explain himself.

"I agree, which is why I'm not mad at you for getting into a fight with him. A man should fight his own battles especially when it's over a woman." Josh said, walking closer. "Ya see Rich, the problem is you weren't fighting over a woman. Jessica Richards doesn't give a shit about my brother because Jessica Richards doesn't give a shit about anyone but Jessica Richards. I'd know, I used to date her." Josh said as he took another step closer.

"That makes you an idiot for getting into a fight with him but again, that's something I'd let Win handle on his own. No Rich, the real problem is how you started the fight. It was a cheap-shot against someone you could have beaten in a fair fight anyway. That I can't let go." Josh said.

Josh lunged forward and punched Rich in the stomach as hard as he could. The air wooshed out of Rich's lungs and he started to bend over but the two goons holding him didn't let him. The second and third punches came soon after and the two thugs let go leaving Rich on the ground coughing and gagging. He hard the doors to the car open as Rich lay on the ground trying not to vomit on himself.

"I'd watch out Rich. I'm the nice Stevenson brother. When Win decides to get even with you. It won't be a few punches." Rich continued to whimper on the ground as the car started up and drove away.

***************************************************

Winston got back to the keep after leaving the orc village about three hours before his crop was ready. He decided to hop out of the game. He'd been playing all day, and although he'd gotten a lot done he still needed to take care of some stuff IRL. It would also give him a chance to do some more research. Winston logged out and stretched. His body felt pretty good. The morning stretching and run and loosened him up, and the long walk he'd taken in game had his legs sore but still manageable. He wasn't looking forward to harvesting, re-digging, and replanting the whole field again in a few hours, but it he'd have to get used to it eventually.

He came out of his room into a mostly silent house. It was after nine and Winston's mom and dad were in the living room watching the big TV. He tried to sneak past them into the kitchen but failed. He hit one of the noisy floorboards below the carpet, and the heavy squeak had them both turning. Of course, his dad was the first to say anything.

"Well, look here been playing games all day and now he's sneaking off to get more food. No wonder he's so damn fat." His dad said with a sneer on his face. Winston chose to take the moral high-ground and ignored him. Walking into the kitchen and fixing himself a sandwich with some cold-cut ham, along with some lettuce, pickle, and Gouda cheese.

"So that's how it is, no respect for his parents." His dad muttered. "I don't even know why you let him live here. He'd be out on his ass in an hour if you let me have my way." Winston heard him say to his mother. Winston kept his silence but his father's threat wasn't really much of a threat, if Winston could rustle up the money there's no way in hell he'd still be here.

Winston opened the fridge and bent down to grab a Pepsi. In the dim illumination form the fridge light he could see a yellow sticky note stuck to the top can. It read simply 'no' with an arrow pointing to one of those stupid sports waters that people pay too much for. Winston scowled at the note then sighed heavily and grabbed the water with a muttered curse for his too helpful brother.

Back in his room he slid into his computer chair and booted up his old rig. It was getting a bit dated but still started gamely enough. The CPU and mobo were at least six years old. Winston had managed to buy an old Graphics card off Ruger so that was only three years out. The rest was mostly cobbled together stuff. The power-supply was the only non-used piece. Winston had learned early that you can jury rig a lot in a computer but the PSU should never be skimped on.

He opened up the Otherworld news sight and started to digest it. News in Otherworld was extremely popular. It was after all a world that was run by multiple large groups of humans who were in never-ending wars for resources and wealth. Combine that with espionage, magic, and treasure and it made for an incredibly interesting place.

Most of the news was about the preparations guilds were making for the upcoming expansion. Heavy recruitment, scouting, logistics stuff, and several bloody conflicts over high-level dungeons. A small guild had apparently discovered a large mithril mine and sold it to the Crimson Suns for 50,000 gold. The Swords of Solomon had countered by mobilizing a full battalion to smash their guards and steal the first load of mithril out of the mine. Then they'd sent in sappers to attempt to destroy all the tunnels but the Crimson's counter attacked and chased them out before they could manage it.

Winston opened another browser tab got down to business. He needed to find a god or goddess of agriculture to worship. He changed sites to a wiki on collected Otherworld information, and searched the page with all the known gods and goddess.

Winston scanned through the choices unimpressed. There were a silly amount of gods in Otherworld. Most races had their own pantheon as well as many different nations and Empires of NPC's and monsters. Players could worship any of them they chose and get benefits from them in accordance with that gods domains and wishes. Winston saw a few but they were all fairly mundane. Human goddess of harvest and fertility, Goblin Goddess of witchcraft and the harvest, Dwarven god of food and debauchery, Nymph Goddess of Spring and sex, Winston sighed and kept flipping. Rolling his eyes about how similar all the gods were. Yes he knew there were reasons why most human gods of harvest were women and were usually associated with fertility. He just found it silly the game hadn't branched out more. What was the point of having hundreds of gods if they were all the same. He was just losing hope when he found something a little different. Runa, Ogre Goddess of Agriculture and Civilization.

Winston wasn't even aware that ogres had civilization. They usually just lived in caves and killed everything living around them to eat it. Even NPC orcs and goblins weren't as bad as ogre's. Ogre's were a scourge on any area they lived in and players would always be granted quests to kill them on site. They destroyed the local wildlife and environment by just being around. They were giant dumb locusts with unending hunger.

Winston kept reading. Apparently, a player had stumbled onto a quest-chain that delved into the origins of the Ogre race and that's where they'd found the reference to Runa. Ogres had once been a mostly benevolent race of farmers and architects. However, as their civilization grew they turned away from their gods. Then things became pretty fantasy standard. A greedy ruler, a dark deal with a demon, an evil artifact that cursed and twisted the entire race.

Still, it would at least be an interesting choice and WInston doubted too many people in game would choose her. Maybe he'd get some quests. Winston still had about an hour before his crops were ready for the next round so he hopped back in his machine and logged in. Rimmi was actually logged out for once, which surprised Winston. The gnome had been playing nearly non-stop as far as Winston could tell. He had to admire the guy's dedication but Winston had always been of the mind that one should work smarter not harder. Otherworld rewarded ingenuity and creative solutions more than grinding. You could grind out skills but it would take a LONG time. However, trying new things and experimenting with skills could earn a player large boosts of skill experience that would cut days or weeks off leveling time.

Winston spent the next hour clearing more land for planting. He'd need to make a second field for the orcs corn and he should use all the time he could before his next planting. Winston was still working when his next harvest was ready and he stopped what he was doing to start the harvest. This round didn't take him as long. He was getting the hand of the repetitive process, but his level up had also boosted up his strength and stamina, making everything a lot easier for him. Even with the boost it was still nearly midnight back in the real-world by the time he finished, but he harvested his wheat, turned the field and replanted. Then it was time to add a bit of spice to the procedure.

Winston stood before his freshly planted field and gripped a large handful of freshly harvested wheat in his paw. He'd always had a bit of flair for the dramatic and he wanted to make this good. He lifted his head to the sky and spoke in a ringing voice.

"I dedicate this field to Runa, long forgotten Goddess of a broken people. Hear my prayer and let your light shine upon the world once again. Accept this meager offering, grown by my own hand and please bless this field with your bounty and grace."

Winston had done a lot of research on religion and gods in game. He was a priest player at heart and had read everything he could find on the subject. In order to wield the power of the divine a player must first gain favor with a god or goddess, by using prayer or a favored ritual. Some gods wanted sacrifice, some gods wanted coins, some wanted players to help the poor, some wanted blood and battle, but if you gave them what they wanted you could gain their favor and unlock a corresponding skill. That would grant a player access to faith points, similar to mana but it was an external power source instead of an internal one. Players generally didn't have much use for faith initially but if you gained enough favor with a god they would grant you a skill you could use. Of course taking a faith based class would give you abilities as well, which is how most priests and clerics got started in game. If you wanted to tac-on some faith based powers without a faith class it was a complicated process. After reading the article on Runa he'd found mention that orge farmers would toss a handful of grain to the wind in sacrifice each time they planted a new field.

Winston cast the seeds up into the air and a sudden gust of wind seemed to grab them before blowing them away out of sight.

[Ba-Ding Blip]

[Blip]

[Blip]

[You Have Gained The Approval of Goddess Runa!]

[You Have Unlocked The Skill: Goddess Runa]

[Current Skill: Novice I]

[You Have Unlocked Faith Points]

[You Have Received A Title!]

[Promulgator of the Lost]

[You Have Brought A god or Goddess Back into the World. As first of the faithful you gain status with your god more easily than others.

+15% Skill Gain Rate for Runa]

[You Have Received A Divine Mandate ]

[The Goddess Runa has long been forgotten by the Ogre people and other races of the world. To let Runa's guiding light back into the world she needs to be worshipped and to be worshiped she requires a shrine. It falls on you, as her only follower, to build one.]

[Task: Build a worthy Shrine for the Goddess Runa within three days.]

[Reward for Success: Improved Relations with the Goddess Runa, A Divine Power, Experience]

[Warning: Divine Mandates are not like quests. They are not optional and failure to complete them will result in a complete loss of skill ranks with the applicable God or Goddess.]

Winston groaned at the message. How in the hell was he going to find time for all this? He still had more than eighteen bushels of wheat left to farm for the Guild, another three of corn for the Orcs, and now he had a Goddess to appease. His plate was getting way too full and he still had to try and get some more levels. He was not going to be getting much sleep the next few days.

***************************************

"What did you do?!" Remmi yelled as he looked at my wheat field. It was mid-morning on Earth and a hour or so after sunrise in game. The mists from the day before had finally cleared up and the air smelled fresh and clean. Winston was standing near his field listening to Rimmi rant. The field shouldn't have been ready to harvest for another six hours or so but from the look of it his little ritual had worked a bit better than expected.

Winston had to admit it was pretty damn impressive looking. The wheat was nearly as tall as Winston and seemed to glow with a golden light. The heads of the wheat were the size of corn-cobs and the stalks were bending under the weight of all the grain on them. It was pretty hilarious looking really. Rimmi was still looking red-faced and more than a little angry. "I called upon a goddess to bless the field." Winston said with a shrug. "Seems she went a bit overboard though." Winston said as he looked at his newest crop.

"Why didn't you do mine too!" Rimmi said, gesticulating wildly with his short arms. "I've been working my ass off!" He said angrily.

"There's your problem." Winston replied heartlessly. "Working never got anyone anywhere or the world would be run by farmers and coal miners instead of bankers and politicians." Winston said with a shrug. "Honestly though man, I was just trying to unlock my faith points, but Runa handed down a super-blessing of some sort." Winston defended.

Rimmi continued to rant for a while but Winston ignored him and harvested the grain. It took quite a while but the payoff was pretty spectacular. The yield of the field had tripled, and Winston was reaping the rewards.

[Bliiiiiip]

[Bliiiiiip]

[Farming Skill has Ranked Up!]

[Current Rank: Novice Rank II]

[Bonus Crop Yield: 8%

Bonus Crop Quality: 5.6% +15.0% (20.6%)]

[Grain Sub-Skill has Ranked Up!]

[Grain Sub-skill]

[Grain Subskill: Novice Rank II]

[Bonus Grain Crop Yield: 12%

Bonus Grain Crop Quality: 7.5%]

He'd skipped over Novice III completely. He might be able to reach Beginner rank by the end of the week. That would let him unlock some actual abilities. In Otherworld. Reaching each new major skill rank granted the user a passive or active ability. He wasn't sure what he'd get when farming hit beginner rank but it should be fairly useful. Most of the wheat was just a higher quality than normal, but some of it seemed to have mutated into a completely new item. He picked up a handful of golden grain and examined it.

[Divine Grain]

[Reagent, Food]

[Uncommon, Standard-Quality]

[Grain Blessed by the forgotten Goddess Runa. This grain has been infused with her divine power.]

[Produced by: Win Mills]

He was digging up the field again when Therion came out of the keep and walked over. Winston still wasn't sure what Therion actually did. He couldn't imagine just hanging out in the keep all day was very interesting.

"Morning boys! Back to work already. You guys are really making the others look bad." He said as he walked up to Winston and Rimmi. Rimmi snorted, apparently still a bit angry about Winston's super crop. Winston continued to ignore him. "I heard from Cromm, he had to fire two of his guys at the mine already."

"Morning boss man." Winston said grimly. "Impressive raid on the mine, you guys roughed them up." Winston said, trying to make some conversation as he worked. Theron was looking the same as ever in his shining silver armor, with a large bastard sword strapped on his back. Therion snorted derisively at Winston's comment.

"It was a stupid PR stunt. They lost more porting and moving the troops over there than they got from that one load of mithril. If they would have managed to hold the mine long enough to get out a dozen loads, or if they managed to actually collapse the damn thing then maybe it woulda been alright. But they didn't do any of that, they're just pissing away more gold they don't have." He shook his head disgusted.

"They are like a bunch fat board members sitting at their table and lambasting their interns about all the free coffee they drink. Then they proceed to waste millions on stupid projects and bad investments." He said bitterly.

"The Talon's and Legion are nipping at our heels yet those idiots are still playing with the Crimsuns when they should be stomping on the up and comers. Then there's news of some new mega-alliance with a bunch of smaller guilds teaming up for the expansion. All the while they've got me out here watching a bunch of slaves farming dirt for them." He continued.

"To be fair." Winston said, bent over and churning up dirt with his claws. "We're getting pretty good at it. By the way, you got anyway we could move some product to the markets?"

Therion looked mildly curious so Winston stood up from his digging and walked over. "I'd like to sell about a bushel of this, unless the guild would like to buy it." Winston said pulling out a handful of his divine grain and showing to the their supervisor. The seeds seemed to almost glow in his paw but Therion only looked mildly interested, which made Winston feel a little let down.

"And what would you do with the money if I did hand you gold?" Therion asked. "It's not as though there is anywhere around here to buy anything." He asked, but looked curious rather than condescending.

"Well, I figured you guys have to order supplies for the keep sometimes. I could just order stuff and have it brought out here, but for now I really just want to get Auctioneer. So I can keep up with the markets and do some planning." Winston replied.

Auctioneer was a premium app that cost an extra twenty dollars a month. It let players access the auction house interface from anywhere, and view the markets in multiple zones. Originally the company hadn't wanted such a feature, but the players , as usual, had just worked around them. A few players had just spent all their time in the Auction house, and sent PM's to players with the information they wanted for a fee. The practice became so widespread that eventually Nexus caved and created a premium add-on app so any player could get the market info from anywhere.

"I see…. Not a bad plan. Tell ya what, you give me the wheat and you can buy the app. We'll pick up the tab." He said. Just dump the stuff in the shed with the other wheat. Winston did so and his quest updated again.

[Quest Updated!]

[Food for the Guild]

[You are to deliver 25 bushels of Corn, Wheat, or Rice to the guild stores at Grimstone Keep within 7 days.]

[Time Remaining: 74:36]

[Progress: 18.4/25 bu]

[Recommended Level: N/A]

[Difficulty: N/A]

[Rewards: N/A]

That took a load off his mind. It should only take about two more harvests to finish now and he should have some extra time before the quest refreshed on Wednesday to finish the rest of it. Today though, he had more drudgery to do before he could work on the shrine. So he got too it, clearing and finishing another small field. It was more ground than he needed for his corn for the orcs but extra would help him on next week's quota, or he could just sell it.

He worked for an hour or so on the field. Then logged out around lunch time. He had homework he'd been putting off and figured he should go outside and get some sun.