It took nearly five hours for Winston to harvest the first field of buckwheat Sunday morning. It was a endless slog but a rewarding one. When he dumped nearly thirty bushel of high-quality buckwheat into the chest in the storage shed he knew he’d finally graduated from a noobie farmer.. He used to have to struggle an entire week for thirty bushel of grain. Now it was a single harvest.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to celebrate. He had a great deal of work to do. His golem was planting his second field which meant he was left with replanting the first one with corn. That took him another three hours, which meant he only had a few hours of down time he could use to try some things out before school tomorrow.

He picked up his feet and headed for his cloudberry bush. It looked different from last time he’d inspected it. With a week of nourishment under his nurture skill the leaves had expanded and the entire bush had grown and thickened. Winston hadn’t expected that but he took it as a bonus aside from the fruits. Hopefully it would up the quality and yield of all his future harvests even without using his skill.

He quickly picked the fat white-blue berries. Each was the size of a large radish and he could feel the tingle of air magic contained in each. There were all superior ranked and each had to be worth a gold piece at least. The harvest bumped him to beginner II in fruit but he wasn’t too concerned with his fruit skill. Not because he didn’t think it would be useful but he had other things to focus on for now. He planned to focus more on fruit once he left this wasteland and headed towards Trish’s guild. He couldn’t actually join her guild for months and he wasn’t sure he wanted to even if he could, but he’d at least like to be on the same continent.

With his new influx of grain he had some decisions to make. In a week he could produce every bushel of grain he owned to the guild and buy his freedom. The question was what he would do after wards. He sure as hell wasn’t going to stay here. This place sucked at growing everything but buckwheat and he wasn’t going to build an empire on that.

No, he needed to move. The easiest way would be to try and buy a ride when guild teleported the next batch of mats out. He wasn’t sure where that would take him, but most likely to the 10 Kingdoms. That was the games central and oldest continent where all the first players had spawned. That wouldn’t get him geographically closer but it would be much easier to find a teleport to Kishik from there.

The weather in Kishik was mostly tropical and although he’d prefer somewhere more temperate it would give him more options than Brethren Plains did. There he could grow bananas, oranges, sugarcane, rice, black pepper, coffee, jute, cacao, and a bunch of other stuff. Being a midwesterner, he’d prefer growing fields of wheat and corn but he had no doubt he could do well from himself selling sugar and chocolate to players who couldn’t gain weight.

Winston thought on that as he re-cast his nurture spell on the berries and moved across the courtyard towards the storage shed. He’d planned on planting another apple tree or two but with his new yields he just wouldn't have time. It should only take a week to get the grain for the guild and another week for the grain for the orcs. He might have to stay one week after that just to wrap up everything and harvest the vegetables he needed but he wasn’t staying an hour longer than that even if he had to swim to Kishik

Winson now regretted buying the cider press and all the casks as it seemed he wouldn’t have time to use them. He did have some time tonight though so he might as well try it out. Besides he was worn out from working all day and some cool cider sounded good.

He drug the complicated contraption out of the shed along with one of the half-casks. The cider press was a large rectangular frame with a metal grinder on top. It looked a bit like a sausage grinder to Winston with a large opening on top to dump in apples and a large crank. Below that was a slatted square bin that sat on top of a shallow wooden tub with more slats covering it.

The machine seemed pretty simple to Winston. The apples went in the top and were then crushed into a sort of pulp or slurry. From there they’d slide down into the bin that sat on top of the tub. There was a wooden plunger looking thing that would press down into the bin and squeeze everything down against the slatted boards covering the tub. That would let the cider run down into the tub while the boards kept out most of the pulp.

Winston pulled up the wikipedia article and stuck it on half of his interface while he happily tossed apples into the grinder. It was quite satisfying to crush them all into pulp as he turned the big handle and pressing down on the big lever was fun. It took all the apples he’d harvested over two weeks just to fill the small half-cask with the juice but they were all low-quality apples so he didn’t feel too heartbroken.

It was only as he was sealing up the cask that he realized it wasn’t true cider. As he read the wikipedia article he found out only Americans like him called non-fermented juice cider. Winston shrugged. He supposed it would ferment eventually. Realistically he should have probably added a specific yeast to it to make sure it didn’t end up as vinegar or something but he figured the game would smooth most of that over, or at least he hoped it would.

He pulled out a water-skin, emptied it, then filled it with the cider left in the tub before taking a swig. It was crisp and the pulp added something to the flavor. It wasn’t as sweet as what his parents usually bought in the store this time of year but he guessed that had a bunch of extra sugar added in. Still, it wasn’t half bad and the half-cask of cider was likely worth more than the four bushel of low-quality apples that had gone into it.

[You Have Learned a New skill!]

[You Have Learned Brewing]

[Brewing]

[Brewing is the art of making drinks. This can be as simple as squeezing the juice from an orange or a complex multi-year process of fermenting, ageing, and distilling. Skill will increase with the creation of high-quality brews.]

[Current Rank = Novice I]

Satisfied with his new skill Winston hefted the cask of cider over one shoulder and put it in the storage shed. As he came back out Therion was there waiting for him.

“Anything good?” The older man asked hopefully. He looked a bit like a puppy hoping for a treat and Winston laughed as he figured out the man’s game. Therion must have seen Winston carrying the cask in and hoped for some booze.

“It’s just cider and not even fermented yet.” Winston said, letting him down easy. Therion looked a bit crestfallen but Winston continued. “I wanted to talk to you anyway. Now that I’ve gotten to Apprentice rank I’ve been able to expand quite a bit.” Winston started, waving towards the huge fields and his toiling scarecrow golem. “ I was wondering if you’d let me buy out the end of my contract? It’s the 22nd of October. The last weekly quest will come due on December 14th. That means I owe you for eight weeks of grain at 25 bushel a week or 200 bushel of grain. If I just hand you 200 bushel of grain will you let me off the hook?” Winston asked.

Therion looked thoughtful and rubbed his chin. Then he shrugged. “Don’t see why not. It all comes to the same and the guild just wants their grain. Not a problem from my end but the higher ups in the guild will probably try to rope you in. Although, because of that moron Herston they’ve already f-ed that up.” He sighed.

“Just let me know when you’ve got the grain. I’m your supervisor for this so I’ve got enough pull to let you complete your contact. I’ll do it on one condition.” Therion said, his face stern.

Winston blinked at him.” What’s that?”

“You’ve gotta make me some beer before you leave.” He said with a straight face.

Winston laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.” He said before he started to clean up the mess he’d made with the cider press. He wasn’t really planning on brewing beer but it’s not like her didn’t have enough grain. If Silver Sword Therion wanted beer than Win Mills would brew some beer. Before that though, he had to log out and get some homework done. He had a math quiz tomorrow and he was not ready for it.

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

Jason Masterson wrung his hands nervously as he paced back and forth in the Best Price parking lot. He check his phone again, unlike his friends he didn’t have a current gen smartphone. Like most things he owned it was old and decrepit. It could still tell time though. It was already 7:35 and Winston was running late.

Jason kept pacing. That bastard better not be at home playing Otherworld or making out with Trish. He snorted at that thought. It was about time those two idiots ended up together. He was honestly happy for them, although he wanted to slap them both sometimes when they gazed at each other longingly. Trish was hot, if not exactly his type. Winston, well Winston was mostly an idiot. A sneaky idiot when necessary and a good friend but not exactly a go-getter.

At least he’s supposed to be a good friend. Jason growled as he looked down at his phone again. The rumble of an engine caught his ear and Jason turned to see a beat up old Chevy pick-up heading into the lot. Winston’s brother Josh was driving, and Winston was in the passenger seat.

A weight came off Jason’s shoulder’s. He’d had to take the bus up here because he didn’t have car. Now at least he had some transportation back. Winston hadn’t let him down after all. He hadn’t really expected him to but he couldn’t say he wasn’t worried.

The truck rolled into a nearby parking spot and the two brothers hopped out. “Big day. Finally decided to join the real world.” Winston said with a laugh. Josh came around the truck and stuck out his hand.

“Hey Jason.” He said as they shook. “Had to cash in some favors for this one.” He said wryly as he slapped the side panel of the truck. “Grant made me get him a date with Kylee so we could borrow his truck for a couple hours.. Took me three days of begging and all of my charm to get her to agree.”

Jason laughed. He knew that Winston must have had to bribe Josh with something to get to him to borrow the truck. He’d have to ask Winston about it later. “Thanks for doing this guys.”

Josh and Winston waved his thanks away. “Well, get inside and get to buying. We’ll stay out here and bring the truck around to the loading area in back.” Josh said. Jason nodded and headed into the big electronics store.

It was obvious the the place was going under. Many of the shelves were half empty and Tv’s and stereo equipment sat around on pallets still in their wrapping. The age of the big box stores had gone and most people bought their electronics online now. Places like this were a dying breed.

That was of little concern to Jason. The decline of America’s retail stores and the growing collapse of the middle class wasn’t really his problem. He just wanted to buy his system. After a few weeks of working part-time he’d saved up enough. So he walked through the desolate aisles and headed straight for the middle of the stone.

Unlike the rest of the store, the area for Nexus equipment was well maintained. Large screens hung from the ceiling showing epic battles in Otherworld. Shelves were full of various system add-ons as well as cards that contained codes for game time and other services like races changes, premium starter packages, special pets, and other things.

Jason snagged a three-month time card and winced at the price but held onto it as he walked over to the systems. They were lined up on one side all shiny and new. He knew he couldn’t afford one of the newest Mk V’s, but a Mark IV should be in his price range.He moved to a back corner and found a boxed Mk IV. He grimaced as the price but this too was needed. It would wipe out his savings but sacrifices must be made. His plan was to work at the theater for one more week so he had something left in his account. Then he’d seek his fortune in game.

He waved down a sales associate and made his purchases. Then helped Winston and Josh load it up in the borrowed truck. Jason ended up squashed between the two in the front seat of the truck.

“So we heading to your house?” Winston asked as they left the store. Jason grimaced as he thought about it. There was no way he could take the system to his house. His family situation would be poor by anyone’s standards. Even if his older sister didn’t end up selling it to buy drugs while he was at school he’d still have to deal with his mom and dad’s bullshit. No, there was only one real option for him.

“No, we’ll have to take it to my grandma’s.” He said, making up his mind.

It took the three of them only a few minutes to get the system installed in Jason’s Grandma’s basement once they made it to her house. Jason wasn’t too happy that he was living out all the worst stereotypes of a highschool gamer but there was nothing to be done about it. Hanging out in his grandma’s basement was his only real option until he could afford his own place. It was nearly an hour later when he finally climbed into his new machine for the first time.

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

Tuesday was the first big day for Winston with his newly expanded farm. His cornfield should have matured some time that afternoon and all his vegetables would be ready for harvest. He wasn’t sure how long it would take to get everything done but he was glad he’d had all his major tests last week.

Rimmi was scowling at a patch of weird grey vines on his side of the courtyard but Winston ignored him as he walked over to see how things were going with his own projects. He’d told his golem to “Wait until this field matures and then harvest it” but he wasn’t sure if the creature had understood him completely.

As he looked over to his corn field he figured things could have been worse. The scarecrow had finished about a quarter of the field during the school day but without a bag of it’s own it had just piled all the ears on one end of the field. The pile was already up to Winston’s knees and it grew more as the golem dumped an armload of ears onto the pile.

Winston left it to it’s work as he moved over to his original field. It was larger than before and he’d divided it in two with navy beans on half and cabbage on the other half. The sprinklers seemed to have done their work. They weren’t on now but the crop was doing much better than it had been without the extra water. He disabled the two sprinklers by popping out the gems. Afterwards, he started his harvest.

It was obvious that his skill with vegetables was lower than it was with grain. Even with the extra water only about a third of the vegetables had made it to high quality. The rest were only standard. That was a huge improvement but he was a ways off from his dreams. It took him nearly two hours to harvest the field but he ended up with nearly three bushel of beans and another three of cabbage. He logged out for supper before logging back in to harvest his other smaller fields of beets.

Pop-ups filled his screen when he logged back on.

[Grain Sub-Skill has Increased!]

[Current Rank: Beginner V]

[Bonus Grain Crop Yield: 35%

Bonus Grain Crop Quality: 14.5%]

[You Have Reached Level 12!]

Winston smiled, having someone else earning xp for him was a good feeling. He thought about re-summoning his farmhand now that he’d leveled up but he honestly just didn’t have time. It was take all his stamina and he had too much work to do to wait for it to regenerate. He’d wait until he wait until the weekend when he had the time to spare. Winston harvested the beets as quickly as possible. His skill in vegetables went up to Novice IV, which was nice but he’d burned through most of his time. It seemed he wouldn’t have time to replant tonight.

He’d harvested 3 bushel of beets which brought him about 1/3 of what he needed for the orcs quest in a single harvest. Things were going to be much easier than he’d thought. He’d really underestimated how much more he’d be able to accomplish once he expanded his fields.

The last problem he had to deal with tonight was what to do with all the corn. It wasn’t going to fit in the storage shed. The pile was now chest high on Winston. He headed over to the scarecrow who was finishing up the last couple of rows.

The only place he could think of to store it all was the keeps basement. They’d at least be out of the rain down there. Winston left his scarecrow to it and started hauling down pack loads of corn. It took nearly an hour but he was just dropping off the last load of corn when the scarecrow finally finished the field. Winston told it to hoe the field again and went to bed. He was tired.