“What’ca dooooin.” Trish asked with a simper as she plopped onto the seat next to Winston at lunch and leaned against him. Winston was immediately suspicious. Trish was not the simpering type. His instincts were warning him against rash action so he gave her the side eye and answered slowly.

“Eating lunch?” He said carefully.

“I mean what are you doing this weekend?” She asked. He thought about telling her that wasn’t what she’d asked but he knew better than to fall into that trap.

“Farming?” He answered instead.

“Good!” She said happily as she sat up and grabbed her fork. “You can come to a halloween party with me then.”

Winston grimaced. He wasn’t really one for parties. That was more his brother’s scene. It wasn’t that he had no social skills, he just didn’t particularly like people. His brother could walk up to a group of complete strangers and be laughing and joking with them in minutes. Winston was too suspicious for that. Not to mention he just didn’t like large groups of people. Usually he just hung out in a corner or maybe on a couch in a back room and talked to all the other misfits and outcasts.

He knew logically that meeting new people and expanding his circle of acquaintances was a good thing but he saw it like eating broccoli. Just because it was probably good for him didn’t mean he wanted to do it.Then again Trish hadn’t ever really asked him for anything before so he should go and pretend to have fun if only for her sake.

“Where is it?” He asked, defeated.

“Awwwww, don’t look like that. It’s in Otherworld at out guild hall. We’ll invite you over with one of our summons.” She said.

“What’s a summon?” Winston asked. He’d never heard of such a thing. He knew people could fast travel with portals but he’d never heard of being able to summon people. Then again, the longer he played otherworld the more he realized there were a lot of things he didn’t know.

“It’s a guild mechanic. It’s mostly for defending the guild headquarters. A guild can summon a number of fighters back from wherever they are to defend their base if it comes under attack. A guild saves them up over time but they are pretty rare and they are one of the guilds final trump cards so they try not to waste them for silly stuff like this. I’ll have to cough up a bunch of contribution potions to use one for a party but I want you to come.” Trish explained.

Winston had never heard of anything like that, but he imagined there were a bunch of restrictions. Other wise people would use them instead of portals and wagon drivers to move goods around. He’d look into it later.

“Fine, just lemme know when.” Winston said.

Trish smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek before digging into her ham and cheese potatoes.

“How’s Jason doing? I haven’t not talked to him since I helped him hook up his system.” Winston asked Trish as he looked into the spot where Jason usually sat. He wasn’t sure where Jason had gone after trig.

Trish laughed. “I’ve never seen anyway so excited to chop down trees. He’s this giant crocodile monster and gave himself a bunch of bizarre bright blue tribal tattoos. His character looks ridiculous. We gave him a few axes and a beast and cart to help him move the lumber and he just spends hours hacking at trees.” She shook her head. “I have no idea how the two of you can do such grunt work.”

Winston shrugged. “It’s because it’s ours.” Winston made some vague hand gestures as he tried to explain himself. “If I went and got a job flipping burgers or stocking shelves or something I’m sure I’d be there slacking off but in Otherworld I’m right there. I’m not disconnected from the process because I own everything. I know that whatever I managed to grow out of the ground I get to keep. The only thing holding me back is my own effort.” He shrugged.

It was one of the reasons he was so ready to leave Brethren Plains and the guild. He hated the chain they had on him. It wasn’t even a very short or heavy chain but the fact it was there at all irked him.

“Speaking of which, is there anywhere around your guild I could set-up shop? I’ll be able to buy my way out of my contact in a week or two and I’m gonna need a new place to start my new farm.”

Trish bit her lip as she thought and Winston was fascinated by the motion.

“You’re drooling.” Trish said and Winston raised a hand to wipe it away before he caught himself. Then he coughed awkwardly to cover the motion. Trish snorted but continued.

“Well, there's a few places. Do you just wanna join the guild?” Trish asked.

“I can’t for moths because of my contract with the swords. I can’t even enter a trade agreement with you guys.” He said. “A land-lease would probably be the easiest if it was the option if I could.” What he didn’t say was that he wouldn’t join the guild even if it was allowed. Joining a guild when your girlfriend was someone at the top? That would just be weird. Not because he felt some masculine need to outrank her but it would be a massive conflict of interest.

He could picture a dozen scenarios that might pit him against the guild or the guild against him and his and Trish’s relationship could be caught in the middle of all of it. He couldn’t think of anything he’d gain by joining and he could think of a lot of things he might potentially lose.

She took in his words with a frown and thought about it for a while. “We own most of the area around the keep but it’s right on the beach and I don’t think you’d want to try and farm there. You’d have to be at least a few hours ride inland and that’s a pretty high level area because of all the high-level players going in and out of it. We’ve got a smaller outpost in the next zone over. That would probably be your best bet. You couldn’t stay in the outpost if you’re not part of the guild but you could settle nearby. Then you’d only be a few days ride away.” She said.

“I’m down.” Winston said. “I won’t be ready to move for a couple of weeks anyway. It’ll take me at least the rest of this week and next week.” He said. The two lapsed into happy chatter before heading for their afternoon classes.

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

Winston found himself harvesting yet another giant field of corn on Friday afternoon. He found that he’d miscalculated quite a bit with his latest farm upgrade. He’d bitten off more than he could chew, or he’d at least been a bit too optimistic on how long it would take to cycle everything. His golem could handle a lot during the day but something small always seemed to go wrong with the transitions. He’d only gotten three harvests instead of the four he was expecting. His Vegetables didn’t get planted until Wednesday afternoon, and everything felt out of sync. He was used to everything taking only a single day and balancing all the various crops and growth times was driving him crazy.

On the other hand he was only about half done with this field and he already had about 170 bushel of corn stocked up for this week.. The whole thing was going to screw up his two week schedule. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. More time would mean more crops and he’d be able to cash in on some of that. He was letting his mind wander as he hands moved but was pulled back into the world when he heard the sound of boots against soil coming closer. He turned to see Therion walking towards him.

“Are you going to tell me why the basement is full of corn?” Therion asked in a sour look on his face. Winston stood up straight for the first time in nearly a quarter hour and stretched out his aching back as he answered.

“Your shed is too small. It can’t even handle ¼ of the crops I’m growing now. You get me a bigger shed. I’ll stop filling the basement with corn.” Winston said as he bent over and stayed there for a few breaths to let his legs stretch out before he stood back up. He looked up at Therion. The man sighed.

“So, you leaving this week?” He asked, changing to subject. “I’m really not gonna be happy with you leaving me here with the gnome and Herston.” He said.

“Well, you could extend my contact. I’d do it for say…. Five thousand a month with a full set of high level crafting gear and the right to use the guild teleportation portals to move my own products to market.” Winston said deadpan.

Therion snorted so hard Winston thought he might have hurt himself. “If they had that much money they’d have just hired a real farmer instead of drafting a bunch of noobs like you guys.” He said.

Winston shrugged. “Then I’m out of here. This is like the crappiest growing area in the entire game, even a a desert I could probably grow some magical cacti or something. I’ve got one more quest to finish then I’m bailing.”

Therion nodded. “Well then I better let you get back to work. Time is money.” Winston agreed with that. He was already going to lose some time this weekend to go to a damn halloween party. At least it was in Otherworld and not the RL. The thought made him pause. Maybe he should bring something. He did have a half-cask of cider. It was only then he remembered the pumpkin seeds in his pack he’d never actually planted. He sighed, it was too late now.

He thought about the cider again. It had come our standard quality but had been made with poor quality apples. The new apples should be done tonight and they had actually gotten water. He’d go over and see when he was done with this field. If they weren’t at least high quality he wouldn’t bother, if they were high or superior then he’d break out the press again and see if he could make another batch of higher quality.

With him and the farmhand working on the same field took only another hour to clean it up and when he finished he got a pleasant surprise.

[Grain Sub-Skill has leveled up!]

[Current Rank: Apprentice I]

[Bonus Grain Crop Yield: 40%

Bonus Grain Crop Quality: 16.5%]

[You Have Gained A New Skill]

[You Have Learned Empower Hoe/Plow]

[Empower Hoe/Plow]

[User Empowers their Farming Implement to increase the speed of field work.]

[Rank: Novice I]

[Duration: 1 Hour]

[Cooldown: None]

[Cost: 100 Stamina]

[Effect: Adds an Area of Effect to users Hoe or plow. Also increases the aeration of the soil. Increases melee damage of implement by 200%]

[Restriction: Can only be used on a hoe or plow.]

Winston looked at the pop-up with interest. Empower hoe could be really useful. Hoeing fields was another of his biggest time sinks. He had a helper now but it still took hours to harvest, hoe, and replant each field now that he’d made them so much bigger. The problem was his claws weren’t a hoe or plow. Then again he was from a farming race. It might be worth a shot. The problem was he didn’t have the stamina to test it out right now. He’d have to wait until later when he finished up the field and got a change to regenerate.

He and his robot helper spend another twenty minutes hauling another giant pile of corn down into the basement of the keep. He really hoped the guild wound do something with them. He didn’t wanna think about the size of the rats they’d get down there otherwise. A direrat was nothing to screw around with.

Still, none of that was his problem. He left his golem to hoe the field again and headed over to pick this weeks berries and apples. The process with the berry bush was quite fast but the apple tree was much longer. The apple tree was covered in apples. It had at least twice as many as usual and the Apple of the Earth was Huge and glowed with brown Earth mana.

It took him a while to pick all the fruit off the tree. He had to climb all over it and managed to get nearly two bushel of high quality apples and a single superior quality apple of the earth. That boosted up his Fruit Sub-skill another level, but he wasn’t too excited. It would take forever to level up to apprentice with the small amount of fruit farming he did.

Winston was more familiar with the press and cider making the second time he tried. He also had much better apples to deal with. Things went fairly smoothly and he wondered if he should try and add anything. The old man told him ghost willow bark was what he used but Winston didn’t have any. He also had no idea what would even be good.

He decided he’d have time to mess around later. He was planning on taking this batch to the party. He should keep things simple so he didn’t screw it up. The new batch came out well and his brewing skill went up another rank. He gave his golem so more instructions and logged it was nearly midnight back in the RL and he had a party to go to tomorrow.

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

Saturday was a vegetable day. So Winston spent most of the morning picking vegetables while his golem worked on planting buckwheat and harvesting the other corn field. It was nearly noon when they finished but Winston was cheerful. He’d finally hit level 12. Leveling had really slowed down after 10. He thought with how many high-quality crops he was harvesting he’d be leveling up two or three times a week but that wasn’t the case. He’d just have to keep plodding along. He’d be powerful sooner or later. Well, maybe not powerful but at least with some cool abilities. Speaking of which. He still needed to try out his new claws before the party.

He headed over to the already harvested field of buckwheat and unsheathed his claws. Then he tried to use his new ability.

“Empower Hoe” He said aloud. He felt a bit silly since his claws weren’t a hoe and he wasn’t sure it would work. A wave of exhaustion smashed down on him like a fallen tree as most of his stamina was drawn out in a single instant. Winston staggered but his eyes lit up as his claws started to glow with yellow light.

He bent down and stabbed a claw into the dirt. A ripple spread out from his claw and the earth started to churn. The buckwheat plants were rolled into the soil and disintegrated before the area turned into a patch of well-worked earth a foot and a half in diameter. The entire process took only a few seconds and Winston gaped at the ground. He’d never been able to turn the dirt that well. He shook off the thought and stabbed his other claw into the ground a few feet away. The same thing happened and Winston smiled.

He let out his foot claws and they too glowed. He happily started to stomp around jabbing his foot claws into the dirt and watching as the soil transformed with ripples of magic. Then he started to walk the field. His gait was awkward because of the way he had to bend his ankles and knees to get his claws at the right angle. He had to do a sort of kick every time he moved but he could now hoe his entire field just by walking around. That would save him hours each week and if he got more stamina he could cast it on his golem’s hoe as well.

Wiston was lounging in the afternoon sunshine watching his golem replant all his vegetables when his interface chimed.

[You Have Been Summoned By Triska Treesinger]

[Summon Location: Hound’s Hold, Wakewater Cove, Kishik]

[Summoning Restrictions: User will be returned to this location 4 hours after being summoned. User cannot remove any gear they are wearing while summoned. User can only bring 50 lbs worth of non equipped items. User cannot bring more than 1000 gold worth of non-equipped items.]

[Please Choose Accept When User is Ready to be Summoned.]

Winston frowned at the message as he read the blue pop-up. Then he laughed. Of course, the game wouldn’t want guilds exploiting the summon system to move goods. It wanted to force them to pay the higher rates needed for teleportation. Sneaky but it did suck lots of gold out of the game which was good. It was hard to keep down inflation in an online game, when gold just appeared magically anytime someone punched a goblin to death.

Winston took off his pack and set it in the storage shed, then hefted his cask of cider and accepted the summons.

The first thing he noticed was the change in the air. In Brethren plains it was late afternoon and the air had been cool and dry. Now he felt like he’d been transported to Florida or maybe the Yucatan or something. The air was heavy and Winston immediately started to sweat. The heat wasn’t that bad with dusk approaching but it was much hotter than he was used to. He could smell the sea on the air and could even hear the distant sound of the surf.

He was still getting his bearings when he felt arms wrap around him. They were soft but they had the vague texture of bark which made the sensation rather bizarre. Then again, he was a mole-man so he knew he couldn’t really complain.

“You came!” Trish said happily as she released him from the hug.Her smiled turned into a frown though as she saw him carrying the cask. “Why are you carrying a keg?”Winston was about to reply when a voice boomed from a few feet away.

“HA!, I like him already every party needs more booze.” Winston turned and blinked as he saw the massive form heading towards him. The man had to be over nine feet tall and was covered in thick slabs of muscle. He had to be some sort of ogre or giant hybrid. His skin was green and he had a brow that was almost comically heavy. He was shirtless but his upper body was covered in tattoos that glowed with magical power.

Runic Tattooing was another obscure skill. Someone with high enough ranks in Runic magic could brand them directly on people, granting them various powers and opening up another skill all together. Winston got the feeling Trish’s guild was made up of weirdo’s. Trisha had taken the Spirit Shaman, which was basically a back-line support class and twisted it into a magical nuker.

This guy had forgone armor and instead covered himself with magical tattoos. Winston knew there were skills that could grant you bonuses if you went without armor but he didn’t think you could make up the difference with just tattoos. You were basically forgoing six entire item slots. Maybe at lower levels and item rarities you’d be able to compete but top gear gave a ton of bonuses and this guy was missing six slots worth. Then again, maybe he had some bizzare skill or class synergy to make up for it.

“So, this your man Trish.” Asked the man as he headed over with a wide grin on his homely green face. Trish rolled her eyes as he turned to the man.

“Jerry, can you go ten minutes without yelling?” Trish asked with a sigh.

The man scratched his head as he furrowed his brows. “I might be able to…..” He said thoughtfully with a serious look on his face. “BUT WHAT WOULD BE THE POINT!” He boomed, a smile coming back to his face.

Trish hit him but Winston doubted the guy even felt it. The man stuck out his massive hand to Winston.

“I’m Jerry or Jercrusher. You must be Triska’s new beau.” He said giving Winston’s hand a firm shake but not trying to crush it like Winston was expecting.

“I’m Winston or Win Mills.” Winston said. “Nice to meet you. Trish never talked about her guild much so I wasn’t sure what to really expect.” Winston said looking up at the man.

“Well, if my girl wasn’t already part of the guild I wouldn’t want to bring her to meet this lot. HA!” He said, letting out another booming laugh. “Most of them are alright, except maybe for Elsia. She can be a b….. eautiful woman.” The man said, his voice going high pitched and a bit strange at the end.

Winston saw Jerry was looking past him so he turned to see an attractive blonde with fish scales covering her shapley body. She was wearing a light blue dress that clung to her just enough to draw the eye. Winston gave her only a glace before prying his eyes away. He gave the large man next to him a smirk. Winston wondered why no-one was wearing a costume. Then realized how stupid it would be to wear costumes in a game. They were all wearing costumes already.

“Hey Elsia.” Trish said as she moved forward and gave the older girl a hug. Elsia returned the hug and gave Trish a smile before glaring at Jerry.

The bigger man gave her a rather sickly smile. “Hey babe! You look lovely tonight.” He said as he bent down and gave the fish woman a peck on her cheek.”

Winston looked up at him incredulously. “That’s your girlfriend?” The man nodded his head awkwardly. Winston laughed and slapped the man on one of his massive arms. “You sir are a braver man than I.”

You two are so dysfunctional.” Trish laughed while Elsia scowled. Trish turned back to Winston. “Why did you bring that?” Winston glanced at the half-cask he was still carrying on one shoulder and shrugged.

“It’s a party so I thought I should bring something. Besides it came out high-quality so I needed some taste testers.” Winston said.

“HAHAH! Sounds great. I could use a pick me up.” Jerry said, as he leaned over and took the cask out of Winston hands.

“You could use a boot up your ass.” Elsia grumbled.

“Lets get inside before these two start brawling, or making out. I can never tell which.” Trish said, as she turned and headed towards the front door of the keep. Unlike Grimstone this keep seemed to be made mostly out of trees. It was only a single story but open and sprawling. The walls were made of vines and trees woven together. While the roof seems to be made of bamboo but with large flowers poking out through it to soak up the sun. It was beautiful but not very defensible by the look of it.

They headed in through a pair of grand front doors made of a light colored wood. Then they were inside the sprawling keep. The inside was open and airy, likely because of the tropical temperatures here. Dozens of unfamiliar people were milling around chatting or eating off the large tables that had been laid with finger foods. Winston felt a nervous but sometimes a man needed to do things he found uncomfortable. He straightened his back, and pulled Trish over and gave her a hug.

“Evening Beautiful.” He said as he inspected the partygoers like a man preparing for war.

Trish laughed. “Relax….... You look like your about to charge into artillery fire. It’s just a party. They won’t attack you.” Winston gave her a bitter smile as they walked through a few rooms with Trish stopping to greet people along the way.

Winston did a lot of nodding and smiling as he and Trish walked through the people with linked arms. He waited until they were mostly alone again before he replied. “They won’t attack me with their fists. They’ll just use barbed words and passive aggressive insults. Better to trade punches and be done with it.” Winston grumbled.

Trish snorted. “Yes, because sooooo many people get the advantage of you in an argument. Stop acting so anti-social. You’re just shy.” Winston started to blush and was glad he had fur to cover the reaction. Trish saw through him anyway and laughed. “You’re such a cute little mole.” She said as she grabbed his cheeks and leaned forward.It offered a rather nice view down her shirt, and bark textured skin or not, it was still impressive. “And stop looking down my shirt.”

“Yes dear “ Winston said as they started moving again.