When Winston had logged off Sunday evening the inn had been nearly empty, After school on Monday things were not so peaceful. The rush of people getting out of school, or work, had swelled the cities population to ridiculous heights. Winston had done a bit of forum searching on his phone during homeroom and had found a player-run tailor shop near his inn but he practically had to swim though the mass of bodies clogging the streets to get there.

It was a nice shop in a good area but Winston was just glad to be off the streets as he managed to squeeze through the doorway. The store was full or spools of fabrics as well as a few mannequins wearing embroidered mage robes, dresses, and other clothing. A rather cute girl with short-blonde hair stood behind the counter looking cheerful.

“Can I help you today sir?” She asked as she turned a 1000 watt smile on Winston. Winston blinked at her too cheerful attitude.

“Yeah, I’m looking to get a couple sets of clothes. A cheap set of warm clothes, and a second high-quality set for warmer climates.” Winston said.

“Are these armor or decoration?” The girl asked as she started moving her hands as if typing on an invisible keyboard. Winston realized she was using her interface to take notes.

“Neither?” Winston said, a bit hesitant.

“I mean are you gonna be using these for combat, or just to wear around town.” The girl rephrased her question.

“Neither.” Winston said and the girl started to look annoyed so he continued. “Sorry, I’m not trying to be difficult. I’m a crafting class. I need durable fabrics to do strenuous labor in but they aren't for combat. I’d also like them to have some decent stat bonus and maybe some profession boosts if possible.”

The girl looked slightly mollified as her fingers started typing again. “So, something that functions as light armor, but bent more towards work than combat.” She said as she added more notes. “What’s your price range?”

“Depends, a few gold for the cheap set, I don’t plan to stay in this city for more than a few days and winter clothes won’t do me much good once I teleport. As for the others… it depends honestly. If it’s a pure stat gain than 1000 gold or so, if you can get some farming bonuses on it, like yield, or crop maturity, or honestly I’m not even sure what stats are available for famers on items. If you guys can make something with good bonuses I’d be willing to go as high as 5000.” Winston told her after giving it some thought.

“We should be able to come up with something to suit.” The girl said as she finished taking notes. Keep in mind, cloth is expensive so you usually get less bang for your buck than you do with metal, or especially leather armor.”

“Speaking of, how do you guys get your cloth? What kind of cloth do you use normally?” Winston asked. He didn’t know how much he could wring out of the girl but if he was going to get into the cloth business it might be good to gather some information.

The girl looked at him a bit oddly. “Why?” She said.

Winston’s eyebrows went up. “Because I’m a farmer? I know cloth is expensive so it’s a good product to grow, but it would be good to know what you guys use specifically. Do you guys use cotton? Or mostly animal based textiles?”

The girl blinked at him a few times. “Look, I just take orders and run the front. I’m not even a tailor.” An awkward silence descended on the room for a long moment.

Winston sighed, then laughed. “Alright. We’ll let me know when my order is ready. Do you need a deposit?”

“A thousand upfront for a custom order.” The girl said on more sure footing. Winston dug out his gold and handed over 1010. That got him a fancy digital receipt as well as a large brown cloak with no stats and a scratchy wool shirt that only kinda fit.

He threw the cloak over his shoulders then headed out of the store and into the city as he checked the mental box for ‘buy new clothes’ on his to-do list. He was heading towards the temple district when his interface beeped at him. He saw the flashing mail icon and walked over the nearest mailbox to read it.

[To: Win Mills]

[From: Casey Springwater]

[Topic: INGREDIENTS!

Hey Mr. Mole. I’ve included a list of the ingredients I’d like you to produce with the quantities I expect to need them in. I don’t expect you to be able to provide all of them. So I’ve order the list based on which crops I feel need the highest quality. I need them by the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Wheat (mostly for flour, various breads and rolls and pie crusts) 20 lbs Potatoes (For potatoes obviously) 10 lbs Pumpkin 1-3 pumpkins depending on size. Yellow Onion (For Stuffing) 2 lbs Carrots (Various Dishes) 1 lbs Sweet Potatoes 3 lbs Garlic .5 lbs Parsley .25 Corn 3 lbs Cranberries 2 lbs

Don’t screw this up. Cooking is power.]

Winson grimaced slightly at the list. Casey really did like making things hard on him. He had no doubt he could make lots of high-quality wheat but if he used [Nurture] on the wheat to guarantee Superior quality it would only be on a single stalk. That would give him superior wheat but not in the quantities needed.

Winston thought about his options for a while. He might have to get creative. He’d gotten superior quality buckwheat without needing his spell so it should be possible with wheat. He just needed to find or make some dirt with the right conditions and composition.

The vegetables he had less hope for. The vegetable sub-skill had the best boosts to quality per rank but he wasn’t even beginner yet. He figured he was pretty close, but even at beginner 1 things would still be difficult. That made using his [Nurture] skill on a vegetable the best option. A superior quality vegetable would likely significantly boost his skill level.

He let that thought percolate around his brain. He needed to get growing. It was only 13, no it was Monday so that would be 12 days until the contest. He needed to find a greenhouse or something in the city he could rent space from. He changed his direction immediately ad headed towards the center of the city as he did some forum searching and an hour later he was standing outside the Valor’s Crossing Farmer’s Guild.

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

The farmers guild in Valor’s Crossing was a large but run-down building in the guild quarter. The paint on the front of the building was peeling and a large window near the front had been broken and boarded up. The smaller window was at least clean but the place looked like a wreck compared to all the other large and well-maintained guilds on the street. Signs denoting the taloring, blacksmithing, woodworking, enchanting, mining, alchemists, and a half-dozen other guilds were all showing and NPC’s and players streamed in and out of them all the time.

Winston looked around at the complete lack of other people at the farming guild, laughed, then stepped inside. The desk was manned by a fat old human in over-halls. He was reading an old battered book and drinking something dark out of a steaming mug. He didn’t even look up as Winston walked in.

“You lost boy?” He asked in a thick accent. It accent wasn’t anything Winston recognized but it sounded familiar, or maybe a weird combination of familiar accents? That sent Winston’s thoughts off on a tangent about how the game creates enough accents for all the various zones, kingdoms, and continents in the game but the man shifted slightly in his seat and the sound drug his attention back to the old man.

“I don’t think so. I wanted to see if you had any greenhouse, or hothouse space I could rent.” Winston asked.

“Be better off askin’ the herbalist guild.” The old man said sourly.

“Well, that was my backup plan. I thought I’d try here first though since my skills are in farming not herbalism.” Winston said.

“Someone with actual farming skill?” The man finally bothered to look up at Winston and he blinked in surprise when he saw him. “I can’t even remember the last time a real farmer walked here.” He seemed to weigh me for a moment before he shrugged.

“We might have somewhere you can grow some crops… but it’s only for members.” The old farmer said.

“What do I have to do to join? And what do I have to give up?” Winston asked. Winston knew the NPC profession guilds were mostly just places to get quests and equipment for the various crafting and gathering professions, but the game did have a tendency to throw a few curveballs at players who didn’t listen to quests properly and just went running off to wave their swords around.

“Nothing much, it’s 5 gold to join but you have to pass the initiate test.” The man behind the counter said. “That earns you a 5% discount for anything you buy from the guild as well as bronze initiate pin that will earn you the same treatment at any other farmer’s guild headquarters.”

“Any restrictions?” Winston asked, still wary.

“Nope.”

[You Have Received A New Quest!]

[Initiate Farmer]

[You Have Decided to Take the Farmers Guild Initiate Quest. Follow the rules of the test and meet the guild’s requirements.

Rewards: 5% Off Farmers Guild Products, Entry to Farmers Guild, Bronze Farmers Guild Badge, 500xp]

“Alright then, lets see this test.” Winston said.

[You Have Accepted A Quest!]

Winston was lead through the back down a narrow hallway before the building opened up again.There was junk piled everywhere, from half-used up bags of seeds to rusted farm equipment, to broken crates, and other things that should have been thrown at a while ago. Then the farmer opened another door and Winston blinked at the sunshine. The building just ended and Winston looked around in confusion.

The guild building was only a small shell around a large courtyard and the entire ceiling had been covered in a glass dome. Winston could see runes covering the glass, apparently to reinforce it and do something with the temperature. It was warm inside, not too hot but like a balmy summer afternoon.

“This must have cost a fortune.” Winston said amazed.

“The farmers guild wasn’t always broke. In fact we were one of the largest and most prosperous guilds for a long time.” The man said wistfully. Winston could smell another long chain quest in the works if he bothered to dig for it but he didn’t have time to take on something like that right now so he ignored it and didn’t ask.

The courtyard was covered in gardens and planters growing all sorts of different crops but Winston was lead to an area near the middle where four empty planters stood. The man dug into his pocket and pulled out four seeds, One of wheat, corn, rice, and oats.

“You’re job is to pick what planter to plant each of these in.” The man said, waving towards the four planters. Winston shrugged and took the seeds. This should be pretty easy with his beginner ability to sense soils. It must be a test to make sure the person had reached the beginner ranks.

Winston grabbed the corn kernel and touched the dirt of the first planter. The soil wasn’t bad but too sandy for the corn and the ph of the solid wasn’t quite right. The next soil was nearly perfect for the corn but as he was about to make his choice he found the trap. The soil was too dry and corn needed plenty of moisture. Even with the good soil composition the corn would have a lot of trouble growing. Winston checked the other two boxes and switched through his seeds. His face darkened.

Each of the boxes had different qualities of soils, different Ph levels, and different levels of moisture. They were also spread out far enough that they’d get different levels of sunlight as it was refracted down the the ceiling. None of the planters were right for any of the seeds. The problem wasn’t just finding the right seed for each box it was knowing what plants could deal with different deficiencies the best.

“There’s no way in hell this is the initiate trial.” Winston snapped about ten minutes later, still unable to find the proper choices.

“That’s because there isn’t an initiate trial.” The old man said smiling.

[Quest Update!]

[Advanced Farmer]

[The old man at the Farmer’s Guild hasn’t given you the initiate trail. He’s given you the advanced trial.

Rewards: 15% Off Farmers Guild Products, Entry to Farmers Guild as a Full Member, Silver Farmers Guild Badge, 2500xp, 100 fame]

Winston growled but turned back to the planters. Well the rice had to go into the fourth planter. That was so wet it was mostly mud and rice was the only thing that wouldn’t die if he planted it in there. He put the corn in the next most wet, even though the soil composition wasn’t great for it. That only left the wheat and oats. He done enough reading to know what oats could survive quite a bit of over-watering but the third pot had better Ph levels for it. Wheat he stuck in the last and driest pot.

“There…. How’s that.” Winston said, still a little angry.

[You Have completed a quest!]

[You Have Leveled up!]

Blue-light flashed around Winston as he hit level 14. That orc quest must have given him nearly two entire levels.

“I knew you had it in you.” The old man said as he gave Winston a clap on the back. Winston’s eyes narrowed but he followed the fat old farmer out of the courtyard and back to the front desk. There the farmer dug around in a box and pulled out a small silver pin. It was in the shape of a cornucopia and a screen popped up as Winston grabbed it.

[Advanced Farmer Cornucopia Badge]

[Uncommon, Accessory]

[A Silver pin. It acts as a badge to show one’s membership to the farmers guild. This pin means one is a full member. Grants 15% discount on all farmer’s guild goods and services.

+5% Crop quality

+5% Crop yield]

Winston pinned the badge to his chest and turned back the old man. “Excellent, now can I rent some of your courtyard?”

“Sure, take the four testing planters, as well as the big flower-bed next to it on the left. That’ll be 100 gold, minus 15% of course.” The fat farmer said with a smile. Winston sighed but handed over 85 gold.

“Now, do you guys have any rare fertilizers or anything for sale? Different types of dirt? Lime, or sulphur?” Winston asked. If the guild had that sorta thing for sale he’d have a much easier time growing the crops he needed.

“Of course we do. That’s our job. What did you think we did?” The old farmer asked.

“Well, lemme see your wares then.” Winston said impatiently. He really did not have time for this. It was already after six and he’d have to log off soon. The old man took on a put upon expression as he waved Winston in another direction. This time they entered the building around the side and found a large but narrow storage area filled with dirt, sand, at least five types of manure, dozens of types of seeds, lime, compost, and all the stuff a farmer could ever need to get moving.

“This is perfect.” Winston said happily.

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

Winston didn’t get to start farming until Tuesday and he didn’t get logged on until after supper. He’d put off working on his Econ project for a month and decided he better get at least a few pages of a rough draft done or Abby would have his head. That had taken up a good chunk of the evening so Winston was excited to get to work when he got back online.

The farmer’s guild was closed, but luckily he’d logged out while inside. Unlike the Sword’s keep the city was a safe-zone so his body disappeared when he logged out instead of just laying down. He re-appeared in the court-yard and got to work.

He started with wheat since he needed the most of it. He picked one of the larger planters and tested the soil. It wasn’t really great for growing wheat, so Winston just dug most of it out. Then used dirt from other planters and two-or-three types of different fertilizers until the soil was just how he wanted it.

This had to be the best place to grow crops he’d ever found. He had access to all the resources he need to change soil types and a well with real water he could use to get the soil to the perfect moisture levels. He knew trying to do something similar on a large scale would be almost impossible.

Winston had a lot of fun planting the onions, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and all the other things. Each needed slightly different types of soil, moisture levels, a other minor things.It was much smaller scale than he was used to but rewarding in it’s own way.

He didn’t bother with the cranberries or the parsley. He didn’t have seeds for them and the amounts Casey wanted weren’t large anyway. Everything else on the list he planted at least a little of. He decided to use his [Nurture] skill on the pumpkins. A single plant would likely grow at least two or three pumpkins and he’d get a pretty good return from that. Then he cast [Norish The Land] over the whole area. If he had extras he’s just sell them.

He blinked, then laughed at his own idea. He should go to Casey’s competition and set up a stand selling high and superior grade vegetables right next to the stage. He’d be able to gouge the competitors looking for last minute ingredients. He could make a fortune. An evil smile played on his face as he finished up and logged off to get some sleep.