“You want me to plant one seed for you. Then you’re going to pay me 75,000 gold.” Winston asked again.

“I just said that.” Therion said.

“What’s the catch.” Winston asked. “The Sword’s are cheap asses. I know, I used to work for them. So what’s the deal. Why are they throwing so much green around.”

“We’ve had some difficulties getting to the new area for the expansion. We had two people we were counting on, but one had his quest giver killed and the other was bribed away from us. You’re technically plan C. Although you’re not really our last option. You’ll just shave a few days off for us.” Therion said honestly.

Winston weighed his words. Then replied. “So if I do this I’m gonna really piss off all the people who’ve been suppressing you.” Winston mulled that over. “On the other-hand you’ve probably got a plan D anyway, so at best I’m only shaving a few days off. That means they’ll be mad at me, but not camping my spawn unil I have to delete my character.” Winston reasoned.

“Well, what are you offering for the pleasure of being killed over and over again.” He asked finally.

“I doubt it’ll come to that. They might send someone out to cause some trouble for you if they find out it was you.” Therion said.

“They’ll find out.” Winston said, with no hint of doubt. “It’ll take about five minutes after I show up for one of your guildies to squeal on me for a fat purse of gold. I’m a nobody and not even part of the guild. They aren’t even really betraying anyone. That still leaves me with your offer. Cause you’re going to have to throw in something more than a lump sum of gold, unless you plan on tripling your offer. I can make money easily but not if I’m dealing with the fall out of this. ”

Winston was inclined to blow the whole thing off. That was likely the easiest, most rational choice. The only thing stopping him was the chance to plant and harvest a plant from a mythical seed. Doing so would likely gain him at least 1, probably more than one skill rank rank. At apprentice level he was looking at two or more months of daily work to make it to the next tier of skills, but doing this could knock weeks off of that. The question was if the Swords would make an offer to sway him or not.

“Well, what is it you want? We can’t really go much higher than 75,000.” Therion said cautiously.

“It’s not about the gold. Unless you were going to go way way up, a lump sum payment isn’t going to cut it. I need something to help grow my business.” Winston thought quickly and came up with his conditions.

“First, The 75,000. It’s not enough really, but it’s a start. I could make that much in a few weeks if people would just leave me alone which obviously won’t be happening now. Second, I can piggyback on any of your guild teleports for free, for one year. Obviously, you guys won’t have a teleporter everywhere I might wanna go, but I can message you and find out if you got one available and send of load of my goods through if you do.”

“That’s gonna be a bit hard to get the officers to swallow.” Therion said.

“Why, it doesn’t cost them anything. It’s practically a string-free favor. Doesn’t matter, they can take it or leave it. Last, I get one smallish favor I can call in anytime. So if I want someone killed a few times, or if I want a teleport delayed, or if I need a few bodies to protect some goods, or run a dungeon you have to deliver.” Winston finished. “They can agree, or they can find someone else.”

Therion sighed over the voice communication. “Alright, fine. I’ll go ask and be back.” He said before disconnecting.

“Who was that?” Jason asked as they approached the edge of Winston’s farmland.

“The Silver Sword.” Winston replied. “Apparently the Swords have done something stupid again and want me to bail them out. They’re gonna pay be 75,000 gold to plant something for them.” Winston said with a grin.

“That’s a lot of money.” Jason said. “If you do it for them, you’re going to piss off the other guilds right?”

“Mostly likely. I’m only really shaving a few days off things. That should only make the guilds annoyed. If I was the swords last hope I would have refused. That would stir up too much enmity. A businessman needs to remain neutral.” Winston explained.

“Than why are you doing it at all?”

“Time…. The skill boost I’ll get should take a solid chunk out of the time I’ll need to get to Practiced. I should get a passive skill, and a pretty powerful one from that. I’d guess at least 50% to yield, or something similarly powerful. That would be a bit boring though. It’ll probably be something powerful but odd.” Winston said thoughtfully. “Either way, that’s the main reason I’m taking the job. Even If I piss a bunch of people off and have to go into hiding somewhere I’ll still have a sack full of gold and more powerful skills.”

“Good luck…” Jason said.

Winston was about to reply when his UI chimed again.

[You Have Been Summoned By Therion]

[Summon Location: Sword’s Bastion, Flynn Highlands, West Empire]

[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 looked to Kishia. Follow Orinoco Back to Base. This shouldn’t take more than an hour.” He told his new apprentice.

The two nodded and headed off with Kishia walking a bit closer to Jason than was strictly necessary. Winston laughed and accepted the summons.

[You Have Entered A New Zone]

[West Empire]

[Flynn Highlands]

[Sword’s Bastion]

There was a flash of light and Winston was somewhere else. He was in the courtyard of a sprawling castle. Winston looked around in awe, taking in Therion who was standing next to him as well as the entire place. Players and NPC’s were everywhere around him and the building was like nothing he’d ever seen before. It was an incredible sight with its sprawling walls and high towers. Red banners with emblazoned black swords flapped everywhere. It reminded Winston why so many people played this game. There was no way he’d have ever been able to see something like this in the real world.

Winston just gaped at everything around him.

“Impressive right. It cost them a damn fortune, and most of two years to build but so many NPC’s and players do business here the Tax revenues are the only reason the guild is still afloat.” Therion said.Winston turned to him as he continued. “No time to doddle. Through the next portal.” He said, and a portal appeared next to Winston. He walked through.

[You Have Entered A New Zone]

[The Shattered Continent]

[Yazra Desert]

[Trika]

Winston’s vision warped and he was gone from the medieval castle and was suddenly in an ancient middle-eastern city. The smell of exotic spices and cooking meat filled his nose as hawkers shouted out in strange accents to attract customers to their small stalls of pots, jewelry, or colorful fabrics. He blinked a few times before a short woman stepped in from of him. She was blonde and dressed in a tight unitard that seemed more like a superhero outfit than armor for a fantasy MMO.

Winston recognized her at once. “The Flaming Valkyrie. They really are pulling out all the stops.” Winston said, a little star stuck. Whereas Silver Sword Therion was a legend, he was more famous for his actions in the games early days than his current play. The Flaming Valkyrie, or Sarah Stormchaser, was a true expert. Likely in the top 100 players in the world.

She was a level 66 Aeromancer and her Air Magic Sub-skill was supposed to be at Renown I. She was also one of the few players in the game who could fly long distances and Winston suddenly knew why she was here. This was the closest place to the firelands they could teleport. From here they had to hoof it, or at least they would have. Still, he supposed flying might be fun.

“I can’t believe I’m all the way out in the Shattered Continent that’s halfway to the Russian Sector.” He said thoughtfully. It was possible to meet with with players from other sectors. You could choose any location as a spawn point but the normal spawns for each sector were really REALLY far apart. It took months of normal travel to move between them or teleport spells with special regents to cover the distance.

“Enough gawking, we need to move.” Sarah said, before she raised her hands and Winston felt her expelling buckets of magic. The wind gusted, then howled as it lifted Winston into the air. Then they were flying. First over the city as everyting passed in a frantic blur, then out over the desert. Winston screamed, his voice lost in the howl of hurricane force winds before he got used to the sensation of being blown across the land like a leaf stuck in a tornado.

The land whipped by under him, forming into a single smear of light brown land. They were only a few hundred feet off the ground but they had to be traveling at least a hundred fifty miles an hour. The fear eventually wore off as the minutes dragged on into hours. Every so often his pilot would chug down a mana potion but they were traveling in a matter of minutes what would have taken days on foot or horseback. Even so, the flight was going to be a long one.

Winston was just glad they started this mid-morning. It would likely be well into evening before they made it to the Firelands. He took the time to log off. Since he wasn’t actually able to do anything there wasn’t much reason to be logged in.

He wasted the next few hours piddling around in his room before he got back in game. He was still flying and they seemed to be going even faster now. The land was still desert but the terrain had become more extreme. Now sections of desert were interrupted by large chasms that went deep into the earth. As they moved the chasms became larger and deeper until the entire landscape seemed like a giant plate that someone had smashed to pieces.

Winston started to see pools of magma bubbling up from the bottom of the cracks and he knew they were finally getting close. His entire body felt bruised from being buffeted back and forth in the wind for hours and he was sure his hearing would be shot. Then in the distance Winston saw a massive floating landmass. It was huge and stretched for hundreds of miles in every direction, casting shadows over the cracked and broken land below.

The flight lasted another half-hour before the wind changed and the two plummeted towards the ground. Then just before they hit the wind gusted again, blunting their momentum. Winston hit the ground on his feet before stumbling forward and falling to his hands and knees as he tired to get his shaking body under control.

That had not been pleasant for him. He shuddered and slowly stood back up blinking at landscape and the people waiting for him. The land here was nothing but hot stone separated by pools of lava. The temperature had to be at least one-hundred fifty and Winston started to sweat immediately. He turned to the two players next to him.

The first was a human in slate-grey armor, Winston recognized him at once. Gawain Steelheart was the guild-leader of the Swords of Solomon. He was also supposed to be an ass. Winston believed it, no one else would pick a name so pompous.

Beside him was a short dark-skinned gnome. Winston held out his hand in greeting. “I’m Win Mills, nice you meet you guys.” he said politely.

The guild leader took his hand and shook it. “Gawain, thanks for coming we’re in a bit of a pickle.” The guild-leader said.

“We just need you to plant this and make it grow something we can use to get up to the Cloud Continent. We’ve marked the spot over there.” The gnome said, pointing towards a roped off area. He reached out and handed Winston a small green seed. Winston inspected it.

[Seed of Gaia]

[Mystical, Artifact]

[The seed of Gaia is a concentrated ball of life energy blessed by the Spirit of the Earth. It is capable of growing into any plant the user desires. The plant will grow to full size in one hour, then die twenty four hours later.

Restrictions: Level 10, person who plants must have a class that grants Herbalism or Farming as a Primary Skill]

Winston blinked down at it. “Well, seems pretty straightforward.” He said to the others.

The guild had roped off an area right under the edge of the massive floating island. They also seemed to have brought in some real dirt from somewhere and covered up the black stone that made up most of the ground in the firelands.

Winston decided what he’d need. The dirt they’d brought wouldn’t be enough for something as large as this plant would need to be. So it would have to be something that’s roots could break up the rock and use the heat and lava to grow. It would also have to be something tall, and stable enough to climb easily.

He wondered how much control he really had over the final product, but he figured he might as well go for broke. He focused his mind on what he wanted then planted the seed. He followed up by casting [Nurture] on it, and started summoning water from the end of his finger.

It took about five minutes for the seed to sprout. Then it started to grow upwards at a visible rate. First it was just a lump of brown leaves, then the base widened out and the outside fell away to reveal a single stalk of green bamboo.The ground started to crack and roots pushed deep into the stone. Then lines of red began to pulse from the plant as it sucked up the lava below to fuel it’s rise to the heavens.

The plant grew faster and Winston watched as it stretched upwards.

“Not bad.” The gnome said from behind him. “How are we supposed to get up there though?”

“Just wait for it.” Winston said as he watched the bamboo grow. He’d added the last bit in a flash of inspiration, assuming it worked like he thought it did.

It took a while but as the bamboo grew it started to shift slightly. The outside tube started to grow odd lumps and as they got bigger it formed into a massive protruding spiral that lead from to base to the ever-growing top.

“A spiral staircase. That’s a nice touch.” The gnome said in satisfaction.

Winston waited a few more minutes before he started dumping more water onto the base. At the rate it was growing he figured it could use all it could get. An hour later a small group of Swords stood looking up at the massive bamboo shoot. The base was ten feet wide and it reached upwards at least a thousand feet.

“Well, looks like you held up your end of the bargain.” Gawain said, he had a smile on his face and Winston couldn’t help but smile back. The bamboo was pretty impressive. “The gold has already been deposited. If you’ve got anything else to do while you’re here I’d hurry up. Your summons will end in a few minutes.”

Winston blinked at him, then rushed up spiral. All of this would have been for nothing if he couldn’t harvest this. He found a tuft of grass poking out from the side of the shoot a hundred or so feet up and smiled as he saw the fist-sized seeds on the end of it. Winston didn’t hesitate and he reached over and plucked them. Green and blue light shot out from him as his screen filled with messages.

[You Have Leveled Up]

[You Have reached Level 15]

[Racial Talent Upgrade]

[Your Farming Skill Has Increased]

[Current Rank: Apprentice Rank III]

[Bonus Crop Yield: (37% + 10%) 47%]

[Bonus Crop Quality: (24.5% + 25%) 49.5%]

[Your Grain Sub-Skill Has Increased]

[Current Rank: Apprentice III]

[Bonus Grain Crop Yield: 50%

Bonus Grain Crop Quality: 20.5%]

Winston sighed it was a shame bamboo counted as a grain. He could have really used to boost elsewhere, but he supposed bamboo was technically a grass so it made sense. As Winston was lamenting not gaining five skill ranks in fruits his screen flashed as he was standing back in the jungle a few-hundred feet from his farm.