Crunch. Slide. Crunch. Slide. Crunch.

Farming is hard work. My hoe digs into the ground, making a satisfying sound as it passes through the thick soil each time.

Finished. Finally, I think. I look back behind me at the freshly plowed field. Ehh, it’s not quite perfect, not like a field when Gramps is done with it. But this is my first time after all.

Thankfully, last season Gramps had me participate in the farming, during each part of the season, to gain the farming skill. Apparently, that’s common among the farmers and their sons to grant them the farming skill the year before their awakening. Farming isn’t quite like other crafts, as it takes a bit longer to get the skill than most. Most crafts can be gotten within days or weeks. Farming takes months. It does make sense though, farming is a yearly activity, not just a one-week job.

I felt something at the end of the field, and I check my status to confirm. Awesome!

Farming (LV4)

This is going to be quite the journey to level this skill up.

As I look at that level up, I admire my status page, like I always do when I bring it up. It’s quite nice to see numbers increasing, especially when they tell the story of your own improvement. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to change the way the screen looks. There is no settings page, with my new skills I’ve added over the years, it’s getting quite cluttered, and I’m trying really, really hard to not let it bother me. Inner Peace. Deep breaths. If only it could be organized by Skill Tier! What an amazing thought.

LV: 39 Experience: 12,845/78,835

Health: 488/510 Stamina: 56/303 Mana: 375/450

Vitality: 51

Endurance: 22

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 21

Senses: 23

Mind: 42

Magic: 45

Clarity: 36

Free Points: 347

Skills: Sense Mana (LV43), Meditation (LV50), Mathematics (LV56), Expel Mana (LV27), Drawing (LV20), Climbing (LV17), Sprint (LV22), Cleaning (LV18), Writing (LV27), Measurement (LV12), Mana Manipulation (LV5), Cooking (LV10), Knife Skills (LV9), Sewing (LV5), Knitting (LV5), Wood Carving (LV7), Acrobatics (LV13), Farming (LV4), Gourmet (LV2)

Most of my skills have seen a significant improvement these past few years, and I picked up a few new ones. The most interesting being, Gourmet (LV2), which I picked up eating some berries in the woods. Gave Gramps a terrible scare with that one, but they looked like blueberries, and it was almost force of habit that got me to pick one and eat before thinking about the potential negative consequences.

Turns out, it got me a skill! Not sure what this skill is exactly, as I wouldn’t describe myself as a Gourmet, but I’ll take it.

Acrobatics (LV13), I got from practicing calisthenics and attempting some more complicated maneuvers. It’s an amazing skill, and I love it. Being only ten years old, my body is still developing, so I’m not pushing the weights too hard yet, but body weight work outs are perfect. They work all the tiny muscles we usually forget about, require a lot of core strength, and improve balance and flexibility. Not to mention you must have great control over your strength, which I’ve decided is my guiding principle in physical stat gains.

After seeing the kid flail around like a fish out of water, and struggle to regain control over his own body, I’ve decided to never dump attributes into a stat like that. Slow and stead wins the race. I haven’t even added points into any other category than Vitality, bringing it up to 50. I add one additional point each month, per my plan. I’m hoping it helps to steadily add in Vitality every few weeks, after a hard month training to my limits. I take one off day every week, and every 4th week I add in a point of vitality. I’m hoping it helps to speed up my recovery, as I train extremely hard most days.

This gives me 15 extra vitality every year, so in a few years, it’ll start to get to safe levels. I’m safe here, so I’m not in any rush.

I’ve come up with an intense training plan for the next few years, and probably won’t add any points into the physical stats for the foreseeable future. I’m gaining them at a good rate, and I’m guessing that’ll continue for a few years.

My mind stat is not improving much anymore, so it seems I’m starting to hit a soft cap now. I’m still way ahead of the curve at 42, as when I asked Gramps, he said his Mind stat was at 30, and he had added a few points into it to make Trading easier.

I’ll probably start adding points into those attributes soon, at least much earlier than the physical ones. I got a good head start, I mean, I was aware as a 1-week-old baby, that’s kind of cheating.

Also, turns out there are skill tests. Getting information out of Gramps is like pulling teeth. He has the knowledge, and will answer my questions, but I must ask the question first. He’s not a big talker all on his own. So, when Meditation stagnated at LV50 for quite a while, I finally asked him about it. He was pretty surprised I hit 50 in one of my skills so soon.

Too bad his advice wasn’t all that helpful. Keep working at it, he said, and it will come eventually. I need facts, old man, not encouragement. Eventually, I did pass the test, and it took a little while. I had to Meditate for quite a while before I started to attempt to take Meditation to new heights instead of just letting it slowly improve.

I added some kung fu into my life. I started meditating in the horse stance, as I had already started my body training. Controlled breathing, expelling mana each breath, standing in the horse stance, and attempting to meditate all together is difficult, but eventually I got the skill increase.

My legs still hurt from this morning’s session.

My magic stat has been increasing even faster since starting that training. I suppose my breathing is getting better, as it must be much more effective when I’m straining like that to get oxygen to my aching muscles. It’s an interesting development that I’ll have to keep an eye on. I’ve already started keeping written records of my slow improvements, and have created extrapolations of where I think my stats and skills will be in the future.

My training plan generally doesn’t have any downtime throughout the day. Meditation is my only reprieve from any other training. When I’m not working or training, I’m cooking or cleaning.

Cleaning is one of my favorite skills. I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to a clean house, and I keep ours as spotless as it can get. It’s just not sanitary to live in the conditions Gramps was living in before I got here. He may have loads of vitality and endurance, but some of us are just starting out.

Oh, and before someone laughs at my sewing and knitting skills, take a breath. Those are for training. TRAINING. You hear? I got those to help with improving my dexterity. That’s it. I’m a manly farmer and I’ll hear no slander to the contrary.

As a matter of fact, I’m going to plow one more field before I finish today. For REASONS.

The next off day for me and Gramps, we head back into the village. It’s spring right now, and we have our work cut out for us, so there isn’t much time to waste, but at the same time we need plenty of supplies. Gramps now hauls an empty cart to gather a few things for this trip. The man is a machine, and I have no idea how high his strength is. He won’t tell me yet.

It’s common to keep your stats well hidden from others, as it could mean the difference between life and death one day. He didn’t mind telling me his mind stat, though. Get it. However, his mind stat isn’t that important other than in Trading, so it wasn’t as confidential. I’ll get his full status page eventually, if nothing else, I’ll wear him down over time. He has grown accustomed to my cooking, so I at least have leverage.

I’m excited to go back into town today. I couldn’t get people to take me seriously before I turned ten, so it was hard to get any information out of the villagers. They kept saying to come back when I was ten and shoo me away.

All I wanted to know was the secrets of their craft and the proper skill progression. No biggie.

I’m determined to get a few new skills this year now that they must bow down to my superior level! I am level 39, and probably higher than a good many folks in the village. I haven’t distributed most of them though, so it’s meaningless right now, unfortunately. Gotta stick to the master plan!

I’m planning on being an attribute beast. If I an resist adding any points for as long as possible, I’m positive my gains will be higher than almost anyone else’s. It is possible to keep organically growing after adding stats, but how much harder would that be? And with huge jumps in strength and dexterity all the time, how could you possibly be any good at controlling your strength. No efficiency whatsoever. I may have lower strength than others, but I know how to control mine for the maximum benefit.

I’m playing the long game. Like the tortoise. High vitality, wise, and lacking a bit in physical stats. I should have been named Master Roshi, though, thinking about it, he was also lacking in the wisdom department, so maybe not.

Piccolo. Call me that. I’m way nicer, though.

Even with the cart, Gramps has no problem keeping up with me on the narrow path. It takes us no time at all before we pass through the outer fields surrounding the village walls, and in through the main gate.

I look over to Gramps, and let him know I’m headed off.

“Gramps, I’m headed out to mess with Richard again. I’ll come find you in a bit and help you load up the supplies.” I say to him.

I’ve come to really enjoy messing with Richard, the tanner. He was the kind soul who explained that kid flailing on the ground to me, and who I subsequently inferred was my baby daddy. Turns out he has a daughter my age, and boy oh boy is it fun to laugh at his expense. He’s so easily flustered. His wife must have him dangling from her fingers, just like his daughter. He’s hopeless.

I run off in the direction of the tannery, which isn’t hard to find as it is quite stinky. Luckily, it’s on the outskirts of the village, so most don’t have to deal with the smell. They live a bit away from it, but not far enough for my sensitive nose.

I see a young girl, picking flowers in a bed near their house.

“Annabelle! Hey! What ya doing?” I yell out to her.

“Dan! I didn’t think you’d be back for a lot longer!” She came running up and hugged me. It was nice to have human affection again. I’d lived for a while without it in my last life, and hell will freeze over if Gramps ever gives me a hug, so I always appreciate Annabelle’s enthusiasm in everything she does. We’re only ten, but hugs are appreciated at all ages.

She was the perfect picture of innocence, and childhood joy. Wearing a long dress, picking flowers. It’s right out of a novel.

“We needed a few more things for the spring planting, and a few of our tools broke unexpectedly, so we’re getting them repaired.” I let her know.

“Oh no!” She exclaims.

What a drama queen! I smile.

“It’s no big deal, Annabee. We’ll be back on track come tomorrow.” I use my pet name for her, which she loves. She gets a great deal of excitement from the fact that I gave her a special name. Kids, gotta love ‘em.

She smiles cheerfully back. “Let me go tell mom, and we can walk around the village together!”

She runs right off without letting me respond. I guess she’s the boss. Wait, is this how it happened to Richard? I shudder. Nope, I’m in control here!

It isn’t long before she’s running back out, practically jumping for joy.

“Alright. Let’s go! I wonder what mischief we can get up to today?” I ask rhetorically, but the look in Annabelle’s eyes tell me she is probably calculating the exact amount of trouble she can possibly get in. Looks like it’s going to be a bit of a crazy morning.

“Let’s go see my dad!” She yells, and then runs off in the direction of the tannery. I doubt very much that she is going to see him out of the goodness of her heart. It’s most likely for extortion.

I run after her, and we race to be the first to get there. I let her win, of course, like a good gentleman. It’s not that she has almost as many physical stats as I do. That is definitely not the case. She must have at least invested a few points into strength, and a decent amount in dexterity. It’s common for girls to invest mostly in dexterity and vitality. Senses and mind as well, as they generally educate their own children, manage the homes finances, and do the cooking and cleaning. Not everyone follows the same standard, especially with stat points existing, but funnily enough, the nuclear family unit is going strong even in this world.

Even with attributes, it does matter what your size and weight are, and guys tend to be bigger and naturally more muscular, so they have an early advantage in the physical stats. I’m sure a woman with over a hundred strength is still a beast, but for some reason most women aren’t interested in chopping down trees all day. I guess guys have that nothing box inside their heads for a reason. It’s there to make the world go round, allowing men to do the same mindless tasks all day, and somehow feel accomplished at the end of the day. Ahh, the wonders of the world.

Maybe that’s why my Meditation level is so high?

She beats me by just a little bit, although I didn’t use my Sprint skill, which would have ended things immediately, but that would be no fun.

“Hah! I beat you!” She proudly exclaims.

“Yeah, yeah! You used a skill, though, didn’t you? I could see it in your form.” I reply.

She looks like a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar.

“No fair! How could you tell? I was going to hang this over your head for weeks!” She indignantly replies, as if I were in the wrong for noticing her little scheme.

“It’s not too hard to distinguish when someone is using a skill. I’ve told you before, you just have to pay attention for once!” I say exasperatedly.

“Well, that’s what I have you for. So, just let me know when you see someone using a skill. Okay? Thanks!”

What a demon. I’m so becoming just like Richard.

“Annabelle? Is that you?” Richard, her father the tanner, comes walking out. He smiles and picks her up in a great big hug.

“EWW! Dad! You smell awful! Put me down!” She shrieks. I just laugh. Just deserts.

“Mr. Richard. Nice to see you again.” I politely greet him.

“You can’t fool me kid, you are a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Don’t act all polite for my sake.”

The same as ever. We have a complex relationship.

“Aww, Dad! Dan is super nice! He’s no wolf! He’s really a bivol!” Annabelle corrects him.

“Oh, of course, honey! That’s exactly right!” He smirks down at me.

He would agree that I’m a slow, dumb, and fat animal. Payback will come one day, my friend. Probably right around the time Annabelle becomes a teenager. Just wait for it, Richard. Your time is coming.

Moving on from my evil inner monologue, I rejoin the conversation.

“No, I think Annabelle is the real bivol, she’s just like them dragging me all over the village all the time!” I smile up at them both.

Her face turns scarlet red, and even Richard has his eyes widened.

“YOU!” She screams, starting to fight to get out of Richard’s arms.

It looks like it’s time to use my Sprint skill now. Bye.

“Catch me if you can!” I yell back, already running in the opposite direction. Good luck catching me, with Sprint at Level 22!

“I can’t believe you! Calling me a bivol like that! I’m too pretty and elegant to be one of those beasts!” Annabelle complains as we walk along, snacking on some candy we bought with the money she eventually extorted out of her dad.

“I know! Of COURSE you are. It was just a joke!” I attempt to get back in her good graces.

“And you didn’t even let me catch you!”

I splutter on the candy in my mouth. “Let? I’m supposed to let you catch me?”

“Of course, as a man, you must let the lady win. It’s the rules.” I’m not sure what those rules are, and I’ll probably never figure them out either.

“Okay, okay! I’ll act the gentleman next time. I promise.”

She squeals out, making me flinch, and gives me a hug. “You better!”

Oh boy. I’m whipped. How did this happen to me?