Alright, so, some interesting feedback yesterday. I want you to know I do read these comments, and I do consider them.

There are some things, however, that I feel I need to clarify. When I said this is "at best a very rough draft" I wasn't kidding. A lot of this is me throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Someone said it felt like they MC was exploring the magic system at the same time as the Author. That's very true, this magic system isn't set in stone. In fact I've been considering if I need to change it. Should enchanting and Spells use the same runes? Should spells even use runes at all, should I instead move to 'patterns' in which mana has to flow? How the hell do I handle fire when everything so far has been in cubic feet? What about healing? These are all things I have to consider, and have been considering, I have some ideas, and now I need to see what works.

I very much so need to see an idea in action before I can say if it works or not, so some of this is me doing just that. The physical magics seem to work as they are, though I have to wonder, are they too powerful? Is he moving/making too much at once?

There was another comment about how it was like watching someone assemble an object from Ikea that didn't come with instructions and no one seemed to know how it should look. To be honest, that's kind of true. I don't have a set definite "this is how this will end". I have a general "this is where we're going" but getting there isn't yet set in stone.

Some things aren't going to work. Those parts will almost certainly have to be rewritten. Some things are going to look fine on the surface and then come back to bite me later, that will also mean some things will likely have to be rewritten. In the end, I expect that this entire story is going to have to be re-written to some degree or another. Will it look the same afterward, I'm not sure.

Now you're probably asking "why post this then?" and the answer to that is simple. I cannot develope in a vacuum, and my regular reader doesn't like VR stories. I need more than one perspective to help me see what works and what doesn't. I need people who say "This is a farming story in which he does precious little farming, you need to do more farming."

He has (as of the 23rd chapter) had 24 days of work (Might be 25, I think I missed a day). Should I be keeping such rigorous track of days? A lot has happened in that time, and not enough of it was farming. But I've felt like I needed to get him to a place where actual farming could happen. Perhaps I've taken too long to get there. That's another thing I need feedback on (See the 'do more farming' above).

There was some consternation that he stopped to build a house and barn. Should he have skipped those? Is him having animals a detriment to this story or a boon? Is him taking an hour to build a house a problem? Should he just go without one indefinitely? Where is he keeping his stuff? He's got a big inventory but it's slowly accumulating junk. If he had a normal inventory it'd be over full already. These are things I have to consider.

There's been a lot of discussion about the mana well(s), was that a poor choice? Could this story function without them if he had to purchase stones every few days to keep up? Should he use muscle power instead of magic power?

His farm hasn't been raided by jerks yet, is that realistic? Should he lose everything and be forced to start again? I tried writing that in several times, it didn't feel right, but that might be my own bias working against me. I want John to succeed and losing everything might just kill the story. Or maybe he'll somehow rise above it.

As I write this I realize I'm probably rambling a bit and losing the thread here so I'm going to stop after one last bit here.

This story is not a perfect, cohesive thing, which only needs minor edits and maybe some touch ups here and there. This is the messy, nitty gritty 'I'm writing the first draft and we're seeing where it takes us." That's not going to be for everyone. Hell that's probably not going to be for most people at all. But that's okay, if you're not enjoying it, if you're not in love with it, if you're finding yourself at odds with where it's going or how it's getting there, that's okay. But I need you to recognize this isn't a finished product, and it's not going to be for some time, if ever. I hope to write this to a conclusion. I hope to build a functional system that makes sense. I hope that farming happens and that John gets fat wads of cash. But we're on a journey folks, an adventure if you will. It's going to be rough, it's going to be tough, and there will absolutely be mistakes along the way.

If you're willing to accept all that, if you're ready to see growing pains and mistakes, triumphs and failures, things that work and things that don't. Then read on, and please, keep commenting. If you're not ready for that, that's okay too.

I'll post today's actual chapter later in the day. Fair warning, it's short. Fairer warning, the next three chapters (including this one) do not involve farming. In fact, two of them involve a dungeon crawl (which has to be the hardest thing I've written yet, it just doesn't feel right for the story).

And I realize I'm rambling agian, so I'm going to cut it off here. For those of you for whom this story isn't doing it. I'm sorry I didn't meet your expectations. For those of you who are going to continue reading anyway, thank you.