The trip back home takes longer than the trip out. When I finally arrive, there are barely embers left in the campfire. I see the tent is prepared, but empty, and a basic door is in place on the shed. I guess she finally had enough of sleeping rough. With a chuckle, I bed down in the tent to avoid disturbing her sleep.

***

You are rested.

The smell of burnt porridge wakes me up. I groan in disappointment, cursing myself for not prepping something before falling asleep. With considerable effort I manage to get out of the tent to greet the morning.

Outside, Tiene is happily ignoring the poor pot suspended over our campfire in favour of a piece of wood she’s whittling. I clear my throat as I grab the stirrer to try to salvage breakfast.

“Oh, Tee, you’re up. Wait until you see the improvements I did in the shed. We have beds now! Well, kinda.”

Her beaming happiness makes the morning feel harder. Wishing desperately that I had coffee, I force a smile.

“That’s great. What are you working on there?”

She looks at her work, almost surprised to find it there.

“Oh, this. It’s just an improvement to the shed. Don’t worry about it.”

I’m pretty sure she’s covering something up, but it’s too early for me to dig into right now. Everyone needs their secrets.

With some effort and leftovers from before, I manage to salvage the remnants of the porridge. When I try to hint at her not cooking anymore, she laughs it off as a joke and I decide not to pursue it any further. I make a silent vow to myself that I’ll get better at waking up in the mornings. After breakfast I tick off a square on our calendar, then go to check out the field.

Field 1: small (100x100) Current crop: Emgrass (783) Soil quality: Normal (high mineral content) Growing cycle: Mixed (Growing(1) 5%/Growing(2) 30%/Mature 65% Average health: 90% Estimated Yield: 10175. Needs: Weeding. Watering. Harvesting.

Mostly mature already. I like the way this crop grows. A shame I won’t be able to replant it immediately. Picking up my tools, I get to work. Two hours later, my field is again in pristine condition. The average health has increased to 93%, increasing the yield by a few hundred. I stand back to consider my options.

I could leave it for tomorrow, letting more seeds mature, but that might ruin the ones that are ready now. As an alternative, I could try to harvest only the ones that are mature, letting the rest stay behind. Tempting, but it would delay planting the next set of crops. Harvesting everything now would let me prep the soil for when Cullen’s brother comes here with the Voidsiphon.

With my mind made up, I go to work harvesting the crop.

Skill increased: Herbalism. Profession level increased. Your farmer level is now 2. Level 2 criteria: - Primary skill(Herbalism) level 3 (current level 5) - Plant common crop. (done) - Harvest common crop. (done) Secondary skill enhancement unlocked: Available choices: Mycology. Level 3 criteria: - Primary skill (Herbalism) level 10. (current level: 5) - Secondary skill (unselected) level 5. - Grow common crop with average health above 98% (current best: 93%) - Grow 5 different crops of common rarity or above (current count: 1)

I’m barely able to finish the job when the notifications assault me. The profession enhancement sounds interesting. I know I’ll be dealing with fungus soon, so it’s a reasonable choice. I select it immediately, and am rewarded by more notifications.

Skill Mycology has been profession enhanced.

With a burst of clarity, I realise I know how to grow mushrooms. I know what kind of environment they need, what nutrients and how to care for them. I definitely need to get Tiene to build me a moisture chamber. Somewhere dark and dank where I can keep an eye on them.

As the thoughts go through my mind, my eyes are drawn to the mine. It would be pretty perfect, if we can clear out the poison. I shake myself out of the reverie. Gathering all the harvested grains I tie the straws together, making bundles of the Emgrass ready for drying and threshing. Afterwards I prep the soil, returning it to a pristine state. The soil quality drops to ‘slightly depleted’, but the high mineral content remains. I wonder what that can do for me in the future. Shrugging, I grab my readies crops and haul them back to camp.

Tiene helps me hang the produce, and a quick inspection confirms the timeline for me.

Crops ready for threshing in 8 hours. Estimated yield: 10000

I say a silent prayer of thanks to the algorithms controlling this game, thankful for the fact that some of these mechanics are sped up significantly. Tiene prods my shoulder to get my attention, and I turn around in time to see a horse drawn cart come towards our farm. Reynard makes a high pitch braying sound that sounds like a complaint, but the stranger takes no heed of the foxburro’s annoyance. A young man with long, brown hair waves at us as he stops. He’s the spitting image of Cullen, except for a mischievous gleam in his eyes. We approach him as he jumps from his seat.

“Hi there! You must be Tee. I’m Dale. Cullen sent me to do some trade with you, although by the looks of that setup you got there, I’m going to have to wait a while for my goods.”

I feel a slight annoyance at his cavalier attitude. I’m not thrilled at the way he eyes Tiene either. I reach out a hand in greeting.

“I am indeed. Thanks for making the trip but.”

When he clasps my hand it feels like I’m trapped in a vice. Then he squeezes with the power only hard work can provide. It takes every ounce of willpower I have to avoid screaming in pain.

Ability increased: Focus.

As he releases my hand, I shake it demonstratively.

“But I just managed to finish the harvest. It’ll be ready by nightfall, so if you’re willing to wait you can hang around. This is my partner, Tiene.”

I gesture towards her, and her training takes over as she curtsies. A deep blush comes over her when she realises, and she looks away. Dale chuckles quietly before focusing back on me.

“That sounds like a plan. It’ll let me take a load off for a while. Cullen’s a great farmer and a good brother, but he’s a horrible taskmaster. So what have you got going on here?”

He walks past us towards the field and I follow. He’s a good head taller than me, and I have to rush to keep up.

“This is our field. As I said, I just finished harvesting, but I need a different crop to let the soil recuperate. Emgrass depletes it harshly.”

He nods knowingly, his eyes scanning the ground for a moment before he turns back to me.

“And how are you fighting the poison? The ground around this plot is clearly toxic, but you’ve managed to get a great crop going. What’s your secret?”

I smile, enjoying the sensation of knowing something he doesn’t.

“Ancient dryad wisdom. Let’s call it a family secret for now.”

He nods, clearly unhappy with my answer. Before I can continue, he looks behind me. Tiene is coming towards us, hands full of rope and wood. He pushes past me to go help her, annoying me further. She unloads the burden on him and hands my backpack to me.

“Are you ready for our little adventure?”

Her smile is infectious. Checking out the backpack, I find a dozen torches, two waterskins, more rope and the leftovers from breakfast. The contraption she left Dale with is the ladder she was making. I grin back at her, then at Dale.

“So Dale, fancy a bit of spelunking?”

I enjoy the confusion on his face as we lead him to the old mine, explaining on the way.

We all stand around the hole, looking down. We can see the pile of rubble on the ground, with dead plants and vibrant fungus all around. I hand out cloths for everyone to put over their mouths. Dale objects for a moment until I explain the dangers of breathing fungal spores. After that he puts on the scarf with no more fuss. Tiene starts fastening the ladder as I talk to Dale.

“Are you sure you want to go with us? I don’t know what waits for us down there, and it might be dangerous.”

He snorts at me, masking his uncertainty.

“Don’t worry about me mister green, I can hack it.”

Rolling my eyes, I go and pick up a solid looking branch, giving it a few practice swings. Not exactly a weapon for the ages, but hopefully it’ll be enough to hold any monsters at bay. I look at Dale.

“Do you have any weapons?”

He points to his belt, showing me a long dagger. I nod satisfied, getting ready to descend. Tiene clears her throat, making it clear she’s annoyed at something. I look at her for a moment, making it worse. She pulls a length of iron from her backpack, handing it to me. A crowbar.

“Drop the stick, use this. It’ll do more damage. And not that you asked, but I still have the knife. I’ll be fine.”

As I look at the crowbar, Dale snickers at me. Before I have a chance at responding, Tiene has started climbing down. I hurry to stabilise the ladder, following her down as soon as she’s ready. I find the descent incredibly hard, nearly falling off several times. By the time I get down, my heart is racing.

Ability increased: Agility You have discovered a dungeon: Abandoned mine. Age: young.

I shake it off and help Tiene set the ladder for Dales descent. When he’s down, we take a look around us.

The entryway is around ten meters across, with three exits. One towards the farm, one towards the forest and one away from the farm. There’s a small stream of water flowing from the third entry towards the northwestern wall. The walls in here are moist and covered with fungus. When we’ve secured the floor I’m definitely coming back to harvest some for Vlyk. I grab a torch from the backpack, and Tiene lights it for me.

“So which way first?”

They both look around for a moment. Dale shrugs noncommittally.

“Well, the northern passage goes under our farm. That way would be our fields.”

She points roughly in the direction where the little stream vanishes.

“So the source of the stream would be a good place to start I believe.”

I nod. It’s what I was thinking too.

“Let’s do it. I’ll go first, Dale guards our backs.”

He mutters something, but I ignore it as I lead on into the darkness.