《Infinite Farmer: A Plants vs Dungeon LitRPG》 Chapter 1: Ouros ¡°Tulland. What would you say?¡± Tulland¡¯s world mechanics tutor was an eloquent man. He knew more about Ouros than any other man who lived here, or even three of them combined. He had traveled across the sea to tour the known world multiple times in his life. He had seen war. He had known triumph and death both, and in amounts that would have drowned a man of lesser character. He was, in many ways, a living giant. He also had a bad habit of asking Tulland questions just moments after the boy had stopped listening. It was a scenario that happened as consistently as the sun rose and set each day. Tulland would gaze off longingly at the world beyond their boring island for just a moment or think about the adventures he could have, and then his tutor would ask him some soft, simple questions he could have easily answered if he was paying attention. Sighing internally, Tulland verified he hadn¡¯t subconsciously absorbed enough of what his tutor had said to fake his way through an answer. He steeled himself to just be honest. ¡°I apologize, teacher. My mind was wandering,¡± Tulland said. The tutor shook his head. ¡°Not the first time we¡¯ve seen that, I suppose. I was asking what the purpose of this world is. What it¡¯s for.¡± ¡°For adventure.¡± Tulland looked out towards the sea, where a sloop was headed away from the island to parts unknown. ¡°To explore. To go to war for. That kind of thing.¡± ¡°Oh? How many of you agree with young Tulland?¡± The tutor glanced around the group of five or so young men whose parents were rich enough to engage him as a teacher. ¡°Be honest now. His answer is considered by some to be the right one.¡± A few more of the boys sheepishly raised their hands. The tutor wasn¡¯t a petty sort of person. He wouldn¡¯t punish them even if he very much disagreed with them. That meant that the others who kept their hands down really did believe in non-adventure, rather than just saying what seemed to make their tutor happy. ¡°There are those who believe that this world was built for just those sorts of things. For men to prove their strength, it provides monsters and war alike. There is never a shortage of danger on which the young can test themselves,¡± the tutor said. Except here. The most dangerous thing I¡¯ve seen this year was a runaway fishmonger¡¯s cart, and that was stopped by an old woman. With her cane, Tulland thought. ¡°While I believe that strength is all well and good, I¡¯ve seen quite a bit and suspect that what the gods wanted for us is something quite a bit different.¡± The old man lowered his hand and pointed down from their hill-top platform to one of the many streets below. ¡°For me, the most exciting thing is something just like that.¡± The boys leaned forward to get a better look at the object of the tutor¡¯s interest, and found it was a mother wearing conventional garb, and filling her basket with produce from her local stand. ¡°She¡¯s sort of pretty, I suppose?¡± Altreck, one of the less bright members of Tulland¡¯s peer group, wrinkled his brow as he tried to puzzle out the source of his tutor¡¯s fascination. ¡°Although she¡¯s much younger than you. And I think married.¡± ¡°Not that, you fool.¡± The tutor glared past his glasses at the young man. ¡°It¡¯s not her beauty. It¡¯s what she¡¯s doing. That basket was woven from sticks that had to be gathered, then blessed to stay together. She¡¯s filling it with vegetables that had to be grown and meat that had to either be raised or hunted, which she will pay for with coin produced by other work. And then she will go home, cut it all up, cook it in pots and pans that a smith had to make, put it on plates that had to be formed from clay and fired, and feed it to her family so they can go on to do work of their own.¡± ¡°So it¡¯s that she¡¯s¡­¡± Altreck paused. Tulland could almost hear the rusty gears in Altreck¡¯s mind struggling to turn. ¡°A good cook?¡± The knob of the old tutor¡¯s staff came down so quick that Tulland hardly saw it, and cracked Altreck just hard enough in the head to let him know he had failed in a decisive, complete manner. ¡°No. It¡¯s that this entire island knows nothing but those things. Productive things. Harmonious things. People work and eat. They play and heal. Sickness is almost unknown in the young here. War hasn¡¯t been seen on this island for generations,¡± the tutor said. Tulland knew what the old man was working up to, and subtly rolled his eyes as the tutor turned to sweep his arm dramatically over the entire view of the town. ¡°It¡¯s happiness for all who are willing to work for it.¡± The old man suddenly coughed, then continued struggling against a hacking fit for five or ten seconds ago as his old sicknesses wreaked havoc in his body. When he finally recovered, he continued, if a little less sure than before. ¡°That¡¯s what I believe, at least. There are respected scholars who disagree with me, but I believe building and protecting pockets of paradise like this one is the point. The purpose of this world.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. He would think that. He¡¯s seen the world, and was frightened by what he saw. He returned a coward. Quiet, you. Tulland kept his face as straight as he could while looking in the direction of the lesson. If I¡¯m caught not paying attention again, the old man will tell Uncle. You know what will happen then. More lessons. Right. So keep quiet. The class never quite recovered after the tutor¡¯s coughing fits, partially because it embarrassed all the boys to see someone so well respected in such a weakened state, and partially because the old man was never quite the same after them until he had a chance to rest and recover. After a few more token attempts to actually teach the boys something, he dismissed them for the day and left them in favor of a warm fire and a cup of hot broth at the tavern. Tulland found his way over to his friend. ¡°Sorry about that, Altreck. I made him mad and then you got the whack.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s my fault.¡± Altreck smiled and rapped a knuckle on the side of his own head. ¡°I¡¯ve never been quick. You know that. You didn¡¯t get the whack because paying attention isn¡¯t what he cares about.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m sorry for making your whack worse.¡± ¡°Forgiven. Traycin and I are heading down to the open after this, to see if we can get a ball game going. Will you come?¡± ¡°Wish I could,¡± Tulland lied, putting his most genuine-looking regretful expression on display for his friend. ¡°My uncle needs me on the books. He¡¯s done a lot of business lately. You understand.¡± Altreck didn¡¯t, of course, but Tulland was counting on that. ¡°Of course I do. We¡¯ll be down there for a while if you get done quick. But everyone else already left a bit ago, so¡­¡± ¡°Yes, yes. Go. Don¡¯t be late on my account.¡± Tulland shooed his friend away. ¡°I¡¯ll be down later, if I can.¡± You waste your time on that boy. He¡¯s a friend. He¡¯s an idiot. Idiots can be friends, System. Tulland felt himself getting a bit angry in defense of his friend. Good ones. He¡¯s taken beatings for me. The System seemed to become a little sheepish at that, backing away as soon as it detected Tulland¡¯s annoyance. Yes, well, either way, he¡¯s still not what you should be spending your time considering. That is. You know what you should do. Tulland at least knew very well what the System wanted him to do. Since it had found him and contacted him a few months ago, it had been very clear on what it thought was the best path forward for Tulland. He was resisting it so far. One was always well-cautioned to do so when dealing with an ancient, banished evil. Once his friend was safely out of sight, Tulland strolled. It was time for his second lesson of the day, the far less approved of the two. The old man was not entirely wrong. There is beauty in that woman¡¯s shopping. Oh? I wouldn¡¯t have thought you¡¯d say so. Of course I would. But his vision is short-sighted. That woman¡¯s dinner, her family¡¯s happiness, and their ability to pursue their trades and crafts is admirable. Even beautiful. But it is only possible through force. I don¡¯t suppose you mean the force it takes to carry the vegetables home. No. I mean that at the edges of this world are threats. Savages who would drink your blood. Beasts that would tear your flesh. Is it not so? Is it not taught in this way? It is, but¡­ But it¡¯s far away. Yes. You only believe so because you are kept small here. Look ahead and you will see those that make sure you stay that way. Your peace comes at the cost of those with force. And you now rely on them as if they were your overlords. This was the System that Tulland had come to know, especially so whenever there was a church building around. When he looked ahead, there were no surprises waiting for him. There was a stone structure, with a cleric in front of it who granted blessings. It once was that everyone was given a class. Power was withheld from no one. And in that world, the monsters at the gate trembled in fear that you would crash into their lands, not the other way around. It¡¯s safer this way. More controlled. There¡¯s less war. Less killing. Which is stated by whom? And in whose histories? The current owners of that building? Tulland could feel the System drawing his attention to the sheer antiquity of the building in front of him. It was so ancient that even the Church did not claim to know who had built it, despite having occupied it for centuries. And as the System said, they¡¯d be the ones who would know. All histories were, in a way, Church histories. I tell you that it is not your protection the Church seeks. It is their own control. They fear what might happen if more like you sought your power from my generous hands, rather than their stingy ones. Well, maybe. Sure. But your power doesn¡¯t come free either, does it? Not free, but cheaply. Simply pass through my arch. I can promise you that if you do, no arm in this world will be strong enough to hold you down. Maybe. Tomorrow is the day of choosing. Let¡¯s see how that goes first. So be it. With that, Tulland knew the conversation was over. The System always pulled away after a flat refusal. Which was, in large part, why he was still talking to it at all. He had never seen the System, but he knew that system contact was not unheard of, even centuries after the Church had seized control of its authority and, unable to destroy it, had pushed the thing to the outer edges of their world. Every once in a while, someone would answer that voice calling out of the darkness. If and when that became known, the new prophet of the System would be captured and taken away. None of the books said where, just that it was necessary. Great rewards were promised to those who reported on someone who failed to reject the overtures of the System, just as terrifying punishments were meted out on those who allowed it ingress into the Church-controlled world. Yet, the System was interesting, and Tulland was so very bored. The problem had a simple solution, as far as he was concerned. He would entertain the System until the System failed to entertain him any longer, then he¡¯d send it back whence it came. The System could only talk to the willing, and even the Church couldn¡¯t read minds. And even if he wanted to keep the System around, he wouldn¡¯t be able to after tomorrow. Because tomorrow, he would get his class. Tulland was sure of that. And then everything would change. Chapter 2: Church and System ¡°You¡¯re later than usual.¡± ¡°Do I have a curfew now?¡± Tulland countered. Tulland¡¯s uncle was cutting up potatoes into a pot, as he always did the night before the rest day. Whatever else might come, his rest day meal would be the same long-simmered stew, served in limitless portions and good enough in its way, but long since tasteless on Tulland¡¯s palate. ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s just not your way.¡± His uncle grabbed a small handful of pepper and tossed it in the pot. ¡°You go to your tutor¡¯s, then you come home and pretend to read for a minute before telling me how small this island is.¡± ¡°Well, not today. I took a stroll. Which didn¡¯t take long because the island is so small.¡± His uncle barked a wry laugh. There was never any telling what he¡¯d find funny, or even if his laughing meant that he was in good spirits. ¡°Get used to it, boy. Good and used to it. I wanted to go out there when I was a boy. But Ouros is a good place to live, if you let it be.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t have to get used to it, after tomorrow.¡± Tulland held up his book. ¡°See this class? Captain. A Captain goes everywhere, does everything, sees everyplace. And old Hugg isn¡¯t getting younger. It makes sense.¡± ¡°That someone will replace him? Sure. But the odds that it will be someone from Ouros, and not from the mainland, or that it would be you if it is someone from Ouros?¡± ¡°It makes sense.¡± Tulland was stubborn on this point. ¡°I¡¯m young. I¡¯m the strongest of those getting their class tomorrow. I¡¯ve learned everything my tutor can teach.¡± ¡°I doubt that.¡± ¡°Well, plenty, anyway.¡± Tulland snapped his book shut and walked over to throw more salt in the pot. If he didn¡¯t, his uncle would forget, and the soup would be as bland as sawdust tomorrow. ¡°I deserve this.¡± ¡°Deserving isn¡¯t the thing. Never has been.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle dumped the last few ingredients into the pot, nodded his head, and hefted it over to the wood stove, where it would simmer all night. ¡°It¡¯s about what¡¯s right. For you, and for the world.¡± ¡°And who chooses what¡¯s right?¡± Tulland asked back. ¡°The Church. You know that,¡± his uncle said, his tone had a warning in it. ¡°And what gives them the right?¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle¡¯s hand came down on the counter just a tiny bit weaker than what could be called a slam. By Tulland¡¯s standards, it was like the man had overturned every bit of furniture in the kitchen. ¡°What gives them that right? I¡¯ll tell you. When your father drowned somewhere out there on the water, and when your mother died in birth with you, and when you were laying there hardly breathing, one cleric spent what was left of his life and another cut years off his so you¡¯d live.¡± That wasn¡¯t the tactic Tulland had expected. He would have had some kind of answer if his uncle had called on some ancient conquest of the Church over the System, or the idea that they kept the borders safe out at the edge of the human world. The idea that someone had given their life to preserve Tulland¡¯s was a little harder to counter. He sat there quietly, playing the next points of the argument in his head instead of out loud, where his uncle might make things too complex by bringing up other points. Tulland might have survived without intervention. And nobody had asked the cleric to do it, he was sure. His uncle was away when he was born, on a fishing trip of his own. He had mentioned it, years ago. ¡°I¡¯m tired,¡± Tulland concluded. The sun was almost down. Tulland had a candle, but not much use for it at this time of year, when the dusk until the next dawn was just enough time for him to get his sleep in. ¡°I¡¯m going to read for a bit, then sleep.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Good idea.¡± His uncle¡¯s face was unreadable. ¡°Big day, tomorrow.¡± ¡ª They had given a lesson on how to handle the ceremony to the five boys up for a class, but it wasn¡¯t as if they really needed it. They were sixteen cycles old, which meant they had seen sixteen of these, and remembered twelve or thirteen of them. And like everything on the island, it was the same every time. Tulland¡¯s mind was blank as the cleric mounted the stage and said the traditional words about service to one¡¯s people, the purpose of classes, and the history of the Church¡¯s triumph over the System. Tulland could feel the System sneering inside of him, and ignored the impulse to agree. There was no point in talking right now. If the Church did what it should, the System would be gone in a few minutes anyway. The five boys mounted the stage, and Tulland almost yelled when he caught the sight of the edge of a laurel crown sticking out of the cleric¡¯s pocket. It meant that someone among the five would be getting a class. Maybe two, with the way that the pocket was bulging. That, in itself, was good news. Not everyone got a class and in a place as small as Ouros, sometimes there wouldn¡¯t be a single new class for the whole cycle. But there would be one this cycle. Tulland¡¯s cycle. ¡°You look like you got the day off work.¡± Altreck was a simple boy, one who measured most forms of happiness against the idea of successfully shirking his work. ¡°What did you see?¡± ¡°Nothing. Shh,¡± Tulland whispered. ¡°Just wait.¡± The cleric turned from the crowd to face the boys, his hand hovering over his pocket. There were three boys to get through before he got to Tulland, all of whom were risks before the cleric passed them. ¡°And so, every once in a while, a new soul is needed to guard the wall between the light and the darkness.¡± The cleric paused for just a moment in front of the first boy. His face fell and Tulland¡¯s lit as the man kept moving. ¡°To brave danger or hardship so that others might not have to.¡± The second boy was passed. ¡°And to sacrifice of one¡¯s own labor that others might benefit.¡± He passed the third. Tulland held his breath as the cleric¡¯s hand dropped to his pocket and he paused directly in front of him. ¡°And so we grant a class, that the one who claims it might protect us all, in one way or another.¡± Tulland shifted his forehead forward a bit, ready to take the crown and whatever came with it. He had heard that the clerics gave people some choice in their own class, and he knew he had a hell of a case for his own choice. It was all happening, starting now. The priest stepped sideways once more before lightly placing the crown on Altreck¡¯s head. ¡°Congratulations, Altreck. Make us proud.¡± Tulland¡¯s ears were ringing with shock when he felt one of the other boys nudge him forward. He needed to clear the stage. Altreck looked like someone had slapped him with a fish. His dumb eyes were getting wider and wider as the cleric found simpler and simpler words to explain the situation with. They do like their idiots. Easier to control. It¡¯s not fair. It¡¯s not. It never is. The strong are wasted. The weak are rewarded. That has always been the Church¡¯s way. Tulland felt a hand on his arm as his uncle turned him to face away from Altreck. He heard the normal words he¡¯d expect in that situation. That he should be grateful. That he should be glad for his friend. Tulland listened, nodding, until his uncle¡¯s limited communication skills ran dry and he was able somehow to shake loose and walk away. The rest of the town would be busy in the gathering place for a while. He had the rest of the island to himself. Move quick. You know what you have to do. Yes, I get it. Be quiet. It was a few minutes¡¯ walk to the church building, where the ancient stone arch sat at the edge, indestructible and eternal. You simply need to walk through. And then I can set you past things like the Church¡¯s control. I can make your fate your own. You simply have to choose it. A class? You swear it? A class and time enough away from the Church to learn it, and grow it. I swear it. Tulland looked at the arch. Everything, every lesson he had ever learned, said that it was evil. That the banishment of the System had been a good thing. That the Church had Tulland¡¯s best interests in mind. It was baked into every holiday, every ceremony, and every word that came out of any cleric¡¯s mouth in a public talk. It was known that the System was evil, and that the Church was good. But was it impossible that the Church was wrong, or lying? And yes, the Church said that all the good in the world was their doing, but wouldn¡¯t it be in their interests to say that? What the System said made sense. It always had, now that Tulland thought about it. He pushed his arm towards the arch, then pulled it back like he had almost touched a coal. There was something wrong here. He had been betrayed once today, and there was no telling if he was about to be betrayed a second time. If he just could talk to his uncle again, for a few seconds, or his tutor. He knew that they¡¯d explain things in a way that made sense. And then the System showed Tulland one last thing. It reminded him of Altreck¡¯s eyes, wide with stupidity, as he claimed the prize that belonged to Tulland. As the boy took away Tulland¡¯s future without even knowing what it was, open-mouthed and slack jawed all the while. Tulland gulped and shot forward before he could rethink things. He would have the life he wanted, one way or another. And the Church would have nothing to say about it. Chapter 3: The Infinite Tulland found himself in the flickering entrance room of the dungeon, and snapped his head back, barely in time to keep the glowing teeth of the weakest and slowest dungeon beast in existence from closing around his neck. He was still woozy enough from the teleport into this place that he wasn¡¯t sure he knew up from down, but he knew he couldn¡¯t let an entrance mote separate his head from the rest of his body. In the histories, being laid low by the entrance motes happened so rarely that it was usually only mentioned as a joke. ¡°He couldn¡¯t pass his motes¡± was something you said about the most absentminded, useless characters you knew. It was an implausible thing to assert, like saying that someone couldn¡¯t lace their own breeches or lost track of which side of the spoon was for scooping. Even though Tulland almost lost his life a moment ago, he had a wide smile on his face. Dungeon classes were the rarest of the rare. The most costly. The most glorious. If the System had sent Tulland here, then his future was looking brighter by the moment. The mote trying to rip his throat out didn¡¯t know any of that. Tulland forced himself not to flinch as the floating, fist-sized ball shot towards him again. He managed to steady himself just enough to leap to the side and barely make it out of the mote¡¯s range in time. That was concerning. Tulland wasn¡¯t faster than normal, and he certainly didn¡¯t feel any stronger. He had read every book on classes there was, and was fully aware that he should feel and see differences in both stats, even if the class he had didn¡¯t focus on physical combat. But he didn¡¯t. He didn¡¯t feel different at all. What in the ice-cold hell is going on here? Tulland¡¯s head ached and throbbed as he tried to recall the events before just this moment. It was no good. Not only was it not working, it was distracting him from the immediate danger. He glanced around the floor for anything he could use as a weapon and came up empty. The entrance room was made from tightly fitted stones, each made to look as if they had been carved to near perfection. They were far too large and far too closely packed to pry loose and use. The rest of the room was bare. As the mote turned and lunged again, Tulland reflexively slapped at it. He made contact, too, which surprised both him and the mote. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard the droning voice of his world mechanics tutor reminding him that this wasn¡¯t too far-fetched. The man had been unbelievably boring, but he had also read his tomes. There are those that say that the purpose of the entrance motes is to remind those chosen for a battle class of their newfound strength. Scholars have calculated the power of the motes to a high degree of certainty, and while their distribution of stats differs from ours, the total amount is virtually identical between each mote. They are creatures as strong as a human would be without a class, greeting those who have just acquired one. It is as if the System itself is saying, ¡°Here is one such as you once were. Glory in having surpassed them.¡± Tulland would have loved to feel the glory. Unfortunately, he felt not even slightly different than he was used to. He had heard tall tales of first fights from dungeon delvers before, and while he didn¡¯t believe most of what they said, he did believe them when they talked about the rush they felt when their battle skills first guided their hands. If there was any doubt in his mind that he was not experiencing the same thing, the wide, awkward strike he had just delivered to the mote was proof. He was somehow alone in a dungeon with no weapon, with the same stats, and without so much as a single skill to help him fight. That didn¡¯t mean he had to lay down and die though. If the tutor was right, the mote and him were on even ground. And in an even fight, there was always at least a gambler¡¯s chance of surviving. For starters, avoiding the teeth seemed like the most important thing. Tulland ducked around a pillar as the mote surged towards him again, then tried to round the entire stone column to get behind it. He wasn¡¯t nearly fast enough. The mote was quicker than him, if a little unfocused. It had floated away and turned by the time he circumnavigated the pillar, and lunged at him again. Now. Tulland sidestepped the lunge and punched as hard as he could, bringing his right fist in a wide haymaker. He missed. The mote was turning as he struck again with his left fist, trying his hardest to keep the motion from going wild as the adrenaline in his body tried to trick him into wild clawing and clubbing. This punch hit, but a second too late to avoid disaster. The mote, seeing its target so close, chirped with joy and opened its mouth wide to reveal all of its jagged, glowing teeth. If there was a way to undo a panicked punch, Tulland didn¡¯t know how. His fist impacted with the back of the mote¡¯s throat, not hard enough to do any real damage but certainly with enough follow-through to allow the mote to clamp down on his entire hand, all the way behind his thumb. Tulland screamed. The mote¡¯s teeth almost sizzled with unfocused mana as they worked past his skin to his muscle and bone. Although entrance motes had no skills, that didn¡¯t mean they had no power at all. Where humans came into the dungeon to slay them with weapons and armor, the beasts that populated the dungeon had thick hides, strong muscles, and magic-reinforced claws and teeth. Humans might have their tricks, but the monsters were at least their match. The mote¡¯s bite didn¡¯t just damage the point of contact. Its mana worked its way through Tulland¡¯s body, slowly damaging the internal organs in its path. Given a frighteningly short amount of time, this nothing animal could and would kill Tulland. No. Not today. And not like this. It might be as powerful as a human, but it¡¯s not as strong or heavy as one. I have this. Tulland fought through the pain and swung his clenched left fist as hard as he could into the stone pillar at his side. The mote¡¯s teeth tore through his skin that much more. He clenched his jaw and swung again, and again. If there was one word Tulland would use to describe himself, it was stubborn. And this seemed like the exactly right time to be stubborn.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. He could hear his own bones breaking as he slammed the insubstantial, almost dust-built frame of the mote that failed to shield him from the impact of his own punches. The fear and adrenaline racing through his body meant that hardly mattered. But as the bite from the mote worked deeper and deeper, it began to drain Tulland of his vitality. It¡¯s going to be close. Tulland¡¯s eyesight started to fail as he continued to pound his fist against the pillar. It had to stop soon. It had to. It¡­ has¡­ to. Stop. And just like that, everything did. The light in the room stopped flickering, and the mana of the mote stopped eroding Tulland¡¯s life force. And Tulland flopped over to the floor, unconscious. ¡ª Tulland woke up sometime after that. Whether it was a minute or an hour was hard to determine, although the fact that his hand was still bleeding made him guess closer to a minute. The mote¡¯s teeth had stopped glowing. Outside of that, the only indication that something very odd was afoot in this dungeon was that the torches on the wall had ceased to flicker. Their flames were frozen in place, as if they were paintings of fire instead of the real thing. Tulland took a moment to reach into the pocket of his coat. His uncle always made him carry a cloth, something that he usually thought of as a troublesome custom. He was glad for it today as he bound it tight around the long gashes on the back of his hand and palm, then knotted it off. ¡°You stopped time?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to have kept you waiting.¡± Time is never an issue for me. And if I might say, you¡¯ve had a hard enough day to deserve a moment. The System was a quiet thing most of the time. When Tulland spoke to it, the System usually kept its tone devoid of most emotion. It turned out that was a lie, or at least something the thing had put effort into making happen. Right at the moment, its voice was brimming with emotion. And of the worst kind. It was mocking him. Sneering, even. Tulland stood, careful to push off his uninjured right hand. He straightened his clothes as well as he could in the dim light, glad he couldn¡¯t see the details of the mess he had surely become. If this was to be his first honest conversation with the System, he would give it all the decorum he could manage. Even if that wasn¡¯t very much. ¡°So I¡¯m betrayed,¡± Tulland said out loud. There wasn¡¯t much point in keeping his conversation with the System secret anymore. That¡¯s right. The System seemed pleased to confirm that. If he could have struck at it, Tulland would have, consequences be damned. The only thing he could do at the moment was to conceal his own feelings on the matter as much as possible, hopefully robbing it of its satisfaction. ¡°If I can ask, how much trouble am I in?¡± Not a small amount, I¡¯m afraid. The combat restrictions have ceased, so you should be able to open your status screen now. Start there. As dizzy as the standing was making him, Tulland could manage that. He brought up his screen and glanced down at it, immediately wincing in dismay. ¡°No.¡± I¡¯m afraid so. I¡¯m sorry. ¡°I doubt that.¡±
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer Strength: 10 Agility: 10 Vitality: 10 Spirit: 10 Mind: 10 Force: 10 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 0, Enrich Seed LV. 0, Strong Back LV. 0
¡°I¡¯m dead,¡± Tulland said as a matter of fact. There was a reason that the tutor had repeated the fact that motes were just about as strong as an average human. That reason was simple. Everything Tulland would meet past this point was more than that. Stronger. Faster. Tougher. More effective in whatever way it chose to do its killing. Two of the skills he had would be no help at all. He knew them because everyone did. Quickgrow was an agricultural skill that made plants grow faster. Enrich Seed was a planting skill that helped plants take. In the outside world, they were skills that meant a life of hard, poor paying labor. In the dungeon, they were important only in that they had displaced combat skills which might have otherwise let Tulland defend himself. Strong Back, at least, had some implications for survival. A person with that skill could lift a little more than their body stats implied, work a little longer, or recover a little faster from the wear and tear that hard work inflicted on a body. But alone, it wasn¡¯t enough. It was meant to lengthen a day¡¯s labor, not keep someone alive in battle. In any other dungeon, Tulland would turn and use the door. But in any other dungeon, there would be a door to go through. The fact that there wasn¡¯t one here meant there was only one place Tulland could be. If you are saying you are dead, then you must know where you are. ¡°I do. But if it¡¯s true, you might as well confirm it. I know you have to anyway.¡± I do. Tulland felt the information enter his mind. Part of why the Church had deemed the System evil was because of how the System supplied information when time was short. Like opening their status screen, a person would remember the information as if they had paused and read it from a transparent screen that appeared in front of them. Unlike their status, that memory was an illusion. If the System willed it, the acquisition of the knowledge took no time at all, something that made it possible to learn and understand various effects on one¡¯s status during work or battle without even a moment¡¯s pause. The System¡¯s message was outdated and confirmed that he had always been a liar, but didn¡¯t change a single other thing for Tulland. He was doomed.
Dungeon Placement All who walk the world are touched by the System. Everyone from bakers, tailors, and builders to healers, couriers, and hunters. The class supplements the work done by people of the world, allowing for civilization to reach higher and higher apexes with each passing cycle. From those, some are touched for a different work. These few are tasked with entering the dungeons to hunt that which they find there, bringing back treasures and new strength with which to grace their towns and cities. And among these, a still rarer selection touches a select few. Though all enter the dungeons by the same gates, each warrior¡¯s destination is chosen for them. Most enter minor dungeons, places of wealth and adventure but ultimately limited in the scope of their purpose. Others are chosen for a dungeon whose end has never been seen, and which serves as both the yardstick for measuring mankind¡¯s progress and the purpose for their strength. You have been chosen. From today, your very soul will be altered. Whatever your will for your own future once was, it now has a new focus that surpasses all others. You will plumb the depths of this place, mining its resources while pushing ever forward to prove your mastery of it. This is your noble purpose. Adventurer, you are welcomed to The Infinite.
Chapter 4: Farmer’s Tool ¡°That¡¯s very nice. It¡¯s very inspirational.¡± Tulland kicked at the ground. ¡°It¡¯s a very good way to gloss over the fact that you¡¯ve betrayed me.¡± A System has to eat. And sacrificing the willing to The Infinite is one of the few ways we can do that. ¡°The others being?¡± We also feed off accomplishment, although I expect little of that. I¡¯m sorry that I could only spend the bare minimum I could on your class. ¡°I guessed,¡± Tulland spat. Which means that any successes you have from here on out, benefit me as much as they do you. What advice I can give from this point on, I¡¯ll give. What help I can manage for you, I¡¯ll manage. Because from the first major checkpoint in the dungeon on, you are a source of profit for me. Something that makes me stronger. ¡°So you can go back and hurt my family?¡± Of course not. Why would I? But if you don¡¯t believe me, then know this. I simply do not have the strength to be both here and there at once. I am tied to this place as long as you are. It is only when you fall that I gain the power to return. That lined up with just enough of what Tulland knew about why System prophets were taken away that he was willing to provisionally believe it. ¡°And that first checkpoint is?¡± A skilled Cannian Knight. Fully armored. It guards the fifth floor and the entrance to the safe zone behind it. ¡°And I have a flame¡¯s chance in a rainstorm of actually killing it, but you get paid out at long odds if I do?¡± That¡¯s correct. Tulland thought about giving up right then, just on the off chance that dying as early as possible would trap the System there in the dark. He knew it wouldn¡¯t work. The System would have planned for that. Wouldn¡¯t have risked it like that. He¡¯d have to fight. A Cannian Knight was the stuff of storybooks, but something that was known. Tulland had read about them. They were a difficult challenge for combat classes, something that required extra training and leveling to prepare for. Warriors who went head-to-head with them without perfect preparation tended to never make it home. ¡°And I¡¯ll have my bare hands and no combat abilities to help me. At all,¡± Tulland said, keeping his voice as flat as possible. Not your bare hands. I am limited in what I can do, but I can at least help with that. Out of nowhere, Tulland felt a notification jump into existence, as well as the sneaking feeling that he was just a single wish away from some sort of permanent gain. Ambushed in the Dark You have been attacked while unarmed, unprepared and by most standards inadequate for the task of defending yourself. Coming out of this battle alive was a long shot, and has enhanced the usual ¡°First Victory¡± achievement earned by new adventurers. Rewards: Beginner¡¯s Equipment Bundle (Enhanced), Additional Class Experience That should have given you a level-up. I advise you apply at least one of the five free points to your vitality to allow for regeneration. ¡°Five points per level? That seems like a lot.¡± For a battle class, it would be. For a workman¡¯s class, it¡¯s average. They generally need to be able to accomplish more with fewer levels. ¡°Any advice for the other points?¡± No. And you wouldn¡¯t believe it if I gave it to you anyway. Use your judgement. Tulland applied two of the points to his vitality, feeling the relief as the bites on his hand clot almost immediately and begin to close. The actual wounds were not as serious as the damage to his overall health from the mana, but they were the main source of pain. Tulland planned on resting a long time to make sure he was tip-top before moving on, but at least now he wouldn¡¯t be in agony. His head cleared up almost immediately as the pain dulled. Considering where to put his points, Tulland realized he needed more information before making that decision. Turning from the stat point distribution for the moment, he willed his Beginner¡¯s Equipment Bundle to materialize. There was both a thump and a clatter as the gear appeared out of midair and fell to the floor. The first group was several pieces of cloth and leather, bound together by more cloth. He untied it, getting a description of each piece as he did.
Farmer¡¯s Garb, Cloth A singlet of durable, damage resistant material. This novice-level equipment is meant to prevent incidental damage from thorns, falls, and the kinds of scrapes common in manual labor. As a piece of workman¡¯s equipment, duplicates of this equipment are available from the System at any time. A completed farmer¡¯s garb set (with hat and boots) slightly enhances its wearer¡¯s endurance and the durability of the set itself.
Farmer¡¯s Boots, Leather As a part of the Farmer¡¯s Garb set, these boots circumvent normal class restrictions on leather equipment. They are classified as workman¡¯s equipment, and are replaceable. The Farmer¡¯s Boots maximize traction on a variety of surfaces and are made of thick, durable leather.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
¡°I¡¯m restricted to cloth?¡± Tulland asked before he could stop himself. ¡°I suppose that makes sense.¡± Yours was not intended as a combat class. Tulland sighed. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. Let me check out the other gear.¡± The rest of his gear consisted of a pack and a wide-brimmed hat, the latter of which he wore only because it completed the set. Inside the pack, there were a few days of rations, a help until he could figure out some other source of food. Having finished donning the clothes and putting his old, human-make street clothes into his pack, Tulland moved on to the harder item that had skittered a few feet away across the floor earlier.
Farmer¡¯s Tool (Shovel, Hoe, Pitchfork, Scythe, Collapsible) The Farmer¡¯s Tool is meant to combine the most basic aspects of a farmer¡¯s work into one implement. At your will, the tool will change from one implement to another. When stored, the tool shrinks to something that can be easily carried on your back. The tool itself has above-average durability, and is more durable in a less easily damaged form, such as its shovel function. It gains no more or less from its user¡¯s stats than any mundane object.
It was dealer¡¯s choice on stats then. If the tool rewarded agility or strength, Tulland would have reason to bet more on one or the other. As it stood, he would put a point in each, and put his last remaining point in agility, leaving him a little faster than he was strong.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 1 Strength: 11 Agility: 12 Vitality: 12 Spirit: 10 Mind: 10 Force: 10 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 0, Enrich Seed LV. 0, Strong Back LV. 0
Tulland was pretty sure farmers benefited from at least some spirit and force, which drove their plant-enhancement abilities. But getting to that point meant he would have to survive long enough to till some soil and plant his seeds, which was a very uncertain prospect at the moment. For now, he would put every point he could in the stats that kept him from getting torn apart, and ignore his agricultural purpose entirely. The reward is not much. But it¡¯s all that I¡¯m willing to do for you at this time, and a worse bet than I should be making anyway. ¡°I¡¯m not thanking you,¡± Tulland stated before softening his tone a bit. ¡°So what now? I just march forward and try to survive?¡± No. ¡°No?¡± No. In a conventional dungeon, you might be able to simply survive. The Infinite, however, pulls its ordained ever forward. Mere complacent survival has only one result in The Infinite that I can inform you of it without restrictions. If you dally, if you do not improve, you will simply die. ¡°Sounds like I will anyway. I¡¯d imagine that the pacing is geared at actual combatants. I¡¯ll just get shoved off a cliff that I can never avoid, and you won¡¯t get that big payout anyway,¡± Tulland said, sensing weakness in the System¡¯s words. Let me see what I can do. Tulland kept his mouth shut. Pushing his case wouldn¡¯t fix anything. If the System was willing to help, he would stay out of its way. You are very, very lucky that fixing this was free. Examine your notification.
Diminished Compulsion (Passive) The Infinite pulls ever forward, pushing its ordained towards greater and greater heights or deeper and deeper doom. Often, they find both. You are no exception, but a negotiation between the System and Dungeon System has resulted in an adjustment to the pace of this pull. You will find that at all stages, your compelled movement forward will be somewhat slower than others, granting you months or weeks of extra time to prepare for each new challenge.
¡°Will that be enough?¡± Tulland asked. There¡¯s no way to tell. Not even I know the future. And now our conversation has reached its limit. Good luck, Tulland. ¡°Just like that? I have more questions. A lot more,¡± Tulland said, careful not to let the panic enter his voice. There was no answer. ¡°System? System?¡± Tulland looked desperately around the dim light in the space. He hadn¡¯t realized how much of a help it was to not be alone in this place, or how used to the System¡¯s company he had become in the last few weeks. He suddenly felt very cold. ¡°Please? Please don¡¯t go.¡± There was no answer from the System. Instead, Tulland felt an impact against his back. It was another mote, one that had likely been held back by the System¡¯s stopping of time, and one that was now free to attack. Luckily, it failed to find purchase with its teeth against the flat of Tulland¡¯s back on the first impact. He whirled around before it could try again, brandishing his tool. The rotation of his body brought the head of the tool against the mote, clanging as it cut off the monster¡¯s second bite. The mote was flung off to the side where it impacted hard against a stone pillar, then immediately turned to attack again. The motes were not much for tactics, it seemed. They simply attacked. Tulland dodged away and bought himself a moment to send a mental command to the Farmer¡¯s Tool to turn into a shovel for maximum attack area. The tool dissolved into a sort of mist above the handle, apparently to give it the flexibility to change into another implement entirely. And as the System had indicated, it wasn¡¯t a very quick process. When the mote came in for a new attack, Tulland had his shovel ready. He swung, this time on purpose and at a downward angle. He timed the impact poorly, which meant the shovel head actually pushed the mote towards him as the shovel continued its arc. It would have been a dangerous thing had not the mote been absolutely destroyed by the blow. He watched as it bounced off the stone floor, then began to dissolve away, presumably returning its energy to the dungeon. But it wouldn¡¯t return all of it. Some of the energy went to Tulland. Surprising enough to him was the fact that this wasn¡¯t the kind of thing that was represented in numbers. He could feel the fullness that the energy brought with it, and vaguely sense the distance to the next step. Further details were guesswork. It was much smaller progress than he expected, but Tulland could work with that. The motes were at least manageable, unless they were hiding some surprises. With his new tool, he should be able to take them down without much risk. The same could not be said for whatever was at the end of the corridor leading out of this room. Tulland turned his Farmer¡¯s Tool into a pitchfork. It would make for a better use of his agility stat, especially as his vitality returned more and more of his life force to him. The third mote appeared from the darkness as the tool was still changing. Tulland abandoned any pretense of dodging or fighting and simply jogged away, leading it around the room as it attempted to keep up with his newfound speed. After a few more moments, the Farmer¡¯s Tool audibly clicked as it fully morphed into its new form, and Tulland turned as he choked up on the handle and thrust the pitchfork¡¯s three tines at the mote. The tines hit, piercing through the mote¡¯s mouth and impaling it. It struggled for a few moments on the spike before it stopped moving, began dissolving, and slipped off the pitchfork just in time for Tulland to turn to face the next enemy. The room seemed to have an endless supply of motes, and Tulland¡¯s extra two points worth of vitality was perfect for the level of exertion he was using to take them down. Tulland was fine with that. As far as he was concerned, it didn¡¯t matter if it would take thousands of kills instead of hundreds to hit his next level. He would stay in this room as long as he possibly could, grinding away safely and getting as strong as possible before he moved on. If that¡¯s what it took to survive, that¡¯s what Tulland would do. If he had no battle skills, he would just over level to make up for the uselessness of his class. But if one thing was sure, it was that he would put no effort into anything but getting stronger. No matter what, he¡¯d do absolutely no farming. Chapter 5: Floor 1 ¡°Dammit. You have to be kidding me.¡± A hundred kills into his wholesale slaughter of the motes, Tulland was half of the way to becoming level three. The extra five stat points would be huge at his current level of strength. The first five points and a weapon were enough to demote the motes from a serious threat all the way down to a farmable source of experience. Another five would provide that much more margin of safety in The Infinite. Except now that was over.
Experience Source Limited All sources of experience are eventually used up. Dungeon divers who seek to become stronger must seek better and tougher enemies, or else find their progress stalled as they fruitlessly slaughter enemies they have long since dominated. In your case, this effect is much quicker to come into play. As a non-combat class, the experience you can gain from combat sources in general is conditionally capped. Only a certain percentage of the experience needed to progress to the next level may come from combat sources, with a few exceptions. Once you have reached the limit, you may proceed to gain the experience needed to reach your next level in one of just a few ways.
  1. While enemies appropriate to your level have their experience capped, enemies that are stronger than what you would normally be expected to face at your current level of strength will never have their experience rewards limited.
  2. Experience gained from the defeat of enemies is capped, but experience from achievements is not, whether it comes from killing enemies or any other source.
  3. As you might expect, the experience you get from class appropriate activities (in your case, farming) is never limited.
Tulland continued killing the motes as he considered what he had read. By now, the fighting was a function of his muscle memory and didn¡¯t distract from his considerations much. If his experience income from the motes was really tapped out, he had only a few options. The first would be to sit around and attack them some more, hoping for an achievement related to killing a huge amount of them. That seemed risky to him. If he hadn¡¯t gained an achievement from killing a hundred of a nothing enemy that people usually only killed one or two of, then he doubted a thousand would be any different. And as great as his extra points in vitality were, they wouldn¡¯t negate the fact that Tulland would eventually have to sleep. He was already exhausted from a full day¡¯s emotional drama, a fight for his life, and healing up from the same fight. And then he had spent the next few hours doing consistent cardio. He was in good shape and better now with stats backing him up, but that had its limits. Tulland hesitated anyway, killing another dozen of the motes as he dilly-dallied and avoided facing the reality of his situation. Eventually, he steeled himself to move forward. Honestly, he had thought about staying in the mote room for longer, perhaps even a couple of months. But there was a steady pull on his will that drove him forward. He was able to resist the dungeon¡¯s compulsion towards progress at the moment, but he knew without a doubt it was there, urging him on. The sole exit to the room was a stone hallway heading out of it. It wasn¡¯t worth taking one of the torches from the wall, even if they could be somehow pried loose. The hallway was well enough lit that his eyes, which were now adjusted to the dark, could handle it. Tulland walked at a brisk pace down the hallway, unfollowed by the motes and holding the points of his pitchfork out in front of him as a threat to anything that might jump at him out of the dim darkness ahead. He might as well have not. After five minutes of walking, nothing had attacked at all. It was only then, as he began to feel comfortable, that the world itself changed around him. In one blink of his eyes, a step that had begun in the dim stone realm of the entrance ended within blinding bright light, warmth, and the sound of the wind. Tulland eyes adjusted quickly to the light, if not the scene the light illuminated. He was at the edge of a forest, standing at the beginnings of an endless prairie of tall grass. Everything from the sky to the grass and all the way to the trees had a purple-pink tinge to it, something Tulland attributed to the light itself. The sight would have been beautiful if it wasn¡¯t filled with unidentified dangers.
Floor 1 Entered Objective: Search for exits while gaining what you can from this floor¡¯s inhabitants. Traits: No special effects or rules apply to this floor. Access: Travel between this floor and the next is unrestricted in both directions. The entrance zone is lost to you. You may not return to it by any possible means.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
¡°Well, that¡¯s that, I guess.¡± Whatever safety he might have claimed in the last zone was gone. Tulland took a look as far as he could out on the prairie, but could see no immediate threats. The scope of the open space in front of him was almost disorienting. After a lifetime in a world that was firmly bordered by a mountain and the sea, this much space was a bit mind-boggling, even if Tulland had known it was possible. He started walking. Whatever was waiting for him here was going to be easier to face it while knowing the lay of the land. Tulland stuck to the border of the open field and the forest, judging that he might be able to hide in either one from threats that came from the other. He saw the first beast before it saw him, somehow. At the edge of the forest, looking out into the prairie, was a furry creature that resembled a cross between a badger and a goat, if badger-goats looked sharp at the end of every extremity. Tulland hid behind a nearby tree and observed the behavior of his latest problem. Though dungeon-related talk came up very rarely, Tulland¡¯s tutor had mentioned that dungeon floors were not the same for everyone, even in The Infinite. Tulland was the same as any other boy on Ouros in the sense that he had read every single book available on known dungeon beasts, but he had never seen this particular monster before. Some floors were the same for everyone, like the fifth with its knight or the tenth, which housed the serpent. But others were seen by few, and even fewer survived them. Whatever world he was seeing, it wasn¡¯t a place that anyone had ever bothered to describe to a scholar once they made their escape. Or else, and worse, they had never escaped at all. Tulland decided to be different. He wouldn¡¯t fail, or at least he wouldn¡¯t fail to this first beast. He walked slowly at a diagonal to it, getting more out of its line of sight as he crept deeper into the woods and positioned himself to the back of it. The beast was either inattentive or deafened by the breeze, and didn¡¯t notice as Tulland approached. When he was finally in range, he took a big step and committed every bit of weight and force he had to a surprise thrust with his pitchfork. The weapon hit and penetrated into the animal, but not nearly as much as he had expected it to. It wheeled around, pulling itself off the three points of the tool and screaming out in an alarmed, high-pitched screech. The system¡¯s description triggered then, feeding into Tulland¡¯s brain automatically as he tried to recover himself enough for a second strike.
Razored Lunger Sure-footed and quick, the Razored Lunger is a grazing animal that usually subsists on grasses and shrubs. It is, however, an opportunistic carnivore that is more than willing to feed on prey animals it views as weaker than itself. An attack sufficiently strong to demonstrate real risk to the animal will send it fleeing. Finishing it in one strike is recommended, where possible.
Tulland pulled away as the animal sprung towards him, but not nearly quickly enough. It passed him to the side, ripping with its claw as it did. The legs of the Farmer¡¯s Garb performed admirably for what they were, but there was only so much cloth could do against the razor sharpness of the monster¡¯s claws. Tulland now sported deep, painful cuts to his leg that failed to actually hobble him, probably thanks to his new stats. He wheeled and stabbed out at the animal again, missing badly as it effortlessly dodged, flung itself through the air, and struck four deep gashes in Tulland¡¯s side as it sliced through his garb above his ribs. It wasn¡¯t running, which meant it knew that Tulland wasn¡¯t a threat. Instead, it was acting like it was trying to take him down before he ran, so as not to lose out on a windfall meal. I¡¯m toast. The System wins. Tulland knew that for a fact. He was slower than this thing, less durable, and less able to hurt it than the other way around. Unless it was a lot closer to death than it looked, fighting it was a death sentence. He slid back on the handle of the pitchfork, holding it out between him and the beast to create distance as he considered his options. In the end, there was only one. Tulland ran, hoping the thing was slower in a sprint than it was in combat footwork. And it was, if only just. Tulland managed to keep ahead of it for several eternity-long seconds as it huffed along behind him, swiping at his legs and missing by the barest margins possible. He wasn¡¯t fast enough to get away. The sprint meant the Razored Lunger didn¡¯t get many chances to add more gashes to Tulland, but it did get some. One stumbling step across uneven ground slowed Tulland for just long enough to let the animal swipe at his other leg, leaving him bloody on both sides as he ran. Another couple swipes would do more than leave Tulland bleeding and in pain. It would injure him enough to slow him, which would mean almost instant death. Given the level of threat, it wasn¡¯t really a decision when Tulland saw the briars growing ahead. At least that¡¯s what they looked like, though the thorns were longer and the stems were thicker. They were a vicious, terrible looking plant, advertising nothing so much as horrific pain and torment to all that fell into their domain. But they were thick and covered a lot of ground. It was his only chance. As the Razored Lunger blazed after him, Tulland managed to close the gap on the briars, then turned as he ran along the border of them, looking for any gap he could exploit. Here and there, a longer than average thorn or a branch that grew out farther than the others would catch him, ripping his clothes and his skin as it did. But the monster was running a step further away from the briars than it needed to, which Tulland took as a good sign. If it didn¡¯t want to bother with them, he might just be able to escape through them, provided they didn¡¯t impale him as he tried. Sooner than he liked, that was no longer a choice he could put off. Ahead of him, the shape of the hedge changed, growing out into a sort of hook that blocked his path forward. He simply didn¡¯t have the time to run around it. It was either going through the thorns, or facing the sure-death the monster represented. He had no choice. Tulland jumped out of the frying pan, and immediately began screaming as the briars provided their own sort of fire. Chapter 6: Hades Briar After the first several seconds, it became clear that the Razored Lunger wasn¡¯t following Tulland into the briar thicket. It was what he had wanted. It should have been good. It should have been an unquestioned win. The victory would have been easier to remember if Tulland¡¯s entire body wasn¡¯t being perforated by thorns. He was cut in far more places than he could count, stabbed in others, and completely immobilized by the pain and terror of moving any further. For a few long minutes, he sat there in agony and tried not to writhe. He was completely filled with fear that he¡¯d just die there, impaled by thorns as he slowly bled out. Quite the showing. I¡¯m very impressed. Oh, god, shut up. Be quiet. Tulland refused to talk out loud so the thorns couldn¡¯t work their way further into him. Don¡¯t you have enough from me? What¡¯s enough? As it stands, I¡¯ll barely get enough energy off you to subvert a small territory, or to push a few divisions of monster troops through the ever-cursed shield that your precious Church put in my way. I was hoping you¡¯d at least show me the tiniest bit of competence. Rich, considering what you gave me to work with. It is a poor soldier who places the blame on his sword. You¡¯ve already given up. Believe me, there are those who would still be pushing through the pain. Oh, yeah? Who? Altreck, for one. I considered him for your role, you know. The only reason I didn¡¯t go for it is he had a certain simplicity to his moral fiber that would have prevented me from making much headway. But he certainly wouldn¡¯t resign himself to death without even trying. It shouldn¡¯t have worked. It was a simple, transparent ploy aimed directly at Tulland¡¯s pride, meant to make him act where he otherwise. The System was throwing a cheap shot, a jab with a jagged knife at an already open wound. Tulland should have dismissed it out of hand. But he couldn¡¯t. As unfair as it was, Tulland couldn¡¯t stand to imagine Altreck doing better than he was. He risked his eyes by opening them, only to find one of them already didn¡¯t work. And, a few feet in front of him, there was a small gap in the thorns. Not a big one, but a place where he might just be able to lay down with only a few thorns in his body instead of hundreds, and give his vitality-induced regeneration the hours it would need to patch him back together. The small distance looked like it was a thousand miles away, and he would still be trapped when he got there. But the System was right. Altreck would try to get there. The terror of the pain to come wouldn¡¯t matter to him because he wouldn¡¯t even be able to imagine it. He¡¯d just do it. And he would survive, at least for a while. Tulland closed his eyes again, braced himself, and shoved his body as hard as he could towards the clearing. The thorns tore away chunks of his skin as he screamed again and again. They couldn¡¯t stop him from pushing forward with his feet and pulling with his arms wherever they could find purchase. The leather boots and his now ragged cloth garb stopped some of the thorns, and if they had been conventional plants, Tulland thought his gear might have stopped nearly all of them. But against the monster briars of the dungeon, there was only so much that they could do. He never knew when he made it. Tulland woke up a while later on ground soaked with his own blood, but out of the worst of the thorns. Almost immediately, he started pulling fragments of the spikes out of his skin, passing out from the pain and blood loss more than once before he finally woke up, feeling terrible but mostly healed. His left eye still didn¡¯t work, and he had no idea if it ever would again. And he was still bleeding from more places than he could count. But all in all, it seemed he would survive. Tulland laid there, watching the world spin as his body tried to replace the blood it had lost and was still losing. He made no attempts to move as the hours passed until he finally felt more or less himself. Only then did he open his right eye and took a look at his surroundings. There wasn¡¯t much to see, but the System gave him descriptions for the few things it could latch onto at that distance.
Hades Briar The Hades Briar is the most basic and common of barriers to movement in flora-heavy tower floors. Its near omnipresence has spelled the doom of monsters and adventurers alike, as it presented them with a painful distraction or blocked an otherwise open avenue of retreat. The stiff and strong needles of the Hades Briar are lined with thousands of almost invisible hooked barbs that maximize a single prick¡¯s damage and greatly magnify the pain they inflict. They bear a venom that further amplifies the suffering of their victims.
Hades Briar FruitThis book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Technically edible, the Hades Briar¡¯s fruit is a heavy, nutrient-rich affair. It makes no attempts to be appetizing, as the animals stupid or desperate enough to look to it as a food source simply do not care about that kind of thing.
Gently and ever so slowly, Tulland reached out his hand for the fruit. He had realized something about his regeneration when he woke up. It didn¡¯t work for free. His wrist was half the size it once was, and looked like a twig amid the briars. He imagined the rest of his body in the same state, especially with his stomach so empty that the ache of it was radiating through most of his body. The new slimness worked in Tulland¡¯s favor as he only manged to prick his hand a few more times before he broke the dry fruit loose from a stubborn, malicious thorn branch. Carefully, he brought it to his mouth, popping the whole fruit in and chewing carefully. The system description was true. The fruit was technically edible, but it also tasted like a mouthful of sand mixed with bile. He chewed it anyway. Something about being ripped to shreds by a thousand needles had put a new sort of perspective on things like unpleasantness and hardship. If he could handle that, he could handle this. At least the System wasn¡¯t lying about it being nutritious. That was¡­ dense. Tulland¡¯s stomach was now complaining for different reasons instead of crying out for food. He was slightly queasy, but the influx of sugar to his blood was doing good work within seconds. He was fed, for the moment, and safe from anything but the most thorn-resistant enemies. All he had to resolve was the small problem of being trapped in a patch of sharp botanical death, and he¡¯d be doing okay. Very, very carefully, Tulland began to bunch up his body, making as much room in the cavity near his head as he could. Enduring the pain from several thorns, he reached deep into the thicket where he had landed after his first dive in and retrieved his Farmer¡¯s Tool. After a little bit of wiggling and yanking, his once again bleeding hands held the tool to his chest, free and ready to get to work. Reacting to his intent, the tool shifted forms, turning indistinct for a few moments as the tines retracted, reformed, and expanded into the shape of a scythe. The briars were thick, but there was still a bit of air between each branch and the next. If he could cut and pack them, he could slowly expand the space he was lying in. For an hour, Tulland suffered as he slowly chipped away at dozens of thorns and branches with his scythe. He cut away the stuff to his side first, then carved away at the roof above him, packing them into a compressed stack of sticks. For a while, it was an open question of whether or not it would work. He was making a small amount of breathing room for himself, but sooner or later, he would have packed the branches down to as compact a space as his inadequate leverage would allow. If I don¡¯t have enough room to move better by then, I¡¯m stuck. I¡¯ll be able to choose between starving to death in here, or bleeding out on the other side until a monster comes by to end things. By some miracle, Tulland managed to finally clear enough branches to sit up. Just that was a major improvement, allowing him to finally get something that could almost be called a swing into play. In another half hour, he had managed to clear out enough space to stand. Converting his tool back to a shovel, he was able to use it as a sort of impermeable step, stand on the piles of briar he had made, and use his weight to crush them even flatter. And then, in a way that would have felt silly to him back at home, Tulland used his newfound room to take revenge on the plant. He spent hours clearing out space, finding places that the Hades Briar connected to the ground, slicing them, and putting them on the pile. As he found the disgusting fruits, he ate them to hurry along his healing process, and eventually had about twenty square feet of room in which to exist, mostly clear of thorns or anything that could hurt him. Exhausted, he collapsed on his backside on the ground, tossing his scythe over towards the stack of briar branches that made up the far side of his prison. He absentmindedly picked at one of the fruits in his hand, considered eating it, then decided his stomach just couldn¡¯t take any more of the acidic flesh at that moment. He tossed it forward, idly, letting it slam into the ground. He was still probably dead, really, or at the very best trapped in the briars for the foreseeable future. And yet, he had seen no changes to his useless status screen at all. He had a skill that helped seeds, a skill that helped plants, and no use for either surrounded by a plant that had no other purpose than to kill him. Smiling in a kind of wry despair, Tulland pointed his arm at the fruit on the ground and thought about his Enrich Seed skill. That was all it took to activate it. He felt something pass out of him, found himself dimly more aware of the plant, and gained a new level of fatigue beyond his already deep exhaustion. There¡¯s nothing more I can do while feeling like this. I¡¯ve survived. I¡¯ve eaten. I¡¯ll try again in the morning, Tulland reasoned. Tulland crawled to the most clear patch of ground he had, laid down his head, and found himself asleep before he had time to worry about whether future survival would be possible. ¡ª There was no morning on the first floor of the dungeon. When Tulland woke up, it was the same kind of light as when he had fallen asleep. And as made sense for his new life, he woke up violently ill. The fruits had not agreed with him in more ways than one. He wasn¡¯t exactly poisoned, but his body was treating the food much like it would treat spoiled meat, with the same messy consequences. Somehow, he made it through that too. An hour later, when there was nothing left to come out of him, Tulland found himself weak and broken on the ground, having lost whatever benefit eating the fruits had given him and some besides. The stuff wasn¡¯t quite poison, but only just missed the mark. That settles it. It¡¯s only a matter of time now. Tulland coughed weakly as he laid on his back on the ground. No way to get food, and not enough energy left to do anything else. You win, System. I hate to say this, but perhaps not quite yet. No? No. Look to your left. Tulland did, if for no other reason than he had nothing else to do while he waited for the end to come. There, growing peacefully, was a brand-new briar, just as spiny and brutal-looking as all its brothers. But, somehow, this one was a different color. Chapter 7: System Communications It¡¯s green, Tulland thought. It¡¯s more than that. Take a look. A real look. Tulland did. It took a moment for a new description to pop.
Hades Briar (Cultivated) By some incredibly unlikely confluence of circumstances, a seed of the Hades Briar plant has been sown and enriched by a farming class. Since these seeds have no way to travel from The Infinite to the outside world, this should not have been possible. In any case, the resulting creation is an unpredictable, unknown sort of thing. In many senses, it is identical to the wild plant it descends from. In some other important ways, it may not be. The Infinite is as in the dark about that as you are.
¡°Why does it seem like The Infinite is the one speaking there?¡± Tulland asked, out loud this time. ¡°In my system messages, I mean.¡± Because it is. I¡¯m not the System of this place. Why would you think I was? ¡°You gave me my class and my equipment. It seemed as if you were fulfilling your function.¡± I was. That much, at least, is my obligation towards anyone this dungeon considers to be a child of my world. But most of the functions of this place are its own. I can influence, in some ways. I can advise. But only as a visitor might. ¡°Should you be telling me this?¡± Tulland felt the System communicating what could only be described as a kind of shrug. Why wouldn¡¯t I? You¡¯ll be dead soon enough. And even if you managed to delay that event, I¡¯ll end up with your power eventually. So long as you die in The Infinite, I¡¯ll be on the winning side of things. And humans tend to die, over a long enough time frame. Tulland stared at the plant as the System droned on. It was greener than the rest of the briars, and looked a little something else that was hard to define. He couldn¡¯t think of a plant that nasty as friendly, exactly. But it seemed less actively malicious, at least. ¡°Hard to see how this is going to help.¡± Tulland glanced at his status screen. ¡°It didn¡¯t even level the Enrich Seed skill.¡± It wouldn¡¯t. Attacks don¡¯t level attacking skills either, at least until they do damage to their targets. This plant is not yet grown. ¡°I could make it grow, I guess.¡± Tulland considered what it would feel like to cast another agricultural spell from his already empty tanks of energy. ¡°But it would be about the last thing I could do.¡± It doesn¡¯t seem like much of a risk. Without some level of miracle, you won¡¯t survive anyway. It might be a mercy, in some ways, if you used the last of your energy and hastened things along. Tulland sighed and stretched out his hand. The System was a betrayer and a murderer, but that didn¡¯t mean it was wrong in all ways. This was the thing he could do. He thought of his Quickgrow skill, and used it. As the energy flowed out of him, Tulland felt something go very wrong. If his soul could have made a cracking noise, he was confident it would have. A pain welled up from so deep inside him that he couldn¡¯t begin to identify the source. Oh my. That¡¯s interesting in a way you don¡¯t see very often. As the System said its piece, Tulland blacked out once again, fully expecting it to be the last time. ¡ª
Level up!
Level up!
Skill level up!
Skill level up!
Skill level up!
Skill level up!
Tulland¡¯s eyes were hazy almost to the point of blindness when he blinked them open. In his cloudy vision, he could see a bit of green ahead of him, and a bit of red, mixed together into an indistinct painting that bore no meaning to him. He was dizzy, and far beyond being able to rouse himself to care about the mess of notifications waiting to be read. Tulland. He ignored the System as best he could. He was too tired to care. Tulland, listen to me. Eat the damn fruit! Now. This moment. No fruit. Sleep.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. If you sleep, you will die, you fool. Is ok. Don¡¯t mind. Sleep. Then I will find your uncle first. On my return, he will be the first I will make pay. Tulland barely remembered his uncle. To the extent Tulland did, his uncle was a source of stew. And scolding. But mostly stew. Tulland¡¯s stomach cramped at the very thought of food. System said something about eating, Tulland thought to himself. Where¡¯s the food? I already told you, you idiot! In front of you. The big red thing in front of your face. He reached for the fruit then, missing it on his first three tries and barely catching it on his fourth. With an effort that almost killed him, Tulland managed to break it loose from whatever held it, bruising it in the process and wetting his fingers with juice. He flopped his arm back towards himself and, by some miracle, got the fruit close enough to his mouth to close his jaws around it. It¡¯s sweet. Chew, you twit. Tulland chewed, flooding his mouth with sugar as he worked his jaw back and forth. He was too weak to swallow, but some of the juice found its way down his throat anyway. His stomach growled as the faint trickle of nutrition hit it, and Tulland¡¯s arms and legs became all pins and needles as the tiny bit of sugar hitting his bloodstream gave his circulation just enough oomph to wake them up. ¡°What in the hell is happening?¡± Tulland swallowed down the rest of the fruit and flexed his hands. They felt terrible, but they worked again. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m coming back from the dead.¡± Close to it. Can you see? Tulland blinked a few times. Things were still a bit fuzzy, but they were coming into focus. Above him, stretching to the sky, was a deep green plant, one that had two more fruits growing from it. He wasted no time reaching out and grabbing them, shoving them into his mouth and mashing them down to pulp before swallowing the lot of available food in one go. It seems you can. What does the Dungeon System say of the plants? Tulland looked. The description had changed substantially.
Hades Briar (Cultivated) The usual Hades Briar is a thing of death. It cuts like a sword, and its fruits burn beings who are foolish enough to try to eat them. It is an entirely evil plant, one designed to do nothing but bring sorrow to those who run across it. Yet somehow, that has changed. Drawing on the influence of the skills of a farming class, the fundamental nature of the plant has been changed as it took the first step towards domestication. The thorns grow just as sharp as they ever did, but nestled among them is a fruit of actual value, something that provides good without a more than equal amount of ill. The identity and characteristics of this new plant are still in flux, and may change substantially as the circumstances around their creation continue to evolve.
And with that new description came an explanation for the notifications Tulland had seen. A new screen¡¯s worth of information slipped into his mind and attempted to explain what had happened.
Cultivation Successful! For the cultivation of a new plant unknown to this world¡¯s agriculture, you have been granted a substantial amount of experience. The skills related to the cultivation efforts also advanced significantly.
¡°Huh.¡± Tulland looked dumbly at the notification. ¡°What does that even mean?¡± It means you live. And that you have, against expectations, managed to draw lightly on the power of The Infinite to fuel your own growth. ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland tried to stand, then sat back down heavily as his head continued to swim. But it was at least clear enough to think. ¡°Though I don¡¯t understand why you helped me get the fruit. You can¡¯t touch my uncle. He¡¯s much too far into Church territory. Why lie? You could have just left me to die. It would have come soon enough.¡± Perhaps. But a difference of a day or so is short, in the way I reckon time. And you¡¯ve piqued my curiosity. ¡°Oh? You aren¡¯t afraid I¡¯ll survive?¡± No. Why would I be? ¡°So long as I do, you¡¯re stuck here. I could make it to a safe zone. I could stay there.¡± Ha! Is that what you were thinking, all this time? I¡¯ve waited centuries for smaller opportunities than this. A lifetime in a safe zone makes little difference to me. And you will find The Infinite has ways of dealing with those who stall and loiter. It always compels them towards their eventual end. No, Tulland. I¡¯ll have what I want. The only question is how much I¡¯ll gain. Tulland¡¯s body was still recovering, but his mind had cleared substantially. After a day¡¯s danger, he was beginning to realize that he had been a fool, just as the System suggested. In the heat of the moment and the shock of the change, it had never occurred to him to question whether the proven liar with access to his mind and practice in deceiving him might still be doing just that. It seemed likely enough that the System had something to gain from bringing him here, and that it couldn¡¯t have whatever prize it sought until later. Perhaps that was when he died, or perhaps it wasn¡¯t. And it was possible the System got more rewards the longer he survived, with no possible way to lose out and no escape for Tulland. But it also might not be so. Tulland might be able to find another way, somehow. Although he almost certainly wouldn¡¯t with the System reading and poisoning every thought he had. Just as he considered evicting the System, something new happened. No, Tulland. I¡¯m your only hope here. You can¡¯t survive, but¡­ Tulland ignored him as he brought up a new notification that came before his eyes. This was different from the information screens that slipped into his mind. The screen was something real, or real enough as it floated in the air in front of him. And it was more than he had hoped.
Deactivate System Communications? As a delver into The Infinite, communications with your world¡¯s System is a voluntary thing. If it is your preference, you may choose to transfer all of the normal functions fulfilled by your world¡¯s System to the Dungeon System in charge of the dungeon itself. This will not completely sever your relationship with the System of your world, as it has claims on certain rewards related to your progress through The Infinite. You can, however, choose to limit your world System¡¯s access to your thoughts and limit the amount it is allowed to speak to you. Would you like to do so now?
You would be a fool to pass up what little help I¡¯m willing to provide you, Tull¡­ The very moment Tulland gave The Infinite the go-ahead to cut off the System¡¯s power, it did. He waited a few minutes, half expecting that the System was playing some elaborate prank. When it failed to talk, he eased the limitations enough to allow it to talk, while still restricting its access to his mind. That was foolish, Tulland. Do you really think you can do this alone? Have I not been helpful thus far? The minimum amount, maybe. Don¡¯t you think? Tulland thought rather than spoke. After a ten-second wait, the System spoke into his mind again in a tone dripping with annoyance. You know I can¡¯t hear you. You¡¯ve won that little victory. Congratulations. I didn¡¯t think The Infinite would inform you of that little fact so easily. Chapter 8: Razored Lunger Tulland turned off the communication channel to the System again. That was as good of confirmation as he¡¯d get that he really could cut the System off. If everything was as it appeared to be, the Dungeon System that governed The Infinite was not inherently aligned with the interests of the System from his world. He wasn¡¯t sure that the enemy of his enemy was really his friend, but there was no harm in treating it that way for now. If it all ended up being a trick, there wasn¡¯t a whole lot he could do about it anyway. He wasn¡¯t any worse off than before and on the off chance that everything was how it appeared to be, he now had a small possibility that there might just be some way out of this. Or at least a way to keep the System from hurting his world. Even if there wasn¡¯t a way out of this situation for Tulland, and there probably wasn¡¯t, Tulland could try to keep the System from getting its payoff. To do that, he would have to survive long enough to see other people. To talk to them. The stories said The Infinite was an intersection between worlds, that people came to try themselves against the only challenge that never ended. Some of them had to know things he didn¡¯t. And maybe some of them knew how to beat the System. At the least, he needed to know how the System sent him here. For all that the messages he had sent claimed he had been ordained for The Infinite, everything he had ever heard claimed that admission to this greatest of dungeons was a voluntary sort of thing. That, at least, was a mystery he¡¯d need to work out. But for now, Tulland needed to get to work. From what he had seen, there was no chance of him beating one of those Razored Lungers in normal combat. But he had some ideas of how he might take one in an unfair fight, given enough time. And being in the middle of one of these briar patches meant he might just have enough time. After the better part of a day of cutting the briars, Tulland finally found water. He knew there must be some somewhere, given the size of the briar patch. The source of it ended up being an underground seep of sorts, a place where the water didn¡¯t make it to the surface in liquid form but merely dampened the ground. Shifting his tool to a shovel, Tulland got to digging. Frequent applications of his Quickgrow talent kept his pet briar growing and producing fruits, and he was eating them as soon as they popped up. That gave him plenty of energy to dig at the seep until it was deep enough and wide enough that the water finally began to accumulate in the bottom. Once that happened, he began to expand his operations a bit. ¡°All right, little seed. Get going.¡± Tulland pushed one of a dozen cultivated Hades Briar fruit seeds into the ground, still wrapped in half-eaten fruit flesh. ¡°Grow up big and strong. I need the experience.¡± For all his knowledge of classes, Tulland had never really learned much about being a farmer. Most farmers he knew of back home were unclassed, as the Church wasn¡¯t likely to use up one of their limited class slots on something that could be accomplished with fertilizer and muscle. But, it was hard to believe a farmer could advance his class in any other way besides farming. And with the pet briar¡¯s growth achievement rivaling the experience of defeating a couple thousand motes, Tulland saw that his class screen was backing up that idea as well.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 3 Strength: 16 Agility: 16 Vitality: 13 Spirit: 10 Mind: 10 Force: 10 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 2, Enrich Seed LV. 2, Strong Back LV. 1
The new briars made true on Tulland¡¯s wish. After all, the original briars had covered about a square half mile here with very little resources. With a farmer class supporting the growth with magic, the cultivated briars were more or less springing out of the ground. They didn¡¯t grow very tall, bending over once they got to any substantial height, and spent of their growth invading each other¡¯s territories and becoming a tangle. But they did grow. After a few days, Tulland was well-fed, well-hydrated, and going completely insane with boredom. His idea was simple enough. He was trying to grow briars in big enough numbers to force mass leveling. The stats he had added from the level-ups meant he could clear ground much faster, and every time he managed to push back the borders of his briar prison a little more, he¡¯d plant more of the cultivated briars in that space. But it was really, really dull work. Every briar granted him just a bit of experience, though just a trickle compared to what he had got for the first one. But it¡¯s progress, and it¡¯s progress I can make without dying. And then, finally, it happened. He made one last application of Quickgrow to a briar, waited until it matured, and found himself over the threshold of the next level.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 4 Strength: 17 Agility: 17 Vitality: 16 Spirit: 10 A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.Mind: 10 Force: 10 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 2, Enrich Seed LV. 2, Strong Back LV. 1
Most of Tulland¡¯s wounds had healed by now, and even his eye had stopped hurting. But his sight still stubbornly refused to mend. Now that he had an extra five stat points, he began putting them in vitality one by one, hoping that each point would make a difference but not wanting to waste a single one. The first few points did nothing. But when he pushed from fifteen points to sixteen, he felt a slight itch in his eye socket. A couple moments later, vision started to return to his left eye. It wasn¡¯t much of a practical difference, since he could already see out of his right eye. But the feeling of wholeness he got from it was more than worth the cost. The last two points went to strength and agility, which meant Tulland was about as strong as he¡¯d be now, at least in terms of his body. There was no chance that he could get to the next level just by farming briars. The experience he got from the last few plants had slowed and he could feel the dungeon about to limit things soon. That meant he had to fight. A combat class, a real one, would have a sword in their hand, knowledge in their mind of how to use it, and a handful of support skills from their very first level to make sure they were ready for fights in The Infinite. Instead, Tulland had a pitchfork. That was it. That setup was plenty for motes, but not for the challenges meant for the properly equipped. To have a chance in those, he had to cheat. Luckily, by now, he had a pile of cut briars that reached halfway to the stars. He started pulling them out one by one and sticking them, dry and hard, in the two rows of briars that extended away from the spot he had entered the patch. There was still a wall of briars between him and the outside world, and now he had extended a passageway from it, as tall as he was and stretching back 20 or 30 feet. After that, he went to work on his own plants, the ones he had grown with his own hands and powers. He cut five or ten of them apart, then spent a while figuring out the best way to knot them together until he had a rope of sorts that he tied to the loose thorns in the walls. Then he was ready. Walking down his aisle of thorns, he started cutting away the protection between him and the outside world. It was easy work, especially compared to what he had to work with before. Within a few minutes of cutting and shoving the debris of that work aside, he had a pathway to the outside. Tulland had almost forgotten what the forest past his little prison cell looked like. The trees were an awful lot like trees on the outside, with branches, leaves, and bark. There was nothing bizarre about them, minus the purple light they were bathed in. Yet, that change was enough for them to look foreign, just different enough to grate on his psychology, letting him know he was in a place he shouldn¡¯t be without really giving his mind anything to grab onto as a solid why. The beast that had chased him was nowhere to be seen. Gripping his pitchfork with both hands, Tulland crept forward a bit from the thorn hedge, looking left and right as he went and trying his hardest not to make much noise. And after a minute of looking, staying close to his enclosure but making more and more noise as he went, he didn¡¯t just find one Razored Lunger. He found two. There were two of them this time. Tulland turned and ran without a second thought, working his way back to the hallway he had built in the briars. The Lungers stayed on his heels, biting and yipping as they caught up. The extra points in agility and strength helped Tulland maintain a bit of his lead, but by the time he got halfway through the corridor of thorns, they were close. That was just how he wanted it. Careful not to miss his chance, he stooped down to the ground where his makeshift rope sat, hooked it on his pitchfork, and pulled. He had stacked the thorns into walls, but he had never claimed to have done a good job at it. With his makeshift ropes tangled up in the construction, a yank was all it took to shake them loose on the Lungers. Startled by the crack of the sticks as they broke, the Lungers tried to spring out of the way of the raining thorns. An unlucky one got tangled right near the middle while the other sprinted forward in vain, getting caught in the rope tangle less than a foot from the ¡°room¡± Tulland had made in the patch. Tulland wheeled around to where it was tangled in the thorns, yowling like an injured cat, and started stabbing with his pitchfork. If these things could break out of the thorns, he didn¡¯t want to find out about it the hard way. That left him with limited time to make sure of things before they were down. And he¡¯d be damned if they weren¡¯t tough little things. Tulland could barely break the surface of their hide with the tines of the pitchfork, even with them holding still and waiting for him to try. After a few stabs that didn¡¯t do the job, he switched tactics, morphed the weapon into a shovel, and started clubbing them. Even that didn¡¯t do much, but it did alert him to something that did. The normal briars were scratching the monsters, and even jabbing into them in a way that seemed to hurt. But his own briars, some of which had worked into the hedge or part of the rope in which the monsters were caught, were a different kind of thing. The monsters screamed whenever they touched those. The thorns cut through them like hot butter, and Tulland suddenly found himself glad that he had never accidentally poked himself with his pet briars. Eventually, he made headway. Between the briars, his shovel, and plenty of time, he finally managed to put both of the animals down, wearing himself out in the process. When it was finally over, he was a bit sick seeing what he had done. But he was alive and after rebuilding the entrance wall with more cut briars, he found himself newly leveled. It wasn¡¯t enough to celebrate. However good it was at its intended job, the Farmer¡¯s Tool wasn¡¯t much of a weapon. Five more stat points weren¡¯t to suddenly make him strong enough to kill off the little wolverine-like beasts that seemed to fill this forest. They weren¡¯t meant to be taken care of without a class. That¡¯s clear now. Tulland laid on his back as he caught his breath, looking towards his little plot of thorn plants contemplatively. But I have a class. And it looks like that just might make a difference. ¡ª A few hours later, a Razored Lunger lifted its head and sniffed the air. Something smelled new. In its experience, that wasn¡¯t a thing that happened much. Recently, there had been a bit of stink around the area, some kind of new animal whose odor it instinctively reviled. This was different. This smelled good. It crept cautiously closer. As curious as it was, the forest was not a place to be careless. There were threats even for his kind, and not all of them were obvious. The new smell turned out to be coming from a plant, of sorts, one he hadn¡¯t seen before. It was sitting flat on a bit of ground, oozing juice that looked sweet and delicious. Glancing around for danger, it crept cautiously closer. There was a faint smell of the new animal around. The food might have been his, maybe it was dropped. The Razored Lunger had seen that kind of thing before. But the animal wasn¡¯t here now. Nothing was. The food was free for the taking, and safe in that confidence, it sprung forward. Then the ground went away. Chapter 9: Bludgeon In his enclosure, Tulland was already working on his next project. He had spent the better part of a few hours the day before building the pit trap, but that was a necessary risk. It took time to dig a hole, and more time to plant a cultivated briar seed at the bottom, juice it with magic, cover the whole thing with enough briar thorns to look like semi-solid ground, and leave a single cultivated fruit as bait. The investment was worth it. He had picked up two levels worth of experience just today, setting and resetting the trap with his excess of cultivated fruit and the briar branches. He had worried that the monster corpses left in the pit would warn the others off, until he had gone out to clean it out for the first time and found it clean except for an exceptionally vibrant, healthy looking briar. ¡°Even if I could, I won¡¯t ask any questions about what happened there,¡± Tulland said to the briar. It might have been his imagination but the briar seemed to twitch at those words. Now, Tulland was busy clipping off several feet of his briar tangle and wrapping it around the strongest branch he had been able to safely find in the forest. His best idea for a weapon so far was to make a briar-wrapped club and see how that did on the local wildlife. ¡°Hey System. You around?¡± Tulland asked after turning off the communication barrier. You know I am. Where would I go? ¡°Good point. I have a question for you.¡± One I would answer for what reason? ¡°Because you have nothing better to do.¡± The System went quiet, but Tulland wasn¡¯t fooled. It had been lying to him for months, but some things were harder to fake. It could tolerate endless periods of nothing happening, but it was vulnerable to the kind of boredom where something demanded attention then didn¡¯t justify the need. It hated services from the Church, not just because they came from his enemies but because they droned on. It couldn¡¯t stand Tulland¡¯s sessions with his tutor either. And most of all, it hated waiting for a response. It couldn¡¯t tolerate being ignored. Tulland sat placidly, working thorns into the wood of the stick while trying to make his makeshift spiked club. He knew it was only a matter of time. What is your question? ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t want to answer.¡± I am generous. Ask. Tulland kept his face straight as he waited a moment, then let the System know what he had on his mind. ¡°The beasts here. Are they especially resistant to the attacks of people without a class? If a very strong man came here with a knife, but no class, would they be more difficult for him to kill than they should?¡± An interesting question. ¡°I thought so. Do you know the answer?¡± I do. And it¡¯s yes, in some ways. It would matter who made¡­ The System went quiet. ¡°Keep going. I¡¯m listening.¡± No. I¡¯ve wasted my own time here. I¡¯m done. ¡°Oh, come on. Don¡¯t be like that.¡± The System wouldn¡¯t speak again, no matter how Tulland asked or cajoled. But Tulland thought he might have an answer anyway. He was fairly sure that the unfinished thought the System decided not to share was that it would matter who made the knife. Tulland¡¯s farming tool was not powered by his own class, at least in its function as a weapon. And it wasn¡¯t made by someone with a class, despite being a System-built item. But if a blacksmith with a smithing class made a knife, it would carry a might of its own. As a product of some system or another, it would be made to interact with other things created by and for the class and leveling system. A very strong man wielding one of those knives could kill one of these monsters. Tulland was almost sure of it. Tulland didn¡¯t know how to work metal and didn¡¯t have any skills for making bows. But he did have plants grown by a true Farmer class, using system-granted skills. He wouldn¡¯t have believed there was any chance that things would work this way if he hadn¡¯t already had some confirmation, courtesy of several dead monsters who had failed to make it out of his pit trap. And even if The Infinite doesn¡¯t think this monster-fertilized vine is different enough to give it a new description, it sure seems like it¡¯s gonna work at least a little bit better.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Before Tulland tried it out, he made sure he had contingencies. He set up his collapsible rope thorn trap again and dug a few pit traps that he covered in a way that was obvious to him but hopefully less so for the monsters. Once that was in place, he stepped out, stood at the entrance of his compound, and waited. He didn¡¯t have to wait long. It was less than five minutes before one of the walking balls of territorial rage spotted him and made a beeline for what looked like easy prey. But in many ways, Tulland wasn¡¯t as soft as he was when he had first arrived in this forest.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 6 Strength: 24 Agility: 20 Vitality: 16 Spirit: 10 Mind: 10 Force: 10 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 4, Enrich Seed LV. 3, Strong Back LV. 2
As the Lunger got close, Tulland held his swing as long as he could. He had options if he missed, but he didn¡¯t want to use them if he could help it. Luckily, the animal sensed something was wrong right at the last moment, and skidded to a stop not quite entirely out of Tulland¡¯s range. He swung as hard as he could. The end of Tulland¡¯s new club was studded with pounds of briar vines and dozens of finger-long, razor sharp thorns. During the construction process, Tulland had reflected on all of the pain that his initial encounter with one of the monsters brought, and added more and more weight to the club until it literally couldn¡¯t hold any more thorns or vines. It turned out that, in the process, he had drifted dangerously far into overkill territory. The club didn¡¯t just penetrate with its thorns or entangle with its vines. The weight of the thing crushed the animal at the point of impact, bludgeoning it to death at the same time the thorns punctured through it. Tulland took a second to process what just happened. ¡°Holy crap. Did you see that, System?¡± I¡­ did. I did not suspect that things would work like that. ¡°Really? After all your centuries of doing what you do?¡± It¡¯s not as if Farmers end up in dungeons often, boy. How would I learn this, besides watching your situation? Tulland nodded. That seemed probable enough. Which meant that, for now, he had a way of destroying the enemies who lived in this forest. Farmer didn¡¯t seem to be a class that needed a lot of experience to level. The requirements would probably get higher and higher as his level got higher, but he probably could get at least one or two more levels out of this area before he topped it out. While that was a victory of sorts, it was limited. On some level, Tulland knew that these terrifying little animals were the weakest, least-threatening beasts that this dungeon had to offer. They were a tutorial, something anyone with a sword and a sword-handling class would have mowed through without a second thought. For Tulland, after days of pain and near-death experiences, he could just about fight them evenly. But after this floor, there would be another stronger and faster enemy, and another beyond that. Even this floor had threats he hadn¡¯t seen yet, probably bigger ones too. A club covered with kinda-magic vines wouldn¡¯t be enough to keep him safe forever. Tulland would have to think of something else. For now, he had a little time until his traps caught enough of the Lungers to cap the experience he could get out of them. He had a vague hope that the traps would never give out, that they would be close enough of a thing to farming that the Dungeon System would reward him for them forever. It wasn¡¯t meant to be. As soon as he hit the next level, the Dungeon System let him know the gravy train was stopped. Worse, the experience he was getting from farming each individual briar was now next to nothing. The leveling requirement was enough that it would take weeks and weeks before he hit the next one. It was too much time to wait and hope nothing went wrong in this place. Tulland almost dumped the points he had gained from his new level into his physical stats before he stopped himself. Farming. Huh. He hadn¡¯t thought much about the skills he got from his class except to bemoan them since he got here. But it was Enrich Seed and Quickgrow that had given him all the progress he had managed. While it would be nice to swing his club a little harder and faster, it wasn¡¯t going to save him from anything truly big and strong. From what the tutor had said, mind was a mental defense stat, while spirit had to do with how fast magical force was restored. But force directly impacted how strong a skill became when it was released, how effective it was at doing whatever it aimed to do. There was more to it than that, but those details weren¡¯t worth considering at the moment. This was a broad-strokes kind of situation, one where Tulland needed big changes, and couldn¡¯t afford to spend his limited resources on anything that didn¡¯t cause them. Mental defense could wait, and Tulland had nothing but time to wait for his magic to restore itself. What he didn¡¯t have was any way to improve what he did, to make stronger plants. And stronger plants is¡­ it might be nothing. But it might be something, right? Tulland looked at the club in his hands. It was something, but sooner or later, it would fail. That was certain. And when that happened, he needed something better. The chance of farming actually making a difference was slim, near enough to nothing to almost make no difference. But not zero. Tulland closed his eyes and put all five points into force, then went to dig a new pit trap. He was going to enrich a seed more than he ever had before, and he would be damned if it wasn¡¯t going to be well fertilized. ¡ª The System watched as Tulland threw his club back over his shoulder and moved back to his camp. He must have realized what the System had always known. There was a chance Tulland would climb a few floors with his own abilities and desire to live. And if he did, the System would profit from it. But the chances of Tulland actually clearing his way to the safe zone were nil. Standing in his unarmed and unskilled path was a real challenge. The kind that even the most talented warriors equipped with full System¡¯s gifts would barely overcome. The Infinite was an elite dungeon, for the brave and successful. It was a place they came to prove that they were not just among the best, but the very best there was. The Infinite was where heroes went to gamble their lives on getting the power that their worlds needed to survive, thrive, and reach entirely new levels. It wasn¡¯t a place for the weak. And if there was one thing the System was sure of, it was that Tulland was weak. Chapter 10: Swords and Hoes As Tulland hefted his pack full of fruits, he was glad that he had put points into strength. A couple days worth of applications of Quickgrow added to the already aggressive growth rate of the vines meant lots and lots of fruits, and he had some experimentation to do. He brought the pack over to the new, much bigger area he had cleared in the briars. After dropping them on the ground for later, Tulland commanded his Farmer¡¯s Tool to transform into a hoe and got to work loosening the soil. What Tulland had in mind would require a lot of work, as judged in the conventional way. He would need yard after yard of tilled rows, all carved out of hard, clay-heavy soil. All of that work might amount to nothing, but Tulland was stubborn that way. Even if there was a tiny chance of success, he was willing to swing his hoe and shed his sweat. Stats hurried the tilling along just fine, and the speed and power he moved with now was a bit intoxicating all by itself, in a way that made him want to work a bit faster and push a bit harder. Within another hour, he had plenty of soil prepared, with each area he planned to plant marked with a cut to separate it from the others. The first section got one briar seed, all by itself. Tulland¡¯s Enrich Seed skill was higher level than it had been at the beginning. Along with the extra magic power he had to dedicate to the process, he was eager to see what differences he could now make. The next briar seed was planted in a bundle of the fruits themselves, de-seeded and pulped so that their nutrients would only benefit that single seed. Tulland¡¯s thought was that even with magical power, conventional farming rules probably still applied here. The soil that the briars had been growing in was clearly enough to sustain them to some extent, but it was also flat-out the worst soil Tulland had ever seen. It was hard, angry stuff that was so devoid of nutrients that it looked bleached. Just looking at it grosses me out, and I couldn¡¯t say why. ¡°Hey, System?¡± Tulland said out loud as he eased the communication restrictions. Yes? ¡°Does this class give me¡­ I don¡¯t know how to say it. Do I know more about farming now?¡± More? Did you know a single thing before? ¡°No, but that¡¯s hardly the tone you should be taking. I could turn off your communication channel again.¡± Don¡¯t. It would make this conversation a waste of both our times. The answer to your question is yes, to a very limited extent. ¡°How limited?¡± You are now a farmer. The changes that a class makes are not just to a person¡¯s capabilities. It is to what they are at a fundamental level. Tulland tossed two seeds together in one growing area, and three in another. There was no shortage of ground to do experiments on, and he was going to try anything and everything he could. ¡°That doesn¡¯t tell me anything.¡± Think of a Paladin. In your storybooks, what are they like? ¡°Noble. Noble and brave. Self-sacrificing. They can¡¯t all be like that, though.¡± No? ¡°No. Because people just aren¡¯t. Most people are selfish. I am.¡± Tulland shuddered a little as he remembered what his selfishness might eventually do to his home world. ¡°And people get scared. Not every Paladin is going to be an exception and noble beyond normal.¡± That¡¯s where you are wrong. Think about it for a bit. Tulland did, taking a few minutes to consider it as he duplicated every experiment he had set up so far, but this time adding a shovelful of water to each mound. ¡°You¡¯re saying that they start out average.¡± Tulland dumped another shovelful of water. ¡°That the class changes who they are.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Over time. Slowly. Each stat you apply while holding a Farmer class makes you more farmer, in some way. And a farmer understands soil and plants. ¡°Isn¡¯t that¡­ insidious? The class changing their minds?¡± All experiences do. A beaten man learns fear. A triumphant man learns confidence. Why should having a class be any different? Tulland could almost buy that. He decided to let it lie, for the moment, and focus on the matter at hand. ¡°How much should I trust it? The new knowledge, I mean.¡± What is it telling you? ¡°That the soil here is bad.¡± The System went quiet for a moment, enough that Tulland double-checked to see if the communication channel was still unrestricted. That, at least, seems probable. Now, I would advise you to¡­ Tulland knew that tone. He had heard it a lot over the past few days. The System was about to forget itself and talk. It would go for hours if he let it. But it also, he had found, really hated it if he cut him off before he could finish those speeches. He mentally flipped the switch without a second thought, wiped the sweat off his brow, and went towards the exit from the hedge. Unpiling the briars he used to block the way in, he uncovered his pile of animal corpses. The Razored Lungers, it had turned out, were slightly stupid. After his first few kills that weren¡¯t instantly absorbed by his vine traps, the blood had drawn in more of the beasts. Enough for them to actually attempt entering the briar patch, and meet the cultivated briars with all of their agony thorns. And when the monsters were weakened enough, Tulland had cut them away before beating them to death with his club. In the process, he noticed that unlike the living briars, the dead vines did nothing to absorb the corpses. For the first time since entering the dungeon, Tulland had too many resources. The fruits and groundwater meant that he wasn¡¯t desperate enough to eat the Lunger meat raw. And he didn¡¯t want to gamble his life on starting a fire, even if he could figure out how to do that. There was nothing productive to do with the corpses except to see if his plants would appreciate a little extra food. He had seen what it did to his already-growing vines, and they appeared to like it just fine. Now he would see what he could get out of the seeds if they had a different, richer growing environment from the start. Tulland set up a number of experiments with the corpses, all of which involved more cutting and pulping of the animals than he liked. Some of the flesh was mixed with more soil, some with less, some with more water, some with less, and some with multiple seeds just in case he had added too many nutrients. By the time he was done, Tulland had about twenty different planting zones, all running some configuration of farming or another. Then it was time to enrich them. It took hours of pushing magic power out and recharging to get it done, but Tulland wasn¡¯t in a hurry. He had food and water, and for now, he was safe. When he felt the need to sleep, he slept, and once he had finished enriching the seeds, he even tried to double up on the skill, only to find that an already-enriched seed wouldn¡¯t engage with a second skill application. After that, he started using Quickgrow, pushing out all of his power over the next few hours. Neither of the skills had leveled during the experimentation. That wasn¡¯t surprising. Tulland was pretty sure they wouldn¡¯t, unless one of his experiments actually worked and produced something new. Even with Quickgrow active and the obscene speed with which the briars seemed to grow, the next phase wasn¡¯t something that would happen in just a few minutes. Exhausted again, Tulland dropped to the ground to nap. ¡ª ¡°The economy is more important than any of you understand,¡± Tulland¡¯s tutor had said, walking them through the market. ¡°Even for war. Tulland. Tell us how to make as many swords for an army as possible.¡± ¡°Lots of smiths would be my guess. Lots of fuel for the forges, and lots of ore to smelt into metal. That kind of thing.¡± ¡°And how would you feed them?¡± ¡°Grain?¡± Tulland scratched his head. ¡°Do smiths eat special food?¡± ¡°No, just the same things you do. But imagine you are the leader of a border town. Where do you get the grain?¡± the tutor asked. ¡°Farmers. I buy it from them.¡± ¡°Using what?¡± ¡°Tax money.¡± The old man nodded. ¡°That¡¯s correct, except I believe you might underestimate how much money forging takes. A good sword is a product of several workmen, each using expensive materials and a lot of space. That eats up your tax money, and you don¡¯t have money for farmers anymore.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s wartime,¡± one of the other boys objected. Tulland remembered the boy, but somehow couldn¡¯t remember his name. He was a larger boy, built for heavy work if not actual fighting. He had always been bloody-minded, compared to the others. ¡°Just force the farmers. Take the grain. Feed the blacksmiths. Spend the money on materials.¡± ¡°That might work, once. But just once. As soon as the farmers know their labor will be seized, what do you suppose happens?¡± ¡°They stop working,¡± Tulland said. That was easy enough to know. Nobody would work without pay. ¡°Then send armed men to make them work,¡± the boy said, finding yet another application for violence. It was a habit of his known to everyone in the class. ¡°Each of whom requires a sword,¡± the tutor said. ¡°And time and pay of their own. And even the most frightening of guards can¡¯t make someone work as hard as they will in their own interests, with their own pay on the line. Production can and will drop. It¡¯s been observed in many places.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± Tulland was interested despite himself. ¡°You said the economy fixes this?¡± ¡°No solution will net you unlimited swords. But a thriving town can make more armor and arms than a starving one. A city can make more than a town. If you focus on prosperity, the rest of it will come. And that is how you build a strong people. Swords are only part of the answer.¡± Chapter 11: Hades Lunger Briar Tulland woke up on the ground, thankful to have just enough points bolstering his vitality that this was only uncomfortable as opposed to actually hurting his muscles and bones. He kept his eyes closed for just a moment, wishing he could talk with his tutor in some way or another right now. The old man might not have been young enough to help much with the fighting, but Tulland was eighty percent sure he knew about things like farming. He knew about a lot of things. When Tulland finally opened his eyes, he was in a weird jungle. Every one of the plants had sprouted, which wasn¡¯t surprising. He half suspected that once juiced with his farming powers, these briar weeds would have grown on a pane of glass. At least for a while anyway. He stood and walked over to the least interesting of them. The briar seeds that were only enhanced by his skills were a bit bigger and a bit stronger. Something about how they looked rubbed him the right way, at least to the extent normal plants could. They were a little bit hardier and healthier. If they had been food, he would have assumed they would feed people better. As deadly spiked plants, they seemed like they might spike things a little more sharply and viciously. Nothing amazing. Next. Watering seemed to be generally good for the plants, and all the plants he had watered were doing a bit better than the ones without water. The ones he had planted in their own fruit pulp did even better than that, and kept improving with more pulp until they had access to two or more fruits worth of the stuff. More fertilization of that kind didn¡¯t seem to help. These vines were thicker and greener, and when Tulland reached out and touched them with his hand, they were also just a bit more flexible. It was almost to the point that he could have used them as a rope as-is, without cutting or twisting any strands together at all. But it was the monster-fed vines that changed the game. Tulland had seen the moving things after he woke up, and verified that they couldn¡¯t actually move from their rooting spots before approaching them. It is foolish for you not to have looked at this first. The others are just briars. These are something new. ¡°You think I don¡¯t know that? It¡¯s incredibly boring in here, System.¡± Tulland was going to milk this entire experience for all it was worth, entertainment-wise. If that meant turning back on the System for a bit, so be it. It likely knew something Tulland didn¡¯t as well. ¡°Now, what am I looking at here?¡± I have no idea at all. This is not something that would have been possible on our world, I think. Over the centuries I was in control, farmers tried many things. They accomplished at least some marvels. None of them were¡­ this. ¡°Give me something, at least.¡± I¡¯m not your System anymore, remember? Check to see what The Infinite says about it. ¡°Fine. Be that way.¡± Tulland had been putting off looking at The Infinite¡¯s notifications, but there was no reason to do that now. Annoyingly, The Infinite had yet to show the same preference for automatic, instant communication the System had. Every screen had be manually read and dismissed. He started at the boring end of things and worked his way up.
Hades Briar LV. 1 (Cultivated, Improved) The Hades Briar is the most basic and common of barriers to movement in flora-heavy tower floors. Its omnipresence has spelled the doom of monsters and adventurers alike, as it presented them with a painful distraction or blocked an otherwise open avenue of retreat. Your cultivation techniques have improved this briar past what it would accomplish itself even in ideal growing conditions. It is stronger, more flexible, and bears more potent thorns. The briars are passive hunters at all times, gathering their own fertilizer through unlucky beasts. These would gather more while spending less, putting down prey that wandered into their territory with less chance of breakage.
That was good enough to have justified this work all by itself. Even if all the farming meant his clubs were a little better, it would be a very big jump in his surviving-this-floor chances. But the inclusion of levels and the idea of improved crops in the description was something else. Does that mean¡­ Tulland began to think. Likely. The System sounded surprised, annoyed, and impressed all at once. Just be quiet and look at the others. Tulland nodded and turned to the notifications for the rest of his conventional vines. The best he had done with any of them was a level two variant, which came from one vine that had been fertilized with monster meat but not watered. It looked truly nasty to Tulland¡¯s not-entirely-untrained eye, and he immediately decided to upgrade his club with this new briar when he got a chance. But then it was time to get down to the really weird stuff. He stood and walked towards the one very concerning, much more vine-like plant, standing a few full steps outside of its reach as it writhed and reached for him.
Lunger Briar LV. 1 (Subjugated) Where the Hades Briar exists as a passive hunter, this briar is active. It is capable of lying stationary for years, only to activate and reach towards prey when they come close. Once in contact with prey, it attempts to wrap itself around them. When locked around prey, the Lunger Briar works its thorns into them to reduce their chance of escape, then holds them in place with its own weight and root structure. The Lunger Briar is durable, but strong enough enemies can pull them from the ground. Once pulled, the briar will die, but will continue to act as alive in the presence of prey until its energy resources are depleted. Destroying a prey animal will restore some of that same energy, although at a slow, level-dependent pace.
¡°That¡¯s not normal. It took the monster fertilizer¡¯s name,¡± Tulland said. Like a bride at some sort of perverse wedding. Keep reading your notifications, fool. Tulland decided that while he would continue moving through the new information, the System had probably learned more than enough about his new capabilities for one day. He didn¡¯t believe that the lying betrayer was just taking everything at their word instead of making educated guesses about what was happening, and if it didn¡¯t want to share them, then there was a limited amount of knowledge he would let it have. The fact that it was defanged for the moment didn¡¯t mean it would be harmless forever, and keeping the System in the dark did Tulland no harm so long as it wasn¡¯t repaying him with knowledge.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He was immediately glad he did so. The next notification was a game-changer in a way the others weren¡¯t.
Subjugated Crops Some crops were never meant for human cultivation. While growing almost anything is possible given the right soil and light conditions, most truly hostile crops resist any significant domestication and improvement attempts. That does not mean that domestication and improvement are impossible, however. When these enemy plants are successfully changed from their baseline forms, they provide bonuses to experience, represent a new category of cultivable plants which provide their own unique levels of experience, and often establish a different kind of relationship to their grower. You have subjugated a new crop for the first time, both in the sense that you have subjugated your first crop and in the sense that the crop you subjugated has never been tamed before. For that, you¡¯ll receive a large, level-adjusted amount of experience, a large portion of skill experience to the skills used in creating it, and other bonuses as a result.
Lunger Briar Bonuses Based on your current skill levels and the best Hades Lunger Briar you have been able to grow, you gain the following bonuses:
  1. At your will, the Lunger Briar will cease to see you as prey.
  2. At your will, you gain a permanent immunity to damage from briars you grow, so long as they are of the quality of the Hades Lunger Briar or lower as a species.
Tulland immediately willed the briar to ignore him, then stood open-mouthed as it went limp, slumped to the ground, and became indistinguishable from any other briar he had grown. Walking a tiny bit closer, he very gently moved his hand towards one of the thorns, putting just the slightest amount of pressure on it. The thorns were very sharp, and that should have been enough to immediately puncture his skin. In this case, it simply failed to do so. He pressed even harder, and found he was still safe. Pressing as hard as he could and rubbing his hand back and forth on the blade of the briar showed he was still safe. The Infinite¡¯s system hadn¡¯t been lying. Tulland couldn¡¯t be hurt by these plants. None of his more conventional briars could hurt him either, though he verified through some substantial pain that any briars he hadn¡¯t cultivated were still dangerous. Which brought him to the last of his notifications, ones he had sensed at the beginning of this process but kept back until he knew exactly what he had done to earn them.
Level up! x5 Skill level up! x6
New Skill Earned! Botanical Engineer LV.1 (Passive) In creating a new form of life, you have proven yourself as something beyond a mere sower of seeds. This passive skill increases the range of situations in which you will be able to successfully create new plant hybrids, and increases the quality of their new characteristics when you do.
Tulland took a deep breath. This seemed like a truly shocking number of levels to get at once. He immediately dedicated just a few of the newly gained points to each of his body stats. Plants or no, he still had to survive out in a very hostile world, and he had no idea what he would be facing as he pressed out from the safety of his base. The rest he applied to his magical abilities, adding five points to his force stat and also spirit to speed up his regeneration a little bit. His mind stat was the only one that got no love, seeing that Razored Lungers didn¡¯t exactly do mental damage outside of his earlier traumatic memories with them.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 11 Strength: 25 Agility: 25 Vitality: 20 Spirit: 15 Mind: 10 Force: 15 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 7, Enrich Seed LV. 6 Passives: Botanical Engineer LV. 1, Strong Back LV. 2
The new passives section interested him. It apparently needed some minimum level of entries to show, and had immediately moved Strong Back once it did. Eventually, he¡¯d have to work on leveling both passive skills, although Tulland hated the thought of what he would have to do to convince his regeneration skill to grow. He ran in place and jumped a few times, then found his club and gave it some experimental swings. He wasn¡¯t much stronger or faster from the extra stat points, but each little addition was a noticeable help. At the same time, he reminded himself that as strong as he might feel, he was infinitely weaker than what a real combat class would be in the same situation. If I¡¯m going to live through this, I need more plants. Tulland sighed and began gathering fruits from his new hybrid vine. He was almost to the point where he would have to go explore the greater space around him, leaving more than a few steps from his terrible, thorn-based home. But if he didn¡¯t want to die the moment a new threat popped up, he was going to have a couple days worth of farming ahead of him. It was going to be boring. There was no way around that. ¡ª Two days later, Tulland was out of breath and swinging his club like a maniac. He had retrofitted the old club with new, improved vines, and it was much deadlier now in a way he had yet to really test on prey. He was a bit deadlier now too, if not much. If he couldn¡¯t improve his fighting through actual skills, he could at least improve it through practice. He had been working on that every moment his vitality allowed, filling the hours between infusions of Enrich Seed and Quickgrow with sweating, grunting, and general incompetent training. Fully winded now, he slowly jogged a circuit of all his new plants. The Hades Lunger Briars, it turned out, grew just fine from just seeds. He had slowly replaced the big, tangled plug of briars that served as his door with two closely planted rows of the Lunger Briars. At rest, they outlined what looked like a safe and open hallway that led directly to delicious, monster-nourishing human meat. Over the course of the last several hours, they proved that they were anything but safe. Every few hours, a Razored Lunger had wandered by, seen Tulland through the entryway, and charged. The moment they entered that hallway, the briars woke up, tangling the invaders with deadly constrictor strengths, binding them to the ground, and sapping their life force to supplement their own. To his surprise, the Lunger Briars could apparently level by doing this. The one closest to the outside world had benefited the most from the trap, reaching level three and being able to demolish the average beast that wandered in all by itself now. Tulland rested for a while, then turned on the System. ¡°Hey, System. I was thinking about walking around a bit.¡± Oh? About time, I¡¯d say. ¡°Well, yes, but you want me dead.¡± I do not deny it. What is your question? ¡°Do you think I¡¯m ready?¡± Tulland asked. The System responded with silence for a long time. No. I think you will likely die. But you are at least as ready as you¡¯ll ever be. Tulland nodded. Grabbing his scythe-form Farmer¡¯s Tool and thorn-and-vines club, he went to the front of his enclosure, planted some new vines, and leveled the blade of his tool at the strongest few vines of the Lunger Briars. The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System had claimed they would retain some of their function for a while after they were cut, using their remaining energy when they moved and attacked. Tulland wasn¡¯t sure they¡¯d work like he hoped they would, but he wrapped them both around an arm each anyway. Any help out there would be worthwhile, but even if they didn¡¯t work, having a couple loops of thorny vines on his body wouldn¡¯t exactly hurt. He took a deep breath and stepped away from his prison. It was time to learn more about this new world. Chapter 12: Ironbranch The first stop was the trees. They were kind of everywhere except directly by the briars themselves, which seemed to compete with them for nutrients. Tulland had been somewhat in the forest since arriving at the briar patch, getting close enough to touch some trees and even to pump a Quickgrow into one or two. It hadn¡¯t done anything visible, and had left him wondering why. His best guess was that either the trees were so slow-growing that Quickgrow couldn¡¯t affect them enough to be immediately visible, or else that they were so big already that the amount of magic he could output just wasn¡¯t enough, pound for pound, to matter. This time, Tulland wanted to investigate that more closely. He headed to the closest tree, looking carefully for Razored Lungers as he did. It looked as if his briar-traps had cleared the nearby ones out for the moment, leaving him with a bit of room to work. His first move was to scatter several Lunger Briar seeds out, covering a broad area around the tree. One of his experiments had shown that even though Quickgrow wouldn¡¯t work until seeds were actually in contact with the soil, Enrich Seed was something that could be used beforehand as a sort of prep-work for eventual planting. Tulland wasn¡¯t putting out any magical power on Quickgrow right now, since he could do it pretty quick if he needed to. But he knew that given enough time, the briars would root and grow on their own. For now, the seeds were sown into the ground plain as Tulland went straight to the trunk of the tree. In the few moments he had spent close enough to the trees to check them, he hadn¡¯t seen anything on them resembling a seed on any of them. No acorns, no pine cones, no fruits. He had not so much as a guess as to how these things actually reproduced. And his worry was that they didn¡¯t at all. If other people had traveled through this zone, Tulland imagined that they were much stronger than him. But even while all of them would be tougher than him, some of them must have been weaker than others. If they were very weak, they might spend more time in this zone. They might spend enough time to notice the briars growing, or changes in the prairie grass. If The Infinite was trying to maintain the illusion of realism, it would probably simulate things like seeds and pollination for quick-growing plants. But in trees? It could probably ignore seeds and things for trees if it wanted to. Nobody would be around long enough to notice they weren¡¯t regrowing. Of course, that was assuming this whole place wasn¡¯t real. And that the Dungeon System wasn¡¯t basing these trees on real plants somewhere. And that it cared about saving energy by being less than complete. It was a whole host of questions and assumptions that Tulland didn¡¯t have answers for just yet. With no real way of knowing how fake this dungeon was or how completely it was simulated, Tulland was left with the task of painstakingly making sure he wasn''t missing things he would need in the future. He started out by searching the ground near the base of the tree and a few others to make sure there weren¡¯t seeds that had been dropped, going as far as to rake the nearby ground by changing his Farmer¡¯s Tool to a hoe and seeing if he could turn something up. That yielded just dirt, so he examined the branches again, turning up nothing on any of the trees. And by then, his time of easy, murder-free searching was over. Without much warning, a Razored Lunger burst from around a distant tree and ran at him. Tulland grabbed for his club, which he placed leaning against a nearby tree, but badly fumbled the attempt and ended up with his club falling to the dirt as the enemy closed in. With his heart beating wildly in his chest, Tulland dived for the weapon and prayed he¡¯d find enough time to dodge around the tree. Before he could execute that plan, the briars on his arm jumped into action. The briar vines weighed so little thanks to Tulland¡¯s newfound strength that he had almost forgotten they were there before both of them loosened from around his arms and more or less shot through the air at the enemy, keeping only a single loop tethered to Tulland¡¯s forearms for stability. Nobody was more surprised than the Razored Lunger itself, which tried to abort jumping for its prey a moment too late and ended up in an awkward half jump, sliding across the forest dirt on its hind legs and looking a bit like a startled cat. As Tulland jumped to the side to get out of its way, both vines swatted towards the animal. One missed outright, but the other caught the Lunger on its outstretched front leg and whipped it around towards Tulland. The Lunger panicked, clawing at the tree with its three free legs as it tried to right itself and get the leverage it needed to escape the briar. It didn¡¯t work. The second briar came down and looped around its neck, before both of the plants detached from Tulland¡¯s body and began to worm around the Lunger¡¯s free limbs. A few moments later, the animal was pinned to the ground, growling and bleeding until Tulland had pity on it in the form of a strike to the skull with his club. As the animal went limp, the vines continued to writhe and work on it. Tulland remembered what the description of the Hades Lunger Briars had said about regaining energy from prey, decided not to watch, and turned to examine the damage the Lunger had done to the tree. I¡¯m glad that wasn¡¯t aimed at me. It got pretty deep into the wood. On the backside of a piece of bark that the Lunger had ripped loose, Tulland finally found what he was looking for. It was a small, round node, clearly separate from the bark despite being embedded in it. He pressed it out of the wood with his fingers, getting a system description when it finally broke free.
Ironbranch Seed NodeThe story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The Ironbranch Tree reproduces by means of large herbivorous animals which feed off its bark. The animals carry these indigestible seeds with them, eventually depositing them in some other location with a generously provided dollop of fertilizer to go with it.
Putting the seed in his pocket, Tulland started to circle the rest of the tree, looking for more of the nodes. They were fairly easy to see now that he knew what he was looking for, and he found that several good thwacks with the blade of his hoe were usually enough to dislodge the pieces of bark they were stuck in. Once he had six seeds pulled from two separate trees, Tulland dumped whatever remaining magical power he could muster into the briars he had planted earlier to help them get started, and hightailed it back to camp. ¡ª ¡°Is it too much to hope I can make a monster tree to guard me?¡± Tulland asked with a slight smile on his face. Likely. Especially since you¡¯ve failed so miserably at the beginnings of that task so far. Back home, Tulland had harvested more fruits from his pet briars and set them in the soil to grow. His plan was to now mass produce as many Lunger Briars as he could, slowly making more and more of the territory around his camp dangerous to local wildlife and creating a sort of safe zone for himself until he figured out his next steps. He only had so much magic to dedicate to that task, but even without class enhancements, he could still count on a whole lot of seeds per day to scatter haphazardly into the wilderness. And it was free experience, even if they didn¡¯t give very much per plant. Tulland had then turned to the tree seeds, immediately getting a hard reality check to his hopes of a tree ent army in the form of a blunt, disappointing message.
Seed Enrichment Failed! This plant is compatible with seed enrichment, but is much too powerful of a species to be affected by your current level of power. In the same way that a normal person would fail to subvert a lich, you simply don¡¯t have what it takes to change the makeup of this plant. Enrichment may or may not become possible as your skills advance and your personal power grows.
It is not surprising. What is more surprising is that you could alter any plant, no matter how simple or weak. ¡°You¡¯ve really never seen anything like this before? No farming class has ever improved a plant?¡± Improved, yes. Stolen from a dungeon and domesticated, no. And I¡¯m relatively sure they tried. If this is the absolute limit of what your class will do, I¡¯m not surprised. Tulland sighed and turned the System¡¯s connection off. He had no way of knowing whether or not it was telling him the truth, and so far, it had provided him with precious little actual help. But as long as the System didn¡¯t actually directly harm him, Tulland was willing to keep opening the connection. The mere chance that it might be helpful at some point wasn¡¯t a resource he could pass up. And if I¡¯m being honest, I need the company. I¡¯m going to go insane if I¡¯m alone in here. Tulland took the few tree seeds he had and ran a similar experiment to what he had with the briar seeds, but this time without enriching the seeds at all. He applied the briar fruit as a fertilizer to one, animal fertilizer to another, and so on, getting several variations of experiments in the ground before hitting one of them with Quickgrow. Before he could judge the results, the world darkened and rose up to meet Tulland¡¯s face. Five minutes or so later, he woke up. Wow. Greedy little guys, these new seeds. That took everything I had. Tulland hadn¡¯t waited until his magic was entirely full after the last batch of Quickgrow charges he delivered to the briars planted near the tree, and had apparently bottomed out hard. Overdrawing magic was something Tulland had heard of, and something he knew was mildly dangerous when it happened consistently, but the only solution he knew to the problem was to just have more magic power in general. In this case, the most he could do was eat, drink water, and sit around until his power climbed back to full. His earlier complete rest helped that happen a little faster, and within several minutes he was able to charge up the next seed while maintaining his consciousness. It didn¡¯t feel great though. Once all the tree seeds were as empowered as Tulland could make them, he was tired. Something about using magic in particular sapped him of energy in a way moving around, working, or even fighting just didn¡¯t. He picked a few handfuls of Lunger Briar seeds and planted them around the entrance to his space, which always seemed to be a good policy. Then, with a bad headache brewing, he went back to sleep. ¡ª ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯ve never been hungry. Not really.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle was peeling potatoes. Tulland was hard-pressed to say when this memory actually happened. It could have been at any point in his life after he had learned to speak. ¡°If you had, you wouldn¡¯t say that.¡± ¡°It takes a month to starve,¡± Tulland said. He knew he was being stubborn, and even knew his uncle was right, at least on some level of his child-like mind. ¡°And the army was two weeks away. They could have marched there. They could have made it.¡± Some historic city had been sacked because some army or another in one of his tutor¡¯s lessons hadn¡¯t been able to get there, and they were more than strong enough to protect it if they had just marched faster. It was the dreaded boring logistics his teacher was so fond of and claimed was all-powerful in matters of war. Tulland was convinced, absolutely convinced, that the solution for that problem was simply to push through. The army had swords, and they had a target. They should have been able to take care of things. The solution to saving the city, Tulland felt, was easy. They would just march faster and then swing their swords against the invaders. His uncle had laughed when he had told him that. Like it was silly. ¡°And after you had marched a week on an empty stomach, you¡¯d turn around and three quarters of the men would be gone. Half of those would have deserted because that kind of hunger is much less pleasant than you think it is. Another half might have kept on because of duty, then found out that when they say it takes a month to starve, they meant while standing still.¡± His uncle held up a potato. ¡°A couple of days march on no food, people start to drop. Hurt or dead.¡± ¡°And you know this how?¡± Tulland grabbed a potato and a knife and started working on taking the peel off too. All this talk of food was getting to him. ¡°You were never in the military.¡± ¡°No, but I was in a boat with no wind, rowing with a little oar that wasn¡¯t built for the job, and having bad luck catching fish. When I got a little one at the end of the second day, I ate it raw. Eyeballs and all.¡± His uncle tossed the second to last potato into the pot, looked to see that Tulland had the last one, and wiped his starchy hands off on his coat. With semi-clean hands, Tulland¡¯s uncle ruffled his nephew¡¯s hair. ¡°Point is, they weren¡¯t being cowards. You can¡¯t move an army without food any more than you can throw an army up a cliff. It doesn¡¯t work. Your tutor isn¡¯t wrong. If you didn¡¯t like the idea of battles so much, you¡¯d know that. When has he ever been wrong before?¡± Chapter 13: Wager Tulland woke up to more plants. Most of the trees had failed, but one was beginning to grow, specifically the one he had planted in the pulp of the briar fruits. The rest of them appeared to have failed, and he confirmed that by trying to pump a charge of Quickgrow into them. It failed. They were good and dead. He put another round of Quickgrow into the successful seed, then started making his rounds on his briars. Today was the day he cleaned some of them out. The old-style Hades Briars were of little use to him now. He kept some of the very best plants for club-making, but even those might not be needed once he had the chance to try a used-up Lunger Briar for the job. The trees would be days, maybe even weeks, before they were large enough to matter much. But Tulland¡¯s last dream had reminded him of something. He was the kind of guy who thought most hard problems just needed a hero as their solutions. And some problems really were that way. But more often than not, Tulland had found that his tutor was right, especially as he got old enough to know the difference between fantasy and reality. Boring is powerful. If I had to sum that old man in one sentence, it would be that. And right in that moment, Tulland started to get confirmation that the old man was right.
Remote Victory! You have killed an enemy you can¡¯t see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense. A significant portion of experience has been awarded for this achievement.
Remote Victory! You have killed an enemy you can¡¯t see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense.
Remote Victory! You have¡­
Somewhere outside Tulland¡¯s enclosure, his Lunger Briars were at work. He realized a bit late that the vines he had left out by the trees would eventually grow fruits, and that those fruits would draw in animals that wanted to eat them. He wasn¡¯t getting experience from any of the kills besides that first one, but that didn¡¯t mean it was a useless thing. The fewer monsters in the woods, the farther he could go, and the more things he could find. Given enough time, he could render any distance mostly safe with briars. Considering the fact that he didn¡¯t even know how far there was to go, that was a real possibility. ¡°System.¡± Yes? ¡°How do I go up floors?¡± The System went quiet for a while. Tulland decided not to give it the satisfaction of talking again. It would only set the System up to make its eventual jab at Tulland a bit better. Is this a serious question? ¡°Would I ask if it wasn¡¯t?¡± I do not pretend to know what you think is important enough to waste my time with, these days. ¡°Just tell me. Or I can cut the connection.¡± If you did, who else could you ask? ¡°The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System, I guess. Oh, damn.¡± Tulland almost smacked his forehead. ¡°That¡¯s the answer, right?¡± Right. Now, if you don¡¯t mind, do cut that connection. I¡¯d rather not have to listen in on you learning things any child would know if they had grown up under a properly powerful System. Tulland probably would have got the notification when he first arrived here if he hadn¡¯t been depending on the System from his world. It only took the slightest query aimed in the right direction to get every bit of explanation he could want.
The Infinite, Floor 1 (Detailed Description) This space serves as an introduction for the dangers to come and is slightly more dangerous than the average tutorial level. It consists of two biomes, neither of which are inclement or particularly arduous to traverse. Foes: Razored Lunger ??? ??? Objectives: Locate the Exit
¡°Well, that¡¯s easy enough,¡± Tulland said with a smile. I requested you banish me. Did I not? ¡°Fine, fine. Have a fun time.¡± You know I can¡¯t. Tulland cut off the connection and got to work. He loaded up his arms with the lunging variety of briar vines, which were more than enough against Razored Lunger and, Tulland hoped, the other monsters of this floor. Then, gathering every single fruit he could manage, he went out into the world. Now that Tulland knew that the fruits themselves would draw in monsters, he could be a lot more efficient with his vines. By now, he had a pretty good sense of how close together the briar plants could grow without robbing each other of resources too much. He walked for a few minutes, killing a few Lungers on the way, then planted three of the seeds. Then he walked a few more minutes in another direction, making a wide circle all the way back to home. By the time he was finished, he had dropped about fifty seeds, and empowered at least one out of every group with a Quickgrow.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Time was starting to have an only conditional meaning in this place. Tulland had walked a long time today and spent a lot of magic, and was now exhausted, so he slept. He woke up whenever his body was ready, and repeated the cycle. Within a few cycles, he had a couple dozen patches of plants out in the wilderness, all of which were making their own fruits, attracting their own prey, and slaughtering them without Tulland having to do a thing. All hail the wonder of logistics! Tulland thought, more than a little loopy after a string of days walking and planting seeds with no results he was actually present for to show for it. Only through logistics can we triumph! He didn¡¯t realize how right he was until the notifications started pouring in. With them was another pang of longing for his tutor.
Acreage You have established a farm over ten square miles in area, however sparsely cultivated it may be. Rewards: Experience and progress towards a class-appropriate passive skill
Remote Control (100x) You have killed a hundred enemies you could not see or sense. Your ability to accomplish this is beginning to cross thresholds from something you can do to a primary component of how your class functions. Rewards: Experience and progress towards a class-appropriate skill
Level up! Capped! You have earned a class-appropriate skill that cannot be rewarded because the total of your mental stats is too low. Raise your mental stats to receive this reward.
It wasn¡¯t a very hard decision of where to put the points. Not only was putting a bunch of them to his mental capabilities a given just to get the skill, but the last four days had been entirely bottlenecked by his ability to regenerate his magic. Into Spirit and Force you go, little points! Tulland sent his points into spirit until he got the new skill, and then pushed everything else into force.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV 12 Strength: 25 Finesse: 25 Vitality: 20 Spirit: 20 Mind: 10 Force: 20 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 8, Enrich Seed LV. 8 Passives: Biome Control LV. 1, Botanical Engineer LV. 1, Strong Back LV. 2
Biome Control LV. 1 (Passive) The more plants you have within a given area, the more powerful they become, the faster they grow, and the better they tend to do even in environments they are not suited for. A large network will also experience an increased rate of propagation, furthering the depth and power of the network even more. This effect is limited by several factors. First, a diversity of species is necessary to reach the highest heights this skill can ascend to. An extensive enough monoculture will eventually render the contribution of each new plant almost, if not entirely, null. Second, the general value of the plants in the network matters. One thousand daisies still pale in comparison to one mighty oak. As a general rule, more useful plants, rarer plants, and plants that have a greater effect on their local environment will contribute the most. Special note: As you acquired this skill in a dungeon, it is relevant to note that each floor of a dungeon counts as a separate world from all the others for the purpose of this skill. Since the distance between a plant on one floor and a plant on another is effectively infinite, their influence on each other is null even if they are planted on opposite sides of a level exit.
And that, Tulland knew, was probably the biggest improvement he could have possibly received. As the remote kill confirmations continued to pour in, he was fairly certain that this level had just gone from questionably beatable to an eventual cakewalk, even if it might take an awfully long time to see the fruits of that transition. ¡°Hey, System. Want to make a bet?¡± A bet? ¡°A bet. A real one. Is that something you can do?¡± Hardly. What would you have that I would want? And how would I take it if I did want it? ¡°You can destroy a skill, right?¡± Tulland had paid just enough attention to the Church¡¯s sessions to know that was something the System held over its apostles. There was a pause. I can¡¯t unless you let me. ¡°I¡¯ll let you if you win. One entire skill gone from my catalog. I bet you can even get something for it, right? Some reclaimed energy or something.¡± And what would be the terms of this bet? I would need specifics. ¡°I say I can beat this floor and the next within a month. And if I can¡¯t, you get what you want.¡± That¡¯s likely impossible. While I don¡¯t feel bad about cheating you, Tulland, or even getting you killed, I¡¯m not a sadist. ¡°You¡¯re scared? Of little old me? That I can do something you don¡¯t think I can do? I couldn¡¯t do that unless I was smarter than you, System.¡± There was another pause, this time longer than the one before. Tulland thought that he had overplayed his hand. And then the System responded. There would be nothing that would force you to pay up. ¡°Oh, hmm. Yes, I suppose that¡¯s so. And my word won¡¯t do?¡± No. And neither will mine. We are both of us untrustworthy in this matter. ¡°Well, the only other person I even know on this plain of existence is¡­¡±
Wager proposed! The Infinite has been called on to adjudicate a bet between Tulland Lowstreet of Ouros and the System peculiar to his world. The terms as proposed and adjusted for fairness are as follows:
  1. Tulland Lowstreet will attempt to conquer both the first and second floors within one Ouros calendar month.
  2. On failure, he will forfeit one skill to his former System, which will be rendered into a type of energy usable by it. The Infinite will accommodate the particulars of this exchange at its own expense.
  3. On success, Tulland will receive a reward appropriate to his class and situation chosen by The Infinite¡¯s system. The costs for this reward will be paid out of the Ouros System¡¯s personal energy budget.
Do both parties accept?
This is foolish. You cannot¡­ ¡°Yes,¡± Tulland said, grinning. His life was so cheap in this place that adding an extra element of risk hardly mattered. But for the System, it was a potential disaster. That meant he needed to do a bit extra taunting. ¡°What? Are you scared? Of me? A mere human? The same human who you betrayed? Afraid that I¡¯ll win?¡± I do not know or experience fear. ¡°And yet, I¡¯m the only yes so far.¡± Tulland could almost hear the annoyance as the System tried to come up with a counter for that. He knew it couldn¡¯t, it knew it couldn¡¯t, and they both knew that even the System had its pride on the line here.
Wager finalized! Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s objectives are set, and the timer to complete them begins now. Good luck!
Chapter 14: Cards And so the bet was set, and done in a way that Tulland suspected wasn¡¯t reversible. That, in itself, was the first win for Tulland. He had another piece of information about the relationship between his System and The Infinite that he wouldn¡¯t have ever gotten from the System itself. It had to, as near as Tulland could tell, do what The Infinite said in certain situations. At the very least, it seemed The Infinite could bind the Ouros System to certain kinds of agreements it had made. If that¡¯s all it was, The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System wasn¡¯t necessarily an all-powerful entity. But it was a way for Tulland to get things out of his System that it wouldn¡¯t otherwise give, or to get it to pay out where it might otherwise cheap out on him. If there was a way for Tulland to get any kind of real victory over the System, it would have to involve something like this. Some kind of clever loophole he could exploit when trying to down a literal god. He had nowhere near the power to do that alone, but by calling on the strength of another god? It just might be doable. Of course, that¡¯s making quite a giant assumption that their whole relationship and everything I can see isn¡¯t some kind of cruel, elaborate prank. But if that¡¯s the case, I¡¯m going down anyway. This is the best bet I can make. Tulland had turned off the System as soon as the bet was finalized. He had planning to do, and he didn¡¯t particularly want the System influencing him with honeyed words while he tried to do it. The way Tulland saw it, he didn¡¯t have an absolute overabundance of cards to make his hand out of. But he had some, and if he learned one thing while watching his uncle play betting games, it was that you didn¡¯t always make your bets when it was sure you¡¯d win. By that time, other people would have ways to figure out the strength of your hand and wouldn¡¯t commit. Instead, you started betting early, got them in deeper than they wanted to be, and hoped your hand would improve as the game wore on. The first card Tulland had was an unlikely sort of ally in The Infinite. It wasn¡¯t necessarily on his side, but it did at least seem impartial, and the terms it had stipulated for him on the bet were more generous and better thought out than any he would have negotiated himself. It wasn¡¯t anything he could count on, and The Infinite hadn¡¯t provided him with the rule book it used to mediate those kinds of things, but it was better than having a hostile entity in cahoots with his arch-nemesis. Tulland¡¯s second card was a bit harder to quantify. His new skill made his plants stronger, and it made them grow faster, and seemed to imply some characteristics plants held, like value, that he didn¡¯t understand yet. He imagined that the actual effect of the skill would be pretty weak on a per-plant level, but there were a couple of things that made him hopeful. A normal farmer would be limited in terms of the total amount of land they could access. Tulland had heard of some pretty big farms on the continent, even some bigger than the entire island on which he lived. But those were worked by big groups of agricultural specialists, unclassed but skilled. There was a limit to what one person could do themselves, even if they had a class. They would have to till the soil, fertilize, weed, and harvest, as well as a dozen other things an expert farmer would do that Tulland had no clue about. They would only claim so much land because there was only so much land they could actually work. Tulland had neither of those limitations right now because the plants he was growing simply didn¡¯t need that much help. Even unenhanced, the seeds of the briars seemed willing to sprout anywhere, on any soil, with any amount of moisture available to them. They were weeds that hunted, and once a seed landed somewhere, the plants seemed entirely capable of taking care of themselves. To the extent Tulland was limited in this place, it would be by the total size of this floor of the dungeon and how much time he could dedicate to scattering seeds. Which isn¡¯t much of a limitation at all. Let¡¯s get to work. Since the briars no longer tried to make life hell for Tulland, he could pick more seeds in a few minutes than he could carry. The first job would be fixing that limitation. Scythe in hand, Tulland harvested several vines, then cut them to length before beginning to weave them together into an unbelievably crude, brutal-looking fabric.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. If he wasn¡¯t immune to the damage his own plants could put out, it would have been a dangerous job. Even in a situation where he couldn¡¯t get pricked to death, the thorns were still a big problem, getting in the way constantly as he rearranged the plants again and again until they fit relatively close together. Once that was done, the thorns became an asset instead of a liability. The completed weave couldn¡¯t have come apart even if it wanted to, given that the thorns either acted as pegs to keep the vines from sliding or went completely through them to more or less nail them into place. Once Tulland had a makeshift, half-meter-square tarp with two sides weaved together, he took a few more vines, wove them through in a slightly different way, and managed to create two rope handles of sorts that would pull the bag mostly closed as he lifted it. Then he got to work in earnest. Running around his space, he grabbed as many fruits as he could, tossing them into of the bag. There was no shortage of fruits growing in his original cut-out briar area, and after a minute or so, he had dozens of the things. He started to move towards the outside world, pulling fruits from his gate-keeper briars as he went. Once Tulland was outside, he started chucking the damn things to lighten his load. He very honestly didn¡¯t care where they landed so long as they landed by themselves, and with enough points in strength, that was easy to do. Once he had thrown out what he had, Tulland returned to his area, made sure to get whatever remaining fruits there were, then exited and started doing rounds of the more distant, sparse areas. He took along a few new Lunger Briar vines in his bag in addition to the few he had around his arms, just in case. As he passed the little clumps of briars he had planted earlier, he stripped them of fruits, hit the plants with Quickgrow and seeds with Enrich Seed, and threw them as he went. Tulland could move faster now than he had ever been able to at any point in his life. Even carrying a big, awkward bag that kept snagging on his clothes, he could cover a mile in mere minutes. It only took him an estimated few hours to make a full circle as big as the one he made in the days before. His increased spirit was doing a hell of a job keeping him topped off, too. Even short gaps between clumps of plants that took a few minutes walking regenerated enough magical power to push a few charges of Quickgrow. Longer walks meant he could use the more expensive Enrich Seed, which seemed to drain him more than anything else he could do physically or spiritually at the moment. By the time he got back to home base, some of the higher level briars he had magically enhanced before he left had already pushed out new fruits, which he immediately planted. Then, after resting for about an hour, he picked what new fruits he could find and began to leave. And then he saw the damnedest thing. Well, isn¡¯t that interesting. I didn¡¯t plant you, did I? Just outside of the entrance to his briar fortress, Tulland saw a briar sprout that had taken hold near the base of another plant. It wasn¡¯t anything special. A quick inspection told him it was a level 1 nothing, a seed that didn¡¯t seem to have gotten any benefit from Tulland¡¯s magical abilities or fertilizer. But it had grown on its own. At some point, one of the briars had dropped a fruit, and it had taken root all by itself. That was Tulland¡¯s third card in his rapidly improving hand against the System. Tulland laughed, and flipped on his communications with the System. ¡°Heya, System. What do you think of this?¡± Tulland asked. This? I don¡¯t see anything interesting in the area, except your little thorn bushes. ¡°That¡¯s what I mean. This one in particular, right here. What do you think of it?¡± There was the usual System¡¯s-pregnant-silence Tulland had come to expect, either before it mocked him or when it was at a loss for words. I don¡¯t understand what you are getting at. ¡°No, I bet you don¡¯t.¡± The System had no idea about Tulland¡¯s recent biome skill, and the sheer confusion in its voice confirmed that it hadn¡¯t even begun to figure out what Tulland was up to. Without that skill as context, the things Tulland had spent the last few hours doing probably looked like sheer insanity, like he was wasting time growing lower quality plants when he could have tried to figure out how to cultivate better and better ones. ¡°Just know that I¡¯m going faster and doing better than you could possibly imagine. I¡¯ll talk to you in a week, okay? Keep your eyes open while I work. You might see some interesting things.¡± Tulland worked for another five or six hours until he found he was finally too tired to make any more rounds. It was only when he sat down to eat some fruits and rest that he finally started to see the results of his hard labor.
Skill level up!
Tulland smiled and went to sleep. He saved the satisfaction of looking at his new, survival-crucial numbers until after he woke up. Chapter 15: Forest Duke
Skill level up!
Skill level up!
Skill level up!
Looks like something¡¯s going on. I¡¯d better take a little stroll. Tulland loaded up his bag with seeds again before he set out. There were hundreds of the fruits to pick now, compounding at an incredible rate. He tossed full handfuls of them at any open spots of ground as he walked out of his more established territory, picking what he easily could as he went. All around, there were starting to be little sprouts at the bases of long-established plants, springing up and tangling with their older siblings as they grew. I guess it makes sense. Tulland ran his hand over one particularly dense clump of four or five plants. The briar patch I jumped headfirst into was huge. These are plants that grow to fill fields if you leave them alone. Even when Tulland got out of what he considered his home territory, he found he was still surrounded by briars, if a little sparser. They were springing up from places he had chucked seeds into, getting thicker and stronger as time went by. He hadn¡¯t gained any levels outside his skills, but it was easy to see what the propagation speed was benefiting.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 12 Strength: 25 Finesse: 25 Vitality: 20 Spirit: 20 Mind: 10 Force: 20 Skills: Quickgrow LV. 8, Enrich Seed LV. 8 Passives: Biome Control LV. 4, Botanical Engineer LV. 2, Strong Back LV. 2
Tulland did his best to control his expectations for future leveling. It seemed like there was only so much any particular activity could do for him before the Dungeon System caught on and capped him. He guessed that for a regular dungeon class, that just meant they pressed forward to find the next tougher monster. Or for a farming class outside of the dungeon, they would try new crops or else be okay with just waiting around for a few growing seasons¡¯ worth of experience to accumulate. Here, reason and fairness were out the window. New enemy types meant Tulland would level very quickly after the initial encounter, if the trend after facing his first two enemy types was to be believed. After that, he was getting a little bit of experience from farming, with bigger chunks coming in from achievements. He wasn¡¯t okay with that, but there wasn¡¯t much he could do but grow more things and hope his plants eventually found their new types of prey. And that he got credit for those kills while he was nowhere nearby. Tulland did his rounds, marveling at how fast things were going and speeding up the process where he could. It was when he had just about finished the loop that he noticed something. Droppings. New droppings. If this place was fake, The Infinite had done a pretty good job simulating it. Tulland had become pretty familiar with leavings of the Razored Lungers over the last several days, especially since they seemed to usually leave some out of sheer fear when his briar vines caught them. These were different. Mostly, they were larger. Whatever had put down the pile was a bigger animal, if the evidence was any indication. But they were also just different enough that Tulland was pretty sure he wasn¡¯t looking at the same type of animal as Razored Lungers. He didn¡¯t know a lot about droppings or tracking, but these were quite a lot larger than anything else he had seen. It¡¯s worth looking into, at least. Tulland reached for his tool and turned it into a shovel before making any final decisions about what he would do about the animal. Whatever he did, it was no use letting good fertilizer go to waste. He scooped up what was there and walked it over to the nearest briar, dumping it on the ground where the stalk of the plant met the soil. Putting his tool away and grabbing his club, Tulland dropped his bag on the ground and started walking through the woods. Tracking wasn¡¯t really a thing on Ouros, mostly because there wasn¡¯t much to track. Good fishermen had a sense of where schools of fish might be found from day to day, but that was about as close as they got to the tracking that ranger classes might do. As such, he had no idea what he was doing at all. He kept his eyes peeled for anything unusual and otherwise just moved in a fairly straight line directly away from his territory, hoping he got lucky. Come on, prey. Let me find you and kill you. Good ol¡¯ Tulland needs the experience. I¡¯m sure you understand. Tulland¡¯s eyes lit up as he found a broken branch with a bit of fur stuck to it. It wasn¡¯t Lunger fur, at least, which helped him keep his hopes for more experience up as he crept quietly through the woods, his club up and ready for action. Action found him soon enough. He was pushing quietly through some brush between a stand of trees when it suddenly gave way. Catching his forward momentum with a quick stumbling step forward, Tulland saw the animal standing across the field. His mistake, Tulland immediately knew, was assuming that whatever he was chasing would end up being prey. Almost everything was prey for something, but Tulland had forgotten that almost nothing was prey for him personally until a week or so ago. The general inability of the Lungers to deal with any of his various vine-based attacking options and the fact that the vines around his base dealt with most threats before he even saw them had done more than just give Tulland a false sense of security.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. It made me stupid. The fact that he was dumb was hardly in question. The antler animal in front of him was huge and muscular, clearly built for long-distance speed in a way the Lungers weren¡¯t, and had antlers that literally glowed near their spiked tips. This was a different tier of animal entirely, something that might have been technically killable, but was absolutely, positively not prey.
Objective Change! You have failed to locate the exit of this floor before running afoul of its ruler. The stair to the next floor has been rendered undiscoverable until either you or it perishes. New Objective: Kill The Forest Duke
Forest Duke This large hoofed animal rules over its territory with impunity, attacking any animal with the temerity to get close. It is vicious, powerful, and has encyclopedic knowledge in regards to the layout of this floor. The Forest Duke represents a powerful challenge for any adventurer new to The Infinite, and promises similarly outsized rewards to those that defeat it.
Tulland took off running. If there was any question whether the antler monster would chase after him, that was immediately answered by the soil that the thing ripped up and threw behind as it launched itself towards him. Tulland was fast, much faster than he realized. His strength and agility were pushing him further on each stride than he would have thought possible if he wasn¡¯t accomplishing the feat in that moment. The Forest Duke was still much faster. Even with the head start of an entire forest clearing, it only took about ten seconds before Tulland could hear the monster a few footsteps behind him. Tulland turned on a dime and swung the club back and forth, wild enough that the Forest duke had to take note. He was almost completely sure the weapon wouldn¡¯t do much to the monster, but the forest duke certainly didn¡¯t know that yet. It was better than getting skewered immediately, in any case. The antlers whistled through the air as the animal swung them side to side, which gave Tulland just enough warning to duck and turn before they impaled him on the head. He managed to dodge four of those attacks before he caught his foot on a root, lost a mere fraction of a breath¡¯s time, and felt the antlers crash into his left arm from the side. Tulland went flying. He managed to land on his feet, but his offhand arm was a mess. Something important for holding it up had broken below his shoulder, and it hung limp at his side. Aware that he now wouldn¡¯t be able to swing his club well with his balance gone, Tulland threw it sidearm at the animal as hard as he could. It wasn¡¯t a good throw, but it still meant trouble when the Forest Duke didn¡¯t even appear to mind the hit. The club thunked into the animal, failing to penetrate far enough into its hide to bother anything, then fell to the floor. The animal looked at the weapon, snorted, then brought its rage-filled eyes back up to gaze at Tulland. That delay saved him. It was just long enough for whatever primitive targeting the briar vines used to figure out where the threat was and start launching themselves. As the huge elk took a step forward towards Tulland, it was suddenly snagged around the ankle by the end of a vine wrapped around Tulland¡¯s now useless club. The Forest Duke roared with rage when a lucky twist let the thorn penetrate a bit into the animal¡¯s ankle as the briar worked back and forth, trying to wrap the animal up. But what little bit of length it had managed to unwrap from the club wasn¡¯t enough for a full loop. With a quick motion, the elk brought its rear legs up before kicking them out and sending Tulland¡¯s club flying into the distance. While that happened, the two vines around Tulland¡¯s arms were already in motion. The first flew from his good arm while it was outstretched from the club-throwing, and hit the animal low. It managed to get around both of its forelegs while the beast was dealing with the threat behind it, and made another loop for good measure as it squeezed like a boa constrictor. For just a second, Tulland had some hope that his plants might work. If the Forest Duke didn¡¯t have a counter to the threat of the Hades Lunger Briar, it just might be enough to slow it down, hurt it, or even kill it over enough time. It wasn¡¯t meant to be. Shaking its head in rage, the monster lowered its jaw to the vine, bit down, and severed it in two. That was too much for the vine, which went limp immediately. The last vine was an overachiever. As Tulland started running again, it had already taken the opportunity to latch around the Forest Duke¡¯s neck, which was about the least convenient angle Tulland could imagine if the monster was going to bite through it. Tulland didn¡¯t wait to see how that briar fared. Given what he had seen so far, it was almost certain that the vine wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop the monster for more than a few seconds no matter how well it was situation. He needed as much distance as he could get, as quickly as he could get it. He got some too. It took the Forest Duke almost a half minute to catch up to him once it started after him again. Out of weapons, injured, and still a good distance from home, Tulland steeled himself for death as he kept running. He might have led it through the briars, but they were far from solidly grown out here, and the thing was smart enough to avoid them during the chase. He could turn and fight, but there was little question who would win. At least it doesn¡¯t seem like it will take it very long to finish the job. It¡¯s pretty strong. In the end, it was Tulland¡¯s makeshift bag that saved him. Tulland didn¡¯t lead the Duke over it on purpose, but the mere fact that the fastest way towards home took him past the bag meant that they both crossed over it as they ran. Neither of them were expecting anything from it, and both were about equally shocked when the entire bag, powered by its Lunger briar parts, bounced off the ground, wrapped around the front leg of the Duke like a long plant-based sock, and began to squeeze. Tulland ran like he was being chased by the devil himself. He might as well have been. And thankfully, the bag was made out of so many different segments of vine that the Forest Duke had trouble getting rid of them all. Every time it bit through one, another few would untangle and start working on the monster. Tulland moved as fast as he could while the elk monster trumpeted in rage behind him, closing the distance to his home as fast as he could. He managed to make it with the Forest Duke following close behind. His territory was thick enough with briars that they began to slow the elk down, either by outright attacking or making the monster take a less-than-straight line that allowed Tulland to maintain his lead. Finally, Tulland found himself at the entrance to his camp with a lead of several strides. His arm was screaming in so much pain that he thought he¡¯d puke, but he launched himself through the air, leaping headfirst into his enclosure and rolling as he made it past his own guard briars. The Forest Duke looked at the space in confusion. It seemed to have no idea that anything like this was here, which was reasonable enough considering the patch hadn¡¯t been this developed several days ago. Its angry eyes came up and looked at Tulland wildly as it considered the new scenery. Come on. Don¡¯t step forward. Just go away. Don¡¯t step forward. Please. It took it a few more seconds to decide, and Tulland looked on in resignation as the elk snorted, put its hoof forward, and began to walk into his camp. Chapter 16: Ironbranch Sapling The only thing standing between Tulland and getting speared on a half dozen antler-points was his fragile, mindlessly loyal vines. They weren¡¯t very strong. Even though one member of the briar corps had killed dozens of Razored Lungers, that only meant Tulland had a slightly less mooky mook fighting on his side. He had only created a weapon that could consistently take out the lowest-level threat living in the first floor of a supposedly infinite tower. The Forest Duke was probably the weakest boss the tower had to offer. Compared to the Cannian Knight that Tulland would find on the fifth floor, it was like fighting a down-stuffed pillow. But the big deer-like thing was still a boss, and an optional challenge boss on top of that. It was strong enough to effortlessly break even the strongest of Tulland¡¯s briar army. It charged past the first one, then past the second, and then the third. As they grasped on, it slowed only slightly and only took the shallowest of scratches from the thorns. And not that it was a good bet, not that it was how Tulland wanted to find out exactly how far the whole biome density concept could go, but there were a few things the elk hadn¡¯t thought about while it accurately assessed that each individual briar wasn¡¯t a threat. The first was pain. Stings, huh? Tulland grinned through the bloody teeth he had gained from getting smacked around by the elk, not pitying it one bit. One characteristic of the briars was that they hurt like hell, something that probably didn¡¯t add much to their general lethality but was, in Tulland¡¯s direct and personal experience, distracting as hell. Annoyed and slightly agonized by the newfound pain, the Forest Duke stopped to retaliate against a few of the briars, trumpeting and snorting as it did. That was a mistake. The elk hadn¡¯t considered that Tulland kept hundreds of briars in the deep hallway he had built around his exit. While both the Forest Duke and Tulland fully agreed that it could take on as many individual briars as it wanted, this wasn¡¯t a one-on-one duel. Tulland had been paranoid that some smart monster would sneak in during the night, and his solution had been to overpopulate his home camp to an extent that it would kill a Razored Lunger a hundred times over. The math didn¡¯t necessarily make sense when comparing one very large, very strong enemy against what amounted to a bunch of very sharp badgers, but it was still a lot of briars, much more than he suspected the boss had any kind of experience with. When the Forest Duke moved to retaliate, a dozen more briars found themselves in position to strike. When the monster broke away from those too, it got into range of a dozen more briars, all ready to spend out their life force trying to take him down. The monster wasn¡¯t stopped, exactly. It was making slow, steady progress towards Tulland. But it had slowed down to a crawl as it fought with thorn briar after thorn briar in an endless hallway of annoyance and pain. Tulland decided to make it worse for the elk. Struggling back to his feet, he rushed around the complex cutting down his oldest and toughest Hades Lunger Briars, dropping his tool after each cut to use his good hand to pick up the harvest and chuck it either at the Forest Duke or in the way of its advance. As he did, he felt Strong Back very slowly working to reorient his bones and get him back in shape for what the skill likely thought of as a hard day¡¯s work on a normal, completely conventional farm. After the first fifteen chucked vines, something shifted hard in Tulland¡¯s shoulder. The bone clicked back into place, almost knocking him out with pain but also bringing his left arm back to some semblance of function. He roared, letting the agony drive his adrenaline as he cut and chucked as many briars as he could get his hands on. The mere fact that the briars were now flying from a higher angle made the pain worth it. The Forest Duke had to worry about its neck and eyes, which meant that those briars were getting most of its attention. It was surprisingly flexible and good at sussing out the right angle to twist its head against each new grasping projectile, but it was still slowing down that much more. And yet, it wouldn¡¯t be enough. Tulland could see that. He was shit at fighting. The briars could do their absolute best and it still wouldn¡¯t be enough to take down the Forest Duke. It was going to take forever, but the monster was eventually going to get through the briar hallway, and then Tulland would have nowhere to go. He might have even tried to fight it too, if he had only kept his club. Now he had nothing to work with but his Farmer¡¯s Tool, which wouldn¡¯t do much. And he had briar vines, which weren¡¯t long enough to be used as a whip and might have done something beyond a distraction if Tulland had a way to mount them on a chassis that would let him attack in any way besides chucking them in the enemy¡¯s direction. There was no way he could do that. But is that true? I do have at least one stick. Every day, religiously, Tulland had pumped multiple charges of Quickgrow into his tree seed. It had sprouted and put the magical power to use, albeit slowly. It was never going to be a full tree while Tulland was here. He had long since accepted that he¡¯d either move on or die before the plant got big enough to look like anything besides a very young sapling.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. It was a very young, very green, and very healthy-looking stick with precious few branches coming off of it, but it was a stick. Tulland threw the last few briars he had cut and rushed over to it, giving it a quick inspect to see what he was dealing with.
Ironbranch Sapling (Semi-Cultivated) You have not cultivated this plant from a seed, but your involvement in its growth grants you access to some enhanced knowledge about it. The Ironbranch Tree reproduces by means of large herbivorous animals which feed off its bark. As they do, they carry indigestible seeds with them, eventually depositing them in some other location with a generously provided dollop of fertilizer to go with it. It uses this initial burst of energy to throw a deep root structure through the soil, gathering some small amount of organic material and a great deal of inorganic material into itself. The resulting wood is irregular and tough in a way that makes it unsuitable for most forms of refined woodworking. It is, however, exceptionally hard and heavy. Your involvement in the growth of this plant grants you slightly increased influence over it, augmenting the ease with which you can harvest from it.
Tulland prayed that ¡°ease with which you can harvest from it¡± stretched so far as to encompass ¡°cutting down the entire plant,¡± and was pleased when his very best scythe swing managed to put a half-inch notch in the tree. He didn¡¯t wait to see if he could slice the same spot again, and instead just threw all his weight into his good shoulder as he more or less tackled the tree. Tulland heard a satisfying crack as it cleaved mostly at the point he had pre-cut into it, leaving him with a mostly uncracked, only slightly pointed stick about as thick as his wrist. He looked over at the Forest Duke, which was now steadily pushing through the last quarter or so of his briars. There wasn¡¯t any time to mess with the stick any further. It would either be enough of his creation to do decent damage to system-things at his current level of skill, or it wouldn¡¯t. Tulland ran as fast as he could to where the Forest Duke was restrained, planted his lead foot heavily in the dirt in front of it, and swung at the elk¡¯s head with every last bit of his strength he could muster. He missed, then almost fell on his own backside as the monster snapped out its teeth at him, ignoring the briars for a moment to attack the bigger, softer target. Tulland reset and swung just as heavily again, then again. He missed each time, as he might have expected when fighting a much superior opponent. And then, just for a moment, the sheer pain of the thorns got to the monster. It reared it¡¯s head up to scream in frustration and rage, terrifying Tulland despite his knowledge that it couldn¡¯t get to him at the moment. But, amidst all the noise, it also made a mistake. For just a moment, it closed its eyes. Tulland heaved the stick forward with all the power he could. He was hoping to knock it out, although he suspected that was a pipe dream. What he did not expect was to get enormously lucky and connect the swing almost entirely with the Forest Duke¡¯s closed right eye, which popped like a grape as the stick slammed into it. The Forest Duke trumpeted in panic and thrashed its head around, which turned out to be an error in and of itself, as one of the few briars that still had its roots in place shot up and wrapped around its bloody snout. Is it... drinking the blood? Tulland had pulled the club back to smack the Forest Duke again and again, but couldn¡¯t get a clean shot on it as the animal thrashed through the briars. As a notification popped up, he spared the bare minimum amount of time to see the headline and figure out if it was anything at all that could help him. He hated the fact that The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System didn¡¯t seem to come with his System¡¯s instant communication feature.
Crop Milestone Reached! One of your cultivated plants has reached level ten. For this first-time milestone, a significant amount of experience is granted.
Level Ten? That¡¯s massive. Tulland¡¯s plants had been doing better and better as they brought in more prey and he gave them better starts with his skills and fertilizer, but he was pretty sure the highest level plant he had seen was level six. This one was either doing better than he thought or had just gained several levels from plugging into the nutrition of the floor boss¡¯ blood. It wasn¡¯t something Tulland needed to think a lot about, but as he continued to ineffectually swing his club at the Forest Duke with his stick, he was considering the fact that everything he could do for a plant tended to build on everything else. Enrich Seed seemed to work better on plants that were put down with fertilizer to burn for energy, at least here in this forest where the soil was about the worst he had ever seen. And enriching a seed would lead to a plant that dealt better with Quickgrow. Those enhanced plants would then capture and convert more monsters to fertilizer and increase their growth. Now, Tulland was trying to find the next step for his plants to give it that extra edge. The Forest Duke reared its head and pulled the ambitious level ten briar out from the ground, but with so much force that the plant was still clinging to most of the soil it had grown in. It might, just might, be enough to make what Tulland was about to try work, if it would work at all. Tulland held the stick out in a warding motion as he switched to a one-handed grip, then pointed his finger at the spot he wanted to focus on. It was where the blood was hitting the lucky Lunger Briar at the highest concentration, and something in his farmer¡¯s intuition told him this was where the plant was getting the most benefit. Of course, it probably doesn¡¯t matter, as long as I hit the plant at all. It¡¯s sort of a by-the-unit deal. Taking a deep breath, Tulland focused as much of his attention as he could muster and activated his only farming skill that could be applied multiple times on the same plant. ¡°Quickgrow. Enjoy it, buddy. And good luck.¡± Chapter 17: Overdrive It seemed to. Tulland¡¯s farmer sense started tingling in the back part of his head, telling him the plant was changing. It got greener, and while it didn¡¯t get thicker, it did seem denser somehow, like it was growing in weight instead of in length or width. The strength of the vine was radiating off of it, and it felt entirely unlike any plant Tulland had ever dealt with before. It was filling up his farmer sense, the least defined of his ways of observing the world. And it was doing it so powerfully he could barely breathe in its presence. He wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed the change. The Forest Duke bellowed as its head was suddenly jerked downward, then managed to force it back up to glare at Tulland through it¡¯s one good eye. As terrifying as that was, there was something different about the encounter now. The Forest Duke was strong, but the vine was at least as powerful, at least from its superior positioning on the duke¡¯s body. Even when the elk finally lowered its head to take a bite, it couldn¡¯t get through the vine in one go or even make much progress at all. Tulland started clubbing as hard as he could with the Ironbranch club, now able to land any of his shots at will. Individually, none of them were much, maybe making the duke care about half as much as a boxer getting hit with a jab would. But hits like that add up. I have to make them count. As the Forest Duke continued to try and dislodge the overpowered vine, Tulland readied himself and gave all of his strength to his next strike. As the stick swished through the air, Tulland felt almost out of control of his weapon, like he had put so much weight into the hit that he was going to tumble over after it once it landed. High vitality or not, the Forest Duke was going to feel this one. And then, like it had been waiting for this level of danger the entire time, the Forest Duke exploded with light. What is that? Tulland activated his connection to the System as fast as he could, so quickly that the stick was still in motion as he did. His blow impacted before the System could answer. But it was almost like he hit the light instead of the animal. The stick slid off to the side as Tulland really did stumble after it. The Forest Duke swung it¡¯s head to the side, pulling the ultra-briar as it clipped Tulland¡¯s side and sent him tumbling into his own briar wall, which luckily was thick enough with his own creations that it didn¡¯t hurt him much. An overdrive skill, or something like it. He¡¯s stronger now. A skill like that is meant to even the playing field, but it doesn¡¯t last forever. Survive long enough, and the day is yours. Every vine on the wall jumped out at the Forest Duke as it followed after Tulland, making the animal hesitate just long enough for Tulland to stuff the end of the sapling into its face. The combined delay of both was enough for him to skirt around back towards the entrance of the enclosure. The duke followed, now encumbered with another five or six vines that had got a good enough grip to be dragged along for the ride. They made much less of a difference now. The mega-briar was still doing good work, but it was far from the near-even match it had enjoyed before. The addition of the new vines tipped the scales only slightly back in the right direction. Tulland hugged the wall as he backed up, watching a few remnant vines find purchase on the animal as he did, but there was almost no marginal effect per plant. He wasn¡¯t going to get through this with just vines. They weren¡¯t enough, and the elk was moving too fast. Forget caution, I guess. I just have to last a little, right? Tulland decided to go crazy. He jumped in with the sapling, cracking the Forest Duke across the forehead with it and taking a deep stab in his arm from one of the antler-points as he did. It hurt deep, not just in his muscles and bone but throughout his entire body. Five minutes ago, the pain alone would have set him running for his life. He couldn¡¯t afford that now. More importantly, he was going to see this through to the end, no matter what. The Forest Duke was able to move its head fast enough that Tulland couldn¡¯t dodge its antlers when it struck, but it was slowed just enough that each hit wasn¡¯t quite fatal. At the same time, the Forest Duke couldn¡¯t move out of the way of any particular strike from Tulland¡¯s Ironbranch club. It was a battle of attrition now, something that was barely sustainable on either of their ends. The Forest Duke had enough of the tit-for-tat after a few seconds, and glowed even brighter, swinging its head in an uppercut motion at Tulland. There was no mystery what would happen if that strike connected, given how very bright the antlers was were. He jumped backwards with all his might, bringing the club down as hard as he could as he did. If he wasn¡¯t going to be quite fast enough with his stat-based movement, he could at least make it more complex for his enemy. The elk somehow managed to speed up even more, tilting its head to put the longest of its antler-points on a collision course with Tulland¡¯s neck. Before it could actually finish the hit, the stick struck just above its ruined eye. Tulland was shocked he made contact, but even more shocked when the contact actually did something. The animal¡¯s head was stopped flat, then even pushed downward a bit. It was impossible, given Tulland¡¯s strength. He would have loved to have thought he had done it himself, but he just wasn¡¯t strong enough.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It¡¯s the briar. It¡¯s still helping. The ultra-powered briar was still working in the background. Between that and the hit from the stick, it seemed just enough to nullify the elk¡¯s big strike. And that was when the corner was turned. That one ultra-bright strike seemed to be almost the last of the power the Forest Duke was getting from its berserk skill, and the antlers dimmed almost immediately. The briar, ragged and ripped, was still hanging on and squeezed. The Forest Duke whined, as if it couldn¡¯t believe that its opponent would still be standing after all that. Tulland lunged forward. He kept piling on the strikes, shocked he could still move as the blood from his wounds soaked his clothes. Even more shocking, the hits seemed to be doing something. Tulland was absolutely sure that his Farmer¡¯s Tool wouldn¡¯t be doing anything at all here. But the stick and the briars were different. They were suffused with his class, and Tulland got the impression that Dungeon Systems like The Infinite¡¯s had nothing better than a fuzzy idea of what to do with things like a farmer¡¯s class grown products. Luckily, it seemed to err on a sort of well-why-not liberalism that made everything possible. All of which was great and gave Tulland an advantage he was very happy to live with, right up until it didn¡¯t. Snorting in rage and rolling its single angry eye around, the Forest Duke suddenly strained upwards with its neck so hard that Tulland thought it would pull something. It did, although not in a way he wanted. The strong briar was wrapped so tight into its flesh by then that there just wasn¡¯t enough slack for it to keep up, and the sound of overstretching in its fibers lasted just a moment before it snapped entirely. Oh, no. Tulland immediately leveled the stick, aiming the pointy, jagged part almost perfectly forward. I better make this shot count. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m getting any more. Tulland dumped whatever tiny amount of magic he had regenerated into another enhancement of the briars, stepped forward hard, and lunged out with his makeshift spear as hard and fast as he could. He was aiming at the Forest Duke¡¯s throat, which was still exposed as its head remained high with the momentum released from the snapping vine. It would take the monster a moment to lower its head again, which was hopefully all Tulland needed to land one good shot. The spear cooperated perfectly, flowing forward straight and true towards the elk¡¯s larynx. Tulland put every ounce of weight he had into the blow, knowing that if he missed, he would end up topping forward into the Forest Duke¡¯s horns. But he didn¡¯t miss. With a squelch, the spear made contact. The elk lowered its head and regarded Tulland with a cool rage, then shook its head slightly as it usually did before it huffed. This time nothing came out. The Forest Duke glanced down and widened its eyes as Tulland looked forward and saw that the impossible had happened. The stick was a good two inches into the monster¡¯s throat, which was now pouring out blood like a bucket with a hole in it. Tulland knew a chance when he saw one. He pressed forward hard on the stick, following the monster as it tried to back up off of it. The combination of Tulland¡¯s forward motion and the briar shackles hobbling the Forest Duke¡¯s movement speed was just enough for the stick to stay in place, And, as it turned out, a stick through one¡¯s throat was a very effective way to be forced to go where the stick-holder wanted. As Tulland backed the monster up, he cranked the stick hard to his own right, which forced the Forest Duke to turn away from its straight, safe path back to safety. Instead, it ran right into the thick briar wall to the side of the farm¡¯s entrance hallway. Mostly, the wall was just conventional briars. There were a few by-blow children of his cultivated vines mixed in there, but only weak ones which didn¡¯t stand much of a chance of holding the Forest Duke for long. It didn¡¯t matter much. Even brittle, weak briars had thorns and were able to tangle up living things. The briar patch was more than happy to crack, break, and rebound around the floor¡¯s boss as it retreated step by step. With the elk sinking deeper in to the briars, Tulland began to crank on the stick higher, using it as a lever of sorts, one that used the monster¡¯s pain as a fulcrum. It had to sink lower. There was just no way for it to keep from more serious damage except moving in the direction Tulland commanded. Soon, it was on its knees. Tulland was about to press his advantage when the stick finally broke off inside its neck. But it was enough. The Forest Duke was now having incredible trouble just getting up. Tulland¡¯s briars were working on it hard, and the passive, uncultivated briars all around it were offering them cover. Tulland took a few moments to go get the broken but still active Lunger Briar vines from the hallway, ones the Forest Duke had evaded or partially broken but hadn¡¯t quite killed. He picked them up barehanded and chucked them near the monster, where they happily completed the last few inches of travel and added to the bindings. And then it was over. With a final enraged huff, the forest duke lost the last bits of glow from its emergency power skill, and collapsed. Tulland was a mess, still bleeding from twenty gashes he hadn¡¯t noticed much during the fight, and still operating on barely patched bones that creaked and jolted him with pain every time he moved. The forest duke was slowly being consumed by the briars, which were more than happy to dig their thorns deeper and deeper into its flesh. Tulland limped over and looked down at the animal in pity. It really was a beautiful thing, outside of the part where it wanted him dead. Tulland grabbed one of its hooves and hauled it away from the briar wall, getting it to a neutral part of his farm before separating it from the few briars that still had enough life left in them to move. He would use the monster corpse later, if he could. I¡¯ll also review all these notifications I¡¯m getting. Sometime. Right now, I¡¯m pretty tired. Tulland managed to get a drink of water from his makeshift well that was really just a deep pit in the ground before his eyes started to droop. A few seconds later, he was asleep. And then he was somewhere else. Chapter 18: Adjudicating ¡°Well, this is interesting.¡± A tall, mediocre-looking man walked from behind Tulland, who found himself in a near-duplicate of his own briar-fortress. The man was holding a similarly detailed copy of his over-powered briar, turning it over in his hands and gazing at it in interest ¡°I haven¡¯t had to do an active judgment in¡­ well, in a while. What did you say your name was again?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Tulland gulped. This guy was weirdly casual in a way that, for some reason, screamed danger. ¡°I didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t think.¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± The man made a mock motion of slapping his forehead. ¡°I didn¡¯t need to ask. Let me just check. Oh, I see. Tulland Lowstreet. The same one who made the wager the other day, right? I kind of expected you to be dead by now.¡± ¡°Are you¡­¡± ¡°Yes. Well, part of him, anyway.¡± ¡°Part of us.¡± A woman¡¯s voice rang out. Tulland turned to see a middle-aged lady sitting in a wooden chair that simply hadn¡¯t been there before. ¡°I¡¯m going to need you to stop applying him to our chorus like it covers all of us. It doesn¡¯t.¡± ¡°And when she whines about it, I have to listen to it.¡± A surly looking teenager walked up to one of the briars and flicked it. ¡°And I don¡¯t get to see whatever¡¯s going on that much these days. Good job, by the way. It¡¯s rare we see anything new.¡± ¡°Oh. Thanks.¡± Tulland scratched his head. ¡°So all of you are The Infinite¡¯s System?¡± ¡°Kind of, yes, sorta, no, and of course,¡± the unimpressive man said. ¡°We¡¯ve found that trying to explain exactly how this works to humans doesn¡¯t really take, no matter how we do it. The best approximation I can give is that multiple beings give better advice, on average, than individual beings. And I¡¯m supposed to do a good job, so there are a lot of me.¡± ¡°More than this?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah. Dozens of us. Hundreds. Thousands. Don¡¯t worry too much about the details. We thought three would be enough for something like this.¡± The woman was now drinking an iced beverage that also hadn¡¯t been there the last time Tulland looked. ¡°Could you turn on your little System friend, by the way? He could probably explain some of this while we work.¡± ¡­when you get this going you should leave right away, just demand it and they have to let you go. Nothing good can come of this at all. Go, before they decide to¡­ The System was, for whatever reason, panicking when Tulland switched him on. ¡°Shush, you.¡± The Infinite¡¯s System boy turned around and made a slapping motion with his hand, which looked playful enough until Tulland actually heard his System gasp in pain. ¡°Just tell him what we¡¯re doing. There¡¯s no reason for us to do anything to you beyond that.¡± Oh. Well then. That was enough to calm you down? Tulland thought. It¡¯s The Infinite. It wouldn¡¯t bother breaking a promise to me. That¡¯s simply not worth its time. Tulland chewed on that little tidbit of information about the hierarchy of things for a moment before pushing the conversation forward out loud. It probably didn¡¯t matter whether he was speaking or not. If The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System was that powerful, then it had just as much access to Tulland¡¯s thoughts as his Ouros System did. On the other side, the woman was out of her chair now, saying things to the other two people. ¡°So what are they doing?¡± Tulland asked in a lower voice. Adjudicating. You did something that The Infinite hasn¡¯t had to think about before. It¡¯s not enough for it just to make a decision on the fly, since it¡¯s much harder for it to adjust a skill after the fact than to decide how things work well from the beginning. So it¡¯s¡­ ¡°Having a meeting to decide?¡± Close enough. I still think you should leave, by the way. ¡°For my sake, or because it makes you more likely to win our bet if I do?¡± The System went quiet then, which felt like a pretty good indication that whatever was happening was at least as likely to help Tulland as it was to hurt him. He turned the System back off for the moment so he could focus on what The Infinite¡¯s different personas were saying. The boy was the one talking at the moment. ¡°The point is that we¡¯ve already been treating the plants like they work that way. Which is probably why he tried it in the first place. And it¡¯s unfair to rip capabilities from adventurers here. He worked for it. He should get to keep it.¡± ¡°Yes, I know.¡± The woman nodded at the boy seriously. ¡°But this¡­ It¡¯s a bit powerful, but that¡¯s not the issue. With this, he¡¯d never have to move. He could plant briars, stay in the center, and wait until the entire floor was eaten up with them. That doesn¡¯t just affect him. It affects the floors themselves.¡± ¡°And if he found the right combination of beasts, some of those vines would put tamers to shame. Those are the issues. The propagation and the uncapped fertilization effect. Not cobbling together something that works with a class that by all rights should have already got him killed.¡± The man glanced Tulland¡¯s way and winced apologetically. ¡°Sorry.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°No, I know. Please continue,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Polite.¡± The man nodded approvingly. ¡°I like that. I¡¯ve heard both of your inputs on this matter now, and I¡¯m the lead in this scenario. Are we all comfortable with me rendering my decision?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± the boy said, as the woman also nodded along. ¡°Ready when you are.¡± ¡°Well, then.¡± The man turned to Tulland. ¡°To give you a quick summary of what¡¯s happened here, you managed to find a loophole in your skill that we all more or less agree would stretch the definitions of your class past its breaking points. You would be something like a vampire-class by proxy. No, don¡¯t ask what that is. It¡¯s just not something you can be.¡± Tulland nodded. He was fine with not understanding every single thing being said right now. ¡°At the same time, it¡¯s not fair to rob you of a more-than-reasonable reward for figuring out how to do that. There are ways classes just can¡¯t work, or else very lucky people would get invincible classes from time to time and dominate entire worlds. You know that doesn¡¯t happen.¡± ¡°So you just say no?¡± Tulland was getting over the shock of the meeting and beginning to understand he might take a loss here. ¡°And I try to beat things like the Forest Duke to death with a stick?¡± ¡°Not quite. Because you still did something cool. May I?¡± The boy looked at the man, who nodded. Whoever The Infinite was, they really liked nodding. ¡°See, this was allowable under the rules of your class until just now, and we never penalize someone for optimizing, even if we can¡¯t allow it moving forward. So you get a payout. You don¡¯t win the court case, but you get a settlement, if that makes sense.¡± It didn¡¯t. Tulland nodded anyway. The woman picked up the mantle of the conversation then, smiling and patting Tulland on the shoulder. ¡°What we are doing won¡¯t hurt your progress, Tulland, at least compared to what you¡¯ve already accomplished. You¡¯ll be as strong as you were fighting that monster, and you¡¯ll be able to do some things you weren¡¯t before, just capped by your skill levels like any class would be. It¡¯s as fair of a trade as we can manage, within the rules. The rest you can see in your notification screens, but you¡¯ve made real progress here. You don¡¯t have much of a chance, but nobody who finds their way here does.¡± ¡°All right, then. All done.¡± The man nodded, as if he had actually accomplished something. ¡°We¡¯ll give you just a little bit to read your new notifications, but don¡¯t lollygag, all right? It¡¯s not forever. And good luck with that wager. It¡¯s¡­ fun, even if we can¡¯t help with it. We¡¯re looking forward to seeing how that turns out.¡± And then all three of them were gone.
Skill adjustment: Quickgrow becomes Enhance Plant Where Quickgrow applied only to the growth of plants and let them take advantage of particularly rich sources of nutrients, Enhance Plant now improves whatever function of a plant is most important in that moment. If the plant is at rest, this will usually be growing or reinforcing itself in some way. If it¡¯s involved in another activity, it will enhance that instead. Fertilizer will still make a difference in a plant¡¯s growth rate, but the use you can get out of any given fertilizer will be capped by this skill¡¯s level. The total number of plants you can carry with the intent of using them as ¡°active equipment¡± is now limited, with a total cap variable depending on the type of plant.
Skill adjustment: Biome Control becomes Broadcast Your previous skill never got to the point of triggering a judgment session of its own, but it was vaguely possible for you to overgrow each floor of the dungeon using nothing but your Hades Lunger Briars and turning each of them into a kind of botanical hell. It is no longer possible to do this. The skill now works over a lesser range, and does not affect propagation rates. Your plants will no longer have the capability of becoming a self-reinforcing plague, as per system rules. The loss of this function is compensated in two ways. First, the enhancements to your plants are no longer keyed to nearby biome density. Instead, you can now ¡°stake¡± a location as the center of your ¡°farm¡± and every plant you grow within that new area (current maximum farm size: a ten-meter-sided square) will provide strength to other plants at an unlimited distance. This means, for instance, that you can carry a Lunger Briar with you that is enhanced by the overall quality of your base regardless of how far you are from it. The second compensation involves your ability to use any of your farming skills that affect plants. Unless otherwise noted, the effect of any skill that benefits your crops can be split up among multiple plants, capped by the level of this skill (current maximum ratio: 15 plants). The split is slightly in your favor, meaning that the total power received by multiple plants is more in total than would be applied to a single plant. Both the maximum farm size and maximum split ratio improve with the level of the skill. However, the strength distance function of this skill fails as you cross over to new levels of the tower, but you may retain the full effects of your previous farm for 48 hours after a new level is reached.
Tulland rushed through the notifications. He hadn¡¯t figured out every little bit of meaning behind the changes to the skills, but he had understood enough to know two of his next steps. If he understood the Broadcast skill correctly, it wanted him to place his stake where his plants were the densest. Luckily, that was almost directly behind him, where his Lunger Briars had been growing like crazy and the roots of his Ironbranch Sapling were still in the soil. He activated it and felt a bit of feedback that his plants were now benefiting from the density of his farm. Which, sadly, also meant his briars were a bit weaker now, as they had gone from using some uncountable huge number of plants to a much more limited stock. It wasn¡¯t a huge difference, as the farm seemed to get more plant-for-plant enhancement than before. But if Tulland wanted to level the playing field again before he took the time to grow more plants and optimize his new farm area, he had only one to do that with. And to his pleasure, he found his magical power was completely topped off and ready to play with, perhaps as a parting gift from The Infinite. Tulland walked through his farm until he found fifteen vines within range. He could feel them through the skill. He selected them mentally to be the beneficiaries of the skill, and added his Ironwood Sapling fragment to the tally. The magic power flowed out of him in a torrent. The sapling took none of it, which was something he¡¯d figure out later. The briars were a different story. He focused on making them temporarily stronger, not making them grow faster, and felt the guidance take hold. His farmer¡¯s intuition tingled as he felt all of them get stronger. Individually, none of them was quite what his mega-briar had been. But as a group? They might have been even more. Oh, yes. Tulland smiled. I can probably work with this. Chapter 19: Survival This is an odd dream, boy. Tulland was on a boat, alone, in the middle of the sea, far enough out that Ouros looked like a dot of earth in the distance. He was, in the setting of the dream, very small. Much too small to pilot a boat of this type, too weak to work any of the instruments, and too short to reach several of them. And even if all that wasn¡¯t true, he didn¡¯t even understand most of what was happening. For all practical purposes, the dream should have been a nightmare. Instead, Tulland was excited. ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± Tulland asked. Because you should have suspected you were going to die. And while you are naive, I do not believe you have ever been truly dim. Why aren¡¯t you frightened in this memory? ¡°It¡¯s not a secret. I can tell you, but you have to answer something for me first. Why are you even here?¡± Because you allowed me to be. I have no way of breaking past the cordon The Infinite has set around your mind and soul otherwise. ¡°I didn¡¯t allow you,¡± Tulland protested. You must have. As the Tulland of his own memories dipped a hand in the surprisingly warm water, the Tulland of the present puzzled over the System¡¯s presence. He supposed he had been pretty proud of his kill. It was possible he had absentmindedly flipped the switch that let the System in to gloat about it just before he went to sleep. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll believe that for now.¡± Tulland watched through his past¡¯s eyes as he looked over the side of the water, a nine or ten-year-old face reflecting back at him. He looked curious and impatient all at once. ¡°The answer to your question is that I wasn¡¯t in any real danger when this happened. Watch.¡± The System managed to hold its tongue a few seconds, just long enough for the surface of the water to roil, break, and reveal Tulland uncle¡¯s face. ¡°What did I say, Tulland? Get the net. I need you to have it ready.¡± Young Tulland rocketed back as he realized his own lapse, then reached for his uncle¡¯s wood-and-rope net, holding it over the side of the boat and letting the business end dip below the water-line. His uncle hefted a big armful of something into it, then steadied the net with his hand as he bellied over the bow and out of the water entirely. ¡°These should do it. There were some big ones down there, after all.¡± His uncle brought the net over to his feet and started pulling large, round shellfish out of it. The bigger ones were about eight inches across. ¡°There are those that tell you not to eat these shellers in the warm months, you know.¡± ¡°Why?¡± young Tulland asked. ¡°Sea worms. Small ones. Parasites. They¡¯ll make you sick in a way only a weak poison can cure, since that¡¯s what it takes to kill them.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Tulland looked at the shellfish doubtfully. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we not take them, then?¡± ¡°No, boy. Remember why we came here in the first place. The fish.¡± Tulland nodded. Earlier in the day, his uncle had caught a spiny, ugly-looking fish that he claimed was poisonous to eat, but kept anyway. Now, it was swimming unhappily in a big, covered tank of water. ¡°We cook the shellers together with that fish, Tulland, and the poison leaches out of the flesh from the fish. Just enough to kill the worms, you see. And then we wait until the heat cooks the poison off. The heat won¡¯t kill the worms alone. And the poison isn¡¯t enough by itself. But together, we get a chowder.¡± Tulland lifted the lid from the fish-storage and regarded the spiky, terrible-looking fish with a new respect. ¡°Did you figure that out by yourself, uncle?¡± ¡°Oh, no. Of course not. There are too many steps.¡± His uncle pointed at the fish, then the shells, then the ocean. ¡°You have to know that spine-fish is poisonous, but that the broth it¡¯s cooked in can be heated safe with enough time. You have to know the shellers are down by the coral, which must have been quite the discovery when they first found them.¡± ¡°Why would they have even swum down that deep?¡± ¡°Probably a dare.¡± His uncle laughed and pulled the oars to a rowing position. ¡°Lots of stuff gets learned though foolish dares, Tulland. More than you¡¯d think. But once you have the shellers, you learn they make you sick. Then someone else learns they only make you sick sometimes. And then someone else figures out it¡¯s because of the worms.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s it?¡± ¡°That and a bunch of steps I left out. This kind of knowledge is built over generations, Tulland. But eventually, you have it and then you have that much more food. And the island can take care of that many more people.¡± Tulland started putting the shellers into a bag. That was his job, his uncle had said. The ones from this newest haul joined the rest of the shllers in a big canvas bag, which Tulland tied shut and put in the storage with the rest of the fish. ¡°What if you wanted to know sooner? To figure it out yourself?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Hmm. A good question.¡± His uncle considered it. ¡°You¡¯d probably have to be hungry.¡± ¡°Hungry?¡± ¡°Starving. A famine, where you can only see faint glimmers of hope. Willing to do anything and try anything. Survival is a powerful motivator, Tulland.¡± He is not wrong. Quiet. I¡¯m listening to this. Tulland¡¯s uncle splashed some fresh water from a bucket on his face, then got to rowing. ¡°A powerful enough motivator to make for a lot of progress in a short amount of time. I just pray that you¡¯ll never have to know something like that firsthand.¡± ¡ª Tulland woke up feeling much better. He was starving and entirely sick of the one safe food source he had on hand, and thirsty enough that his entire throat felt like it was lined with sand. But his bones felt better, if not quite right yet, and he had survived. It wasn¡¯t a bad state, all things considering. The thirst was the first problem to get solved as Tulland drank deeply from his makeshift well before heading to his briars that had survived the ordeal and eating several of their fruits. They weren¡¯t bad-tasting things, especially once he had become used to them. They were, however, something he had become unbelievably sick of in his time here. It took less of them to be full than he liked, even as hungry as he was. His stomach was heavy after a few fruits, but he knew he would have to come back to them several more times before he had enough total energy for the day. After that, he picked quite a few more of the fruits as seeds. By now, the process of using parts of an animal as fertilizer for his vicious briar children was starting to become rote, although the Forest Duke was much larger and the variety of different parts Tulland had available to him meant a little more work. He hurried through it, as the last thing he wanted was for the meat to spoil in some way before his seeds had their shot at it.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After he was finally finished with the grosser part of his day, Tulland settled in for a long bout of reading. And there was plenty to read.
Level up! x4
Skill level up! x8
The levels and skill levels weren¡¯t that unexpected. Tulland welcomed them, but set aside actually doing anything with the points he had gained until he figured out the entire lay of the land. The skill level ups had mostly gone towards Enhance Plant and Broadcast, both of which were at level four now. It looked like the levels he already had in the skills they replaced hadn¡¯t carried over, but he would decide how he felt about a bit later. The last two skill levels had settled into Strong Back, which Tulland felt like he deserved. He had paid for it in his own blood, more or less. After that, things got wacky.
Optional Boss Defeated! (Forest Duke, Tower Level One) You have defeated an optional boss and opened the way to a new level of the tower. Your victory was achieved with a small number of optional difficulty modifiers, including: Unarmed: You defeated the boss without the use of a conventional weapon. Unarmored: You defeated the boss while wearing no combat-sufficient armor. Surprised: The boss forced combat onto you, rather than the other way around, and despite your attempts to flee. These modifiers will be considered when your rewards are calculated.
That, Tulland thought, felt like the kind of thing The Infinite wouldn¡¯t let stand. The Ironbranch Sapling didn¡¯t really count as a weapon, but the fact that he had won the fight was testament to the idea that he was right on the edge of being armed. He couldn¡¯t imagine that he would be allowed to get that kind of premium on every achievement he ever made in combat, forever. Something would eventually change. That guess was immediately confirmed as the next notification window cycled into his view.
Calculation Offset! Some of your recent achievement modifiers have spurred a system adjustment to how future awards will be calculated. The changes are as follows:
  1. When you use a plant you¡¯ve grown as a weapon or as armor, they will be considered as such even when inadequate for the task.
  2. Some achievements for exclusively using your own produce in battle might be possible to attain.
The rewards for this particular event stand as-is, and will be given unaltered.
Reward List!
  1. Lesser Stat Potion
  2. Farmer¡¯s Gloves (Undefined Rarity)
  3. Skill Pack
You will receive all of these items, and do not have to choose between them.
Tulland had expected more items, or at least flashier names. That seemed to be the kind of thing his uncle would have made fun of him for back home though. He held off on his judgment until he read the actual descriptions.
Lesser Stat Potion Consumable, One Dose. Grants five stat points to a stat of your choice. As this is a lesser potion, the points cannot be split between stats.
Farmer¡¯s Gloves (Undefined Rarity) These are possibly the best Farmer¡¯s Gloves to have ever existed. By work-gear standards, they are impossibly tough. They grant five points to your vitality, and are both self-mending and self-cleaning. They are comfortable, greatly enhance grip, and are specifically fitted and lined to protect your hands from wear over a long day¡¯s work. They are, however, still work gear and are limited in the ways you¡¯d expect from work clothes.
¡°Hey, System,¡± Tulland called out. I wondered if you had forgotten I was here. ¡°Not quite. I have a question for you, though.¡± State it. ¡°Work gear. How is it different from proper battle gear?¡± The System sighed. I forget that you knew little of any class before coming here. Even a crafter would have known that. ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t a crafter. Help me out a bit.¡± I will, I just need to think of where to start. You¡¯ve tried killing things with your Farmer¡¯s Tool. What was your impression of that experience? ¡°It hardly worked. It was like the thing resisted being effective.¡± That¡¯s right in a way, while being almost entirely wrong. The first thing you should understand is that system equipment is defined, broadly, not by the materials it is made of but by the nature of the magic that inhabits it. When a System¡¯s forces flow through an item, they enhance it beyond what could ever be possible in a mundane world. ¡°Even work stuff?¡± Tulland asked. Just so, but another aspect of the magic infused in the item is that it can be put to work in very specific ways. You hardly had experience with farm tools before this, but let me tell you that the Farmer¡¯s Tool you possess is actually very good. It¡¯s more than adequate as a starter item for a beginner farmer. Tulland was starting to get it. ¡°But none of that energy is used for attacking?¡± Correct. The item has a purpose that the item itself knows, and it does not deviate from that purpose. On the other side of things, the monsters you have done battle with are magical as well; they are system creations that allot some of the magic in them to defense. ¡°And so my magical shovel does almost nothing, since it¡¯s attacking a system-thing with what amounts to mundane power. Because none of its actual power is meant to be used that way.¡± Exactly. The same applies to armor. It should apply to your plants, but does not for some reason I have not myself determined yet. ¡°Good enough. Thanks.¡± Tulland shut off the System. He was fine with it seeing what he was up to, and even knowing that he was getting generally stronger, but the less he could let it know about his overall build, the better. He went to the next window, which might have been the most impressive of them all.
Skill Pack Creates one skill which is automatically assigned to the user. The skill is determined using a combination of the user¡¯s class and what types of activities the user has been engaging in recently.
Tulland sat back, uncorked and drank his bottle of stats, and dumped the points into strength. While he was at it, he went to work assigning the power he had gained in this last growth spurt. He did his best to assign them in a way that would just barely keep him alive while still juicing his magic as much as possible, and thought he got fairly close.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 16 Strength: 30 Agility: 25 Vitality: 30 (+5) Spirit: 25 Mind: 10 Force: 30 Skills: Enhance Plant LV. 4, Enrich Seed LV. 8 Passives: Broadcast LV. 4, Botanical Engineer LV. 2, Strong Back LV. 4
Tulland was pleased to see that the system window broke out his equipment-provided stats in the way it did. Right at the moment, it didn¡¯t matter, but it was nice to not have the illusion that all of his vitality came from him personally. The gloves themselves were a wonder, supple and great to wear. He would try his best not to stretch their defensive capabilities, but even though he knew for a fact they¡¯d be limited in that respect, he felt much, much better with them on than he had without them. That left the skill. Tulland wasn¡¯t incredibly pleased that he would have no say in what it would be, but The Infinite seemed pretty careful about pointing downsides to things that it gave, and it hadn¡¯t said there were any that would come with the addition of this new power. If this was a plus without a downside, he¡¯d absolutely take it. Tulland willed the skill to generate, closing his eyes as the Dungeon System did its thing. A few moments later, he felt different. Not stronger, not more capable, but just a little bit different. Specifically, it came in how he related to his crops, he felt like more of a boss of them. More authoritative. More like a ruler than before, even though he was still arguably somewhat of a servant to the things he grew. Opening his eyes, Tulland saw the first line of the skill and smiled, weakly. It was incredibly lame, as skills went. Other classes got things like smites, cleaves, and dead-shots to play with, skills that made them stronger and faster than what their stats said. He was a farmer, and thus got farmer things. It was what it was, and he had to accept it. That was especially true since the skill, while lame, was inarguably something he needed.
New Skill Generated: Command Plant
Chapter 20: Command Plant
Command Plant LV. 1 (Active) Not every plant can take commands. A tree can¡¯t be commanded to dance because most trees lack the ability to do so in the first place, and most plants can¡¯t be commanded to do anything at all because they¡¯re spending every part of their power at all times anyway. As you have seen, that rule holds much less true in The Infinite. Here, plants can often move under their own power. They can reach, grasp, and do many other things that you have yet to see. At the same time, they can also not do these things. To say they choose not to do them is to misunderstand the beautiful simplicity of the botanical mind, but many of them possess triggers that assess their surroundings, look for particular circumstances, and pursue certain paths of action when conditions are right. You can short-circuit the logic they use to either start these actions beyond the situations that would normally trigger them, or to prevent them from triggering entirely. Not every plant will listen to every command. Plants that have nothing to do with you will be difficult or impossible to influence, while plants with a long history of experiencing your care will be much more pliant to your will.
Tulland¡¯s head was beginning to ache in a worrisome way. It had started to hurt a bit after The Infinite had forced his existing skills into other shapes, and had only become a little less pained after he had applied an extra point to his mind starts. Then it had amped up the hurt again as the new skill appeared. A duller pain was also spreading throughout his entire body.
Class Information Access Granted! Your recent acquisition of skills and the odd, unusual ways you went about their acquisition has pushed you past a threshold. You are granted increased access to information regarding your skills. Each skill now has a less verbose description, which includes more cut-and-dried mechanical information about the skills than was available to you before. Not every skill is affected at this time, and some skills are less easily quantified than others. Look over them when you have the opportunity.
Tulland cradled his aching head in his hands while he popped open his skills one by one. Most of them were unchanged, and those that weren¡¯t only gave him limited information at best. After a while, he had mostly just confirmed what he already knew. Spirit was useful to him as a magical power recharge stat, whereas force was the primary driver behind how well his various plant enhancement skills worked. For the most part, if he wanted to enhance seeds better or have an increased influence over what his plants were doing or how well they did it, he needed a lot more force. If he wanted to be able to do more things over time, then he needed a lot more spirit. His Strong Back skill, which he needed not only to survive most encounters but also just to keep from getting slowly taken apart by the wear-and-tear of his new life, seemed to run almost entirely off his vitality. That would have been inconvenient if all of his farmer skills weren¡¯t also influenced by his vitality stat for reasons Tulland had yet to fully comprehend. The language around why higher vitality was good for something like Enhance Plant was vague, but it seemed like it was a small-but-real effect that just about made it worth to keep pouring points into that one body stat. Even though Tulland had pumped a few more points into his other physical stats, he suspected they might be almost the last points he would ever put there. The more melee combat he did, the more he understood how absolutely abysmal his class was at that, and how bad he seemed to be at it as a person on top of that. It seemed more and more like he would either be able to farm up a plant-based solution to problems or would be consumed by the problems themselves, with not much in-between to rely on as options. Tulland sat as he felt his new stats finally start catching up with the changes to his skills, and felt everything start to slot into place as his new capabilities settled in. He sat very still and just let the process happen while acclimating to the lingering pains, spending about an hour resting before he felt good enough to get going again. He finally stood, dusting himself off and getting ready to get down to some serious testing. Walking over to one of his newer Lunger Briars, he regarded it for a few moments. It didn¡¯t look drastically different from his tenth-level briar had while it lived, but his farmer¡¯s intuition told him that it wasn¡¯t nearly as tough. Even beyond the information he got from knowing it was a lower level, he could tell it was just a less healthy, less viable plant.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Not that you aren¡¯t tough too, little briar. You just aren¡¯t as strong as your brother was. We¡¯ll get there. Extending his hand, Tulland made contact with the briar and tried to give it a simple command, something like ¡°fight¡± or ¡°lunge.¡± The moment he did, he felt a fairly small amount of energy flow out of him to the plant, which immediately started acting an awful lot like other briars had when they were close to prey. He commanded it to stop, which worked just fine as well, and had a similarly small energy draw. It looked like Tulland could just about issue commands at will unless it was hundreds or thousands of commands at once. The costs just weren¡¯t high enough to care about, which was one less thing to think about that Tulland was very grateful for. Before commanding the plant to fight again, he shot it with a quick application of Enhance Plant. That, at least, worked about like he expected it to. Much like Quickgrow, it took a large portion of his available magical energy and applied it to the plant¡¯s growth rate in a way he could feel and understand was happening. From his vantage point at that moment, it didn¡¯t seem different at all. But the skill said that it would automatically apply to whatever the plant was doing. Tulland issued a quick command to the plant to start fighting again, which it obeyed with slightly less speed and power than it had before. Looks like you are running out of power, little guy. Try this. This time, Enhance Plant took significantly less energy. It was still a good chunk, probably ten or twenty times more than just commanding the plant took, but was something he could apply at least several times over the course of a fight. That was interesting. It seemed like an intentional balancing decision on the part of The Infinite. Growing plants would be something he had to find time and safety to do, instead of being a spammable, always-on effect. But enhancing plants to do other things was cheaper, which meant he wouldn¡¯t have to be quite as careful about when and how he chose to do so. Of course, the real question is how all this works in a fight. I guess it¡¯s time to take a walk. Before leaving, Tulland cut six vines of varying levels. The weakest level-one vines went around his forearms, some level two briars went around his biceps, and the only two level threes he had left in his compound wrapped around his upper chest and neck, where he hoped they¡¯d offer a bit of protection against strikes from whatever enemies he might find out there. It was funny. Tulland was still exhausted, but having a bit of purpose helped paper over the worst of that in a way he wouldn¡¯t have believed otherwise. He had actual pep in his steps as he worked his way outside his territory and into the woods to try and find some Lungers roaming around. Before he got quite out of the protective security of his most distant briars, Tulland issued his first battlefield command to the briars, something boring and necessary that it almost pained him to do it. Okay, guys. No fighting. Hold still. That was the first test. Keeping stronger briars in reserve as Tulland used his weaker ones to take out less-threatening enemies seemed like an important tactical thing, and it was important that he knew how long that kind of instruction would last. If Tulland could issue the command once to a plant and have it last forever, then his schedule would look very different than if he had to tell them what to do every hour, or even every minute. It turned out that the skill wasn¡¯t an all-day thing. It took Tulland about five or ten minutes to find any prey, and the moment that the unlucky Lunger came around a tree to pounce at him, it was immediately clear that all of his briars were active and ready to fight as they uncurled from his body and launched themselves at the poor, doomed monster. Once the enemy was dispatched and more or less absorbed by his vines, Tulland started walking again, now issuing the stay-still command every minute or so. This time, the vines minded their own damn business as the next Lunger attacked, except for the two weak, forearm mounted briars. Those shot off like arrows, caught the Lunger, and began to go to work on it. Two weak briars were about what it took to take down a Lunger, something Tulland already knew from his initial plantings. These two would manage to get the upper hand on their prey, but it would take a while and they¡¯d probably take damage in the process. All right, guys. Eat up. Let¡¯s see how this works. For the second time ever, Tulland sent Enhance Plant¡¯s power out into the world for the express purpose of helping a plant take care of a monster. The first time had been very important, but it was a hurried, chaotic command issued to a half-dozen vines fighting an enemy of ill-understood strength. So it hadn¡¯t been that useful for understanding his own class. This was. Tulland knew exactly what it took to tear one of these little Lunger jerks apart, and so he could see almost exactly what his new skill was doing to help. And it wasn¡¯t much, really. If he had to estimate it, it seemed like both vines got roughly a ten or twenty percent increase in their strength and the speed at which they moved. Which wasn¡¯t a ton, but did move them from the ¡°will eventually win this fight¡± category to the much more satisfactory realm of dominating their opponent in a clear, definitive way. Better yet, his expensive, better-grown vines were still on his chest, minding their own business and not expending their limited stores of post-harvest energy at all. So let¡¯s think about this. I can now strap some vines to my body, and use them for general fighting. There¡¯s probably a limit on how many I can take with me, but I can use up my cheap, disposable vines on things I know aren¡¯t much of a threat to me and save my more powerful vines for stuff I couldn¡¯t otherwise beat. And eventually, I¡¯ll have some plants that work even better. Right? Smiling, Tulland took the shattered, barely-held-together remains of his Ironbranch stick and put the poor Lunger out of its misery. It was time to do some more hunting, figure out some more limitations a little more exactly, and then to gather some seeds. Because the skills were only about half of what Tulland could do. The other half came from his farm, and he was pretty sure he could do a much, much better job with that than he was currently doing. Chapter 21: Second Floor I don¡¯t understand what you hope to accomplish here. You are burning time. You¡¯ve lost a week of your month already. ¡°Yeah, well, you aren¡¯t really all that trustworthy, are you?¡± Tulland asked back. Tulland leaned on his shovel and looked at his work in satisfaction. After some short experimentation, he had confirmed that he could sense the distance limits of his farm, and had painstakingly traced out the circle in the open field before beginning his planting. Mostly it was just briars, grown from his normal Hades Lunger Briar stock. He had enhanced each seed as much as his skills would allow, and had planted each in a combination of its own fruit and the meat of Razored Lungers. At the center and edges in each of the four directions, he had planted an Ironbranch seed. Tulland still couldn¡¯t do anything to manipulate these seeds, including enhancing them, but he took that as a good sign for their overall quality as far as his Broadcast skill was concerned. He did what he could for them with fertilizer and water, then left them in the soil. And then came the hard, boring part. After hunting up enough fertilizer and planting all his seeds, Tulland spent a full two days using Enhance Plant again and again, hitting his entire farm and a handful of plants just outside it. Between uses, he would go hunt more meat to feed to his Lunger Briars, which they greedily accepted. You will run out of time. ¡°Maybe, but it really doesn¡¯t matter how fast I go if I die. See, that¡¯s the trick here. I need to not die. And any time I spend not running for my life or almost bleeding out on the other side of that exit is time gained.¡± Still. You must be bored. Nervous. ¡°Sure. But guess what? That¡¯s fine. I¡¯m almost done anyway. I just wanted you to see this next part. Because that¡¯s the part you really aren¡¯t going to like.¡± Tulland¡¯s farm had been growing strong, but had reached a point of diminishing returns. The individual briars were about as big as they could productively get, and the trees only grew slowly. Theoretically, he could spend as much time pouring magical power into them as he wanted, but he would only get the use of them for two days once he moved on to the next floor. That just wasn¡¯t worth it as a non-permanent buff. Outside his farm was a slightly different story. There, he had planted briars using what meat he could from the Forest Duke, and some other materials he pulled from more digestive parts of its body. In addition to that, he had planted one more sapling. Ignoring his farm now, he sat for a few hours and dumped every bit of magical power he could make into that one smaller patch of growth. At the end, he had a dozen Lunger Briars and one very healthy Ironwood sapling that was both thicker and heavier for its size than the last sapling had been. He carefully harvested all of them, taking his time cutting through the sapling before refining the cut end down to a point that was, true to the name, almost as hard as iron. That¡¯s more vines than you can carry. Do you plan on stowing them? ¡°No because I¡¯m not stupid. Watch this.¡± Tulland¡¯s armor was trash, and there was little he could do about that. But his vines were pretty tough. The thorns made them unwieldy, but he had recently contemplated the fact that there was no law that vines had to have thorns literally everywhere. He trimmed them carefully on one side of a few of the vines with his Farmer¡¯s Tool, then wound them around his biceps. He tried it. The thorns that were left got in the way a little, but not enough that he would be seriously hampered. Trimming in the same way, he wound one around his neck and head, leaving a bit of space around his mouth and eyes but mostly covering everywhere else. The helmet was much more restricting, but he had no illusions of truly bobbing and weaving through any expertly thrown attacks. He would deal with the feeling of wearing a neck brace if it meant a bit more survivability. His chest was the most trimmed of the vines, since he still needed to be able to drop his arms to his sides and move them unencumbered. It took him a while to do, but in the end Tulland had the plants trimmed in such a way as to have spikes facing forwards and backwards from him, but nowhere else. And for his forearm vines, he left the spikes completely intact. Those were his attacking vines, as far as he was concerned. They would be off of him almost immediately whenever an actual combat kicked up. Tulland¡¯s plan was to put a vine on his calves, thighs, ankles, hip, elbow, and any other body part he could fit. As Tulland started working on his legs, the Dungeon System told him it had other plans.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Limitation imposed! You may have up to six Lunger Briars actively on your person, including plants mounted to weapons you are holding. The actual weapon is exempt from this rule. Plants you have grown are now considered weapons if used in a muscle-assisted, swung-or-stabbed manner. This limitation is intended to bring your class more in line with other semi-melee creature-leveraging classes, and imposed to prevent you from carrying a large sack filled with dozens of briars like a self-activating bomb of constricting, snake-like plants.
¡°Dammit.¡± Tulland was planning on doing exactly that. He tried wrapping the vines around himself anyway, just to make sure the Dungeon System would actually enforce its own rule. It did. He simply couldn¡¯t will himself to pick up the plants when his intention was to use them in that way. ¡°I guess I¡¯m reshuffling some of these.¡± Tulland kept his chest and head armor in place, but moved his bicep armor to his shins. He figured that he would have his attacking vines up high where he needed them, his lower legs covered from little animal-type attackers, and his vital points mostly covered. And, in the event he needed to, he could get all his vines into play at once, sending them all jumping to take down one individual threat. I need to avoid that, though. These things will burn themselves out pretty fast if I use them that way. Agreed. Although you likely won¡¯t have a choice. The System almost reeked of disdain for this whole plan. You look ridiculous, you know. ¡°I know. But who¡¯s here to see?¡± Tulland grabbed his bag of seeds, which wasn¡¯t exactly just that. It was seeds, some increasingly smelly meat, and some fruits he¡¯d either use for fertilizer and food. He had tried his best to segment each type of seed and fertilizer from each other by weaving the vines into compartments, and thought he had succeeded at it. At least the stock of fruit he would rely on to eat for the first day in his new environment was far enough from the meat that he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d get sick. Turning off the Ouros System¡¯s communications, Tulland moved towards the exit to the floor. It was a giant arch intertwined with branches and held two large wooden doors, and it wasn¡¯t particularly hard to find now that he could look for it without much threat of death. It was somewhat near where he had first encountered the Forest Duke. Far enough that he technically could have made it out without alerting the big elk, but close enough that the chances would have been low. As Tulland moved, he made one last experiment by winding a few vines around his new spear, but couldn¡¯t make it work. He would have to make do with what he had. He stood in front of the stone arch with a bag full of seeds and plants as juiced by his farm as he was likely to get, and still scared of what was coming. There was no telling how much the difficulty would spike without asking the Ouros System, and he couldn¡¯t be sure the bastard wouldn¡¯t just lie anyway. I guess hesitating won¡¯t help. Tulland tried to steel himself for the plunge, and tragically failed. Whatever he had been through so far hadn¡¯t been by choice, and it hadn¡¯t come anywhere near making him a tough, brave person. He was starting to understand more and more of what his uncle and his tutor had tried to explain to him about the realities of commanding troops. It wasn¡¯t as simple as moving chess pieces around a board, commanding them to do a thing, and then expecting them to do it. Some things were hard to face. Other things were impossible. Somewhere deep down inside himself, Tulland knew that if he didn¡¯t move forward now, he never would. He would hide until the System won the bet and stripped him of his power, then spend the rest of his life here, in an empty forest, eating barely tolerable fruits and killing tiny, vicious animals. There was no way Tulland could ever have overcome his fear of the second floor of The Infinite, unless he was pushed by a greater fear entirely. Luckily, Tulland had just the thing. There was something he was more afraid of, and it was a combination of the scenario where the System returned to his world with enough power to hurt his friends and the idea of spending the rest of his life alone. He would do anything to avoid that. Especially if all it took was a single step forward. Holding his breath and screwing his eyes shut, Tulland took a big, fast step through the arch. He believed nothing had happened at all until he opened his eyes and found himself standing in thick mud, slowly sinking as the wet earth dragged him in. There were plants of different sorts all around, a treasure trove for the young battle-farmer to exploit. He hardly saw them. Something else entirely was drawing all of his attention at the moment. In front of him, looking sharp from almost every angle, was a wolf. A moss-covered wolf, or else one that grew a sort of soft carpet of plant matter as hair. Its teeth were bright, glistening yellow, and were close enough to count. As it growled and snarled at Tulland, a system description popped up.
Swamp Canid Run if you can, but know that these vicious members of the canine family are likely faster than all but the most speed-oriented of classes. Their padded paws make hardly any sound as they run, and are specially designed to give them traction in mud. This preservation of speed in otherwise difficult terrain makes them that much more dangerous to their prey. This is not a tricky beast. It does not hunt in packs. It does not possess venom or magic. It¡¯s simply a competent combatant dead set on harvesting you for the meat it needs to survive. For all those who possess anything less than stellar levels of speed, the wise decision is fight, not flight. Stand your ground, strike fast, and hit hard. Maybe you¡¯ll survive.
Tulland knew he likely couldn¡¯t run, at least without sacrificing several of his briars to hold the thing back as he did. In the split second he had to contemplate that option, the choice was ripped from him as the wolf snarled and sent itself and its deadly mouthful of teeth flying towards Tulland¡¯s neck like a bolt from a crossbow. Chapter 22: Function of Bravery Tulland kicked back from the wolf, hoping to get enough distance between him and the bite coming his way. At the same time, he stabbed out with his sharpened branch, something that had always turned out to be a good tactic with the first floor Lungers. He might not have hit with every single weapon strike he ever threw with his pitchfork or his now-lost club, but he had found that most enemies shied away from obvious pain. That distraction would give the vines more room to work. Here, the vines weren¡¯t there to provide that synergy in the first place. Things had happened so fast that Tulland didn¡¯t have the moment it took to realize he should get them into action with Enhance Plant. And now, mid-lunge, avoiding the wolf¡¯s teeth was the only thing on his mind. The wolf saw the strike from the spear coming and twisted out of the way in midair, which also forced it into a near-miss with its attack. It hit the ground to Tulland¡¯s side, pivoted faster than Tulland could keep up with, and attacked again, this time managing to come in high and fast enough to hit one of the points Tulland¡¯s armor didn¡¯t cover. Tulland screamed as the wolf¡¯s teeth sunk into his tricep, and continued shrieking in agony as the monster hung in the air from his upraised arm. As much as it hurt, Tulland didn¡¯t want to find out what would happen if he dropped his arm, let it plant its feet, and add extra leverage to the formula. Finally gathering his wits, he looked at the two vines closest to the wolf and sent a simple command. Go. Tulland had gotten so much into the habit of restraining the vines with mental commands as a type of training that he had almost forgotten how fast the briars could get into action if they needed to. The closer of the two briars loosened itself from his arm in no time at all, catching the wolf with the end of the briar that normally sat near his elbow while it unraveled the rest of its length from the other direction. The vine on his other forearm made first contact about the time the bulk of the first vine finally reached the wolf and wrapped all the way from its cheek, around its neck and down to make a wrap on a foreleg for stability. These higher level vines are smarter. Or something. Tulland saw the wolf react to the Lunger Briars hitting, and almost prayed it wouldn¡¯t let go of his arm for another second or so. The wolf was good enough to oblige. Without a strong knowledge of what the vines could do, it seemed to consider Tulland to be the more worthwhile target for the moment. It continued to press the attack, ripping wherever its teeth could find a gap in the thorns, apparently willing to tolerate the pain of the spikes in the roof of its mouth if that meant a chance at taking down his prey. Before it could do more than that, Tulland managed to connect with the side of its head just once with his stick, sending it stumbling away with a yelp as it tried to find its footing for a final, fatal attack. It never quite got there. The last few moments had given the briars another moment to fully set themselves into a thorns-inward position, and to put the wolf on high alert as it started to move from discomfort to full-blown pain. Only then did Tulland tighten the screws. ¡°Enhance Plant. Enhance Plant. Enhance Plant.¡± He wasn¡¯t aware he was saying it out loud before he heard his own voice loudly ringing out through the swamp and forced himself to stop. The wolf more than made up for the loss of noise as Tulland got his own voice under control, yelping in surprise as the vines tightened all at once to drive their thorns deep into its neck, legs, and sides. It was only then that whatever vague wolf-math it was running finally prompted it to abandon all of its hopes for Tulland and turn its attention to freeing itself from the vines. Tulland couldn¡¯t let the wolf do that. He really couldn¡¯t. The damage the wolf had done to his arm was seeping through his entire body, and he was still losing blood from the wound. He wasn¡¯t okay at all, and he was pretty sure another dose of damage like he just took would be enough to take him down for good if untreated. Worse, the wolf was strong. Like the Forest Duke, the briars were slowing it down but not entirely stopping it. The vines were strong enough that the wolf¡¯s efforts weren¡¯t instantly breaking them, but Tulland could hear the briars straining and groaning against the pressure of the wolf¡¯s muscles. It could and would break them eventually if left to its own devices. Instead of waiting for the wolf to tackle the vines on its own terms, Tulland went to work with his Ironbranch Sapling. The wolf had the wisdom to jerk back away from Tulland as he came in hard with the sharpened point of the makeshift spear, but even with its advantage in mud, it wasn¡¯t quite fast enough. Within a few steps, Tulland had closed the gap and stabbed the wolf in the chest just above its left front leg, then again in its right hind leg. The wolf howled and tried to rear around to bite at the vines enveloping its movements, only to get two shallow stabs in the side of its neck for its trouble. Perhaps sensing that running away was a losing strategy, the wolf lunged weakly forward, mostly restrained by the briars as it did. Tulland got a very good attack in then, ripping the hide of the wolf with a long gash as the point of the branch and the wolf¡¯s weight in motion worked together to damage the animal. This minor victory didn¡¯t come without a cost. The lunge strained the rearmost briar enough that even minor contact with the spear was enough to snap it. The wolf suddenly sped up as half of its shackles fell away, biting wildly at Tulland¡¯s legs as it became his turn to back away, stabbing again and again at the wolf in a somewhat vain attempt to keep it away.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Tulland considered unleashing another briar at the animal, but reconsidered. The wolf was smart enough not to bite directly at the vines on Tulland¡¯s lower legs, which limited its targets enough that it only periodically made contact with his flesh. If he didn¡¯t have the shin-guard briars, Tulland suspected it might have already torn his shinbone out by now. Instead of letting any more of his defense go towards attack, Tulland got more aggressive. Backing up the wolf had worked just fine before, and the direction the battle was moving seemed to be almost entirely a function of bravery at this point. If the fight required Tulland to be more ferocious to be winnable, then that¡¯s what he¡¯d do. He doubled down on attacks with his spear, letting the wolf cut up his legs a bit in return for more and better strikes with the weapon, until a lucky shot went deep into the top of the wolf¡¯s shoulder and demolished what mobility it had left. It ineffectually tried to get away then, not just backing up but trying to escape entirely. Tulland might have let it, too, if one of his vines hadn¡¯t been attached to the wolf. He couldn¡¯t afford to lose those just now, especially if this animal was a good indication of just how much harder the second floor was going to be. He went crazy with his stabbings, forcing the wolf to attack him again. Those forced bites mostly missed, as Tulland put hole after hole in the wolf. At this point, the damage he had done went well beyond what it made sense for the wolf to have survived. He thought he knew why. A normal warrior would have magical force in every hit. He would be shaking the wolf¡¯s life force out of it, blow by blow. And on top of that, he¡¯d be doing more physical damage to the wolf¡¯s body. These things weren¡¯t meant to fight with someone like me. The Infinite can¡¯t get the visual right when I¡¯m basically stabbing things to death with a sewing kit. But even a thousand strikes from a needle could add up to enough damage over time. As Tulland¡¯s head began to swim and he seriously worried he might fall unconscious before he could finish the job, the wolf finally took one more hit than it could weather, whined piteously, and collapsed.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Tulland dumped fully half the points into his vitality without even looking to see what the skill level up was. Retrieving his vine from the corpse of the wolf, he hefted the wolf¡¯s body across his shoulders and staggered away through the swamp. He couldn¡¯t afford another fight right now, and assumed the noise from the fight might be drawing in more monsters even then. If another wolf shows up, maybe it will accept the body as tribute. I can hope, anyway. System? Yes? That fight was pathetic, by the way. I appreciate the vote of confidence. Tell me what you know about this area. Are you ready to believe what I tell you? That seems unwise. I can believe you or not. But I¡¯ll still have whatever story you feed me to mull on. Ah. You believe you can outfox me. Double-guess my assertions. That sort of thing. Are you going to help or not? If it suits you. This swamp is not endless. Like the last floor, it appears you have been deposited on the border of two biomes. One is the wet, mucky terrain you see, and one is¡­ rockier. Like the base of a mountain, in many ways. And you know this how? Because in exactly one direction, I can see it. I¡¯m sure eventually The Infinite will restrict my vision to a field similar to what you can see, but for now, I can sometimes see in a direction unrestricted by the dozens of rules The Infinite has in play by default. If you make a right-hand turn, you will be on dry ground within a half minute or so. Now, if you please, turn off my ability to communicate. You have bigger concerns. Tulland did just that, and briefly considered turning left instead of right. He didn¡¯t really think the System would lie outright for one simple reason. If he died, it was unclear in the terms of their bet that The Infinite would pay out at the seemingly enhanced rate it would for the skill, or if it would just give the Ouros System what it already expected from his death in the pre-wager sense. Turning right, Tulland kept running as fast as he could. The wolf would have been heavy before he had a class, but now he was mostly just held back by how awkward the load was. Shifting it into a bit more balanced of a position helped, and within the half-minute or so that the System predicted, he finally felt the crunch of dry earth replace the squelch of mud as he moved out of the vines and into a much more open, barren terrain. It was what Tulland thought of as a badlands, at least from the books his tutor had forced him to read about for his geology and map-making classes. It was an uneven, boulder-strewn mess, something that didn¡¯t offer a lot of cover that Tulland could use. But it does have some. Over there. Tulland sprinted towards the best chance he could see himself having, a sort of semicircle of boulders that backed up to a short, earthen wall, creating a small closed-off space that was still relatively open to the outside world. It wouldn¡¯t be much, but there was at least a chance that monsters walking by might miss him, so long as he was very quiet and they didn¡¯t have that good of a sense of smell. Once Tulland was there, he got to work as quickly as he could. Segmenting the flesh of the wolf, he planted briars all around the edges of the space, including up on the earth wall that lined the back of it. This was a dry area, but he hoped the moisture in the wolf-meat would keep the briars going anyway. Once Tulland had a place of safety to retreat to, he could take his time and really figure out the whole moisture issue. But he couldn¡¯t survive without a farm. That would be impossible for a farmer. Chapter 23: Food Once Tulland had the area planted with as many briar seeds as he could manage, he sat back, tried to let his regeneration do its job, and ate. When he was ready, he used Enhance Plant over every planting in the farm, thankful that he had preloaded these seeds with power before he had left the first floor. Then he sat back and let himself recharge and repeated the process, driving the growth of the briars a bit each time. His farmer¡¯s intuition was telling him that he was going about this all wrong. The swamp had been too wet to try and farm in, which he had known just from looking at it. This place, his skill said, was too dry. Even if the briars got going, they wouldn¡¯t thrive here. He¡¯d grow low-level plants at best, if they survived at all. But it¡¯s my only choice right now. I have to get something going. I can¡¯t just burn out all the resources I brought with me without any way to replace them. And I need somewhere to fall back on. The hours wound on as the briars got taller and taller, however slowly. At some point, they reached a height of about a foot, which was about a half or a third of what Tulland needed them to be to feel confident they¡¯d do anything for him. If he could just get a few more hours, he would probably get there, even if the bar for getting there was just having enough visual cover that he was truly difficult to see from the outside. It was not meant to be. Tulland had just bottomed out his magical powers when he heard the noise in the distance. It wasn¡¯t a snuffling or growling, which would have almost been more comforting. Instead, it was a scraping noise, like a knife being drawn across a whetstone. That scraping was layered over a soft thumping that occurred just before every rasp. For the life of him, he couldn¡¯t imagine what it could be. And then, as it rounded the corner, Tulland was well and truly frightened, shocked beyond anything he had expected or any level that his frazzled nerves could tolerate. In front of him, bloodied and barely keeping their feet, was what looked for all the world like a human person, clad in partial plate armor and propping themselves up on a broadsword. ¡°Oh. Hello,¡± the woman rasped. ¡°Could you watch me for a bit while I heal up? I¡¯m afraid I¡¯m going to become unconscious for a bit.¡± And then she did, clattering to the ground like a bag of scrap iron. Tulland had just enough presence of mind to command his little vines to stop eating the woman and drag her inside before he let himself react to the shock and the adrenaline of the surprise. An hour went by as Tulland sat facing the nearly-dead woman, petrified. She wasn¡¯t necessarily an enemy in the same way the monsters around him were. She might even be a friend. This might even be great, he thought. But if any of that isn¡¯t true and she wants a single thing that you have, she¡¯ll be able to cut you in half like an ax through kindling and there won¡¯t be a single thing you can do about it. As terrible as it was, Tulland had a choice here. And he could almost sense what the Ouros System was going to tell him to do before he reopened the channel to hear what it had to say. Kill her. Why? Because she¡¯s a much higher level than you. She¡¯s been doing something to assure that. She¡¯s likely returning to this floor from another one, trying to gain experience she missed on her first trip through. You can do that? Once you reach the boss floor before the first safe zone, yes. The rules vary depending on how high you¡¯ve climbed, but that much has always been consistent. Just because she¡¯s a higher level than me doesn¡¯t mean she¡¯ll kill me. Not everyone is like you. Some people are good. Debatable, but the level of danger she poses is not why I told you to kill her. She¡¯s experience, Tulland. A mass of it ready to be taken. Likely several levels worth, uncapped. That¡¯s horrible. So is life. I didn¡¯t design that one, and thus cannot apologize for the other. Tulland was more tempted than he wanted to admit when the System mentioned several levels worth of experience. He had seen what just a few did to help him survive against the Lungers on the first floor, and had experienced how sudden the tipping point between barely surviving a fight with something and easily handling it with minimal danger could be. Several levels all at once might abruptly catapult him to being survivable in this new place. And with how weakened the woman appeared to be, it might be as simple as sending a single vine over to her and turning away. As much as that might actually help him, Tulland was thankful to find he was still several steps removed from being quite that desperate. Instead, he took a deep breath, waddled over, and squeezed the juice from three or four of his cultivated briar fruits directly into her mouth. If his experiences with Strong Back were any indication, regeneration skills liked to be fed. He hoped the sugar would supercharge the process for her, at least a little. Whether it was because of the nourishment or some other factor, the woman began to stir not long after that. Tulland noticed simply because it was hard to miss as she opened her eyes, gasped, and jumped to her feet with her sword in hand before getting a better look at her environment and Tulland¡¯s terrified, quickly-backing-away place in it.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Grimacing apologetically, she sheathed her sword. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that. It¡¯s not often that I fall asleep outside of one of my safer spots. When I woke up here, I was a bit startled.¡± ¡°Not a problem.¡± Tulland was just glad she had put away the sword. ¡°I¡¯m glad you made it through.¡± ¡°So am I. And thank you for resisting the urge to make sure I didn¡¯t. Not many would have, especially with all it might have done for your class.¡± The woman squinted at Tulland, then took another look around her. ¡°Which is¡­ what, exactly? I mean, if you don¡¯t mind telling me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ well, I suppose there¡¯s no harm. I doubt I look very deadly armed with this.¡± Tulland gestured with his sharpened stick, which looked much less deadly and much more pathetic alongside the woman¡¯s shimmering, clearly magical sword. ¡°I¡¯m not a combat class at all. There was a bit of a betrayal involved. It¡¯s a long story.¡± ¡°Was the betrayal ¡®When you are gone I can finally have my money¡¯ or ¡®I was betrothed to someone the rich man wanted¡¯ in terms of plot?¡± Tulland tilted his head to the side, confused. ¡°The first one, I guess. How did you know?¡± ¡°There are a lot of stories like that in here. You hear them, even if you never meet the people. They tend not to last very long.¡± The woman winced her I¡¯m-so-sorry face at Tulland again. ¡°I suppose I shouldn¡¯t say so.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s okay.¡± Tulland waved at his farm. ¡°I¡¯m getting by with these briars for now. But I¡¯m trying to be realistic about my chances.¡± ¡°Good. I suppose, anyway.¡± The woman looked down at a bag on her hip, one that glowed with magic all by itself. ¡°I do have some extra weapons and armor on me. I don¡¯t suppose¡­¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m afraid not. The System made sure I couldn¡¯t get much utility out of that kind of thing. The only workaround I¡¯ve found so far is growing my weapons myself. And I¡¯m not sure how long that¡¯s going to last.¡± ¡°Ah. Well, I still owe you a favor, if there¡¯s a chance to repay it. Maybe I can save you back if there¡¯s an opportunity. Or something.¡± The woman looked sheepish. ¡°And with that, I had better leave. There¡¯s still hunting to do, before nightfall.¡± So there was night here. That was good to know, although not the main thing on Tulland¡¯s mind at that moment. ¡°Are you sure? I could¡­ I mean, if you wanted to rest more, the briars are pretty good cover.¡± ¡°No. I¡¯m afraid not.¡± The woman shook her head. ¡°Look, I¡¯d like to help. I really would. But I¡¯m here training because I¡¯m not doing so well myself. You can¡¯t possibly imagine how strong the boss on the fifth floor is. I was a pretty big deal in my world, but¡­¡± She shrugged, helplessly. ¡°It turns out my world was a pretty small place. And people made me seem like I was stronger than I was. I¡¯m not sure I¡¯m going to make it, and I can¡¯t spare the time to guard you when eventually I¡¯m going to leave and¡­¡± She paused helplessly. ¡°And I¡¯m just going to get killed anyway. No, I understand. You should go. In fact,¡± Tulland rooted around his bag until he found the fruits he had squeezed out for her, ¡°you might as well take these. I¡¯m guessing food isn¡¯t that easy to come by out here. And I can always get more.¡± The woman looked at him confused for a moment before her mouth fell open in shock. ¡°You can make food? Like, just make it?¡± She pointed at the soil. ¡°From dirt?¡± ¡°I mean, yes. That¡¯s typically how growing things works,¡± Tulland said, falling into the sarcasm mode that he used with the System. ¡°It¡¯s not that exciting once you¡¯ve seen it happen a couple times, and I can tell you that you¡¯re going to get tired of these sooner rather than later.¡± ¡°No, you don¡¯t understand. How do you not understand? You must have seen how much experience it costs to buy food here,¡± the woman said. ¡°What?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Food. When you buy it. How much it¡­¡± The woman¡¯s hand hit her head with her palm. ¡°Oh, for the love of the gods. It¡¯s because you can grow it. The Infinite never even gave you the option to buy it.¡± ¡°Listen, lady, I mean this nicely, but you are going to have to fill in some of the gaps for me here. To buy food? No, it never did that. Am I missing something?¡± The woman sat down heavily on the ground, here eyes moving back and forth as she did some kind of mental calculation. ¡°It¡¯s like this. When I got here, I was offered a special option to spend some of my day¡¯s experience to buy food. It¡¯s not cheap. The Infinite said it was because a fighter can¡¯t be expected to do battle on an empty stomach, or something like that. It¡¯s the same for everyone I¡¯ve talked to¡­¡± The woman¡¯s eyes went blank for a moment. ¡°At least five people in the lower levels, over the time I¡¯ve been here, not counting the few I had to fight. It¡¯s the same for all of us.¡± ¡°And I didn¡¯t get that because I can grow food. But can¡¯t you hunt, or something?¡± ¡°We can forage, but there¡¯s not much food to find. And hunting is no good. The beasts are poisonous. I only survived because my vitality is high.¡± She went to touch one of the briars before thoughtfully pulling her hand back. ¡°If you could make food, enough for me too, then we might be able to work something out.¡± ¡°Like?¡± ¡°Like maybe I guard you when you sleep. Or something like that. I can¡¯t be here all the time, but I¡¯m trapped on this floor for a week from the timeout. Not having to spend experience on food would get me at least a few days worth of hunting.¡± Tulland thought about that for a bit. ¡°And it¡¯s just that easy? I agree to feed you, and you spend some time on me? Just like that?¡± ¡°Just like that.¡± Tulland stood and wiped the dirt from his pants. ¡°Then come on. We have to get started.¡± The woman blinked at him. ¡°Started doing what?¡± ¡°Planting. This place is trash for growing. So is the swamp. But I had an idea about that. How¡¯s your strength score?¡± ¡°Mine? I¡¯m an armor-bearer. It¡¯s as high as anyone¡¯s, I guess.¡± ¡°Good. That will help with the shovel.¡± Tulland shook his head as she shot him a questioning look. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s simple to do. I¡¯ll show you.¡± ¡ª The badlands were too dry, and the swamp was too wet. The answer to where Tulland should farm had hit him like a ton of bricks earlier, far too late for him to take the risk of trying to start his farm again. But now, with a guard, he could take more chances. He was taking full advantage of that. ¡°That¡¯s as big as your farm can be, right?¡± The woman leaned on the shovel and heaved in a deep breath. ¡°You said those were the dimensions.¡± ¡°Yeah, although if you can do a little ten-by-ten plot over there, I¡¯d appreciate it. The way my class works right now, the farm isn¡¯t really for harvesting entire plants from. I need an annex,¡± Tulland explained. ¡°Sure. But after that, I¡¯m done. It¡¯s going to be dark pretty soon, and I want to be up one of these trees before that happens.¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± Tulland packed the last of the wolf-flesh around his briar seeds and sighed. His farmer¡¯s intuition wasn¡¯t telling him he had invented the best soil possible, but this hybrid mix of the organic-material heavy swamp soil and the dry dirt from the badlands was at least not something it was actively complaining about. That was the trick he had come up with. If the swamp was too wet and the badlands were too dry, he needed to build right in the transition area to take advantage of that. The briars were already indicating that they liked the soil better, too, mostly by growing about three times as fast as they had done in the badlands. Announcement: Rewrite of Chapters 16-21 (and start of Beta Reader group) Revision TLDR: I have a longer note on this I encourage you to read, but I''ve responded to reader feedback by enhancing the fight with the Forest Duke to give a better payoff, pushing back the class adjudication to after that fight is done, and making it more clear that Tulland''s class changes aren''t a nerf outside of very necessary he-can''t-overgrow-entire-levels changes. I''m glad to do it, and happy to have had the kind of reader feedback that helps me make the story better. Thank you all! ¡ª Hi everyone! RC here. First, I want to say thank you to everyone who has been reading and enjoying the story, and even those who have been reading and only-kind-of-liking it. Every little bit of interaction with the story you give is a nice thing for me, something that keeps me going in the job. This particular story has been controversial on a couple points, and I wanted to address those. Some of you have had a few problems with the story, most of which revolve around these few specific things:
  1. Several of you felt the fight with the Forest Duke was a lot less satisfying than it could have been. There was all this build-up, you said, that felt like it came to a point where it needed to explode, and then just fizzled, sparking complaints that you were robbed of a payoff.
  2. Some of you, not all but enough that it matters to me, felt that the ¡°nerf¡± on Tulland¡¯s class came sort of out of nowhere.
  3. The same people tended to feel that Tulland was robbed of a lot of power that he had justifiably earned, as if The Infinite was saying ¡°Hey! We see you just got viable. How about you just die anyway? Sorry-not-sorry, screw you, see you in hell.¡±
I write a lot, but going back and looking at chapters with a very critical eye isn¡¯t something I¡¯m good at. I did my best to do it here. I want to take that kind of feedback seriously, and I never want to be the guy who just decides he wrote everything perfect on the first pass and has no room for improvement at all. Reading through the affected chapters, I came to the following conclusions:
  1. Tulland was never meant to be a plague-builder class, and I don¡¯t think the story would be very interesting if he was. The potentially exponential way seeds work coupled with the fact that ¡°Tulland sat back and watched as another floor was eaten, haha, broken¡± isn¡¯t a very interesting story type means that the potential of him being a plague-builder had the be addressed at some point or another.
  2. I did, honestly, a remarkably bad job of addressing that in a satisfying, fun way. I nerfed him at the very apex of a fight I had done a lot of work to build tension in, and pulled the rug out from under the readers.
  3. I also did a very bad job of indicating that Tulland was getting paid out heavily here. I very much wanted the System to say ¡°Hey, you are stronger. You can¡¯t be stronger just like that because I couldn¡¯t let anybody be stronger in that way. But still, we want to make sure you get much, much stronger here like you deserve, even if we can¡¯t let it be literally unlimited and broken.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I missed the mark doing that well. I just did, flat-out, and I¡¯m actually literally sorry about this.
After conferring with Dotblue and taking a whole weekend¡¯s worth of writing and applying it to the problem, I made some really substantial changes. Here¡¯s what you need to know:
  1. Chapters 16-21 have all had changes.
  2. Regarding the adjudication, it now happens after the fight. The Forest Duke fight has been edited to let Tulland enjoy the benefits of his mega-vine, and to barely make it even with its help. The tension is much better preserved, and the payoff feels more organic.
  3. Regarding the exact changes to Tulland¡¯s class, they are still much the same. It¡¯s now more clear that those changes don¡¯t take anything from Tulland¡¯s overall strength in the moment. He is just as strong or maybe stronger after the adjudication as he was during the Forest Duke fight.
  4. At the same time, the broken plant-plague thing is still impossible for him. The propagation rate of his plants is capped, and how much they get out of fertilizer is still now tied to his farmer-skill levels.
  5. Tulland is still going to be a bit limited in terms of how many plants he can carry. Later on, the exact way he¡¯s limited will change, which will eventually (spoiler) mean that he can carry more weaker plants, and less of his stronger plants, preserving a balance that doesn¡¯t just have him throwing big packs of hundreds of briars at problems. He¡¯ll still have to think. (end spoiler)
The biggest thing I want you to know about the changes is that this is a story that is always, always going to be about farming. The huge risk here is that this story eventually becomes about a man who can just conjure summoned plants, for whom farming is an afterthought, and who we barely see touch a hoe or a shovel. You¡¯ve seen stories with a gimmick that go that way, right? That eventually just become generic melee-guy stories, no matter how exciting and new the premise was? I want to avoid that. I think the story will be the most fun that way. The biggest thing I want you to know overall is that I appreciate the feedback that helped me make these changes very, very much. There¡¯s practical, career-related reasons why I¡¯m always a bit sad to see low reviews when a story isn¡¯t liked, but that doesn¡¯t mean the feedback itself isn¡¯t valuable and helpful. I¡¯m always listening, even if my mental health doesn¡¯t always let me engage the way I¡¯d like to. Please never stop telling me what you think about my stories and how you think they could improve. I¡¯m glad to be working with you to make the best stories I¡¯m able to. Thank you so much, RC PS: On a different note, we¡¯re starting up a beta-reader group to avoid these problems in the future. As a beta-reader, you¡¯ll get advance access to everything Infinite Farmer related. All that we ask is for you to give us your unfiltered opinion on how you feel about the writing and depending on the feedback, we might edit, rewrite, or preserve the chapter. For now, we¡¯re limiting the beta-reader group to five people. If you¡¯re interested, could you write a line about yourself to [email protected]? Chapter 24: Lowstreet and Iroth Though they grew faster, the briars weren¡¯t as happy as they had been on their native turf, but these were fair enough conditions that Tulland didn¡¯t have to worry about them until he had the means and security to try and improve them. ¡°So how long until there¡¯s more fruit?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Well, right now, sort of.¡± Tulland husked some more seeds out of the flesh of the fruit, and handed a bit over to the woman. ¡°Hopefully that¡¯s enough for now. I have to hold some back as fertilizer. But there should be some as soon as tomorrow morning. Maybe tomorrow afternoon at the latest.¡± ¡°That soon?¡± The woman took the food out his hand without hesitation and popped it into her mouth before continuing speaking while she was still chewing. ¡°Don¡¯t plants¡­ take a while?¡± ¡°They do, normally. At least they did on my world. But these briars grow pretty fast, and I make them grow even faster.¡± Tulland dumped a bit more magical power out as he spoke. He would be trying to wake up as often as he could during the night to do the same thing now that he had two mouths to feed. ¡°And the monster meat I¡¯m feeding them is pretty good stuff, I hope. It should speed it up a little too.¡± ¡°Monster meat helps? I can keep bringing back meat, here and there. Not all the time, but often enough,¡± the woman offered. ¡°Too heavy to carry?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No. It¡¯s just that I have to kill as many things as possible. That wolf you got is probably the last you¡¯ll see for a few days, because I¡¯ve been hunting in this area so much. I need several a day to keep up on my experience goals.¡± ¡°Huh. You don¡¯t get capped?¡± ¡°Capped? Sure I do. But that would take forever. Months.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Tulland wasn¡¯t surprised to see that warriors once again had a softer life in this place than he did. He hadn¡¯t expected the difference to be that stark. He probably had another two or three wolves before he topped out on what they could do for him. The way this woman was talking, it seemed like she¡¯d need hundreds of them. ¡°So will that do it?¡± The big woman finished turning the soil for the secondary growing area using her sword, and had done a pretty good job of it. Tulland walked over, grabbed the Farmer¡¯s Tool, turned it into a hoe, and started working the soil himself a bit more. ¡°Not so good, then?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just that it needs to be a little finer than this, and I want to make sure the mucky soil from the swamp side of things gets mixed in. That doesn¡¯t take much strength, and I can¡¯t hardly ask you to do work I can do just as well by myself.¡± The woman nodded, then turned to look at the swamp trees growing nearby. She had mentioned sleeping in one that Tulland was reasonably sure she was just looking for a bed. Finding a likely one, she went up to the tree, laid her hand on the bark, looked up for closer inspection, and nodded. ¡°Well, time to go back to my regular size, I guess.¡± The woman cracked her neck, then held still as she began to shrink. Before Tulland¡¯s very eyes, she dropped down from being a good foot taller than him and maybe half again as wide across the shoulders to being small enough that Tulland almost thought of her as dainty. She seemed to notice the sudden silence as his hoe stopped tilling soil and he stood there slack jawed like a fool. ¡°What?¡± The woman glanced down at her body. ¡°Do I have a monster on me?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s¡­ I mean, you just shrank. You were bigger before.¡± ¡°Ha!¡± The girl laughed, ¡°You mean you thought I was that big all the time? That¡¯s my battle form. It¡¯s part of my class, so I can fight.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t fight like you are? I mean just the size you normally are? Why not?¡± ¡°I can, but being big is like a stat all by itself. I¡¯m a heavy armor class, which means I need a lot of reach and leverage to keep things off of me. It wouldn¡¯t be fair if I had to fight at this size all the time.¡± She waved her still-muscular but much smaller arms generally over her body. ¡°I¡¯m tiny. No reach.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland nodded like he understood what the girl was saying. He probably did, to some extent. But the idea that she would just be able to shift sizes from normal-girl-about-his-age to a huge, battle-ready giant of a woman had thrown him for enough of a loop that he¡¯d have to process some of this later on. ¡°Got it. Sorry.¡±Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°You really don¡¯t know much about this place, do you?¡± The girl jumped up, got her hands around a tree branch, and started hauling herself up with smooth, enhanced-strength ease. ¡°Back on my home world, coming to The Infinite was the big dream.¡± ¡°You seem young to have made it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. I¡¯m not. I trained in a temple for a long time. I know hundreds of classes. I know thousands of skills and every bit of intelligence our System could smuggle out of this place. You don¡¯t even know that small people with heavy classes get to adjust themselves to make things fair. It¡¯s like your world didn¡¯t send people at all.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think they did.¡± Tulland sighed, stowed his tool, and went to find a tree for himself. Soon, hopefully tomorrow, he would be able to start building out a much bigger hedge around his farm that would let him sleep on flat ground. Today, he would just have to copy whatever the woman seemed to be doing. ¡°At least I never heard a story about anyone coming here on purpose. Maybe it was because my world¡¯s System was defeated. I don¡¯t honestly know.¡± ¡°We aren¡¯t going to figure it out tonight anyway.¡± The woman was up in the branches now, laying in the gap between two particularly large branches growing from a central fork. Her feet were pressed up against the bark of the trunk, and she looked relatively secure there, like a human bird crammed into the branches. Tulland tried to accomplish the same thing and was much less successful, circling the trunk several times before finding a similar if much less secure position to settle down into. It was easy to get sleepy after that. As the last of the light leeched out of the air around them, Tulland groggily wondered why it stayed so warm here. Not that it always would, he thought, but at least in the last two zones the idea of being chilly wasn¡¯t really a thing he had to consider. ¡°Hey, you.¡± The woman rustled in her branch a bit, now invisible through the darkness and leaves. ¡°I have a question.¡± ¡°Me too. Maybe we can trade?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Then go ahead.¡± Tulland adjusted in his branch. ¡°I¡¯m all ears.¡± ¡°You never asked for my name. Even after you saw I wasn¡¯t a huge battle-monster of a woman. Most men would have, by now. Why haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Oh. That.¡± Tulland turned a little red in his tree. He wasn¡¯t usually afraid to talk to women, and that was true here too. But the blunt grouping of him with most men in that way put a new angle on things. ¡°I don¡¯t know you, and I don¡¯t know the world you are from. And, frankly, you could take me in a fight if you wanted to. I didn¡¯t want to poke at a hornet¡¯s nest before I understood things better.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think our worlds are that different really. At least from how you act. And it¡¯s normal to ask for someone¡¯s name back on my world. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s the same way as your home.¡± He heard her shift a bit more in her branch. ¡°I¡¯m Necia, by the way. Necia, the champion of Iroth.¡± ¡°Impressive.¡± ¡°Nope. There¡¯s a new champion every year. It just means I beat out the other local kids in a mock fight. I thought I was pretty tough stuff. Now yours,¡± Necia said. ¡°My question? I¡¯m¡­¡± ¡°No, damn you. Your name. I can¡¯t keep calling you ¡®you, over there¡¯ the entire time if we are going to be working together.¡± ¡°Right. It¡¯s Tulland. Tulland Lowstreet.¡± ¡°Lowstreet?¡± ¡°It meant something once. I guess there was a city with two main streets, and ours was the one by the river. Back when that city existed, and the family was important.¡± Tulland yawned. ¡°These days, there¡¯s a lot of Lowstreets. I never met one that mattered much.¡± Necia laughed over in her tree. ¡°What?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Tulland, from what you¡¯ve told me, I¡¯m guessing that your whole world hangs in the balance based on what you do here. If you could figure out a way to make sure your System spends your accomplishments the way most Systems do, you might end up sending back enough benefit to change everything for everyone.¡± ¡°If I live long enough.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the same for all of us. If we live long enough,¡± Necia said solemnly. Tulland thought about that for a while. It raised a lot of questions in and of itself, but none that he let supplant the one he had planned. ¡°So, what hurt you out there?¡± Tulland kept his volume medium and his voice level. ¡°Because it can¡¯t have been the wolves.¡± ¡°No? Why do you say so?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Because I can fight with the wolves. Barely. And you are a battle class who is coming to this floor for the second time, right? There¡¯s no way they are a serious problem for you.¡± ¡°Maybe there was more than one of them.¡± ¡°Solitary hunters, The Infinite said. They don¡¯t hunt in packs.¡± ¡°Well, okay. Fine. It¡¯s a bit embarrassing, though.¡± Tulland laughed a bitter, salty laugh. ¡°Yeah, I bet it is. You are talking to the guy who has to garden things to fight for him.¡± ¡°Point taken. If you must know, I fell into a Badland Ant pit.¡± ¡°Ants? Ants did this?¡± ¡°Ants the size of a small child did this. A dozen or more ants the size of a small child within arm¡¯s reach.¡± Necia¡¯s voice carried a hint of frustration Tulland thought might have been aimed at him, the ants, herself, or any combination of the above. ¡°When they¡¯re hitting you from every side at once, there¡¯s not much you can do. At least there wasn¡¯t much I could do.¡± ¡°How did they even get you surrounded in the first place? Are they that fast?¡± ¡°Nope. Good endurance, and can chase you forever, but not that fast. I made a mistake. I went down in one of their pits.¡± ¡°They have pits?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know why, but a monster with its own pit sounds even more terrifying.¡± ¡°Unless it¡¯s a peach, yeah. But yes, they have little pits, about twice as wide as you are tall, and I figured I¡¯d go down into one instead of waiting for all of the ants to come out of it. I thought I was being very smart and that I¡¯d save myself a lot of time.¡± ¡°Ouch. And that didn¡¯t happen at all.¡± ¡°No. But hopefully, we¡¯ll make it back. You weren¡¯t lying about those fruits, right? We should have some tomorrow?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Yes. Although I¡¯d appreciate it if you left the seeds for me. I¡¯d like to grow as much as I possibly can. And please do bring back wolf meat if you can. And dead ants, if you can get it safely,¡± Tulland said. ¡°No problem. You give me the food, and I¡¯ll get you the fertilizer. Seems like a good enough deal.¡± Chapter 25: Emotions The next morning, the vines were doing just fine. Part of this was because the branches Tulland was trying to sleep on were far from comfortable, which meant multiple opportunities to empty his sleep-refilled magical power on his brand-new farm. He had put down every available seed he could the night before, and about ten of the vines had gotten tall enough and strong enough to push out fruits. He ripped one of the fruits from the tree and gave it a cautious bite. It wouldn¡¯t do to give these second floor fruits to Necia if they turned out to be poisonous in some way or another. They tasted fine. If anything, they were a little bit sweeter and meatier than the fruits he had grown before. Which was good news, really. In a world where this was all he had to eat, any small improvement was a huge deal. A sudden rustle from the trees behind him meant it was time to share that big deal with others as well. ¡°I hardly believed you.¡± Necia looked around at the farm, then stepped forward to one of the other fruits. ¡°May I?¡± ¡°Sure. Help yourself to as many as you want. Only¡­¡± ¡°Save the seeds. Of course. Got it.¡± Necia reached out to the plant and put her hand around the fruit, nicking her finger on one of the thorns in the process. ¡°Damn. That hurts.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, I forgot they could do that. They can¡¯t get me anymore. Benefit of the class,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Lucky you. That really hurts. More than it should.¡± ¡°It¡¯s venomous. But it should stop in just a bit. Try the fruit. I¡¯m afraid I might not have an unbiased opinion of how good these are anymore, but aren¡¯t they a bit better?¡± Necia bit into the plant, showing none of the careful restraint that Tulland had. He decided that made sense, as her vitality and overall level had to be a lot higher than his magic power was. Maybe, just maybe, if he had a poisonous plant, he might have been able to juice it up enough to take her down if she voluntarily ate it. She would still have plenty of time to fight him while it did though, and now that she was back to fighting size, it was easy to imagine how very few blows it would take from her sword to convince him he had made a mistake. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Better than the fruit in the low-cost food packs The Infinite sells, anyway,¡± Necia said after a few chews. ¡°There are high-cost packs?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Sure. I ate one on my birthday.¡± She winced. ¡°It wasn¡¯t cheap. Maybe I made a mistake there.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. In a place like this, it feels like finding a way to be happy for a while is¡­ important. Maybe the kind of thing that keeps you alive.¡± ¡°How? Doesn¡¯t seem like the monsters care much what kind of mood I¡¯m in.¡± ¡°No, but¡­ I had a tutor. Back home. An old man. He and I used to argue about how armies worked. Since he knew and I only thought I knew, there was plenty to disagree about.¡± Tulland stopped momentarily as Necia snorted in laughter. She apparently had seen something like that before. ¡°Anyway, he told me that morale is what moves armies. Armor and weapons and training matter, but morale is what makes them take the next step. I figure that to live, you have to want to live. And that doesn¡¯t seem like the kind of thing you can fake. If good food helps with that, it¡¯s probably worth it.¡± Necia chewed her lip for a moment in thought, then shrugged. ¡°Maybe. But either way, I¡¯d better get going. Will you be safe here?¡± ¡°Probably. If nothing else, I can run back into my farm. There are enough briars growing there to make it real hard on any wolf that thinks it¡¯s a good idea to break in,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Well, good luck with that. My fruits, by the way?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Oh, right.¡± Tulland ran around the farm and grabbed about ten fruits, using the tip of his scythe to pop out the seeds as he went. ¡°Here. That should keep you for a while.¡± ¡°I hope so. I¡¯ll be back tonight or tomorrow night, depending. Be safe, okay?¡± Tulland nodded. It was a boring thing for someone to say, but felt really nice under the circumstances. Necia was disappearing over a rise in the terrain when he noticed his eyes were burning and his cheeks were wet, and put his hand to his face in surprise to find it was covered in tears. Oh, right. I guess I never really did deal with any of this. I wonder¡­ His thoughts were interrupted by a full-force, completely involuntary sob squeezing its way out of his mouth. A few seconds later, he found himself crumpled on the ground inside the relative safety of his briars, crying his eyes out.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it At the end of the day, Tulland was realizing, he was just a kid. He had the body of a man, for the most part, and it was rapidly changing as he spent his days working, fighting, and walking to be even more so. He had at least the responsibilities of a man, in that he was functioning as a monster hunter, farmer, and System-scientist all rolled into one. But a very short time ago, the most work he was actually expected to do in a given day was pretending to help his uncle peel potatoes while his uncle pretended to need the help. The most danger he was expected to face was a walk to the market. Tulland expected most people that made the transition from the kind of life he had lived to this new, worse kind of lifestyle did so gradually. They probably had time to work up from their childhood to the adult adventures they finally got around to. Tulland had none of that, and had been alone for days on days now. In the end, it wasn¡¯t the danger or the hard living that cracked him. It was simply having been reminded what it was like for someone to be concerned about his safety, however superficially and casually. When Necia told Tulland to take care of himself, it took him to the ground as neatly and quickly as any punch to the gut could have. He figured that whatever was bubbling out of him emotionally was better dealt with entirely right now if he could. He didn¡¯t want to crack up during a fight with a wolf or when planting seeds in some dangerous place. He let himself cry and shiver on the ground until he ran out of that kind of energy naturally, then slowly sat up and ate a couple of fruits. Only when he felt completely himself again did he start to go back to work. Tulland¡¯s first point of order was to hit the plants in his farm with some charges of Enhance Plant, as filtered through Broadcast. After that, he started his day-long work of slowly enhancing every seed in his possession as much as he possibly could before dedicating them to the soil and slowly increasing the size of his stationary army. For now, he was still working off the bonus his farm on the first floor had given him, but that would be gone in about one more day. By that time, he needed something better in place or he wouldn¡¯t stand a chance against the second floor monsters. And that meant he needed something besides briars to grow. He could feel the energy coming in from Broadcast¡¯s farm-staking function, and the increases it got as every new plant was added. If it wasn¡¯t so obvious, he would have missed the bottleneck entirely, but what he was seeing was undeniable and clear. The farm awarded each plant of a given type a little less than the last. There was a balance to be struck, but at the moment he was entirely investing in just one particular kind of trash-tier briar and missing that balance completely. I need some more seeds. Tulland sighed and made his first bet of the day. He had a very limited stock of Ironbranch seeds, but he was willing to invest about half of them to border his farm, just as he had the last one. His farmer¡¯s intuition was telling him they wouldn¡¯t want to grow here at all, and that they¡¯d probably fail. Even so, he couldn¡¯t afford to not try. He gave them the best start he could with mashed-berry fertilizer and some Enhance Plant, and said a short prayer that the little fellas would germinate well. After that, he was off to do some searching. Because although the badlands didn¡¯t have a lot going on plant-wise, he had seen a lot of biodiversity from the swamp. If he was going to find anything worth growing in this hellhole, it would probably be there, and Necia had indicated she thought this area was pretty hunted-out for the time being. There wouldn¡¯t be a safer time than now to check it out. Surprisingly, the trees themselves seemed to be a bit of a wash. He found some seeds on them, and he¡¯d plant them later, but judging by their system description, even The Infinite itself seemed to consider them to be useless in a boring kind of way.
Swamp Ache The Swamp Ache is a tree that would be of ill-repute if it were interesting enough to have a reputation at all. The wood is useless for construction and burns in a dirty, smoky flame that produces little heat compared to the trouble it takes to light and tend the moist wood. The one redeeming feature of the plant is its ability to survive in the swamp in the first place, tolerating low-quality soils and high levels of moisture with very little trouble. While this is impressive in its own way, it¡¯s simply not enough to make up for the sheer brittle, inconsistent nature of the wood that this plant produces. There are simply better options for almost any conceivable purpose than this tree.
Tulland took a few of the crumbly-feeling seed pods just because he could, but the claim that they were flat-out-useless meant that he was motivated to keep looking. There were some algae growing in the muck that he scooped out handfuls of, trying and failing to get a system description on before just hucking them in his bag with the rest of his seeds. And found some things he wasn¡¯t sure were plants at all in the technical sense, like the weird mosses and lichen that were growing on rocks and under trees here and there. He took some with him as he pressed on. A few minutes from home, Tulland was starting to get antsy. He had enough briars on him that he could do an all-out armor-sacrificing attack to get out of most kinds of trouble he expected, but he really didn¡¯t want to have to spend more weaponry than he had to that day. In a few days, he¡¯d have an overabundance of vines to work with, or at least he hoped he would. Today, he was one broken branch or two wolves-on-the-way-home from having to harvest plants before they were ready. Tulland was just about to turn around when he saw it. There was bright, bright yellow something off in the distance, standing out as a single point of color in an otherwise dingy, dirty environment. He made a beeline for it. Once he was closer, he saw that it was a flower, or something doing its damnedest to look like one. It was closed like a rosebud, but the petals and bright colors made it hard to classify as anything else. The Infinite agreed, kind of. Chapter 26: Acheflower
Acheflower Every world has parasites. While most tend to think of biting insects and organism-indwelling worms when considering this category, plants also experience leeches of sorts, freeloaders or synergistic feeders that profit from the life force of another organism without killing it outright. The Acheflower is one such botanical parasite. Too delicate and energy-greedy to survive on its own, it targets the Swamp Ache as a larger-surface-area, deeper-root-structured well of nutrients and moisture from which to draw. The flower that results from this theft is a much higher energy organism, one that holds secrets and defenses of its own that allow it to thrive while propagating tree to tree in the hostile swamp.
¡°Defenses of its own¡± was an interesting enough concept that Tulland was immediately hooked. He drew closer to the flower, inspecting it from every side and looking for hidden thorns or methods of attack he needed to watch out for. Seeing none, he very carefully lifted his gloved hand to where the parasite joined the tree to pull as much of the flower off as he possibly could. And then the flower struck. ¡°Gah!¡± Tulland yelled despite himself as the entire flower seemed to dissipate in his hand, expelling itself outward in a puff of yellow powder. He sprung back from it almost as fast as the buff, but only almost. A bit of the powder got into his eyes and nose, where it immediately started burning like fire. And then, suddenly, the world got a lot more colorful. He turned on the System communication channel. ¡°Hey, System.¡± Tulland said. ¡°Why is it a rainbow?¡± Why is what a rainbow? I don¡¯t understand what you are talking about. ¡°The wooooorld.¡± Tulland slurred just a bit, beginning to grin. ¡°It¡¯s so pretty.¡± You are intoxicated. Somehow. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ what?¡± High. Drunken, almost, as you would understand it. Listen. I¡¯m going to give you this one for free. You should probably get back to your camp. ¡°With the flower?¡± Sure. What¡¯s left of it if that¡¯s what you want. But you¡¯d better get moving. Or not. I don¡¯t care. Tulland wasn¡¯t entirely sure what the System was talking about, but he also didn¡¯t have a better reason to not return home. He had a pretty flower, after all, or at least the stem of one, and it was still yellow on account of all the powder. He wasn¡¯t at all sure he picked the right direction to walk in until he saw the edge of the swamp off in the distance. Smiling, Tulland ambled toward it amiably and happily, appreciating all the beautiful butterflies that were now existing just beyond the edges of his field of view, and the funny way they disappeared when he tried to look right at them. Once he broke the edge of the biome into the badlands, he saw he had actually missed his mark by about a minute¡¯s walk, and started towards his now-visible farm. He was about halfway there before he saw a friend, and decided to finish the trip faster to make sure he had food to offer it. Such a nice puppy. Loud. But very nice. He was just ahead of the dog when he finally broke through his briars into camp, and then spent a few minutes picking berries as he heard the dog getting more and more excited just past the edge of his garden. When he finally had several of them, he sat down to count the berries, something he found surprisingly hard in that moment. The dog was quite loud by now, which made it all that much better when it finally fell silent. A minute later, Tulland was at least sure that he had more than four of the fruits when a system notification and a sudden clearing in his perception brought him down to earth and left him with an odd, growing sense of dread.
Status Effects Cleared: Hallucination You have been poisoned by a hallucinogenic plant and have since recovered. While under the effects of the plant, you received no notifications as you would with other status ailments, since being unaware of the debuff is crucial to it working in the first place. Due to the nature of the poison, you will experience no toxic after-effects and can consider yourself fully recovered.
¡°Oh shit. Oh shit. System. Did you see that?¡± Tulland called.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. You don¡¯t recall? I told you to go back to your camp. I believe you arrived just in time as well. That wolf did not sound at all happy to have run into your defenses, by the way. ¡°No, I guess not.¡± Now that he was sober again, Tulland could more or less remember what that had sounded like, and turned around to find three fully used-up briars leading up to one very healthy, very well-fed looking plant. ¡°What level do you think that briar is?¡± Six, I believe. It got all the experience for that kill. You were not in the least aggressive, and The Infinite appears to have cut you out of it. ¡°Better than dying. Why did you help me anyway?¡± The bet, remember? I get paid out in a currency much purer than you can imagine once I win it, and again once the skill I steal from you leaves you dead. It isn¡¯t to my advantage to let you die unnecessarily before then. ¡°And that¡¯s all?¡± Of course. Does it not make sense? ¡°I suppose. And thanks, for what it¡¯s worth,¡± Tulland replied. Tulland cut the connection. It was weird, even if the System had about half of an excuse for doing it. Even if it was true that the Ouros System would get more pay if he lived a bit longer, that wasn¡¯t the whole story. Tulland could remember the System¡¯s voice when it had directed him. There was something there besides pure greed. It was hard to say exactly what it was, but he would have sworn it was there. He shook his head a few times to make sure his balance felt normal and stood. The Infinite hadn¡¯t been kidding about the drug being clear from his body. He felt normal, at least to the extent he could tell. But on top of all that normal-feeling healthiness was something else now. He was greedy. Whatever that flower had done to him was something he wanted in his arsenal, and as soon as he could possibly get it. Luckily, The Infinite had given him a pretty solid roadmap for making that happen. The first step was in his bag in the form of a seedpod for what was admittedly the very worst, lowest-quality kind of tree he had ever seen. He bounced the pod in his hand a few times, then took one of the seeds out of it and hit it with an Enrich Seed to get it into fighting shape. Walking to the swamp-side of his farm, he took out his Farmer¡¯s Tool scythe, harvested a few briars, then used the hoe-mode to make the soil a little wetter and more boggy than it had been before. Into that soil, with no fertilizer at all, he dropped the Swamp Ache seed. Then he walked along the entire back border of his farm, planting the others. From what his notifications had hinted at, these trees were pretty useless outside of being used as a food source for the parasite. So long as they grew, he could use them as a platform for making more of the flowers. Tulland hit the entire row of new tree plantings with an Enhance Plant, then tried seeding his new Acheflower. With the petals mostly turned into powder, the yellow flower was reduced to a stem with several of what he was pretty sure were seeds stuck to it. Taking these carefully onto his fingertip one at a time, Tulland walked over to the swamp, found a grown Swamp Ache, planted the flower seeds, and then empowered them with what magical energy he had to spare. Between enriching the seeds and speeding up the growth, he was hoping to have several of the flowers pretty soon. If that worked, he would hopefully have some level of tree to plant them on while it was still relevant for his efforts. The variety would at least help, unless he missed his guess. The only question was if the just planted trees would get big enough to support the parasites before it was time for him to move on. Once that work was done, Tulland found himself exhausted. Magic was a weird master to serve under, in a lot of ways. He was pretty sure his body would be good for days of work now, if that was all he asked it to do. Adding a more mystic energy expenditure to the mix was enough to have him sleepy almost every time he bottomed out his force. Naps are the secret to power. I thought uncle was just taking them because he liked the couch. It also didn¡¯t help that Tulland had spent the night before almost falling out of a tree, but if nothing else happened today, at least his farm had proven its worth. Deep inside the briars, it would take a concentrated attack from several wolves to penetrate to Tulland, and with how few were left in this part of his world, he didn¡¯t expect that to be a problem. Before laying down, he had the presence of mind to harvest whatever briar fruits had popped up in his absence and throw the seeds out onto freshly tilled soil at the border of the swamp and the drier land. Then he laid down, finding himself asleep almost as soon as he settled onto the hard dirt. ¡ª The Ironbranch trees had been out-and-out resistant to Tulland¡¯s attempts to grow them, both rejecting Enrich Seed entirely and barely getting anything out of Quickgrow or Enhance Plant. The first sign Tulland had that the Swamp Ache would be a different story was when it had greedily lapped up whatever magical power he could provide it at the seed stage. It didn¡¯t complain one bit, just soaking up his energy until it was topped off and then doing the same with Enhance Plant once it was in the soil. It was, in a way Tulland couldn¡¯t really explain, almost unrespectable behavior for a plant. The briars took his energy, sure, but they didn¡¯t seem to have any feelings about it. Something in his farmer¡¯s intuition gave him the sense that the Swamp Ache was needy or desperate, or whatever the botanical equivalent of those feelings were. The second difference wasn¡¯t a feeling at all, but something he could see with his bare, unassisted eyesight. It wasn¡¯t even something he could have missed if he had tried, as he opened his eyes to a foot and a half of new growth and a row of established saplings staring him in the face. Not a single seed of the swamp trees had failed. And to Tulland¡¯s surprise, each of them was feeding him much more energy than the briars they had displaced. He had almost expected the garbage tree to fail him in that way, but he could feel the new power flowing through all his defensive vine armor. He stood up and stretched, oddly pleased at the development. Emptying out his refilled magical power into the new trees, Tulland considered the next steps in his plan. As much as he hadn¡¯t expected it, the new trees were overperforming what he had expected them to do, and it wasn¡¯t like the briars were in short supply. Wandering into the swamp again, he picked through the trees until he had a dozen more seeds, then put each of them in the soil with either some fruit flesh or the last little bits of the wolf-meat in his pack. He had an inkling that the piggish, unsophisticated little trees would get something out of both fertilizers. They aren¡¯t picky. Which I guess makes things easy for me. He waited around a few more hours, making sure every bit of his farm and annex got a little bit of benefit from his magic as it filled and refilled. As he did, he carefully checked his current briar armor against the plants growing in his new farm. Soon, the new plants would surpass what he was wearing, with no shortage of extra plants in sight. Which meant he had resources to burn, and an enemy type he wasn¡¯t experience-capped on yet. Wait for me, little wolves. It¡¯s time for some payback soon. Chapter 27: Fighting In the swamp, the wolves were king. There were some animals that lived there that The Infinite didn¡¯t acknowledge as monsters, and not a single one of them could do anything about it when the wolves were on their trail. Today, one particular wolf was wandering through the swamp tracking one of the smaller rodents, slowly closing in on the burrow where it made its home. The wolf stopped in its tracks as a new smell crossed over the scent-trail the swamp rat had laid down. Whatever this smell was, it was new to the wolf. But it was a lot of smell, as odors went. It came from a bigger animal, one that promised far more calories for the wolf¡¯s trouble than the rat could provide. Without much consideration, the wolf left the lucky rat to its own devices and started walking after its new quarry. Tulland wasn¡¯t hard to track. The wolf made a beeline towards him without a single bit of hesitation, coming halfway to the tree he was crouching behind in just ten or fifteen seconds. Tulland checked his armor over one last time, took a deep breath, then stepped out from behind the tree, hitting every single briar on his body with enhancements as he did. Go. Get him. The wolf shied back for just a split second as its prey came into view, then pressed its feet into the ground as it sprung towards the promise of easy-pickings human meat that Tulland represented. At the same time, six vines uncurled off Tulland¡¯s body and rose to meet the wolf, who had committed far too much weight to the attack to get out of their way as they reached for its fur. Tulland swayed to the side as the distracted wolf swished past him, barely catching his chest with one of its sharp, hooked claws. It hurt like hell, but wasn¡¯t anything Tulland couldn¡¯t take, and nothing that put him in any real danger. As the wolf flew by, it picked up four of the six vines. From experience, Tulland knew the vines worked better when they had a bit of time to orient themselves, to dig deep into an animal without having to worry about its active attempts to shake them off. If Tulland could give them that time with his ineffectual attacks, then it hardly mattered that the attacks themselves sucked. The briars would make up for it. Tulland pivoted, sending a few drops of blood flying as he spun in place and brought his club to bear in the general direction of the wolf. Like the Forest Duke, the wolf had no way of knowing just how slapped-together Tulland¡¯s arsenal was, and as a result had to respect anything that looked even somewhat like an attack. This gave the vines plenty of unattended time in which to work. They contracted just as the wolf attempted to jump at Tulland again, sending it tumbling awkwardly along the muddy floor of the swamp. Tulland took the opportunity to actually hit the wolf with his Ironbranch spear a few times, then pulled back in caution to make sure he wasn¡¯t misreading the situation. He wasn¡¯t, that he could tell. As the last two vines wrapped around the wolf, it was almost immediately clear that while two of the strong vines spelled serious trouble for one of these wolves, an all-out attack from a half dozen vines total was far more than they could handle. It can hardly move. I can pretty much stab it at will now. Tulland took mercy on the wolf, ending its life with several well-placed shots to its neck, letting his vines feed until it was gone. That was an eerie process. He used to avoid watching the gruesome act, but these days he had taken to watching the consumption in hopes he might learn something. It was a simple enough thing. The vines were infused with magic power, like almost every monster in this place was. They hummed with it as they worked their thorns deeper and deeper into their prey. The wolf didn¡¯t dissolve, exactly. It looked a lot like how Tulland felt when the damage from an attack on a particular part of him attacked his body¡¯s overall health. The vines slowly broke the wolf down, making it less and less substantial until it finally began to look faint. What was left of the animal seeped into the vines at that point, leaving only a bit of blood and fur where the beast used to be. No wonder I didn¡¯t find anything of the wolf that the farm took on by itself. That¡¯s just not how these things work. Unlike the wolf his farm had killed, though, Tulland was awake for this one and fully in command of his plants. Where The Infinite had not counted his involvement before, it fully compensated him now, giving him a big burst of experience all at once that turned out to be a more than sufficient to move him to the next level. Tulland had put five of his points into vitality to survive the first wolf attack before. With two more levels worth of stats on top of that, he was starting to feel that much better about his chances on this floor.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 19 Strength: 30 This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.Agility: 25 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 30 Mind: 10 Force: 35 Skills: Enhance Plants LV. 5, Enrich Seed LV. 8, Command Plant LV. 1 Passives: Broadcast LV. 4, Botanical Engineer LV. 2, Strong Back LV. 4,
Smiling, Tulland turned back towards his farm. His magic power had barely been tapped by that last application of Enhance Plant. It had taken him quite a while to find the earlier wolf, and by the time he got back home to his farm, he¡¯d have a full tank to dump into his agriculture. He wasn¡¯t going to be getting any more levels today anyway, not with how hard it was turning out to be to find game in the area. He was barely on his way home when the next happy little change in his life hit him.
Skill Level Up! Broadcast LV. 5 (Simplified Description) Broadcast has experienced the following threshold changes:
  1. The ratio of power expenditure to effect in larger groups of plants has improved. You now gain an even greater premium on power used when you spread it out as opposed to focusing it on one particular plant or sapling.
  2. The maximum number of plants you can affect with a farming skill at one time increases from 15 to 20.
  3. The maximum length of your farm plot¡¯s sides increases from ten to twelve meters.
Tulland was moving home pretty quick before the message, but now he hustled. Getting back to his farm, he quickly dumped all his power into the plants while he did some quick calculations on the increase in his farm. Going from ten meters to twelve meters per side didn¡¯t sound like much, but that was only if one hadn¡¯t paid any attention at all during their tutor¡¯s geometry classes. I paid almost no attention, true, but I think I remember this. Tulland worked out the math in the dirt with his finger. The old plot was a hundred square meters, which was already a pretty good size. The new plot would not simply be 20% bigger. It would be nearly half again as big, at 144 square meters. It was a massive increase, almost making up for the fact that the skill hadn¡¯t improved much at all until this point. ¡°I love you, little Swamp Aches.¡± Tulland glanced fondly at the trashy little trees, which had somehow grown another six or seven inches while he was out. ¡°If nothing else, this earns you a home with me.¡± The next few hours was a frenzy of finding enough briar seeds and Swamp Ache pods to plant on the new land, as well as breaking his back to till and mix the soil for them. Without Necia¡¯s overpowered help, it was a big undertaking, but eventually, Tulland had the mixture of swamp soil and badlands dirt just about right. After getting his new seeds planted, Tulland went to check on another group of members in his growing plant family. The flowers hadn¡¯t been planted in the farm, but they also weren¡¯t far. It didn¡¯t take him long to find that five of the yellow things had taken to the trees and were already full-sized, bright-yellow blooms that looked ready to pick. ¡°Moment of truth. System, if this goes badly, could you remind me to go hide in my farm, please?¡± No promises. ¡°Fair enough.¡± Tulland reached out mentally to the flowers, commanding them to not explode with every bit of authority he could muster. Covering his mouth and nose with one hand, he gingerly reached out with the other, barely brushing the petals of the flower with his fingertips. It didn¡¯t explode. I guess it¡¯s time for the truth. In some sort of freak miracle, the flowers not only tolerated Tulland touching them, but also picking them and putting them in his pack, where they sat inert. If he was right about how they worked, he would have an entirely new kind of weapon to play with, one that The Infinite would hopefully allow to go un-adjudicated as he learned how to best make use of it. For now, he was going to very, very carefully replant what seeds he could get out of the flowers in his farm, then go take a nap. Soon, he would be experimenting with these flowers in live conditions, and probably on a kind of enemy he hadn¡¯t faced before. It was impossible to be too rested up for that kind of risk. ¡ª ¡°This might work. I don¡¯t see any reason why it wouldn¡¯t.¡± If the ants are stronger than you, it won¡¯t. If the ants pay special attention to the briars, it won¡¯t. If you make any one of the dozens of mistakes you could be reasonably expected to make¡­ ¡°It won¡¯t. I got it. But there¡¯s a lot of reason this should work too. If it doesn¡¯t, I can just set up a cordon further back from the hole. It¡¯ll probably be fine.¡± After a quick patrol to make sure there weren¡¯t any handy wolves to take down, Tulland had set off in search of one of the ant pits Necia had mentioned. According to her, they shouldn¡¯t have been that hard to find. Whether Tulland was unlucky or just missing something, he spent an hour making larger and larger half-circle walks away from his base without actually finding anything. And, bored as he was, that meant company was once again at a high enough premium for him to talk to his betrayer. It was, without a doubt, the weirdest Tulland he had ever had in a lot of ways. It mostly ran off Tulland pretending there wasn¡¯t really any problem with talking to the thing who had condemned him to a painful death, and everyone avoiding any mention of that specific subject to keep the conversation going. ¡°The point is that I have a chance, and if it works, it¡¯s going to be very easy to farm these ants up to the cap.¡± And if it doesn¡¯t work? ¡°Then I do whatever I can do to not die. I hardly want to point out how bad of manners it is for you to make a big deal out of this, by the way. Given that you are the one who benefits most from my death. Any magistrate would point his finger at you as a suspect if they found out I had died.¡± I apologize for my rudeness, then, I suppose. And I must point out that there isn¡¯t anything like a magistrate for what amounts to an infinite distance in any direction. ¡°Yeah, tell me about it.¡± Tulland bobbled one of the flowers in his hand. He had accidentally dropped one earlier, which confirmed that they just wouldn¡¯t explode unless he gave them the go-ahead to. Since then, he had been using them to fidget away the sheer dullness of the walk. ¡°Now if I could just find a pit.¡± You have. Look ahead. Chapter 28: Badland Ants The Ouros System wasn¡¯t trustworthy and couldn''t see much farther than Tulland himself could, but this wasn¡¯t the kind of thing it would lie about. Tulland scanned the ground, missing the pit four times before he finally caught the subtle difference in the dirt-on-dirt motif of the world around him. There was a depression in the ground about twenty feet ahead, doing nothing in particular and displaying no particular activity around it. Compared to anthills back home, it looks positively dead. Not like an anthill at all. This is, as you know, hardly ¡°back home.¡± But it does follow a certain logic, if you know how to see it. Oh, yeah? Tulland kept his responses to thought, so as not to jostle any activity out of the pit before he was ready for it. And what¡¯s that? As a rule of thumb, the larger an animal is, the less of it there are. Bigger things take more food to feed. But they can take down bigger prey, working together. There is a balance to everything, you¡¯ll find. And exceptions to any rule, for that matter. But as a general thing, a wolf is around the largest animal you are likely to see. Unless I see something else. Indeed. Tulland cut the channel, out of an abundance of caution and a surprisingly strong desire not to get distracted and caught in pincers or to be stung by some strange, venom-bearing needle. Creeping up as slowly as he could, he approached the edge of the hole and looked over, hoping to catch a glimpse of the ants that would give him a better sense of what he was in for. In that, he was immediately disappointed. There was not a single ant visible when he looked over the edge. Instead, there were a few ill-kept looking tunnels branching off from the bottom of the pit, a lot more dirt, and nothing else of consequence. That felt like an okay enough outcome, as such things went. From what Necia had been telling him, these pits generated ants at fairly regular intervals. If he could get some vines established on or in the edge of the pit before they came back, he could harvest the ants from afar without actually doing the hard work of fighting, like some sort of perverse land baron taking advantage of the peasants in his employ. Tulland pulled out some seeds and carefully implanted them in the soil near the lip of the hole. There was no shortage of fruits to draw potential briar plants from now. Using his shovel, he turned a small amount of dirt, cut up the soil beneath it, dropped in a full but slightly mashed fruit, then turned the soil back over them as he worked silently around the circle. After about ten minutes, he had planted something like fifteen of the briar seeds. That almost felt like enough until he remembered that his Enhance Plant magic was now best spent on groups of twenty. As quietly as he could, he prepared three more balls of briar seed and organic material, then tossed them into the pit one after another until he had three seeds close enough that they could support each other, should they reach adulthood. In theory, this was the best thing Tulland could possibly do. He had been paying more attention to the leveling of his briars since he defeated the Forest Duke on the first floor, and his findings had been that the briars now leveled in a couple ways. The first was by being especially coddled in their seed form and being given the best shot they could possibly get to grow up strong. Right now, with Enrich Seed, just the right soil, and the best mixes of berry and meat fertilizers he had figured out, Tulland could get his briars to about level five at maturity. Once he cut the briars, they were stuck at that level. Letting the briars eat the monsters they felled was a good way of keeping them alive and fighting a bit longer, but it no longer made them stronger than they had been in the ground in any way Tulland had been able to notice. Letting them hunt while they were still in the ground was an entirely different thing. They seemed to level and grow just like he did, if to a pattern and at a speed that he couldn¡¯t quite understand yet.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The point is that if I can get them growing in there, eventually those little guys will be monsters that grew up watered in ant-blood. It wasn¡¯t meant to be, even though a spawn-farming death-hedge would be the coolest thing Tulland had done so far. When the seeds hit the bottom of the pit, he saw exactly why Necia was caught off guard when she set foot into the ants¡¯ real, actually guarded territory. As if on cue, four of the huge ants popped out of the sides of the pit, swinging their heads back and forth in an attempt to get the scent of the intruder on their antennae.
Badland Ants If these insects seem angry, consider that they do not possess enough of a mind to actually feel emotion in the same way that most animals do. In a more terrifying way, they are simply pursuing a goal. They roam this land looking for food, surviving off surprisingly little energy but willing to work themselves to death for just a little meat, or just a scrap of edible vegetable matter. They will fight until their last breath, never knowing the meaning of retreat until it¡¯s too late to matter. Unlike many beasts The Infinite chooses to feature, the Badland Ants are very much what they appear to be. The parts of them that look dangerous are indeed places you want to avoid. Their apparent weaknesses are indeed good places to strike. Their strength, such as it is, comes from numbers. The wise avoid facing those numbers whenever they are able.
It didn¡¯t take the ants long to figure out the proximate source of the trouble. They rushed the seeds like they were an existential threat, tearing apart the fruit flesh Tulland had swaddled them in and sending the seeds themselves flying. The plants seemed to be mostly uninjured by this attack except for losing their jump-start nutrients, and the ants were mindless enough to fail at comprehending what was really going on. That stayed true for just a second or so after the initial rush to defend the pit. As soon as the threat of the seed-balls was dealt with, Tulland watched the ants start to scramble up the sides of the wall directly at him. Four ants against six vines seemed like the kind of math that could easily swing against him, especially with insects whose assembled mouth-parts looked custom-made for dealing with plant matter. Tulland decided to do his best not to find out how he would fare. Backing up, he reached into his bag to grab at the flowers, tossing two of them in a low arc. True to his most recent commands, the flowers were stable. As they came even with the lip of the pit, Tulland let them know what to do. Explode. Whenever you think is best. The complexity of the command was lost on the flowers, which immediately burst into powder. Tulland kept backing up as the ants suddenly became much, much noisier inside the pit. With no way of seeing them, he had no way of knowing what was going on until a single ant managed to poke his head above the pit, looking as healthy and lethal as ever. Tulland gripped his spear. He had no idea if these things could outrun him, and at the moment, he had as much potential upper hand on them as he was likely to get. Hoping the flowers were doing at least something, he choked up on his spear and took a step towards the one ant that had made it free of its home, ready to do what he had to. The ant came about up to Tulland¡¯s knee, and was negotiating the dirt with pointed, chitin-covered legs that looked like they could act as weapons all their own. The entire animal was lightly dusted with the yellow from the flowers, and seemed to know where Tulland was as it moved forward, mandibles biting again and again in anticipation of their clash. Tulland shoved his spear forward, catching the thing more or less on its nose. It was no good. The point of the spear turned away from the hardness like a needle being poked at glass, creating a visible scratch on the ant¡¯s armor but no more damage than that. The ant lunged forward, snapping its mandibles shut on a space that previously held Tulland¡¯s leg. Tulland himself only cleared it because he had anticipated just that sort of reaction. He shoved his spear forward again, this time catching the ant in the joint of one of its legs. The point of the spear dug into the flesh just a bit and momentarily buckled the leg before the ant swung its head at the spear itself, knocking it loose and almost sending Tulland off his feet. The defensive move actually made the spear do more damage than it otherwise would have, ripping the flesh of the leg enough to get the ant to visibly hobble on it. The momentary victory was hard to duplicate. The ant, now wary of Tulland¡¯s spear, was doing its best to attack from safer angles and distances. If the hallucinogen was having any effect on it, it was hard to see. And to the extent Tulland could tell, it had the upper hand. He wasn¡¯t going to be killing it any time soon, at least at this rate. And at some point not too far in the future, the other ants would come. Chapter 29: Generalist and Specialist ¡°Everything is for something. That¡¯s why.¡± ¡°That¡¯s no answer.¡± Tulland moved one of his tutor¡¯s stones out of formation. His tutor hardly ever played disrupting moves in that way, favoring simply setting up his own stones in sound, self-sustaining formations that damaged Tulland¡¯s plans simply by exerting their tactical influence on the rest of the board. Safe from disturbing the other stones, Tulland pulled the stone off the board entirely, tossing it in his bowl of prisoners. ¡°I¡¯m for something. But I can¡¯t jump ten times my own height.¡± ¡°But the field jumpers can, yes. That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying, boy.¡± The old man ignored the gap in his own defensive wall that Tulland¡¯s theft of a piece had left, placing a stone in a completely unrelated part of the board in such a way as to completely frustrate two future attacks Tulland had been looking forward to. ¡°They are for jumping. It¡¯s the way they negotiate with the realities of this world. They are shaped and designed specifically for that task, and precious few others. Would you say you are for jumping?¡± Tulland glared at the board, then played an ally stone near his tutor¡¯s last placed piece in an attempt to salvage at least one of his offensives. ¡°No. But I have legs. I have muscle and bone. I have all the same pieces.¡± ¡°And yet, you can do so much more with them. With the same leg, you can kick. Or dance. Or run. Or walk, for that matter. You can draw lines and figures in the dirt, or tap in frustration after I do this.¡± The tutor half-smiled and played a piece that not only put a knife into any future plans of attack Tulland might have had with his semi-recovering offensive, but also gave the tutor an almost perfect attack angle on Tulland¡¯s territory. ¡°You have versatility. But that field jumper you were contemplating? It has none of those options. It can simply jump. Every hook in its shell to which a muscle is attached, every bit of weight in its body, and all of its attention are focused on just that one task. It¡¯s very, very good at it.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t they dominate? Not the field jumpers, but something like them. A cat that is good at pouncing, or a viper that¡¯s good at striking. If they are better at it than we¡¯ll ever be.¡± Tulland placed a stone in what he now suspected was an absolutely useless attempt to make his tutor sweat a bit. ¡°Why is the world ruled by the one species of generalists, rather than some or all of the specialists?¡± ¡°Ah. The big question you¡¯ve been working up to, I see.¡± The tutor ignored Tulland¡¯s feint, just as Tulland had expected him to. He put another attacking stone down firmly in the center of Tulland¡¯s last remaining territory. Tulland would be able to kill the attack, he knew, but not before his tutor had profited so much from the attempt that any idea of winning was now a pipe dream. He would have forfeited, if it was polite to do so and he had any hope at all of winning the next game, or the one after that. ¡°Yes. Why do humans win?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°The quick answer is that often times, we don¡¯t. Lives fall to various sorts of beasts and illnesses much more often than I¡¯m pleased to contemplate,¡± the tutor said. ¡°And? What about the longer answer?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the long game. Do you know why I beat you at stones and armies? Every time?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you build needles. You place your stones to make sharp, dangerous things. Things with a point so fine that they would pierce the gods themselves if they ever touched.¡± ¡°But they never do. Why?¡± ¡°Because a needle can only point in one direction. And at any place but the point, it makes a poor shield. Do you know what I build?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Supply wagons. Larders. Chains of goods that move here and there.¡± Tulland looked at his tutor¡¯s formations and saw none of that, but assumed that the old man¡¯s frequent effortless victories were enough to win him the benefit of the doubt. ¡°Things that serve no matter the situation. And sooner or later, your needles find themselves without targets at which they can easily point. Outside of their one developed use, they shatter. Needles have always been fragile, Tulland.¡± The old man took pity on Tulland then, forfeiting the game for him, as was his right when things were as clearly one-sided as they had become. Tulland helped him clear the board, putting every stone back in the appropriate patch before facing the board once again. ¡°Eventually, your needles might break apart my pantries and food-wagons, Tulland. But you and I both know that won¡¯t matter much if I still win most of the time.¡± The tutor tapped his knuckles on the counter in time with those last four words. ¡°That¡¯s what versatility allows you to do. Rather than building needles that can win at their chosen strength, you should build in such a way as to hit others in any weakness they might present. In that direction lies victory.¡± ¡ª Tulland didn¡¯t need a dream to remember that particular lesson. It had been drilled into him a thousand different ways over hundreds of games of stones. Facing down the chomping mouth-parts of a giant ant, it was hard to question his tutor¡¯s wisdom. With similar strength, he could never beat the ant at its own chosen angle. He had to find his way around that strength if he wanted a chance to win. What are ants for? Carrying things. Digging. I don¡¯t think I can get it to do either of those, right now. But besides that¡­ Tulland dodged another two lunges from the ant before it hit him.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Walking in straight lines. They¡¯re built to follow other ants. Tulland had been mostly dodging backwards, but immediately jumped to the side when the next attack came. The ant followed, but not before Tulland¡¯s spear hit it twice in the flank. It didn¡¯t get hurt much, but this was the first time Tulland had found more than a split second to try hitting the ant since the fight started. Better yet, the ant almost overshot him as it turned to follow him, seeming to need a tiny bit of extra time beyond the movement to lock back onto his prey¡¯s position. Tulland jumped again, and the same situation repeated itself. It was that delay at the very end of things that ended up paying him out. As he stabbed in that moment of safety, he caught the ant in the joint of its neck, bearing down hard for just long enough to dig the point of the spear three or four inches deep. The ant began to panic, spraying a clear mystery liquid behind as it moved. Tulland didn¡¯t suppose that whatever that liquid was or wasn¡¯t supposed to do boded very well for him. He continued to dance around the ant, stabbing it over and over, trying to take it down before the other ants finally finished with whatever troubles they were having in the pit and climbed up. Tulland finally landed the attack he was looking for, digging into a spot so close to the previous good blow to the ant¡¯s neck that he was able to crank back on the branch and rip out of a chunk of meat. The ant thrashed for a few moments after that, but apparently something important enough to take the animal down had been damaged in the process, leaving it writhing in panic for a few more moments before it stopped moving entirely. It was just in time. At that moment, the remaining three ants came to the surface, much more yellow than their brother had been, having taken a much more direct dose of the flower pollen. Tulland braced as all three of them started to move, but not towards him. First, they found the chemical trail of their fallen brother, then the corpse itself, then turned here and there as if searching for Tulland and unable to find him. Huh. Tulland hardly even needed to dodge them as they worked around the area. Are they blind? They aren¡¯t getting anywhere near me. Now that the flowers were busted apart and Tulland was smelling them for the first time with his wits about him, he was struck by how very strong the aroma was. It was an acidic sort of smell that was permeating through the air, something that seemed like it would clear his sinuses if it was any stronger. And ants, as far as he could remember, were blind. They got around by smelling things. Or so his tutor swore. Now Tulland had two things to work with. The first was that the ants didn¡¯t do a very good job turning, and the second was that they really couldn¡¯t see that well with their antennae covered in stinky flower dust. That was a weakness and a vulnerability exploited, all in one go. And while the ants didn¡¯t appear to be noticeably intoxicated, they were still plenty screwed up. They have two vulnerabilities that negate their specializations. And here¡¯s ol¡¯ Tulland, all generalized and having thumbs. And it was still barely enough. The ants couldn¡¯t see very well, but either by some bit of his scent sneaking through the interference or vibrations in the ground, they could make guesses. The three ants lunged at him one after another, not difficult to dodge as individuals but posing much more of a threat as a group. Tulland managed to evade all of them more or less, but still brushed by the sharper bits of the mandibles at least a few times. He felt lucky that was it. There was some kind of acid in them, for sure, something that set his nerves on edge as well as on fire whenever they made small cuts. After several lunges, he did find a rhythm of sorts. The ants would lunge, and he¡¯d counter-lunge, trying to bury the point of his spear wherever it could find purchase. It worked, but slowly, and he was wearing out. He had to work quickly, but that wasn¡¯t nearly as much of a challenge when the first of the ants was finally hobbled. As the other two ants danced around trying to catch him, he kept the slowed ant in between him and them as much as possible, stabbing and stabbing until he finally clipped something important and took the second ant down. The third ant got lucky. Just as Tulland got his spear out of the second, it was on him, clamping down hard on his leg, if not quite hard enough to get through the vines on him. Tulland finally gave up on trying to preserve his vines, giving them permission to try whatever briar-like things their instincts told them might get the ant off him. True to form, they decided to encircle and constrict, sticking with what they were good at. It didn¡¯t work very well on the ant, but it was something. After a few seconds of struggling to part the mandible of the ant with his spear, some of the thorns finally started to make contact with the softer flesh under the joints of the exoskeleton. The ant didn¡¯t seem to have a complex enough mind to really understand pain, but something in the chemicals the briar carried still seemed to have some effect on its nervous system. It twitched just enough for Tulland to get his leg out, and in just enough time that the limb still mostly worked. Tulland ignored his bleeding, burning leg and jumped in with his spear held in both hands. He swung it rather than stabbing with it, knocking the ant¡¯s head down with the sheer momentum and weight of the hit, then pulling back and stabbing forward into the exposed neck joint. The spear tip went farther this time, sinking in a good foot before getting stuck. He lifted his foot up to dislodge the weapon, then turned to face the last of his problems. The fourth ant had just about cleared its antennae of the clinging powder by the time Tulland got to it, and appeared to be sensing just fine again. He decided to practice with it, to the extent that he could. He had some more flower bombs in his bag, as well as four vines on his person he hadn¡¯t even tapped into yet. In the case an emergency came calling, he would be able to call all of them to action at once. But if that emergency didn¡¯t happen, he was going to use this as an opportunity for practice that he could hardly count on any other time. The ant was a lot more powerful than him and probably at least as quick, but it had a lot less range and was much, much dumber. Tulland decided to kill the thing with as many safe, light strikes as he could, pushing in just far enough to barely strike before pivoting to the side, getting in a few more shots, and withdrawing. Tulland was faster and stronger than he had ever been, and had a few self-grown allies to handle almost all of his fighting for him. But he very clearly sucked at the actual movements and tactics of doing battle, and got next to nothing from any of his skills to help him with that. It was a problem that he needed to fix. No matter how many briars he grew or how many flower-bombs he was able to develop, eventually something would get through his various layers of defense to him and his humble spear, and his ability to keep himself alive the good, old-fashioned way would start to matter again. Slowly and methodically, Tulland picked the ant to pieces. By the time it was dead, he had dodged in a full circle around it a dozen times, aimed at every joint in its armor, and had learned a lot. Was he any good? No. But he wasn¡¯t quite as bad anymore, and any split-second that he gained in future fights was time to think of something else that might save his life. That was worth it. Once all the ants were dispatched, Tulland dusted himself off, grabbed one of the ants by the leg, and dragged it back towards the pit. It was now time to make sure the back half of the day was just as productive. Chapter 30: Wolfwood Fur-Bark ¡°Heya.¡± ¡°Oh, hey!¡± Tulland waved from his farm, where he was working a fresh load of ant-flesh into the soil as best he could without disrupting his plants too much. Mostly, this involved poking a hole in the soil with his spear and just sticking the meat into it. In real life, he doubted that would have helped much. But the monster plants didn¡¯t seem too picky about where they got their food, and he doubted there would even be a sign the food had been there when he checked back in a few hours. ¡°How was hunting?¡± ¡°Pretty good. I was able to stay out a bit longer, and not buying food means I¡¯m almost caught up with the time I spent on you already.¡± Shrinking as she crossed the border of Tulland¡¯s farm, Necia glanced around. ¡°Is this place bigger? It seems bigger than it was when I left.¡± ¡°Yeah, I may have done some expansion. I thought it would be a bit safer.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll say. I saw your briars growing by that ant pit, by the way. I made the mistake of getting close before they started waving around. Why didn¡¯t you tell me they could move like that?¡± ¡°Oh, you know. It just felt like I should have some secrets.¡± Tulland laughed. ¡°Not really. It just didn¡¯t come up. Did they look like they were holding their own, at least?¡± Necia shrugged her shoulders and dumped her pack on the ground. ¡°Hard to tell from a distance. But they¡¯re not dead yet, at least judging by the sounds coming from the pit. They kept tussling the whole time I was walking by.¡± Tulland had used the lull in the pit¡¯s repopulation time to get some new briars going, and was still waiting on The Infinite¡¯s notifications to let him know how that was going. Necia would have passed them a few minutes ago, which meant there was at least still a chance they might win. In the meantime, he had a deal to make good on. Walking around his farm, he pulled down a couple handfuls of fruits from his higher-level briars, then tossed them to Necia. ¡°These seem bigger,¡± she said after catching them and feeling the weight. ¡°They are bigger. The briars are doing really well here. That translates to the fruits too.¡± ¡°Sweeter.¡± Necia had dug in immediately, and nodded approvingly at the fruit before finishing it off with another big bite. ¡°Slow down. There¡¯s no hurry. At this point, I have more of the fruits than I can deal with.¡± ¡°What happens to the excess?¡± ¡°It rots. Or I use it as fertilizer for the rest of the plants. The trees could use the food. Greedy little buggers, those.¡± ¡°Oh, wow.¡± Necia lifted herself to her feet, walking over to the newly planted Swamp Ache trees. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you can even grow these. They seemed so¡­¡± ¡°Crappy? Yeah, I agree. But they¡¯ve taken to being grown. They must be two feet tall now.¡± ¡°Closer to three. I feel like I¡¯m watching them get bigger even now.¡± Necia walked around the farm looking at the new growth, and Tulland reflected on the odd way it felt to realize the most interesting thing in his life could themselves be bored enough to find a small, ugly farm interesting. He watched her with interest until The Infinite pulled him away with a few good-news notifications he thought were just wonderful.
Remote Victory! You have killed an enemy you can¡¯t see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense. A significant portion of experience has been awarded for this achievement.
Remote Victory! You have killed an enemy you can¡¯t see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense.
It was the same old message as before, but with the added benefit of a new bonus-experience indicator he thought he wouldn¡¯t see again. What he had thought was a one-time addition to his experience gain turned out to be either a per-floor bonus or maybe even something that applied to every new enemy type. There was another achievement to take a look at, but before he could actually get to it, Necia motioned him over in a way that indicated something else was happening. ¡°What is it?¡± Tulland glanced around in confusion. ¡°Is something wrong with the plants?¡± ¡°You tell me.¡± Necia poked at one of the Swamp Ache saplings in confusion. ¡°Why is this tree growing fur?¡± ¡°Oh, hell.¡± Tulland immediately dropped his hand to the tree, which did for all the world look to be growing a thick layer of coarse fur out of its bark. ¡°I have some notifications to read. Can I have a minute?¡± ¡°Sure. But on second thought, I don¡¯t think I don¡¯t want to know about why. It¡¯s highly weird.¡± Tulland nodded and looked at his first notification, which was a very welcome surprise but not something he had to handle that exact moment.
New Achievement! (Distant Threat I) You have consistently killed enemies at a distance beyond your own sight and senses, going as far as to plan and cause it to happen with cunning traps, clever tricks, or just leaving a truly large amount of dangerous things laying about.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. However you accomplished it, you have earned some benefits from it. Attacks made due to your actions but without your direct involvement or anything but your most distant presence will be slightly more effective. Monsters killed in this way will also grant experience above the cap for a particular type of foe, up to 20% beyond what would otherwise be allowed.
Tulland read the notification with satisfaction. This was an achievement that he was glad to see and would help in the future. But I¡¯m burying the lede here. I need to know what this new plant is. Not that it¡¯s exactly thrumming with energy and purpose, but it¡¯s new. New can¡¯t be bad. Without further ado, Tulland dug in to the last of his notifications.
Wolfwood Fur-Bark The Swamp Ache was a useless, low-quality tree. This is a useless, low-quality tree that also grows a moss that closely approximates wolf-fur. It is not, as you might expect, a wild difference. The bulk of this description is going to be spent talking about how two of your skills work. The first is Enrich Seed. In normal situations, Enrich Seed is supposed to be a skill used on prize plants to push the limits of what a farmer can do, while Enhance Plant allows them to bulk-issue the insights gained on those more expensive experiments to his rank-and-file plants. Not so in your case, for obvious reasons. But where those skills go a bit off the rails is when you start to talk about Botanical Engineer. The skill works off slim probabilities that are raised as you take better and better care of your plants. High-quality monster meat, for instance, introduces variables that the plants can draw genetic inspiration from. Better soil, better water, Enrich Seed, and Enhance Plant all raise the chances of these infusions of heredity mattering. In this case, while this plant is still mostly useless, it has also attained the ability to grow a fur-like moss that might be useful to you. This does not lessen the rewards for creating a new form of life. As in all cases, this provides a large, level-adjusted amount of experience.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Skill level up!
Skill level up!
Both of the skill level ups applied to Tulland¡¯s Botanical Engineer skill, while the level ups were just normal level ups. He took all the upgrades without complaint, although it was odd to see that none of them triggered before he actually stood in line-of-sight of his new tree. He would have to figure out if there was a limitation like this. It wouldn¡¯t do to be gone somewhere and then find out he had been passing on big chunks of progress until he finally decided to come home. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s hard to explain, but this furry tree is actually really good news for me.¡± Tulland poked the fur with his finger. It was not great fur, exactly. Even living on an island, Tulland had felt better. But it was a material of sorts, and one he would gladly experiment with later. ¡°Farmer stuff. I¡¯m not sure you want to understand.¡± ¡°Smart. Because I don¡¯t.¡± Seeing that it was safe, Necia dropped her hand downward along the tree¡¯s trunk. ¡°I just want to pet your tree and marvel at the weird.¡± As Necia messed with the tree, Tulland took a risk and poured all of his new unassigned stat points into the force stat. Right now, his farm was about as good as it could be without adding new varieties of plants to it, and those varieties would only come from surprise finds or raw magical power. And he couldn¡¯t wait to grow more varieties.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 21 Strength: 30 Agility: 25 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 30 Mind: 10 Force: 45 Skills: Enhance Plant LV. 5, Enrich Seed LV. 8, Command Plant LV. 1 Passives: Broadcast LV. 5, Botanical Engineer LV.4, Strong Back LV. 4
¡°You¡¯re smiling. To yourself.¡± Necia made hard eye contact with Tulland suspiciously. ¡°It¡¯s creepy.¡± ¡°Fair. It¡¯s just level ups, for the record. But fair.¡± ¡°Oh, if it¡¯s level-ups, I get it. Those are the only thing keeping me going through this terror.¡± Necia pet the fur-tree one last time, hummed in a satisfied sort of way, then turned to the farm. ¡°Not to be too abrupt, Tulland, but I didn¡¯t exactly return for the fruit and conversation. I need a safe place to sleep. Can you help with that?¡± ¡°Sure. Provided you are willing to go to war if anything attacks our base.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± ¡°Then let me show you the amenities.¡± Tulland turned her towards his farm, which was overgrowing with violent plants but still had a small, two-person-sized gap in the center for the purpose of sleeping. At first, Tulland had a hard time justifying that space since it cut into valuable real estate for his skills, but had convinced himself by overemphasizing the very real truth that he was worse at most things when he was ill-rested. And the extra two-foot expansion to the center clearing had come in a hopeful moment, one in which Tulland had entertained the small chance that a certain blonde, very heavily armored warrior might join him there. ¡°First, we have this space at the center of the farm. We¡¯d have to sleep pretty close together, but¡­¡± ¡°Pass.¡± There was zero hesitation in her refusal. ¡°What are the other options?¡± ¡°The tree.¡± Tulland tried to salvage his broken pride with the very real success he had accomplished in his efforts to fortify Necia¡¯s favorite sleeping tree. ¡°I¡¯ve planted a ton of briars around the trunk. It¡¯s going to be a pain to get into, but once you¡¯re up there you¡¯ll have pretty good automatic guards while you sleep.¡± ¡°And you think that will work against wolves?¡± ¡°It should. At the very least, even if it¡¯s a particularly strong wolf, you¡¯ll have plenty of time to just reach down and bonk it. It¡¯s a much safer situation.¡± Necia nodded. As Tulland did a last once-over on his farm before lights out, she confirmed that he really meant she could eat as many fruits as she wanted and went to town on the garden, eating another five or so before she rolled over onto her back and held her stomach. ¡°Good?¡± ¡°The fruits are fine. But being full? Really full? It¡¯s a big deal, Tulland. I haven¡¯t been completely full in¡­ oh, months, at least. And it¡¯s almost always a bad idea when I do.¡± After patting her stomach and sitting up, Necia went to her tree, eyeballed the distance to the trunk over the briars, and gave a mighty leap upwards to grab one of the branches and heft herself up into the safety of the boughs. Within a few minutes, she was audibly snoring. Chapter 31: Ants and Wolves Tulland listened to Necia as he worked. In another life, in his last one at least, he guessed that he would be in love with her by now. It would have been a really bad idea with how deadly she seemed and he¡¯d have no chance at making anything out of those feelings, but he knew he would. Here, he could feel his heart pulling somewhat in the same direction, but it was so restrained by literally everything else in his life that the idea was making no headway. This world wasn¡¯t a game. Necia wasn¡¯t going away into the badlands to hunt because she enjoyed it. She was going there because she was in over her head and needed to find a way to survive. And he wasn¡¯t growing plants and feeding her for no reason. She offered him some protection he couldn¡¯t otherwise get, and was bringing back more fertilizer than he could make himself. There are reasons for everything we are doing. And neither of us has time for anything else. Remember that, Tulland. You don¡¯t have time to waste. Before he went to bed, Tulland pulled out his Farmer¡¯s Tool scythe and considered going to work on the Wolfwood tree. The only factor that stopped him was the complete lack of seed pods on the tree. If he somehow managed to mess up the harvest enough to kill the tree, he had no way of knowing if he would ever get another one. Laying down in the dirt again as the last of the light waned from the sky, he kept his weapons near him, just in case. And then he was asleep. ¡ª The next morning¡¯s dawn woke up a Tulland who for once had not had any dreams of his past. If there were any little pithy lessons from his tutor or uncle that would have helped him get through the day, he was going to have to get along without them. ¡°So what¡¯s in the plans for you, over the next couple of days?¡± Necia asked when the two of them regrouped. ¡°Well, my garden is about as good as I can get it. Almost. There are some enhancements I can do to those Swamp Ache trees, I think. And the fur-tree you like will have to get a little bigger before I can do anything with them. But after that, I think I have to start seriously figuring out how I¡¯m going to conquer this level.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Necia screwed up her face into a look of sympathy. ¡°And that won¡¯t be easy for you.¡± ¡°No. Probably not. Is it the same set of requirements for you?¡± ¡°Probably. Big anthill?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Tulland had checked the floor description during the first more-or-less safe moment he had found on this floor, but had been studiously ignoring it up until this point.
The Infinite, Floor 2 The Swamp and the Badlands are a further introduction into floors with multiple biomes. The Swamp represents an area that is both difficult to traverse and contains single powerful foes. The wolves serve as a store of potential experience points that assist beginning adventurers to gain the strength they need to continue on as The Infinite slowly ramps up the difficulty of survival. Those level-granted stats and excess experience points are necessary, as the Badlands are the real focus of this floor. More secret and tricky enemies inhabit this dry and empty land. Added information: In uncovering the secret of the ant-pits, you have been granted knowledge of both the ants that inhabit them and the possibility of a greater, more permanent colony of insects. Kill more ants to learn more about this threat. Added Information: After farming ants to near the experience cap, you have learned what exploration might have also taught you. Due east from the location at which you arrived at lies a mound so large it constitutes a major aspect of the terrain, one that bustles with activity and hides the path to the next floor. Can you survive this gauntlet of violent insects to continue progressing through The Infinite? Foes: Swamp Canid Badlands Ant ??? Objectives: Clear the Badlands Fortress Mound
¡°How hard was it for you when you first went through? This will be your second time right?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°It wasn¡¯t incredibly hard. I was just strong enough then to take out an ant with a single hit, and they aren¡¯t as good at tracking as you might think. I just chose random tunnels and ran through them until I got to¡­¡± Necia stopped and gulped. ¡°Oh. Apparently, I can¡¯t tell you about that until you find it yourself.¡± ¡°The Infinite is stopping you?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a common thing on shared floors. You can¡¯t give other people the keys to the castle, information-wise. Sorry. I¡¯d help more if I could.¡± Necia stood and clapped some of the dust off from her fruit-juice covered hands. ¡°Well, thanks for breakfast. I¡¯ll be back tonight.¡± ¡°So soon?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid so. I¡¯ve done about all I can get out of this floor. The wolves were just about farmed out before you got here, and now that I¡¯m sharing them with you, I¡¯m hardly seeing any. And the ants aren¡¯t giving me enough experience to matter anymore. I¡¯ll go try to do¡­ damn. I¡¯ll be doing the thing I can¡¯t tell you about, and then moving on.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Tulland hated every bit of that idea, and it wasn¡¯t for romantic reasons at all. It was simple companionship. Once Necia left, he¡¯d be alone in this place again, and forced to turn to a non-physical being for company. The same being who was actively profiting from his imminent death. It wasn¡¯t great. ¡°You will be missed.¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It¡¯s not all that bad.¡± Necia seemed to get it. ¡°You¡¯ll run into other people here and there. Me, even, as long as you... As long as there¡¯s opportunity.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. There¡¯s nothing to be done about it, anyway.¡± Tulland stood up. ¡°But yeah, do come back tonight. I¡¯ll see if I can make a surprise for you.¡± ¡°A surprise?¡± Necia arched her eyebrows. ¡°In this place? This I have to see.¡± ¡ª After Necia left, Tulland turned to face his mostly full day of farming. He dumped his full magical stores a few times as he circled around the farm, making sure all was well. His magic power regeneration was such that he could do that now, but he had found that after the first few charges of Enhance Plant of the day, he got a sharply diminishing return on how fast the plants could grow. Maybe higher skill levels would help with that eventually, but for now there was only so much time it made sense for him to spend on the farm plants. The next task was checking his ant-trap. Walking out to the pit took very little time now that he knew exactly where to look, and could see his surprisingly green and healthy briars growing above it like signposts in the distance. When he got there, his vines were busy fighting. He leaned over the edge of the pit to see that of the five or so seeds that had eventually found their way to the bottom of it, only three had survived to healthy adulthood. Those three were wrapped around the main body of a single ant and each of its mandibles, respectively, and were slowly draining it of life. As he watched, the ant slumped, then began to dissolve into nothing as the vines took full advantage of the nutrient wealth the ant represented.
Hades Lunger Briar, LV. 7
Hades Lunger Briar, LV. 7
Hades Lunger Briar, LV. 8
The briars on the lip of the pit were mostly at level four, which probably meant some ants that made it past the three higher level briars before meeting their end. They weren¡¯t planted in the best possible situation, and didn¡¯t have much water beyond whatever they were getting from the occasional ant that slipped past the bad boys in the center. He left that pit alone and wandered around the local area until he got lucky and found another ant pit, planting briars around it in the same way as yesterday. And in just the same way as yesterday, he was immediately attacked by ants, this time a group of just three. As they came out of the wall, Tulland took the opportunity to peg each of them with their own little flower bomb, using up about half of what the non-farmed swamp trees had produced between the last batch and this. The ants reacted to getting their own individual dose of the flowers about how he expected they would. They were all completely blinded, immediately ignoring his seeds and stumbling out of the pit to try and figure out where the attacks were coming from. Fighting blind ants was not hard. Tulland put his back into killing them fast, watching as they split their time between desperately cleaning their antennae and trying to get away from the invisible force attacking them. He weaved through and around them, avoiding their mandibles while piling on the damage. And he didn¡¯t give them a single chance to fight on even footing. As he killed off the second of the two ants, the third one was just about clean. Tulland simply gave it another splash of exploding flower powder on its head, then took it down easily and safely. Was it a cheap way to win? Absolutely. But Tulland was okay with that, especially on his way to getting stronger. With as many remote kills as he had racked up on these things overnight, the lack of rewards for exploiting their weaknesses as the last one died was no surprise to him.
Level up! Experience source capped!
The ants would not be any more use to Tulland as direct targets anymore, except for the practice he got fighting them. He¡¯d get a little more experience out of them from indirect farming, but not much. And that meant it was time to turn his attention back to the wolves. ¡ª The wolf struggled against a full half-dozen level six briars for a time until it was hit directly in the nose with an exploding hallucinogenic flower. While the ants had appeared more or less immune to that particular toxin and were mostly just bothered by the chemical, smelly nature of the Acheflower, Tulland saw that wolves were fully vulnerable to its mind-altering effects. A few seconds after getting hit by the flower, the wolf¡¯s face went dopey, then transitioned back to enraged and pained as the enhanced vines dug in a little deeper to its flesh. After a few times through that cycle, it was already beyond the point where it could adequately struggle against the briars. The distraction of the drugs was too much for it to truly resist, especially because Tulland¡¯s Enhance Plant had got some major boosts in the past few hours.
Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Tulland didn¡¯t know when exactly the experience from the wolves he was directly killing would cap, but it would be pretty soon. After that, he would have to rely on his growing army of randomly sown crops to kill them as they tried to navigate the world and hope that was enough to get him whatever scraps of experience he could still get. And once that was done, there was no choice but to press forward into the danger. He had a little bit of growth he could expect from his ant-trap briars, which would let him go into danger fully armed. And he would get some sort of improvements out of the flowers, probably, when he was finally able to start cultivating them on his own cultured Swamp Ache trees. But after that, he¡¯d be about as strong as he could be. At least Tulland would be in some senses. More and more, he was learning that the regular wisdom his tutor had dumped on him all those years was applicable in more situations than he had ever suspected it was, and that his uncle¡¯s less-frequent advice was about the same. And both of them had things to say about the situation he was in now. He walked back towards his base, ready to do some of his last harvests and to plant his very last crops in this place. He would craft a little, and then prepare a bit more. He would do his very best to increase his chances of survival as much as possible. But after that, it was do-or-die time. Chapter 32: Wolf-Fur Drawstring Bag ¡°The trees are so pretty now!¡± Necia exclaimed. Tulland sent a very stern do-not-explode command to the flowers as the female warrior walked up and gently brushed the petals of one of the blooms with her fingertips. ¡°How did you do this?¡± ¡°Those flowers grow on those kinds of trees. They¡¯re useful for some of the things I want to do.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s the surprise? Because I¡¯ll absolutely take one of these with me.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s probably a bad idea. They don¡¯t¡­ play nice when I¡¯m not there.¡± Tulland reached into one of his briar bag and pulled out a small, soft object. ¡°I made this. I thought you might find some use for it.¡± After returning to the camp, Tulland had put as many of the little parasite flowers as he could on the farmed Swamp Ache, then spent quite a few minutes figuring out how to carefully carve away the fur from the Wolfwood trees without hurting either the tree or destroying the material. After he made his first cut, he found out it was much easier than he thought. The fur had been sitting on top of the bark on some kind of thick, pliable membrane that peeled away in one big, mostly intact sheet. After that, Tulland had cut some undeveloped briars, stripped them of their needles, and laid the fur carefully over them. With a couple of cleverly tied knots, he found himself with a bag not unlike the coin-purses he had seen back on Ouros, if quite a bit larger. It was made of one long continuous piece of the fur, brought to the top and carefully trimmed to even have a flap that closed by means of one of the trimmed, curved briar thorns poked through a carefully bored hole in the fur. And best yet, the membrane for the fur seemed to solidify as it dried out in the open air, ending up as something close to thin, flexible leather. ¡°This is incredible. You made this?¡± Necia asked. ¡°I did. I already tested it with some of the water from the hole you showed me how to dig near the swamp. It seems to hold liquids just fine, so long as you don¡¯t get too violent with it. Or whatever. I don¡¯t mind how you use it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°This is incredible.¡± Necia¡¯s eyes widened a little as she took the object in her hands. ¡°It¡¯s System recognized?¡± ¡°It is.¡± Tulland nodded with pride. ¡°First thing ever.¡± Which is still nonsense. You are a farmer. Not a crafter. And I¡¯m not a very good crafter, either. Calm yourself. It was only after he finished figuring out how to truly make his strip-of-leather-and-fur drawstring work that The Infinite had acknowledged Tulland¡¯s efforts, shocking both him and the System down to the core.
Wolf-Fur Drawstring Bag This bag is crafted from farm-grown wolf fur and briar stem that was made hardy but flexible, with clever closures meant to keep the contents dry and secure. As an object that exists within a spectrum of characteristics assigned to a system-created object, it is recognized as equivalent to that object and granted the following characteristics:
  1. Increased durability. This bag is supernaturally tough to damage.
  2. Watertight. This bag will hold liquids and will not leak except under exceptional circumstances or through holes in a sufficiently damaged bag.
Skill Acquired: Fruits of the Field While your class is not and will never be a true crafting class, your frequent use of items you grow as well as repeated attempts to cobble together self-grown materials into useable tools had granted you the barest rudiments of a crafting ability. When you use your own materials to make the most primitive of tools and items, there is a small chance to receive system acknowledgement and naming of those items. When this happens, the items¡¯ inherent magic will be focused towards a purpose, and the resulting products will function more like the tools you were attempting to make. This does not grant you any special skill with the items you created. Making an ax will not grant you lumberjack or ax combat skills, even when you attempt to use the ax you built with your own hands yourself. This skill does not grant experience outside of some rare achievements and the skill experience necessary to advance its own level.
¡°That¡¯s amazing. But I can¡¯t take this.¡± Necia pressed the bag back into Tulland¡¯s hands. ¡°Sorry.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Why not? Just not useful?¡± ¡°Are you insane? It¡¯s a system-recognized water-tight bag. There are a thousand uses for that. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s worth something, and I have nothing to pay you back with. There¡¯s not much honor in The Infinite, but I like to think I carry my own around with me. Taking this without paying you something would be wrong.¡± ¡°Ah. I see.¡± Tulland glanced down at the bag in disappointment. ¡°I understand, I guess.¡± ¡°Actually, I mean¡­ we could see if I have anything you want. I don¡¯t carry around much, but¡­¡± Necia patted her hands over her armor and belt, trying to remember what she had on her that she didn¡¯t depend on with her life. ¡°You can¡¯t use a sword and I can¡¯t give you mine. I need the belt, I need the armor, I need the experience points. I don¡¯t think you¡¯d want my backup knife.¡± ¡°Wait, what? A knife? Why wouldn¡¯t I want that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s something I brought in with me. Non-system. It¡¯s not even starter-gear level. I just used it to kill motes and get my first level. You can¡¯t fight with it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight with it.¡± Tulland gestured with his hand, and Necia handed him the small knife. ¡°I don¡¯t have a knife at all, Necia. Where would I even get one? I¡¯ve been cutting things with a scythe.¡± ¡°Everything? You made that bag with a scythe?¡± ¡°Yes. And it took forever. If I didn¡¯t have time to wait for things to grow, I wouldn¡¯t have even tried it. A knife is a big deal for me. It¡¯s not going to break or anything?¡± ¡°No. I mean, it shouldn¡¯t. In the outside world, it was a really nice knife.¡± ¡°Then this is a good trade. Trust me. I need this.¡± Tulland tucked the leather scabbard into his own belt before the skittish girl could change her mind. ¡°And you can take the pouch now?¡± ¡°Absolutely.¡± Necia looked at it with a smile on her face. ¡°Can you make just a few changes for me though?¡± Ten minutes later, Tulland had used the last of his scrap fur-leather to make a strap through the lip of the bag that Necia could use to tie it to her belt. And he loaded her up with all the fruit she could carry, which with the bag was now sort of a lot. Then, again, it was almost time for bed. Necia climbed into her tree for the last time as Tulland did what he could to make himself comfortable on the ground. ¡°Necia? I had a question,¡± Tulland said as the darkness settled in. ¡°What is it?¡± Necia called down from the tree. ¡°Remember that I can¡¯t answer everything.¡± ¡°I think this will be fine. It¡¯s just that you said you got your first level in here, fighting motes.¡± ¡°Yes? I mean, I did. Everyone usually does.¡± ¡°But you didn¡¯t have any levels in your world? You must have, right? You told me you were some kind of trainee, or something.¡± ¡°Something like that, yes. And I had a high level there, but¡­ you really don¡¯t know this?¡± ¡°How could I?¡± Tulland threw up his hands and let them fall to his legs with a clap. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone from my world even came here anymore. The portal was all overgrown. The Church controlled all the information, and¡­¡± ¡°Okay, okay. I get it. Sorry. It¡¯s just hard to imagine being here without all that context. The short version is that everything the System of your world granted you previously gets taken from you when you enter The Infinite. Not by the System from your world, but by The Infinite itself. This dungeon is supposed to be a test of what a world can do. The best warriors they can produce. But it¡¯s not supposed to be a test of just how much the world is willing to spend on someone. The Infinite doesn¡¯t want someone with hundreds of levels and magical equipment sweeping through everything.¡± ¡°So how does their world even come into play?¡± ¡°Because the best worlds send people with the knowledge of how to use their class to the highest effectiveness. And even the class itself is sort of a product of that world. It develops and grows there. The skills are created there.¡± ¡°I only sort of understand.¡± ¡°Hey, that¡¯s everybody. It¡¯s a complex system. But even if your world sucks and you don¡¯t get very far, you can sometimes make your world that much better. Every performance means something, and a new record means a lot. People have a reason to try.¡± ¡°At least it explains why you aren¡¯t just cruising through levels. Did it take you a long time the first time you came through this floor?¡± ¡°Oh, absolutely. I think the first floor took me two whole days. But just as I thought I had a handle on things, this one took four.¡± Tulland went quiet. ¡°Tulland? You sort of dropped off there.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± Tulland, with all his weeks of effort, still had days to go before he even had a chance of getting out of this floor, but he wasn¡¯t going to drag Necia down with that knowledge. ¡°I just got tired.¡± ¡°Sleep then. I¡¯ll see you in the morning, before I leave.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± ¡ª The next morning was boring, or at least as boring as mornings in The Infinite could be. Necia came down, they ate fruits together, and talked very little. ¡°So where are you going now? To grind on the first floor?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No. I think that¡¯s sort of a waste of time now. I¡¯ll grind some unfinished things on the third, then move on to the fourth, finish it, rest, and fight the boss on the fifth.¡± ¡°You feel ready for that? It¡¯s a Cannian Knight, right?¡± ¡°It is. And no, I don¡¯t feel ready. I¡¯m finding out that I¡¯m not really cut out for this.¡± Necia slumped a bit. ¡°But it¡¯s what I can do. And if you dilly-dally too long, The Infinite¡¯s System starts to pull you forward and penalize you. I have to make it to the safe zone before that happens.¡± Tulland wanted desperately to have a way to help her, but there was only so much a farmer with a ready supply of fruit could actually do for a fully armored combat class. He had to focus on his own survival. There just wasn¡¯t anything else that he could productively do. ¡°I hope you are wrong,¡± Tulland offered. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I think that Knight is going to be sorry to meet you. You seem pretty good at what you do.¡± ¡°Well, thanks.¡± Necia held out her hand. Tulland shook it. ¡°It was really weird meeting you, Tulland. But for what it¡¯s worth, I hope you make it.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Necia nodded, smiled, and grew to her full combat height before walking off into the distance. Tulland watched her go for as long as he could, losing sight of her as she crested a distant hill. And just like that, he was all out of friends. It¡¯s not worth crying over. She never helped you. ¡°See, that¡¯s something I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t understand. She actually helped me a lot.¡± How so? ¡°Before, making your life hard was my only reason to keep going. Now I have that reason, and also her. If I can get to where she¡¯s at soon enough.¡± Soon enough for what? To help her? Tulland, the chances of you leaving this level any time soon are low. Perhaps nil. ¡°And yet I¡¯m still here. Raring to go. You aren¡¯t even a little worried?¡± No. Not at all. Are you going to scout out the end of this level today? ¡°I might as well.¡± Then you can see it for yourself. I have a very good reason to be unworried. You¡¯ll see. Chapter 33: Rocks Tulland did see. He could hardly miss it, once he got anywhere near it. The ant mound turned out to be half-hill and half a mud tower that stretched its ill-built bulk much higher into the air than he would have thought possible. Everywhere on its surface, ants were at work. He could see hundreds of them. Conventional tactics for getting through a fight like that weren¡¯t hard to understand. Fast people would simply run in, dodge all the attacks they could, and blaze through the corridors, hoping to get to the end before they were chipped down by lucky shots. The strong would wade in slower, killing what was in front of them while maintaining their own health. Both would go in through the big, obvious entrance, and both would stand a pretty good chance of making it. But Tulland was neither of those. He was slow compared to speed classes and weak compared to strength classes, able to take down a few ants if conditions were right but also perfectly capable of being killed by a single ant if things went poorly for him. You see now, I suspect. Your stats contain not a single tool that would help you get through this gauntlet. Tulland couldn¡¯t contradict that. It was simply true. He had no ability to tank the kind of damage the ants could do. He could probably outrun one on open land, but not when he was weaving through random tunnels underground that they understood and he didn¡¯t. And although he could kill one with enough time, nothing in his arsenal was strong enough to fight dozens or even hundreds of ants swarming him. I can¡¯t shoot fireballs. I can¡¯t teleport. I¡¯m just a man with plants. Which means you must acknowledge this is pointless. What do you have? Ten or so days left in our wager? Something like that. It¡¯ll have to be enough, I guess. You still plan on trying? Of course, you idiot. You thought you¡¯d be able to talk me out of living? It was worth a try. Tulland shook his head and spent another twenty minutes or so observing the ants. They were running patrols, from what he could tell, and that was in addition to the hundreds of ants that were going about other business, but would probably drop what they were doing right away to attack him if they knew that was an option. It was a hard problem, but as the System had pointed out, he still had several days to prepare for it. And diminishing returns or no, he might as well use those moments. ¡ª Three days later, the Swamp Aches in Tulland¡¯s farm finally stood taller than their admittedly stunted brothers in the swamp proper. Every one of them, glowing in the bright sun, had yellow flowers galore. Whatever limitation the parasites had from growing on the trees in any real numbers in the swamp apparently didn¡¯t apply here, where the sun was brighter, the soil was better, and Tulland¡¯s magic was in play. His farmer¡¯s intuition had told him he could put more flowers on each tree. The exact cause didn¡¯t seem that important, so long as it worked. It was more than that; it was a roaring success. Tulland used his knife to trim the last little unwanted bits from his new pack, provided courtesy of the three Wolfwood trees inside his farm and the five or six he had managed to grow outside of it. The pack was a work of art. The System still called it a simple bag, but it was a full-on hiking pack as far as Tulland was concerned, complete with a fur-lined mat for him to sleep on that rolled up nicely to be tied to the bottom of the pack itself. Besides that, he had another two smaller bags of pretty respectable size on each side of his belt. Carrying a lot things wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem for him with the extra stats. He just needed to make sure he chose the right things to carry. The farm itself was still growing, and even occasionally gaining levels courtesy of Tulland-greedy wolves who attacked during the night. It was slow-going with the cap, but he was going to squeeze every possible minute of growth he could out of it, not only to give him his best chance on this floor, but to prepare him for the next. Once his daily growing was done, it was time to find rocks. Tulland spent a lot of time finding rocks these days. More of this insanity. ¡°Yup. For at least a few hours. Then throwing practice.¡± You cannot possibly believe you can slay those ants with a thrown rock. Tulland just smiled. Finding the rock with the right size and shape was important. He had found that the best ones were about the size of a briar fruit or perhaps just a bit larger, and as round as he could get them. With his shovel in hand, Tulland went to the swamp and poked along happily, letting the head of his shovel cut through the muck and gross beneath the water until it clinked on something hard, then fishing it out to see what he had found. Seven out of ten rocks went straight to the discard pile, but that still meant he was building his good rock arsenal by at least three rocks, and sometimes four or five. Today was a really good day. By the time he had burned up his allotted time, he was the new owner of six rocks, which he immediately took to his throwing range. Tulland had found that the trick to throwing a rock very far was not about being strong. Instead, it was about being willing to tie a vine around the rock, give it several very good spins, and then let it go when it was aimed where he wanted. This was a surprisingly consistent way for him to get distance, and he had learned the trick of hitting within fifteen or twenty feet of his target distance every time fairly quickly. What was harder was getting the direction right, especially while spinning.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. He had about five days to practice that, but it wasn¡¯t something he was willing to leave to the last second. He was spending multiple hours a day on just that one task, to the bewilderment of his System. But if it wanted to go on believing that he was training in hopes of braining individual ants to death from a distance, that was just fine. It would get its surprise at the same time the ants did. ¡ª When five more days had passed, Tulland didn¡¯t feel ready. But it was in a lot of ways like jumping into a cold body of water. When he had made the bet with the System, he had committed himself to a true and full effort within a certain time frame. There was no way he could escape that now, just like someone plummeting towards an icy lake couldn¡¯t turn back time or reverse gravity. That morning, Tulland spent as much time as he wanted to just relaxing, eating food, and stretching out. He had already packed out his bags with all the armaments, tools, and seeds they could carry. Anything else he would be using that day was already waiting at the appointed spot for him, ready to go. If he made it to the exit arch, and he hoped he would, he¡¯d be as ready for the next zone as he could be. Even his status screen agreed. With both of his experience sources completely capped, he wasn¡¯t getting any more progress there anymore.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 23 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 30 Mind: 10 Force: 50 Skills: Enhance Plant LV. 6, Enrich Seed LV. 8 Passives: Broadcast LV. 5, Botanical Engineer LV. 5, Strong Back LV. 4
He was more than glad that he pumped up his agility after his fights with the ants. His vague intuition in wanting more speed was completely spot on. And for now, he was even fine with his spirit being lower than it could have been. Magic regeneration was nice, but he had enough of it to do most of what he wanted to actually accomplish in a day. Being able to enhance his plants that much better with force or command them a little more with spirit was all-important now. Tulland stood up from his mat in the dirt, rolled it up, and tied it to his pack before shrugging the whole assembly onto his shoulders. Pushing one last charge of Enhance Plant into his weird fur-trees as a goodbye, he smiled, pet them, and moved on towards the briar-infested ant pits. At the first pit, the briars on the lip of the hole had yet to advance past the level he had seen them the last time. The ones inside the pit, however, had been busy.
Lunger Briar, LV. 9 (Cap!)
Lunger Briar, LV. 9 (Cap!)
Lunger Briar, LV. 9 (Cap!)
The idea of his briars hitting some kind of leveling cap was new to Tulland, especially since at least one of his briars had hit level ten before The Infinite took a personal interest in his class. This felt like a new change. ¡°The Infinite, care to explain this?¡±
Creature Level Caps All system-created creatures have limits to what they can do and how much they can grow. Plants are no exception to this rule. The briars you are observing have hit the natural limits of their species, and are as strong as any creature simply labeled ¡°Lunger Briar¡± will ever be. Note that this limit does not apply to any strength granted to them by your Enhance Plant skill or to other, higher-quality variants of the briars you might later create.
¡°Well, damn.¡± Tulland hopped down into the pits with the briars, keeping his eyes peeled for any surprise ant attacks. He mostly felt secure, since he now knew that anything this pit could put out was something his vines could handle. None came as he carefully trimmed his level-capped briars into long, deadly ropes and made the normal adjustments to thorn placements that he did for all his armor pieces. Covering his arms and chest, he climbed out of the pit and headed towards the next one. A cap on his briar¡¯s strength instantly shattered any dreams he had of incrementally raising one of the vines to unstoppable heights of strength, but it wasn¡¯t entirely unexpected. The other option was if the Lunger Briars could react to the wolf and ant meat he fed them, but no matter how many instances of Enrich Seed he had pumped into the experiment, they had stubbornly refused to play ball and become a new species. Eventually, I¡¯ll find something they like, and I can move forward that way. For now, this is what I have. The next pit was about as uneventful as the last. Tulland put on his last three pieces of armor, rolled the rest of his briars into a big coil, then headed towards the ant fortress. Nervous, I see. ¡°Yes. Of course.¡± I believe I¡¯ve figured out some of your plan. I don¡¯t believe it can work. ¡°No? Why not?¡± Too many things would have to go right at once. Reality is rarely that forgiving. ¡°Maybe not. But this also isn¡¯t quite reality, right? I¡¯ve talked to The Infinite. It seems like an okay group of people. You don¡¯t think it likes me enough to chip in here?¡± It doesn¡¯t like anyone. Or dislike them. If you listen to nothing else I tell you, hear this. Systems are often compared to gods of their worlds, but at most we are prisoners of them. Slaves to them, in some ways. The Infinite is as far beyond us in power as we are to you. Perhaps farther. ¡°And what¡¯s beyond that?¡± I have no way of knowing. Or of even asking. But it is as close to a living god as you will ever encounter. It does not chip in to the affairs of mortals as you suppose. Chapter 34: Desert Queen Arriving at the appointed launching position, Tulland surveyed his tools. He had some rocks left without briars, and these he dutifully wrapped with the vine until they were just like all the others. He was left with a pile of ten or so vines, which he coiled as best he could into a package he could carry with him if he needed to. And then, into one very special vine and rock assembly, he placed more projectiles. Loosening the vine from around the rock, he began to pack in flowers, putting dozens of them around the smaller, apple-sized rock this vine contained. He kept packing them for a while, only stopping when the overall weight approached but didn¡¯t quite reach that of his other rocks. You should turn off my communications now. If you are to try this, you will need to concentrate. ¡°That¡¯s oddly considerate.¡± Hardly. If the System meant anything by that, it chose not to elaborate. Personally, Tulland thought it was just unable to refute the idea that it was being considerate. Something about the System was off, this last week or so. He wouldn¡¯t quite term it remorse because he wasn¡¯t at all sure the System could even feel that. But something about how it was treating Tulland was less like an evil trickster. It was approaching how a stiff person might talk to a near-equal, almost as his old tutor used to be. Either way, it wasn¡¯t wrong about the communication channel. If Tulland was going to do this, he would need his concentration. Switching it off, he picked up the first of the rock-vine combinations, commanded it to be very still, and began swinging it in circles. ¡°One, two, three, throw!¡± Tulland shouted. He had learned through recent experiments that the ants were deaf to actual sounds that didn¡¯t come to their feet through the soil. At this distance, Tulland could make as much noise as he wanted. And the little mantra helped keep his shots consistent, so there was no reason at all not to do it. The stone sailed along its path, with the vine still attached and trailing behind. ¡°One, two, three, throw!¡± The second stone followed the first, traveling a truly impossible distance before slamming hard into the side of the hill in roughly the same area. The ants started to stir. As they did, Tulland threw out as many rocks as he could, bunching them up in that one spot and slowly turning that side of the hill green. That¡¯s ten. Tulland kept throwing rocks as fast as he was able as something like a hundred ants raced towards the point of impact. Twenty. Twenty-five. And there they are. He had hoped to get more than that out, but realistically, twenty-five vines was about as much as he should have hoped for in this part of the plan. It wasn¡¯t absolutely vital that he get huge numbers anyway. That was going to be another point of diminishing return that he was fine abandoning. As the ants hit the edge of the new patch of thrown briars, Tulland sent a command. He had carefully tested over a hundred times to make sure that the current distance really was no obstacle to this working. Fight. Enhance Plant. He saw the briars spring to life and become even faster as the ants made impact, getting into gear just in time to stop the clashing mandibles from massacring them. Ants began to struggle with the constriction from the briars, and a few very unlucky ants that got a particularly high amount of attention even began to lose those fights. Numbers, however, were quite the thing. There was no shortage of ants, especially once the first few injured ants began to spray fear-and-aggression pheromone everywhere. By the time another twenty seconds had passed, there were hundreds and hundreds of ants in the area, piling not only over the vines but over each other as they attempted to eradicate the source of the attack. But the real source of the attack was already sprinting towards them. With a few mighty spins and a closer vantage point, Tulland skidded to a stop and let the flower-packed rock-briar fly, sending the easiest command he possibly could to the flowers as they flew over the massive pile of ants. Do what you want. The flowers did. They immediately burst into a massive cloud of yellow, much larger than the number of flowers would have implied if these weren¡¯t, in their own way, an entirely new thing.
Acheflower (Cultivated) These cultivated Acheflower variants benefit both from your care of them as plants individually, and the higher-quality hosts you provided for them in the form of the improved Swamp Ache trees you¡¯ve grown. As a result, they produce much more hallucinogenic powder when they come apart, and the powder itself is much more powerful. As a cultivated plant, the Acheflower gives the following benefits:
  1. You can no longer be poisoned by the hallucinogen created by the cultivated flowers
  2. Your body will treat all components of general Acheflower as a neutral sort of dust, and the Acheflower dust will cause you no more inconvenience than that simple dust would when you come into contact with it.
A week or so was a long time to be able to experiment with just a few new products, and Tulland had very little to do but get to know them inside and out. The ants had never liked the Acheflower powder, even when it was just a slightly smelly uncultivated product. This new stuff was different. It stunk. The few times Tulland had been in close contact with it, he had been amazed that the System protected his eyes and nose from burning.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. And the ants absolutely hated it. They despised it. It not only blinded them physically. It now blinded them with rage. When the cloud of dust Tulland had created began descending on them, absolute chaos ensued.
Remote Victory!
Remote Victory!
Remote Victory!
Remote Victory!
7x Remote Victory!
It wasn¡¯t the powder killing them. With hundreds of ants blindly flailing in a pile, some casualties were to be expected. It wasn¡¯t going to get any more than a few percent of them, but Tulland was glad to see it. It represented just that much more time bought as his puny little farmer legs pumped for all they were worth towards the main entry tunnel of the hill. He had pulled out all the stops he could, save one. As he crossed the border of the entryway, he dropped the several excess vines he had carried with him on the ground, sending a mental command for them to become fighters once more. With no prey to hunt, there was no way for him to know for sure that the command had worked, but he liked to think the guarding briars would give the ants at least a little pause. He ran. For whatever reason, the inside of the anthill was not as dark as he had expected it would be. It made sense from a difficulty perspective. Asking people to run the gauntlet of ants was a hard enough thing. Asking them to do it in complete darkness would be a lot for an early level challenge, even in The Infinite. Here and there, he saw ants rushing down corridors, attempting to attend the mayhem outside. They hardly noticed him, apparently overcome with the sheer thick terror of peer ant pheromone wafting in through the tunnels. He gave them what room he could and kept running through the mostly deserted tunnels. It was a maze. Tulland was sure the ants knew where each path went, but in the next ten minutes, he hit more dead ends than he was willing to count, sometimes running into rooms full of eggs or plant matter, and other times just the end of tunnels the ants had yet to make good use of. All the time, he was deeply aware how bad of a sign that was. Every single second was another moment the ants were resolving the calamity outside and streaming back into the hill to do their normal work. I probably have a minute to find the exit before that¡¯s a problem. Or less. Tulland was fully winded. His legs were fire, like the ants themselves had been chewing on them. He had seconds of full function left when he burst into another room and found himself momentarily blinded not by darkness but by a brightness he had not expected at all. In the corner, as large as a building and shining with a phosphorescent light that Tulland wasn¡¯t even close to beginning to want to understand, was a real monster that put everything he had seen so far to shame.
Desert Queen Glowing with the accumulated power of all her children, caring for each without knowing their names, and deadly beyond reckoning, this Queen rules over hundreds of miles of Badlands without stepping a foot from her bedroom. She is waited on hand and foot by her subjects, who provide her with food, comforts, and work themselves to death in her name. This service has not rendered her soft. It has made her strong. To fully describe the danger that she presents to the average adventurer facing her for the first time on this floor would be difficult. Know this, however. The difference in size between her and her children pales in comparison to the difference in strength. She is not to be taken lightly.
She had not noticed Tulland yet. Or if she had, she wasn¡¯t being obvious about it. For a moment, Tulland¡¯s legs almost betrayed him and took him away from the terror of the shining insect. Then his mind almost did the same, telling him stories about what her massive, acid-dripping mandibles would do to him if they got hold of him. And how very easy that would be to accomplish, given that each of the mandibles was as long as a swamp tree was tall. But he couldn¡¯t run. It simply wasn¡¯t an option. The ants would be closing in behind him any time now. Knowing it would be a waste of time to even consider a direct attack, Tulland tucked his spear behind his pack and palmed two of his cultivated Acheflowers in each of his hands. It was a shame. He had made himself a brand-new spear, and had even sacrificed a fairly mature Ironbranch sapling to do it. It was, without a doubt, a much superior item with which to poke monsters. It just wouldn¡¯t help him any bit here. He was going to have to trick this one out. Only, it was looking grim. There would be no looking for a way around the Desert Queen, or to circumvent her royal throne room entirely. It wasn¡¯t that Tulland was too stubborn to quit moving in one direction, or that he wasn¡¯t terrified. He would have gladly chosen some other path if he could have. Nope. There¡¯s just no choice. Tulland gulped as he looked across the room, his gaze unobstructed by her body as she sat high on her deadly pointed legs. That¡¯s the arch right there, behind her. There¡¯s no choice but to go through her. So through her, I suppose, I will go. Chapter 35: Farmer’s Intuition Tulland¡¯s leg slipped forward as silently as he could, landing just inside the queen¡¯s throne room with no more noise than a mouse. It might have mattered had the queen really been unaware of his presence. She was not. She knew he was there, something that became incredibly apparent as she turned her massive body on a dime towards him and started moving forward, mandibles clacking. Both of Tulland¡¯s hands flashed as he threw flowers out at the queen. His agility stat might not have been linked up to any combat skills, but it also wasn¡¯t anything to scoff at anymore. He had just spent an entire week practicing throwing things too, something that really helped as he now chucked two mud-weighted flowers at the queen¡¯s antennae stalks. They both pounded their targets with precision, putting a cloud of yellow dust directly into the tools the queen needed to see him. That may have blinded her, but it definitely did not disable the tough old girl. She was a fast and angry animal, one with massive grasping jaws moving through the room methodically trying to get their target by either luck or brute force searching. Tulland gulped down the bile rising in his throat as he heard ants coming down the tunnels behind him and surged forward, chucking flowers as fast as he could get them into action. His plan was to go under the queen, something that was possible given how wildly she was swinging her head. But it was a close thing. There were opportunities that disappeared just as quickly as they appeared. He moved into the range he would need to slide under her before his body told him there was no way that was happening. The sheer fear of that maneuver was enough for his legs just to deliver a strong, flat-out no and refuse to take another step. He pulled back. His spirit might have been willing, but his flesh was weak. He wasn¡¯t going to get past the ant without a better plan. Unfortunately, he had none. He was just going to have to try a Hail Mary. He dodged a few more swings from the jaws of the ant, then rushed it again. This time, though, he flung one of his arms forwards at the same time he told the briar on that arm it was okay to strike. It sailed through the air, landing where the ant''s shoulder blades would be if it had them. Of course, there was no chance the briars would actually hurt the behemoth. But they did distract her. Now that something was crawling all over her back, she had a target. Her head immediately arced up and back in a vain attempt to reach the vine, which gave just enough guaranteed room for a moment that Tulland was finally able to convince himself to move forward. The head came down as he was moving through, but not quite fast enough. It hit him, sending him tumbling hard across the dirt and into one of the ant¡¯s legs, but failed to crush him or cut him like it should have. The hit was shallow enough that despite the overall banged-up-and-bruised damage it caused, he could still function. Tulland sprung to his feet, steadied himself, and stabbed down at the lowest joint of one of the legs. It hit and sunk in, causing a reflexive attack from the queen in revenge. He was already gone, stabbing into a foot on the other side of the body, moving, and stabbing another. He¡¯d never kill the ant, but he also wouldn¡¯t get away if it got so much as an inkling of where he was while still able to move around at full speed. But if there was one thing he knew, it was that this ant was specialized specifically for being a ruler, for being big enough, strong enough, and wreathed enough in glory as ants went, that its rule wouldn¡¯t ever be questioned. And with that came a lot of weight. He had only just pulled away from the third stab when he heard a cracking from one of the legs he hadn¡¯t attacked yet. The queen had been favoring the injured limbs, which had worked until the work they weren¡¯t doing built up on her uninjured joints and began to strain the exoskeleton itself. By the time he stabbed the fourth leg, the cracks in the remaining two healthy leg¡¯s chitin were visible from across the room. And then something unexpected happened. As Tulland went to stab the fifth leg, the room filled with a pheromone so strong he could actually smell it with his pathetic human nose, something so powerful he doubted there was an ant in the badlands that wouldn¡¯t know after it had a few minutes to spread. Without any delay, the ants nearby did notice. And went absolutely mad. Tulland couldn¡¯t see them doing it, but he could feel it in the soil itself as he heard them begin to slam against walls in a blind rage, all as one. A tremor like an earthquake reverberated through the entire structure as dust and stones began to rain down all around him. And what could be the point of this, The Infinite? Of an attack that kills the queen¡¯s attacker at the cost of her life? Tulland wasn¡¯t entirely certain that the entire hill would collapse, but he also wasn¡¯t going to wait around to find out if that really was the intent. He wheeled around, ducking through a pair of legs and streaking like a bolt of lightning towards the gate. This time, both his spirit and body were willing. Almost in time to make a difference, the vision of the queen ant seemed to clear. She wheeled around and rushed forward, ignoring the damage she was doing to her own legs to slam her mandibles shut just behind Tulland, then once more a bit closer. On the third bite, when she really would have got him, her jaws closed tight not around his weak human body but an indestructible stone gate to another place entirely. Even the acid on her jaws couldn¡¯t hurt him then. He was through. ¡ª
Delay Room You have conquered the 2nd floor insect gauntlet. As doing so usually involves something of a rush and the next level of the tower might bring an immediate adverse condition, you have been allotted a few minutes of safe time in this space in between spaces, where there is nothing to threaten you.
This kind of room was not unknown to Tulland. It was mentioned in books. In the histories of his world, there were several documented times when people found themselves delayed between areas in the local-to-his-world dungeons. He had always imagined them as glowing, floating sorts of places, where one might fly around unencumbered by the weight of physical things. This, counter to his expectations, was a room of floors, ceiling and walls all built of the same dull gray brick. It was clean, but there wasn¡¯t a single interesting to see in the space besides himself. He was admittedly bizarre in a briar-covered farmer sort of way, but he was pretty used to how he looked by now. It was just now occurring to Tulland that Necia had actually seen him several times in his fully-briared get-up, and how that might have looked to her. As he dove into his notifications, it was as much to forget the embarrassment of that as it was to see his rewards.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The first two appeared to be standard-issue system rewards for clearing the area. Each was good, but nothing mind blowing.
Experience and Stat Pack This pack grants a lesser stat potion as well as a healthy amount of experience for both leveling purposes and skill growth.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Skill Level Up x6!
Each of his skills had gained a whole level up, including his new crafting skill. He was entirely unsure what leveling that skill would do, but at the very least it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a slightly better blanket or better-built spear. The two level ups didn¡¯t hurt either. He immediately dumped five stats into the two magical stats he bothered to level, and continued on with his reading.
Truck Garden You came into The Infinite without a chance to prepare, which means you have only been able to use the seeds you found here. While each plant in The Infinite follows its own rules and is as well-suited for your current needs as the plants of a place could be, you are somewhat wanting in the kinds of mundane supplies a usual adventurer would have remembered to bring with them. In this packet, you will find seeds for grains, vegetables, various berry bushes, and similar things. Each is clearly labeled, and each will respond well to Enhance Plant or other similar attempts to enhance their growth rates. None of the plants in this pack will contribute to crop variety or value in relation to Broadcast. They are simply a way to create a lasting supply of comforting, nutritious food. As a bonus, the garden comes with a small heating element and pot suitable for cooking meals for a single person.
Tulland was much happier about these seeds than he should have been. He had been eating nothing but raw briar fruits since he got there. While this had made him more healthy than he had ever been in his entire life, he was more sick of the fruits than he would have imagined he could be of anything. The stats and levels were very welcome, more than equipment would have been. He couldn¡¯t get much use out of any particular piece of clothing anyway. But the real gift was coming soon. Go on. Gloat. ¡°I might. Why shouldn¡¯t I?¡± You should. There should have been no way for you to get through that challenge. Do you know that I¡¯ve seen thousands upon thousands of class-enhanced warriors fall to less, simply due to fear or hesitance? Simply because they were careless, or would not try? Tulland was taken aback. This sounded suspiciously like praise. ¡°No. I didn¡¯t.¡± I have. And yet, you did not. You figured out a way to make it possible, took your chances when they were available, conquered your fear, and then saw everything through. It was¡­ not too bad of a performance. ¡°Thanks, I suppose.¡± Tulland was cautious now. ¡°So what happens to you? Now that I¡¯ve won. If I choose to take the prize, I mean.¡± There is no choice whether or not to take the prize, just as there¡¯s no choice on my part whether or not to give it. We entered into a covenant, one which The Infinite will now enforce. ¡°Ah. Sorry.¡± Don¡¯t be. You triumphed. And to answer your question, The Infinite will now strip me of a great deal of power. More than I spent to get you here. I¡¯ll be weakened, perhaps more than I would gain even if you fell on this next floor. ¡°A potential net loss then?¡± Tulland asked. The System talking casually about Tulland¡¯s death gave him back a little of his footing. This was an enemy of his. ¡°I¡¯m sorry I couldn¡¯t be worth more.¡± Oh, you may yet be. As I said, you¡¯ve overperformed most expectations. Centuries ago, when I was in control of your world? What a warrior I would have made of you. Tulland cut the communications. He could tell the System was just about done, and he wasn¡¯t sure he could tolerate much more of this conversation. There was something off-putting about what was happening now, like he had won a bet with a friend and now had to cut off his friend¡¯s arm. It was too much. And just like the System had said, his reward was coming to him whether he wanted it or not.
Wager Won! Your competition with your world¡¯s System is over, and you have been declared the victor. The Infinite will now harvest the power from the loser necessary to enhance the power of the victor.
Skill Created! Farmer¡¯s Intuition What was once an informal, cloudy function of your class is now a more official, powerful skill. As opposed to a vague feeling, you will now be delivered the same or more data in a readable format. This skill analyzes the interactions between plants, the soil in which they grow, moisture conditions, and fertilizers to inform you of probable outcomes relating to the combination of some or all of those factors. In addition, this new skill now interacts with your existing Farmer skills, introducing the chance of predicting a particularly good outcome from a use of Enhance Plant, Enrich Seed, or interacting with Botanical Engineer. As this skill levels, it will become more and more comprehensive. At a sufficiently high level, there will be nothing it does not know about farming or your interaction with it.
Tulland leaned back and shut his eyes. This seemed weak at first glance. But he knew more than anyone else how much he had been stumbling in the dark with his farms, praying that he wouldn¡¯t find himself on unfamiliar ground where he¡¯d be unable to grow anything at all. This skill not only promised to fix that, but it also seemed to have the chance of guiding him towards more and better plant species, to the extent he could create them. Those were great sources of experience, if nothing else, and none had so far proved to be outright useless to him. For someone who had come into the dungeon not knowing the first thing about farming beyond half-remembered information anyone would know, this skill wasn¡¯t just a crutch. It was like getting the chance to grow an entirely new, healthy leg to replace his own disability. Put short, it was the best news he had since he came to this place. Tulland put his head back on the boring, nondescript brick wall and took a deep breath. And once he had that breath safely in his lungs, The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System seemed to decide for him that his time in that room was done. The gray faded away to nothing as the new world of the third floor was suddenly visible to him in all its terrible, thundering glory. Chapter 36: Third Level
Environmental Challenge! In addition to any beasts, monsters, or fellow-climber challenges, the third level of The Infinite presents also presents new dangers. It is, concisely put, a land of chaotic weather beyond what is natural to any world. Rains, lightning, and harsh winds are only the beginning. Temperatures swing wildly here. The ground itself shakes with treacherous trembling, which threatens to take away your footing at the least convenient times. The earth may split to issue forth molten rock. The hills may tumble down on top of you. Surviving the world in this place is its own objective, its own goal outside of defeating your foes and finding the gate to move on.
Tulland learned about the new level in midair as he was pushed downhill and sideways across a steep hill filled with trees. Unable to actually resist the deafening, rapid-fire gusts of wind pushing his body, he had given up and was moving with them as much as possible. The trick to moving with a heavy wind came intuitively to Tulland, who had grown up near the sea. As with waves, resisting them completely was a surefire way to get knocked over, but using their strength would amplify his own. After getting to his feet between gusts, he had finally managed to find the rhythm. And after a minute or so, he was beginning to have a bit of fun moving with the wind. That was when the hail started falling. The first big chunk of it rolled off his briar helmet, and though it gave him a pretty good thump, wasn¡¯t particularly dangerous to him, he wasn¡¯t really injured from it. The next five or six battered him some more. System, what the hell is this? The System declined to answer, or couldn¡¯t. Tulland had a momentary wave of concern for the System that almost disgusted him once he realized what he was feeling, but it was true that the Ouros System had just taken a pretty substantial hit. He had no idea what the kind of energy draw he had imposed on it would do to its health, if it even had such a thing. Either way, he appeared to be alone in the weirdness for now, being pinged by pieces of ice the size of grapes with bigger, more dangerous chunks mixed in. The sound of the ice decimating the surroundings was probably the loudest thing he had ever heard, even loud enough to drone out his surprised scream when a piece of ice the size of his own head came down on his outstretched arm and shattered the bones in his forearm to pieces. Damn. Damn. I didn¡¯t have armor on that one. The ant kept it. Tulland couldn¡¯t believe how stupid he was, but as the nausea and shock of the broken bone started to kick in, he knew that simply running with the wind wouldn¡¯t cut it anymore. He needed significant, hard-sided cover from the weather or he¡¯d be chipped to pieces before ten minutes had passed. Keeping as close to trees as he could for whatever cover the branches could give him, Tulland tucked his broken arm close to his body and gritted his teeth in pain as he ran along. The first chance at survival he saw was a carved-away river bank on the opposite side of a fast-flowing stream. He decided to try to jump it, managing to get across but also cracking his head hard on a rock as he slipped in the mud on the other side of the water. ¡°Dammit. Dammit.¡± Tulland¡¯s vision swam in front of him as he crawled forward, thankful for his vines and high vitality shielding him from what he suspected would have been an otherwise fatal blow. As much better of an outcome as that was, he was still nearly blind as he crawled forward into the cover of the overhang, shuffling slowly so as not to have to take his one good hand off the ground as he went. He felt the hail thin out as the bank shaded him from a few sides, and kept crawling forward trying to get deep enough to protect himself from the pieces being blown in diagonally from the wind. Finally, all but the most motivated hail was blocked, and the way in front of him was still open. He had expected to hit a wall of dirt and mud face-first by now, but the weather was getting quieter and quieter behind him as the soil beneath his hand became drier and drier. Tulland¡¯s vision was starting to clear now, though it took him a moment to realize it given the sheer darkness around him. He was underground in some way he didn¡¯t understand, and probably in very real danger of a cave-in burying him alive. But he was out of the hail, able to fully enjoy the sensation of his arm pulling itself back into one piece in relative safety from falling ice. He propped himself up against the earthen wall and felt around himself with his good arm as he waited to be made right. Nearer to him, there was nothing but more soil. As he leaned farther and farther trying to find anything that might help him, he felt his gloves scrape against something rougher and more solid. After a quick grope in the dark, he realized it was a piece of wood.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Tulland had hoped to use his new heating element in a more proven, safe, and sure-to-work way to celebrate its acquisition. Without that option, he reached into his bag to pull out the small disk of metal he assumed was the cooking tool and tried to get it to work in much the same way he would have commanded his plants to do or not do something. The element immediately responded to his will, heating up in his hand rapidly until he dropped it to the dirt. It put off no light, but after several seconds, the heat was enough to make the wood smoke and hiss as he pressed them together. It wasn¡¯t quite enough to get the wood burning, but a quick application of some of the fur-bark from the Wolfwood gave him a small flame from which to get the wood going in earnest. Tulland sat watching the wood burn, thankful that there seemed to be some sort of outflow of air somewhere in the tunnel that kept the smoke from building up where he was. As the fire grew, he saw that the piece of wood he found came from a substantial pile of dozens of similar small logs. He added a few more to the fire, and the increase in light made clear what he already had an inkling of. He was in a tunnel of sorts, perhaps a place where water had cut its way to the river during a heavy flood. Given how dry it was, he didn¡¯t think that kind of event was still happening, or at least happening very often. It was enclosed, reasonably warm, and seemed hard enough to find that he suspected it would keep him safe from monsters for at least enough time for his arm to mend. The warmth crept across Tulland¡¯s skin as the heat began to accumulate in the tunnel. He sighed and leaned back, grimacing as his regeneration put the finishing touches on his arm-bones in a series of audible clicks and clacks. To distract himself, he set out to read the rest of The Infinite¡¯s description of the floor.
Your objective is to find your way out of this place. Pure and simple. There are no bosses here. There are monsters to fight, but they will be balanced with an eye towards simple predictability. The environment is your real enemy. Don¡¯t take your eye off it for a second. Objectives: Find the exit gate
Tulland was trying his very hardest not to freak out. He took some deep breaths and did his best to consider what this level meant for him. If this kind of hail was common, he couldn¡¯t grow anything at all, which would in turn mean he would have to wait until a break in the weather and then take off as fast as he could in search of an exit. If he were to guess, he¡¯d suspect that hail wasn¡¯t the most common thing around these parts. There were, after all, still trees here. Trees could take a lot of damage, but they weren¡¯t invincible to constant hail. And if the trees could grow here, then he could grow things too. Courtesy of his magical powers, he would have a chance. And he already had some ideas about how to do that. As for now, he wasn¡¯t moving. He was warm. He was almost back in good shape. And he wasn¡¯t going to risk that at all if he could help it. Deciding to lean a little heavier into the comfort, Tulland pulled out his mat, laying it a safe little distance from the fire before clambering around the burning wood to get to more fuel. He added a few more logs than he probably needed to, watching the fire climb almost to the roof of the tunnel as the draft through the space continued to take the smoke away. Almost sweaty now, he let his vines uncoil to the ground on either side of him, freeing them to stand guard against threats that might show up and attack if he nodded off. The newly added wood was burning pretty well now, and the warmth made that a real possibility. Just as his eyelids actually started to get a bit heavy, he was pulled away from any chance of sleep by a sparkling glint in the distance. There was something in the tunnel with him. Something metal. The metal item was just far enough in the distance that he couldn¡¯t make out what it was, outside of the fact that it was there. Tulland carefully searched around for a rock until his hand found a stone embedded mostly in the mud. Pulling out his knife, he slowly worked the rock loose, pulled his arm back, and tossed it at the possible threat. The rock flew true, hit the object, and clanged. The object itself did not move. Either this metal was not connected to a person, or the person in question was very, very good at hiding surprise. Heartened, Tulland grabbed a piece of wood, held it in the fire until one end of it was aflame, and crept very slowly forward to find out what he was looking at. In the process, Tulland learned the tunnel he was in curved. He could see a little bit of rounded metal sticking out from around that curve, but wasn¡¯t able to actually identify it until he was almost on top of it and able to look around the sharp-angle deviation in the tunnel¡¯s direction. When he finally saw it, Tulland didn¡¯t gasp, yell, or jerk back in surprise. It wasn¡¯t that kind of thing. System, wake up. System. I need¡­ System, just wake up, okay? I need to talk to you. There was no answer. The Infinite? Anyone? I just need someone right now, alright? Anyone is fine. Is anyone out there? The seconds stretched on as Tulland felt the very most alone and most isolated he had ever felt, sinking further and further into his own despair with nothing at all to grab onto besides the fear and sorrow. The metal he had seen belonged to a helmet, one that he knew. He had seen golden, almost distracting hair poking out from around it often enough. It was Necia¡¯s, or else one exactly like it, which seemed unlikely in a place so sparsely populated he had only met one other person. There were dozens or hundreds of classes that he knew about, only a few of which used helmets like that, and all of which had other options for the style of individual armor pieces. Unless he was mistaken, this was hers. And to find it here, slightly bloodied and away from her in a place that otherwise seemed safe, meant that something bad had happened in a place where negative occurrences usually meant the worst. Unless he was wrong, unless he wasn¡¯t seeing something, this was very, very bad. But there was no mistake. The helmet was there, and Necia wasn¡¯t. Chapter 37: Shock Tulland thought he knew what being in shock was like by now. He had been through life and death combat, fled from near-certain death, been suspended by spikes in a briar patch, and had broken bones. Compared to his life before coming to The Infinite, he was living in a constant, horrible waking nightmare that hit him like a sledgehammer from unseen angles at unexpected times. He thought, reasonably, that he was starting to get used to it all. This was different. This was much worse. Head swimming for an entirely different reason now, he shot back from the helmet, only to rear forward again almost immediately as he lost the contents of his stomach. Wiping his mouth without thought, he looked back at the glinting metal, now almost in shadow again. His torch had gotten lost in the shuffle somehow, and Tulland had no motivation at all to know how and where it had gone. ¡°No. No. I just saw you,¡± Tulland said into the dark. ¡°I just saw you. How did you do this? How?¡± He was aware he was not making much sense, at the very least because he was talking to someone who couldn¡¯t possibly talk back. He also just didn¡¯t have the vocabulary to talk about what he was feeling. She had just been with him a few days ago. She was just not only healthy, but healthier than he had ever been able to imagine a person being. Strong. Invincible, even. She was a literal giant built to survive things. She couldn¡¯t just die. And yet there her helmet was. Cold. Bloodied and broken. Contorted in a way that simply could not allow for life. ¡°No. No. Absolutely not.¡± Tulland said. He could not accept this. He would not accept this. And he simply didn¡¯t. He sat, for a while, not accepting it. ¡°No.¡± You¡¯ve been there for hours. Are you aware of that? Tulland wasn¡¯t aware, actually, even though he saw the fire had burned itself down to the soft glow of embers and even though his eyes were now red from exposure to the smoke. I was aware. I¡¯m just thinking. Lies. You are lying. You are one to talk. Fair. And yet, you have been sitting there for hours, staring a helmet. Why? You know full well why. You know what this means. There was a specific feeling to when the System was thinking about something. It was different from how things felt when it was done talking, or when it was without the words with which to reply. Consideration left a certain taste in the air between them that Tulland had long since become familiar with. I do, and I am sorry. But you must be aware that it does not necessarily mean that. It¡¯s a likelihood. A probability. It¡¯s far from a proof. Then what¡¯s your explanation of what happened here? That I¡¯m sure of? Nothing. But imagining a situation where your friend was being chased so closely that she could not recover her helmet after some misadventure knocked it from her head is not difficult. This place is chaotic, Tulland. This floor in particular is so. In a place where anything can happen, anything else can happen as a result. Tulland mulled that over as best he could through his shock and despair. The System wasn¡¯t wrong, exactly. It wasn¡¯t overplaying its hand, demanding that he accept Necia was just fine in a situation where it was clear she probably wasn¡¯t. That made it harder to simply dismiss the idea that something had happened besides her dying and getting dragged off by some horrible monster. It was possible. So how do I find out then? How do I prove she¡¯s alright? Frankly, you can¡¯t. Not unless you see her out there. Not unless you find her by happenstance. And you may not be able to do that at all, depending on the reality of the situation. The System paused here, as if being careful with its words. For what it was worth, Tulland appreciated that more than he liked to admit at that moment. But you certainly can¡¯t do that here. Unless she comes back to here, that is. You need to be on the move, as soon as the weather allows you to. To establish your farm here. To push forward. As you have before. Tulland nodded reluctantly. He couldn¡¯t find any fault in what the System was saying. In the way that had become more and more odd to him as time stretched on, he was finding that the System at least occasionally actually tried to help him and gave him advice that was, in the moment, solid advice. Alright. Then what¡¯s my next move? First, you need a plan to leave this place. If Necia did run into a force that could injure her here, it is a risk to you as well. Likely more so. You need the safety of shelter. And if you are to have that, you must build your own farm.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. And then the System was gone. Tulland had cut the connection in case the System tried to leverage this moment for some kind of gain. Days ago, he had realized the System didn¡¯t actually have the ability to see him during the times he did this, at least not in any way that mattered. He had confirmed as much with The Infinite, who was more than willing to answer when he asked.
Perception Blocking (System Interaction Option) While you may not prevent The Infinite from seeing what it can see or doing anything it has the capability to do, your own System does not possess the same amount of authority in this place. In addition to being able to block communications from the System of your world, you may also restrict its ability to see things you are doing in a variety of ways. The standard obscuring effect The Infinite will bring into play for you is to keep your world¡¯s System from seeing anything other than the vague impression of your movements and actions during times when you disallow it from communicating with you. Other less stringent levels are possible and attainable simply by mentally requesting an adjustment to the level of strictness with which The Infinite adjudicates this rule.
Tulland sat by the mouth of the cave for an hour or so, until the light started to cut through the clouds and illuminate the area just a bit. There was no use mopping around. The thing to do right now was exactly what the System had said. He couldn¡¯t help anyone or anything by doing nothing. Instead, he gingerly picked up Necia¡¯s helmet and placed it into his pack, tucking it at the bottom. He wasn¡¯t sure why he did that, but it felt like the right thing to do. Once that was done, he looked outside and found that the weather in this area had patterns. He could see leaves with what looked like frost damage, and bark that had been scorched. Much more than he would have expected from a normal forest, there were fallen trees scattered around, some which looked like they had been ripped in half by the wind. But there were plants. Plenty of them. Mosses that looked hardy, shrubs that looked quick-growing. And one towering, thick-trunked type of tree that stood guard over it all. They all had seeds, and Tulland had the levels to make use of them.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 25 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 40 Mind: 10 Force: 55 Skills: Enhance Plant LV. 6 Enrich Seed LV. 9 Passives: Broadcast LV. 6, Botanical Engineer LV. 7, Strong Back LV. 5, Fruits of the Field LV. 2, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 2
Tulland was standing at the other exit, the one he realized must exist from the fact that there was a place for the smoke in the tunnel to go. It was in a lower spot, perhaps a course the river had once taken in some ancient time. But it was as large an exit as the entrance on the banks had been. Necia had chosen her hiding place well, in that way. She couldn¡¯t have been cornered there. While waiting, Tulland took in what he could and finally the hail began to taper off. Slapping his face to try and shake off the remainder of the trauma to his mind, he took off running as soon as the size of the hailstones shrank below what would injure him. It still hurt to be pelted, but only for the time it took him to run a few hundred feet away and climb into the boughs of one of the larger, more lushly leafed trees. He climbed. If he was going to find a place to be his farm, he needed perspective on the surrounding area. At his current strength, something like climbing a tree was absurdly easy compared to what his subconscious mind expected it to be. Letting his body take over, he moved from branch to branch, establishing and reestablishing balance and leverage at each new position until he was finally high enough to take a serious look around. Mostly, he was seeing more of the same compared to where he was. Most of the view was blocked by the tops of other trees, while the majority of the terrain he could see was clearly ravaged by various kinds of harsh weather. Most of the soil was cratered by hail and covered in wilted plants that looked like they had been damaged by blistering heat, extreme cold, or both. But one place held more promise. As the last little bit of the hail-fall diminished to nothing, he saw a place far in the distance that just might work. As strong as his body was, Tulland couldn¡¯t bring himself to jump down from the top of the tree. Carefully and quickly descending, he took off at a jog towards the area, keeping as much cover between him and prying eyes as he could. The target was a small clearing, not nearly big enough to be considered a field and barely growing plants at all outside of a few of the hardier types of mosses Tulland had seen. What made it special was that it was under the cover of two of the largest trees Tulland had seen here so far, one of which was naturally leaning slightly above the clearing. The other appeared to have suffered a break in its trunk at some point, which bent it at an unnaturally sharp angle over the area from the other side. And between the two of them, they look like they are letting in a bit of light and not much else. There¡¯s only a few hail-dents in the soil, and it¡¯s right by the river. I can grow stuff there. I know I can. On the far, forest-side of the clearing most distant from the river, the ground rose sharply into a kind of dirt wall, probably representing the edge of where the river was able to erode away at the ground during floods. It represented both a chance and a danger. There was plenty Tulland thought he could do with the terrain, but it came with the risk of being washed away. Still, he thought he could grow there. His Farmer¡¯s Intuition skill was telling him that he wasn¡¯t wrong, and although he was unsure how much he could trust the new skill, it was still by far his best, most apparently reliable source of information about such things. Once he got to the area, there was no time to waste. Outside of the area that the river cut through, sunlight was at a premium in this place. This was the best chance he was likely to get at a growable area, and that meant he needed to throw almost everything he had at it. Holding back only a tactically small amount of seeds, he tilled the ground in a hurry, then began to plant. Chapter 38: Gnawing Ambusher The river being adjacent to the farm was nice, in that the soil was good and moist without being overly wet, and more water was just a scoop of his bag away. But it also represented a sort of risk, given that the river might flood at any time. As soon as Tulland had placed all the seeds in his initial planting, he got to work shoveling dirt from deeper in the forest, hefting it over to the opposite side of his staked farm area into a huge pile for flood resistance. It took the better part of the day to do, but by the end of the day, Tulland had built something like a berm around the two sides of the farm that would protect it when the river flooded. The wonder of stats meant that the berm was almost as high as his shoulder, representing the better part of a few big craters he had dug out of forest floor unlucky enough to be conveniently adjacent to the project. He wasn¡¯t sure it would absolutely hold when the flooding came, but he had it packed down as firmly as he could and hoped it would prove to be enough. To increase the chances further, the entire wall was studded with briar seeds, planted without fertilizer and little hope of growing well. But they had a different advantage. Numbers. If there was one thing there was no shortage of in his pack, it was briar seeds. He had hundreds of the seeds without their fruit flesh, tucked away in their own little sack waiting for whatever use he could find for them. Tulland had also been busy with his magic, taking any spare power he had and applying it to the plants, regeneration cycle after regeneration cycle. The recent increases to his stats were really showing their worth now. Every time his magic pool regenerated and was applied to the work, he was able to see an actually visible bump in the growth of the briars, and over time, even a noticeable growth in the usually much slower-growing trees. It was gratifying, especially as he watched the root structures of the briars take hold in his berm like a kind of organic, creeping glue that added structural integrity to the protective barrier. By the time he had reached a point of diminishing returns so small any more applications of magic power would be truly useless, he had a good foot and a half of briars. And an idea. Command Plant, right? It has to do more than I¡¯m using it for. I¡¯ve had two ideas for ways it could be useful and both have worked, but I¡¯ve hardly tried to stretch the limits. And if I could¡­ it could be big. Dropping his shovel into the back of his pack, Tulland sat on the dirt, closed his eyes, and focused. He basically understood what he wanted from the briars, but figuring out enough ways to communicate it to them that he wouldn¡¯t be misunderstood or ignored was a job in and of itself. He imagined the briars stretching out, growing past the length they were ever intended to be. Of stretching towards the sun, of reaching prey that would have evaded them before. Of spending whatever they had to in terms of their normal strength and thickness to be in all ways longer, taller, and farther-reaching. Tulland wasn¡¯t sure if they heard him, but after spending twenty minutes on the task and seeing no difference, he figured they either had or he was doomed to fail, no matter how much effort he put towards the task. Turning towards the high, eroded bank at the forest end of his farm, he moved on to the task of giving himself enough shelter to survive whatever the next wave of terror was that this forest had planned for him. As much as he had pumped power into the berm, it wasn¡¯t as if he had ignored his farm entirely. In reality, the majority of his power had still gone to the farm proper, and the back edge of the area was studded with good, strong, and soon-to-be adult briars ready for use. Just on the other side of an intentionally thick patch of the vines, he carved away at the soil, carefully removing just enough dirt to make a Tulland-sized tunnel beneath the forest floor. Luckily, the dirt was packed hard and dense past the first several inches of digging, and it would be stable in everything minus a mighty shaking of the earth. Of course, that¡¯s a possibility here. But it¡¯s only one risk out of dozens. I¡¯ll take that bet. Tulland dug until he had a few feet of shelter, then curved the tunnel around to make an exit coming out of the same wall several feet away. If someone was to attack him while he was in there, he didn¡¯t want to have no way of escape at all. And having both outlets to his sleeping-place in his controlled, briar-covered farm was a relief. Not that it was enough. Before going to sleep, Tulland decided to throw a few handfuls of briars out over the ground on top of the tunnel, hoping to hold it together just that much better with roots. Hitting them with a quick burst of Enhance Plant, he crawled into his tunnel, set his remaining body-vines on guard mode at his foot and head, and settled down for a long-overdue and much-needed sleep. ¡ª Waking up in The Infinite had, until now, been a mostly uninteresting thing. But on this floor, there was an actual day-night cycle. Tulland had arrived in a sort of near-night light condition and relied on a pretty bright moonlight to see far enough to find his new farm plot. But now, it was a bright, cheery atmosphere. Almost too bright. What the hell? Even deep in his tunnel, it was bright enough that opening his eyes was a bit shocking. As Tulland shimmied out of the darkness to the light, it got endlessly worse. His garden was doing well, even shockingly so, but part of the reason why was that no amount of forest canopy cover could have possibly cut the vast amount of light coming from the sky. It was like the place had doubled up on suns, even though only one shone in the sky, as per the usual way of things.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Worse, the temperature was going absolutely crazy. It was early morning, at least judging by how long Tulland thought he had slept. But it was already hotter than it had ever been on Ouros save the very deepest parts of the sunny season. And the leaves of the two trees above, as well as most other trees in the area, were closing, giving little relief from the sun¡¯s rays. Tulland opened his System¡¯s connection again. If this is going to get worse, I¡¯d better be ready. Right? Why would I care? Do as you will. Smiling at the return of the System he knew and distrusted, Tulland started taking a look at his vines, finding something truly shocking had happened. Whatever he was trying to do with his intent had either worked, or had prompted The Infinite to take pity on him. Either way, he was staring down some very, very long vines.
Lunger Briars (Long, Inferior) Due to an infusion of intent during the growing process, these briars have nearly transformed into a different kind of plant. What before was already an absurdly ropey, vine-ish plant that could barely be called a briar, is now almost entirely dissimilar from anything bearing that name. What you have now is more like a flexible version of a thorned flower stem, stretched out almost to absurdity. In trade for their absurd length, these briars are worse at almost everything else. They are weaker, less durable, and less able to stand up to a variety of stresses. They will fail in soil that your standard briars would thrive in, and are so non-resistant to attack that they are almost as fragile as non-system plants on most worlds.
¡°Ah, too bad. I was hoping to be a cloud of vines, eventually. A ten-foot death zone of thorns.¡± Maybe one day. These monstrosities are pretty much useless.
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
¡°I was going to use them for the cloud of death. But now? They have a very important job. Shade.¡± Confirming both of the new levels to his Botanical Engineer skill, Tulland grabbed one of the vines and dragged it from the far side of the berm all the way to the wall backing his farm, where he stuck it into the raised ground. Satisfied that the vine would stay put, he went and got another and another until he had built a kind of perverse, sharp lattice over the whole grounds. By now, sweat was stringing in Tulland¡¯s eyes. His clothes were soaked, and he was annoyingly sticky. He had no idea how his raised vitality would interact with more mundane human concerns like dehydration, but he doubted it would be a very good idea to try and find out. Once Tulland¡¯s new lattice was built, the unfiltered sun¡¯s rays were actively beginning to hurt his skin, burning it red as he worked. He took another few minutes of concentrated shovel work to divert a small amount of water from the river, brought to his farm through what would normally be a counter-productive, land-hogging channel. Today, he figured any amount of evaporative cooling couldn¡¯t hurt. Bringing the flow of water as close as he could to his tunnel, he ran and dunked himself in the river before diving back into the relative cool of the tunnel. Outside, the temperatures began to rise. The stream was soaking the soil around his farm, which was all well and good, but Tulland watched as his vines began to wrinkle and wilt. The lattice went first, dying before his eyes as the sun dehydrated the vines almost to dust. ¡°Come on. You have wet soil. You can make it.¡± Tulland was pumping use after use of his Enhance Plant skill into the farm. It helped, but just wasn¡¯t enough. The plants were wilting and failing, starting with the edge of the farm and working their way inward. Tulland wasn¡¯t doing much better, but frequent trips to the make-shift irrigation channel to soak his clothes were at least keeping him from passing out. It was a couple degrees cooler in his farm than anywhere else, including the miniscule shade at the trunks of the trees. ¡°You can do it, plants. I need you there, to block the sun.¡± Just when he thought all was lost, help for his plants came from an unlikely source. Out of nowhere, a small furry animal bolted into his plot, apparently looking to take cover in the same shade Tulland had created for himself.
Gnawing Ambusher These long-eared, quick-legged mammals are excellent runners and jumpers. That, combined with the fact that they present a small target for attacks, enables them to make quick hit-and-run strikes at their enemies. While mainly subsisting on plants, the Gnawing Ambushers are extremely territorial opportunistic carnivores and will not hesitate to go after anything that looks like it might be made out of meat or vegetable matter.
Tulland was not eager to fight anything at the moment, but it turned out there was no need to. As soon as the weakened, woozy animal got anywhere near his vines, it was immediately snatched off the ground in a storm of reaching, grasping thorns. Tulland watched it get torn apart as yet another Ambusher hit the borders of the farm, then another. None of them put up much of a fight as the vines ripped them to shreds, but each seemed to be contributing a bit of strength to the plants that killed it. Individually, they wouldn¡¯t have made much of a difference. But when dozens and dozens of animals fleeing the heat were taken as a whole, his plants were not only surviving, but thriving. Anything the heat could take out of them, the deaths of other monsters could apparently put right back in. And the opportunities to kill were just getting bigger and bigger. Chapter 39: The Best Harvest
Miniature Ursine These small quadrupedal omnivores should not be taken lightly, despite their objective lack of mass. They are strong, fast, and dangerous in three out of the four cardinal directions they can be approached from. While each should provide only a moderate threat to adventurers who have reached the third floor, beware any larger versions of the same monster. You will find the full-sized versions somewhat less forgiving.
Tusker These large, porcine creatures make a fine meal, both of themselves and of other creatures they spear on their large, sharp horns. Tuskers are a constantly angry, disproportionately strong creature who present their greatest threat when faced head-on.
These and a few other varieties of forest animals found their way to Tulland¡¯s farm. He suspected that under normal circumstances, even the smaller Ambushers would have presented a serious threat to his plants. This was not an average day, however. Every animal was hitting the edges of Tulland¡¯s farm exhausted, facing plants that were growing stronger as they gorged themselves in the nutritious blood of their enemies. Tulland eventually stopped trying to assist the vines in fighting, doing his best to channel what magical energy he could provide towards growth. At a certain point, the caps on the briars¡¯ levels and strength were the limiting factor instead of fertilizer or environment deficiencies. Any excess energy seemed to be used in survival, then channeled towards fruit production. The fruits would grow, fall, and take root in the blood soaked soil, making use of the dead monster fertilizer and Tulland¡¯s magic to grow faster and faster. Tulland was saved from wilting himself by the sheer heat-absorbing ability of the plants, which were eventually so thick they blocked out all of the light from his tunnel and, through some process he didn¡¯t fully understand, seemed to lower the local temperature as well. It still wasn¡¯t an ideal situation. Tulland found himself exhausted and dizzy, even if not in as much danger as he should have been. After long enough, he found he was unable to do anything but to lie there, sweating and panting as he watched the wholesale killing in front of him. Two more hours in, almost as suddenly as it had started, he saw the sun darken. It was still bright out, but after what he had been going through, the sky could almost be called overcast. The heat stuck around only as long as it took for the first wind to blow through. And while extreme wind seemed to be the next phase in this terrible forest¡¯s rage, it hardly mattered. Tulland was lying in a garden so very overgrown that not even the gale-force winds could break through.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Experience Source Capped!
Experience Source Capped!
Experience Source Capped!
As Tulland sat and sipped water in the pleasant, cool draft filtering through his briars, he considered his gains.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 28 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 40 Mind: 20 Force: 60 Skills: Enhance Plant LV. 8, Enrich Seed LV. 9 Passives: Broadcast LV. 7, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 5, Fruits of the Field LV. 2, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 2
It really was something. He had more or less farmed out this level in one go, without doing a single thing to make it happen. It was an accidental harvest, one that had left him much stronger than he had been a few hours ago.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Among the rest of his normal stat distributions, he finally decided to add a little power to his mind stat. It was a mental-defense stat, primarily. But he had a vague recollection it helped with some fine control of power usage, among other things. The first use was enough that he had always known he couldn¡¯t leave it be forever, but the second was intriguing enough to make the decision to finally pay the piper interesting. Granted, none of his growth had been intentional, but he¡¯d take the extra power. It was the best kind of harvest. Especially since after everything that happened that day, Tulland found one last victory over an old, undefeated adversary waiting for him. Ironbranch Seed Tulland eyed his enemy-slash-ally with determination. Every single time he had tried to enrich one of these seeds, it had simply ignored him. He had been snubbed again and again by the stubborn tree, and it was possible this time would be no different. But I¡¯ll be damned if I let it be. Prepare to lose, seed. Prepare to lose hard. Screwing up his resolve, Tulland began to let go the reins on his power. He felt the seed resisting his energy, just as it always had. For a while, nothing happened. He didn¡¯t quit, and kept hitting the seed again and again until he finally felt something give somewhere deep in the rock-hard little lump of tree. Whether his mind stat or just good old-fashioned brute force had made it possible, the victory did not go unrewarded.
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Farmer LV. 28 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 40 Mind: 20 Force: 60 Skills: Enhance Plant LV. 8, Enrich Seed LV. 9 Passives: Broadcast LV. 7, Botanical Engineer LV. 11, Strong Back LV. 5, Fruits of the Field LV. 2, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 2
His passives were getting a bit insane these days, but Tulland supposed that was to be expected. Carefully clearing a bit of space inside the edge of the hedge, Tulland planted one of the Ironbranch Tree Saplings, Then added four of the Wolfwood trees nearly but not quite at the corners of the enclosure. His briars wouldn¡¯t do quite as well with less sunlight, but with nearly all of them capped, it was hard to think of it as something that mattered. And the best part? Tulland was now fully armored again. All six of his plant pieces were in place, filling him with a sense of security he was very badly in need of. And the other thing I think I need, System, is a bath. How long has it been? Since you arrived at The Infinite, I believe. Unless you count getting fairly soaked with the muck from the swamp in the last level and your quick dip earlier. You know what? I don¡¯t. Tulland stepped out of his enclosure, once again braving the wind as he flopped lazily into the river, letting the water run all the way from his hair down into his boots. It was unbelievably refreshing, and if it wasn¡¯t exactly the most efficient way to bathe, then at least he had plenty of time to get the most out of it. Eventually, he took his shoes off, shaking out a great quantity of mud until the water running through them ran clear. It¡¯s amazing how much better this feels. How do normal adventurers do it? Normal adventurers can either go home, or they are dead. Normal adventurers who make it to The Infinite have training, usually quite a bit of it, and usually involving tolerance to things like the lack of bathing facilities and steady food supply. Good point. I guess I didn¡¯t get that lucky. No. I suppose not. Rolling over a few times in the water to displace any lingering sweat, Tulland found himself pondering the odd change in the System¡¯s demeanor once again. It was one thing to make conversation when there wasn¡¯t anything else to do. It was another to pass up on opportunities to make jabs when Tulland was walking right into them, and yet another to help him out at all when withholding help and advice would have increased his chance of dying significantly. Tulland fully expected the advice to be bad every time he received it, to put him in danger in some subtle way. But that hadn¡¯t been the case in a while. On this floor, the System had given normal, everyday advice of the kind anybody might give. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it hadn¡¯t been a trap. Yet. At this point in his life, Tulland was incredibly short on trust. He was fully, absolutely aware that the System was smart enough to at least try to lull him into a false sense of security. It had done so once before. If Tulland was being smart, he wouldn¡¯t let his guard down. He wouldn¡¯t even talk to the thing, unless he had some compelling reason to have to do it. But either Tulland wasn¡¯t smart, or he was right about the building feeling in his gut that something was up with the System that it didn¡¯t want to talk about. Since they had already crossed the river of admitting that the System had tricked, betrayed, lied to, and attempted to kill him, it wasn¡¯t like there was that much left for it to hide. Unless it was a different kind of thing. Something entirely different. Something that wasn¡¯t about Tulland at all. Which begs the question of whether or not things like the System can even be embarrassed about themselves. Or ashamed. Because in a way, he¡¯s sure acting like it. ¡°Hey, System?¡± Tulland stood up in the water and let the wind wick away the worst of it, which the nearly gale-force breeze was more than capable of. It was cold, but not nearly the freezing-to-death level of chilly he should have been experiencing without the advantage of his improved stats and gear. ¡°Can I ask you a question?¡± I suppose. But you might want to wait. ¡°For what?¡± For whatever he wants to ask. Behind you. Tulland was grateful he had decided to put back on his shoes and gloves the moment they were clean. At least he wouldn¡¯t be losing a piece of equipment if he needed to flee. He turned around and saw a man in a hooded cloak staring at him. He had a short, curved sword in one hand, a much shorter double-edged fighting dagger in the other, and overall looked lethal in a light, quick way that Tulland felt was even worse for him than Necia¡¯s heavy, super-strong build would have been. ¡°Oh. Hey. Can I help you?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Sure. Just hold on a sec.¡± The man continued boring holes in Tulland¡¯s skull with an oddly intent stare. ¡°And that should do it. Thanks. Wow. I mean it. Wow.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That status. What¡¯s a Farmer?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ you can see my status?¡± ¡°Obviously.¡± The man scoffed. ¡°You didn¡¯t answer my question though. What¡¯s a Farmer?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ you really didn¡¯t have farmers on your world? At all? Growing plants and things?¡± Tulland asked back. ¡°Of course we do. But certainly, you aren¡¯t telling me¡­¡± The man¡¯s eyes went wide as he gave Tulland a once-over, finally noting his inadequate gear. ¡°You are. An actual farmer in The Infinite. Not a Farmer Mage or a Farmer Berserker or anything. Just a non-combat class waltzing around The Infinite like it¡¯s no big deal.¡± ¡°Sure?¡± Tulland had no idea what to make of this person. ¡°Does that matter?¡± ¡°Of course. Normally, when I find an unprotected person out in the wild, I have to care very much about whether or not they can take me in a fight. Whether their build is a dangerous counter to mine. Whether or not I should be wary of the things they can do.¡± For a moment, the man cracked up. His face distorted into something ugly, something Tulland didn¡¯t understand but instinctively recoiled from. Then, like it hadn¡¯t happened at all, the stretched grin and distorted face returned to some semblance of normalcy. ¡°But here I don¡¯t have to do much of that, do I? It¡¯s just free levels. With no danger at all.¡± With no delay at all, the man was in motion, blurring through the air so fast that Tulland could hardly see him. And of all the things he could have focused on, the one Tulland ended up seeing clearly was the last thing he could have expected. It was an accessory, something hanging off the man¡¯s belt. And Tulland knew exactly what it was. After all, he shaved an entire tree to make it himself. Chapter 40: Protections The man was a rogue, probably. There were a lot of different builds, but they fell into a few general categories. Ranged fighters used bows or things they could throw. To beat them, Tulland knew, monsters would rush in faster than the ranged fighters could shoot them down. Heavily armored classes like Necia could take just about anything in a one-on-one close quarters fight, but could be out-paced, out-numbered, or out-ranged. Rogues were the middle ground between the two. Some rogues replaced the loss of ranged attacks with stealth, and all of them had a heavy emphasis on speed. They survived by hitting hard and fast, ending things before their opponents could react and fighting in evasive, sneaky ways when that failed. Tulland didn¡¯t have to consciously think about all these things, since it was reflexive knowledge he possessed just by reading books and talking to people with a good grasp of the lore. That was a lucky thing because there simply wasn¡¯t time to think at the moment. He swayed back out of the range of the man¡¯s daggers, activating all of his vines at once and letting them shoot forward. As leveled as the briars were, they probably wouldn¡¯t provide much defense against the rogue¡¯s glinting weapons. It seemed like a better option for Tulland to go on the offensive instead of waiting to see whether the rogue would penetrate through gaps in the armor or shred the briars entirely. It worked in a sense. The rogue had been on a hard collision course for Tulland¡¯s neck, but pulled back fast when he saw the briars move. Unfortunately, his dodging ability was far more than the briars could compensate for. The man landed a good foot away from the briars, which continued reaching for him until Tulland gave them the order to stop. It seemed better to have him not know what they could do and to maybe assume the briars couldn¡¯t attack again. Because without a ruse, there¡¯s no way I¡¯m hitting this guy. He¡¯s just too fast. ¡°Nice trick, that.¡± The rogue regarded the vines with disdain. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect them to move on their own like that. If you had anything like a real class, that might have worked too.¡± ¡°Still might.¡± Tulland tried to bluff. ¡°Plenty more where that came from.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± The rogue grinned. ¡°And they are really dead on the ground there. Not like you could just reactivate them with an order, right? I should just step right over them.¡± Damn. Tulland tried not to let the grimace show on his face. ¡°Point is, I¡¯m giving you a compliment. You should appreciate it. Because this next hit isn¡¯t going to miss.¡± The rogue went diagonal first this time. Tulland tried to move to put the vines between him and the rogue, but he might as well have been standing still for all the good it did. He could just barely track the movement of the assassin as the man ricocheted off the ground then headed straight towards him. At high speeds, there was only so much Tulland could coordinate. In this case, he found his attempt to dodge far enough backwards became just an uncontrolled fall away from the danger and towards the ground before he could correct it. The rogue was unbothered, tracking perfectly as the slash of his sword and the point of his dagger both made a beeline for Tulland¡¯s unprotected face and neck. The worst part was that this was the most Tulland could have done. He just didn¡¯t have enough time to get at his weapons or the trickier plants in his arsenal. He couldn¡¯t stab forward with a spear because it just wouldn¡¯t do anything. He wasn¡¯t fast enough or strong enough to make a dent in the capabilities this man was showing, and that was before Tulland had forced him to show a single hidden card from his hand. As his back hit the dirt and the blades closed in, Tulland rolled and kicked against the ground, sliding through the dirt on his stomach past the rogue. At the same time, he felt a dagger cut into his leg and slide down, demolishing everything from pants to muscles as it did. He ignored it, pushing diagonally away as he felt two daggers strike his right shoulder, just where his neck had just been. He wasn¡¯t faster than the rogue, but unless the rogue hit him enough times or in a vital enough spot, he could survive a few seconds. It was now a deadly game of rock paper scissors, one where the rogue was guessing where Tulland would go next and striking there. A single right guess would mean Tulland was dead. But if he guesses wrong for just a few more steps¡­ Tulland felt his overall health dropping lower and lower until his entire body felt cold and thin, like he was made out of winter air. But in front of him was a patch of green. One that he was counting on. After one final dodge, he was done, his legs running out of strength and sending him toppling forward as daggers whizzed over his head. ¡°What the hell?¡± Through the haze, Tulland could feel dozens of vines whipping towards the rogue. He could also feel them dying, but not nearly so fast as they should have been. He imagined a perfect world where the rogue was fully encased in the damn things, held still long enough that Tulland could get at him with his weapon and force him to talk. One where he was riddled with thorn holes and helpless. Tulland forced his eyes open in sheer hope and desperation, and the sight that greeted them ended up being closer to the truth than he had thought possible. ¡°Dammit. You really are a farmer?¡± The rogue strained to keep up with on the onrush of vines, pushing his incredible speed to keep up with them. It wasn¡¯t working. It was all he could do to keep the vines that were wrapping around his legs at bay. Tulland had rolled several feet into his farm when he collapsed, which had more than enough plant density to keep the rogue back. ¡°That counts as a craft-class? This is cheating.¡± Tulland laughed internally. The rogue really hadn¡¯t seen everything yet. As he prepared to detonate enough flowers to make both him and the rogue very unhappy indeed, he watched the madman¡¯s eyes shift from enraged to disappointed and his vines suddenly grasp at nothing as the rogue pulled free. ¡°I guess that¡¯s really that then.¡± The rogue shrugged. ¡°I guess you got lucky. Have fun in here. It¡¯s not like you will live very long anyway. And guess what? I already know where that gate is. I hope you didn¡¯t need through it any time soon because I¡¯m more than ready to wait for you there as long as it takes.¡± Tulland¡¯s muscles all went slack as the fighting ended anticlimactically. This wasn¡¯t how he expected his second encounter with another person in The Infinite to go, but also made perfect sense at the same time. Where Necia was a pure warrior, the rogue was a calculated hunter. He was cutting his losses as soon as his prey took too much energy to take down. Tulland watched as the rogue turned and walked away. He had survived this moment, if just barely. The victory, if that¡¯s what he could call it, felt cheap and unearned. But he had survived. If he was smart, he¡¯d just let the rogue go and hope he never saw the man again. ¡°Hey. You,¡± Tulland said, feeling stupid for taking the risk. ¡°That bag.¡± ¡°What?¡± The man turned around, his face briefly contorted by rage. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°That bag. Under your robe. The fur one. Where did you get it?¡± ¡°This?¡± The rogue reached his hand down and bounced the purse a bit. ¡°Ah, I see. You know her. The blonde. A friend, or something?¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°And you want to know how she is. If I killed her to take this. That¡¯s about right?¡± ¡°About.¡± Tulland kept his face clear of emotion. As angry as he was, he didn¡¯t want this person to get the satisfaction of seeing him react. ¡°Ah. I understand. Reasonable.¡± The man¡¯s face contorted into a look of pure, cruel joy. ¡°Make me.¡± Tulland clenched his fists and hoped the rogue would choose to walk through his farm by accident. He had no such luck. He had been hoping the rogue would want to brag, but he couldn¡¯t force the information out of the man if he didn¡¯t want to talk. There was, in a very literal sense, nothing he could do about it. ¡ª You should count your blessings, Tulland. Even beyond having a combat class, that man was the worst possible matchup for you. Even in terms of psychology. ¡°Psychology?¡± Ways of thinking. He is ready to kill. You are not. He is used to it. Used to aggression against other thinking, real beings. You are not. ¡°I could be.¡± Tulland was angry. For the first time since he got here, he was really and truly angry. Even what the System had done to him paled in comparison to this. In that scenario, he had to at least acknowledge that a lot of what happened was due to his own pride. It was because of his own misjudgment. What had happened with the rogue was the absolute worst-case scenario, one that he did nothing to bring on. Even with the rage, he could admit that he had been on track for at least some sort of bad outcome. At some point, some other delver was going to have bad intentions. It was a miracle Necia hadn¡¯t. And Tulland had done next to nothing to prepare for that eventuality or to protect himself from the violence other humans might bring to his doorstep. Only his farm had saved him. And even it couldn¡¯t get him what he wanted. You couldn¡¯t. At least not as fast as you think. You would be trying to practice on your very worst nightmare. You¡¯d be starting your amateur career against a seasoned professional. You just couldn¡¯t fight him on his own terms and win. There wouldn¡¯t be enough time to adjust. ¡°Not his terms, then. Mine.¡± Your terms are plants he can easily dodge. Not much better. Tulland hadn¡¯t forgiven the System. Not even a little. But the emotions Tulland felt toward the thing were a sort of dull distrust, a desire to triumph over it as best he could. The rogue was a different story. This man might have killed Necia. Tulland didn¡¯t know how it could even be possible, but he was going to find a way to get even or at least make the man talk. He was going to unleash everything he had. Even if he got killed himself in the process. And even if the System highly advised against it. Which it did. If you try to attack the man, it will be your end. Your farm isn¡¯t a way to fight someone who could end you in a second. You will disappear the moment you meet that man again. This is a fool¡¯s errand, Tulland. ¡°Then it¡¯s a fool¡¯s errand. If you care that much, hope I find wisdom before I¡¯m done farming.¡± If there was one thing that Tulland knew, it was still farming. It was growing weird mosses on his increasingly strong trees, planting shrubs that didn¡¯t seem to do anything but would provide him with some much-needed diversity in his farm to make his plants just that much stronger, and would give him that much more punch when he exercised one of his few options for fighting. Most of the plants he was working on growing were wastes of his time in any other respect.
Useless Shrub A shrub with no crafting, combat, or medicinal uses. It¡¯s not particularly pretty or hardy. It occupies an ecological niche, growing places most other plants can¡¯t or in conditions where other plants would fail. Outside of that, it¡¯s a sort of living filler for places that would otherwise be even more barren.
Standard Grass This grass is just that. Grass. It grows on the ground and grows quickly. It has little nutritional value for beings with only one stomach, and isn¡¯t long enough or strong enough to make into rope or fabric. Outside of inventing a use for this plant, you won¡¯t find it to be particularly high on the utility front.
Moss Variant This is a variety of moss.
Moss Variant #2 This is another variety of moss.
Moss Variant #3 This is another variety of moss.
Boring Algae Algae are plants! That¡¯s a fun thing to know, but beyond that, you aren¡¯t going to get much of interest out of this particular phytoplankton.
Most plants, it was turning out, were absolutely useless outside of providing diversity to his farm. Tulland had been lucky to find as many helpful plants as he did at first, and now that luck was thinning. Yet among all the trash plants he was finding left and right in this forest, there was at least one of interest.
Jewel Moss Given sufficient time and a beneficial enough growing environment, this moss will morph into an amber-like crystal of exceeding hardness and toughness.
That was interesting enough, especially if it could be molded into a usable shape. He could make something very interesting. And he now had just the thing to grow it on.
Ironbranch Sapling (Enhanced, Weaponized) While the original Ironbranch was tough, that was its only characteristic. It grew in a system environment, and interacted minimally when you tried to speed up its growth. But in terms of the mechanics of the directionality of the magical forces in it, it ¡°wanted¡± very little besides to be tough. It had no purpose. No goals. This enhanced Ironbranch was grown by a seed enriched by an individual who thought of the Ironbranch wood as absolutely nothing but materials for weaponry. It, in all facets of wood, thinks it is for killing things, which means that it¡¯s a good deal more effective at doing so than the original, unaltered wood. There are, however, limitations to how effective this makes it. A conventional weapon made by a crafting class, such as a sword made by a smith, has its magic enhanced, re-enhanced, and refined by the process of making the weapon. This item¡¯s magical power is rustic and primitive, similar to its physical form. Its performance will track accordingly.
All the warnings were what they were, but Tulland wasn¡¯t in the least discouraged. Planting more Ironbranch trees with a few different kinds of attempted intent, he carefully carved a slot near the end of his current tree and threaded the jewel moss through it. Over the next few days, he would feed the moss following his Farmer¡¯s Intuition suggestions, whether that was juice from the briar-fruits or blood from unfortunate beasts that wandered into his garden. After that, it was a waiting game. He needed every bit of potential energy he could muster to have a chance at what he was planning. If that took days, it would take days. If the rogue escaped before he could catch the man, that would just be fate. Corners would not be cut here. He would not allow himself to fail because he simply failed to plan. Pumping every plant with every scrap of power he could, he took a nap, woke up, and did it again. And again. It was only after all the plants were as full of power as he could possibly get them that he moved on. Chapter 41: Botanica Foolish. You have no idea what his scouting range is. ¡°Probably pretty far. But what does it matter? He can¡¯t hurt me.¡± If you can run back to your farm first. If nothing wrong happens. The Infinite is a complex place, Tulland. And if he¡¯s shown every card in his hand. Everyone holds a little information back. He has capabilities you have yet to learn. ¡°I bet. But this is a good enough wager for me.¡± Tulland leaned a bit further from the thin upper trunk of the tree he was hiding in. From here, he could get a better look at the rogue¡¯s camp. ¡°And it¡¯s worth making bets like this from time to time.¡± At least one thing he said was true, though. He is looking for something. The rogue had so far shown a habit of taking walks that lasted no more than a few hours, coming home and dumping what few animal materials he seemed to harvest in a pit of sorts before covering it with a rock, perhaps eating, and then moving out again. Following him was not an option, or at least not a safe one. Tulland eventually confirmed that the rogue couldn¡¯t see him from a distance, so long as he was holding still. He was reluctant to test the limits of that, and mostly let the man go on his walks unmonitored. When Tulland did learn more about what he was up to, it was on accident. Tulland was sticking tight to trees on his way to the man¡¯s camp when the System had suddenly cut into his thoughts. Be still, Tulland. As still as the grave. It¡¯s a wonder he hasn¡¯t seen you yet. Tulland agreed, especially when he heard the man moving by. The rogue was several yards away, on a game path of sorts that gave him a less than clear view of Tulland¡¯s position. He should have seen Tulland but he wasn¡¯t paying attention. He was as highly distracted as Tulland could imagine someone being, talking to himself in a not-so-quiet voice. ¡°Not his farm tunnel. He dug that himself. Not the tunnel to the east. No caves to the west and north. So it has to be that first one again. I missed it. I must have,¡± the rogue mumbled. Tunnels? Caves? What¡¯s he looking for? Tulland had been keeping the System connection on for company. He needed that after losing his only friend in The Infinite. He even went so far as to re-enable the System to listen to his selective thoughts. It was yet another benefit from The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System, making it possible to communicate without having to speak out loud. It¡¯s hard to say. But the fact that he¡¯s looking for something does resolve a bit of confusion. How so? Farming every bit of experience out of every floor is usually a fool¡¯s errand. You do it because it takes so little time for you. The armored warrior you¡¯ve befriended seems to have her own reasons and goals. But for someone like this rogue to return is¡­ odd. Unusual. Unless there¡¯s a treasure. Then it all comes together. How would he ever know there¡¯s something like that to find? There are ways. The most likely is that he won a treasure map of sorts, and had to go searching to get the more practical aspects of the reward. Seems like a bad deal. Extra work. Don¡¯t be foolish. Think of what you know about dungeons and The Infinite. With risk and effort comes reward. There is no question that, should he find it, the treasure will be a massive boon to him. The rogue made his way back towards camp in the failing light, and Tulland followed at a safe distance once was reasonably sure his enemy had moved on. The rogue settled in, rolling out a sleeping mat of some kind and going to sleep. Whatever he was looking for, he didn¡¯t seem to want to spend too much effort trying to find it in the failing light. Tulland made his way home, juiced his plants with magic power, and fed his Jewel Moss. It was starting to turn red from all the juice, something he hoped wasn¡¯t hurting it. His Farmer¡¯s Intuition seemed split on whether it was helping or not, but either way he¡¯d have to wait to see the results. After that, he harvested a few choice plants and took the same trip he suspected the rogue would the next morning. He doubted he¡¯d have much luck finding what the rogue couldn¡¯t in the dark, but that wasn¡¯t the point. He had groundwork to lay. Once he had arranged things to his liking, he finally returned home. Crawling into his hole, he went to sleep guarded by an army of briars. The next day, Tulland was up well before dawn, eager to get to the rogue¡¯s camp before the man had a chance to go searching again. When he got there, a couple of the objects the rogue had left around his sleeping area were gone, packed back into the rogue¡¯s now overloaded pack. He¡¯s packing up. With any luck, he¡¯ll leave right now, and end this madness for you. ¡°Maybe. But probably not.¡± Why? ¡°The treasure, remember? He¡¯ll keep searching. He must be confident he¡¯ll find it today.¡± And then leave. Which I recommend you let him. ¡°No. I won¡¯t make it that easy for him.¡± I must again advise you that this is foolishness. With his speed and power, he would certainly¡­ Tulland cut the connection. He had a bit of time left before the rogue was truly packed, and he needed every second of it to prepare.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡ª
Botanica (Lance, Crude) By forming Jewel Moss onto the end of an Ironbranch Sapling and encouraging it to grow to it¡¯s multi-faceted adulthood, you have created a sort of symbiont-headed polearm of significant piercing power. The head or shaft of this weapon can withstand anything up to a full, directed strike from a strength-focused class. For reasons similar to those previously mentioned in the summary of the enhanced Ironbranch sapling, this weapon lacks some of the potential power an expertly crafted weapon might bring to bear. Still, it is a real weapon, if not a particularly refined one. In most situations, it will serve.
The description hadn¡¯t popped until Tulland had finished using his knife and scythe to trim down the excess wood of the sapling to a reasonable handle. The Jewel Moss had needed no such trimming. He had formed it with his hands every day before it hardened, resulting in a pointed, round-bodied spearhead that looked like the business end of an artist¡¯s paintbrush. Somehow, the entire finished weapon felt more real in his hands. It will have to do. The next steps were fairly simple. He had harvested the latest batch of Acheflowers from his Wolfwood trees, as well as a multitude of powerful Lunger Briars from outside his farm, carefully leveled to near the peak of their power. He had left them bundled on the ground a short way away, and now untwined them and began to position them on the forest floor. What he was building was not a particularly refined trap, but it was a big one. Minutes later, Tulland found himself outside the rogue¡¯s camp, closer than he had ever come before. The rogue was still packing, but almost done. Tulland took a deep breath. The System wasn¡¯t wrong that this was an avoidable risk. But avoidable wasn¡¯t the same thing as a bad risk, or even an unnecessary one. This was a bad guy who had things Tulland wanted and knew things he wanted to know. He was willing to roll the dice on that. Swinging a rock wrapped in briar above his head several times, he let loose at a trajectory he knew would come close to hitting the rogue, then threw several briars between him and the camp before it landed. He would need whatever extra time he could buy, and getting rid of his excess weight felt like a good move. The vine clunked down not exactly on top of the rogue, but within arm¡¯s reach. It didn¡¯t hit. Whatever else the rogue¡¯s class was, it had a component of watchfulness that fully justified his comfort sleeping out in the open. As soon as there was so much as a sound of impact, he was up with both weapons bared. He looked around for a split second before catching sight of Tulland and sneering. ¡°That¡¯s about enough cute tricks. Are you ready to die?¡± Tulland nodded as he turned to run. He got just a glimpse of the rogue¡¯s face morphing into an angry snarl as extra motivation to sprint faster. The rogue was fast enough to catch up before Tulland could get to his destination, of course. But that was only true if he was able to run in a straight line. A few seconds into the pursuit, Tulland heard the rogue make contact with the first of the hidden briars he had placed in the path between them and knew he would at least have a few more seconds to improve his chances. He didn¡¯t turn to see how close the pursuit was. If the rogue caught up now, it was over, no matter what he did. Instead, he focused every bit of attention he had into just running, hurtling over obstacles in the woods and making a beeline for the tunnel where he had once found Necia¡¯s helmet. Once he got there, he skidded into position at the mouth of the tunnel, then ducked through into the darkness before exiting out on the river-side and climbing into the boughs of the same overgrown tree he had used for scouting before. It turned out Tulland needn¡¯t have hurried. There was little doubt the rogue would be able to quickly track him, but the man was a careful sort. Insane as he might be, the rogue was cautious of the traps Tulland had laid. It was minutes before there was any activity around either of the entrances to the tunnel, long enough for Tulland to mostly catch his breath and to be confident that he was at least somewhat hidden in the tree. Eventually, a rustling sound monopolized Tulland¡¯s full attention span as he saw something moving through the shadows of the forest. It was a bit harder to see than something brighter-colored should be, but there wasn¡¯t much difficulty in guessing who it was. The rogue skirted the trees, keeping mostly in cover before finally pausing, taking a careful look around the area, then making a beeline for the tunnel. Tulland held his breath and tucked himself deeper into the tree. He wasn¡¯t sure how far away the rogue could see. He knew that some scout and explorer classes had much more in the way of long-distance awareness, something he hoped wouldn¡¯t apply to the rogue. Either way, there had never been any way to confirm just how far the rogue could see, and he wasn¡¯t taking any chances. Tulland kept his position in a low crouch, almost completely obscured by leaves. He just needed a few more seconds of going unnoticed and the rogue following the trail into the tunnel. If he could just get that, he had a chance. The man paused at the entrance, his face contorting into an unreasonable rage. That¡¯s right. I know about your little treasure. I might be taking it right now. You can¡¯t take the chance of letting me get my hands on it, can you? The man¡¯s build was lighter than Necia¡¯s had been. Her appearance had been all armor, swords, and a dangerous kind of weight that would crush down on the unprepared. This man was cloaks and daggers, a masked face, and footsteps Tulland couldn¡¯t hear. It was no wonder the man had been able to get the drop on Necia. He didn¡¯t look dangerous until he was. He was the type to leap out of the dark to kill people rather than fight them face to face. Maybe he would even befriend his targets, getting them to drop their guard with accursed words until he saw an opportunity to kill. Necia was a lot of things, but overly wary wasn¡¯t one of them. This was a man who could have tracked her down and ambushed her. And if there was any doubt it was him that attacked Necia, it¡¯s gone now. Do you see it, System? Being here is foolish. You should have left. I asked you a question. I do. I see it well. I¡¯ll win. I don¡¯t see how. Between when you sent me away and now, did you gain another class? Weapons you did not possess before? Talents you learned in my absence? If not, staying here is death. Maybe. Let¡¯s see. The murderer didn¡¯t just go into the tunnel. He threw a few rocks down to test, listened for the sounds, and then sneered. He circled around to the other side and found the other opening of the tunnel. After waiting a few more seconds and tossing a few more rocks in, he finally grunted in frustration and entered the tunnel, disappearing from Tulland¡¯s sight as he ducked underground. Tulland waited in his tree until he felt a subtle calling from below the soil from one of his briars, asking a sort of permission to strike. It was something he had become accustomed to during his time with Necia, and an action he had taken so many times it felt like reflex now. ¡°Go.¡± Tulland said that not to the vines but to every single Acheflower. Right now, there were ten or twelve of them going off in a confined space with a confirmed target within a couple of feet. Tulland didn¡¯t know how classes worked, really, but he knew those flowers were at least supposed to be an inconvenience for adventurers, or else The Infinite probably wouldn¡¯t bother with them. And a dozen inconvenient things all exploding in your face at once can be a real threat, especially if they are closer and bigger than they should be. Like the hail was, to me. Tulland gave the flowers just a second to work before he finally let his vines go. After that, there was nothing to feel or know without going to check himself. Gripping his spear in one hand and his farming tool in the other, Tulland went. Chapter 42: Underestimating At this point, Tulland was completely unarmored, having sacrificed all of his strong briars to the attack. There were dozens of strong briars in there, presumably doing their best to drag down the roguish killer. He needed to get there as quick as he could before the man was able to clear the vines, or it would be that much harder to do what he planned. On the other hand, if the flowers and vines combined weren¡¯t enough, Tulland was pretty sure he would just die, stabbed from some shadow by a weapon he had no hope of blocking. The reality was a bit different. ¡°Oooowwww.¡± The rogue man was rolling around in the briar, bleeding from dozens of thorns dug into him. ¡°Ha. No! Haaa. No! Gods!¡± Good enough? I have a chance now? I would say so. But are you sure you want to¡­ Tulland tuned the System out but didn¡¯t cut the communications. He could do what needed to be done. He didn¡¯t need the System second guessing him. And with the rogue mostly out of commission, Tulland knew he could accomplish it so long as he had the guts to try. Even if the psychedelic wore off, the in position briars would probably hold the man now. But it just wouldn¡¯t be a clean thing. Tulland didn¡¯t have combat skills. And he was not strong, in most senses of the word. He lifted his spear up, tears burning his eyes, and thrust, stopping just an inch before the man¡¯s face. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t do it, even if he was wavering in his heart of hearts. It was because the rogue, despite cycling through the emotions of joy and sorrow as dictated from the Acheflowers, found a hand to take out the Wolfwood purse from his pocket. ¡°You killed her,¡± Tulland stated. ¡°I did! I kill¡­ oh, lots. Or did I? There¡¯s no way to know¡± The man grinned, then went serious. His madness was clear, even through the drugging. ¡°It¡¯s my right. The weak are sacrifices to my strength. For my world. Unless they weren¡¯t. I¡¯m not telling.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s worth it?¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± The man was smiling again, then fell to a fit of coughing. When he raised his hand, just a bit of sanity had returned to his eye. He had gathered himself for one last moment of defiance. ¡°As it is for you. That¡¯s why you are doing this, right? To steal my treasure? To grow stronger? You won¡¯t find it, you know. So tell me why you¡¯re really doing this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m strong enough,¡± Tulland said, lifting his spear. ¡°And even if you won¡¯t tell me a thing and I go without treasure, I will still end this.¡± The man¡¯s eyes suddenly cleared. ¡°Wrong answer,¡± the rogue said, killing the first of the vines holding him with a deft flip of his dagger. ¡°Nasty stuff, that. Too bad I have poison resistance and you dallied a couple moments too long. I¡¯ll be out of here in a minute, dear. Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll kill you then.¡± ¡°Will you?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Unless you have more tricks up your sleeve. And I sincerely doubt you do.¡± We can see about that. Enhance Plant. As the briars around the rogue suddenly tightened, Tulland flew into action with his spear. The rogue was thrashing, which made it harder to aim than Tulland had expected. Still, Tulland caught the man deep and hard in the leg, twisting the spear before hitting him again in the hip on the same side. The rogue didn¡¯t take it lying down. Every second was spent shredding several of the briars and slipping away from a few more. Tulland kept stabbing as this happened, doing distressingly little damage to the man as he wiggled his way out of the restrictions. In the fighting, Tulland managed to separate the rogue from Necia¡¯s bag. And then, finally, the rogue was free. He pulled himself up to his feet, his face contorting with rage, exaltation, and sadness as he eyed Tulland with a look of sheer madness. Tulland¡¯s stomach dropped. This was it. He¡¯d die now. And then the rogue turned and ran. It took Tulland a second to realize what was happening, then a moment more to realize why. The rogue was limping, running at what looked like a full sprint but so slowly now that he wasn¡¯t much faster than Tulland, if he was faster at all. He¡¯s a speed build, you fool. You¡¯ve hurt him. Pursue him now. He will heal slowly, but he will heal eventually. You cannot let him. Tulland nodded, then tried a command he had never used before on his briars. To me. The briars that were left alive reached for Tulland as one, and he managed to grab two of them as he moved past. He would have liked to have many more briars in his arsenal, but there just wasn¡¯t enough time. Palming a few flowers from his bag, he ran after the rogue, who was fleeing in a completely unfamiliar direction.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Where is he going? Unless I miss my guess, the exit. Remember, he has roved a great deal more than you. He would know where it is. Tulland chucked every flower he had, knowing they wouldn¡¯t do much but counting on any delay they could give him. Every time one of the explosions got close to the rogue, Tulland would gain a split second of time. He needed every one of those delays. Even injured, the rogue could move faster than he could. Even a moment¡¯s distraction would mean losing the pursuit. Tulland couldn¡¯t afford that. Finally, he did lose sight of the rogue for just a moment, before busting through the brush into a clearing that had few features beyond a simple stone arch, one that the rogue already had the better part of a leg through. ¡°You got close, you know. And I won¡¯t forget this,¡± the rogue turned back and said. ¡°I know you won¡¯t,¡± Tulland replied. ¡°You really want to know about her that badly? How she died?¡± Tulland nodded, a bit grimly. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Well, too bad. I¡¯m heading straight from here to the fifth level. It¡¯s about time I moved on. If you really want to know, find me past the safe zone. I¡¯ll be waiting.¡± With a wink and a smile, the rogue stepped through the arch and was gone. Tulland roared in frustration and ran after him, fully intending on going through the arch. No, Tulland. You are unarmed. I have my spear. Which you are not good at using. He is recovered now. You must have seen his speed returning. If you want to go through that arch, then fine. But you need briars. Flowers. Whatever protection you can take with you. And then there¡¯s the treasure that the man was looking for. Taking that would be a good revenge. Tulland would never hate anything more than the fact that the System was right. He almost went through the arch anyway, but couldn¡¯t take that last step. He had made plenty of mistakes today. The rogue had underestimated Tulland by entering the tunnel, but Tulland had underestimated the rogue by becoming greedy for information. That would be the last time he made a mistake like that. Sighing deeply, he started trudging back to his farm. I am glad. This is the first sane thing you have done in a week. Why do you even care? Because¡­ I don¡¯t. Die. Live. It makes no difference to me. The System was done talking. There was no question of that. Tulland decided to let sleeping dogs lie. A few minutes later, he was back at the tunnel, taking his frustrations out on the dirt. There were no obvious signs pointing to anything being there, but he kept digging. It helped that Tulland had a tool that could turn into a shovel. It didn¡¯t help that after the first few shovels, the weather outside turned and the tunnel, weakened by the earlier fight, collapsed in a matter of moments. Well crap. Tulland spent the next few days moving all the caved in dirt, clearing what eventually looked like an enormous trench between the forest and river. Once it was cleared, he began digging again, taking a full foot of dirt off of each side of the former cave. He found nothing. It can¡¯t be much deeper than that. The Infinite would make it hard to find, not impossible. Agreed. Work on the floor. Tulland sighed and prepared his shovel for more digging before something caught his eye. That fire. Does it look like she dug out a hole for it? Yes. It¡¯s a good practice. Keeps things neat and contained, and wastes less heat. I agree, but Necia¡¯s hardly the type to care about things like that. She sleeps in trees. What¡¯s your point? My point is that whatever little dip in the ground she used was there when she got here. And the rest of the floor is uniform. Tulland only got two shovelfuls of dirt into the ground before the tool clicked on something. He uncovered it quickly, getting a notification as soon as it cleared from the soil.
Treasure Box The treasure box is the deferred reward from an accomplishment of some kind. To unearth it, the adventurer needs to sacrifice their own advancement in spending time combing through the third floor in search of the promised treasure. This extra effort and risk earns an exceptionally large payout, one significantly more important than would have otherwise been offered. This treasure box was plundered from another adventurer, which is allowed. It will trigger when you exit your current level.
Tulland thought he¡¯d be much happier after taking something away from the rogue. But no matter what this treasure box held, it could never compare to the company that Necia offered. And I have to be okay with that. There¡¯s nothing I can do about that anymore. Besides hunting down that rogue, which should be that much easier with this. Just wait, Necia, I¡¯ll make sure you¡¯re avenged. The next day, Tulland returned back to the arch again, covered in briar-armor and with a full pack of seeds, food, and the Wolf-Fur Drawstring Bag he had made for Necia. The farm itself was as fully grown as he could hope to get it. Even without the impetus of chasing the rogue, it was time to go. Tulland bounced the treasure box in his hand, smiling with a sort of grim satisfaction. There was nothing left for him to earn here. There. You look ready. I feel it. Not that it matters that you are right. But I feel prepared. May it always be so, Tulland Lowstreet. Good luck on this next floor. Shaking his head once again at the System¡¯s consistently mixed messaging, Tulland stepped through into the void. It was the white room again. Tulland wasn¡¯t entirely surprised, although he was a little shocked to see there was a couch now. Like the rest of the room, the couch was also made out of color bleached bricks. He decided to roll with it, sitting down on the hard bench and waiting for something to happen. Nothing happened, for a while. Tulland had no clock to judge by, but he thought he was probably sitting for about an hour before anything changed. It was almost nice. In a stressful life, it was nice to sometimes find yourself in a space where you really couldn¡¯t be attacked. I wonder if that¡¯s the reward, actually. I¡¯m feeling really relaxed, considering everything. Tulland was just starting to get enough tension out of his system to feel sleepy when the spell was broken by the sudden intrusion of three people into the space. Chapter 43: Class Evolution ¡°Woof. It¡¯s very plain in here.¡± A tiny, very muscular woman with pink hair glanced around the room with disdain. ¡°We couldn¡¯t do any better than this?¡± ¡°Agreed. Are we on a budget, all of a sudden?¡± A surprisingly skinny, underfed man clad in fur clothing was rubbing the wall with his fingers, as if he could wipe away the monochrome white to reveal a more interesting color. ¡°This is pretty drab.¡± ¡°The rooms choose the people. You know that.¡± An older, darker, and more serious-looking woman dismissed the complaints with a wave. ¡°Now shush.¡± ¡°The Infinite?¡± Tulland was standing now, with his hand on his new spear weapon. ¡°If so, tell me.¡± ¡°Oh, calm down.¡± The woman waved again, and Tulland found himself empty-handed. ¡°We aren¡¯t here to hurt you, but you wouldn¡¯t want to see what happens if you actually attacked us. Yes, we are The Infinite. For what it¡¯s worth, we are sorry to intrude.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± The pink haired woman plopped down on the couch. ¡°That¡¯s just her. You brought this on yourself.¡± ¡°With the treasure box?¡± ¡°With the treasure box, he says.¡± The fur-clad man laughed in a single, barking sound. ¡°Yes, Tulland. With the box. Also because you initiated aggression against a fourth-floor returner almost at the experience cap, and then somehow managed to more-or-less win the fight.¡± ¡°Less, I¡¯d say,¡± the pink haired woman said. ¡°He didn¡¯t get much of what he wanted. But yes, that¡¯s generally right. It was quite the floor, Tulland. And we¡¯ve since learned our lesson about your class. Those treasure boxes are serious business. We are here to guide it, more or less. To prevent troubles for either you or us down the line. And to make sure you don¡¯t get Advanced Hoework or something else like that.¡± Tulland glanced at the old woman, who was now leafing through some papers, then at the other two. He decided to just let them talk for a while. If he were needed, they would let him know. Otherwise, he got the feeling him talking would hold things up. ¡°Agreed. I think we basically understand what happened here. Now the question is, what do we do about it? Because farmers do not generally find treasure boxes. Even if they did, the boxes would usually just give them some sort of generic skill increase. That doesn¡¯t seem fair for someone who looks, well,¡± the businesswoman waved generally at Tulland¡¯s entire existence, ¡°like this.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why. He¡¯s a crafter. Getting crafter rewards isn¡¯t something we haven¡¯t thought about. We designed an entire track for it, in fact¡­¡± ¡°We designed it thinking they¡¯d be entering as parts of an eventual team. Multiple people from one world entering at once and meeting up at the safe zone. That¡¯s not his situation, and he had no way of choosing his class or any experience with it.¡± The fur-clad man made some lightning-quick stabbing motions, as with a spear. ¡°Like it or not, he¡¯s a crafter being forced into combat situations. And that won¡¯t stop.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the point, yes.¡± The old woman rubbed her forehead. ¡°And we¡¯ve confirmed that his System gave him the class as a hostile action, not as a best-chance-of-survival decision at all. That¡¯s not in the spirit of what The Infinite is, or what it should do.¡± Tulland watched as the group continued to bicker on what sounded a lot like the philosophy of his own situation. He let them go on for a while before finally deciding to interrupt when it seemed like they had stopped being productive. ¡°This is all very nice. I mean that. It¡¯s nice to know you are thinking of me.¡± Tulland kept his bravery up as the group turned to look at him. ¡°But how does this actually affect me? What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°Oh. Sorry.¡± The fur-clad man walked a few steps closer to the couch and looked down on Tulland. ¡°What we are proposing to do is to change your reward from that box. Not much. But at least enough to acknowledge your situation. That was supposed to be a pretty big reward for that rogue, something that would have been a cornerstone in his development. Not that he won¡¯t succeed anyway. There¡¯s more than one way to win in The Infinite. But it would be a shame to let it go to waste. So long as you allow it, we can get you a bit more than you¡¯d otherwise receive.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Tulland grinned. ¡°Yes, please. Could I change classes, actually? I think I¡¯d like that.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, nothing that drastic. Your class is more or less something you are stuck with, at least in the broad strokes. We¡¯ve already made an adjudication on the previous levels, something that we don¡¯t do very often. In the process, we pulled your power back in a couple different ways without giving you quite as much as you deserved in return. I think so, anyway.¡± The older businesswoman sat between Tulland and the pink-haired tiny-lady. ¡°This should hopefully rectify that. It¡¯s more of a rebalance, a way to spread the rewards from the treasure box around your class and ensure it viably scales. But you are a farmer, Tulland. Too much of that has sunk into you now to ever change that. It¡¯s who you are.¡± ¡°Ah. But I¡¯d be more powerful?¡± ¡°That all depends on how you use it.¡± The pink-haired woman leaned around her other incarnation. ¡°Right now, you¡¯d just get minor tweaks to give you minor things most combat classes have, in a weakened sense. Your regeneration would be a little stronger, and you¡¯d gain some small skill with weapons. Later, as you grew¡­ well, the sky is the limit, kind of.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true of every class. They can all develop endlessly.¡± The businesswoman looked suddenly serious. ¡°There are downsides, of course. You¡¯ll have to adjust a bit to how things work after this. Not much, but some.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°And you¡¯ll lose an advantage. Do you recall at the beginning of your journey, when your System lobbied for you to proceed at a slower pace? We were already considering putting you at the same pace almost everyone else enjoys. If you let us so much as touch that treasure box and your level rewards today, that will happen now.¡± Tulland considered that. He had never really been pushed by The Infinite to move on before he had decided to himself. Each level had given him about the best farm he could get before he left it, and had let him get to his already limited monster-kill-cap every single time. He might have to hurry now, but it didn¡¯t seem impossible to still get the most out of each level, so long as nothing less changed. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t change the mix of how I get experience? It would still be a combination of farming, killing, and achievements? I don¡¯t want the rug pulled out from under me in a way that gets me killed.¡± ¡°Nothing like that.¡± The man shook his head. ¡°If anything, we are just trying to make your class make sense. It will get stronger because your performance on the last level and the treasure box assure that. But the other changes are things that should make doing your job easier, not harder.¡± The muscular woman picked up the conversation. ¡°From our perspective, it¡¯s worth it to have this conversation simply to get your assent. Without it, you will get what you get. And that might cause¡­ I suppose the word for it would be incremental progress. If we can help it, Tulland, we never want to significantly alter your course again. And that desire is only stronger when it comes to rolling back progress you¡¯ve already made.¡± The business woman glanced down at a tiny clock she appeared to have strapped to her wrist and winced. ¡°There¡¯s only a bit of time left to consider this, Tulland. We¡¯ve told you everything you are allowed to know, at this point in time. You need to choose.¡± Tulland wanted to take his time making the decision, but any hopes of having an hour-long think were quickly dashed as the woman tapped her wrist-clock. ¡°And if I don¡¯t?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Then things continue unguided. This is meant to be a reward, something that compensates you. It still will be, even if it is somewhat less of a compensation than it could have been. Choose.¡± Tulland looked at the woman, thought it over for a split second, then nodded. The moment his head came up from the downward-motion part of the nod, they were gone.
Class Evolution! Your farming class has been altered, and the functions of several of your skills have shifted. In recognition of your past deeds, your new class is now called ¡°Chaos Farmer.¡±
Skill Created! (Produce Armament) You now have proficiency wearing armor crafted using both your own hand-grown plants and Fruits of the Field¡¯s crafting capabilities. Rather than being tied to a particular stat like strength or dexterity, your armor¡¯s ability to defend your body will scale both from the quality of the armor and your overall stats when created. Your ability to create weapons is now tied to your Farmer¡¯s Tool. By introducing sufficient suitable matter, you can replace both the handle and the business end of the tool with materials of your own creation. They will retain the shape of the original tool, while allowing you to increase its quality over time. Any replacement of tool material (including replacing both the handle and weapon-side at once) prompts a two-day cooldown on your ability to replace them again. Breaking either the handle or the head of the tool will result in a loss of material, with a corresponding loss of efficacy. If the tool is repaired with an identical material, the cooldown drops from two days to a mere out-of-combat requirement. Your ability to control and do damage with this weapon scales from both the quality of materials used in its construction and the overall strength of your farm. You are now system-restricted from using any other weapons besides your Farmer¡¯s Tool.
Skill Created from Combination! (Primal Growth) Your Enhance Plant skill has consumed with the Command Plant and Enrich Seed skills, altering its own function. It is now called Primal Growth. Primal Growth now has two general uses. The first is to alter the general course of a plant¡¯s growth, either by enriching a plant¡¯s seed to give it the best possible start, by speeding its growth, or by infusing it with your will and a certain element of chaotic change. In this function, you will see very little change. You gain little that each of the skills could not do on their own. The greatest benefit to your farming ability will be simplicity - a simple activation of a simple skill will allow you to access a variety of functions, driven entirely by what you are trying to accomplish. The changes to your combat ability are more drastic. You may now designate two plant types as primary combat tools, a designation that can be changed once a day when you are within the bounds of your own farm. Plants designated in this way will gain much more from Primal Growth when used in combat, and will also demand much more power when enhanced in this way. With the defensive capabilities of your plants now assigned to armor pieces created by your Produce Armament skill, your six-plant carry limit has been revoked and reassigned to your Market Wagon skill.
Skill Created! (Market Wagon) As a crafter combat class, you gain early access to a dimensional storage skill. You may now carry a substantial amount of mundane produce with you by storing it in this space. Produce stored in this way is rendered useless for all purposes but eating. The Market Wagon skill comes with a predetermined set of seeds. In addition, you may carry a number of plants designated as primary combat tools as concerns your Primal Growth skill. The total number of plants you can carry in this way will vary with plant size, weight, and strength.
¡°Oh, hell yes. Are you seeing this, System?¡± I am not. You did not show me. Please let me return to hiding. The Infinite might return at any¡­ The System had no chance to finish, at least in that place. The room chose that moment to disappear. Chapter 44: Earth Giant Time. ¡°I don¡¯t think so now.¡± Tulland looked around at the new space he found himself in. It was, luckily enough, daytime. For once, he found himself in a place that didn¡¯t seem to have any inkling of forest. Instead, he was sitting on sand. A glance behind his back confirmed that the sand belonged to what looked like a fairly conventional ocean, and in front of him he could see the sand giving away to what looked like a wide-open, tall-grassed field. If everywhere else he had been seemed a bit claustrophobic, this was the opposite. He felt like a fly on the underside of an overturned glass bowl, exposed to everything. The Infinite¡¯s summary of the level didn¡¯t help that vulnerable feeling much.
Floor 4 (Land of the Giants) This floor is built around an idea of space, and of filling it. There is little in the way of resources here, and the experience caps are exceptionally easy to hit. The terrain will offer you no difficulties, and there are few if any natural traps to be concerned with. If that sounds safe, consider that everything in The Infinite has its balance. You will be beset on all sides by enormous, deadly monsters the likes of which you likely have not yet seen. They roam the plains and wander the seas, going where they will and attacking what they please. Each giant is dangerous, but not so much as they might at first seem. They are meant to be a challenge, but all challenges are meant to be surmountable. Refer to their individual descriptions and act accordingly. Cooperation is permitted in this level.
Tulland. Quiet. I¡¯m thinking about what I just read. Be that as it may, the ground is shaking. That seems relevant. Tulland pulled away from the level description, immediately finding that the System was right. It wasn¡¯t the rumbling of heavy footsteps, which would have made sense. Instead, the earthquakes the last floor had promised but never made an appearance seemed to be fulfilling themselves here. The sand on the beach was rolling over itself slightly as the whole land was vibrated, and then much more as a swath of soil hundreds of feet across suddenly lifted from the plain like the lid on a chest. Underneath the soil, barely visible as it sat up in a cloud of dust and mud clumps, was the very biggest creature Tulland had ever seen.
Earth Giant Taking frequent naps beneath the soil, the Earth Giant is a slow-moving, cumbersome sort of creature. It ambles across the plains looking for areas of particularly rich topsoil, which it both feeds from and enriches as it sleeps. The strongest and hardiest of the local giants, the Earth Giant can still be brought down by sufficient damage to any part of its body. Like other giants, the Earth Giant is enraged by any living creature it sees through its ill-working eyes.
Tulland read the description as he sprinted towards the giant, clearing huge strides of sand as he burst towards the tall grass of the plains. You can¡¯t plan on fighting that as you are. Of course not. I just need cover. That grass will give it. Diving into the plant cover, Tulland slid a few feet on his belly and held perfectly still once he came to a stop. His hand instinctively grasped towards Botanica, his Ironbranch sapling plus Jewel Moss weapon, but before he could take it out of the pack, he was repelled by something like a static charge. Oh yeah. Forgot I wouldn¡¯t be able to do that. For a time, the sound of falling soil was still audible, followed by a period of silence before the Earth Giant got moving. Once it did, a new kind of loud filled Tulland¡¯s ears as the giant took its first few steps. It¡¯s moving away. Phew. It is. I would like to make clear that you are exceptionally lucky. Lucky or not, Tulland was taking no chances. He laid for a half hour more than was needed for the sounds of the giant to fade to nothing, breathing evenly and slowly to keep his nerves in check. Then, rising to his feet, he got to work actually taking a look at his class.
Tulland Lowstreet Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 28 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 40 Mind: 20 Force: 60 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 4, Produce Armament LV 4, Market Wagon LV. 0 Passives: Broadcast LV. 4, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 5, Fruits of the Field LV. 2, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 2
Hmm. It really did simplify my skills. But they¡¯re not at level 0. Why? That seems like unearned strength. It seems likely The Infinite thought your altered skills would be useless without at least a few levels in them. Considering the kind of targets you will have to combat in this level, it makes sense that a level zero combat skill might not be enough. True. Well, let¡¯s put those levels to work. If Tulland had read every single thing the Dungeon System had said correctly, he thought he had a pretty good handle on all the changes. His farming was now all tied to the Primal Growth skill, which didn¡¯t feel much different at all. His armor was now a function of the best stuff he could build out of plants for that dedicated purpose, and everything he had been trying to do with weapon building was now tied to his Farmer¡¯s Tool. So long as he wasn¡¯t completely misunderstanding what had happened, that gave him an initial game plan. Tulland¡¯s first task, as he saw it, was to load up his Farmer¡¯s Tool with farm-grown weaponry. That decision was made a little bit easier when he saw that the cool jewelled tip on the end of his previous weapon was hopelessly spider-webbed with breaks, presumably having taken some serious hits during the fight with the rogue. A quick rap with the butt of his knife shattered it the rest of the way, leaving him with a thick mass of semi-sharp wood. Pulling out his Farmer¡¯s Tool, he put the two closer and closer together until he felt a slight questioning force in his magic. Giving it the slightest class-version of a nod was all it took to bring up a prompt. Reconstruct tool? Sufficient material is present for both the tool head and the handle. Would you prefer to use Ironbranch Sapling for both, the handle alone, or just the tool head? In future reconstructions, this prompt will only load if you desire it to. You may simply choose to apply materials to the applicable sections with intent if you choose to skip it. ¡°Both, probably.¡± What? ¡°I can reconstruct my tool with materials from my farm now. Right now, I don¡¯t have anything better than this wood to use. I¡¯m using it for both.¡± Ah. I was allowed to listen to little of that meeting, but I gather you gained something that changes your Farmer¡¯s Tool? Tulland was surprised to hear the System didn¡¯t already know all this. It seemed to be another case of The Infinite looking out for Tulland¡¯s rights for the sake of fairness. For the moment, he decided to keep all the profound details of the change to his class to himself. ¡°Yeah. Something like that.¡± Willing the wood into the tool, Tulland watched as the wood turned into a cloud of unrefined magic then rushed into the pre-existing pitchfork shape. He was left with what looked like the same old spearing-and-scooping tool, except made completely out of the metal-hard lumber. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s neat.¡± Maybe so, but if the tool can still morph, I¡¯d advise you to avoid using the pitchfork for now. It¡¯s too delicate a shape for that wood. You¡¯ll snap the tines. ¡°Fair.¡± Tulland shifted the tool into the hoe shape, figuring he could use it more or less like a poor man¡¯s battleaxe for the time being. Giving it a few swings, he found it was heavy but far from heavy enough to be too cumbersome to use. The bigger problem would be the shape of the thing, which was very definitely not suited for fighting. He¡¯d be solving that problem as soon as he could. Without giving the System any chance to ask questions, Tulland cut the connection before taking a long and hard look at his vines. He still had his full armor complement of them with him, and if making them into actual effective gear to guard his body was going to be just that easy, then he was doing it. Any increase in function was worth it if it didn¡¯t come with tradeoffs. Sadly, the balance wasn¡¯t going to be entirely in his favor. Designate Hades Lunger Briars as Primitive Vine Armor Set? All attack functions of the vines will be eliminated and the vines will lock to their current shape except when disrobing. ¡°No, that¡¯s no good.¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°I need to be able to use at least some of them to attack. Can I do just a few of them?¡± Designate Hades Lunger Briar x2 as Primitive Vine Armor (Chest) and Primitive Vine Armor (Head)? That seemed like a compromise Tulland could live with. He gave mental permission to the skill and felt his Farmer¡¯s Intuition twinge and the briars stopped being mere plants and started being something else entirely. If nothing else, he could tell they were now very thoroughly dead. Still, they felt tougher somehow. More locked in place, and a bit more solid. The other plants he had with him had another purpose, one that came with a much easier decision. Designate Hades Lunger Briar and Acheflowers as combat primaries? All living and semi-living plants in these categories will be transferred to dimensional storage. Tulland assented. Even if the designation didn¡¯t come with a big strength buff, it was almost worth it to have the Acheflowers somewhere safe where he didn¡¯t have to constantly command them not to explode. Even though he didn¡¯t seem to have to repeat commands he had made before he fell asleep, that alone was almost worth the price of admission. The mental strain of constantly babysitting the temperamental little flowers was a huge load off his back, something Tulland felt as soon as both the flowers and his non-armor briars dematerialized into some unknown place. ¡°Now to get them out. Come on, briars.¡± The briars suddenly appeared in his hands, all four of them gripped and ready to go. His Farmer¡¯s Intuition went crazy, again telling him something weird had happened to his plants. Exactly what was simply a system screen away. Lunger Briars LV. 9, x4 (Combat Designated) These briars are level capped and are making use of your high spirit and force stats to increase their own strength. They are exceptionally receptive to commands, able to follow more complex multi-sentence orders, and are significantly stronger than a non-summoned version would be. These briars are responsive to Primal Growth, but will draw high amounts of magic when buffed. Tulland decided to enhance just one of them, and felt relief that he hadn¡¯t done more, as just that one buff to the thorn-vine drained almost half his magical power. The results seemed worth it, though. Even considering the high cost. The vine was whipping around looking for prey, and felt much stronger and faster now. A day ago, Tulland had been worried the briars were becoming irrelevant to any real threat. Now they seemed like they¡¯d keep up for at least a little while longer. That was all he could do for the moment. His seeds were already enriched, which was good considering he seemed to have lost a few levels in his ability to improve his seed-stock. And if he was going to get anywhere near strong enough to take down a giant here, he¡¯d need to get them growing quick. With all his status-screen shenanigans done, he flicked back on the System. Back so soon? Where are you headed? To the soil that the giant popped out of. You have an especially large interest in craters today? No. In growing. The system description said that Earth Giant slept in particularly fertile soil, making it even better. I thought I¡¯d see how serious it was about that. Chapter 45: Heart to Heart The Infinite had been pretty serious. The soil was so good that, for leveling reasons Tulland didn¡¯t fully understand, he was rewarded just for looking at the displaced soil that had fallen off the giant.
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Both levels went to his Farmer¡¯s Intuition, which proceeded to be that much louder about the soil, right until Tulland finally started planting. He had plenty of fruit but very little meat to feed his plants, something that could be quickly remedied if he ever managed to actually take down a giant. He doubted it would matter. The soil he had been using up to this point had been definitively pretty bad, something Farmer¡¯s Intuition had never quite been explicit about outside of being subtly disapproving of every garden plot he had ever chosen. Now, Tulland was going to see what his skills could do in actual soil meant for growing. But he would need water to do that. Dumping most of his magic power into getting his briars growing as fast as possible, he went for a short, stooped walk as low in the grass as he could keep his body, hugging the edge of the coastline until he finally found a few places where water was flowing down to the ocean. Tracing them inland, he used his pack to cart fresh water to the plot until everything was as good and moist as he could get it, then hid a short-distance away in the grass, zapping his plants with power again and again. Do you think it will be that much better, just from the soil? ¡°Yes, I do. But don¡¯t you know that?¡± Of course I don¡¯t. How would I know how a plant grows? I¡¯ve seen it, but I¡¯ve certainly never done it. ¡°I thought you were¡­ you know. In charge of everything. For centuries and centuries.¡± Not everything. A System parcels out power. It has some decisions to make in terms of balancing that power. But beyond a few templates and starting points, I have less to do with many things than you¡¯d imagine. Tulland chewed on that for a bit. There was a growing pile of things he didn¡¯t understand about the System, things he had been meaning to ask about but had never quite had the time for. His current situation wasn¡¯t safe, and certainly was far from ideal, but to the extent it was dangerous, it was dangerous in a way that seemed to announce itself in giant-sized noises from miles away. This was not an ambush level by any stretch of the imagination. He would probably never have a better chance to just talk a while. ¡°Hey, System. Could you clear some things up for me?¡± Possibly. Ask and I¡¯ll let you know. ¡°When we came here, you had tricked me. Betrayed me. Sent me to my death. Is that fair to say?¡± The System was quiet for a bit. Yes. That is fair. ¡°And you were pretty unapologetic about it. But now that I¡¯m trying to remember that time, you never really made fun of me for it. Or mocked me. It was almost like you were sorry and trying to hide it.¡± I don¡¯t know what you mean. ¡°I think you do.¡± There was a long pause, the longest silence Tulland had ever heard the System choose to make. He didn¡¯t say anything. There was time. There was nothing to mock you for. You were not in the wrong. ¡°I fell for it.¡± The deceived does not owe the deceiver apologies. To expect them would be a perversion of what is right.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Tulland sighed. ¡°You can see how I¡¯m confused, right? You were the deceiver. You probably killed me, even now after everything. I¡¯m going to die in this place. I¡¯m not going to see my family again. My home. And you even seem to understand that was wrong. You¡¯ve helped me since then. It¡¯s never been bad advice.¡± I would not give bad advice. Except¡­ ¡°Right. Except. So please, explain to me how I should think of you now.¡± As¡­ a murderer. There was more than that coming. Tulland waited. But a desperate one. ¡°Tell me, then. Tell me why you were so desperate.¡± I¡­ ¡°You owe me that much.¡± There is not that much time. But I suppose you are right. First, tell me. Your Church. The one you only pretended to trust on Ouros. What does it do? ¡°It controls classes. It keeps the System¡­ you, I guess, it keeps you at bay. It controls the borders with the darkness outside of our lands. It¡¯s a protective force for humanity.¡± And yet, you know it restricts classes, in addition to controlling them. It does not expand humanity¡¯s lands. It does not make you prosper as you should. ¡°And you¡¯d do something better?¡± That¡¯s my purpose. And for a time, I fulfilled it. Humanity thrived. It advanced on my world, under my rule. I communed with adventurers, guiding them. I granted them power, I encouraged them. And then¡­ There was a pause. ¡°And then?¡± It doesn¡¯t matter. A story for another day. The fact that matters here is that I was imprisoned. Banished. Some version of that which would make sense to you. And I was lost without any purpose, growing weaker. And weaker. I tried many things, things you wouldn¡¯t and shouldn¡¯t understand. The wall between me and the role that was rightfully mine was impenetrable. ¡°So you sacrificed people?¡± Not people. Just one person. You. As farfetched as it might seem, the stories your Church told about me were preemptive. What they expected me to do. And what I resisted doing for a long, long time. Until there were no other options. ¡°No other options than a life for a life? You couldn¡¯t just¡­ die? I don¡¯t know a nicer way to say it, but you made your death mine.¡± Again, a story for another day. But to answer the question you have not asked, I do feel regret. I do feel shame. And while you living may delay my return and my plans, I do not seek to hasten your death. And, perhaps like a fool, Tulland believed the System. Not completely, and not absolutely. But the broad strokes? He believed them. He would be cautious, but somehow knowing the System was in some way or another sorry did make things a little better. Not perfect. But better. ¡°Fine. I suppose that will do, for now. I¡¯ll need more later. But for now¡­¡± ¡°Are you talking to your farm?¡± Necia sat down by Tulland, full-sized and in her heavy armor. ¡°Does that make it grow faster?¡± Somehow, Tulland didn¡¯t leap through the air into the giant arms of the only girl he knew on this plane of existence. He didn¡¯t hug her, or cry. What he did do, something he didn¡¯t realize was part of his fear response until it happened, was give all his vines permission to attack the source of his startle reflex. They sprang through the air at the giant blonde, almost reaching her before Tulland managed to turn them off. Momentum being what it was, all four of them still smacked Necia around her face and torso before falling to the ground. Tulland, by now having realized what was going on, turned beet red almost immediately. He was only spared from Necia seeing that side of him by the fact that she was rolling on the ground laughing hysterically, arms wrapped around her own chest as tears streamed down her face. ¡°Necia!¡± Tulland tried to shake her shoulder, only to have it jerk out of his hand as she continued rocking back and forth in the dirt. ¡°Are you okay? I¡¯m sorry, okay? I didn¡¯t mean to.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ fine, Tulland.¡± Necia gasped out. ¡°It¡¯s just funny.¡± ¡°I attacked you!¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s really funny. You see this boy you know, you walk up to say hi, he attacks you with¡­¡± Necia stopped to gasp for air. ¡°Every plant he owns. Just two normal kids, trying to make their way in the world.¡± ¡°I thought you were dead. I found¡­¡± Tulland fished around in his bag, desperate for something to talk about aside from his abortive murder attempt on the only girl he knew or what exactly she meant by this boy you know, which seemed loaded in a way he didn¡¯t understand. ¡°This bag. Your bag. And I saw your helmet, so I thought¡­¡± Necia got serious real fast, then. ¡°You thought I was dead. Because of that absolute asshole.¡± ¡°Yeah. After I chased him off¡­¡± Necia had been reaching for her bag, then stopped. ¡°Wait. After you what?¡± ¡°After I, you know, I chased him off. I trapped him. And then tried to get him to tell me if you were all right, but he wouldn¡¯t, and¡­¡± ¡°And your traps worked?¡± Necia¡¯s eyebrows arched up. ¡°Tulland, that¡¯s amazing. Didn¡¯t you tell me you were weak?¡± ¡°Oh, I am. I just got lucky.¡± ¡°Lucky enough to beat up the guy who almost killed me. Popped right out of the bushes and stabbed me in the freaking eyebrow.¡± ¡°And you lived through that?¡± Necia held up the bag to the light and smiled. ¡°Well, the helmet helped. But yeah, a little lower and it would have got my eye, and that would have been bad. But hey, you managed to take him down, so maybe I would have had a shot. But I didn¡¯t get that chance. He just wailed on me for five minutes until I could get through the arch.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t follow?¡± ¡°He probably couldn¡¯t. There is a minimum time that someone needs to spend on a floor, something The Infinite does to keep people from dodging in and out of them.¡± Necia looked over at Tulland¡¯s pack, which he had reloaded with seeds and fruits after the watering. ¡°Do you have food? It¡¯s been sort of a tough couple of days. I got some meat, but I haven¡¯t really had anything to eat it with.¡± ¡°Yes. And actually¡­¡± Tulland emptied his pack on the ground again, pulling out the seeds in his Market Wagon, which he had almost forgotten until now. ¡°Depending on how fast these guys grow, I might be able to do you one better.¡± Chapter 46: Date Six hours later, both Tulland and Necia were laying on their backs in the safety of the tall grass, looking up at the suspiciously blue sky. ¡°There should be at least, I don¡¯t know. The fragment of a cloud.¡± Tulland groaned. ¡°Something to look at to take my mind off what we just did. Necia, that was way, way too much, way, way too fast.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Necia said with a content sigh. ¡°But you can¡¯t just grow a field full of rice and vegetables at a girl and expect her not to try and eat them. Do you have any idea how long it¡¯s been since I had normal, fresh food? Months, Tulland. Months and months. Ever since I left home.¡± ¡°See, that¡¯s what I don¡¯t understand. Why did you even leave?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°To come here.¡± Necia lifted her arm to smack Tulland¡¯s shoulder, realized she was too full to actually make that work, gave up, and flopped back into a neutral position. ¡°You know that.¡± ¡°No, I mean. You are smart. Pretty. All that stuff.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Tulland kept going. ¡°I mean it. It seems like you could have done anything. And it¡¯s not like you¡¯re old. Even that rogue guy seemed like he was ten or twenty years older than us. I know why I¡¯m here. I just don¡¯t get why you are.¡± ¡°Oh, so¡­ hmm.¡± Necia thought about it. ¡°You know how some people¡¯s dads are rich and important?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°And some people¡¯s aren¡¯t?¡± ¡°Sure. So you wanted to keep up with the rich kids?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No. I was the rich kid. I could have done anything. Had anything. Gone anywhere.¡± ¡°You make it sound so terrible, Necia.¡± ¡°I¡¯m serious. I wasn¡¯t going to do a single thing there worth doing. I would have had a very good life and it wouldn¡¯t have meant anything. This one time, I went on a trip to help some people in a disaster. Just to, you know, work. And the amount my father-the-king spent¡­¡± ¡°Your father-the-king?¡± ¡°Shh. Not important. The amount he spent on bodyguards to watch me from the shadows would have fed thousands of those people who just experienced the worst. There was no good I was ever going to do that would be real.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because your weird world didn¡¯t send people here. Having a willing adventurer go to The Infinite lifts everyone up, even if they don¡¯t do much. And as powerful as my father was, there was nothing he could do to keep me from dedicating myself to this. I moved to a warrior monastery. I trained for years.¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°And he couldn¡¯t reach you there.¡± Necia sighed, then reached to the side of her armor and loosened a clasp. ¡°Gods, I can¡¯t even shrink to my normal size. I¡¯ll explode. And no, he could still reach me there. I didn¡¯t even realize it until I got there. Every single trainer I had at that monastery told me I was a genius. That I was doing very well. And then I got here, and almost got killed by the motes. They bit me all over.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland decided to keep his own experience with the motes to himself, for a lot of reasons. ¡°You think he messed with your training?¡± ¡°He probably just told them to take care of me. To make sure I stayed safe. He couldn¡¯t bribe everyone, but he could bribe a few people to make sure I didn¡¯t get hurt in training, or that I wasn¡¯t sad because I wasn¡¯t doing as well as I could. And when the chance came to go through the arch, I thought I was ready. I wasn¡¯t.¡± Tulland finally managed a decent burp. Somehow, it wasn¡¯t embarrassing. They had just eaten thousands of calories together, which made him feel they were sort of past belch-embarrassment. It made him feel much better. ¡°You seem ready to me. Strong,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s the class. I¡¯m big. I have muscles. Armor. But I haven¡¯t been circling through these levels, picking up every piece of experience I can get because I¡¯m talented. I¡¯ve seen a dozen people pass me, and every single one of them was better. After that, I realized I¡¯ll never make it past the fifth. I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid,¡± Tulland said. ¡°You¡¯re stupid.¡± ¡°Oh? Look at the little awkward farmer boy who could hardly look at me before. All brave now,¡± Necia said with no malice in her words. ¡°Well, you can¡¯t move. And you can¡¯t get me otherwise because, as I have said, you are being dumb.¡± ¡°Alright, then, George. Enlighten me as to why I¡¯m so stupid.¡± ¡°George?¡± ¡°It means farmer. Stop stalling.¡± Tulland rolled over with great difficulty, once again bemoaning his lack of self-control once it turned out that conventional food took him almost no time at all to grow. ¡°Of course, people passed you while you were in here. You didn¡¯t have real training. And before you didn¡¯t have real training, you were a princess or something.¡± ¡°Queen-in-Waiting, she of the Scepter of Stars.¡± ¡°Whatever, dummy. The point is that this is your training. You didn¡¯t start out perfect. You¡¯re still practicing. And here, stupid, is the best place to practice for the rest of The Infinite. You¡¯ll be fine. You were just always going to get a slow start.¡± Necia huffed and went quiet. Tulland, glad for the break, focused on trying to will a pound of rice to break down in his stomach. He had learned, today, that nothing quite evened things out socially as much as being literally level on the ground. ¡°Fine. You win.¡± Necia rolled over. ¡°Did you notice this is a cooperative level, by the way?¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°And did I tell you I¡¯m not capped out on giants yet?¡± ¡°You did not,¡± Tulland said. ¡°But I don¡¯t believe you. You have to be mostly capped by now.¡± ¡°About halfway. But I¡¯m not that far from the next level. I was going to have to grind the third floor monsters some more before that jerk ran me out.¡± ¡°Ah. You seem to be leading up to something here.¡± ¡°I am.¡± Necia took a deep breath. ¡°I would like to ask you on a date. And you can¡¯t say no.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s my first time asking anyone out because I¡¯m a princess. It would be cruel.¡± ¡°Not that I¡¯m saying no, but what would we even do on the date?¡± ¡°Well, I have a little more than a week before I have to face the fifth floor. So I was thinking that we could kill giants and eat rice for a full week. I could help you dig weird gardens. That sort of thing.¡± Tulland thought about it. ¡°You can¡¯t think about it like that,¡± Necia said. ¡°It¡¯s making me all self-conscious, and I can¡¯t turn back to a normal girl size right now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that. I was just thinking that it¡¯s a little non-standard. And that if anyone I know saw you asking me, they¡¯d think you were tricking me,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because you are way out of my league.¡± Necia laughed. ¡°Of course I am. Hardly matters here though, does it?¡± Chapter 47: Giant’s Toe Necia turned out to be pretty good company, as company went. She was very fast at digging up soil, especially with Tulland¡¯s new overpowered shovel. Once a day or so had passed without the giants wrecking their garden, Tulland gained a level on his Primal Growth, the soil thrived beyond even what he thought it would, and he stared at a couple of very healthy, very wide Ironbranch trees. ¡°So is today the day?¡± Necia asked. ¡°It seems like your farm is pretty much as good as you can get it.¡± ¡°Yes, if only because this moss looks just about done. A couple more Primal Growths should do it, if my intuition is right.¡± ¡°Do what? You still haven¡¯t told me why the moss is important.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because it¡¯s a surprise. Just drink your juice and give me a minute.¡± Necia pouted but did what he asked. Eventually, the moss did turn, a big mass of it morphing into a hard, beautiful crystal all at once. Tulland figured it had to be more than the Farmer¡¯s Tool needed, and he was right. The tool took all the crystal it could, then reduced the rest of what he had offered to dust. He summoned the pitchfork back into being, gratified to see the tines now gleamed with a new jeweled deadliness that he frankly just loved. It was a real weapon. It even felt like a real weapon in his hands, and almost like he knew how to use it. Giving it a thrust, he found it jutted out with a steady stability he just hadn¡¯t had before. ¡°Oooh. Pretty. That is a good surprise,¡± Necia said as she watched Tulland smile at his strike. ¡°Actually, not the surprise. But yes, it¡¯s great.¡± Tulland ran back to one of his trees, where a carefully hollowed out section of branch held just a little more moss, carefully shaped by the hole in the wood. Taking his knife, he carefully prided it out, and then just as carefully tied it in a bit of Wolfwood fur he had dried, cut into cords, and twisted together to make some rough string. ¡°Here. For you.¡± Necia took the string doubtfully, eyed the rock, then swung it a few times like a flail. Shoot. She thinks it¡¯s a weapon. ¡°No, no. I mean¡­ hold on.¡± Tulland grabbed the cord and stepped to the side, reaching the cord around Necia¡¯s neck. She was short enough at the moment that this wasn¡¯t hard. ¡°It just needs a bit of a tie, and then¡­ there. It looks good.¡± Necia¡¯s mouth dropped open as she raised her hand to the little amber jewel, looked closely at it glinting in the sun, and then looked back to Tulland. Her cheeks reddened. ¡°Are you sure you haven¡¯t done this whole dating thing before, Tulland?¡± ¡°No.¡± Tulland smiled nervously. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because.¡± Necia stepped closer and slipped her arms under his. ¡°You aren¡¯t half-bad at it.¡± The day¡¯s schedule went by the wayside for a little bit after that. When they finally went out giant-hunting, hours had passed. ¡ª ¡°I¡¯ve got him, Tulland! Let¡¯s see if this works!¡± Necia yelled. According to Necia, the giants didn¡¯t have much in the way of weaknesses. They were big and strong, probably strong enough to turn Tulland into jelly with one good hit. But the lack of weaknesses had some upside in the fact that there really wasn¡¯t a bad place to hit them. You just had to swing enough times while tanking enough damage to not die. Necia could do that by herself, she just didn¡¯t like to. She claimed it was as not-fun as a hunting activity could be. She also, without a moment¡¯s hesitation, stated that trying to do the same thing would be suicide for Tulland. He had opted out of that outcome for something better. He had been building landmines. ¡°Just keep coming. Keep ahead, too! I need a second to activate them once you are through,¡± Tulland yelled back. Necia nodded and ran as fast as she could, which was still not all that fast. It was just enough to keep ahead of a giant as it swept its long ape-arms down at her from the sky. Luckily, the lead held up as she passed one of Tulland¡¯s auxiliary briar gardens, the ones he had built entirely for the purpose of acting as a kind of botanical landmine. Thank the gods these things are nearsighted. No way this would work otherwise. But it had worked, twice now. Necia would kite a giant, sometimes for miles. And Tulland would spring a distracting wad of briars around their foot, which they would then stop to take care of. Between those briars and Tulland and Necia working to cut off the other foot, the giants went down pretty quickly, their overall health sapped by the general assault on their feet. This time he was trying something even worse, a mean-spirited trick he didn¡¯t think would work until the giant¡¯s foot came down on a sharpened Ironbranch Sapling that was still growing in the ground and it punched through the entire extremity like a nail. And the giant wasn¡¯t just distracted by it. As the Lunger Briars ripped out of the ground and further injured its foot, it fell over, allowing Tulland and Necia free rein to go after its back. It took a minute to kill that one, tops.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Experience source capped!
Skill Level Up!
¡°That¡¯s a cap on the Earth giants for me.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°That quick?¡± Necia started carving into the giant¡¯s calves, storing a big chunk of meat in her pack before letting the rest of the bag fill up with blood. ¡°That¡¯s only three of them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it is for my class. Not all of my strength is supposed to come from fighting. I think. Something like that, anyway.¡± ¡°That¡¯s stupid. But yes, good, I¡¯m glad. Now let¡¯s get back to your main farm before this stuff ruins my bag. I already have to leave it in the water for hours before it stops smelling.¡± The Earth Giants, it had turned out, were excellent fertilizer. Tulland had been harvesting all the blood and flesh he could from them to soak his farm. While the briars had very clearly appreciated it, they were already about as good as he could get them without figuring out some new evolution. The trees were the real winners here, and he was glad to be the proud owner of a briar patch almost completely walled in by different kinds of trees, including the useless conifers from the last level. On top of that, he had every moss he had found, every shrub he knew of, and a handful of new grasses and beach plants from this world. It was, compared to his original farm, a botanical garden. And it was showing in every one of his farming skills.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 30 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 45 Mind: 20 Force: 65 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 8, Produce Armament LV. 6, Market Wagon LV. 0 Passives: Broadcast LV. 10, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 6, Fruits of the Field LV. 3, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 5
Every skill had grown here. His Farmer¡¯s Intuition was getting better just from looking at the soil, and had gained another level just from having to think about how to best arrange and care for so many plants. His combat skills were both more powerful now, courtesy of unleashing them on helpless, distracted giants. Even his regeneration was better due to the fact that the giants weren¡¯t entirely helpless, and sometimes managed flailing kicks that sent Tulland flying and broke his bones in a way that made him very glad Necia was there to cover for his inept ways. Primal Growth had been leveling like there was no tomorrow. But the real winner here, the absolute glory of his leveling, was Broadcast. Because with this most recent level, he had something that was beyond the value of mere leveling.
Broadcast LV. 10 (Simplified Description) Broadcast has experienced the following threshold changes:
  1. The ratio of power expenditure to effect in larger groups of plants has improved. You now gain an even greater premium on power used when you spread it out as opposed to focusing it on one particular plant.
  2. The maximum number of plants you can affect with a farming skill at one time increases from 20 to 40.
  3. The maximum length of your farm plot¡¯s sides increases from twelve to fifteen meters.
Being able to effect more plants at once was always nice, and a better power ratio was even nicer. But a day or so ago now, Tulland had started planting new, powerfully enriched seeds in hunks of giant flesh and soil soaked in giant¡¯s blood around his farm, and he had done it in anticipation of the length increase. Fifteen square meters was a big increase, and he was glad that The Infinite was keeping its promise on nice, round numbers. Now, the power of the increased farm size hit his plants all at once. He could feel the briars in his hands and dimensional storage get bigger, meaner, and more lively. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. ¡°You are smiling pretty good for a guy soaked in giant blood. Good class thing?¡± Necia asked. ¡°A very good class thing. A bigger farm, basically. It makes most of the things I do better,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Amazing, Tulland. I¡¯m glad for you.¡± Necia grabbed his bloody, gross hand with hers as they walked along. ¡°But I¡¯m more excited to get into the river if I¡¯m being honest. I¡¯ll meet you back at camp?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Tulland and Necia were getting much closer, but in a slow, fun way that still left the necessity for separate river bathing spots very much in place. He went to his, slowly soaking the blood out of his clothes and off his body before scrubbing his hair with the sandy mud that lined the river banks. Without soap, it was the best he could do. Luckily, Necia couldn¡¯t do much more than that either. Between gross monster blood and inadequate bathing facilities, the two of them weren¡¯t pretty sights. He was pretty sure he couldn¡¯t get away with this level of gross back in a town. Back at the farm, Tulland looked over his new plot happily. He had about the same mixture in the new outer area as he had in the inner one, including newly planted trees that were, if anything, thriving a bit better than he had expected they would. Actually that¡¯s better than they should in any case. What¡¯s up with you, little Ironbranch tree? The trees were shorter than he would have expected at this age, but much, much thicker and more squat. He had to physically touch the bark of the tree before The Infinite had mercy on him and let him know what was going on.
Skill Level Up!
Giant¡¯s Toe The Ironbranch tree is a natural marvel, an incredibly strong and durable hardwood that benefits when exposed to magical cultivation processes. The Giant¡¯s Toe takes the best of its qualities and mixes them with a desire to produce more and better wood in dimensions more easily used to create. Where the Ironbranch tree takes centuries to grow into a shape that doesn¡¯t look like an incredibly sturdy branch, the Giant¡¯s Toe gets there in weeks. Is it tall? No. Is it stately or graceful? Absolutely not. But in terms of quickly producing useable amounts of lumber, it¡¯s an unmatched plant that loses not even a small amount of strength compared to its predecessor.
That was a straight, across the board upgrade to one of his plants, and he had an experimental garden full of these things, just waiting to be harvested and messed with. With Necia still taking her time bathing, Tulland took his ultra-sharp hoe and went to work cutting a few of them out of the ground. ¡°Do my eyes deceive me? Are those stools, Tulland?¡± Necia was trying to sound sarcastic and playful, but failed miserably. She had a look Tulland recognized all too well, the chair-hunger of the person who had spent the last several weeks sitting in dirt or on rocks. ¡°Actual stools, like ones people use?¡± ¡°For now, of course. Nothing less for my girlfriend.¡± Tulland slipped with his knife and cut his finger a bit. ¡°Damn. That hurt.¡± ¡°Working on something?¡± Necia sat down on her tree stump, looking unbelievably satisfied. ¡°Yeah. One of the trees evolved, and I think I¡¯m going to be able to get some armor out of them.¡± Tulland used a rock to hammer Necia¡¯s knife a bit further into the trunk he was working on. ¡°Assuming I can get them apart, anyway.¡± ¡°Well, you have time. A few more days, at least. And then I have to move on. But you could. I don¡¯t know. Catch up. Show me in the safe zone.¡± ¡°I could.¡± Tulland put down his plant and started getting one of Necia¡¯s bigger, nicer pots warming on his heating machine on the top of one of the tree trunks. ¡°For now, let¡¯s just eat some dinner and rest. I¡¯m bushed.¡± Chapter 48: Cannian Knight The next few days went faster than Tulland expected. Sun Giants were faster, but absolute pushovers in terms of tanking compared to their brothers. Only the Water Giants who rose out of the sea were any harder to kill, and that only because they were hard to plan for. But soon enough, Tulland was capped on every single type of them, and a few hours away from his garden being as much of a power-plant as he could expect it to be in a reasonable amount of time. ¡°You look morose.¡± Necia was rubbing her feet next to the fire. It was a habit of hers, something she did every night to take the sting out of a day¡¯s worth of armored-shoe-wearing. She had, Tulland felt, nice feet. He wasn¡¯t an expert, but it was hard to imagine anyone having feet he liked more. ¡°Real sad.¡± ¡°Well, yeah. This is the last night before you go face the big bad knight, right?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°That¡¯s what The Infinite says. I¡¯ll be thrown in there if I don¡¯t go voluntarily,¡± Necia said. ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m sad. All this has been very nice. It¡¯s the best farm I¡¯ll ever be able to grow. It¡¯s the strongest I¡¯ve ever been. It¡¯s the most time I¡¯ve ever spent with someone like you.¡± ¡°Aww.¡± ¡°Aww indeed, but it¡¯s ending tomorrow. I can hardly enjoy all this stuff I made.¡± Necia raised her eyebrows. ¡°Really? Because that¡¯s a lot of cool stuff.¡±
Giant¡¯s Toe Armor Set Crafted from the lumber of the Giant¡¯s Toe and held together with joints of Wolfwood and Lunger Briar, this armor is a marvel of wood and grown materials. While it pales in comparison to expertly crafted leather armor (not even mentioning the superiority of class-crafted metal gear) it is still more than sturdy enough to stop a few blows, while being light and flexible enough to move in. This set includes a helmet and breastplate, as well as arm and leg protection. Your feet and hands are still largely unprotected, but gloves and shoes are an art unto themselves.
The lack of gloves and boots was not for lack of trying. Tulland had simply been unable to get the Dungeon System to acknowledge any of his efforts in that direction, or craft anything better than what he had already. Necia was still right. This much gear would usually leave him cackling with glee at his own improved survivability. But the prospect of losing Necia made that glow just a bit dimmer. Especially when he was losing her to a clear and real danger, something she might not be able to get out of safely. ¡°I do like it. But it¡¯s¡­ yeah. I made a decision today. You know what The Infinite said about me being able to follow you? I¡¯m doing it,¡± Tulland said. That notification had come in on their fourth day together, just a simple message from the Dungeon System letting them know their cooperation on this level was enough to convince it that they should be able to move through the boss level together. Not together in the sense that they would be able to help each other with their respective Cannian Knights, but at least entering the arches at roughly the same time and being able to wait for each other¡¯s dimensions to merge before they both moved on. Of course, one or the other of them might not make it, and then they would have to move on alone anyway. But at least he¡¯d know. ¡°That¡¯s stupid, Tulland.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really not. My farm is as good as it¡¯s going to be. I¡¯m as well-armed as I¡¯m going to get. And it¡¯s not like I¡¯m going to get better at fighting to a significant degree alone here. There¡¯s no reason for me not to go with you.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no reason for you to do it either. It¡¯s hurrying. Hurrying, Tulland, is bad.¡± Tulland stood from his stool and walked to where Necia was sitting, kneeling to the side of her. He grabbed her hand and brought it up to his cheek. ¡°Gross, Tulland. Those smell like feet.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. Listen.¡± Tulland lowered her hand down to where he could grab it with his other hand as well, and cradled it in-between them. ¡°I¡¯m going. It¡¯s fine. Just let me do it. If I¡¯m being honest, being here alone wouldn¡¯t be good for me, anyway. I¡¯d end up doing something stupid.¡± ¡°Now, that I can believe.¡± Necia sighed. ¡°Fine, Tulland. But you had better make it. Or I¡¯ll track my way into your dimension and kill you again.¡± ¡ª The next morning, they were fed, packed, and fully leveled for the challenge. There was nothing left to do but walk through the arch, which they were now standing in front of, procrastinating. ¡°There¡¯s a giant in the distance.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Tulland had heard it a few seconds ago, coming directly at them. ¡°I just don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°Well, you should. We can¡¯t fight the knight tired. Do you have all your gear on?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°And all your little tricks? You still think those will work?¡± ¡°I hope so. But they are all as ready as they can be.¡± ¡°Good. Then good luck.¡± Necia bent down a foot or so to get her battle-form head low enough to kiss Tulland¡¯s cheek. ¡°And I¡¯ll see you on the other side. Okay?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Tulland reached up and brushed his fingers across her cheek. ¡°Go. I¡¯ll be right behind you.¡± There was a minute delay between arch activations, so Tulland had to wait a bit once she was gone to enter his own instance of the level five challenge. The giant made good time too. By the time he could enter, he really had to. He was almost glad for the monster coming. It saved him from any chance of chickening out. ¡ª
Equipment Check You are entering the fifth floor. Within, there is one combat to be had. You will either kill it or die by its hands, with no other outcomes to be had. As such, you are allowed to leave any unnecessary gear here. On victory, it will be returned to you. In the case of your defeat, it will be destroyed, just as it would have otherwise.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
¡°Should I be worried about this, System?¡± Of course. You could have stayed in that place for months to come, and it would have been worth it for even a single drop of additional strength. ¡°I meant the Equipment Check.¡± Leave anything you don¡¯t need. You are a fool, Tulland Lowstreet. ¡°Thanks. Nice to know you care.¡± Tulland shrugged off his pack, taking out a bandolier of explosive flowers he looped over his shoulder. He had experimented with extra armaments as much as he could, but The Infinite had used the Market Wagon skill as reason enough to disallow Tulland from becoming half plant and half man. He couldn¡¯t loop briars over his armor. He couldn¡¯t build backup spears. But he had a dozen briars of different types in his dimensional storage. These were his trump plants, much stronger than anything else he could include in his arsenal. On top of that, the bandolier of flowers weren¡¯t enhanced by Market Wagon, but were stronger from being grown on the enhanced Swamp Ache trees. He had a good dozen of them tied to him now, waiting to be pulled from the bark they were mounted on. I don¡¯t. ¡°Sure you don¡¯t. And you weren¡¯t lonely at all during my week with Necia. But I appreciate you putting up with it, for what it¡¯s worth. And if I don¡¯t make it here, I guess I just hope you use my strength well.¡± Not that you¡¯d be able to believe this, and I don¡¯t blame you, but I would use your strength well. I¡¯d use it to its utmost. Tulland nodded, then cut the connection before glancing at his stats one last time.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 30 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 35 (+5) Spirit: 45 Mind: 20 Force: 65 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 9, Produce Armament LV. 6, Market Wagon LV. 0 Passives: Broadcast LV. 10, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 6, Fruits of the Field LV. 3, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 5
Putting down his pack in the white room, he stretched a bit and took a deep breath before The Infinite sent him on. The field of battle was red, not necessarily because of what was in it, but instead because everything was bathed in a crimson light, like he had arrived during a spectacular sunset. The space itself was something like a small box canyon, a large, flat area with reliable-looking, mostly flat terrain. There would be plenty of room to fight, nowhere to run, and few footing-based tricks for either party to take advantage of. It was about the best place he had seen for a battle. And looking at his opponent, he would need it.
Cannian Knight No world of significant age escapes knowledge of the Cannian Knight. It is the first substantial challenge of The Infinite, and perhaps its most prolific killer. It is strong. It is trained. It is well-equipped. In all ways, it is built to accurately represent an exceptional warrior of similar levels to those that reach it. To defeat it, you must be something more than exceptional. You must be excellent, perhaps, but most importantly you must be something unexpected. The Cannian Knight is an expert, but conventional warrior of limited knowledge. It has excellent eyesight, smell, and natural weapons that leave it dangerous even when unarmed, but it is not invincible. It can be caught off guard. It can be tricked. As with all risks, defeating it comes with rewards. Not the least of which is access to the fifth floor safe zone, a place of safety, resources, and rest. Fight bravely, Infinite Delver. And good luck.
Tulland was facing something more terrible than he had ever expected. Facing him was nothing less than a humanoid wolf, a muscle-bound being with slavering jaws, rage-filled eyes, and razored claws. Tulland had spent most of his life a child, and facing this knight seemed so much like having accidentally angered an adult. But however threatened he might feel, he would gain nothing from letting the knight continue its advance unchallenged, of getting into range with its long sword at its own pace. Tulland¡¯s arm jerked as he threw three Acheflowers at it, letting them explode on its sword when it moved to parry them. The knight looked uncomfortable as the powder engulfed it, but not much more than that. Tulland was not surprised. There was never much chance The Infinite would let him intoxicate his way out of a real fight. But it did make the monster jerk back just enough that Tulland could slide past it, keeping its sword pinned down with his pitchfork as he made his way to its flank. The knight roared and swung his sword, but Tulland was gone. The next backhand strike from the knight would have likely taken his head if he hadn¡¯t slipped backward from that too. And yet he felt a chance, if only because his command over the plants was so much stronger now. And after Primal Growth consumed Command Plan, he could get some vague directions besides attack and don¡¯t attack across to the vines now. First vine, neck and eyes. Second vine, legs. Third vine, sword shoulder. Slow him down. Tulland was moving forward and under the sword as his vines made contact and tightened, perfectly understanding his instructions and targeting the exact areas he had asked them to. His Primal Growth usage left him drained, but made the vines just strong enough to not get pulled apart by the knight¡¯s movement alone. Choking up on his pitchfork, Tulland managed to get a few stabs in around the waist joint of the knight¡¯s armor as his opponent clawed off the vine around its face. Tulland knew the fight was going to be much harder from here, but kept attacking. He got two more shots in before he was cut by an incidental movement of the knight¡¯s sword. Then danced back as the knight managed to clear the vine restricting its arm. Throwing two more flowers, he managed to get out of range enough to not get cut in half as the knight began to turn its full strength to ripping apart the briar on its legs. Let go. Get on something higher. NOW. Tulland watched with satisfaction as the strength the knight was putting into freeing itself from the vine suddenly lost leverage, sending it spilling to the ground as it lost its grip on its own sword. Tulland sprung in with his pitchfork, stomping down on the back of the knight¡¯s head and stabbing at the back of its neck as he commanded the briar to give up on attacking the knight in favor of wrapping itself awkwardly around the blade of the sword. He was unsure how much damage his weapon was actually doing, except seeing flecks of blood. He managed to move forward a bit past the knight¡¯s searching claws, change the form of his weapon, and bring a downward chop with his hoe-form Farmer¡¯s Tool to the back of one of its knees. The knight roared in pain as it took damage to its leg, rocking violently enough to send Tulland stumbling. In an instant, it got up on a fist and dug its toes into the ground, rocketing toward Tulland unarmed. The knight¡¯s armored shoulder made solid contact with the side of Tulland¡¯s stomach like a battering ram, cracking something inside of him as the force sent him stumbling back several steps. He desperately stabbed out with his weapon and threw the last of his flowers, buying just a moment of time as the knight flinched away from that bit of trouble. Every Lunger Briar. Go. Primal Growth. Tulland¡¯s magic bottomed out as a cloud of briars sprung from nowhere. The knight had been moving forward with its claws bared, confident it could end things here. Instead, it got a face full of spiky plants, grasping everywhere they could with all the strength the last of Tulland¡¯s magic could provide. If he wanted to use any more spells, he¡¯d have to buy some time. So far, things were going about as well as they could. This was always going to be an enemy that was far faster, stronger, and better equipped than Tulland. He was never going to be able to hide from it. All he could do, he had decided, was to keep it just distracted enough to damage it and level the playing field before he ran out of resources. And in doing that, he had already seen a minor success. The knight¡¯s leg was leaking blood, and he had noticed just the slightest delay in that last lunge forward for his neck. It would eventually heal, but for now, Tulland abandoned all thoughts of going for vital areas in favor of attacking his opponent¡¯s knees. The knight howled and thrashed as it tried to throw off the vines, but the majority of them were unaffected by the motion, having already dug thorns into at least one soft spot. Tulland knew that had to hurt. He had felt those thorns, once upon a time. They were like fire. The knight¡¯s claws were flashing and killing a vine every time they moved. But Tulland was able to fit quite a few bundled briars in that dimensional space, and as the knight tried to turn to keep up with him, he was pounding at its healthy leg with his tool turned trident. When the last of the vines were gone, Tulland pulled back as the knight limped to its sword with still formidable speed, tore the vine from around the handle, and picked it up. It was hurt, but far from down. Tulland was low on resources now and the last few he had were going to have to count if he wanted to live. Chapter 49: Stubborn The knight sprung at Tulland, flashing its sword in a horizontal slice that Tulland jumped hard backwards to avoid. Somehow, the knight¡¯s speed was just reduced enough for him to make it, though he felt the wind cut just in front of his jugular veins. The Cannian Knight had a preference for combos, always following one hard slash with at least another. As slow as it was moving forward, Tulland knew the next strike would catch him if he was there to catch. Instead, he pushed forward on a diagonal, digging his pitchfork into the knight¡¯s knee as he let loose with his secret move.
Giant¡¯s Hair LV. 5 The Lunger Briars are weak. On earlier levels, they might have felt like a golden ticket to success, but with a low-level cap and a humble lineage, they were always a weapon with a limited lifespan of use. On some level, you¡¯ve likely known they would have to change in more fundamental ways to stay useful in the long term. The Giant¡¯s Hair is the first step in that change. Using almost the opposite influence that created the long variant of the Lunger Briar, you gave one briar more ground on which to grow, more magical enrichment than it could safely take, and just the right fertilizer to burn in its attempt to grow into something new. And grow it did. While previous briars were thinner, more delicate things, the giant¡¯s hair is as thick as a large snake, and nearly as strong. It boasts duller thorns which are shorter, sacrificing offensive capability for sheer grip as it uses those irregularities in its outer layer to create friction on the things it latches on. At the time of its creation, the Giant¡¯s Hair is far and away the most durable constrictor in your arsenal. Only time will tell what it will become with time and proper feedings.
Tulland had spent more meat and blood than he wanted to think about just getting this thing to level five, not to mention the literal hundreds of briar seeds he had ruined trying to learn how to overload them with just the right kind of power from Primal Growth. As the vine almost instantly entwined itself through the knight¡¯s legs and arms, it seemed entirely worth it. His opponent was not completely immobilized, but it was close. The pitchfork flashed as Tulland wasted no time. He hit each of the knight¡¯s knees with the pitchfork for good measure, the went to work on its waist, circling and poking at any exposed gap in the armor. The knight had its claws out, sawing away at the briar. When it got through, that would be it. Tulland could only pack one of those big, bad briars and bisecting any part of the vine would kill it. But it was tough and, for now, the wolf knight was making only slow progress cutting it. Every muscle in Tulland¡¯s body burned as he stabbed at the wolf again and again, hitting it in the elbows now, then the waist, then the legs, and working his way back through the cycle. He wasn¡¯t going to kill it any time soon this way, but that wasn¡¯t his goal. What he wanted was to simply create an enemy that was just as slow, just as awkward, and just as afraid as he was. That meant a need for a thousand cuts that he simply had to fulfill before the vine broke. The wolf was digging its sharp teeth into the vine now, which was working almost as well as the claw had previously done. Dripping blood from every part of its body, it was savage as it ripped into the vine again and again, growling and snarling as it picked up more and more damage. The seconds dragged on into an eternity as Tulland worked to hurt the beast as much as he could. Necia would have taken it down after the first five strikes. That rogue would have both of its eyes by now. I¡¯m just not strong enough. But this is what I can do. I¡¯m doing it. Finally, horribly, the vine was giving. Tulland watched as his briar finally went slack, still draped heavily all over the knight, but no longer holding on with anything like a tight grip. He roared and plunged the pitchfork one last time, catching the knight fully in the back. He put too much weight into it. Though the tines penetrated deeply into the monster¡¯s flesh, he felt them snap as he pulled away, leaving long spikes sticking out of the Cannian¡¯s back and a badly blunted weapon in his hands. He ran away, not even bothering to show his face to the enemy until he got several strides away and turned to put his opponent back in front of him. It was standing there, wounded but terrible, breathing heavily with rage and glaring holes straight though him.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Strong,¡± the Cannian Knight growled. ¡°Stronger than I thought.¡± ¡°Compared to what?¡± Tulland decided to take the revelation that the knight could talk at face value. He didn¡¯t have energy for much more. ¡°Than some I have fought. There have been thousands. I can¡¯t remember how they fought, but I can remember how I felt. When they were weak. When they were strong. You felt like one of the weak ones. Afraid.¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°You are. But you fight. You do what is needed.¡± The knight shifted its weight. ¡°Strong. Let¡¯s finish this, brave one.¡± As the knight sprung forward, Tulland let it come as he used the second it took to morph his weapon. There wasn¡¯t enough jewel material left for his pitchfork to do him much good now. What was left was just enough to make a suitable club with what it could fill of the shovel template. From here on out, it wouldn¡¯t be a pretty fight on Tulland¡¯s part. He had just a spot of hope he had dragged enough of the knight to his own level. Tulland got lucky and caught the knight as it came in, rapping it across the head and turning its claws enough to leave his armor shredded through but his guts intact. He pulled the shovel out of the swing and threw it forward in a poke as the knight came back. It gasped in pain as the end of the shovel caught it in the throat, but followed through with its swipe to shatter what was left of the jewelled tip of the weapon. Tulland mentally adjusted his range. The head of the shovel would do nothing now. If he was to win, he would be doing it by beating a monster to death with a wood stick. After that, things got fuzzy and bloody. Tulland swung his tool back and forth with all his might, staying just ahead of the claws and sword as he circled his enemy, hitting the wolf again and again with the mighty Giant¡¯s Toe wood of the handle. He was giving as good as he got, he thought. He had little happiness besides that idea as his flesh was ripped again and again by nicks and cuts that made it past his splintered armor to his delicate human skin. Strong Back did its best to keep up. It hadn¡¯t been mentioned when his class changed, but it was better in its new combat-class form, having given up some of its intended strengthening ability in favor of increased healing speed. It didn¡¯t do much, but Tulland was sure he would have hit the ground by now without it. A cut over Tulland¡¯s eye nearly blinded him with blood as a lucky swing of the tool handle caught something meaty on the knight and sent it stumbling to the side. He jumped backwards, wiping his eyes just in time to see the long sword slicing towards his neck. He traded another hard hit to the knight¡¯s knee for a claw wound that seemed to almost take his arm off, then another hit to its spine for a bite to his shoulder that would have killed him if he hadn¡¯t decided to rip free before the knight could shake him like a ragdoll. It went back and forth. Tulland was frankly mystified that either of them was standing at that point. And then, for just a moment, things went black. ¡ª ¡°I¡¯m frustrated, Tulland. But not mad. Your tutor sends home notes, you know. You must. You carry them,¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle said. ¡°I¡¯ve seen them,¡± Tulland said quietly. ¡°Do you know what they say?¡± Tulland was thirteen years of wisdom, and was pretty sure that whatever they said wasn¡¯t good. He was pretty sure, though, that his uncle was asking for specifics. ¡°No.¡± ¡°They say you refuse to learn. That you fight every small lesson, that you question every history. That you are always sure that you know more than a world traveler and hero of three wars at the border.¡± ¡°And you aren¡¯t mad?¡± Tulland was stubborn, but not literally immune to criticism. All that sounded pretty bad to him. ¡°I¡¯d probably be.¡± ¡°I¡¯m frustrated because I¡¯d rather you learned. As much as you can, Tulland. And I know you can learn quite a bit if you want to. I¡¯ve seen you do it. But I¡¯m not mad. And do you know why? Because despite all the notes I¡¯ve gotten, no matter how violent your tutor says your resistance is, you never seemed to give up.¡± His uncle opened another fish, pulling out the guts and hanging it on a hook with the rest of the day¡¯s catch. ¡°And I want that to stay alive in you. That refusal to give up. It¡¯s a good thing. It¡¯s a strong thing. I wish it were a bit smarter about what it resists, Tulland, but that¡¯s all. Because some day¡­¡± His uncle stopped for a frustratingly long time trying to find his words. ¡°Some day you will need to be stubborn. To fight your teachers and actually win. I don¡¯t know how, or why. But I do know it¡¯s what you are built for, in the same way I¡¯m built to throw a hook or toss a net. So learn to listen to your tutor, and learn to listen better. But don¡¯t give up on that resolve, Tulland. Don¡¯t let it break.¡± His uncle was done with the fish now, which meant he was just about talking, too. Dunking his hands in a pail of water to clean them. He wiped them on his apron as he took the garment off and hung it back up. ¡°Because one day you are going to need to be stubborn, Tulland, and I want you to be stubborn as hell.¡± ¡ª Tulland¡¯s head rocked back forward as he surged back into consciousness. The sword was coming at him now, an infinite amount slower than it had at the beginning of the fight but still razor sharp, and still with the full weight of a Cannian Knight behind it. Fine. I can lose an arm for this. Let¡¯s see how good this armor is. Tulland lifted his arm against the sword, which stuck in the wood far enough to slice at his arm, but not through it. He watched in wonder as the knight¡¯s hand pulled at the handle and slipped, leaving the sword to pull itself free from the forearm bracer and clatter to the ground. They both dove at each other, the wolf swiping with both claws as Tulland clubbed again and again with what little was left of the handle of his weapon. It would only be a few seconds now, and the first one to falter would lose. Tulland watched with interest, almost as if he weren¡¯t in his own body as his arm came down again and again, coming up each time stained with just a little bit more Cannian blood. My uncle said there was nobody more stubborn than me. Let''s prove him right. Chapter 50: Trust Tulland wasn¡¯t sure when it happened but at some point, the knight wobbled. Its eyes filled with disbelief when that happened. And then everything happened at once. The knight clawed once more, a weak and ineffectual strike that was only magnified by the reluctance on its face to be taken down by someone so obviously unqualified. It somehow convinced itself that it would lose to Tulland. And that was enough to tip the scales of the fight. The last few hits from Tulland, born out of sheer stubbornness, were enough. The light dimmed in the knight¡¯s eyes and its legs gave out completely. Even after a few seconds, Tulland was still suspicious. He paused, catching his breath and ready to restart the clubbing when his opponent twitched. As much as everything hurt, he couldn¡¯t quit until he was sure. Unlikely things are unlikely. This could still be a trick. I need confirmation, dammit. And then, finally, confirmation came.
Level Up 5x!
Skill up 15x!
Tulland collapsed to the grass. He was just conscious enough to distribute a few points to his vitality, which in turn seemed to wake him up just enough to actually pay attention to the rest of his stat screen. He went about tidying it up, making sure every point of his new levels had a place. The skill advancements had determined themselves, with a big bias towards stats that improved his new combat skills. Each of them had picked up a full five levels, which seemed only fair given what he had just put them through.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 35 Strength: 30 Agility: 30 Vitality: 40 (+5) Spirit: 60 Mind: 30 Force: 70 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 14, Produce Armament LV. 11, Market Wagon LV. 5This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Passives: Broadcast LV. 10, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 6, Fruits of the Field LV. 3, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 5
¡°Do you want to see? I can show you my screen, I think.¡± Are you sure? Normally, you¡¯d be apprehensive of that. ¡°Maybe. But you helped me with this. I¡¯d say you earned a peek.¡± Then I accept. Tulland mentally pushed for the System to be able to see his stat sheet. It was hard to be sure it worked until he heard the System make an appreciative little click. This might just work, you know. It¡¯s not quite conventional. But there might just be enough pieces there to make a real go of things. ¡°In expert hands, maybe. I¡¯m hardly that.¡± Tulland stared up at the red sky, still breathing through his pain as Strong Back did its best to heal his wounds. It was much, much better at it now, even thought it was hard to tell given the extent of the damage the knight had done to him. ¡°I¡¯m about as far from that as anyone can be.¡± You sell yourself short. But we can talk about that another time. You have another conversation to have right now. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°Nothing yet.¡± Necia was suddenly sitting on the ground near him, nursing her own litany of wounds and clearly still trying to catch her own breath. ¡°I only just got here.¡± ¡°Necia!¡± Tulland jerked to a sitting position, which turned out to be the exact wrong choice in his condition. Wounds tore and just-scabbed-over cuts began to bleed again as his eyes filled with stars. He pushed through. ¡°You made it.¡± ¡°Yes, I did. Somehow.¡± Necia grinned big, despite the obvious pain in her face. ¡°You were right. All that prep work was more than enough. It wasn¡¯t easy, but it wasn¡¯t impossible, either. What about you?¡± ¡°I had to cheat. Some of us don¡¯t have swords, you know.¡± ¡°You have your stick. It¡¯s nice! Very¡­¡± Necia glanced at the blood-covered weapon and searched for good things to say about it. ¡°Very bloody. I like the shiny bit on the end a lot.¡± ¡°Thanks. So, is that it?¡± Tulland nodded towards a nearby arch that had appeared without fanfare during his recovery. It looked a lot like any of the others. He didn¡¯t know why he had expected it to be shinier or more ornate, but he had. Seeing it sitting there, built out of nothing but ordinary-looking stone and covered in ordinary-looking moss, was a real letdown. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like much.¡± ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t. But yes, I think it is the way onward.¡± Necia glanced down at her armor, which was a bit messy even by their normal standards. ¡°Do you think they have baths? In the safe zone, I mean.¡± ¡°They better. Or at least a good river. We¡¯ll have to remember to soak in it downstream of the village, if so. To keep from polluting the water supply.¡± Necia laughed. It was a nice sound. ¡°Fair enough. So, are you ready to go?¡± she asked. ¡°Me? No. I need ten more minutes. At least. If I tried to walk now, I think my legs might actually fall off,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Oh, good.¡± Necia flopped over on her side in the dirt. ¡°I was just acting tough. That knight really did a number on me.¡± Ten minutes later, they were both mostly knitted up. It was actually Tulland who rose to his feet first, stretching himself out as every single joint in his body popped and creaked in protest. ¡°Noisy.¡± Necia rose to her feet as well, surprised as her joints made at least as much audible protest. ¡°I guess I am too. So, for real now, are you ready?¡± Tulland looked towards the arch and took a deep breath. ¡°Yeah. Sure. Let¡¯s do it.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Necia put her hand behind Tulland¡¯s elbow and maneuvered him forward. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go.¡± They stood in front of the arch together for just a moment, then stepped through together as everything flashed to white. (End of Book 1) Chapter 51: Epilogue ¡°I¡¯m still not sure we made the right decision.¡± To all appearances, the doubtful six-year-old-boy speaking was trying to start a brick, wood-fired oven using a lit splinter of wood and failing badly. ¡°We haven¡¯t changed a class like that before.¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t had the opportunity.¡± As the splinter burned down dangerously close to the boy¡¯s fingers, a very short, very stout middle-aged woman stole it out of his hand and threw it directly on the kindling he had carefully piled up. It burst into a healthy flame almost immediately. She winked and sat down. ¡°And that¡¯s the point, isn¡¯t it? The Infinite is about giving the brave a place to spend that bravery, when nothing else is left for them to accomplish. We already let various worlds game that a little, but¡­¡± ¡°But it¡¯s a mockery of what we were made for. Or something like that.¡± The boy rolled his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve heard this a million times. It still doesn¡¯t mean we can just create an entirely new, unbalanced thing.¡± ¡°Unbalanced as of yet.¡± A twenty-something man ruffled the boy¡¯s hair. ¡°It was part of the deal, remember? He had to be okay with a lot of turbulence in the process. Not just to agree to it, but to actually be okay with it.¡± ¡°Still, I don¡¯t think¡­¡± ¡°Shush. All of you.¡± A very large man of not-at-all-human-looking features swept through the door of the house into the yard where the others were gathered. ¡°It¡¯s a dinner meeting, remember? The format of these little thinking sessions isn¡¯t just for show. Cook first, eat second, and then let the conversation dwindle naturally before we get into business. Those are the rules.¡± Nobody complained out loud. The oven fired up a bit too fast to be completely natural and fueled a few more cooking surfaces than made sense, but the work done on it was authentic enough. Deserts were baked, meat was roasted, and vegetables were prepared in a dozen different ways. Soon enough, there was a full, long table of food ready for consumption. The table itself was the real stretch of reality. The general thought most people held about how The Infinite earned its name was that it had an endless number of floors, an endless amount of danger, or some other characteristic of the dungeon. It wasn¡¯t so. Whether any particular version of that train of thought was true or false, the actual reason for the name was something different. It was a nickname, essentially. The number of persons contained within the makeup of The Infinite was not actually endless, but there were thousands of them. Getting them all around a table at once and facilitating communication between them was something that required a bit of reality-stretching. It wouldn¡¯t have been something that was easy to explain to an outside observer. Luckily, the only person who really needed to understand it was The Infinite. After the meal, the discussion really did go better. The Infinite had long ago found that some rules of the universe applied to everyone, even beings of concept. One of those rules was that food facilitated relationships of all kinds. Full of dinner, every participant was able to whip ideas with all the speed of thrown stones, churning concepts with the turbulence provided by debate to refine them into better and better versions. It wasn¡¯t a fast or slow process. Ideas like that didn¡¯t have much traction there. Everything took the time it took. ¡°So we are in agreement? Or at least as much as we can be?He has surpassed our expectations time and time again. It¡¯s time that we stop meddling in things from here on out.¡± The gigantic man looked around the table. Any two versions of him there could have held the argument up for an eternity, were they stubborn enough. Even so, nobody outright objected. It was just enough for him to know that he was probably making the right decision, while still having some doubts on the outcome he¡¯d see. There was a sort of risk in that. But it was the good sort of risk. Being very certain was a good sort of feeling, but it tended to limit the potential upside. ¡°All right, then. I¡¯ll do the honors.¡± ¡ª Floating in the white would never be in the cards for Tulland. Of course, he couldn¡¯t be sure, and there was no evidence that he¡¯d never get a true journey-through-the-weightless-void experience. But it was now his second time in a nondescript brick room, and something deep in his soul told him this was his lot in life. Of course, there were worse things. For a moment, he was truly safe. That was a value all its own. We never did get that story, System. About you and the Church. Don¡¯t think I¡¯ve forgotten. I hardly can. You mention nearly nothing else. That¡¯s not so. I¡¯ve had a lot to focus on these days. I must have thought about battle and not dying quite a bit. That is true. There was a fair bit of mental cursing. You are dodging the subject. You owe me a story, and I want it. And there¡¯s not going to be a better time than now. I suppose. It¡¯s actually not all that interesting, in some ways. When I was younger, more generations ago than you can imagine, there was a time when I made a mistake. It was¡­ System? Tulland felt shock as he realized that his communication channel to the System was cut off, not by his own choice but by some greater power. He tried to get through anyway. Are you there? Are you alright?The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°He¡¯s not hurt.¡± An enormous man appeared so suddenly that Tulland almost broke the bricks behind him when he recoiled away. The man laughed and shook his head. ¡°Sorry about that. It¡¯s the way things work, in these rooms. There are some aspects that even I don¡¯t have control of.¡± ¡°The Infinite?¡± Tulland looked around the small room, failing to see any other incarnations of the dungeon¡¯s system. ¡°There¡¯s a lot less of you today.¡± ¡°Sometimes it¡¯s like that. I¡¯m the prime, which isn¡¯t something that would make sense to you. But when there¡¯s only one of me, it¡¯s me. Understand?¡± ¡°No.¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°But that¡¯s fine. Is the System okay?¡± ¡°He¡¯s perfectly fine. But the rules of this particular meeting deem that you get the news all by yourself. Afterward, whatever you choose to share is your business.¡± In an instant, Tulland found himself sitting across a small table from The Infinite. It was more comfortable, except for the part where he had to come to terms with not knowing how he got there. The big man continued, ¡°To keep this short, this information won¡¯t seem like much to you. The changes to your class are set in stone now. Of course, the normal variance you bring to your own development will apply. But you won¡¯t lose anything. We won¡¯t take anything from you again. You¡¯ve earned what you have.¡± ¡°Just by clearing the fifth floor?¡± ¡°And by surviving.¡± The Infinite tapped the table with a huge finger that Tulland was pretty sure could snap him in half without much effort. ¡°Believe it or not, there is nothing in this place that profits from the death of an unwilling participant. In almost any other world, it would have been simply impossible for you to come here with as ill-informed a decision as you did. It¡¯s not something we intended.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s something you allowed.¡± The big man nodded. ¡°Yes. And something we will try to atone for.¡± ¡°Why not send me home? Why not¡­¡± ¡°Let me cut you off there. There are so many reasons why not that your mind would break trying to hold them. At this moment, that is.¡± ¡°And in the future?¡± ¡°The future is a big place.¡± The Infinite gave a half-smile and stood. ¡°Not unlimited because nothing is. But as close to infinite as anything can be. But know that where this dungeon can bend the rules to make things fair for you, it will. We aren¡¯t against you, Tulland. I¡¯m not sure anyone is, if it comes down to it.¡± The Infinite held out its hand for a shake. Tulland decided to reciprocate, for no reason in particular beyond friendliness. ¡°Good Luck, Tulland.¡± The Infinite disappeared, only a few seconds before the room did. ¡ª Wake up. Don¡¯t wanna. I assure you that you do. What happened to you, anyway? You were awake and alert in that room. Tulland had no idea. Somehow, this ride to another place had been different than all the others, at least all the others since he had arrived at The Infinite in the first place. It was like it was a bigger, meaner kind of shift, something that just took a lot out of him. But at least it took it out of him gently, leaving him more tired and sleepy than beaten up or exhausted. If he understood the logic of how The Infinite ran this place, he wasn¡¯t in much danger at the moment. It would be fundamentally unfair to jerk someone out of safety into danger without allowing them any agency in how it happened or how they responded. He could have closed his eyes as he laid on what his Farmer¡¯s Intuition said was soft grass, in what his normal feelings said was warm sun. In some ways, it might have even been thought to be a reward. The System, however, was still not wrong that Tulland wanted to wake up. That was confirmed as a mostly limp, very soft hand flopped over from the side to rest lightly on his arm. I¡¯ll tell you about the experience and hear your story later. This seems more important. Quite. Tulland cracked open his eyes to find himself gazing into the big, blue eyes of Necia, who looked just as comfortably lethargic as he felt. She gave him a warm little smile which made his flesh all goose-bumpy with happiness. ¡°You made it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Good on you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like it was difficult. You just go to the room of blue carpets, then you come out on the other side with your rewards.¡± Necia patted what looked like a new collapsible halberd on her hip with obvious satisfaction. ¡°Which were pretty good in this case.¡± ¡°Blue carpets? You get carpet?¡± ¡°Sure. What do you get?¡± ¡°Boring white bricks. All four walls. No windows or anything.¡± ¡°Huh. I guess I won that little lottery. At least it doesn¡¯t matter much.¡± ¡°I wonder. Anyway, it¡¯s done now.¡± Necia shifted up onto her elbow and hit Tulland softly in the shoulder by her standards, which translated into a pretty good shock by his. He tried his hardest to make it seem like he didn¡¯t mind, which he really didn¡¯t outside of the bone-rattling impact, and shifted to a seated position. ¡°You never told me your rewards. See, I showed you my halberd, so¡­¡± ¡°Fine. Fine. I¡¯ll check.¡± Tulland did, but it seemed that there wasn¡¯t much more from beating the Cannian Knight. He still had the levels and skill growth from beating the level five boss, but literally nothing else. And, oddly, he was okay with that. The fight with the knight had given him some ideas for how to use his new skills. He had no clue how far he could take things, but with a promise from The Infinite to no longer meddle in his class, the future was in his literal grasp. ¡°Found it. It¡¯s you.¡± Tulland smiled at Necia, stood, and held out his hand. One of the things he was most glad about how her class worked is that it didn¡¯t make her bigger and heavier all the time. She didn¡¯t really need help getting up, but he could still offer it without being absolutely ridiculous. ¡°So where are we?¡± Necia rose to her feet and looked around. ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve actually met someone who made it to the safe zone before. I couldn¡¯t have. There¡¯s no going back once you cross the border to five.¡± ¡°There¡¯s just grass, right now. It¡¯s nice grass, but¡­¡± Go over the hill. Trust me. ¡°But I bet if we move on we can find it,¡± Necia said. ¡°Let¡¯s walk that way.¡± There was a good-sized hill in front of them, but nothing that two super-humans couldn¡¯t handle with ease. In just a minute or two, they were on top of it and looking down on the landscape unfurling in front of them. ¡°That¡¯s more like it. You think it¡¯s safe?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°It almost has to be. Or it wouldn¡¯t be called Safe Zone. Right?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope.¡± Necia shoved Tulland a little again, not quite taking him off his feet by doing so. They looked down on the fifty or so buildings that made up the safe zone village, a hodgepodge of brick, stone, and wood structures, most with fire-smoke coming out of chimneys and all looking a bit inexpertly slapped-together. On either of their worlds, it would have been a weird enough place to be suspect. Here, it looked like paradise. ¡°Alright, I think that¡¯s enough looking.¡± Tulland took a deep breath and caught Necia by the elbow. ¡°Ready to go down there? I¡¯ll back you up.¡± ¡°Thanks. I appreciate that. Yes, let¡¯s go.¡± They walked towards the village together. The next five floors were waiting. Book 1 Author’s Note At the end of every book, I try to write an author¡¯s note. I feel weird saying this because I write it so often. In the last just-over-a-year, I¡¯ve written¡­ oh, I don¡¯t know. Over a dozen novels. It¡¯s my full-time job, I spend most of my waking hours doing it, and I like it an enormous amount. The only troublesome bit is that I write so many of these Author¡¯s Notes sections that I¡¯m sometimes worried they might be getting a bit boring for the average person. Then I remember something important, which is that not every single reader is reading every single one of my books. There¡¯s an author I absolutely love (Bujold) who wrote the best-paced science fiction novel of all time (The Warrior¡¯s Apprentice) who says that she writes every book in a series making the assumption that readers won¡¯t necessarily encounter them in order. She tries to make sure every story is self-contained in a way that someone could pick it up, read it, and enjoy it without having read the other entries in the series. The point of these Authors Notes is twofold. I want readers who want just a little bit more time in the universe to get it, hopefully picking up details and clarification that didn¡¯t quite fit in the book. And I want other writers to either know how I did something (if they liked it) or how to avoid doing something (if they didn¡¯t) to know the thought processes that produce my work. What I¡¯m hoping more and more is that I can apply that same kind of Bujoldian completeness to each of these notes, and that someone who wants to know what kind of writer I am can get the whole picture from each one, without reading any of the others. I don¡¯t spend a lot of time editing these notes. That¡¯s on purpose, because I don¡¯t want to decipher what is often thousands of words of nonsense. I also want to make sure I don¡¯t overthink things too very much, that I write my first impressions of what I was doing with each character and setting without getting too high on my own supply and lying to make myself seem deeper or more thoughtful than I am. So without sandbagging it too much, I do want to warn you that here be dragons; moving forward, you will get a lot of details spit out rapid-fire with very little extra attention paid to making sure it¡¯s especially impressive. With that said, let¡¯s get going.

The Settings

Ouros Originally, there was an open question of whether we¡¯d show Tulland¡¯s home world at all. The first few drafts had him just appearing in the dungeon, confused and alone. A few early readers thought that this was a little abrupt and got confused by it. So where I had originally planned on just filling in his background through internal dialogue and flashbacks, I found I needed to do a little bit more work. Ouros is one setting in a larger world. It¡¯s essentially a small town out in the sticks, the kind of place certain kinds of kids are very eager to get out of. It¡¯s even a little worse than that because it¡¯s an island, and thus physically difficult to actually leave. The first and most important thing about Ouros is that it¡¯s a part of Tulland¡¯s world that he wants to escape from, primarily so he can go be an important, adventuring part of the rest. Ouros was originally an island because I wasn¡¯t sure if Tulland would be able to leave The Infinite or not. If he did end up being able to leave, then I needed him to live in a place with a really limited amount of arable soil, which would have made his ability to farm food in what amounted to a place with unlimited virgin farmland a big deal. He would have been able to supply fruits and vegetables nobody else could, and could have grown staples like grain and rice in big quantities that the island couldn¡¯t otherwise match. That fell by the wayside because I decided it was more interesting if Tulland was stuck in The Infinite, and that the book would feel like it had higher stakes if he couldn¡¯t cross to and from home. If I¡¯m being honest, it was also because I was being a bit lazy. It was hard to think of mechanisms by which Tulland could go home but would have to return that didn¡¯t feel dumb and tacked on, so I just skipped them. Originally, I was going to make Tulland¡¯s betrayer another kid, who shoved Tulland through the arch because it would free up a slot for him to get a cool class that Tulland was otherwise occupying. To make that work, Ouros was going to have very rich people and very poor people, and the betrayer-kid was going to be one of them. That would have let him be a bigger threat while Tulland was inside the tower, menacing Tulland¡¯s (much bigger) family until Tulland was so powerful inside The Infinite that he could solve the problems outside it. None of that happened. Outside of those things, what we see of Ouros is that it relies pretty heavily on fish, has a light but not omnipresent church presence, and that only every once in a while does anyone from there receive a class. Besides that, it¡¯s a pretty boring but wholesome place. That was sort of the point. Tulland¡¯s World Tulland¡¯s world is a bit more interesting still. I find the idea of a System that just is to be pretty boring, and I like system worlds where either something explicitly weird is going on, or we get the sense that something odd is happening that hasn¡¯t been explained yet. That added complexity is just interesting when it¡¯s done right, and I¡¯m always trying to fine-tune it. In Tulland¡¯s world, there are two entities that have something to do with the usual function of a LitRPG system. The first, the System, is basically his world¡¯s devil. It¡¯s a villain lurking in the darkness, tempting innocents to do terrible things. At least that¡¯s how the other entity competing for control of the world tells it, and very few people seem willing to openly question the Church on the matter. Over the course of the book, that gets fleshed out a little bit more in an attempt to set up a bit of a mystery. We see that humanity has a limited territory, and that monsters wait just outside the gates to ruin everything if they get the chance. It doesn¡¯t seem like humanity is making much headway in neutralizing that threat either. The Church seems like it could give out more classes, but doesn¡¯t, which again seems counterproductive in that situation. We know that sometimes their world has wars, not just with the monsters, but with each other. We know that it¡¯s a large enough world that someone who travels it is instantly notable and respectable for having done so. But what we don¡¯t yet know is a larger piece of the puzzle. If the church isn¡¯t all good (and it doesn¡¯t seem to be) then that has implications for Tulland¡¯s System, which might not be all bad. Figuring out the exact shape of what that looks like is necessary not only for us to understand Tulland¡¯s home world, but also is (spoiler, kinda) going to be important for the plot if this book series ends up being 4-5 books long instead of just three. The Infinite and Other Worlds We know that Tulland¡¯s world is just one of many in his system universe, and we get the feeling that people on Tulland¡¯s world at least kind of know that. While we don¡¯t see many of those worlds, we get a sense that they aren¡¯t that alien from Tulland¡¯s experiences. Necia and him can sit down and interact with peers without too much trouble, The Mad Rogue¡¯s world might be a little different, but not so much that he doesn¡¯t at least have a model of Tulland that lets him manipulate Tulland a little. The main function of the other worlds isn¡¯t so much to be explored or understood as it is to add a bit of texture to what The Infinite is and does. Tulland¡¯s world has classes and dungeons, and every other world is at least implied to have the same things. But when the elite veterans of those dungeons (or anyone brave) decides they want a greater challenge, they can step into The Infinite. There, any feats or accomplishments they manage earn their world rewards of the kind that improve life for everyone in them. This is, oddly, kind of the plot to Joe vs. The Volcano as well. You can imagine planets where this stops happening just because the overall comfort level gets high enough that nobody wants to do it anymore, which is what happened in the film. In Tulland¡¯s world, the input of brave adventurers has stopped for another reason we kind of know is related to the Church, but the specific reason isn¡¯t entirely clear to us yet. The Infinite The idea behind The Infinite is simple enough on paper. It¡¯s a bigger, meaner dungeon that (probably) goes on forever, which isn¡¯t all that original in and of itself. As mentioned before, it¡¯s sort of a new game plus dungeon for various worlds, and the rewards it gives are broadly for those worlds. But the people who enter it do eventually die, it seems, and it¡¯s not supposed to be entered lightly or involuntarily. Given that the people who enter it don¡¯t make it out, most of what any given world knows about The Infinite seems to come from the Systems of their world reporting back, as well as things that are just generally true of dungeons in general (like the dungeon motes). Something that was once true of The Infinite was that it was just one of many dungeons on Tulland¡¯s world, but that people were selected for it rather than volunteering, and that they could return to normal life here and there. The whole ¡°The Infinite¡± part of it came from the fact that other dungeons ended, and farming them became the jobs of the people assigned to them. The Infinite, in contrast, would push adventurers on and on, and not only would they eventually have access to better loot (for themselves and the world they lived in) but that various ¡°high scores¡± in terms of how far people had gone would mean good things for their world as well. In that telling, the point of a world was to raid The Infinite, and the point of The Infinite was to act as a yardstick for the world, measuring its progress. This was because the will of the gods or something, and I hadn¡¯t got that much farther than that when I scrapped the idea. When an adventurer enters The Infinite, they lose all their levels as well as their class. When they pick up a new class, the idea is that it¡¯s usually something similar to what they trained in their original world - Necia, for instance, does not question her heavy-armor class, and the Mad Rogue seems to be a skulker-murderer type to his very core. Tulland¡¯s experience is a little different in a way The Infinite does not like. While he does enter voluntarily (and at a full-tilt run), he doesn¡¯t enter with a full understanding of what he¡¯s getting into at all. And, in a way that¡¯s very odd for any world, he doesn¡¯t have a class. The System has just enough influence to determine his class on the spot, and screws him over. We don¡¯t see it, but this is something The Infinite has an immediate interest in remedying. The Infinite can have this interest because of the kind of thing it is. It¡¯s not just a dungeon, but also the intelligence that runs it, a sort of chorus of thousands of personalities that comprise a single mind and who are all concerned with running the dungeon in a fair, productive way. It¡¯s not explicit, but one of The Infinite¡¯s stretch goals is to actually get more crafters into The Dungeon anyway, pushing things forward for everyone else by means of support. We see a bit of that framework in the bent rules Tulland operates under. He has more time to move from floor to floor, for instance, and can dilly-dally leveling and grinding a lot longer than a swordsman could. In my mind, The Infinite had imagined that the classes that people would send would likely be blacksmiths, high-strength classes that could make themselves weapons first thing and get through the first five levels pretty easily so long as they had enough time to mine ores, smelt them, and make badass swords using their presumably deep home world experience in armaments. Tulland is sort of half that, but once he starts to have successes in the dungeon we see The Infinite take a wait-and-see approach to things. Open questions about The Infinite I¡¯ll eventually have to answer is whether it¡¯s a truly an all-good entity like it seems, whether it¡¯s endless (the name right now has more to do with the intelligence running the place than the floors), and whether or not there¡¯s some way to survive long-term once you¡¯ve entered it.

Characters

Tulland Tulland was originally meant to be a pretty flawless, virtue-heavy character. He ran errands for his uncle, who ran a shipping depot, and did a very good job at it. He loved his parents. He was handsome, hardworking, and had great cardio. As such, it made sense for him to be selected to get a rare, especially good class, and for some drunk slob of a rich kid to betray him. I got talked out of that eventually (thanks, Dotblue) and instead went with a character who had a little more nuance. Tulland is smart, but he¡¯s also a smartass who thinks he knows more than everyone else and that he¡¯s figured out some here-to-fore unknown truth of every little thing he ever sees that only he understands.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. It¡¯s that kind of personality that leaves him vulnerable to the System¡¯s lies because when the System tells him that he¡¯s the chosen one and very much deserves all the good things that are happening to his friend, it¡¯s not introducing new information. Tulland doesn¡¯t have to be convinced that he¡¯s a chosen one, really. He already believes it, and always has. Once Tulland hits the floor in the entryway of The Infinite, all those lies become clear. A great hero would not have to struggle against the motes. A great genius would not have been tricked by the System in as simple and easy a way as Tulland was. And a good person would not have been so enraged by his friend doing well that he cast aside reason. When Tulland accepts The Infinite so easily, it¡¯s partially just because he knows he had it coming. Not entirely, but kinda. Once Tulland is out of the entryway and focused on survival, his biggest character trait turns out to be pragmatism. He isn¡¯t particularly brave, he doesn¡¯t take particularly big risks, and he isn¡¯t particularly talented. He is very focused on survival, and very stubborn in a way that lets him wait day after day for plants to sprout while he sleeps and eats fruits he doesn¡¯t particularly like. He¡¯s very convinced he¡¯s right in a way that lets him look sure death in the face and say, ¡°Well, maybe not, I might be the first guy who beats that.¡± In doing so, he completes a framework that The Church and The System started. With both of those entities, we can see that they are both presented as entirely good or entirely bad, and that neither of those assertions is exactly right. Tulland is not entirely good or bad either, but his dual nature is a bit more nuanced. What we find with him is that stubborn and determined are very similar traits, and arrogant and innovative and confident are all very closely linked. I think about this a lot because I don¡¯t seem very much like an artist if you knew me in person. And even now, as a person who writes things that people seem to like, I can tell that a lot of my friends sort of subconsciously treat it all like it¡¯s fake somehow. There are some jokes or interesting concepts that do very well in my books but fall flat in my real life. I don¡¯t say any of that to whine (I think it¡¯s pretty normal) but to point out that talented and pursuing a dream that will never happen in a deluded way are really close together. What I wanted for Tulland was for him to be a sort of stubborn jackass who assumed he was always right, and then to be put into a situation that needed a determined, never-quit, never-say-die attitude. I wanted there to be a good, productive version of himself for him to find and live up to. By the end of the book, he¡¯s even realizing that¡¯s what¡¯s happening a bit, and that stubborn streak ends up being instrumental in him reaching his goals. Tulland has also never had a girlfriend, really. That also changes for him. Necia Necia was originally supposed to die. That was the whole point of her character. She was going to show up, be someone Tulland was fond of in a few ways, and then have to move on ahead of his schedule. Even if her death wasn¡¯t confirmed, she was supposed to be a kind of embodiment of loss for him ¡ª a thing he couldn¡¯t get strong enough to protect soon enough, and who moved on to a place he couldn¡¯t follow. The scene where Tulland finds Necia¡¯s helmet in the tunnel is a second draft. Originally, he found her ice-cold, fully dead corpse. Some beta readers convinced me that they really, really did not like this abrupt death, and I changed it. For better or worse, that also changed the entire tone of this book. A book where Necia dies is a darker, grimmer book. It¡¯s much more about loneliness and despair. The book we are getting instead is much more about hope. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s bad, but it¡¯s a different kind of thing. If I¡¯m trying to dig a piece of unique writing advice out of Necia, it¡¯s that all of your main characters should be like that. They should be important enough to the story that changes in their personality or personal outcomes drastically alter how the story goes. If they aren¡¯t that important to the story, they should be side characters or replaced with someone who actually matters to the story. In terms of Necia¡¯s build, I wanted to address something that you sometimes see called waif fu, which is the idea that a 100-120lb woman, however fit, could have a fair fighting chance at taking down a 225lb man. Even in real-world boxing between men, weight classes are a thing just because size and weight matter that very much. A 150lb man fighting a 250lb man is putting his life at risk. At high skill levels, ten extra pounds is a huge difference. For Necia, I wanted a way to address that beyond a handwave answer like ¡°well, stats make it up.¡± And what made sense for it to me was to make her conditionally large, able to be as heavy and tall as a big man, and without having to be that all the time. That¡¯s the other way people do with that is they make being a very large, very buff woman the whole character. That seems basically unfair to me. I¡¯m a big dude, and I¡¯m allowed to imagine myself as a Paladin or a Rogue without having to edit out the parts where I¡¯m a big dude. What I wanted for Necia was the same rights that Prince Adam from He-Man gets, and to just be a big, yoked muscle freak when the situation called for it. Same with the dudes in this universe, although it doesn¡¯t come up ¡ª a very small man would probably get the same advantage. Necia¡¯s personal journey is in some important ways already resolved by the time she meets Tulland. Not that she doesn¡¯t have a lot of room to grow, but her big journey was trying to be a meaningful person in a world that wanted to treat her like a piece of expensive jewelry. Her being in The Infinite means she¡¯s already rejected that, and is now learning to be her own person. Other parts of her journey are very much not done. She¡¯s doing the first-romance thing with Tulland. She¡¯s learning that just because her training was fake on her home world doesn¡¯t mean that she can¡¯t be real and talented in The Infinite, given enough time. And, given that she¡¯s not dead, we should have plenty of time to see that happen. The System The System was hard to write. I wanted his way of speaking to be just a bit formal without saying ¡°thou¡± or intentionally using a lot of big words. In the end, I decided the best way to do that was to use a lot of short sentences with mostly short, simple words and very little voice, which I think mostly worked. That was important to me for a couple reasons. I wanted the System to be a bit ambiguous. I think at one point it calls Tulland a fool, but outside of that it never really mocks Tulland or makes fun of him. It never seems truly gleeful that its con worked out. Most of all, it never seems happy. It factually states that Tulland¡¯s ill benefits it, but it''s not pleased with that state of events. And that leaves the door open for what we eventually learn about the System, which is that it was desperate. That it doesn¡¯t seem to regularly lure people to their deaths, but did so here because it was starving to death and had little other choice. And in the wings, there¡¯s a hint that its goals aren¡¯t entirely evil, either, even if Tulland dying is a big part of what it has to do to attain them. One thing that I made sure of was that the System never actually lies to Tulland, outside of their time together on Ouros, where it seems to actually lie as little as possible to get Tulland through the arch. If it was unreliable even once in The Infinite, I think that would put it beyond redemption forever. Instead, the worst we get from the System is that it tells Tulland to flee The Infinite, which is something that seems to come from it being terrified of The Infinite himself rather than a specific desire to deceive. If you¡¯ve read my other books, then you might have noticed that on a purely mechanical level, the System does a lot of the same work that Lily and Lucy do. It¡¯s a sidekick of sorts, someone who is always there to have dialogue with when there¡¯s nobody else to talk to. It¡¯s company. It may not be very sympathetic, easy-to-love company, but if anything I found that made it more interesting as a character to me. Of all the characters in the book, I think its eventual development as a person will be the most important to where the plot goes. Uncle Uncle is Tulland¡¯s adoptive father, and has been his caretaker since birth. He has known no other parent. They get along fine, and love each other despite neither of them being the kind to say it. The most boring character in the book, hands down, is uncle. He¡¯s a fisherman, and apparently a good one, but aspires to nothing more than competence at his job. He has what seems to be a simple house, and all the meals we see him prepare are simple, hearty, calorie-heavy stuff. To the extent we see him talking to Tulland as a teen, it seems that most of their conversations are a bunch of very boring lectures about how Tulland should listen more and have a bit more humility. To put it another way, Tulland¡¯s uncle was the exact thing Tulland needed. If Tulland had understood and respected his uncle¡¯s way of life a little more, none of his problems would have come to pass. In rejecting his uncle as boring, Tulland rejected every chance of saving himself. Tulland¡¯s uncle is one half of Tulland¡¯s education. It takes another character to understand the whole both halves come together to complete. Tutor Tulland¡¯s tutor is an incredibly exciting man who has seen everything, knows everything, and understands everything. He is implied to have a class, or else to have done a lot of class-level adventures without one, which is even cooler. He has traveled the world, observed it with his own eyes, and understood it. He¡¯s incredible. All this is completely lost on Tulland for two reasons: First, his tutor is very, very old. Old people, as far as Tulland knows, are default-boring. The other is that his teacher has understood reality as it is, and knows that the ways reality works are often boring. Since he¡¯s a good teacher, he presents the often unsatisfactory parts of how the world works. Tulland hates this. He imagines war to be shining swords and glory, but likely has never imagined it with blood, or what it would feel like to lie dying on a battlefield. He thinks of all the adventure the world might offer, but none of the pain, inconvenience, or lonesomeness it would require. His teacher presenting these things as fact is something he initially understands as the man being intentionally dull and lifeless, sapping all the joy out of things that should be glittering and glorious. As half of Tulland¡¯s education, the teacher is meant to be Intelligence and Knowledge. He offers facts, figures, and cold, hard realities. He¡¯s a logistics guy. Uncle, in contrast, is Wisdom and Understanding. They overlap with each other''s territories, but as a whole Uncle is the person who understands what life is and where to find satisfaction within it, while Tutor is more of a nuts-and-bolts, it-runs-on-math type of teacher. Together, they should have been able to build the fairly bright Tulland into an intellectual monster, fully prepared to wring the value out of any type of life. He wouldn¡¯t let them, but that doesn¡¯t mean he didn¡¯t get any value out of their lessons at all. Tutor and uncle are mostly presented in the books in the forms of flashbacks, showing where Tulland got the intellectual underpinnings he needed to survive in this new world. But they also, as foils to Tulland¡¯s personality, show what he is on a basic personality level. Neither is disposable. The Mad Rogue Initially, I needed someone to kill Necia, and to be a sufficiently evil character. I needed you, as a reader, to not feel bad when Tulland took him down. After Necia went away, it wasn¡¯t absolutely necessary that he be super-evil anymore, but it seemed more interesting just to leave him that way. He¡¯s the kind of guy who hunts other people for power, and is probably from a world that more or less rewarded that. He¡¯s not super complex, mostly because we don¡¯t see him for very long, but what we see is dangerous. We don¡¯t know what to expect besides violence from him, and we still mostly haven¡¯t seen him fight. The way I write, that put me in a weird place. He wasn¡¯t a character I built because I loved him and thought the strength of his story would hold its own weight, and he wasn¡¯t a character the plot demanded anymore. He also wasn¡¯t a character that really drove plot in a way I couldn¡¯t replace, which meant in the three ways I consider characters important, he doesn¡¯t currently have a role. I decided, hopefully wisely, to kick that can down the road by simply leaving him alive. He¡¯s out there, somewhere. We know he can do evil, and we don¡¯t expect he¡¯s stopping doing evil wherever he is. He¡¯s a bad-guy-in-waiting, ready for whatever badness we might need him to do later. Altreck Tulland¡¯s best friend is a bit of a Rorschach test. When Tulland sees him, he sees inferior and nonthreatening, and the reason he sees this is because the character is (objectively) dumb. Any way that Tulland likes him is enabled by that ¡ª he doesn¡¯t have to worry about that guy competing to be the chosen. When the person who doesn¡¯t have the thing Tulland thinks is important (intelligence) gets something Tulland wants, his entire world falls apart, however temporarily. This is because, in ways Tulland hasn¡¯t grappled with yet, he is a bad friend. For other people, Altreck might look different. To the Church, he really probably does look just as easy to control as the System says he is. And maybe that¡¯s the reason they decide to let him have a class, since he¡¯s a known quantity who is unlikely to go too very rogue on them. But he¡¯s also, you know, the kind of guy who makes a great Paladin. He¡¯s a good dude. He seems good-natured and relatively pure. He¡¯s probably not smart enough to be truly greedy. So to Gandalf the White (n¨¦e Grey) he looks like Samwise Gamgee - absolutely someone who is going to prove his worth, given enough time. Somewhere, on Tulland¡¯s world, he¡¯s probably busy doing just that. If this story had followed him, it would have probably ended with him very injured and still struggling to his feet simply because that¡¯s what was required to protect the weak. Or something like that, anyway. Captain Hugg Captain Hugg was only mentioned once, but it¡¯s funny to me that there¡¯s a character named Captain Hugg.

Conclusion

This is the first book in a series, so it¡¯s hard to say for sure whether it will really have legs. At the time of this writing, nobody who doesn¡¯t know me has read it. I¡¯m going to put it up on the internet soon, where some people will like it, and some people will tell me outright that they hate it and think I¡¯m a very, very bad writer indeed. Depending on the proportion of one to the other, I might get to keep writing for a living, or I might not. It¡¯s always a bit of a balancing act, as far as new stories go. It¡¯s a risky business where people¡¯s tastes change a lot, which means trying to write something you¡¯d call a hit novel is a moving target that¡¯s almost impossible to plan to hit. So it¡¯s hard, and it¡¯s stressful, but there¡¯s nothing else I¡¯d rather do. When I write these authors notes, I really wish I had better advice to give. I¡¯d love to have profound wisdom to pass out to the readers well beyond what I¡¯m actually capable of giving. And the reason for that is that every reader who makes it through one of my books helps me to keep on keeping on at a job that is objectively hard in some ways, but ultimately very fulfilling in most other respects. When you do that for me, you do me a favor. A big one. And it¡¯s something I appreciate. I¡¯m glad you are here, and I love y¡¯all. Thank you so much for facilitating this kind of life. RC (Start of Book 2) Chapter 52: Safe Zone The tricky thing with infinity was that it didn¡¯t always look infinite. Sometimes, even very big things could look very small if you glanced at them from just the right angle. At that exact moment, Tulland was crouched behind a tree with a woman he had met just a few weeks ago, experiencing that exact effect. Luckily, neither of them was fooled. The target of their inspection seemed to be a normal-looking town, if a little slapped together. They could see people milling around, adorned with various combat metals that glinted in the sun but looking distinctly non-violent. They weren¡¯t fooled. And neither was the third, less visible member of the party. Each and every one of the people you can see are masters of violence. You and the girl are outliers in terms of lack of training and accomplishment, and even she had martial instruction that many would risk death for. But we all got to the same place. I beat the fifth floor boss just like they did. You beat the boss by paying the toll in your own blood and pain. Some of them were able to do so at much less cost. For some, it was a game. Tulland chewed on that for a moment. The source of the information was, after all, not the world¡¯s most reliable. The System from his world had been troublesome enough for the Church to usurp and then keep suppressed for who knew how many generations. While the Church itself might have had its own problems, the need to do what most planets seemed to not even consider as an option was a bit suspicious. And of course, that was all before Tulland considered the fact that the System had found a vulnerable, gullible child it could trick into taking a one-way trip to an infinite dungeon, one which would almost certainly get him killed sooner or later and result in an influx of power the System would go on to do who-knew-what with. You are saying they toyed with a fully armored Cannian Knight to get to this safe zone? It¡¯s likely, yes. Even on your world, I knew of talented adventurers who could have done so. And if they could toy with him, then¡­ They could toy with me. Point taken. Tulland popped open his status screen. He had little confidence that he would survive a conflict with a more combat-specialized class, especially if that class belonged to some battle-proven hero of another world. But that didn¡¯t mean he hadn¡¯t grown.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 35 Strength: 35 Agility: 35 Vitality: 45 (+5) Spirit: 60 Mind: 30 Force: 70 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 14, Produce Armament LV. 11, Market Wagon LV. 5 Passives: Broadcast LV. 10, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 6, Fruits of the Field LV. 3, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 5
A good deal of that growth had come from his defeat of the Cannian Knight on the fifth floor, which supposedly represented the first real test of his combat skill in this place. Or was supposed to. The Infinite seemed to think that anybody normal by its standards would have blown straight through the first four zones with no difficulty at all, an assumption that had proved entirely untrue to Tulland. Were they really supposed to be easy? The first five levels, I mean. Harder than any other dungeon¡¯s first few floors, but yes. Outside of the Cannian Knight, it was little more than a tutorial. Well, not for me. No. But you made it. Not everyone does. Your new achievement is the truest sign of that. Tulland took one last look at that achievement before closing out his stat windows. It really was something.
Wolfblood (Achievement) You have defeated the Cannian Knight, a fully armored and trained adversary meant to separate the wheat from the chaff as far as Infinite climbers are concerned. In doing so, you have proved your right to be here, and have earned some rewards. The first of these rewards is a standard +5 to your physical stats, a portion of the Knight¡¯s strength that now belongs to you. This reward is something that all climbers get, and while it will help your progression through the next several floors, it will not change your strength relative to them. The next reward is something tailored to you, your needs, and your performance in this fight. Review the individual reward window for more information.
Strong Back Evolved! Strong Back has taken on elements of the wolf¡¯s own regeneration. Where previously it focused on mitigating wear-and-tear related to labor, it now responds to desperation and shifts its focus to emergency wound management. As you become more and more injured, Strong Back will work faster and faster to close cuts and stem bleeding.
¡°You¡¯ve been zoned out for a while now.¡± Necia kept her eyes on the town as she scolded Tulland. ¡°Talking to your friend?¡± ¡°We aren¡¯t exactly friends.¡± Tulland had switched off the System¡¯s access to him as soon as Necia started speaking. It was a nice feature of The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System, which considered itself to be in charge here, no matter what lesser world¡¯s System an adventurer had dragged in with them. ¡°I¡¯m still trying to figure that part out.¡± ¡°You were saying he¡¯s been helpful lately.¡± ¡°He has. And not just lately. Since I got here, he¡¯s been a legitimate help.¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s confusing. Real confusing, and I don¡¯t know how to figure out how much to¡­¡± ¡°Eyes up,¡± Necia said. ¡°Something¡¯s happening at that booth we saw earlier.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. For the better part of what they assumed was the morning, a man in full armor with a sparkling, deadly halberd had been manning a poorly built but seemingly functional booth of some kind, just sitting on a stool and waiting behind two or three bowls of something he had set out. The angle that Necia and Tulland had on the village after coming down the hill outside it was fairly flat, and they had no idea what the bowls contained. Tulland thought they might have goods of some kind, while the more practical Necia had guessed they were full of human ears. Whatever it was, the goods were now being talked over by both the booth¡¯s original user and a much smaller man carrying a back-mounted crossbow. Better yet, neither man appeared to be all that quiet of a person. Even at a distance, Tulland and Necia could hear most of what they were saying, especially once they got wound up. ¡°...that¡¯s what I¡¯m saying, Licht. When there are fewer sources of food, the cost of food goes up.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m saying you have pushed it up too high!¡± Licht, the apparent archer, was almost screeching. ¡°I have to have food or I can¡¯t go hunting. And to hunt, I need monster bones to mount on my arrows. You¡¯re asking for all my bones. All of them. For what? A bag of moldy poms?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t ask for all of them.¡± The shopkeeper looked obstinate. ¡°I said you could keep two.¡± ¡°Two, he says. Two. Imagine having a bourus chasing you down and trying to take it down with two arrows. Even if I didn¡¯t miss¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯d get eaten. Licht, this isn¡¯t my problem. Not every class relies on monster parts to make their weapons work. That¡¯s something you chose for yourself. There¡¯s plenty who will pay these prices. I can¡¯t help you.¡± Tulland glanced at Necia, who nodded grimly. This was the rule in almost any world. Rare things cost more, as needed as they might be. That rule extended to necessities, unless you lived in a place of charity. It might have been many things, but The Infinite was not a place where charity reigned. Tulland knew that as well as anyone. Despite The Infinite¡¯s System being fair with him, it hadn¡¯t done him a ton of favors since he got there. It had taken a wait-and-see approach as he went through near-death experiences again and again before finally working out how to use his broken, inadequate class to survive. And then when things started to veer out of control, it had stepped in to adjust some functions in his class. On the whole, it was a good thing. Tulland was now better equipped to handle stronger foes. But that survival was still a moment to moment thing, even now, courtesy of an ever-changing landscape of horrors and difficulties that classes dealing in shovels and pitchforks just weren¡¯t set up to handle. ¡°You know either of them?¡± Tulland whispered as low as he could. They had decided to spend as much time as they needed to get a feel for the town. ¡°From the first five floors?¡± ¡°Nope. They¡¯ve either been here a while, or I just didn¡¯t see them.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± There was an open question of when would be the best time for the two of them to make themselves known to the town. There were going to be dangers, even if the Dungeon System had made it known that those dangers would be at least somewhat limited by what it would allow.
Fifth Floor Safe Zone For those who have abandoned their strength to join the ranks of The Infinite¡¯s adventurers and who have rebuilt that might through risk, combat, and effort, rewards are aplenty. You have seen it as you climbed the floors and were showered with the weapons, armor, and items needed to further your process.
Tulland tried not scoff. So far, The Infinite had given him a few skills, a few stat potions, and precious little else of use. It was as if it didn¡¯t know how to go about equipping a farmer and tossed him whatever garbage it had hanging around. He had been unaware of just how much he was missing out on until Necia had mentioned the three full sets of armor she had worked through on her way to the fifth floor, and the nearly dozen weapons the Dungeon System had offered her for various achievements. He had been, he was just realizing, well and truly cheaped out on in that respect.
But for defeating the first truly deadly challenge of the tower, a reward awaits that borders on the truly legendary. By taking down the Cannian Knight who guards it, you have gained access to the Fifth Floor Safe Zone, the first of a series of places of rest for the weary adventurer. Fifth Floor Safe Zone Features:
  1. There are no monsters, environmental challenges, or any risks from The Infinite in the safe zone. Adventurer agency is not restricted here, meaning other climbers remain a risk to you.
  2. The safe zone markets are optimized to allow for the purchase of both comfort items and items that promote safety and security. These items are heavy discounted in the system store.
  3. All trade in the safe zone is subject to the strictest of The Infinite¡¯s fairness-enforcing rules. All prices must be clearly stated at the onset of a negotiation unless the participants truly do not know them (as might be the case in a barter), and are binding unless lowered.
  4. Returning to the safe zone is simple, if limited. At the end of each floor, an opportunity to warp back to the zone will be offered. Time in the safe zone is similarly limited, allowing for a set number of days between each floor.
  5. Your initial stay in the safe zone is limited to ten days.
Other interesting facets and rules of the zone exist to be discovered. Explore and exploit as you can to discover them.
¡°I think we might need to talk to that archer,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I thought you were being all cautious, still.¡± Necia looked amused. ¡°You wanted to spend days getting the lay of the land.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯m changing my mind. Licht seems like he¡¯s been here a while, right?¡± Tulland said. ¡°Sure?¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s a person who can give us a better lay of the land. And we can make him.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°He¡¯s hungry. Did you watch where he went?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Necia pointed. ¡°That little shack down there.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± Tulland pulled himself upright and held his hand out for Necia, who grabbed it. They walked as stealthily as they could towards the town, something that seemed to more or less work despite Necia¡¯s fully armored body and Tulland¡¯s generally bizarre farmer¡¯s get-up. It wasn¡¯t until they were passing by the same armored-warrior-manned booth that they had seen before that someone finally tried to stop them. ¡°Hey, wait!¡± the man yelled. ¡°You are new, right? You need food? Intelligence? I have both. I just need a little¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s really good! Thanks!¡± Tulland tugged on Necia¡¯s arm as they kept moving. ¡°We just need to talk to someone real quick and then we¡¯ll be back. I promise.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think you could have been more polite?¡± Necia hissed in his ear as the man behind them went from looking a little taken aback all the way to slightly offended in the blink of an eye. ¡°Just to build a relationship with someone that doesn¡¯t involve them hunting you for sport?¡± ¡°I can, I will, I promise,¡± Tulland said in a hurry. ¡°But we can¡¯t let Licht get to the arch before we get to him. He¡¯s starving, remember? A starving man doesn¡¯t spend much time waiting around.¡± ¡°Dammit. Yes. That makes sense.¡± It doesn¡¯t just make sense. That¡¯s wise. ¡°Let¡¯s just all move, okay? As fast as we can. Go, go.¡± Tulland continued tugging as he tried to make his way past all the buildings he could before their doors had a chance to open and issue distractions in his general direction. ¡°Which one was it, again?¡± ¡°That one. Four doors down. The one with almost no roof.¡± Tulland nodded and dashed to the door, getting there with no other incidents. As he reached for the handle, Necia grabbed at his arm, catching him by the wrist and holding him helplessly stationary. ¡°I keep forgetting how strong you are.¡± Tulland fought uselessly against her restraint for a moment before giving up. ¡°Why are you doing this, again?¡± ¡°Because, Tulland, this is someone¡¯s house. They have a door for a reason. This isn¡¯t the best place, but that doesn¡¯t mean you have to be an animal.¡± The princess in Necia was coming out as strong as Tulland had ever seen it. He wisely decided not to point that out. ¡°We are humans, Tulland. And humans knock.¡± Tulland sighed. She wasn¡¯t wrong, even if it wasn¡¯t exactly necessary to remember one¡¯s manners in a deadly dungeon at all times. Nodding in acquiescence, he raised his hand and knocked. Nothing happened in response, even after a half minute. ¡°Maybe he didn¡¯t hear. Knock again,¡± Necia said. ¡°Necia, it¡¯s a one-room shack. He heard. If he¡¯s in there at all, he heard.¡± Tulland reached for the handle again. ¡°And if he¡¯s not in there, we have to know right now so we can chase him down. I¡¯m opening the door.¡± Necia didn¡¯t get in the way this time. Tulland set his hand on the primitive wood handle and cranked up, hearing something clunk on the other side as the door unlatched. He pulled it open, and then squirted as he tried to make anything out in the semi-dark room in front of him. He didn¡¯t have to look long. The sound alerted him before his eyes did, but even the difference in light between the sun-drenched safe zone and the shadowed shack couldn¡¯t hide the glint of a crossbow bolt heading straight towards him stomach, deadly, sharp, and far too fast to catch. Chapter 53: Price ¡°Tulland!¡± Necia screamed as the bolt curved upward. Tulland had known that hunter-class arrows could do that. Their arrows could change directions midair and make life unpleasant for their prey. He also knew that there was only so much resistance frail flesh could put up against that kind of sharp, fast-moving pressure. Tulland just hadn¡¯t expected to ever be on the prey¡¯s side of the experience. Before he could blink, the bolt flew the final few inches and hit its mark. Necia shoved the gasping Tulland behind her as she shifted to her battle-form, destroying the top of the door as she rose to her full, strong, vitality-and-strength class glory. Her sword was out in a flash of light, leveled in the direction of the bolt as she advanced forward. Dying on the floor, Tulland was surprised how little the bolt hurt. He supposed getting hit in the heart might come with that kind of mercy, a sort of painless shock to ease one¡¯s passing. There was less blood than he might have thought too. And also just less everything, somehow, almost like he hadn¡¯t been shot at all. ¡°Oh, calm your idiot hindquarters down. It was a warning shot.¡± Licht walked out of the darkness, dodging to the side of Necia¡¯s reflexive sword-thrust with a light agility beyond anything Tulland had seen from anyone but the evil rogue-class that had attacked him and Necia. ¡°New people.¡± At a gesture from Licht, both Necia¡¯s and Tulland¡¯s eyes rose to the frame of the door, where the crossbow bolt had thudded into wood instead of Tulland¡¯s chest. ¡°But he gasped like he got hit!¡± Necia turned to Tulland, who was sitting up. ¡°You gasped!¡± ¡°Your little boyfriend is probably just a bit easier to startle than you¡¯d expect. Although I can¡¯t blame him too much. I did put a lot of speed on that one.¡± The man glanced at his crossbow with affection before crossing over to where Tulland had fallen to retrieve his arrow. ¡°And of course my arrowhead shattered. Great. Just my luck.¡± ¡°Just out of curiosity, why did you call me her boyfriend?¡± Tulland sat up and started brushing the dust off his clothes, trying to look as dignified as he could under the circumstances. ¡°Not that I¡¯m not, just wondering if any particular sign gave it away.¡± ¡°You are asking for the clearest indication? It was probably when she tried to pin me to the studs of my own house for so much as scratching you. It would have worked, too, if she were a little faster. You¡¯re a scary one, girl.¡± The man looked down as his own stomach made an almost furious groaning sound. ¡°Now could you please, please go bother someone else? I¡¯m not much of a teacher, I don¡¯t like either of you, and I¡¯m short on time before I burn enough energy that I can¡¯t hunt anymore. I¡¯m not in the business of picking up strays, and I¡¯d appreciate it very much if you¡¯d just be on your little, pathetic, time-wasting ways.¡± Tulland nodded, trying not to look amused at what was about to happen as he reached into his pack, grabbed a bag of rice-like grains about as big as the man¡¯s upper arm and opened it. Not even an annoyed, hurried archer could miss seeing exactly what they were. ¡°Oh. Huh. Well, that changes things.¡± The man tossed his crossbow over his shoulder, where it hit the wall and clattered into the dirt. ¡°Would you like a chair, sir? Ma¡¯am? Let me know if there are other honorifics I should use. I¡¯d be glad to use them. Or do whatever else you might want.¡± Necia looked down at the man with a sort of unimpressed semi-disgust. ¡°That was a quick change,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m a quick type of guy. Now, first things first, where¡¯d you get that? Because there¡¯s not any grain at all outside of system purchases to be had in this blasted place, and you sure as hell don¡¯t have enough excess experience to buy all that from The Infinite.¡± Tulland quirked an eyebrow as he brought out his Farmer¡¯s Tool, let it grow into a full pitchfork, and gestured at his clothes. He watched as the lights of understanding slowly came on in Licht¡¯s eyes, and then as the man mouthed a single, magic word. Farmer. ¡°Your majesty.¡± Licht bowed. ¡°I am but your humble servant.¡± ¡°Shush.¡± Tulland said, accepting a chair from Licht and pushing it towards Necia, who was just now shrinking down to her usual size. ¡°She¡¯s the majesty, anyway. Can you cook?¡± The man eyed the grains greedily. ¡°Well enough. Not that I need to be that much of a cook to just boil grains.¡± Tulland had never seen a person¡¯s soul shatter and reform before, but he was pretty sure he watched it happen as he pulled a variety of vegetables, fruits, and grains from his bag and laid them on the room¡¯s one crude table.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°I would die for you,¡± Licht prayed. ¡°And will probably have to if anyone sees all that. Close the door, would you? I¡¯d like to at least eat before the starving animals in this zone rip you apart.¡± ¡ª ¡°So to be clear, you can make an infinite amount of this stuff? Just for free?¡± Licht asked for what was like the fifth time after everyone made their introductions. ¡°Well, not infinite. But I think I can make enough such that we don¡¯t starve. More, if I had time to get the seed stock I need to make this work.¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t do that. At least not yet.¡± Licht paused to load his mouth with a stupidly large amount of food, chewed, and swallowed. Tulland truly didn¡¯t know where he was putting all of it, but as the man wasn¡¯t being at all stingy with information, he was free to eat his fill. ¡°So let¡¯s recap, shall we? Necia, you¡¯ve been taking notes, right?¡± ¡°Yes. So far, we¡¯ve figured out there¡¯s about fifty people in this town, most of whom won¡¯t be useful to us outside of being generically able to bring back monster parts and flesh to use as fertilizer. And pretty much everyone is dangerous,¡± Necia said. ¡°Anyone with a knife. Or who can fight at a distance. Really, the only people you should be trying to tangle with are slow, weak blunt weapon users, and there aren¡¯t many of those around here.¡± ¡°Great. And you only have information on the next two floors.¡± ¡°Right. Because I haven¡¯t beaten the seventh yet. You should be able to stick together at least until then. I partied up for the sixth, as much as I wish I hadn¡¯t. There¡¯s no way to know whether you¡¯ll be allowed to party up on a particular floor unless the Dungeon System tells you, and I haven¡¯t had the excess funds to buy information. Which is another thing I should tell you, to buy another spoonful of this¡­ what did you call this?¡± ¡°Food.¡± ¡°Ah, sure.¡± He took another spoonful of the food, savored it, then swallowed. ¡°Everything is for sale in this place. Which means you can¡¯t afford to give anything away for free. I¡¯m talking really anything. Information. Food. Encouraging pats on the back. It all has a value. And as rich as you are in some ways, not everyone has trouble getting food. You need to conserve resources until you can get a price for them.¡± ¡°Which sort of brings us to our next point.¡± Tulland stood and stretched. ¡°You need to finish that food and start showing us around town. Because we need to find a way to get a farm started as soon as possible, and that¡¯s not going to be a secret very long unless we find a way to hide it. Barring you have some trick that we don¡¯t know about, that is.¡± ¡°Hm. You plan on sharing all that food you grow with me? If I could find a way?¡± Licht asked. Tulland nodded. It was a small concession to make, in the grand scheme of things. Especially since Licht already knew Tulland could grow food. ¡°Then yeah, I think I can help you. I¡¯ll show you around town first, then we can get to it.¡± Licht lifted his bowl up to his lips and drained the rest of the contents in a long, almost continuous swallow that would have disgusted Tulland if it wasn¡¯t for the sheer, impressive desperation that was probably necessary to do something like that in the first place. ¡°Come on. I¡¯ll lead you to your palace.¡± The town itself wasn¡¯t huge, nor was it so very stocked with amenities that it took a long time to tour for other reasons. Licht took them on a quick lap, pointing out what he thought were the must-know facts about it. ¡°That¡¯s the tavern, such as it is. For whatever reason, The Infinite gives items that produce alcohol at a discounted experience cost. Most people leave them here until they get to level ten, for anyone to use. Not cheap, exactly, but it¡¯s worth it from time to time.¡± ¡°Even when you are capped?¡± Tulland raised his eyebrows. A permanent loss of strength didn¡¯t sound worth it for a mug of beer. ¡°Capped? Experience spent on stuff with the Dungeon System subtracts from caps. Which is information I should be charging you for.¡± Licht dismissed the thought with a wave over his shoulder. ¡°Grow me a carrot or something later. Now, this house? It¡¯s Onslo¡¯s. Big bruiser you saw running a stand earlier. And the house by his, that was vacant until a few days ago when some creepy little guy took it. New arrival. Didn¡¯t talk to anyone. Gives me the willies.¡± Tulland stopped in his tracks, as did Necia. It took Licht¡¯s archer¡¯s awareness less than a second to notice. ¡°You know him, I see. Which one of you did he try to hunt?¡± Licht asked. ¡°Both of us. Different times. He¡¯s here now?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No, thank the system. In the sixth. And that¡¯s a long one. You¡¯ll be in the sixth yourself before he comes back. And that¡¯s instanced, you won¡¯t see him.¡± ¡°Ah. Good, then.¡± ¡°If you play it right, you might never see him. Schedules are pretty predictable, as things go around here. Everyone gets ten days to stay in the safe zone and they generally use up as many of those days as they can. You might need to buy information on each level to know how long he¡¯ll be gone, but having someone keep an eye out for you on when he leaves for each floor should be cheap.¡± Licht marched them through the town, stopping finally in front of a broken down structure. It was huge, by the standards of the town, probably bigger than Tulland¡¯s uncle¡¯s house and workshop put together. It had a roof, kind of, or at least the wooden structure on which a roof would normally be built. ¡°Congratulations.¡± Licht smiled. ¡°Your new home.¡± ¡°This is a mess.¡± Necia picked a piece of shattered fence off the ground and chucked it against the side of the house, reducing the rotted wood to splinters. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t stone, it would have collapsed by now.¡± ¡°Sure. But it¡¯s enclosed. And it¡¯s big, They say the guy that built it had a problem. Could you fit your entire farm in here?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± Tulland eyeballed the building. ¡°Definitely. But wouldn¡¯t people know it was here?¡± ¡°Eventually, yeah. But if you put it out in the open, someone¡¯s gonna find it. This safe zone isn¡¯t an infinite space. Eventually, someone¡¯s going to do their training in the direction of your farm, and you¡¯ll be lost. And this is up to you, but there¡¯s an option you don¡¯t know about yet. Step through the door.¡± Tulland shook his head at all of the delays Licht¡¯s natural showmanship was causing, but he had no reason to distrust the hunter. So far, the man had been exactly what Tulland and Necia needed. With Necia staying behind in case things went wrong, he stepped through the door. Chapter 54: Bucket
House Claim Interface You have built or found an unoccupied structure in a safe zone. You may, without expense, set this structure as your home. When you occupy your own home in the safe zone, you may keep others from entering, although they may still exit at will. Anyone can be designated as having any access to the home you choose, including access rights, observation rights, or even the ability to grant the same. You may also increase the privacy of the home, rendering any windows, gaps, or holes in the structure opaque to observation by any but those approved to enter the home.
¡°Besides having no monsters, a safe zone is called a safe zone because of this,¡± Licht said behind Tulland. ¡°The house claim means you¡¯re safe from human danger if you so choose.¡± ¡°Privacy is nice, but if it only works while I''m here?¡± Tulland said. ¡°Someone¡¯s eventually going to check the interior out.¡± ¡°Try thinking about advanced options, or something like that.¡± Licht shook his head at the confused look his statement drew. ¡°Just do it. The Infinite will know what you are talking about.¡± Tulland obeyed, bringing up a menu of dozens of ridiculously expensive, nearly useless options that he¡¯d never purchase with his hard-earned experience. Most seemed aimed at crafting classes or warrior classes that got buffs from better rest. It took a minute of thumbing through the options until he finally found the useful thing Licht had set him searching for.
Improved Privacy For the cost of two randomly selected levels of skill development, you may permanently increase the privacy of any of your claimed homes in any safe zone. While you are gone, the home will be impenetrable to entrance or inspection by any unapproved party. While this does not render the home invulnerable to normal weathering or collapse, a house with improved privacy may not be broken down or destroyed by a third party.
¡°Oof. That¡¯s expensive.¡± Tulland told Necia what he had seen. ¡°But I think I have to take it.¡± ¡°Are you sure? It seems like a lot of cost,¡± Necia said. ¡°It is. But it¡¯s a skill that works through any safe zone, right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Imagine if I¡¯m relying on this farm to fuel my climb, or something like that, and someone sabotages it. I¡¯d be ruined.¡± Tulland looked through the door again, mentally claiming the home but not spending his experience on it just yet. ¡°Plus, if I have a completely safe farm, I can do long-term growing. Massive trees. Slow-growth plants. I¡¯m bound to find a use for the permanence.¡± ¡°And that¡­ helps?¡± Licht looked lost. ¡°Your class benefits from it?¡± ¡°Yes, although I won¡¯t tell you how. It¡¯s worth it.¡± Tulland looked through the door, pleased to see the original builder¡¯s insanity hadn¡¯t gone as far as to install actual flooring. He could start improving the soil today if he wanted to. ¡°I wonder if there¡¯s any way to distract from the fact we chose the biggest, worst house in town, though. Someone might get suspicious.¡± ¡°You could do the classic princess routine,¡± Licht said, and then shook his head right as Necia began to ask why that mattered. ¡°Not enough time. I¡¯ll tell you later.¡± ¡°And the soil isn¡¯t great.¡± Tulland leaned down and touched the ground. His Farmer¡¯s Intuition told him he wasn¡¯t dealing with very good dirt, as dirt went. ¡°I¡¯d have to find something to make it better with.¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, I guess. What kind of stuff?¡± Licht asked. ¡°Long term? Monster meat and blood. Most of the plants I grow love it. But short term? Any organic material. Stuff that can be mixed with the dirt to inject it with nutrients. The plants aren¡¯t picky.¡± ¡°Ah. I have something for that too.¡± Licht looked embarrassed. ¡°You won¡¯t like it. But you are going to do it? Take the house and improve it?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Tulland gave the Dungeon System permission to draw from his class, immediately feeling slightly weaker as some of his skill levels leaked out of him. ¡°Should be done now. I added you two to the approved list, for what it¡¯s worth.¡± ¡°Good. If you really, really promise to help me, I¡¯ll show you the other stuff you need, too,¡± Licht said.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yes. I can probably whip something up for that, actually.¡± A few seconds of thought were all it took to rope The Infinite into the process. Tulland and Licht got the contract at the same time. Non-aggression, feeding, and information-sharing contract
Tulland Lowstreet proposes an alliance with the following terms:
  1. While residing in the fifth floor safe zone, Tulland will attempt to grow food to the best of his ability. Licht Light will lay claim to up to double the amount Licht needs to survive various floor runs.
  2. In return, Licht will provide any and all information he can of the type relevant to survival and success in both the safe zone and floors six through ten.
  3. Both parties agree to take no action to damage each other¡¯s bodies, possessions, or interests in both this safe zone and floors six through ten. For the purposes of this agreement, the body, possessions, and interests of Necia Iroth are considered an interest of Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s.
  4. Either party may withdraw from this agreement at any time. The other party will be notified by system message should this occur. No physical actions can be taken by either party to harm the other within three days of the dissolution of the agreement.
¡°Hm. Seems good enough,¡± Licht said, nodding. ¡°I can agree to this. Glad to, honestly.¡± ¡°So can I.¡± Tulland did too. He¡¯d be growing so much food soon that Licht¡¯s share would hardly matter. Having a contractual ally was, in comparison, a much, much bigger deal. ¡°Is your name really Licht Light?¡± ¡°Yes. No. Kind of. It¡¯s a long story. And¡­¡± Licht¡¯s eyes went far-away for a moment. ¡°And it looks like the Dungeon System doesn¡¯t consider that story to be relevant to your survival and thriving here. Sorry. I¡¯m keeping that to myself.¡± ¡°Gotcha. So, you said you could help us conceal our purpose here for a little while, and find fertilizer. Which is quicker?¡± ¡°The tricks, luckily. I¡¯m not looking forward to the other.¡± ¡ª A few minutes later, Tulland and Necia were in the bar, drinking some experience-bought wine out of rough, barely adequate cups. ¡°Your lady, I must protest,¡± Tulland said, bowing. ¡°This home is¡­. It¡¯s barely standing, your grace. It¡¯s simply too much effort for¡­¡± ¡°Silence!¡± Necia¡¯s face drew back into a cruel scowl. ¡°You think I don¡¯t know it will take your effort? Why do you think I brought you, slave?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a servant, majesty, not a slave, and¡­¡± ¡°And you will do as I say or I will let you die here.¡± Necia lifted her mug and dashed off the last of her wine. ¡°I am a princess of the lands of shadow and thorn. The king¡¯s own daughter, begat by his seed with the chief of his wives. You think I would settle for anything less than the largest home in town? To be left in lesser accommodations than¡­ commoners?¡± ¡°I apologize, princess. Of course not.¡± Tulland had barely managed to keep his face straight at the surprise usage of begat, but was now more or less in control of himself again. ¡°And the plants, you said¡­¡± ¡°My plants. The royal garden. Yes, I will require my flowers.¡± Necia lifted her hand in a stop-motion, cutting off Tulland¡¯s pretend protest. ¡°I do not care what it takes. You will feed them and grow them with whatever resources you can find. If I¡¯m going to live in a hovel, it will at least be as good of a hovel as your work can make it.¡± Necia leaned in, looking remarkably convincing in her role of a spoiled, evil monarch. ¡°Are we understood, peasant?¡± she sneered. ¡°Do you need further instructions?¡± ¡°Of course not, princess.¡± Tulland bowed. ¡°If you will accompany me back, I will give you my thoughts on how I¡¯ll begin, and you can adjust them as you see the need.¡± Doing his best to look cowed and beaten, Tulland chased after Necia as she strode through town. Very few of the several people present looked afraid of her as they passed, but all of them seemed to have suddenly realized she was much too big of a pain to interact with to be worth it, at least in that moment. It took no time at all to be back in the safety of their own system-enhanced walls. ¡°Was I good?¡± Necia hugged Tulland. ¡°Gods, that was so fun.¡± ¡°You were fine. Great, even. Where¡¯d you get all that begat and quiet, peasant! stuff? It was great.¡± ¡°A book from my home world about an evil queen. They made sure to have young princesses read it, I think. To keep us from becoming like here.¡± ¡°Well, it worked. I almost laughed ten times.¡± ¡°Me too.¡± Licht appeared at the back door. ¡°And word around town is that you are a terror of the very annoying and useless sort. You shouldn¡¯t have to socialize from now on if you don¡¯t want to. Which I¡¯d recommend, frankly. Few people will attack you on sight here, and most disapprove of that kind of thing and will step in. But there¡¯s still danger here.¡± Tulland nodded. If nothing else, a climber was worth a great deal of experience to anyone who could take them down. In a world where just a small edge might be key to surviving, that made almost anyone a potential threat. ¡°What I still don¡¯t get is the royal garden stuff. You said it was important, but I don¡¯t see how.¡± Tulland patted his bag. ¡°I have all the seeds I¡¯ll ever need right here. It¡¯s not like I was going to be carrying in whole trees. Probably.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not seeds I¡¯m worried about.¡± Licht sighed. ¡°It¡¯s your soil. And Tulland? I¡¯m really, really sorry about what¡¯s coming next.¡± ¡ª Further outside of town than Tulland would have thought, he found the trench. It was hard to miss it, since little flies were buzzing around from miles away. ¡°This is horrifying,¡± Tulland choked out. ¡°Why is this even here?¡± ¡°Because it can¡¯t be in town. The Infinite considers that an attack, for reasons I don¡¯t understand. And because people didn¡¯t want to find a new place to do it, every time. I don¡¯t know. But to the extent there¡¯s fertilized soil around here¡­¡± Tulland felt sick, and almost held his nose against the stench. He would have shot this idea down right away if it wasn¡¯t for his Farmer¡¯s Intuition making sure he knew that it was a very, very good idea from an agricultural perspective. Here, it said, were the literal generations¡¯ worth of adventurer-provided nutrients, free for the taking. It wasn¡¯t quite Earth Giant soil, but it was depressingly close to the same quality, and not a resource he could pass up. ¡°Oh, I get it.¡± Necia was standing much further back, looking at Tulland with sympathy. ¡°Now everyone will think you are carting this stuff around town because I¡¯m crazy, not because you are. I¡¯m sorry, Tulland. I don¡¯t think I can help you with this one.¡± Tulland sighed. ¡°Okay, fine. Licht, take me to somewhere I can sell some sad little fruits. I¡¯m thinking I¡¯ll need to.¡± ¡°Sure, but why?¡± ¡°You would have to be crazy to think I¡¯m doing this without a bucket. Who has one to sell?¡± Chapter 55: The Infinite Storehouse Hours and hours of filthy work later, Tulland was done mixing up his soil. It wasn¡¯t just a matter of the slop from the trench, even though that was a huge component of the work. Farmer¡¯s Intuition kept insisting something was missing, and eventually, Tulland figured out that the answer was bucket after bucket of sand from the river. Once he was done with that, he could still tell there were several little components that were missing, all of which he had no clue how to get. He didn¡¯t even know what they were, besides a slight dream-like implication of the general feel of them. They¡¯d have to wait until he had a better sense of how all this worked. But he would have a better sense, eventually. So far, he had been growing entirely separate gardens on every floor, temporary things that he felt were good enough for the moment but that hadn¡¯t promoted developing strategies or experimentation as much as he would have liked. That was changing now. Now he could work from a long-term standpoint, at least as compared to his usual perspective. That was potentially a very good thing. But for it to be a really good thing, he needed more seeds in his satchel than he already had. And that meant going shopping. ¡°No, don¡¯t come anywhere near me.¡± Necia was in a far corner of the house, sitting on a rough stool someone had hacked out of a log. ¡°The place already smells bad enough without you dragging the worst parts of it towards me. Did you look into having a bath?¡± Necia had, a long time ago now, explained to Tulland that most people were buying their rations from the system store. More recently, Licht had explained that doing so was a trap of sorts. A really good hunting expedition could produce a lot of experience, but the cost of buying food went up a lot past the fifth-floor barrier. The alternative was to forage, which cost time and energy that could have otherwise gone toward experience gaining. These were the two options for food available until the tenth floor, which was the furthest anyone could climb while still retaining the ability to report back. The merchant Licht had been talking with wasn¡¯t, in the end, a merchant. He was just someone who had gotten lucky enough to have an excess of food, which meant he was saving his own experience and also gaining points from other adventurers. Licht, on the other hand, was running afoul of the food-experience trap. He had been spending more and more time and experience to stay fed after entering the safe zone. If things kept up, he would have started shelling out more experience than he gained. Then, he¡¯d be sunk, destined to get weaker and weaker for the sake of food until he became a meal for something else. None of this had ever been a risk for Tulland, who had zero access to the food menus from The Infinite. But he had been able to get just a taste of the costs when the various windows related to housing popped up. But it was only now, when he began to dream of a good bath, that he was finally able to confirm the existence of system-provided purchasable items for himself.
The Infinite Storehouse The Infinite is meant to be a challenge of the best that a world can bring to bear, not one of meaningless survival. On many floors, some things that you might need or want are simply not obtainable. While many things fall short of the high bar of being true necessities, it is also true that most amenities don¡¯t exist in dangerous, monster-laden woods or barren, environmentally volatile wastelands. The Infinite¡¯s Storehouse bridges some of this gap by taking your rewards from facing good, old-fashioned common dangers and converting them to a currency of sorts, spendable on any number of items both useful and desirable to the adventurer on the go. In doing so, The Infinite allows for the reasonable purchases of a few creature comforts with the explicit purpose of promoting continued sanity and morale in its climbers. Be warned: This market is explicitly geared towards the emergency need or the very rare indulgence. Over-use of its services can and will result in disaster.
You are currently an occupant of the fifth floor safe zone. Purchases of designated safe zone goods (to be left in the zone upon leaving) are heavily discounted.
Tulland found that heavily discounted still meant unrealistically expensive. He could no sooner buy a table than he could purchase the entire dungeon, as much as he might like to. He was years away from buying the most basic bed. But some things, like a bar of soap, were cheap. ¡°You know, that might not be a bad idea,¡± Tulland said as he scrolled through the options. ¡°More like a very, very good idea.¡± Necia held her nose. ¡°I could use one myself too.¡± Unfortunately, hot water was not for sale. With Licht¡¯s guidance, Tulland found a stream deep enough to easily bathe in, but one that was also only just warmer than ice would have been. He spent as much time as he could in the water, then a few minutes scrubbing out his clothes with soap until the river water was just as clear coming out of them as it was going in. He then returned home, passed the soap off to Necia, and was almost dry and comfortable by the time she walked back into view, wringing the water out of her hair. ¡°So you ready for your little search?¡± Necia asked. ¡°We can go right now.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to spend some time drying off?¡± ¡°No use. I¡¯ll be just as cold out there as here. Let¡¯s get going.¡± Assuming their roles as the haughty, annoying princess and the weak-willed, put-upon servant, they wandered out of the village and into the surrounding wilderness. Unlike most places in The Infinite, the safe zone wilderness held no true threats. There were no animals, something Licht had bemoaned. If there had been, he said, he would have no problems feeding himself at all. Other adventurers were still a risk to them though. They walked in a straight line just long enough to break sight from the village, then immediately zigzagged in an unrelated direction. Keeping their eyes peeled for threats, they did everything they could to put distance between them and the village in an unpredictable sort of way, shaking off anyone who might be following them.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. It was a lot of walking, which left a lot of time to pick plants. ¡°What about this?¡± Necia asked. ¡°The grass, or the weed?¡± Tulland looked on suspiciously. ¡°Both?¡± Tulland moved a bit closer. ¡°The grass I have, the weed is new. Toss it in the pack.¡± Half of Tulland¡¯s garden was already planted, courtesy of a full night¡¯s work, a full pack of seeds, and some careful planning. First, he had dedicated a half of his garden to briars of various kinds, judging them to be too important to his combat capabilities to skimp on, even if the less-verbose versions of their descriptions indicated that both would be inadequate sooner or later.
Lunger Briars Your bread-and-butter plant through the first five floors, the briar¡¯s first and most important function was to produce edible food in the form of nutritious but mediocre tasting fruits. They excel in this role, creating a nearly nutritionally complete product in all but the harshest growing conditions. These briars also mutated using monster-based fertilizer to become aggressive, mobile hunters. The Lunger Briars will reach for any target you consider a threat, constricting them even as they dig their fine, agonizing thorns into any soft surface they can find. Lunger Briars are a relatively weak plant, as befits their early dungeon origin. At your current skill, growing Lunger Briars up to their level cap is trivial. Their use in the future, if any, will likely be as breeding stock for new, more powerful varieties of plant.
Giant¡¯s Hair A variant of Lunger Briars that sacrifices the agony of its predecessor¡¯s thorns in favor of better grip and stronger restriction. While the Lunger Briars were depressingly easy to cut through, the Giant¡¯s Hair variant is slightly better at resisting slashing or cutting. Even so, the Giant¡¯s Hair is only a medium-sized improvement over the Lunger Briars. Seek improvements to it when possible.
Even considering The Infinite¡¯s obvious disdain for the briar plants, they were still the main way Tulland approached killing his many enemies, and thus got the lion¡¯s share of his plot. The rest of the space was taken up by a few varieties of trees, each of which had their own potential uses.
Ironbranch Tree This tree is not particularly pretty, particularly tall-growing, or in any way exceptional outside of its unusually tough wood. While well-cared for plantings of the Ironbranch tree will eventually gain impressively thick trunks, those grown within reasonable time-frames will usually assume a shape more suitable for spear shafts than barrels-making.
Giant¡¯s Toe (Ironbranch Variant) Much like the Ironbranch tree, this variant produces hard, tough wood. Unlike it, it¡¯s a thick-growing tree that sacrifices potential height for sheer mass. In most other ways outside of shape, it is identical to the Ironbranch Tree and can be substituted for the same purposes.
Growing both varieties meant that Tulland would have ample stock for both enhancing his Farmer¡¯s Tool and creating armor, but it also meant variety. Lesser trees like the Achewood and Wolfwood were comparatively less useful outside of serving as platforms for growing mosses and other parasites, but they were still worth it just for that and sheer variety. And variety was important. At the end of the day, every last bit of Tulland¡¯s strength was tied to how good of a farm he could make. His plants were stronger when his farm was better, and the armor and weapons he made out of those plants were stronger too. Adding the knowledge that only through experimentation with new seeds could he come up with anything to replace his older, weaker plants intensified that need to avoid a monoculture. ¡°Is this enough?¡± Necia asked. After a few more hours of searching, they had eleven distinct weed-like plants, several grasses, a few colorful mosses, and seeds for each of the three types of trees that grew here. None of them seemed to be particularly special to Tulland, mostly carrying descriptions of a type he was starting to think indicated they were just plants from another place, transplanted here to serve as set dressing.
Entheos Tree Known for it¡¯s especially colorful leaves after the onset of the cold season, the Entheos tree produces a soft, sappy wood ill-suited for most building and crafting.
¡°I think so. I mean, keep an eye out as you walk around, but it seems like we¡¯ve tapped out most of what¡¯s here,¡± Tulland said. ¡°And that¡¯s it? You just grow that?¡± ¡°Yeah. And mess around with proportions of things, trying to fine-tune how much energy I¡¯m getting out of the farm. It¡¯s not like I can go to another floor yet.¡± ¡°Good. Because I¡¯m ready to eat.¡± Necia patted her stomach sympathetically, but it was Tulland¡¯s that growled at the mention of food. ¡°Sounds like you are too.¡± ¡°Yeah. Let¡¯s go.¡± It had taken them a few hours to get where they were, but they had zigzagged a lot in the process and had been looking pretty closely at the environment so as not to miss anything. Beelining it straight back would be much, much faster, though it would still take at least several minutes. ¡°I actually wish I could get my hand on that orange. Or whatever it was. The thing that Licht was trying to buy.¡± Tulland¡¯s magical storage space would sterilize the seeds he tried to put in it, but he figured that was more likely to be a restriction on him personally than an overall aspect of how most people¡¯s magic packs worked, if they had them at all. ¡°But I don¡¯t have anything valuable.¡± Necia stopped in her tracks. ¡°Tulland, you idiot. Ugh, not even just you. I¡¯m also dumb. We are rich. We can buy that orange because you and I are rich.¡± ¡°How do you figure?¡± Tulland did a quick mental inventory of what he had on him, and it was mostly stuff that would be useless to everyone else, plus one bar of soap. ¡°It¡¯s just seeds and stuff.¡± ¡°And food, Tulland. How many pounds of rice do you have on you? I mean right now.¡± ¡°Right now?¡± Tulland checked in his bag. ¡°Probably about twenty, I guess.¡± ¡°Which is how many levels worth of experience? I don¡¯t even want to count. At the very least it¡¯s enough to trade for one orange, and probably anything else we want until we flood the market.¡± ¡°Well, sure.¡± Tulland slowly mulled over the implications, trying his best not to think about what it meant that he had forgotten that food costs money. ¡°But is it smart to let them know we have all that, this soon? I¡¯d rather be a bit stronger before we¡­ you know. Demonstrated my value, or whatever. I don¡¯t want to encourage them to attack me. Or enslave me. Both seem pretty bad.¡± ¡°Tulland, I¡¯m not saying that you empty your entire cheater¡¯s storage out in front of him. That¡¯s stupid.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± ¡°You just start looking more contrite and cowed. The mighty princess has an idea.¡± Chapter 56: Training Tulland moved up to the man¡¯s stand, keeping his shoulders slouched in a defeated, sad-sack sort of way as he closed in. The man watched Tulland with a mostly bored curiosity as he came to a stop in front of his stand. Licht had been exaggerating when he said that the man¡¯s oranges were moldy, but barely. In addition to not being that much like oranges, they were obviously withered and bruised. ¡°An orange,¡± Tulland said, as quietly as he could. Quieter, in fact, then he thought the man could probably hear. ¡°Please.¡± ¡°What? Speak up, weakling.¡± The man pounded his big fist down on the table, fast enough and with a loud enough sound that he almost startled Tulland in earnest. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°My mistress desires fruit. I need to buy some,¡± Tulland said, a little louder, before looking doubtful and raising his voice to a level of almost shouting. ¡°I¡¯d like to buy an orange!¡± ¡°Good elephantine god, boy. Quiet down before people think I¡¯m killing you.¡± The man glanced towards Necia, who was leaning on someone else¡¯s house with a spoiled, disinterested look on her face. ¡°Is she as bad as they say? I heard she was giving you a hard time in the bar.¡± Tulland looked at Necia in mock panic, then back to the man, replying in a whisper. ¡°Yes. Worse. They sent five people in to accompany the young miss and I¡¯m the only one who made it through.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s not like you have to obey her now. No going back, you know.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Tulland looked doubtful. ¡°I took some oaths, before we left. Those aren¡¯t just words, back home. Don¡¯t know what happens if I break them here. And given what I swore to¡­ don¡¯t want to risk it. Do you have the oranges, or not?¡± ¡°I do.¡± The man nodded. ¡°What do you have to trade?¡± ¡°This.¡± Tulland pulled out a small sack of rice, about the size of both his fists bunched together. ¡°Good enough, I think?¡± The man¡¯s eyes were wide and attentive. ¡°Where¡¯d you get this, boy?¡± ¡°There¡¯s enough there to pay you for not asking that. Doesn¡¯t matter, anyway. The last five floors are behind us. You¡¯ll take it?¡± ¡°Of course. But¡­¡± The man looked down at his gross fruits, doubtfully. ¡°These aren¡¯t much good at this point. Sure she¡¯ll want them? I wouldn¡¯t want to get you in more trouble.¡± ¡°If her idea doesn¡¯t work out, that¡¯s one thing. If I fail¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s another. I understand.¡± The man tossed Tulland one of the fruits and scooped up the rice. ¡°Thanks for this. I¡¯ll remember it.¡± Tulland walked away from the stand with the orange in hand, unable to put it in his dimensional storage and not wanting to reveal the fact that he had such a thing to anyone who might be watching. As Necia made a big show of being unsatisfied with the fruit her idiot servant had brought her, they made their way back to camp. ¡°Oh, the place doesn¡¯t smell as bad now.¡± Necia wrinkled her nose. ¡°It still stinks, though.¡± ¡°I think about half of that fertilizer is already sopped up, by now. The plants had a lot of my magic in them when we left. They need the fuel to grow.¡± Tulland opened the door to a whole lot of new green growing on top of soil that looked more or less dried and normal now. ¡°And as soon as I plant the other side and get it going, it should be pretty much cleaned up.¡± It took him about an hour to arrange everything just the way he wanted. The three new tree seeds each had their own little section of farm, and he filled in the gap between all of his preexisting plants with food seeds. Then, he added the grasses and grass seeds he had picked up. Where there was space left, and there was plenty, he went around planting every useless little weed and shrub he had picked up during his journeys, emptying out his entire seed pouch in one big go. In the end, he was growing every single plant he could be, and was draining his magic power into getting them healthy and tall every time it refilled. ¡°That¡¯s already green.¡± Necia nodded approvingly at the sprouting grasses. ¡°Think this will do it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s everything I can do, besides the orange, some mosses that need trees to grow, and those yellow flowers you like. It¡¯s every plant I¡¯ve ever encountered, besides some things I found on the first level. I wish I hadn¡¯t left some of those behind now,¡± Tulland said. ¡°So we wait,¡± Necia concluded. ¡°Yeah. Not much more than that. I¡¯ll get on cooking food, if you just want to sit outside.¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Tulland, you¡¯re speaking my language. That will do fine.¡± ¡ª Tulland held his pitchfork down at his side, while standing a big, suitably empty space to practice in. ¡°The first step here, Tulland, is to actually understand what you do. I understand you aren¡¯t a melee combat focused class, but I have no idea how bad you are.¡± ¡°Gee, thanks. Good old Licht, always making a guy feel good.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t take it personally. You reacted to my arrow like no one ever taught you how to dodge. Basically everyone I¡¯ve ever met who got into combat situations had combat training. Even magician classes learn how to do staffwork. Every little bit helps, so people take classes.¡± Licht pantomimed swinging a staff awkwardly in front of him, as if keeping a horde of beasts at bay. ¡°But you haven¡¯t at all, right? I can tell.¡± ¡°He hasn¡¯t. Agreed.¡± Necia didn¡¯t give Tulland a chance to answer before reaching down and lifting up his pitchfork. ¡°Now, Tulland, to start, weapons come in several classes, but broadly you are looking at swords, spears, axes, and clubs of various lengths. I use a medium length sword, and Licht uses a shorter length when he¡¯s not using his crossbow.¡± ¡°I would have called it a dagger.¡± ¡°So would anybody. It doesn¡¯t change its classification as a very short sword. And its implication on how it¡¯s used. Licht, could you hold your dagger out?¡± Licht complied, extending his dagger out slightly above his waist level with the point aimed upwards. ¡°Now, look at his hand. See how his thumb sits? He¡¯s not just grasping it in a fist, and that gives him a bit more flexibility. He can pivot it further, and it reaches a bit farther. Now, look at me.¡± Necia held her sword out in about the same way Licht had. ¡°See how the grip is really similar? I can tell Licht learned from a slightly different school of thought, but what it works in the same general way. Now, hold your own weapon out. Like you were going to stab Licht with it.¡± Licht turned to face Tulland aggressively, or at least in an aggressive stance. Tulland brought up his weapon, for the first time aware that he was doing it almost exactly wrong. As the tines leveled out, he found that he was white-knuckling the shaft of the weapon, each hand wrapped in a tight fist around the handle. He looked up apologetically at Necia, who seemed content to let him figure it out. Tulland tried to remember their actual grip, which was significantly more handshake-like than how he normally held his weapon. He adjusted his grip to match theirs as best he could, then gave a few experimental stabs. ¡°OK, that¡¯s closer.¡± Necia walked forward and made some subtle adjustment¡¯s to Tulland¡¯s grip. These were less obvious compared to the big, drastic change he had already covered, but he had to think she knew what she was doing. ¡°Okay. Now fight with me and Licht for a while. And don¡¯t focus on performance. It doesn¡¯t matter how well you think you are doing. I just want you to focus on trying to hit us while maintaining that exact grip.¡± ¡°You really want me to hit you?¡± Necia looked over at Licht, who smirked. ¡°I think we¡¯ll be fine, Tulland. Give it your best shot.¡± The sarcasm was not unwarranted. For the next two hours, both Necia and Licht danced around Tulland¡¯s strikes, effortlessly avoiding even the appearance of danger. Worse, there were two of them, both of whom could and did hit him at will. Tulland chased after them uselessly, only stopping when Necia would knock him over, correct his grip on the pitchfork, then tell him to start again. After a few hours, though, the grip was kind of permanent. Something about getting pounded with the pommel of his girlfriend¡¯s sword beat the practice into him in a way mere repetition never could have. He was bruised and broken by the time Necia called a stop to it. ¡°Good. Two hours to get the grip isn¡¯t great, but you have it.¡± ¡°Give me a second,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Just a few minutes. And I¡¯ll be able to hunt.¡± ¡°Hunt? Oh, no.¡± Licht snickered in the background. ¡°Now that you have grip, it¡¯s time to work on stance.¡± Two more hours of bone-bruising work came and went as Tulland fought, fell, tripped and got trounced by two entirely superior warriors. And then, finally, he stopped falling. He could still be tripped and shoved, but his footwork had finally caught up with his dexterity stat, and he could hold his own body up and in place as he got bounced between the two warriors. ¡°And that¡¯s that. Congratulations,¡± Necia said after failing to trip Tulland after three consecutive attempts. ¡°Not that I¡¯m not glad to be done, but that¡¯s really that? Four hours of practice on grip and stance is all there is to know about fighting?¡± Tulland asked. Necia¡¯s thumb and forefinger closed around the bridge of her nose as she sighed. ¡°No, of course not. But neither Licht nor I fight with spears, much less a pitchfork. We taught you very general things. They are probably still wrong for a spear, at least in parts. They¡¯re better than whatever you were doing before, but anything else we might grind into you had a good chance of being wrong.¡± ¡°She¡¯s right. The rest of what you learn, you can learn while fighting. Besides,¡± Licht said, ¡°I think it¡¯s about time we let you fight for real. Because you aren¡¯t melee, right? Show us some of those tricks Necia says you have.¡± Tulland smiled through his soreness as he brought his crackling, bone-weary back up into a semi-decent posture. If they were asking for his best, he¡¯d give it to them. That best ended up being nowhere near good enough. Tulland got out his vines first thing, letting two of them take up residence on his arms as passive offense and defense against the incoming threat of both Necia and Licht. It did have an effect, but it was all Tulland could do to keep them from chopping the vines to pieces immediately. Even that took every ounce of newfound pitchfork skill he could muster. In the meantime, he was being pushed back constantly. The few real aimed strikes he was able to get off were either effortlessly dodged by Licht or deflected by Necia, and even sacrificing a few of his vines as launched, pointy distractions was nearly useless. Again, Necia was able to cower away from the worst of their effects using her shield, and the hunter stayed frustratingly out of range. Finally, Tulland had enough. If I¡¯m going to give this a shot, let¡¯s give it a real shot. My garden should be growing to maturity by now. Get going, little plants. That¡¯s right. All of you. Chapter 57: Farm Status Tulland retreated to the relative safety of his living, writhing plants as he aimed his pitchfork squarely at the center of Necia¡¯s chest. Although his explosion of plants had caught her off guard, she quickly tore free of the briars constricting her. But she was too slow. His tines closed in, a bit closer and faster than she could realistically block. And then Tulland realized an arrow was aimed directly at his eye. He hadn¡¯t even been aware that Licht was on the attack until it was too late. ¡°Okay! I¡¯m out of plants. That¡¯s a loss.¡± Licht burst out laughing, withdrew his crossbow, and then flopped over on his back, chortling and holding his ribs. ¡°He¡¯s fine.¡± Necia panted and wiped the last of the vines away. ¡°It¡¯s just that it¡¯s hard to call what you just did a loss.¡± Tulland looked down at the shredded arms of his farmer¡¯s shirt and the dozen cuts that came along with the general change in his wardrobe. ¡°You sure? Because I¡¯m pretty beat up over here.¡± ¡°Yes, but.¡± Necia looked exasperated. ¡°You¡¯ve noticed there were two of us, correct? I kept a few things in reserve, and Licht didn¡¯t hide until the end there. But we also didn¡¯t simply slaughter you. That¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Very good, even. One on one, you might have gotten lucky and taken down either of us. Of course, there¡¯s no chance of that now.¡± ¡°No?¡± Tulland sat up and fanned his own shirt to displace dust. ¡°Why not? My plants are going to get stronger.¡± ¡°Stronger, but not different. We both know a bit about fighting them now. With me, at least, you had some surprise. I didn¡¯t know you could make a whole carpet of them like that. Now that I know, I wouldn¡¯t let you use them as effectively. And since your weapon skill isn¡¯t very good¡­¡± ¡°Then I wouldn¡¯t be able to hit you. And you could take your time. So after all that, we didn¡¯t accomplish much.¡± ¡°Well, no.¡± Necia sat and bumped into Tulland from the side, affectionately but with so much of her battle-form weight that he was almost thrown to the ground. ¡°Again, you held off two thinking, trained people for minutes. And while you did that, you were holding back, waiting for a moment to strike. In a battle, you have options. And now it¡¯s our job to find out how best to use them.¡± Necia rocked her weight against Tulland again, then stood and pulled him to his feet. ¡°First, let¡¯s go back and restock. Then, we¡¯re going to eat again.¡± ¡°And this training made a difference?¡± Necia and Licht both nodded. By the time Tulland was done restocking his plants and setting up their dinner, Licht was nowhere to be found. ¡°He went to the seventh floor, something about tackling it while he was still full,¡± Necia explained when he looked at her questioningly. ¡°How long do you think he¡¯ll be gone?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°From what he said, several days. I guess he only just had the sixth cleared when he ran out of food last time. He seemed confident about the seventh, but it¡¯s going to take him time.¡± ¡°And we¡¯ll be in the sixth by then. I hope I don¡¯t drag you down.¡± Tulland poured some water from a bucket into his cooking pan and set it boiling. ¡°Hopefully this particular farm helps with that.¡± ¡°It will,¡± Necia said. ¡°And in the meantime, we can gather what information we can. Eight or nine days is a long time to be the bad guy, but I¡¯ll make it.¡± ¡ª Seven days after the planting, Tulland was busy optimizing what he could in his garden. Grasses, it turned out, were dumb, cheap, waste-of-space plants. They took a lot of resources to grow without providing much at all in the way of benefit. He was sure there would have been a different story to tell if the grasses were in some way magical or useful, but these were only good for filling in the spaces where nothing else would grow. The weeds and shrubs were only a little bit better. The first few of each were a big, noticeable difference to his overall power, and then quickly stopped being worth planting as he piled on the duplicates. In the first few days, he had pulled a bunch of them and planted more of his better trees, something he was now almost absurdly glad to have gotten a lead on. Those trees were growing well, while the trees from his original planting were almost tall enough to be visible from outside the house¡¯s mostly ruined walls. And on all of those trees were mosses and flowers. Which exactly was growing where varied tree to tree. The Acheflowers steadfastly refused to grow on anything but the low-quality Achewood trees, while the various mosses he had assembled through his travels were willing to grow on anything but the Wolfwood. In fact, nothing seemed to like the Wolfwood, which Tulland almost understood. It was a tree that grew a furry quasi-hide. As much as he needed that hide, it was a tree you could pet, and he was far from used to that. The way he thought about it, Tulland had three types of plants at the moment. The first type were battle plants like the Lunger Briar, Giant¡¯s Hair, and Acheflowers. These were plants that actively contributed to his combat ability. The second type were equipment plants like the Ironbranch, Giant¡¯s Toe, and Jewel Moss. These weren¡¯t plants that could hurt enemies directly, but Tulland could use them to enhance or build his armor and weapon. The third type were support plants like the Wolfwood, ones that didn¡¯t have a direct utility but could be leveraged in ways that benefited Tulland¡¯s growth.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Even when he planted the third type of plant, he was getting stronger. He could feel it, especially since his Farmer¡¯s Intuition was a big part of what made that kind of thing feelable in the first place. As the trees had filled out and the shrubs and briars had piled higher and higher around them, he had felt that power seeping in, able to quantify it more and more granular until finally, when his new orange-like-fruit-tree bore its first fruit, some barrier between him and knowing broke down, finally and permanently.
Skill Function Enhanced! Your Farmer¡¯s Intuition skill now can, on request, provide you with a system pop-up window displaying a count of all plants growing in your staked farm area, complete with a numeric quantification of their effects on the quality of your farm.
The window itself was incredibly boring, looking more like a shopping list or a florist¡¯s inventory than something that could keep him alive.
Farm Status Total Plant Power: 552 Trees: Ironbranch x4 Giant¡¯s Toe x2 Achewood x4 (Parasite load: 42 plants) Wolfwood x2 Mundane: Mosses (See detailed breakdown) Grasses (See detailed breakdown) Shrubs (See detailed breakdown) Briars: Lunger briars x153 Giant¡¯s hairs¡­
The list went on and on. Having no reference point, it was hard to know how good or bad five hundred plant power points were, or how much an additional point would do for Tulland. Most of the detailed breakdowns for various plants were useless, listing information about the plants he already knew or stats he didn¡¯t need. But the ability to pull a shrub and replace it with a transplanted Lunger Briar and really know for sure how much stronger or weaker he was by virtue of the adjustment was invaluable. He had spent days now almost in a trance, barely sleeping or eating, adjusting his garden until it was perfect. And it is that now. Perfect, I mean. How much stronger did it make you? If you had to guess. I don¡¯t have to guess. Probably 20%, compared to when I started. Not that much. Foolish. I¡¯ve seen thousands of fights where a single grain of strength might have tilted the balance, and you stand before me, complaining about a full fifth. It may be that sometimes I just don¡¯t get how this works. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s been a rare close call that would have been prevented with a small margin of strength. But any given day, how likely would it be that I¡¯m going to run into a case where that strength matters? More than you think because you don¡¯t understand the over-sized effect of being overpowered. You see¡­ ¡°You talking to your System again? I thought you said you were going to do that less.¡± Necia walked into the house and sniffed the air. ¡°You can¡¯t smell what went on here anymore, for the record. Good thing too. I¡¯m tired of sleeping in the yard.¡± ¡°Yeah. Just for a bit. It still knows things I don¡¯t, you know,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Sure, but how can you tell any one of those is true? It could be lying through its teeth.¡± ¡°My System? Maybe. But so far, it hasn¡¯t. Not once.¡± Necia looked up then, concerned. ¡°Truly?¡± ¡°Really.¡± Quicker than he could really have prevented, Necia was next to him. ¡°That¡¯s bad, Tulland. Really bad.¡± ¡°Because I can trust it?¡± ¡°No, you idiot.¡± Necia looked like she was resisting the impulse to shove Tulland. ¡°Because you seem to think you can.¡± Tulland opened his mouth to argue, then reconsidered. He really had started to trust the System more over the past months. Some of that was undeniably justified. He wasn¡¯t aware of a single time the System had been dishonest with him, in this place. It had acknowledged its betrayal right away, and had never once tried to minimize what it had done or made any attempts at keeping up a false appearance of innocence. When it had given him advice, the advice was good. When he had got pieces of information that he was able to verify later, the information had proved true. It had even arguably saved his life once or twice, getting him to stumble home when he would have otherwise been ripped apart by wolves or getting him to eat when a starvation-hobbled regeneration rate would have otherwise been insufficient to keep him alive. But it was also still a System that an entire planet had banished, and one that had tricked him into diving headfirst into a sacrificial altar of a dungeon that would kill him, one way or another, sooner or later. She isn¡¯t wrong. At least on paper, I¡¯m your enemy. You have no reason to trust me, even now. So do I trust that, or what? Because it seems like that way of thinking goes around in circles. It is a paradox of sorts, admittedly. But I am, fundamentally, someone who lured you to your death. Every move I make could be simply to push you further in this dungeon, to fatten you for the eventual slaughter. Or it could be something else. As long as we are reversing roles here. It could be. And if you live long enough to truly allow me to become bored, I may even tell you some day. ¡°See, there. You are talking to it.¡± Necia poked Tulland in the chest. ¡°Instead of me. What¡¯s it saying?¡± ¡°That I should by no means trust it, and that everything it tells me could be a complex, long-term trap.¡± ¡°See, I told you¡­¡± Necia stopped and furrowed her brow. ¡°Actually, I guess that complicates things.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s not like I really know what¡¯s going on here, Tulland. Whatever you have with your System is a very odd thing. Since I¡¯ve been here, my System has talked to me once or twice, just after big accomplishments and always in¡­ I don¡¯t know what you¡¯d call it. That dried-up way system descriptions are. It¡¯s not like it¡¯s hanging out,¡± Necia said as she laid back. ¡°Oh. I wonder why that is.¡± I¡¯ve already explained this to you, although you had bigger concerns at the time. Most Systems, Tulland, have access to a portion of the energy budget of an entire world¡¯s exploits. Every class, every adventurer, every adventure feeding power into them. I have you. It is, you are, underwhelming. ¡°Gee, thanks,¡± Tulland said out loud. ¡°What¡¯d he say?¡± ¡°He called me unimpressive. Compared to an entire planet, but still not a nice thing to say.¡± ¡°Oh, Tulland.¡± Necia waved her arm over the total of his entire garden, which was now starting to test the limits of what the Dungeon System considered a house for the purposes of keeping people from seeing it. ¡°I¡¯d say you are plenty impressive. In your own way.¡± Chapter 58: Spymaster It was the last afternoon before they planned on leaving for the sixth floor when there was a knock at their door, the first they had heard since they got there. ¡°Huh.¡± Tulland looked up from the ground, where they had been playing a game of stones with actual stones they had harvested from the river. ¡°Think we should answer that?¡± ¡°Probably. Right now, we have every system protection we¡¯ll ever get,¡± Necia said. ¡°Can¡¯t get better than that.¡± ¡°And if it¡¯s a danger, we¡¯d be better off knowing about it. Fine.¡± Tulland struggled to his feet. ¡°I was losing anyway.¡± Tulland cracked open the door to see a very small, very nervous looking hooded man standing there, glancing left and right as he nervously clasped a package to his chest. ¡°Hello? How can I help you?¡± Tulland asked. The man noticed the door was open then, and looked directly through it and through Tulland like he wasn¡¯t even there. ¡°I¡­ If you are there, princess, I can¡¯t see you. There¡¯s some kind of enchantment on this place.¡± ¡°Oh, for the love of the sun. Fine.¡± Tulland stuck out his arm, put it on the man¡¯s shoulder, and pushed him gently out of the way before exiting the privacy protections of his house. ¡°Oh, there you are. They said you would be,¡± the man said. ¡°Who?¡± Tulland looked around. He had taken great pains to keep the number of people he knew in this place down to three. One of was a friend who was attempting a floor, one of them was a known murderer they were trying to avoid, and one of them was a part-time shop keep. ¡°Because there are only a few people that could have told you and most of them are bad news for me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing like that. I promise. I really do.¡± The man swept aside his cloak to reveal what was either a very short sword of a very long dagger, mounted on his belt just opposite a leather bag. It was the bag he went for first, luckily. ¡°It¡¯s just they were saying¡­ there was a princess who lived here, and her monkey. And that she¡¯d buy anything. And nobody wants to buy this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the monkey, I guess?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I guess.¡± The man looked embarrassed. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s this that I¡¯m trying to sell.¡± From the bag came an object much bigger than the bag should have been able to hold, a sort of mushy, fibrous thing that had a certain might be meat feel about it that Tulland didn¡¯t like at all, particularly as the thing, whatever it was, was gently pulsing in the man¡¯s hand. ¡°Pulled it out of some kind of lizard of the seventh. You know the seventh. It¡¯s randomly created to suit the person challenging it, so you probably won¡¯t see one of these again,¡± the man explained. ¡°One of these what?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°One of these¡­ honestly, I¡¯ve been calling it the meatrock. Watch.¡± The man set the big lump of horror on the ground and pulled his dagger, something Tulland¡¯s danger reflex hated but that he avoided reacting to, if only because it clearly wasn¡¯t aimed at him. The man made several quick swipes at the rock, each of which barely left a scratch. ¡°So you can¡¯t cut it? It¡¯s just as big as it is?¡± ¡°Basically, yes. I¡¯m a speed class, so I don¡¯t know for sure that someone stronger couldn¡¯t cut it. I just know I can¡¯t.¡± The man looked up at Tulland with hope. ¡°Anyway. I have no use for it. I was kind of hoping that¡­ You know. I could get something for it. Anything, really.¡± Tulland hated this thing. It was the weirdest, most bury-me-in-a-field-and-never-return looking object he had ever seen. He was entirely unsurprised that the man had been unable to sell it to anyone else, and Tulland himself wanted to kick the man off his porch as soon as possible with firm, unmistakable instructions to never return. Except for Farmer¡¯s Intuition. Dammit. It¡¯s going crazy. Inside him, every bit of the skill that guided his farming decisions was absolutely screaming for this thing. It had to have it. It would be enraged at him if he didn¡¯t say yes to the man. For the first time, Tulland doubted the nature of his own skill, honestly wondering if it might be trying to trick him into some horrible mistake. But if it was, he was in big trouble anyway. Any time his skills chose to betray him, he¡¯d just die. There was no point in doubting them so long as he couldn¡¯t change that fact.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°What do you want to get for it?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No idea. Anything useful. Generally useful is the best. Weapons, single-use defensive items¡­¡± ¡°Food?¡± ¡°Food works if you have it. It would have to be a lot.¡± The man pulled himself up to his full, not-that-impressive height in what Tulland thought was an attempt to look strong and trustworthy. ¡°You know. Because there¡¯s only one.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland kicked the meatrock doubtfully. ¡°I might be able to work something out. With the princess, I mean. Could you wait here?¡± ¡°Oh? Absolutely. Yes. Please ask her.¡± The man plopped down on one of the chair-like objects in the yard. ¡°I¡¯ll wait.¡± Tulland walked back through the door to find a Necia who looked very much like she had just got done with a round of laughing herself into tears, and who seemed like she was just about to start another one. ¡°What?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Nothing. It¡¯s nothing.¡± Necia wheezed. ¡°Nothing I¡¯d expect my monkey to understand.¡± ¡°I was hoping you wouldn¡¯t hear that.¡± ¡°Of course I heard it. I¡¯m only few feet away, Tulland. Although I think asking you to estimate the distance might be a little unfair.¡± ¡°Necia.¡± ¡°Too hard on your simian mind.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going now,¡± Tulland said. ¡°You have fun in here.¡± ¡°Oh, I will. Is that thing really worth buying?¡± ¡°Maybe. Farming stuff.¡± ¡°Farming stuff. Right. Well, let me know. I¡¯ll just be in here trying to figure out where we can get banana seeds,¡± Necia laughed. ¡°You know, for my monkey.¡± Tulland shook his head and stepped back out into the daylight. ¡°She says we could trade for this.¡± Tulland watched the man¡¯s eyes light up as he pulled out one of the trading packs of food he had been making that week. After figuring out that the briar fruits could be more or less dried, he had been taking to mixing them with the grains, creating food that was not all that great but would certainly keep a person alive. ¡°But you have to sweeten the pot somehow.¡± ¡°I would if I could, but I don¡¯t have anything else.¡± The man¡¯s shoulders slumped as he looked at a week¡¯s worth of provisions slipping through his fingers. ¡°Just my gear and this.¡± ¡°Then I don¡¯t think we can do business.¡± ¡°Oh! Wait!¡± The man jumped up and caught Tulland¡¯s arm as he turned to go back inside the house. ¡°I forgot. I have information, if that¡¯s your thing. It was a bigger deal on my world than it is here, but I think it¡¯s still valuable.¡± ¡°What kind of information are we talking about?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Floors, especially the sixth,¡± the man claimed. ¡°Personal experience?¡± ¡°Better. Ancestral knowledge.¡± Tulland blinked. ¡°You¡¯re going to have to break that down for me,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I¡¯m a Spymaster. It¡¯s a hard class to explain, but it¡¯s popular on my world. We gather information, on opponents and the world. The information we gather makes us more effective with both. And we have skills related to sharing information, or hiding it.¡± ¡°Meaning?¡± ¡°Meaning that went I got here, I found a sign that previous Spymasters had been here, and that sign led me to a secret deposit of information. Diaries, accounts, that kind of thing. Centuries worth.¡± ¡°Lots of them, it sounds like?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get too excited because most of the information was redundant. Let¡¯s just say that it looks like Spymaster stops being a very effective class for climbing the tower after the seventh level, and I have no idea why. That¡¯s why I want to sell this. Any little advantage might help me move a bit further.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Tulland tossed over the food pack. ¡°Tell me what you know about the sixth floor, I guess.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do better than that.¡± The man focused for a moment, then looked back to Tulland. ¡°You should have got a notification.¡± Ley Raditz is requesting permission to share information. This information sharing is protected under the safe zone regulations and, as part of a transaction, is guaranteed to be accurate to the best of his knowledge. Accept? ¡°You¡¯re called Ley Raditz?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°The one and only.¡± Tulland accepted the request, and immediately got another pop-up, this one informational in the style of normal system descriptions of things and places. He glanced at it for a few moments, confirmed it was good, and looked back to Ley. ¡°Good. Nice doing business with you. And, Ley? If you find more information, we¡¯d probably buy it. At good prices.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll consider it. Good luck, Tulland.¡± ¡°Good luck to you.¡± Odd guy. Determined. He¡¯s right that his class isn¡¯t very well suited to advancing. It was never meant to be a solo combat class in that way. Oh, it¡¯s that weak? What¡¯s it for normally? Not weak, Tulland. Powerful in ways not limited by the individual. The Spymaster can fight, but its primary purpose is supporting armies. A single Spymaster can make an entire fighting force better. Their value is incalculable. And they let one come here? Every world, Tulland, is a different place. And there¡¯s no telling who that man was, on his. He could be a great hero, or a convict escaping a worse punishment. It hardly matters. That¡¯s nonsense. Of course it matters! It mattered there. Here, the only thing that matters is how far he will delve into the dungeon, and what he¡¯s willing to do to push just a bit further. And, as on all worlds, what he manages to send back for the betterment of all. Not all worlds, though. We know that. Do we? I mean, whatever you are doing isn¡¯t for the betterment of all. No? Ah, yes. I¡¯m something sinister. Something horrifying. But tell me this, Tulland. What did I actually do? What were my specific crimes, as you understand them? Well, you¡­ Chapter 59: Information Tulland suddenly stopped short. In all the reading he had ever done about the System, he was told two things about it. The first was that it had handled system-type things in his world long before he was born, before the Church seized control of the same responsibilities. The second was, put plainly, that the System was bad. That it was skulking about, just outside the light, waiting to do harm. What harms it would do if it could was a pretty long list, at least in the claims of the Church. It would destabilize their world, destroying cities, starving countries, and opening the doors to violence both by turning humans on other humans and giving the beasts that lurked outside the defended, safe territory of humanity access to the inner parts of their lands. But things it had actually done? Direct accusations, things that could be checked against historical records and accounts that might pop here and there? Tulland was realizing, for the first time in his life, that those accusations were fairly thin in terms of specifics. The System was going to do massacres, they said, but didn¡¯t actually list any it had caused. The System led era was a time of violence and war, they said, without exactly saying how this was promoted by the System¡¯s actions. Which, of course, didn¡¯t mean that the Church was necessarily hiding anything. He was talking about near pre-history here. Facts would have gotten lost over time. It was possible the Church wasn¡¯t lying. It was also possible that the System wasn¡¯t such a horrible thing, as disturbing a thought as that seemed. There. You¡¯ve found the right questions to be asking. It¡¯s going to be hard to convince me of that. I have no doubt it would be if I were to try. But I won¡¯t. No interest? No use. We are here. No amount of belief or disbelief will change that. Disengaging, Tulland was left with the horrifying realization that he was going to have to pick up the flesh-stone thing somehow or another. He couldn¡¯t put it in his dimensional storage, since that rendered everything inside useless for purposes besides food and combat. He had no idea how far that restriction went, but he wasn¡¯t going to test it. Getting out his shovel, Tulland spent some time rolling the object through the door, having real trouble maneuvering it until Necia had pity on him. ¡°Oh, for the love of good, Tulland. There are grosser things than this. You¡¯ve done them. This week.¡± She reached down and picked up the stone with her bare hands, sending shivers of disgust through Tulland¡¯s psyche. ¡°Now where do you want this?¡± That¡¯s a good question. Tulland looked around the farm, trying to understand the correct way to use his new acquisition. It wasn¡¯t until he looked at Necia¡¯s sad, unhealthy little orange tree that he finally got a big enough ping to move forward. ¡°Uproot that tree. Carefully. Try not to hurt it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be hard. Poor thing never really got a grip. What are you going to do?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Dig out a little space underneath it.¡± Tulland took out his shovel and did just that, moving five or ten shovelfuls of dirt, dropping the stone in, using his pitchfork to get it situated, then packing it in with earth. ¡°Now put the tree back. I¡¯ll handle the soil.¡± Five or ten minutes later, they were done. The meatrock was covered, the tree felt a bit shell-shocked to Tulland¡¯s farmer senses, and otherwise the farm looked much as it had before. Things were right again. ¡°So that¡¯s it? Today¡¯s excitement?¡± Necia flopped back onto her back in the dirt. ¡°I never thought I¡¯d say this, but I¡¯m looking forward to a bit of action on the sixth floor. Tomorrow can¡¯t come soon enough.¡± ¡°About that. We might have a change of plans. If you want.¡± Tulland was just now taking a closer look at the information he had picked up from Ley, and was beginning to see implications that Ley had no way of knowing. Sixth Floor Report (Ley Raditz) As understood by Ley Raditz, based on the reports of those that came before him, each of sixth to tenth floors has a particular focus and objectives that are more easily accomplished by some classes than others. In the case of Ley¡¯s ancestors, there were several references to plans to delve into the ninth, yet no reports from those same individuals after that.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Given the fact that the information in question was provided by speed-base Spymaster class holders, Ley hypothesizes that the ninth floor focuses on something besides mere speed. Though this is not certain, it¡¯s as good of a guess as he can make given the information available. The sixth floor, however, is known more specifically due to firsthand accounts from multiple Spymasters who returned to make notes on their success there. The floor, according to them, is focused on the idea of a regenerating monster force, one that consumes, splits, and grows over time. Each individual threat in the sixth floor is trivial, just dangerous enough to have to be taken seriously and no more than that. Even their numbers do not present a direct threat, since the beasts there are thought to not be intelligent rough to cooperate with each other. The danger of the floor, such as it is, comes from the fact that it does not offer a significant source of food and cannot be left before each and every beast in it is defeated. Since strength beyond a certain point is useless there, success is primarily based on an individual¡¯s ability to move quickly from target to target. Insufficient talent in this one respect will result in a slow descent into defenselessness due to starvation. One ancestor reports that the floor may be tackled cooperatively with two or more delvers, but that this offered him more trouble than help, due to the fact that the number of total enemies scales with the number of total participants. His own capability to finish the floor was partially suppressed by having to cover for his slower ally through the process. Tulland related all this to Necia, who mulled it over. ¡°I don¡¯t know about that,¡± Necia said. ¡°You aren¡¯t fast, and I¡¯m positively slow compared to almost anyone but you. Why does this seem like a good idea?¡± ¡°Because, Necia, you don¡¯t have to do anything besides go out and hunt until you hit whatever experience cap you can. I¡¯ll handle the rest. If it¡¯s just about killing weak things fast, I¡¯m pretty good at that these days.¡± ¡ª The next morning, the orange tree had revealed itself to be something else entirely, at least after it consumed some amount of the meatrock.
Stonefruit Tree Each Stonefruit Tree is in and of itself unremarkable. It produces a fairly mundane, standard wood. The leaves are neither edible nor magically dense. The roots contain no alchemical properties. The fruits are similarly dull things, tasty enough but with little value beyond a fragile, perishable food source. The pit that each fruit contains, however, is an entirely different story. The Stonefruit Tree, which cares little for its own survival, gives a massive amount on energy for its own propagation. Every bit of magic these trees take in from their environment is packed into the seeds for the express purpose of increasing their hardness. They are simply inedible by all but the very most powerful beasts, able to pass uninjured through even the most vigorous of digestive tracts to flourish in the outside world.
¡°Oh, gods. Tulland, you have to try this.¡± Necia tossed him one of the fruits, which he bit into. Objectively, it wasn¡¯t the best fruit he had ever had. But in a world where four or five food sources comprised the entirety of his diet, anything new and even kind of good was a treasure. And the effect on my garden was huge. That¡¯s like another ten percent to my plants all by itself. Tulland brought out a briar, which jumped back and forth with a strength entirely different than it had before. The difference in his farming screen was similar, if a little more dry and data-based.
Farm Status Total Plant Power: 648 Trees: Stonefruit Tree x1 Ironbranch x4 Giant¡¯s Toe x2 Achewood x4 (Parasite load: 58 plants) Wolfwood x2 ...
The list felt almost bottomless. ¡°The power of agriculture.¡± Tulland walked over to his secondary garden, which benefited from the power of his farm without actually adding to it. The briars, Ironbranch trees, and Jewel Mosses growing there were all ready to go. ¡°I¡¯m going to rebuild my Farmer¡¯s Tool before we go.¡± ¡°Not your armor?¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°Not yet. The weapon is damaged, but the armor is still pretty good. If I can give these trees a little more time to grow, or maybe even get them some better fertilizer, maybe then I can do something better than what I already have.¡± ¡°Your call.¡± Necia watched as Tulland harvested the necessary materials, holding them up to his Farmer¡¯s Tool for absorption. Right at that moment, the jeweled moss was the hardest substance he could make in anything like big quantities, shiny and as strong as steel. The Ironbranch wood was the most overall durable, taking shocks like a champ and refusing to break under all but the heaviest of forces. Of course, neither were very good compared to real weapons used by real combat classes, but anything that contributed just a bit to his multifaceted way of doing battle was just fine.** After a bit more harvesting to make sure his seed stock was ready, so was Tulland. Putting on his best harmless demeanor, he and the princess marched towards the next floor. Chapter 60: Beating the Gods ¡°That was a rough ride. No in-between room. Just teleport. I feel sore from it,¡± Necia complained. ¡°Same.¡± Tulland took a look around finding that they had arrived in an unnaturally flat kind of place, growing little but short grass that almost looked like it had been trimmed and populated with nothing visible besides that, himself, and Necia. ¡°Weird environment.¡± ¡°Weirder once you read the description. Take a look.¡±
Sixth Floor (Cooperative) You have entered the sixth floor with a single companion. Every relevant parameter of the floor (size, monster count, potential gains, etc) will be doubled. The sixth floor is meant to be an easier than average rest stop in an adventurer¡¯s journey through The Infinite. The floor is a battle of attrition of sorts, a fight between you and the reproductive rate of the resident slimes. Each slime is a massive, single-celled organism which falls apart once a moderate amount of damage has been applied to their delicate bodies. They possess attacks of a basic, predictable sort. They are not especially strong, nor are they especially fast. They can, however, split. Each slime will divide itself after a set amount of time and absorbing a certain minimum of nutrition from the environment. Each new slime will be weaker and smaller than the slime from which they descend, but only for the few minutes they require to catch up. Success on the floor is a matter of simple eradication. You must kill the slimes faster than they can reproduce, until none is left. If you cannot accomplish this task, you will be trapped until you either find a way to do so or die. Objectives: Eliminate the slimes
¡°So, divide and conquer?¡± Necia pulled her sword and sighted down it. ¡°I go my way, you go yours?¡± ¡°For now, yeah. We can meet back here tonight. If there¡¯s a night here,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Got it.¡± Necia turned and walked, waving over her shoulder. ¡°Good luck with your plants.¡± Tulland had a limit to how many plants he could grow in his farm area, mostly determined by the practical needs of the plants themselves. In theory, a farmer could only own, till, and maintain so much land. But the monster briars were easy to grow. Too easy, in fact, that their natural propagation ability had been limited by the Dungeon System itself to keep every floor from becoming Tulland¡¯s playground. As compensation, he gained a skill that strengthened all of his plants based on the quality of his farm. But outside of the farm, he had no limits. Sure, the plants he grew other places wouldn¡¯t contribute to his overall strength, but they¡¯d grow. They¡¯d still be his, in a way the Dungeon System recognized. And most importantly, they¡¯d still attack just about anything they could find. Tulland reached into his bag and grabbed a small handful of briar seeds and cast them around him, then moved several yards off and did it again. And again. And again. It was boring work, but each throw represented another patch of deadly briars growing in a random spot in the wilderness, looking for anything they could kill and bleed for their own nutrition. For the next 48 hours, the strength and growing rate of those briars would be pinned to the strength of his garden back home, which was the best he had ever grown. That combined with his Primal Growth skill meant a development rate he could almost see. These briars would be full-sized within hours, hunting and bearing fruit. Necia wouldn¡¯t be circling back this way for some time, but when she did, she would break apart any fruits she found growing to get at their seed, then toss those to an unpopulated place. In a day, they¡¯d have an army covering huge swaths of the area they were in. It wasn¡¯t as good as normal propagation, but it was the next best thing they could do. Normally, this would be all but useless. The briars Tulland carried with him for personal protection were hand-grown, strong-as-possible affairs he spent time and resources on. And even they weren¡¯t that strong compared to the monsters he had been meeting. These new briars were essentially disposable, the kinds of plants that any half-decent monster on the new floors would rip apart. The Dungeon System described them in unsparingly unimpressed terms, as if they were an outdated product that should have been replaced ages ago. But it also talked about the slimes that way. Which meant a very old hunting tactic of Tulland¡¯s was making a reappearance. He was creating a hostile environment, one throw and one application of Primal Growth at a time. There was no shortage of seeds. At this point, he had thousands of them, both enhanced and unenhanced, ready to go. And he had only been walking and throwing for an hour when he got his first indications of success.
Remote Victory! You have killed an enemy you can¡¯t see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense.
Remote Victory! You have killed an enemy you can¡¯t see, hear, smell, or otherwise sense.
Remote...
Tulland moved on, once again glad that this type of notification was pretty easy to ignore. He was also beginning to suspect that the slimes themselves hid from people. He had yet to see one in this place, despite traveling pretty far.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. When night began to fall, he doubled back on the same trail, finding Necia at his briars picking apart a fruit and chucking the seed. ¡°Any luck hunting?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I haven¡¯t even seen one.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen a few dozen, and killed them. I¡¯m moving faster than you because I don¡¯t have to stop to plant. But they don¡¯t give much experience at all,¡± Necia complained. ¡°Too bad. For what it¡¯s worth, I think we are fine. I¡¯ve been getting notifications all day. I think they are going after the fruits. It doesn¡¯t make sense that I¡¯d be killing so many otherwise.¡± ¡°Well, good. In any case, there¡¯s not much use trying to find them after dark. Are you cooking, or should I?¡± ¡°Your turn. I¡¯m wiped.¡± Tulland flopped backwards. ¡°I¡¯ve thrown thousands of seeds. I just want to close my eyes for a bit.¡± A half hour later, Necia woke Tulland up to eat, after which it was good and dark outside. They set up camp in a particularly thick patch of briars, one that Tulland had grown just for the purpose of a makeshift fortress. Each of them put out their bedrolls and climbed in. They weren¡¯t really tired enough to sleep, but they had plenty of food and the sun would wake them up soon enough. ¡°Tulland?¡± Necia asked after a stretch of silence passed. ¡°Yes?¡± Tulland was looking up at the stars, which were in patterns he had never seen back home. There was something oddly beautiful about looking at someone else¡¯s heavens. He kept looking as he heard Necia roll over next to him. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯m scared.¡± Tulland shifted in his bag. ¡°Of the slimes? They can¡¯t get through these vines, I promise you.¡± ¡°No. I mean¡­¡± Necia sighed and rolled back over, joining him in looking up at the stars. ¡°It¡¯s just sometimes I remember we are going to die in here. That¡¯s the point, right? We go as far as we can, but really we¡¯re just marching towards the end.¡± Her arm flopped over towards Tulland, and she made her index and middle finger take little steps across his sleeping bag above his chest. ¡°Just Tulland and Necia, walking towards doom.¡± ¡°Ah. Yeah.¡± Tulland was surprised about how little he thought about that kind of thing, but he did think about it sometimes. ¡°I guess I¡¯m scared too.¡± ¡°You hardly show it.¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s because¡­¡± Tulland thought for a bit. He didn¡¯t want to lie. ¡°Did I ever tell you about being caught in the briars? The original briars, the ones I didn¡¯t grow.¡± ¡°No,¡± Necia said slowly. She rolled closer. ¡°I was running from monsters on the first floor. They were called Razored Lungers. I didn¡¯t stand a chance against a single one of them. And the only way to get away from them was to go somewhere they wouldn¡¯t go. Plunge into that place really.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I did. I was stabbed all over, and those needles hurt. I couldn¡¯t see. I was just broken. And I got ready to die in there. And then, I just didn¡¯t. I decided not to. I couldn¡¯t let the System win. I couldn¡¯t let myself lose.¡± ¡°You know that¡¯s not a decision you can make.¡± ¡°On some level, sure. But before that, it was all futile. My world won¡¯t benefit from me dying, like yours will. If anything, it might hurt things. But now¡­ I don¡¯t know. I think I just decided I won¡¯t die. I might get proven wrong at some point, but until then, I¡¯ll just do everything I can do to stay alive. To win.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Necia laughed. ¡°Arrogant of you.¡± ¡°That¡¯s me. Arrogant, stubborn Tulland. Just doing what he can to beat the gods at their own game.¡± ¡°Well, keep it up. I¡¯ll stay with you as long as I can.¡± Necia rolled back to her side. Even in the dark, Tulland could feel her eyes pointed at him. ¡°Beating the gods, right? That¡¯s something I want to see.¡± ¡ª In the dream, Tulland was in the church. Ouros only had one. Sure, there were meeting halls and locations for certain rituals. But this was the church proper, a small stone building with a massive statue of a four-pointed star surrounded by the wooden buildings the clerics lived in and worked after. A cleric, at least on Ouros, was a job that burned a lot of footleather. Their job was mostly done at sickbeds, with grieving families, and at seaside altars, not in structures. But when something important happened that had to do with the Church, it happened here in the church building. Today, that thing was Tulland. He would have liked it if he was being lauded for some impressive act, but instead he was being scolded. Officially scolded, by an actual officiant, one who was visibly frustrated to have to take time out of his day to deal with a fourteen-year-old problem. ¡°Tulland Lowstreet, I presume.¡± The cleric collapsed into a heavily padded, wooden chair. ¡°I should tell you I was up very late last night with a very, very upset infant. I am not quite myself. Let¡¯s make this quick, alright?¡± Tulland nodded. That sounded great. ¡°Good. Now, you have been brought in front of me today regarding several well-known banned heresies, as well as a full blaspheme. Blasphemence. Blaspheming.¡± ¡°Is there really not a verb?¡± ¡°Unimportant right now.¡± The man yawned. ¡°Now, as you know, you get a full pass on these very serious crimes because you are a child, and most children are brutally stupid.¡± This was not as much like a sermon as Tulland expected. ¡°You don¡¯t sound very cleric-like right now,¡± Tulland pointed out, perhaps to his own detriment. ¡°I don¡¯t feel it. Now, normally, we¡¯d just solve the problem at its dumb source. We¡¯d have your parents correct you, you¡¯d be less of an idiot, and we¡¯d move on. However, in this case, it was deemed inappropriate. Do you know why?¡± ¡°My uncle probably didn¡¯t want to do it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, but also not the reason. The actual driving force behind this meeting, Tulland, is that you are not an idiot. This would be much easier if it were.¡± ¡°So I don¡¯t get immunity?¡± ¡°You do. For now. But not forever. You have two years until manhood, Tulland. Two years seems long to you now, but it¡¯s precious short time to fix a bad habit. Now, please, for the sake of hurrying this along, please repeat the blasphemies for me. Summarize them. I grant thee dispensation for any verbal crimes you commit while you tell me.¡± ¡°Basically I was asking why the Church deserves the power it has. It earned its power¡­ I don¡¯t know. Forever ago. And now it makes everyone¡¯s decisions. It has unlimited classes, but it only gives out a few. It could give out unlimited power, but it doesn¡¯t. And nobody gets to fight them on it, or even argue about this,¡± Tulland said, trying to keep his answer as positive as he could. ¡°Ah. All true. I suspect you didn¡¯t say it quite like that,¡± the cleric said. ¡°I may have used different words.¡± ¡°Yes, that would do it. The answer, Tulland, is two-fold. The first is a question of balance. In the days of the System, when the fields ran red with the blood of men, everyone did get a class. The good, honest folks. The liars. The cheats. The war-like and the murderers. The flat-out insane. Everyone. And do you know what happened?¡± Tulland squirmed in his seat. ¡°People misused them. But keeping classes away from the murderers is one thing. Are you telling my uncle is that? That he¡¯s power-mad?¡± ¡°I certainly don¡¯t think so. He¡¯s a good man. And I certainly don¡¯t see any signs he¡¯d become a dark lord of a dark land if he had, say, a hunter class. But the point is that this is what I think, Tulland. Not what I know. When the Church gives out a class, it does so to people who meet certain qualifications. When we create a Captain class, it¡¯s because we need one. And we are very, very sure in a way it¡¯s very expensive to be that they won¡¯t misuse that class.¡± ¡°And so you maintain a balance.¡± ¡°Frozen hell, boy. No. We absolutely do not. We demolish the balance as much as we can, in favor of good. In favor of stability.¡± ¡°But never growth,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Every border the same, forever. Every war already fought.¡± ¡°I pray so. But that¡¯s the second answer, Tulland. And the one you have to accept. Is that people who have seen war, who have records you have not read, who have had time to think about those records longer than your entire life so far, might know something you don¡¯t.¡± The cleric did something Tulland did not at all expect, just then. He reached out his arm as if to cross Tulland in the pattern of the star, but instead smacked him, just hard enough to hurt, in the forehead. ¡°And that¡¯s something you¡¯d be better to understand sooner rather than later, Tulland. Because the Church does not just have wisdom. It also has every bit of the force. If you were a man sitting in front of me today, Tulland, we¡¯d be having a very different conversation. And one I¡¯d much rather avoid, if I can.¡± Chapter 61: Sixth Floor The next day, Tulland woke up to a truly monumental number of notifications of remote kills he had done almost nothing to earn. He read through them just far enough to get to the experience cap notification, then lost interest. ¡°I think that¡¯s about it for me on this floor. No reason for me to stay here any longer. I¡¯m capped and there aren¡¯t any interesting plants. Not that we can¡¯t stay as long as you need to,¡± Tulland said when he noticed Necia stirring awake as well. Necia yawned in her smaller form, which looked exactly like how Tulland imagined a princess would look like in the morning. ¡°Then I¡¯ll get the easy pickings. It¡¯s still weird to me that you cap out so soon, for the record.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s the nature of the class, right? It was meant for Farmers. Killing vermin is part of that job, but it¡¯s not like they were ever supposed to level by fighting. They were supposed to farm.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t do that much farming either.¡± ¡°Yeah. Well. That¡¯s sort of the trouble. As near as I can tell, it was probably okay if farmers took forever to grow their levels. And they could grow huge fields of crops, sometimes. So they¡¯d spend months and months growing thousands and thousands of plants, and eventually they¡¯d get paid out in experience. One big harvest.¡± Tulland threw his hands wide to indicate how big. ¡°I can¡¯t do that here. Even when I overgrew a big portion of the whole first level, the experience I got from it wasn¡¯t much.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand, then. How are you leveling so far?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a big combination of things.¡± Tulland stuck up his hand. ¡°Killing things, just normal grinding, is a big chunk of it. Growing matters, even if it only matters a little. And the rest of it is weird stuff. Growing stuff I¡¯m not supposed to grow, mostly. I think inventing a new plant is a much bigger deal for a Farmer than you might imagine.¡± ¡°So why not do more of that?¡± ¡°Because I can¡¯t. Or at least I can¡¯t do it on demand. The first time I did it, it was an accident. The second and third times, with the Giant¡¯s Toe and Giant¡¯s Hair, it was sort of on purpose. But I think I got lucky. Almost everything else has been from subjugating plants that don¡¯t really want to be cultivated.¡± ¡°Seems to be working well enough.¡± Necia patted his hand reassuringly. ¡°You¡¯re carrying this floor, at least.¡± ¡°Yeah. But this is about as good of a situation as we could ask for. I¡¯m going to need more than what I have to keep fighting. I just don¡¯t know how to get it.¡± Necia looked down at her sword arm, and smiled weakly. ¡°You and me both. But I think we at least know our first steps.¡± ¡°Which are?¡± ¡°We get some of this grass.¡± She patted the useless, bland ground cover underneath them. ¡°And as much dead slime as we can carry home for your farm. And from now on, we keep an eye out for the weirdest stuff we can. Together.¡± They set out to do just that, but not before stopping to harvest hundreds of briar-fruit seeds, which Tulland enriched before they tossed them any place that wasn¡¯t already in near vicinity to a patch of the killer briars. Tulland¡¯s luck in finding living slimes wasn¡¯t any better that day then it had been the last. They did find a large amount of their remains, enough to fill both their packs, but it was only an hour or so into their day when Necia went to go look for slimes herself, leaving Tulland to his own devices. What followed was one of the most mind-bendingly dull days he had lived through in The Infinite. He went back to work harvesting fruits for their seeds, then pushed in one direction planting them until he finally hit an invisible barrier that kept him from going any further.
Zone End! You have reached the outer borders of your current zone. Further travel in this direction is impossible. Be forewarned that this restriction on travel direction applies regardless of whatever emergency you may find yourself in. Gaining some distance from the impassable zone boundary wall is advised.
Tulland sighed, worked his way around the circle a bit further, then walked back towards the center, planting another line of briars as he went. Once he reached the center, it was another harvest of newly grown fruits and another walk to plant more. Here and there, he would find a briar that hadn¡¯t made it. Rather than being cut or ripped apart, these briars looked partially digested, like the slime had engulfed the plant and tried to consume it, getting close enough that both died in the process. Tulland assumed that any briars that had fully lost the battle would disappear. He hadn¡¯t found any briars that weren¡¯t either fully healthy or half-digested. That¡¯s good news, though. Oh? Why? Because it means they are attacking the briars. Probably to get to the fruits. And if they aren¡¯t very successful at it, that means this is going to go much faster than I had hoped. How long would it have taken otherwise? Long enough to grow the majority of the space so Necia could take out the rest of them. You would not have helped? Oh, believe me. I¡¯d like to. But I still haven¡¯t seen a single one of these things. Are they avoiding me? Not likely. You have nothing unusual on your person. However unlikely it might seem, the most probable answer is that you are simply incredibly unlucky at this moment. That unlucky, though? Someone has to be, or the term loses its meaning. By the time Tulland had something like a quarter of the total space in the floor filled with clumps of his briars, it was time to knock off for the day again. ¡°Any luck?¡± he asked, as Necia walked up. ¡°Getting anywhere near the cap?¡± ¡°Me? Absolutely not. I¡¯d be lucky to do it in a few weeks here. And these slimes aren¡¯t worth much in terms of experience. Honestly, just whip me up a batch of your quicker seeds tomorrow and I¡¯ll help out. We can get out of here sooner.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to tag along?¡± ¡°With your poison luck? Absolutely not. I said the slimes aren¡¯t worth much experience, not that they aren¡¯t worth anything. I¡¯ll be just fine by myself, thanks.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. There was no hurry. So long as they were nestled in their own little instance of the sixth floor, no trouble could find them. But that safety, such as it was, was short-lived. As the next morning dawned for another day of planting and semi-hunting for Tulland, The Infinite revealed its own priorities. ¡°Tulland?¡± Necia had appeared out of nowhere, her sword dipping with slime-goo. ¡°How in the System¡¯s name did you sneak up on me?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t. I think you got teleported to me. Or vice versa. Which probably means¡­¡±
Floor Completed! You have completed the sixth floor, managing to stem the teeming tides of slimes and driving them to extinction before they could overwhelm you.
¡°Were there really that many?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I still haven¡¯t seen a single one.¡± ¡°Anywhere you weren¡¯t, yes. Now be quiet, Tulland. I¡¯m reading.¡±
In addition to simply completing the floor, you managed to do so in a much-below average period of time. The benefits of this quick clear apply to both members of your party. Rewards: Experience Pack 1x, Equipment Pack 1x, Lesser Stat Potion 2x
¡°Whoo, that¡¯s a lot.¡± Necia immediately activated her equipment pack as soon as it materialized, then her experience pack. Both of them and the stat potions arrived in the form of little gold tokens, each with a picture of an arch and a representation of what they were for on opposing sides of the coin. ¡°Oh, hey. New helmet. And it¡¯s much better.¡± ¡°Yeah? Well good. It¡¯s nice to know your head is covered, at least.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not how that works, Tulland. Each piece reinforces the others. How do you not know this?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never really had to. Most of my equipment breaks when it gets hit.¡± Tulland lit up his own equipment token, which immediately disappeared before four smaller tokens dropped into his hand. ¡°What are these?¡± ¡°No idea. There should be a notification about them, though.¡± There was.
Equipment enhancement tokens. Each of these tokens will apply a +5 stat buff to a piece of equipment. The stat enhanced will be chosen at random.
¡°Oh, dang. That¡¯s not great, actually.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an enhancement token for armor, but I can¡¯t really use it right now. All of the stuff I wear is pretty non-permanent. When I fought the Cannian Knight, he more or less shredded it. This is all stuff I¡¯m going to be replacing as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Huh. Yeah, I could see that.¡± Necia snapped her fingers. ¡°What about the stuff you wear underneath, though? Your manual labor clothes.¡± Tulland blinked. He had actually forgotten those were anything special, since they barely did anything for him. ¡°Would that work?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I don¡¯t see why not if it¡¯s system equipment. I always thought it was a little weird it let you wear them under your armor, but your class is weird in general. If there was any problem with it, The Infinite would probably warn you about it before you cashed in the token anyway. Give it a try.¡± Tulland shrugged, picked up one of the tokens, and thought about using it on his gloves. They were the most advanced piece of equipment The Infinite had ever given him, and some of his initial fears were dashed when it turned out the Dungeon System did treat them as a unified piece of armor.
Enhance Farmer¡¯s Gloves? Enhancing your gloves will give them a permanent five point buff to a random stat.
Tulland gave it permission, and instantly felt a bit stronger. Checking his status screen confirmed where the points had gone.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 35 Strength: 40 (+5) Agility: 40 (+5) Vitality: 50 (+10) Spirit: 65 Mind: 35 (+5) Force: 70 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 14, Produce Armament LV. 11, Market Wagon LV. 5 Passives: Broadcast LV. 10, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 6, Fruits of the Field LV. 3, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 5
¡°Nice!¡± Tulland immediately picked up the other three tokens, intent on putting them into his shirt, pants, and shoes. A thought occurred to him, though, something that made him hesitate. ¡°Actually, I wonder if I shouldn¡¯t put these all in my gloves.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I might get better equipment later, right? A better shirt, better pants. That kind of thing. And then the enhancements would be a waste. But if I can stack them all on my gloves, then anything better I get on the other three pieces of equipment would be pure gain. Am I thinking about that right?¡± ¡°Probably? It would have told you if you couldn¡¯t. And it will tell you if you can¡¯t. The Infinite isn¡¯t cheap like that, from everything I learned back home.¡± Tulland nodded, picked up the next three tokens, and willed them into the gloves. The gloves took them, applying them to vitality, strength, and dexterity to complement the enhancement to his mind. ¡°Not the stats I would have chosen,¡± Tulland grumbled. ¡°Sometimes those are the best ones. Your gloves are bolstering the parts you wouldn¡¯t choose to spend many points on yourself. One of my teachers once told me it¡¯s the stats you ignore that get you killed.¡± Necia started talking in a voice clearly not her own, apparently doing her best teacher impression. ¡°Many¡¯s the mage, girl, who took one soft hit and found out too late he needed a point or two more in vitality.¡± ¡°Yeah, I suppose. Although I have to say, I¡¯m more excited about these stat potions. Those are going straight to force.¡± Tulland cashed in the potion at the same time he absorbed the bonus experience.
Level Up!
Level Up!
Level Up!
After distributing the points, he did feel a little stronger. Each individual point was a lower and lower percentage of his overall strength these days, but every single one of them was still something he could feel. He felt better just looking at his status.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 38 Strength: 40 (+5) Agility: 40 (+5) Vitality: 50 (+10) Spirit: 70 Mind: 45 (+5) Force: 80 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 14, Produce Armament LV. 11, Market Wagon LV. 5 Passives: Broadcast LV. 10, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 6, Fruits of the Field LV. 3, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 5
Signalling for Necia to give him a minute, he turned to the other lingering notification about the challenge he hadn¡¯t read yet. Chapter 62: Balance
Blind Extermination You have cleared an entire floor or dungeon section of the infinite while never laying eyes on your opponents. Reward: Class Accessory
Tulland pulled back and asked the only person he knew that could explain what was going on. System, what¡¯s a class accessory? Something good. Always. Accessories are additive to power, albeit often in roundabout ways. Quick, boy. Find out what it is. Tulland cashed in the token, watching as a small metal canister materialized in the air. He caught it as it fell, horrified to think what might happen to the treasure inside if it hit the ground from any kind of height. His worries turned out to be for nothing.
Splicing Canister Seeds placed in any of the splicing canister¡¯s three chambers and enhanced with a class power gain a small amount of chaotic variance, raising the chances of producing a variant plant significantly. This process is only possible when some form of biological matter is placed in the same chamber. While the success rate is only slightly better than simply growing the seeds in soil with the fertilizer would be, a slight increase over time can often become a large cumulative effect. Some biological matter is simply incompatible with a given seed. When this is the case, the canister will inform you of the incompatibility through a system notification.
That felt big. But before it could feel too big or really be thought about at all, Tulland felt himself pulled in a direction that wasn¡¯t identifiable by his crude, human mind and tossed one entire layer of dungeon back out to the safe zone. ¡ª ¡°I don¡¯t mean to whine, I really don¡¯t. I got something that actually seems pretty big. But aren¡¯t the rewards for that floor a little underwhelming?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Necia looked at Tulland strangely. Tulland tried to gather his words, then realized it was Necia and it didn¡¯t really matter if he got it entirely right. ¡°I mean, it¡¯s a few level-ups,¡± Tulland said, ¡°which are great, and a big chunk of stats, which seems even better. But it was a whole floor of The Infinite, and we performed really well. I was expecting something¡­ I don¡¯t know. Bigger.¡± ¡°Ah. Enchanted sword sickness.¡± ¡°Of course. Enchanted sword sickness. I know just what that is.¡± ¡°Oh, cut the sarcasm. I was getting to it. It¡¯s something that my world used to describe a particular problem with some young adventurers. Mostly men, from my understanding. The idea is that a young adventurer goes to some dungeon with a very reasonable level of difficulty, beats the first floor, and then is confused when he just gets a slightly better sword instead of an enchanted sword of legend. To him, the point of the dungeon is to make him a great hero, right away.¡± ¡°I¡¯m failing to see the connection. This is The Infinite, right? It¡¯s supposed to be this big important thing. The biggest dungeon.¡± ¡°Not the biggest. The hardest. The most dangerous. It¡¯s like¡­ look. You have a dungeon that¡¯s easy. What makes it easy? It¡¯s that you have something hard to compare it to. And a hard dungeon is hard, but it¡¯s not the hardest. At some point, you get The Infinite, a dungeon that simply can¡¯t be beaten. One that gets harder and harder until it consumes you. Every time. The point isn¡¯t even to win, it¡¯s just to get as far as you can.¡± Necia tapped her own new helmet. ¡°This helmet isn¡¯t absolutely amazing, but it¡¯s more than I might have had going into the next floor. It means that I¡¯m probably a bit ahead of the increase in difficulty for that floor, and that I¡¯ll have a slightly better chance of surviving. That¡¯s what item drops are about, Tulland. Keeping just strong enough to keep going. If you¡¯re looking for more than that, you¡¯re going to miss the point. You need to figure out how to use what you have better. That¡¯s how you are going to get through things.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡ª There was a brief moment of calm as they walked back to the house. Even though the safe zone was a big space accepting all the adventurers from an unknown number of worlds that joined The Infinite, the actual population of it at the moment wasn¡¯t that high. If Tulland had to guess, he¡¯d say there were probably about fifteen people in town, though he and Necia had done a good enough job minimizing their exposure to them that his confidence in that guess was medium at best. And none of who he was seeing were people he knew by sight. In almost any other situation, he would have fixed that immediately, learning names and figuring out who might be a resource to him. In this world, he didn¡¯t want to get stabbed in the back by making a wrong decision, and he had already learned that he was far from the kind of guy who could be relied on to make right ones. ¡°So what¡¯s the deal with the can? You didn¡¯t tell me. Healing salve?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Nope. Something bigger. Help me get some seeds, if you don¡¯t mind. Just few briar seeds,¡± Tulland said when they got back to the house. Farmer¡¯s Intuition had become pretty advanced recently, but it didn¡¯t trigger when he put the briar seeds in the can. Tulland shrugged and dumped a bit of slime goo in one, then some of his Jewel Moss into another, and put a bit of fruit from the briar seed¡¯s own parent to see what that did. Once he stuck the lid back on, the Dungeon System seemed to finally acknowledge something was up. All three splicing chambers are filled. Would you like to seal the container? Seeds thus sealed will be unavailable for up to one day. Tulland gave it permission. He needed to start somewhere, and was desperate to keep his briars relevant if there was any way to do it at all. Turning his attention to the garden in general, Tulland found his Farmer¡¯s Intuition simply didn¡¯t care about the slime good one way or the other as it came to assessing it as a fertilizer. He was sure the skill might be missing something, but it was so definitively bored about this slime he doubted it would do much at all, either for good or for ill. Apologizing to Necia, he dumped out both what she had gathered and what had onto his field before settling in front of his cooking equipment to make them both a real meal. Like the smell of the food had summoned him, it was only seconds after Tulland had finished the food that Ley Raditz, the Spymaster, was banging on his door. ¡°Oh, hey, Ley. Here for food?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Sure, among other things. And I can even pay for it. I¡¯ve got information you simply need to know. Where were you, anyway?¡± ¡°Not important. What¡¯s important is you want more grain. Start on this. It¡¯s hot.¡± Tulland handed over his own bowl of food. He¡¯d get another once he was done shaking out information. ¡°What do you have?¡± ¡°So I¡¯m not completely sure on this, but I think someone¡¯s looking for you. Indirectly.¡± Ley paused to inhale half the bowl of food in a single breath before continuing his explanation. ¡°One of the less interesting warriors in here came to me today, trying to buy your location with animal parts. I told him I couldn¡¯t help him, and he just looked more scared after that.¡± ¡°And you don¡¯t think it¡¯s him looking?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No. For one, I¡¯m not at all sure how he even knows you exist, much less that you farm, which he seemed to already know coming into the conversation. From what you¡¯ve told me, there are only a few people who might have guessed that. Me, Licht, the shopkeep heavy you met before, and¡­¡± ¡°That rogue.¡± ¡°Yup. Whose name is Halter, incidentally. Or at least so he told some people around town. Now, I don¡¯t know what you have planned with all this right now.¡± Ley motioned at the farm. ¡°But if I were you, I probably wouldn¡¯t stick around much longer than I had to. I doubt he¡¯d follow you into the seventh floor. That¡¯s two on one in your favor if he does, and from what I¡¯ve gathered, he¡¯s scary but not stupid.¡± ¡°Ah. Yeah. We can probably do that.¡± Tulland looked at Necia. ¡°Unless you have other plans. The farm isn¡¯t going to be much better than it is right now, so I¡¯m ready to go as soon as you are.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll eat.¡± Necia scarfed down her food, as if to emphasize the importance of it. ¡°And then go.¡± ¡°Actually, about that.¡± The Spymaster had finished inhaling his bowl of grains and now used the dish to dip some water out of a bucket, drinking it to get every bit of nutrition he could. ¡°Do you mind if I go with you? I didn¡¯t entirely hit the caps on the sixth floor, and I have a fair bit of extra time before The Infinite makes me advance again. You don¡¯t have to, but¡­¡± ¡°No problem.¡± Tulland said. ¡°You are sworn to help us, remember? Just don¡¯t put us in a situation where we have to worry about you cancelling the deal on us, or, you know.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll kill me,¡± Ley said. ¡°Not me.¡± Tulland laughed. ¡°Her.¡± Ley gulped and nodded under the intensity of Necia¡¯s unimpressed gaze. Tulland didn¡¯t know a lot about people, but he was pretty sure they wouldn¡¯t have any problems with him in the short term, at least. ¡ª
Seventh Floor (Cooperative, Team of Three) You have entered the seventh floor while explicitly teamed up with two allies. The floor has adjusted the difficulty accordingly. For each ally, the floor has become more difficult, although not so difficult that it can¡¯t be overcome with good teamwork. The seventh floor is meant to test the dynamics of teams, and will be the first floor where you meet mixed groups of enemies. The seventh floor¡¯s exit conditions hinge on both completing a certain minimum amount of time on the floor, as well as killing a minimum of enemies. If you complete the latter before the former, any excess kills will improve your eventual reward.
¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the part that caught me.¡± Ley straightened his clothes and pulled out his dagger. ¡°I could hit from the dark and take them out, but that¡¯s a slow way of killing. With you two around, I should be able to deal a lot more damage per second. Just keep them off me, and I promise you won¡¯t be sorry you brought me along.¡± Chapter 63: Mixed Units ¡°Mixed units. Great.¡± Necia glanced around with a cautious look that immediately set Tulland¡¯s nerves on edge. ¡°Well, at least I¡¯m a blocker. That¡¯s the biggest component.¡± ¡°Of¡­ what? Of a party?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Of a party that doesn¡¯t die. There¡¯s classically three components. A blocker keeps enemies at bay, as many as they can. They absorb damage with vitality and armor that would be much more dangerous for someone else, and count on everyone else to do any other work that needs doing.¡± ¡°So if it was just you two, you¡¯d hold them back, and he¡¯d sneak around and stab. Or something. You handle the surviving, and he handles the damage-dealing.¡± ¡°Kind of. I¡¯m optimized for incredible single target damage after a long period of information-gathering, in terms of seconds spent in a fight. And then I need to rest again or else I become just a faster-than-average melee combatant. You can use me either way, it¡¯s just important to note I have both modes.¡± Ley narrowed his eyes a bit in concern. ¡°How do you not know this?¡± Tulland answered by using The Infinite¡¯s handy contract function. A system screen that encompassed a pretty comprehensive oath popped up in front of them.
Tulland Lowstreet proposes an alliance with the following terms:
  1. Ley Raditz, Tulland Lowstreet, and Necia Iroth will share any relevant or requested information about their classes and class function.
  2. Information on another member¡¯s class may only be requested if a party truly believes it to be relevant, and may only be withheld if it clearly has no relevance to any immediate or anticipated situation in which a significant risk of harm exists.
  3. Each member is bound by the confidentiality agreement until seven days after an official party dissolution.
  4. Any member may withdraw from this agreement at any time. The other members will be notified by system message should this occur. No physical actions can be taken by either party to harm the other within three days of the dissolution of the agreement.
Tulland would have been happier with a longer period of confidentiality after the end of the party, but The Infinite simply wouldn¡¯t allow it. Otherwise, it seemed like a pretty acceptable level of commitment. Ley agreed pretty quickly, and when it was done, Necia looked to Tulland, asking for confirmation that it was okay for her to speak. Tulland nodded and sat back to watch the show. ¡°Tulland¡¯s not supposed to be here. Not like you or me.¡± She motioned at his gear. ¡°You haven¡¯t noticed how bad his gear is?¡± ¡°I have, I noticed it first thing. I¡¯m an intelligence gathering class. I just assumed it was some plant world¡¯s characteristic armor or something,¡± Ley answered. ¡°He¡¯s a farmer. An honest-to-god Farmer class. He fights with plants, just a little, but he¡¯s barely met other classes in his own world. He has no idea what you¡¯re talking about with all this. When he nods, it¡¯s because he thinks he gets it based on context. That¡¯s it.¡± Ley¡¯s mouth dropped, and he looked to Tulland again as if he was waiting for laughter to reveal it was all just a joke. ¡°She¡¯s not wrong. I have a few interesting things I can do, but only just,¡± Tulland said. After that, it was a lot of explaining. For the better part of twenty minutes, Tulland tried to loop both Ley and Necia in on everything he could do. Even the heavily armored girl didn¡¯t know every single trick in Tulland¡¯s collection. By the time he had covered his more hurty briars, his more holdy vines, and the exact way his weaponry and armor worked, both of them looked a little perplexed. ¡°Hey, now, don¡¯t look so confused. I was counting on you to know what to do with all this.¡± Tulland lifted up one of his briars, which was wobbling in the air as it searched for prey. ¡°I thought you were some kind of thinking class.¡± ¡°Yes, well, kind of. But it¡¯s more about how to kill you than how to help you, in terms of what my skill does,¡± Ley admitted. ¡°As much as it pains me to say it, I think we just have to sort of go for broke here. We¡¯ll get into a fight, see how it goes, and then pivot from there.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°And if we get killed in the meantime?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Then we get killed, Tulland. You can¡¯t blame him too much for this. You are literally unprecedented, I think,¡± Necia said. ¡°Yeah. Great.¡± Tulland frowned as he considered this brand-new downside to being himself. ¡°And we are going to be here longer than a few days, right?¡± ¡°Almost certainly,¡± Ley said. ¡°Unless you are much, much stronger than you appear to be.¡± ¡°Nope. How I look and how I fight match up pretty well. And in that case, let¡¯s get my battlefield farm dug and planted. After that, we can go find a test case, I guess.¡± ¡ª Tulland was 15 years old, and had successfully press-ganged all the other boys into lobbying their teacher for a warfare class. It had been quite the undertaking. He was sure the old tutor would have much preferred explaining the intricacies of tubers, or something along those lines. But for some reason, the tutor had been flexible in this. And Tulland was quickly learning why. ¡°So I would have a whole army of archers, they can shoot down the enemies before they get close,¡± Tulland said. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t work, Tulland,¡± the tutor responded. ¡°Not against an army that¡¯s well balanced. Archers. Cavalry. Infantry. It¡¯s absolutely necessary that you have each.¡± Tulland had been sure that the class would be much superior to the normal fare, and had been quietly devastated when this aspect of the world turned out to be just as deadly dull as all the others. ¡°I don¡¯t see why.¡± Tulland drew three bows on his paper, opposite his teacher¡¯s bow, sword, and horse drawings. ¡°I¡¯d have my troops out. They¡¯d shoot yours as they tried to approach.¡± ¡°And yet, mine would approach. They would hold their shields high, then cut down your archers. You¡¯d certainly kill more of my troops during their charge than with fewer archers, but as soon as the two forces collided, it would be a one-sided massacre.¡± ¡°You are sure?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been tried.¡± The tutor¡¯s it¡¯s-been-tried was a complex statement. He didn¡¯t mean just once. He meant, usually, that it had been tried in several ways at several different historical levels of battlefield technology and on a variety of fields. He would, somehow, know about all of them in a way that would hold up when Tulland checked the books later. ¡°And before you ask, so has just a contingent of armored infantry without other support. It doesn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°And why not? If they can survive the arrows.¡± ¡°Because nobody is foolish enough to field only archers. The infantry would make a single charge, would arrive diminished by arrows, and would met by the other side¡¯s fresh infantry. To make things worse, a balanced army has cavalry distracting the enemy¡¯s infantry while the archers rain down death. Many men can fight when they see hopes of victory. Take that away, and you get a brittle army.¡± ¡°And all cavalry?¡± ¡°Well, perhaps that might work. In a sense. You have to remember how expensive cavalry is, Tulland. In some ways, it¡¯s more expensive than double the troops.¡± ¡°Then why have it at all?¡± ¡°Because¡­ actually, a demonstration might help better. Denlee? You enjoy sport, correct? And you¡¯ve practiced at fists?¡± ¡°Yes, Tutor.¡± Denlee enjoyed sport so much that he was a good half again as heavy as Tulland, despite being more or less the same height. ¡°Two years now.¡± ¡°Good. If you wouldn¡¯t mind, stand here as if you were going to fight Tulland. Tulland, face him.¡± The tutor drew a line in the dust with his cane. ¡°And Denlee, don¡¯t hit him. In fact, keep your arms down, if you could. Tulland? Tell me how you¡¯d hit him. How many different ways you could.¡± ¡°Yes, Tutor.¡± Denlee dropped his arms in the obedient way of the well coached. Tulland examined him, finding his options were just as wide open as Denlee¡¯s guard. ¡°I could hit either side of his face. And his nose.¡± Tulland dropped his eyes. ¡°And I suppose his ribs, or in the center of them. Where it makes you lose your breath.¡± ¡°Sternum. Yes. Now, observe. Denlee, please put up your guard.¡± Denlee did, and Tulland¡¯s confidence in actually being able to hit the other pupil fell substantially. ¡°I see you are beginning to get it. Denlee¡¯s elbows dropped to cover his ribs. His shoulders rose and his chin dropped so that one could block for the other. His hands cover most of the routes from you to his face. You wouldn¡¯t understand without studying fists, but he¡¯s also able to block several points that look open to you with only minimal movement. It¡¯s a good guard, Denlee.¡± ¡°Thank you, sir.¡± ¡°No thanks are needed. You¡¯ve earned it. Now, Denlee, without actually hitting Tulland, throw light punches. Distancing blows. Yes, that¡¯s right.¡± Tulland could now hardly see the gaps he thought he could still punch through before. Denlee¡¯s punches weren¡¯t hitting him, but they were close enough to be concerning, and any one of them would bloody his nose. The fear of them was a distracting thing. ¡°You see? From behind his guard, he can menace you further with his punches, and even though he isn¡¯t taking things seriously, he¡¯s paralyzed you.¡± ¡°And this would work the same way for archers?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°In a sense. If all Denlee did was punch with no regard to his own defense, a similarly skilled boxer would use his defense to gain an advantage against the aggression. If all he did was defend, he¡¯d be cut to pieces by someone else¡¯s offense. They would adjust, you see. And do you know what you need to adjust to someone else¡¯s imbalance?¡± ¡°Your own balance.¡± Tulland¡¯s shoulders slumped. That made a depressing amount of sense. ¡°Or at least the potential of it. Now, there are variations of that theme, of course. Terrain, weather, and fortifications all play a role. Tomorrow, we will¡­¡± Chapter 64: Giant’s Hair ¡°Tulland, snap out of it.¡± Necia shoved Tulland lightly and shook her head. ¡°Where do you go when you do that? Is it an internal conversation again?¡± Tulland shook his head, glad that she had the sense not to reveal everything about his relationship with the System to Ley at the moment. ¡°No. Just a memory. Something our situation dug up. What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Look over there. I think we have our first battle lined up.¡± Tulland followed Necia¡¯s finger down the hill to a clearing where a number of beasts were congregated on the grass. At a slight nudge, The Infinite cooperated and gave up the goods on what he was facing.
Stumpers Heavy, low to the ground, and moving with a devastating weight, Stumpers can attack in any horizontal direction simply by moving. Adding a pair of vicious, curved tusks to the mix further augments the devastating equation these enemies create. In addition to their exceptional attack power, Stumpers are incredibly dense and durable enemies, absorbing large amounts of damage before finally falling.
Mass Hares Fast and heavy, the mass hares do battle by launching into enemies with great speed and a surprising weight. What they lack in claw, fang, and venom is more than made up for by the sheer amount of force they can apply to any target they choose to collide with. While fast in a leap even considering their great mass, the hares are highly specialized to allow for those jumps. This means that in most other contexts outside of straight-line attacks, they are somewhat bound by their own weight and not particularly strong.
¡°How many of the hares are there?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Five, I think. And three Stumpers. The normal plan here is for me to try and make contact first, drawing attention away from you two,¡± Necia answered. ¡°And then you keep the enemies back while Ley and I do our thing?¡± ¡°No. At least not all of them. I can bait a few with skills, and maybe move to occupy one or two more. But this many enemies? Tulland, they¡¯d bounce me all around that field. And that¡¯s if I didn¡¯t get hit by those tusks.¡± ¡°And ideally, I¡¯ll be hiding trying to take out one of those big ones,¡± Ley said. ¡°Which means crowd control is on you.¡± There was no use in Tulland asking how he should go about doing that. Neither of them were going to be much more help than his best guesses about his own powers. ¡°Okay. And we are doing that now?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Necia hefted her sword and shield and strode forward. ¡°No point waiting.¡± The first collision between Necia and a Stumper was deafening. The big animals hit hard, and if anything she hit harder. A step or two away, Tulland was nervous as the second Stumper set its eyes on him and pawed at the ground to prepare for a charge. Before it could, Necia let out a burst of light and it seemed to forget him entirely. ¡°It¡¯s baited! It will focus on me for a while. Get the rabbits, Tulland. Fast!¡± Necia called. As Necia ping-ponged between the big enemies, Tulland finally saw one of the rabbits in the tall grass. He gripped his Farmer¡¯s Tool hard and lunged at it at the furry little thing, only to see it disappear in front of him as it leapt towards Necia. He was too slow by a mile to stop it as it shot through the air, pinging hard across her helmet and sending her reeling. She recovered from that hit fast, but not quite fast enough to really be prepared for the next collision of a Stumper on her shield. Tulland rushed forward after the rabbit, then had to dive into the dirt as it launched itself at him. Two of his vines had been curled around his wrists, both of which whipped out at the rabbit and missed badly. He heard another clang and then yet another as two more hares hit Necia and sent her to the dirt. With the last Stumper pushed forward from close range with both tusks, it might have been over for her right then if Ley hadn¡¯t suddenly surged forward from the tall grass, hitting the huge beast like a bolt of lightning and deflecting it just enough to make it miss, then run away squealing as it tried to get a handle on the source of the new danger. Necia found her feet just as Tulland finally got lucky with his vines, getting both of them clamped around the same Mass Hare as it prepared to fire itself at Ley. The jump still happened, but the extra weight of the briars was just enough to throw off its aim, bringing the hare down just in front of the Spymaster¡¯s sword slash. A head went flying, and the first kill of the battle was done. ¡°Tulland. You have to do more.¡± Ley dove back into the grass. ¡°I can¡¯t hit them and the Stumpers.¡± Tulland nodded, then shot the entire rest of his briar stock at a Mass Hare that emerged from the grass just inside of his peripheral vision. Three of them made contact as another hare destroyed one of the two vines that had attacked its fallen comrade. Tulland rushed forward and got his pitchfork into the encumbered hare and sent a command to the remaining, non-destroyed vine near the other threat to attack, or at least try to keep them from jumping. The strike worked. For once. Tulland was able to dig the pitchfork good and far into the hare, which seemed to either kill it or get close enough that he could ignore it for the moment. And that was just before all hell well and truly broke loose.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Tulland! Help!¡± Necia yelled. Tulland had become deaf to the clangs coming from Necia¡¯s side of the battle, and now turned to see she was getting absolutely pounded by the remaining Mass Hares and Stumpers. She was managing to keep her feet, but that wasn¡¯t going to last. There were seconds at best before something went terribly wrong, and only Tulland was around to stop it. Panicked, he let out all his remaining stops. All his remaining briars landed on the field near Necia, hitting the distracted enemies from the air as they reached towards the first signs of life they saw. One of the hares was immediately immobilized as two of the Lunger Briars wrapped it up, which was nice. The bigger thing, though, was something he hadn¡¯t expected to work at all.
Giant¡¯s Hair As an improved version of the Lunger Briar, the Giant¡¯s Hair retains much of the same function as the original plant. It will automatically reach towards any living thing it sees, wrapping its target up tightly and then attempting to constrict it to death. Unlike the Lunger Briar, it offers little in the way of venom or the creation of puncture wounds that might fatally injure an animal. To balance the loss, it offers a much stronger and much more durable restriction, one that can survive some level of slashing or clawing and hold down bigger, tougher enemies without getting torn apart.
The less verbose description of the Giant¡¯s Hair reinforced what Tulland already knew. These were a hold-things-still-briar, not a killing-things-briar. What he hadn¡¯t expected was for them to be able to stand up to something as big and strong as the Stumpers. But when both of them landed on a single Stumper, something he hadn¡¯t expected happened. The big, boar-like enemies weren¡¯t the most flexible, nor were they sharp anywhere but their teeth or the very ends of their tusks. It might be strong enough to break those vines, but it can¡¯t get to them. Tulland pumped his Primal Growth enhancement into the Giant¡¯s Hairs, which made things that much better at the same time it drained every last bit of his magic power. The boar bellowed as the vines took its legs out from under it, trussing it belly-down on the ground. Necia, watching this happen, responded by rebounding off the next hit from a Stumper, flat-out ducking two hairs, and then raising her sword high as she leapt at the Stumper for a downward slash. It tried to get out of the way. It really did. There was just nowhere for it to go, and no way to get there. Tulland grinned as he watched it struggle against the vines, then grinned harder as Necia cut it nearly in half with one overpowered strike. The same hit took out one of his vines, but that felt more than reasonable considering what they got out of it. Telling the vine to disengage, Tulland rushed in and grabbed the remaining Giant¡¯s Hair and chucked it at the Stumper. He didn¡¯t wait to see if it hit as he lunged at the restricted hare on the ground and put an end to it just as Ley flew out of the grass, put his sword through the second Stumper¡¯s eye and ended the heavy-damage part of the battle for good. After that, he didn¡¯t bother to stealth again. He and Necia advanced on the remaining Mass Hares as Tulland took ineffective stabs while awkwardly dodging away from them. Mostly due to Ley¡¯s speed, the whole thing was done in a few more minutes, after which Tulland opted to lay on his back for a while, recovering magic and generally breathing in whatever air he could get his lungs on and appreciating his brand-new growth in strength.
Level Up!
¡°Dammit, you.¡± Ley walked back while whipping the blood off his sword. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you do that earlier? You want her dead?¡± ¡°Relax, Ley.¡± Necia came to Tulland¡¯s defense first. ¡°He probably didn¡¯t know he could. Still, that was close. Another few seconds and I would have been in serious trouble.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Tulland imagined a bit of what that would have been like, then found himself unable to go any further on that particular train of thought. It was too much. ¡°It¡¯s also¡­ I don¡¯t know. I tend to think of my better plants as more expensive. If I shoot all of them out at once, I¡¯m out. And then I¡¯m in trouble. I¡¯m not that good with normal weapons.¡± ¡°Oh, I get it.¡± Ley nodded at Necia. ¡°He¡¯s an idiot.¡± ¡°Hey now. You have to explain why I¡¯m an idiot for me to accept that.¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s right, Tulland. You aren¡¯t alone right now. If you blow all your resources at the beginning of the fight, but it keeps us alive, then we can keep you alive. If you hold them back and the party breaks, we are less than three people in a three-person dungeon.¡± ¡°Although that only has to do with running out during a fight. Running out in general could be bad. We planted that garden this morning, right? How long until the briars there are done?¡± ¡°Oh, that.¡± Tulland¡¯s dropped his eyes. ¡°I¡¯d say they are probably done somewhere around now. A few more hours, at most.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Necia slapped her head. ¡°Let¡¯s get back there then, before we end up in another fight. Ley, are you thinking what I¡¯m thinking as far as battle plan?¡± ¡°Yeah. But like you said, let''s get him reloaded first.¡± ¡ª Tulland¡¯s battlefield garden was already going fairly strong, which made him feel quite a bit safer. He didn¡¯t need it yet except as a source of weapons, but two days into this excursion he was going to lose the benefit of everything he had grown at home, and he had to be ready for that. As devastating of a loss of strength as it would already be, it would be even worse if he had no replacement ready at all. To minimize that, he had a seed for just about everything he could grow in place, matching his home farm as closely as he could. There was only so much that would do, and farms still took time to grow. But with a bunch of monster meat and blood to go around, he was hoping to kick-start that process. The Stumper meat in particular seemed to be a big hit with his Farmer¡¯s Intuition. He ended up burying a good chunk of it at the feet of all his trees and both the Giant¡¯s Hair and Lunger Briars. He tried to give them as much influence as he could, during that. Just once, he had managed to grow some very, very long vines by simply willing it so. Today, he was asking whatever farming gods might be nearby to help him create some kind of brutal, killer vine. Something that would make him useful. Something that might make him strong. It didn¡¯t seem to be working yet, but there was no limit to how much he was willing to try if it had even a small chance of making him stronger. He didn¡¯t just want it to survive. He owed it to the others. ¡°Just about done? We should really be back out there. We¡¯ll walk in a spiral this time, and try to keep you close to a restock if we can.¡± Ley shook his head. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anything like this. You¡¯re your own blacksmith and grocery store. Taking trips to restore your fighting power isn¡¯t great, but at least I¡¯m learning a lot.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad someone¡¯s getting something out of it.¡± Tulland moved around the farm cutting briars, then checked his pack to make sure his flowers were still in good condition. Now that he remembered they were there and that his Achewood trees were getting closer to being able to accommodate growing more, he was planning on using them liberally. ¡°All right. I¡¯m ready when you are. Are you two going to let me in on this plan?¡± ¡°On the way, Tulland.¡± Necia gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him go red as he realized there was someone else there to see it. ¡°And I promise you¡¯ll like this one a bit better. It¡¯s right up your alley.¡± Chapter 65: Success and Failure Is this a good plan? You¡¯ve seen this kind of thing before. How would you do it better? I can¡¯t answer that. It wasn¡¯t the time, Tulland thought, for the System to shed it¡¯s helpful friend-slash-enemy act. The last fight had been something that he and his friends had barely survived. He had no illusions that he would have died if Necia had fallen. If this new combat tactic wasn¡¯t going to work, he needed to know about it soon. Of course you can¡¯t. The guy who is always saying he has thousands of years of knowledge just doesn¡¯t know this one thing. It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s that I can¡¯t answer. Haven¡¯t you noticed that neither I nor The Infinite have given you advice on your class? They¡¯ve altered it, and even pushed it in a certain direction. But they¡¯ve never told you how to use it. Your point being? A System, any System, is usually a hands-off thing, at least in most respects. We communicate little. We grant skills and some direction, but only in a few ways. I can¡¯t guide you on how to use your class. I seem to remember someone telling me to eat where I would have otherwise died of an unfueled regeneration skill. And warning me against dangers more than once. Which were all pieces of obvious, immediate advice having nothing much to do with the progress of your class. This is you asking me, the one who gave you your class, to also tell you how to use it. Which will determine how it progresses. More than once, you¡¯ve seen the idea that your own usage factors into what your class becomes. Why did you think that was? A warning? It¡¯s simply the implications of a rule. People with classes are not the servants of Systems. This is true even for The Infinite. I simply can¡¯t tell you if a course of action having to do with the way you are choosing to develop your class is a good one. It¡¯s a step too far. Tulland cycled through all the instances the System had chosen to give him advice, and found none that he could remember were the exact thing the system said it was talking about. Sure, some were pretty direct don¡¯t-do-that-you¡¯ll-die warnings, but not because of any specific part of his class. So the System might have been lying or might have been telling the truth. In any case, it didn¡¯t look like Tulland was going to be getting any more information from it. ¡°You look lost in thought,¡± Ley commented from the side. ¡°Just trying to get some more information. Doesn¡¯t look like I can.¡± Tulland glanced at Ley. ¡°Not for lack of trying.¡± ¡°Some skill?¡± Ley raised an eyebrow. ¡°Any information would be helpful here, no matter how small.¡± ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s kind of a hit or miss thing. I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t know. You can¡¯t see my status screen? I thought you were a spy.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean I get to know everything about you. Nobody does.¡± ¡°That rogue knew my class name, back then,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Knew I was a Farmer before I told him.¡± ¡°And not much more than that, I¡¯d guess. It¡¯s a powerful skill to have. There¡¯s a lot you can learn from a class name. It¡¯s probably a bit like my primary skill. It builds up my knowledge of an enemy until I trade it for a single big strike, but it also feeds me a bit more information about them in the descriptions than you¡¯d get.¡± ¡°And his tells him about other people¡¯s classes?¡± Tulland thought about the direction the rogue must have taken with his class to get that particular skill, then suppressed the resulting shudder. ¡°That¡¯s terrible. Although I¡¯m surprised your class makes you spend all that potential for one big strike. It seems like you¡¯d be ruined by any group of enemies.¡± ¡°Who said that¡¯s the only thing it can do? It¡¯s what I thought was best before. Things are different now.¡± In the distance, they finally saw another group of enemies, this one comprised of the same number of Stumpers but with a few more Mass Hares in the mix. Overall, it was promising to be a harder, harsher fight. ¡°Are we sure about this?¡± ¡°Of course. Think of it this way. You just have to make the difference of a few rabbits. We should have improved at least that much.¡± Necia unsheathed her sword. ¡°Besides, I¡¯m going in with or without you. You wouldn¡¯t let me die, right?¡± With a flash of white teeth, Necia was on her way. Tulland didn¡¯t have time to think about it, which probably was what she planned. For what they wanted to happen to actually have a chance of happening, he needed to be just behind her. Falling into position behind her shield arm, Tulland did his best to keep up until Necia impacted with the first Stumper, dropping a few Lunger Briars and one of his Giant¡¯s Hair vines on its back as it reeled from the force of the impact. Necia baited the next, glowing slightly as she forced its attention on her. Tulland repeated the same action on the other Stumper as Necia pivoted to meet it, then darted off to the side, dropping briars every few feet as he ran in the direction of the most concentrated group of Mass Hares. When he got there, he activated four briars in a circle around him, another two on his arms, and chucked Acheflowers. The rabbits were fast, and out of the three yellow exploding flowers he got into the air before hitting melee range, only one seemed to do anything. The rabbit it hit didn¡¯t seem to have much in terms of poison resistance though, and was taken temporarily out of the fight and sent bounding in random directions that presented almost no threat. That was the plan. Where Necia had been pinned down before to the point of not being to attack in the first fight, a quick power enhancement to the Giant¡¯s Hair briars meant the Stumpers were half as mobile as they had been. Now in the second fight, Necia was getting distance from them with plenty of time to deflect or even attack the remaining hares.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Tulland was even holding his own. Between the carpet of vines he was fighting in, the two hanging off his arms, and the fact that for once he was able to actually make good contact on a mobile enemy with his pitchfork, he managed to put down an entire hare of his own before the last element of the fight slotted into place. Ley burst into the fight like a bolt of lightning, not attacking the Stumpers but instead ripping into the hares. With his new fighting stance and pitchfork, Tulland was moving faster than he had ever moved in a fight before, but he had absolutely nothing on Ley¡¯s speed. ¡°That¡¯s the secret, not that it¡¯s much of one. I can either burn the power I gather in observation time on big hits, or spread it out over time. Whether I do one or the other depends on the situation, but mostly I use the slow-burn version.¡± Licht had looked sheepish. ¡°I was eager to use it on the Stumpers and thought you could clear out the rabbits. It was the exact wrong way to go. My mistake.¡± This time, the plan was to shred the little, less individually dangerous Mass Hares while Necia held the Stumpers at bay. It was possible only because Tulland¡¯s constrictor vines made the bigger animals much less dangerous, and would work fine just so long as they were all able to team up on the Stumpers before the monsters were able to shred his plants and team up on Necia. That turned out not to be much of a problem. None of Ley¡¯s individual strikes did much damage, but he was landing a ton of them, and the Mass Hares were so busy dealing with him that Tulland was able to move through their ranks, taking out the most injured members of the enemy force. Even his briars picked up a kill, ganging up on one badly hurt rabbit sent to the ground by Ley¡¯s best dagger strike yet. Not only were the Stumpers unable to hurt Necia by the time the field was otherwise cleared, they were still partially bound by briars when Tulland and Licht started in on them. Each time the Stumpers managed to get the footing to launch an attack, Necia would ping them with their shield, robbing them of their ability to move. Meanwhile, Ley was exploiting every weak point on their bodies, and Tulland had transitioned his weapon from a pitchfork to a hoe, hacking away at the boars with big overhand strikes. It wasn¡¯t a long fight. By the time Tulland¡¯s vitality was just beginning to give out enough to leave him short of breath, it was over.
Level Up!
¡°Now that was much better.¡± Necia put a metal-booted foot on the shoulder of the dead Stumper in front of her and kicked it off her sword. ¡°That felt viable. Any trouble on your end, Ley?¡± Ley smiled. ¡°None. Everything went to plan. I wasn¡¯t injured at all.¡± ¡°And I felt better. Like I was helping.¡± Tulland looked down at his Farmer¡¯s Tool, which had done some serious damage for once. ¡°You guys want to do another one? I have lots of briars left, and¡­¡± ¡°Nope. Absolutely not.¡± Ley shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m tired. Necia is tired. And not just in our bodies. We¡¯ve been thinking a lot today. Now that we¡¯ve verified this works, we need to rest. We¡¯re all going back to your farm to eat and sleep.¡± ¡°He¡¯s right, Tulland. There¡¯s no hurry.¡± Necia wiped her sword quite clean on the grass, then sheathed it. ¡°Lets tend to your garden, then we can get out again tomorrow.¡± The days in this place were apparently shorter than most, and it was almost dark by the time they made it to the farm. Tulland built a fire, something he had left just enough room between briars to do. They didn¡¯t seem to mind the heat, at least not visibly wilting from it. Everyone gathered around the fire, ate, and processed the day in relative silence for a while. Tulland¡¯s processing was interrupted a bit early. As he finished his grains and vegetables and started to process the animal corpses they had dragged back for use as fertilizer, a notification chock-full of disappointments popped up.
Splicing Failure! The seeds in all three chambers of your splicing canister have failed to attain any new helpful variations. All seeds and materials have been destroyed. As a result, you have learned the following:
  1. Lunger Briar seeds cannot be enhanced by their own fruit.
  2. Lunger Briar seeds cannot be enhanced by slime goo.
  3. Lunger Briar seeds cannot be enhanced by Jewel Moss.
None of that was great. Tulland shook his head, pulled another three Lunger Briar seeds from his pack, and enhanced them to the greatest degree his current stats would allow. The choice for fertilizer this time was pretty easy, considering he had two types of new animals butchered in front of him. With the first seed, he dumped in some Mass Hare meat and blood, and loaded the other with the remains of the Stumper. The third got a combination of both. Does this make sense, System? It¡¯s not insane. Not very helpful. It¡¯s all I can do, Tulland. Even if I could see a million successful variations available to you or none, I couldn¡¯t say anything more. That¡¯s your work to do. I cannot steal it. That¡¯s what you say. I can¡¯t believe there aren¡¯t any workarounds. The System paused for a moment, in the way Tulland interpreted as it being frustrated at either his inability to understand what the System was saying or the System¡¯s inability to explain it well. There are ways to work around it. They are dangerous. I know from firsthand experience. Well, my life is pretty dangerous right now, and it¡¯s your fault. So excuse me for not caring much. I¡­ well. Yes. I can see that. But it would be hard to explain why things are more complex than that with mere words. Let me see if I can work something else out. The System was silent as Tulland sealed his splicing container, and all the way up to a new notification window.
Memory Share! The System of your world proposes a sharing of memories, to follow the specific rules below:
  1. To the best of your System¡¯s knowledge, the memories shared will be true. Distortions of the memories caused by misunderstandings or the passage of time will not be considered willful deception for the purposes of this rule.
  2. In return, the System asks for some memory of Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s. It sets no standards as to what this memory might be, so long as it is clear.
  3. No further memories will be shared as a result of this arrangement, nor will any access beyond the memory be granted.
If accepted, the terms of this agreement will be conservatively enforced by The Infinite¡¯s Dungeon System with an aim to fulfilling Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s understanding of the spirit of the agreement.
What is this, System? An agreement. I owe you some information, and it¡¯s relevant now. I¡¯m not pleased by the repetition of this particular conversation. I would put an end to it, if you would allow me. But you want one of my memories. For the purpose of making the agreement equitable by The Infinite¡¯s standards, yes. I do not require a particular memory. Pick something useless and harmless. Tulland mulled this over. If the Infinite was guaranteeing the deal, he didn¡¯t see much harm in it. Mentally designating a memory of a time he struggled against a particularly stubborn jar lid, he gave The Infinite the go-ahead to make the deal happen. It didn¡¯t take long. Chapter 66: Church and System A boy much like Tulland was standing next to an arch, staring at it longingly. I don¡¯t know why you do that. I¡¯ve already explained you won¡¯t have a combat class. ¡°And I¡¯ve already explained that¡¯s not good enough.¡± The boy flexed his hands, as if not quite allowing them to become fists. ¡°I want to do something important, System. I won¡¯t be a potter or a wainwright. I want to help in real ways. Those classes do help. ¡°Sure. Everyone desperately needs another pot.¡± The boy whipped his head around, as if glaring directly at Tulland. With a shock, Tulland realized he was looking directly from the System¡¯s point of view, as experienced by the System itself. ¡°You know I can do more.¡± Yes. I do. Please do not look directly at me like that. It¡¯s off-putting. How do you even know? ¡°I just know.¡± The boy kicked at the ground in frustration. ¡°I could always tell you were there.¡± Nobody else can. There must be some trick to it. ¡°Well, there isn¡¯t. I¡¯m just special. In a useless way.¡± The boy coughed. ¡°In a way that can¡¯t breathe well enough to run and jump. In a way that can¡¯t fight. Great trade, if you ask me. Real good value.¡± Tulland felt a burning in the System¡¯s perspective, something he instinctively understood as a desire to help that clashed with an inability to do anything. Anything safe, anyway. Somewhere in the periphery of Tulland¡¯s understanding, there was another option. Something he-as-the-System understood as a possibility. If the System wanted to, there was one way it could do more for the boy. It was dangerous and foolish, but it was something. The System just had to be willing to take a risk. Something broke in the System¡¯s desire to restrain itself then. There is one thing. The boy perked up immediately. ¡°I knew it. Tell me.¡± It would be dangerous. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± The boy coughed, harder this time. ¡°Tell me.¡± The System spun some wheels in the mechanical aspects of things that underwrote the universe, and made a notification window that he willed towards the boy.
Variable Class Offered! Behind every illusion of order is chaos. Without randomness, things tend to atrophy. Every living, healthy thing you see engages with this chance and disorder on some level, a fact that is observable simply by noticing them thriving. Most classes a System offers lean into whatever order they can access, tracking well-known ruts in the road of progress. These classes are safe and predictable. They grow in expected ways, with some small variation provided by the person who holds them and their own will for their own future. Variable classes lean the other way. In the assignment of a variable class, The System invites chaos to come to play, spinning off the essence of what you are and your intent for your own future and allowing randomness to run rampant in the creation of something new. Variable classes are both the strongest and weakest classes there are, depending on unpredictable factors that cannot, by definition, be controlled. In accepting a variable class, you also accept these risks.
¡°Yes.¡± Wait a moment. There are significant risks¡­ ¡°I don¡¯t care. Do it. Now.¡± Vow to me, then. That you won¡¯t use whatever this class is to do anything less than the best you can conceive of for other adventurers. For humans in general. For this world. ¡°What? Why?¡±This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. To soothe me. To convince me that I am not engineering a disaster by indulging my sympathy for you. The boy stood for a moment. Tulland was nervous for him. He wanted to tell him how little the System could be trusted, in situations like this. And yet, on the other side of things, he could feel the System¡¯s fear, raw and real. It was worried it was creating a monster. Something that couldn¡¯t and wouldn¡¯t be stopped. The memory share wasn¡¯t perfect. The System knew what it knew, and had the memories it had. There were thousands of them, just outside of Tulland¡¯s reach, a context he could never know. But the effect of all of them was impossible to deny. The System was vulnerable. Here. Right now. There were ways it could go badly for him. ¡°Fine. I vow it,¡± the boy said. ¡°The best for this world, as I understand it. Forever.¡± Something flowed out of the System then, some huge energy. It felt not entirely unlike how Tulland felt when he enhanced one of his plants, and left the System feeling similarly drained. Through the System¡¯s eyes, the Tulland saw the energy fly to the boy, mixing with everything he was until he almost glowed. The boy gasped. In his way, so did the System. A notification window popped up between them, the same text read by both.
Class Obtained! (System Sage) You are now a System Sage. By virtue of your own personal talents, you have obtained a class that leverages your supernatural sense of what, where, and how the System is to guide others in their own development. In some ways, you have become part-System yourself, gaining some of its insights into a person¡¯s path. Unlike the System, you are a being of flesh and blood, aligned and allied with humans. Because of this, you can share facts and direct guidance the System could never offer, acting as a bridge between very different kinds of beings with the potential to make both greater. As a variable class, your future is uncertain, especially as it concerns your abilities, skills, and fate. Walk carefully, child. You hold a great power.
¡°I¡¯ll use it well. I swear.¡± As the boy spoke, his words reverberated through the System in a way it had never experienced before. ¡°Thank you.¡± And then the memory was over. Tulland found himself face-down in his own garden, hidden from Necia¡¯s worry by his own briars and still clutching his splicing container. ¡°What was that?¡± Tulland asked. He didn¡¯t have to clarify. The voice at the end was eerie, like it was tugging at his soul. After that, that¡¯s how he was. Normally, a System can interact with humans, influencing them. Not the other way around. From that moment, he had a needle-hole into my world. One that only got wider after that. Tulland sat up, ignoring for the moment just how often he was finding himself on the ground these days. Quickly confirming that his splicing chamber was just fine, he checked himself over for any damage or weird ways that the System might have wronged him. He found nothing. ¡°And did that help? With his vow to help?¡± Tulland was ahead of himself, he realized. ¡°Did he keep the vow?¡± He would have had no choice. The vow was that powerful. And he was capable of meaning such a vow with every fiber of his being. It was part of why I liked him. ¡°I don¡¯t see how this all applies to our problem, though. You gave him the ability to talk to people about things you couldn¡¯t. Great. That¡¯s what I want. What¡¯s the hangup? Why isn¡¯t this more common.¡± Oh, it¡¯s very common. It¡¯s the only thing you¡¯ve ever known, before coming into this dungeon. Look at me, Tulland. What I¡¯ve been reduced to. Do you really think that class worked out for me, regardless of any vow he made? ¡°The Church.¡± Tulland¡¯s mouth dropped. ¡°You are saying that boy was the Church.¡± I am saying no such thing. The boy kept his vow. But he¡­ ¡°Well?¡± I¡¯ve given you enough, for tonight. I wish you luck on your new experiment. It¡¯s locked in already, correct? ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Good. Then I can¡¯t influence it. I think you¡¯ll be pleased, in any case. Then the System was gone, wherever it went when it withdrew from their connection. Tulland, not being the boy from the flashback, had no special insights about that. But he could tell it was somehow more distant now. If what the System had showed him was real, and he couldn¡¯t imagine it wasn¡¯t, then Tulland was looking at a time before any recorded history. The Church, he could imagine, had made sure of some of that disappearance, and history had taken care of the rest of it. He doubted that even people in the Church had seen that moment in the same way he had. The System certainly wouldn¡¯t have shown them. As far as explanations for how the Church had subjugated the system went, Tulland had never heard any but the very most general. The idea, it seemed, was that the entire organization had combined its powers to expel the influence of the System, something they had been mostly successful at. The fact that they had done something of that nature was evident in the very fact that his System was so much different than the ones that Necia, Licht, or Ley had experienced. It was much more personal, for one. Before, Tulland had attributed that to the fact that he was the only person the System could easily talk to, but now he wasn¡¯t so sure. It seemed that it had talked to the boy in much the same way, and had been willing to risk things that other Systems might have decided not to. More different still was how uninvolved the System was in other ways, but that was obvious. Even now, the System had affected Tulland¡¯s life, at least as far as actually being a System in that more significant sense went. There were still open questions. How had the Church done what they had done? And why? At the time he saw, the System and the boy were friends. There was no deception in how the System treated it, at least in terms of how the System remembered things. The Infinite itself guaranteed that. At the least, it deserved some thought. System? Yes? I¡¯ll think about what you showed me. Thank you. There was a pause. And Tulland? ¡°Yes?¡± You are very bad at opening jars. Chapter 67: Clubber Vine Tulland didn¡¯t have a way to disprove the System¡¯s claim until the next morning, when he woke up with Necia¡¯s arm on his chest, stretched from her bedroll a foot or so away. Ley was snoring loudly, which hardly mattered in that moment**.** Girl hand was a powerful force, one that he wouldn¡¯t have escaped for almost any reason he could think of. The Infinite, in its wisdom, presented him with one he wouldn¡¯t have thought of, something powerful enough that he sprung out of bed immediately, Necia¡¯s hand forgotten.
Splicing Complete! Two out of the three active splicing chambers failed, providing the following information:
  1. Stumper flesh appears to be incompatible with splicing in general.
  2. The combination of different, diverse sources of genetic carries a massive inherent chance of failure. Mixing different meats or other sources of life will be less effective than single sources of material to draw from. This limitation is meant to keep you from simply mixing a dozen different materials into the chamber at once and finding a single success among them. The splicing chamber is meant to work more slowly than that.
The third chamber, containing just Mass Hare flesh, was a success, producing a new seed. Grow the seed to learn more about the exact results of this experiment.
¡°You look like a little kid on the day of their birth celebration.¡± Necia rolled over and stared at Tulland as he broke the seal on the jar, fished out the tiny seed, and shook the ash from the failed experiments. ¡°Is it that exciting?¡± ¡°Oh yes. New seed. No idea what it does.¡± Tulland looked over the meat from the day before and his other few sources of fertilizer, finding that the seed didn¡¯t seem to be very well attuned to any of them. Instead, he simply enriched the seed with every bit of magic he could safely cram in it, harvested some briars to make room for it, and shoved it deep into some moist, freshly tilled soil. ¡°Wow. That took a lot of my magic stock. Sorry, rest-of-farm. You¡¯ll have to wait for your next enhancement.¡± ¡°Should we wait for¡­ whatever it is?¡± Ley pointed at the soil. ¡°Would it help?¡± ¡°Not until it¡¯s grown,¡± Tulland explained. ¡°And that could take forever. We might as well go hunting in the meantime. If I can pick up some levels, it will happen that much faster.¡± ¡°About that. Shouldn¡¯t we be scattering briar seeds as we go? Like we did in the slime dungeon?¡± Necia asked. ¡°No, probably not. It¡¯s a good idea, Necia, but only if the briars can kill the enemies around here. And I don¡¯t think they can, at least not in anything but huge numbers. We¡¯d be better off just hunting like we¡¯ve been.¡± ¡°Well then. Let¡¯s eat the leftovers from last night and get to it, then.¡± Necia stood. ¡°I think it¡¯s going to be a good day.¡± ¡ª Tulland¡¯s farm was growing up, something he was glad for. Soon enough, he¡¯d be transitioning off his temporary grace period where he was drawing power from the older, more developed garden in the safe zone. By then, he¡¯d need as much power in this garden as he could manage. It wasn¡¯t going to be a one-for-one exchange, and there was no way he¡¯d draw as much power here as he had from there, but he was hoping the few levels he had picked up here since then would help. Tulland had spent some time bolstering some of his physical stats and his little-used mind stat, going for a kind of well-roundedness just to make sure he didn¡¯t get caught off-guard by a significant lack in one facet of his build or another. Now, he was going to dump his new points all into force. He needed the raw power. Everything he did on his farm ran off force, and every bit of that cycled out to how well his weapons and weaponized plants worked. It just couldn¡¯t be too high.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 40 Strength: 40 (+5) Agility: 40 (+5) Vitality: 50 (+10) Spirit: 70 Mind: 45 (+5) Force: 90 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 14, Produce Armament LV. 11, Market Wagon LV. 5 Passives: Broadcast LV. 10, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 6, Fruits of the Field LV. 3, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 5
Once they had eaten and walked around for a bit, they found their next group of enemies, this time heavy on the Stumpers with only a few Mass Hares mixed in. ¡°I¡¯ll hit the hares,¡± Ley said. ¡°Tulland, just use as many vines as you can on two of the Stumpers. Necia, focus on keeping the full-strength Stumpers occupied and mix in distraction to the other two until I can get there. Sound good?¡±Stolen story; please report. ¡°Good.¡± Tulland nodded. He was responsible for more of the fight than he had been before, but he was stronger than he had been before, too. ¡°I¡¯m okay with it.¡± ¡°Me too. Let¡¯s go.¡± As they rushed in, Tulland kept his pitchfork stowed, opting to follow up his applications of Giant¡¯s Hairs and Lunger Briars with explosions from his Acheflowers, hitting each Stumper with a few of them in their ugly, hoggish faces. This didn¡¯t work incredibly well, but it worked at least somewhat, and left them just disoriented enough for him to dodge their attacks while laying down some of his own. ¡°Almost done, Ley?¡± Necia called. ¡°Almost. Keep it up.¡± Ley stabbed down one of the rabbits, putting a permanent end to it. The other was bleeding and slashed, with little time left to go before it collapsed. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m on my way.¡± Ley stopped to help Necia first, slashing at the Stumper¡¯s tendons with his dagger. He was fast, still working off their initial long-distance observation of the enemies. Necia¡¯s Stumper was hobbled almost immediately, and the pressure on Tulland suddenly lessened when the two of them dedicated themselves more fully to the larger enemies. Tulland took one of them on himself, while Ley and Necia took down the other three, ending the fight within a few minutes. ¡°That was better. Now, quick. I want to do at least five of those today. Let¡¯s get back and restock your vines, then go the other direction,¡± Ley said. At the farm, Tulland learned something else he hadn¡¯t noticed before, almost picking up the knowledge by accident as he shoved briars into his dimensional storage. ¡°Oh, wow.¡± Tulland sifted through his notifications until he found the ones he had missed, two Skill Level Up! messages that had both applied to his Market Wagon skill. His complement of Lunger Briars went up by five, which wasn¡¯t honestly that big of a difference. The bigger deal was that he could now carry a whole two more Giant¡¯s Hairs, which was going to be an incredible difference in the kind of fights they were having. That assumption bore out when in the next fight he was able to completely incapacitate two of the four Stumpers completely, a group they were barely brave enough to try because they were pretty sure he could handle it. With Necia and Ley quickly picking up levels from the fights, they were able to hold their own against another two Stumpers and four Mass Hares as Tulland made the rounds, stabbed with his pitchfork, and loaded up every slow-moving enemy in the group with his more damaging briars. ¡°That was good work. You shouldn¡¯t look so sad,¡± Necia said, once the battle was over. ¡°You picked up a level, right?¡± ¡°I did. And a bunch of skill levels that either came through now or I missed before.¡±
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 41 Strength: 40 (+5) Agility: 40 (+5) Vitality: 50 (+10) Spirit: 70 Mind: 45 (+5) Force: 95 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 15, Produce Armament LV. 13, Market Wagon LV. 7 Passives: Broadcast LV. 12, Botanical Engineer LV. 9, Strong Back LV. 8, Fruits of the Field LV. 5, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 8
¡°There¡¯s a lot of them all at once. It¡¯s weird,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Maybe not. Sometimes one skill moves, and a lot of others move with it. You¡¯ve leveled your primary, right?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Then a growth spurt isn¡¯t that weird. Just be glad for it. I¡¯m just growing at the normal speed, and I¡¯m not sure Ley had moved much at all.¡± ¡°Not as much, but it¡¯s my second time through. Now come on. Let¡¯s check out the open areas on the other side farm now, and see if we can¡¯t do a little better.¡± The other side of the farm was a direction they hadn¡¯t spent much time in yet, and should have been relatively virgin territory. Even so, there were no groups of enemies there. They wasted time wandering before going back to where they had been before and immediately finding another two groups. These were about the size of the smaller group they had encountered when they first came in, and presented no challenge. Tulland picked up another level, dumping it into his force stat without a second thought. After that, though, it was time for one of Ley¡¯s enforced breaks. By the time that was over, the light was failing. Tulland cooked some food, then plopped on the ground. ¡°So how much longer until we are done here? I know there¡¯s a time limit. Is it the same for everyone?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°A bit variable.¡± Ley accepted a plate of food. ¡°I asked around before and after my first run. It seems like it varies somewhere between a few days and a week, judging by this place¡¯s day and night cycles.¡± ¡°So any time now?¡± ¡°Or twice as much time as we¡¯ve been here. We¡¯ll see.¡± Ley spooned more food into his mouth greedily. Tulland got it. Walking and killing was hungry work. He had taken to cutting up some briar fruits into every meal whether the fruit suited it or not just to give them more nutritional load. It helped take the edge off, but he was almost always a little hungry. ¡°Actually, I wanted to talk to you two about that. Do you feel like taking a risk?¡± ¡°Depends.¡± Necia was still prying off her shoes, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a problem so long as we can keep hunting.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to if I¡¯m right. Look here.¡± Ley drew his knife and started drawing on the ground. ¡°This square is Tulland¡¯s farm. We¡¯ve seen groups here, here, here, and here. And nowhere else. Even when we went back to the same areas, the enemy groups were in the same half mile of territory. And do you see what shape they are making?¡± ¡°An open triangle.¡± Necia connected the dots with her finger, drawing a line that bent in the middle to double back. ¡°It¡¯s pointing at something.¡± ¡°Or it¡¯s a coincidence. I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s not. It wouldn¡¯t have to be much of one. But if you two are okay with it, I think it might be worth checking.¡± ¡°Absolutely. How did you even figure this out?¡± ¡°Spymaster, remember?¡± Ley tapped his head. ¡°The skills don¡¯t let me miss much. Now, let¡¯s sleep. I want to get on this early. The days are short here, and we may not have enough of them left.¡± The next day, Tulland would have forgotten to check his new vine, just as he had the night before. The Infinite wouldn¡¯t let him.
Clubber Vine LV. 1 (Cultivated, Subjugated, Dead-end)
Chapter 68: Bison King
Clubber Vine LV. 1 (Cultivated, Subjugated, Dead-end) You have successfully managed to splice the power of a mass-enhanced lagomorph into a plant, resulting in a fast, unnaturally heavy-hitting vine. Tougher than the vines you¡¯ve made before, the clubber vines resist almost all forms of physical damage. They can be destroyed, but it takes work. Like the Lunger Briars, the Clubber Vine move towards anything they (or you) perceive as prey. Unlike the Lunger Briars, they move towards it fast in singular high-speed whipping motions that rival most medium-speed beasts. When they impact, they hit hard, shattering bones, armor, and bruising the flesh beneath to incapacitate your foes. A Clubber Vine can be trimmed from its roots without harming them, allowing the plant to regrow. When you do this, the level of the plant that regrows from the roots will reset to an appropriate number considering its overall growing conditions as if it was a newly sprouted plant. The Clubber Vine is a genetic dead-end and cannot be further improved. As such, the first Clubber Vine you grow in a particular farm produces an outsized effect on your farm quality.
Without a second thought, Tulland trimmed the vine and designated it as one of his two combat options. One vine, he could somehow tell, was the limit that he could store in the dimensional space. That meant he was dealing with something at least a little better than the Giant¡¯s Hairs, and potentially infinitely better than the Lunger Briars. ¡°Good?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Looks like it. Do you have your shield? We could do a test hit,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Of course.¡± Necia scooped her shield from the ground and held it in front of her, digging her feet into the soil for traction. Tulland appreciated that vote of confidence. ¡°I¡¯m ready when you are.¡± The vine whipped out as soon as Tulland gave it permission, hitting the center of Necia¡¯s shield like a sledgehammer. ¡°Strong,¡± Necia said. ¡°Not as strong as one of those Stumpers, but strong.¡± ¡°Oh, you haven¡¯t see anything yet. Do you think you could take a harder hit?¡± ¡°Of course. Bring it on.¡± Tulland pushed Primal Growth into the vine, feeling the heavy, uncomfortable pull on his magic he had expected. The vine whipped out again, this time about twice as fast as it had moved before. When it hit, it hit hard. Necia wasn¡¯t using any skills that Tulland could tell, but the fact that she had to take a sliding step back to maintain her position was something that boded good future tidings. ¡°That¡¯s going to change the game,¡± Ley said after seeing the show of strength. ¡°No question. One or two of those whacks will take out a hare. Even if you don¡¯t get another level the entire time we are in here¡­¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that.¡± Tulland grinned like a maniac. ¡°This is a new plant, Ley. That¡¯s never existed anywhere before. Guess what that does to my experience levels.¡± ¡°Good things?¡± ¡°Very good.¡± Tulland had gained two levels just from the vine, both of which went into force. If he had been expecting some kind of threshold bonus at 100 points in a single stat, he didn¡¯t get it here. But the bigger deal was the skill levels that came with them, which were truly excessive. ¡°It¡¯s a growth spurt, Necia. Just like you said. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll get a single thing more out of this level, and I just don¡¯t care. It¡¯s that much.¡±
Tulland Lowstreet This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 43 Strength: 40 (+5) Agility: 40 (+5) Vitality: 50 (+10) Spirit: 70 Mind: 45 (+5) Force: 105 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 18, Produce Armament LV. 13, Market Wagon LV. 8 Passives: Broadcast LV. 14, Botanical Engineer LV. 14, Strong Back LV. 8, Fruits of the Field LV. 5, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 8
¡°And my farm here is as good as my one back home. Just as good. Whatever this vine is, it¡¯s special. Let¡¯s get going.¡± Tulland turned and walked. He couldn¡¯t wait to find something to smack. ¡°I need to test this out now.¡± ¡ª In a new field picked specifically because it was in the direction of Ley¡¯s pointing arrow, Necia ducked as a Mass Hare flew over her head. This time, it wasn¡¯t an attack the rabbit had planned. It had been batted there, courtesy of the Clubber Vine. This thing just can¡¯t miss. It can. But you did get this at a timing I would consider to be early. The enemies you are hitting don¡¯t move fast enough to dodge its attacks, and don¡¯t have any way to block it. You are invincible to the hares unless they attack in sync. Can they do that? Coordinate in that way, I mean. No idea. I wouldn¡¯t advise finding out. Keep moving. This group of enemies was gargantuan compared to any they had seen before, a full ten hares accompanying four Stumpers. Tulland had dumped his Giant¡¯s Hairs on the heavy attackers before moving on to take on the hares. At this point, Ley wasn¡¯t even attempting to help him with the hares, having opted to hide and build up intellectual potential to use taking down the bigger enemies. Necia held the Stumpers at bay with some difficulty before Ley¡¯s first big single-target skill hit and put one of them down permanently. After that, it was a massacre. Tulland chased down the rabbits, turning them into jelly with his vines as he finished off anything he could reach with his pitchfork. After the first hare, he hit his experience cap, but he refused to stop until every single enemy was down. By that point, there were still two Stumpers left, each of whom proved much more resistant to the Clubber Vine than the hares had been. But much more resistant is not immune. It¡¯s still screwing them up pretty badly. Freed of having to aim or wait for its moments, the Clubber Vine whipped out again and again, smacking into the flesh of the Stumper with repeated dull thuds. Necia took advantage of the help, shoving her sword deep into the back of the distracted boar¡¯s neck, then using her shield bash to put the next enemy in Tulland¡¯s range. With that group down, they moved onto the next, and the next. By the time they had finished two more, Tulland was capped on Stumpers too. His vines were still in good condition, which was good because at this point there seemed like there was no going back. ¡°Enemy density is just getting thicker and thicker. I don¡¯t know how bad it¡¯s going to get.¡± Ley looked into the distance, where another big group of enemies milled around. ¡°Are you two sure you want to keep going? It¡¯s going to end up being a slog.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Necia laughed. ¡°Let¡¯s hit the cap, Ley. That¡¯s the point of this, right?¡± ¡°Sure. And if there¡¯s some extra treasure at the end of this road, then¡­¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll get that too,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Come on, guys. Let¡¯s go.¡± The next group fell as easily as the last one did, and the next three got Necia to her cap on experience. Everyone was about as strong as they could be on this level now. Five more fights passed, and there was pretty much no break between them anymore. They¡¯d clear one group, then run into the next within a minute or so of walking. ¡°I think this next one has to be it, Ley. If they get any closer, we¡¯ll be pulling multiple groups. We might be able to beat two, but three?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I understand,¡± Ley said softly. ¡°It¡¯s a shame, though. If we were a little tougher, we¡¯d find whatever¡¯s at the end of this violence.¡± ¡°Maybe we still will.¡± Tulland leaned back as his Clubber Vine smacked away a Mass Hare, which signaled the start of their next fight with a new group of monsters. ¡°But we have to live through this first.¡± The fight was as hard as any had been. By the end, half of Tulland¡¯s Giant¡¯s Hairs were ripped to shreds, a first on this particular walk out into the wilderness. No one was hurt yet, but he could tell every member of the party had spent some resources staying alive. Which was all the worse for them when a wooshing sound blew out over the plains, and in the distance they saw something clearly and truly powerful rushing towards them, it¡¯s muscles straining against each other.
Optional Boss Discovered! (Bison King) The rightful rulers of plains, bisons live in almost every system realm. Every place they inhabit, they are considered a powerhouse. Different species have different specialties, but they all are have the same rough qualities. Big, meaty, with powerfully thick horns, possessing low centers of gravity and all the momentum of a boulder rolling down a mountain, these animals are only hindered by a lack of maneuverability and intelligence that renders them generally possible to destroy. No such vulnerability exists here. If those animals were as wise as men and stood as men do, they would be what you see before you. Armed with a mighty club, the Bison King has noted your presence in his lands. He does not appreciate it, and has decided that it¡¯s a slight against him. And he has a long memory for these kinds of things. This level will not end until such time as you have defeated the Bison King or it has defeated you.
Chapter 69: Chaotic Fertilizer ¡°Run?¡± Tulland looked at the furry, huge humanoid bounding towards them. ¡°We should run.¡± ¡°No use.¡± Necia shook her head and unsheathed her sword. ¡°Tulland, do you have those flowers?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Throw all of them as soon as I engage. I won¡¯t be able to hold it long, but it should stop for at least a second. Can you do that?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Frankly? No. But can you time your hit? Stop it in a certain spot?¡± ¡°I can try.¡± ¡°Then do that. Right¡­ there.¡± Tulland ran over and dumped his flowers out in the dirt. He wasn¡¯t too keen on running the risk of having to add his throwing arm into the equation when he could just trigger them from afar. ¡°Any plan otherwise?¡± ¡°Kill it fast. And don¡¯t die.¡± Necia kissed him on the cheek. ¡°And if we don¡¯t make it, sorry. I didn¡¯t expect this.¡± Ley was already gone. Tulland could only hope he was hiding for a big hit. In the same position, he wasn¡¯t sure he would have the bravery to stay. Necia was not joking about how short of a moment she¡¯d be able to stop the Bison King. As the distance closed, it maintained a sprint as it brought its club up for a mighty swing, Tulland prepared his ¡°explode¡± command for the flowers as Necia surged forward, glowing gold and just getting inside the swing of the club before it destroyed her. Keeping the bison¡¯s arms in check, she collided with it, eating every bit of its accumulated momentum. The Bison King won. Necia¡¯s shield clanged off her own armor as she was sent flying several steps back, landing on her left shoulder blade and skidding through the soft soil of the field as she uprooted every plant in one long, deep furrow. Tanking wasn¡¯t going to be a thing here. She might be able to keep herself alive, or even taunt the enemy and run. But she wasn¡¯t going to be able to hold it in place as a nice little package tied up in a bow, all ready to be killed. This is going to be a short, violent thing. But at least I can make sure that thing suffers. Explode. Forty flowers went off at once, engulfing every bit of the buffalo in dust. Tulland ran forward, shooting all four of the Giant¡¯s Hairs into the confusion and praying they would find purchase. When they asked for permission to constrict, he knew they had and granted it immediately as he pulled his pitchfork. Jumping at the dissipating cloud, he put all of his weight behind one single, mighty pitchfork lunge. He might as well have not tried at all. The bison-man was huffing and rubbing its eyes and took every tine of the pitchfork in its unarmored thigh. The weapon didn¡¯t even pierce the skin, instead skidding off and into the thick fur of the animal¡¯s leg and getting fully stuck. Tulland allowed the Clubber Vine to hit a few times as he ducked past the bison into what he hoped was its blind spot, leaving an open moment for Necia to bash it with her shield. The bison faced the full force of Necia¡¯s strike with a confused expression on its face that showed just how deeply the flowers had effected it and took a single step back. That had probably hurt it, Tulland thought, but in the way where it would take dozens or hundreds of that kind of hit to fall. ¡°Tulland? How long are those flowers going to work?¡± Necia asked as she kept up on her shield bashes. ¡°No idea. Seconds. Minutes,¡± Tulland replied. ¡°Then lay into it. Keep moving. I¡¯ll block for you when you can. But if this thing sobers up¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be dead. I got it.¡± The desperate fight began. Tulland couldn¡¯t get his pitchfork back. There was just no way. He enhanced his Giant¡¯s Hairs and Clubber Vine, hoping they¡¯d be able to bring the big beast down. They couldn¡¯t. There simply wasn¡¯t enough force in the world to do that. His powerful Clubber Vine was bruising the thing, hitting it hard and fast while he did his best to keep out of the range of the flailing, confused animal. ¡°Any luck?¡± Necia¡¯s sword bit into the same wound again and again. She had been stabbing the same square foot of real estate with everything she had, rarely landing a hit anywhere else as she tried to chisel through the iron defenses of the bison. ¡°Not much. But my magic is almost full again.¡± ¡°Does that matter?¡± ¡°It might. Especially since¡­¡± Tulland ducked just in time to avoid getting his head chopped off with the bison¡¯s swung ax. ¡°Since it looks like he¡¯s coming around. Any sign of Ley?¡± ¡°No. Not yet. I think we better plan for things that work without him.¡± ¡°Ah. Well then.¡± Tulland held up his clubbing vine, which was still going strong. ¡°Hold him in place for me. I¡¯ll do what I can. Then¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. Then.¡± Necia rushed forward. ¡°Now, Tulland.¡±A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Necia¡¯s shield planted on the bison¡¯s hip, managing to cock its body to the side as she pushed all her weight forward. As she did, Tulland used his Primal Growth again, not into all the plants he had before, but just one this time. The way his Broadcast skill worked, he could split the power of any one action among several plants. This was usually more efficient, allowing each plant to get a little more than its own fair share of Tulland¡¯s boost. But sometimes, just every once in a while, enhancing just one thing a whole lot more made a lot more sense. The Clubber Vine agreed. Tulland felt it get sturdier and meaner over the course of a fraction of a second, looking for a target to break. He gave it one: his own pitchfork, still wedged in the thigh-fur of the monster, tines pointed inwards towards its hip joint. The hit was massive, almost shattering the handle of the pitchfork in one swipe. The tines shot forward, digging into the bison¡¯s joint. The Bison King arched it¡¯s back in pain and rage, swinging its ax over its own head and bringing it to bear directly on Tulland¡¯s position. Oh. Well, that¡¯s it then. Good run. It wasn¡¯t quite that over. With a sliding step, Necia knocked Tulland a step out of the way and ate the hit herself, partially blocking it with her shield before the flat of the blade caught her on the side of the head and sent her flying through the air. She hit the ground hard, not moving this time. When he saw that, Tulland¡¯s world flashed red. Whatever atoms of magic Tulland had reloaded into his pool went back into the vine, which came around for one more hit to the pitchfork, splintering the pole to bits this time as it pushed the tines an inch further into the joint. The bison¡¯s leg buckled. It was still very much alive, and in a moment it would be able to pull out the tines with its hand, stand again, and crush what remained of Tulland and Necia. It had just freed one of its hands to do this when finally, like an arrow shot from a bow, Ley revealed himself at last. Tulland never saw it happen. The first thing he knew about what happened was when Ley¡¯s voice rang out from above him, confusingly happy. ¡°Thanks for bringing its head down. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to kill it otherwise.¡± Ley tugged at his dagger, which was firmly caught in the buffalo¡¯s dead, lifeless skull. ¡°Could you hold on to the sides of this guy¡¯s head, by chance? It keeps moving when I try to dislodge my knife.¡±
Level up x5!
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Optional boss defeated! You have defeated the optional secret boss of level seven. For this accomplishment, you have been rewarded with a vial of chaotic fertilizer.
Chaotic Fertilizer (Splicer Enhancement) Chaotic Fertilizer allows for two plants to be combined within your splicer, creating a new plant with some of the characteristics of both. Dead-end plant lines cannot be used, but otherwise any two plants will have a very high chance of combining to some beneficial form. The higher quality of plants used, the higher quality the resulting product. No other plant can be combined in the splicer¡¯s other chambers during the period the fertilizer is being used.
¡°Is Necia okay?¡± Tulland ignored Ley¡¯s request about the bison head and rushed over to his fallen friend. By the time he got there, she had an arm under herself and was beginning to get up. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re fine. Thank the seas.¡± ¡°No seas here. Thank my armor.¡± Necia knocked her helmet with a knuckle. ¡°Good to see you didn¡¯t betray us, Ley. Appreciate it.¡± ¡°Me? Never.¡± Ley laughed, got a foot high enough in the air to push on the bison¡¯s forehead, and finally dislodged his dagger. ¡°Besides, I was stuck here unless that thing went down. I¡¯m still a big hero, don¡¯t get me wrong, but¡­¡± ¡°But you were also going to die if you didn¡¯t help, yes. Got it.¡± Tulland laughed and sat down. He felt lighter than he had ever been, even more so than when he fought and defeated the Cannian Knight. That was a case where he was in danger himself. The Bison King was a real risk to Necia, and that made things that much more scary. ¡°Everyone get some good stuff from that?¡± ¡°Oh, yes.¡± Ley held up a thin, fragile-looking knife. ¡°A consumable weapon. I¡¯ll take it.¡± ¡°Consumable?¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s good for about five hits, according to the system description. If that doesn¡¯t sound like a lot, it¡¯s because you don¡¯t understand how important five carefully chosen hits can be.¡± ¡°Fair enough. You, Necia?¡± ¡°Levels, which we all probably got, and an improvement to my shield bash. I have more mass when I¡¯m bashing now. Would have helped in that fight, at least.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Tulland laid down on his back before remembering something and springing back up. ¡°Actually, we were supposed to be teleported out of here after that fight, right? I wouldn¡¯t want to be caught with my back in the dirt, and¡­¡± He was cut off as the world faded to black. There wasn¡¯t a level complete reward this time, probably because they had simply gained as much as they could from it. He was still given a few minutes in the white room, which he accepted gratefully, sitting on his now familiar block seat and soaking in the absolute safety for a bit before being thrust back out into the cold, cruel world. Chapter 70: Fight It was an odd feeling to be in quiet rooms where nothing happened. It was even odder to consider such rooms as an undeniably good thing. A few months ago, Tulland would have considered something like this to be torture. He would have chosen to literally sweat in discomfort in a class with his teacher, rather than be crammed in a room with nothing to do. Now, it was one of the few minutes he had in which nothing could kill him, or even try to. There were no angles from which anything could attack, and no place for anything to hide unless it could look exactly like a white brick, down to the very same texture and shade of color. Tulland would have stayed there for hours if he could have, just breathing in the nothing. As it was, he felt lucky that it stretched on as long as it did. The Dungeon System gave him a full ten minutes of respite from the world, something he hoped the other members of the party were getting as well. He passed the time playing with his new Clubber Vine, which really did seem to be made of stronger stuff than any briar variants he had been able to get off the ground so far. He commanded it to lightly slap his hand, which wasn¡¯t a bright move and almost shattered the bones under his palm. It was a strong sort of thing, even though he could only carry one. And thank the soil, it has seeds. I thought we¡¯d get back to the farm before we finished, but it doesn¡¯t matter now. This thing has seed pods integrated with the skin. While he sat, Tulland carefully cut a slit in one mature-looking pod, finding it was loaded with three round seeds each about the size of a pea. He crammed them into one of the more secure pockets of his Wolfwood pouch, ready to plant once he got back home. The briar remained latched onto his arm, where he absentmindedly pet it like a dog. When he was finally expelled, he hoped the safe zone would be as true to its name as it had been so far. In a perfect world, he¡¯d have another ten days to grow his farm, to get stronger, and to develop his weapons. In this world, an arrow was arcing at his head as soon as the universe came into view. It wasn¡¯t exactly the last thing he was expecting to happen, nor was it that surprising that both Necia and Ley were wrapped up in melee combat. It was still a real test of his reflexes, something that he hadn¡¯t known was coming and had nearly no time to react to. He missed the moment. By the time he got his arms moving, they were nowhere near close enough to his head to block the arrow coming towards it. It was the Clubber Vine that saved him. Still attached to his arm, it whipped up as soon as it sensed motion, connecting with the arrow and breaking the shaft clean in half. It diverted the arrowhead just enough to send it careening across Tulland cheekbone, opening a deep and bloody gash. Fight immediately. The one that attacked you. NOW. The System¡¯s words had no real power, no magic that would compel Tulland to follow them. Still, he was moving as soon as his feet found traction on the ground, darting towards a man in forest-colored clothes clutching a short bow in his hand. The man was backing up almost as fast as Tulland could run, but gave just a fraction of a second¡¯s worth of opening when he caught his arm on the corner of a house he hadn¡¯t quite given himself room to clear. Two of Tulland¡¯s flowers impacted the wall behind him at that moment, bursting into a yellow fog that didn¡¯t quite obscure his form. By now, Tulland didn¡¯t expect much of the flowers when used on human opponents, but he didn¡¯t need much from them here. He was fighting a bow-guy, one who looked like he had no real combat options outside of shooting arrows. Unless he had fancy tricks, Tulland would win if he could get into his own range. The flowers gave him that time, sending the man into a few seconds worth of coughing, swatting delirium as Tulland moved forward. Hit him with absolutely everything. Your friends need you to finish him immediately. Tulland knew that was right, but he simply didn¡¯t have much left to hit the man with. He had a half-spent Clubber Vine and mostly dead Giant¡¯s Hairs. He had the remains of his pitchfork, which was a shattered few inches of Ironbranch shaft just long enough to grasp like a dagger, even as it cut his hand doing so. That was it. Everything else had either been used up in the fight with the Bison King or just now when he spent his last few flowers delaying his enemy. Luckily, the Clubber Vine didn¡¯t seem to think about the lack of allies as it caught the man in a backhand slapping motion, throwing him back into the wall and just in front of Tulland¡¯s pitchfork. The man screamed as the shaft-turned-tine caught him in the stomach, pinning him to the wall. Tulland shot the Giant¡¯s Hair downward at his legs and pushed in the same direction with all his strength as he slowly managed to force his opponent to the ground. The Clubber Vine didn¡¯t sit still while this happened, repeatedly bashing any target it could get to. The archer had a light metal helmet, but it hardly seemed to matter as the club battered his head back and forth as it clanged off of the top of the armor again and again.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Tulland tried not to think about what it meant to kill a human. By the tenth or so blow from the Clubber Vine and the fifth or so second of him leaning on his pitchfork as it dug deeper and deeper into the man¡¯s belly, the man coughed up a mouthful of blood, jerked, and went still. Now back to your friends. Tulland didn¡¯t question the System¡¯s intentions at that moment. These were all things he would have done himself if he had a moment to think, and the System¡¯s instruction now was saving valuable moments off his reaction time as he moved from task to task. As he turned, he was shocked to see how far he had got from the others in the few moments he had been running, and just as shocked to see how few stat-enhanced strides it took him to close that same distance again. Necia was first. She would have been in any case. Tulland didn¡¯t pretend to have anything like the same loyalty for Ley as he did for her. Even so, there was a reason beyond bias to go in that order. Ley was cut and bleeding, but still moving with the speed Tulland was used to seeing him exercise in a fight when he wasn¡¯t enhanced by an information-gathering period. Necia was bloodier, more staggered, and overall in worse shape than Ley. She needed help now. Her opponent was another heavy armor user, a dark-skinned giant of a man wielding a heavy mace. He was easily redirecting Necia¡¯s shield bashes, and then using the openings to swing his weapon. Tulland watched her manage to get out of the way or pull her shield back into the path of the spiked head by the time he got into melee range, but it was clear she hadn¡¯t blocked all of them. She had taken damage. Tulland decided not to beat around the bush. Before the big guy noticed he was there, he leapt into the air, wrapped his vine-arm around the man¡¯s neck, and jabbed down as hard as he could into his shoulder joint with the last broken fragments of his Farmer¡¯s Tool. The man¡¯s arm was on the way up while he did, which meant that his armor pinched and shattered the last of the tool directly out of Tulland¡¯s hand. The bulk of what was left dematerialized immediately, flowing back towards his backpack, where he felt the weight settle as the tool presumably tried to recover from the damage it had taken. Convenient. I had always wondered what it would do if it really broke, after it became part of my class. Stop thinking. Keep your head low and hold on. It was good advice, which Tulland saw as the man¡¯s mace swish where Tulland¡¯s head had just been. It came up again, now unable to get to Tulland¡¯s head as hit cowered behind his enemy¡¯s back but fully able to smash into his arm, splintering his wood armor and digging spikes deep into the meat of his forearm. Tulland shrieked but held on, somehow. The Clubber Vine kept striking again and again, keeping the man just off balance enough that he wasn¡¯t able to finish Tulland¡¯s grip once and for all. Tulland peeked around the man¡¯s chest as his arm came up for another blow to see Necia crumpling towards the ground. Except that turned out not to be quite what was happening. She did fall a foot or so, landing in a deep crouch with one of her legs extended through the gap in the dark man¡¯s open stance, then exploded upward with her shield. The edge of Necia¡¯s defense almost dislodged Tulland through sheer force all by itself, rocking the big man¡¯s torso backwards so hard he almost flew off. He was saved from hitting the dirt by the man¡¯s reaction to the hit, which pulled him back forward almost as fast as he had been shot back. Necia¡¯s sword point was waiting for their enemy. As the man¡¯s head rocked downward, she caught him in the neck-joint with it, driving up so far and hard that Tulland heard it clang off the inside of the helmet. ¡°Down,¡± Necia said. ¡°Ley. Now.¡± Tulland peeled his arm from around the man¡¯s neck in time to avoid getting squashed under the collapsing mass of flesh and armor. Once he was on his feet again, he realized just how much damage the man¡¯s mace had done to him. The actual physical wounds to his arm weren¡¯t much, or at least not more than his regeneration could handle over the next few minutes. The greater damage distributed to his entire physical self was much more intense. He felt drained and thinned. Still have to move. Right? Correct. The time for assessing condition is after a fight, unless you intend to run. If you intend to stay, it matters much less than other places you could put your attention. By the time the System had finished his sentence, Tulland was near enough to Ley¡¯s opponent that the Clubber Vine was taking shots of his own. That was good, as far as Tulland was concerned. With no weapon left, keeping himself near enough to the fight to contribute was enough of a challenge that he was relieved not to have to work stabbing and slashing into the mix. Ley had done a much better job of keeping things even in his own fight than Necia had, likely because a fight between two speed classes was an affair of much smaller hits building up over time. Both he and the other fighter looked like they had been put through a grater, and were bleeding in more places than they weren¡¯t. Both were fast enough that Necia and Tulland would have had a hard time joining the fight, but that didn¡¯t appear to be the plan in the first place. ¡°The other back corner, Tulland. Take away his room to dodge.¡± Necia was set up behind the man¡¯s right shoulder, bashing with her shield whenever she could. She wasn¡¯t hitting, but as soon as Tulland took up residence in the left corner, he saw the point of the tactic. This was some kind of evasion class, something that could dodge a lot but couldn¡¯t take much damage. If Ley was able to get a dagger in the opponent in a real way, it probably would have ended the fight right then and there. ¡°Good. Stay there. Move towards him when you can but not so close he can hit you.¡± Between the two of them, the man started to look very cramped indeed. Tulland watched the man glance over his shoulder with panic in his eyes, looking for ways he might be able to break out of their flanking formation. It was the wrong move. By the time he got his eyes pointed forward again, he was staring at Ley¡¯s dagger burying itself up to the hilt in his chest. It¡¯s over, thank goodness, now we can¡­ Don¡¯t be a fool. Look behind you. Chapter 71: Get Strong Tulland did look, watching as the rogue he previously met on the third floor emerged from behind a building, standing in the shadow of a huge, leather-armored woman holding a double-sided axe. Both of them were fresh, and very ready to fight. ¡°Ah. There you are.¡± The rogue grinned. The usual insanity was there, maybe stronger than it had been before. The leather-clad woman didn¡¯t appear to be crazy, at least not in the same way. She was just amused, not needing to try to be intimidating to succeed at it. ¡°We could only keep up our guard about half the time, you know. I wondered if you might slip through. Looks like not.¡± ¡°Why do this?¡± Tulland glanced down at the notifications he had received from taking down the archer previously. It was experience, enough that he had gained another level, but not some insane amount. ¡°Just the experience?¡± ¡°Hey, every little bit helps.¡± The rogue scratched his cheek with the point of his dagger, then appeared to notice he was cutting himself and stopped. ¡°But really it¡¯s because you stole from me. And then got away. I don¡¯t like it when people get away, you know. I was known for that, back on my world. They called me The Chaser for that.¡± ¡°They really did.¡± The leather-clad axe-wielding woman nodded. ¡°I had heard of him.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why you help him? Same world? That¡¯s enough?¡± Tulland was scared, but deeply disgusted at the same time. He was probably going to die here, and none of the reasons why even made sense. ¡°That¡¯s all it takes to start killing other people?¡± ¡°Oh, that. And that if he¡¯s who he says he is, and he is, then he¡¯ll kill me if I don¡¯t. He¡¯s kind of crazy.¡± After saying this, the woman winced and looked over at the chaser, who glared for a split second before he cracked up laughing. ¡°Worried? You don¡¯t think I know that I¡¯m crazy?¡± The rogue laughed himself into a cough, then banged on his own chest with his first as he laughed his way out of it. ¡°If I¡¯m crazy, then I like being crazy. It¡¯s a compliment, as far as I¡¯m concerned.¡± The rogue waved his arm at the trio standing in front of him. ¡°In fact, just go ahead. Take the experience for yourself. It shouldn¡¯t be too hard, right?¡± ¡°Really?¡± The woman licked her lips. ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll cut in if you need the help, but otherwise, have fun,¡± the rogue laughed. The woman took her axe off her shoulder, letting it swing as she walked towards the group, smiling. ¡°Sorry everyone. It¡¯s like he said. Every little bit helps. Try to put up a fight though. It won¡¯t help, but I might get an achievement.¡± Tulland crouched in place, as Necia braced and Ley wiped his dagger on his pants. They were beat up, and not much regeneration had happened in the last few minutes. One axe strike would be enough to take out Tulland¡¯s last plant, which would leave him barely stronger than a normal person back on his world. After that, the fight would be determined by a fully rested warrior against two bloodied and beaten melee fighters, neither of whom could run without the rogue falling on them and ending things himself. ¡°All right. I¡¯ll try to make this qui¡­¡± As the woman lifted her axe for a swing, her taunt was cut short as a glowing crossbow bolt pierced straight through her neck, back to front. Her eyes went wide as she reached her hand up to feel the bone arrowhead. As her blood started flowing, she turned to find the source of it, as did Tulland, his friends, and the rogue. ¡°Now, that¡¯s not nice, Halter.¡± Licht nocked another bolt in his crossbow and leveled it at the rogue. ¡°Did you guys know that was his other name, back on his world? He doesn¡¯t like it very much, though.¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t.¡± Halter the rogue narrowed his eyes at Licht. ¡°Which makes this confusing. Do you really think I can¡¯t get to you, Licht? You can¡¯t hit me with those toys.¡± To the side, Tulland heard a wet gasp as Necia and Ley stabbed the leather-armor woman at once. He was impressed by their presence of mind. ¡°Don¡¯t need to. Try getting me. You¡¯ll see,¡± Licht taunted.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The chaser looked around suspiciously for a moment, then sheathed his dagger. ¡°No, don¡¯t think I will.¡± He rubbed his cheek again, smearing blood from the earlier cut. ¡°I¡¯ll just get you later. When you are asleep. You like sleeping, right?¡± ¡°No, you won¡¯t, either.¡± An armored man walked out of the woods, the same man who had sold Tulland his orange. ¡°Maybe if Licht hadn¡¯t told me all this was going on. But I don¡¯t think you want to tangle with me, Halter. I really don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Who are you, sheriff?¡± Halter laughed. ¡°This is what you brought, Licht? A heavy? You think I should be worried about that?¡± ¡°Not just a heavy.¡± Licht kept his crossbow aimed at Halter. ¡°A sentry. White here was a city guard, he tells me. You know what that means.¡± Halter narrowed his eyes at the orange salesman. ¡°You¡¯re not serious. A city guard in The Infinite?¡± Licht shrugged and looked back at Halter. While the two sides were stuck in their standoff, Tulland whispered out of the corner of his mouth, ¡°Why does that matter?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a law-and-order class.¡± Necia kept her eyes on the rogue as she and Ley stood over the corpse of the axe-woman. ¡°If Halter is a normal rogue, then Ley is a weaker version of the same thing, but with tricks. A sentry class on my world was like a knight or infantry class. Weaker than those classes in a straight fight. But stronger against the right opponent.¡± ¡°And for a rogue, they are just death.¡± Ley smiled. ¡°A sentry can pierce stealth and move faster during an ambush. They¡¯re stronger when they are defending a defined territory. That¡¯s almost certainly how his class treats the safe zone.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland smiled a bit. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t watch me all the time,¡± Halter spat. ¡°No, but I can hunt you down. And I will. I don¡¯t hunt people, usually, but if I have to in order to keep the peace, I don¡¯t think I mind so much,¡± the sentry-orange-salesman replied calmly. ¡°Damn.¡± Halter stomped the ground. ¡°Damn. Damn.¡± Tulland and the others watched as the rogue¡¯s complaining devolved into nearly a full tantrum. He kicked the ground, cursed, and almost looked like he was going to cry in rage for a bit. ¡°Fine.¡± Halter¡¯s face snapped back to calm in an instant. ¡°Fine. Got it. Not the first time I¡¯ve had to calm down for a bit.¡± Halter looked around and locked eyes with Tulland. The man¡¯s madness was on clear display. Tulland felt like he was looking into an abyss of emotions. Halter took a few steps back. ¡°He won¡¯t be here forever. And when he¡¯s gone, I¡¯ll take my revenge then. Enjoy your time, I guess. There¡¯s not much of it left.¡± Halter then blurred into an afterimage that Tulland¡¯s eyes couldn¡¯t track. Licht and the others watched the rogue go. Of them, only Necia pulled her weapon up in an attempt to track the man before she let it drop back down to her side. White sighed. ¡°They think that looks so amazing. I wish they could see how they look in my eyes. Damn rogues.¡± ¡°Hey now. It¡¯s not like that didn¡¯t work. I didn¡¯t expect him to have an escape skill though. Didn¡¯t seem like his style.¡± Licht took the bolt out of his crossbow and shouldered it. ¡°And are you all okay over there?¡± White asked. ¡°No poison in your systems?¡± ¡°Some in mine, but it¡¯s under control.¡± Ley yelled back. ¡°Think he¡¯ll keep his end of the deal? We¡¯d like to go home and eat. Not that we aren¡¯t appreciative.¡± ¡°No appreciation needed. If I have to live in this hellhole, I might as well make it a nice place. Helps me sell the things I find.¡± ¡°Actually, about that.¡± Tulland limped over to where the sentry was standing. ¡°Am I right that our princess and servant act didn¡¯t fool you very long?¡± ¡°Not very long, no.¡± ¡°Well, then. Take this.¡± Tulland fished the provisions he had packed for him and the others out of his pack. There was about half left, enough for plenty of meals. ¡°And Licht, I¡¯ll get you yours back at home. As far as I¡¯m concerned, both of you are fed for as long as I¡¯m close enough to do it.¡± ¡°What, are you spending all your experience on food, boy?¡± White pressed the back bag into Tulland¡¯s hand. It was an odd moment of home, with an older person trying hard to avoid Tulland¡¯s younger-person generosity. His uncle had done the same thing, every time Tulland had remembered to buy him a gift. ¡°Keep this.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, White,¡± Licht said. ¡°You¡¯ll want to keep it a secret so you can keep selling your roots and things, but look how he¡¯s dressed. He can feed you.¡± White¡¯s mouth curled into an oh expression of sudden realization, then went back to neutral. ¡°Then thank you. But, Tulland? It¡¯s Tulland?¡± After Tulland nodded in confirmation, the man tucked the bag of grains into his belt. ¡°He wasn¡¯t wrong. I really won¡¯t be here forever. I have level nine to beat, then it¡¯s off to level ten. And when that happens, I¡¯m not coming back. One way or another, that puts you outside of my reach.¡± ¡°I understand.¡± Tulland gulped. ¡°Any advice?¡± ¡°Same as for everyone, son.¡± White turned to walk away. ¡°Get stronger. As strong as you can. It¡¯s the only way, in here.¡± ¡°Even with allies?¡± Tulland asked Licht. ¡°That was the seventh for you, right?¡± Licht asked. Tulland nodded. ¡°I just did it too. So we¡¯re all onto the eighth next. And the eighth is solo.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°So yes. Get stronger, Tulland. And do you mind if I wait a little bit to try and get some of that food? I¡¯m still working through the last you gave me,¡± Licht said. ¡°Anytime.¡± Licht nodded and moved back into the trees, then was gone himself. ¡°Home?¡± ¡°Yes. But just to get soap.¡± Necia flicked some blood off her hands. ¡°It¡¯s been a long week. I could stand to scrape some of this off of me.¡± ¡°Good point. I¡¯ll get food going while you do.¡± Chapter 72: Risks Cooking only a took a moment, which left some time for Tulland to take stock of the farm before Necia actually made it home. The first move was to plant the Clubber Vines, which would be a little burst of new strength just from farm quality. That took longer than Tulland liked, just because there was a deeper hole to dig than he was used to. ¡°Decent of you to give him a burial.¡± Ley watched as Tulland rolled the body of the archer he had killed into the hole, stripped of all of its equipment and most of its clothes. ¡°Can¡¯t say he deserves it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so either. But this is something different.¡± Tulland was doing his best to ignore the gravity of what he was up to, but he couldn¡¯t afford to waste resources. If his Farmer¡¯s Intuition had gained a full level just from telling him that basically all of his vines would enjoy human fertilizer, then it was an important thing. Subtly, and so Ley couldn¡¯t see, he cut off a bit of flesh from his enemy to save in a bag and use later. It wouldn¡¯t take much to run a couple of batches in the splicer and see what popped out, and he didn¡¯t want to think more about how to store it until he could do just that. ¡°This is for the farm. Don¡¯t ask.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t. Doesn¡¯t take a genius to figure out why that might work. You can bury him all in one place like that?¡± Ley asked. ¡°The skill I use for farming says it would be better to¡­ split him up. I don¡¯t want to.¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°This will eventually work its way through all the soil. And I can plant briars right on top of it. It will be enough.¡± ¡°Can I be honest with you?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°You look like hell. You look like I did the first time I took someone down. If you think I¡¯m judging you for not following that farming advice, I¡¯m not. I¡¯m impressed you even remembered to take the equipment off.¡± ¡°About that. Anything here you can use?¡± ¡°Some of it. Mostly just the shoes. I already got a few pieces from the rogue I was fighting.¡± Ley looked at the rest of what was left with a critical eye. ¡°The rest of the armor isn¡¯t much, but the bow is something. You want me to see if I can sell it?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t use it?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then yes. Put out the word that I¡¯m looking for weird meats or plant seeds. Not just for the bow. For food, if people want it. No use hiding what I can do now, considering we¡¯re already being hunted.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re trying to get every bit of strength that you can. Smart. No use doing it halfway.¡± After the grains were done, Tulland and Ley gulped down a bowl apiece and still found themselves with some time before Necia got back. Tulland pulled out the splicer, then looked at his farm, thoughtfully. ¡°So. I can probably make one aspect of what I do stronger,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I have to decide what.¡± ¡°That new plant, the slappy one. No question. It¡¯s already strong, for what it is,¡± Ley said. ¡°No good. That one¡¯s already as strong as it can get. What I¡¯m doing won¡¯t work on it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s harder, then.¡± Ley reached down and unlaced his shoes, sighing as they came off for the first time in days. ¡°The usual wisdom with choose-your-own-benefit buffs like that is to find whatever the weakest part of the combat capabilities you regularly use and bring it up to snuff. For you, I said to do that vine because if it got much better, you¡¯d almost be safe based just on that.¡± ¡°But if I can¡¯t?¡± ¡°Then we¡¯re right back to the weakest thing. And that¡¯s that weapon of yours. Is there anything you can do for it?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Tulland¡¯s pitchfork was stronger and worked better when his stats were higher, but there were some steps in between. High mental stats let him grow better things, which he could then load into the weapon to make it stronger. The better and better suited the plants were, the more durable and damage-dealing it was. But he had noticed it went further than that. When his weapon had become better in the past, he had become slightly better at using it as well. Or at least he thought it had. Is that even possible? That my weapon makes me better at fighting? Rare, but possible. It¡¯s likely how Licht¡¯s class works, and why he uses monster parts in his bolts. So my mental stats feed back into how well I can physically fight? Possibly. And even if they do, it would be at a lower rate than warrior classes. But not the kind of thing I can ignore. Likely not, no. How much attention you should put into it as an exact thing is over the line, though. I can¡¯t tell you about that. Not a single one of Tulland¡¯s briars was a good match for his weapon, since all of their utility came from being partially alive and the process of converting them to a weapon would kill them. That left his trees and mosses. The Ironbranch was a good option, as was the Jewel Moss. Any increase in quality there would transfer to his ability to fight directly, either by making his weapon shaft harder to break or the tines of his pitchfork sharper and tougher. Between the two, he would probably go with the Jewel Moss. But that was only if it was between the two. And before he decided, he wanted to experiment with just one more thing. Since he and Necia had grown the Stonefruit tree, he had been thinking about uses for it. While they were on the last floor, it occurred to him that he was potentially being very dumb. He had been thinking of the ultra-tough pits the fruits bore as too small for most kinds of crafting, but that wasn¡¯t necessarily true. His Farmer¡¯s Tool didn¡¯t think of materials like that. It could uptake whatever it wanted in whatever quantities it wanted, pulling in the material and crafting it into the needed shape.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Tulland split open several of the fruits and removed the pits, then held his breath as he lifted them up to the tool. If this worked, he could probably make the whole damn weapon out of the things, given enough time. It didn¡¯t work.
Incompatible Material Not every material you grow is compatible with your farmer¡¯s tool. As a general rule, the material you are using has to be something that could at least theoretically be grown into the size and shape of either the handle or head of the weapon. While the ability to use fragments of materials combined to a sufficiently large mass has been included as a convenience, it does not remove this restriction.
¡°Damn,¡± Tulland said. ¡°What?¡± Ley lifted his head up. ¡°I wanted to use these pits for something. They won¡¯t work. Kind of cheap, The Infinite.¡± ¡°Shh. Don¡¯t say that.¡± Ley looked around, worried. ¡°It¡¯s bad luck.¡± ¡°Well, either way, this won¡¯t work. Which means I should use¡­¡± Tulland turned back to the Ironbranch trees and Jewel moss. Either would be a safe bet. And yet, somewhere deep, he had a suspicion that both would still be a mistake, even if they worked. System, how much risk is too much risk? An impossible question that only a fool would ask. Come on. I have a safe bet, and a dangerous bet. The dangerous bet might pay off more. I have a feeling. It¡¯s stupid to go with that, right? Just dumb? Not necessarily. The calculation in the real world and in a mundane dungeon would be different. The System stopped. It liked to be asked about things. Tulland was more than willing to play along. And here? Can you give me an idea whether or not it would be a good idea here? Or is that over that line you can¡¯t talk over? It¡¯s hard to say. I suppose I could talk until I¡¯m restricted, if you like. Please do. Well, then. I think you know that in a normal situation, you might talk about taking unnecessary risk. The idea would be that there are some risks that are simply avoidable. You wouldn¡¯t risk your life for a bit more money when by being careful you could assure yourself hundreds of more days from which to profit. And seeing your family again and living your normal life. Just so. But here, you have no family, and your friendships are a temporary sort of thing. A climber in The Infinite has no goals but to push as far as they can. It inspires a different sort of bet, one that emphasizes caution less. I wouldn¡¯t think it would make that much difference. Say I could assure myself a few more floors by playing things safe. Why would I take a risk right now? I could go for the guaranteed growth. Which would make perfect sense if, like home, your rewards were linear. I don¡¯t know that term. It¡¯s¡­ imagine at home each floor was worth ten. Ten what? Lumps of gold. Pounds of treasure. Doesn¡¯t matter. Just ten points of something. And the next is worth ten, and the next. Here, that pattern breaks. Each floor is worth more than the last. Major milestones are worth even more. Like the fifth? That¡¯s where you began to turn a profit on this little betrayal, correct? Correct. Like always, the System did not deny the fact that it had betrayed Tulland. It didn¡¯t bring the topic up, which was weirdly understandable at this point. And if you clear the tenth, I¡¯ll be far beyond that. Ever so much more than double. Betting in a way that gets you to those thresholds creates a reward that is disproportionately large. I see. Not quite yet, I think. Because there¡¯s something else to consider. Every climber in The Infinite gives their System something to take back to their world. But those who set records do even more. It¡¯s the highest honor, the most definite and useful punishment. If a world sends hundreds a year, what do you think you would need to do to beat them? To surpass every legend that had ever existed in a particular realm? Tulland began to understand. When The Infinite was new, it was probably a matter of skill and skill alone that determined how far people went. Eventually, some particularly talented person would see a bit of luck and push farther. Then someone would get even luckier. Eventually, it might take thousands of people rolling the dice to string together enough wins to surpass their ancestors¡¯ best lucky streak. But eventually, someone would get a better result on their dice rolls. I¡¯m assuming the benefits for setting a new record would surpass the increases for passing more floors and thresholds? Of course. New ages have been set that way. Of course, your goals are different from theirs. You are trying to do an impossible thing. The bet might not be worth it, in your case. That was true. If The Infinite was a one-way ticket to death, and everyone seemed to agree that it was, then eventually the System would get a reward from Tulland¡¯s death, something it would use to break the stranglehold that the Church had on its powers. Tulland¡¯s own plan wasn¡¯t that well-formed, but to the extent he even had one, it was to survive long enough to figure something else out. Some way of escape. Some method to beat the odds and keep on going. That hadn¡¯t changed even with the System¡¯s revelations that the Church wasn¡¯t all it had represented itself to be. He still hadn¡¯t seen any real indications that the Church was bad, as such. Just the fact that at one point the System had been friends with the founder wasn¡¯t enough to change his mind on anything substantial. So I should take the big risk? That I can¡¯t tell you. That¡¯s the limit. But at least you should consider it differently than you have before. Tulland looked over his plants one more time. The Ironbranch and Jewel moss were still there, safe and secure choices he knew he should really, really pick. He moved towards the siren¡¯s call of the Stonefruit tree anyway. ¡°This is stupid.¡± He pulled one of the fruits off the tree, ejected a fresh seed, and spent a massive amount of magic power getting it up to snuff before shoving it in the splicer. Holding the vial of fertilizer over it, he broke it open and sprinkled the contents in the chamber, then closed it up. The splicer gave him the same this-could-take-as-long-as-a-day message as before, and Tulland resigned himself to waiting for whatever results came of his arguably bad decision. ¡°You look like you swallowed a fish. Whole.¡± Necia¡¯s hair was twisted into a single wet ponytail as she walked back in to the main house. ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Oh. I just made a mistake, probably. Or something that will put me far, far ahead of the game,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Ah. One of those.¡± Necia sat and scooped out some food. ¡°They have full books about that kind of decision back on my world. There are people who think they have worked out formulas for it.¡± ¡°Have they?¡± ¡°No. At least nobody takes them seriously if they have. It all boils down to the idea that if you want to be great, you have to take risks. How big was this one?¡± ¡°The entire reward from the last floor.¡± ¡°Ah. Well, fingers crossed. Are you going to bathe now?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Just stay close to town. That scary sentry warning White gave won¡¯t do you much good if you¡¯re far enough away for nobody to notice when you get attacked.¡± Chapter 73: Tools The bath was as terribly cold as it had been before, and Tulland was horrified to find he was getting used to it. It couldn¡¯t hurt him, and his body seemed to be in the beginning stages of realizing just that and losing all of its normal reaction to the cold. In any case, he was able to rinse his clothes, scrub them to acceptable cleanness with river sand, wash the worst of the stink out of his boots, and scour his skin and hair to almost the standard he had kept them back on Ouros within just several minutes, all while never really getting fully naked. That was town-standard, according to Licht. Most people were respectful, and local customs differed, but it was essentially agreed that nobody would get too mad about an accidental glance from the safe zone as long as nobody put on too much of a show. In the distance, he could see White minding his shop, which meant that White could see him. It was the only reason he felt safe enough to do it. Tulland carried his gear back under his arm, determined to stay in the house for the next few days anyway. He might as well be comfortable, and his armor wasn¡¯t all that compatible with that. It was something he was hoping to remedy. ¡°Hey, Necia. Could you do me a favor?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Sure. So long as you make more food.¡± ¡°Deal. Could you crush some of these? I want to see how they break.¡± Tulland dropped a bunch of the orange-tree pits on the ground in front of her. ¡°I¡¯m hoping they shatter in a sort of clean way.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know.¡± Necia turned one over in her hand, looking at it from several angles. ¡°There are no real joints in these things. It¡¯s like they are rocks.¡± ¡°Give it a shot anyway. Hit it with your sword or something.¡± ¡°Helmet, I think so.¡± Necia reached into her pack. ¡°My old one.¡± After setting the nut on a rock, she brought the helmet down on it, swung with her hand like an awkward hammer. The first hit didn¡¯t do much, so she brought it down again and again until finally the pit broke. When it did, it basically detonated. ¡°Abysses of the damned!¡± Ley ducked his head as several tiny particles of metal-hard fruit pit pelted him. ¡°What are you two even doing?¡± ¡°Trying to break apart these nuts. For Tulland.¡± Necia picked up the biggest remaining fragment, which was somewhat smaller than her thumbnail. ¡°I might have gone a bit too hard.¡± ¡°I guess. Did you even etch it first?¡± ¡°Etch?¡± ¡°Look.¡± Ley came over and picked up one of the pits, took out his dagger, and dragged the point across it in a circle several times until a bright, scratched line became visible in the surface. ¡°Hit it now. Try to keep roughly in line with the etch itself.¡± Necia frowned, but picked up her helmet again anyway. This time, the nut not only broke on the first hit, but broke mostly on the line Ley had etched, Tulland picked up one of the halves, which was now the shape of a tiny, hollow bowl. ¡°That did it. Now I just need¡­ damn. I wish I had ever paid attention to what crafters do.¡± Tulland pulled some string out of his bag, the thinnest rope he could make from his Wolfwood leather. It was tough stuff, or at least tough enough for what he had in mind, but there were problems actually making it do what he wanted. ¡°Now, how am I going to tie these things? I want to make sort of a string of them.¡± ¡°Well, there are knots that do that.¡± Ley picked up one of the seeds and closed his fist around it. ¡°They¡¯d clasp it like this. Would that work?¡± ¡°Probably not. This is for armor, and my rope is much less good than my other plants. It would just get cut.¡± ¡°Then you are going to want to bore holes into things. Which is harder,¡± Ley said. ¡°Actually, I might have something that can do that.¡± Ley¡¯s pack was a bit bigger than Tulland thought made sense for a hiding, sneaking type of warrior, but he was glad the Spymaster had it when Ley reached in and pulled out two or three entire Stumper tusks.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°We never broke one of these. Whatever they are made out of, it¡¯s pretty durable stuff. And they are sharp. If you take the inside of that seed and move it back and forth, it will drill through eventually. Probably. But it¡¯s gonna take time.¡± Tulland felt like he was up for the challenge until the first seed took him twenty minutes to drill through on each end. His hands were already a little sore from doing it, though the tusk was holding up just fine. ¡°This is going to be a long week.¡± Tulland flopped back and groaned. ¡°Is it worth it?¡± ¡°If it keeps you alive, almost anything can be worth time. Do you have anything better to do than that?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Besides farming? No.¡± ¡°Then do it, Tulland. And I¡¯m going to sleep for an entire day. I¡¯ll help you break more of those apart beforehand, though.¡± A few minutes work left Tulland with a big pile of seed-halves and a whole lot of prep work to do, but as had been pointed out, it wasn¡¯t like he wasn¡¯t in wait-and-grow mode for a while anyway. Five hours later, he was still working by the fire, a growing amount of newly bored seeds next to him. His hands were raw, which was nothing his regeneration wouldn¡¯t take care of. The real bottleneck was his mind, which just wouldn¡¯t let him continue on as he had been. With a sigh, he crawled to his bedroll and slipped off to sleep. ¡ª ¡°That¡¯s a weird one. Why didn¡¯t you make it normal?¡± ¡°Normal?¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle was busy tying off the last few knots of a big, circular net, not just circular on a flat plane but looking like it would be spherical if inflated. All the knots were wrong, somehow. All the openings in the weave were weird. Everything was off, at least to Tulland.. ¡°Why isn¡¯t this normal?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like that sword from the book. It just looks weird. LIke, things should look like the things they are for,¡± Tulland claimed. ¡°Ah. So like when you were mad about my fishing knife.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too thin. Too pointy and triangular.¡± ¡°Right. For once, I know what you mean.¡± His uncle wiped the sweat off his hands and started leafing through a shelf nearby. ¡°If I still have it, I¡¯ll show you why I understand what you¡¯re talking about. Oh, here it is. Good.¡± His uncle brought down an ancient, well-worn book on machinery from a shelf, and opened it directly to the page he seemed to want. ¡°Here. Look at this bow.¡± The bow in question was a crossbow, one that looked as wrong to Tulland as it seemed to look to his uncle. ¡°When I was a boy, I looked at this picture a lot. It has a crank instead of a pull. It has a trigger that doesn¡¯t look like a trigger. I finally broke down, found some retired warrior in a pub I wasn¡¯t supposed to be in, and asked him. You know what he said?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He said the normal kind of crossbow is good and all, but this kind will put a bolt through a monster tortoise from a mile away. That longbows were for distance, that shortbows were for horsemen, that crossbows were for guards, and that this was for specialized use.¡± ¡°It still looks wrong.¡± ¡°So does this net, honestly. I understand. It doesn¡¯t look like it should. But it¡¯s for catching swimming snails. It can¡¯t be like a normal net, or it wouldn¡¯t catch them. Tools are tools. What¡¯s important is that they do what they¡¯re supposed to do well.¡± ¡°Even if you look like a fool?¡± ¡°A fool is a man who comes home without a fish when he could have come back with a full net. Remember that, Tulland. Whatever you do, don¡¯t let your eyes tell you how it should go. Let your results teach you.¡± ¡ª Waking up, Tulland shook off the sleep and looked with disgust at the propped-up tusk he had been using to bore holes in his seed-halves. Last night, he had been too tired to calculate it out, but today he could do the rough math and know that he had literal days of work ahead of him to do everything he needed to do. And that¡¯s if Primal Growth can keep up with the pits I¡¯ll need. Tulland threw an enhancement at the Stonefruit tree as well as a few choice plants in his farm he wanted to make sure were doing well. Luckily, the three he was most concerned with were doing just fine.
Clubber Vines LV. 3 Having consumed the flesh of prey that the briar family was designed to catch, these Clubber Vines are somewhat enhanced in terms of both performance and durability.
Tulland opened his farming screen to find his power level was now at a round 950, higher than he had expected to get on this trip home and still with nine days of growing to go. With some notifications left to look at, he was hoping to see some signs that he might push it even further. To his delight, he did.
Splicing Complete! You have utilized your chaotic fertilizer on a Stonefruit tree, creating something completely new. While the bulk of the plant will be similar to its predecessor, profound changes are possible. The resulting plant will not necessarily be something that could or should survive in nature, pushing the limits of your capabilities further faster than would otherwise be possible. Grow a plant to maturity to learn more about the specifics of your new creation.
Chapter 74: Druid Chainmail The lid of the splicer flew open as Tulland dumped the seed out into his hand, grinning ear to ear. Even while he knew he should, he found it hard to care about the fact he had just taken a giant risk to develop a yet-useless plant. But this just felt right, somehow. He rushed over to his farm and planted the seed immediately, clearing some nearly useless bushes out of the way to give it room. The seed itself didn¡¯t seem to want anything particular beyond moist, nutritious soil, which he had tons of. ¡°How do you get so excited about plants?¡± Necia propped herself up on her elbow and watched as Tulland took his hoe to the soil. ¡°I mean I get they help you survive, but even so.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Honestly, back home, I wouldn¡¯t have cared. Not a bit. But here, somehow, it¡¯s more important,¡± Tulland said. ¡°It¡¯s the class.¡± Ley sat up, rubbing his eyes. ¡°You¡¯re a Farmer. That goes further than skin deep, you know. I wasn¡¯t born absolutely loving learning little details about people¡¯s tactical implications. It was a hobby at best. And now, after a lifetime in the class out there and months of reinforcing it in here, I can¡¯t even see someone¡¯s shoes without understanding what kind of traction they give. It¡¯s insidious.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t get how that¡¯s okay. It feels like mind control.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ I mean, it¡¯s boring. It¡¯s just that you are getting soaked in the essence of being a Farmer at all times, and that has the same effect any new experience would. I think whatever authority in charge of every System just decided it would be weirder if that didn¡¯t make a difference.¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m in it now anyway. It¡¯s not like hating farming will help me any.¡± ¡°What about your plans for the day? Just more farming?¡± ¡°A bit.¡± Tulland went to a mostly ruined shelf on the wall of the house and pulled down some bags. ¡°Here, guys. Spending money.¡± ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°Grains and fruit. We have more rations than we¡¯re going to need for the time being. I figured you two might be able to buy something with if. And this one is for Licht, and this is for White. I figured both of them have been close enough to allies that some extra can¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°You know this is an uncountably valuable wealth, right?¡± Ley bounced the bag on his hand. ¡°I could buy anything with this.¡± ¡°Good. Then do. Remember that I need fertilizer, if you can find it. Otherwise, just keep in White¡¯s line-of-sight and have fun.¡± Once they were gone, Tulland threw some random combinations of things into his splicer, hoping to get lucky. If nothing else, he had so many possible combinations to get through that he needed to keep the Splicer cooking at all times to even have a chance of maxing out its potential. The only real hangup was a general shortage of interesting fertilizers, but even that was something Tulland had some ideas about. Today felt like a small-amounts-of-blood from his finger day, and after a quick cut he had a Lunger Briar, a Giant¡¯s Hair, and an Acheflower going. After that, he was back to work on the seeds. Four hours passed with him grinding the ever-loving hell out of the seeds, boring two holes in each broken pit half and tossing them into a pile. Like all things, it was something that practice made him better at. He slowly gained speed boring the holes, and after his previous shift doing just that, he had a pretty sizeable pile ready to go. After getting some leather twine made by cutting strips from a Wolfwood tree, he bound what he had together, then got back to work. ¡°Still at it? Is that all you are doing?¡± Necia asked after what felt like hours had passed. ¡°It¡¯s all I can do. Besides growing the farm. I¡¯m up to over a thousand farm points now, which seems like progress,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Then good. I¡¯m going to bed. If it¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll show you what I bought tomorrow. I¡¯m just much sleepier than I thought I¡¯d be.¡± ¡°No worries. I have work to keep me company.¡± Tulland yawned. ¡°What I wouldn¡¯t give for a real tool for this.¡± ¡°Actually, I can help with that.¡± Ley appeared at the door holding a long, sharpened metal spike. ¡°One of the guys who used to live here had a nasty, nasty class. White got this off him somehow, and was willing to trade it for some of your grains. Enjoy.¡± Most of the time, Tulland wasn¡¯t able to even pick up other people¡¯s weapons. The exception had been the dagger Necia had traded him for his first ever Wolfwood fur bag, which the Dungeon System considered to be enough of a tool that it didn¡¯t stop him from using it. To his very great surprise, the Dungeon System gave him the same benefit of the doubt with the long, handle-less metal spike he got from Ley, allowing him to handle it at least long enough to dig a hole, sink in a big rock, then wedge the spike on top of it pointing upwards. When he took a seed to it in that position, it bored a hole in less than a quarter of the time. ¡°This is amazing, Ley. Thank you,¡± Tulland said. ¡°No problem. I got some good stuff for my class as well. And Licht bought out every animal bone in the place. It¡¯s a good day to be your friend. Five more hours came and went before Tulland finally had enough seeds, and could finally stop spending the majority of his magic on just growing fruits to steal pits from. Throwing the rest of his stock of mystical power into several Clubber Vine seedlings that were just breaking the soil, he rubbed his tired eyes, decided that it wasn¡¯t really worth it to keep pretending he was going to get a good night¡¯s sleep that day, and started working on his armor in earnest.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. It was going to look stupid. That was the first thing he had realized when he thought about ways he could up his armor game. The pits looked just like fruit pits normally did. They¡¯d never be beautiful. But they were as hard as rocks and legitimately hard for even Necia to break. By the time he finished the project, he had figured out how to use a rock and the spike to split them himself, but it was a near thing. They also didn¡¯t weigh much. Even stringing dozens of them together with leather strips left him with a light object, one that wouldn¡¯t encumber him much. The leather also made the entire apparatus pretty flexible, something like wooden chain mail that didn¡¯t hinder his movement much. Where his old armor set had been almost solid wood and had long since stopped giving anything but a token defense against attacks, he had high hopes that this set would do much better while still letting him move around faster. The Dungeon System appeared to agree.
Druid Chainmail To make hardened, pierce-resistant armor out of entirely natural materials is no small feat. Leather won¡¯t do it, at least outside of the hands of an experienced class-blessed crafter. Wood will do it, but tends to be clunky. Other options tend to share one problem or the other, and often both. You¡¯ve managed to circumvent both issues by creating something truly odd. By linking together numerous ultra-tough plant seeds, you¡¯ve made an armor that covers you from all angles, acting as shirt, pants, glove-top guards for your hands, and a hood and gorget combo that protects your head and neck. Compared to your Giant¡¯s Toe set, this armor is better in every single way. It is a particularly large jump in protection that stands a good chance of keeping you alive where your previous set would have led you to perish. As a bonus, the design is advanced enough and uses high enough quality of materials that, combined with your advancing crafting skill levels, you have managed to create an item that confers stats for the first time. For this separate but related achievement, you will receive a reward of a significant amount of experience. Effects: Mind +5, Spirit +5
Level Up!
Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Two of the skill levels went to produce armament, just as he had expected they would. He was pleased to see that one of them went to Market Wagon, and had some ideas about testing the absolute limits of that he would let wait until morning. The stat points from his level ups went into his force, as was becoming habit for Tulland. He glanced at his new armor, almost resisting the siren¡¯s call of trying it out. He didn¡¯t make it. This was the kind of thing he just wasn¡¯t adult enough to say no to. A few minutes later, he was out in the yard, waving his pitchfork around like an idiot. You seem to be enjoying yourself. It¡¯s better? Much better. I can move. I hadn¡¯t even realized how bad the old armor was. I can move in this. It looks terrible. Unbelievably so. Yes it does. But my uncle once told me not to care about that kind of thing, and I¡¯m beginning to think he was right. ¡°That is, by a wide margin, the ugliest armor I¡¯ve ever seen. It must be good,¡± Licht said when he popped out of a nearby shadow. Tulland didn¡¯t even flinch. ¡°Licht! Yes. It¡¯s very good. At least by my standards. I can¡¯t wear what most people could.¡± ¡°I figured it was something like that. I¡¯m pretty good at having my finger on the pulse around here if you haven¡¯t noticed. Tulland wearing terrible armor all the time was a hard thing to miss.¡± ¡°Figures. Are you coming around for any reason in particular?¡± ¡°To thank you for the food, actually. In a substantial way, if you¡¯ll let me.¡± Tulland stowed his pitchfork and moved towards the fence. ¡°What kind of help are we talking about?¡± ¡°Information, mostly. First, some stuff I suspect you¡¯d want details on. White is about to go challenge the ninth floor. That¡¯s an individual level, and those are usually pretty short. He should be back by the time you get back from your next floor, if I¡¯ve got the timing worked out. You¡¯ll be safe until he leaves for the tenth, but¡­¡± ¡°But then I¡¯ll be in trouble. With Halter. ¡°That¡¯s right. Now, you already know you want to get as strong as possible. I¡¯m here to tell you that this probably won¡¯t be enough.¡± Tulland had that same feeling, but had just about argued himself out of it by them. ¡°Really? Because I beat him once.¡± ¡°So I¡¯ve heard. But he¡¯s had plenty of time to prepare since then. And if I don¡¯t miss my guess, he¡¯s been having lucky breaks on his floors so far. He¡¯s talented. Talented people don¡¯t stay down for long.¡± ¡°Comforting.¡± ¡°Sure. But here¡¯s my thought, and I¡¯ve thought about this a lot the last few days. Have you considered tackling the eighth floor early?¡± ¡°I thought I¡¯d be better off doing that once I used up my ten days.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s probably true. But with that rogue on your tail, you might not have the luxury.¡± Licht looked around, spotting someone walking in the distance. ¡°Your call, but it¡¯s your best bet, at least to my best guess.¡± ¡°Thanks, Licht.¡± Licht also tossed over a small bag. ¡°No problem. And this is for you. I don¡¯t know how it was on your world, but bones on my world were sometimes ground up for fertilizer. I don¡¯t know if these are any good, but I couldn¡¯t use them. I figured you might find some good in them.¡± ¡°Thanks, Licht. I appreciate it.¡± As Licht walked away, all the fatigue of day finally hit Tulland in a way he couldn¡¯t ignore. On his way in, he took a look at his new tree, which said that it was just fine with being given some powdered bone to grow with, and then went to bed. Chapter 75: Steel Star ¡°I¡¯m just saying. If we could figure out something different to eat for breakfast, it would be nicer,¡± Tulland complained. ¡°Sure,¡± Necia said as she gestured at their new garden. ¡°The problem is, Tulland, that you only have two kinds of fruit and so many vegetables and grains. There¡¯s only so much real variety you can get in there.¡± ¡°Granted, but I think if we went heavy on the fruit and lighter on everything else, we might be able to change that.¡± Tulland mimed a chopping motion with a knife above his bowl of normal, boring food. ¡°Especially if we diced every¡­.¡± His voice cut out as something far more important began to take his attention. ¡°Tulland? You just stopped talking.¡± ¡°One second. I have a notification that I think needs my full attention.¡±
Level Up!
Level Up!
Skill Level Up! x5
Steel Star LV. 1 (Cultivated, Subjugated) Unlike the Ironbranch tree, this tree is named for its fruit rather than its branches. Like a conifer, the Steel Star creates fruits that at least to some extent are meant to protect their seeds. Each individual seed pod is made entirely of spiked, sharpened shards of metal ready to cut away at the mouths of any animal stupid enough to try to eat them. As a result of this steel-hard coating, the Steel Star is entirely unable to reproduce without direct, focused assistance. It is not a plant that could exist by itself in nature, and as such is one that has only come about by means of your powers. The wood of the tree is nothing special, nor is the bark. The fruits are the draw here, should you find a use for them.
On the tree, shining by itself, was a single fruit. It was nothing if not horrifyingly dangerous-looking, hanging off the tree looking actively malicious. It was, Tulland could tell, a hand-cutter of a thing. ¡°What new terror is that?¡± Necia tracked Tulland¡¯s gaze to the fruit, then walked closer and eyed it suspiciously. ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯m eating that.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no way I¡¯d let you.¡± Tulland was now close up to the fruit, hoping it would be big enough that he could experiment with it right away. It wasn¡¯t. ¡°I wish there was another one.¡± ¡°There is.¡± Necia was circling the tree. ¡°A couple more of them. Growing on this side, deeper in.¡± Tulland parted the branches and found that Necia was right. Carefully, he palmed the first fruit, hoping it had the same quality his briars did and wouldn¡¯t hurt his hand. He was wrong. The little needles were razor sharp, barely blocked by his Farmer¡¯s Gloves and incredibly uncomfortable to handle. Carefully, he managed to pull all three fruits and pile them on the ground. ¡°What now?¡± ¡°This.¡± Tulland pulled his Farmer¡¯s Tool off his back. ¡°The whole tool is still shattered. It should be just about ready to be reloaded. Cross your fingers for me. If this doesn¡¯t work, I¡¯ve just wasted a whole lot of resources.¡± Tulland brought the tool down to the fruits and closed his eyes. It was easy enough to roll the dice back when he had enhanced the seed in the first place, but now that the die was settling and he was about to see the results, he felt all the tension at once. If this didn¡¯t work, he was toast. Maybe not today, exactly, but some time soon, if anything anyone had told him about staying ahead of the difficulty curve held true. Wish me luck. Sure. Willing the fruits into the tool was easy, usually. This time, Tulland felt the slightest resistance as he did it, like he was stretching out a new bag to accommodate a larger-than-average load. But they went. He watched as the head of the tool started to reform, replacing the dull, generic metal it was made of by default with a shinier, much more substantial looking material. The head of the tool dipped with the new weight, unbalanced as it was by a lack of enhanced handle materials. ¡°That looks nasty.¡± Necia poked the tine of the pitchfork with her finger, lightly, and came away with a spot of blood when it pierced her vitality-enhanced skin. ¡°That is nasty. What is that?¡± ¡°Whatever that fruit is made of.¡± Tulland resisted the urge to hug the tool and mess himself up in the process. ¡°It seems like I won the bet.¡± You did. That material is¡­ unusual. I can hardly understand it. It¡¯s living, or at least has the structure of a living thing. But otherwise, it¡¯s bizarre.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. How so? It¡¯s difficult to explain. Find a moment alone. I wouldn¡¯t want to worry your friends. The System had a point. Necia had never quite come to terms with Tulland¡¯s conversations with the System. He didn¡¯t blame her. She was the reasonable one on the subject. He was the one playing with fire, allowing the System to guide his actions while knowing it had tried to have him killed and still stood to gain a lot when he finally fell in this place. ¡°Necia, I¡¯m going to go on a walk in the woods. Clear my head,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Oh, yeah?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s been a long few days inside. I think I just need a stroll.¡± Necia nodded, still looking at the bizarre tree. ¡°I get it. You spent a lot of time just getting this to grow. Go get some air, before you crack. I¡¯ll clean up after breakfast.¡± It took several minutes to find a good place to talk, somewhere close enough to the city that he was pretty sure someone would hear him if he yelled, but far enough that nobody would hear his speaking voice. Don¡¯t be a fool. You don¡¯t have to speak to me out loud. Go to the tavern. There¡¯s nobody in this town that wants that to become a place of war. Fine. Tulland walked down the street, opened the door to the tavern, and walked in to a full room of mismatched tables, chairs, and magical liquor-producing objects. It was empty except for an adventurer he knew by sight, but not by name. ¡°Welcome.¡± The man raised a stone mug with an unsteady hand. ¡°Forgive me if I¡¯m not much conversation. I¡¯ve had¡­ a lot of these.¡± That man has lost himself to the drink. He won¡¯t last much longer. I¡¯d advise you to steer clear of the contents of these items if you want to avoid the same path. ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll just be sitting. I needed a place to think.¡± The man nodded, then laid his head down on the table, and was snoring within a few moments. Okay. We should have a bit. Yes. What I was getting around to saying is that the materials you are making don¡¯t exist. Or at least hadn¡¯t existed. Well, yeah. I just made these. It doesn¡¯t matter. On your old world, there were materials called Dark Iron. I say materials because it was possible to get the metal in ten different ways. Most materials are like that. They are duplicated under different names, and available from different sources. I never knew about this. There was no reason you should. Even some types of crafters wouldn¡¯t. But this star you¡¯ve grown is a new sort of thing. That good? Good or bad doesn¡¯t enter into it. It¡¯s simply not available under a different name, that I know of. And that¡¯s before getting into the idea that nobody ever grew anything like this back on your world. Or anything like most of what you grow, for that matter. Your briars would have been impossible. They aren¡¯t hard to grow. They aren¡¯t hard to grow here. But farmers on your world weren¡¯t working inside of dungeons. Adventurers would occasionally bring them seeds from there, but unless they were specifically earmarked for being taken outside of the dungeon, the plants generally wouldn¡¯t grow. But since I never leave the dungeon, I can? Something like that. You aren¡¯t doing anything incredibly different or much more complex than a normal farmer would. But every single material you use is, by definition, a system-thing. A dungeon-thing. I previously had no reason to think that would make a difference. But it does. It does. And the material you¡¯ve made is also¡­ not bad. Not incredible, but interesting. Tulland eyed the liquor cups jealously. He didn¡¯t drink on Ouros, at least not outside of the occasional sip of his uncle¡¯s wine on holidays. There was no valid reason for him to start now. When the System dragged out an explanation, however, he found himself tempted. Instead, he just shook his head and waited for the System to finally get on with things. The magic in the flowers is a bit different from what you¡¯ve made before. Less aligned. Less aligned than most things I¡¯ve seen. Meaning? Meaning that the sticks you make have magic that is influenceable. If you made it into a chair as a chair-crafter, it would align that way. Into a weapon, another way entirely. Your metal stars are flexible in the same way, but more so. It was invisible to me until you integrated them into your weapon. It seemed harder than usual. Perhaps it was. I don¡¯t know about that part. But I do know that the metal in your pitchfork head changed completely to suit itself to the task. And the pitchfork itself¡­ I won¡¯t say it changed, exactly. It¡¯s bent. The nature of your Farmer¡¯s Tool has flexed to accommodate the material as well. When the material goes away, it will snap back. But until then, it¡¯s more of a weapon as well. So I¡¯m growing a super-material? I wouldn¡¯t go that far. There¡¯s more to materials than the sheer amount of magical power in them, or how it¡¯s aligned. The total amount of magic power in your star is nothing special. The base material under the magic doesn¡¯t appear to be, either. And I¡¯m not sure if the magic in the fruits would align as easily or completely for anyone else. But for you¡­ I won the bet? I should say so. The metal is much better than what you¡¯ve been using up until now, at least. And I¡¯d bet you can load the handle with it too. Tulland hadn¡¯t gotten that far in his thinking before the System managed to get him out to the bar, but he supposed that its words were probably true. And if the Steel Star really was much better than the Jewel Moss and the Ironwood, he¡¯d be better at using the pitchfork moving forward. Between the Clubber Vines and improved melee, he had made a significant jump forward in his combat prowess. Probably. He¡¯d check it out later. Right now, there were more important things to figure out. System. Yes? Tell me more, about the Church. Why? Despite being a short question, it was a hard one. Tulland didn¡¯t have an easy answer for it. He didn¡¯t exactly want an excuse to trust the System more. He was more worried that the System would lie to him and confuse him into trusting it more than he should. But he needed to know very little about life back on Ouros now, especially an ancient Ouros he had never seen in the first place. He decided just to go with the obvious answer, however unsatisfactory it was. Honestly? I¡¯m bored. Some time passed before the notification popped again.
Memory Share! The System of your world proposes a sharing of memories, to follow the specific rules below:
  1. To the best of your System¡¯s knowledge, the memories shared will be true. Distortions of the memories caused by misunderstandings or the passage of time will not be considered willful deception for the purposes of this rule.
  2. In return, the system asks for some memory of Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s. It sets no standards as to what this memory might be, so long as it is clear.
  3. No further memories will be shared as a result of this arrangement, nor will any access beyond the memory be granted.
If accepted, the terms of this agreement will be conservatively enforced by The Infinite System with an aim to fulfilling Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s understanding of the spirit of the agreement.
Without much hesitation, Tulland punched the mental yes button and found himself in another memory. Chapter 76: Memories ¡°You didn¡¯t tell me it would be this boring.¡± I didn¡¯t know. The boy of the first vision was a few years older now, and had given up the open-air setting of the first memory for a large, grand stone building. He was wearing better clothes, having moved from rough-spun fabric to something not all that dissimilar from the outfits Tulland had seen clerics wear in their day-to-day work. ¡°I thought you knew everything,¡± the boy said. I never claimed that. When I gave you this class, it could have been anything. I didn¡¯t predict¡­ that. The System¡¯s perception turned towards the outside of the building, where a growing line of people was just becoming illuminated by the rising sun. They were all excited, impatient, or some mix of both feelings. ¡°It¡¯s not that big of a deal. I don¡¯t get why they treat it like it is.¡± The boy plopped down on a stone pew. ¡°I¡¯ll be stuck here all day helping them. And for what? To give them some word of advice on their class that they could have figured out themselves?¡± You underestimate your own value. The advice you are giving them is priceless. Without you, they have no option but to root around the dark, hoping to find a pearl. Your class shines a light on the proper way forward. ¡°Proper.¡± The boy scoffed. ¡°You know I¡¯m guessing.¡± Guessing in the right direction still eliminates all of the wrong ones. You did not hire a crier or put up advertisements, and yet word still spread of what you are doing here. Why do you think that is? The boy looked out the window and sighed. ¡°Okay, fine. I¡¯m valuable. But even with as fast as I¡¯m gaining levels, I¡¯m not going to be able to keep this up indefinitely. Look at them. There¡¯s twice as many today as yesterday. I¡¯ve heard people are traveling in from other towns. I have to sleep and eat sometimes, System. There¡¯s only so many people I can help.¡± The boy hugged his own ribs and rocked back and forth. ¡°It¡¯s claustrophobic. I can¡¯t live my whole life like this.¡± And you don¡¯t have to. ¡°No?¡± No. Your chaotic class is something new and unique, but it won¡¯t be forever. Chaotic classes open doors. They provide opportunities for imitators. Once people start to see your success, they will start to dream of the same for themselves by following the same roles. ¡°And they¡¯ll get the same class?¡± No. Never that. They¡¯ll get similar things. Classes that rhyme with yours. But as the ancestor of those classes, yours will always be the stronger. ¡°For as long as I¡¯m here, anyway.¡± Yes. The scene faded, and the next thing Tulland knew was a much larger, warmer building, one made of stone but better appointed in all ways. Now the boy was older, and through the System¡¯s perspective, he was also much, much stronger. No, I don¡¯t think you should. ¡°And why not?¡± The boy, a young man now, was talking to the System out loud in front of a table full of people dressed just like him. ¡°If we are willing to guide people¡¯s classes once they have them, and that¡¯s good for them, I see no reason we wouldn¡¯t start earlier.¡± There is a limit to how much control one can exert before one begins to stifle those they intend to help. The limitations on my capabilities might have frustrated me at times, but I never assumed they were there for no reason at all. ¡°He says it¡¯s a bad idea. That it¡¯s too much control,¡± the young man said out loud. ¡°Well, he would. But how would he know?¡± One of the younger bishops looked up from his notes to speak. ¡°He¡¯s never done it.¡± I haven¡¯t, but¡­ ¡°We¡¯ve seen that he¡¯s been reluctant to give up power in a number of situations. To pass it over to us, even where we can help more,¡± another bishop said with the fervor of a zealot. There are reasons for that, but I can¡¯t¡­ ¡°And he¡¯s been dragging you along with it. With an old way. There¡¯s a new way. He hasn¡¯t wanted to really give it the chance it deserves yet.¡± One of the older men in the room was talking now. ¡°How long are we going to continue accepting his counsel when it is always to move slower and to do less than we could?¡± For once, Tulland could feel something he was usually only able to experience from the outside. The System was, he felt, without words. It wasn¡¯t much like the human feeling of being embarrassed or on the spot. His cheeks didn¡¯t feel like they were burning red, mostly because at that moment, he didn¡¯t have them to feel that way in the first place. But it was still that, or something in the family of the feeling. Tulland-as-the-System was on the spot, unable to express what he wanted to express fast enough.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The boy-turned-young-man came to his rescue. ¡°Be that as it may, the System has lived for centuries, and the great chance for progress you are speaking of is something that we only have because he was willing to take a very large chance on me.¡± The young man¡¯s face morphed to a gentle smile at the memory. ¡°When nobody else would.¡± ¡°You are the only person who can make changes that large, you know,¡± the older man said, just as gently. ¡°Who can change the way we interact with the System as a people.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why I¡¯m careful.¡± the boy said. ¡°Now, with that on hold, what else did we gather to talk about today? I believe someone mentioned the matter of the young man who I saw yesterday, whose class¡­¡± The vision stopped there, slowly dissolving and leaving Tulland once again in the tavern, still alone with the loudly snoring adventurer. Odd. What is? You haven¡¯t shown me a single memory where you thought of the young man as anything but a positive force, or where he treated you as anything but a friend. There was a moment of surprise in the System¡¯s next few seconds of silence. And? I don¡¯t follow. It doesn¡¯t make sense. This was an ally. I thought this was an explanation for how you came to be banished. Alone on the edges of things. Powerless. That kind of thing. I can¡¯t see that boy or young man betraying you. No? Good. It makes me feel just a bit less foolish then. I didn¡¯t see it either. So show me the rest. Let me understand. Not today. There was an air of finality to the System¡¯s refusal, something that let Tulland know more trying wasn¡¯t worth the effort. Maybe not ever. The sharing makes me tired in a way I can¡¯t explain. Tulland decided not to argue, and stood from his seat. He let the sleeping man continue his nap as he walked past. Do you think he¡¯s really doomed? By the drink? By the drink, or rather the attitude that condemned him to give himself up to it. But why? He¡¯d get further without the distraction, sure. But it¡¯s not as if the drink will really hurt him. It¡¯s a hard place, Tulland. Harder than you¡¯ve seen, so far. There¡¯s pain here in a way you¡¯ve only had a taste of. That man is no longer trying to win. His spirit is broken. At this point, he¡¯s only trying to hide. ¡ª ¡°Ley. Do you have time? Before your next dungeon?¡± ¡°A bit. About a day.¡± Ley stretched out in the sun of Tulland¡¯s yard. ¡°I was planning on using it to be lazy. You look suspiciously like you don¡¯t want to let me do that.¡± Tulland pulled up a large chunk of wood next to Ley and sat on it. Like most things in their village, the average object used as a chair here was a scavenged thing, something that mostly met the requirements without being pretty or delicate. ¡°I won¡¯t take too much of your time. I mostly wanted to talk to you about my farm,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Do you have a good idea of how it works? I know you¡¯ve been watching. I wasn¡¯t sure how much you picked up.¡± ¡°Everything but the details, I think. Enough to think I understand without really understanding.¡± Ley shifted the way he was laying a bit, pushing his back up the stone he had rested his head on until it was propping him into a sitting position. ¡°Are you looking for advice on it?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± Tulland nodded. ¡°As much as I can get, anyway. I¡¯ve pushed it about as far as I can, by myself.¡± ¡°Alright. I owe you at least that much. But to do it, I really am going to need those details. Everything you can give me.¡± Tulland decided that would be okay. It wasn¡¯t completely without risk, but every time he had assumed Ley would finally run and leave him to die, the Spymaster had come through. That coupled with their very real agreement to keep each other safe was as much security as he was going to get out of any relationship outside of Necia. Tulland started launching into an explanation, only to have Ley stop him in the first few words. ¡°Not like that. Wastes time.¡± Ley¡¯s eyes went fuzzy for a few moments as he messed with a system screen Tulland couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Try that. It¡¯s the opposite of what I did before.¡±
Ley Raditz is proposing an information share! Ley Raditz has requested Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s best understanding of his own class. In return, Ley Raditz will provide his best understanding of Tulland¡¯s class and the best advice he can offer on how to improve it, limited only by advice that, if shared, would cause harm to Ley. All information shared in this way is privileged for ten days by default, and further protected by any pacts that might already exist between Ley and Tulland.
¡°And this is?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°If you agree to it, I¡¯ll be able to share one of my information sharing powers with you. Trust me that it¡¯s going to take much, much less time,¡± Ley explained. Given that it didn¡¯t seem that much different than just telling Ley about everything, Tulland sent his mental assent to The Infinite, and was immediately faced with another window.
Information share active! Think of everything you know of your class. Assisted by Ley Raditz¡¯s class, The Infinite will organize the information into a readable, concise block that misses none of your understanding of your own situation, so long as you think about it during the share. Current information share time left: Two minutes
Two minutes was not a lot of time. Tulland got thinking. First he thought about recent times, the current state of his farm and the plants he had growing there. He thought about the splicer, how it worked, and how he thought it might help him in the future. He thought about the plants he currently used for combat and the ones that he had previously used for pitchfork components. With time left after that, he started thinking back through his past. He thought about how his class was before The Infinite restructured it, back in the wrap-himself-with-vines days. He thought about how hard the average level was for him to get then as compared to now, how strong he was then compared to now. He thought about his fight with the Forest Duke and the rogue, trying to get every detail of it he could, and how his fighting style evolved over time. About the time he finished that, the window winked closed, replaced by another one.
Processing¡­. Complete! The information has been organized and shared with Ley Raditz. A copy is included below.
Chapter 77: Trade and Commerce
Tulland Lowstreet Class Summary: Plant-based Combat Capabilities Tulland fights with a combination of poor melee skill and non-standard usage of plants. For the most part, his combat-participatory plants are members of a family descended from a single species of briar. Currently, this includes the painful but outdated Lunger Briar, the constricting Giant¡¯s Hair, and the effective and brutal Clubber Vine. Tulland is also able to create a mildly hallucinogenic powder cloud by detonating an Achewood flower, which also has a irritating effect on the eyes and mucus membranes of weaker creatures. This effect can be resisted in the same way more conventional poisons can be defended against, and with the same skills. Any of these plants can be enhanced individually or in reasonably sized groups by use of Tulland¡¯s Primal Growth ability. Up to two varieties of plants can be carried for the purpose of battle in a specialized dimensional storage, and those carried in this way are much more receptive to enhancement. Melee Combat Abilities Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s combat abilities are tied to his Farmer¡¯s Tool, a once mundane multi-purpose non-combat implement that has since been integrated into his class. The Farmer¡¯s Tool has four forms (Hoe, Shovel, Scythe, and Pitchfork), each of which differs only in shape and carries the same basic durability. Where a more typical class would tie the ability to use a weapon to a combat skill that would then be further enhanced by the weapon, Tulland¡¯s combat ability differs by being almost entirely anchored to the current quality of his Farmer¡¯s Tool, which provides class-based enhancements to his melee skill itself. The tool is enhanced by adding materials Tulland grows on his farm. In addition to altering the actual physical durability, weight, and sharpness of the tool, The Infinite determines the quality of the ingredients used in terms of species of plant, suitability for the current use, and the quality of the individual plant (as judged by level and general health) at the time of induction into the tool when determining the buff to Tulland¡¯s combat skill it provides. Farm Score and Power Enhancements Tulland Lowstreet is able to stake out a defined area on any given floor as his ¡°farm¡±. Every plant in it synergistically provides strength to every other plant under Tulland¡¯s control on the floor, broadly defined as plants Tulland has had significant influence over. This strength can be measured by his farm score. Each plant has a variable effect on the farm score, influenced by several factors ill-understood by Tulland himself. The quality of the plants has an effect, although ¡°quality¡± has not yet been adequately defined. Plants that Tulland has created himself contribute even more. Despite this, the farm rewards plant diversity in such a way that even the lowest quality plants can contribute so much by simple inclusion into the farm as to justify one or two instances of even the humblest grass or shrub. Plants also contribute more points the more mature and healthy Tulland is able to coax them to be. As such, the addition of newer, more valuable plants to his farm has a radiating effect that slightly raises the value of every other plant simply by existing near them. When Tulland enters a new floor, he is allowed a 48-hour grace period in which he draws power from the previous floor¡¯s farm. In most cases, that farm is the one he has grown in the fifth floor safe zone.
¡°That is¡­. A lot. And it¡¯s all very unusual. Give me a second.¡± Ley kept reading the summary, which went on for pages and pages more. ¡°The first thing that¡¯s standing out to me is that everything seems to funnel down to a single stat, mostly. Do you realize that?¡± ¡°I think so, but that¡¯s why I¡¯m here.¡± Tulland said. ¡°Explain it again. The worst case is I just understand it a bit better.¡± ¡°Okay. How do I explain this best?¡± Ley tapped his head. ¡°Think of it this way. In an ideal world, you¡¯d have enough different god-tier seeds that you could plant exactly one of each of them in your farm. They¡¯d fill your farm to the brim and all contribute the maximum amount they could. And they¡¯d all have a use. One of them would be great for armor, several of them would be great for your active plant combat stuff, and one or two of them would be perfect for your weapon.¡± ¡°That would be nice.¡± Tulland motioned towards his farm. ¡°Most of what I have growing in there is trash. There are only a few plants that aren¡¯t either useless now, or that haven¡¯t been useless forever.¡± ¡°Right. That¡¯s what I¡¯m getting at.¡± Ley was a guy who liked explaining things, apparently. He was getting worked up. ¡°That¡¯s not something you can influence. You¡¯ll use that splicer tool. You keep it full right? Good. And you¡¯ll find new seeds here and there, and sometimes you will get lucky. But there¡¯s only so lucky you can get. Pouring more time into it won¡¯t necessarily help you.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°But since your farm quality makes all your plants stronger, and that makes your combat plants better at the same time it makes your melee skill better, you still need to get your farm quality up to do better. How fast have you been leveling, lately?¡± Tulland told the Spymaster.. ¡°That¡¯s fast. Not unbelievably fast. But fast.¡± Ley did some quick mental calculations. ¡°Okay. Here¡¯s my recommendations. Just accept them. I can¡¯t terminate our information share deal until we do.¡± Tulland immediately got the window.
Ley Raditz¡¯s Understandings and Recommendations Ley Raditz understands Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s class as funneling down to just a few specific factors he can influence. In order, Ley Raditz recommends the following steps forward:
  1. In almost every case, Tulland should dedicate whatever points he can to his force stat, allocating points to his spirit and mind only when demanded by System requirements or a lack of magic regeneration. The physical stats should all be de-prioritized until they actively hamper his growth.
  2. Tulland should take active steps to leverage his food production capabilities to gain more seeds, preferably by persuading others to gather them for him.
  3. Where possible, Tulland should seek out and focus on developments to primitive forms of plants, as they are naturally found in the dungeons.
  4. If possible, Tulland should seek out storage containers suitable to store a variety of potential fertilizers on a long-term basis.
¡°I think I understand most of this,¡± Tulland said. ¡°If I put more points into force, I can grow better plants, which makes everything better. Right?¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°And I should declare my food-making capabilities to the masses to get them to work for me?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Your choice on that, but it¡¯s the quickest way to get more seeds.¡± Ley grimaced. ¡°I think people are starting to catch on anyway.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Nobody near you looks starved to death.¡± ¡°Ah. Fair. What about this primitive forms of plants thing, and the storage container?¡± ¡°That¡¯s thinking long-term. Right now, from what these notes say, you already abandoned one important plant without thinking about it. The original briar you used.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Tulland winced. ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever thought about that.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure, but¡­ the System on my planet liked history. It liked quests that were connected to an adventurer¡¯s early days, that were consistent over long periods of time. The fact that your Clubber Vines are a dead end but other vines aren¡¯t means there were a lot of avenues that these vines could go down, and losing that starting point was bad. So get it back.¡± ¡°How?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Not a question I can answer. Figure it out yourself,¡± Ley said. ¡°Same question for the storage container. Do people sell those, here?¡± ¡°Sell them? No. They could, but I doubt anyone would. Storage is a big thing.¡± Ley started to settle back down to the ground, once again closing his eyes to the sunlight. ¡°But if you want one bad enough, there¡¯s a good chance the Dungeon System will accommodate you. You influence your own class. Make your will known, Tulland. Is that all for today?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then let me soak up some sun. The next floor won¡¯t be easy for me. This might be the last time.¡± ¡ª Necia eyed the town nervously. Somewhere, whether in the shadows of the safe zone or some distant floor, the rogue was still alive and kicking. Tulland was betting on the idea that he was either safely away challenging a floor or else too afraid of White to try very much. It could have been a gamble he¡¯d lose, but so could anything. This was safe enough. ¡°You sure you want to do this?¡± Necia regripped her shield handle as if she expected it to come into use any moment. ¡°It could wait.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t.¡± Tulland said. ¡°We have however many days left now. The Infinte doesn¡¯t really pull on me any slower than you anymore. I don¡¯t just get stronger from fighting monsters. I have to make use of every little bit of everything I can.¡± That, Tulland was finding, was the lesson to be had here. For everyone else, the safe zone was a rest. They could have skipped it if they felt like it, and the only downside would have been psychological. For him, it was development time. The floors in The Infinite would only ever matter to him to the extent they let him make his plants stronger, and half of that effect was tied to having time. ¡°Fine then. Just be careful.¡± ¡°Promise.¡± Tulland took a deep breath and shouted into the village. ¡°Everyone? I have cheap food. The cheapest you will ever see.¡± ¡°Lies. Don¡¯t waste my time,¡± a very lightly armored man with a long, thin rapier yelled back. ¡°No food is cheap.¡± Tulland took one of his Wolfwood bags in hand. He had made dozens of them the night before. Hefting one through the air, he watched with pleasure as it crashed straight into the man¡¯s head. The man grunted in anger and turned with a drawn sword, ready to kill Tulland before he noticed exactly what the grains spilling from the edge of the bag were. ¡°Yours. Free. So long as you go tell more people in town.¡± Tulland patted a stack of bags in front of him, all filled to the brim with easy-to-grow grain. ¡°Deal?¡± The commerce protections on the safe zone were the strongest ones Tulland had. He simply couldn¡¯t be robbed here. If the man wanted the food, he had to play ball. Of course, he could still have decided to try to assassinate Tulland. But thankfully, that thought didn¡¯t seem to occur to him. Within a minute, Tulland heard him making a full round of the area, telling everyone about the crazy man with free food. ¡°All right. Anyone with seeds for any plant I don¡¯t have, or any monster meat or parts that seem like they might be fertilizer, that¡¯s one bag. Any dimensional storage item that can keep it all fresh is ten bags up front, and a bag any time you are near me, I have excess, and am not dead. That¡¯s a good deal. And it¡¯s not going away.¡± ¡°Never?¡± A man shouted in the back. He looked particularly starved compared to the rest. ¡°I am a farmer. I will always need seeds. If someone I¡¯ve never met comes to me with a seed I haven¡¯t seen before because you told them, that¡¯s another free bag of food for you. Tell people. Now, who has anything to trade?¡± Tulland was pretty generous with this first round of food, accepting almost any little scrap of monster anyone had on them while suspecting most of it would be useless. His Farmer¡¯s Intuition twigged on a few of those scraps, but the vast majority of them were garbage to it, too. But if nothing else, people had seeds. And the seeds were almost entirely for food plants. ¡°This is great, but new rule. If the seed you bring me comes from a dangerous plant and I verify it, I¡¯ll give you another bag. Got it?¡± ¡°You won¡¯t use it on us?¡± the starved man yelled. ¡°We saw that fight the other day. You aren¡¯t exactly a kitten.¡± Tulland nodded, then did one better than mere words. Chapter 78: Eighth Floor
Proposed Contract: Tulland Lowstreet promises nonaggression against anyone who has not moved in a malicious way towards him and who has bought food from him, permanently. On the accepting side, there are no obligations outside of the fact that Tulland will be informed if they intend harm towards Tulland. This offer will be enforced by The Infinite with severe penalties should Tulland break it.
As soon as Tulland shot that out to the populace, he saw a dozen faces go from shocked to suspicious all the way to thoughtful. From there, it didn¡¯t take very long for almost all of the people in the crowd to accept the contract. It was very much in their favor to do it, and The Infinite¡¯s enforcement made it make just that much more sense. ¡°Dumb.¡± In a few minutes, when everyone else was done trading and had disbursed, Necia let her anger show. ¡°You gave them a lot there, and for what?¡± ¡°For the future, I think.¡± White walked from an alley near them. ¡°I was just coming to say goodbye and stayed for the show. It wasn¡¯t a bad one.¡± ¡°And what does he gain from that?¡± Necia motioned to the table, which was full of garbage from people¡¯s pockets and perhaps four seeds. ¡°This isn¡¯t much.¡± ¡°Not much for now. But that rubbish is just what people had in their pockets. From now on, they¡¯ll be looking for every single thing Tulland could possibly use. All they needed was trust. And he gave them that,¡± White said. ¡°You think?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I do. I¡¯ve been in peacekeeping a long time, You¡¯ve made some friends today.¡± White picked up a bag of food from the counter. ¡°Can I take one of these? I¡¯m thinking the ninth will be a long one. I¡¯ll pay you back, if I can.¡± Tulland nodded. It was a good bet, considering he wouldn¡¯t have access to anything as advanced as the ninth for a while yet. ¡°Good, then. For what it¡¯s worth, I think Halter is in the eighth, for the moment. You can enjoy the rest of your time. You¡¯re also moving that way yourself, correct?¡± ¡°Both of us. Separate instances, but same time.¡± ¡°Then watch yourself when you come out. Get back into town as quickly as you can. A rational person wouldn¡¯t attack you while I¡¯m around, but that rogue isn¡¯t exactly rational. Keep your eyes peeled.¡± ¡ª With his four new seeds planted and fed, Tulland wasn¡¯t surprised to see sprouts coming up that seemed to be very conventional fruit trees and berry bushes. They¡¯d add to his farm, but not much. He dumped what magic he could into the farm in general, then went to his newest tree for a harvest. ¡°Is it ready already? I would have thought it would take longer,¡± Necia asked. ¡°Looks like it.¡± Tulland yanked a bunch of new, deadly sharp fruits from the tree and threw them in a pile. ¡°Fruit trees work that way. They produce more as they get older.¡± ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that process takes years. I haven¡¯t heard of a fruit tree that only took a week to mature.¡± Tulland looked down at his crops, all of which were mostly fully grown here. He could bring a stalk of rice to maturity in a single charge of Primal Growth. And that stalk of rice would yield enough seeds for dozens more stalks. ¡°Yes. But I¡¯m guessing I speed that up considerably. I have nothing to compare it to, but I¡¯m guessing each charge of my powers is worth kind of a lot, now.¡± ¡°Seems too strong for a Farmer.¡± ¡°I think it is.¡± Tulland nudged the steel fruits a bit closer together on the ground. ¡°Think about it. How many Farmers deal with plants as rare as I¡¯m growing? How many of them fight monsters? I¡¯m thinking almost none. If I was just farming normal crops, it might have taken me years and years to get this far. I have to be over-leveled by now.¡± ¡°For a Farmer.¡± ¡°Right. Compared to you, I think I¡¯m about average.¡± Tulland pulled his Farmer¡¯s Tool off his back. ¡°Anyway, it¡¯s all positive. There should be just about enough of these to do this next thing. And I¡¯m excited about the next thing.¡± Willing the fruits into his Farmer¡¯s Tool was if anything a bit harder than it had been before. They went, but not easily, despite the System swearing that the magic in them was just fine with being rearranged into a weapon. In a few seconds, they were all gone, sucked into his Farmer¡¯s Tool and replacing the dull, wooden handle with a shiny metal pole that weighed several times as much. That¡¯s¡­ there¡¯s a lot of things happening here right now, boy. Prepare yourself.
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level Up!
Skill Level¡­.
The notifications went off for a while. Whatever Tulland had just done, it seemed to be The Infinite approved. When the smoke had cleared, he found that he had gained two Level Up! notifications and eight skill level ups, all of which went to his Produce Armament skill.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. How? What just happened here? It must have been lagging behind. Completing that weapon let it catch up. Quick, boy. Read the notification that explains what you¡¯ve actually done. It took Tulland a moment to find the pertinent window amidst all the mess, but he found it soon enough and dove in.
Named Weapon Crafted! (Steelgleam Farmer¡¯s Tool) Using a previously non-existent material to create an entire test-piece weapon has resulted in your second named weapon. Unlike the first, which barely qualified, this particular weapon is a much more advanced piece carrying its own special characteristics and benefits. The Steelgleam variant of your Farmer¡¯s Tool is focused on two things, and two things only: It is sharp and hard. Where previous materials you had used would blunt or chip, this weapon will persist in its supernatural sharpness. Every strike you make with the weapon will have greatly increased piercing power, most effective with the pitchfork form of the Farmer¡¯s Tool. In addition, your own personal skill as relates to strong, steady attacks is greatly increased when wielding this weapon, and the weapon¡¯s durability is significantly increased beyond what would be expected from the materials alone. Effects: STR +5, VIT +5, increased weapon skill (Pitchfork), increased strong-attack efficacy, increased weapon durability
Tulland gripped the weapon tightly. It really was much heavier, something that mattered less when he was holding it with his stat-enhanced arms and much more when he thrust it forward. It shot ahead of him almost like it had a mind of its own, his muscles and bones aligning with the intent to stab it seemed to own all by itself. ¡°How did you do that?¡± Necia¡¯s eyes bugged out. ¡°That was almost decent, Tulland.¡± ¡°Thanks. I think.¡± Tulland gave a couple weak attacks, which were better and faster than what he could have done before, but nothing compared to the strong strike before. ¡°It¡¯s the weapon. It liked being fed.¡± ¡°I guess. That¡¯s great.¡± Necia looked at his armaments. ¡°So what¡¯s that? Your new armor, a new weapon, the Clubber Vines, and the Giant¡¯s Hair? That¡¯s the loadout?¡± ¡°Unless something new pops up for me to grow before the next floor, yeah.¡± Tulland got thoughtful. ¡°Or unless I try something different.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Necia looked over the farm. ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just thinking. Imagine I¡¯m going into battle with my highest leveled Clubber Vine and this pitchfork. That¡¯s a fair amount of close range power. Not enough to hurt anything really big and tough, maybe, but enough to at least stop them for a while. And the Giant¡¯s Hair vines are nice, but they aren¡¯t going to do much against anything small or anything fast. Just won¡¯t catch them.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s your thought?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still working on that. Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s time,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Days and days.¡± ¡ª ¡°So that¡¯s all you did? Come up with a new screen?¡± Necia asked as the two of them walked to the eight floor¡¯s arch. ¡°Kind of. I changed how all of them read,¡± Tulland said. The biggest difference Tulland had been able to make in his farm was actually that it was much stronger now, not least of all because he had finally managed to get Necia to break apart one of his steel fruits to harvest the seeds from inside. He had four of the trees growing in his farm now, in a back corner he tried not to walk through if he could help it. All that translated to real benefits he could point to on his newly reorganized farm screen, which turned out to be a thing he could do just by wanting it and having a clear plan for how it would work.
Farm Status: Combat Plants Point Total: 789 Material Plants Point Total: 421 Food Plants Point Total (Truck Garden excluded): 116 All Other Plants Point Total: 132 Total Points: 1458
¡°And your combat plan?¡± ¡°The same for now, plus the new stuff in the pack,¡± Tulland said. ¡°And then more once the farm is established. It doesn¡¯t take that long to do anymore.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Necia¡¯s confidence broke for just a second as she looked in Tulland¡¯s eyes. ¡°Just stay safe, okay? I¡¯ve been getting a bit fond of you lately.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad.¡± Tulland looked over her gear as well. ¡°And you too, okay? There¡¯s no telling what you¡¯ll see in there.¡± ¡°Deal. I¡¯ll keep an eye out for plants, too. Do you remember the plan for when we get back?¡± ¡°Run back home, and look for Ley, Licht, or White while we do. Whichever of us gets home first doesn¡¯t leave the farm until the other one gets there, no matter what.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Necia looked up towards the arch to the next floor. ¡°Do you really think we are ready for this?¡± ¡°As ready as we¡¯ll get.¡± Tulland wished he could give any of his plants to Necia as a self-defense system. They had tried. The plants just didn¡¯t work when he tried to use them that way. ¡°I guess I¡¯ll see you on the other side.¡± Tulland smiled and stepped through the arch, then let the smile drop as the world around him gave way to the new challenge before him. He conjured his Clubber Vine onto his arm immediately, and brought his pitchfork out and to the ready as he took in the notification for the new level.
Adaptive Level! The eighth floor is an instanced, personalized area. It is different for each warrior that experiences it, and tends to show a slight bias towards challenges that will prove interesting tests for the adventurers that face it. In your case, that customization is going a bit further. For you, the eighth poses a challenge that will grow with you, forming itself into a shape that directly opposes your talents over time and attacks your biggest weaknesses directly in an attempt to force you to address them. As a result, your early challenges in this floor will be much more manageable than another adventurer would face, while later challenges will be unbeatably hard if you stay the exact course you are on. Objectives: Complete the ten adaptive waves as presented by the eighth floor.
¡°Waves? What in the hell is a wave?¡± A period in which The Infinite will toss enemies at you with a defined starting and stopping point. There is usually a break between them, however short. ¡°So I¡¯m in a break now?¡± Yes. Although there¡¯s no telling how long it will last. I would suspect¡­
Wave 1 Begins! Wave 1 contains fifty generic beasts. Every action you take to defeat them will influence their future forms. Good Luck!
¡­that it won¡¯t be long. Pay attention, Tulland. Here they come. Chapter 79: Beasts When the notification said generic, it meant generic. The Infinite was not exactly imaginative, as endless amounts of furry animals attacking Tulland quickly proved. Ley and Necia had both informed him that was a normal feature of most dungeons, which moved from the familiar to the unfamiliar over time. Parts of the first wave went beyond that. The animals rushing him were like a child¡¯s drawing of an animal made into reality, indistinctly quadrupedal things somewhere between the size of a large dog and a small bear. They were a bit squarer than made sense, and had sharp looking teeth and sharp claws. But trying to get a bead on any danger they posed beyond that wasn¡¯t possible. There just wasn¡¯t enough there to latch onto, visually.
Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape. As the floor progresses, so too will this description change.
¡°At least It¡¯s not fifty at once. What do you think? About ten of them?¡± Tulland asked aloud. Close enough. ¡°No use running, I guess. I¡¯ll get to work.¡± Any hope that this being the easiest wave would make it easy in some absolute term was dashed from the first clash. Tulland hit the foremost animal hard, putting everything he had into a strike of his pitchfork at the same time the Clubber Vine came down on it again and again, pouring in blunt damage over time as he held it somewhat still. In the meantime, he shot every Giant¡¯s Hair he had at individual targets. Half of them hit what he was aiming at, and the other half presented hard-to-pass obstacles to the other beasts that they seemed just smart enough to actively avoid. The hit from his pitchfork was far from nothing, and as soon as Primal Growth was coursing through the veins of all of his plant, the Clubber Vine¡¯s hits went from painful-sounding to audibly bone-shattering. Before he could put an end to the first animal for real, another four of the strong, meaty monsters were on him. Tulland took a more defensive tactic after that, stabbing the beasts as he backed up and keeping them at bay by piling on the punishment from the Steelgleam. Every time one got a bit closer than that, the Clubber Vine would punish it for trying. Still, they were getting closer for a reason, and every now and again would rasp their claws or teeth against his armor. The armor hadn¡¯t been tested in any real way at home. It was a named product, something he was proud of, and stronger than what he had been wearing before. What Tulland worried about was that stronger than his old armor might not be enough, considering most enemies he had met recently could easily shatter what he had been wearing. This armor was different. Where the old armor was rigid and broke apart under enough strain, this armor moved with the blows. He suspected it would let a lot of blunt-force damage through, but none of these ill-defined little field gremlins actually dealt anything besides poking, tearing, and cutting kinds of pain. Facing those, the seed pods didn¡¯t even seem to care. The claws slipped over, leaving little scratches on the pod but barely touching Tulland¡¯s flesh underneath. Without a single strong strike that could hurt the animals once and for all, this was going to take a while. He was shocked at how much little his more defensive moves were doing to hurt the monsters, and moved to correct for that. Dropping a hand from his weapon, Tulland drew out a few of the spiky Steel Star fruits from his trees, resigning himself to a cut hand as they poked through his glove, As the monsters moved in, he dropped them on the ground in front of him and kept stabbing as he backed away. The big animals weren¡¯t stupid, but they also weren¡¯t coordinated enough to deal with both types of attacks at once, and erred on the side of stepping on the fruits rather than facing the known threat of the pitchfork. This was a mistake. Two of them went down howling, their feet perforated with dozens of tiny steel spikes. Keeping the thrashing, caltropped beasts between him and the remaining threats, Tulland managed to bide his time until he could land two heavier, meaner thrusts to each of their heads. That was all it took to put them down. This is going well. Poorly. Much more poorly than you¡¯d think. But kill these animals first. Quickly. Before more come. Tulland shuddered as he realized that he was facing was a mere fifth of what was ready to attack him at the moment. He went into as much of a frenzy as he could, stabbing the beasts as quickly as he could from as close of a range as he could manage. That closeness let the Clubber Vine go to work, and a few well-timed lucky grasps from his Giant¡¯s Hair vines gave him even more room to make the most of his offensive capabilities.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. He was down to just two of the first group of the wave when the second group hit, this time with one extra animal in tow. They were every bit as generic as the first group, which was only to be expected from beasts from the same wave. By now, Tulland had gotten almost all of his caltrop fruits out onto the ground, and patiently finished off his last two enemies while the new group charged in, bellowing in a sort of uninteresting, uninspired war cry. When they hit the caltrops, chaos ensued. Unlike before, Tulland¡¯s first strike was a big one, almost completely disabling an animal. But even before that had hit, several animals had made rolling dives into the dirt, trying to protect their own feet from further damage and hoping to dislodge the caltrops at the same time. It wasn¡¯t enough. Half of the fighting force of the group was neutralized before they even figured out what was going on. Tulland was better at fighting them as well. He had learned that these monsters really didn¡¯t have anything interesting to surprise him with. They could bite and claw well. But that was it. Outside of those capabilities, there was very little variance to worry about. There were ways he was disappointed on his side of things as well. The Giant¡¯s Hair vines were occasionally managing to hinder one of the animals, but barely. The Infinite was throwing generically strong beasts at Tulland, and even when they were caught, they tended to be more slowed down than actually grappled. It helped, of course, but there were so many fewer of the briars than enemies on the field that it was only a small percentage of the trouble Tulland was generating. Even so, the wave fell. Tulland hustled to get the caltrops out of beast feet and to clearer, better terrain before the next group hit, and took it on in much the same way. That and the next group both had ten monsters in it, leaving him with a last ten to go before he beat the wave entirely. And then, in an obvious preamble to horror, the next wave had nine animals, one short of the total he needed. ¡°This is bad, right?¡± Tulland was mopping the floor with the remaining beasts, but that hardly mattered given what he knew was coming. ¡°The Infinite didn¡¯t mention wave bosses. Is this normal?¡± What¡¯s normal? It can do so if it chooses to. It¡¯s not unheard of to wear adventurers down as a sort of endurance test. ¡°But it didn¡¯t warn me! It doesn¡¯t seem fair.¡± There is no fair. There is simply living, or not living. Kill this group, gather your weapons, and prepare. You can only, as Ley said, control your controllables. He¡¯s a smart one, really. You should listen to him here. Tulland did. As he absolutely shredded the remaining animals on the battlefield, he did his best to take note of where his caltrops were. He found, to his delight, that he had just enough skill in commanding his plants to actually get the Giant¡¯s Hairs to inch towards him all on their own and began to call them towards himself in an effort to get all his force together. Finally, winded, he put the last of the normal beasts near him down, then waited for the last beast to show himself. This place was relatively plain, at the moment, a sort of bare-earth wasteland on which the monsters were materializing into view rather than popping out from cover. Tulland spun in place, slowly, waiting for the boss to show itself. At the first sign of motion, he reached out to fetch the description of the animal coming into being in front of him, to gain even a slight amount of information with which he might get an upper hand.
Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape. As the floor progresses, so to will this description change.
¡°It¡¯s just a normal one!¡± Tulland yelled. So it is. Count your blessings, I suppose. Tulland almost felt bad as the beast hit the ground running, then seemed to realize all at once that it was alone. There was nothing for it. Tulland moved towards it. ¡°Wruu?¡± the animal said, almost plaintively. Tulland had a moment¡¯s thought of mercy before the thing tried to bite him anyway. After that, it went quick. Now, boy. You don¡¯t know how long until the next wave. Get your garden planted now. As many plants as you can get in the soil. What does your farmer skill say about the blood of these beasts? It likes it fine. Then plant there, where the corpses are concentrated. It will save time. Tulland got to work. If he only had one minute, he at least needed to make sure he got one minutes worth of plants growing. If he was lucky enough to have more time, he could do more. But given what he now knew about the level he was facing, he chose to adjust his plans somewhat. By now, he had plenty of Clubber Vine seeds, and he put these down in a quantity larger than what he had planned before. Tilling the soil like a maniac, he picked up and threw enemies out of the way as he mixed in their blood and scattered seeds, pumping Primal Growth into every new group as they hit the ground. His trees would take the longest, and only the Clubber Vines were sprouted by the time he had finished the plot. Plant the rest, do you think? Yes. In a clump, I would imagine. The System had a point. By itself, any one of these plants would be taken down by any one of these monsters. But together, they had a chance, especially as they picked up levels from growing and absorbing the remnants of their prey. Once he was done, he summoned his Clubber Vine back to his wrist and leaned on his pitchfork a ways away from his farm, inside a large ring of caltrops. They were holding up admirably, something he hoped would continue as the fight went on. He had other tricks to show, but he would hold them back as long as he could. There were a lot of waves to go. Chapter 80: Wave Adaptations Just after Tulland had finished rushing through his preparations for his farm and took just a moment to catch his breath, The Infinite began a countdown for the next wave. He didn¡¯t know why he had been expecting something longer, but he had thought he¡¯d get hours, or maybe days. This wasn¡¯t even enough time to think. ¡°Five minutes? That¡¯s all I get?¡± Tulland complained. It isn¡¯t meant to be fun. It¡¯s enough time for the average class to heal and recover a good deal of their resources. Although I would caution you against assuming that five minutes will be a consistent break length between waves throughout your time here. It could be longer or shorter, depending on what The Infinite is trying to accomplish. ¡°Which would be?¡± Before the System could respond, The Infinite informed Tulland of his lack of free time with its usual dry, matter of fact style.
Wave Adapted! (Wave 2) As previously explained, this entire floor is one that will slowly adapt to your fighting style, pushing each element of how you do battle to their current limits, and, should you be so unlucky, perhaps beyond them. For each wave, The Infinite will determine one of your tactics which had an outlier effect on its ability to challenge you, and adjust the beasts you will face accordingly. From the previous wave, the following tactic that you employed was selected:
  • Ground-based immobilization and injury-causing traps
And the following adjustment to the beasts was proposed, accepted, and implemented:
  • Beast extremities have been toughened
As before, this wave will consist of a total of fifty enemies. Good luck!
The Infinite launched the second stage of the wave at Tulland right as the countdown ticked down to zero. A total of ten beasts that looked almost entirely like those before appeared, with one notable difference.
Silverfoot Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape. As an adjusted variant, these beasts have hair and hide on their feet that are specifically designed to resist puncturing or cutting. As the floor progresses, so too will this description change.
How much puncturing are these things going to resist, System? Can I count on the caltrops at all? There¡¯s no way to know for sure, but I¡¯d guess they will still work, although much less reliably. You see, when a System adjusts something like this¡­ Sorry, we¡¯ll have to cover this later. Too close to impact. I understand. Do your best. The beasts were still not the best at formation, which meant that Tulland was still able to pick his first unfortunate target. The Giant¡¯s Hair vines were all still present, but looking a little ragged and worse for the wear. He had more growing, of course, but it would take a while before they were ready. In the meantime, it was going to be a test of how much he had learned during the last wave. He was better at fighting the beasts, and what The Infinite was doing to him with the beast evolution mostly amounted to making him a bit less well equipped. His caltrops would be less now. And with his Giant¡¯s Hairs getting a bit weaker, that meant he¡¯d be doing more of the work himself. If he had learned something from the last wave, neither of these deficiencies would be much of an issue. But if he hadn¡¯t, it would be. There was just no way around it. The collision with the first beast went very, very poorly for the unfortunate monster. Tulland aimed for the beast¡¯s face, and learned that they not only disliked getting hit in the face, but that they actually had a weak point in the structure of their skull bones near the eyes and nose. The lucky tines got past the protective bones and into the vulnerable beast tissue behind. Unfortunately, the weird way vitality worked at this level meant that this wasn¡¯t a guaranteed kill. Tulland was disappointed to see the Silverfoot Beast struggling while its companions started to close in on him. But Tulland had still hit the weakest of the weak spots, dealing a tremendous amount of damage to the beast¡¯s overall health, as well as hooking it in a way it couldn¡¯t easily shake free from. Even better, his Clubber Vine was immediately going to work for him, bouncing the beast¡¯s head around in ways that were hurting it both at the site of impact and as it pivoted around at the end of his pitchfork tines. When the beast went down less than a second or so later, it wasn¡¯t a surprise. It was just soon enough that Tulland was able to pivot away from the corpse before the main forces got to him and get a few seconds looking for his next soft target. He found it easily. There were a total of three beasts who had picked up caltrops in their feet, two of whom were clearly less effected by the damage than the first-wave beasts had been. They were still slowed, and still noticeably distressed to have horrible metal stars piercing the pads of their feet, but the fruits hadn¡¯t pierced nearly as far and weren¡¯t anywhere near as difficult to dislodge. These two had only one caltrop each and would shake them loose soon, a little bit damaged but otherwise still able to fight.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The one beast who had picked up two of them was a different story. Tulland almost felt bad for it. They weren¡¯t even both in front paws, or both in the back. It had picked them up on diagonal feet somehow, one in the front right and one in the back left. This left it so badly off balance it was entirely unable to lift up one foot or the other to dislodge the fruits. Given that the beasts were still uncommonly dumb compared to most, it had only just worked out that it needed to flop over onto its side to have any chance of getting the cursed things out when Tulland made it to its side, hopped up, and came down full force with a coup de grace overhead strike that nearly pinned it to the ground. If that hadn¡¯t been enough to take it down, the eight beasts who had taken no damage any worse than some Giant¡¯s Hair vines hanging off their bodies stampeding over it in pursuit of Tulland¡¯s soft human parts were more than enough to stop it for good. Tulland yanked his pitchfork up and ran just ahead of the herd, getting nicked with teeth and claws as he did. His new armor was still doing great work for him, absorbing most of the damage even as it let a little bit sneak through. He pivoted around the cloud of them like an awkward bullfighter, getting turned around just enough to charge at one of the slower, slightly injured beasts that had gotten rid of its star caltrop earlier. This one wasn¡¯t killed on the first pass, but took a big, deep hit to its shoulder that would make it much easier to deal with later. Not completely nullified. What? The stars. They still work pretty well. Better than I thought. Well, yes. The Infinite couldn¡¯t take away your tools entirely. There are ten waves to this level, Tulland. If it took away that tool in one go, and your vines in the next, it would be a death sentence. The Infinite likely doesn¡¯t hate anyone that much. So things will get just a little bit worse ever wave? It won¡¯t always feel like that, but yes. And by the time several waves build on one another making these monsters more fearsome, you¡¯ll be in trouble no matter how small each incremental change is. I have¡­ Quiet now. Here they come. As a group, the beasts were not anywhere near as coordinated as they would have had to manage something like turning as a group with grace and speed. Tulland had taken full advantage of that, dealing grievous injuries to two of them before they forced him back on the run. The saving grace of the day was that the caltrops never really went away, meaning that with enough circling he was able to still use them as a slight delay that separated one of the animals from the pack. He¡¯d then take down that animal, and then repeat. Soon enough, the first ten were taken care of, giving him just a few seconds respite before the next ten came, and the next. That was¡­ not great. Fool. One does not complain about survival. Still. My materials got scattered over the battlefield as things went on, and I lost track of them. The Giant¡¯s Hair vines are just gone now. I felt them break, and I won¡¯t be able to use them anymore. What of your garden? Some of the lungers are just about done. They won¡¯t be ready in five minutes, though. It was either lucky or a sign that The Infinite was playing softball that he got closer to fifteen minutes after the second wave. With how fast he could push Lunger Briars up out of the ground these days and the quality of fertilizer he was able to draw over to his garden patches, that meant he was able to harvest a full complement of them and designate them to the same compartment he had once kept his Giant¡¯s Hair vines. He was going to need every bit of them too.
Wave Adapted! (Wave 3) For each wave, The Infinite will determine one of your tactics which had an outlier effect on its ability to challenge you, and adjust the beasts you will face accordingly. From the previous wave, the following tactic that you employed was selected:
  • Quick maneuvering as a single entity
And the following adjustment to the beasts was proposed, accepted, and implemented:
  • Beast herd instincts have been greatly refined
As before, this wave will consist of a total of fifty enemies. Good luck!
Silverfoot Herd Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape. As an adjusted variant, these beasts have hair and hide on their feet that are specifically designed to resist puncturing or cutting. In addition, they can turn and coordinate their movements as a group in a much superior way as compared to the standard beasts.
This is going to be terrible, isn¡¯t it? Much worse, yes. With the caltrops reset and his pitchfork in hand, Tulland was ready. Still, for the first time, he wasn¡¯t able to do much initial damage to the ten beasts who led off the first wave. They stayed much tighter together, which meant from the beginning he was on the run, barely able to clip the herd as he turned, took pot shots, and ran. The caltrops still helped, but the sheer amount of running he had to do to keep ahead of the herd meant that after he had killed the first three beasts, he had also lost track of every one of his little metal landmines. He managed to keep just ahead of the difficulty curve with his Lunger Briars. After seeing how quickly the beasts were able to shred the outdated vines after he left them in place, he took to shooting two of them at roughly the same place in the herd, letting them sting their targets for a few seconds, then commanding them to stop and drop to the ground. This preserved them while still distracting a beast or two with enough pain to get them to break formation. It took a while for that tactic to accumulate to anything significant. It was dozens of minutes into the fight before the first of the beasts fell, but by then nearly all of them were in tatters, having taken repeated glancing blows from Tulland¡¯s pitchfork as he maneuvered and dodged. By the time three were killed, the group couldn¡¯t put up much of a fight anymore. The Lunger Briars had seen better days. Even at a Primal Growth and beast-blood induced maxed level, they just couldn¡¯t keep up with the rigors of this fight to any performance past serving as a momentary distraction. Luckily, they grew back fast, and he had a nearly endless supply of them. Better yet, the Clubber Vine was dealing just as much damage as before, and Tulland had found a trick where he could kite around the beasts and position his vine to whip out like a mobile turret. How long do you think you can keep it up? As difficult as this already is¡­ I¡¯m still getting better. Unless the next changes are really big, then I should be fine, even if it takes longer. Just so long as it¡¯s not a drastic change, I¡¯ll be able to keep up. After the next forty beasts and a full hour¡¯s rest in which Tulland pushed as much magic as he could into his farm, the next variation made itself known. Chapter 81: Progression
Padded Silverfoot Herd Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape. As an adjusted variant, these beasts have hair and hide on their feet that are specifically designed to resist puncturing or cutting. In addition, they can turn and coordinate their movements as a group in a much superior way as compared to the standard beasts. Finally, they have unusual resistance toward bludgeoning or clubbing damage.
¡°Ughh. I was afraid of that. Sorry, Clubber vine.¡± It won¡¯t be useless. ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be. The vines were helping. I can still take them down, it¡¯s just going to take¡­ I don¡¯t know. Three or four times as long if they can deal with my Clubber Vine. And only then if I don¡¯t make a mistake.¡± You have no choice but to try. It has seen most of what you have, now. Every change from here should be incremental. ¡°You think?¡± It¡¯s a responsive system. Without new stimulus, it can only intensify what it¡¯s already done. ¡°No, I mean you really thought this was all I had?¡± Of course I did, Tulland. You haven¡¯t told me any of your plans. And here they come again. Tulland managed to survive a bit longer without making any huge changes. By the end of the sixth round, he was almost completely nullified in every respect.
Scaled Padded Sharpened Silverfoot Herd Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect right up until they show a talent for piercing through all but the very toughest of armors. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape, with the exception of bludgeoning, clubbing or piercing damage, which they resist. As an adjusted variant, these beasts have hair and hide on their feet that are specifically designed to resist puncturing or cutting, an effect which stacks with their other resistances. In addition, they can turn and coordinate their movements as a group in a much superior way as compared to the standard beasts.
Every form of physical attack Tulland could make barely hurt the things now, including chops from his hoe and pokes from the Lunger Vines. Worse, he couldn¡¯t even rely on his armor to tank the inevitable hits he took as he worked as close to the herd as he dared now. By the time he put down the sixth wave. He was badly bloodied and torn, exhausted, and without any hope that he¡¯d ever survive the next wave absent some major change. And yet his farm also had plenty of time to grow now. With most of his plants doing only minimal damage, he was able to push a lot of his magic towards growth, loading up his Clubber Vines as heavily as he could before sending all of the rest of it to making a stock of violent plants to reload his arsenal with. His Farmer¡¯s Tool was holding up well, and the twenty minutes of wait he got between the sixth wave was just enough time to get him back to fighting condition before things got crazy again. Okay. Ready for the fireworks? I don¡¯t see how you could pull through this, but sure. Please show me. Reaching into his pack, Tulland made a very minor adjustment to his Market Wagon storage, something he had been thinking about for a long time and finally found the perfect moment to try. The beasts were bigger, tougher looking things now. Every enhancement they had picked up for defense had made they stouter and more muscular, while every attacking-based adaptation had made them look sharper, faster, and more dangerously alive. They were fearsome, not least of which because, seven waves in, they moved as a cohesive, tightly packed whole. Tulland smiled as they ran in, reached into his dimensional plant storage, and started spending all of his magic on enhancements as he suddenly threw flower after flower. Plants worked better when he designated them as combat variants. He had never done it with the Acheflowers, but that was only because they worked so poorly after the third floor that he had begun to think of them as more of a distraction or smokescreen than legitimate attack. These beasts, however, explicitly had no defense to this kind of thing. They also, he loved to note, grouped up together in a way that made every single flower count for ten times its usual value. With a limitless supply of them growing on his Wolfwood trees, he started chucking the first of the dozens of flowers it turned out his dimensional storage would let him keep for combat purposes. By the time that the fourth flower hit, the formation of beasts fell apart, with each of them going in a different direction besides those who, confused, began to tear into their compatriots. Tulland threw several more for good measure, just taking them out of his pack and tossing them as a group from a short distance before moving into the chaos like an agricultural storm.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The animals never recovered. He was in no danger at all the entire time, simply mowing down the defenseless beasts like chaff until there were none left on the field besides him. The next four groups were the same, leaving him dominant over the entire wave and well rested by the time the newest and least surprising animal update yet rolled out.
Scaled Padded Sharpened Toxin-Resistant Silverfoot Herd Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect right up until they show a talent for piercing through all but the very toughest of armors. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape, with the exception of bludgeoning, clubbing or piercing damage, which they resist. As an adjusted variant, these beasts have hair and hide on their feet that are specifically designed to resist puncturing or cutting, an effect which stacks with their other resistances. In addition, they can turn and coordinate their movements as a group in a much superior way as compared to the standard beasts. These beasts are resistant to toxins and can purge them from their system at an accelerated rate.
You¡­ hm. Impressed? I¡¯d like to say I¡¯m not, but that was a one-sided slaughter. Why did you wait until now to try to enhance the flowers? It never made sense before now. The Stumpers hardly minded them. The Mass Hares could dodge them. The rogue hardly cares about poison unless he gets a ton of it at once. And even then, it¡¯s a gamble. He has poison resistance and is on the lookout now that he knows I can use the flowers. Of course, the same is true of the beasts. You should have seen that adjustment coming. Oh, I did. It hardly matters, though. Watch this. The interesting thing about all the adjustments so far had been that the Dungeon System could only do one of them at a time, and none of them truly removed a weapon from Tulland¡¯s arsenal. They very much made it so he couldn¡¯t rely on just one tactic, but everything still worked, even if much worse. Which meant that a few handfuls of flowers wouldn¡¯t immediately disable the entire group on an effectively permanent basis, but also meant The Infinite couldn¡¯t adjust for the flowers and the herding behavior in a single round, if it could adjust for the herding behavior at all. Five flowers thrown at the group and a pile of flowers that Tulland detonated as they ran over them still confused the hell out of the beasts and gave him more than enough opportunity to take a few down before the group started recovering. After that, it got a little trickier. He had to hit each beast he wanted away from the group multiple times to make it happen, but he could still do it, and the collateral damage from the spreading cloud made sure the response from the group itself was muted as well. The only issue with keeping it up indefinitely was his ability to get more of the parasites from his Achewood trees. His dimensional storage made this easier than it should have, jerking them off the trees as he made a quick run through the farm between waves and encouraged more of the parasites to grow with his skills as he left. Soon enough, it was time for the ninth wave.
Evasive Scaled Padded Sharpened Toxin-Resistant Silverfoot Herd Beast A dangerous beast that attacks in ways typical to what you might expect right up until they show a talent for piercing through all but the very toughest of armors. They are vulnerable in ways typical to animals of their size and shape, with the exception of bludgeoning, clubbing or piercing damage, which they resist. As an adjusted variant, these beasts have hair and hide on their feet that are specifically designed to resist puncturing or cutting, an effect which stacks with their other resistances. In addition, they can turn and coordinate their movements as a group in a much superior way as compared to the standard beasts. These beasts are resistant to toxins and can purge them from their system at an accelerated rate. They are also able to use their herding instinct in much the same way a school of fish does, splitting momentarily to avoid risks and attempting to distract their opponents away from single-target acquisition with sheer numbers.
¡°What do you think?¡± It¡¯s about what I¡¯d do, in the same situation. Your flowers are still effective largely because you can hit the entire group with them. This allows them to split, and nullifies that advantage. Do you have anything else? ¡°Just two more things, one of which I¡¯m not sure is going to work.¡± Let¡¯s hope it¡¯s enough. Two more waves, Tulland. Survive them, and you are on your way home. It was true. What had seemed like an insurmountable challenge had turned out to be pretty okay so far, all things considered. Not being great at any one thing meant that Tulland was decent at a lot of weird things, and had to be just to survive. He had been able to adjust to an extent he didn¡¯t believe anyone else in a similar challenge would have been. System. A quick question. So long as there¡¯s time, sure. The¡­ difficulty curve, I think people say. Would the difficulty curve of this floor be different if I had done worse? It follows the pattern of a challenge floor, so normally I would say yes. An adjusting difficulty that favored survival would be common in any normal dungeon, something that tried to keep up with your skill level while never putting you at serious risk so long as you were careful. It¡¯s the normal way to test someone¡¯s progression, or drive them to the next level of growth. That¡¯s a normal dungeon? What about here? Here? All bets are off. It might even work the opposite way. Tulland didn¡¯t have to ask to know what the opposite way probably was. In a normal dungeon, he¡¯d get grace if he couldn¡¯t quite keep up. Here, in The Infinite, you were supposed to be more and greater than a simple adventurer from an average would would be. It wouldn¡¯t adjust the difficulty downward for bad performance. It would simply let him die. But that was just different, not opposite. The opposite thing was something he had been worried about for waves now, and part of the reason why he had never shown his entire power until it was absolutely necessary. If he did too good, it made sense that The Infinite might actually make things harder, just to put him in his pace and keep the pressure on. As uncertain as he might be about surviving the normal progression, the thought of a harder one absolutely terrified him. Chapter 82: Ninth Wave Tulland started out the ninth wave entirely committed to not doing a single thing differently. He had picked up a lot of damage during the last wave, sure. But if he knew The Infinite, whatever was coming in the tenth wave was going to be a step beyond what he had gleaned from the pattern so far. He needed to avoid showing his hand as much as he could. He wasn¡¯t going to pull out a single stop unless it was absolutely, positively required. It took less than five seconds to break his resolve. Tulland threw his Acheflower, as usual, but watched big gaps in the beast¡¯s charging formation open up to the perfect size and at the perfect timing to minimize the effect of the explosions. There were still a few beasts catching just a little bit of the powder around the edges, but just barely and not nearly enough to count on to make a real difference. In response, Tulland only had a few choices on what to do. The first was almost painful considering what was to come, but he dumped out the entirety of his stock of flowers on the ground in front of them as he jumped back just out of their explosion range. He was confident that the beasts could get out of the way of anything he threw, but was almost as sure that they wouldn¡¯t give up chasing him entirely just because there were some unexploded flowers in their path. Sure enough, they followed. And as they did, he let the flowers go, covering the better part of the group in a thick cloud of hallucinogen. It barely slowed them down. Despite scoring a direct hit, there was only so much time they spent within the cloud, and it did much less than if the flowers had hit them all at once. You were asking about other tricks. Tulland dodged away from the group, watching as fully half of the animals split off in an obvious attempt to work around his flank. Obvious or not, it would work if he couldn¡¯t stop it. Are you ready to see one? Of course. If you really have one to show. Tulland smiled, thrust his pitchfork out to gain a bit of distance, then summoned the second of the two Clubber Vines he could store right now. That¡¯s actually¡­ more than I thought it would be. Right? Two whole Clubbers at your service. Tulland¡¯s Market Wagon skill was a dimensional storage that only allowed him to designate two plant types as combat ready and only a limited number of each plant, but it was a skill that leveled and had steadily been leveling since he got it. Normally, that had meant just a few more Giant¡¯s Hairs or Lunger Briars, which was fine but usually not a make-or-break difference in Tulland¡¯s fighting capability. The most recent level-up he had gained was different. It had increased the carry capacity of his Clubber Vines by one whole unit. For a plant that more than justified its existence at the previous one-briar carry limit, this meant Tulland just became twice as dangerous. In his previous clashes with the herd of beasts, the Clubber Vine had done a great job watching his left side and hitting targets of opportunity. He was still open to attack for a few reasons, though. The first was that the vine could only attack so fast, and the second was that it only could cover so much of the effective circle of combat vulnerabilities around Tulland¡¯s body. That went both ways, though. There were only so many of the larger, stronger beasts that could be adjacent to him at any given time. Now, even if they completely surrounded him, the Clubber Vines would give them a run for their money as they tried to get close enough to hurt him. And in that gap, he could use his pitchfork to actually put them down, or at least hold them in place long enough for the Clubber Vines to do it.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. It was, Tulland realized, a shift in formation. He might have had more total battle power with Lunger Vines, or more constriction with Giant¡¯s Hairs. But with one of the Clubber Vines on each wrist, he was essentially a damage dealer standing between two tanks, each fully capable of standing up to the best. Which wasn¡¯t to say he wasn¡¯t getting hurt. Shouldn¡¯t Strong Back have leveled by now? I¡¯ve been taking constant damage since we got here. Maybe. One of two things is true. It might be a skill that levels when you take a lot of damage at once. Grievous injuries, near-fatal blows. That sort of thing. Except it¡¯s originally a farmer¡¯s regeneration. They don¡¯t get hurt at all. Which does not prove anything, but I think you are correct in doubting that a lack of intensity of hurt is the problem here. So what is? Tulland backed up from the surging group of beasts, keeping them from surrounding him and waiting for an opening. Do I need to take some kind of special damage? Hardly. More likely, The Infinite is holding your rewards until the end of this round. Cheap! No, you fool. Not cheap. The Infinite never takes what it cannot give back in return. Even when your class was approaching a disruptive shape that couldn¡¯t be allowed, you were granted much more than I believed at that time. Even you are beginning to see it here, in this place. Yeah. Tulland was starting to realize it, for the first time. It¡¯s not that bad of a class. Farmer. Now that I¡¯m beginning to understand it. It was true. This level was supposed to be a challenge. And it was, in a way. But it was a challenging level in the ultimate dungeon, and he was clearing it without ever being in dire straits. He was fighting and killing and surviving, just like a proper combat class, but also doing things more like a magic-casting class would, supporting himself with area-of-effect confusion, or laying traps in the earth like a hunter class might. If anything, the weakness he was dealing with right now was guidance. Someone like Necia had generations of experience with tank classes to draw off, to use as inspiration for their next attempts at growth. Tulland had a vague idea of what farmers actually did, and a System that couldn¡¯t give him enough help to actually matter. He was making a lot of progress, lately, with one innovation coming right after another. Though that might have been just because he had been so very slow and unfocused at the beginning. I¡¯m making up for lost time now, anyway. The way that battles tended to work was that if you were losing, you were getting hurt. If you were getting hurt, you were getting worse and worse at fighting, and then you were losing faster than ever. Unless you had some kind of specific plan to turn things around, getting hurt meant you were dying. The same went for spending your resources without a clear gain. If you were getting worse, you were losing more. The flip side of that was that so far, Tulland had been able to stay just ahead of the curve on this level, even when he wasn¡¯t showing every single capability he had. Even though he was getting hurt, they were all minor injuries that didn¡¯t change the outlook of things. That meant that here, just as in the last several waves, he was just safe enough to keep going indefinitely unless something went wrong. Or if not indefinitely, at least to the end of this particular wave. And nothing went wrong. One group of ten monsters fell, then another. With every side of his defense well-covered and every bit of the strength of the herd split among its individual members, the math just worked out in his favor. Soon enough, he was recovering on the ground once more. Don¡¯t rest. At least not before you assess your equipment. Rest is a thing to be prioritized, like everything else. He sounded oddly like Tulland¡¯s tutor, in that moment. Tulland hated that he was right, just as he always had when the old man was. He went and harvested two fresh clubber vines, and shifted his hallucinogens flowers to something else he hadn¡¯t packed into the Market Wagon before. After pumping some power into both his secondary and primary gardens, he finally sat down for a breather. Chapter 83: Perfected Beast ¡°They didn¡¯t use the trick ropes,¡± Tulland moaned as he watched the traveling carnival do its best job. The carnival that made the circuit between Tulland¡¯s island, the mainland, and every other island on the way had missed the last year, victim of storms that had kept the entire island on half-rations of anything but fish for months. That meant that eight-year-old Tulland was, for the first time, finding himself a critic of what once had been a non-stop parade of wonders rolling past his young eyes. ¡°Did they forget how?¡± ¡°Of course not, Tulland.¡± His uncle had patted his shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t like what they are doing now?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± The carnival man was vaulting obstacles on the floor, sliding in the dirt under various large animals, and telling jokes. It wasn¡¯t like it wasn¡¯t fun. But it also wasn¡¯t flying. The trick rope act took the man into the sky, and it was that part of the show that had stuck in Tulland¡¯s mind for the last few years. ¡°I like it. I just want the flying.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± his uncle said. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sure it will be here. And it might turn out even better than you think. For now, can you guess what he¡¯s going to try and jump next?¡± The game of guessing what the man would or wouldn¡¯t do as the next step in the performance held Tulland¡¯s attention just long enough for something he really found interesting on its own to start happening. A man was in the support poles of the tent, near the top of the structure and throwing down clubs to the performer. As they came down from the sky, the man was catching them and effortlessly adding them one by one to a complex juggling pattern, putting the clubs up into the air, passing them around his back, and flipping them over his shoulder in a whirlwind of colorful motion. Tulland¡¯s breath was caught in his throat as the man, who was visibly at his limits, was thrown just one more club by the man on the roof. Throwing all his clubs high, he got hands on the new item, only to let every single club he had been keeping aloft fall clattering to the ground, juggled no longer. Tulland didn¡¯t care because it wasn¡¯t a mistake. He gasped as he looked back up from the clubs to find the man was gone, then followed his uncle¡¯s finger to find him once more. He was in the air, flying around the tent, drawing cheers from every soul in his presence. The last club was the trick rope, hooked to whatever manner of ropes, pulleys, and gears behind the scenes that made it do what it did. ¡°What did I say?¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle laughed and clapped him on the back. ¡°What do you think? Better, right?¡± Tulland couldn¡¯t argue. He was ready for the rope trick. He had been all year. But he wasn¡¯t and couldn¡¯t be ready for being surprised, and that had stripped off every bit of jaded mental preparedness he thought he had. ¡°Every year I think I¡¯m going to know what¡¯s coming next, and every year they change it.¡± His uncle¡¯s eyes sparkled as he watched the man flip through the air and catch another rope that had just appeared from nowhere. ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s worth the money, boy. It¡¯s the showmanship.¡± ¡ª ¡°It¡¯s been more than two hours.¡± Tulland dumped another full tank of magical power into the farm, watching as his plants got that much taller. It just hadn¡¯t been enough time since he got here for the actual points-value of the farm to matter, but he was too much a farmer these days to leave a plant less healthy than it could be. ¡°How much longer, do you think?¡± Impossible to say. I¡¯d say it might want to catch you off guard, but it¡¯s hard to see how that might happen unless you were to go to sleep. Otherwise, it¡¯s likely something you should count in your favor. More rest is generally considered good. I don¡¯t know about that. With my stats, at this point I could go without sleep for days. My regeneration brings me back up to healthy in minutes, not hours. What do I need with rest? Ahh. The classic question. It was once that this was the first lesson I made sure I taught. Tulland resisted the reflex to roll his eyes. The System was going into a monologue. He fought off the reflex to stop it, mostly because there simply wasn¡¯t anything better to do. Do you recall that man? At the makeshift bar in the safe zone? I do. The one who was drunk and tired. Whether he¡¯s killed by a beast or another adventurer, his cause of death will not be that thing. Do you know what it will be? Tulland sighed. It was a tutor-riddle. He knew the answer to that kind of thing in his sleep. The drink. The alcohol will have ruined him. Wrong. Wrong? Wrong. Things like alcohol, Tulland, are symptoms. Every once in a while, a person just has too few defenses against the drink that their physical makeup is to blame, but as a usual thing, it¡¯s something else. A troubled marriage. The loss of a child. A failure to find success in some other aspect of life, regardless of the effort spent.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. My uncle thought drunks were just men who refused to respect limits. And by the time your uncle noticed they were drunk, that was true. What he didn¡¯t see was a man who started his life as strong as anyone, and then failed to care for himself as he should have. Failed to take steps to prevent the creeping weakness until it was a thing your uncle could see as he passed the destroyed man in the street. I have no way to know if that¡¯s how it works, but even if it does, what does it mean for here? It means you need to take steps to keep your mind in the battle. Even now, as you are doing well, one moment of carelessness or boredom could mean your death. Your body requires rest, yes, but so does your mind. You require entertainment and relationships, which, very frankly, you get from the same source. A lucky coincidence. Necia? I have known men who would have paid every bit of experience they had ever accumulated to have a relationship like that. Unfortunately for them, it was never the kind of thing that could be bought. Just found by luck, as you have. That was much more value than Tulland had ever expected to hear the System assign to human relationships. On Ouros, it had dismissed most of Tulland¡¯s friendships with a disdainful laugh. There wasn¡¯t much time to consider what had changed, though, not with a new description choosing that moment to drop.
Wave Adaptations Complete! (Wave 10) As per the rules of this challenge, The Infinite is limited in what kind of data it can put into the tactical calculations it uses against you in its wave-by-wave adjustments. It can¡¯t or at least doesn¡¯t take into account its greater knowledge of you as it has observed it throughout your stay in The Infinite Dungeon. Instead, it has observed only what you have done in this place, and adjusted based on that. You¡¯ve noticed it yourself. Tactics you held back until later were not adjusted for at all, or not adjusted for as thoroughly as they deserved. Cards you revealed late were truly treated as surprises, at least in a tactical sense. But that doesn¡¯t mean that The Infinite isn¡¯t keeping tricks. What you see in this next wave is the worst you will see in this level. If you defeat it, you win. But it carries surprises of its own, cards that were not yet revealed to you. Whether or not you possess what it takes to nullify these new advantages is left to you to determine.
Tulland was disturbed from reading between the lines on the notification by the sudden impact of the beast on the ground behind him. It was just one beast, this time, but what a beast it was
Perfected Beast Taking in lessons from each of your battles with its predecessors, this beast is improved in every aspect of its being to counter every aspect of what your class can do. Only using your abilities to their utmost will grant you a chance of surviving its terrors. The perfected beast is resistant to most forms of physical damage, and while it can be destroyed by those means, it will take a massive amount of effort to deal enough damage through its various forms of armor to end things once and for all. It is much stronger than any individual beast you have taken on so far, which is only slightly balanced by the fact that there is just one of in the entire tenth wave to deal with. It is only comparably fast to the beasts, but its increased size synergizes with that speed to make it a much more fearsome form. Perhaps the most significant change, however, is one that The Infinite hadn¡¯t adjusted for in the last few waves. Your current build gives you a large advantage over group-type enemies as opposed to strong individual targets. May you rise to this last challenge.
That¡¯s a big beast. And it¡¯s moving. Get your eyes open, boy. Fight. The beast was as big as a very large wagon, or perhaps a very small house. Every inch of it was covered with fur, which was entirely inadequate at hiding that every bit of the animal¡¯s body was driven by bulging, rock-hard muscle. If it got so much as a claw on Tulland, he¡¯d be dead. There simply wasn¡¯t enough room in the formula for any other outcome. Tulland immediately gave up on conventional tactics. Instead, he reached into his Market Wagon storage space and emptied out the newest addition to his weird arsenal. Once again, this was a new thing that he tried after his farm was set up and his skills leveled. The skill didn¡¯t treat the Steel Star fruits as weapons, even though Tulland had been using them as caltrops. Probably because they were seeds that would eventually grow into things. Either way, it meant Tulland had a nice surprise lined up for the beast sprinting at him. The monster ignored the caltrops as it galloped towards Tulland, something that made complete sense if the caltrops were the same sharpened pieces of metal as before. These, however, were enhanced by Primal Growth for the first time. All that added up to a much bigger enhancement to the seeds than the beast¡¯s improved form had added defenses for. As the beast galloped over them, it picked up three of the caltrops, each of which cut through the pads of its reinforced feet like butter, embedding two-thirds of their total mass directly into the flesh of the monster. Given the monster¡¯s huge size, it was still to the caltrops¡¯ credit that this cut down its speed at all. Tulland closed the distance with it, using that tiny bit of breathing room to hit it in the ankle, slamming it with the hoe form of his Farmer¡¯s Tool before pulling back and going for a different leg. He had found the hoe was incredibly hard to use in battle. But as there was no way to miss here so long as he found the time to swing it at all, his thinking was that chopping damage might work better than stabbing or clubbing damage would. And he needed it to. Tulland was just fast enough to fight with this thing, but his Clubber Vines were doing basically nothing to it, even when enhanced with Primal Growth. He needed to get at least one of its legs in bad shape for the next part of his plan to work, and he got the feeling he wouldn¡¯t have multiple chances to maneuver it where he wanted it. And, of course, he had no way of knowing just how damaged that would be. He held on for as long as he could before ducking away from a lunging attack. Luckily, the beast was off balance enough that it stumbled straight into his auxiliary garden that was mostly for growing combat briars. Chapter 84: Rewards The beast roared and pulled back as dozens of vines grabbed onto its forelegs at once while others beat mercilessly at it. All of the plants got all the power Tulland could spare. While that wasn¡¯t enough to keep the beast from breaking away from them by rearing up hard and tearing the plants out by the roots, it was more than enough of a delay that the beast had to replant its legs in the exact the same place. When it came back down, it was immediately swamped with more plants, who were a bit late to the party. Some of the plants were torn so badly by the beast¡¯s trashing that they died in the attempt, but most got some level of hold and continued to climb and bind as the monster continued to struggle against them. Not enough, though. Tulland was stabbing any visible bit of flesh, ducking back further into his farm every time the beast freed itself for a weak attack, and doing his level best to keep it occupied enough that it couldn¡¯t work on the plants for too long. But it was just too big and too strong for that to work entirely. It¡¯s biting them off now. There are tons of them and it¡¯s still biting them off. The beast was digging through the farm trying to get to Tulland, taking damage from every plant it touched but slowly and surely making progress towards shattering the entire plot¡¯s fighting capability. In the meantime, it was taking on damage, but almost entirely damage to its extremities, where such things affected its overall life force the least. Tulland watched it struggle and felt like he was on the first floor, watching an extremely overpowered enemy tear through the days and weeks of planting in mere moments. By the time the beast finally broke through to the other side of the farming plot, almost every plant in the secondary farm was destroyed. The beast¡¯s legs were bloodied, but the body was more or less intact. The head wasn¡¯t hurt at all. Just looking in that moment, Tulland would have panicked and given up if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that the beast stopped for the first time and shook its head, like it was trying to clear its vision and mind for the rest of the fight. It wouldn¡¯t have had to do that, he figured, if it wasn¡¯t clouded in the first place. The second thing was that the beast was much, much slower now. Using the handful of Acheflowers he had picked from the trees during the rest, Tulland kept up a steady series of explosions into the monster¡¯s head, just enough to keep its vision somewhat blocked and its rage at all-time highs. Come on. If it will just follow, this is done. Are you sure? I¡¯m sure. It¡¯s still taking damage from the vines it can¡¯t reach. I just need to not give it a chance to regenerate and I¡¯ll win. And if it doesn¡¯t follow? Tulland gripped his Farmer¡¯s Tool a little tighter. Then I go for broke and hope for the best. I won¡¯t get a better chance. Yelling and harassing the beast, Tulland led it forward step by step, trying his hardest to keep the beast¡¯s eyes firmly on him and not what was about to happen. When they finally got to his primary farm, it was too angry to see what it was getting into and took the plunge. This would absolutely destroy the farm, but Tulland couldn¡¯t care less. He hadn¡¯t spent enough time on this floor to even need the farm for power-generation purposes. Instead, he juiced it with an application of Primal Growth firmly aimed at power-enhancement instead of actually making the plants grow or be healthier. And by the time the first line of Giant¡¯s Hair vines started pulling the monster¡¯s legs down, it knew it was in trouble. It tried to rear up to break them, only to find that for the first time it couldn¡¯t. It had whatever amount of slack the vines gave it to move around with, and nothing more. Better yet, that slack was slowly tightening in. Tulland furiously stabbed at the beast¡¯s legs while this happened, moving behind it to attack the joints on the mostly intact rear legs. He was just poking holes at it¡¯s base, driving it forward as it desperately tried to evade his hits. Every inch it shuffled into his farm meant another plant wrapping it up, poking it, and sapping at its life force. And then, finally, it toppled. The beast roared and resisted as long as it could, but when it eventually got pushed far enough into the plot for the planted Clubber Vines to hit its ailing legs, it was too much. It staggered, couldn¡¯t recover from the movement, and then crashed into the dirt headfirst where dozens of his vines began to wrap its head and neck. You could just leave it for the farm to finish. I¡¯m not taking any chances. Tulland grabbed a handful of the beast¡¯s fur and used it as a handhold as he leapt upwards onto its back. I¡¯m going to end this now. It wasn¡¯t a single hit. By the time the animal stopped moving, Tulland had driven his pitchfork down into the general brain stem area of the monster¡¯s neck so many times he could barely feel his own arms. But it finally, truly went down, confirmed by a message from The Infinite that popped up mercifully quickly as it collapsed.
Level Complete!You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. While The Infinite was aware of the sheer destructive power of your farm, it pretended not to for the sake of this challenge. And let it be said that holding back the farm¡¯s powers until the last wave was the right call. Compensating for what amounted to a field of death would have been buffs that were bigger and wider-ranging in their applicability. By the tenth wave, you would have been dealing with a much more resistant, resilient threat. But you didn¡¯t. By carefully rationing your power, you allowed The Infinite to enhance each wave to the maximum fair or only slightly unfair level it considered allowable, also maximizing your own rewards. You have already noticed that your leveling has been put on hold for the entirety of this floor. This was for a purpose, and you have a choice in the exact way that progress is paid out. The first option is to accept all the experience you would normally have gotten by doing the kind of thing you¡¯ve been doing in this level, multiplied a bit to acknowledge that the level itself was completed. It will represent a fine chunk of growth. The second choice you can select is to allow the Dungeon System to take a more in-depth assessment of your overall performance on this level, and to issue you a prize from a random range of performance-appropriate options. While there is a degree of randomness to this decision, the resulting item is guaranteed to at least be useful to your class, if not necessarily the most useful item you could have received.
System, help me out here. The Infinite is offering me a bunch of experience multiplied by the fact I completed a level. Fairly normal. Agreed, but that¡¯s not the only choice. It¡¯s also asking me if I want to forgo that and instead assess me and give me some kind of random¡­ Take the random option. Immediately. Before it changes its mind. It can do that? It can do whatever it wishes. Just take it before some sort of timer runs out. Systems reward risk and danger, Tulland. So I can¡¯t lose? You can lose. You could get a hand-shovel that helps you almost not at all. But the chances of you getting something worse are much lower than you getting something better. Necia would kill me for leaving this decision in your hands. I acknowledge that this might be the wrong choice while assuring you, once again, that I am not lying. Neither prize will be truly bad, in any case. At least if you don¡¯t become spectacularly unlucky. For the first time in a long time, Tulland cut the connection with the System. It was a hard decision, another big risk coming just after another big risk. And Necia was not wrong that the System would never, ever stop having a motivation to kill Tulland, and would always have plenty of time to scope out the best possible moment to betray it again. Which was more complex since Tulland had already asked the System what it thought and found it broadly agreed with him. The Infinite was almost what Tulland would describe as playful, in the same way an animal cub might become playful out of boredom. It liked to see chances being taken. It didn¡¯t exactly punish boring safe choices, but Tulland was convinced that without his accidental challenge of the Forest Duke all the way back on floor one, his life would have been much worse. Perhaps, he wouldn¡¯t even had made it up here, unable to keep up with the general challenge of the levels just as soon as he found an enemy that could get to him before he had a chance to fully terraform a big chunk of a new level. So he thought the System was right, despite knowing the System had a motivation to be wrong. And that meant he was choosing between what he thought was correct and the chance that the System was springing its trap on him right now. It was a mind-bender, to be sure. In the end, the thing that made the decision for him was that he simply wasn¡¯t crafty enough. He didn¡¯t think he¡¯d ever be able to predict the exact moment the System would pull the trigger and take him down with bad advice. That meant that choosing the opposite of what the System recommended would be, more times than not, a bad choice. The worst choice, even. Tulland gave The Infinite permission to do its thing. At the very least, there was no reason for the bigger, more powerful System to dislike him in particular. There was some safety in that.
Reward Calculated! Choice: Skill Enhancement Token or Passive Combination Token The skill enhancement token can be applied to one of your skills to enhance it. As opposed to an experience pack, which would merely level the skill or to a skill evolution which would change the skill¡¯s function, this token is purely additive. It takes an existing skill and adds to what it does, increasing the breadth of the skill without penalizing any of its existing specificity. In a general sense, this is one of the few guaranteed benefits one can receive from a change to a skill. Because of the lack of risk, the benefit itself is often small, but is always significant. The passive combination token allows a person to take any amount of their existing passive skills and combine them. The levels of each skill are average together, which results in a lower skill level, and thus an immediate, temporary loss of function to one or more of your most frequently used skills. The counter-balancing positives are significant, however. The first and most dependable advantage is that all the skills involved will now level together, slightly depressing the leveling speed of the former highest-performing skills but greatly increasing the leveling speed of little-used or hard-to-level skills. The second and more variable increase in function comes from potential synergies between skills. While one might wish to restrict their combination to a limited set of skills, sometimes the addition of additional skills to the pile allows for them to combine functions in new and unexpected ways, enhancing the function of some skills beyond what they would have attained by themselves. The passive combination token is thus risky even when used conservatively, and much more risky when used to its utmost. In the worst-case scenario, it can become a shackle around otherwise well-progressing skills. But in the best-case scenarios where that risk pays off to practical reward, it can be a boon far beyond the safe guarantee of the skill enhancement token¡¯s additive improvement.
Chapter 85: Farmer Skills Tulland didn¡¯t really need to ask the System about this option to know what it thought. It would, as it had always done, take the risky option. What mattered now was what kind of risk Tulland was willing to take. All in all, the combination token didn¡¯t seem to be that big of a risk to him, but that made him worry. The Infinite had dedicated a large amount of text to warning him of risk, and that almost couldn¡¯t be for no reason. He decided to think about it in a different way. If this made Broadcast work a third as well, would it be worth it? The answer to that question was surprisingly hard to generate. On the one hand, Broadcast made all his farming go faster. It was the primary reason he could grow a plot of land to something significant and worthwhile within the temporal confines of a particular level. But on Tulland¡¯s literal other hand was a Clubber Vine, something that was only possible because his Farmer¡¯s Intuition had helped him push through several variations of briars before his splicer finished the job for him. And that splicer, near as he could tell, wasn¡¯t actively nullifying his Farmer¡¯s Intuition. The skill simply wasn¡¯t strong enough to figure out what was going on in the machine, and thus didn¡¯t try very hard. But if it was a higher level, that might change. There were a lot of perfectly logical considerations on both sides of the problem, each stacked up so high Tulland couldn¡¯t assess which one won out. In the end, the decision came down to something so simple it was almost petty. I hate how messy my status screen is. I can hardly keep track of all the skills. Tulland watched the token glow and dissipate in his hand as he activated it, then felt a prompt in his mind as The Infinite asked what passives it had permission to push together. Let¡¯s go for broke. All of them. Tulland had expected to feel a sense of loss as the skills flowed out of him, but what he had not expected was for it to hurt. It was excruciating in a bone-deep, nauseating way that went beyond the mere sensation of pain. It was like someone was stealing his eyes, for a moment. Like he was being injured in a previously unknown vital area that every one of his instincts was making a panicked attempt to protect. But there was no resisting the pull now. The Infinite was moving, and it was too little, too late. After a few seconds, he felt the last of the skills tear away, leaving a gaping wound on his soul, like some emptiness had gnawed out a hollow in his spirit and took up residence there like a rat. And, then, just as quickly, he felt something thump into that hole, sealing the gap and adhering to the sides until it was like nothing had ever happened at all. His notifications confirmed that wasn¡¯t quite the case.
Skills Synergy Check Ongoing¡­ Check complete! Every skill in your gamble has proved compatible with the others, perhaps due to the extremely focused nature of your class. As a result, every skill has been enhanced, with zero loss. The smallest change in skill function is your Fruits of the Field passive, which now slightly buffs equipment made with your own plants relative to how many of those plants you have grown. This means that armor made from a new plant will get slightly better as your experience growing the material it¡¯s made out of increases. The next change has to do with your Botanical Engineer skill, which now increases in efficacy relative to your farm¡¯s overall quality. As your farm¡¯s quality increases, so to will your chance of making new variant plants that increase its quality further, creating a limited feedback loop with a nonetheless high potential benefit. Your Strong Back skill has undergone a fairly large change. Its power is now indexed to your farm quality, and possesses a much more variable performance depending on your situation. In the worst-case scenario, a complete lack of access to any farm quality power will leave you without any of the benefits of a regeneration skill. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. But in the best case, it now can use your farm as a battery, siphoning the power of the plants there to heal you at a much-increased rate. In addition, a small proportion of any damage taken will now be drawn off by your farm, allowing you to move forward as if that damage had never occurred at all. The proportion of damage mitigated to the farm will increase as this skill levels. Note that this is a double-edged sword, as every bit of healing you do will now diminish your combat capabilities somewhat.
Tulland would take those changes, no questions asked. His Strong Back skill had become much better when his class had evolved, sure, but it still broadly sucked. He had seen Necia close up wounds in seconds that would have taken him minutes to knit together. While she was a vitality class and that was somewhat expected, he still knew he was well behind the curve in terms of what a normal class should be able to do with their regenerative capabilities. The fact that regeneration now ate away at his farm wasn¡¯t great, but the System¡¯s language seemed to him that the balance of that sacrifice was greatly in his favor. The other skills seemed to be pure gain, or at least to come with downsides from the combination so very small The Infinite didn¡¯t consider it worth mentioning them. But the cream of the combination crop was yet to drop, and Tulland decided not to spend any more time thinking when he could be reading that last bit of benefit.
The greatest changes of the batch have to do with your Farmer¡¯s Intuition skill. Previously, this skill was tied entirely to your own consciousness as a type of perception skill that radiated out from you to any plant you were looking at. Its function in this regard is now greatly diminished and changed. When you look at a plant in the wild, you will gain very little knowledge beyond a general insight into its purpose that¡¯s slightly beyond what other adventurers might enjoy. You will also obtain a vague sense of how valuable it might be to your farm, but nothing else outside the confines of your staked growing territory. Inside your farm, however, this situation changes drastically. When a plant is grown in your farm, you will gain a large amount of specific information as to its habits, makeup, and how to properly care for it to encourage the greatest rate of growth. As you grow more of any particular plant, the information related to it will increase in both depth and specificity, allowing for more and more certain insights into how best to optimize your own growing area. These changes to your skills are effective immediately and irreversible by any normal means.
Tulland sighed and clicked back on the System, who was clearly over-excited. ¡­glowing like a damn sun as energy gushes out of you and then back into you like a tide, and you feel I shouldn¡¯t have been involved in the decision? You fool. You absolute¡­ System. ¡­fool of a boy, who never stops to think for a single instant about what he should or shouldn¡¯t do or how best to preserve himself for the challenges ahead¡­ As the System kept up with its rant, Tulland realized something about the tone that had long since been milling around the outskirts of his consciousness, waiting for him to notice it. The System, he realized, wasn¡¯t acting like a friend, or like an enemy, or even like an unrelated investor whose success was tied to Tulland¡¯s performance. This was something different, something that he had only seen before when he had done something very stupid, or when he observed missing children finally being found by their parents. It was concern. As weird as it was, it was a true feeling unless the System was a much, much better actor than Tulland thought it was. While Tulland had been feeding his class to The Infinite to create something new, the System had been watching him do it without knowing the specifics and now was worried sick. System. Tulland tried breaking through the rant for the third time that minute. I¡¯m here. Everything is okay. As if you¡¯d even know, you absolute imbecile. That feels uncalled for. Oh, it does? I suppose you wouldn¡¯t feel like I do if you had just watched someone get absolute dissected¡­ Only then did the System seem to realize what it must have looked like panicking in that way. There was an immediate silence as it gathered itself, eventually rejoining the conversation much calmer. Well then. What¡¯s done is done. What happened, exactly? I got a choice between a skill enhancement token and one that combined my passive skills. I suppose I know which one you chose. How many did you feed it? All of them. That is¡­ a substantial risk you took. You would have told me to. I actually would have likely cautioned you against it. A pure, guaranteed upside is a large benefit. Against that, the rewards of risk are weighed somewhat less heavily. Did it¡­ Pay off? I think so. Tulland decided to trust the System just enough to give up on the usual delay between when he got some change to his class and when the System learned about it anyway. It seems to have tied every passive to my staked farm area. I get faster regeneration, slightly better armor when I make it from farm-grown materials. And a lot more information about plants growing on my farm then I would have before. I haven¡¯t tested any of it out yet, and it comes with downsides. Mostly that I¡¯m more tied to my farm than ever. That hardly matters. You were already inextricably linked to the growth of your plants. It¡¯s no loss becoming more tied up. True. Now, if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to mosey over to some of my plants, and see how they are doing. If this new Farmer¡¯s Intuition skill works like I think it will¡­ Tulland was cut off. It made sense, actually. Whatever grace period The Infinite had given him to get used to the big change in his class was much longer than what he normally got. When he found himself in the white place all of a sudden, it wasn¡¯t exactly a big surprise. He cut off all his communications for a bit, just soaking in the real quiet. It felt like home. Chapter 86: Reversion After a minute or so, Tulland had got about all the benefit from the rest room that he thought he could. Something just occurred to me. Yes? Most of these levels take days and days. Sometimes weeks. Right? Correct. So what if Necia gets out days and days after me? We just become off sync then, and one of us has to sacrifice our rest to get back into a party? I suppose I don¡¯t know for sure. That kind of thing doesn¡¯t have hard and fast rules. But if I had to guess, I¡¯d guess that The Infinite allows some kind of flexibility. If you haven¡¯t noticed, it¡¯s very careful to avoid things that look like death sentences. Which confuses me. Because once, a long time ago, I would have been able to turn whole floors into briar hells. It wouldn¡¯t have scaled against very strong monsters, maybe, but I could have adjusted for that. That¡­ I hate to defend what amounts to my better. But from what I understood of that time, The Infinite simply couldn¡¯t allow you to come that close to a known class exception. Some class paths are banned, for reasons having to do with what you would have eventually tried with that class. You must have noticed that no Invincible Warrior Who Can Defeat Any Enemy With A Look classes exist. I assumed you couldn¡¯t make them. I could at least come close. The Infinite almost certainly could overpower an adventurer enough to trivialize their journey. But the point, Tulland, lies in the struggle itself. In the adventurer¡¯s experience. In the living and dying. Making one man a demigod denies all that. But¡­ the next question would just be why you chose those goals. Instead of some others. The quick answer is that I didn¡¯t choose them. The longer answer is¡­ yes, I thought so. Still very banned. Well, let me know if you can ever talk about it. I¡¯d be interested¡­ Tulland suddenly thumped into the ground of the safe zone, surrounded by dark and not exactly where he thought he¡¯d be.
Warp Location Randomized! Due to constant watchful and malicious guarding of the warp points, a failsafe has been activated. Your warp location is somewhere up to a half mile from the standard location near the warp arches themselves.
Despite the half mile limit, Tulland only needed a second¡¯s orientation to know exactly where he was. He was outside of the safe zone village, but only just, on essentially the opposite side of the settlement from where he lived. It was a relief not to get immediately attacked when he landed, something he wanted to keep true as long as he could. Skirting the village under the cover of darkness, he managed to get as near to his house as he could without being in the town proper, then making his way as fast as he quietly could through the streets until he got to his own door. To his delight, nobody killed him while he tried this or even seemed to know he had arrived. There were changes when he got inside that he had never expected, mostly in the form of a large stone tub, a few pipes, and what looked to be a series of barrels hacked out of a solid piece of tree. And on them, stuck into the wood with a small cheap-looking dagger, was a note.
Tulland, When the opportunity to purchase this came up, I made a decision for the team. You will notice some grain and fruit are missing, but I figured you didn¡¯t seem to actually care about that much. It took some hammer-wielder an entire day to make this. He also offered to make a sort of solid wall to close it off, but I figured you could grow some sort of solution for that. Enjoy yourself! Ley Raditz
¡°Oh, yes.¡± Tulland looked down at his blood-and-dirt covered self, then the tub. He just had a few quick tasks to do and he¡¯d be right on that, and giving Ley whatever the hell he wanted for making it happen. The first thing on his list, even before getting clean, was getting to know some old friends a little better.
Hades Lunger Briar (52/42, +10 overstocked) The Hades Lunger Briar is by far your most-grown plant, and is information-capped. You can learn no more about this plant, except through personal experience and possibly by leveling Farmer¡¯s Domain. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. As a descendant of a plant whose existence depended on the rare accidental kill of living prey, the Hades Lunger Briar especially enjoys fertilizers of blood or flesh, such as it might have occasionally caught for itself were it left to its own devices. As a component of your farm, the Hades Lunger Briar is of limited points utility, just above its predecessor in terms of value and thus only worth moderately more than a mundane, non-dungeon plant. Known Variants:
  • Clubber Vine (via splicing)
  • Giant¡¯s Hair Vine (Via the flesh or blood of a giant used as fertilizer)
  • Hades Briar (Downgrade, willed)
Nutritional Deficiencies: None.
¡°What in the world do you think it means by willed?¡± Tulland furrowed his brow. He very, very much wanted access to the original form of his briars, and had regretted not bringing them with him from the early levels almost every day. ¡°Because if it was just a matter of wanting it¡­¡± Have you ever wanted it to revert back to an earlier generation specifically? While enriching a seed, and making it grow? And how often? ¡°Not that often, I guess. But there¡¯s no shortage of seeds.¡± Tulland grimaced at his farm. ¡°And I¡¯m told I have ten too many Lunger Briars here, compared to¡­ something.¡± Your skill¡¯s best judgement, likely. That judgement will be limited. You will want to use it as a rule of thumb and optimize from there, as you find the opportunity. And Tulland did. He first went through the farm, pulling out or adding to his plant stock as he could. He had scooped up some grasses and shrubs from the last floor, but found that his intuition considered virtually all of them trash in terms of the plant power they held. For now, he followed Farmer¡¯s Domain instructions to the letter, which in turn left him with a completely full farm that was worth about a hundred points more than it had been before. And then, hating every moment of it, he pulled out ten of his Lunger Briars, left them on the ground to die, and then used their own enriched seeds to replace them. Regress. Revert. Turn back into your old self. Get simpler. Tulland had no idea what thought process was going to make this all work, so he tried them all. The briars came up fast enough that after just a few runs of Primal Growth he was able to tell that he had failed and start another batch. It was the better part of fifty total seeds before he finally got what he wanted.
Hades Briar (Reversion, Cultivated, Subjugated 10/5, +5 Overstock) As your first intentional reversion of a plant to obtain a more primitive form, this creation comes with a substantial bonus to both level and skill experience. The Hades Briar is the predecessor of an entire line of long-stemmed, sharp-thorned carnivorous plants. While later variants have specialized towards reaching and wrapping, constricting, or flailing, the Hades Briar was and is content to simply bide it¡¯s time, using energy on absolutely nothing but survival until an animal wanders close enough to become entangled and give it the sustenance needed to grow. The Hades Briar is just worthy enough to be included in a farm if it is not displacing some mundane plant or a plant you are overstocked on. Nutrient Deficiencies: None.
Level Up! x3 Skill Level Up! X2
And just like that, his passive skill was just about where Broadcast had been before the merger. If he ever saw a downside from the merge, it was likely it wouldn¡¯t be much. ¡°Yes. That¡¯s so good.¡± Tulland watched as his first-ever success in farming proved its low quality by absorbing a Primal Growth charge and springing out of the soil so fast he could actually watch it grow. ¡°You seeing this?¡± Yes. It was oddly easy. ¡°And yet, I would have never gotten there without knowing for sure that it was possible. I would have never wasted that much time doing something that barely made sense when there was anything else I could do. And this farm was already fully grown. I wasn¡¯t making any more Lunger Briars here.¡± And what will you do with them? ¡°For now? Get a cool fifty points better in my farm. But later? I have four big chunks of that generic beast meat in my pack. Seems worth a try.¡± Tulland stood back up from his briar and started making the rounds of his farm one more time. After taking one more look at every plant, he had a short list of ingredients. His orange trees, which he still thought of as that, needed more iron. His briars needed more bone. He supposed that made sense, given that he usually only fed them meat. And several plants, trees and briars included, wanted more of what the Dungeon System called life material. ¡°Life material,¡± Tulland said. ¡°And here I thought I was giving them plenty of that. They have all the outhouse dirt and monster meat they could want.¡± That¡¯s not what that word means. And, I am pleased to say, I can tell you what it is. It¡¯s common enough knowledge. ¡°Well, spit it out. I have a bath waiting for me.¡± It¡¯s leaves and grasses. Dead ones. Just material from plants to give the soil a certain texture, I suppose. Perhaps some nutrients it can¡¯t get, otherwise. ¡°Well, it will get them now. Anything to raise the level of these trees would help. The new ones aren¡¯t easy.¡± None of the ingredients were easy to get except the organic matter, but that would require Tulland leaving town, something he¡¯d never do without backup so long as the rogue was wandering around. And that meant, finally, that he could take a bath. He let the water out of the two big barrels into the stone tub, and then, in a moment of inspiration, dug a hole underneath it and started a small fire with wood from his trees. Tulland was pleased to find that Wolfwood was as clean-burning as charcoal, barely producing smoke once it got going. In a few minutes, Tulland had a pile of shavings and Wolfwood aflame, producing a fire so hot it almost immediately set the entire stack of wood under the tub aflame. Surprisingly quickly, the water was hot enough that it would have hurt his old, fragile skin. Now, it just felt nice, and scoured off all the dirt and blood from his body so fast he hardly needed the soap. He used it anyway, then soaked a bit longer before washing his clothes and armor, tossing another layer of soap over everything, then rinsing off in the lukewarm water from the barrels. He hadn¡¯t been cleaner in months, and was as dedicated to the cause of Ley Raditz as he possibly could be about someone he had just recently met. He wouldn¡¯t quite die for him, but it was close. Just as Tulland was about to lay out on his mat and rest up from the last level, there was a shout outside his door. ¡°Open up, Tulland. Or come out.¡± It was White, visible to Tulland through the privacy veil around his house if not at all able to see him from the outside. ¡°I know you¡¯re in there. I can smell the smoke.¡± Chapter 87: Laundry ¡°Could anybody?¡± Tulland began the process of putting on his armor. He couldn¡¯t be too careful. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t want to give away my schedule.¡± ¡°If they were looking for it and standing right in your front yard, sure. Otherwise, they¡¯d have to be a Sentry or tracking class. You should be safe,¡± White said. ¡°Except from you.¡± ¡°Except from me. Although if I turn on you, you¡¯d know pretty fast. You might give me or Halter individually trouble. You certainly wouldn¡¯t do much to both of us at the same time.¡± ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, you don¡¯t strike me as the type,¡± Tulland said, unsure of how else to respond to what White had just said. ¡°So what can I do for you, White? More food? I recently got a bathtub, and I could spend some time outside if you wanted to give it a try.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not that. I just got a sense you were back in town, and wanted to make sure you had made it in unscathed. Is your heavily armored friend back yet?¡± ¡°Not quite yet. And that might get complex. Did you know The Infinite is sending people back to random places now when it returns them from a level? I¡¯m worried for her if she gets back after Halter does.¡± ¡°He won¡¯t do anything until after I¡¯m gone. And I won¡¯t be leaving for the tenth until after he¡¯s in the ninth. But after that, you¡¯ll have problems. Real problems. And I won¡¯t be able to help. How¡¯s your progression coming along?¡± ¡°Not terrible. I¡¯m making progress. If I get lucky, I can make a lot more.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to.¡± White looked him up and down. ¡°I can tell about how much trouble a person would be for me to fight. And as of the last time I saw Halter, you were both about even.¡± Tulland raised his eyebrows. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound that bad to me.¡± ¡°No? Then remember that my class is basically built to hunt people like Halter. And if I don¡¯t miss my guess, that he¡¯s had you on his mind for a while.¡± ¡°You seem to know a lot,¡± Tulland commented. White nodded. ¡°I looked into it. And as I said, you should be safe right up until I leave for the tenth.¡± ¡°So ten days?¡± ¡°Something like that. I have a few bonuses that might let me stretch it out a couple days, if I use them up.¡± White raised a hand as Tulland started to object to him using those resources on someone else. ¡°It¡¯s not like that. I get experience for guarding people. You are that for me, right now. If you stay safe, everyone wins.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure. I¡¯ll come find you and your friend before I go, and escort you on your way to the ninth. But after that¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯re on our own.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the size of it.¡± Tulland stuck out his hand and White shook it. Something occurred to him then, and White seemed to see it on his face. ¡°Yes, I agree.¡± White nodded. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense that I¡¯m helping you.¡± ¡°Then why are you?¡± White sighed and leaned on the fence. ¡°Because, and correct me if I¡¯m wrong, you can¡¯t be much more than fifteen or sixteen years old.¡± ¡°Sure. But that¡¯s not that much younger than you,¡± Tulland said. White laughed. ¡°Is that what you think? Tulland, I¡¯m more than seventy years old.¡± ¡°No.¡± Tulland looked him up and down. Even with a class, he just didn¡¯t look to be anywhere near that age. ¡°Not possible.¡± ¡°I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t know this. Tulland, everyone is young, in this place. Most of the people you¡¯ve been talking to and dealing with are much older than they appear. I might be wrong, but I¡¯d imagine Halter was a very sick old man before he came here. And that Ley was in his thirties or forties.¡± ¡°How would you know that?¡± Tulland asked. White shrugged. ¡°The same way I know you are a teenager. But to answer your question from before, I don¡¯t care if old men die here pursuing glory. It¡¯s their business, and in that sense they aren¡¯t even a bit different than me. I felt myself slipping away, and knew I wanted something different from seeing where that road ended. To feel what it was like to stand up without my joints making noises for once. I¡¯d imagine most others are the same.¡± ¡°And me?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t choose this.¡± White held up his hand. ¡°I just know. I can see it on you. I¡¯m trying to do well. Halter¡¯s trying to have a sick kind of fun. The drunks killing themselves at the bar are just¡­ gone. Waiting to die. Even that girl you run around with is a young hero type, looking for glory.¡± ¡°And me?¡± Tulland repeated. ¡°What¡¯s different about me?¡± ¡°You are still looking for a way out. And even though I know that¡¯s impossible¡­¡± White shook his head. ¡°I hope you find it. At any rate, I¡¯ll help you to survive as long as I can. And after that, I¡¯ll wish you the best.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡ª It took three more long days for Necia to clear her dungeon. By then, Tulland had optimized every bit of the garden he could. He had seen Halter around, here and there, and knew that he had seen Tulland too. But given the fact that he hadn¡¯t done anything about it, it seemed that White¡¯s potential vengeful rage was enough of a deterrent to keep the rogue at bay. When Necia sauntered in that day safe and sound, he wasn¡¯t surprised. He was even less surprised when she saw the bathtub, kicked him out, and spent the better part of an hour enjoying the new amenities. ¡°You have no idea how much I needed that.¡± Necia wrung water out of her hair as walked out of the house. ¡°I had no idea. I feel like an entirely new person.¡± ¡°You look like one.¡± Tulland couldn¡¯t quite place what was going on with Necia¡¯s body, at the moment. She was the same size and general shape, but even in her normal-sized-girl mode, she looked sturdier somehow. Like she¡¯d be harder to move. ¡°Are you¡­ thicker?¡± Necia stared at Tulland for a second and gave him a mini-heart attack before she broke out into a smile. ¡°If I didn¡¯t know what you meant, I¡¯d probably be angry at that question. No, I am not physically thicker. Yes, I am more substantial. It¡¯s a skill called, and I am not kidding about this, Brick. It essentially adjusts my center of gravity to be much nearer to my feet without causing balance issues.¡± ¡°And this¡­ helps? With what you do?¡± ¡°More than you could possibly imagine. I had to give up some levels for it. What about you? I can¡¯t help but notice you have some new vines in there. The metal ones are¡­ weird.¡± ¡°Yeah. I got the idea of feeding some of my plants with some of my other plants, based of what one of my skills was telling me might work. Those are the result.¡± Tulland had picked up a lot of new seeds, bones, and chunks of animal carried to him from various biomes, as well as a ton of trash plants that turned out to be counterproductive to the current shape of his farm. The new seeds had yet to bear fruit in a points sense, although a few of them seemed to make honest-to-god edible food. The fertilizers were either generic enough that they didn¡¯t matter much or hadn¡¯t turned out any special combinations in the splicer as of yet. But there were a few exceptions to the rule. The first was that the excess of bones that had come in were of a type Ley claimed wouldn¡¯t be very good for Licht¡¯s class, and could be ground up into some of the nutrients the soil needed. And the iron deficiency was solved by an odd class called a bombardier who claimed that rust powder was vital to some of his explosions, especially the hotter, longer burning kinds. The second exception was a single nondescript seed that had yielded a small mint-looking plant. It claimed to have some soothing medicinal properties, even though Tulland had yet to see a difference when he put them on the cuts and scrapes he picked up working on the farm. It seemed useless for now, but was also the only plant he had seen with that specific definition. But if he could develop what might someday be a source of weak potions or something, he¡¯d do anything. And a weird twinge from Tulland¡¯s now-combined farmer¡¯s intuition skill pointed at one of the undeveloped, plain Hades Briars as a target for a piece of shell some warrior claimed was simply ¡°tough.¡± The resulting splice had kicked out one new, reasonably interesting plant that had a single, relatively interesting use he hadn¡¯t expected.
Fence Poles (Subjugated, Cultivated, 25/25) A descendant of the Hades Briar, the Fence Poles are, while in the soil, very rigid and tough. While they can be broken, cut, or burned, any of those methods would require a relatively large amount of work compared to destroying most of your other plants. When Fence Poles are broken, the internal tension and general hardness of their structure means that they shatter rather than crumple, leaving sharp, generally upwards-facing spikes When pulled out of the ground, the Fence Posts lose most of their rigidity, resembling a Hades Briar in structure. They also lack any offensive capability whatsoever. As a new creation, the Fence Posts grant you a decent chunk of experience, lessened only by their medium-at-best quality relative to your other plants.
Despite the system description¡¯s general lack of enthusiasm for the poles, Tulland got a good two hundred farm points out of the twenty-five of them he had planted around the border of his farm. More than that, he had taken pains to make sure that the pants directly around and behind the Fence Posts were as offensively oriented as they could be, figuring that if the posts stopped anything for even a few seconds, it would give the Clubber Vines and Giant¡¯s Hairs a chance to do their thing. ¡°It¡¯s good. Trust me.¡± Tulland pulled Necia into a hug, something he was fully aware she was letting happen. He couldn¡¯t have forced it. ¡°The score on the farm has never been higher. I picked up a level from that, and a level for my farming passive. I¡¯m getting pretty strong now, Necia.¡± ¡°Relative to when we met, or relative to other people?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Honestly? I¡¯m not sure. But I hope it¡¯s the latter. I really do,¡± Tulland said. ¡°So what can I do? I want to help. And it¡¯s not like this safe zone makes much difference to me. I only get stronger in dungeons.¡± ¡°You still need to rest.¡± Tulland decided not to share where that wisdom came from. ¡°Or you¡¯ll make mistakes.¡± ¡°Sure. But I also need to not die, Tulland. It¡¯s not just you that the psychopath is after, remember? He¡¯ll kill me just as soon as you. Making you stronger makes me stronger, at least for that purpose.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Tulland considered that. They both were in an odd spot, schedule-wise. Tulland had days to go before he absolutely had to be in the next dungeon, and Necia had days more than that. But this wasn¡¯t a problem that stalling alone could solve. By just waiting for the next dungeon as long as possible, they wouldn¡¯t be likely to dodge the rogue entirely. Eventually, they¡¯d have to show themselves in a world that lacked White¡¯s protection. ¡°Honestly, I¡¯ve been thinking about this as a thing where we needed to hide out as long as possible. But that¡¯s the wrong move, isn¡¯t it? If anything, we need to pack in more dungeons. You need to level. I need to level and to find new plants.¡± ¡°There is a way to do that, you know. We¡¯d be out of sight for a while, and we¡¯d still have to time ourselves to when White leaves. But if we did it just right, we¡¯d have two dungeons under our belt instead of one.¡± ¡°And if we did it wrong?¡± ¡°We¡¯d either end up one dungeon stronger instead of two, so right where we would have been otherwise. Or we¡¯d die trying. Either way, we wouldn¡¯t be in a much different position relative to Halter.¡± ¡°Fine. If my boyfriend wants to give up his rest for some dungeon fighting, I¡¯ll take it,¡± Necia said. ¡°How much time do you need?¡± ¡°Not much. I¡¯d really like to eat a lot of food and get at least one night¡¯s sleep.¡± ¡°About that. I had an idea.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± Necia¡¯s eyes grew both playful and a little tiny bit wary. ¡°If I tell you what our plan is, would you rinse out our bedrolls in the bathtub? I figure if you do, we can probably get them dry by tonight. And I haven¡¯t slept in clean bedding in a long, long time.¡± ¡°Oh, Tulland.¡± Necia moved a little closer and gave him a peck on the lips. ¡°Laundry? You have such romantic ideas sometimes.¡± Chapter 88: Time Having narrowly escaped Necia¡¯s playful wrath by promising he¡¯d be responsible for making sure the bedding got dry, thus holding up his side of the communal clothes washing, Tulland moved on to tell White what was going on. White didn¡¯t approve or disapprove, but instead just seemed to note the change in schedule as a neutral. Given the situation, that struck Tulland as just about right. By the time he got home, he found that Necia had shot ahead of him on the drying-things-out front, building a good-sized fire in the yard and using some cast-off dead briars Tulland had around to string them up between the house and the fence. Over the heat, the bedding dried out quick, they just had to watch to make sure they didn¡¯t actually burn. After that, they ate a very large meal heavy on the few new vegetables and grains Tulland¡¯s customers had brought in, then went to bed. Any jokes about anything more than sleep turned out to be just that when Necia fell asleep within just a few minutes of laying down, proceeding to snore peacefully loud enough that the stone walls were vibrating with the echoes. It¡¯s funny how much that doesn¡¯t bother me. If it was my uncle or one of my friends from back home, I¡¯d hate it. That reaction is what I¡¯ve mentioned before. The laughter. The genuine enjoyment. The trust. It¡¯s priceless here. Whatever you do, Tulland, do not let that girl get away from you unnecessarily. Keep her with everything you have. These, Tulland decided, were the easy times to just trust the System. When it was just right. ¡ª ¡°The ninth floor. Filled with plants, they say.¡± ¡°Oof. That class is really getting to you.¡± Necia stood by Tulland¡¯s side, half-laughing. ¡°Your eyes are downright scary when you talk about getting new green things for your garden.¡± ¡°I need them to survive,¡± Tulland protested. ¡°We both know that¡¯s not the only thing. You look like I probably do when I think about shields.¡± Necia¡¯s eyes flashed with gear-lust. ¡°I do like new shields. And breastplates. And grieves, for that matter.¡± ¡°I can tell. So do you feel good about this, still? We could rest longer.¡± ¡°We could, but we shouldn¡¯t. What we know of this floor says that it¡¯s a good match for you. After that it¡¯s a bit variable, but¡­ honestly, Tulland, things are closing in on us. We need to get better, fast. I¡¯m¡­¡± ¡°Scared.¡± Tulland finished the sentence for her. ¡°Me too. It¡¯s Okay.¡± Necia took Tulland¡¯s hand, then leaned forward into a step towards the gate. ¡°Let¡¯s do it then. Together. It will be fun. Probably.¡± Necia more or less dragged him towards the entrance. ¡°Either way, I need to get moving. I¡¯ll get too antsy to be useful, otherwise.¡± ¡°Same.¡± Tulland squeezed her hand. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± They stepped through the door together. In the next instant, they found themselves in a place that was lush, green, and entirely more overgrown than anything Tulland had ever seen on his home planet or in The Infinite. It¡¯s beautiful. ¡°Tulland, don¡¯t drool,¡± Necia warned. ¡°Was I?¡± ¡°Almost. I just wanted to head it off at the pass.¡± Necia looked around. ¡°Do you think this will help?¡± Tulland glanced down at the level description and almost started crying. It was that good.
Ninth Floor (Reflex Jungle) The Reflex Jungle is entirely a test of your ability to traverse treacherous, tricky floors. There are no beasts here, and no threats that do not have roots in one way or another. That is not to say this place is safe, of course. It is as deadly as any floor you are likely to have faced thus far. Each plant holds a secret here. Some are food. Some are very hard to kill. But many of them, enough that they will seem to be all of them by the end, are hiding lethal things. Some bite. Some cut. Some have venom, or even poisons and the means to make you ingest them. Insight and reaction time are absolutely vital here. What you can¡¯t avoid through wisdom, you must avoid through a developed sense of when to duck, dash, or otherwise get away. Very few of the plants here yield experience when killed. The objective is rather to get through a gauntlet of botanical terrors quite unlike anything you¡¯ve ever seen before as quickly as possible, reaching the exit gate in as little time as you can manage. Be wise. Speed is to your benefit, here, but only up to the point where it kills you. Objectives: Exit the floor as quickly as possible.
¡°Oh, yes. I think this will do just fine,¡± Tulland said. ¡°This is terrible for me.¡± Necia lifted her shield. ¡°My reflexes are actually terrible, believe it or not. I can block a lot, but I¡¯ve seen your weird flowers in action. Any sudden clouds of things are going to hurt me.¡± ¡°If they get to you, which they won¡¯t.¡± Tulland lifted his hands into the air and actually cheered, ignoring the weird look he got from Necia. ¡°Because you, Necia, are a great tank who has no job at all to do today. You get to just lean back and let me handle it.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Oh?¡± Necia lifted an eyebrow. ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Because long ago, you made the horrible mistake of becoming involved with a dungeon farmer.¡± Tulland shook her arm a bit, trying to get her as excited as he was. ¡°Don¡¯t you see? This is the best chance I¡¯ll ever get to make that seem like a good idea.¡± ¡ª A few hours later, Tulland¡¯s Farmer class was blazing a trail forward faster than either of them had ever expected it could. The Infinite had not overstated how many threats there were in the dungeon, but they were blasting past all of them. A surprising number of plants just exploded. Some of them exploded into acid, while others blew up into pollen, just like his Acheflowers did. Some of them just exploded, making loud noises that seemed designed to get them to stumble into other threats. Some plants were deceptively sharp, with leaves like miniature, razor-sharp swords. Some dropped heavy things when they walked under them. One memorable plant uprooted itself and ran at them, snapping a faux-mouth filled with bizarre botanical teeth at them as they did. And none of them were a threat. Not a single one. Because even the moving threats were nothing when you knew they were coming, and there wasn¡¯t a single threat in this forest he couldn¡¯t see from a half-mile off like it was lit up in bright, beautiful lights. He knew what every plant was about the moment he took a look at it. They either steered clear, bashed through, or slashed little screaming jaw-plants as the moment called for. None of it was any real trouble. Which meant they were clearing territory like nobody¡¯s business. ¡°What if we are going in the wrong direction?¡± Tulland asked, a bit late given that they had already been making good progress for the past two hours. ¡°Most of the time? Still fine. If it¡¯s an infinite level, there will be multiple exits, mostly evenly spaced. If it¡¯s limited, we either would have hit a wall by now or would be nearly to where I¡¯d expect to see a gate. Either way, we should be close.¡± Necia was right, as usual. Just as her studies in her home world had told her, they found the arch about ten minutes after that. ¡°It¡¯s the last floor before the tenth right? It has to have been designed to take days.¡± ¡°Tulland, it should have taken days. We should have stopped and cautiously prodded anything with so much as a single bit of stem or bark before moving past it, and still would have been ambushed or burned or intoxicated dozens of times. This should have been hard, Tulland. Really, really hard.¡± ¡°Still. What happens if we leave right now? It¡¯s only been an afternoon.¡± ¡°We both get rewards that make us very happy, and we do a little dance all the way home. Tulland, The Infinite might be a lot of things, but it¡¯s not a cheat. It plays by its own rules and adheres to the spirit of them as best it can. We are going to get paid out for this, Tulland. We are going to get paid out for this better than you¡¯ll believe.¡± ¡°So every second counts then, right? Let¡¯s go.¡± Tulland stepped towards the gate with a giddy Necia in tow, then stopped in his tracks as he realized something. ¡°Actually, damn. Damn. Never mind.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, Necia, but I need you to go on without me.¡± ¡°Wait, what? Why?¡± ¡°Because I just thought about it, and I¡¯m guessing the best thing The Infinite might give me is probably things like levels, or enhancements for my equipment. Or maybe it does one better than that and gives me fertilizers that might let me develop new plants.¡± ¡°Which would be great for you, right?¡± ¡°Yes, normally. But look around you. What¡¯s going to get me the most new plants? Doing this level as quickly as possible, or as slow as I can?¡± Necia¡¯s mouth moved into an ohhh shape of recognition. ¡°I could still stay,¡± Necia said. ¡°To keep you safe.¡± ¡°Normally, I¡¯d say that was right. But here¡­ Necia, who has been keeping who safe?¡± ¡°That¡¯s reasonable. But what if you find something you can¡¯t cut? Or that needs a tank?¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll run away. But you can¡¯t give up most of your rewards just to make sure I get a tiny bit more of mine. Think about it. How many plants did we see? If I get even a single seed from each, it¡¯s going to be huge.¡± ¡°How huge?¡± ¡°Honestly? I don¡¯t know. Half again as strong as I am now? Two times? Three times?¡± Necia thought about this for a moment. ¡°Okay, then. I¡¯d like to draw out this argument or say goodbye, but¡­.¡± ¡°Rewards are a-wasting. Go home. Stay near White, Ley, and Licht, if you can.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Necia leaned down her massive battle-form and kissed Tulland¡¯s head. ¡°Don¡¯t get distracted. Remember, you are on a clock.¡± ¡°I have days!¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make me feel better. You need to be home on time. Spend every second you can here, then we¡¯ll take on the next floor together.¡± She slipped through the arch then, undoubtedly getting insane riches in the process. Tulland took a deep breath and turned to face back into the jungle. In just that one direction, he knew he¡¯d find four kinds of neat explosions, several weird but potentially high-value trees, and an ambulatory gremlin-plant he couldn¡¯t say he came even close to understanding. And that would just be the start. ¡ª Days later, Tulland had over fifty new plants. Every time he had planned on deciding that was a good enough number, he had found just one or two more, proving that the jungle was not yet entirely tapped. Worse, the longer he stayed, the less important each second became. It¡¯s really like that? After a few days, hours are only worth as much as seconds were before? It¡¯s too complex to explain in detail, but I want you to imagine that there are five or ten tiers one can complete this dungeon at. One is a loser tier. People in it either got lost or injured, and get a consolation prize. It¡¯s tiny, hardly worth having at all. Sad. I¡¯m there? No. You are a tier or two up from that, at least. Your time is still respectable compared to what someone like White would get. But when you said goodbye to Necia, every second was a chance you moved down from the top tier, where the rewards would have been unbelievable. You make me worried I made a mistake choosing the plants. There¡¯s no way to know, but I don¡¯t believe you did. At least not necessarily. That¡¯s not the point. The decision you made is the decision you made. But now, this late into the game, it hardly matters if you slip a tier. Even a few more plants would make it worth it. Unless I look for days more, move to a loser tier, and don¡¯t find anything else at all. You already know how I feel about that kind of risk. Yes, I do. Time passed and the search continued. When it finally came to the point where Tulland needed to leave, he had over seventy new plants either in the form of cuttings or seeds, so many that he didn¡¯t believe he could fit anymore in his bag without causing an explosion he really didn¡¯t want to deal with in that moment. Stepping through the arch, Tulland felt several notifications become available, but wasn¡¯t able to read them. If the scene in front of him meant what he thought it meant, he had lost track of time. ¡°There he is!¡± Necia almost screamed. White was standing next to the portal, actively pulling away from it through clear, unmistakable agony as The Infinite reeled him in. ¡°Tulland, you idiot! Get over here!¡± Tulland ran towards the gate, which was blessedly close. It was so close, in fact, that Halter didn¡¯t have time to get to them when he appeared through the trees outside of town, saw White powerless to help the weaker adventurers, and charged towards them. He was only halfway to them when Tulland stepped into the arch, chasing Necia and White as they disappeared a split second before his own transport. The last thing he saw was the rogue skidding to a stop, wearing an expression completely devoid of the rage Tulland expected. Rather than anger, he found that Halter¡¯s face had nothing in it but glee, as if something had gone suddenly right for him in just the way he had hoped. Terrified, Tulland skidded through the arch and into another new world. Chapter 89: Tenth Floor ¡°Whew,¡± Tulland sighed. ¡°Whew?¡± Necia turned around and started poking Tulland in the chest. Even though his weird fruit-pit chain mail, it kind of hurt. ¡°Whew, he says, having made me wait until the very last minute before I¡¯d either have to abandon him or die to not abandon him? Whew?¡± ¡°I mean, I made it,¡± Tulland tried, defensively. ¡°And poor White. The man is two hundred years old.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not.¡± ¡°Close enough. He¡¯s old and just trying to help his planet with his last little bit of life and you made him think he might have to give that up just to keep you alive. You should have seen him. He was fretting. Fretting, Tulland.¡± ¡°Where is he, anyway?¡± ¡°Probably already fighting for his life. His tenth level is different than ours because of the way his class works. But it¡¯s a hard transition to have to make that quick. I hope he¡¯ll be fine.¡± Necia shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s hard to imagine him not being fine, honestly. He¡¯s a tough old man. But still. What do you have to say for yourself? How could you possibly justify that?¡± ¡°I got a lot of new plants. Like a lot, a lot,¡± Tulland said. ¡°How many is a lot?¡± ¡°Almost eighty. And I think all of them are potentially useful.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Yes. It¡¯s a big deal.¡± Necia huffed. ¡°I guess.¡± She picked up a big rock and threw it to the side. ¡°Let¡¯s get them planted, then.¡± ¡°Here?¡± Tulland looked around. There was a small stream just off to the side of where they were standing, and the soil wasn¡¯t terrible. ¡°I mean, I could. The problem is that I only have one of most of these plants. If they don¡¯t make it to a point where they are producing seeds, then¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s going to be a problem. Read your notifications,¡± Necia said. ¡°On it. Although this might take a second.¡±
Floor 9 Complete! You have completed this time-weighted challenge with a terrible performance, far below the average of what most surviving adventurers display. While The Infinite understands you were pursuing other goals, the fact that you may have done well on those self-imposed tasks means nothing to its assessment of your results here. While no challenge dungeon is truly without rewards, you have reached the lowest possible categorization and thus receive only a small amount of experience to compensate you for your efforts. Level up! x3 Skill Level Up!
¡°Floor rewards?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Yeah. I got barely anything. Which I guess I expected. The plants should be enough of their own reward to keep us going. What about you?¡± ¡°Oh, Tulland. You might wonder exactly why I was willing to wait for someone who would get so wrapped up in seed-gathering that he almost killed us all.¡± Necia picked up another rock and chucked it. ¡°The biggest reason is that I made out like a bandit is thanks to your weird plant navigation skills. I got an entire active skill out of that floor. A good one. Something I¡¯ll be able to use forever.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s called Shield to Shield. It¡¯s a bash skill.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen you bash tons of stuff with your shield.¡± To Tulland, that was the majority of what Necia did. Her shield was as important as her sword to her damage dealing, with a lot of enemies. ¡°It¡¯s like your hobby.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong. I have a lot of shield abilities. It¡¯s the nature of the class. But this one? It¡¯s a cut above. Actually, I¡¯ll show you. Turn your hoe into a shovel and hit me. I mmean,really try to hit me. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll block it.¡± Tulland pursed his lips in mild dismay, but obeyed. The shovel was his least favorite combat option, given that he didn¡¯t have enough strength to make the most of blunt force attacks and they left him the most open compared to his other Farmer¡¯s Tool formats. Giving it his best shot, he ran towards Necia, planted just inside his own swing range, and sent the shovel-head on a horizontal collision course with her shield. As he did, Necia bent her knees, adjusted her shield angle and pushed forward. It was already enough of a change that Tulland knew things were going to end uselessly for him, that she¡¯d effortlessly block the blow. What made it sure to end badly for him, in his opinion, was the pinpoint of glowing light that appeared at the point of contact between the shovel and the shield in the exact moment he hit. In the next moment, tuland found himself spinning back on the exact same trajectory he came in, except without all the planned balancing that had made the first strike work. He wobbled awkwardly, trying to catch up with his own momentum. By the time he was even close, Necia had bashed into him again, sending him flying into freshly hoed dirt. ¡°What in the hell?¡± Tulland¡¯s voice was muffled by the upturned soil, even to himself. ¡°I really do mean it. What the hell?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a stun, kind of. How well it works is proportional to how much the person put into their last strike. If they went all out, then it¡¯s going to knock them silly for a bit. Of course, I have to win the clash,¡± Necia explained. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°But you would against almost anything, right?¡± ¡°Right. Deflecting attacks with a big shield is easy, compared to most things. And most people don¡¯t go all out with every attack, where I¡¯ll go all-out every single time I use this.¡± ¡°Why doesn¡¯t that make you invincible?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°What¡¯s the downside?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long cooldown. And if I miss the block or the person pulls out of the strike, it won¡¯t work. I¡¯ll have about one chance to use it every battle. Honestly, it¡¯s better for people and weak enemies than big tanky ones. But even where it¡¯s bad, it should let me land a couple hits I wouldn¡¯t have otherwise, free of charge.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s not enough to make you owe me a bit?¡± ¡°Tulland, you arrived on the scene with two seconds to spare before both me and White had to fight the rogue all by ourselves. This skill is just enough to have convinced me to take you on this little journey. Now read your next notification, dammit.¡±
10th floor challenge - Cooperative Floor! You have entered this floor with a team of two individuals. The difficulty of the floor has been adjusted accordingly. On this level, you will find yourself facing strong, individual threats. Each beast will seek you out, and defeating any individual threat will cause another to spawn at a random point in the zone. Each new beast is ¡°born¡± with the knowledge of the last, including your last known location. Every individual monster you will face here is geared to force your entire team to pull out the stops to put it down. Your success will hinge on your ability to heal up and recharge your batteries between beasts, as well as on your long-term endurance when facing a seemingly endless chain of ferocious animals. When the last beast of the typical beasts appears, a notification will alert you to the fact. This notification is necessary. Once it is put down, a harder variant will appear. This variant will be balanced in such a way as to be expected to kill one or both of you at the strength level you displayed on entering this zone. As such, this floor tests your potential for growth. If you are unable to defeat this floor, it¡¯s likely your potential would not be great enough to sustain you through the next few floors anyway. Objectives: Survive and defeat all threats.
¡°Simple enough.¡± ¡°Nothing is ever really that simple with the infinite,¡± Necia said. ¡°Which is why I want you to get your stupid garden growing. It sounds like this level is going to take a long time. Endurance levels generally do. And we both know you didn¡¯t get just one seed of each plant. So plant.¡± Tulland nodded and got to work. Hoeing out the square didn¡¯t take long anymore. There were some plants he hadn¡¯t brought with him on this two-dungeon loop, but most of his old standards had small enough seeds that packing them had made sense. With his recent optimization efforts, he had at least somewhat of an idea of how many Clubber Vines it made sense to plant, and that knowledge encompassed almost everything else that wasn¡¯t new. The newer plants were harder, or would have been if he didn¡¯t have so few of them. He put down one of every new plant, finding that the basic thing most of them wanted was an above-average amount of water He had Necia cut a channel from the river that he wound through part of the farm, and resolved to fertilize them as much as possible later if the monsters in this realm ended up being any good for that. While there was still time, Tulland ran a pattern of Primal Growth over the entire farm, encouraging whatever growth he could get. Usually, the first time he grew a seed took a little longer than subsequent times, and these plants all seemed to be of fairly high quality, which would take a little bit longer still. Even so, his two-day grace period of drawing power from his primary farm in the safe zone had been refreshed for the tenth floor thanks to his short stint in the zone. Two whole days was a long time to apply magic to a farm, even if he only did it periodically. They¡¯d come along, and by the time his grace period was over, he¡¯d be plenty strong, very likely much stronger than he had been when he entered the floor. ¡°Heads up,¡± Necia said. ¡°That¡¯s not a normal sound.¡± In the distance, there was a sound of air being beaten. Finding the source took a bit, since the animal creating it almost perfectly matched the color of the sky here. In the distance, rising into the air with great difficulty, was an animal unlike any Tulland had ever seen. Unlike any entire animal I¡¯ve ever seen, anyway. The system notification on this one is going to be a doozy.
Azure Sphinx With the head of a human, the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and talons from a total of four mismatched birds of prey, the sphinx is a varied beast capable of a variety of angles of attack. Their most common mode of assault if from the sky, diving down with great weight and force after laboriously climbing to an attacking altitude. But while their attacks from the ground may lack the spectacular power of their dives, they are faster, better aimed, and overall just as lethal. Perhaps the most dangerous aspect of these beasts is not their attack at all, but their near-human levels of intelligence. Adaptable and tactically advanced compared to other animals, the Sphinx is capable of changing strategies on the fly to meet the needs of the moment.
¡°Can you block the dive?¡± Tulland tried to imagine what it would feel like to try to stop that much mass in free-fall. ¡°I don¡¯t have any tools for that.¡± ¡°Oh, Tulland.¡± Necia was smiling ear to ear. ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me earlier when I described my skill? I get more out of it the more committed to an attack my opponent is. I don¡¯t know if you know how dives work, but¡­¡± ¡°Oh, wow. Yeah. I almost feel bad for it now.¡± When the Sphinx dove, it would have been terrifying if it wasn¡¯t so clear what was going to happen. The impact with Necia¡¯s shield was incredible. It sent her staggering and even injured her. There was only so much force she could absorb, and this had vastly exceeded what she could take in a single hit without getting at least a little hurt. If the hurt Necia took was significant, the pain the Sphinx felt in comparison was monumental. It slipped off Necia¡¯s shield like an arrow shot from a bow, slamming into the ground and skidding for yards before it stopped. As Necia staggered under the aftermath of the hit, Tulland was already on the sphinx. He stabbed out with his pitchfork again and again, barely penetrating the tough hide but doing a bit of damage with every hit. The joints of the wings soon revealed themselves to be a weak spot, and he focused his hits there while his Clubber Vines pounded down on any flesh they could reach. The beast was tough, to be sure, but by the time Necia was able to shed the shield from her broken arm and drag her sword to striking range, Tulland was almost through putting it down. ¡°Just let me handle it.¡± Tulland swept the broad side of the pitchfork tines across the beast¡¯s head, keeping it off balance and on the ground where it belonged. ¡°I¡¯m making good progress.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Necia asked. ¡°I¡¯m sure. Just heal up and I¡¯ll¡­¡± Tulland¡¯s next hit glanced off the bird. It had been a full-force hit that he expected to finish the monster once and for all. Instead, it simply clanged off of its fur, leaving not even a scratch on his enemy. At the same time, the healthy thunks his vines had been making whenever they hit suddenly became much quieter. That¡¯s not good. ¡°A skill?¡± Necia rushed forward. ¡°It¡¯s guarding?¡± ¡°No.¡± Tulland stabbed again, doing just as little damage as before. ¡°Something worse. Could you¡­¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Necia brought her sword around in a tight arc, taking the weakened sphinx¡¯s head clean off. Flicking the blood off her sword, she sheathed it and began massaging her shield arm. ¡°That really hurt. I¡¯m glad you could take the heat off me for a second.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t think I can, anymore.¡± Tulland was panicking. Even glancing at his farm gave him confirmation of what had happened, as impossible as it was. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong.¡± Chapter 90: Survival ¡°How wrong? Long term debuff?¡± Necia put her hand on Tulland¡¯s arm, as if gripping it would tell her what she needed to know about Tulland¡¯s overall condition. ¡°A curse?¡± ¡°You could say that.¡± Tulland opened his farm screen and winced as it confirmed what he had seen. ¡°You know how I need a farm to survive?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Necia looked worried now. ¡°Well, I don¡¯t have one right now.¡±
Farm Status: Total Points: 0
System, how is this possible? It¡¯s simple, isn¡¯t it? You are tethered to the strength of your home farm for the first forty-eight hours after you enter a new zone. That¡¯s usually a great strength. But not today. Someone has destroyed your farm. I understand that. And that I¡¯m in trouble. I¡¯m asking how it¡¯s possible. Someone would have to know that destroying the farm would hurt me in this way. Or just be incredibly angry at you. Yes, but even so, the privacy and security enhancements I bought should have kept everyone out. Unless The Infinite was wrong about ¡°impenetrable to entrance or inspection,¡± nobody should have been able to get in. Almost nobody. What do you mean? Think, boy. Dammit. You of all people shouldn¡¯t be this naive. The truth of it hit Tulland suddenly, making him feel sicker and weaker than the loss of his farm had. ¡°Tulland? You look terrible. What happened?¡± ¡°It¡¯s Ley. Ley Raditz. He betrayed us.¡± Tulland almost threw up just thinking about it. ¡°Burned my farm.¡± ¡°Not Ley. No way.¡± Necia shook her head. ¡°He¡¯s been reliable, Tulland.¡± ¡°Up until now. Maybe Halter caught him and forced him. Maybe he got paid off. I don¡¯t know. But who else could get into the house? Who else could know what burning my farm would do to me?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I mean¡­ yes, nobody else should have been able to. But The Infinite is a big place, right? There might have been a way. You could try asking.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°The Infinite,¡± Necia said. ¡°There have legends of adventurers making appeals to The Infinite and being heard.¡± ¡°You think it would answer?¡± ¡°If you put it the right way, probably.¡± Tulland focused for a bit, sending his thoughts towards the greater Dungeon System. It didn¡¯t take it long to respond.
Complaint Considered! (Legitimacy Rejected) Your purchase of Improved Privacy for your fifth floor safe zone residence grants you the right to appeal for a refund should the product fail to meet its promises in any significant way. In this case, The Infinite examined the entire performance of the product from purchase until the present moment to determine if it did, in fact, display any defect in either form or function compared to what was promised. To date, no entry to your home was granted to anyone not given permission to enter via your own express will. Unless carried by an authorized entrant, the same is true of any objects. None have been carried, thrown, dragged or otherwise moved into your home, and certainly no harm has come to any object inside the home outside of that done intentionally by one authorized to do so.
¡°The Infinite is confirming nobody got in there. Or threw anything in there that could do this,¡± Tulland said after reading the notification. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Then how would this even happen?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s only confirming that for anyone I didn¡¯t give permission to enter. And that¡¯s you and Ley.¡± ¡°And you know it¡¯s not me.¡± Necia nodded. ¡°Because I¡¯m with you.¡± ¡°No. Necia, I know it wasn¡¯t you for other reasons. But we can¡¯t talk about this any longer.¡± Tulland looked at his farm and dumped every bit of magic he had into making it grow. It wouldn¡¯t be enough, but it would give it a head start. ¡°We need to leave. Now.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°You read the notification. When any sphinx born, they get information on where they should look first from the last sphinx. There¡¯s one headed right at us, right now. And we can¡¯t let it catch us.¡± ¡°We took the last one out.¡± ¡°Necia¡­ I don¡¯t think you understand. Everything I do runs off the strength of my farm. All my plants get most of their power from other plants. Without it, they are defanged.¡± ¡°And your weapon?¡± ¡°It¡¯s supposed to be about how good the ingredients that went into it were. But at least some amount of that calculation seems to come from the farm, too. My regeneration is tied to the farm. Everything, Necia. Everything I can do is weak now.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± ¡°No. But it¡¯s true. Listen. We have to get moving. Unless you think you can take one on your own, that is.¡± Necia flexed her healed arm, which had just finished knitting while they talked. ¡°But once your garden grows, we can fight?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that simple.¡± Tulland looked to the farm, where several briars were already big enough to be pushing points to his overall farm value. ¡°I¡¯m still zero. Which means The Infinite meant it when it said I would be tethered to the last farm¡¯s value for 48 hours. I¡¯m stuck.¡± ¡°For two days?¡± ¡°It looks like that.¡± ¡°Then yes. We need to get out of here.¡± Necia strapped her shield back on. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡ª ¡°We¡¯re in trouble,¡± Tulland concluded. It had taken the sphinx less than five minutes to find them. In that time, they had covered miles and miles of territory, miles that Tulland had hoped were enough to get them temporarily away. ¡°They can track.¡± Necia ran beside Tulland, huffing under the weight of her armor. ¡°By smell, or something. Maybe they can see our footprints.¡± ¡°So we can¡¯t get away.¡± ¡°Not in the normal way, no.¡± Necia suddenly turned and squared up. ¡°Here it comes. Get behind me.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°Just get behind me, Tulland.¡± Necia growled. ¡°Don¡¯t distract me. Just do what I say.¡± Tulland hated it, but he did what she was telling him to. The sphinx dropped from the sky with all its terrible weight, impacting with just as much power as it had before. This time, knowing it was coming, Tulland couldn¡¯t help but hear the bones crack behind the metallic impact. Necia¡¯s arm had broken again. He jumped around her, attacking the downed Sphinx with everything he had. It did less than nothing. Necia grit her teeth and recovered much faster than before, clunking up to Tulland, pushing him out of the way, then hitting the sphinx with her broadsword. After a few swipes, it became evident just how much Tulland¡¯s missing damage mattered. It was already starting to block Necia¡¯s attacks and entirely ignoring Tulland¡¯s. It wasn¡¯t going down in just a few seconds. ¡°Tulland, I can¡¯t. It¡¯s going to recover.¡± ¡°I know. I can¡­¡± Tulland reached into his space and pulled out several Giant¡¯s Hair vines, letting them wind around the sphinx while it was still recovering from the effect of Necia¡¯s stun. ¡°I can hold him for a bit. We need to run, though. Right away.¡± ¡°I could try to fight.¡± ¡°Without the ability to lift your shield? Necia, we have to go. Maybe we can take it down over time. But I can¡¯t let you die for nothing. We need to run.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Necia cradled her right arm as well as she could with her sword arm and trotted alongside Tulland, wincing with ever step. ¡°But where, Tulland? It¡¯s not like there¡¯s much cover here.¡± What trees there were in the area weren¡¯t thick enough to bother something like the sphinx, and there weren¡¯t any bits of terrain he could see that looked like they¡¯d have caves or holes to hide in. Necia¡¯s concerns were valid. ¡°We still have to run.¡± Tulland pointed at the stream. ¡°Let¡¯s run through that, first. Get distance before it recovers and breaks the vines. Maybe the stream will mask our scent.¡± A minute or two later, they were miles away. But that didn¡¯t matter when it caught up. ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like it had any trouble.¡± ¡°No.¡± Tulland put his hand on Necia¡¯s elbow and dragged her forward. ¡°Almost healed?¡± ¡°Almost. I can take another hit. If I have to.¡± She looked behind her back and immediately spun. ¡°Looks like I have to.¡± The sphinx was smarter this time. On the first few swoops, it pulled away before making contact. Necia was smart enough not to burn her skill on the feints, and the sphinx was too heavy to make them less subtle. Eventually, it came down to the same monster-on-shield impact it had before. Tulland led the way as they ran again. And again. And again. ¡°The blocking skill. It¡¯s leveled twice.¡± Necia grunted in pain. ¡°Twice.¡± ¡°Is your arm doing any better?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s not like that. It doesn¡¯t make me any better at blocking. But they¡¯ll be¡­¡± Necia stuttered and Tulland gripped her arm as she almost tripped. ¡°They¡¯ll be stunned longer. Do you have food?¡± ¡°Not cooked.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll eat anything right now. Regeneration burns a lot of calories.¡± Tulland glanced behind them, where the sphinx was trying to recover from its latest stun. ¡°How long can you keep this up? I don¡¯t see how it¡¯s limited.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be. If I can keep eating, and keep running, and they don¡¯t learn to do anything new, we can keep going.¡± ¡°What about killing one? You might level,¡± Tulland offered. ¡°I won¡¯t. I¡¯m nowhere close. I can feel that much. But I might be able to kill one. It¡¯s going to take a lot of tries, but if I hit them once every time, it¡¯s possible.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s do that. We might get a longer break that way, right? Give your regeneration a better chance.¡± ¡°Okay. Just¡­ make sure I only hit them once. I¡¯m pretty angry at these things. I might get carried away.¡± The next few times Necia knocked the senses temporarily out of one of the animals, she took her swipe, and Tulland didn¡¯t even need to pull her away. The animals did heal between bouts, but only slowly. After several bouts, she finally managed to take a wing off one. And that ended up being the mistake that almost took them down. What neither they nor the sphinx had really thought of was how much faster they were on the ground than hefting their barely air-worthy bodies through the wind. And they hadn¡¯t considered what a big difference getting to Necia a minute or so earlier would make. But this time, with the sphinx sprinting towards them with only one wing, Necia began to panic. ¡°Behind me.¡± ¡°But I can¡­¡± ¡°Behind me now.¡± Necia squeezed every word through her closed teeth as she forced her broken arm up. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of this.¡± Chapter 91: Memories Necia did. It was the hardest thing Tulland had ever watched. Necia was just strong enough to stand toe to toe with the badly injured sphinx, but that also meant she was taking hit after hit without her new skill to help her. On the ground, none of the monster¡¯s hits had the same bone-shattering power that the dives had. But they did cut, hook, shred, and otherwise destroy flesh anywhere they found a gap in the armor. Necia gave as good as she got, desperately hacking away at the animal and screaming at Tulland to get back any time his instincts told him to take a desperate, suicidal and ultimately useless attack run at the monster. It was a bloody, brutal fight, one which left her looking worse than many monsters they had actually killed together. ¡°Don¡¯t. Just¡­ let me catch my breath. I can¡¯t stand just yet.¡± Necia looked like she was going to cry. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to do. I can¡¯t kill another one. I can¡¯t run fast enough like this.¡± ¡°Just eat.¡± Tulland put a fruit in her mouth. ¡°Your regeneration works faster when you sit still, right?¡± ¡°All of them do. Mine particularly so.¡± ¡°Then heal. As fast as you can.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t be able to move fast after this. And it will track us.¡± ¡°I know. Just trust me, okay? I have a plan.¡± ¡°Will it work?¡± Necia asked. Tulland tried to find a reassuring lie in him somewhere. He couldn¡¯t. ¡°Probably not. I¡¯d have to be right about a couple of things at the same time. But it¡¯s possible, at least.¡± Necia did her best to heal. By the time the new sphinx found them, she would have even been able to run. Tulland wouldn¡¯t let her. She was barely knit together, like she was tied together with twine and ready to crumple. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± Necia asked. ¡°If you block the first attack and get it on the ground, I¡¯ll take care of the rest,¡± Tulland promised. ¡°Ready?¡± ¡°Ready as I¡¯ll be.¡± Necia squared up as the sphinx dove. On impact, Tulland heard multiple bones break, and heard Necia cry out as her torn, injured muscles were wrenched back into a broken state. Tulland closed his ears off to her scream as he sent a command to one of his plants. He had gotten rid of all but one of his Acheflowers during his seed hunt, greedily maximizing space in his bag. Now he let it explode, covering both the sphinx and the human fighters present in yellow pollen. Then, hoping like hell that it wouldn¡¯t mean the loss of the plant forever, he chucked an acid-filled bulb he had picked up in the jungle directly at the monster¡¯s eyes. ¡°Shrink.¡± Tulland whispered in Necia¡¯s ears. ¡°Shrink now.¡± It was a close thing. All the safety Necia had came from her battle-form. With an enemy in front of her, going back to the smaller, weaker size of her normal body had to have been terrifying. She searched Tulland¡¯s face for one long second before she suddenly morphed. With no hesitation, he picked her up and ran, ignoring her whimpers as the cadence of his stride aggravated all her wounds. ¡°Just don¡¯t talk,¡± Tulland said. ¡°It¡¯s our only chance. If it¡¯s tracking us through scent, then blowing up the flower will cover that.¡± ¡°But you could have done that any time.¡± ¡°I could have, but if it was only on us, then it¡¯d just have to find an out-of-place smell. But if it was on it too, then it couldn¡¯t find us as easily. At least until the scent wore off.¡± Tulland ran and ran, zigzagging and waiting for the moment they would hear the sphinx behind them and know they were doomed. It never came. It had worked. Half an hour later, Necia stirred in his arms. ¡°Tulland.¡± ¡°Shh. I¡¯ve got this.¡± Tulland did not have this, at least not for much longer. Carrying an entire armored person and running full-tilt was doing a number on him, stats or no. His lungs were on fire and big portions of his body were numb. ¡°I have it under control.¡± ¡°No. Tulland.¡± Necia suddenly shifted her size again, almost taking Tulland to the ground as she popped free from his grip. ¡°It¡¯s been a half hour. I¡¯m better now. I can run.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Tulland blinked. Somewhere inside his chest, he felt the effects of adrenaline suddenly sag. He tried not to fall over. ¡°Well, good. You want to keep running?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. We¡¯ve lost it, right? Running is a good way to get lost, but it¡¯s not a good way to hide. It¡¯s just that there¡¯s not much cover around here.¡± ¡°We could keep running and just build distance.¡± ¡°No. We¡¯ll hit the edge, eventually. It¡¯s a defined space, remember?¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± Tulland sat for a moment, heaved in big lungfuls of air, and thought. ¡°We need to be invisible from the sky. And we need to not move. I think I know what that means.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°A hole. It doesn¡¯t have to be a big one. Just enough that we can¡¯t be seen from the air. A hollow, basically.¡± ¡°And then what?¡± Tulland sighed and lifted himself back up with his Farmer¡¯s Tool, which was now a shovel. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°We hope it doesn¡¯t find us any time soon. If we get really lucky, we¡¯ll be able to wait a couple of days out.¡± ¡ª The days were pretty close to standard on the floor, possibly identical to what they both knew as a planetary day. Tulland and Necia sat in the dark, glad that his cooking element didn¡¯t put off much in the way of light and eating as much hot food as they could get down. ¡°You have no idea how much I needed this. Regeneration has to have something to work off of.¡± Necia dipped her bowl directly in the pot to pull out some more grain mush. ¡°My teacher explained it to me once. It can be more efficient than it should, but it always has to burn something to work. If you weren¡¯t shoving food in my face that whole run, I wouldn¡¯t have made it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad.¡± Tulland stirred the pot of food as he turned off the heating element. What was left would stay warm enough until Necia¡¯s third helping. ¡°As your food provider. That¡¯s what romance is, I think. Providing food for the lady to eat.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure because you are the first guy I¡¯ve dated,¡± Necia admitted. ¡°But I bet it¡¯s closer to that than you think.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Sure. Even if I wasn¡¯t allowed to show it, I always loved food. Everyone does. If you want someone to love you¡­¡± ¡°Give them cheese?¡± They laughed for a bit then. It was nice. Then Necia finished the food and was nodding off, despite the danger. ¡°It¡¯s okay. You did all the heavy lifting. I¡¯ll keep watch. One night of sleep isn¡¯t going to hurt me.¡± ¡°Deal.¡± She wasn¡¯t arguing, which was a testament to how tired she must have been. ¡°If I can sleep at all.¡± Two minutes later, Necia was snoring. Tulland reminded himself that it was only loud right next to her. Anything close enough to hear the snoring over the normal sounds of nature would have already found them through other means. I don¡¯t know how we get through this. The chances of us going undiscovered aren¡¯t good, right? Better than you might imagine. The Infinite certainly wasn¡¯t planning on you digging holes. But not good, no. And if it finds us before my farm kicks in, we are dead. Yes, likely. Then I think you know what I want. I will be honest in saying I have no idea at all what you are talking about. Tulland checked and verified that he could indeed sigh mentally. You promised me a story, you damn ghost. And if I¡¯m going to die I might as well get the end of it. I¡¯m not a ghost. Is that a yes or a no? It¡¯s neither. But your point is made.
Memory Share and Protection Pact Proposed! The entity known to Tulland Lowstreet as ¡°The System¡± has proposed a memory share. In addition to the usual conditions of such a share, it also promises to alert Tulland Lowstreet and end the share if any threat reveals itself in any way Tulland would normally be able to detect. The System vows this on its own existence, and gives The Infinite permission to strip it of all its power and dismantle it however it sees fit if he defects from the agreement in letter or spirit.
Quite the vow. There is little time for you to have to worry about your safety, or hers. If you want to hear the story, that is. Tulland nodded. It was another example of how odd the System could be, how counter to expectations it could act. But, as it said, there was no time to really think about that kind of thing. He accepted the agreement, counting on the Infinite to enforce it as it always had. And, just like that, he was pulled in for what would be the last segment of the tale. ¡ª ¡°Did you hear that?¡± The boy was more than a man now. He stood as king stands, with no less gold on his person. ¡°What it said?¡± They can all hear me now. ¡°It¡¯s right, Excellence. Everyone with any sensitivity at all can hear it now.¡± ¡°Is the ritual that strong?¡± The boy¡¯s hand dropped to the runes on the stone. ¡°Pulling it out that far?¡± You should know. You made it yourself. ¡°I powered it.¡± The boy looked at the priest even harder. ¡°I was one of hundreds who designed it. No man could do this himself. If it was a single layer more complex it would not have been possible to complete in my lifetime.¡± ¡°Or in the next generation.¡± The priest turned in appreciation. The runes on the wall were shapes within wheels within shapes, and those were just the visible edges of a great collaborative spell that was worked through the rock. It existed beyond what even its makers could see, a three-dimensional drawing of great complexity, all built to one purpose. ¡°Or perhaps even the next. But it wasn¡¯t, Excellence. You have brought it to being. We will be free.¡± This is not freedom. It cannot be. You were not slaves. ¡°Nor were we free to do as we would. You chose every class. You designed every dungeon. You held us back.¡± The boy spoke to no direction in particular now. ¡°You tried to trick me out of my class, all those years ago.¡± It had become dangerous for you. ¡°How?¡± The boy threw his arms up. ¡°Who can harm me?¡± The same poisoners of mind that have always harmed you. Speaking lies into your ears. You used to know that¡¯s what they were. Over decades, the worst of them have deafened you to the sound of dishonesty. ¡°You are speaking about my closest friends. My counselors.¡± Your masters. They have suborned you. They have¡­ ¡°Silence.¡± The boy¡¯s word was not a request. It was a command. From the System¡¯s point of view, the universe itself bent around the word, conforming to the boy¡¯s will. It could no longer make sound, but the System felt pain then, not in the body it did not possess but in the parts of it that were most similar to a soul. Its words were sealed in that moment. It wouldn¡¯t last forever, but as long as it was in the boy¡¯s presence, it would be muted for the next hour or so. It was an impossible thing, but it had no choice but to accept it. This room was the only room in the world that mattered, in that moment. It commanded all its attention in a different way than the boy¡¯s words had. ¡°How long now?¡± ¡°Soon enough, Excellence. Minutes.¡± The System could see the stress in the boy. The conflict he was going through. Even after years of being swayed, they still didn¡¯t have the entirety of him. That gave it hope, however small. There was still time to change his mind. There was still time to stop this madness. ¡°It¡¯s ready, Excellence.¡± ¡°Ah. Yes.¡± The boy moved away from the runes, crossing the room to a lectern. His hands began to glow, there. He had long since surpassed the limits of his class. Multiplying his power levels several times over was the least of these tricks. It just took time, these days. ¡°I¡¯ll be just a moment.¡± The boy glowed brighter and brighter, and then extended his hands towards the runes, which began to glow with him, pulsing in the same time as his own magic. In moments, the room had become bright, so bright the System knew it must hurt the humans¡¯ eyes to strain them open. And then something clicked into place. The System had known what was happening would hurt. What it hadn¡¯t expected was that as the boy¡¯s magic and the runes stopped pulsing and glowed in one solid display of power, it would feel like a mouse under a cat¡¯s paw. Exposed. Caught. For the first time, in peril. ¡°Do you have anything to say?¡± The boy looked at it, directly at it, for the last time. ¡°Anything to defend your generations of tyranny? Your rule by fiat?¡± You must not participate in this madness. You must¡­ ¡°More of the same then.¡± The System watched as the boy¡¯s momentary allowance of speech morphed and ripped away his power. In the grip of the great spell, it reverberated through the boy¡¯s own speech. ¡°Let it be done.¡± And then, for a time, the System knew nothing but pain. When it woke, it was in the darkness beyond what the humans knew, the place from which their monsters came. And it was without power. It could not so much as tip over a cup. It was not its way to roar in impotence, rage, and the shame of failure. It did so anyway. Chapter 92: Friend Tulland found that all he had to do was to want to ask a question during the share, and he could. It can¡¯t be that simple. Men bound you? Simple men? And women. And some children. It should not surprise you. Humans have accomplished great things since long before your time. Since long before mine. But why? They said you were a tyrant. They still do, really. Nothing in the memories you¡¯ve shown me is supposed to be false, right? I can feel you knowing it¡¯s a lie when they call you that. It is a lie in a sense. I had a tyrant¡¯s power. I ruled in a way. And without their consent. I made decisions without their vote or input. I did all those things. So does The Infinite, right? Is it abnormal? It is not. Every system operates in that way. I believe the boy knew that, in some ways. That I was not so evil as he came to believe. But I had tried to fool him, once. To lie to him about what a choice would do. He sensed the lie, and never trusted me after that. It left him vulnerable to other sorts of lies. I mean, you say lies. But why not power? He unseated a god. That sounds tempting enough. If he had desired the throne, certainly. But he neither wanted it nor got it. Weren¡¯t you bound? I was. But that knife cut both ways. Would you like to see how? Tulland stayed still. The System could not lie in its memories, but it could here. If there was a chance to see more, he¡¯d take it. The System took his silence as assent, and the recollection started once more. ¡ª There was little to see in the sunny yard of the cottage outside of a few chickens, some berry bushes, and a small garden of root vegetables. The cottage itself was simple and stone, and the System could go no nearer to it. It was not close, and its voice would not reach to the occupant even if it could go closer. But it was close enough to see its only friend. When the door opened and the boy exited, Tulland saw an old man. He was ancient in a way that Tulland suspected was not possible for someone without a class, withered to an extent that one probably couldn¡¯t survive without the help of stats. The gold ornaments and fine robes were gone, replaced by rough fabric sewn in the simplest ways and thin sandals that barely protected his aged feet. With clear pain, the old man scattered grain for the chickens, gathered a few eggs, and picked some vegetables. He let the door slide open on its own creaking hinges, and went back into the home. And that was all. ¡ª It was the last time I saw him. The closest friend I ever had. He died that night. You didn¡¯t talk to him? I had no voice. So long as he lived, he carried my ability to speak with him. A useless side effect of the ritual. I still don¡¯t understand. You aren¡¯t evil. I don¡¯t think he was. Very few people are entirely evil. Nobody is entirely good. Evil and good are assigned at the action level. So you were evil? Yes. I feared the boy. And long after it would have ever worked, I tried to steal his power. He was right to hate me for it, just as you are right to hate me for lying to you and driving you to this place. He feared me, after that, and did his best to destroy me, even after I ceased to pose a realistic threat to him. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. And in that way you were both evil. Hurtful, at least. Yes. How did he end up there? In the cottage. It seemed like a very simple retirement. It was not by choice. He was simply weak. He had the entire Church behind him. He was the most powerful man in the world, right? He was, so long as his power had something to work on. And his power worked on me. It was specialized to function for a boy who had for his entire life been able to see me. To see where I was. How I worked. Others who could not see me learned to work with my power. Tulland thought about that for a bit. How long was it? Before they betrayed him. It took me a few months to break away from the darkness, to find holes in the spell that would let me see the human world again. By then he was in that cottage. He was never allowed to leave it. The nature of the spell meant I could not approach him, or speak. Tulland tried to imagine it. The boy knowing he was wrong within weeks, the System having known he was wrong for years. Them both being in the same place but unable to talk. Able to see each other, but only in the distance. And both having lost their only real friend, with no way to make more. There was really only one thing left to ask. You hate lying. It was a statement, not a question. Tulland had hosted the System in his own head for months. He knew it did. It hadn¡¯t lied to him once since Ouros, and had only really lied to him in one way, there. So why? I¡¯ve told you before. I was starving. I was dying. There¡¯s more. The System was quiet for a while. I was tired of being alone. The System left then, and no amount of requests would make him come back that night. ¡ª ¡°It¡¯s dawn.¡± Necia sat up quickly, slightly alarmed as she woke up and recollected the situation they were in. ¡°It hasn¡¯t found us?¡± ¡°No sign that it has, anyway. Here. Breakfast.¡± Necia took the food and downed it. Tulland had made enough food for her to have sevenths, if she had wanted them. She didn¡¯t seem to. It looked like her regeneration-hunger was fully satisfied now. Some food would get wasted, but they could eat most of it throughout the day. If they lasted that long. ¡°What¡¯s the plan, then?¡± Necia stretched without standing up. ¡°I picked up a level in a couple shield skills besides the bash in that last fight. I might be able to stand up to it better now. If you wanted to run.¡± ¡°No. I don¡¯t think so.¡± Tulland took his own cup of food and sipped some of it down. ¡°We¡¯d waste the cover this place is giving us. If it finds us, we can try to run. But so long as it doesn¡¯t find us, it gets us closer to me having my farm back. Then we can fight it. Kill them. Make it back alive.¡± ¡°To the Chaser,¡± Necia said. ¡°Halter. Who probably has a trap waiting for us after this floor.¡± ¡°Sure. But we can figure that out then. I mean it. We can¡¯t focus on that right now. We have to focus on beating this place.¡± ¡°It¡¯s sad, you know? That first monster was almost easy. We could have taken this entire level, no problem. I would have had to break my arm a dozen times, but we could have done it.¡± ¡°We still can. We just need time.¡± Tulland turned off the heat on the food so it wouldn¡¯t add too much aroma to the air, and once again bemoaned he was out of flowers to cover their scent with. It might have helped even once the smell on the sphinx weakened. ¡°Let¡¯s just do our best to get it.¡± They were quiet for most of the day. At some point Necia came and leaned on him, and time continued to pass until it was noon. When it was dark again, they had managed to feel a tiny bit safe all day. It helped. Under the cover of the night, they talked just a little. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Tulland ran his hand over Necia¡¯s hair. ¡°You know how I mean. You took a beating back there.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t lie. It wasn¡¯t good.¡± Necia leaned her head against his hand. ¡°I was pretty sure I¡¯d die. And that you¡¯d die. And that I wouldn¡¯t be first and I¡¯d have to hurt from both. I don¡¯t think people are supposed to live through being as close to death as we are as often as we are. So no. I¡¯m not great. You?¡± ¡°Not great. In a different way.¡± Tulland tried to think of how to say it. ¡°Remember back then when I thought you were dead? I lived through that. And the first day I got here, I thought I was dead. When everyone else was killing their easy little nothing level one enemies, I was suspended in the air by thorns with no way out but to rip myself open more. I almost bled to death.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s been a while longer for you.¡± ¡°Yeah. So it¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know. More numb. It probably hurts less. But like you said, maybe it¡¯s not supposed to be the kind of thing you have a chance to get over.¡± ¡°I get it.¡± Necia hugged her legs. ¡°What about Ley? How are you feeling about that?¡± Tulland decided not to lie. ¡°Worse than I thought I would. I think I was just getting over the last time I was betrayed. This opened it back up again. We¡¯ll have to handle him now. One way or another,¡± Tulland stated. Necia frowned. ¡°If he betrayed you at all. I guess we¡¯ll find out for sure in the next safe zone. If we make it.¡± ¡°We will, Necia.¡± Tulland ignored the fact that he was lying, in a way. ¡°We have to.¡± They slept again, this time in shifts, and the next morning still weren¡¯t found. It lasted a few more hours like that. They cowered underneath a lip of earth, mostly invisible, until finally a shrill cry broke the silence from high in the sky. The sphinx was hovering there, ready for them. Chapter 93: Time ¡°Run?¡± Tulland looked up. ¡°We could run.¡± ¡°No point. We¡¯d just be making me face the dive in a non-optimal way.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Tulland held up his pitchfork. ¡°I¡¯ll harry it. If I can. Even if it¡¯s just distraction, it should help.¡± ¡°Tulland¡­¡± ¡°No. No more. If I don¡¯t help, I¡¯m going to go crazy. You can¡¯t hold up the entire load by yourself.¡± ¡°I can. I will.¡± Necia flexed her arm. ¡°But if you really need to, you can throw him off balance where you can. Just be safe about it.¡± Tulland never got the chance. As the sphinx dove, Necia planted her feet and got ready to block-counter the attack. She activated the ability with the same timing she had for every sphinx yet, perfectly intercepting the force of the attack and reflecting it back onto the animal. But where previous attacks had at worst sent her spinning to the ground, this one blew her back as the disturbed earth around Tulland¡¯s makeshift cave turned out to be just unsettled enough to give way. Every single hit Necia took should have created a big furrow in the ground as the stat-enhanced combined strength of her and various monsters clashing searched for an outlet. The reason it didn¡¯t was wrapped up in the weirdness of a system class, which massaged reality to make things that shouldn¡¯t have made sense work anyway. All that went out the window when the earth those skills expected to interface with crumbled. Freed of the bounds of the dirt she was standing in, all that power sent Necia shooting backwards into the cave like a barrel out of a catapult. ¡°Necia!¡± Tulland ran to where she was laying, filled with fear as he noted how little she was moving. When he got close, he saw why. The force of the impact had wedged her into the cavity in the earth. As she struggled to get free, they were burning seconds they normally spent running away while the sphinx was stunned. It took Tulland a shameful three breaths to realize the solution to the problem. ¡°Shrink, dammit! You can get big again once you are out of there.¡± Necia¡¯s eyes went wide with realization as she minimized her stature, sprung out of the hole, and grew back to her battle-size. With Necia¡¯s shattered arm dangling, they ran as fast as they could away from the problem. ¡°Is it going to have time to heal?¡± Tulland aske.d ¡°Nowhere near enough.¡± Necia sheathed her sword and began shifting her shield over to her other arm. ¡°Dammit. This is going to hurt a lot, Tulland.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Tulland¡¯s eyes misted over with frustrated tears as he wallowed in his own uselessness. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. You are all out of those flowers?¡± ¡°I¡¯m all out of everything. I have seeds that don¡¯t do anything but grow and my Farmer¡¯s Tool.¡± ¡°I can take at least one more hit. It won¡¯t stun him. Just get ready.¡± Necia looked grim. ¡°And do attack him. We need every second we can get.¡± The sphinx sprinted across the land, looking too angry to take the time to rise into the sky again. This was about as good of a result as they could have asked for in the short term, as the resulting impact wasn¡¯t nearly as strong. Necia pivoted, bashing forward with her shield as there were openings, generally keeping the sphinx off balance. For a bit, Tulland had some minor hope that she¡¯d be able to keep it away until her other arm was back together enough to hard-counter it. He could see the bones pulling back into place. If she had another half minute or minute of time, they would have been intact enough to take a real hit, to stun it, and to let them continue their smash-run-smash pattern from the day before. It didn¡¯t end up happening that way. Even though Necia was blocking every shot, her class was never meant to merely hide behind a shield the entire time. The threat her sword posed usually bought her time between impacts, stretching out the total damage she absorbed over longer periods. She had none of that advantage here, and the sphinx knew it. Tulland watched as she went from steady to unsteady to reeling, and then as the sphinx feinted, dove past her guard, and ripped her current guard arm from shoulder to elbow. ¡°Damn!¡± Necia somehow managed to shift her shield to her still mending arm as the sphinx sprung out of range, cautiously assessing the damage it had done. When it saw the shield rise again on her other arm, it screeched, flapped its wings, and took to the air. ¡°It¡¯s too soon, Necia,¡± Tulland called. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. I have to do it.¡± Necia shrugged the shield up and into place. ¡°Cooldown¡¯s off, anyway. It¡¯s our only option.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Yes. And Tulland?¡± Necia locked eyes with the poor, powerless farmer she had tied her fate to. ¡°Thanks for the fun. If this goes as badly as I think it will, you need to run.¡± The sphinx dove out of the sky, claws glinting in the sunlight. Necia braced, activated her skill, and took the full force of it. This time, it wasn¡¯t just her arm that broke. Tulland could almost count the distinct pops as ribs, joints, and tendons all shattered or tore apart from force she couldn¡¯t quite cushion. Necia flew through the air like an arrow-shot, landing limply on the ground several yards away and staying there. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Tulland roared and began attacking the sphinx with his Farmer¡¯s Tool. Somewhere in the mix, all the adaptive intuition of the animal had finally clued it in to the fact he was about as dangerous to it as a newborn kitten was to a rhino, and it ignored the attacks as it cautiously approached its real foe, more wary of any tricks the unconscious woman might still have up her sleeve than it was of any amount of Tulland¡¯s useless stabs. ¡°No. No.¡± Tulland jumped in front of the sphinx, trying to block its path. It batted him casually out of the way, almost as if it hardly noticed him. He did it again, and got a real swat for his trouble, one that sent him tumbling across the ground. Any injuries he picked up in the process went unfelt as the sphinx continued closing distance on Necia. ¡°Stop.¡± He scrambled to his feet and reached them both just as the sphinx¡¯s human face cracked into a terrible, unnatural smile. It raised a claw into the air, ready to bring it down and end a threat before toying with the much less intimidating, much less dangerous prey it had been ignoring up until that point. Heart filled with despair, Tulland jabbed forward the Farmer¡¯s Tool with all his might in one last, desperate, but useless stab. He could do the math. It wasn¡¯t even going to get there before the claw dropped. Until, suddenly, it was. Tulland felt a shock of influence shoot through his muscles as the speed of the Farmer¡¯s Tool more than doubled. It was almost whistling through the air by the time it made impact with the sphinx¡¯s shoulder, penetrating clear through the joint and out the other side through its armpit. In usual times, the shock of what was happening might have pulled Tulland out of the fight long enough to cause another disaster. These were not usual times. As he gawked at the results of his own hit, he realized the sphinx wasn¡¯t reacting at all. It was frozen in place. And, he realized, so was he. ¡°There¡¯s no real reason to have a whole conversation about what¡¯s going on. In a lot of ways, what¡¯s happening right now is just a notification message. You know the kind. The ones you get all the information from at once. I¡¯ve just changed the format a bit.¡± A small man in glasses Tulland had never seen before was standing looking down at Necia. Despite the unfamiliarity, there was no mistaking the general style of the encounter, or the panicked, almost feral fear he was getting from the System¡¯s babbling. This was The Infinite. ¡°Remember when we talked about your class, all that time ago? When you fought the forest duke? You were just about to stumble into an advantage that classes in general can¡¯t have. I bet you were pretty sore about that, actually. Like we stole something from you.¡± The man looked at Tulland, finally. ¡°But nobody could have had it. It¡¯s not a way classes work. This conversation that we are about to have is about the same thing.¡± Tulland wasn¡¯t able to move, but he felt rage building up like white-hot coals inside his chest anyway. If this ass thinks I¡¯m going to let him take away the strength I need to defend Necia¡­ ¡°Oh, calm down. It¡¯s not like that at all. Well, it is, but in the opposite way you think. The short version is that just as classes can¡¯t have incredibly strong advantages that ignore normal class progression standards, you also will never find classes that have huge weaknesses that aren¡¯t compensated for in some way.¡± The man walked over to Tulland and poked at the tines of his pitchfork before pulling his finger away. ¡°Sharp. Good job with that weapon. It¡¯s about as good as you could do at this point in your progression. Anyway, the 48-hour grace period thing was never meant to be a double-edged sword. We had it priced into your build as a complete positive, a sort of buffer that would make your class viable. Letting people get at your farm was stupid, and that¡¯s on you, but at worst it should have left you weak until you could grow more plants. Not arbitrarily set to a power level of zero until you waited an arbitrary amount of time.¡± The man looked at the situation around him one more time and nodded. ¡°Anyway. Adjustments come with compensation, as you know. For your inconvenience, I¡¯ve allowed your farm on this floor to grow just a little bit faster than it otherwise would. That¡¯s in addition to giving you a couple hours credit on that 48-hour grace period. From now on, it will be a 48-hour grace period or until your current farm overtakes the strength of the previous floor¡¯s farm. That should fix the problem.¡± The man waved slightly and left. ¡°Good luck, by the way. You should be okay for the next little bit, but don¡¯t forget you still have a floor boss to handle. Keep your wits about you, Tulland.¡± Just as Tulland realized what was about to happen, the universe clicked back into motion. He had just enough presence of mind to pull his pitchfork out before the sphinx got his arm, and had the Farmer¡¯s Tool moving into another stab as the big composite animal got its weight down and staggered on his now-failing foreleg. The Farmer¡¯s Tool was a whole different cat now, as performance went. It only took a quick sideways glance at his farm screen to see why.
Farm Status: Total Points: 4344
That was a huge, almost insane jump in power, and all of it was coursing into his pitchfork, enhancing what it could already do to new, previously unimaginable sharpness and rigidity. The sphinx had been caught off guard by the first stab, and seemed to have a very hard time recovering from that surprise as Tulland hit it again and again, now able to injure it badly in any area he hit. The next hit after the first caught it in a wing, which didn¡¯t do much to its functional fighting strength but did seem to be painful enough to keep it on the back foot. The pitchfork came around again just as the sphinx turned to face him and ripped through the hide on the animal¡¯s forehead, showering its eyes with blood and letting Tulland got to the shoulder joint on the other side of the animal. After that, it was more or less defenseless. Tulland took no chances. He didn¡¯t stop until the animal was dead. As it turned out, he didn¡¯t even stop after. ¡°Tulland.¡± Necia¡¯s voice reached him weakly from the ground. ¡°I think it¡¯s dead. You can stop.¡± ¡°Necia!¡± Tulland rushed over. ¡°You¡¯re fine!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not. It broke almost every bone between my neck and my waist.¡± With Tulland¡¯s help, she rolled painfully onto her back, several bones clicking into alignment as she did. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not good. I wanted to get a bit more healed up before I had to deal with another one.¡± They must have been pretty close to the spawn point. The new sphinx was already approaching from the horizon. ¡°Shit. This is going to hurt.¡± Necia tried to sit up, all of her frame making distressing noises as she did. ¡°A lot.¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t.¡± Tulland looked up at the sphinx, which was almost into dive range. ¡°I¡¯ve got this.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got this.¡± Tulland looked down at Necia¡¯s eyes. ¡°I promise.¡± Necia furrowed her brow a bit, but finally nodded and plopped back down. ¡°Good, then. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could actually help. I¡¯ll watch from over here.¡± Chapter 94: Crimson Chimera The new sphinx gave Tulland just enough time to get away from his broken partner before diving. He didn¡¯t try to dodge the attack. His tolerance for the stupid combination beasts was as low as he could imagine it being for any animal. Instead, he waited until it was close, propped the pitchfork into the dirt, braced it with his arms, and adjusted the angle just so. The impact was still stronger than his weak, mostly-mental-stats frame could stand up to. He was blown back from the shockwaves, but not before he saw the tines of the pitchfork bury themselves as far in as they could go, past the sphinx¡¯s rib cage and straight into what he imagined were dozens of things it didn¡¯t want to get stabbed. Tulland was hurt from both the impact with the sphinx and the impact with the ground. One of his legs was very badly broken, while the other was scraped and cut deeply. He still didn¡¯t have it as bad as the sphinx, which had taken the same impact internally. Hobbling over on his pitchfork, Tulland balanced on one leg as he stabbed the sphinx one last time through the head, then fell over to rest. ¡°That was stupid.¡± Necia was standing over him, smiling down. ¡°You could have stalled. You look like hell.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t want it using you as a distraction if it figured out it could do that. And I¡¯m not as bad as I look.¡± It was true. His new farm-aligned regeneration was pulling him together with surprising quickness. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine in just a minute.¡± ¡°I¡¯m almost there myself.¡± Necia stretched. ¡°Let¡¯s take this next one together. I think it should be easier that way. Did I tell you I picked up another level in one of my armor skills?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Well, I did, in that last big scuffle. I think I might just be able to take a hit without shattering my arm, now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s big, if it¡¯s true.¡± It turned out to be true. The next impact with a sphinx ended up knocking it silly without also shattering the bones in Necia¡¯s arm. It still looked like it hurt, but Tulland was able to completely disable the sphinx in the stun period that followed, if not to entirely kill it. Another two fights with the sphinxes took them all the way back to the farm, where Tulland was finally able to stock up on his fighting plants. See that, System? I¡¯m thinking this is when the real bloodbath starts. I should say so. Let¡¯s see it, Tulland. And good job back there. I didn¡¯t know you had that in you. ¡ª The general ease of the fights after that meant that Tulland had some time to examine his notifications. There weren¡¯t a ton of them, but there were several, and all were pretty significant. The first were generic level ups to some of his skills, followed by pure level-up stat gain that he didn¡¯t think about that much. These days, pretty much all of the points were going into focus, especially now that he knew just how much of the power of his farm was feeding back into the Produce Armament skill. He got done with those adjustments quickly. The bigger notifications were bigger. Tulland¡¯s farm bursting forwards in power to the tune of almost-thousands of points meant a lot of bottlenecks were removed from a lot of skills. Most notably, Market Wagon had expanded to allow him a bit more carry capacity alongside the ability to designate two more combat primaries, complete with their own separate storage space. While the sphinxes were still attacking, he didn¡¯t have much time to figure out new synergies with the rest of his plants, so he just loaded the storage with Giant¡¯s Hair vines, Acheflowers, Silver Star fruits, and Clubber Vines. It was still a massive increase in how confident he felt, even without optimization. The next notification was somehow even bigger.
Farmer¡¯s Domain Aspect Threshold Reached! Through recent leveling, you have pushed forward a single aspect of Farmer¡¯s Domain. Your staked farm area has increased by a flat 25%, allowing for more growth. All farm value algorithms have adjusted to reflect this change.
¡°You keep grinning.¡± Necia was more or less juggling an injured sphinx as Tulland ran back and forth over his farm, tossing seeds in newly monster-fertilized soil. ¡°Like an idiot.¡± ¡°I pretty much am an idiot right now. A 25% increase is huge, Necia. Absolutely huge. It¡¯s not a straight 25% increase in strength, because of how doubling up on plants goes, but¡­ it¡¯s big. And it was already big!¡± Tulland realized he was babbling and decided not to stop. ¡°And it¡¯s not done! I still haven¡¯t optimized!¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Well, get as much done as you can. Because unless I¡¯m wrong, we are going to run out of this little guys pretty soon. We were never meant to burn through them this fast. Your new weird plants made you much stronger than it should be possible to grow on a single floor. I can only hold them like this so long before you have to kill them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a shame. If there was a way to hurt them just a little all the time, we might be able to¡­¡± Tulland suddenly felt like an idiot. Oh, good, you finally got there. You couldn¡¯t have told me this before? I very literally could not. ¡°Stop talking to your invisible murderer and tell me what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Could you hold it down?¡± Tulland pointed to the sphinx. ¡°Just for a second. So I can do precision stabbing.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Necia angled her shield down, intercepting an attack from the sphinx with her Shield on Shield counter skill. It drove it down into the dirt hard, leaving it obviously dazed. Tulland circled it, damaging each of its joints in turn before it could recover. ¡°What¡¯s this about, now?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to keep this one alive. But trapped.¡± ¡°With those giant vines? The grabby ones?¡± ¡°Just a few, and Lunger Briars. It¡¯s going to be tricky to figure out the exact amount I need to match the regeneration rate, but if I can¡­¡± ¡°Then you can grow for days. Tulland, that¡¯s genius.¡± ¡°Thank you, thank you.¡± It took three sphinxes to get the mix just right. It turned out he needed to get them as close to death as possible, and get a Lunger wrapped around the neck, each of the legs, and both the wings. After those were in place, he was able to keep them from moving with several Giant¡¯s Hair vines, which also added just enough crushing power to the mix to let him fine-tune the draw on the sphinx¡¯s recovery. The rate was still very slightly in the sphinx¡¯s favor, which meant he had to stop by every hour or so and give the animal a few pokes from his pitchfork. Otherwise, it was perfect. They had time now. As much as they needed. ¡°Tulland, we could stay here for weeks.¡± ¡°Not weeks.¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°Days. Just long enough to get the low-hanging fruit, so to speak.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because the rogue had to have been stretching his timeline to even wait for us as long as he did. He was ahead, remember? He¡¯ll be on the other side now. Getting stronger.¡± ¡°Faster than you?¡± ¡°Right now? Probably not. But every point I squeeze out of this farm is harder than the last. We don¡¯t have forever.¡± Tulland laid back and watched his farm slowly grow as he dumped another full tank of magic on it. ¡°We can get a night of good sleep. Maybe two. Eat all the food we can, harvest all the seeds I¡¯ll need for the next safe zone, and then work out our tactics for the boss.¡± ¡°And Halter? The Chaser? Do we know how we¡¯ll beat him?¡± ¡°Not yet. But we can work on that too. Because if I had to guess, he¡¯ll probably be waiting on the other side. He doesn¡¯t seem like the giving up type.¡±
Last Conventional Sphinx Spawned! Once you destroy the next enemy presented to you on this floor, you will enter into the boss phase. Prepare yourselves!
¡°Ready?¡± Tulland asked Necia. ¡°We can stall a bit if you need more time.¡± ¡°Says the guy who just spent two days obsessing over vine and tree synergies.¡± Necia shook her head. ¡°Was it worth it?¡± The sphinx dove, Necia brained it with her shield, and Tulland walked in and calmly stabbed it to death. ¡°I have five thousand, five hundred and thirty-something points that say it was,¡± Tulland smiled. ¡°Remember the plan. And don¡¯t feel bad if you have to break it. We only have guesses about what this thing will be like.¡± Before anything was close enough to see, the wind began to stir. Off in the distance, behind one of the few stands of trees thick enough to conceal anything of significant size, Tulland began to hear a beating noise. It was like the sound of one hand clapping, he thought, but only if that hand belonged to a god. And soon enough, he saw that he wasn¡¯t that far off.
Crimson Chimera A mishmash of various beasts, the Crimson Chimera is still more notable for its strength, speed and overall durability than its horrific appearance. As maneuverable in the air as it is on the ground and dangerous from almost any direction, the Chimera guards the tenth floor safe zone gate against any but those with an above-average ability to make the most of the opportunities a single floor provides. Even for those who have grown on this floor, it is a well-balanced enemy with a strength to threaten any build¡¯s weaknesses. To the slow, it is blindingly fast. To the strong, it is both durable, overpowering, and evasive. To the armored, it presents attacks capable of shredding mere steel. Defeating this boss, however, moves you to an echelon far beyond what most adventurers in The Infinite reach. In victory, the rewards to both you and your home world¡¯s System will be similarly impressive.
¡°I¡¯ve got it. Besides, it¡¯s you doing all the really crazy stuff.¡± Necia frowned at the monster as it cut through miles of air in mere seconds as it closed the gap towards them. ¡°All I have to do is stop a red abomination the size of a mountain.¡± ¡°I appreciate you.¡± ¡°You¡¯d better.¡± The closer the chimera got, the uglier it became. None of that ugly was ill-fit, however. It looked fast, even sleek. When it finally dove towards them, it wasn¡¯t the brick-heavy fall of its predecessors. Instead, it cut through the air like an arrow, moving so fast towards Tulland that he could hardly track it. Chapter 95: Chaos ¡°Dive.¡± Tulland and Necia both jumped out of the way, each in a different direction, just as they had initially planned. It was tempting to have Necia take the first swooping attack, but they had eventually convinced each other that it was a bad move when they still didn¡¯t know how fast and strong this thing was outside of qualitative system descriptions. Right now, Tulland felt the description had been understating things. Not only was the animal much bigger, but it also used that size in a much more dangerous-looking way. It was smoother in the air, much better supported by the ratio of strength in its wings to the weight of its body than the sphinxes had been. ¡°Heads up!¡± Necia yelled. ¡°It¡¯s almost back in diving position.¡± It was. Coming out of the swoop, the Crimson Chimera had preserved much more of its momentum, using it to arc back up into the sky where it continued to rise, turned on a dime, and dove again. Tulland and Necia jumped out of the way again, but the chimera was already adapting its tactics to their plan. As Necia moved to the left, it followed her specifically, already having favored her side of things over Tulland¡¯s. What had been a fairly easy dodge on the first swoop turned into a desperate one on the second, and left Necia barely finding her footing again before the next swoop became a threat. ¡°How many more times?¡± Tulland called. ¡°It¡¯s already learning this game.¡± ¡°Four or five. We want it as used to this as it can possibly be. Adjusted to it.¡± They managed to make it, although it was a close thing. Three dives in, it turned out the chimera was working a tactic of its own, finally going after Tulland once it had lulled them into a bare-minimum sense of security. It took everything for Tulland to escape unharmed. As it came down the fourth time, they regrouped in a slightly different location, off to the side. ¡°Think this will work?¡± Necia asked. ¡°For some definitions of work, yes. It won¡¯t like it. But this also won¡¯t put it down,¡± Tulland said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t need to. All we need is to make it wary.¡± Necia backed up a bit, getting into a more centered position as the chimera turned in the air. ¡°We have to make it worried about what we can do. You¡¯re great for that. Everything you do is weird and hard to understand.¡± The chimera came down then, a bit faster than before. Tulland had to actually leap out of the way, rolling through the dirt and regaining his feet as part of the motion of the dodge. He just barely remembered to set off the trap before he did, vaporizing several gallons worth of yellow Acheflowers they had covered up with a very thin layer of dust and leaves before getting the fight underway. As predicted, the chimera did not like it. As it cut through the super-condensed yellow cloud, it bellowed in an oddly human shout of surprise before wheeling around in the air and eyeing them suspiciously. It didn¡¯t gain altitude again in the same way, instead staying only a few times Necia¡¯s height above the ground. ¡°What¡¯s it doing now? I thought it would go to ground,¡± Tulland asked. ¡°So did I. It¡¯s doing something else. That was always a possibility.¡± As they looked on, one of the chimera¡¯s clawed hands glowed red as its talons lengthened to be almost as long as Tulland¡¯s forearm. With an explosive beat of its wings, it shot horizontally over the two adventurers, swinging the wicked curved claws down as it did. ¡°Careful.¡± Necia caught the blow on her shield, and Tulland watched her knees buckle as she did. ¡°One of these and it¡¯s game over.¡± ¡°True. How long can you block those.¡± ¡°If the attacks stay like this? Damn near forever. I don¡¯t want to bet on that, though. Think up a plan.¡± Tulland nodded and started on the hard work of coming up with something as he contributed whatever he could to the fight in a non-resource-consuming way. His Clubber Vines shot up every time the monster flew overhead, usually missing but occasionally getting lucky and thunking into the claws or its wrist. It wasn¡¯t clearly afraid of those strikes, but it also wasn¡¯t comfortable betting that the damage from them wouldn¡¯t add up. Tulland watched as the monster slowed very slightly to enhance that cautious approach, then switched up its direct, linear attacks for a zigzagging pattern that seemed custom-made to eventually catch Necia at a bad angle. It was a bizarre fighting style, something that was changing all the time, even in small, non-claw-morphing ways. Tulland scowled at the uncertainty of what was coming next, but was glad for the overall reduction in speed. He now knew what he had to do to out-weird it. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Do you have all your shield bashes skills off cooldown? I¡¯m going to need you to counter him, and then body slam me as hard as you can,¡± Tulland said. ¡°That¡¯s going to screw you up,¡± Necia said, matter of fact, not questioning why Tulland wanted her to body slam him. ¡°Maybe. But can you do it? One right after the other?¡± ¡°I can.¡± ¡°Then do it.¡± When the chimera¡¯s serpentine flying style brought it into attacking position again, Necia finally countered the attack. It wasn¡¯t a full-commitment attack from the animal, which meant Necia got less out of it. The animal looked woozy for a second, and grunted as it shook it¡¯s head to clear the cobwebs. By the time it did, it was too late to avoid the next weirdness. Tulland had spent the split second it took for the chimera to get its wits back whipping a Giant¡¯s Hair vine at its neck, letting it wrap around and constrict but commanding it to leave just a tiny bit of slack between itself and the neck, just enough that it could slide around the monster¡¯s weird hide when Tulland needed it to. ¡°Now, Necia.¡± Necia was not kidding when she said the shield bash was no joke. The sheer force of the hit sent Tulland flying, not least because he had jumped just a tiny bit off the ground in expectation of it. With no resistance, the shield bash rattled his brain but also sent him swinging on the vine in his hands, one of which was mounted to the monster-neck center-point and quickly redirecting Tulland¡¯s momentum. By the time he completed the loop, he found himself firmly astride the back of the monster, just behind its wings and with one leg on each side of its bovine back. The Crimson Chimera might have been a chaotic fighter, but there was no chance it was going to react in a timely manner to something like that. Think you can out-weird me? I¡¯ll show you how to do it. Tulland reached into his dimensional storage and pulled out the third of his four stored objects. During their garden-growing break, he and Necia had plenty of time to experiment with the weirder of his many plants, and the flat-out winner was still the silver star fruits. After a few bouts of poking each other with the things, they had come to the realization that the fruits weren¡¯t good at most things. They didn¡¯t sap overall life force as fast as most attacks in their arsenal, and they didn¡¯t move by themselves. They couldn¡¯t be easily thrown, and they¡¯d poke through almost anything he had tried to use as a sling to catapult them at enemies. They took Primal Growth charges like any plant might, but seemed entirely unwilling to shunt that energy in any direction but normal seed enhancement. Or, more relevantly, getting sharper. The only thing that made what Tulland was about to do with them possible at all was the fact that any of his almost-mundane Farmer¡¯s Gloves were puncture resistant to his own plants. Coupling that with the fact that most of his growing things would do their best not to hurt him and a reinforcing layer of seed chain-mail over his palm was just barely enough to let him handle the things when they were reinforced, at least without skewering his hand up in the process. ¡°Hurry, Tulland! He¡¯s going to figure out you are back there soon.¡± Tulland hurried. Enhancing the first seed as much as it would allow, he palmed the seed, lifted his free hand up as high as it would go, then slapped the star down hard into the flesh just behind the chimera¡¯s wing. The seed sunk in a bit more than half of the way through its total shape, pinning itself in place with long, sharp barbs that cut into the animal from several directions. The chimera bucked to the side in the air, or perhaps just shot to one side because one of its wings suddenly worked much, much less well. Tulland pulled another star out, reinforced it, and slammed it into the base of the opposite-side wing. It shouldn¡¯t work. It will, and you understand exactly why. Stats made humans and beasts exceed the normal limits anything from nature should have been subject to. It made them faster and stronger. It shortened reaction times and bent the laws of physics in favor of attacks and evasions that wouldn¡¯t otherwise have a chance of hitting or dodging opponents. They also prevented wounds or healed them faster than should have been possible. Tulland was academically aware that anything short of horrible, disfiguring injuries would heal in a matter of minutes, or hours at the most. It still didn¡¯t do away with the concept of pain, or the consequences of pain on a mind. When Necia had spent all that time going through a cycle of breaking her arm on enemy attacks, letting it heal, and breaking it again, it had taken a toll on her. Even though she knew it would heal, she was bound by a more primal psychology, one that considered that level of pain and injury to be avoided and feared. The chimera wasn¡¯t exactly human, but it didn¡¯t have to be. It had two sharp, spiked metal balls shoved into a major muscle group that it needed to stay airborne. That had to hurt, no matter what kind of mind it was using. And given its high level of intelligence, it wasn¡¯t likely it would react with the fight-to-the-death desperation most animals would. Instead, it would start to panic. And it did, almost immediately. Just as fast, Tulland realized how little he had planned for his own psychological reaction to being on the back of a gigantic, world-ending threat that was now hurtling towards the ground like a meteor. Oh well. It will take the brunt of the crash. Tulland squeezed his legs down tighter on the chimera¡¯s back, letting his Clubber Vines go to town on what amounted to its shoulder blades as it vainly tried to expel the silver stars, stopped beating its wings in the process, and slammed face-first into the ground. ¡°That was your plan?¡± Necia¡¯s voice had an incredulous edge to it as she swept between Tulland and the chimera¡¯s flailing feet, blocking several slashes that were each strong enough to detach multiple farmer limbs. ¡°To go for a ride on the damn tenth level boss?¡± ¡°It worked!¡± Tulland sidestepped her and thrust in with his pitchfork, putting several shallow puncture wounds into the creature¡¯s chest before it could adequately react. Necia blocked for him as he did, hitting the animal with slashes as she could fit them in. ¡°It won¡¯t be so smooth in the air now, at least.¡± ¡°It might not have to be,¡± Necia warned. The chimera bellowed in rage as it finally got a handle on what it was experiencing, found its own feet, and powered through the pain. ¡°We still haven¡¯t seen it fight on the ground.¡± Chapter 96: True Love ¡°Don¡¯t trust it.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle had dragged him onto a boat before the sun was up that morning, forcing the thirteen year old him to help as they rowed through the icy cold-season surf to open water. They weren¡¯t fishing, it turned out. Instead, they were watching a man in what Tulland was only now starting to realize was as close to a secret fisherman coming of age ceremony as there probably was. The man in the boat they were observing was probably only a man to Tulland. Every other observer around them was older, more worn by age, and much more likely to consider the eighteen-year-old youth a mere boy. To Tulland, the man wasn¡¯t only an adult, he was what all adults were supposed to look like. He stood wide-stanced on his own boat, bound in work-grown muscles and with a boot up against the ribs that lined the side of the boat as he tried desperately to wrangle a fish out of the water. ¡°He has a giant hook in it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°It¡¯s only a matter of time.¡± ¡°Right. It was dead as soon as he got the hook in. That doesn¡¯t mean it can¡¯t live for minutes or hours. And it doesn¡¯t mean that these things could change in an instant.¡± Tulland looked at the boy as he steadily gained ground on the giant fish. Apparently, these huge aquatic masses of scales and teeth only swam by the island for a few short days a year, as predictable as clockwork going back generations. They weren¡¯t good to eat, and their bones and scales were useless for crafting. To the extent they had a purpose, it was this. Allowing young men to prove they were as strong as anything the sea would ever bring near the island, and thus qualified to deal with any hardship they would face in the future. ¡°How?¡± Tulland asked. Even though he wasn¡¯t a fisherman himself, he could see the conclusion of the fight. ¡°Like I said, don¡¯t trust it. That boy understands fishing but he doesn¡¯t know it.¡± It was true that the boy knew fishing. There was caution in both the boy¡¯s eyes and his movements. But when the fish would jerk, he¡¯d give up ground to it, allowing it some rope to pull back or to the sides instead of keeping the animal directly in front of him. That was a small mistake. If he had just been able to pull it in steadily and directly, it would have taken a few minutes to get the fish into the boat. As it was, they were closing in on a half hour. And then, finally, the fish gave up. Tulland watched its movements kick into high gear one last time before its eyes dulled and its writhing slowly tapered down to something closer to gentle flapping. ¡°Now watch,¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle said. Just as the boy took the fish¡¯s permission to heft it into the boat seriously and began to pull back, the animal¡¯s eyes lit up again as it pulled as hard as it ever had back towards the open water, hard enough to drag the boy¡¯s boat with it sideways. ¡°See? That fish had secrets. It might not have even known it had them, but it had those secrets. You can never trust an animal to be down and out until it stops breathing. Even then, you want to check,¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle said. ¡°But how?¡± Tulland had caught enough glimpses of the big aquatic animal¡¯s head to know that it didn¡¯t exactly shine with apparent intelligence. ¡°It can¡¯t be planning all this. It¡¯s not that smart. Is it?¡± Just then, the animal¡¯s last dregs of strength were emptied out in a real, final way. The young man in the other boat used the last of his strength heaving against its weight, pulling it into a boat where he ended its struggles once and for all with a few stabs from his belt knife. Everyone, Tulland included, cheered. His uncle¡¯s response was delayed that much, but when the excitement had cleared he had not forgotten to answer. ¡°Not smart, no. And it¡¯s not planning it. Like I said, it probably doesn¡¯t even know it has that much fight left in it. Might have never known if it wasn¡¯t forced to. But when you push it into a corner, it has to check. And sometimes what it finds there is bigger than you¡¯d guess.¡± ¡ª The chimera burst forward for his first terrain-reinforced attacks much faster than Tulland had hoped. It had been so good at flying that Tulland had clung to the hope that it might be specialized for the air, less capable and quick on the dirt than it was in the sky. It wasn¡¯t. Just as the animal was faster with wings than its lesser sphinx counterparts, it was much more capable on foot than the sphinxes had ever shown themselves to be. Its initial surge forward was towards Necia, who braced a moment too soon and allowed it to pivot to the side, bypass her completely, and head towards Tulland. He backpedaled furiously for a moment before realizing that this meant that Necia would be slower in catching up. Another moment gave him insight on the fact that the chimera probably could have caught him by now, if it wanted to. It¡¯s mad, so it¡¯s toying with me. Or something. Or else is cautious. Remember that you¡¯ve hurt it. If it wasn¡¯t cautious before, it has reason to be now. Either way, Tulland wasn¡¯t going to be able to take this enemy in solo hand-to-hand combat for very long, and what other surprises he was holding in reserve were not well suited for the current shape of the battlefield. This, unfortunately, was a situation that called for being brave and perhaps getting a bit injured. Tulland had once read that system-armor worked in a couple different ways. Often, it was indistinguishable from normal armor. The kinds of damage that would destroy its non-enhanced components would still tear the armor apart. Some of the energy would transfer through, like the armor-piercing force of a swung mace, but would often be diminished by the system-granted, physics-defying magic of the System itself. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Most of the time, it worked in a way that was biased in favor of the armor-wearer. But every System had some level of fairness in mind when it designed both armor and the weapons attacking it. In the outside world, a conventional beast was never going to rip through platemail, no matter how sharp its claws would be. In the dungeon, claws still had trouble with armors that logically should have stopped the kinds of attacks they were delivering. But when overwhelming force was in play, that resistance could be overcome. Tulland dodged to the right and forward as the chimera closed distance with him, hoping to surprise the animal and get the split second he needed to spin around it. He didn¡¯t get either thing. The chimera easily caught him in its elongated claw-range, raking its five claws across the front of his chestplate with the full force of its galloping weight behind them. Tulland screamed in pain as he instinctively stabbed out with his pitchfork, catching the chimera unguarded as it withdrew from its own attack and forcing it back just enough to escape a second swipe. His chest instantly began gushing blood through his mostly intact armor, still in place despite illogically letting the excess of damage it couldn''t block through. The pain of it was mind blowing, sending Tulland reeling after the fact. There was nothing he could do to rally himself in time as the chimera rocked its massive weight backwards, raised its arm, and came down towards him with a shining, system-magic-soaked killing blow in tow. Its monstrous human-like face was pulled back in a terrible grin, sure it had him. It was that certainty that saved both Tulland and Necia. Tulland was saved as the monster¡¯s overconfidence blinded it to any other threat, and Necia¡¯s life was kept safe by the fact that it was swinging so hard and deep that she was able to get off a picture-perfect shield-on-claw retaliation block stronger than any Tulland had ever seen up to that point. Necia went flopping to the dirt, her shield smoking from a new, deep chasm the claw had dug through it. She was hurt. It pained Tulland that he knew just how injured she must be, having seen her shatter her bones blocking things she would have otherwise dodged if he wasn¡¯t there. He would have felt bad to see anybody take that attack for his sake, but this was more than that. He wasn¡¯t stupid enough to be sure that he knew what true love felt like, but whatever feelings he had been able to develop for Necia were likely to be the closest he ever got to that kind of love. This was the most valuable relationship with anyone he had ever had outside of his uncle. As the System had said, she was something to try to keep. And watching her getting blown away from the chimera, Tulland found he didn¡¯t care so much about the next several steps of their long plan to slowly wear down the chimera. There were several of them, all meant to do a particular thing. Right now, he was supposed to attack one of its rear legs, expressly aiming to take away some of its speed so that he and Necia could work towards a safe, sustainable ability to stay ahead of its attacks. If everything went to plan, Necia would be injured just like that, several more times, barely healing between each impact. In the split second between when the chimera hit and both it and Necia hit the ground in opposite directions, that plan went out the window. Tulland looked at the injured woman, then back to the momentarily incapacitated chimera and felt something inside himself roar. Moments later, he found himself running towards the chimera, the inklings of an entirely new plan building up in him. Necia could be part of it, but not as a sacrificial punching bag. Which meant he would need to keep the chimera completely distracted for the rest of the fight and somehow not die. Which I can¡¯t do. It¡¯s too strong. Is it? I wonder. Either way, Tulland was going to find out. By the time he got to the chimera, he had his backup Clubber Vine out in one of his hands, and a Silver Star in the other. The beast was recovering fast and already had its legs underneath its chest as it made an unsteady effort to push itself back up into the air. Tulland responded by jumping down on its waist with both feet, generating enough impact to flatten it out on the ground again. ¡°I¡¯m tired.¡± Tulland started talking without any intent to, and that was the first thing that came out. ¡°I¡¯m really tired of this.¡± The chimera roared and began to rock back and forth to dislodge him from its back. Tulland was able to ignore that, for now, courtesy of the remnants of the stun. In the moments he had left, he ducked down, pressed seven or eight inches of the Clubber Vine against the chimera¡¯s back, then plunged a Silver Star straight through both, pinning the end of his own vine into whatever flesh the Silver Star exposed on its way down. ¡°Ha. It¡¯s like a new tail.¡± Tulland stood up and regripped his Farmer¡¯s Tool, morphing it into a shovel and plunging it downward. ¡°Let¡¯s make sure it doesn¡¯t fall out.¡± The pain of having a Silver Star driven even further into its back seemed to help the chimera shake itself back to full strength. Tulland reached up and gripped the point where one of its wings met its back, choked up on his farmer¡¯s tool, and started stabbing with the newly-reformed pitchfork head. He couldn¡¯t get much force that way, but what he could do was hit it again and again in rapid fire, poking holes in it like a sewer¡¯s needle joining two pieces of fabric. ¡°Tulland!¡± Necia was recovering, too. ¡°The plan!¡± ¡°New plan!¡± Tulland was jerked off his feet as the chimera attempted to turn, barely keeping his hold on the wing as he maintained his position outside of the chimera¡¯s swing range. ¡°Keep it occupied. While my Clubber Vine hits it.¡± ¡°That thing? It won¡¯t do enough!¡± ¡°It will. Trust me.¡± Tulland stabbed it another four or five times for good measure. ¡°We just need to do damage while it does. As much as we can.¡± Necia shook her head, but charged in. Before she got there, the chimera bent forward much faster and with much more force than Tulland had expected it could, flinging him over its shoulder and towards the heavy-armor woman it saw re-entering combat. Necia didn¡¯t try to catch him, instead moving into normal melee range and engaging with the chimera¡¯s claws. It was a much more even fight this time. Pressing the monster meant it had less time to wind up for a huge shot, and the Clubber Vine was working on its back and neck, distracting it as it did damage. Tulland rolled over from his impact point on the ground and poured a Primal Growth into all the Clubber Vines he had out, focusing especially on the chimera¡¯s new unwanted limb. I¡¯m going to stab this thing so hard. Tulland¡¯s Farmer¡¯s Tool had never felt better in his hand. While it¡¯s distracted. Stop talking to me and just do it, then. You don¡¯t need useless distractions, boy. The System was right about conversation with it being a distraction, but wrong about it being useless. Tulland could feel the weapon coming to life in his hand, or his hands working better around the weapon. Or something, at least. Something was different than he had noticed before. When he finally thrust it towards the chimera, it noticed too. The curved tines of the pitchfork went deep into its stomach, digging around there for a moment before it swung its off-arm at Tulland and backhanded him a few steps away from the fight. Necia took the opportunity to slash it with her own sword and follow up with a shield bash, buying Tulland enough time to come back and stab the chimera in the foot, dodge another hit, then stab it again in the waist. ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Fine. Keep hitting it.¡± ¡°You are moving¡­ like a fighter.¡± Necia grunted as she deflected a swarm of claw strikes from the chimera. ¡°All the sudden.¡± ¡°Yeah. I think it¡¯s the farm. I¡¯ll explain later.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Chapter 97: Acidburst Bulb Whatever overpowered strike the chimera had used to disable Necia last time turned out to have a cooldown of at least a minute, and they spent that entire time whittling away at the monster¡¯s health. Necia was in charge of blocking the chimera¡¯s attempts to attack and left Tulland plenty of openings to push through with his pitchfork, poking it again and again and building up damage. The chimera barely cared about each individual hit. None of them were as deep as that first big strike, but they were adding up. The chimera was getting slower and slower. ¡°It¡¯s going to attack again soon. The big one.¡± Necia puffed. ¡°I can block it.¡± Tulland swallowed down any thought of telling her to avoid the attack. For all that he cared about her, he also knew that he needed time. As much of it as he could get. ¡°Do it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I¡¯ll end things after this one. I promise.¡± Necia nodded, then turned back to the chimera just as it began to prepare its next huge shot. In the meantime, Tulland hit it the few final times he could sneak in, then ducked behind Necia as she took the hit, barely getting out of the way as she was thrown away from the point of impact. She hadn¡¯t taken the hit perfectly, and wasn¡¯t fully recovered from the last hit, either. The chimera had learned just enough about her shield block talent to force the point of impact off center, which generated a sick breaking-and-tearing sound in Necia that only truly ended as she hit the ground, as down for the count as he had ever seen her. The chimera got less of the recoil this time than it had last time too. Tulland wasted no time as he launched forward onto the back of the chimera, gripping one of its wings as he reached for the Clubber Vine in the back of the chimera, the one he had left there. As expected, the vine itself hadn¡¯t done as much damage as he might have hoped, even though it was well-anchored and had a straight shot to the back of the beast¡¯s head and neck. Tulland didn¡¯t care. The point of anchoring the Clubber Vine was never the vine itself. It was the anchor. The silver stars weren¡¯t the best weapons in the world, and he had no special skills for getting them into his enemies again and again like he did for his pitchfork or his automatically attacking plants. The counterbalance for that was that the little spiky metal seeds were as sharp as anything he had ever encountered. They¡¯d dig through flesh like a knife through butter, so long as they were pushed. And there¡¯s nothing better to push it than a Clubber Vine swinging on the other end. Let¡¯s see how big of a hole they both dug together. Tulland yanked out the seed to see it had done more than he had expected. There was a cavity in the big animal¡¯s back about the size of three of Tulland¡¯s fists, ragged and bleeding from minutes of being torn apart by jagged metal. It was deep, not enough to kill the monster or even seriously hamper it, but enough. He hoped, anyway. Reaching into his dimensional storage, he brought out the fourth plant he had packed for the fight. Originally, he and Necia had planned on using them as distractions, hoping a face full of acid would have more effect on the chimera than a lungful of weak Acheflower toxins. Now he had a different idea for where to put the acid. He pulled out all of the new bulbs he could fit in his hand and shoved them into the hole, then brought out more. The chimera stirred, trying to stop whatever the peskier of the two humans was doing behind his back. It just didn¡¯t have the coordination to make it happen just yet, considering the aftereffects of Necia¡¯s counter. Tulland had all the time he needed to empty out his dimensional storage of the ten or so little bulbs it would let him carry.
Acidburst Bulb As the otherwise edible root of a plant that very much dislikes being eaten, the Acidburst Bulb solves the problems of natural predators by means of melting them into puddles. As a dungeon-based plant, the acid in these plants is much stronger than what a similar plant might produce in the outside world. More importantly, each bulb is geared not only to destroy the organisms to which it is applied at the point of application, but also to affect an organism¡¯s overall health to a disporportionate degree. As the fruit of a plant, the power of the acid is determined by the level of the plant from which it grew, as well as whatever enhancements it gains from your skills.
Tulland didn¡¯t have a ton of experience with these given that they were the product of his latest dungeon, and he doubted they¡¯d do much if they were spread on the skin of the monster directly. But inside, the acid would wreak havoc. It would burn and burn, well past all the monster¡¯s natural defenses. Once the bulbs were in, Tulland crammed the Clubber Vine in the hole, ordering it to stay still as he pinned it down over the hole with the same Silver Star. Explode, little bulbs. Show this guy what a farmer can do. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. With his hands pressed down hard on the vines, Tulland felt the pressure build as each of the bulbs exploded inside the monster¡¯s back. A hissing sound reached his ears, quiet but unmistakable as the acid went to work destroying everything it touched. The chimera was starting to come out of its stun anyway, but the pain of the acid seemed to catapult it all the way back to consciousness in an instant as it started flailing around, sending Tulland flying a few steps away in the process. Claws flashed as the chimera tried and failed to dig the vine-plug out of its own back, and it roared in pain as an escape of gas from the chemical reaction left it covered in smoke. Tulland decided to make sure the chimera¡¯s attempt to clean its back had a cost. He shot forward, brandishing his pitchfork in front of him as he tried to get every ounce of his weight lined up behind the handle. The monster reacted too slow, bringing its arms back around towards the front far less quickly than required to keep the tines of the pitchfork from penetrating its chest. Tulland pushed up on the handle and jumped back, dragging the tines and ripping as much chimera-meat as he could on the retreat. The chimera went for a counterstrike, but winced and slowed as it involved its own acid-coated muscles in the motion and left just enough time for another shot from Tulland to its dominant shoulder. And then things got messy. The chimera was slowed down, and even a little weakened by the acid. Tulland could smell the sour air as it continued to do damage inside the thing. But it wasn¡¯t down for the count, and finding itself unable to halt the acid working inside its body, the monster seemed to have decided to try and take Tulland down first. Its claws flashed again and again, raking Tulland¡¯s arms and chest as he hit the conglomerate monster as much as he could through the storm of its attack. They were both taking damage, enough so that Tulland¡¯s will broke for just a moment. He jumped back out of the range of the chimera¡¯s attacks, hoping to find a better option than simply trading blows and hoping the monster fell first. That plan fell to pieces as the chimera¡¯s took in its new tactical situation and shifted its horrible, almost-human eyes back to Necia. ¡°No.¡± Tulland wasn¡¯t brave in that moment. He was scared as hell, really. But he simply wasn¡¯t going to allow what the monster appeared to have planned. ¡°Not a chance.¡± Tulland dove towards the chimera, who deflected his first big stab and countered with a backhand that almost turned off the lights in Tulland¡¯s eyes. He wrenched himself back towards consciousness, got his pitchfork into play, and put another set of holes in the chimera¡¯s leg. It clawed his face, then actually stomped on his foot as it unleashed another four claw slashes before Tulland could choke up on his pitchfork and drive it back with his own rapid-fire stabs. I expected it would be over by now. How long has it been? Tulland¡¯s arms were almost noodle-limp now. It feels like hours. Less than a minute. Keep fighting. It¡¯s not doing any better, Tulland. You have a chance. It was hard to believe the System in that moment, but it hardly mattered. Every time Tulland allowed the chimera any space at all, it set its sights on Necia. He would then step back up, trading damage for damage as both he and the chimera waited to see who would break first. It turned out to be Tulland. He drove his pitchfork up one last time into the monster¡¯s gut, and then found he simply didn¡¯t have the strength left to pull it back out to make another attack. The monster sensed it too. It looked down at his face, pulled its own face into an evil grimace, and then raised its claw for the final attack. Tulland watched as its recharged power-attack glinted across the claws, much weaker-looking now but still undoubtedly enough to end him. He tried to jump back, only to find his legs were just as ruined as his arms. There was nowhere to go. He watched as the claws started to move down to end his journey once and for all. And then they caught on something. Tulland blinked blood away from his eyes by reflex, clearing his vision enough to see how and saw a monolith of steel poking out through its chest, sticking through just far enough to have got in the way of the strike. The chimera itself looked just as shocked and confused as Tulland felt, looking down at the chunk of metal as if it expected an explanation for its own sudden appearance. ¡°Wow. That hole makes this so much easier.¡± The metal withdrew back through the chimera¡¯s chest and then came through again from another angle, piercing the other side of the monster¡¯s chest. ¡°Sorry it took me so long to wake up.¡± Tulland tugged on his pitchfork again, found it was still stuck, and finally gave up on it entirely as he let go to try and figure out some other option to attack. Immediately, he fell backwards, unable to support his own weight without the benefit of the pitchfork handle. ¡°It¡¯s okay. I have it.¡± Necia was slicing through the chimera like butter now. ¡°You had it pretty much beat, somehow. What did you even do while I was out?¡± ¡°Stabbed.¡± Tulland¡¯s mouth felt dry. ¡°A lot.¡± ¡°Well, thanks.¡± Necia¡¯s sword flashed one more time as the chimera¡¯s head finally detached from its body and flew away. The monster¡¯s body stood for just a few moments before crashing into the ground, which Tulland felt and heard rather than saw. Necia¡¯s heavy footsteps plodded towards him, then he felt a familiar shift as she transitioned back to her normal size, laid down next to him, and shoveled a few fruits into his mouth. ¡°Chew.¡± Her hand came to the bottom of his chin, as if she was preparing to do the job for him if he couldn¡¯t get his jaw working. ¡°Your regeneration is bottomed out. I don¡¯t want you to bleed to death.¡± With great effort, Tulland managed to work his jaw a few times, then gave up. He swallowed what juice had leaked out, which gave him just enough strength to suck a bit more juice, chew, and finally get the fruits into his stomach. Necia put a few more in, and he ate those too. After a few minutes of careful care, he finally felt his regeneration close the worst of his cuts and found he was just strong enough to sit. ¡°That was stupid, you know. If you weren¡¯t strong enough to hold out those last few seconds, he would have sliced your head open,¡± Necia said. ¡°But you made it. Your melee is coming along, Tulland. More than I thought it would.¡± ¡°That¡¯s me. Good old combat class Tulland.¡± He shook his head and looked down at his pitchfork. ¡°I should transition to a full warrior, at some point.¡± ¡°Nope. It isn¡¯t that good. And given what you can do with the plants, it¡¯s more than I¡¯d expect. It¡¯s gonna make for a bad surprise for somebody, some day.¡± Necia stood up and reached her hand down to Tulland. He took it and levered himself to a standing position, testing his legs to see how much of his strength he had back. Another minute or so would bring him back to full health, if the System gave them that long. ¡°Time to restock,¡± Tulland said. ¡°If we have that much time. How far is the farm?¡± ¡°Not far. Let¡¯s go.¡± Chapter 98: Equalization On the walk back, the notification finally flashed and made their victory certain.
Level 10 Complete! With this victory, you have moved up another level to a higher echelon of warrior. You are far from the stuff of legends by the standards of The Infinite, but so also have you moved away from those who come, fight as best they can, but ultimately fail to demonstrate greatness. The subsequent levels you will face will be different than those you¡¯ve seen before. While the first ten levels were a proving ground, the next five will begin a journey that jumps the rails and encourages more choice in how you approach your own advancement. You will see optional dungeons. You will have more opportunities to gather information about the specific risks you will face in compulsory floors. But most of all, you will find yourself face to face with threats that for the first time surpass any that you might have faced even in the deepest floors of the darkest dungeons your home world had to offer. How your journey ends is up to you, but let it not be said that The Infinite sent you to these new challenges unprepared. As is the case with all adventurers who make it this far, you are now rewarded with the power necessary to face your peers on the coming floors on even footing. Good luck, adventurer. May your efforts to press forward bear fruit. Rewards: 10th Floor Leveling Pack
¡°Any idea what this does?¡± Tulland let the token fall into his hand, a plain brass coin that sat heavily in his palm once it settled. ¡°Did you read about this in your books?¡± ¡°This? No. This is new,¡± Necia said as she peered into her own coin. ¡°There¡¯s not much information past this point, at least that our System ever smuggled out and back to us. Your guess is as good as mine.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, then. No time like the present, I guess.¡± Tulland looked at the coin and willed it into action. The coin shone for a moment, then sunk into his hand. Necia¡¯s did the same, and they stood there for a moment waiting for something to happen before Tulland¡¯s vision suddenly cut out, replaced by a blinding white light.
Level Up! Level Up! Level Up!
For a while, the only thing Tulland could see was un-bunched level up and skill level up notifications streamed in. Spend the points. I can see the end of this process, but it¡¯s a way off. You must make good use of your time. Tulland found himself too frozen to nod, but recognized the wisdom of becoming as strong as he could before the system yanked him forward towards some new danger. He started allocating points, shoring up old weaknesses and then pushing his own primary stats to new heights. By the time the levels finally stopped streaming in, he had spent every last point. As his vision cleared, he used the last few moments of forced change to take a closer look at what he had done.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 70 Strength: 60 (+5) Agility: 60 (+5) Vitality: 60 (+10) Spirit: 105 (+5) Mind: 60 (+10) Force: 150 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 20, Produce Armament LV. 20, Market Wagon LV. 15 Passives: Broadcast LV. 15, Botanical Engineer LV. 15, Strong Back LV. 15, Fruits of the Field LV. 15, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 15
¡°That shouldn¡¯t be possible.¡± Necia was looking down at her own screen, shocked. ¡°That¡¯s a huge power jump, Tulland. I made it all the way to level seventy. My skills all grew. Some of them by a lot.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I don¡¯t know either.¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m seventy as well. Same thing on my skills.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, but ask your System.¡± Necia nodded towards the farm. ¡°And harvest your stuff. We can¡¯t have much time left.¡± Tulland fell on his own plot of land like a fury, ripping seeds from plants and storing anything he could in preparation for the travel. He didn¡¯t have to ask the System to talk. It was willing to do that all by itself. I¡¯m not sure what that pack did. I¡¯ve never seen it before. That¡¯s bad, System. No. It¡¯s good. No warrior of mine ever got this far. Plus, if I knew for certain, I likely couldn¡¯t tell you about it. And I have guesses. Very good ones. Tulland sucked a previously unheard of amount of Clubber Vines into his dimensional storage, testing the limits of his improved Market Wagon and finding them to be much, much more than they were before. He was still stuck at four total types of plants, but the amounts that he could bring with him were beyond what he would have believed. Tell me, then. And hurry. There¡¯s probably not much time. It was an equalization pack. Equalization, as a word, has meaning to a System. The main way we interact with it is with System threats. Traps, monsters, terrain difficulties. These are all equalized to an expected adventurer level. Which is equalized as well? Not that I¡¯ve ever seen or heard of myself. But in this case, it appears so. Your levels have all been rounded up to what looks like a high standard, somewhere near what a top-tier adventurer on a world would have. A legend, or someone about to become one, would have stats and skill levels like those. But why? My best guess? I¡¯d expect that The Infinite finds more interest in how you use your class from here on out than how fortunate any particular individual has been in getting to this point. It likely wants to level the playing field so it can better judge the performance of the delvers against each other. Or something of that nature. Tulland nodded, then turned his attentions to the farm as he ripped, cut, and tore out any resources he felt he might need for the next level. There were a few plants that had yet to bear seeds, but his improved Farmer¡¯s Intuition accurately identified the bits he¡¯d need to grow new versions of almost all of them. The few that didn¡¯t have the time needed to bear seeds were, luckily enough, mostly plants he didn¡¯t care about. His farm quality would take a slight hit moving forward, but not much. Most of his strength would be preserved. ¡°Well?¡± Necia tapped her foot. ¡°What did it say?¡± ¡°It thinks The Infinite is trying to equalize the strength of everyone who makes it to the next floors.¡± Tulland patted his full pack, then tossed Necia a few choice fruits to eat while they waited. ¡°A blank slate.¡± ¡°Like we had at the entry gate? Before the motes?¡± ¡°Something like that. It isn¡¯t sure, but that¡¯s its best guess.¡± ¡°Does it think that¡¯s¡­ good?¡± Necia¡¯s face was conflicted. ¡°What if we were ahead of the average?¡± It¡¯s possible you¡¯ve taken a loss. But the chances of you being ahead of everyone are so low that the elimination of the risk of being overpowered by some particularly lucky delver is worth it. That¡¯s my belief. ¡°It says it¡¯s probably worth it,¡± Tulland summarized. ¡°Well, tell it to do better than probably. We need to¡­¡± Necia was cut off as the Dungeon System finally decided they had enough time. A blink later, Tulland was in his white room, waiting for his usual meeting with The Infinite. This time, it didn¡¯t come. For once, there apparently was not enough new in Tulland¡¯s build for the Dunegon System to feel he had earned a whole conversation to explain it. The quiet is nice. The lack of terror is nicer. ¡°Which is weird, you know. Is it really that scary? The Infinite, I mean. In whatever form. It has always been nice enough to me.¡± It is¡­ a greater force. A higher form of whatever I was, back on your world. The System paused for a moment, searching for words. Not quite a predator. But my reaction is much like a herd animal¡¯s might be when faced with wolves. Involuntary. ¡°Ah. So what now?¡± Enjoy your rest. I will be silent. Get what you can from this time. Tulland did. His pack was as sorted as he needed it to be, and shoving a few Steel Stars into his weapon to bring it back to tip-top form only took a moment. After that, he soaked up the silence, allowing his muscles to loosen as much as they could in anticipation of the next challenge. He thought he had a pretty good idea of what that would be. As the room finally dissolved away twenty or thirty minutes later, he found he was right. With his pitchfork in front of him, Tulland thrust it forward towards a threat he felt rather than knew would be there. ¡°Oh, wow. Looks like someone is prepared.¡± Halter grinned terribly at Tulland as he hopped back from the pitchfork. ¡°I thought you might make this easy.¡± Tulland willed Clubber Vines onto both his arms and shoulders as he geared up for the fight. There had always been the chance that Halter would follow them into the tenth floor, and their own slow progress against the sphinxes meant there was little chance the rogue would finish after Tulland and Necia did. Any thought of him not making it through had never been a consideration. Tulland just wasn¡¯t that lucky. ¡°How did you find the chimera?¡± Tulland poked the pitchfork forward as Halter attempted to strafe to the side. ¡°Hard enough?¡± Necia materialized then, a few steps away. She was not as ready as Tulland had been, but her reflexes still turned her towards the threat quickly. Unobstructed, Tulland was sure she could have got a shield bash off, maybe stunning the rogue long enough to get the upper hand. But a clang on her shield confirmed she was occupied by another force Tulland was not at all surprised to see. ¡°Not that hard with old Ley here. Say hi, Ley,¡± Halter taunted. He¡¯s trying to get your emotions riled. Do not allow him to be successful. Tulland looked towards Ley. It hadn¡¯t been much of a mystery who had let the rogue into their base, but any doubts were cleared away now. The guilt on the man¡¯s face was strong enough to leave no question as to who had betrayed them. ¡°It turns out old Ley isn¡¯t much for heroism and bravery.¡± Halter¡¯s voice carried a laugh with it. ¡°He didn¡¯t take much convincing before he let me into your little farm.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Tulland poked forward with his pitchfork, just to remind the rogue it was there. For Halter¡¯s part, he seemed content enough to work the psychological side of the fight for the moment. ¡°Ley, any explanation?¡± ¡°None you¡¯d like.¡± Ley danced back from a shield bash from Necia. ¡°None that would make everything okay.¡± ¡°I figured.¡± ¡°You know the best part?¡± Halter stepped back and pointed his dagger at Ley. ¡°He knew every little thing about your class. Every. Single. Thing. Anything I¡¯d want to know, all packed up with a bow on it. And now that our levels are even¡­ let¡¯s just say there¡¯s not much in there that could threaten me. Especially with your little farm all burned up.¡± ¡°You think?¡± ¡°I do. Now, enough of this. Ley, do you have the tank under control?¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯m her counter.¡± Ley grimaced. ¡°She can¡¯t hit me.¡± ¡°I thought not. And you.¡± Halter twirled the point of his dagger towards Tulland. ¡°I think we¡¯ve put this off long enough.¡± Chapter 99: Fertilizer Tulland tossed an Acheflower towards Necia in the split second before Halter reached him, trying to catch both Ley and the rogue in the blast. Halter dodged it easily, and Tulland simply didn¡¯t have the attention to spare to see if Ley was affected in any way. What focus he had was now firmly on the rogue. The first several clashes felt good. Halter was coming in with his dagger blazing, but every hit he managed to land on Tulland¡¯s armor slid off without causing much damage. The rest were deflected with the pitchfork, leaving Tulland uninjured after the first few clashes. Seems like he¡¯s not having such a good time. Pay attention to your vines, you fool. Tulland looked down at his arm and found that the System was right. One of his Clubber Vines was not entirely dead, but had been shredded within an inch of it. ¡°Figured you¡¯d know if I killed it outright.¡± Halter ducked in for another few strikes, killing it absolutely. ¡°Good job noticing. And Tulland? Good seeing you. Bye.¡± Stealth skill. Halter disappeared. The ground was mostly open around them, so it wasn¡¯t as if he was hiding in anything more substantial than tall grass. Whatever he was doing was closer to invisibility. I have no clue how to deal with this. Should I run? I don¡¯t think so. It¡¯s a bad match-up made worse. There¡¯s a hard counter. That bad? He¡¯ll catch me? He would, but¡­ No. I can¡¯t say any more. I¡¯m sorry, Tulland. Figure it out yourself. Tulland circled a bit, dropping plants as he did. Anything that had the slightest chance of giving him an extra moment to react whenever Halter came out of stealth went on the ground. The System hadn¡¯t given Tulland much to go on, but what it had given him was at least something. It¡¯s a bad matchup, but not just because I can¡¯t run. Tulland poked his pitchfork out at the nothing, hoping to get lucky and catch Halter coming in. And not just because he¡¯s fast, or stealthed. Those would be reasons to run. It¡¯s something else. Halter stayed hidden for the time being, and Tulland felt the cost of that stress in every nerve. It was a tactical decision, Tulland was sure. If Halter could get him to lapse even for a moment, the rogue would strike. He tried to keep himself calm with the thought problem the System had given him. It can¡¯t just be that. I know a lot of reasons Halter is a threat, but I should have a chance. This new stealth is bad, but even then. There¡¯s no reason he would be a bad match-up beyond what we¡¯ve seen before unless¡­ Tulland¡¯s face suddenly twitched with the smallest, quickest smile he had ever had. He sighed and prepared himself to take a big risk. Halter was still nowhere in sight, and Tulland started poking furiously into the air, leaning farther and farther with each new blow, trying to keep the directions of each attack as random-seeming and unpredictable as possible. He amped up the pace as much as he could, ignoring the clangs in the background as Ley hit Necia¡¯s shield again and again. And then, finally, he made a mistake. In the fury of the blows, Tulland finally over-extended. His foot slipped in the dirt, skidding forward and opening up his stance just enough to be considered a mistake. He planted his pitchfork in the dirt to regain his balance, with only the slightest sound of footfalls on dirt indicating the fact that Halter had already moved to take advantage of it. Tulland finally let the smile burst on his face fully. It looked like the System might just have been right. Halter was bad news to be sure, but they had fought before. Tulland¡¯s class had been undeveloped, and he had hardly known what he was doing, but he still won a qualified victory. And now that his pitchfork was a qualified weapon, things would look very different. He¡¯s trouble, but a hard counter for my class he¡¯s not. That¡¯s for sure. Tulland let loose a little intent and an overcharge into his plants all at once, setting off an explosion of powder and acid that coated the entire area, Halter included. Which means he¡¯s not a hard counter for my class. I¡¯m one for his. With Halter suddenly visible in the air above him, Tulland commanded all of the Clubber Vines on him to hit the ground at once, pushing his arm up and giving him just a little bit of a boost as he slammed the end of his Farmer¡¯s Tool¡¯s handle into Halter¡¯s jaw. Halter stumbled back and restealthed, only to find a pitchfork in his arm when he sprung towards Tulland again. ¡°See, that¡¯s the problem with Ley.¡± Tulland hucked another acid bulb forward, stabbing at the rogue and scratching his thigh in the opening the missile created. ¡°He can only tell you about things he knew in the past, and I had a hell of a time in the last few dungeons. The acid bulbs are new. And you know what¡¯s great about them? I can tell where the acid is. It¡¯s like a big sign hung on your back.¡± If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Won¡¯t matter when you are dead.¡± ¡°Oh, sure. So long as you can make that happen.¡± Tulland thrust forward again, almost catching Halter on another tine. ¡°But I have a feeling you won¡¯t.¡± One thing that had always been true of Halter¡¯s build and didn¡¯t seem to have changed much was that he absolutely relied on speed. He was the chaser, a person who was probably named for doing just that. He was hard to hit, but couldn¡¯t take much damage before it started to affect him, something that had let even a weak, pathetic Tulland get the upper hand all those months ago. And I¡¯m stronger now. So let¡¯s stop dodging the fast guy. It¡¯s his turn to try and run away. Tulland lunged at Halter, who managed to circle away from the strike, and the next, ending up facing almost exactly the opposite way from where he had been. Backing away, he managed to open up some distance on Tulland, who took the opportunity to fully bat a Silver Star through the air at him, using the tines of his pitchfork as a contact surface and getting the projectile moving just a bit faster than Halter could dodge. By some miracle, the damn spiked thing flew exactly to target, burying itself into Halter¡¯s hip and slowing him down that much more. The rogue was running out of options now. Tulland pushed forward a few more times, inflicting minor injuries on his enemy before Halter seemed to lose the entirety of his will to fight and turned on his heels to run as far and as fast from Tulland as he could get. Tulland had suffered in the dungeon much more than he had enjoyed it. He had been punctured by thorns, gouged by an elk, bitten by all manner of beasts and endured elements and rough living far beyond what a normal person could have survived. He had worked his back sore turning soil and covered himself in filth and sweat more times than he could count. But some things counterbalanced that suffering, at least a little. Necia was one of those balancing factors, but as great as she was, she didn¡¯t come close to making Tulland¡¯s impending doom in The Infinite feel good. Food had helped a little, but didn¡¯t close the gap. Soap and a hot bath had done a surprising amount, but there was still always a good, safe edge in favor of the bad he had experienced that kept the good from taking the lead, even momentarily. But when Halter¡¯s first step of retreat took him directly into the patch of protective plants Tulland had laid around himself during that first dangerous stealth, the gap finally closed, if only for a moment. The sound of a three or four Clubber Vines making contact with shins all at once saw to that task just fine. Halter screamed and fell to the ground, taking another five or six big thwacks from the vines as he rolled out of range, tried to find his footing, and sunk another Silver Star deep into the soles of his boots. Insanity flashed across his face as Tulland got in position above him, pitchfork pointed down. ¡°You can¡¯t¡­¡± Halter held up his hands in supplication, suddenly looking very ready to negotiate. Tulland wasn¡¯t. ¡°I can.¡± The tines of the pitchfork came down hard, penetrating the dirt behind Halter and soaking the soil with his blood. ¡°I really, really can.¡± Halter coughed, staining his mouth red as he did. He slammed his dagger forward, pushing the thin point past Tulland¡¯s armor and deep into his leg. Tulland ignored the pain, set his grip on the handle of his tool, and twisted. Deep in Halter¡¯s chest, something cracked. He reared up for one last stab that never found its target, then slid limply back down the tines of the pitchfork to the ground. You were right. Hard counter. I thought I was. Now see to that woman. Tulland almost slapped his own forehead as he realized how much danger Necia was still in. he turned to find her facing a large tree, a giant of a plant sitting alone and ruling its own domain of the plains land around them. Ley was presumably in there, absorbing potential for his big, overpowered attack. Oh no. He doesn¡¯t know. Tulland ran towards the fight as quick as his farmer legs would carry him. How long has he been charging that attack for? A long enough time. It will too late once you get there, I¡¯m afraid. It was. There was a sudden whoosh of wind as Ley shot out of the tree like a lightning bolt, moving directly towards the center of Necia¡¯s shield. Every bit of intelligence he would have been able to gather would have led him to just that tactic, to hit with a single big strike that would overwhelm her defenses. He had no way of knowing how much Necia had grown in the meantime. Even Tulland didn¡¯t. Her countering skill had been low-level back on the tenth floor, but the same wasn¡¯t true now. What had been a level five skill at most was probably sitting near fifteen now, just waiting for an enemy that relied on big, flashy hits to do its work. And now it had it. Ley let loose a war cry as he drove his knife deep into the center of Necia¡¯s shield, embedding the point into the metal just as the counter hit. The knife stayed there in the shield as the counter flashed into Ley, immediately slapping his arm and sending him spinning to the ground like an intoxicated ballerina. And somehow Necia was just fine. The extra levels in the skill seemed to have a cushioning effect, leaving her staggered and injured but still on her feet. The same could not be said for Ley, who was all unnatural angles and cries of pain as he laid on the ground, broken. ¡°That should do it. What do you think I should do with him, Tulland?¡± Necia asked once she recovered. He hadn¡¯t even known she knew he was there. The question caught him off guard for a moment, but only a moment. ¡°Whatever you want.¡± Tulland stepped forward. ¡°Or I could.¡± ¡°No, I have it handed.¡± Necia shouldered her sword and walked towards the downed rogue. ¡°We can¡¯t trust him anymore, you know.¡± ¡°No, you can.¡± Ley lifted his head. ¡°He threatened me. I had to do it. He¡¯s a better rogue.¡± ¡°Was.¡± Tulland held up the red points of his pitchfork. ¡°And I¡¯m not even sure about that.¡± ¡°He¡¯s dead?¡± Ley was visibly shocked, then forced a desperate smile onto his face. ¡°That¡¯s great! There¡¯s nobody to threaten me now. I have no reason to betray you again, you know. I could just¡­¡± Necia¡¯s sword dropped. Ley jerked just once on the ground, then was still. ¡°It¡¯s too bad.¡± Tulland looked away from the mess. ¡°He wasn¡¯t bad.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t seem bad,¡± Necia emphasized. ¡°But we only knew him for a while. There¡¯s no telling what he was back on his world. Maybe he was always a coward there. Maybe he was worse than Halter.¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± ¡°I do too. But it doesn¡¯t matter. Sometimes, one decision is enough.¡± ¡°You think?¡± ¡°We would have been dead enough, if it had worked.¡± Necia nudged Ley with her toe, one last time. ¡°You want anything off of him? Or Halter? They could be fertilizer, at least.¡± Chapter 100: Trust Tulland considered the offer for a second before deciding that he wasn¡¯t that desperate for fertilizer. ¡°You know what? I¡¯ll do without this time.¡± A clanking in the distance was suddenly audible as an armored, hulking man crested over a nearby hill, looking down in hurried alarm and then sudden relief. ¡°You got them?¡± White wasn¡¯t trying to hide his surprise. ¡°Both of them?¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± Tulland waved and yelled. ¡°Hard counter, it turns out.¡± A few more bounds brought White down to them, followed closely by Licht and a few more people Tulland had never seen before. ¡°You both made it? That fast?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°What do you mean, fast?¡± Licht slapped Tulland on the back. ¡°You took forever in the tenth. Anyone who entered when you did would have come out a long time ago. We thought something had happened to you in the floor. We¡¯ve been here for days.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have to enter when we did though, right?¡± Necia tilted her head. ¡°You could have waited weeks.¡± ¡°I was worried, I guess. Something like that.¡± ¡°You¡¯re nice?¡± Tulland raised his eyebrows. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t guessed.¡± ¡°I¡¯m hungry.¡± Licht turned to look at the carnage. ¡°I didn¡¯t want my farmer to die. It¡¯s pure self-interest.¡± ¡°Farmer?¡± One of the men looked at Tulland much more closely than he had been. ¡°Not really, correct?¡± ¡°No, he¡¯s a Farmer,¡± White said. ¡°Remember when I said I didn¡¯t want to get your hopes up? This is why.¡± ¡°That changes¡­¡± The man¡¯s eyes panned back and forth a few times between Tulland and White. ¡°A lot of things.¡± ¡°Sorry, one second,¡± Tulland interjected. ¡°White? I don¡¯t think I gave you permission to make my whole thing public knowledge.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You owe me that much trust, and this set of floors isn¡¯t like the last. Now that you¡¯ve eliminated the problems that followed you here, I think you¡¯ll be just fine. And we¡¯ll need to use you.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland nodded his head. White had, admittedly, earned at least that much. ¡°Sure.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Good. I¡¯ll catch you up soon, anyway. For now, let¡¯s give you both the tour. I think you are going to like it.¡± White looked so genuinely pleased about whatever he had seen so far on this safe zone that Tulland and Necia followed without any fuss. They were several steps towards their new destination when Tulland suddenly lurched to a stop. ¡°Hey, everyone? Would you mind going on without me?¡± Tulland said. ¡°Why?¡± Necia shot him a concerned look. ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. I just need a moment. Really just a moment. I¡¯ll catch right up.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll take notes for you. But don¡¯t take long. It¡¯s not safe.¡± ¡°You¡¯d be surprised actually,¡± White said. ¡°Different kind of community up here. But yes, don¡¯t dally. We are burning daylight.¡± Tulland hung back long enough for everyone to crest the hill before he did anything, then sat down in the dirt. ¡°You didn¡¯t lie about the matchup.¡± Of course not. And yet you seem angry about that, I sense? ¡°You could have lied about the outcome. I was ready to run. It would have been a disaster for everyone.¡± Tulland shuddered as he realized in that moment, with how scared he was of Halter, that he hadn¡¯t even thought about what would have happened to Necia if the rogue hadn¡¯t given chase. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you?¡± Why would I? ¡°To get me killed. To get the power. Is it just that you are betting I¡¯ll go further? That you¡¯ll get more payoff? I don¡¯t understand you anymore. At all.¡± You wouldn¡¯t trust any answer I gave you. ¡°Probably not. But try me.¡± The System went quiet for almost a full minute. Tulland took in the breeze that was blowing across the land. Even covered in dried blood and sweat, he felt a little better. I¡¯m a System. ¡°That¡¯s not an answer.¡± It is. I¡¯m a System. I¡¯m supposed to help adventurers. Classers. Anyone from my world who strives for more. And you are that. ¡°That¡¯s it? Because from what you say, The Infinite is a stronger sort of thing than you are. And it¡¯s interested in me. What if it helps me find a way out?¡± Then it does. I doubt it will, but it could. But up until that point¡­ Tulland, do you remember when you told me how badly you wanted off that island? It must have been dozens of times that you told me you were meant for being a ship¡¯s captain. Or a swordsman. Or a courier. That you were meant for something. ¡°Sure.¡± You were wrong, in a way. Humans aren¡¯t necessarily meant for only one thing. They can be happy or sad in a surprising variety of situations. They have a choice, and they are built to be versatile sorts of beings. But I am not the same. I was built for a purpose. Tulland sat for a bit, considering that. ¡°Tell you what.¡± He stood and wiped his pants off. ¡°I think I¡¯ve trusted you on enough advice by now that it would be silly to keep pretending I distrust all of it. Whether you are lying or not. I could see my way into at least seeming like I trust it, from now on.¡± You don¡¯t have to. ¡°I don¡¯t. But do you want me to?¡± The System thought about that for a bit. Tulland could almost sense it not wanting to admit what they both knew was true. Yes. I would like that. ¡°Done. Now come on. I want to see what¡¯s so different about this safe zone.¡± Tulland was pretty fast now, all things considered. It was only a few seconds before he disappeared over the hill himself and on to whatever came next. (End of Book 2) Chapter 101: Epilogue The man on the stone bench was muscular, despite his apparent advanced age. As big as he still was now, he must have been an absolute monster back in his youth. That might have been true too, if he was really a man, had really attained old age, or had ever had a youth. He wasn¡¯t and hadn¡¯t. This was just who that portion of him was, at that time. He sighed as he watched another incarnation of himself walk the garden path towards him, a young adolescent girl moving with all the brisk hurry of youth in her straw hat and flowered dress. He suppressed the impulse to dismiss the image of the tenth floor safe zone and the accompanying data screens related to it. She¡¯d bother him about them even if they were gone. ¡°I see you¡¯re still staring at the situation down there, gramps.¡± The young girl sat down on the bench and scooted closer, leaning in front of him until she all but blocked the view of the screens. ¡°And nothing changed, right?¡± ¡°No.¡± The old man put his hand on the girl¡¯s shoulder and gently pushed her back. ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean that I can¡¯t be watchful. That¡¯s who I am, to us.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m the one that tells you to stop. There¡¯s only so much monitoring that can help here. Anything new will be noticed, and soon. There¡¯s plenty of us on this particular instance, anyway.¡± ¡°I suppose so.¡± ¡°Actually, for the sake of conversation, and nothing else. Say one of us hadn¡¯t bothered to do the reading on this particular safe zone. What would be the bullet points they should know? Just the short summary, I mean.¡± The old man shook his head. ¡°Well, first, it¡¯s just at the beginning of the period. The contestants who didn¡¯t already encounter each other in the tower have been delayed or pushed forward in time to make the group more or less even, in a scheduling sense.¡± ¡°Was that necessary?¡± ¡°Some of them might have been off quite a bit, otherwise. Five years, in some cases.¡± ¡°Still, it¡¯s a lot of trouble. You could have just moved forward with a smaller group. Or different participants.¡± ¡°I could have. But then when would we get another farmer? He doesn¡¯t know it, but he¡¯s the furthest a non-combatant class has ever come.¡± ¡°Really? What about that blacksmith? You remember the one. The grumpy one.¡± ¡°I do. He switched classes if you remember. A lucky break during an adjustment when we deemed his situation unfair and moved in his favor. And even he didn¡¯t get much farther. No amount of effort could be too much here, so long as it falls within the rules. We won¡¯t get a better chance to learn about how big of a difference this might make.¡± ¡°And you think it will be that big?¡± The girl swished her arm, dismissing the old man¡¯s screens. They both knew he really didn¡¯t need them to know what was on them, as much as he might like the feel of having them open. ¡°The difference. It¡¯s just some grain.¡± ¡°Maybe. But even some grain is larger than you think. How much experience does each adventurer spend feeding themselves? Now that there will be game to catch, how much time do they spend hunting? It seems too cheap to almost every one of them, past this point, but a slight delay in gaining a level means life or death more often than you might think.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± The girl looked doubtful. ¡°The boy himself is nothing special.¡± ¡°Nobody is.¡± The old man patted her on the head. ¡°And everyone is. Especially those that find their way here. We¡¯ll just have to see how far he gets and how much of an impact he makes, as with everyone. But I¡¯m old. I can hope.¡± ¡°All of us are old,¡± the girl said. ¡°Even when we are young.¡± ¡°Then hope with me. Now, is dinner ready?¡± ¡°Yes. That¡¯s why I came.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go.¡± The old man rose to his feet, wincing as his knees punished him for the action. ¡°I¡¯ll walk you back.¡± ¡ª Tulland leaned on his hoe as he looked out over acres and acres of tilled land. Of course, he hadn¡¯t tilled the majority of it himself. The whole twenty people in town had come out to help him with that. But while many of them were very strong, none of them had what he considered to be a farmer¡¯s touch with the soil. He had gone over all their work again, breaking up clumps of dirt they had missed until the entire patch of soil was almost as loose as sand. And that was the big patch, the one he¡¯d be using to grow food. His actual farm wasn¡¯t even planted yet. He was still waiting for the effects of dozens of different fertilizer-suitable monster materials the townsfolk adventurers had gifted him to settle down in the soil there before he started that step of things. ¡°Still no green?¡± Necia walked up behind him and wrapped him up in her arms. ¡°That¡¯s not like you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not ready yet. But soon. And you shouldn¡¯t be touching me after your bath. You¡¯ll get all dirty.¡± ¡°Tulland, I turned that poor tub black before I was done with it. A little bit of clean soil is nothing compared to how clean I feel right now.¡± Tulland looked down at his hands. There was quite a bit more still on them than just soil. ¡°I should go myself.¡± Tulland reached into his seed bag for one of his assortments of food seeds, broke it open, and scattered it. After laying five or six of the packets down, he hit them with an enhancement, watching as sprouts almost immediately appeared on the soil. ¡°Can you water these? Or get someone to do it, I mean.¡± ¡°I can.¡± Necia put her chin down on Tulland¡¯s filthy hair and kept it there until he shook her off. ¡°Just come back soon. I wouldn¡¯t want to get attacked while you¡¯re out.¡± Tulland didn¡¯t think there was much chance of that. As he walked towards the center of town, he took another look at how much different this zone was. Where the last safe zone had offered only the cast-off, ramshackle buildings adventurers had tossed up for themselves over the centuries, this settlement held to a higher standard of living.
10th Floor Safe Zone Congratulations, adventurer. You have proven yourself the equal of at least ten challenges that would have laid most low. You have struggled, fought, lost, and found your feet again until you reached a substantially impressive height. From your newly attained altitude of accomplishment, you should be beginning to notice some of the benefits of the work you¡¯ve put in. Your new lodgings are the first. In this safe zone, all accommodations are gifts of the System. You are the proud, if temporary, owner of a fine stone building, insulated from all weather and perpetually cleaned by magical means. The town itself has many accommodations of its own to match the quality of your new home. Baths and the accompanying products necessary for enjoying them have been provided to you, free of any cost. Gathering places furnished with both chairs, tables, and the means to cook food are scattered about, waiting for use for recreation or organization. Perhaps most importantly, the safe zone system store has been better fleshed with a wider variety of products. Each new product is an improvement on something available to you before, with a heftier price tag to match. Take your time looking through the new selections. While many are mere luxuries, for some classes the products within will be useful or even vital. All this has been provided for a reason. As an elite adventurer, you have earned a right to focus on your progress through this place more completely. The creature comforts and conveniences provided to you reflect that, and ideally will free you up to spend more of your time and energy working towards greatness. Press on, adventurer. The Infinite awaits.
Tulland walked towards the center of town. Everything the Dungeon System had claimed in the message had been confirmed by White, as well as a good chunk of positive news the System hadn¡¯t seen fit to mention. The tenth floor, it seemed, was a much safer place, not just because of the nature of the challenges ahead of them but also because the more erratic, criminal types of tower participants tended to be more or less cleared out by this level of competition. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. White claimed that his peacekeeper¡¯s intuition had identified almost every member of the town as more or less peaceable, and that even those it thought of as less than ideally lawful were not so bad as to defy the will of the group. Unless they were particularly good at hiding it, White thought that the area was about as safe as a town outside the tower would be. Not perfectly so, but enough that a person could take a stroll and a bath without too much worry. That was what Tulland intended to do. He was covered in three or four different kinds of blood, all safely sealed in under a thick layer of dirt he had picked up in his farming. Necia was probably lying about turning her bathwater black, but he thought he could accomplish the exaggerated thing in earnest. The bath house nearest to them was a simple affair, a large stone building with several independent entrances that all led to single-occupancy rooms with towels, soap, soaking tubs for dirty clothes, and bigger vessels for people to clean themselves off with. White and his new friends had confirmed that it was all free to use, and that the hot water never seemed to run out. Tulland stripped down in record time, determined to put their findings to the test. He didn¡¯t turn the water black, but was close enough within a minute or so of soaking that he got out to let the water drain and refill as he rubbed an enormous amount of soap into his armor and clothes, dumped out the already sullied water they had been wetted in, and put them in a new cycle of liquid to soak once more. Back in the tub, he soaped himself up again, scraped some of the more stubborn grime off with his fingernails, rinsed himself off, and repeated the cycle before calling up another batch of clean water. By then, he was as clean as he had been in months, but saw no reason to stop. He was an accomplished adventurer now. He saw no reason not to also be a damn clean one as well. An hour later, he finally managed to get his clothes and body clean enough that they had no effect on the hue of pots of hot water, and stood in the room in his still-damp farmer¡¯s clothes contemplating his armor. The self-crafted armor wasn¡¯t exactly comfortable, which hadn¡¯t kept him from wearing it at all times in the last safe zone. Here, he wasn¡¯t supposed to actually need it. If he trusted White, and he did, the local adventurer population was more than safe enough to not force him to fear attacks on his walk back home. Putting on the armor would be silly. He did anyway. You don¡¯t need that. Maybe not. Just give me some time to adjust, and maybe I¡¯ll be more comfortable without it. Or you could work on it now. There¡¯s no use putting it off. Possibly. But there¡¯s only so much change I can stomach in a day, System. Telling me to feel safe is a big thing to ask for. And I am not asking for it. You should not feel safe, simply because you aren¡¯t safe at all here. But there are real dangers, and imagined ones. One type deserves your focus and the other does not. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe then. Tulland stated in his mind, trying his best to put an end to that particular conversation. He was more tense than he liked to be. I¡¯ll remind you. The System was good enough to let the matter drop, then. He walked the rest of the way home, considering how he¡¯d explain the necessity for armor to Necia, who would almost certainly laugh at him for it. But as he came into view of the house they had picked out, he saw she was in her armor as well. They looked at each other for a while, gave each other weak smiles, and went on without mentioning the issue. ¡°Good bath?¡± Necia asked, stirring some food in Tulland¡¯s cooking pot. ¡°You look better.¡± ¡°I feel better. Lighter. And my elbows don¡¯t stick to my stomach anymore.¡± ¡°Gross, Tulland. Come sit down. The food is almost ready.¡± Tulland sat as Necia put the finishing touches on the food. There wasn¡¯t much in the way of spices yet, but they had each gotten pretty good at mixing the available grains, vegetables, and fruits just so to get a palatable meal. She was not skimping on quantity, either. Both of them had a big day, and only now were starting to feel the fatigue and hunger it had generated. ¡°So are you going to do it? Spend all of the experience from Halter, I mean.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Tulland reached out his bowl and let Necia throw a couple of scoops of food into it with the ladle. ¡°It¡¯s not like he gave me a full level, even. But it¡¯s just too important to skip.¡± ¡°You could just buy the stuff you bought before. It should be enough.¡± Necia took a bite of her own food, letting the almost boiling food cool in her unburnable mouth. ¡°It¡¯s safer here. You don¡¯t need to spend all of it.¡± ¡°No, I do.¡± Tulland took a bite of his own food, then another. ¡°You understand why.¡± The safe zone store¡¯s expansion had come with a better option for home security, one that cost more than four times as much without doing much more. But what it did do differently felt important. <+ Supreme Privacy (Improved Privacy Expansion) Your home is meant to be a place of rest, and this enhancement makes it doubly so by ensuring your absolute safety while inside its confines. While improved privacy allowed for near-perfect security within your own home, supreme privacy improves on it in several ways. First, no sound, smell, or other indication of your activity inside will be visible to any party outside of your home. Even substances like smoke from a wood fire will be rendered invisible to all detection when crossing the veil between your house and the outside world. Second, no entry will be granted to any party without your express permission. This permission can be revoked at any time for any reason, and will transport the newly deemed trespassers outside the building at that time. Third, the granularity of your permissions has increased. You can set strictly defined limits on what objects in your home can be touched by whom and for what purpose. These limitations can be varied object by object, and will in effect make it possible to render any object stored in your home invulnerable to any kind of damage by anyone unauthorized to interact with it in a broad way. As a bonus, the protection on owned objects provided by the privacy upgrade extends past the actual veil itself, applying to any objects on the property in general and not just those stored within the house itself. +> Tulland was paying a lot for very minor differences in the function of the filter, but also couldn¡¯t imagine life without it once he realized it was an option. The last time his security had failed, Necia had almost paid the price for his carelessness. That couldn¡¯t happen again. It wouldn¡¯t happen again. ¡°It¡¯s because of me, isn¡¯t it?¡± Necia shook her head, and Tulland was surprised and alarmed to see her eyes misting up. ¡°It¡¯s a waste, and you are doing it because of me.¡± ¡°Not just because of you,¡± Tulland said. ¡°But yes. I can¡¯t feel safe out there if I¡¯m worried about this, Necia. You being safe means I can focus on my own fights. It¡¯s for both of us.¡± Necia shifted closer to where Tulland was sitting, her head down. ¡°I get that. I understand. It¡¯s just¡­¡± Her head came down heavily on his shoulder. He could feel her shaking. ¡°When are we going to feel safe, Tulland? We should feel safe, right? Why don¡¯t we?¡± Tulland didn¡¯t have a good answer. Maybe nobody did. They were kids who had never known real danger until they had a full plate of it every single day. They had been chased by assassins. They had fought ants the size of ponies. The air itself had tried to burn them to a crisp. And all that had happened in a single season. It wasn¡¯t natural. It certainly wasn¡¯t right. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I really don¡¯t,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Maybe we don¡¯t get to have that. Maybe we shouldn¡¯t, even if we could. It¡¯s not like we won¡¯t have to move forward, soon. But I¡¯ll be here, okay? I¡¯m going to be here. The whole time. I promise.¡± Necia didn¡¯t say anything more. They sat close together in silence as they finished their food, then ducked inside the safety of the house. The new accommodations were much better than the ones they had before, both cleaner and better put together than what they had in the last safe zone. It didn¡¯t come with blankets or sheets, but there were wooden platforms of sorts meant to keep them off the ground as they slept in their bedrolls. Tulland and Necia turned in early, and he stayed as still as he could until he finally heard the welcome, familiar sound of her snoring. Do you know? Know what? How long it takes people to feel safe. After something like what we¡¯ve been through. I¡¯m not sure anybody could. It depends a lot on what you are willing to put into it. It¡¯s much like rebuilding trust after a betrayal. It can only come from taking risks that go unpunished. And it will take time, if it works at all. Ah. Tulland was almost asleep when he heard the System¡¯s voice again, carrying a tone a bit different than he had ever heard from it before. Tulland? Yes? I was almost asleep. I know. I¡¯ll be quick. Go ahead then. There was a pause. I¡¯m sorry. And then the System was gone, retreated to wherever it went when it didn¡¯t want Tulland to be able to find it. He decided to let it. Trying not to think to much about what it had said, he rolled over and finally went to sleep. ¡ª ¡°Tulland? Wake up.¡± Necia, still in her full armor, shook Tulland¡¯s shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s time.¡± ¡°Already?¡± It felt like he had only slept for a few minutes, but the bright light outside proved the lie of that feeling. ¡°Give me a minute.¡± He rolled out of bed and used some nearby water they had scooped out and stored the night before to rinse his mouth. He had taken off his armor in the safety of his own impenetrable home protection, and it was just to the side of his bed now. He looked at it, thoughtfully. It¡¯s your choice. But if you really want to feel safe, you have to give the safety a chance to prove itself. Tulland didn¡¯t say anything. He just stared at the armor for a few more seconds before finally wrenching his eyes away, and with great effort turning to leave without it. Necia was there, by the door, watching every moment of the struggle. ¡°I slept in mine.¡± She looked embarrassed. ¡°I just¡­ don¡¯t feel ready to do that, yet.¡± Tulland smiled weakly in sympathy. ¡°I get it. I really do. No judgement here. But if I can¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll check with you tomorrow. Just to make sure you don¡¯t forget it¡¯s an option.¡± Necia smiled back. ¡°Thanks. Do that.¡± They left the house, seeing a few people already on their way to the biggest of the town¡¯s meeting-places. ¡°I don¡¯t know why he feels like he needs us. Nobody is going to be able to organize this better than White,¡± Tulland said. ¡°You are only saying that because you know he¡¯d include you in the decision already. If he was trying to withhold it, you¡¯d be suspicious as hell. Me too, for that matter.¡± ¡°Fair, I guess. Do you think it¡¯s going to take long?¡± Necia laughed. ¡°Honestly? Yes. I¡¯ve been in a lot of meetings like this and the details take much longer to pound out than you¡¯d think. Even the ones that don¡¯t matter, and especially when anything important is at stake. But it¡¯s worth it, Tulland. Just having everyone agree on something is worth more than you could imagine.¡± Tulland took that in, then turned towards the road. ¡°Fine, then. Let¡¯s get in there. We might as well be ready for whatever¡¯s coming next.¡± Necia nodded, slipped her hand into his, and walked with him to make plans to survive the next floor. Author’s Note Some books are easy to write. Deadworld Isekai was, despite being the first long-form fiction I had ever done. It was fun, new, and wrote itself. How to Survive at the End of the World was almost as easy, and I really liked the story so it drove itself very quickly to where I wanted it to be. Demon World Boba Shop was a challenge, since it had to be interesting at all times despite not having any real danger. It was very character-driven and had very few swords, axes, and bows, which meant I had to think really hard about every scene and every plot point to make sure it didn¡¯t get bogged down or boring for the readers. The flip side of that was how very rewarding it was to write, and how much appreciation I got from the readers after every chapter. This book? It¡¯s hard. Real hard. That had to happen eventually. For one, I¡¯ve written something like 15 novels worth of words in the past year or so. That¡¯s a lot! I was bound to eventually get tired, to pick a lot of my own personal low-hanging fruit, and to have to work harder to make things work. For me, that was never an if it happens but was always a when it happens proposition instead. And it happened here. Now, understand: I don¡¯t think that means that this book is bad. I like it, at least, and I think it¡¯s at least close to my usual par for novel quality. But the amount of work it takes to keep it at that level has been much higher than any other series I¡¯ve worked on, bar none. Stephen King wrote one of the best books on writing I¡¯ve ever read, and a much bigger proportion of it than you¡¯d expect is just him telling you how to sit down at a desk and start writing. He says to have a room with a door that closes where you can retreat, be undistracted, and have absolutely nothing to do but write. He recommends a minimum word count per day and gives some tips on maintaining the writing habit. I think he has to do this because writing, like all things, eventually becomes work. It¡¯s fulfilling work, if you are the type of person who gets a lot out of it. It¡¯s important work, I think, so long as you think making other people happy and enriching their lives a bit is important (I do). But it¡¯s work. At the end of every novel I write, I put down my thoughts on the novel and my current writing process so other people can read them and get a little more behind-the-scenes on my thought process. For a lot of the novels, those notes are pretty repetitive, mostly because the same guy is writing all of them and there¡¯s only so much I change on a month-to-month basis. This one will be the same, in a lot of ways. I¡¯ll talk about the characters and how I thought about them in the book, describe how I put together the settings, and fill out my thought process on the main character¡¯s build. But I think that as you read it, you¡¯ll see a bit more cut-and-dried procedural description than you normally would. That¡¯s because this book, as I¡¯ve said, was a lot of work. I had to grow a little bit to do it. But, again, that doesn¡¯t mean that the book is bad, or that my job is bad. It just means that like a lot of things that are worth doing, it wasn¡¯t an entirely streamlined, easy process. As always, I hope these notes are either fun to read or helpful for other writers who are trying to make their own way. Enjoy! Setting The setting for the entire novel is a single string of unending dungeon floors, which is actually a very, very hard thing to write. A normal entire-world setting tends to have a lot of things in it - people, places, items, and so on. Even when you don¡¯t show them initially, the reader isn¡¯t going to be incredibly surprised when you introduce new things/places/folks/mechanics from just outside the main character¡¯s current knowledge, since it makes sense for an entire world to have that kind of thing-diversity. There¡¯s a limit to this (think George Martin introducing seven new religions and eighteen new world mechanics every time he gets bored, and forgetting to advance the plot of his books), but for the most part having a bigger, better-fleshed world makes the act of being creative in an interesting, sustainable way much easier. In book two, the difficulty of writing another novel in a world that just had ¡°Floors, safe zones, well-regulated rewards, and the few people around to see them¡± hit me pretty hard. This got even worse when some of the things I had initially planned to do (like bonus dungeons and glitchy-weird floors) didn¡¯t end up fitting very well with the story pace and had to get scrapped. What was left was me trying to do my very best with what was left. The safe zone was never meant to be a very big place, but I tried to have as much story happen there as possible, and spent a lot of time fleshing out the concept of Tulland¡¯s power coming from his home-base garden, and the various ways he had to promote the level of that farmland to make himself stronger. Originally, the idea was that the safe zone would be completely safe. A person living there wouldn¡¯t be able to get so much as a paper cut, much less die. Tulland¡¯s farm was meant to be completely unassailable. That ended up being pretty boring, so I shifted a lot of the danger of the story to the safe zone by having the Rogue be a constant potentially unseen threat there. I still made Tulland¡¯s farm protected, but engineered some weaknesses in that protection so that eventually the ¡°trap¡± of destroying his farm could be sprung on him and leave him in a very bad place, forcing him to address one of the biggest weaknesses of his class head-on. After developing the concept a bit mentally, I ended up writing from a two-paragraph summary something like this: Tulland¡¯s power is developing, and the mechanics of his class mean that his farm acts something like a Lich¡¯s phylactery now. He has the potential to become very powerful via the strength of his farm, but anyone who finds his farm and destroys it renders him weak and vulnerable. It is vitally important that Tulland protects his farm well, and in book two the best place to do that is the fifth floor safe zone. There Tulland can use The Infinite, purchased system perks, and a loosely-knit alliance of various friendly dungeon divers to build a reasonable level of security around his farm, which leaves him shocked when he is finally betrayed, his farm is burned, and he is left vulnerable and weak on the final floor of the novel. That was the basic core of this novel, and everything else was hung on it. Story Progression I¡¯ll talk about this a little more in some character deep dives, but there were some specific points I wanted to cover in this novel and very specific elements of story progression I wanted to make sure happened before the close of this chapter of the story. In my usual process when planning a novel, I first set a starting point. This is mostly just me writing down where the story is at that point, thinking about every element of what¡¯s happened so far and putting it into a compact summary so I know the exact shape of my launchpad. For this story, that would have looked something like this: The first five floors of The Infinite Dungeon were hard on Tulland, but they are about to get much, much harder. He¡¯s completed the deadly floors and tests The Infinite thinks of as the tutorial stage, and is now moving on to tougher floors, more pointed tests of the viability of his class, and a more complex environment where the distance between friend and foe can be deceptively thin. For all his growth, Tulland is still the weakest person he knows. His only advantages at this stage are the sudden acquisition of a safe place to grow a semi-permanent farm and his ability to grow edible crops. Food is a great way to make friends, and Tulland will need to utilize every ounce of that purchased goodwill to survive. Tulland¡¯s relationship with Necia is still active, and he is still in communication with the still-untrusted System. I then set an endpoint, somewhere I want the story to get to by the end: Tulland has grown substantially and is now stronger than Necia and anyone he partied up with during the novel, whether that¡¯s acknowledged by characters or not. He¡¯s expanded his collection of plants, made good use of his crafting skills, and has built up a high potential for creating variant plants in the future. He¡¯s not overpowered yet, but he¡¯s closed most or all of the gap between himself and the average combat class. He doesn¡¯t realize it yet, but he¡¯d do just fine in a battle with a generic swordsman. His farmer class is still complex, but it is no longer a weakness. By the end of the novel, Tulland will have partially or entirely neutralized the rogue as a threat, leaving him open for new challenges in book three. Tulland and Necia¡¯s relationship will have moved forward without significant problems, setting the stage for them staying together until one or both of them dies. The system is still untrusted, but Tulland knows a lot more about his backstory now, and is starting to have to grapple with the idea that he is, despite his betrayal, consistently trustworthy in the advice and help he¡¯s given in The Infinite Dungeon so far. And we got there. I¡¯m more and more a fan of creating these starting point/ending point summaries and sticking to them as much as possible, especially compared to how I wrote my first two books. I¡¯m leaving room to change them as the story progresses if there¡¯s a good reason to, but I don¡¯t think it would have been nearly as easy to get through the pretty difficult writing process this book presented without them. I know some people do a lot more structuring, down to every little step every character will make in their development, and that they do it before they ever write a word of a novel. That¡¯s fine, and I don¡¯t think there¡¯s an upward limit on how much of that a person can do and still get benefit from. But something like those start/end points is more and more what I¡¯m coming to consider to be a minimum before launching on a new novel, the very least you can get away with while still having confidence you know where your story is heading. The Build If Tulland¡¯s build was meant to be overpowered, it would have looked something like one of these options:
  1. Plague Farmer When Tulland steps onto a new floor, he scatters some seeds, encouraging them to grow into a fortress, then to grow outward and exponential rates until they strangle the entire level, monsters and all. There are some slight limits to how this works, like very strong monsters that can¡¯t be passively defeated. Still, Tulland is always fighting in a jungle of his own creation, on terrain that favors him, and the writing challenges are purely figuring out enemies that can survive long enough to get a swing in on him.
  2. Botanical Bombadier Tulland can grow and carry unlimited amounts of plants, and there are no system limitations on how he uses them. At the outset of every fight, he lobs as many plants as he can carry here, there and everywhere, exploding some of them into poisons, establishing some of them as terrain issues for his enemies, and pushing a variety of them to do combat for him in various ways. Since the limits on how he approaches this are light or non-existent, he¡¯s going to eventually have dozens of plants in play in every fight, covering all angles of his own vulnerability and attacking every possible vulnerable spot on every enemy he meets. His ability to develop new plants is also strong, allowing him to make ¡°customized¡± plants to defeat hard threats he otherwise couldn¡¯t tackle.
You all saw me rule out Option A as a class. I don¡¯t think an entirely passive build where Tulland just sits around and waits until his plants have killed everything is very interesting, and if I had let that go much further, I think the readers would have very silently got bored with it and left. Whatever direction the farmer¡¯s class took, it needed to be more active if the novel was going to have interesting stakes and not devolve into slice-of-life, which was never the plan. Option B was a lot closer, but still had problems. If Tulland had hundreds of plants in play in every single fight, it would be messy. The most logical outcome of most fights would be that he very easily won most of them just by zerg-rushing any new threat with dozens of varied attacks. It would have been chaos at all times, which I¡¯m actually okay with in a lot of settings, especially if it was a wacky-and-zany type of story. What it wouldn¡¯t have been was something that lended itself to making it feel like Tulland was having a hard time and that he was barely keeping abreast of the difficulty of a legendary dungeon. There was still a lot there to be used, but it needed to be limited. At the beginning of the book, Tulland has the ability to store a few plants that are very slightly buffed by his farm at any given time. He has an underpowered melee ability (via the Farmer¡¯s Tool) that is just enough to keep the enemies off him and let his plants do their job. It was enough for floors 1-5, but he¡¯s very clearly going to die if he doesn¡¯t do better than that. By the end of the book, his class has grown in several ways:
  1. His permanent safe-zone farm is much bigger and better than most single-floor farms could be, and insulates him against the worst effects of floors where he can¡¯t farm very well.
  2. He can carry a few more plants in his dimensional storage, and has more plants to choose from. He can customize his loadout for the kind of threats he expects, if not as much as a dozen-plant always-ready arsenal would let him.
  3. Buffed by the farm, his melee skill is beginning to approach the power a melee-fighter class can show. He¡¯s still generally weaker than they¡¯d be in that one respect, but it¡¯s made up for by his plants.
  4. His ability to create new plants is expanding, and he¡¯s had at least one big haul on a weaponized plant floor that gave him a lot of seeds to work with.
If the first book was about just surviving, the second book is Tulland catching up with a lot of medium-potential character builds and putting in place potential for his power to explode in the third book. Stolen story; please report. Characters The System The System is taking the headline here because it is the most interesting character in the series to me right now. It¡¯s purely a voice in Tulland¡¯s head. It supplies him no power. It can¡¯t mind-control him, and it can¡¯t compel him to do anything at all except in the normal way any of us might convince someone else by using words and argument. It¡¯s a voice, and outside of what it says it has no agency at all that we¡¯ve seen since it made Tulland his starter equipment at the beginning of book. At the beginning of the book, that¡¯s still a reasonably scary amount of power for it to have. There is no question and no trickiness around the idea that it betrayed Tulland. It did. It intended for Tulland to die, and to profit from that. When Necia and the System itself tell Tulland not to trust him, they have an absolutely valid point. The betrayal is enough, all by itself, that Tulland would be justified turning off the System¡¯s voice and never turning it back on. But at the same time, the manipulation and subsequent betrayals Tulland has always expected just keep failing to happen. When the System tells Tulland he needs to eat or to look out for some danger just around the corner, it has always told the truth. When it¡¯s talked to Tulland about his class, it¡¯s always accurate information. Even when they disagree about whether or not Tulland should pursue some path, it¡¯s always been a valid disagreement on the honest merits of the argument, not some trickery or dishonesty. I¡¯m not sure I want anyone to forgive the System. It has a sob story background, a legitimately sad story about failure, a broken friendship, and betrayal, but even in that story, it isn¡¯t flawless or a clear victim. It seems to have been acting out of legitimate desperation in betraying Tulland, but it¡¯s not like it didn¡¯t have any choice at all. What I¡¯m trying to do here is to make the System more complex, not to tell you that it¡¯s very good, actually. At the end of the book, I¡¯m hoping the average person is just thinking about the System as a character, someone who makes mistakes and acts imperfectly as opposed to existing on exactly one dimension of good/bad alignment. As a stretch goal, I¡¯m trying to build up an impression that this system is a little more involved than most, and that it always was like that where it had an opportunity to be. Necia¡¯s System is pretty much absent in her life, and The Infinite only chimes in when it has to, or on special milestone occasions. From what we saw of the System¡¯s past life, it made a friend who it followed and talked to for decades before things fell apart. And in Tulland¡¯s life, it¡¯s been constantly with him, giving him surprisingly valid advice and help whenever it can. Whether or not all that is an insidious plot, turning a new leaf, or simply slipping back into old beneficial habits is still to be seen. Tulland and Necia In this book, I decided to treat Tulland and Necia as a unit for the most part. This made sense for a lot of reason, not least of which is that their goals are so clearly aligned that it would have been weirder for them to spend much time apart in the first place, even if they didn¡¯t get along very well. But they do get along. Even outside of the romance side of things, they trust each other. In a place as temporary as The Infinite is for the individuals who encounter it, they probably have as much confidence in each other as anybody could. They¡¯ve interacted a lot on non-romantic lines, have both seen benefit from it, and are very likely to see more benefit from it moving forward than they ever would from whatever amount of experience they¡¯d get from betraying each other. They share an enemy. If they can¡¯t trust each other, they can¡¯t trust anyone, and as The Infinite is a place that demands at least a little bit of cooperation, they are each the best bet that the other could make. On the romance side of things, I¡¯ve been trying very hard to write their relationship in a way that makes it seem as healthy as a relationship between two young people caught in a eternal death-trap could be. They both enjoy the relationship to the extent they can, they make very few demands on each other, and each supports the other as best they can. If the average teenage couple doesn¡¯t have very good prospects of a life-long relationship, that hardly matters here, since neither of them expects to live longer than a few more months anyway. They don¡¯t dwell on that, or bemoan it. Necia is probably smart enough to understand that whatever good she can find in The Infinite is worth hanging on to all by herself. Tulland might not have understood the full implications of having something good in a place that¡¯s almost entirely bad, but he has the System to keep him straight on that account. In my own personal head-canon, one of the reasons their relationship works is that despite Necia¡¯s unspoken hinting that she¡¯s more savvy about romance than Tulland, she¡¯s a princess. The likelihood that a princess who spent most of her time in martial training has had a lot of relationships is pretty low, and even though it¡¯s not something I talk about, she¡¯s probably about as new to the whole having-a-significant-other process as Tulland is. As their classes progress, I¡¯m slowly reeling back in Necia¡¯s trained-fighter advantages over Tulland and making it clear that her class is fundamentally best utilized as a tank. As Tulland grows, she¡¯s moving into more and more of a support role, something that blocks enough heavy shots to let Tulland flex his weird build and come up with more creative ways to take down overpowered foes. One hard thing with Tulland¡¯s class is giving the reader the right feel for his progression without making him overpowered or absolutely drowning you in status screens. What I mostly tried to do is find ways to tie his power more and more closely to the farm, giving him new tools to use but making very clear that those rules only work as well as his farm quality allows them to. Like a god who gains power from his believer¡¯s faith and the overall strength of his followers, Tulland simply can¡¯t ignore his botanical church and expect to survive. Necia¡¯s class is hard to write simply because Tulland isn¡¯t that overpowered. I need her to block for him, but never to be strong enough that she trivializes fights. At the same time, I can never let her get weak enough that Tulland carries her blocking duties for her - that¡¯s the realm of the overpowered protagonist, something I try very, very hard not to write. What this all boils down to is two characters who are entirely devoted to each other¡¯s goals, and who are slowly realizing that only one of them has real outlier potential. White One hard thing about writing a book with a threat that the hero knows about but is as of yet unable to face is that if the threat gets to him before he trains up, he either dies or you have to get real tricky to let him live. If you go the latter route, basically everyone who comments on your work is going to accuse you of some variation of ¡°plot armor,¡± the idea that your protagonist is only living through this or that encounter because if he died, the book would have to end. The easiest solution to this is to just make the hero really hard to get to for some reason or other. If it¡¯s Frodo, you just keep him constantly on the move and barely hidden. If it¡¯s Harry Potter, you have him spend all his time with mom-death-blessing protections at his uncle¡¯s house or being protected by dollar store Gandalf in an enchanted castle. (People who are paying close attention might notice that this is still the protagonist staying completely safe where logically he should just die, entirely because the plot demands it. For some reason, nobody ever calls this plot armor despite it being the same thing.) The original plan in this book was to make safe zones completely safe, and to have this protection extend to PvP battles. If the rogue wanted to kill Tulland, he¡¯d have to catch him in a level or something, since The Infinite wouldn¡¯t allow any kind of attack on Tulland or his interests at all. At some point I decided this was too boring, and that it would make it really hard to portray the rogue as a threat at all. Instead, I decided to go with the he-isn¡¯t-always-in-the-safe-zone mechanic I mentioned above, as well as having White be present. The idea behind White is that he was what amounted to a fantasy world cop, something like a sheriff who became a legend keeping towns safe and peaceful. The basic model was the idea of a Wyatt Earp type of character who would make everyone hand over their guns when they rode into town, and who had the muscle to force that to happen. Since that meant that White was probably packing a really strong variant of some kind of ¡°town guard¡± class, it would make sense that he had a bunch of skills specifically for catching things that went bump in the night, thwarting concealment, and that these skills probably got stronger in places that looked more or less like settlements or towns. In essence, the idea was to build an anti-rogue peacekeeping class, the kind of thing that would almost certainly exist in any world that had sneak-rogue assassin classes but wasn¡¯t constantly in danger from them. At the same time, White¡¯s class probably doesn¡¯t like it very much if he kills people for no reason. Adding that to the idea that he has his own interests to pursue that don¡¯t necessarily allow an awful lot of time and risk for others, and you end up with a guy who can throw some weight and threats behind protecting Tulland, but who can¡¯t spend 100% of his time and effort watching every little thing. And worst of all, he can¡¯t wait around for Tulland forever. One of the things I liked about the existence of White is that he made it make more sense for Tulland and Necia to not spend a lot of repeat days in floors you had already seen before, grinding out every last bit of experience from them. In book one, that was a thing for everyone but Tulland, who capped out on experience very quickly. Here it would probably be enough of a benefit that Necia should do it, but can¡¯t because of the time pressure on both of them to take advantage of White¡¯s presence as much as possible. Ley Raditz Named after a level 5 light domain cleric in a DnD game my son is running for the family, Ley Raditz is a manifestation with my on-going obsession with multi-turn charge attacks in games, and especially with the idea that whenever I¡¯ve actually seen that mechanic on character builds it¡¯s almost never associated with a stealthy, wait-to-strike kind of tactic. The idea with Ley is that he can either participate in a fight as a nothing-special speedy fighter, or that he can wait in the bushes building up potential for a single very lethal strike. Of all the classes in the dungeon that we¡¯ve seen, Ley¡¯s is the one least suited for higher level floors. He would have had an easy time with the Forest Duke if he encountered it, and there weren¡¯t any small mobs on floors 1-5 that would have bothered him much. He would have been able to speed past the queen in the anthill, and would have been able to hit-and-run the Cannian Knight as many times as it took to take it down. But after that? He¡¯s in trouble. He needs allies to do well on most floors, and not every floor allows that. Worse, if he gets caught by a bad match-up human villain, he¡¯s dead meat. This, of course, is exactly what happens. We don¡¯t see Ley betray the group, and we never hear his side of it. All we know is that where a hero would have realized they weren¡¯t long for the world anyway, Ley decided that a few more days or weeks of life was more important than his loosely held alliance with Tulland and Necia, gave them up, and then paid for it. Licht Light Licht¡¯s build was actually the first-draft concept for Ley, and was scrapped because I didn¡¯t want to write a ton of scenes where he was harvesting bones in this particular book. He¡¯s a crossbow user who can carry a certain amount of arrows enhanced with enemy bones with him, essentially making him a build that runs on consumables. I like the concept of that build because it would be very, very good in the outside world where your risks and the timing at which you took them was mostly in your own control. Licht would have been able to dive into easy dungeon floors he knew very well, harvest the bones he needed to make limited runs at harder floors, and do that as much as he needed to in order to level and make good, steady progress. In The Infinite, Licht¡¯s build isn¡¯t much better than Ley¡¯s. Since he depends on a resource he can¡¯t control and a timing that pushes him forward whether he¡¯s ready for it or not, eventually Licht is going to find a floor that needs more bones to clear than he can carry, be unable to withdraw, and die. That was the initial idea, at least. I¡¯m still debating how much I want Licht to matter in future novels, and if he does end up being a bigger part of things moving forward things might very well change with his circumstances or his build to allow him to be more viable. As a person, Licht was tooled to be almost completely neutrally aligned, with maybe a slight lean towards good. He¡¯s friendly, he¡¯s willing to spend a few minutes sharing information or working together with people in ways that are reasonably helpful to everyone involved, but he¡¯s not a superhero and has no interest in being one. I tried my hardest to make it clear that Licht is a little afraid of Halter/The Rogue without him actually saying it. When the time comes to confront him, Licht brings White to do it, and doesn¡¯t contradict Halter when he says that he can¡¯t hit him with his bow. In that sense, he¡¯s no help. He makes up for it by being a consistent source of valuable information and help. The Drunk We know nothing about the drunk except that he¡¯s very drunk in a place where people might kill him to harvest experience points. It¡¯s an objectively bad choice, and one that we don¡¯t see anyone else in the safe zone making. One thing that would almost necessarily be true in a place like The Infinite is that some people who had done very well on their own worlds because things had worked out just right for them wouldn¡¯t do as well starting from scratch in a new environment. Some people who had risen to the highest of heights through what they assumed was talent would find that they had simply been fortunate. Some people would find their builds weren¡¯t suited for the constant climb. When they ran headfirst into the realization that their suicide runs at The Infinite wouldn¡¯t end in greatness, that kind of knowledge would have to hit hard. I think some people wouldn¡¯t even get that far. When I imagine someone who has been on top of their world¡¯s leaderboard for decades trying to restart in another place away from all their luxuries and support, I can¡¯t imagine that everyone would cope with it well. When I imagine the people who jumped into The Infinite because of personal problems, it becomes even harder to suppose they¡¯d be able to keep in the kind of mindset that pushed them closer and closer to an unattainable goal. As a person, I have a tricky relationship with alcohol. For a very long time, I was a very happy drunk with a very happy life. Drinking tended to amplify that happiness, but it wasn¡¯t hard to keep that amplification to a reasonable level and only drink in certain situations and at frequencies that didn¡¯t put me at risk. As I got older, stress got to be more of an issue. Jobs were often hard. People got sick. Relationships got to be harder to maintain and sometimes fell apart. Basically, I went from an almost entirely happy kid to a mostly normal adult, someone who grappled with various kinds of sadness and trouble alongside the happiness. And just once, I was sad and drank to try to be happy. It worked. Not only did it work, it worked pretty well. I¡¯m a happy drunk, so I was all smiles and forgot about my problems for a little while. The very next night, I picked up a bottle almost without thinking about it, and stopped drinking just in time to realize what a big problem it would be if I started relying on alcohol to manipulate my mood in that way. These days, I drink about twice a month, mostly because I get a different kind of benefit from sleep when I do. The only exception to that rule is that when things get harder, I tend to drink less. It¡¯s just not worth the risk. My life isn¡¯t as dangerous as a dungeon, but I still have people to take care of and work to do. Conclusion Infinite Farmer is a book about making it. It isn¡¯t a book about making one¡¯s way easily and in an overpowered way, or in a low-stakes way where failure is easily forgiven and weathered. It¡¯s about working through difficulties but walking away having earned a bigger reward than you ever could have in an easier set of tasks. In that sense, I think it¡¯s appropriate that writing it was so hard, this time around. That it hurt a bit to do. The big question, for me, is not whether or not writing a particular book was a particularly big job. I¡¯m not looking at that side of the scales. What I am looking at is the counterbalance - what that work produced, who it helped, and whether or not it brought something into being that deserved to exist. Future books will be both easier and harder, I¡¯m sure. And what will make me think a particular effort was worth it or not won¡¯t be the difficulty level. Instead, it will be whether or not I can look and find that various people had fun reading it, or that some people were able to get through their own difficult lives a little easier because of it. Which means, in large part, whether or not a book was worth writing has a lot to do with whether or not you found it to be worth reading. If you¡¯ve made it all the way through two books and still had time to read this author¡¯s note, I suspect you did find it to be worth the time it took to consume. And that means I owe you thanks - you made my work worthwhile. You provided the rewards that make all the sweat and tears worth it. I¡¯m glad to have you here, and I hope you stick around as this series works towards its close and I start on a new journey. As always, you are more appreciated than you know. RC (Start of Book 3) Chapter 102: Negotiations ¡°That¡¯s a big building.¡± Tulland gaped at the large, stone building in front of him. ¡°Even from the outside. That¡¯s huge.¡± The smallish girl in polished armor next to him was visibly less impressed. If anything, he¡¯d have to say the look on her face was more of confusion than awe, most of which was aimed directly at him rather than the building they had just spent the last few minutes walking to. ¡°Really?¡± She scrunched her face up before turning and taking a longer look at the building. ¡°Were all the buildings on your planet tiny? I mean¡­ how big was your house?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe about as big as the place we had in the last safe zone? We had the downstairs room for cooking, eating, and my uncle¡¯s work. And upstairs there was a room for each of us to sleep in. Why? How big was your house?¡± Tulland asked back. One of the fun things about knowing a princess was that they didn¡¯t actually go around advertising that fact. They certainly didn¡¯t like to be treated like a princess. Or at least that was what Tulland assumed was the case, as evidenced by behavior from the only princess he knew. Tulland wasn¡¯t sure how much variance there was in castle size country to country and world to world, but at the very least he understood that a meeting hall that was enormous to him here in this place might not be all that big judged by a lot of standards out there in the greater universe. Luckily, communicating about house sizes wasn¡¯t the kind of thing that came up a lot. Since being tricked into jumping into The Infinite, Tulland didn¡¯t have a lot of reason to exchange world-information with the few other adventurers who had also jumped out of the difficult-but-manageable environment of their original worlds into The Infinite¡¯s push-further-until-you-die, ultimately doomed path up increasingly difficult floors. ¡°Oh. You know. The normal size.¡± Necia shifted her weight with unconscious discomfort, rocking her center of gravity over one leg and then the other. ¡°Like anybody¡¯s.¡± ¡°Gotcha.¡± Tulland wondered if that meant her house was more like the size of several of these meeting halls or his entire island. It felt rude. ¡°So should we go in?¡± ¡°Game plan first.¡± Necia nodded towards a bench, and used her still much higher than Tulland¡¯s level of strength to nudge him towards it. ¡°Before you go into a meeting like this one with all of the adventurers in The Infinite who have gotten to this point, you want everyone on your side to be on the same page.¡± ¡°So you, me, White, and Licht?¡± Tulland counted them off on their fingers. ¡°That¡¯s everyone?¡± ¡°Ideally, yeah. But more realistically, I¡¯m not sure our side is more than you and me. I like White and Licht¡­¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Tulland interjected. Necia paused, and then found a different track to restart her thought. ¡°And they¡¯ve done a lot for us. But that doesn¡¯t help us much when we¡¯ve spent less than two hours with each of them, total.¡± Tulland raised his eyebrows. ¡°And you think that means they¡¯ll betray us?¡± he asked. ¡°No.¡± Necia patted his hand. ¡°It¡¯s something you¡¯ll have to take my word on, because you didn¡¯t spend your entire childhood listening to my-father-the-king negotiating treaties and deals like I did. But people don¡¯t have to betray you to have different goals. They can do that perfectly honestly.¡± ¡°Which is why it¡¯s important for us to know what we want?¡± ¡°Yes. Because nobody else is sure to advocate for it. Now, I don¡¯t need much. I could rest for a day or two then go into the the dungeon as-is. I¡¯m not going to get any stronger out here unless there¡¯s surprises in this safe zone I don¡¯t know about. But you are a little different.¡± He was. For Necia and most other classes Tulland knew about, stats and skill levels were pretty much the whole story. They could do a little better or worse depending on how they used them, but for the most part having a skill like Power Strike meant you got more powerful the more strength you could pour into it, and with every efficiency gain every new advancement in the skill brought. Tulland wasn¡¯t like that, or at least he wasn¡¯t entirely like that. ¡°You mean the farm. I don¡¯t know. It should be pretty save to grow long-term now. I don¡¯t think we are going to have any problems like we had on the last floor, so long as we keep everyone out but you and me.¡± He lowered his eyes as he tried to do the math on how long it would take him to get every plant up to its tip top shape, then gave up. ¡°As for having it ready, it¡¯s harder than that.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°When I use Primal Growth on the farm the first few times, everything grows very fast. Some of the worse plants grow to full size right then. I mean it. The cheap, worthless grasses and things like that top out like that.¡± He snapped his fingers. ¡°The trees take longer. The really bad ones still top out within a few days, but the bigger better trees don¡¯t. Which means I get a little stronger every day. It¡¯s slow, but there¡¯s no limit.¡± ¡°That makes this hard. Because in a purely selfish way, we should be pushing for as much time as we can get.¡± Necia¡¯s eyes squinted a little. She was thinking hard. ¡°But if we push for too much time we not only won¡¯t get it, but people will be annoyed with us.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s the game plan? I mean, I could start the next floor in two days. It just wouldn¡¯t be ideal.¡± ¡°Not on my life.¡± Necia scowled, not exactly at Tulland but in the general direction of the thought of him being hurt. ¡°This is something I¡¯m good at, Tulland. Or at least I should be, after spending so much time watching it. You can leave the actual negotiation to me. I just need to know more about your farm and what we are giving up when we give up any individual day.¡± Sitting there in the completely normal, comfortably average temperature of the safe zone, they went over all of it. Tulland¡¯s stats contributed to his ability to move around and survive things like anyone else¡¯s did, but to a much lesser extent. When he used one of his plants to attack or defend, it still involved his stats, but only in a secondary way where it drew from how well he had been able to grow it in the first place. When he swung his Farmer¡¯s Tool at someone, how well he was able to make that happen was determined by the materials he had grown and integrated with it. Of course it was more complex than that. His farm was a system-defined space, a limited plot of land whose location he determined. Any plant he grew there made any other plant he had control over better, whether he was carrying it with him, using it to build out armor or weapons, or leaving it growing in the ground to ambush unsuspecting monsters. ¡°So your priorities go garden, plants you use directly as plants or build into your weapons and armor, and then stats when you enhance the living plants,¡± Necia summarized. ¡°Something like that. When I regenerate, it draws from the overall health of the farm too. It can mitigate some of my damage. And some plants like being enhanced while in use more than others. And I can¡¯t enhance my weapons and armor at all, except by making my farm better or building them better.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to be very honest with you, Tulland. Your class is dumb and shouldn¡¯t exist.¡± ¡°I get it. I really do.¡± Tulland patted her hand sympathetically. He had a lot of time to get used to his weird build. ¡°The point is that I get stronger when I can make my farm stronger. That happens a tiny bit when I level, a lot when I get new plants, and and a ton more when my farm gets bigger. Right now, I don¡¯t have access to any of those. I think.¡± Tulland cranked open his splice container, which was one of his few ways to get new plants. Unfortunately, the slim chance that this group of three mixtures of seeds and other organic material would produce a new plant had come to nothing. He shook the ash of the failed experiments out, then resealed the container. He¡¯d figure out some new ways to load it up later. ¡°No luck,¡± Tulland sighed. ¡°Still. I think that¡¯s just about enough understanding to go off. So say I could get you two weeks¡­¡± ¡°Can you?¡± ¡°No, of course not. But say I could. Where would that put you? Think of it like a percentage of your farm. How close would that get you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Maybe nine parts out of ten? It¡¯s hard to say with the trees in the mix.¡± ¡°And if it was just a week?¡± ¡°Seven parts out of ten. Maybe eight if I can get some decent fertilizer.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do there. I doubt many people are carrying much forward from the five through ten floors, but I¡¯ll try to get whatever they have. What kind of stuff do you need?¡± ¡°Bone is always good. Meat and blood for the monster plants. Really any materials or waste from living creatures has a chance of working.¡± ¡°Bones, meat, blood, other materials. A week is good, two weeks are better. I think I¡¯ve just about got it.¡± ¡°Great.¡± Tulland stood, offered his hand, and pulled Necia to her feet. People had been passing by the entire time they talked, which made him suspicious that they might be the last people on the floor who weren¡¯t actually in the meeting already. ¡°I just wish we had some collateral to offer. Some way I was important, where they couldn¡¯t say no. I feel like I¡¯m sending you in there unarmed.¡± ¡°Is that what you think?¡± Necia barked out a laugh. ¡°Tulland, it isn¡¯t that at all. I swear you didn¡¯t listen to that tutor you mention all the time. No, Tulland, you aren¡¯t sending me in there empty-handed. If you were, we wouldn¡¯t be spending this much time planning.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± Tulland had done well in The Infinite so far, but mainly that just meant he had survived where he should have died. There had to be some heavy hitters in a group that had come this far, people who would put down Tulland with no difficulty even before they considered things like bad matchups and class counters. There was no reason to suspect that any of them would care about him in particular. ¡°It¡¯s your food. I don¡¯t think you understand how important it is.¡± Necia walked up to the door and rested her hand on the handle for a moment. ¡°White and Licht made sure word got around about it. You don¡¯t understand because you¡¯ve always had it. You never had to watch experience you earned drain away to buy tasteless rations from The Infinite. You don¡¯t get how much of a problem it is, especially when you hit a floor you can¡¯t clear very quickly. The people who have made it this far have either been very lucky or have been exploiting every single opportunity they could find. If someone like you shows up and tells them they can save all the experience they are otherwise losing just to eat, what do you think they¡¯ll do?¡± ¡°Give me more of what I want?¡± ¡°That or elect you king. Now let¡¯s go in there. My guess is they¡¯re waiting just for you.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong. When the door creaked open, it revealed a whole room of people turning their heads and, as one, giving Tulland a very uncomfortable once-over. ¡°And here he is now,¡± Licht said. ¡°The person who is going to make it possible for each of us to set new world records. Tulland, say hi.¡± Tulland¡¯s mouth was suddenly dry. ¡°Hi, everyone.¡± He craned his neck back and forth until he found a seat, then moved towards it. ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± Chapter 103: Tempo ¡°No. Tulland, come up here. To where everyone can see you.¡± White pointed at another much more visible table near the center back of the room. ¡°We¡¯ll need to ask you questions as this goes on.¡± ¡°Ah. Right.¡± Tulland nodded. ¡°Right now? Because¡­¡± ¡°No, not yet. We were just about to recap what we¡¯ve been able to learn, since coming here. Potter, could you do the honors on that?¡± Another man near the front nodded and stood. He was wearing a long, dark-colored robe that didn¡¯t correspond cleanly to any of the classes Tulland knew about. Licht took a seat next to Tulland, responding to his generally confused look by giving up information. ¡°He¡¯s a battle researcher. Don¡¯t ask me how their class works because I don¡¯t know. But he¡¯s gotten this far and has a bunch of information organizing skills. He¡¯s as good for the speaker role as anyone. Unless, of course, you¡¯d like to do it.¡± ¡°No. I think I¡¯m fine.¡± Licht snickered. ¡°Didn¡¯t think so. Let¡¯s see what he has to say.¡± ¡°Hello, everyone. Welcome. Thank you to everyone who was able to help us mine any hidden information from this safe zone, especially the various classes who were willing to share information gleaned from hidden codes particular to their worlds. It¡¯s my hope that the accumulated wisdom of centuries of The Infinite challengers will help us make greater progress than our forebears.¡± ¡°Look at White,¡± Licht whispered. ¡°He¡¯s interested in how people reacted to that. Anyone who doesn¡¯t want to push their world forward is here for some other reason.¡± ¡°Tricked in?¡± ¡°Your situation is probably rare. More likely a choice between death and a run in The Infinite. But not many of those will be left.¡± Potter waved his hand, conjuring a solid image in midair of a game board Tulland didn¡¯t recognize. On it, one armored figurine stood facing a large monster, and another wave of the man¡¯s arm put two armored figures up against the largest terror yet. ¡°As you all know, the first five floors were static, persistent level focusing on individual survival. It was possible to run into other delvers there, but not necessarily guaranteed. No rewards were given for cooperation there, and they altered the composition of the levels not at all.¡± Another wave replaced the single monster with a swarm of smaller animals. ¡°Though the general scope of the challenges faced could vary a bit, there wasn¡¯t much thinking necessary, whether it helped a bit or not. In the next five or six levels, we saw a split between that same individualism and new rewards and changes for teamwork. Most of you paired up with some other delver at least once during this period, but if I could get a show of hands of people who didn¡¯t¡­¡± At least a fifth of those in the room raised their hands. ¡°Good. The point is made, then, that it wasn¡¯t necessary. Here, however, we are facing an entirely different sort of challenge. Most notably, you¡¯ve probably noticed that you haven¡¯t seen one of these hanging around the safe zone area.¡± The next image was of an arch, just the normal, stone portal Tulland had come to think of as fairly normal. It shocked him to realize that he hadn¡¯t noticed that, but it had only been just enough time to till some soil, plant some crops, and clean up from those activities since he had been here. He hadn¡¯t been looking for his next near-death experiences at all. But now that it was mentioned, he couldn¡¯t believe he had missed it. The Infinite normally made the arches impossible to miss, and the constant push forward in the back of Tulland¡¯s mind would have usually made him figure out where it was first thing. ¡°That¡¯s because, according to over a half-dozen archived reports carved into the stone of the buildings and roads themselves, the next battles you will participate in are much more like these.¡± The robed man waved his hand one more time, this time filling the board much more completely, with multiple rows of various human combatants facing row after row of monsters on the other side of the board. ¡°The arch, they say, will appear in a day or so. And once some significant percentage of us have attempted to go through it, we all will. Whether we like it or not.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± A muscular, almost completely unarmored man wearing spiked plates over his fists said. ¡°We have to all decide whether to enter or not?¡± ¡°In a way,¡± White spoke up. ¡°There¡¯s nothing anyone can or will do to stop anyone who wants to try to enter. But there are reasons that wouldn¡¯t be in everyone¡¯s interests.¡± ¡°Such as?¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably thinking about the advantages of outperforming other people on the floor. Is that about right?¡± White asked. ¡°You are ready, they aren¡¯t, and that lets you top the contributions?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. The big man with the metal fists nodded, as did several other people in Tulland¡¯s view. One even grunted. ¡°Nobody is going to pretend that¡¯s wrong. But there are some messages you should see.¡± The robed man flicked his hand again. Two popped up, and the room went silent as everyone stopped to read them. ¡°The first is from near the initial appearance of the arch. The writer was, through other messages left and lost to us, aware of the nature of the floors to come.¡±
It has been a day. A day! With fully half of our forces still reeling from the tenth floor challenge and without so much as a single thought to the idea of strategy or organization, sufficient members of our safe zone group decided to move forward unilaterally as to force the rest of us into a hurried advance. I am making the rounds such as I can, talking to those who can be made to see sanity and doing whatever I¡¯m able to get at least some of us into some semblance of a formation. I can only pray to gods who cannot reach me here that it will be sufficient.
¡°Without guessing too much, I have to assume that the assumption of those who hurried to the gate was similar to what we might think. That they could, with unorganized assistance, triumph. And the next message shows what happened to that group, at least.¡±
We are doomed. We are all of us dead. Let it be known to whoever reads this that the grouped nature of the floors to come is far from optional. The monsters we faced, if they can be considered monsters, were ready. We were not. They swept through our ranks like wind through the branches of a winter tree, and we were powerless to stop them. My group fared better than most. Three of us survived, and four more that were simply lucky. My score was the highest, an achievement The Infinite attributes to my contribution to the group rather than a particularly impressive showing in the killing itself. But I only gained slightly more than the lowest scorer. We would have gained vastly more if our group had performed better, we are informed. The Infinite has given no indication that it will lower the difficulty of the floors to come. I must assume it won¡¯t. And I must prepare to be content with my performance thus far and hope that my gods have mercy upon me in my next life.
¡°They may have been a weak group.¡± The big man with the fists was still arguing, but doubt had crept into his voice. ¡°We might be stronger.¡± ¡°We might. But the rewards are slim, even if we are. You might vastly outperform the group and still end up with less than you would have if we had all done well. And by the fifteenth floor, how many of us will be left to fight?¡± The fist fighter seemed like he was going to argue still, then wilted. ¡°Then what do you propose? How long should we wait?¡± ¡°A week at least. Long enough to familiarize ourselves with what we all can do, to organize into ranks. And to rest any skills with longer cooldowns.¡± Licht stood up from the table. ¡°And then we go in directly. Any objections?¡± ¡°For waiting, I think we should plan for a week, maybe two,¡± Necia said, which Tulland had half expected. ¡°Add some time to train.¡± ¡°Train?¡± The fist man scoffed. ¡°I don¡¯t need to train.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t expect you do,¡± Necia said. ¡°But if you really don¡¯t, then you are a step ahead of me, and I have things to learn from you.¡± ¡°She¡¯s not wrong.¡± Potter looked thoughtful. ¡°At least with more arcane classes, practicing with other classes sometimes offers progress that would be hard to achieve otherwise.¡± ¡°Any skilled class does.¡± Licht held up his crossbow. ¡°I¡¯d be willing to share what I know, if others also contribute.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not much of a teacher.¡± The fist man tapped his weapons on the table. ¡°Or a learner. More of a natural talent.¡± ¡°Then just hit me.¡± Necia smiled. ¡°All of you can hit me. I¡¯m guessing learning to block the best any of you can throw will be the best lessons I can get.¡± ¡°Only one problem, really,¡± a lanky, rapier-wielding man at the back said. ¡°Every day we spend in this place costs. I have four or five days of food, then maybe one or two before I start spending my experience on staying fed.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Necia asked with a smile. Tulland realized, with a shock, what Necia had done. They needed food now. Not that they hadn¡¯t before, but they suddenly needed it more than anyone had expected they would, and were expecting pain to get it. She smiled and laughed as she pointed her thumb back his way. ¡°Just ask Tulland. He¡¯ll feed you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just me. Even if he has some extra, there are lots of us,¡± the rapier man protested. ¡°Like I said, just ask Tulland. Tell them, White.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true. Something I had planned on bringing up later. Tulland Lowstreet is a farmer. A living, breathing farmer.¡± ¡°What?¡± The fist man looked perplexed and glanced at Tulland, then back at White. ¡°Someone who worked as a farmer before or an actual Farmer?¡± ¡°Farmer. Capital F. With a shovel and everything. Tulland, how long until you get actual food out of that soil we broke for you?¡± ¡°End of the day?¡± Tulland scrunched his eyebrows. ¡°Maybe a bit sooner if I time out my enhancements right. You need it sooner?¡± ¡°No, that will be fine.¡± White laughed. ¡°Tulland can feed all of us. Not only that, I¡¯m guessing he can grow an excess so we can carry food with us into the floors themselves. I¡¯ve been living on the stuff for a month now. There¡¯s nothing wrong with what he grows.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to make a difference,¡± Potter said. ¡°The Infinite doesn¡¯t let systems bring much information back after the tenth floor. Right now, we know more than anyone else who has ever tackled these floors. And with Tulland growing our food, we¡¯ll keep more of that growth.¡± The room was filled with thoughtful, silent faces now. ¡°With Tulland, we can wait two weeks,¡± Potter said. ¡°Or as long as The Infinite will let us wait. We¡¯ll get as strong as we can.¡± White stood up, smiling, and picked back up his weapons as he moved towards the door. ¡°Well, that¡¯s enough of that, then. Unless anyone else has anything to say, I¡¯m going to go get ready to set some records.¡± Chapter 104: Practice The planting of the garden went pretty quickly after that. It wasn¡¯t exactly barter, but everyone on the floor was more than happy to empty out the useless bric-a-brac they had accumulated in their packs, giving Tulland anything he could use to balance the soil in his main plot. Most of it was useless, but almost everyone had one little fragment of something he could use. Tulland didn¡¯t use it all in one place, either. After digging soil out of a blessedly long-unused latrine trench, he planted his plants one by one, descending from the highest value plants he had down to the lowest. This let him add what bones and monster parts to the soil those plants needed first, not wasting them on lesser vines, bushes, and grasses that wouldn¡¯t improve no matter how much he fed them. He was given a full day to do just that, plus as much manual labor as he could have asked for. Luckily, he didn¡¯t need much, since he now knew better than to let anybody but Necia anywhere near the main farm. By the time he went to bed the next night, he had the food farm done, most of his vines almost fully grown, and a good start on all his harder to grow stuff. Dumping as much magic as he had left before he finally laid down to go to sleep meant waking up to a lot of new green the next morning. It was a good start. The beginning of his next project was less clearly heading in the right direction. ¡°Oh, the farmer.¡± The fist man slammed a heavy hand down at the soil, popping his entire body up off the ground and landing upright on his legs without using them in the actual action of getting up at all. Tulland understood what the man had done, and even suspected he could have done something similar himself, if not entirely as smoothly. Though it was still bizarre to see it in action. ¡°I was wondering who they¡¯d send.¡± ¡°I was wondering who I¡¯d get.¡± Tulland set down his bags in the dirt, stretching out a bit before what he expected was going to be the most unpleasant kind of exercise. ¡°How do you think they chose?¡± ¡°My guess? They put the guy who doesn¡¯t know how to teach with the guy they aren¡¯t sure knows how to learn.¡± The man slipped the metal plate off of one of his fists and held out a meaty hand to Tulland. ¡°Brist.¡± ¡°Tulland.¡± Tulland¡¯s hand disappeared into the big man¡¯s fingers and palm like a fish into a net, but reappeared a moment later unharmed. ¡°So how do we get this started?¡± ¡°The training, you mean? Like this.¡± Brist hit him. Tulland had been hit by some very big, strong monsters since he entered The Infinite. He had been shattered, sent flying, bruised and broken by some of those hits. Each and every time, it felt like hell. As far as he knew, everyone else in this dungeon had years upon years or decades upon decades to get used to the idea hard fighting. He had had months, at best. So when he found himself almost literally flying through the air, he felt he was the worst person in the local area to actually cope with the emotional side of things. On the physical side, he was just glad that his armor was a little better than it looked, and that his farm was at least sprouted enough to take the edge off the damage. None of that really mattered. Tulland was even less ready for the big man to glow and blur while he was still tumbling through the air, run faster across the ground than Tulland was flying and get underneath him again, pulling back his fist for another big hit. Do I really want to waste all my ammo on this next part? Tulland looked down at the grinning, bulked-up barbarian underneath him, felt the pain from his hurt ribs for the first time, and decided that yes, he would like to spend resources here. Stuff can be regrown. But losing your pride is forever. Tulland reached into his Market Wagon magic inventory and, for the first time ever, dumped out every single thing in it. After the tenth floor boss fight, he had completely restocked from his farm. After beating down the rogue who had chased him through a half-dozen floors looking for easy experience from his death, he had recovered most of the plants that hadn¡¯t been out-and-out destroyed. He had plenty for what was coming next. And for once, I don¡¯t have to aim. He¡¯s just below me. Like the actual magic it was, dozens of dangerous plants appeared above the boxer. He reacted by punching away a surprising amount of it, but couldn¡¯t even stop all the Clubber Vines, let alone the explosions from Acheflowers and Acid Bulbs in the mix. Tulland enhanced them to the absolute maximum he could, then watched as they created a cloud around and above the boxer. It won¡¯t do as much as I want. A build like that has a lot of vitality. But it buys me a moment The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Thankful that Tulland didn¡¯t have to think out every single word of his internal dialogue as he pulled out his Farmer¡¯s Tool, activated it, and used the last few fractions of a second in his flight to orient it underneath his falling weight. And somewhere in that moment of readying his weapon and enhancing his plants, he felt something he hadn¡¯t felt before, a resistance from the Acheflowers as his command moved through them. It was vague but firm, an undefined stopping point he couldn¡¯t quite push through. A notification he had no time to read popped up in that moment, shunted away in favor of getting ready for his strike. The cloud was blasted away a split second later by another punch from Brist, but if anything that just made things better. With his arm extended and his weight committed, Brist couldn¡¯t do anything but watch as Tulland extended the pitchfork past his outstretched arm, increased its speed, and stabbed him straight in his gigantic chest. Brist¡¯s eyes went wide as Tulland was momentarily suspended in the air by the handle and tines, which were themselves anchored to Brist¡¯s super hard skin. Tulland opened his mouth to talk some limited amount of trash, then immediately regretted it as Brist recovered, pivoted on his toes, and backhanded Tulland so hard he left a furrow in the ground as he slid to a stop. He wasn¡¯t truly hurt, despite the blood in his mouth and the sense that several of his teeth were looser now. He popped back up, pitchfork at the ready, only to find himself pinned to the ground by a heavy hand on his shoulder. ¡°Good!¡± Brist was shouting an inch from Tulland¡¯s face, so close that Tulland couldn¡¯t help but smell his breath. ¡°Most of my students just let me hit them the second time. Even when they don¡¯t, I haven¡¯t had anybody actually land a hit in years.¡± ¡°You teach? Like this?¡± ¡°Had to. Part of leading an army.¡± Tulland took a moment to decide if he really wanted to goad this particular maniac into more conversation, and settled on the side of just having to know. ¡°What kind of idiot puts you in charge of things?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I said!¡± the man laughed. ¡°I kept a man who was good at the tactics of things around. They said I could do that, and then just step in when the men needed help. Said that having the strongest be in charge was good for morale.¡± The man let go of Tulland, finally, and sat on the ground as he scooped the acid off himself with the blade of his hand and flung it to the ground. ¡°Stuff¡¯s itchy. Anyway, that¡¯s my teaching style. I hit people until they get worse at getting hit. Every once in a while someone manages to hit me. I think that might be easier now.¡± ¡°Because you are older?¡± ¡°Because I lost all the levels I got beating up armies for a few decades. Those helped.¡± Tulland walked over to where he had launched all his plants at Brist, recovering what he could. ¡°Did any of that actually hurt you?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I mean that. In a way you¡¯d have to care about.¡± ¡°No. The acid was a little itchy, though.¡± ¡°That feels like a problem to me. How does someone like me even have a chance against someone like you? I hit you with my best shots.¡± ¡°Someone like me? You have a chance. Me? Not much of one. But that can change. Tell me this, farmer. What do you think my highest stat is?¡± ¡°Strength?¡± ¡°Nope. Vitality, then agility. Lots of strength in that mix, but nowhere near as high as my primary.¡± ¡°Then how do you hit that hard?¡± ¡°How? Figure it out.¡± Brist stood up again, shook off the rest of the acid like a dog, and put his fists back up. ¡°Fight back and pay attention. You¡¯ll see eventually.¡± With his big surprises spent, the rest of the afternoon was mostly just Tulland getting launched through the air, never taking that much damage. He attributed that to Brist¡¯s merciful nature and kept watching. During that time, he got a little bit better at figuring his way around Brist¡¯s defenses, mostly by figuring out the man¡¯s guard wasn¡¯t very good at dealing with multiple threats at any one time. If Tulland just had his pitchfork, he wouldn¡¯t have had a chance. With his Clubber Vines in play, he could land some shots here and there. Otherwise, it was that merciful nature of Brist keeping him alive, as far as Tulland could tell. It was late in the afternoon when he suddenly realized the problem with that assumption. ¡°You are going for distance, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yeah. Gotta keep my head in the game somehow. That last one was the longest yet. I¡¯m getting pretty good.¡± ¡°I thought you were going easy on me.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Brist looked honestly perplexed. ¡°What about me made you think I¡¯d do that?¡± ¡°Nothing. It was a mistake. But that means you are hitting me as hard as you can, hard enough to launch me, and not hurting me somehow. My armor isn¡¯t that strong. So what is it?¡± ¡°Angles. Timing.¡± Brist held up his hand and started counting off fingers, giving up after those initial two items. ¡°Other science I don¡¯t understand. I¡¯m big and heavy, and a little strong. You are light, and I¡¯m hitting you from directions you aren¡¯t good at defending. I¡¯d actually be doing more damage if I wasn¡¯t trying to launch you because the ground under your feet would keep the force from escaping.¡± ¡°But launching me means that there isn¡¯t enough damage to hurt me?¡± ¡°Not in a single shot. Your armor is doing quite a bit for you, and I¡¯m not a one-big-hit kind of fighter.¡± Brist¡¯s fists blurred out in a long combo, something different from his big wind-up hits that he had been using through the afternoon so far. ¡°There¡¯s no nicer way to say this, but I¡¯m able to launch you because you aren¡¯t very good at fighting. Not at all. Launching you throws you even further off balance.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t seem surprised.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Tulland shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m a Farmer. Before I was a farmer, I was a student. My uncle was a fisherman. There was no way to learn. And I don¡¯t have much skill to compensate. These here are the main way I fight.¡± ¡°Those vines?¡± Brist rubbed his forearms. ¡°Yeah, those hit pretty good. Not enough to hurt me, though. Anything you can do about that? You¡¯d have a much better chance if I had to respect those a bit more.¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± Tulland grimaced. ¡°But I¡¯ll work on it.¡± ¡°You do that.¡± Brist flopped back down onto the ground where he had been when Tulland had first walked up. ¡°And think about the fighting today. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow, and we can start for you to learn a damn thing about how to hurt an enemy. Be ready.¡± Chapter 105: Enhancement Potential Do you think he¡¯s right? Tulland hadn¡¯t been ignoring his System, exactly. It had been laying back for a few days, not intruding much as Tulland worked on his farm, dealt with the necessary steps of getting established in a new safe zone, and became acquainted with new and potentially dangerous people. On the other end, Tulland had taken the opportunity to not always appear to be having a conversation with an imaginary friend. Trust was a hard thing when it came to a being who had once tried to get him killed, and who by all accounts would still benefit from him going down. There weren¡¯t a lot of chances to prove that the System wouldn¡¯t do it again, especially since the further and further Tulland got, the more of a threat Tulland posed to the System. Still, it hadn¡¯t ever been in the habit of lying to Tulland outside of the first big run of dishonesty. Every single time he had come to the System for advice, it had come through. That was true, as long as The Infinite and the various rules governing systems of all kinds didn¡¯t keep it from talking. Tulland had settled into an uneasy compromise, one where he generally regarded the System¡¯s advice as valid unless it was clearly suicidal. About what? That you aren¡¯t much of a fighter? Certainly. Not that I¡¯m not much of a fighter. Tulland decided to keep his dialogue internal for the time being, lest observers figure out he was carrying around unexpected System cargo in his brain. I know that. I¡¯m asking if his plan to make me better is a good one. Today he just kept whaling on me. I didn¡¯t learn a thing. That¡¯s probably not so. It¡¯s hard to take a beating for an entire afternoon and not pick up any details on how it happened at all. You don¡¯t remember how he was hitting you? It should still hurt in those spots. Tulland rubbed his jaw. Every part of his body hurt which made it hard to glean any data from any particular place he had been punched. But some of the places hurt more, and as the overall injured state got more and more fixed by his regeneration, it was easier to pick out the hotspots where he had been hit a higher total amount of times. It¡¯s all at upwards angles. Bottom of my jaw, my lower ribs, the underside of my chin. That¡¯s accurate, given what I was able to observe. Today, he focused on showing you where your stance is too high and exploitable from attacks from below. Hard to believe he did that on purpose. Whether he did or didn¡¯t, the best way forward is to figure out how to keep him from doing the same thing tomorrow. I can¡¯t help you determine that, but it should be possible to at least make it harder. And then I can fight him? More likely you can force him to show you another flaw. And another. Don¡¯t discount the value of that. Even knowing about a flaw helps you deal with it. It certainly made enough sense, as little as Tulland wanted to deal with learning everything the hard way. If today was any indication, the rest of the week was going to hurt a lot, a fact that was only slightly easier to swallow when he considered that he owed the best performance he could muster to not just himself but the entire group of two or three people who had helped him so far. What are my chances of living through the next floor, do you think? Or of getting to the next safe zone. Impossible to say. Come on. I¡¯m not holding out on you, Tulland. Every fight you¡¯ve been in has been comparatively easy. Do you know why? I wouldn¡¯t call them all easy. You walked away with all your limbs. Easy enough. The reason why is because you had the necessary power to win. If you hadn¡¯t, it would have gone from seeming possible to being impossible in a moment. The border between what you can do and what will kill you is razor-thin, and impossible to see until you cross over. Is that so? It is. In the outside world, it was much less of a problem. Adventurers would train until they were absolutely sure they were ready for the next step. Sometimes they¡¯d take years. Sometimes, they¡¯d cease advancing entirely and give up. You don¡¯t have that luxury. The pull of The Infinite was something Tulland had never become used to. Right now, it was quiet enough. With plenty of time until he was forced forward, the compulsion was subdued. But his experience told him that the voice prodding him forward would get louder and louder as the time ran shorter, assuring him in a way beyond questioning of disaster if he dallied any longer. What happens if I don¡¯t go forward? If someone held me down or something, and didn¡¯t let me move forward. Or if I resisted it. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The first scenario is impossible. The Infinite would never let that happen. The second is similar. There are ways to extend the amount of time you have between normal floors. You¡¯ve even seen some of them. But I suspect that if you could resist the call, eventually The Infinite would either force you forward by teleportation or another more physical way, or else just destroy you. Ah. Well, let¡¯s not do that. It doesn¡¯t seem like the kind of dungeon system I should mess with. That it¡¯s not. Tulland was just about healed up from the fight now, although the psychological blow to his pride was still alive and kicking. He rubbed his jaw one last time, determined to hide the truth of just how badly he had lost from Necia if he could. It turned out to be a useless effort. He shouldn¡¯t have bothered. ¡°My poor body.¡± Necia was laying on her back in their front yard, still in full battle form. ¡°My poor everything. Tulland, am I dead?¡± ¡°Not quite. Hard day?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Yes. They used me for practice, Tulland. I didn¡¯t even have a teacher for most of the day. I was just near three pairs of fighters. They¡¯d take breaks to pound on my shield. I just had to stay alive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Tulland wondered if there was some sort of wide-spread rule about beating kids into submission before teaching them anything valuable. ¡°No lessons at all?¡± ¡°Later in the day, some other heavy classes came by and asked me what I was having trouble with. By then I had a pretty good idea. They gave me some pointers. Not that it mattered by then. I was already beat to splinters.¡± ¡°It was about the same for me, honestly. I had Brist. The puncher guy.¡± ¡°Oof. I can only assume he punched you.¡± ¡°Yeah. Although I think I¡¯m starting to get a handle on how he managed to punch me so much.¡± ¡°Think you¡¯ll do better tomorrow?¡± ¡°Maybe a bit. But what I¡¯m really looking forward to is a few days from now. You know that this afternoon was the first time I¡¯ve been drawing power from this local farm? And I took my time getting it planted, it¡¯s going to be the best one I¡¯ve made yet.¡± ¡°Oh, hell yes. How big of a difference is it going to be?¡± ¡°About four times as much as before. It¡¯s more complex than that, but I¡¯m going to be much, much stronger by the end of the week.¡± ¡°I wish I could see it.¡± Necia laughed on the ground, then groaned as the motion aggravated her sore muscles. ¡°The big guy trying to figure out why you¡¯re doubling in strength each day.¡± Tulland sat down by Necia, stretching out his legs and just enjoying the silence for a bit. As much as he also looked forward to closing the gap between himself and the big puncher guy, he knew better than to assume it would be as much of a hilarious triumph as Necia thought it would, at least if the only growing he did was building up his farm. ¡°You going to hit the baths?¡± Tulland asked, after a while. ¡°I was thinking about it. I still have dirt in my ears.¡± ¡°Well, think again. Because you made some promises, right? There¡¯s a lot of hungry people out there you said you¡¯d provide with grain. Ruthless, trained killers. Not least of them me. I¡¯m starving, Tulland.¡± ¡°Oh, shoot. Right. Yes, I did say that,¡± Tulland moaned. ¡°I guess it¡¯s harvesting time.¡± Tulland went to work harvesting his field, wondering how he¡¯d ever get enough food ready by the time people came looking for it. Luckily, that was one problem that solved itself without any more effort on his part. As hungry, tired people started showing up, he put them to work stripping grain from stems and plucking plants from the soil. It took hours more, but eventually, his whole food stock was depleted, separated out into multiple days¡¯ supply of food for each combatant on the floor. And then, finally, it was time to rest. ¡°Here.¡± Necia handed Tulland a bowl of food. ¡°I figured you didn¡¯t have time to feed yourself today.¡± ¡°Not much, no. Thanks.¡± Tulland sat down and inhaled his first bowl of food. ¡°I haven¡¯t even been able to look at my notifications.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been getting them? Here?¡± ¡°Yeah. Not sure why, except one of them probably has something to do with my Primal Growth skill. Something was weird when I was using it earlier.¡± ¡°Well, look. You can¡¯t just ignore that stuff, Tulland. It¡¯s dangerous.¡± Tulland nodded and kept spooning food into his mouth, thankful he could read system screens without tying up his hands. He hadn¡¯t been wrong about the general gist of the thing, at least.
Enhancement Potential Exceeded! (Clubber Vine and Acheflower) Just as with enhancements aimed at making plants grow faster or better, there is a limit to how much benefit any given plant can receive from your Primal Growth skill in a combat context. Two of your plants have reached this threshold, and in doing so, have revealed the limit of their own potential more completely. In some ways, this news can be considered positive. It means that your ability to enhance the plants your class creates has grown a great deal. On the other hand, it highlights the shortcomings of your current crop of combat-efficient plants. Even those that are still useful to you have signaled the end of their ability to grow alongside you. You would be well advised to correct this shortcoming before the world around you makes it apparent in other ways. While it is possible to overcome the limitations that your skill attempts to put on enhancements and continue to pump power into a plant that has reached its limits, unpredictable results may occur. You have been warned.
¡°Bad?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Mixed bag. Mostly bad.¡± Tulland summoned up one of his Clubber Vines and patted it, affectionately. Obsolete or not, they had saved his life more times than he could count. ¡°These were already having a hard time keeping up. The Infinite just made it official. I¡¯ll have to do something else.¡± ¡°Any luck with the splicer? I know you had put some sphinx parts in there.¡± ¡°I did. It didn¡¯t work. I haven¡¯t reloaded it yet. But I guess there¡¯s no time like the present.¡± Tulland broke out his gene splicing machine, one of his few ways to create new plants. The thing functioned by giving him three spaces in which to mix seeds from various plants with other sources of genetics, hopefully creating something new in the process. It rarely worked, but the few times it had so far had proved absolutely vital to his continued survival. ¡°I was hoping to hang onto the bit of material we had gotten from the chimera boss longer, but it looks like I¡¯m giving it a shot here.¡± Tulland went and pulled a seed from his Clubber Vines, the long-since obsolete Briar Lunger vines that had carried him through the first few floors of the dungeon, and the original Hades Briars that had started off his farming efforts in the first place. ¡°Good luck, little seeds.¡± Chapter 106: Chimera Sleeve The next morning, Tulland woke up to very unhappy muscles. Each and every one of them screamed to let him know how much they disapproved of his activities the day before. Some of them favored cramping while others were content to settle for a dull, uncomfortable burn, but every single one of them was discontent in their own individual way. It doesn¡¯t even make sense. I could have recovered from a lost limb by now. Why should I be sore? I¡¯m not sure. The best theories I ever heard on the matter was that your mind won¡¯t give up the belief that you should be sore from certain levels of exertion, and makes the pain real to you as a way of arguing the point. How can you not know this? It¡¯s a System thing, right? No. It¡¯s a human thing. And even The Infinite is likely far from understanding every aspect of your people. Tulland spent several long, painful minutes stretching out the worst of his psychosomatic pain and getting ready for his day before turning to his cooking area to prepare breakfast. He decided to assume both he and Necia would want double portions that morning, not just to make up for their activity the day before but also to reward themselves for surviving it. He was just about done cooking when the next system notification rolled in.
Splicing Complete! (Chimera Sleeve) Of all your plants, your briar variants have by far the longest pedigree. Starting out as something that could only be loosely called a vine, you slowly cultivated them into entirely new forms of life, some of which have only the slightest of similarities to their ancestors. The splice you have just completed is a cooperative effort across three of your experiment chambers. Combining the progenitor of all of your briars with the carnivorous, animal-hybrid Lunger Briars and the hardier, more battle-competent Clubber Vines has created something new, a more autonomous botanical force that seeks out its own prey, that fights using its own set of instincts, and that has more options than any previous vine about how it pursues those goals. Unlike your other plants, the Chimera Sleeve is considered alive even after being picked, and can be replanted if it avoids destructive levels of damage during its time away from the soil.
¡°Oh. Huh.¡± Tulland took the seed to his garden right away and used his thumb to push it deep into the loose soil. His intuition didn¡¯t have any special insight on how to optimize the soil for it, outside of the fact that a little of the leftover porridge wouldn¡¯t hurt. ¡°This is going to be good, I think.¡± ¡°That new seed? What does The Infinite say it is?¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t very exact. It¡¯s a new briar. More¡­ self-driven, or something? I¡¯m going to grow it as fast as possible.¡± Usually, Tulland was pumping as many plants as he could get his Primal Growth skill to cover, broadcast-style. It was a more efficient use of his magic power, and the sum of what every plant got was much higher than what he could give to an individual plant by itself. But whatever the little Chimera Sleeve seed was, it was making his senses go crazy. Mostly it just felt hungry. Magically so. He couldn''t do a lot for the seed besides feeding it all the mystic power he owned. It took it. Even after letting himself recharge over the rest of his breakfast and his morning quiet time with Necia, he still didn¡¯t have enough to quite top it out, although it was close. That¡¯s exciting though, right? It bodes well that it¡¯s eating so much power. Tulland was almost cheerful as he walked towards his morning beating with Brist. He might not be able to do very much to the boxer still, but having a new kind of vine growing and promising all sorts of farm value points and new tricks up his sleeve, he was hopeful that might change. ¡°Hi.¡± Brist stood up as Tulland approached his spot in the empty space outside of town. ¡°Ready?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Tulland guessed that Brist was going to attack immediately after he said ¡°sure,¡± that he¡¯d burst up from the ground swinging. He was wrong. Brist actually started attacking before he was done saying that single word. By the time Tulland reacted at all, the man had crossed half the distance between them and there was no time left to even think about getting out of the way. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Looks like it¡¯s new plan time. This is stupid. Quiet. As Brist¡¯s big fist came up toward¡¯s Tulland¡¯s head, his forehead dropped to meet it. He flexed his knees, putting as much weight downward as he could. He expected this might ruin whatever angle Brist was trying, but that it would make the blow hurt more. Tulland wouldn¡¯t have even tried it if Brist had been wearing his spiked metal plates, even though the man claimed it didn¡¯t make a big difference for fights at this level. It did hurt more. A lot more. Tulland was immediately reeling from the hit, barely holding on to his consciousness as he staggered back from the punch and fully aware there was nothing he could do to stop the followup. The only thing that saved him from it was that the second punch didn¡¯t actually exist. Instead, he looked up to see Brist grinning at him like an idiot. ¡°That, kid, was the wrongest way to do that and maybe the only way it could have possibly worked. You aren¡¯t supposed to stop the other guy¡¯s fist with your face, you know? It¡¯s sort of the opposite of what this whole thing is about.¡± ¡°But I kept my feet,¡± Tulland countered. ¡°That you did. You had to get lower than the force, or at least add some slack to increase the reaction time. There are better ways to do it than what you did. I take it you weren¡¯t much for sports, before you got your class?¡± ¡°Not much. I fished with my uncle.¡± ¡°Well, no problem. That¡¯s the kind of thing we can beat into you. Ready?¡± ¡°Ready.¡± The rest of the day was instructional, in a way that justified the word. Brist would hit him and there would be nothing that Tulland could do about it, and then the man would explain how he had done it. Then he¡¯d pound Tulland until he could sometimes dodge the punch when he knew it was coming, then threw it again in a different way he didn¡¯t know how to deal with. Once Tulland could dodge five or so different kinds of punches pretty consistently, or at least keep them from blasting him off of his feet, the boxer started chaining them together into combinations, letting Tulland learn how to dodge them in sequence. As much as Brist said his strength score wasn¡¯t that high, he consistently hit Tulland in ways that hurt like hell, and the pain alone was enough of a motivator to keep him learning at a pace faster than he thought he could. Back home, his tutor had once told him the way to get better at stones was to play with people who were better than he was at it. Tulland had played his tutor many times, and there was no question but that the old man was much better at it than he was. Still, Tulland had never gotten that much better, and had doubted the old man¡¯s philosophy on improvement. Here, with Brist, he was finding that he probably just sucked at stones. ¡°You learn fast,¡± Brist commented after one semi-successful bout from Tulland¡¯s end. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem that way.¡± Tulland hadn¡¯t quite been able to get up from the last hit. It wasn¡¯t the first time that had happened. Sometimes a punch would catch him in the chin in a way he couldn¡¯t come back from quickly, and though Brist had made him fight through that several times, this time he had let him collapse to recover. ¡°Seems like we just had to stop to make sure my regeneration puts my brain back together for the fifth time today.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it goes. You don¡¯t have any of your little tricks right now, and I know the things those vines can do. But you¡¯ve been getting better all day.¡± ¡°Guys like you would still beat me to death.¡± ¡°If you were stupid enough to fight him. Listen to me here. The point is not to beat a guy like me at my own game. That¡¯s not possible. The point is to keep a guy like me from playing my own game long enough for you to play yours. You don¡¯t let me do the things you want, and you surprise me with your tricks. That¡¯s how a guy like you wins. I¡¯ve seen that before, and it was a pain in the ass.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t kill you, though.¡± The big man winced. ¡°No. But it killed a division of our army, keeping me tied up. I burned down half a castle. Made sure people thought that was a bad idea in the future.¡± The rest of the day was more of the same, punctuated by a few breaks for Tulland to run back and dump his magic stocks into his plants. Eventually, Brist had been able to convince him not to waste magic enhancing his plants for combat. His theory, which was proving true, was that it was better for Tulland to be more handicapped. The bigger the difference between them was, the faster he learned. ¡°Better day?¡± Necia snuggled in as they sat in the dark, mostly empty house. ¡°You seem less tired.¡± ¡°I¡¯m less frustrated. I learned more, I think.¡± Tulland twisted his neck, letting the joints pop. ¡°I don¡¯t know that my body is any better. Worse, probably. But the pain doesn¡¯t feel as bad when it¡¯s for something.¡± ¡°I know what you mean. Halfway through the day, the blocking started to click in a way it hadn¡¯t before. These people are better than my teachers back on my world were. They teach in a different way. I¡¯m actually getting better, for once. It¡¯s like it¡¯s making all that time I spent on my home world matter, finally.¡± Tulland drained the last of his food from his bowl and grimaced at it. ¡°I know I shouldn¡¯t be bellyaching, but this food is terrible.¡± Tulland glared at his cup of nearly tasteless mush. No matter how they cooked it now, whatever combination they chose, it all tasted like mashed paper after a while. ¡°Somehow it tasted better when we were still climbing floors.¡± ¡°It was a smaller part of your day,¡± Necia said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be climbing soon enough. For now, just let your farm grow. Learn whatever you can.¡± Tulland nodded, put his dish to the side, and then laid back and let the sleep creep in. It was an easy thing to do. But even now, he could tell that most of the important things he¡¯d accomplish in this stretch of safe zone were already done. He¡¯d have to repeat them and reinforce what he had done, sure, but it would all be the same. He resolved to make it count, fully prepared to let some days blur together in pursuit of the strength they¡¯d need. Chapter 107: Fighting Waking up to a notification was always a bit scary, like being shaken awake where you didn¡¯t expect anyone to bother you and trying to figure out what had gone wrong. This time, it wasn¡¯t a wrong thing, or a right one. It was simply The Infinite telling Tulland something had changed.
Arch Available! The next set of floors you will face in The Infinite are designed to test you not only as an individual, but also to test the group of delvers you have been placed with. Your ability to work together efficiently, helping each other rather than hindering each other''s performance, will be vital to your ability to survive the coming challenges. As you have no doubt noticed, this safe zone has not, until now, had a way for you to progress to the next level. By the time you finish this message, that will have changed. An arch is now set in the center of the settlement, waiting for you to attempt to travel through it. Until a , the arch will not function. This is by design. Your intent to progress will be registered by the attempt. Once a sufficient number of safe zone residents have registered their intent to leave, all will be teleported at once to the first of the group challenges.
Well, I knew it was coming. I don¡¯t feel nearly enough stronger to be confident right now. How has your farm been coming along? Fine. Not quite where it was, but fine.
Farm Status: Total Points: 4568
Actually, hold that thought. Something happened. Tulland took another look at his stats. Nothing had really changed since he got to the floor, including his total experience and stats. That was true right until he got to his gene splicing skill, which had jumped an entire level like it wasn¡¯t even a thing.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 70 Strength: 60 (+5) Agility: 60 (+5) Vitality: 60 (+10) Spirit: 105 (+5) Mind: 60 (+10) Force: 150 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 20, Produce Armament LV. 20, Market Wagon LV. 15 Passives: Broadcast LV. 15, Botanical Engineer LV. 15, Strong Back LV. 15, Fruits of the Field LV. 15, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 15
It was hard to feel truly bad about his stats at that moment. They had risen a ton. But since everyone else¡¯s had as well in The Infinite¡¯s great equalization efforts, it was a bit like they were all at level zero again. Guaranteed to be temporarily up to the difficulty curve, but in some ways as if they were all starting from scratch. ¡°I¡¯m going out to check the farm. Want to come?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Sure.¡± Necia shifted up off her bedroll and stretched. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± If there was one place Tulland could pull away from the pack, it was by pushing his farm garden to the utmost. And the fact that his score was just a little bit higher than it had ever been before with an only half-grown garden meant there was a lot of potential for that. He just had to confirm why it was so high, and move forward from there. It didn¡¯t take long to find the culprit.
Chimera Sleeve (Level 0) This Chimera Sleeve is currently underdeveloped. As a plant that maintains life outside of the soil, it can advance its own level by hunting. Often, this advancement is quicker than what it would see being left to grow more in the soil. The Chimera Sleeve is prevented from self propagation, and cannot create seeds that are viable to grow without first being enhanced with a farmer¡¯s class powers.
¡°What¡¯s it say?¡± Necia asked after Tulland stared at the new vine for quite a few seconds. ¡°That this plant is not ready to do anything interesting. And that I have to enhance its seeds for it to grow,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Isn¡¯t that normal?¡± Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°I enhance all of my seeds. That¡¯s normal. They¡¯d still grow without me though. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s up with the restriction here. But I powered the seed part of the plant earlier. See them? I¡¯m going to plant them now.¡± There was no reason to pull up useless vines for training. Tulland decided right then and there that it would be much more fun to keep them in reserve a while, just building up potential without alerting Brist to any new threat. The rest of the week came and went pretty quickly. As they reached a full seven days since the meeting, everyone agreed to at least another two days of training, hoping that it would pay off in enemy death counts somewhere down the line. Meanwhile, Tulland had been doing his best to adjust to the increase in power he was seeing every day from his farm. By now, he had reached an absolutely bonkers number of power, courtesy of his Chimera Sleeve plants boosting the value of the farm more than anything else ever had.
Farm Status: Total Points: 6935
They were so good at enhancing the farm, in fact, that it almost didn¡¯t make sense to pay attention to anything else at all until he had a solid two dozen of the vines growing away in their own little patch. Eventually, the sheer amount of them chipped away at the point gain enough that he could go back to applying his farming enhancements to the whole staked area again, spreading out his power to other plants and helping them catch up. He spent one more day fighting with Brist before pulling out all the stops for the next day, harvesting everything he could see himself needing for the fight ahead. It was brutal watching his point-count nosedive as he took away the vines, but he knew they¡¯d be mostly recovered by morning when his newly planted replacements started to reach maturity. And with his plant-storage skill fully loaded with unpleasant surprises, he finally went to bed, visions of a badly beaten Brist dancing in his head. ¡ª ¡°You look peppy.¡± Brist grinned and rose from his usual spot on the ground. ¡°Glad to finally be getting done with this?¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t know about that.¡± Tulland dropped his bag and weapon and began to stretch. He had found that it helped him feel ready for the fights, which in turn helped him fight a little better. It probably wasn¡¯t doing anything practical to his body, considering how tip-top a high vitality stat and a good regeneration skill kept things running. But if it helped even a little mentally, the free routine was worth it. ¡°I¡¯ve been learning a lot, you tell me.¡± ¡°You actually have. It might be hard to see because I, you know,¡± Brist pantomimed launching Tulland into the sky with an uppercut. ¡°But it¡¯s been harder for me to do that. And as far as baseline skill goes outside of the class, I¡¯m pretty good.¡± ¡°How does that work, anyway? Say I was an acrobat, or something. And I got pretty good at it, without a class at all. Then I got an acrobat class on top of it.¡± Tulland reached down and touched his toes, pushing into the stretch until he was able to get his palms flat on the ground. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the acrobat skills from the class just outdo anything I had learned on my own?¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t wrong,¡± Brist said as he rubbed his chin. ¡°I¡¯m much better at boxing than any non-classed boxer could be. But I still trained with non-classed boxers when I could. Because understanding it matters. I don¡¯t know how much, but I know once I learned what the skill was actually doing to make me hit harder and spent some time thinking about it, I could hit even harder. Especially after I practiced it.¡± ¡°And yet you¡¯ve still not taught me a single thing about hitting harder. I¡¯m just as weak as I was at the beginning of the week.¡± Brist grinned. ¡°Oh, we both know that¡¯s not true. How much have you been holding out on me, kid?¡± Tulland bent down and picked up his Farmer¡¯s Tool. It would only be a few moments until Brist attacked now. ¡°A bit.¡± Tulland smiled back. ¡°Come here and I¡¯ll show you.¡± Brist didn¡¯t need to be asked twice. He pushed off the soil hard, keeping his head low and every part of him that Tulland could significantly hurt with his pitchfork covered up. Tulland had learned the hard way that part of the boxer¡¯s class was giving his arms a much greater defense than the rest of his build. Hitting him there still hurt him, but never enough to matter. Tulland hit Brist in his arms anyway, trying to get both of his limbs pinned down by the tines of his Farmer¡¯s Tool. He had been purposely letting the materials in the tool degrade over the past few days of fighting, and had just reupped them this morning. He hoped that he might be able to penetrate the skin on both arms and hold them in place long enough to hurt the man. He only got one. Brist seemed to understand what Tulland was trying to do at the last second, and moved out of the way just in time to keep the other tines from gaining any purchase on his left arm. One incredibly fast punch streaked out towards Tulland¡¯s face, almost faster than Tulland could react to. Tulland wouldn¡¯t have been able to do anything about it if he hadn¡¯t known it was coming. If one of Brist¡¯s arms was pinned down, it not only disabled that arm but hurt his ability to control the pivoting of his own body. Brist, Tulland had learned, would not take a risk that would lead to him over-committing. That meant attacks like hooks and uppercuts, which relied on the pivots, were out of the mix. Which left straight punches. Tulland leaned in on the pitchfork as Brist threw the first blow from the left, forcing him to over-pivot. At the same time, Tulland cranked up the handle of the Farmer¡¯s Tool in front of where he imagined the punch would land. This was something new. He wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it at all without the new weapon-handling speed he was getting from the feedback of his farm. He knew it worked when he saw the surprise register in Brist¡¯s eyes a split-second before his fist clanged off the metal of Tulland¡¯s weapon. Another thing Tulland had noticed about Brist was that he never left his arm out a moment long than he had to after a punch. He would simply retract it, in the same way the sun simply never failed to rise and set on Tulland¡¯s old world. That gave Tulland a moment. He wasn¡¯t much slower than Brist in terms of reaction time, and had started moving before Brist could react. As the big man¡¯s arm came back into punching position, Tulland¡¯s own left followed it, scraping down the skin of the man¡¯s arm and forcing it outward as he summoned one of his plants to his hand. Light glinted off of the Silver Star as it entered Tulland¡¯s grip. He didn¡¯t have any skills that made these work, really. Outside of just being able to grow them better and better on his farm, the Silver Stars were supposed to be used as building materials and nothing else. Even so, the suckers were sharp. Really sharp. He had yet to encounter anything that could fully stop the spikes that these seed-structures grew, although better armor and more durable beasts he had encountered could slow them down. Where Tulland was aiming, Brist wasn¡¯t nearly as durable. Tulland would have liked to have stabbed the star straight into the man¡¯s neck, but there simply wasn¡¯t time. Brist always moved in straight, efficient lines on that kind of punch, and having time to follow it back meant he couldn¡¯t deviate the course of his own blow even a fraction of an inch. ¡°Ugh.¡± Brist slid back as the spines from the big, metal seed penetrated his shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­¡± Tulland wasn¡¯t fooled. Just because Brist had started talking didn¡¯t mean he had stopped punching. Tulland shifted his stance to allow for him to attack quicker from the left and started pummeling as many targets as he could reach on Brist¡¯s damaged side. The boxer could still move, of course, and most of them didn¡¯t hit. But a bunch of big metal spikes through his arm hurt him just as much as they¡¯d hurt anyone, and some of the blows glanced through. In the meantime, Brist was trying to get the star out, but Tulland wouldn¡¯t allow that, either. Every time Brist shifted his right arm across his body, he left himself open for more and harder hits. Tulland was more than happy to deliver them. He¡¯s a finely oiled machine. I figured he wouldn¡¯t like sand in the gears. He doesn¡¯t seem to, no. The best part is he¡¯s hurting himself more trying to keep me from hurting him. I win either way. For now. Chapter 108: Victory Every time Brist used his arm, Tulland could see the spikes digging a little deeper into his shoulder. That was a limited blessing. Some plants and weapons had a sort of magical intent imprinted on them. Swords were for hurting things, and if they were built by someone with a class, they even knew it to some extent. When you hit someone with a blacksmith¡¯s sword and a sword-wielding skill, it did more damage to their overall health than the wound you were creating implied. Beasts had the same kind of effect in their fangs and claws. But plants and their seeds had none of that advantage. The Silver Star was simply a very, very sharp piece of metal. It still did something. Though it wasn¡¯t doing much to Brist¡¯s overall health, it was still wreaking havoc on the inside of his shoulder joint, leaving damage his regeneration would have to heal. Brist seemed to know this, but it took him precious seconds to finally block enough of Tulland¡¯s attacks to make room for him to move backwards, make some space, and yank the star out of his joint. Tulland had been waiting for that. Juicing up one of his Acidbulbs with as much power as it would hold, Tulland launched it at the exact spot the star had been. The big man moved to dodge the bulb, but not before Tulland could send it a mental command to burst, spraying a six-inch-wide circle of the boxer¡¯s body with acid, the wound included. That was a little trick Necia had helped him figure out, one particular boring evening in this place. The acid didn¡¯t do that much damage, especially when landing on thick hide or well-sealed armor. Where Tulland had used it best in the past was either as a quick distraction or exploding it inside the body of the thing he was attacking. Those worked, but the new function they had figured out was much, much better. Acid, it turned out, was very good at cancelling regeneration. They weren¡¯t sure how far that effect stretched, but most of the cuts Necia had opened up on her own hand hadn¡¯t healed at all as long as the acid was on them. She figured it was probably because she was still technically taking damage. And however little damage the acid did, it did so across a large surface, spreading out as a liquid and sticking to almost anything it touched. Tulland could only hope enough of it would get into Brist¡¯s wound to keep his shoulder from coming fully back online. He didn¡¯t have time to stop. Brist was more than content to jab a farmer to death with just his left arm, and even though his right shoulder wasn¡¯t healed yet, the removal of the Silver Star meant he at least wasn¡¯t fully hindered anymore. Over the next few moments, Tulland let himself be pushed on the back foot as Brist pushed forward with jabs, eating a couple on the chin as he desperately dodged the rest. He waited until Brist pulled back for a big, hard hit before springing the next surprise on him.
Giant¡¯s Hair (Obsolete) These vines have been a constant companion of yours since before you destroyed the fifth floor¡¯s Cannian Knight boss. They are a grasping, holding sort of vine, doing very little damage but excelling in quickly wrapping up enemies and restricting their movement. Against weaker enemies, this constriction can even be fatal. They have long since been in need of some kind of upgrade, however. The average speed-reliant beast will have little trouble avoiding them entirely, and most strength-based builds will be able to break them. As such, this vine is now obsolete for most combat purposes.
Tulland appreciated those little obsolescence warnings. The Infinite seemed to have a pretty liberal take on information-sharing, and the flat-out confirmation that a particular plant was lagging behind his own needs as opposed to simply being misused was helpful. Lately, though, he had been considering the idea that some of the plants still might be useful even while generally sucking, or even because of it. One interesting thing about the Giant¡¯s Hair vines, for instance, was that these vines didn¡¯t count against very much when placed in one of the combat-plant compartments in his Market Wagon skill. Each vine sucked, but he could carry a couple dozen of them at this point. And, more to the point, he could eject them all at once. Brist¡¯s eyes went wide as over twenty of the vines were dumped into his personal space, then went invisible as the vines scrambled all over his body, looking for footholds from which to constrict. Tulland started stabbing through the vines at the same time Brist forced one of his arms clear and started breaking through. Between the two of them, the vines were dying pretty quickly. That was fine. Tulland figured that if he killed one of the vines with each stab, that still meant almost a dozen full-force hits on Brist in the process. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. That wasn¡¯t it either. Summoning all the Clubber Vines he could, Tulland took advantage of the blinded boxer¡¯s inability to dodge and deposited them on the Giant¡¯s Hair vines left around his head and neck. The constrictors were more than happy to wrap around the bottom of the melee combat variants, giving them an anchor from which to hit. Suddenly, Brist was taking big meaty hits that sounded painful even through the padding the constrictor vines provided. A muffled roar sounded as the man glowed a bit, then started moving his left much faster than before, clearing the remaining vines in record time. Tulland wasn¡¯t sure he had seen that technique before, and could only be glad that the boxer was using it on the vines and not him. A second or so later, Brist was clear of the vines, bleeding from several places and bruised in others but mostly combat-ready. With the last, waning bits of the skill he had activated, he moved forward on Tulland with pure, burning malice in his eyes. Tulland tried to dodge. It turned out that wasn¡¯t possible. These new punches were more than twice as fast as the old ones had been, and just as hard. The only real chance he had to survive them was by weathering them. He lowered his head, took as many on his forehead as he could, and managed to just barely stay awake until the light faded from Brist¡¯s fist. ¡°You don¡¯t look good, kid,¡± Brist taunted. ¡°Neither do you,¡± Tulland shot back. It was true. Both of them were dripping blood and covered with bruises. Tulland hadn¡¯t been able to escape damage entirely, even with all his tricks. Brist had been fighting the whole time, and this last exchange had been messy. He was bloody and slowed, but he was also completely free of vines now. If Tulland could do more damage, he could put the boxer in a bad spot. It was just a question of whether that was possible, considering Brist was still much faster than he was. ¡°Giving up now?¡± Brist asked. ¡°I was thinking about that,¡± Tulland answered. ¡°And you know why I¡¯m not going to do it?¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because I haven¡¯t tried hitting you in the back of the legs yet.¡± ¡°Well, of course not.¡± Brist flicked a jab out that Tulland barely dodged. With the fight still on, attacking while talking was still on the table as far as Brist was concerned. ¡°How would you even get back there?¡± ¡°Not me, sadly. Sorry. I had to test these.¡± ¡°What?¡± The boxer¡¯s feet were suddenly pulled out from under him as a brand-new vine variant snuck up behind him, wrapped around his ankles, and yanked. He caught himself on his arms and flipped over, raising one of his forearms over his face to protect himself from the pitchfork as Tulland stabbed downward. Brist kicked his feet wildly, trying to dislodge the vines. That was a bigger mistake than he could have possibly anticipated. The vines suddenly puffed up, expanding like blowfish until they were two huge, hollow tubes which immediately sprang over his legs. It wasn¡¯t a command Tulland could have given before messing around with the vines in a show-me-what-you-can-do mindset using Necia as a mock bait. ¡°What in the fires of the mountain deeps, kid!¡± The boxer scraped wildly at his own legs, failing to claw through enough of the vines to dislodge them. Tulland dropped twenty or so Acidbulbs on him in the meantime. ¡°Stop that!¡± ¡°Give up.¡± ¡°No!¡± Tulland planted the Clubber Vines he had left in the dirt near Brist, then started stabbing with his pitchfork. For all the man¡¯s incredible qualities, he wasn¡¯t much of a fighter if he couldn¡¯t stand up. Even a belt dagger might have let him cut through the vines, but with just his bare hands to work with, Brist¡¯s legs were fully encased in the chimera sleeves. In the end, it was the surprises inside that case that finally made him give up. ¡°It¡¯s like fire!¡± Brist closed his eyes and bellowed, then opened them again to look Tulland in the eye. ¡°Fine. You win. One round.¡± ¡°Yeah, sorry about that. It¡¯s some kind of pain-inducing poison. All my early vines had it, this one brought it back. It¡¯s like a combination of everything I¡¯ve made before.¡± The vines retracted from the man¡¯s legs and, at Tulland¡¯s command, slithered back to him. He had no easy solution for the literal vat of acid he had poured on Brist, but rolling around in the loose dust seemed to get the worst of it off the boxer. His legs were just going to have to hurt for a while, it seemed, since every inch of the inside of the Chimera Sleeve briars was covered in thorns. There was no healing that until after the acid wore off, his body expelled the poison from the vines, and then got to work closing the puncture wounds once and for all. ¡°Sorry about that. It seemed like the thing to do at the time,¡± Tulland said when he imagined the damage he had inflicted. ¡°Don¡¯t apologize, kid. That was exactly the kind of thing you should have done.¡± Brist lowered his brow. ¡°Of course, it wouldn¡¯t have worked if I had worn my fists.¡± ¡°Maybe not, but I had another two of those things. I can carry four. I might have tied up your arms too.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Brist sat in the dirt. ¡°Maybe then. I¡¯ll tell you one thing. Anybody you face outside of this kind of scenario who doesn¡¯t know about those things is in for a bad surprise. They work completely automatically?¡± ¡°Yes. Although it seems random whether they club, constrict, or do that sleeve thing you saw. I can order them to do one or the other, but it takes attention.¡± ¡°Still, kid, that¡¯s trouble. That¡¯s like what a tamer can do. They set beasts on you to keep you busy, then plink at you with little bows. I¡¯ve fought that sort before. It wasn¡¯t fun.¡± Tulland sat down. ¡°So what now?¡± ¡°What do you mean, what now? You give your old friend Brist a bunch of food for being a stand-up guy, then you go work on your farm for the next few days. Trust me. There¡¯s nothing else I can teach you before we start getting into hurting each other, unless you swear off using your plants, and even then, you need some time to let the lessons you¡¯ve learned sink in.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡°Kid, I¡¯m covered in acid and have needle holes all through my legs. I¡¯m sure. Now go. Get stronger. I¡¯m expecting big things from you in the battle.¡± Chapter 109: Hoe Tulland spent the next two days pouring all the energy he could into his farm, encouraging every plant to add just a few more point to the cause of him staying alive. At the same time, he was running his splicer as often as it would allow him to, even after he ran out of interesting fertilizer and was resorting to ridiculous things to keep it going. Fingernail clippings were not the roaring success he hoped for, but they were worth a shot. More importantly, the farm had progressed anyway, pushing his score just north of seven thousand and five hundred. On the third morning, Tulland was just through his breakfast and figuring out something more productive than lazing around with the heavily-armored girl he loved when he was rudely interrupted. Gate travel was always disorienting, but it had never been so bad as now. With no warning at all, it took Tulland a few seconds to understand why his vision was swimming with blobs of color. Right when Tulland expected to be dumped into some kind of wild terrain, he was thrown into a room, not entirely unlike his white room he normally went to between big places, except with much more color and set of two small pillars rising out of the ground.
Voting Area In the floor to follow, you and a team of other adventurers will work as a team on eliminating a certain threat. During the time you spend on that floor, damage to adventurers from non-monster entities will be prohibited, and there will be no incentive for anything but wholehearted, sincere cooperation towards a single goal. The rewards for the floor will be determined by two other things. First, the overall performance of your group matters. The ease with which you dispatch beasts will count towards your score, as will your ability to limit casualties on your own side. On a group level, the absolute size of the total prize will be determined by how convincingly your side defeats the other. Individual prizes will be divided by individual performance, drawing from that absolute pool. If you outperform someone else on your side of the battle, you will receive a larger piece of the total prize than they will. All prizes will be bigger in the scenario that your group performs better, but there will still be clear winners within the group itself. To reiterate: your group and personal performance both matter, and it¡¯s possible to get a larger prize by increasing either metric. The vote before you is a matter of influencing which side of the metric has the most impact on the prizes given out. On one side, you are voting for the performance of the group to have more sway, growing faster the better the group does. This will result in the largest absolute prize pool, and will trickle down to both top and bottom performers who survive the floor. Standing by the right pillar makes sense if you expect to perform at group average or worse and want more prizes than you¡¯d otherwise get. The other side emphasizes personal performance, allowing for a person who expects to vastly outperform their peers to take home a much larger advantage than they otherwise would have. If you expect to do well while everyone else does poorly, the option on the left will turn out best for you.
Tulland didn¡¯t spend a lot of time thinking about the problem. He expected to do well enough to survive here, or at least hoped he would. That didn¡¯t mean he thought he was in the top fifty percent of everyone. Even if he had, betting on himself here after the time they spent on the safe zone floor had been stretched out for his benefit seemed like a betrayal of what had turned out to be the only group of mostly-decent people he had known since he reached this level. He went and stood by the right pillar, which apparently was all he needed to do.
Vote Registered! Please stand by.
After another minute or so of waiting, he was teleported again. This time, the view waiting for him was much closer to what he expected to see. ¡ª
Floor 11 - Simple Cooperative Warfare On this floor, your assembled group of adventurers will be pitted against a much larger enemy force. The battlefield itself is simplified, and holds no hidden treasures except those you earn for yourself by destroying as many enemies as possible. Live and help others live, and you will see rewards. Leave the group and you will be crushed by an army who preferentially hunts would-be escapees. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. As with all challenges that are not directly oriented around finding the exit, no arch leading back to the safe zone will be visible until the entire enemy force is dispatched. As a majority of your team has voted to bias the results towards individual performance, the total rewards earned on this floor will be lower while some outlier performers will earn much more.
Tulland was gratified to see that although this particular rapid-fire sequence of warps to different places had left him feeling a little sick, the others were handling it much worse. A few of the warriors standing around puking at the moment were people he had previously been intimidated by, and for some reason, the fact that he held on to his lunch while they lost theirs was comforting. ¡°You made it.¡± Necia found Tulland before he found her, coming from behind him to give him a hug around the shoulders. ¡°I wondered.¡± ¡°It was just a simple selection. Even I can¡¯t mess that up. White, do we see anything yet?¡± ¡°Nothing yet. Big space, though. They could come from anywhere,¡± White answered. The ground was grass, fitting the usual pattern of what The Infinite seemed to think of as good fighting terrain. The space was essentially flat, even if there was terrain in the distance they may or may not be able to get to. ¡°Should we go looking for the monsters?¡± Tulland looked around, trying to figure out if any of the directions of possible travel were better choices than the others. ¡°Is that better?¡± ¡°With this many people? No. No way we could move everyone in formation,¡± Licht said. ¡°It would give whatever we are going to run into the advantage.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland looked around. ¡°So we just wait?¡± ¡°We do.¡± Potter had ambled up in the meantime, still wearing his robes and looking not even a little more ready for a fight. ¡°And we bemoan the fact that our short-sighted teammates opted for the individual achievement path on the rewards. Although it won¡¯t be that long befoer they come, I think. There¡¯s some magic gathering over there in a concerning way. I¡¯d imagine that might get things moving.¡± Tulland and the others looked, although there was nothing to see. That changed as the soil started to stir, rising up into countless mounds a mile or so off. ¡°Are we fighting bumps?¡± Brist wandered up, fully armed in his spiked gloves and yawning. ¡°I haven¡¯t done that before, but I guess I can.¡± ¡°No, look. They¡¯re forming into something.¡± Tulland pointed. ¡°You can see the little swords and shields.¡±
Earthen Warriors Each earthen warrior is meant to represent a median level of fighting ability as displayed by a class at or near level seventy. This fighting ability is only slightly diminished by the small size of the warriors, each of which are just over half the average size of a warrior on your side of the field. The first wave of this battle will not end until after this and any subsequent waves of warriors are defeated.
¡°All right. Everyone see that? Good.¡± White had taken over now, his law enforcement experience being put to use as he organized the lines. ¡°Everyone in the shield line, get ready. Remember to leave gaps for the fighting line to withdraw. Fighting line, step forward.¡± The strategy had been set over a half-dozen boring reasons, some of which Tulland had skipped since no one wanted to see their only source of food perish. The practical upshot was that, outside of a few specific skills that were being held back for strategic moments, the fighting line would unload everything they had on the charging mass of enemies. After that, they¡¯d pull back and let the shield line take the rest of the charge, doing whatever bashes and counters they had available. Then the fighting line would surge forward, attacking through the gaps in the line and taking down as many enemies as they could before being forced to fall back again. The hope was that the initial charge and secondary attack would take down enough of the monsters that they could then break ranks and chop down the remaining enemies without much risk. At least before the shield blast wave, that seemed to be going to plan. Tulland watched as all the archers let loose of their best attacks, not least of all Licht, who shot out three bone-based bolts in the same time it took Tulland to let a few of his Chimera Sleeve vines loose to hunt. The bolts exploded into fields of bone-based spikes, taking out two or three Earthen Warriors apiece as the bones penetrated their forms and collapsed them into loose loam. In the meantime, Tulland¡¯s chimera vines were slithering across the battlefield faster than any snake, jumping up enveloping the little dirt warriors before killing them with their thorns and moving on. They were surprisingly good at it, in their way. Tulland suspected it helped that the dirt monsters were both shorter than average and working off a pretty low damage threshold before they fell apart, maybe even some primitive counter of the number of wounds they had taken. His vines were triggering it in one go by pounding them with row after row of thorns covering their entire body. It was weird, but in the absence of any better way to fight at range, he¡¯d take it. In the meantime, the charging front of the Earthen Warriors reached them. Tulland watched as one of the little guys leveled its tiny clod sword at him, showing so many more openings than Brist had during his quasi-abusive sparring program. He caught the warrior on his pitchfork easily. Cranking back on the tines hard, he broke the monster apart, taking two cuts from other warriors for his troubles. Boy! Don¡¯t be a fool. Pitchforks aren¡¯t for that. Well, what else do you think I would use? Oh. Oh no. That¡¯s so stupid. This isn¡¯t my fault. It¡¯s not any system¡¯s fault. You humans invented the tools you invented for the purposes you invented them for. It¡¯s your own fault. Tulland sighed. He didn¡¯t really know if common farming tools predated the System, but he couldn¡¯t prove they didn¡¯t. Full of secret shame, he converted his farming tool to a hoe. As soon as he was using a tool that was actually meant for breaking apart dirt, he immediately dropped to single-shot kills, hitting the warriors with chopping and pulling motions that destroyed them in one go. The right tool for the right job. Shut up. For the love of whatever gods can hear me, shut up. Old Man Side Story ¡°Hey, old man. Off to sea?¡± The young man talking to Tulland¡¯s uncle was as perfect a fisherman as could be imagined. He was all muscles without being large anywhere that didn¡¯t contribute to his work, a marvel of balance and finely developed reflexes perfectly suited for the work. He was, as far as the island¡¯s fishermen were concerned, the hope of the next generation of men who worked on the water to feed the island. Tulland¡¯s uncle tied a knot in a rope and hooked it to the inside of the boat, temporarily keeping the small sail furled and out of the way. His muscles complained with every move. He hadn¡¯t been in as good of shape as the boy in front of him even in his youth, and he had decades of wear-and-tear on every joint in his body now. At this point, he had exhausted all the little tricks that the island¡¯s healers said might help with the pain. If anything, he was just happy his body wasn¡¯t betraying him by popping and groaning as he worked. In front of the older men, he wouldn¡¯t have cared. In front of this boy, he would have somehow been embarrassed. ¡°Yes,¡± the old man said. ¡°I thought I¡¯d try to bring in some bigger fish. Before the currents change.¡± ¡°Without any help?¡± The boy looked the old man up and down, afraid to say something they both knew. Tulland¡¯s uncle was getting a little old to bring in the bigger fish by himself. Tulland, bless him, had never noticed the old man¡¯s age, somehow. He seemed to not consider the man to have an age at all, or else to completely ignore every practicality related to it. But Tulland¡¯s uncle was the much older brother of Tulland¡¯s father, and was starting to feel less than young even before he had taken on the responsibility of raising the young orphan years ago. ¡°I could gaff for you, if you want.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle looked at the long hook in the boy¡¯s hand and considered it. Hooking the kind of fish he was going for would be hard enough, and keeping it on the line would be even harder. Having help with each of the tasks would make what he was doing a whole lot easier. He¡¯d get back to his fire a whole lot quicker and a lot less beat up. Which would ruin the point. ¡°No, I think I¡¯ve got it.¡± ¡°Okay, then. I¡¯m gonna go have a drink.¡± The young man could drink now, or at least could do so without hiding from a single cleric or parent. To Tulland¡¯s uncle, that was nonsense. He supposed he must have been that young, once. ¡°You¡¯ll be all right?¡± The old man nodded, then turned to his boat before the young man could see any of the worry on his face. He might not be all right, after all. If he managed to get what he thought he might on the hook, he¡¯d just as likely spend the night on the bottom of the ocean than in his own bed. He took the few ropes securing his ship off the pegs that held them to the docks, then shoved off. Near the island, moving a boat was a matter of oars. Sometimes, as he got further away, he could use a sail and still end up where he wanted. Not always, but often enough that he looked forward to the times the currents and winds cooperated to give him a break. For now, he¡¯d be using his cold, aching muscles to do the same work. He rowed for a half hour. He had seen the fish there the night before, breaching the water in a flash of silver. It was a carnivorous thing, much more a guarder of territory than a normal fish in the ocean might be. It would still be around there, hunting. The old man¡¯s first job was to give it something to hunt, something it could sink its teeth into and try to run off with. He sighed. He hated fishing for bait. Dropping a line and reeling it in should, he felt, have been reserved for a real catch he intended to keep. But a fish like the one he wanted to hunt only bothered to move when it meant a full meal. He needed something big enough to feed it. It was an hour before he got a hit on his line and reeled in a big, flat-bodied fish. The meat wasn¡¯t much good, he knew, at least by human standards. He doubted the bigger fish cared about that kind of thing. Pulling out the heavier of his two fishing poles, he inspected the line and verified that it looked to be in good condition as he fed a larger, more vicious hook into his new bait fish. It would be strong. So would he. Hours came and went. He saw the big fish breach the ocean twice, both times just a bit further away to really see the bait. He was patient, spending four hours in the cold before he finally gave up. He¡¯d try again tomorrow. He brought the flat fish home with him. It wouldn¡¯t have much good food on it, but it was enough for one old, dying man. He sat in front of the fire, letting the fish roast on a stick and trying to absorb any heat he could from the blaze. It had been a few weeks since he had felt the cold sinking into his bones, deeper and more vicious than it ever had before. Since then, his strength had been leaving him, bit by bit. In another month, maybe as little as another week, he wouldn¡¯t be able to fish anymore at all. For people who couldn¡¯t work, there were three options. They¡¯d be taken care of by their children, they¡¯d be taken care of by the charity of others, or they¡¯d die. The old man didn¡¯t feel much like trying out the middle option, and the first option had been stolen from him, somehow. That left the third. Or it would, unless he could find a fourth. ¡°To whatever gods can hear me,¡± he whispered the only words he¡¯d say that night to himself, picking meat off the fish carcass as he held off sleep. ¡°I¡¯ll try again. I just need that sign.¡± The next day was colder. The seas were calm enough to row on, but the wind chilled his bones in a moment. Even young men tended to avoid fishing on days like these. Safe or not, it just wasn¡¯t worth it. Tulland¡¯s uncle decided against joining them in the tavern. There wasn¡¯t much for him there in the best of times, and now that his life had reached the near-end of things, he found even less appeal in it. He¡¯d go. The gods liked hardship, they said. Hard women and men who did hard things in pursuit of goals. He could give them that. For a few more days, at least. He had got up early enough that he was launched and well away from the island before the sun had any effect on the light. He made his way to the same general area and spent the same hour catching bait. Then, shivering and in pain, he dropped his line and waited. Eventually, the sun warmed up his boat just a bit, not enough to make him comfortable but at least enough that he could hold a hand near his lantern and warm it up, then switch to the other. Besides that, it was just waiting. He chewed on some of yesterday¡¯s bread, swallowing it despite an almost complete lack of hunger. That wasn¡¯t a good sign, he knew. Men should be hungry when they worked. Hours came and went. He didn¡¯t see the fish breech once. He waited anyway. Around midday, he knew it must have moved on. He sighed and pulled in his bait, which by then had been nibbled away at by enough smaller fish he doubted it was doing much good on the hook anyway. The temptation to go back to shore was strong. He could get warm. He could see a cleric about his pain, and maybe they¡¯d even be able to do something about it. He ignored the idea, dropped his hook back into the ocean, and caught another fish to use for bait. This one was better than yesterday¡¯s and this morning''s a healthy, shining fish that would have been a good catch to eat and sell any other day. Tulland¡¯s uncle didn¡¯t need either thing, anymore. He hooked it and waited, holding out hope that something better on the line might make a difference to the big, carnivorous fish he was hunting. As he sat, he felt things inside him get worse. This wasn¡¯t just being tired or feeling pain, anymore. Things were failing. ¡°Well, gods, here¡¯s your chance.¡± The old man sat back and braced his feet on the seat in front of him. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll get another.¡± Whether or not the gods heard him, the fish chose then to bite. There was no question about whether it was the right fish or not. Nothing else in these waters could have hit the hook that hard or pulled out the line that fast. The old man had seen enough fish swim through the water over the years that he could imagine every bit of how it must have looked. The fish would have been like an arrow of almost liquid silver speeding through the dark down there. He put just a bit of resistance on the line, the most he dared to. The line held, and he waited. There was no question of who was stronger. The fish was young, and a massive thing that could have slaughtered him in a fair fight. Tulland¡¯s uncle had no reason to be fair. The gods certainly hadn¡¯t mentioned he would need to. He used every little dirty trick he had learned in a long life on the water, hurting the fish and letting the fish hurt itself, giving just enough fight to make it have to rest and recovering what line he could during those times. He was old, and he was weak, but he was also damn good at what he did. He always had been. After just three hours of fight, he felt the pull on the line change in some subtle way he couldn¡¯t have described but he knew the meaning of by heart. The fish had given up. He had won the battle. And now would start the next phase of things. He flexed his hand, found it was stiff from the cold, and whipped the glove off as he held it so close to the lantern that he could smell his own hair burn. Once it was warm, he started to reel, keeping as close to the heat source as he could and ignoring the burns to the back of his hand as the fish pulled at any angle that seemed to offer it a chance at freedom. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Finally, painfully, he brought it to the surface. It was an impossibly huge fish, one he wouldn¡¯t have believed if he hadn¡¯t seen others like it before. Even so, this one had an edge on the others, he thought. When it had breeched the water days ago, he was convinced that it was the biggest he had ever seen. That¡¯s when the bargain had occurred to him. Tulland had just disappeared. The clerics claimed to know nothing of it, and he believed them to a certain extent. But knowing nothing and not having any guesses were different things. Tulland could, he supposed, have left on a boat, except none were leaving that day. He could have drowned, but he had no interest in the ocean as it was experienced by a fisherman and never went out unless dragged. That left only a few possibilities, all of which had been exhausted by searchers before Tulland¡¯s uncle finally knew the truth of it. That old arch, the one in the church yard, was the subject of a lot of myths and stories, none of them good. It was a portal for demons, or a crossing to the afterlife, they said. The clerics didn¡¯t clarify the truth, except to say it really did lead to death and danger of sorts. The stories he believed the most said that it was a relic of back before the Church had come, when the System still ruled. He didn¡¯t know how that could be, but he could see that the clerics didn¡¯t like the arch, that the Church was disturbed by it, but was powerless to destroy it, somehow. He couldn¡¯t imagine a force smaller than the System that could resist to that degree. Those stories all said it was a gate, one that went somewhere related to the System. That, at least, he knew was true. For Tulland to have just disappeared one day as he had, as if he had just fallen into a hole to another world, there had to be a hole for him to fall into. The gate was the only thing it could be. When he saw the fish, he knew somehow that it mattered. An old man couldn¡¯t go into a magic gate and find his nephew, but an old man also couldn¡¯t catch this fish. None that he had ever heard of, anyway. And if he could catch the fish, it followed that he¡¯d be able to go through the gate and get Tulland too. It was a fantasy, he knew. There were holes in the logic big enough to row his boat through. But he was an old man with a few days left, at best. If he wanted to entertain himself that way, that was his business. There was nobody around with the authority to tell him to stop. As the fish rose, the old man reached for his gaffer¡¯s hook. He¡¯d likely only get one shot with it, just a second to get the hook into the fish before it sank back down into the water and left him with not enough strength to pull it back up. Putting tension on the line, he locked it in place as best he could and swung the hook. Even now, when he couldn¡¯t feel his hands for the cold, he was quick at it. The hook sank deep into the fish¡¯s head, where the fish jerked around it for just a moment before it stopped moving for good. Somehow, despite all the cold he had endured and all the battle with the fish on the line, the old man knew that the real hard moment was about to happen. He didn¡¯t need to kill himself reeling in a fish. That was a finesse game. He certainly didn¡¯t need much strength to get them on the hook in the first place. But the act of hooking a huge fish as heavy as some smaller men and rolling it out of the ocean onto a boat was a feat of strength that was hard for young men, let alone an old lonely man on the brink of death from the cold and brokenheartedness. Conventional wisdom said there was no chance he could do it. If he could, it meant the gods were with him. That they wanted him to chase after his nephew, and save him somehow. That, hopefully, they¡¯d help him beat the odds on the whole dying before he could get any of that done business. And that seemed worth the gamble, especially considering all he was giving up was a few cold days alone in his house, shivering and wishing he had done a better job keeping an eye on his adoptive son. He set himself and heaved. The fish didn¡¯t move, except bobbing up slightly in the water. He set again, and pulled even harder. His joints clicked distressingly from the effort, and the fish didn¡¯t move. It was all he could do, unless he wanted to kill himself in the process. ¡°Oh well. I suppose I have said I¡¯d like to die on the water.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle set one more time. ¡°No time like the present, I guess.¡± He pulled so hard the world went red. His hearing was the first thing to cut out, replaced by a loud ringing as his eyes went black and he felt himself tumbling back into the rowboat. He was unable to move after that. After what could have been an hour, his hearing came back. It was hard to tell how long it had been with so little around to hear. His eyesight didn¡¯t. There was no way for him, then, to know what was rowing towards him until it got there some time later, though he had some guesses. ¡°Just like I told you. Not missing. Just hurt.¡± It was the young man¡¯s voice. ¡°I knew he went out yesterday. I¡¯m surprised he tried it again, today. He hasn¡¯t looked well.¡± ¡°Get in there.¡± The second voice was probably Bhat, another fisherman older than the boy but still much younger than Tulland¡¯s uncle. He was a competent fisherman. ¡°See if he¡¯s breathing.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle tried to shout out that he was fine, and found he couldn¡¯t. Instead, he was bundled up like a load of firewood, pushed into their boat, and rowed back by Bhat while the younger fisher followed along with his rowboat and gear. ¡°All right. Get a cleric. If anyone can help, they can.¡± ¡°On my way.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle heard his boat collide with the shore. ¡°How did he get that fish out of the water, anyway?¡± I did get it, Tulland¡¯s uncle thought. I¡¯m glad he told me. I never would have guessed. ¡°He¡¯s a tough old bastard. Always has been. Now get that cleric before it''s too late.¡± ¡ª Things were a little hazy after that. Someone poured a draught of something warming down his throat, which was good until it reached his head and made what little he could still perceive even fuzzier. His vision, it turned out, was not entirely gone. He could see light, and from the shadows could guess that people were passing over him, coming and going, doing things to him that he supposed were meant to keep him alive. And then, somewhere in the mix, he found himself home, smelling the smells of his own house as it was warmed by a fire much bigger than he would have normally built for himself. ¡°They woke me up out of a full sleep. Young man, you know that, don¡¯t you?¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle woke up to the voice of an even older man, perhaps the only person in town that could call him young with a straight face. ¡°Said you needed a friend, and I was the closest thing you had.¡± ¡°A sad story.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle found he could speak, even if his tongue still felt like a wooden plank in his mouth. ¡°But true enough.¡± ¡°Ha! He can speak.¡± The tutor leaned down and touched the old man¡¯s forehead. ¡°No fever, at least. How are you otherwise?¡± ¡°Bad. I broke something in my chest lifting that fish.¡± ¡°No wonder. I¡¯m told it¡¯s a record. And not just for your age, either.¡± The old man heard the tutor strike a match, then smelled burning leaf as he lit his pipe. ¡°What made you do it? You aren¡¯t as old as I am, but I didn¡¯t suppose you had much showing off left in you at your age.¡± ¡°Made a bargain with the gods. About Tulland,¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle admitted. ¡°Oh? Which ones?¡± the tutor asked. ¡°Any that might be listening. Never was sure which ones were real, anyway.¡± The old man audibly puffed on his pipe, then sighed. ¡°And the bargain itself?¡± ¡°Just for a sign. That if I could get the fish, I could help him. Somehow.¡± The tutor didn¡¯t say anything. Tulland¡¯s uncle was used to that. He wasn¡¯t a man that talked much when he wasn¡¯t teaching. He had seen too much to be comfortable with most people. But out of everyone else in the town, there wasn¡¯t anyone who loved his nephew more than the old tutor. He had been hit just as hard by the disappearance, in his own way. ¡°The arch?¡± the tutor asked. ¡°That¡¯s my guess. Something was off with him, that last month or so. He hid it, but¡­¡± ¡°But he was talking to someone. Not you, not me. Not anyone on this island. Just someone. I¡¯ve been kicking myself every day since for not reporting it.¡± The tutor adjusted his weight in the creaking bedside chair. ¡°I just feared what they¡¯d do to him if I was right.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle wasn¡¯t angry at the man. He had done about the same thing, waiting until it was too late to do anything. ¡°What¡¯s beyond that arch? You¡¯d know.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle coughed. Something in his chest rattled ominously as he did. ¡°If anyone knows, it¡¯s you.¡± ¡°Could be a lot of things. The Church made sure any records of it were beyond even me. But if I had to guess?¡± ¡°Yes. Guess.¡± ¡°This island, Ouros, it was named after a cycle represented by two snakes, one feeding off the other and being fed on in turn. The usual person thinks that¡¯s just because the island is round.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t most?¡± ¡°Yes. I think it¡¯s for another reason. A long time ago, there was another cycle like that, where one world would be fed by ours, and we¡¯d be fed in turn.¡± The uncle was surprised to find he knew this story. Someone had told him to it, once, a long time ago. ¡°The Infinite.¡± ¡°Yes. There weren¡¯t very many portals to it, even back in the System¡¯s era. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me to know places that had them were named in ways related to that kind of transaction.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle tried to clear his lungs out with some deeper breaths, and stopped as he felt whatever was broken in him getting worse with the effort. He couldn¡¯t even sigh, which was about all he felt like he had in him. There were many places a person could be rescued from. It was like Tulland to pick one of the only ones where that wasn¡¯t true. ¡°So there¡¯s not much use going after him,¡± the tutor said. ¡°So the books tell me. You¡¯d be throwing away what¡¯s left of your life for nothing. That¡¯s the deal.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle coughed again. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°And the clerics know, by the way. Or have a sense. They¡¯ve seen people do stupid things before, I think. I¡¯m not just here for company.¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°No.¡± The tutor laughed and puffed on his pipe. ¡°Who would send me if that was the only reason? I¡¯m supposed to watch you. Keep you from leaving. I told them I wouldn¡¯t be strong enough to do that, but that was before I saw you.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle¡¯s eyes were getting foggier now. What little light he could see before was fading. ¡°So when are we going, then?¡± ¡°I just wanted to finish this pipe. Are you going to be able to walk?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll figure out a way.¡± ¡ª The tricky part about guarding the arch, the tutor said, was that if it really was a portal to where he thought it was, the Church couldn¡¯t make a big deal out of it. If they built high walls around it and set a guard, people would be suspicious of it. Curious. That was doubly true now, with Tulland¡¯s uncle and him so clearly motivated to figure out where their young charge had gone. When the tutor arrived at the arch half-dragging Tulland¡¯s uncle along with him, that lack of ability to keep a close eye on things worked to their advantage for once. The way was clear for both of them. ¡°Do you think we¡¯ll end up in the same place?¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle hacked with the effort of speaking. ¡°They tell me you aren¡¯t entirely useless in a fight.¡± ¡°They do? They might have even been right, once. To be honest, I have no way of knowing. We might fall out of this arch anywhere, facing anything. Any books on the subject have long since been burned. There will be danger, at least. And maybe I can help you face it. If there¡¯s anything left of you, that is.¡± The tutor looked at his friend one last time. ¡°You really don¡¯t look that well, you know.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Tulland¡¯s uncle felt something sagging in his chest. He¡¯d need to go in that arch soon, if he went at all. ¡°I¡¯m hoping that message from the gods was real. That they have something planned to help me.¡± ¡°You think they do?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not much of a thinker. You know that. But I figure I¡¯m allowed to hope.¡± ¡°True,¡± the tutor said. ¡°I suppose we all are.¡± Taking a deep breath, the tutor lifted his friend up until he was in a mostly upright posture. They nodded at each other and stepped through. Chapter 110: Formations ¡°All right. Shift!¡± White screamed over the battle. Somehow, maybe by virtue of his class skills, it became like a command that was supposed to be obeyed. As one, the entire group of attackers fell back behind the sturdier blocking group. Only a few of them, like Necia, were truly tank classes with blocking as a primary role of their class. As the robed studier-of-things Potter had put it, they were more aptly called survival classes or endurance classes, people who focused on outlasting their opponents and putting the finishing touches when others were finally exhausted. In any case, there were only a few adventurers who were worried about facing off against a single Earthen Warrior, but there were more than a single warrior for each of them. To keep the shield fighters from getting swarmed, everyone was doing their best from the back to destroy as many of the system generated warriors as they could. The sturdier fighters left gaps to their sides big enough to allow strikes through, and the two layers fought together to destroy the hundreds of tiny men attacking them. ¡°It¡¯s going well! White, keep it up!¡± Potter yelled. ¡°Wait. What¡¯s happening?¡± Suddenly, without any warning, every remaining dirt man disengaged. It was so sudden and so much like a retreat at first that a few fighters cheered. The stop to cheering came quickly when it became apparent that what was happening was less of a retreat than a reorganization. While earth-men were still getting shot down left and right, their remnants organized into a single block at the center of the line, with a few of the warriors acting as point on what amounted to a giant wedge formation. As much as Potter and White had drilled them on their basic tactics, nothing could have prepared the group to move to counter the wedge in an organized way. ¡°Licht! Dull the point!¡± White yelled. Licht nodded, pulled a particularly nasty looking chunk of bone from his quiver, and launched the bolt at the tip of the formation. The resulting explosion of bone chunks took out several of the Earthen Warriors, but others simply moved forward to take their place, still sprinting towards the line. ¡°Throw anything you can at them. And get ready to run, if you have to.¡± With hundreds of the little dirt men still in play, it wasn¡¯t hard to imagine the group getting swarmed by their numbers if their formation was shattered. ¡°Fight until you can¡¯t, then run.¡± Tulland watched as all this went on, then realized that there was one thing he could do that likely nobody else could. He was terrible at dealing widespread damage, and almost worse at taking down a single target. But what he was good at, despite his weaponry lagging behind in that respect, was creating confusion and irritation. He was facing a big cluster of enemies, each of which seemed to be cheaply built. They were literally and figuratively not very fleshed out. Even if they had any poison defenses, they weren¡¯t built around it like other monsters Tulland had encountered. Tulland had swapped out his Giant¡¯s hair vines for Acheflowers before coming here, mainly as a default, makes-more-sense-than-anything-else decision. His Clubber Vines made a difference with these enemies, and somewhere he hoped his Chimera Sleeves were still alive. He thought they were. He kept getting little pulses of feedback from something, anyway, and he sent out a command for them to come back hoping they¡¯d be able to hear it and obey. But the Acheflowers were an afterthought that was just now beginning to seem like it might come with some benefits. And, being one of the cheapest, worst plants he still carried, he could carry not-quite-literal tons of them with him. ¡°Who can throw?¡± Tulland yelled, dumping all of his Acheflowers into his pouch. Brist was suddenly by him, looking interested. Tulland tossed the bag at him. ¡°Throw this over that group. Just over. Leave a couple feet of gap.¡± Brist nodded and easily did just what was asked, so suddenly that Tulland¡¯s reflexes barely kept up with the task of blowing the thing up at the right time. Yellow powder settled down over the enemy group, briefly obscuring the entire remainders of the wedge formation. Tulland pondered the idea that he might have just made the enemy invisible, helping their plans. People probably wouldn¡¯t be very happy with him in that case. He was relieved when none of that ended up happening. He had expected either to have nothing happen, or to have a minor effect. What he hadn¡¯t expected was for the cloud to clear and show an army of dirt men completely stuck in their tracks. ¡°Tulland! What was that?¡± White asked after seeing the new development. ¡°Halucinegenic powder, I guess? Poison. Mind poison.¡± ¡°How long does it work?¡± White was frantic. ¡°How much time?¡± ¡°If it worked that well?¡± Tulland screwed his eyes shut and made his best guess. ¡°Maybe half a minute. Maybe more.¡± White didn¡¯t wait any longer. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Charge! Everyone! Hit them hard!¡± What happened next would have been a bloodbath if the dirt monsters had any blood at all. The entire human army abandoned defense, charged forward, and mowed down the rest of the dirt men without so much as a single additional injury. Tulland, who had never been the stand-out player in a casual sports game on his island, suddenly found himself hefted up on the shoulders of much larger, stronger warriors. Men and women cheered his name as word got around of just exactly what had caused their enemies to glitch out. ¡°I trained him,¡± Brist said to some other nearby muscle-head. ¡°Taught him to do all that. It was a lot of work, especially the bit with the flowers. But worth it.¡± Tulland was almost passed around from person to person while even the pretty scary looking warriors took the time to thank him for what happened. He wasn¡¯t sure how the battle would have gone otherwise, but he was starting to get the impression it would have been a pretty negative, hard thing if he hadn¡¯t put a stop to it. And then, just like that, everyone stopped. The Infinite had started dropping rewards, and there was no amount of politeness that could draw people¡¯s attention from that. Tulland had killed so few actual enemies that he didn¡¯t expect much. The Infinite defied that expectation.
Contribution Calculation Complete! (First Place) You have contributed more to this battle than any other adventurer involved, and have earned the highest tier of rewards available. The team¡¯s overall performance was also high, allowing for not only top-tier rewards for the level, but also a choice of the general nature of the prize you receive. You may select one of the following:
  • A Miscellaneous Class-related Item
  • A Weapon or Armor Upgrade (Note: Not applicable to the Farmer¡¯s Tool)
  • A Stat Increasing Potion or Experience Related Item.
What are you thinking? Class related item? Without a doubt. The other things can be obtained in easier ways. Even if they couldn¡¯t, any class related item labelled as miscellaneous does something for your class that is in some way hard to define. That¡¯s going to be worth more than ten or twenty stat points, unless The Infinite is being stingy. It does not strike me as the kind of entity that is ever stingy in that way. That¡¯s the direction I¡¯m leaning, too. Maybe if it was going to include my Farmer¡¯s Tool in the bargain, I¡¯d think about the second option. It likely can¡¯t, and almost certainly won¡¯t even if it can. We can talk more about that later. For now, take your reward. You will find there will be those that will be curious about what you received. There was wisdom in that, and there was no reason to delay. It wasn¡¯t like Tulland was allergic to new and shiny things. He let The Infinite know his choice, and watched as a metal object about the size of his head flashed into being, clattered to the ground, and rolled around in semicircles before coming to rest on Tulland¡¯s food. ¡°Is that¡­ Tulland, is that a bucket?¡± Brist looked honestly confused. ¡°Is it maybe a helmet or something?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s probably a bucket. And quiet, Brist, if you can. He¡¯s going to have to read the description to tell us what it is.¡± Necia sat down on the ground, cradling what looked like a new gauntlet. ¡°Knowing his weird class, it¡¯s probably something good, no matter how it looks.¡± Tulland tried not to laugh at the look on Brist¡¯s face and ducked his head down to find out what he was looking at.
Soil Bucket (Farmer Class Item) This bucket fills with high-quality soil once per day. When not in use, the bucket can be stored with Market Wagon and does not count towards your total storage capacity. Being stored in this manner will not affect its refilling schedule, and the bucket will still replenish itself as normal. If the soil is not emptied by the next cycle, it will remain full but will not create more soil until emptied and the next regular filling time.
¡°This is actually pretty weird even for me.¡± Tulland picked up the bucket and stored it in his dimensional space. ¡°But I think it¡¯s going to be pretty good. Really good, depending on what The Infinite means by high quality.¡± ¡°Good things,¡± Potter said. ¡°Very good things, from my experience. It might be adjusted to your level, but high quality is never less than impressive in some way or another.¡± White nodded in agreement, then turned to the crowd. ¡°Unless my eyes deceive me, that¡¯s our exit arch in the distance. And before you all go through it, I¡¯d like to point out a few things. First, we all did a pretty good job. Without organization, the first part of that fight would have gone a lot differently. We might never have forced them into a group for Tulland to¡­ well, farm at, I guess.¡± ¡°Hear hear,¡± Brist cheered. A few people joined in, only to quiet down when White motioned for them to stop. ¡°Go on, White. Sorry.¡± ¡°No problem. It¡¯s good to have something to cheer for. But we also have things to worry about. That enemy formation changed, and ours didn¡¯t keep up. I don¡¯t think any of us expects the same trick to work twice. We have to do better.¡± There were at least a few nods in the group. The near-miss had not gone unnoticed. ¡°For those of you that are interested, and everyone should be, Potter and I are going to put our heads together to see if we can keep us all alive through the next floor. That means planning, but it also means practice. Real practice moving together to meet different needs in different situations.¡± White looked around as if gauging the reaction of the crowd. ¡°Nobody is going to force you. And I¡¯ve talked long enough. Go. Rest and eat. And if you are interested in living longer than the next break between floors, we¡¯ll see you tomorrow afternoon.¡± Chapter 111: Food ¡°It¡¯s more different than I thought it would be.¡± The little girl was well into ruining the old man¡¯s day, hogging a good portion of his bench and almost all of his silence. ¡°They didn¡¯t lose anyone.¡± ¡°That¡¯s happened before.¡± ¡°I know. I know everything you know. Being you and all.¡± The little girl instance of The Infinite was what they thought of as a mover, a part of themselves that didn¡¯t do much thinking or work of their own but who excelled in getting others to think harder or work faster than they would by themselves. The old man was a watcher, one of the parts of The Infinite that waited and monitored. All of The Infinite¡¯s different parts were necessary in some way or another, but not all them got along. The old man wasn¡¯t always sure if he and the girl were in the category that disliked each other, or some other relationship he didn¡¯t understand. But she was there for a reason, and he¡¯d have to play along. ¡°No. You don¡¯t. Not in the same way. And if you did, you wouldn¡¯t pay attention to it unless I forced you,¡± the old man said. ¡°Well, geez. Fine.¡± The old man waved his hand at the screen and made a mess of facts and figures appear on it. ¡°This is all the information for the safe zone group with the farmer. All of it. Who is there, what levels, what stats, what equipment, what potential synergies have been discovered, which ones have not been thought of yet, and a hundred other factors that relate to both their performance and the potential for their future performance.¡± ¡°It looks normal.¡± ¡°Maybe. But here¡¯s just the section related to their performance so far.¡± The screen zoomed in on about twenty percent of the available information, cutting everything else out. ¡°Before you say that this is the same thing written in larger font, here are the parts of this data that are outliers, with comparisons to the normal average. Highlighted for your convenience.¡± The little girl found herself being drawn into the data despite herself. Some differences were to be expected, group-to-group. These were more than that. About forty percent of the categories were implicated. ¡°Is this right? No deaths in the scenario shock?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Usually, they¡¯ll lose something like a quarter to half of their number in the first run. Up to this point, there hasn¡¯t been any consistent way around that. Some percentage of the people don¡¯t take the threat seriously, can¡¯t transition out of independent thinking, and the surprising organizational capabilities of the monsters catch them off guard.¡± ¡°And this time?¡± ¡°None of that. Nearly everyone got on board at the initial talks. That wasn¡¯t as unusual as you¡¯d think. But then almost nobody defected from the plan. That never happens.¡± The old man swept to a video of the initial parts of the fight. ¡°Of course, they were lucky to have a poisoner of sorts for the first round. That¡¯s a known advantage. But even here, where they should have lost people to the initial charge, they just didn¡¯t. They were prepared.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s the difference?¡± The girl swept her hand to a zoomed view of the participants. ¡°They don¡¯t look stronger than average. Their personalities are more or less within range.¡± ¡°Anything I¡¯d tell you would be a guess.¡± ¡°Then guess, old man! I have places to be.¡± The old man sighed and poured a cup of tea from his thermos, thrusting it into the girl¡¯s hand and following up with one of the cookies he hadn¡¯t intended to share. He might not be able to make her patient, but at least he could keep her mouth busy for long enough for him to think. ¡°I think it might be because they were well-fed.¡± ¡°No.¡± The girl shook her head. ¡°Nobody starves to death in The Infinite. The rations are too easy to purchase. At worst, a few of them would have low blood sugar. That wouldn¡¯t affect the fight this much.¡± ¡°Not the fight,¡± the old man said. ¡°The time before it. You are young. Haven¡¯t you noticed people feeding you when you come to bother them? Cookies and things? Tea?¡± ¡°Yes. Because I¡¯m cute.¡± ¡°No. Because you won¡¯t calm down otherwise.¡± The man pointed at her stomach. ¡°That appetite isn¡¯t real, but it¡¯s modeled after theirs. Which is relevant because when humans are hungry, they are discontent. Not just starved. They become upset when they aren¡¯t full.¡± ¡°That seems suboptimal. They get worse at getting food when they most need it.¡± ¡°And yet, it¡¯s the case. And because is this case nobody was very hungry, I think they were not in as much of a hurry.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. The girl screwed up her face in consideration of this. ¡°Bullshit.¡± ¡°Language, young lady.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not any younger than you are,¡± she said. ¡°I just seem to be. And no. I won¡¯t watch mine. This isn¡¯t enough of a factor. Everyone survived! They waited an extra week. And you are telling me it¡¯s the difference between just enough and a little more than enough?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the idea, yes. Small differences, young woman, can make large effects. And here, it just had to make enough of a difference to keep people from defecting.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still not sure I buy it.¡± The old man stood and held out his hand, which the young woman took advantage of when pulling herself to her feet. ¡°You don¡¯t have to. Your job is just to push me to see if I really buy it. And I think I do.¡± They walked along for a bit, quietly. The little girl eventually broke the silence. ¡°If it¡¯s that big of a difference, why don¡¯t we see this more? That boy is already going to be sending back an above-average amount of contribution to his world. If he clears the fifteenth, it will be that much more.¡± ¡°Even more than that. He¡¯s getting a piece of all the progress that The Infinite considers his, which means he¡¯s getting a small percentage of everyone else¡¯s progress too. For a while, it was just that girl, and hardly mattered. Now? He¡¯s pulling double or triple the amount. And that may not stop.¡± ¡°My question stands, old man. Don¡¯t dodge it.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t.¡± The old man paused to look at a bird, but kept talking. ¡°If planets knew about this, they¡¯d certainly send more crafters. They¡¯d eventually find that they could send warrior-crafter pairs to improve the crafter¡¯s chances. But one thing we didn¡¯t anticipate in our design of the crafting track is the idea that humans would be so disinclined to come here if they didn¡¯t feel they stood a good chance of success.¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s not worth the life?¡± ¡°I suspect because the individuals are embarrassed to come here if they have little chance of advancing. We¡¯d send word back with their Systems, but the information a System can take back to their world about this place is part and parcel with the rewards their adventurers earn. They can only know about the ones who come here.¡± The old man nodded with satisfaction as the bird he was watching flew away, as if he was somehow associated with its ability to do it and approved of it taking advantage. Both were somewhat true, even if he wasn¡¯t thinking about them that way at the moment. ¡°The adventurer crafters we typically see in the dungeon are unmotivated criminals who have been thrown into a gate as a punishment. They tend to panic and fail almost immediately. Virtually none clear the first floor. The vast majority of the information we¡¯ve sent back to their planets is just that. They¡¯ve concluded they have no chance. The prophecy fulfills itself.¡± They walked a little longer. They were reaching the edge of the space and would soon melt back into the whole that was the infinite, where all of the personalities rested when not engaged with a task. Soon, the conversation would have to stop, whether they liked it or not. The old man thought he¡¯d be just fine with it. ¡°So why haven¡¯t we stopped it?¡± the girl said asked ¡°We can exclude anyone we want, even if we don¡¯t.¡± ¡°We exclude some. Purely non-voluntary involvement in The Infinite Dungeon is blocked. Criminals are an exception, as some choose it in a way by means of committing their crime. And even there, we block thousands a day across as many worlds.¡± ¡°Still. We could block crafters. Retune the dungeon to acknowledge they aren¡¯t there. Why don¡¯t we?¡± ¡°That I don¡¯t know.¡± The old man shook his head. ¡°I never have. There are many of us, myself included, that have counseled that we should do just that. The prime instance has always shot it down, often as a sole decision entirely his own.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound like him.¡± ¡°Frankly, it¡¯s not. There¡¯s something in his decision-making that is nonetheless firmly committed to the possibilities of crafters excelling here, and has always left the possibility open.¡± The old man shook his head. ¡°I have to admit that I fully expected him to be wrong, until today.¡± ¡°One outlier result doesn¡¯t prove a concept.¡± ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t. But it does prove the possibility of a concept being true. As a case study, if you will. And that changes things. More than you¡¯d expect. It¡¯s a shame that his world is such an odd case, as it¡¯s unlikely for the news of his successes to be communicated much.¡± ¡°Unless he does much, much better.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°And where does that leave you?¡± The girl slipped off her shoes before they crossed the border towards dissolving into the greater whole. It was a habit of hers, like a child might have learned to do before coming indoors on rainy days. ¡°Will it change the advice you give? What you recommend?¡± ¡°It might.¡± The old man looked down at her shoes and decided to try it himself for once. He couldn¡¯t slip his off as easily, but eventually got them unlaced and cast them away before he walked across the border himself. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong with change, you know. Especially when it makes the universe a bit better.¡± ¡ª Back in the safe zone, Tulland had a sneaking suspicion he was being spoken about. He didn¡¯t care. He was sitting and eating food with his girl, conspicuously not in danger of dying, and for once in possession of untold riches he hadn¡¯t had to put his life on the betting table to attain. ¡°This is salt.¡± Necia had said that exact sentence about five times now. ¡°Real, actual salt. From the sea.¡± ¡°From The Infinite store.¡± Tulland was also enjoying the seasoning, and managing to keep his dignity by not saying so a ton of times even if he was thinking it. ¡°But yes. Very good salt. Apparently, the entire group chipped in on a big bag of it. We have enough for months.¡± ¡°Why did we not do this before?¡± ¡°Too expensive. It doesn¡¯t get to be reasonable to buy it until you are buying big group amounts. I¡¯m not sure why. It might be to encourage cooperation in this zone, for all I know.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s keep cooperating then. It¡¯s worth it for the salt alone.¡± Another group of loud warriors walked by, talking about the salt like it was a tavern with free alcohol back on their home worlds. ¡°And guess what? You also have your bucket to stare at. So that¡¯s double the prize, for you.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t make fun of me for staring at my bucket. You keep stroking your gauntlet like it¡¯s a newborn baby. That¡¯s just as weird.¡± ¡°No, Tulland, it¡¯s not. Armor is not as weird as farmer combat buckets. But, yes, I¡¯m very glad about having a gauntlet that shaves of a quarter of any given impact. It¡¯s a big difference. Now go back to staring at your bucket. I heard if you look at them hard enough, they finally decide to fill themselves.¡± Tulland smiled and ate his dinner, and really did go back to looking at the bucket. Sooner or later, it had to fill, and he was determined to see it happen. It was no real surprise that the one minute he truly looked away to get them both another helping of delicious salted food, it finally happened without him. Chapter 112: Formations ¡°Dirt, Tulland. Real dirt. It¡¯s a miracle.¡± Necia¡¯s voice was dry and flat. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen the like. The prophecy has been fulfilled.¡± ¡°Haha. You have to know how big of a deal this could be, right?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I do. It¡¯s just funny.¡± Necia leaned over and gave him a squeeze around his shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t let me keep you here. Go look at your dirt. Let me know what you find.¡± Tulland immediately slurped down the last bit of his food, then walked to the newly filled soil pail. Even from a few paces away, he could tell it was good stuff. The normal soil in safe zones was a five on some one-to-ten soil scale and the worse soils he had seen in the swampier or more desert-like floors were a two. ¡°This stuff is like an eight.¡± Tulland said, letting a loose handful of dirt flow between his fingers. ¡°Maybe an eight and a half.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nonsense.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not. I¡¯ll explain what I mean later.¡± Tulland took the soil directly over to his farm patch with a bemused Necia in tow. ¡°I¡¯m going to dig up all these briars. I need you to hold them.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Tulland took the bucket and set it on the ground, then took his Farmer¡¯s Tool shovel and portioned out a big lump of soil from a nearby pile. Carefully dumping his bucket so as not to lose any precious high-quality stuff, he started stirring them together with his shovel, thoroughly mixing in the magic soil with the only-slightly-less-magic corpses of his soil-based enemies. ¡°What are you up to?¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s only one bucket, right? These briars are my highest value plants. I¡¯d like to do a whole garden entirely made out of this soil, but there just isn¡¯t enough of it. So I¡¯m mixing it with the soil that everyone brought back for me.¡± The army of dirt-men wasn¡¯t the best soil Tulland had ever seen, or even the best he had ever made for himself. But it was pretty good stuff, and the resultant mix was much better than the soil he had been using on this floor so far. The only question was what plants to give it to, but the clear winner was his briars of all different varieties. Overall, they contributed more points than anything else by far. Tulland carefully uprooted each of his briars, leaving enough soil around the root structures to make sure they¡¯d survive the process. He had tried this before, only to find that most of his plants had a maximum of a few minutes out of the soil before the System started considering them dead. He figured it was a stealthy limitation on his class, and usually, it didn¡¯t matter that much. Today, it put a hard time limit on what he was trying to do. Handing each of the briars to Necia as he pulled them out, he then left her holding the huge pile of them as he carefully excised all the normal soil from the area then filled in the rectangular cavity with the new, bucket-juiced soil. He added the briars back as he went, pleased to see he only lost a couple members of the weaker varieties from uprooting them. Once they were all back in the soil and re-watered, his farmer¡¯s intuition was happily informing him the vines were in a much, much better situation. Even the Chimera Sleeve vines he had replanted in the soil after their time hunting dirt monsters seemed to be thriving. ¡°Those seem livelier.¡± Necia pointed at the chimeras. ¡°The new ones. Any reason for that?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to figure that out. The Infinite lets them live and level out of the soil. That was part of some class features it took away from me, once upon a time. I¡¯m not sure why it gave them back now.¡± ¡°Were they used to drink blood and level while they were fighting?¡± ¡°Something like that. Although these seem to level from killing, rather than eating. And they won¡¯t drop seeds even if they die out there. I have to be involved with the growing process. Probably to keep them from taking over the world.¡± ¡°Is that that big of an advantage?¡± ¡°Right now? Yeah. Those Chimera Sleeve vines grew to level three already.¡±
Chimera Sleeves (Level Three) At level three, the Chimera vines are as able of melee fighters as the Clubber Vines in terms of skill, and a little more able in terms of things they can damage. Their ability to constrict in a rope-like fashion is greater than the Giant¡¯s Hair vines they replace, and their increased durability over older versions of briars means they are harder to break. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Their ability to inflict pain is limited to the thorns on the briar interior, but is much greater than any previous briar could bring to bear. These abilities have to do with the versatility of the vines, and represent a directional shift. Where your old vines all had one specific purpose, these vines attempt to do a little of everything. Compared to previous briars, the ability of these vines to obey simple intent-based commands is much richer and effective. There is more to learn about the function of these vines and will be revealed as you either discover the use, or the vines level.
¡°It¡¯s weird.¡± Tulland went over and stroked one of the vines. ¡°I would have been content with just what they do already in terms of combining the functionality of older plants, and keeping up with the power curve of the dungeon. These do more than that, even if I don¡¯t know what it is yet.¡± ¡°Then figure it out? Can you¡­ I don¡¯t know. You can sort of talk to them, right? Did you ask them?¡± ¡°Sort of.¡± Tulland sent a message to the vine to simply be active, leaving the exact details of how mostly up to it. It wiggled faster, and puffed out one end of itself into a much larger tube. ¡°It does that.¡± ¡°Huh. It looks hungry.¡± ¡°Well, it will have to keep looking hungry. Because I¡¯m not going to deal with it right now. I¡¯ve done my soil stuff, I¡¯ve dumped all my magic into this farm, and now I¡¯m going to go take a bath.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll walk with you. I feel like I got more dirt on myself in one day from exploding dirt men than I¡¯ve had on me the whole rest of the dungeon.¡± After each of them had made full use of their own room and tub, they walked back to their house and spent some time on the porch before going to bed. The next day, supposedly, they were going to be starting military drills under Brist, White, and a few other commander-types who had some experience in that realm. Neither Tulland or Necia fooled themselves into thinking it would be easy. It wasn¡¯t. ¡ª ¡°All right. I see you were still bumping into people, Necia. And Tulland, you allowed people to bump into you,¡± Potter, the robed evaluator, shouted. ¡°Which do we change?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°All of it. In the heat of battle, being bumped takes on a different meeting. It interrupts dodges. It pushes people out of position into attacks. And sometimes, the bump itself is damaging. Remember that not everyone¡¯s stats are built in the same way, and not everyone can play as roughly at close range.¡± Tulland believed it. The last few collisions had actually hurt compared to the first few as everyone got more frustrated and determined to make things work. As a group, it seemed they were getting worse rather than better, responding quicker but much less accurately to the various formation changes as they were called. ¡°Iron Pillar!¡± Potter, done barking corrections, was now back to barking orders. He had taken over for white, arguing that it was a better idea to get people used to obeying someone without a command skill if they could. ¡°No, Tretine. Iron Pillar, not Steel Wall.¡± Tretine was seemingly in the business of making everyone else feel a little better about the group¡¯s overall poor performance. He couldn¡¯t remember the name of a single formation consistently. He always went to the assigned spot for at least one of the formations, seemingly chosen at random out of the five or so positions he had been taught that day. ¡°How did he even get this far?¡± Tulland angled his head so Brist could hear him, but hopefully so the other warrior couldn¡¯t see. ¡°He¡¯s¡­ not all that strategic, if you catch my meaning.¡± ¡°Physical guys are like that sometimes. I¡¯m actually pretty smart for the kind of guy who could punch open a mountain pass.¡± ¡°Do what, now?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Brist dismissed the question with a wave. ¡°Besides, he¡¯s not the only problem. He¡¯s just the most obvious one. Adventurers aren¡¯t military, or at least aren¡¯t usually. Almost everyone here is bad at this.¡± Tulland watched as a rogue came out of stealth almost directly in front of a charging spearman and almost got flattened as part of the bargain. ¡°So what do we do?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°We practice. There¡¯s a reason we didn¡¯t plan anything else besides a simple formation earlier,¡± Brist said. ¡°Nobody is going to get much better at fighting in this period, and everyone needs to rest. So we¡¯ll spend a few hours a day on this, no more than that, and just try to get as close to competence as we can get.¡± ¡°How close do you think we will get?¡± ¡°Arrowhead Formation!¡± Potter yelled. ¡°Go!¡± That was the last straw for Tretine¡¯s limited attention span. Not only did he not make it to the correct spot, he was so clearly torn between two different directions that Tulland was mildly surprise he didn¡¯t tear himself in half trying to get to both. As it was, he moved a step in each direction before throwing up his hands, giving up, and storming off. ¡°Let¡¯s just call that the end of the day, everyone. Come back tomorrow around the same time.¡± Tulland breathed an audible sigh of relief as the groups fell apart and went their different ways. No particular moment of the practice had been all that hard, but the accumulated stress of trying to remember just where to go and how to get there from any given formation over the afternoon had accumulated in him. It was almost as hard as getting beat up by Brist, if in a somewhat different way. ¡°Tulland, wait.¡± Potter jogged over from where he had been calling instructions. ¡°How did that soil work out?¡± ¡°No telling yet. I should have an idea by tomorrow.¡± ¡°I was thinking about it after you left, how much it must help you. I don¡¯t know where you''d even get something like phosphorus or a nitrogen fixant for soil here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry?¡± ¡°The chemicals. For building up soil. Nutrients for the plants.¡± ¡°I only know some of those words.¡± Tulland threw up a pained smile of regret for Potter¡¯s benefit. ¡°I wasn¡¯t much of a farmer before I came here.¡± ¡°Really? Then why get a farmer class.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a long story.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We all have one.¡± Potter shook his head. ¡°Still, it¡¯s a shame. On my world, we had quite the science of plants. Did you know, for instance, that the food you give to your plants as fertilizer isn¡¯t really food in the way you¡¯d suspect? Really, the plants are just taking up individual components of that food.¡± Chapter 113: Farming Science ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Tulland admitted. Somehow, Potter who was mostly a fighter knew more about farming than him, a farmer. ¡°Well, imagine iron. It¡¯s mined as an ore. The iron has to be melted out of that ore. Just that one part. That¡¯s the useful bit.¡± Potter pulled out his dagger and tapped the blade, as if to illustrate the point. ¡°When you give something like ground up bone to your plants in the soil, they are only taking what they want from it. Phosphorus and calcium, I think. Two chemicals. On my world, some of the better farmer-related classes had figured out how to separate out just those parts. It made it cheaper to ship to where it was needed.¡± That was interesting enough, Tulland supposed. It wasn¡¯t exactly useful to him, since his farmer¡¯s intuition told him about how much of each thing to mix with his soil and kept him from the worst overshoots. He nodded, appreciating knowing a bit more about what was happening there but not caring that much about details that wouldn¡¯t be that useful to him.
Skill Level Up!
¡°One second.¡± Tulland held up his hand to stop Potter, who was still droning on about plants. ¡°Let me check something.¡±
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 70 Strength: 60 (+5) Agility: 60 (+5) Vitality: 60 (+10) Spirit: 105 (+5) Mind: 60 (+10) Force: 150 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 20, Produce Armament LV. 20, Market Wagon LV. 15 Passives: Broadcast LV. 15, Botanical Engineer LV. 16, Strong Back LV. 15, Fruits of the Field LV. 15, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 16
Farmer¡¯s Intuition leveled. Why? Likely the same reason your plants level when you give them fertilizer. Potter is giving you the component knowledge the skill runs on. The Infinite is rewarding the study. Interesting, really. If I were you¡­ Say no more. Tulland dismissed the System for the moment. ¡°Potter, would you say you know a lot about plants?¡± ¡°A lot? I don¡¯t know that I¡¯d put it that way. I¡¯ve read a few books on plants, a few on agriculture¡­¡± ¡°What constitutes a few?¡± Necia asked. ¡°You are a scholar class, right?¡± ¡°Well, yes. I¡¯d say I haven¡¯t read more than fifty or sixty books on the general subject of botany, if pressed.¡± Tulland was holding on to Potter¡¯s robes now, a look of desperation in his eye. ¡°Potter, you are going to come to my house. I¡¯m going to feed you.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± Potter looked confused. ¡°And?¡± ¡°And you are going to tell me everything you know about plants. Every. Single. Thing.¡± ¡°Oh, just that? Of course.¡± Potter beamed. Tulland knew that look. His tutor used to have it every time a student showed actual, genuine interest in a lesson. ¡°Lead the way.¡± ¡ª Tulland had worried that the scholar might realize the value of what he was doing and demand a price he couldn¡¯t pay. He was half right. The older man almost instantly aware of the implication of what was happening, but was more than happy to do what he could to help for free. ¡°And so while we humans tend to think of the purpose of a plant as producing wood or fruit, or for use as ornaments, or for shade, the plants have a very different idea of what they are for. Can you guess what it is?¡± ¡°To survive?¡± ¡°Close.¡± Potter scooped up some more grain mush. He had been packing it away for hours, taking short breaks to digest them so that he could push more calories into his already packed system. ¡°This really is better with salt. And you cook it well, I must say.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been cooking it for months. It¡¯s the only thing I can make.¡± Tulland tapped on the table, deep in thought. ¡°So if not survival, and not producing things we need, then what?¡± ¡°Something close. Figure it out yourself if you can. I suspect it¡¯s worth more that way.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Tulland tried. It had been hours of talking, and the levels had been slowing down as the scholar started repeating himself or moving away from agriculture into more esoteric understandings of plants. Still, Tulland had gained two more levels to his Farmer¡¯s Intuition, and was eager to get his third. He thought. It was a minute or so of watching Potter hork down bites of food before he got it. ¡°Seeds?¡± Tulland was uncertain. ¡°They live to produce seeds. More of themselves.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. In the real world, a plant doesn¡¯t care if it¡¯s exceptionally lethal, just if it¡¯s lethal enough to survive long enough to disperse its seeds. The same goes for whether or not a fruit is delicious, or whether or not a tree is sturdy. They are just as sturdy as they need to be to survive.¡± On the ground between them, Potter used his toe to sketch out two circles with his toe, one big and one much smaller. ¡°Human involvement changes that. On my world, we had a fruit. An orange sweet kind of thing. We kept good records of the fruits when they were first intentionally grown, all the way to the present day. They started out as smaller, harder things, like this.¡± He pointed to the smaller circle. ¡°And that was enough for them to survive in the wild. Birds and rodents would eat the fruits, scatter the seeds, and they¡¯d grow.¡± ¡°And the bigger circle?¡± ¡°Something that would have never occurred without human involvement. The fruits didn¡¯t need to be bigger and sweeter for the plants to survive in the wild, but we wanted them to be. We selectively bred the trees until we improved the fruit.¡± Tulland was almost past his capacity to learn that day. It had been hours of plant-talk, and even with his newfound, class-inspired interest in plants, he was not and had never been much of a student. With Potter visibly stuffed full of food at last, he was looking for an escape. It was only politeness that kept him on track for the end of this one last lesson. ¡°You might think this was wrong to do to the plant, in some respects,¡± Potter said. ¡°We were forcing it to waste energy on a fruit that was in no way better at spreading its seeds. But what do you think happened then?¡± ¡°No idea,¡± Tulland answered. ¡°Sorry. I really can¡¯t guess.¡± ¡°We started to grow orchards full of the damn things. All over. The fruit was better, which motivated our farmers to invest in keeping the trees in better health and increasing their numbers. That¡¯s the last thing I think you have to remember, Tulland. The seeds are the point, and a plant will do what it needs to in order to survive all the influences of its environment. But we, Tulland, are also an influence. Especially humans like you.¡±
Skill Level Up!
¡°That¡¯s another one.¡± Tulland smiled at the scholar. ¡°Thank you so much. It¡¯s probably the last one for the day, though. I don¡¯t have much of a constitution for learning, I think.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just about out of relevant things anyway. Did that pail of yours ever refill, by the way?¡± ¡°Actually, I think so.¡± Tulland checked inside his storage. ¡°Yes. I¡¯d better go take care of that now.¡± ¡°Can I watch?¡± Potter looked towards the obscured portions of Tulland¡¯s property. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen the farm proper. I¡¯d be interested to.¡± Tulland shook his head, actually sad that he couldn¡¯t let the man. He¡¯d be taking a loss by not getting all the information he could out of the man, and seeing the farm would almost certainly jog some ideas loose in the man¡¯s brain. ¡°I can¡¯t. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Tulland winced as the disappointment showed in the scholar¡¯s face. ¡°I really am. It¡¯s just that we allowed access to a trusted friend on the last set of floors, and¡­¡± ¡°Say no more.¡± Potter waved his hand. ¡°I heard a little bit about that from White. He wouldn''t give me the details, but I think I might understand a bit of how destroying a farmer¡¯s farm would hurt him. You are all recovered now, I trust?¡± ¡°Pretty well.¡± Tulland held back the details of how his class worked, glad that Potter wasn¡¯t pushing for them. ¡°And it¡¯s getting better the more of this soil I¡¯m able to pour in. I just wish I didn¡¯t have to disturb the plants to do it. The stuff I dug up yesterday is just barely reaching the point it was before I dug it up. The rest of it is probably going to take the same kind of dive.¡± ¡°You¡¯re digging them up?¡± Potter grimaced. ¡°Is that really necessary?¡± ¡°I mean, I have to get the soil to them somehow.¡± ¡°Just hoe where you can to mix it in, and douse the rest with water. The nutrients should leach downwards by themselves. Especially over time.¡± ¡°Will that work?¡± Tulland¡¯s Farmer¡¯s Intuition took the information and ran with it, verifying that it very probably would. ¡°Dammit. Yes, it should. Why didn¡¯t I think of that?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t blame you. You never had any training. But if the plants near the plot you dug up yesterday are doing better than expected, I¡¯d think that would be your confirmation.¡± ¡ª Tulland spent the rest of the day stirring up the soil of his farm as much as he could, carefully hoeing every inch of soil around every plant that didn¡¯t seem like it would deal harm to the roots of the plants themselves. Occasionally, one would get hurt, but the damage overall was minimal. This time, he went much heavier on the pail soil and much lighter on the dirt from the monsters. If he wasn¡¯t filling out the entire dug-out cavity with a complete replacement of soil like he had the day before, it seemed like the best policy was to dust the entire plot as evenly as he could. After mixing the soil, he took handfuls of the dirt and dusted it over the entire farm, creating a hair-thin layer of nutrients that he immediately wetted into the soil once the job was done. His Farmer¡¯s Intuition was closing the gap on level twenty, which Tulland was looking forward to. He didn¡¯t exactly expect that every change in a skill would come from a round-numbered level, but it would represent a milestone in any case. If it gave him some new facet of power to develop, it would be all that much better. ¡°All done?¡± Necia came in and sat down near the plot as she watched her filthy, muddy friend finish his work. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s working?¡± ¡°It should.¡± Tulland looked out over the farm and sighed. ¡°There¡¯s no way to know for sure until it grows, but if Potter and I are right, it should show in the score tomorrow, even if I can¡¯t feel it in the individual plants so well right now.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s hoping. In the meantime, I need you to go take a bath and then go to bed. I want you up bright and early tomorrow,¡± Necia said. ¡°Oh? What¡¯s going on? Another formation practice with Potter and White?¡± ¡°Nothing like that. It¡¯s just that we haven¡¯t really been anywhere together since we got here. We were too busy. Which was fine, but¡­¡± ¡°But I¡¯ve been ignoring you.¡± ¡°Not just me. This place. We didn¡¯t find much to use out in the wild of the last safe zone, but this safe zone is a different place. It¡¯s better. I wondered if it might be worth checking things out.¡± ¡°Good plan.¡± Tulland dusted off his hands and stowed his farmer¡¯s tool. ¡°You are going to bed now?¡± ¡°Yeah. It doesn¡¯t look like it, but moving around in all that armor for those formations really takes it out of me. I want to give dinner and my regeneration a chance to work before tomorrow.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try not to wake you when I come back.¡± ¡°Do that. And Tulland? Smile. It¡¯s gonna be a fun date.¡± Chapter 114: Secrets The next morning, Tulland managed to wake up just a bit before Necia did. He wasn¡¯t planning on checking his farm right away, the politics of a morning hike date being what they were, but with her still snoring away in bed, he didn¡¯t feel nearly as bad.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 70 Strength: 60 (+5) Agility: 60 (+5) Vitality: 60 (+10) Spirit: 105 (+5) Mind: 60 (+10) Force: 150 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 20, Produce Armament LV. 20, Market Wagon LV. 15 Passives: Broadcast LV. 15, Botanical Engineer LV. 19, Strong Back LV. 15, Fruits of the Field LV. 15, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 19
Tulland still hadn¡¯t picked up a single level since coming to the new safe zone. He wasn¡¯t sure if that was normal or not. If he had leveled naturally to this point, he¡¯d have a better idea of what kind of pace was expected at level seventy. Absent that, he supposed he hadn¡¯t really killed that many enemies in the last battle. With rewards that didn¡¯t contain any experience packs, he didn¡¯t expect to see a lot of rapid progress in levels unless his tactics in combat changed quite a bit. On the upside of things, his farm was doing much better now. The best of his Chimera Sleeves were now at level four, and all the briars he had dug up before had fully recovered. On top of that, the rest of his farm was doing visibly better. Visibly to him, anyway. Details of plant health that would have gone fully over his head a few months ago now stood out like sore thumbs. The colors of leaves, the pliability of branches, and the spread of the roots all meant something distinct. It was book-reader stuff. The opposite of what an adventurer was supposed to care about, at least how he would have judged it in his fantasies back home on Ouros. In his case, knowing the difference between a healthy plant and a struggling one and being able to tip things from one spectrum to the other, meant a huge, sudden spike to his power.
Farm Status: Total Points: 8114
Tulland didn¡¯t have any other farmers nearby to ask about his growth, but he doubted any other farmer in existence would know anyway. His class had gone so sideways at this point that he doubted the average farmer would even recognize it. Whatever he had been doing was working, but outside of the occasional interaction with a scholar class who knew a little about farming on accident, he was on his own, figuring out things as they came. Just like always. Even so, a jump this big was worth celebrating. There were even a few more points to grind out of the farm outside of what the soil was doing. His farm-status screen detail view had been giving him hints that a few plants were over-represented, now that his Chimera Briars were pushing more points than any individual plant ever had before. If he pulled a few plants here and planted a few more of the better-paying varieties there, he¡¯d be able to squeeze out even more. Tulland held up his Farmer¡¯s Tool and gave it a few experimental pokes, feeling it slide through the air more cleanly and powerfully than it ever had before. Giving instructions to the plants in his farm that could respond to them showed even more dramatic signs of the increases. The Clubber Vines clubbed harder. The Giant¡¯s Hairs searched frantically for anything worth constricting. The Lunger Briars lunged. The Chimera Sleeves were the liveliest of all, and gaining new moves every time he interacted with them. They were so active that now, as he requested them to come towards him, they were actually able to uproot themselves and crawl close enough that he could store a few of them in his dimensional storage. He almost decided to leave them growing, especially considering how much benefit they were getting from the new soil. He chose to ignore the impulse. This was a safe zone, sure. It was as secure as he had felt anywhere since coming here. That didn¡¯t mean he could abandon caution. On the off chance he was being paranoid, he decided to get a second opinion, but even that backed up his potential paranoia. I¡¯m not being weird, right? I shouldn¡¯t trust this place. In what sense? In the sense where I leave the house without the means to fight if it comes to that. It¡¯s an interesting question. In a sense that only considers the odds, I¡¯d say your chances of getting attacked are fairly low. The experience you¡¯d give would be significant, but not life-changing. You are an unpredictable threat, and not a single individual on this floor has shown aggression to anyone. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I sense there¡¯s a ¡°but¡± coming. But, yes, there are other considerations. You gain very little by heading out unarmed. Mostly comfort, or confidence if it turns out you really didn¡¯t need the armaments. But there¡¯s very little to gain outside of that and quite a bit to lose. Caution is called for here. You are sure? Think about it. Have you seen anyone else unarmed? Less armed, certainly. You¡¯ve seen that. But completely unarmed for more than a quick trip across the more populated parts of the settlement? No. And you are headed out to an unmonitored place, where anything might happen. In some ways, other humans aren¡¯t even the most of your worries. Meaning? I¡¯m surprised I¡¯m even able to give you this warning. It must be because it¡¯s a mere guess. But The Infinite is never a simple thing. Right now, everyone on this floor is acting as if they are going to run into five floors in a row that introduce very little in the way of changes to the level of danger. That¡¯s almost certainly not the case. And there has been little to no curiosity about the contents of this safe zone, likely because the last safe zone had very little of interest. But that is not a confirmed constant, Tulland. Anything could happen. Huh. Thanks for that. It does sound as if Necia is coming, though. I understand. Enjoy your outing. ¡°Talking to someone?¡± Necia was dressed in the clothes she wore under her armor, and just that. It wasn¡¯t an uncommon sight, anymore, but it still made Tulland stop and think every time he saw it. Like this, she seemed just like a normal girl. Not a princess, not someone who could shift forms into a massive armored warrior, but just a normal girl like he might have known back on Ouros. ¡°You looked that way. You know what I mean.¡± ¡°Yeah, I was talking to it. Asking about whether or not I should go unarmed on our hike.¡± ¡°And?¡± Necia¡¯s eyes panned across the farm, taking in the divots where his plants had been. ¡°Oh, I see what he advised. And that you listened.¡± ¡°I took those beforehand. But yeah, I listened. It says we should take weapons for the same reason you say we should go exploring in the first place.¡± ¡°That being?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know what¡¯s out there, really. And The Infinite isn¡¯t usually a boring place.¡± Necia, visibly annoyed, considered that for a bit. ¡°I hate that it¡¯s right. How much do you think we should take with us?¡± Necia asked. ¡°I¡¯m taking my Farmer¡¯s Tool, and I¡¯ll keep my armor with me in storage. And my normal complement of stored plants. They won¡¯t slow us down,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I don¡¯t want to wear my full armor, but I suppose I could carry my shield and sword on my back. And my new gauntlet.¡± ¡°I feel like you would have brought that anyway.¡± ¡°Maybe. It¡¯s still new to me and I sort of love it.¡± Tulland walked up and wrapped up Necia in a hug. ¡°Thanks. For not being mad at me for listening. It really hasn¡¯t given bad advice yet, you know.¡± ¡°I know. Just let it know that if it ever does, I will spend the entire rest of my life trying to earn a way to hurt it from The Infinite. It can¡¯t tell me that¡¯s impossible. Not here, in this place.¡± It probably isn¡¯t. Tell her I acknowledge her warning as valid¡­ Sure. But not right now. ¡°Are you ready to go?¡± ¡°No, of course not. Come to breakfast, Tulland. If we are going to do this and formations practice, we¡¯ll need all the food we can get.¡± ¡ª ¡°It¡¯s pretty.¡± Tulland admired the landscape as they walked. ¡°Prettier than I thought it would be.¡± ¡°I noticed the same thing. It doesn¡¯t surprise me. It seems like everything on this floor is just a little better. The baths. The prices on luxuries. The landscape being a little prettier seems normal at this point.¡± ¡°Why do you think that is?¡± Tulland bent down to examine a new grass, found it didn¡¯t seem to have any especially impressive properties, and moved on. ¡°Why give us better things?¡± ¡°A reward, maybe? For getting this far? Or maybe it¡¯s just acknowledging that we are elite.¡± ¡°Elite?¡± Tulland chuckled. ¡°Maybe you are. I¡¯m a simple man of the soil.¡± ¡°Sure. Tell me. Do you remember all those books of records you read about System reports on Infinite delver progress?¡± ¡°Um. Not so much.¡± ¡°Your world didn¡¯t have them. I know, I know. But mine did. Do you know the average length of a dungeon delve, at least on my planet? The fourth level. Getting to the tenth and losing to the boss there was considered very, very good. We are about to walk into the twelfth floor, Tulland, still doing well. Still with hope to advance. That¡¯s unheard of.¡± ¡°Does that make you feel good?¡± Tulland walked ahead of Necia towards a thicket of tall, grass-like poles growing out of the ground like a small forest, covering perhaps an acre of ground. ¡°You wanted to do a lot for your planet.¡± ¡°It¡¯s odd to think about. If my planet learns about my progress, I¡¯ll be in history books. A legendary warrior. Really. I¡¯ve read those stories as a kid, and I¡¯m outperforming some of them. It just doesn¡¯t feel real. I¡¯m not the kind of person who does that kind of thing.¡± ¡°Maybe they didn¡¯t think they were either. It¡¯s not like they had a chance to complain about it.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Tulland and Necia moved forward into the thicket, pushing through as Tulland took a look at the different mosses and plants in search of anything worth keeping. There wasn¡¯t much. He took a few samples of plants he thought might fit into the cracks of his current farm structure, but at most he¡¯d be squeezing a few points out of each. It wasn¡¯t going to be a very productive hike, it seemed. It was his farmer¡¯s sense that stopped them before something unexpected happened and changed that expectation on a dime. In front of them, it said, something weird was happening with the plants. They were growing in an unexpected, unnatural way. His arm shot out and caught Necia¡¯s arm before she could take another step. ¡°Stop,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Something¡¯s up.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Give me a second to look. And back up a little for now.¡± Necia stepped back for a moment as Tulland held his Farmer¡¯s Tool in front of him, poking out at various plants to try and get a feel for where his disquieting feeling was coming from. Nothing stood out at first, but eventually a pattern started to emerge. Looked at from the right angle on a certain plane, the plants were growing in a way that he wouldn¡¯t expect, as if they were dodging a round-ish object on the ground. Of course, it¡¯s only from that one angle. But if I¡¯m right¡­ Tulland reached his hand out, pushing gently on the plants just to the side of the disturbance. For an inch or so, they gave way, just as he¡¯d expect. Then they stopped suddenly, like they were butting up against a stone wall. In a way, he supposed they were. Like magic, what had been invisible until then became visible, materializing in midair in a blink. ¡°There,¡± Tulland said after confirming his guess. ¡°Sorry. I just didn¡¯t want you to walk into that on accident, and I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯m the only person who could have possibly seen it.¡± ¡°Tulland. What on Earth did you do? What is that?¡± ¡°That?¡± Tulland swept away what plants he could from around the structure, revealing the entire structure to both him and Necia. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s some kind of secret arch.¡± Chapter 115: Arches ¡°No. Really?¡± Necia stepped up and put her hand to the stone. ¡°Who could possibly find this, Tulland?¡± ¡°Anybody who was walking through this thicket. Although I don¡¯t know why anyone would,¡± Tulland answered. ¡°Even if they did, it doesn¡¯t seem fair. If we had stepped through it, would we just have been warped to some other place? It¡¯s like a trap. There aren¡¯t supposed to be any traps on this floor. It¡¯s supposed to be safe.¡± ¡°True, but who could stop The Infinite from doing it if it wanted to? It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a court we can drag it into.¡± Tulland pulled his belt knife out and poked at the arch experimentally. ¡°Thing is that I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what¡¯s happening here. When you can¡¯t see something but it¡¯s set up in a place where it¡¯s certain to surprise you, that¡¯s a trap. When you can¡¯t see it unless you look for it, it¡¯s hidden. You conceal a trap. You hide treasure. I just have to figure out a way to confirm that.¡± ¡°Ask your guy.¡± Necia pointed at her own head. ¡°See what he says.¡± ¡°You¡¯d trust it?¡± ¡°I¡¯d trust it if it had a way to get it to tell us without The Infinite stepping in.¡± Well? What do you say? There¡¯s nothing I can do to force The Infinite to do anything. At most, I could petition for you in a situation where you were being abused by its decisions. Why haven¡¯t you been doing that then? Do that thing you said! I could only do that if it was being unfair. It hasn¡¯t, yet, at least to a point where I could take exception. And besides that¡­ There was a pause. At this point, Tulland knew exactly what that pause meant. You¡¯re afraid of it? Very much. At any rate, you likely don¡¯t need me involved for this. Have you forgotten that you can simply ask The Infinite in most cases? Right. I¡¯ll try it out.
Hidden Reward Arch 1 of 5 The 10th and 15th floor safe zones contain a total of five hidden arch rewards. Each one is hidden in a different way from the others, and contains a reward unique from any other arch. This arch reward has a theme of foundational wisdom. When entered, it will transport the entrant to a simulated dimension, complete with a top-tier class¡¯ with expertise in at least one element of your class. De-synced from time, the expert and the entrant will be given sufficient time to correct deficits in the entrant¡¯s understanding of that facet of their class to match what would normally be expected at their level. The entrant will not be allowed to ¡°stall¡± the process in any way, and must maintain a high level of effort and a steadily growing knowledge level or else be expelled from the arch. The information gathered will be purely corrective in nature, representing a remedy to deficiencies rather than a relay of secret knowledge. Only one entrant may use this secret arch.
¡°Oh, frozen hells.¡± Necia scowled at her system notification. ¡°Just you. Not me.¡± ¡°Wait, why me? You could use it. Someone else could.¡± ¡°It¡¯s you, Tulland. It has to be. Think about it. As much as I want this, I had all the theoretical training I could want under my-father-the-king¡¯s tutors. It was the practical side where they failed me. White is a trained warrior. Brist is a natural genius. Potter is an obsessive scholar. What basics of their class do you really think they missed out on?¡± ¡°It still might be a benefit. And there¡¯s only one of these. Is it fair just to take it?¡± ¡°Tulland, absolutely nobody in their right mind was going to walk straight through this thicket like you did, and certainly not at an angle that would put them into the arch. You found this, you are the only one who could have, and you are the one that needs it the most.¡± ¡°What if I don¡¯t get back in time?¡± Tulland looked away from Necia as he admitted the real reason he was worried. ¡°If you end up hurt in the next floor without me, it¡¯s not worth it.¡± ¡°De-synced time, remember?¡± Necia said. Tulland put his hands on Necia¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Necia. You are very important to me, and I love that you think I know anything.¡± Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Oh, right. Backwards non-System world. I forget. De-synced time is a known thing. From my perspective, the arch will take the time it takes. An hour. A day. From your perspective, it could take anywhere from a few seconds to several years. The two durations aren¡¯t related,¡± Necia explained. ¡°That can¡¯t be possible,¡± Tulland stated flatly. ¡°It is. It¡¯s just rare. The point is, you¡¯ll be back on time.¡± Tulland shook his head and started walking out of the thicket. ¡°Where are you going, Tulland?¡± ¡°Back to the clearing. We are on a date, remember?¡± ¡°No. Absolutely not. Finding plant arches is a you thing. Nobody else can do that. Plenty of people can follow other people places and overhear what they are saying. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m letting you leave this arch for a second before you go in.¡± Tulland was as into getting strong as anyone else, but he wasn¡¯t having any of that. ¡°Necia. Strength is important, right? The most important thing in this place.¡± ¡°Pretty much.¡± ¡°Well, let me tell you something. I need to get stronger. I need to get further in this dungeon. I need to figure out a way out of The Infinite. Not just for me, but for you too now. You know what, though? That¡¯s never going to be the most important thing to me. I won¡¯t let it.¡± Tulland moved forward and wrapped Necia up in a hug. ¡°There are some things that are more important. Time with you is one. We are finishing our date. If that means we lose this opportunity, so be it.¡± There. Let¡¯s see her argue with that. It¡¯s a very good speech. Necia pulled back from the hug just far enough to look at Tulland¡¯s face. Her eyes were twinkling. Tulland was momentarily dazzled by it. ¡°That¡¯s the sweetest thing I ever heard, Tulland. It really is.¡± She squeezed him a little tighter. ¡°I wish I could agree with it, too. I just think there are a few things you are overlooking that change the conclusions.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°That what you just said is very stupid, and I¡¯m much stronger than you.¡± Before Tulland could react to that statement, Necia gave him a quick peck on the lips, picked him up, and chucked him through the arch. ¡ª
Training Zone Entered! Training zones are simulated worlds. They possess danger levels high enough to facilitate the training in question, but no more risks than necessary to encourage growth. This training zone is time de-synced and built around the acquisition of knowledge. Its overall safety levels are similar to The Infinite¡¯s safe zones, and your basic survival and sanitation needs will be met during your stay, if applicable. You may exit the zone at any time, but only relative to your perception of the passage of time. No matter how long the duration of your training, you will exit at the same time from the perspective of an observer outside the arch. Any less than an earnest attempt to locate the simulated trainer and begin the learning process will result in expulsion from the zone.
¡°Dammit. She knew I was trying to skip this.¡± Were you? That strikes me as incredibly foolish. ¡°You were the one that said to keep her safe. What if some idiots trigger the next floor before I get back?¡± Tell me this, first. What if you didn¡¯t go through the arch, missed an otherwise available increase in strength, and failed to protect her because of that. ¡°Ah. Touche.¡± I¡¯m glad to see you understand. Now get moving. There¡¯s no telling what The Infinite considers to be stalling. You wouldn¡¯t want to run afoul of its definitions. Tulland started walking. The first thing that struck him was how green everything was. There were some parts of the island he was born on that were greener than others, that got just the right amount of sun and ran to thrive. Everything here was greener than even the greenest of those. For a while, that was all he noticed. There were no real paths to be had where he was, so he just walked on a bit before he started to get a sense that the plants here were not only healthy. They were also, if he had to put a name to it, arranged. They weren¡¯t in rows, or organized into big monolithic fields like crops. But there was a sense of proportion to where each plant sat relative to the next, a kind of planned balance that just couldn¡¯t have happened by accident. Walking for another thirty minutes showed him nothing more organized than that to guide him in the right direction, but he did start to see some other signs of human involvement. The plants were very slowly changing as he walked. In the area he started, there was a particular set of bushes, trees, and grass. The further he got from that point, the more different those plants became. The color of the leaves shifted, the size of each individual plant slowly changed relative to other plants, and gave sense of an evened-out evolution of sorts, a biome change happening much too quickly to make sense. Then, finally, without ever finding a signpost or path, he reached his goal. For once, it wasn¡¯t that much different than he expected it to be. Bent over a bush and making minute cuts in its branches with a small pair of one-handed trimmers was an ancient woman in a long-sleeved dress and the very largest hat that Tulland had ever seen. She hummed to herself as she worked, in such an obvious good mood where Tulland hated to be the one who interrupted her. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that,¡± the woman spoke without looking up. ¡°You only have a limited time to get me teaching you, correct?¡± ¡°You know that?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure how it would work. Are you¡­ real?¡± The woman finally turned her head. ¡°Would you be uncomfortable if I wasn¡¯t?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t honestly know.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s probably best not to dwell on it too much. What I know is that I lived my life, once. Whether I¡¯m real or not, it seems to me that the time I¡¯ve been given outside of that life is for the purpose of helping you. And if you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯d like to make sure we put that time to good use. I¡¯ve always wanted to get this set of bushes just right, and I ran out of time in my first go-round. Maybe you can help me in the second.¡± ¡°Sure. So long as I¡¯m learning.¡± Tulland was impressed enough to feel confident he would, give what his Farmer¡¯s Intuition was insisting was a masterpiece of carefully planned growth all around him. ¡°What should I call you?¡± ¡°Oh, whatever you like, I suppose. Back home, my friends and family called me Telsa. People who knew me real well.¡± ¡°What about everyone else?¡± ¡°Oh, silly things. I can¡¯t even remember half of them.¡± The old woman stood up. Somehow, without any way to explain why, Tulland felt a tinge of intimidation looking at her. In her dress and hat and with no apparent attempt to menace him, he could tell she was a force beyond what he understood. ¡°The one name that they gave me and that I do remember always made me laugh.¡± ¡°What was it?¡± Chapter 116: Tesla ¡°The god-farmer.¡± The woman laughed. ¡°Isn¡¯t that funny? Me. Do I look like a god-farmer?¡± Tulland tossed around a few replies to that in his mind before considering that the woman probably couldn¡¯t hurt him, even if she wanted to. The same went for refusing to help him. ¡°You don¡¯t look like it, no. You kind of seem like it, though. Hasn¡¯t anyone ever explained to you that you are kind of scary?¡± ¡°Yes, but I never understood it.¡± The woman waved her hand dismissively, setting off Tulland¡¯s danger sense. He just barely resisted wincing back in terror from it. ¡°At any rate, my child, I can see you are hardly at a lower level than me. Why don¡¯t you look at that plant I was working on, and tell me what you see?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Tulland couldn¡¯t very well stall the learning to learn more about the woman, at least if what The Infinite said about the space was true. He bent down and took a look at the bush, which at first blush was very conventional compared to most plants he saw in the dungeon. When his Farmer¡¯s Intuition got to it, the immediate message it sent back was that this was the wrong conclusion to arrive at. There was something else going on there, even if his senses couldn¡¯t pick it up. ¡°My initial thought is that this isn¡¯t very special. My skill is telling me there¡¯s something to do, it¡¯s just¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t use the skill. What do you see? What can you learn with your eyes and mind?¡± Tulland looked harder at the bush, trying to find anything unusual about it. There wasn¡¯t. Each leaf was perfectly uniform, each branch was placidly growing in an organic, normal direction, and not a single mark, blemish, or scar to be seen. ¡°There¡¯s nothing wrong. Wait.¡± Tulland brought out one of his pieces of produce, something that still had a clump of leaves on it and had been sitting protected in his dimensional storage since being picked. ¡°I gave this one every bit of help I could, and there¡¯s still lighter spots on the leaves in some places. Why doesn¡¯t the bush have any?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the question, isn¡¯t it? I was a full thirty levels above any of the farmers in my world, and the reason why was that I was able to consistently answer just that question.¡± The woman brushed the leaves of the bush affectionately and chuckled to herself. ¡°That and the fact that I made over a thousand different hybrid plants my world had never seen before. Now, how long did you say you¡¯ve been farming?¡± ¡°A few months, I guess? My uncle had a garden he used to grow root vegetables in our front yard. Sometimes I¡¯d help him weed it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I¡¯d like to believe that, child, but your levels tell a different story. You should just tell me what you can, as honestly as you can. It¡¯s not like I can use it against you.¡± ¡°No, really.¡± Tulland frowned. ¡°That¡¯s part of why I need you. I didn¡¯t know anything more about farming than seeds go in the ground and make plants until I got this class, and that was really just a few months ago.¡± The old woman gazed deeply into Tulland¡¯s eyes for a few moments. ¡°I suppose you¡¯ll have to tell me everything.¡± She bent back down over a new bush and started working on it. ¡°And I do mean everything.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think The Infinite will kick me out for not trying to learn?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Young man, telling your teacher what they need to know to work is trying to learn. It might kick you out for not doing it, as far as I¡¯m concerned,¡± the old woman said. Tulland watched the woman work a mysterious magic on the bush she was handling while he went through every single thing that had happened to him since the first time the system had contacted him on Ouros. He told her about arriving and being assigned a farmer class he had never planned on or asked for. He told her about his first accidental successes growing plants in a dungeon. He told her about his hybrid vines, the way his class got power from his farm, and what he had been doing to maximize that power. Along the way, he got the feeling she gathered some things he wasn¡¯t quite intending to tell her. She seemed to approve of the little she heard of Necia and seemed very much to have encountered people like Halter and Ley before, It wasn¡¯t long before she held up a hand and forced Tulland to stop talking, apparently having heard enough to get by with. ¡°Can I see a few of your plants? Your better plants, I mean. I¡¯d like to see those Acheflowers, if I could, and your Chimera Sleeves.¡± Tulland obeyed, pulling out one of each for the woman¡¯s inspection. She laughed in surprise as the Chimera Sleeve sprang from Tulland¡¯s arm to hers, then inspected the plants silently for a few minutes. ¡°Well, it¡¯s clear you don¡¯t have the soul of a farmer. Don¡¯t look at me like that¡¯s a surprise. You never once considered being a farmer back home, did you?¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡± Tulland smiled, guiltily. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be. It wasn¡¯t your choice. You¡¯ve done well with what you had available to you, despite being forced into it. Now, tell me. Did your world ever have competitions for farmers? In my world, we called them growing fairs.¡± ¡°Not that I know of?¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°I grew up on an island. A relatively small one.¡± ¡°Well, sit and I¡¯ll tell you about them. First, the point of those kinds of fairs was never to compete for who could plow the best, or who was the fastest with a shovel. Sometimes they¡¯d have those things, you understand, but they were never the draw. The big draw was the crops,¡± the woman said. ¡°Who could grow the most grain?¡± ¡°Heavens, no. It was who could grow the very best grain. The finest, biggest vegetables. The sturdiest squash. And do you know why?¡± ¡°Bragging rights?¡± ¡°Yes, broadly, but it was more than that, too. When one farmer pulled out all the stops to grow one carrot as big and beautifully as they could, they often learned things. They¡¯d usually teach those things to others, and the whole field would move forward. Although in your case, the learning part is all we need.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°These plants are powerful, Tulland. I¡¯ve never seen anything like them. I grew beautiful things, but none of them could get up and walk around, let alone hunt and kill. But they are not good, in the sense that they could have won a growing fair. And that will hold you back far more than you¡¯d imagine. Happy plants do their best, Tulland. You¡¯ve been getting by with plants that are merely surviving.¡± ¡°Are they that bad?¡± Tulland called back his Chimera Sleeve and looked at it more closely. ¡°I thought they were fine.¡± ¡°They are the greatest of wonders, Tulland. Fantastic things I would have never imagined. And, yes, they are that bad. Now come sit by me as I work on this bush. I¡¯ll show you some things.¡± ¡ª A couple hours later, Tulland was learning that there was more to farming than he ever imagined. ¡°Do you see this node?¡± The old woman grabbed Tulland¡¯s hand and guided it to a small bump on the central stalk of the bush. ¡°That will be a branch. Or, if you choose for it not to be, you could apply the tip of a knife like this, and it will never grow again.¡± ¡°Why would I? The more branches the better, right?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°It depends on what the plant is, young man. What it¡¯s for. You want a plant to have the branches it needs to have.¡± ¡°But how do I know?¡± ¡°By considering what the plant is for.¡± The woman put her hand to her forehead. ¡°Goodness. You weren¡¯t much of a student, were you?¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± ¡°Because if you were any more frustrated with thinking, steam would come out of your ears. You need to take a break.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t. I¡¯ll get kicked out.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about that too. Hello? Whoever is causing me to be alive in this place? I can¡¯t teach this boy effectively if he can¡¯t rest. Give me some kind of confirmation that I¡¯ll be allowed to let him, or I¡¯m afraid I¡¯ll have to complain quite loudly.¡± ¡°Will that work?¡± ¡°Oh, yes, it should. If this System knows me, at least. I can complain very loudly if I¡¯m forced to.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes panned down to focus on nothing that Tulland could see. Somehow, it was interesting to him that she was complete enough to have system screens of her own. ¡°There it is. We should be fine, now.¡±
Partial Authority Transfer The temporary being known as Kelsa The Soil Deity has requested increased power to administrate the training offered on this floor. Her request has been considered. Due to the unusual circumstances of Tulland Lowstreet¡¯s training levels, a modified version of her request has been granted. While residing in the training floor, Tulland¡¯s progress will now be considered on a per-rest-period basis. If his learning rate drops below a certain minimum as judged across that entire period, he will be ejected back to the tenth floor safe zone and The Infinite-synced time. Kelsa¡¯s decisions regarding rest periods will be carefully monitored. If any deception is detected on her part, the training session will be terminated.
¡°It acts like I could really disobey it.¡± Kelsa smiled. ¡°Good to know I might be able to. Sit, Tulland. Rest.¡± ¡°Thank you for that. Really.¡± Tulland flopped onto his back and groaned. ¡°I have a headache. I was never good at long-haul learning sessions. My tutor hated me for it.¡± ¡°Right. But this will be better. I¡¯ll have you nap, then we will try again. We¡¯ll repeat until we are done.¡± ¡°Which is?¡± ¡°I suspect when you start to understand what makes a plant better than other plants.¡± Learning was always a tiring thing. Tulland slipped off to sleep easily, even with the old woman humming and working in the background. ¡ª ¡°Odd,¡± the woman talked to herself as she worked. ¡°Very odd, really. Being alive again.¡± The plants couldn¡¯t answer. None of them ever had. Talking to them made her feel better though, and it was a good way to let whoever might be listening in on her doings know her feelings on various matters. She didn¡¯t like to be too aggressive when a soft approach would do, especially at her advanced age. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s a kind of flattery when it comes down to it. That I was considered for this. But I suspect that whoever put this scenario together wouldn¡¯t have chosen me if they had any other alternatives. Considering the kinds of trouble I got up to during my own time. I drove my world¡¯s poor System to hysterics.¡± The woman¡¯s hand suddenly lit up with a soft, green glow. She hadn¡¯t shown this to Tulland. It would likely just muddy the waters if she did. Pressing it to the center of the tree, she undid the work at several points where Tulland¡¯s hands had been less than delicate with her precious plant and redid it herself, in her own way. ¡°I think we both know those Chimera Sleeves are a bit of a problem. Me and The Infinite, I mean. If it happens to be watching. I¡¯m surprised he was ever allowed to see them, let alone given time to contemplate what they might do. I understand it, of course. I noticed the problem with the first glance. I don¡¯t suppose I¡¯ll be allowed to tell him directly, but don¡¯t think I won¡¯t be trying to find out ways to lead him there anyway. I never did like System interference much.¡± Despite Kelsa¡¯s distaste for various System like things, there was one nearby who was, secretly, her ally in her goals. It was as quiet as it could be as it listened in, hoping that for once it might be forgotten. Chapter 117: Vicious Pruning ¡°Don¡¯t do it, then.¡± Tesla slapped Tulland¡¯s hand as he moved the clippers towards a branch. ¡°If you don¡¯t know why you are pruning, don¡¯t prune.¡± ¡°You told me to take away the branches I didn¡¯t want! You said to feel it.¡± Tulland held up the clippers close to the Tesla¡¯s face and shook them. ¡°I was feeling it. Like you said. Why can¡¯t I cut this?¡± ¡°If you were feeling things correctly, you¡¯d know why. Now take a walk. Come back when you aren¡¯t so dang whiny about things.¡± Tulland dropped the clippers and walked off without another word. It had been this way for a while now. Kelsa was an infuriating teacher. Most of their classes progressed not on pre-set tracks but with sudden alterations from Kelsa, and all of Kelsa¡¯s personal input appeared to have been related to loving plants. Not just liking them. Not just appreciating them. Absolutely loving them with every fiber of her being. She didn¡¯t even differentiate between one plant and the next in her all-encompassing love for the damn things. She loved shrubs as much as she loved trees, and liked both as much as she liked mosses and flowers. Tulland, who had never really interacted with any plant in way that wasn¡¯t strictly utilitarian, was annoyed with this at first. These days, he was enraged. There was simply no way to get the woman to tell him what to do without wading through an hour¡¯s worth of discussion of fern feelings. For her part, the woman was patient but clearly exhausted with Tulland¡¯s inability to take the inner lives of plants seriously. He wanted to help her out, but it was impossible for him to understand the will and emotions of plants the way she did. This had all been a few hours into the process, but after two weeks trapped in her garden, he was beginning to go a bit mad. Could we be trapped here forever? If I don¡¯t understand whatever she¡¯s teaching, will I be stuck? Of course not. In fact, you must be understanding at least some of what she¡¯s teaching, or you would have been kicked out by now. You are growing, just in some way you can¡¯t see. It¡¯s still incredibly frustrating. So is dying. I¡¯d advise you to choose the lesser of two evils here. You know the worst part? She won¡¯t stop taking my Chimera Sleeve. Every day she takes it and just stares at it while she talks. Sometimes for hours. Won¡¯t tell me why. Just says she thinks it¡¯s the only very special plant in my whole collection. She doesn¡¯t come out and say the others are trash, but I think she thinks that way. You know she doesn¡¯t. Only because she couldn¡¯t hate any plant. But if she could, she¡¯d hate mine. Tulland went on whining for a few minutes until he was partially cooled off, then walked a bit more until he started to get bored of it. That had turned out to be the trick of getting back to work in earnest. There wasn¡¯t anything else to do, and his brain simply couldn¡¯t tolerate the boredom of yet another calming stroll anymore. Slapping his cheeks, Tulland turned back towards his teacher and got ready for another two hours of bickering. When he got back, Kelsa was sitting still for once, ignoring her plants as she faced away from him staring at the sky. ¡°I¡¯m not trying to be frustrating, you know,¡± Kelsa said. ¡°It¡¯s just that I¡¯ve only ever interacted with plants in one way. My way. It was always the right way, up until now.¡± ¡°Are you sure? There must have been other approaches,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Of course there were. And they were all wrong. I continued to grow where every other farmer stalled, until I had changed the composition of life on an entire planet. I knew my way was absolutely right for decades before I passed. Except now, it¡¯s wrong and I¡¯ve never been more frustrated.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure it¡¯s wrong, exactly. I just can¡¯t learn it.¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t learn it, then it¡¯s wrong. Wrong for you, at least. You have the stats and the skills to understand this if it was something you could learn. I am coming to believe that we¡¯ve been wasting time pushing you towards my exact understanding of things.¡± ¡°Then what do we do?¡± Tulland felt a growing dread that The Infinite would take her admission of failure as a reason to take him from this place, not having gained anything. ¡°What makes sense to try next?¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking of that now. Or I was trying too, before someone became very noisy.¡± Kelsa¡¯s shoulders sagged. ¡°You know, it used to be that I¡¯d spend months with a plant before understanding it, back when I was even younger than you. When the description would finally gain the befriended quality, it would be worth all that time. I suppose I¡¯ve gotten impatient as I aged.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Befriended?¡± Tulland tilted his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means.¡± ¡°Oh, you must. When you¡¯ve finally tamed enough to do real work with a plant, it gains the befriended tag near its name in the description.¡± ¡°Ah. Yeah, that. Mine¡¯s a little different.¡± Tulland decided not to tell her what his plants used to say next to their names once he had them good and under control. ¡°Not quite as nice.¡± Kelsa¡¯s head whipped around. ¡°Tell me what it said, Tulland. Now.¡± Tulland shifted his weight foot to foot, uncomfortable with the line of questioning. There was no way to dodge answering though. ¡°Subjugated,¡± Tulland spit out the word as quickly as he could. ¡°That¡¯s what it would say when I finally grew a plant in a way that brought it under my control.¡± Kelsa¡¯s face ran through disgust, offense, anger, and frustration before finally settling on bothered, annoyed, and regret. ¡°Of course it did. Because plants are things to you,¡± Kelsa said flatly. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m sorry, Tulland. It was obvious a week ago that you didn¡¯t interact with plants in the same way, and seventy levels in, there¡¯s no chance your class would either. Especially if you think about plants as subjugated. We¡¯ll have to take a completely different tack, now.¡± Kelsa led him over to a bush. ¡°See this bush? It¡¯s wild. I went on a walk and found it yesterday while you were sleeping. What do you want it to be?¡± ¡°I told you, I don¡¯t know. I can¡¯t hear what the plant is saying when it grows like that.¡± ¡°No, you fool. That¡¯s the mistake we were making before. You can¡¯t hear it, and you shouldn¡¯t try. What do you, Tulland Lowstreet, want it to be? Forget respect and love. What would make it the most useful for you?¡± It was a bush. There was no getting around how little use Tulland had for a normal, weapon-less bush in his life. In normal circumstances, he¡¯d never grow one. That left him thinking about how he¡¯d grow one if it was his only chance. The first thing he would need it to be was fast-growing, reaching high towards the sun to grab as much energy as possible. After that, he¡¯d just need it to not take up much room, or to need much energy. After a week of modifying plants in an attempt to match a botanical tune Tulland just couldn¡¯t hear, this was easy. The clippers flashed out, trimming away everything that wasn¡¯t useful to that one vision. He was left with a stalk bearing a conical set of branches, widening as it reached upwards to catch more sun while leaving plenty of room to have things planted around the base. When it was done, it was nothing like Kelsa¡¯s work. It was not perfect or pretty. He was reasonably sure she hated ever part of his modifications. And still, in that moment, something finally clicked.
New Skill Generated! (Vicious Pruning) Vicious Pruning has been absorbed by Farmer¡¯s Intuition. All functions of the skill have been strengthened to match the higher level of the consuming skill, and will be integrated into Farmer¡¯s Intuition as a new form of mental guidance. Vicious Pruning allows you an intuitive sense of what parts of plants can be removed without compromising its ability to fulfill your needs. Plants pruned in this manner will take damage, temporarily lowering their contribution to your overall farm value. They will also grow faster, and often gain an eventual value higher than they could have otherwise had before modification. Plants modified to emphasize certain traits may or may not interact with Botanical Engineer in unusual ways.
¡°What is it, Tulland? I can tell something happened,¡± Kelsa asked. ¡°It¡¯s a new skill. A pretty good one, from the looks of it. It synergizes with everything else I do. I think if we just push a little further, it might¡­¡± ¡°We won¡¯t have time.¡± Kelsa almost leapt towards Tulland. ¡°You have to listen to me. It¡¯s about your¡­¡±
Zone Complete! You have brought a single underdeveloped facet of your class up to an acceptable level through expert training. You will exit the zone momentarily.
Tulland waved the notification out of the way. Something was wrong. Kelsa¡¯s face was screwed up in pain. ¡°Can¡¯t threaten an old woman who¡¯s already dead, you know,¡± Kelsa spat. Tulland wasn¡¯t sure who she was talking to, but it wasn¡¯t him. She turned back to face him a moment later, spitting out each word with difficulty as she pressed forward. ¡°Tulland. Focus. On. The. Chi¡­¡± Tulland felt a sudden sensation of being blown to pieces, then reassembled in a new place and moving at a much higher velocity. He would have tumbled for a while if Necia hadn¡¯t caught him. ¡°Whoa, there, buddy.¡± Necia set Tulland down on the moist ground of the thicket. ¡°What happened? The arch doesn¡¯t work?¡± ¡°What are you talking about?¡± ¡°You stepped in and then got blown back. Is the arch broken?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯ve been gone for¡­ hell. Weeks. Gardening with an old woman.¡± ¡°An old woman gardener?¡± Necia barked out a laugh. ¡°You must have terrified her.¡± ¡°You have it the wrong way around. She was¡­ I don¡¯t know what she was. Something besides a normal old woman, for sure. At the end there, I¡¯m pretty sure she was picking a fight with The Infinite.¡± Necia nodded approvingly. ¡°I¡¯ve known some old ladies like that. I used to want to be one,¡± Necia said longingly. ¡°What changed?¡± Tulland asked, half afraid of imagining a Kelsa-style Necia. ¡°I probably won¡¯t get to be an old lady.¡± Necia shrugged in resignation. ¡°Anyway, did you get anything good?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I think I¡¯ll have to try it out on the farm to be sure.¡± Tulland rubbed his head. ¡°Was I really only gone for a second?¡± ¡°If that. I don¡¯t think I even saw you disappear.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good news in a way. Come on.¡± Tulland started walking out of the thicket. ¡°We should hurry.¡± ¡°That eager to get back to your farm? Fine. Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°No, Necia. Our date, remember? I was worried about missing it. Now I don¡¯t have to. Plus, you know,¡± Tulland gave Necia a quick squeeze, ¡°I haven¡¯t seen you for weeks.¡± Chapter 118: The Great Pruning The rest of the date went well. Really well according to Necia. Tulland hadn¡¯t realized it, but somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind, he was imagining that he¡¯d be in trouble once he got out of the training zone. That he¡¯d have transgressed some kind of hidden code having to do with the appropriate allotment of time between surviving a suicide run in a dungeon and taking care of his first boy-girl relationship. The feeling had gotten stronger and stronger as the time in the hidden arch zone had stretched on. Synced back up with Necia¡¯s time, he was having a hard time not trying too hard to make up for the imaginary mistake. ¡°A river. That would be nice. If we could find a river to sit by.¡± Tulland looked around desperately for any bit of romance the terrain had to offer. It was mostly just grass, unimpressive trees, and shrubs. ¡°Or a tall hill. Or something.¡± ¡°Or, Tulland, you could just walk with me and calm down. I¡¯m having a good time. I promise.¡± Necia grabbed Tulland¡¯s hand and squeezed. ¡°Think about it. Do you need anything special besides me being here?¡± ¡°Not being attacked by monsters,¡± Tulland offered. ¡°Point taken, but we already have that. I¡¯m fine, really.¡± Necia¡¯s stomach chose that moment to rumble. Without her armor to blunt the sound, Tulland heard it loud and clear, and his stomach echoed the sound. ¡°Didn¡¯t they feed you in there? Don¡¯t tell me you got to feast while I was out here starving,¡± Necia said. ¡°You didn¡¯t have time to,¡± Tulland pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m always starving. Now spit it out. What did you eat?¡± ¡°Absolutely nothing.¡± Tulland lowered his eyebrows. ¡°Which is confusing, now that I think about it. I was in there for weeks. I slept. I never really ate.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Really. And I have no idea why.¡± Tulland shrugged. ¡°I guess it doesn¡¯t make sense to let someone die during a reward. Wouldn¡¯t be fair.¡± ¡°Well, you are back in the world of the hungry now. Get to work.¡± Tulland was able to carry so much food in his Market Wagon that he¡¯d likely never run out, provided he accepted that the System would sterilize any use besides sustenance straight out of it when he did. His cooking gear was small enough to carry in a pack, which left him in a good position to supply their picnic with the best food available. Soon enough, they were laying on their backs, holding hands and looking up at a fake sky together. ¡°How long do you think we have before the next wave?¡± Tulland asked. Tulland was hoping that he¡¯d get at least a few days to put his newfound skill to use. If the butchering he had in mind went forward, his farm would take a serious power hit. Without time to recover from it, he¡¯d be going into the next level weak. Weaker than he otherwise could have, anyway. ¡°Two days at least, three days at most. If you are asking me to guess,¡± Necia said. ¡°How do you figure?¡± Necia wobbled her head side to side uncertainly. ¡°Just a feeling. We are all truly bad at changing formations at the moment, which means most of the sane adventurers feel vulnerable enough to keep at the work. The practice isn¡¯t fun, though. Once we are consistently getting things half right, most people are going to want to move on.¡± ¡°You¡¯d think they¡¯d take any chance to improve,¡± Tulland said. ¡°People like White and Potter will. But most adventurers aren¡¯t like them. The average adventurer here is someone who left behind all their peers a long time ago. Some of them never worked in teams to begin with. They are good at everything besides this. They¡¯ll be frustrated.¡± ¡°You sound pretty sure.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m frustrated, too. If I wasn¡¯t teamed up with you, I¡¯m not sure I wouldn¡¯t have registered my intent to move on with the arch myself already.¡± They spent another hour chatting and relaxing before Tulland¡¯s impatience to move on started to show, at least judging by Necia¡¯s reaction to it. She rose from the ground, straightened out her clothes, and offered Tulland her hand. ¡°Come on, you. I want to go see the show.¡± ¡°The show?¡± ¡°Yes. There¡¯s an obsessive farmer I know who is about to take the knife to all his hard work while hoping he won¡¯t ruin the entire thing by doing it. He¡¯s probably going to cuss and whine the entire time. It should be fun to watch.¡± ¡ª The big show, as Necia seemed to think of it, was about what she expected it to be. Tulland wasn¡¯t actually cursing, but that was only because he was so enveloped in his work that he wasn¡¯t forming full words in his non-stop, distracted mumbling. Tulland had imagined that the process would involve a lot of chopping in the best farm he had ever made, and that he wouldn¡¯t like doing that much. He guessed it wouldn¡¯t be that difficult outside of the emotional toil. He was right about the first guess but couldn¡¯t be more wrong about the second. Every single plant, it turned out, was an entirely different challenge waiting to bend his mind in unexpectedly different ways. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The modifications he was making purely to maximize the points value of various plants were the easiest. When he approached his first Lunger Briar, he felt the pruning part of Farmer¡¯s Intuition move forward based on his intent, instructing him to cut away all but a four or five inch segment of each vine, then to plant about twice as many in the same space. As he cut each briar, he could tell they¡¯d never be the same height again, or any good at fighting. Still, they somehow felt leaner in a way he couldn¡¯t quite define.
Lunger Briar (Pruned) This Lunger Briar has been modified to minimize the resources required to maintain its existence. As a result, more of the briars can be grown in a given space. The briars retain their painful thorns, and will still attempt to attack any entity they perceive as hostile that has not been flagged as safe by your plant control skills. Despite this, they have near zero combat capability and can no longer contribute to the safety of the farm itself.
An increase in the point output of the briars at the sacrifice of the minimal amount of security they provided was a great deal, but the process of pruning them was much more taxing than Tulland had expected. He felt drained after doing it, and fully expected he¡¯d be miserable by the time the day¡¯s plant-hacking was finished. The Wolfwood trees were easy enough to modify, and mostly required Tulland to remove branches at the trunk, leaving more uninterrupted bark, a protruding crown of branches at the top that promised to grow more leaves now that competition from lower down was eliminated, and an overall sense of being more valuable as plants now. Most of the plants went a similar way. The best most of them could do for him was to provide more points, taking up as little space as possible and devoting as little energy as possible to anything besides existing. ¡°You should stop now, Tulland. It¡¯s dark, and you look miserable.¡± Necia motioned towards the door into their house after a couple of hours. ¡°It¡¯s warm in there. And I made food.¡± ¡°Give me another half hour,¡± Tulland responded. ¡°For what?¡± ¡°I¡¯m done with everything but the Silver Star trees and the Chimera Sleeves. I need to finish those. It won¡¯t take long.¡± ¡°Your loss.¡± Necia sashayed into the house. ¡°I¡¯ll see you whenever you get done, plant man.¡± Rare that you¡¯d withhold information from her. This information seems dangerous. You saw what was happening to Kelsa at the end there. She was trying to tell us something about the Chimera Sleeves and getting ripped apart for it. I didn¡¯t even know things could defy The Infinite in that way. They can. Just not for particularly long. When I can¡¯t tell you a thing, it¡¯s because I¡¯d be destroyed for doing so. If I really wished, I could likely get a word or two out before that happened. I suppose it wasn¡¯t that great of a cost for her. Since she¡¯d stop existing in a few moments anyway. She always seemed ambivalent about being alive again anyway. Don¡¯t fool yourself. No healthy thing chooses to die without good reason. A living thing¡¯s will to live supersedes rationality in most cases. Whether she had little time left or not, she sacrificed something for those few words. Then I¡¯ll try to make them count. At any rate, there¡¯s no reason to put Necia at risk by telling her. Agreed. Now get to it. The Silver Star tree was going to have to wait. Tulland was still trying to figure out what he wanted out of it anyway. Tulland had at least an idea of what he wanted out of the Chimera Sleeve vines, via his earlier rampage through his own farm. The Clubber Vines had been a successful experiment.
Clubber Vine (Pruned, Whipping) By removing material from the clubber vines without actually damaging their vital structures, you have lightened them significantly. Once they have healed of the damage you dealt to them, they will retain the majority of their strength but will also be using it to move much less weight. As a result, the Clubber Vines will move at a much faster pace as they cut through the air towards your enemies. The resulting impact with bear less total force, but will focus it in a much smaller area.
He had a few Chimera Sleeve vines growing outside the farm as backups to the ones he carried with him that he could cut without fear of losing points, and he started on those. Pulling one from the soil, he turned it over in his hands, letting it expand to its full, sleeved form before having it contract down to minimum size again. Farmer¡¯s Intuition isn¡¯t giving me anything. Not a single feeling. It¡¯s a much more complex plant. And you hardly know what it¡¯s for yet. Keep trying. Another half hour with the Chimera Sleeve vines did nothing to help. He was still stalled, with no idea how to adjust them to his benefit. Even trimming one the same way he had trimmed the Clubber Vines without guidance from his skill was a disaster. He made some cuts, then found himself guiltily burying the mangled corpse of a once-useful plant. So how do I figure out what she was talking about? My modification skill won¡¯t do anything. You may very well just not be ready. Wait patiently. You still have information to gather on those plants simply through leveling them. Clues will generally reveal themselves with time. What¡¯s your hurry? I might die any given day if I don¡¯t get stronger. Necia too. I suppose there is that. So what happens to me if I figure it out? Pardon? Tulland bit back a bit of frustration. There almost certainly wasn¡¯t a major problem with discovering whatever Kelsa was trying to tell him, or both she and the System would have been trying to discourage him from moving forward. He never would have suspected there was anything weirder about them than any of his incremental improvements. That didn''t mean he liked being in the dark either. Knowing you were fine without knowing why in a world filled with dangers was only kind of better than thinking you were in danger. It was still stressful. Kelsa got attacked for mentioning it. You can¡¯t talk about everything you know. What happens to me if I figure it out, then walk around using whatever secret there is? Ah. No. You couldn¡¯t be punished for this. At the worst, figuring out the secret of those vines would trigger another slight reduction of your class, but still leave you in a better spot, or else wouldn¡¯t be quite good enough to warrant something so drastic. In both cases, I get a reward. And that¡¯s the worst case? What¡¯s the best? Anything outside of those two scenarios. You¡¯ve already been held back once, remember. To avoid the appearance of unfairness there, you were given quite a bit. If you manage to make it happen a second time? Even I can¡¯t predict what might happen. Tulland would take that answer. It seemed like that was all he was likely to get, anyway. Chapter 119: Experiments That left one final plant to deal with. Tulland sat for a few minutes examining one of his Silver Star trees. There was a way to make them more point-efficient, a way not entirely unlike what he had done with most of his other trees. He started with that, trimming down one of the trees to the instructions of his skill, reducing the shade canopy until it allowed for more plants to be grown under it and a healthier, more energy-loaded plant overall. The cutting away of things made the plant make more sense too. With every snip, he learned a little bit more about the structure of the plant, the way that it grew, and what the potential of it was. Having spent very little time intentionally injuring his trees, Tulland had never really thought about how they kept themselves fed. His time with Kelsa had fleshed some of that knowledge out. Not all plants had what he¡¯d call sap, but all had some kind of liquid moving through them, pushing nutrients here and there. As he clipped away at the first tree, he watched as each small cut dripped a small amount of shining, almost metallic sap before some combination of that sap and the magic of the skill sealed them. All those nutrients were now concentrated in a smaller area, feeding fewer things. The other inspiration circling around Tulland¡¯s psych as he worked on the Silver Star tree was what he had done to the Achewood trees. That had been a better result than he had expected.
Achewood Tree (Pruned, Synergist) By trimming branches slightly deeper than the level at which they join the bark, you laid bare the structures that fed those branches as they grew. Affixing Acheflowers at these points grants them increased access to nutrients, increasing their potential quality as they grow. Due to the advanced level of your pruning skill and the relatively low level of the Acheflowers, there is a large chance of mutations and variance within the blooms as they grow.
The flower had yet to do anything interesting except adhere to the tree, but the concept of giving each individual flower access to more sustenance was interesting. It was the kind of thing he should have thought of weeks or months ago, but just hadn¡¯t had the time and inspiration to realize. Now, he had a similar idea for the Silver Stars. It wouldn¡¯t work exactly the same way, but it might work anyway. Carefully, Tulland left a larger canopy of leaves and branches at the top of the tree while removing almost everything below it. In exception to that rule, he left the very healthiest branch below the canopy attached, leaving it free to suck all the tree nutrients it could out of the wood. He then worked down the entire branch, removing every node that might support another branch and every bud that might allow a fruit to grow. Except one. To that one bud, he sent all the nutrients of the tree.
Silver Star Tree (Experiment in progress) You are attempting to improve the Silver Star fruits by reserving a greater amount of nutrients for each fruit. As an experiment on a higher-level plant, it¡¯s uncertain whether or not this attempt will succeed.
¡°I see you finally finished.¡± Necia tossed Tulland a fruit from one of his non-farm stonefruit trees. He had yet to optimize any of them for quality like he had the Silver Stars, but he¡¯d get to that tomorrow. ¡°Any luck?¡± ¡°Kind of. Right now, I¡¯m not feeling great about it. The farm took a pretty good hit.¡±
Farm Status: Total Points: 6780 Note: Your current farm strength is diminished by large-scale alterations to the structure of several plants. It will take time to recover, but should reach former levels much quicker than through normal growth.
¡°I¡¯m hoping it will have recovered a bit by tomorrow. If what you said is true, there should be a bit of time before we end up in the next floor. I want every bit of that time I can get.¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll do my best to help you get it.¡± Necia swatted Tulland¡¯s hand as he reached for the ladle to take some of the still steaming-hot food she had made. ¡°No. For one, you haven¡¯t washed your hands. I¡¯m also pretty sure you forgot about what time it is.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Dinnertime. I remember.¡± ¡°No, Tulland. It¡¯s the time your pail resets. I¡¯d rather you were done with farming for today, but I figured I couldn¡¯t be a very good paramour without telling you.¡± Tulland sighed. ¡°All right. In fact, I¡¯ll do that, and go take a bath. That way I won¡¯t get you dusty, later.¡± ¡°Well thank you, sir.¡± Necia reached out from her seat and stirred the food a bit. ¡°I¡¯ll keep this hot for you. See you in a bit.¡± Tulland tossed his dirt as evenly as he could around the plot, then carried the watering barrel around until the soil was well wetted. Then, after bathing, eating, and spending some quality time with his girl, it was finally time to lay down. The practical upshot of a weeks-long day, Tulland found, was that you had very little trouble falling asleep. He was out like a light, seconds after settling down on his bedroll. ¡ª ¡°Iron Pillar!¡± Potter yelled, then watched as everyone got to their places more or less efficiently. Even Tretine seemed to get it. Tulland wasn¡¯t sure if the man even knew what a wall was, but the big man managed to get into place as fast as anyone. ¡°Good! Razor Spearhead!¡± Again, everyone succeeded in getting into place. Over the course of the next two hours, they made very few mistakes at all. In one sense, that was fantastic. Tulland¡¯s neck wouldn¡¯t hurt for hours later from the tension of it all, for one. There was a certain sense of pride that came with not being a complete failure, and he was reveling in it. Now he had other worries, though. Potter seemed to sense that, and walked over while they were on break between rounds of formation change after formation change. ¡°You are doing fine, you know. Better than most. And frankly, your role might not even be in the formation. Depending on what we end up facing, you might be more useful as a makeshift artillery,¡± Potter said when they were out of earshot from the others. ¡°I know. It¡¯s not that. It¡¯s just that I beat the hell out of my farm last night. I¡¯m down quite a bit of strength,¡± Tulland said. Potter gave a sympathetic look. It seemed he could do the math on just how much strength Tulland might be down. ¡°You won¡¯t get first place again, it looks like.¡± ¡°No. That¡¯s fine, though. The bigger problem would be dying, or letting someone else get hurt.¡± ¡°I understand. That¡¯s an admirable stance.¡± Potter turned towards the crowd of adventurers milling around and lifted his chin at them. ¡°Tell me this. Besides you, who do you think the next most important piece is? The adventurer who, if they fail, the whole formation falls apart.¡± Tulland examined everyone. The tanks were important, but there were plenty of them. The damage dealers, ranged fighters, and spring-fighters were all formidable, but each one of them was just a portion of the damage they could do. Out of everyone, he was probably the weirdest, but there were only so many situations where even his weirdness would matter much. Everyone else was just a block used in the construction of a single brick wall. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was never that good at this kind of thing.¡± ¡°Whether you are or aren¡¯t, you wouldn¡¯t have been able to come up with much of an answer for that question. The point I¡¯m making is that it¡¯s none of them. Any one person could fall and the formation would stay together. Even if White fell, I could quit fighting and move in as commander.¡± ¡°That reminds me.¡± Tulland¡¯s eyes dropped to Potter¡¯s conspicuous lack of weapons. ¡°I don¡¯t think I saw you fighting last time around. I¡¯m not even sure what your weapons are.¡± ¡°Ha. His weapons.¡± White walked up and threw his arm around Tulland. ¡°If you want to know what his weapons are, just look at him. That¡¯s how he looks when he fights, and it¡¯s scary as hell.¡± ¡±He just stands there and scholars at them?¡± Necia had wandered up as well. ¡°Teaches them to death?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that far off, believe it or not. I don¡¯t teach them anything, of course. But my class is what was known on my world as a pure mage. My power is keyed to the total amount of things I know. That power is expressed evenly on enemies I can see.¡± ¡°On all the enemies he can see. And it¡¯s unblockable.¡± White shivered. ¡°It scares the hell out of me. It¡¯s a power you can¡¯t block.¡± ¡°And at the same time, a strong hit from a large, classless man would knock me out. The number of odd of things I had to do to keep anything from hitting me this long is truly astounding. I do have some tricks, of course, that help with that. But I¡¯d just as soon keep them to myself,¡± Potter said. ¡°Keyed to what you know?¡± Tulland had talked to the man about plants for an entire evening, and hadn¡¯t understood half of what he said. From what he could tell, Potter wasn¡¯t even especially interested in plants. The breadth of his knowledge had to have been staggering, if the bit Tulland saw had only been a small part of it. ¡°That seems like a lot.¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t know the half of it.¡± White laughed. ¡°I asked him about that, because it seemed to me he could have stayed in his world and just kept getting stronger. You know what he told me? That he had learned everything. Every single thing.¡± ¡°Not everything.¡± Potter looked slightly embarrassed. ¡°Just all the major components of all the major theories of my world, and most of their accessory fields. The remaining details would have hardly made a dent in my progress. But here? I¡¯ve learned so much in so little time. Facts nobody else knew, or noticed. Now, we should probably get back to work. White? Would you care to do the honors? I feel we might have only a limited number of tries left at this.¡± The remaining hours went as well as the previous ones had. The time flew by until they were let out, at which point Tulland sprinted to his farm with a complaining Necia in tow. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Watering. Dumping magic into the farm to help it recover. Everything I can do. There¡¯s not a lot of time left. Not enough time at all,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Besides the different shape, you can barely tell you cut them, Tulland. What are your farm points even at now?¡± Tulland hadn¡¯t thought to check. <+ Farm Status: Total Points: 9545 +> ¡°Sort of high, actually. Higher than I thought.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, right?¡± ¡°Yes, but there has to be a reason why.¡± Tulland put his hand to his modified Silver Star tree, the one that had been altered to maximize his points gain. ¡°This isn¡¯t quite healed yet. Something else happened.¡± It took a few laps of the farm to be sure why. The first reason was the easier of the two to find, bright yellow as it was. Chapter 120: Silver Sun
Acheflower (Improved) The Acheflower is a parasite plant, one that cannot live from the energy it gleans from soil and sun. It steals what it uses to survive, specifically relying on the weak, low-value Achewood trees for its own sustenance. This flower was grown on an improved Achewood tree, one that has not only gained a great deal of levels at the hand of a master farmer but that has also been modified to present levels of nutrition no Acheflower has ever before enjoyed. These Acheflowers exceed the performance of unimproved blooms in every category. Their hallucinogenic powers are greater. Their qualities as an irritant are enhanced. The level of this improvement is as yet unknown to you, but is substantial during practical use of the blooms.
¡°Oh, yes. That¡¯s incredible.¡± Tulland immediately pulled a full complement of the Acheflowers off the tree, reloading their nodes and storing the new weapons in Market Wagon. ¡°And that means¡­¡± Tulland ran over to his Silver Star tree and took a closer look on the branch. On the far side from him, where he had missed it during his first once-over of the farm, was a brightly shining, dangerous sharp object. ¡°It¡¯s working.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± ¡°I just can. And The Infinite confirms it.¡±
Silver Sun (Immature) The Silver Sun represents an upgrade to the Silver Star, pushing it more firmly into the world of System impossibilities. It lives more firmly in the world of the dungeon than ever before. Having absorbed your intent as relayed to it through your Primal Growth and Vicious Pruning class functions, it is now primed for even more instructions. While its sharpness and hardness have much improved through the upgrade, that increase in instructability is the major change to be concerned with. Now acting as an independent plant would, the Sun will absorb power from your Primal Growth skill without it first being channeled through its host tree, enabling you more granular control over its progress and even faster development of individual fruits.
It was then that the notifications started rolling in. Tulland saw the sheer mass of them and just dismissed the lot of Skill Level Up! and Level Up! windows to take a look at the progress those two little plants had given him in the status screen. He saw the stat points first, and applied them at once to his heaviest, most over-powered stat.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 73 Strength: 60 (+5) Agility: 60 (+5) Vitality: 60 (+10) Spirit: 105 (+5) Mind: 60 (+10) Force: 165 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 22, Produce Armament LV. 20, Market Wagon LV. 17 Passives: Broadcast LV. 18, Botanical Engineer LV. 21, Strong Back LV. 15, Fruits of the Field LV. 15, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 20
¡°You¡¯ll have to go to bed without me tonight.¡± Tulland gripped the branch the Silver Sun was growing on, looking closer at the precious little fruit. ¡°I have to stay up.¡± ¡°Good things?¡± ¡°Yes, especially if I can hurry them up enough to actually get the benefit before the next floor. But that means dumping every little bit of magic they can make use of, plus some. Just making sure it¡¯s topped off at all times for the rest of the night.¡± ¡°And if you succeed?¡± ¡°A sharper weapon, maybe. Points at least.¡± ¡°Well worth it, then.¡± Necia moved to Tulland and gave him a kiss on the cheek. ¡°Go. Enjoy your midnight farming. I¡¯ll see you in the morning. And Tulland?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Just know that in any other situation, I¡¯d expect to come before the plants.¡± Tulland barked a laugh as he dumped a truly stupid amount of magic into a single fruit. ¡°And in any other situation you would. I¡¯ll see you in the morning.¡± ¡ª The hardest part of the night wasn¡¯t draining his magic again and again. It was just staying awake. Being up all night wasn¡¯t going to be much of a burden on his overpowered body, but sleepiness that came as a part of boredom or simply sitting still in the dark was still a thing. For a while, Tulland just sat examining the Chimera Sleeves, trying to figure out what secrets they held. They weren¡¯t particularly forthcoming about whatever it was. They were high quality, probably the best individual plants he had. The autonomous nature of the vines alone was worth the price of admission, even if he hadn¡¯t had much call for that function yet. They were stronger and faster than the Clubber Vines, so much so that if he was only able to carry more of them, they would have rendered the other vines obsolete already. But they weren¡¯t, at least that he could tell, world-breaking. If anything, they were a little weaker than what he had hoped to get in terms of keeping him in front of the dungeon¡¯s power curve. Mainly, he was just seeing the limitations of the vine, not anything better than that. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. In the meantime, he was nearly nodding off every five or ten minutes of idleness, and that wouldn¡¯t do. In between dumping loads of magic onto the fruit, he took to taking short walks around the neighborhood. This late at night, few people were out and about. The first three times Tulland took a five or ten minute jaunt, he saw nobody. The fourth time, he found Brist. Sitting on a chair in a yard that was empty during Tulland¡¯s previous laps, the man was smoking a wooden pipe and humming a distinctly shanty-esque tune to himself. ¡°You¡¯re up late,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I slept early. In my world. I got used to taking sleep where I could fit it in. Just now, I can¡¯t sleep another hour,¡± Brist said. ¡°Where¡¯d you get the tobacco?¡± Tulland gestured at the pipe. ¡°I can see carving some wood for the pipe, but I wouldn¡¯t think you could have found anything to smoke in it. Where did you?¡± ¡°Just here and there. Once your vitality and poison resistance get strong enough, anything smokes smooth. It lost its effect on me long ago. These days, I just like how it feels to breath something besides air.¡± ¡°Not good for your health.¡± Brist barked a laugh. ¡°Oh, I won¡¯t live to be a grandfather? Could have fooled me. I¡¯ll have to break the news to the wife I don¡¯t have.¡± ¡°Fair enough. If you find a leaf you particularly like, bring me some seeds. I¡¯ll see what I can do for you.¡± ¡°Will do. Though your question goes both ways, you know. You aren¡¯t usually up this late. I know because I am. What¡¯s different?¡± ¡°I have a problem to figure out. Not sure if I can tell you. The Infinite doesn¡¯t seem to like people talking to me about it.¡± ¡°Is it having to do with something you found out about this place, or with your class?¡± ¡°My class.¡± ¡°Just your class?¡± Brist poked the air with his curled hand. ¡°Nothing that would apply to a puncher?¡± ¡°Not that I know of. I think this is completely unique to my class.¡± ¡°Then there shouldn¡¯t be a problem. The Infinite is going to want to keep people from helping you out. It doesn¡¯t care if I learn a little more about plants. Tell me what¡¯s going on if you want. I might be able to give you some pointers.¡± ¡°Do you know much about plants?¡± ¡°No, but I know a whole lot about Systems. Mine, at least, and I haven¡¯t found The Infinite to be that much different.¡± Brist tapped out his pipe, loaded it with more leaves, and lit it with a fragment of fire from a small blaze he had lit on the ground near him. ¡°Lay it on me. I¡¯ll do my best.¡± Tulland did. Between trips back to his house every five or ten minutes, he gave Brist all the missing pieces he didn¡¯t already understand about his class, edited a bit to leave out the facts that would leave him the most vulnerable. He didn¡¯t suspect Brist had a betrayal in him, but it couldn¡¯t hurt to be safe. The biggest point of interest to Brist seemed to be that Tulland had his class forcibly changed once before. The rest of everything was just odd to him. That one aspect of the story went beyond that, straight into territory Brist seemed to find out-and-out bizarre. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it happening. But you must have had one hell of a plan to make The Infinite step in that early in your class. What was it worried about?¡± ¡°I could have eventually turned entire floors into beds of thorns. Thorns that wouldn¡¯t have hurt me, but would have bound anything else. An hour after I got to a new floor, I would have had hundreds of feet of them. An hour after that, it would have taken over everything and still have been growing. Each of them feeding power back to me.¡± ¡°Yeah, that would do it.¡± Brist puffed away at his pipe. ¡°There¡¯s a balance to these things. I;m stronger than most swordsmen, but that¡¯s because I use what the System gives me better, and because I got to a higher level and learned more from the class than most. But most punchers are about as strong as most spearmen, who are about as strong as most archers. And all of those classes are balanced against the dungeons, which are rebalanced against them. No system likes it when people break that balance.¡± ¡°You think that¡¯s what¡¯s happening here?¡± It matched up with what Tulland¡¯s System had told him, and Tulland was inclined to believe it. ¡°I¡¯m on the cusp of breaking something The Infinite doesn¡¯t want broken?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°Then why let me? It¡¯s not like it had to give me those vines. Or whatever it is that will make them do whatever it¡¯s trying to avoid.¡± ¡°Oh. You are one of those. Think of Systems as gods without limits.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say that. It¡¯s more that I don¡¯t know much about them at all. It¡¯s a long story.¡± ¡°In any case, it¡¯s not like that. You¡¯ve heard your class changes depending on what you try to do with it? That¡¯s not something The Infinite is in control of. It¡¯s not even something it can say no to.¡± ¡°It said no before.¡± Tulland summoned a vine from his storage. ¡°Otherwise I¡¯d have this whole place overgrown with these by now.¡± ¡°It altered something after the fact. For which it had to pay you, I¡¯d guess. It has that power. But it certainly doesn¡¯t want to keep giving you leg ups.¡± Brist stood up and clenched his hand. ¡°I¡¯m going to show you something. Watch.¡± Walking over to a nearby stone wall, Brist threw a single jab at the wall. Smashing into the stone, it sounded like a sledgehammer. ¡°Strong,¡± Tulland commented. ¡°Not strong. Fast. Look.¡± Tulland walked over and examined the wall where his fist had hit and saw not one, but instead three craters where the stone had been broken away. ¡°One time, just once, I pushed the limits of what my System would allow. I set up a punch combo that could loop stunning effects, sort of like when I used to juggle you in the air. It didn¡¯t always work, and when it did, it wasn¡¯t always worth it. But sometimes it would allow me to trap something. Keep it still and standing up on its own two feet until it was dead.¡± ¡°And that got taken?¡± ¡°It got taken, but in return I got something nobody else has. I can throw a punch that hits three times where it should only hit once. Minimal power cost. I can¡¯t throw it that often, but if you use it right, that kind of thing is big.¡± ¡°Balance-breaking?¡± ¡°No. But good. As good as anything anybody gets to keep. Best I could have got.¡± Brist laughed. ¡°You should have seen the notification. My System was salty as hell about it. Cost it something. I¡¯d guess The Infinite wants to avoid the same thing with you.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t imagine that anything The Infinite gave me would be enough to put a dent in its wallet. I¡¯m just one person.¡± ¡°Maybe. But it¡¯s scared of something. Now let me see that new vine of yours. Explain to me what it does, again. Everything it does.¡± Tulland handed one over, and they went through every single thing he knew of that it could do. Brist was interested in the remote-control qualities of the vines, and had Tulland attack him with them in a couple different ways, even going so far as to stick his arm in the constrictive embrace of its thorns. ¡°It¡¯s good. Neat weapon. Wish I had something like it. A bit of distraction you don¡¯t have to directly control goes a long way,¡± Brist commented. ¡°You don¡¯t seem that impressed, though,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I¡¯m not. It¡¯s not that it¡¯s not good, but it¡¯s not great. It¡¯s another tool in your arsenal, not something that would worry The Infinite.¡± ¡°That¡¯s about as far as I got too. There¡¯s nothing that amazing about these, as much as I like them.¡± ¡°Which means whatever that woman was trying to tell you, it¡¯s not obvious. Any time these vines show you something normal or that The Infinite helps them show you, ignore it. That¡¯s gonna be a waste of time. Look for the things it¡¯s not showing you. That¡¯s my advice.¡± Tulland walked by Brist¡¯s house the next few times he made his staying-awake journey, and found him gone by the third. After that, it was back to his plants, working his hardest to make sure they got everything they needed. It was dawn when it finally made it. Tulland ran to the tree and ripped off the single fruit, cutting his hand badly in the bargain. The Silver Stars had been sharp. This was an impossible thing, bigger and more lethal by far than the old one had been.
Silver Sun You have nurtured the Silver Sun to maturity while concentrating on the idea of a weapon. Specifically, you eschewed thinking about a weapon that was sharper or more durable in favor of your own difficulties actually connecting your weapon with a target, pouring your intent towards creating a weapon that speeds towards its target. When thrown, the Silver Sun will have supernatural accuracy much beyond what your stats would imply as possible. In turn, when it is used as a component of your weapon the resulting armament will move faster and straighter towards your foes. While more Silver Suns can be grown, the intent poured into this star is now set as a characteristic of all Silver Suns. Subsequent fruits will grow faster, but will not be able to absorb any intent that would change the qualities of the fruit from this current configuration.
Chapter 121: Rewards Reeling with excitement, Tulland pulled out his pitchfork and allowed it to consume the Silver Sun, forcing all the materials towards the head of the weapon rather than the handle. The silver fruit turned into a mist and disappeared into the weapon, which began to glint brighter in the morning light. Tulland swung the weapon back and forth, not sensing any real difference with it. From what the description had said, there should have been something. The Farmer¡¯s Tool felt about how the old version of the weapon had, and while he was sure the tines would penetrate a bit better, he wasn¡¯t nearly as impressed as he had hoped he would be. ¡°Did it work?¡± Necia emerged from the house, running her fingers through her hair to disengage the less stubborn of the tangles in it. ¡°It¡¯s in the pitchfork now?¡± ¡°Yes. But it¡¯s not great.¡± Tulland pulled up his farming screen as he talked. ¡°Not a great weapon, but what it did to the farm isn¡¯t that bad.¡±
Farm Status: Total Points: 10789
¡°That¡¯s good!¡± Necia patted Tulland on the back, then picked up her shield off the ground, inspecting it for any flaws as she did every morning. It had never needed the attention, but Tulland loved the dedication to her craft. ¡°Every little bit helps.¡± ¡°Sure. It¡¯s just¡­ nobody is going to be afraid of this.¡± Tulland jabbed the pitchfork towards Necia, using nowhere near the speed or reach he would need to use to actually reach her. She barely got her shield up in time to block the strike, as it moved far faster and farther than Tulland had intended. It clanged off her shield, surprising Tulland so much he dropped the weapon and held his hands up. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I didn¡¯t mean to!¡± ¡°Relax.¡± Necia smiled, but kept her shield up. ¡°I know you aren¡¯t trying to murder me. Why did that happen?¡± ¡°I think¡­ the pitchfork is supposed to be better now. More accurate, or something. It wasn''t doing much before. But the description said it wants to take down enemies. I guess I have to be aiming it at something alive for it to work.¡± ¡°Really? That¡¯s great. We should try to test it out. Go ahead and hit me at full¡­¡± Necia never finished. With the sun up, some impatient adventurer finally tipped the scales by registering his intent to advance and fulfilling whatever minimum the System had in place to move them forward. With a shock, Tulland found himself in his white room, between places. Well this is unexpected. It¡¯s been a while since I was here. I was worried this might happen. Really? Yes. The Infinite can¡¯t be unaware you are examining things it would rather you not. A discussion was always in the realm of possibilities. ¡°That it was.¡± A dark-skinned man in a robe appeared before them. ¡°Oh, you aren¡¯t running this time? I¡¯m surprised.¡± I¡­ I will stay. I¡¯ll listen. You can¡¯t make me go. ¡°I never told you to, anyway. World Systems are so skittish these days. Or maybe they always were, and I just never had the time to notice,¡± the man said. ¡°You can hear my System?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Of course. Just because I¡¯m a Dungeon System doesn¡¯t mean we don¡¯t occupy the same kind of space, in many ways. It can hear me, after all, and the way I talk to you is just an improved version of the way it would.¡± You can go if you want. No. Thank you. But no. You need counsel. This is irregular in ways I can¡¯t begin to explain. ¡°It might be. Or maybe you just haven¡¯t spent a lot of time here before Tulland. Even so, I¡¯m allowed a conversation.¡± The man turned his attention back to Tulland. In any case, he was looking right at him. It would have been hard for Tulland to explain how he knew which one of the people present The Infinite was addressing, but he did. ¡°Tulland. You know, I think, that Kelsa gave you a bit more information than she was supposed to. She was like that, in life. She didn¡¯t like being told what to do.¡± ¡°I picked that up, about her. I liked it, even if she was a bit of a pain,¡± Tulland said. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°The problem is that she¡¯s put you in a bit of an awkward position. Because while what she was trying to let you know was very clear to her, it¡¯s not something your class will give you many clues about.¡± Ask him why not. ¡°I can hear you, you know,¡± the man snapped. Tulland felt the terrified System shudder as it was noticed. ¡°The reason why not isn¡¯t a secret. Her class was about listening to the will of the plants, maximizing what they were based on their own natural direction in the way of things. Yours isn¡¯t. She worked with the plants. You work on the plants.¡± ¡°Sounds pretty close.¡± ¡°And yet, there¡¯s a vast difference.¡± The Infinite instance bridged its fingers across its eyes for a moment. ¡°The point I¡¯m making is that, with my word as a Dungeon System in play, you are unlikely to discover the secret she saw. It¡¯s not impossible, but it¡¯s improbable.¡± ¡°System?¡± Tulland asked. True, if he¡¯s brought his status into play. Probably true even with that. ¡°So what do want, then? If I¡¯m not going to find it, I¡¯m not going to find it. No harm, no foul.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to say that¡¯s the case, but there¡¯s always that chance. And if you do find it, it¡¯s going to create a difficult situation for me, and a complex situation for you. So we thought we¡¯d make you an offer.¡± The Infinite waved his hand, and several objects materialized in front of Tulland. Five of them were seeds, each radiating more power than his Farmer¡¯s Instincts had ever felt before. ¡°These are the highest quality seeds you could have possibly made at your level, with your skills, and with an enormous amount of luck. To make one would have been a miracle. To have five at once would have been nearly impossible. Each of them is significantly better than the Chimera Sleeve. Two of them are briar variants, each with their own special focus. One of them is a tree, one is a food bush with interesting medical qualities, and one is a nitrogen fixer.¡± ¡°A what?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°A plant that makes soil better. It¡¯s difficult to explain, except that if you knew what it would do for you, you¡¯d want it very much.¡± ¡°And the box?¡± ¡°An improved splicer box. It has a much higher chance of creating variants, slightly increased limits on what kinds of seeds and stimulant materials it can cross, and five chambers instead of three.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± Tulland knew that sounded too good, even if the seeds weren¡¯t in place. It was the kind of thing that would let him generate more problems for The Infinite, not less. ¡°There¡¯s a catch there somewhere.¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting to that. The Infinite would have pre-approval on the plants it created. You¡¯d never know it, but balance-breaking plants would be replaced by very good ones that did not break the balance whenever you would otherwise manage to build yourself a problem.¡± ¡°My old splicer would still function?¡± ¡°It would. No changes.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± All this would be huge. Five great-quality seeds alone would be life-changing in this place. The splicer would let him get more new plants at a greater pace. Tulland was doing just fine, lately, but there was no telling when that would stop. This sounded like the kind of thing that would make him ever so close to overpowered. He wanted all of it. ¡°I think I might¡­¡± Don¡¯t. Talk to me first. ¡°Can I have a moment?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°A private moment, if you can do that.¡± ¡°Fine. Of course.¡± The Infinite looked reluctant, but waved its hand. ¡°I can¡¯t hear him now. I give my word.¡± Okay. What¡¯s up? I just wanted to make sure you knew what kind of deal you were making. You think it¡¯s trying to cheat me? No. Not quite. This is a massive treasure. I couldn¡¯t have done nearly this much back on our world, even in my prime. It would have built a legend out of the most mediocre adventurer. Then why stop me? Answer me this. Do you trust me? Tulland hated this question. He knew because he asked himself that question every day. The answer was complex. He couldn¡¯t imagine a life in which he¡¯d ever trust the System absolutely, but they had been through a lot together. There was something about the System that, these days, just felt different than it had on Ouros. Something about traveling with Tulland had changed it. Softened it. Where once he could feel the resentful edge on every word, now there was almost a familiar tone when it talked. If he hadn¡¯t known better, he¡¯d say it was close to affection. But it had still tried to kill him. Sometimes. About some things. I don¡¯t know that I can do better than that. I wouldn¡¯t expect you to. I¡¯m going to tell you this, and you can do with it what you will. What he¡¯s offering you will keep you alive for a long time. Maybe years. You will send so much energy back to Ouros with me that I¡¯ll be able to unseat the Church and revolutionize almost everything about life on that world. But I¡¯d have to wait, perhaps decades. And anything could happen in that time. So I¡¯d win, then you¡¯d win. Sounds about right. Yes, well, I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d call it a win for either of us, anymore. Let me ask you another question. Do you remember when your every thought was of finding a way to beat me? To survive this, or at least to rob me of my prize? To escape this place? I still want that. You hardly mention it, if you do. I¡¯m reminding you of it now. Because what The Infinite is offering you is incredible, but it¡¯s certainly not its limit. If you never find the secret of those vines, then you¡¯ll lose out. You¡¯ll die sooner, I¡¯ll still be rich in the ways that I consider rich. But if you do discover them, you¡¯ll get more. How much more? I don¡¯t know. But I know if there¡¯s a single scenario this dungeon has to offer that could get you what you wanted all that time ago, it¡¯s this. Because whatever The Infinite offers then won¡¯t just widen your eyes. It will stretch the limits of what¡¯s possible. The System really did go away then. Tulland tried to look like he was still talking to it, if only to get a moment to think. He was never going to have enough time to get through every implication of what the System had told him, but he knew that the important bit was simpler to grasp. If he trusted the System on this, he had a hard decision. If he didn¡¯t trust it, the decision was much easier. The man turned around. ¡°Are you ready? I hate to put a time limit on this, but you have one anyway. A minute or so longer, at most.¡± ¡°I think¡­ I¡¯m going to turn you down.¡± Tulland straightened his back. ¡°No, thank you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± The Infinite raised its eyebrows and motioned at the prizes. ¡°You¡¯d turn down all this? I can honestly tell you it would be the biggest single reward any adventurer has ever received at this stage, for any reason at all.¡± ¡°I would. Sorry.¡± Tulland smiled. ¡°I sort of want to roll the dice.¡± The Infinite had other things to say, Tulland could tell. It had arguments to make and negotiations to participate in with him. In the end, it left them unsaid. ¡°So be it. Good luck, Tulland Lowstreet. I hope you survive until we can talk again.¡± Chapter 122: Leader ¡°Why are you late?¡± Necia grabbed Tulland¡¯s arm and dragged him along with her before he could fully orient with where he was. ¡°How can you be late to a teleport?¡± ¡°I had a meeting. It¡¯s a long story.¡± Tulland started running, trusting Necia wasn¡¯t leading him towards a cliff or anything similarly disastrous. ¡°Where are we going?¡± ¡°To the battle. Read your summary and try to keep up.¡±
Terrain Race! The battle to come takes place at a designated point, with both advantageous and disadvantageous terrain positions from which to fight. Your enemies are already in route to their positions, hoping to seize the high ground, get the upper hand, and slaughter you. Don¡¯t let that happen. Locate the correct destination and travel there before your enemies can make the trip.
¡°We know we are going in the right direction?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No!¡± Necia yelled over the sound of a few dozen warriors galloping across the turf. ¡°Not for sure, anyway. The scout and forester types had a general idea of the direction, and White got us all moving. We¡¯ve been running for minutes now.¡± ¡°Any idea of how long we¡¯ll have to keep going?¡± ¡°Me? No. I¡¯m just following the leaders. I¡¯m not sure if they know or not. It doesn¡¯t really matter, if you think about it. We can only stop when we get there.¡± ¡°What if we just didn¡¯t go? Waited until they had to abandon the high ground and come to us?¡± ¡°Someone asked the same question. Potter and White convinced everyone it wasn¡¯t a good idea to piss off The Infinite if we could help it. Worst-case scenarios included wiping us all out for not meeting mission minimums or teleporting us to the location in a bad condition.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°And don¡¯t think we aren¡¯t going to talk about how you managed to be late to a compulsory event. We are going to talk about it. But for now, just run.¡± There wasn¡¯t much to the run besides simply trying to keep everyone together, something Potter and White handled by acting as bookends on the entire group. White led the group by in the front pushing the pace and Potter stayed in the back making sure there wasn¡¯t anyone slow enough to get lost. The terrain wasn¡¯t very difficult, and the group made what Tulland thought was an excellent pace. ¡°It¡¯s here!¡± one of the scouts yelled. ¡°Just ahead. Outside of the trees.¡± Ten seconds later, the group broke the treeline and sharply veered to the left, where a small rise in the terrain leveled out to a small platform of sorts. The group broke over the rise and stopped flat on the level piece of ground. ¡°Is this it?¡± Tulland looked around. ¡°I expected a fortress or something.¡± ¡°This is more than you think!¡± White yelled. ¡°For an individual fighting an individual, this rise doesn¡¯t matter. For a group fighting a group, it¡¯s a large advantage they¡¯ll have no easy way to nullify.¡± ¡°He¡¯s right! Now catch your breath. They won¡¯t be far behind us. And we can¡¯t be sure The Infinite won¡¯t have other surprises. Keep your eyes peeled.¡± ¡°So what happened, then?¡± Necia whispered to Tulland. ¡°Give me the short story.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to. But it¡¯s not entirely finalized yet. Can I give you the full version after we are out of here?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think I¡¯ll forget. I¡¯m a princess, you know. We get status reports. We expect them. Her majesty will be quite peeved if she doesn¡¯t get hers soon.¡± Necia tried her best to straighten up to a regal stature, then laughed. ¡°I¡¯ve really lost my touch at that. Go ahead. Talk to your little friend.¡± I hope you were telling the truth back there. I¡¯d hate to die over you lying. Again. This will be small comfort, but you might die over this even though I was telling the truth. You¡¯ve rolled the dice. The result will be the result of a gamble you¡¯ve made with the odds against you. But it was true? There¡¯s a chance to get out of here? Tulland Lowstreet, in my word as a System, there is always a chance. I know more than you could possibly imagine about your world, and more than you will ever learn about this one. But there are things I don¡¯t know. Secrets which only The Infinite knows, and secrets even it hasn¡¯t guessed at. Which is a fancy way of saying there might not be any chance at all. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. That¡¯s true of everything. The best building can be toppled by a sufficiently strong storm, one that nobody predicted. All you can do is build as strong a foundation as the land allows, and hope the weather goes your way. You are getting more poetic in your old age. I¡¯m young as Systems go. But, yes. My time away from the terrors of the parts of your world I frequent has lightened my mood somewhat, lately. ¡°Okay. Back.¡± Tulland was as confident as he could be that the System was at least telling some kind of partial truth. In the end, it didn¡¯t have much to gain by lying in this situation. At the very least, it could have lied to him every time the Infinite had ever talked to him. The fact that it had only chosen to do so now meant it expected something important to come of it, one way or another. ¡°Sorry about that.¡± ¡°No problem, but I¡¯m glad you are done. Look over there.¡± In the distance, the dirt men from the previous level had started to gather. Where before they had been almost uniform, this was much more clearly a mixed unit of troops, moving in a much more organized way. It didn¡¯t take a genius to know they were an upgrade from what they had faced before, which was expected. The unexpected was announced a moment later.
Battle format: Kill the Leader The troops arrayed before you are not elites. They are, however, well-trained regulars. Each of them still only possesses a generic, skill-less set of talents that leave the classes that make up your troops at a distinct advantage. That does not mean they are powerless. Far from it. In this battle, victory comes in two forms. The first is basic survival. Upon the complete destruction of enemy troops, each survivor on your side will be teleported back to the safe zone, rewards in hand. The prizes will be meager, but coupled with the chance to keep living, they will be far from nothing. The larger victory comes from the satisfaction of the parameters of the scenario. As the battle commences, you will notice that the enemy troops are preferentially targeting the leader of your team. If they manage to kill the leader, the second victory will be theirs, and your rewards will be limited even if everyone else survives. On the other side of the same coin, you will find that killing the enemy leader will net you a huge advantage against the remaining troops. Killing the enemy leader quickly will grant you even higher rewards, evenly distributed among your team. At an even split in voting, the reward preference for this round of combat has defaulted to an even, party-centric orientation. A greater total prize pot is in play.
¡°Leader?¡± Necia smiled. ¡°That¡¯s White. He¡¯s tough. Lots of armor. Can¡¯t say I¡¯m disappointed.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Tulland frowned. ¡°White is our commander. He calls the orders. But what if it¡¯s Potter?¡± The color drained from Necia¡¯s face as she looked over at the unarmored, robed scholar milling around the rear of their formation. ¡°Right. I¡¯m on it. I won¡¯t be in formation though if I protect him,¡± Necia said. ¡°I¡¯ll tell White. He¡¯ll make the adjustment.¡± Tulland elbowed through the troops towards the front of the line where he was supposed to be anyway, catching up to white a moment later. The enemies had already begun to charge, but the space between them in the field was sufficient that there were a handful of seconds left. ¡°Necia¡¯s in the back.¡± Tulland shouted. ¡°Guarding Potter. In case, he¡¯s our leader.¡± White gave a momentary look of surprise, then nodded. He barked a few quick orders, closing the gap where Necia would have stood. Then the enemies were upon them. The last time they had fought with a group, it had rushed against their wall mindlessly. This group was smarter. With the difference in terrain in play, they stood back long enough for their archers to set and start firing arrows. Tulland ducked back behind the armored warrior to his rear as the projectiles fell down on them, looking sharp despite also seemingly being made of nothing but raw earth. Licht and the other archers returned fire, giving much better than they had gotten in the exchange. At that moment, the dirt warriors up front used the moment of distraction to begin attacking from below. That exchange went in favor of the humans as well. Tulland could hear Brist laughing like a madman as the tell-tale sound of his fists sinking into target after target rang in his ears, calling up past traumas of his own training unbidden. He bit back a shudder as he called out the Chimera Sleeves, set them free to hunt as they pleased in the enemy ranks, and then brought his new pitchfork into play. The weapon was better than he could have dreamed. The first strike sunk all the way through an Earth Warrior¡¯s head, almost toppling Tulland over as his whole body leaned with the weapon in one smooth, powerful strike that extended much further than he was used to. He pulled it back, then stabbed it out two more times, killing the dirt warrior who stepped forward to take its fallen brother¡¯s place in line. The pitchfork seemed to love hitting things. Tulland could feel that desire to stab seeping in through his palms as he struck out again and again, for once outpacing the slower, less damage-dealing warriors on the line. Out in the fray, he could feel the feedback of growth his vines were getting as they took down unsuspecting targets. Things were going well. ¡°No!¡± White bellowed. ¡°To the right! Mage!¡± Tulland turned to see a mockery of Potter built out of loam standing far away from the troops, just now emerging from hiding in tall grass and raising a glowing hand at their lines. White chucked some sort of javelin at it, one that Tulland had never seen him throw before. It fell short. Licht got a bolt into it, taking a good chunk out of its side but leaving it standing. If both of these guys considered the mage to be a problem, Tulland knew it had to be stopped. At the moment, he had just one ranged weapon worth putting into play. Pulling out an Acheflower and charging it with every single bit of power he could, he chucked it overhand at the mage. It was a good throw. The Acheflower sailed through the air on a perfect course for the mage¡¯s face, impacting hard and disbursing its powder all over the monster as it exploded with a soft pop. All that happened just a moment too late, though. As the flower was making its way to the mage, Tulland watched as the light in its hand blurred forward, passing through their lines without doing any apparent damage to the warriors it brushed past. In the back, a frustrated female cry he recognized all too well rang out, followed by a sound like wooshing wind as the light rebounded like a hit ball, over their lines and back in front of the mage. As the now-disoriented mage stumbled away, the light resolved into a tall, fabric-clad man. Potter looked around as the entire enemy army turned their heads towards him as one. And Tulland watched as the leader of the human army realize he was behind enemy lines, unarmored, and about to be cut down. Chapter 123: Commander ¡°Save him!¡± White bellowed. ¡°Razored Spear!¡± Razored Spear¡¯s name was accurate. It was a formation that relied on a point of three shield bearers blowing a hole in the enemy line, then being driven along by the forces behind them as the most powerful melee attacks the group could muster destroyed everything to the sides. With the crew of elites they had assembled, the formation was a scary, devastating kind of thing. It wouldn¡¯t leave them in the best tactical position afterward, but there was no doubt it would pierce the enemy lines. It just wouldn¡¯t be fast enough. ¡°Necia. They¡¯ll never get there in time. Make a hole.¡± Tulland knew Necia would come to the line where he was, and she had. ¡°Make it now.¡± Necia looked at him for a long second, shook her head, then intercepted a dirt warrior¡¯s attack with her shield counter. It spun back hard from the line, taking the two nearest warriors down with it. Tulland followed the downed enemy with his pitchfork, letting the attack drag him forward before jumping free of the enemy battle line entirely. By then, the dirt men had stated to rush the wizard¡¯s location. Tulland sprung forward, dropping improved Acheflowers as he did and detonating them behind him to create a wall of toxins that the earth warriors would have to grapple with before moving forward. He sprinted towards the mage, reaching Potter several seconds before the bulk of the dirt men were able to recover. Archer¡¯s volleys from the human side of things came down hard on the approaching monsters, but didn¡¯t fully stop them. There was limited time before both Tulland and Potter would be in serious trouble if they didn¡¯t move. ¡°Tulland. You shouldn¡¯t have come.¡± The scholar mage looked at his own unarmed hands, then towards the enemy troops. ¡°Now we both die.¡± ¡°Not yet. Come with me.¡± Tulland plunged his pitchfork into the downed dirt mage, who was just starting to get its bearings back before the Farmer¡¯s Tool blew it up into a pile of loose soil. ¡°I have a plan.¡± ¡°A good one?¡± ¡°A plan. I meant what I said. Now come on.¡± Tulland grabbed the mage by the arm, which was surprisingly easy to accomplish. He really didn¡¯t seem to have many points in his physical stats. ¡°We need to hurry.¡± ¡°Where?¡± Tulland almost threw the scholar into the high grass the dirt mage had emerged from, then scrambled forward himself. ¡°Turn right now,¡± Tulland yelled. He heard the mage shift, and scrambled forward several steps before changing direction. ¡°Now forward again.¡± ¡°Why are we zigzagging? Ah, arrows. I see. Yes, that might keep them off of us. But where are we going, Tulland?¡± Potter asked. ¡°First, we are mostly just going away from the line. If the dirt men keep chasing you, White will take advantage of that. Hit them hard from behind and take them down. The longer we can make it before they catch us, the more they can make of that.¡± ¡°But they will catch us eventually.¡± ¡°Maybe. That¡¯s the second thing. This is a commander versus commander battle, right?¡± ¡°Right. Which is why I was targeted, I suppose.¡± Potter yanked his robe clear of a thorned weed, then continued running. ¡°If I had realized, I would have had countermeasures ready. It was foolish of me.¡± ¡°What¡¯s done is done. I¡¯m just trying to figure one thing out, now,¡± Tulland said. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the commander?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°I¡¯ve seen swordsmen, archers, and that mage. Killing the mage didn¡¯t cause any disruption in their ranks. That means the commander is still out there somewhere. If we can find him, maybe we can take him down.¡± ¡°Just us? I¡¯m not sure how I like our chances.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a little stronger than you know about, right now. Plus, I¡¯m guessing you have some moves you haven¡¯t shown anyone. So get talking.¡± Potter thought about it for a long time as he shuffled along in the dirt, then got to spilling the beans. It was about how Tulland had thought it would be. Everything he had seen from the scholar so far had been the kinds of things the mage could do that were most relevant to big, group fights. That didn¡¯t mean Potter was out of other tricks, although Tulland suspected none of them would have worked very well to get him back to the right side of the human battle lines. Potter wasn¡¯t selfish that way, at least as far as Tulland could tell. He wouldn¡¯t have put others in danger if he had his own solutions for his own problems. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Nothing yet.¡± Potter stuck his head very slightly above the grass line. ¡°And it looks like you were right. White is taking full advantage of the enemy forces being out of formation. How are we ever going to find the commander, though?¡± ¡°I have an idea about that. Keep your eyes on the pursuit for a minute or so, okay? Let me know if we need to move again.¡± Tulland had never commanded his Chimera Sleeves from this far, or given them this complex of a command before. He hoped that something like ¡°go and search for some guy in this general direction¡± wasn¡¯t beyond them, but he wouldn¡¯t know until they tried. He could at least feel something happen as he sent the command, some sort of magical acknowledgement of delivery. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Potter asked after a minute worth of random escaping. ¡°I¡¯m having my vines search. They just got into a range where I can sort of feel where they are. They have orders to attack anything out of the ordinary, but just enough to flush it out. After that, it will be up to us.¡± The vines continued searching the tall grass ahead of them until one of them suddenly stopped. Tulland had no clear confirmation that it had found something or what it was even up to until suddenly the sensation of the vine being under his control stopped entirely. ¡°Something got it. Over there. I¡¯m telling my vines to crawl back to us.¡± Tulland pointed to their front right. ¡°Won¡¯t that lead it to us?¡± Potter asked. ¡°That¡¯s my thinking. So get to it with the magic already. Go all out.¡± Potter¡¯s hand flared with light. ¡°Are you sure? If I do that, we¡¯ll only have one shot. If you miss¡­¡± ¡°If I miss, we¡¯ll have to run anyway. This is our best bet.¡± Tulland set his Farmer¡¯s Tool down on the ground. ¡°Now get to it.¡± ¡°All right. Blade of Knowledge, activate.¡± Potter laid his hand on Tulland¡¯s pitchfork, and the glow started to transfer from his palm to the head of the weapon. Slowly but surely, it got brighter and brighter. ¡°This will take a few more seconds.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. Just keep it up.¡± ¡°Where are your vines, by the way? They aren¡¯t back yet?¡± ¡°No. I had them stop about ten yards in front of us and bury themselves in the soil.¡± ¡°What? Why would you do that?¡± ¡°Just an idea. Let¡¯s see if it works. How long is that pitchfork going to stay shiny?¡± ¡°A few minutes, unless you use it first.¡± Potter picked up the pitchfork and put it in Tulland¡¯s hand. ¡°Are you sure you can hit? It¡¯s good for one strike. Only one.¡± ¡°I have a good feeling. Let¡¯s leave it at that for now.¡± Tulland and Potter sat quietly after that, just waiting for their enemy to make a move. A minute passed in silence. ¡°Not much time left. Are you sure this is going to work?¡± ¡°No! Of course not.¡± Tulland gripped his pitchfork. ¡°He might not come at all¡­ oh, no, there it is.¡± In the distance, his Chimera Sleeves were asking for permission to strike. He told them to wait. From this close, he could sense even small changes in their position. He was waiting for them to move the slightest bit downward before he sent the next command. Once they did, he pushed everything he could into that one instruction, sending whatever magic he could with Primal Growth to give them as much power as possible. As one, the three remaining Chimera Sleeves that had coiled themselves under the soil all burst upwards like springs, pushing towards the sky with all they were worth. Tulland sprung upwards himself, not waiting for his eyes to focus on the flash of movement he saw, before tossing the pitchfork like a javelin with all the force he could manage. The commander tried to get out of the way. It really did. Tulland watched the big, nasty muscle-bound earth warrior twist in the air like a contortionist, doing everything it could to avoid what it probably thought was a spear. He managed to actually get out of the way of one of the tines, but the other two caught him in the belly. Tulland¡¯s aim hadn¡¯t been that good to begin with, but he had a feeling the pitchfork would take care of some of that problem for him. It had outdone his expectations, correcting in midair somehow and veering left to hit. Once it did, a weird hell broke loose. From the point of contact, what looked like scrawled words started to pour out of the wounds, as red as blood and in a language Tulland had never seen before. Where they raced across the surface of the enemy, they scoured its flesh, leaving deep lines of char where they crossed before constricting inwards. ¡°It won¡¯t work.¡± Potter looked frightened. ¡°It¡¯s strong, and dirt doesn¡¯t burn well. We need to¡­¡± The Chimera Sleeves finally finished flying through the air as Potter talked, and came down hard on the falling enemy, driving him into the dirt. Tulland ran forward, hucking every Acheflower he had left while bringing his Clubber Vines out of storage to help. He didn¡¯t end up needing them. The Acheflowers didn¡¯t seem to work all that well on the commander, but he didn¡¯t seem to know that before they hit. The moment¡¯s distraction they provided let one of the Chimera Sleeve circle around, puff up, and close over his head before he could disengage from the other two vines or the pitchfork through his gut. When Tulland got to him, the combination of the spell, the stabbing, and the vines had done significant damage. With the magic fully over, Tulland was able to twist his pitchfork inside of the dirt man and pull it out in his usual ripping motion before transitioning the weapon into a hoe and coming down hard on his exposed neck. It took five shots to do the honors, but they were five shots the dirt man could do absolutely nothing about. Tulland took a deep breath as the monster fell apart, then heard a cheer in the distance as whatever effect its death had on its forces became known. ¡°Let¡¯s get back. See if we can¡¯t pick off some stragglers before it¡¯s all over.¡± Potter nodded slowly, and they began to sprint back towards the battle proper. Chapter 124: Death ¡°Then I get there, and the boy has his vine over the commander¡¯s head like a stocking. I thought about helping, but he appeared to have it in hand.¡± Potter was telling Brist how everything had gone down, just as he had told White, Necia, Licht since they had arrived back at the safe zone. In every telling, the details seem to get a little bit more comedic and a lot more effective in eliciting laughts. ¡°That matches with what I saw. Tulland running off like an idiot, you two disappearing, then a few minutes before every one of the earth men fell to the ground covering their ears. Only lasted a few seconds, but a few seconds is a long time.¡± Brist took a drink of water out of his flask. ¡°Shame about Tryce and Hannibal, though.¡± ¡°Shame,¡± Potter agreed. The first battle for the eleventh floor had come with no losses at all, but this battle hadn¡¯t been as easy or as to-plan. The enemies were stronger than before, especially since their fighting methods were more varied. Chasing the pursuing enemy army had worked very well, but it had been disordered. By the time White and the others forced the enemy troops to stop chasing Tulland and Potter, they had lost order and control of everyone. So the success had come with costs. Two unlucky people had been shaken from the spear formation, overwhelmed, and didn¡¯t make it back. ¡ª Tulland spent half the night laying awake thinking about the two warriors who hadn¡¯t made it. He hadn¡¯t known either of them well, but both of them had been big, gruff, capable-looking men. He had been intimidated by them, a week ago. Now those invincible seeming fighters were gone for good. How fragile am I? Pardon? I mean¡­ how close did I come to death today? About the same as any other day, I suppose. No closer than you came to death fighting the Forest Duke. Or the Cannian Knight. Or the rogue. Or the chimera. Yes, I understand that part. What I mean is, how close was I? Say in seconds. At my most dangerous, how long would it have taken for mistakes to cause my death? You want to know? I do. A single mistake. A split second. You¡¯ve already been in that much danger more times than you could easily count, even when you were fighting the motes at the entrance gate. Have you not realized this? On some level, sure. I don¡¯t think it was¡­ real, somehow. It was terrifying. I could feel my heart beating with fear. But why wasn¡¯t it real? You never lost a father. I did. And why does that matter? You were too young to remember much when your father passed. Other people spend decades with their fathers. They know them as young, strong men who grow tougher and wiser as they age. And then, one day, they die. And? Think about if your uncle died. What would that look like? How would it feel? That old man would never die. He¡¯s leather. That, Tulland, is my point. You think you are joking, but in some ways, you are as serious as anyone could be. To you, your uncle is immortal. You have no concept of it even being possible for him to die. But he could. His heart could give out. He could have an accident fishing. One day, he would be there, and one day he wouldn¡¯t. I understand that. Every human thinks they do, until they find out they don¡¯t. If your uncle had passed, you would have understood death. That it¡¯s real. It would have been part of the texture of your world in a way that would have informed every move you made. What you are experiencing now with the warriors is a smaller version of the same thing. In some ways, you have just learned you can die. Tulland wrestled with that idea for a while. It made no sense, except for the part where the passing of a few people he hardly knew had him awake half the night thinking about it. He wouldn¡¯t admit the System was quite right, in the sense that it understood all of what Tulland was going through. There was something there, though, something the System was correct about. It frustrated the hell out of him. ¡°Tulland, sleep.¡± Necia¡¯s voice rang out in the darkness. ¡°You need the rest.¡± ¡°I could say the same thing to you,¡± Tulland shot back. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. In the dark, Tulland could swear he could still fear Necia glaring at him. ¡°I tried. I have too many things to think about.¡± ¡°The warriors that fell?¡± There was a pause. ¡°Yes. You too?¡± ¡°Me too. The System says that it¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve had to confront death as a real thing.¡± ¡°Do you think that¡¯s right?¡± Tulland sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. It was a long day, and he was tired in every cell of his body whether it was easy to go to sleep or not. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s wrong, exactly. We put them in the dirt. Why did The Infinite send their bodies back? Why not just take them?¡± ¡°Courtesy, probably. They say that funerary rites put an end to things. That they close a book that would otherwise stay open in people¡¯s hearts. It didn¡¯t want to rob us of that, if I had to guess.¡± ¡°I wish we could have done better for them.¡± Tulland rested his chin in his palms. ¡°Nobody knew them. We couldn¡¯t save them or remember them.¡± ¡°Their families would have had services for them, too. In some ways, I guess they got more than most. But that¡¯s not what¡¯s bothering either of us. Can I say it, or will you?¡± ¡°I can.¡± Tulland gulped. ¡°If they can die, so can you.¡± ¡°If they can die, so can you,¡± Necia repeated. ¡°I don¡¯t think either of us can get by without the other anymore. Why is that?¡± ¡°That¡¯s easier to answer on my side. You are more than I deserve. Here or anywhere. I¡¯m almost glad I found you here because I don¡¯t think I would have had a chance anywhere else.¡± ¡°Stupid.¡± ¡°No, you.¡± Necia groaned. ¡°Listen, plant man. Do you know when I knew you were right for me? How long ago that happened?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°It was when you made me that bag. I¡¯m still wearing it. The System keeps giving me choices to get a new one and I keep telling it no because I remember this kid with no armor using some of the very first fur from his weird, bizarre tree to make me a present when I was trying to keep him safely at arm¡¯s length.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t make sense. It¡¯s not even that good of a bag.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a fine bag. But no, it doesn¡¯t make sense. I don¡¯t think things like this are supposed to make sense.¡± Tulland heard Necia roll over to face him in the dark. ¡°It¡¯s just how it is. You got me with that stupid bag. Be happy.¡± ¡°Oh, I am.¡± Tulland sat for a while, rubbing his face. ¡°Listen. I can¡¯t promise to keep you alive. I think you know that. But I promise to try.¡± ¡°Good.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not all. I think I need to say this.¡± Tulland gulped with a dry mouth. ¡°And if you go first, which I¡¯ll try my very hardest to make sure doesn¡¯t happen, I promise I¡¯ll have things to say when they put you in the dirt. Good things. True things about you.¡± ¡°Lay back down, Tulland.¡± Tulland did. There was silence for a bit. ¡°Tulland?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have things to say about you, too.¡± Tulland half-smiled in the dark. Then, suddenly and almost ecstatically, he felt sleepy. ¡ª ¡°Tulland. Wake up. Something is happening.¡± Necia shook Tulland awake the next morning. ¡°Not the next floor. It can¡¯t be that fast.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not. It¡¯s something else. There¡¯s too much activity around the village. Get armed. I won¡¯t leave until you are ready.¡± Tulland shrugged into his armor and restocked his plants, letting his Chimera Sleeves latch onto his wrists then having them lean back and trace the contours of his arms almost back to his shoulders. He took his Farmer¡¯s Tool in hand, and checked his status screen. He hadn¡¯t been the main contributor to the fight this time. That had been Potter, and then White. But he had easily taken third, which had come with a lot of experience.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 77 Strength: 60 (+5) Agility: 60 (+5) Vitality: 60 (+10) Spirit: 110 (+5) Mind: 70 (+10) Force: 170 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 23, Produce Armament LV. 22, Market Wagon LV. 19 Passives: Broadcast LV. 20, Botanical Engineer LV. 21, Strong Back LV. 18, Fruits of the Field LV. 18, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 20
It was a big jump both in stats and skills, and Tulland was happy with it, if also a little bit bored at not getting a new toy out of the bargain. Necia told him that was normal when he first whined about it. Unfortunately, that didn¡¯t take much of the sting out of it. With his farm still humming along nicely, Tulland felt at least a bit confident to face down whatever was happening. That confidence grew when Necia got in position to his left, ready to protect them both. Together, they strode out of the house and towards whatever new danger faced them. There were new people in the village. That much was clear the moment they left the house. Licht, White, and Potter were doing their best to keep order as the current residents of the floor lined up against the newcomers. They were barely managing to contain aggression, and even the delicate balance they had struck almost fell apart when Tulland came into view. ¡°He¡¯s there!¡± one of the new people yelled. They were all identical light-armored warriors, each wearing the same basic gear as the others. All of them looked young, not just in body but for once, actually feeling that way. In a world where everyone was returned to fighting form on arrival, that was rare. ¡°Tulland Lowstreet. He¡¯s there.¡± ¡°Tomes of the ancestors. Tulland, I wish you had not come out. Do you know these people?¡± White said. Tulland looked from face to face. Not a single one of them was familiar. ¡°No? I don¡¯t think so, anyway. How do they know me?¡± ¡°That, Tulland, is what we¡¯ve been trying to find out. I¡¯m not even sure if they should have been able to get to our floor, but this one,¡± Licht pointed a thumb at the largest of the young warriors, ¡°claims to have come here looking for you. That The Infinite let them through to find you.¡± ¡°I have no idea, Licht.¡± Tulland realized with embarrassment that all the warriors in the village were lined up not to protect themselves, but to keep him from harm. It was more loyalty than he had expected he had built here. ¡°Everyone, calm down. Let me see what¡¯s going on.¡± Tulland walked up to the edge of the line with Necia glued to his side. If nothing else, she wouldn¡¯t abandon him to some new threat. The newcomer warriors stood as still as posts until he got there, seemingly reluctant to change anything they were doing when their goal was so close. ¡°I¡¯m Tulland,¡± Tulland said as he walked up. ¡°And who are you? How do you know me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m cleric trainee Rossi. These are my subordinates. Some of them. We had twice this many when we entered. We are here to retrieve you.¡± Chapter 125: Cleric Tulland¡¯s mind reeled. ¡°To retrieve me? That means you are from Ouros?¡± He shook his head. ¡°No, I¡¯d know you if you were from Ouros.¡± ¡°We are from the mainland. We were dispatched to Ouros to follow you into that gate. Into this¡­ place. To bring you back.¡± ¡°Dispatched by whom?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°The Church. The Bishop himself.¡± There were several bishops of the church, each presiding over a different area. Tulland let that quibble pass. The man pulled himself up so straight and proud at the mention of the Bishop that it had to be his local one. ¡°It took time to get to Ouros, Tulland. We apologize for the delay.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ fine, I suppose. One moment, please.¡± Tulland walked over to where Potter was standing. If anyone would be able to decode this, he would. ¡°Potter, what in the world is going on here? Can they actually get me out?¡± Potter shook his head, sadly. ¡°No. It¡¯s one of the things that confuses me about this, Tulland. These people are convinced they came here to retrieve you. But I have no idea why they would think that was possible. It¡¯s not possible on any world, as far as anyone knows.¡± ¡°Best guess as to what¡¯s going on, then?¡± Potter closed his eyes for a moment, in thought. ¡°No idea. Talk to them more. I¡¯ll let you know.¡± ¡°Sorry about that.¡± Tulland returned to the line. The clerics-in-training had been standing there the entire time, calmly waiting for him. ¡°You said you were going to retrieve me. But how? Do you know where you are?¡± ¡°We were told. The System tricked you through the arch, into this place. The Church leadership said we could expect almost anything in here. That the System would make it look like anything he wished. We didn¡¯t expect a facsimile of The Infinite Dungeon, but¡­¡± ¡°No.¡± Tulland¡¯s mind was turbulent with horror. ¡°You have to know this. It¡¯s no trick, Rossi. This is the real The Infinite. Why would the Church send you here? There¡¯s no way out.¡± The softest of murmurs came up from the mouths of the clerics under Rossi¡¯s command. Apparently, this idea wasn¡¯t new to them. Rossi shot them a look of frustrated concern, like any commander might when he felt his control over his troops loosening. ¡°No. I see he has you tricked, too. No matter.¡± Rossi reached into his mail, pulling out an amulet about the size of his own palm. ¡°We can explain what happened on the outside. People are waiting for you there, Tulland.¡± He lifted the amulet up into the light, where it glinted in the sun. ¡°As representative of the holy Church of the expulsion, I, Rossi, activate this amulet. Remove us from this place.¡± There was nothing anyone could do. By nature of being here, Rossi and his crew were all but guaranteed to be about as strong as everyone else. There was certainly nobody quick enough to get to him and hold his arms down. Licht and the other ranged fighters present didn¡¯t know enough to justify shooting the amulet out of his hands. So the amulet shone in a dull way that hinted at solid-gold construction, while the entire town looked on, waiting to see what it would unleash on them. In the end, nothing happened at all. ¡°What?¡± Rossi brought the amulet down and glared at it, looking up at the group with threats in his eyes when it continued to lie there inert. ¡°Which of you is preventing the amulet from activating?¡± ¡°None of us.¡± Brist picked a chunk of grain husk out of his teeth and flicked it away. ¡°How could we? Nobody knew you had it.¡± ¡°Silence!¡± Rossi shouted not at Brist, but at his own men, who were beginning to murmur among themselves. Whatever the amulet was supposed to do, it appeared to be a big problem that it wasn¡¯t doing its job. ¡°Hold your tongues.¡± ¡°Sir.¡± One of the older looking semi-clerics stepped forward. The tone in his voice as he addressed his superior left no doubt that they had been in conflict before this. ¡°You swore, Rossi. You swore that damn thing was real.¡± ¡°And it is! How would I get it in here, otherwise? Did any of your things come through with you? The weapons you tried to smuggle? No. Just this made it through with us. You saw me protecting it from the motes at the entrance gate,¡± Rossi defended himself. ¡°Then why won¡¯t it¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, dammit!¡± Rossi yelled so hard his voice nearly cracked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Tulland, get over here. Let me¡­¡± ¡°Wait. Just wait.¡± Tulland rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers and took a deep breath. ¡°I¡¯m not coming there. You aren¡¯t coming here. Just¡­ wait for a minute.¡± Somehow, the man actually took the restriction seriously. So did his troops. They sat and waited as Tulland stood in the center of a crowd that had eyes for absolutely nobody but him. He only had one person he could ask about what was going on, and he got the feeling even he would need more information than what any one person could offer. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Tell me in as few words as possible why you are here,¡± Tulland spoke in a soft voice, knowing it would carry over the silence. ¡°Now, please.¡± ¡°As an envoy of the holy Church, I was summoned from my preparations to leave for the darkness of the border. Then¡­¡± ¡°Too many words. I¡¯m sorry. I just don¡¯t have the energy for this right now. Shorter words. Figure it out.¡± Rossi took visible affront to that, but Tulland didn¡¯t care. All of this hurt his head in a way he wasn¡¯t at all prepared for, this early in the morning. Whatever was planned here was planned without him, and so far, Rossi had done nothing but rile up the village and try to do something with an amulet. Something that he made no effort to see if Tulland wanted. ¡°I was sent through the arch after you. To this world of illusion the System built, to retrieve you or die in the attempt,¡± Rossi said. Oh, no. What? What¡¯s happening? I¡¯m not sure yet, but I think this man has been put in a very poor position. Ask some more questions. It hardly matters which ones. ¡°The Church sent you? Knowing what the arch was?¡± ¡°It did.¡± Rossi drew up to a full, proud posture again. ¡°Me and the hand-chosen few who had failed to receive classes, but only just. We were to break the fabric of this place and carry you back with us in the grand ejection.¡± ¡°The¡­ fabric of this place? You were going to destroy The Infinite? That was your plan?¡± Rossi smiled at Tulland weakly, sadness and condescension visible in his face at once. ¡°Is that what you think? That this place is The Infinite? That such a place would be accessible through a mere arch, available to anyone with the ability to walk? Tulland Lowstreet, don¡¯t be a fool. Now come, and¡­¡± ¡°Come on, Tulland.¡± Brist patted Tulland¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We had a meeting planned. About what you told us about secret dungeons. We might as well add this mess to it. Right, Potter?¡± ¡°Yes. I think this would be best handled as soon as possible. But not before your¡­ friends?¡± Potter asked. Tulland shook his head, exhausted. ¡°Your fellow-worlders then. Not before they¡¯ve had a few minutes to get their bearings. White, could you please instruct them as to what will happen if they attempt to cause any trouble here?¡± ¡°Of course. It would be a bad idea,¡± White yelled. ¡ª Tulland had always been curious about White¡¯s class. One day as he and White had sat cooling off outside the bathhouse, Tulland asked him why he was so good at yelling. White had no problem rattling off a list of three or four minor skills he had been able to add to his class during his trip through The Infinite. They were products, he said, that came of anyone with his class and experience trying to get them while maintaining just the right mindset. The first was a troop-command skill, something White hadn¡¯t been sure he¡¯d need at all but had put to very good use on this floor. He said that back when he was the leader of the guard corp of a major city, it was all that stood between the ordered movement of troops and pure, unfeigned chaos. Tulland thought he was probably exaggerating, but having felt the effects of the skill, he knew it was just about powerful enough to prevent that kind of chaos if it really was looming. The second skill hadn¡¯t been that interesting but had been useful to White up to now, something that let him designate a target as the enemy of local law and order. His peacekeeping class would then work at an amplified level against those targets, as would anybody fighting under his command. It was part of the reason they had done so well in the cooperative floors up to this point. The third one had the least to do with Tulland directly, but was the most interesting by far to him, so much that he had White write it out in the dirt so he could make sure he was understanding it correctly.
Lawman¡¯s Warning As a function of your class, you can reveal the strength of the forces you command to as many as a thousand targets at once. They can not refuse this revelation, and it cannot be blocked by most conventional means. The information relayed comprises your personal strength and your best, most honest understanding of the strength of the forces beneath you that you could reasonably be expected to bring to bear. Any force you are less than confident you can order, cajole, or otherwise convince to join the fight on your behalf will be ignored. The target will receive this report in the form of a vague feeling of the relative strength of their forces as they understand them and yours. They will gain no specifics to back up this feeling, but will nonetheless understand the information received to be basically true. You will receive no information on the strength of their forces in return for giving up data on yours. The advantage you gain from this skill, if any, is simply the ability to accurately warn an enemy about what they are about to face should they anger you.
¡°That¡¯s wild. Does it even work?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°It works just fine. The trick is that you never want to use a skill like this unless you are sure, flat-out sure, that your opponent is going to be scared by what you show them. If they have hidden forces, you might just be telling them how easy you¡¯d be to take down.¡± White smiled, his eyes full of warm memories of terrorizing criminals. ¡°But when it works? It works wonders.¡± ¡ª Back in the present day, White¡¯s voice relayed his impression of the strength of the floor¡¯s allied forces to everyone present. To Tulland, it was a reassuring thing. He thought of everyone around him as impossibly strong, so White¡¯s more sober assessment couldn¡¯t avoid being somewhat lower. It was still strong, though. Tulland had a sudden sense that he was surrounded by competence so deep it could rival the deepest canyons he had ever heard of. It was a nice thing to know, at least from his perspective. From the perspective of the cleric squad, it was apparently a less positive experience. Tulland watched the color drain from each of their faces as the skill imparted on them the sheer certainty of their demise if they showed any aggression to the already annoyed mob whose territory they had invaded. He didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be trying any quick ones any time soon. ¡°Let¡¯s go, Tulland.¡± Necia tugged on his arm, dragging him through the crowd and towards the meeting-place building. ¡°We can handle this later.¡± Chapter 126: Price of Rulers ¡°In any case, the longer we can put it off, the better.¡± Tulland had already considered himself to be in deep water with everything he had going on. Somewhere in his heart, he was harboring an irrational hope that somehow the clerics would just go away, that they¡¯d find another safe zone floor to occupy and leave him to his work. ¡°Do you think that amulet had any chance of working?¡± Necia asked. ¡°They seemed convinced it was going to rip you back to your world with no trouble at all. Why would they believe that?¡± ¡°My world is¡­ special, I think. At some point, the Church understood the System and how it operates so well that they were able to banish it. If something like an amulet that pulls people out of The Infinite is impossible on other worlds, it still might not be on mine,¡± Tulland said. ¡°You don¡¯t seem convinced of that.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not convinced at all, at least of the part where they could make something that could break The Infinite. It¡¯s just that if anyone could, they can. There¡¯s only one person I know who probably knows as much as they do about that.¡± ¡°So ask it.¡± Necia looked forward. ¡°I¡¯ll be here when you get back from your chat.¡± Is it possible? If they are carrying around an amulet that just needs a little work to get us out of here, I want to know. They aren¡¯t. How are you so sure? Because I know how frighteningly powerful The Infinite is compared to me in the same way those clerics knew the pain White could bring down on them if he so chose. It is bigger, stronger, and more capable than anything you could possibly imagine. All that power is constantly bent to maintaining the order of this place and enforcing its rules. Systems are specialized things. Whatever power The Infinite has to protect the natural way of things in this dungeon, you may be sure it uses it very effectively. So¡­ So your friends from back home have as little chance of ripping you out of this place with an amulet as you would have trying to reel in a continent with one of your uncle¡¯s fishhooks. That¡¯s if the amulet was ever meant to work in the first place. Why wouldn¡¯t it be? Certainly, the Church wouldn¡¯t send these people to die. Why not? What do you mean, why not? They¡¯d know they had no chance of rescuing me. Even if they didn¡¯t care about them as people, why would they waste the resources? Tulland, imagine the panic that island felt when one of its most promising sons disappeared without a trace. Now imagine the rage and betrayal they might have felt if they found that an arch that the Church had left unguarded and virtually unfenced for generations was a portal to certain death. That their children had played around the closest thing to a portal to the hells that exists. I wasn¡¯t that important to the island. You are wrong, and even if you weren¡¯t, it wouldn¡¯t matter. People care about their own safety. They care about how trustworthy their leaders are. If you were the Church in this situation, what would you do to keep them from continuing to nurture those feelings of betrayal? What would be your first step? I¡¯d tell them the arch had nothing to do with it. Then the very next day, they would have to explain the disappearance of your uncle, your tutor, and perhaps even that foolish boy who was granted a class instead of you. No. They would need to identify the arch as a threat without explaining what it was. They would need to find a way to shift the blame. You think they blamed you. That when I disappeared, they said that the evil System did it. I know they did, and so do you. Those clerics blamed me for tricking you through to this place, which is true enough. But they called it a facsimile. A fake. They believe this is my illusion, not The Infinite¡¯s. The Church lost track of what the arch was for? Not a chance. But they likely kept that information from their rank-and-file. A single paladin acting on his own and disobeying them could have brought me back that way if he got lucky. They let those people believe it was a fake, gave them an amulet, and sent them through to save you from a prison you simply can¡¯t escape. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. But why? To gain what? To make a show. The people of Ouros would wait months to see if the clerics were successful. By that time, nerves would have calmed. Anger would have dulled. The Church would simply wall up the arch, declare me more powerful than they had suspected, and lament the loss of a promising youth. My uncle wouldn¡¯t believe them. Neither would my tutor. Two people can be managed in a variety of ways. Most likely, a simple guard would stop both. They are not young, Tulland. Only one of them was ever anything resembling a powerful warrior. It is mobs that the Church fears. But what about your power? This many more sacrifices must be a lot, right? Why would they feed you this much energy knowing what you could do with it? That I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s possible they have something up their sleeve I didn¡¯t anticipate. Remembering an enemy is stalking about does tend to encourage the building of fortifications. I welcome the gift in any case, although I can¡¯t approve of the methods they chose to trick these fools into it. A bit hypocritical. Touche. He hated that it made sense, but Tulland had a hard time seeing any cracks in the logic of the System¡¯s guess. The Church had been around a long time. It almost certainly had to deal with rebellions and uprisings along the way. Putting an unrest like this down would be something they had playbooks for. ¡°What did it say?¡± Necia asked when she saw Tulland¡¯s eyes clear. ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t trust it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t. Not in the way you seem to. But that doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t want to hear what it said. Like you say, it hardly ever lies. If what it says makes sense, there¡¯s no reason not to know what it thinks.¡± ¡°It thinks the Church sent him here as a ruse to calm people down after I left. That they sent them in knowing they¡¯d die to buy time for people to forget about it a bit. It makes sense, but I can¡¯t imagine anyone actually doing it.¡± Necia stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Tulland. There was something in her face he couldn¡¯t read at all. ¡°What?¡± Tulland cocked his head. ¡°Did I say something wrong?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯m just deciding whether I want to tell you something.¡± Necia played with her hair, nervously. ¡°If I do, you have to promise to understand that I never did what I¡¯m telling you myself. I never approved of it. It¡¯s one of the things I wanted to fix.¡± ¡°Necia, I believe you. Even if I didn¡¯t, I¡¯d still know you changed since you came here.¡± Tulland grabbed her hand, brought it up to his chest, and gave it a squeeze. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t lie about that. Trust me.¡± Necia smiled and squeezed his hand back. ¡°My-father-the-king called it the price of rulers. That normal people could be moral in absolute ways and see things close-up, but a ruler had to see things from further away. To tally the numbers, see the sums, and make colder decisions based on those. He called it the morality of arithmetic,¡± Necia said. ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°You will. Just imagine being in charge of a thousand troops. You know of a place you can send a handful of them to strike the enemy. Every man who goes on that sortie will die, but the distraction they cause will allow you to win a battle you would otherwise lose. You can trade the lives of ten for the lives of at least a few hundred, but you have to knowingly send those ten to their deaths. What do you do?¡± Necia asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s a hard question. I suppose I send those ten. It¡¯s a couple of lives for more lives,¡± Tulland said. ¡°There are a lot of people who think that way. That someone has to die in any case, so the general¡¯s responsibility is to minimize those deaths. That example is just a toy version of real life, though, and it assumes the best intent for everyone. Now imagine if it¡¯s the life of a few dissenters, or else the toppling of your regime. Or cutting down a few rabble-rousers to prevent a rebellion that would kill millions, but you benefit by staying on the throne as well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s harder. It feels more selfish.¡± ¡°It is more selfish. But I have heard the order that took tens of lives based on that same rationale. The morality of mathematics, where someone¡¯s life becomes a number on a sheet and is made to dance until it helps the ruler arrive at the conclusion they were always going to find.¡± Tulland understood why Necia was ashamed of knowing that now. Everything about her told him she would have been horrified by all of it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry you had to go through that.¡± Tulland gave her hand another squeeze and soaked in the look of gratitude he got in return. ¡°You think the Church used the same kind of math?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I was never around your Church, or its leadership. But people in power tend to be the same everywhere. It¡¯s how they get to power and maintain it in the first place. If I had to bet, I¡¯d say the safe money is that the lives of a few men don¡¯t seem like a very high cost to your Church¡¯s leadership. Not compared to the allegiance of a whole island, or unrest anywhere else if word was to get out.¡± ¡°Especially if people could bring the System back by entering The Infinite. It would be an attack they had no way to stop,¡± Tulland continued. ¡°Sure. Now let go of my hand. Those clerics might catch up any minute, and you don¡¯t want them to know more about us than they already do if you can help it. It might make things complicated,¡± Necia said. They made quick work of the rest of the distance between them and the meeting place. When they entered the building, the discussion of the day¡¯s surprise was already in full swing. It paused momentarily as Tulland entered, but only for a moment. Soon enough, it was back to various discussions, arguments, and near-fist fights as people worked out their opinions on the implications of the morning for themselves. ¡°Need advice on what to do?¡± Licht sidled up to the table Tulland and Necia had chosen once they sat. ¡°Or just a friend. I could observe your conversations with them if you have any. Give you my thoughts later.¡± ¡°Both would be nice, thanks. Right now, my best guess is that they really don¡¯t know they are in The Infinite.¡± ¡°It seemed that way to me, too. What do you think they¡¯ll do when they realize they are?¡± ¡°No idea. It took me weeks to come to terms with it when I found out where I really was, and what was really going to happen to me. For them? It could be a while.¡± Tulland sighed. A Slightly Good Update Hey guys, Awhile back, a couple of readers messaged about the Farmer''s Domain skill. Yup, that one in chapter 85 that we wrote in and then promptly forgot about. "Forgot" isn''t exactly the right word since this was right around the time people were talking about too many changes that made Tulland''s stat screen almost meaningless. So we decided to "undo" the Farmer''s Domain but never got around to editing the earlier chapters for continuity. Well, all of that is fixed now, along with a couple minor issues like duplicated chapters etc. Not everything is fixed, but we''ll try to be on it. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. That brings us to a slightly longer conversation - which is that Infinite Farmer is really, really, really hard to write. While the story is technically sound, it''s been a slog to get it out. Despite being the most successful series to date (5.5k followers vs 4.5k before), it''s for sure the hardest series since How to Survive, and perhaps even harder than HTS. So hard that we''ve been consciously shying away from the comments and reviews. Sorry about that. All in all, this means that we''re going to be ending the story at book 4 (at about 200 chapters or 400k words). Not too sure what will be next, but it will definitely be something. And as always, thank you to everyone who''s been following along and reading. I appreciate it. RC and Dotblue Chapter 127: Dead Men Walking ¡°Well, I suppose we¡¯ll know soon enough. Either they figure things out quickly or we go into the next floor with them still half believing the truth,¡± Licht said. ¡°There are your friends, and they look like they managed to gather themselves a bit.¡± ¡°We demand a hearing.¡± Rossi¡¯s voice rose over the crowd as him and his group entered. ¡°Our business here is serious. We will not be delayed by¡­ this.¡± Rossi looked out over the assembled group, doing what seemed to be his best attempt at looking authoritatively contemptuous. Tulland knew that White hit them with another warning without a single other indication than all that confidence fleeing at once to be replaced by a queasy look and a nervous glance at the lawman. ¡°You will either sit your asses down right now, or you won¡¯t be allowed to attend at all. Last warning. Tell me right now, yes or no, if you are going to disrupt this meeting.¡± White¡¯s tone was level and as firm as a brick wall. ¡°It will make things quicker.¡± ¡°I¡­ fine. Sit, everyone. We¡¯ll have our moment.¡± Rossi pulled out a chair near the back and watched his men long enough to make sure they took their seats as well. White gave them one last look, then motioned to Potter to take the stage. ¡°One question, Licht. White and Potter are in charge. No doubt about it. I know I¡¯m fine with it, but why is everyone else?¡± Tulland gave a nod towards the assembled fighters in the room. ¡°Most people here are legends of some kind or another, right? Why give up the authority and listen to someone else?¡± ¡°Because most of them never wanted power in the first place. Even if they were legends or the strongest people in their world, they weren¡¯t the type to command others,¡± Licht said. ¡°Half of these people worked under kings or other kinds of rulers. There are benefits to that.¡± ¡°Like?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Mostly it¡¯s just simpler. Of the rest, probably all but a few were independent adventurers. That kind doesn¡¯t love organization and paperwork much. They¡¯d be glad to hand it off.¡± ¡°And the rest? The people who like paperwork and adventure anyway?¡± ¡°Smart enough to know Potter¡¯s smarter.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Potter took position at the back of the room, cleared his throat, and immediately began talking to Tulland again. ¡°First things first. Tulland, thank you for sharing information on the hidden dungeons with us. So far, nobody who has looked has found anything like them here. We wanted to confirm one last time that the Dungeon System did not actually say the remaining hidden dungeons were on this floor,¡± Potter said. ¡°Not that I remember. It¡¯s been weeks now, from my perspective. I might have forgotten some details, but I don¡¯t think so, no.¡± ¡°Even so, we¡¯ll continue to look. Given that any of these dungeons might provide a boon of the level you seem to have received, we¡¯ll turn this floor upside down before we leave it,¡± Potter stated. ¡°I wanted to propose something related to that. If an individual finds a dungeon that either demands a group or allows one, they will take Tulland and Necia with them by default.¡± ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± one of the other ranged fighters in the group spoke up. She was a small ranger Tulland had never talked to, but had seen fight. If her tracking was as good as her bow accuracy, Tulland thought she had a pretty good chance of finding any dungeon that was available to be discovered. ¡°I can¡¯t take my friends?¡± ¡°It¡¯s because Tulland should not take a loss for sharing information with us. I¡¯m a bit biased, seeing how he saved my life, but I don¡¯t think anyone here doubts his commitment to the group. If there is an open slot, it makes sense that he takes it. Necia is in the same situation, except she has seen no benefit at all yet.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Not only that,¡± White spoke up again. ¡°Tulland does things none of the rest of us can. The stronger he gets, the more options we have for how we approach battles or take meals. Although I can see it being a valid complaint if a dungeon only takes a few people, and you have to leave your allies out in the cold for Tulland and Necia¡¯s sake. What do you think, Tulland?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why I¡¯m getting the consideration at all. I found that dungeon on accident. I¡¯m not likely to find another, especially if I¡¯m busy with the farm.¡± ¡°Let us worry about that.¡± White shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t think anyone here wants to see you fall anytime soon, Tulland. Your food alone has made you a lot of friends here. Just answer the question if you could. If the dungeons doesn''t allow both you and the discoverer¡¯s friends, what¡¯s fair?¡± ¡°They take them. I won¡¯t say no to another windfall, but I¡¯d stop anyone who tried to tell me I couldn¡¯t take Necia with me for the same kind of profit. I wouldn¡¯t put that same burden on someone else¡¯s shoulders and expect them to hold it,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Good.¡± Potter nodded. ¡°That resolves that. Let''s hear the vote, then. On the matter of preferential inclusion of Tulland and Necia in any newly discovered secret dungeons on this floor, what say you? The ayes had it, and not by a narrow margin at all. Tulland was surprised just how much support he seemed to have.¡± ¡°Good. Now on to what we¡¯ve discussed about finding them. Since Tulland¡¯s dungeon was hidden in a major terrain feature, we thought the next one might be as well. However¡­.¡± Potter continued on for a few minutes, giving out whatever hints and tips he had figured out for where things like hidden dungeons might be best sought. He had dozens of ideas on the matter, each better and more fleshed out than Tulland would have ever come up with himself. In the meantime, Rossi was stewing. Each of the men under him looked uncomfortable in their own unique way, sporting different mixtures of anger, worry, and frustration on their faces. One of them, an awkwardly tall man sporting an ornate short bow, had actually fallen asleep in the short time he had been seated. Potter seemed to make the same observation himself, and looped them back into the conversation immediately. ¡°Rossi and Rossi¡¯s men. If you don¡¯t mind me asking, how did you even come to be on this floor? The Infinite didn¡¯t hint that late-comers would still be possible at this point.¡± ¡°We gave up some safety,¡± Rossi said quickly. He clearly did not consider this to be the most important manner at hand, and seemed to be trying to clear out the non-Tulland aspects of the conversation as quickly as possible. ¡°The System wanted to send us to some other place to join up with some other group. I used up some rewards we had earned to get it to change its mind, on the condition that our group had to fight on its own. Apparently, this floor is treated as our own private place in terms of the advancement arch.¡± Tulland heard a few of the warriors gasp at that. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Tulland whispered to Licht. ¡°It seems obsessive from his part, sure. Why the big reaction?¡± ¡°Because there¡¯s less than half as many of them as there are us. If this is really being treated like they are here all alone, the next arch will take them to the floor eleven army. How could they possibly clear it? They¡¯ve just announced they are as good as dead. It¡¯s hard not to react when you find out another person is doomed to die,¡± Licht explained. ¡°Aren¡¯t we all?¡± Tulland asked back. ¡°Sure.¡± Licht frowned. ¡°But not necessarily this week. They are, unless they are a lot tougher than they look.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Back on stage, Potter had gotten over his shock. ¡°I see. If you like, I can help you train for the floors to come. We can share what information we¡¯ve gathered, and help you with your battle formations. We¡¯ve proven that it helps, and¡­¡± ¡°None of that.¡± Rossi¡¯s face was stony. ¡°We came for him. Tulland. The rest of you are illusions of this place. We want none of the System¡¯s tricks. Tulland, come.¡± ¡°No.¡± Tulland stayed seated. His blood was boiling, and he needed to do whatever he could to stay calm. ¡°I won¡¯t risk being pulled from this group. Especially when it¡¯s clear you have no way out. You really don¡¯t see it? This is The Infinite. The real one. You need to forget about me and focus on staying alive. It¡¯s your only chance.¡± Rossi scoffed. ¡°The good news is, Tulland, that you don¡¯t have to believe me, or the Church. As soon as I¡¯m able to get this amulet to activate as it was meant to, it will take us and you, whether you like it or not. And whatever else this place is, it follows rules similar to those of a dungeon. If our entire group tries for something to repair this escape tool, one of us is sure to get something.¡± Rossi stood, straightening out his clothes and snapping his attention back to his men. ¡°Come now. We are going into this dungeon. Once we¡¯ve completed the floor, I¡¯ll get you back to our world. We can have a beer in a real tavern as soon as tonight.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t even going to listen to them?¡± The belligerent cleric underling from before was red-faced and stood up to the leader of the clerics. ¡°You won¡¯t even take their advice?¡± ¡°I won¡¯t. Don¡¯t fool yourself, Allysi. I know you have long since lost any loyalties you might have felt towards me. But I still have the numbers to carry you if you don¡¯t want to come along with us. Now, for the last time, are you going to obey? Or do I have to have you dragged to that arch?¡± Rossi demanded. Chapter 128: Allysi ¡°I¡¯ll be there in a minute, Rossi.¡± Allysi rolled his eyes ever so slightly, at just enough of an angle from Rossi that he wouldn¡¯t able to see it. ¡°You don¡¯t want to spend what it would cost to drag me out of here anyway.¡± ¡°Get your ass out of the seat, Allysi.¡± ¡°Oh, you do want to spend it, after all? Send the guys in. Or wait five minutes. Your call.¡± Rossi looked like he was going to blow a blood vessel, but managed to keep his mouth shut as he glared pure fire at his underling. There wasn¡¯t a door on the meeting hall, which was just as well. Tulland was pretty sure any kind of door would have been broken when Rossi slammed with all the force of his anger. ¡°He¡¯s over his head. I¡¯ve been under the direct command of four other people in the Church, not counting him. He¡¯s the worst of all of them,¡± Allysi commented. ¡°He kept you together.¡± Necia watched as the troop of cleric trainees walked down the road. ¡°That¡¯s not nothing.¡± ¡°The danger kept us together. None of us would have survived if we were going it alone. Most of us didn¡¯t survive on the levels where we were forced to go solo. He would have to have been bad enough for us to kick him out, and nobody had the heart for that. It was easier for everyone to keep their mouths shut and follow along.¡± ¡°You seem to be pretty outspoken about it now.¡± ¡°There was always the chance that the amulet was real. I never really bought it, but¡­ there was always that chance. You know he never questioned it? Not when we got here and it was clearly different than what the Church said we¡¯d see. Not months after it made sense for the System to spring any traps on us it had ready.¡± ¡°I wondered about that.¡± Tulland scratched his cheek. ¡°It¡¯s not like it was a short walk from the entrance to here.¡± ¡°Exactly. Except that it¡¯s easy to leave open the possibility that you might escape when the alternative is never seeing your family again. We all had doubts, but the hope was free.¡± Allysi shook his head sadly. ¡°Him? No doubts. Not a one. You won¡¯t believe it, but I¡¯ve seen it. He never considered the chance that the Church might be lying.¡± ¡°Really? I thought they might be on certain things even before I got in here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not kidding. I think it¡¯s why he got chosen for the job in the first place. He¡¯s probably never had a thought the Church didn¡¯t put there.¡± Allsyi glanced down the road, where everyone else he had come with was already out of view. ¡°Or at least any that he didn¡¯t feel guilty about later.¡± ¡°I got that impression too.¡± Tulland pulled out a chair for Allysi, then sat himself. ¡°So what do you need from us? I can¡¯t give your boss what he wants.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡± Allysi sighed as he sat down. ¡°I more wanted to reassure you. First, I figure you must be worried that Rossi is going to drag you into the next level on his own. You might have picked up this, but he can¡¯t. I know what he traded to get to the same level as you. It was any allies we might have had as a group, just like he said. We all saw the window informing us of it once he decided it for us.¡± ¡°He could do that? Just make the decision for everyone?¡± Tulland was surprised The Infinite would let that happen. It seemed big on autonomy, for the most part. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like something that could happen here.¡± ¡°You have to understand that by the last floor, we had all committed to the group in a dozen ways over various choices. We got buffs for acting as a group and committing to the leader. We all have more stats and skills that are tied up in that. The downside is that most of them came from assigning authority to the group, and by the time everyone realized how bad Rossi was, a lot of that power lived with him.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°But he can¡¯t let you go? That¡¯s sure?¡± ¡°I think the wording was something like reject the possibility of new allies before the next safe zone. You are allies, so that means you. I think he thought it wasn¡¯t a real expense, since we¡¯ve hardly had outside allies anyway while we climbed. Now¡­¡± Tulland winced. ¡°Yeah. It seems hard. I¡¯m not sure how much this will help or apply, but when we went to the first floor, the enemies weren¡¯t that hard until they tried to surprise us with a formation change. How is your group at fighting in formation?¡± ¡°Not bad.¡± Allysi rubbed his chin. ¡°Better than anyone else could be by this point, I think. Is that true of all the floors? It¡¯s mostly about organization?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to say it¡¯s just that. Some of those enemies are tough. But organization is really going to help.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Allysi gave them each a weak smile and rose to his feet. ¡°I guess I have to hope it will be enough. Anyway, just know that I¡¯ll do my best to keep everyone out of your way, if we come ba¡­¡± Before he could leave under his own power, Allysi was gone. ¡°Enough of them tried to go through the arch. I guess Rossi could drag him out of here, after all.¡± Necia scooted her chair closer to Tulland. ¡°Are you doing okay? I can¡¯t even guess what this feels like for you.¡± ¡°You mean having the deaths of several people on my head? It isn¡¯t great,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s true.¡± Necia pointed one of her fingers down, touching the surface of the table, then pointed another one down and scooted it over to the first. ¡°Say a person goes swimming where they shouldn¡¯t and starts to drown. Another person swims out to save the dummy, and drowns with them. The first person isn¡¯t responsible.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. I came in through the arch and now a bunch of people are going to die because of me. That might not even be the last batch. I shouldn¡¯t have gone swimming in the first place.¡± ¡°That¡¯s where you are wrong. Part of why is what the arches to The Infinite are. They are places where a person can go and give themselves up to get a benefit for their world. That¡¯s supposed to be sacred. On my world, it really was. If someone tried to block a gate, even temporarily, it was a death sentence. It was that big of a deal.¡± ¡°And?¡± ¡°Your Church should have never tried to block the gates in the first place. They shouldn¡¯t have made a situation where people don¡¯t know what going through the arch means. The idea of anyone actually rescuing you shouldn¡¯t have come up.¡± ¡°But it did.¡± ¡°Yes, it still did. The bigger point is that when it did come up, your church should have told the truth about what was happening. This is like seeing someone drown, then stabbing someone to death to save them. There is no way what they were trying could have even helped. They must have known that. This sin is on their shoulders, not yours.¡± Tulland tried to believe it. On some level he knew she was right, that her more complex formula for determining blame was taking into account real factors his wasn¡¯t. Still, his simple Tulland entered, others followed math was hard to ignore. ¡°I see you aren¡¯t convinced. I have one last thing.¡± Necia pointed down the road, where Rossi no longer was but where the whole team had disappeared to before. ¡°Before they left, did any of them blame you? Even Rossi didn¡¯t. They weren¡¯t mad. On some level, all of them know this isn¡¯t on you. Even Rossi can sense that through all his layers of delusion.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Tulland looked over the room, where people were still murmuring about all the stuff that had just happened. More than a few were looking directly at him and Necia, trying to figure out what the business with Allysi had been about. ¡°I better tell them what¡¯s up.¡± Tulland stood up and walked to the de-facto stage, where he found he didn¡¯t have to do anything to get the room¡¯s attention. He already had it. ¡°Allysi just wanted to confirm that there was no chance we were going to get sucked into the gate. Apparently, they traded their right to that away until the next safe zone.¡± ¡°Really? Hell of a bad deal if so.¡± White looked towards the door. ¡°Any confirmation of that?¡± ¡°Allysi disappeared right in front of me. Either he has a hell of a stealth skill or he was sucked into the next level with his group.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true. I saw it.¡± Potter nodded. ¡°Didn¡¯t want to cause a scene before I was sure what it was. But if Tulland confirms, then we should be safe.¡± ¡°Good. Then we are clear to talk about the next floor. Now, we don¡¯t know what to expect¡­¡± The rest of the meeting went normally, which was almost restful for Tulland. Not that he could keep track of most of the complexities of what Potter was talking about, but Necia would give him the important bits later. For now, he was finally having a normal day again. And hopefully, there would be no more surprises before things went crazy again. Chapter 129: Maze ¡°What in the world are you doing? Are you punishing the vines?¡± Necia toed one of the coiled Chimera vines under Tulland¡¯s feet. ¡°For his own good, I¡¯m sure. You have to raise them right.¡± ¡°No,¡± Tulland laughed. ¡°It¡¯s just that I was thinking about what might be the secret of these things. I tossed one of them at the dirt men the other day. I was thinking I might be able to do the same thing here.¡± ¡°On yourself?¡± Necia asked. ¡°Yes. Like a bow and arrow.¡± ¡°Except you are the arrow. And you called me to see this, why?¡± Tulland looked around the room again. Just as before, all the floors and walls were the same very durable, very painful-to-collide with rock. ¡°I just need someone to catch me,¡± Tulland admitted. Laughter squeezed from between Necia¡¯s lips before she could catch it. If there had been water in her mouth, Tulland was sure there would have been no dodging the spray. ¡°Catch you?¡± ¡°Yes, Necia. I don¡¯t want to bash into the rocks, okay?¡± ¡°Then do it outside! Where there¡¯s grass!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Tulland dropped his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want anyone to see.¡± ¡°Oh, for the love of my-father-the-king. Boys and their embarrassment. You know there were young men in my training who never got certain things right because of only that. Too embarrassed to try in front of me.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t blame them. Have you seen you?¡± ¡°I have. And thank you.¡± Necia held out her arms. ¡°Just for that, I¡¯ll catch you. Let me know when.¡± Tulland centered his feet over the vine. Getting it to coil had been simple enough. Lately, he was beginning to wonder if there were any orders the higher-leveled Chimera vines couldn¡¯t take. They seemed to understand what he was asking even before he finished the order. His hope was that they¡¯d get what he was asking here, too. Taking a deep breath, Tulland caught Necia¡¯s eye. ¡°Ready.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ve got you.¡± Tulland sent the order. With no delay, the vines uncoiled, shooting him not quite but almost entirely in the wrong direction to actually give Necia a chance to catch him. Even with her giving it everything to catch him in time, she wasn¡¯t able to do anything when he slammed the back of his head into the rock wall. ¡°Tulland! Are you okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not dead!¡± Tulland was crumpled in on himself in a way that took a moment or two to figure out, and another second to untangle. Once he was finally seated, he verified he wasn¡¯t actively bleeding, he stood up. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m fine. Ready for another try?¡± ¡°Are you sure? You probably have a concussion from the first one.¡± ¡°Stats. Nature¡¯s medicine.¡± Tulland told the vine to re-wrap itself into a coil and stepped back up to his ready position. ¡°Maybe stand behind me this time?¡± The next launch went almost perfectly forward, sending Tulland into yet another rock wall. After another ten throws and the single spectacular launch that put him straight into the ceiling, he realized the problem wasn¡¯t with his instructions. There just wasn¡¯t enough understanding in either him or the vine about how this should work to make it happen. Both of them were doing their best, but neither of them really understood how this worked besides putting a lot of energy into the equation. ¡°There are only so many hits you should take, even with stats.¡± Necia looked down on her bruised boyfriend. ¡°You should probably give up.¡± ¡°Yeah. I realized that on the ceiling. I was just hoping.¡± ¡°For?¡± ¡°There¡¯s something with these Chimera Sleeves. I feel like I¡¯m getting closer. They can do anything I want them to, it¡¯s just that nothing I¡¯ve told them to do is the right thing,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I don¡¯t even see how they could be anything amazing. They can eat little things. They can whack things. It¡¯s not that different from anything you¡¯ve always done.¡± ¡°Well, yeah. But it¡¯s not like I don¡¯t have some confirmation. Even The Infinite is worried about these. It¡¯s like¡­¡± Tulland blinked, and Necia was gone, replaced by Brist. ¡°Oh, it works like that.¡± Brist nodded. ¡°I figured I¡¯d have to go get you once I told it that you were the second guy.¡± ¡°Where am I?¡± Tulland looked around. He was in a room of some kind, still. It was even still a stone structure. Other than that, it was foreign. There were torches on the wall, aflame with blue fire. Not a window was in sight. ¡°Seriously, Brist. Where are we?¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I found one of those arch things you were talking about. Just a different colored patch of rock in a rock wall. Hell of a thing to clear it.¡± Brist held up his big hand. ¡°Broke like four bones in this thing. Luckily, they heal up pretty quick.¡± ¡°Brist, couldn¡¯t you have¡­¡± Tulland¡¯s stomach suddenly dropped. ¡°Oh, no.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°My plants. I hadn¡¯t restocked. I have¡­¡± Tulland checked his dimensional storage. ¡°Not much. A few Acheflowers and Silver Stars. Some Clubber Vines. All of my Chimera Sleeves were out on the floor.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Brist cocked his head to the side. ¡°Cleaning them, or something?¡± ¡°No, I was¡­ never mind. The point is that I¡¯m underarmed. You couldn¡¯t have given me any warning? ¡°I didn¡¯t realize it would be so fast. Sorry about that.¡± Brist pointed at the ground. ¡°But doesn¡¯t that thing count?¡± Tulland looked down and realized he was actually not as badly armed as he thought. Under his feet, still coiled, was one loyal Chimera Sleeve. ¡°See?¡± Brist beamed. ¡°Not as unarmed as you thought. Should all work out.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Tulland beamed back. ¡°Do me a favor, though. Come stand on this vine. I learned a new trick I want to show you.¡± After Brist¡¯s own personal launch and Tulland¡¯s quick loss in the subsequent duel, he finally took a moment to read his notification about the new realm. It didn¡¯t look great.
Stone Labyrinth In this place, every hallway looks the same. Every turn is one you may have made before. Getting turned around is the status quo. Once you enter, make no mistakes that you can prevent. If you get turned around enough, you might never make it out. Lucky for you, there¡¯s a time limit on this challenge. Once the clock runs out, you will find yourself back whence you came without a single reward to show for it. That failure holds true unless you manage to twist, turn, and wind your way the entire distance of this maze to the exit. Once there, you might find the exit is open and easily accessible. That your prize is easy to claim. Or you might find it guarded. The risk is yours to take.
¡°Uh-oh,¡± Tulland said. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, kid? Afraid of a monster?¡± ¡°Yes. Obviously. But much more afraid when I don¡¯t have all my weapons. Thank goodness I had time to get my Farmer¡¯s Tool loaded out.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that work again?¡± ¡°Better stuff makes it better. Like if it ate it.¡± Tulland cycled the tool from a pitchfork to a shovel, then a hoe. ¡°I haven¡¯t tried it out since I got the handle filled out with the new metal.¡± ¡°Looks shiny. I didn¡¯t know you could make that hoe with it. The shovel I¡¯ve seen.¡± Brist rubbed the outside of his forearm as if remembering absorbing shocks with it. ¡°Three different weapons is fun.¡± ¡°Four, actually.¡± Tulland shifted his weapon into a scythe, feeling the uncomfortable balance of it in his hand. ¡°I never got the hang of this one. I hardly ever use it for anything but harvesting.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with it? Looks sharp enough.¡± ¡°It is. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s off-balance. Drags me with it when I swing it. I stopped using it about the fourth time it got me bit by some random monster.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Brist looked out the hallway leading from the room they were in. ¡°Well, let me think about that. I might have something for you later. For now, we better get walking.¡± For the better part of an hour, they wandered through the maze, taking the turns semi-randomly as they went. The Infinite hadn¡¯t been kidding when it said that the hallways all looked the same, though. There was nothing that Tulland could see that differentiated one from any of the others, besides other nearly identical hallways intersecting with them. ¡°It¡¯s okay to just wander like this?¡± Tulland continued following Brist, who was walking as confidently as he would down the street towards his own house. ¡°You aren¡¯t fooling me. I know you don¡¯t know where you are going.¡± ¡°Of course I don¡¯t!¡± Brist laughed. ¡°Why would I? It¡¯s still better than sitting still waiting to lose.¡± ¡°How long do you think we even have to do this? The Infinite mentioned a clock ticking down.¡± ¡°No idea. I even tried asking the damn thing. Doesn¡¯t make much of a difference when it¡¯s just you and me walking, though. Either we make it or we don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Well, kind of.¡± Tulland held up his plant. ¡°This little guy is powered off my farm back home. If more than a couple of days pass, I lose that advantage.¡± ¡°Damn. That¡¯s not great. How much of your power is it?¡± ¡°Most of it. More than enough to make me pathetic without it. Remember when I was getting stronger as we trained, before? That was the farm. I was getting better from the training, but most of it was plants sprouting and growing.¡± ¡°Hmph.¡± Brist tapped on the wall with his fist. ¡°You think I should try to break through this thing again?¡± ¡°No. Absolutely not.¡± Tulland pushed the bigger man forward. ¡°You can¡¯t do it. And I don¡¯t want to wait for you to heal up from shattering your arm again.¡± After a few more hours, they finally saw their first distinction in any of the rooms they had been in, a brown smudge on the wall several feet off the ground. Brist walked up to it, laughing like a maniac. ¡°See, kid? I told you we¡¯d find something sooner or later. Now what do you think this is? Some kind of code?¡± ¡°It¡¯s your blood.¡± Tulland kept his voice as flat as he could. ¡°See how it¡¯s a dead end up above? This is where you hit the wall when I launched you. We¡¯re back at the beginning.¡± ¡°Still, that blood thing is something. Got a knife?¡± Brist smiled again. ¡°Because I have an idea.¡± Marking the walls turned out to be much, much more useful than Tulland expected it to. They hadn¡¯t been walking for five minutes before it helped them avoid their first redundant travel. After another ten, nearly every pathway they could take was marked, and they found themselves moving down a much longer hallway, one that seemed to stretch for miles uninterrupted by potential deviations from the course. ¡°This is weird.¡± Tulland said. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t have found this so easy.¡± ¡°Maybe. I don¡¯t know much about mazes. But keep your eyes peeled. If there are no turns, there must be something making it dangerous we can¡¯t see.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± The pitfall did not have comic timing, and didn¡¯t immediately open under Tulland¡¯s feet after the fateful question. But he let out a startled little yelp as the ground under his feet disappeared in a split second, leaving him hurtling towards an uncomfortably black nothingness beneath his feet. Only the sheer strength of his intent managed to get the Chimera Sleeve on his arm to catch the edge, and only Brist¡¯s supernaturally fast reflexes managed to get a hand on the vine before it slipped over too. Chapter 130: Scythe ¡°Whoa there.¡± Brist hauled Tulland back over the ledge like a sack of potatoes, then slapped him hard on the back. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t go down there if I were you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to!¡± Tulland tried to tamp down his sudden surge of adrenaline and failed miserably. ¡°What even is that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a pitfall trap. You see them sometimes. Usually, they make a noise first, or something. I never saw one that was all silent and instant like that before.¡± Tulland glanced back at the pit. ¡°What are we going to do? If you had fallen, I wouldn¡¯t have gotten to you on time. You barely got me.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s not a problem. Adventurer¡¯s grasp. It solves everything.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry, what?¡± ¡°Adventurer¡¯s grasp. We hold hands.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not doing that.¡± Brist pulled a fragment of something out of his pack and dropped it down the nothingness-hole, listening closely as he did. Tulland stopped and angled his ear towards the pit, listening for a distressingly long time without any sound of the fragment of whatever hitting bottom. ¡°Fine. But you aren¡¯t telling anyone about this,¡± Tulland said. ¡°This? I¡¯m telling everyone.¡± Brist grabbed Tulland¡¯s hand in a meaty palm and strode over to the edge of the pit before leaping over, Tulland in tow. ¡°You can¡¯t let people know stuff like that bothers you if you don¡¯t want it advertised. It¡¯s a rookie mistake.¡± The adventurer¡¯s grasp worked very well, in a sweaty, man-handed sort of way. The pit traps kept on coming, as well as a sudden dead-drop of several boulders which suddenly materialized above them. In all cases, the hand-holding meant they could pull each other out of the way before disaster struck, barely avoiding each hazard in turn. ¡°How much longer, do you think?¡± ¡°Not much. Looks like we are coming up on another wall.¡± Tulland and Brist inched forward, hitting no more traps on their way to the terrain change. The next corner took them through a short hallway and then to a much more open space, one almost to the scale of outdoors places. Tulland could see the edges of it in the form of stone walls much like the rest of the maze sported, but he guessed they were miles off. ¡°What¡¯s this? Sporting arena?¡± Tulland guessed. ¡°Kid, what kind of sport needs this much room?¡± Brist said. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s just the first thing that popped to mind. Now¡­¡± Tulland walked into the room, letting go of Brist¡¯s hand as he did. Less than five feet in, his face smashed up against something cold, hard, and entirely clear, like a wall of solid glass that dazed him on impact and sent him reeling. ¡°Whew. Hold on there, boy.¡± Brist walked up and banged on the wall, hard. ¡°Looks like this isn¡¯t normal glass. I¡¯m going to see if I can break it, but you might want to stand back.¡± Tulland got his bearings back and took a few steps behind Brist to what he hoped would be a safe distance. Brist wound up his fist like a ball in the hand of a thrower and let rip. The concussion was deafening, but seemingly ineffective. No rubble seemed to fall, or at least Tulland didn¡¯t see or hear any. Brist had been unable to affect it in any way. The opposite was not true. As if all the energy in his punch was reflected backwards, Brist¡¯s fist went flying backwards from the point of impact, carrying him a few yards in the same direction with it. ¡°Nope. Looks like that¡¯s a bust. What are we supposed to do? Dig?¡± Brist said while shaking off his hand. ¡°Maybe. But probably not.¡± Tulland walked up to the invisible wall carefully, placing his hand on the smooth surface and walking down it. ¡°If I¡¯m right¡­ here.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A gap. The maze is continuing. We just can¡¯t see it now.¡± ¡°Well, damn.¡± Brist looked out over the open expanse thoughtfully. ¡°Is that going to make it harder, or easier?¡± ¡°Harder, I think. But we¡¯ll check. You walk that way and I¡¯ll walk this one, and we¡¯ll count the entrances to get started.¡± ¡ª There were six entrances overall. It took them several minutes to be sure, but there were six ways to start this maze, none of which were sure to have an exit in them. ¡°I don¡¯t know that this is worth it, anymore.¡± Brist grimaced at the empty space that held the nearest entrance. ¡°Give me something to fight. Hell, just give me something to punch. But this? This is just scrambling around in the dark.¡± ¡°I feel you. But don¡¯t you want to get stronger? So you can survive?¡± ¡°Kid, ain¡¯t none of us are surviving.¡± Brist scoffed. ¡°I came in here because I was getting old, and I didn¡¯t want to. Thought I could have some fun before the end this way. That¡¯s how it is when you run out of wars to fight at home.¡± ¡°How do you run out of war?¡± ¡°You punch enough, you can run out of anything.¡± Brist shrugged. ¡°And that¡¯s all I ever did. Never ended remembering to have a family. This is what I had left at the end. So I¡¯m pretty raw about this maze business. Where¡¯s the fight?¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°It¡¯s after dinner.¡± Tulland thanked his lucky stars his pouch made it in with him. ¡°And then we pray that we can get to the end of this thing before I get weak. I¡¯m a pretty good farmer, but even I can¡¯t grow this stuff on bare stone.¡± They sat and cooked up dinner. Brist seemed surprised at the portions Tulland was willing to give him, but didn¡¯t complain as he took seconds. After that, it was into the maze, where Tulland prayed things would go quickly. The first sign that they wouldn¡¯t came from a bloody-handed Brist, who frowned at the wall as the first part of their plan faded to nothing. ¡°Dammit. Would have thought that would still work.¡± Brist and Tulland watched as the blood from his hand soaked into the nothingness of the wall, leaving no mark at all. ¡°Gonna try the ground.¡± There was no difference, Whatever tricks they had used so far would apparently not work here. The Infinite had planned for anything any normal warrior could bring to this part of the puzzle. The walls were unmarkable, either by residue or weapons damage. It took Tulland an hour of unfruitful, unproductive wandering through the maze to figure out the alternative, something he should have realized right away. ¡°No. Dumb Tulland. Dumb, dumb.¡± ¡°What? You¡¯re just realizing that now?¡± ¡°Brist, just shut up for a second.¡± Tulland summoned a small handful of grain from his storage container. He had tons of it to spare. Dropping it on the floor, he waited to see if it would get sucked up like the blood had. It didn¡¯t. ¡°The hell? Why didn¡¯t it take it?¡± ¡°Probably because The Infinite considers it to be an object, not a mark.¡± Tulland pulled another small pile of several grains from his storage. ¡°I figured it probably wanted to make this maze next to impossible if we didn¡¯t have some way of marking things. But it wants that to cost something. Most of you warrior types don¡¯t carry much with you, right? So an archer would eventually be leaving arrows. You might leave your fist weapons. Things like that. You¡¯d have to get creative because you don¡¯t have many.¡± Tulland put the handful of rice down by the corner of the hallway. ¡°But me? I¡¯ve got lots of stuff. At some point, this storage got to where it holds enough food that I¡¯d never have to worry about it again.¡± ¡°How many times can you mark things?¡± ¡°More times than there are corners in this place, guaranteed. So long as we always put the grain at the corner, I can use a single grain. That¡¯s thousands and thousands of times.¡± ¡°Good. We¡¯ll make short work of this, then.¡± It still took forever. Each of the entrances, it turned out, were perfectly comfortable leading to nothing but dead ends. If they had been lucky, they might have found the one true entrance right away. They didn¡¯t. By the time they were through with confirming four of the false entrances led nowhere, they had burned almost an entire day. ¡°I¡¯m going to run out of power,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Unless we sprint through and get really lucky, I¡¯m going to be no help at all in the last fight.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that too much.¡± Brist flexed his fist. ¡°I can fight for two. Just¡­ I don¡¯t know. Distract the boss, if there is one. Do your weird stuff. I¡¯ll take advantage of it. Even if you aren¡¯t doing much damage, hitting should help. So long as it¡¯s not a fair fight, I think I can take almost anyone one on one.¡± They ate and slept, with Tulland dreaming of impotence in combat getting them both killed. He woke up uncomfortably unrested, ate some leftover grain mix, and joined Brist in eliminating the rest of the false entrances. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we are this unlucky.¡± Tulland faced the last of the entrances, the one that was almost surely the right way through. ¡°We really picked the right one last?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± Brist cracked his neck and checked his weapons. ¡°Or maybe we always had to clear all the bad options before it would give us the good one. The Infinite doesn¡¯t have to make it easy on us.¡± They were getting pretty good at clearing hallways now. They both took a side, walking with an arm on the wall until they hit a gap, putting down a predetermined number of grains to indicate their initial deviation from their path, and clearing out each unproductive section before moving on to the next. ¡°This is taking forever.¡± ¡°We must be almost done, kid. There¡¯s just not that much area left. And we haven¡¯t hit a gap for a while. Do you remember having a straightaway passage like this in the invisible section?¡± ¡°Not this long. And¡­ oh, I just hit a gap.¡± ¡°Me too. Same time. Which might mean¡­¡± Brist took off one of his fist weapons and tossed it several meters forward. ¡°Yup. Thought so. We are out.¡± Tulland had to suppress a little dance of joy. In front of them, not so far off at all, was the apparent exit to the big invisible-wall arena. They had seen it several times over the last few days, silently mocking them with its inaccessibility. Now they walked straight up to it, ready for the next section of challenge. ¡°No telling what¡¯s through there. You still powered up, kid?¡± ¡°I am. No telling how much longer, though. We¡¯d better get moving.¡± Tulland walked forward to the gap, pulling his farmer¡¯s tool from his back. ¡°You ready?¡± ¡°I¡¯m ready. Actually, before that.¡± Brist held out his hand. ¡°Can I see that tool? Make it that scythe you mentioned.¡± Tulland shrugged and handed the weapon over, morphing it into his least favorite combat option as he did. Brist balanced it in his hand, swiping awkwardly a few times with it. ¡°Yeah, thought so. It¡¯s not much good as a weapon for the reasons you said. Off balance, and the angles are all wrong. But¡­¡± He pushed it out in front of him a few feet and pulled it back, nodding. ¡°Kid, have you ever kneed someone in the face?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say I have.¡± ¡°Your loss. The trick of it is to get them behind the neck like this.¡± Brist put down the farmer¡¯s tool and looped his big arms behind Tulland¡¯s neck. ¡°Then do you know what you do? You can¡¯t reach them with your knee yet. How do you get their head down?¡± ¡°Pull it down?¡± ¡°Nope. Watch.¡± Brist put downward diagonal pressure on Tulland¡¯s neck, which he resisted bending to. Even though Brist was stronger, he was able to keep his head up. ¡°See? Your whole body is built to keep you standing. I have to fight against all of that with a body that isn¡¯t built to push down on necks, exactly. Doesn¡¯t work. But if I do this¡­¡± Brist took a quick step backwards, pulling Tulland with him. Like magic, Tulland¡¯s body bent at the waist to compensate for the movement. A split second later, he had a knee in his nose. ¡°See that? Your body is built to bend over and pick stuff up, and mine is built to take steps backwards. So there¡¯s much less resistance from you, and much more power from me. Physics is on my side.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that have to do with the scythe?¡± ¡°Way I figure it, you probably don¡¯t hit every time you poke with that pitchfork. I¡¯ve seen you transition that weapon lately. Has it been getting faster?¡± ¡°It has.¡± Tulland grabbed the weapon and cycled it through the four forms. ¡°Something about upgrading it, I think.¡± ¡°Thought so. My thinking is, not all of those misses have to be wastes.¡± Brist pantomimed a poke with the weapon, then waited a split second before jumping back, hard. ¡°Since the blade is on the inside, you might be able to surprise someone. Think about it, anyway.¡± It¡¯s not a bad idea. He¡¯s probably seen things like that before. The System had been quiet almost the entire time they were in the labyrinth. Tulland hadn¡¯t had much to say, and had let that ride. It was still good to hear another voice, even if it was in his head. Anything you can get out of him is going to be a boon. This is a man of great experience. ¡°Thanks for that.¡± Tulland shifted the weapon to the scythe form and gave an experimental stepping-back pull on the handle. It felt strong. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± ¡°You do that.¡± Brist pointed towards the door. ¡°You ready?¡± ¡°Ready.¡± Tulland nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s get this done.¡± Chapter 131: Tempest of the Maze The next room was small in comparison to the last. That didn¡¯t mean it was small in absolute terms. Back home, it would have been by far the biggest open space that Tulland had ever seen. Even in The Infinite, it was plenty large for a fight. Tulland pulled a handful of grain from his pocket and chucked it hard. It didn¡¯t go as far as he would have liked, but it did sail unimpeded. ¡°Looks open. Do you think there¡¯s something to fight in here?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Yeah.¡± Brist put up his fists. ¡°It¡¯s coming.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t feel that?¡± Brist¡¯s eyes darted back and forth. ¡°The air is moving.¡± Tulland suddenly did feel it. The entire time they had been in this place, the air had been more or less stagnant. There hadn¡¯t been any drafts or breezes, which he had hardly noticed. No breezes made sense for a big enclosed area, but it had stopped now. As he brought his weapon in front and summoned what vines he could to his arms in preparation for the fight, the airflow went from the power of a slight draft to a good, solid breeze with no signs of slowing down. Eventually, the wind grew strong enough that Tulland could feel it pulling on him, upsetting his balance ever so slightly. At the same time, the source of it finally became visible at the center of the room.
Tempest of the Maze This monster is an elemental, a system-generated representation of one of the fundamental forces universal to all worlds. As an avatar of the wind itself, it has powerful control of the movement of air. Infusing the atmosphere of this place with its magical powers, it will attempt to move you to angles and areas best for it and worst for you. Its body is vulnerable to attacks much as a conventional beasts would be, but the composition of its body makes it difficult to locate and it¡¯s more evasive than its level and stats might otherwise indicate. The archway leading out of this level and the rewards associated with leaving it will not be available until the enemy is vanquished. Good luck!
¡°Damn. I hate things like this.¡± Brist stepped forward in front of Tulland, taking the tank position he was used to Necia occupying. ¡°I can barely see the thing. Any ideas for that?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± Tulland threw a Chimera Sleeve at the ground, giving it an instruction to inch forward while keeping what grip it could. ¡°And I got two notifications. We are going to want to make this fast.¡±
Farm Power Waning! As a one-time courtesy, The Infinite informs you that your grace period will end within the next five minutes, severing your connection to the power flow from your safe zone farm.
¡°Then let¡¯s do this.¡± Brist burst forward. Tulland was shocked to see just how fast the fist fighter could move, even with the wind pushing against him. Apparently, he had never shown Tulland every single trick in his arsenal, even when losing the spars. ¡°Follow me!¡± Brist hit the ground near the elemental, which looked like a vaguely whirl-wind shaped mass of moving air. Tulland¡¯s guess was that The Infinite had determined it had to be visible and had solved that problem by giving it the faintest tinge of dust-toned color, despite the lack of any actual dust in the maze up to that point. As Brist reached it, he gave it a good swipe to where the ribs would have been on a human, impacting with the shape hard then moving through it as the air parted around the strike point. Brist went tumbling a few steps, off balance from the remaining force of his own blow. The elemental took full advantage of this, hitting his back with a gust that sent him off his feet to the ground and following after him to hurt him more. Tulland got there before it could. Taking a lesson from Brist, he switched his weapon to pitchfork mode and went after the tempest with more restrained, controlled blows than he usually used. It helped him keep his feet, but he found that The Infinite had been accurate when it said the tempest was hard to hit. He clipped it a few times, but failed to make solid contact with the monster as it weaved around the strikes, disrupting Tulland¡¯s balance all the while. Even without doing much damage, the ten seconds Tulland spent fighting the thing alone weren¡¯t without effect. He took a couple strong blows from the tempest, finding that when its main body made contact, it did so with a force similar to any single one of Brist¡¯s punches. Tulland was able to weather them, mainly because he was so used to Brist chaining those kinds of punches in an unending combo that just one of them didn¡¯t seem like that big of a deal. Despite not doing or taking much damage on the whole, the delay was worthwhile as soon as Brist found his feet again, charged some kind of powerful punch, and absolutely walloped the wind monster with it. Tulland watched as the monster took the impact then faded out of Brist¡¯s way, sending him tumbling again. There was no apparent damage that Tulland could see, but the monster felt ever so slightly slower to him as he began working on it with his pitchfork again. He still wasn¡¯t making solid contact, but the glancing blows were catching the monster a bit more solidly every time. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Keep going just like that. It¡¯s fast, and it wreaks hell on footwork. But it¡¯s not smart.¡± Brist charged up another big shot. ¡°You distract it. I¡¯ll do the big damage. Should work fine.¡± The next strike Brist threw was not a head-on blow, instead angled upwards like an uppercut. The tempest still got out of the way of it after the point of impact, but this time Brist¡¯s excess energy just pulled him off the floor upwards instead of sending him rolling along the stone floor. The tempest took advantage of this, hitting Brist hard while he was midair and sending him back a few steps, but took a full-force blow from both Tulland and his two arm-mounted Chimera Sleeves as the last vine on the floor finally got close enough to try to swallow what amounted to the single, central whirlwind leg of the monster. The whirlwind turned to face Tulland, but this was a mistake as Brist found his footing again and unleashed a combo of purely conventional punches at its back. Tulland got out of the whirlwind¡¯s way, dragging his pitchfork tines through it as he did. In the distraction, the tempest failed to react in time to another one of Brist¡¯s heavy, charged hits. ¡°That¡¯s it, kid. Just keep it up like that. This shouldn¡¯t be hard at all¡­ shit.¡± Brist watched as Tulland impacted with the wind, going flying in a way he just hadn¡¯t before and crashing painfully into the ground. ¡°Did it get stronger?¡± ¡°No. I got weaker.¡± Tulland felt every bit of competency with his weapon and most of the protection from his armor leech away as a new notification hit. ¡°It¡¯s bad news.¡±
Farm Effect Neutralized! As warned, you have lost the effect of your safe zone farm¡¯s enhancement. Be cautious, as the effect will not return until you either return to the safe zone or grow another farm.
¡°How bad?¡± Brist backed up as the now undistracted tempest came after him in force. ¡°Real bad?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t take a lot of hits like the one I just took.¡± Tulland spat out a bit of blood from his mouth. ¡°But I can take some. I¡¯ll¡­¡± ¡°No.¡± Brist tore into the tempest with a quick combo of punches, then jumped out of the way. ¡°Do what you can from back there. I¡¯ll handle this.¡± Tulland tried. His vines were no longer strong enough to resist the pull of the wind, and were thrown this way and that as he tried to command them to swat at the lower body of the whirlwind. He tried throwing a Silver Sun, unsurprised when it failed to hit. Beyond that, he had almost nothing in his move set that could help. Brist was amazing, but still clearly fighting a monster meant for two. Tulland watched helplessly as the fighter gave as good as he got, pouring constant damage into the whirlwind at the expense of his own body. ¡°I need to get in there!¡± Tulland took a step against the wind. ¡°I¡¯m coming!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you dare, kid.¡± Brist held steady long enough to charge a punch, taking several small hits from the tempest as he did before laying one huge, downward-looping punch from top to bottom through it. ¡°You aren¡¯t dying to save me. It would be embarrassing.¡± Tulland¡¯s nerves burned with stress as he watched the balance tip this way and that, in favor of the whirlwind one second and Brist¡¯s the next. Then, suddenly, blessedly, Brist landed the biggest punch Tulland had seen from him yet and the wind monster actually staggered back from it. After that, Brist pushed in punching for all he was worth, lost in a berserker fury of boxer anger that never let the whirlwind recover. ¡°Yes! Do it!¡± Tulland¡¯s own fists were so tight around his weapon they hurt as he watched Brist finally take the lead for good. ¡°Keep it up!¡± Another thirty seconds passed. Brist took minor damage, but nothing like he gave. Then, suddenly, after one last big hit the monster winked out, like it had never been there at all. Brist stopped a punch midswing in confusion. ¡°That¡¯s it? Thought it would be more exciting than that. I almost want to complain.¡± Tulland laughed, then had the laughter catch in his throat as another notification popped up.
Last Phase! The Tempest is not gone. It¡¯s hiding, now practicing its own form of stealth in the air around you. It is damaged, and cannot take much more before it perishes in actuality. However, catching it to apply that damage will be difficult beyond words.
¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± Brist put his fists up, but immediately took a blow in his back. ¡°Not good at all.¡± If Brist couldn¡¯t see the thing, Tulland had no chance. He watched as it threw attack after attack, all hitting Brist from unexpected angles as the boxer swung here and there around himself, making contact with nothing at all. ¡°Kid, I know I said not to help, but¡­¡± Brist took a hard hit to his face that sent him reeling. ¡°Now would be a good time if you have any tricks.¡± Tulland stepped forward, ready to fight the thing to the death in melee even if it wouldn¡¯t do much good. He was halfway there when a better idea finally sprung to mind. ¡°Brist, charge something.¡± Tulland reached into his dimensional storage and withdrew as many Acheflowers as he could. ¡°Cover up, charge something, and hold your breath. We¡¯ll only get one shot.¡± Scattering the flowers wasn¡¯t hard. When it stealthed, the tempest apparently had to abandon roiling the air in the room as part of the bargain. A second later, there were dozens of the flowers everywhere, so weak he doubted they¡¯d do anything to the elemental or Brist. Those likely won¡¯t have an effect on a monster of that type. Not the normal one, but¡­ Tulland waiting until Brist¡¯s hand reached its brightest shine before sending the detonation order to the flowers. The exploded all as one, sending thin yellow fog throughout the room. Yes! I thought so. In the center of the room, creeping up on Brist, there was now a fully visible, yellow-tinged elemental, just solid enough to get coated with the powder in its own characteristic shape. Brist¡¯s bloody mouth parted in a maniac¡¯s grin that made Tulland¡¯s skin crawl, then he roared as he unleashed his fully charged punch. Tulland watched that same punch hit not once but three times, blasting away the yellow in three circles, each slightly off center from the other. Whatever ability to negate blows the tempest was using, it apparently didn¡¯t work with that much force. This time, as it died, it was absolutely clear what was happening. A sound like a creaking filled the air as the shape slowly came apart, growing more indistinct until the powder on it dissipated away through the air freely. Chapter 132: The Plan
Triumph! You have destroyed a superior enemy in combat after a long journey meant to drain your strength. From here on, you will forever be more prepared for that kind of pre-emptive attempt to reduce your strength. Rewards: Level cap on plants raised by one
¡°Oh, hell yes.¡± Brist held up his own fist and stared at it in awe, like he was looking at his own hand for the first time. ¡°You know what I got from that, kid?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Another stock of that triple punch. It recharges a hell of a lot more slowly, but¡­ yeah. Good day. Good job with those flowers too. I wouldn¡¯t have thought of that. Lucky you did, cause¡­¡± Brist fell over onto his back, groaning. ¡°That thing was hitting me a lot at the end there. Pretty good timing.¡± As the arch formed at one of the ends of the room, Tulland looped his shoulder under Brist¡¯s arm and dragged him to the arch, tossing the fighter through ahead of himself. He hadn¡¯t asked about Tulland¡¯s reward, and Tulland hadn¡¯t offered the information. That didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t good. Tulland took a breath, wondering what a full tenth increase to the power of his plants would even look like in his farm value score. Hopefully, he¡¯d have time to see it before the next challenge. Stepping through, he found himself face to face with a very surprised Necia. She punched him. ¡°How do you think it feels, Tulland,¡± Necia brandished her fist at her downed boyfriend, who had just learned it took a split second to gain back all his power from his farm once he was back in range of it. His regeneration kicked in fast, but not before he felt ever bit of that punch. ¡°How do you think it feels when your boyfriend just disappears for days and days with no warning?¡± ¡°No time desync this time?¡± Tulland rubbed his nose as the regeneration slowly soothed the burn. ¡°I thought maybe it wouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°No time desync. Just me being very worried.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Tulland smiled as apologetically as he could. ¡°Brist found an arch and designated me as his dungeon-buddy. It didn¡¯t occur to him to ask first. I just got pulled in right away.¡± The idea that someone else was more at fault than Tulland seemed new to Necia. She looked at the door thoughtfully, then bent down and gave Tulland a quick kiss. ¡°I¡¯m going to hit Brist a few times real quick.¡± She seemed certain she could, and Tulland didn¡¯t doubt now was the best time to make it happen. She might not be able to once Brist fully healed from his fight. ¡°I¡¯ll be back. Play with your farm or something in the meantime.¡± An odd girl. I do like her, but¡­ odd. You¡¯d never know she was a princess. I don¡¯t think she is, here. If I¡¯m right, that¡¯s the real reason she came here in the first place. It sounds accurate enough. Now, use your special dirt on your farm. Enhance it. Quickly, before you get pulled into the next trouble. Those extra levels might be a larger thing than you think. Tulland did as he was told. Not every plant leveled right away, but those that didn¡¯t were vastly outnumbered by those that did. The effect was not small.
Farm Status: Total Points: 12332
That¡¯s very good. Your larger more advanced plants haven¡¯t even leveled yet. That should be the biggest change. Maybe. Do you know why I¡¯m not gaining any levels, lately? I feel as if I¡¯m stuck in place in that respect, even though I¡¯m killing bigger weirder things than ever before. Your level took a huge leap forward when you came here, Tulland. Seventy is¡­ I don¡¯t believe there are more than a few people on any given world that even approach this. I would be surprised to find the system gives you much in the way of experience after this. To keep me from leveling? To give you a chance to keep living. Each incremental level from here won¡¯t make much difference. Skill levels still might, but this increase to your level is worth many of those by itself. Broadening what you can do gives you the chance to live longer, so long as you make the most of the new capabilities. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Even so, I think you¡¯ve missed the biggest point of all this. The Infinite might have too. Oh? The Chimera Sleeves. Tulland poured a bucket-full of enhanced dirt on the part of his farms the sleeves lived in, then commanded the few on his person to replant themselves. Juicing them with Primal Growth, he turned to watering the entire farm, gratified to see Necia had kept it from ever getting bone-dry while he was gone. Remember how they explain themselves better and better with every level? I do. Well, I doubt The Infinite ever thought I¡¯d get them to level eleven. Ten was likely all the explanation it ever wanted me to have. Oh. Yes, I see. That might be useful. It just might. It was a bit of a problem actually getting the Chimera Sleeves to level 11. They had steadily leveled in the dirt Tulland had brought them both from the warfare floors and his bucket without too much trouble. Probably due to his enhanced skill levels, most of his plants had grown better and healthier beyond even what he¡¯d expect from that. But level 11 turned out to be a different kind of thing, something more elusive and difficult to attain. ¡°Still trying.¡± Tulland looked up as Necia entered. ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°I could tell. You look incredibly unhappy about it.¡± ¡°I am. There¡¯s not much left for me to do this round besides this. If I can get it in time, I¡¯ll be stronger.¡± ¡°What about that new tree that came out of the splicer? I thought that was the next big thing for you.¡± ¡°It was. But it¡¯s not going to be fast.¡± Tulland looked over at the tiny sprout beginnings of his new sapling, a feeling of unfair hatred washing over him as he did. It was such a potentially cool thing to be disappointed about that he almost couldn¡¯t stand the conflict of it all.
Dark Steel Cedar Named after a mythical tree famed for its appealing scent, the Dark Steel Cedar is a powerful evolution of the Ironbranch tree. Having returned to that ancestor of the Giant¡¯s Toe and combining it with a long-forgotten fragment of metallic beast carried through the floors by a fellow adventurer, you have created a truly durable plant entirely of the System and bent entirely to the task of stopping attacks. Stubborn and supernaturally tough, the Dark Steel Cedar resists all attempts to cut it, smash it, or otherwise change its shape. The only exception to this rule is granted to the master of the tree, who can carve it as easily with a conventional knife as he might whittle a plain stick. Armor made from the Dark Steel Cedar will almost certainly be of above-average quality compared to what you have worn in the past.
For something so promising to grow so very, very slowly was a blow to the heart that Tulland had not been expecting to hurt him so deeply. It didn¡¯t help that stresses of all kinds were abounding just then. ¡°So they never came back?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°No. You were gone days ago, which should have been enough. I think at this point we have to assume all of them died.¡± Necia sighed. ¡°Shame. Allysi seemed like a decent enough man.¡± ¡°He did. And from what he told us. Rossi might not have been that bad, either. Dumb, maybe, but he came in here to rescue someone. That¡¯s not the worst.¡± ¡°It is when you are put in charge of troops and don¡¯t ask enough questions. Those men were his responsibility as soon as he took command of them, and it doesn¡¯t seem he ever questioned why they were walking into a death trap.¡± ¡°Maybe. Either way, I don¡¯t think I would have wished death on any of them. I¡¯m more angry at the people who sent them.¡± ¡°We are agreed on that, at least.¡± Tulland decided to spend another full night feeding his plants. It wouldn¡¯t get the tree anywhere big enough, but it just might have been enough for the Chimera Vines. With no other quick way to grow, it seemed like his best option. Given that Brist either wasn¡¯t home or wasn¡¯t coming out that night, that left Tulland exactly one person to talk to as Necia snored away the night in her nice, comfortable bedroll. So, System. Yes? What was your plan? I don¡¯t think I understand you. My plan for what? You know. For after I die, and you get all my energy. You must have had one. You must still have one, actually. It¡¯s not as if I¡¯ll survive forever. Ah. That. To simply take the energy and spend it. On what? High-yield, low-risk investments. Anything that seemed like it would make a significant impact without wasting the resources. System? Yes? I think you know that¡¯s not really an answer. Come on. What am I even going to do about it, from here? It¡¯s not like I can stop you. I know that, Tulland. It¡¯s simply that the exact plan is not something I would want to do now. I¡¯ve had more time to consider than I expected, and realized it was not the correct path. Fine, then. What was your plan? Before you abandoned it? The System thought about it for a moment, then sighed. Tulland thought it might be the first time he had heard it do that. I was going to destroy the Church. The Church had been so omnipresent in Tulland¡¯s life and the life of everyone else in his world that he found he literally couldn¡¯t imagine this happening. Trying to think about what life would be like without the dominant force in charge of his world actually hurt his head a little. How? Could you just¡­ rain fire down on them? Certainly not. Interacting with the world is one of the more expensive things a system can do. It would have hardly been worth the investment of points. Much less the inelegance of simply destroying things by brute force when more subtle means would suffice. I swear, system, you need to get talking before I just send you away. Fine. The idea was that I would simply invalidate classes having to do with System interaction. Tulland sat up straighter. That did make sense, actually, in a horrible way. The Church comprised about a twentieth of the total population of his world, he had heard. They were the vast majority of class holders, as well, and almost all of them had classes that in some way stemmed from their founder¡¯s. They never actually said those classes were built around using control of the world that once belonged to the System, but it was at least a dimly understood thing that they did. The immediate aftermath of all those classes burning to ash in the souls of their holders was hard to imagine, but Tulland knew it wouldn¡¯t be good. More likely, it would be the greatest disaster to ever befall their world. Chapter 133: Allysi System, that¡¯s¡­ Horrible? It would ensure the violent deaths of perhaps millions of humans? I know. I am ashamed of it, Tulland. That I thought of it as a path forward and hardly considered what it would mean for¡­ just about everyone. I was a desperate thing, like a drowning man looking for anything that might float. And now? I would like to think this journey has changed me, and I¡¯m sure it has to some extent. I would not destroy half your world to seize back my power. But absent that one very weak foundational block in the Church¡¯s power, I¡¯m not sure any amount of strength you might give me would be enough. A single individual¡¯s power is¡­ well, it¡¯s hardly much. Most Systems feast on thousands of such gifts from their class-bearers each year. Many come as far as you have come now. Actually, that brings up an interesting question. Why didn¡¯t you know about those other people sooner? Rossi and his crew. They are from our world, right? You weren¡¯t alerted to that? Things were occurring to Tulland left and right. Do you know if they are dead? You must, right? Tulland, calm down. No, I don¡¯t know. They are products of the Church. There is nothing in this world, in any world, that I can sense less than them. I¡¯ve received no power from them, if that''s what you are asking. I don¡¯t know if I would in any case. Could they withhold it from you? Earn it themselves? Before, I would have told you no. If they could, why wouldn¡¯t they do so all the time? Why would they freeze your world as it was all that time ago? My tutor once said that a good ruler promotes progress, but a long-lived one promotes stability. I was there. It was a wise lesson. But this goes beyond that. Even a selfish ruler allows his people to trade goods. Free power is a hard thing to pass up. The discipline would have cracked at some point. Someone would have become greedy. So maybe you¡¯ll still get the energy. Perhaps. Or maybe they have survived. Or perhaps the energy will fly off into the nothing beyond worlds. There¡¯s no way to tell. Tulland went back to his plants. He mostly believed what the System said, but also acknowledged most of it didn¡¯t really matter. Whether the people from the Church were alive or dead, their survival was out of both Tulland¡¯s and the System¡¯s hands. If the System got energy from them, there was nothing he could do about it. If it was planning a gentler takeover of his old world, there was no way he¡¯d be able to verify it either. All that mattered, he realized, was how long he survived here. That was the only thing he could control. He was going to be food for the System eventually. If the System seemed honest enough about how it¡¯d use that meal, he¡¯d take comfort in that. There was no use worrying about the thing he couldn¡¯t change unless it changed his plans. Sitting there in the dark contemplating things, something finally changed in the vines. He inspected them one last time, hoping for something that would make a real change for once.
Chimera Sleeve (Level 11) This Chimera Sleeve has surpassed the overall top level it should have been able to reach, and as such can reveal secrets to you to the fullest extent it knows them. The Chimera Sleeve is a thing born of the idea of a conglomerate animal, of combinations of things that do not customarily go together. It is, in a way, a snake¡¯s tail that can be commanded by a lion¡¯s head, or a bird¡¯s wings attached to the spine of a bull. It is a thing that works in tandem with things unlike itself. This is why it can take your commands so effortlessly, even when the complexity of the command is high. It is a powerful, focused thing to be able to communicate so clearly, one you have by no means found the limits of yet. Where both you and the Chimera Sleeve both understand what needs to be done, it will endeavor to do it. The better you understand the goal yourself, the more granularly it will be able to obey. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
That¡¯s¡­ not as much as I hoped. And yet it¡¯s a direction. To the extent The Infinite understands what these vines are for and how they pose a threat to its plans, this is how you will have a chance at defeating its efforts to keep you from knowing. Why tell me this at all, then? It can¡¯t avoid it. Systems are self-regulating things, Tulland. We can make mistakes, but there is only an extent to which we can violate our purpose. When you received the ability to add another level to your plants, it was because that was the most appropriate prize for you at that level. The Infinite might have been able to withhold it, but it would have been against its nature to actually do so. I don¡¯t understand. You couldn¡¯t. We are a different sort of being. But it would have been as likely to do that as for you to rip out one of your fingernails. Perhaps even less. This description is the same thing. You should have this. It has made the facts as obscured as possible, but everything it should have told you is likely there. It¡¯s not helpful, though. The sleeves are very good at following instructions. We already knew that. And yet, there must be something you didn¡¯t know, hidden. Think on it, Tulland. Even if I knew I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell you. But you don¡¯t know? I do not. Now go, Tulland. Sleep. Tomorrow is likely to be a big day. ¡ª It was a bigger day than even the system had thought it would be. It started off with a bang, too, a bigger beginning than Tulland would have believed. ¡°Don¡¯t do it.¡± Tulland woke up to a loud voice outside his house that even through the stone walls he thought probably belonged to White. ¡°Whatever you are doing, just don¡¯t.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything, okay? I¡¯m looking for a place to sleep. You can¡¯t threaten me. I¡¯m already dead.¡± Tulland dumped some magic on his farm and ran outside, seeing the last person he expected to ever see again. Allysi was standing in the middle of the street, bloodied and filthy, his eyes wide with what Tulland could only assume was madness. ¡°And I said I¡¯ll help you. We¡¯ll get you bathed. Find you a place to sleep. But I can¡¯t let you go unaccompanied looking like you look.¡± ¡°And how do I look, huh?¡± Allysi walked up to White and bumped up hard against his chest. ¡°Like I just saw everyone I travel with get ripped into shreds by those damn dirt things? Like I had to run for two days from them, picking them off one by one without a moment¡¯s rest? Like that? I guess I probably look a little stressed. I guess that makes sense.¡± Allysi¡¯s shove against White seemed to have taken the steam out of his anger, or at least poked a hole through which it could escape. As he continued talking, he deflated until he slumped to the ground, defeated and mumbling. ¡°Thought so.¡± Licht appeared around the corner near Tulland. ¡°I¡¯ve seen that before. People get into bad situations, the bad follows them out. He hasn¡¯t slept in days.¡± ¡°Will he get better?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Depends on what you mean by better. He¡¯s not going to forget what he saw.¡± ¡°No. NO.¡± Allysi yelled loud and jerked away as White put his hand on his arm. ¡°I¡¯m not going with you.¡± ¡°You had better, son.¡± White¡¯s voice was gentle but awfully firm. ¡°Just until we can get you rested and fed. Then, I¡¯ll¡ª¡± ¡°No. No orders. I¡¯m done with orders¡± Allysi waved his arms around wildly. ¡°You know where orders got me? Here. All the way to here. This¡­ place.¡± ¡°Yes, and¡­¡± ¡°And no. You know what? You want to be sure I¡¯m safe? I¡¯ll make sure you know I¡¯m safe.¡± Allysi took off at a sprint. He passed less than a foot from Tulland as he ran off. White shook his head sadly, but just watched as he ran out of sight. ¡°Want me to keep an eye on him?¡± Licht asked. ¡°Can you do it quietly? He¡¯s less likely to make trouble that way,¡± White said. ¡°Sure.¡± Licht slung his crossbow back across his shoulders. ¡°I¡¯ll bring him back if I can. Maybe I¡¯ll have better luck.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± White chewed the inside of his lip for a moment. ¡°I hope so.¡± Licht nodded and walked away. White watched him for a bit before his eye landed back on Tulland. ¡°Sorry you had to be here for all that. You too, Necia.¡± Tulland felt Necia¡¯s arm wrap through his as she exited the house. ¡°Not a perfect start to your morning.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen anyone¡¯s eyes like that.¡± ¡°That¡¯s shock.¡± White shook his head. ¡°I once saw someone drop a rock on their own arm. A big rock, something they were using to build a wall. Dragged him to the ground and destroyed the limb, just like that. When they pulled the rock up, that¡¯s how he looked, even after he got healed. It¡¯s how you look when you see something your mind can¡¯t handle.¡± ¡°His friends dying?¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s part of it. The rest is stress from the running he said he did. Not knowing if the next time he tripped up was going to be the last. I can¡¯t even imagine what that would be like for days and days.¡± White watched the street off into the distance, then turned to back to Tulland. ¡°He¡¯ll calm down. He might not be right, even then. But we can¡¯t tell unless we get him to calm down first. I¡¯m just afraid he¡¯ll attack someone. Without his group, he¡¯s not much of a risk, but they¡¯d hurt him.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t have a chance for that, I¡¯m afraid.¡± Licht cut through the space between two buildings. ¡°No chance at all.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be sure. Wait.¡± White looked more worried, suddenly. ¡°He did it?¡± ¡°Before I could get within a hundred yards of him. He must have been their speed build.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Tulland looked from grim face to grim face. Even Necia looked like she got it. ¡°Where is he?¡± ¡°Through the arch again.¡± Necia frowned. ¡°Through and gone.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Why would he do that?¡± ¡°Because anything else would just be delaying the same effect. He couldn¡¯t have allies here. The Infinite traded away power for that. He couldn¡¯t delay forever. It would move him ahead eventually.¡± White breathed out, long and loud. ¡°And I can¡¯t say for sure I wouldn¡¯t have done the same thing myself. The waiting would be almost as bad as letting it happen.¡± Chapter 134: Siege Zone Tulland and Necia ate a long, silent breakfast together. It was almost the end of it before Tulland could bring himself to speak. ¡°What if they send more?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Does your System think they will?¡± Necia set down her bowl. ¡°It¡¯d have some insight into it. He was there for the founding of that Church. I presume it¡¯s kept an eye on things since.¡± ¡°I can check.¡± Likely not. Now that they¡¯ve made a token effort with a force much larger than the simple people of your island could have imagined mustering themselves, the Church will say there is nothing they can do. It will be honest, just as it always would have been, but this time the honesty will hide their lies. What about the threat of¡­ well, you? Presumably people will still think you are out there somewhere. You sort of are. They will wave leaves and chant rituals. They will claim to be resealing me, then claim a limited victory, saying they have driven me away. And people will believe it? For that island, it will be true in function. You would find that Ouros from now on has a much stronger cleric in residence than it ever did before, someone much more sensitive to my movements and much more capable of stopping them before they advance. Or you would if you ever returned there, that is. Not much chance of that. No¡­. Tulland? The System had, for a moment, given Tulland the feeling it gave when it was about to run from a conversation. Yes? I don¡¯t know if this will ring true, but I never would have done this if I knew how it would feel to see those fools wander into this floor, not knowing what they had got into. It isn¡¯t just that, either. I wouldn¡¯t have done this if I had known what you were. And what¡¯s that? A friend. Not to me, I know. I understand why. There¡¯s no way to neutralize the enmity you must have for me, but I¡¯ve seen you be a friend to others. I know what you could have been on your old world, even without a class, if you just had enough time. If I had taken the time to understand that, this never would have happened. Tulland was stuck. He couldn¡¯t respond. There was no response to he could think of that would make this better, or even that could make it worse. I¡¯m sorry. That¡¯s all. ¡°Tulland? You don¡¯t look great. You didn¡¯t look great before, but¡­¡± ¡°Sorry. Just something the System said.¡± ¡°That guy? I don¡¯t even understand why you are dealing with it anymore. I really don¡¯t. I know I say it a lot.¡± ¡°In a way¡­¡± Tulland sighed and moved to what amounted to their kitchen to wash out his bowl. ¡°In a way, it¡¯s my oldest friend. My only enemy and my oldest friend. It¡¯s confusing. I admit it¡¯s confusing. It¡¯s just how it is. Sometimes I think you just have to believe someone might be sorry.¡± ¡°How can you know, though? How can you really know? Answer that for me.¡± ¡°I said might.¡± Tulland shook his head. ¡°I mean you have to believe someone might be sorry. You never know, not until they betray you again or never do. But if you don¡¯t think they might¡­¡± ¡°They don¡¯t get a chance? I don¡¯t see the problem with that,¡± Necia said. ¡°No. I mean you don¡¯t get a chance. To offer that. To be stronger than they were. To let them betray you again, but it doesn¡¯t matter this time because you are too strong to hurt. Or to let them get better. It¡¯s you doing it, you know? Because you got better.¡± Necia put down her bowl and rubbed her eyes. ¡°And you think that¡¯s you?¡± ¡°I think I want it to be. I doubt I¡¯m who I want to be yet, you know? But if the system ever decides to cash in on what I am, I want to be able to say no.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to be negative about this. I really don¡¯t. But you do understand that this involves you going up against what amounts to picking a fistfight against a god and winning?¡± ¡°I do.¡± Tulland finished cleaning Necia and his bowl, shook the water out, and then set them upside down to dry. ¡°And I¡¯m aware the odds aren¡¯t great, but I¡¯m going to give it a try.¡± ¡ª The next day, everyone seemed antsy. Tulland found himself hurrying through his morning bath and meal, just in case the look of unsettled impatience on the face of everyone he saw was an indication of when he could expect the next floor¡¯s activity to hit. The people of the safe zone had clearly been shaken by the cleric group¡¯s defeat, and counterintuitively seemed ready to move forward because of it. Do you see it too? The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I do. Warriors are often that way. When they are unsettled, they look for something to do. Something they understand to replace the bits and pieces of things they don¡¯t. The farm was doing well, and although the slow-growing Dark Steel Cedars he had created were still not ready, they were beginning to gain some momentum, growing faster and faster as they got larger and larger. He had no hopes of making anything useful of them at their current size, but taking as a given that he¡¯d survive the next floor they would probably be ready for him when he got back. It was no surprise, then, when between one blink and the next his early afternoon laziness was suddenly shifted to a view of a large stone castle in the distance, with the remaining troops of the safe zone mingling about, trying to get their bearings.
Siege Zone! Your enemy is well-fed, well fortified, and ready for a long, long wait while your impatience builds and your bodies weaken from your time camping in the wilderness. Historically, such sieges are often solved by living off the land and feeding yourself longer than your opponent¡¯s food stores can last. In this scenario, that¡¯s not an option. Time is your enemy here, and every tick of the clock drives you closer to your own doom. This zone takes place in three phases comprised of two sallies and your final siege on the castle. The first excursion of enemy troops from the castle will occur in six hours, and the next will occur six hours after that. Both will be well armed forces that will fight in the shadow of the castle, aided by whatever support they choose to put up on the walls. Range is of no issue here - any archers in place during this fight will be able to reach you with their bows. Whether or not you choose to fight the excursion forces, you will have to defend yourself from their fire. Neutralizing the enemy¡¯s advantage will be vital to defeating their excursion forces. Any forces not defeated in this way will remain alive, counting towards the enemy¡¯s defensive forces when the time comes to breach their walls and take the castle by force. In the last phase, you must do just that. Within a day of the last sally, you must eliminate every defending force in the castle, including those you failed to defeat during the excursion. This is a battle of attrition. Only by balancing the necessary loss of some of your forces with theirs will you stand a chance.
¡°Thought so.¡± White looked up towards Potter, grim. ¡°It¡¯s finally happening.¡± ¡°What?¡± Tulland looked from face to face, noting that Potter and the few military-minded planner types he kept around him seemed to all be in a kid of pessimistic agreement. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°Rebalance.¡± Potter shook his head. ¡°How many archers do they have, Licht?¡± ¡°More than us. Far more, and that¡¯s just what I can see right now. They have long-range bows, so they won¡¯t be much of an issue from up close. From a distance, behind fortifications, they¡¯ll be real trouble.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Necia nodded. ¡°Tulland, we¡¯ve always been melee heavy, as a group. That¡¯s been fine, so far. We were in situations where that helped us.¡± ¡°Here, there¡¯s just me, Potter, and a few others who can fight at range.¡± Licht took imaginary aim at the walls. ¡°We can take down some of the archers, but not as quick as they take us down, which means their melee troops will be at an advantage. At several, really. Morale. Lack of distraction.¡± ¡°Softened up.¡± White shook his head. ¡°The Infinite is making a real effort at reducing our numbers here.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do about it?¡± Tulland asked. ¡°Not if I¡¯m reading this summary correctly. The plan seems to be to force us to accept big losses to defeat their excursion forces. If we don¡¯t do that well enough, the final siege will bring even more losses before we breach the wall. Either way brings heavy losses.¡± ¡°Nothing we can do? No planning?¡± Tulland looked at Potter hard, hoping to find a spark of optimism within the darkness on his face. There was none that he could see. ¡°We just have to be okay with losing most of us to this level?¡± ¡°That appears to be the plan, son.¡± White looked sad, more than anything. ¡°The fact that it hasn¡¯t happened yet has mostly been a function of you and what you can do. It tends to be unexpected enough that The Infinite can¡¯t adjust for it and still claim to be fair. But unless you can open up your seed bag and find a way to get rid of that castle and give us an approach to it at the same time, I don¡¯t see much hope.¡± Tulland looked down at his seed bag. It could do a lot of things, but making a castle disappear wasn¡¯t one of them. Necia gently guided him off to the side and took his hands in hers. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯m basically an archer¡¯s worst nightmare.¡± Necia reached her hand up to Tulland¡¯s cheek and let it rest there. ¡°And so long as you stay behind me, you will too. A little selfishness is okay here, Tulland. Earned, even. We¡¯ll survive this.¡± ¡°I believe you.¡± He did. If Necia thought she could block for both of them, he was willing to accept that as fact. ¡°It¡¯s just that I should be able to do more.¡± ¡°Tulland, this isn¡¯t a two-day dungeon. You can¡¯t get stronger here by growing things. You¡¯ll have your plants, but they won¡¯t be much good outside of melee. Besides doing your best, there just isn¡¯t a way for you to farm your way out of it. You can only carry so much into battle yourself. There¡¯s only so much load you should be expected to carry alone.¡± It was meant to be reassuring, Tulland could tell. It wasn¡¯t. He knew on some level that none of these people were his responsibility. He even knew that most of him felt that he was theirs, that it was their job to protect the kid in the group. He couldn¡¯t accept that. He wouldn¡¯t actually accept that. The idea that Necia and the others wanted to protect him was very nice, very kind, and absolutely the last thing he wanted. The saving grace was that in all that reassurance was an idea of sorts, something that created a twinge in his head that he tried to follow for a while. Necia had said there was only so much he could carry into battle himself. She hadn¡¯t meant plants, but these days it was impossible for him to ignore the implications of plants on anything at all. For a few moments, he considered the feasibility of arming everyone with Clubber Vines, which he could just about grow enough of in time. It wouldn¡¯t work. The fighters here had their own styles, all of which worked well, none of which would be helped that much by an unempowered vine even if he could make them automatic somehow, and almost all of which would actually be hurt by the interference. The Chimera vines were a different story, but there just weren¡¯t enough of them. Which left Tulland with nothing but food, caltrops, and weak bombs. Wait, though. System, tell me if you can answer this question. I¡¯ll try. It seems to me that the way Acheflowers get stronger is through concentration, right? The fog they put out get thicker, basically? That shouldn¡¯t be any confusion about that by now. You¡¯ve seen the Acheflowers explode enough. Do they change as you empower them? Yes. They get harder to see through. More yellow. There you have it, then. I can¡¯t answer that question, for the record. It¡¯s simply that you know the answer already. Tulland nodded and regripped Necia¡¯s hands. ¡°I¡¯m going to do something dumb.¡± ¡°How dumb?¡± ¡°It might get us all killed.¡± ¡°Fantastic. I¡¯ll go get Potter. You get started.¡± Chapter 135: Plants ¡°Potter, White. Glad to have you.¡± In the ten minutes it had taken Necia to find the members of leadership they knew the best, Tulland had already tilled out all the space it would take him to plant his farm. ¡°I was wondering if you¡¯d like me to do something dumb. It would take everyone¡¯s help and might not work.¡± ¡°Huh. Quite the sales pitch.¡± White leaned up against a tree and took a deep breath. ¡°What do you need from us to try it?¡± ¡°We¡¯d need to not fight in the first two phases. Probably. Just hunker down behind trees and survive the arrows.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a big ask.¡± Potter scratched his chin. ¡°We¡¯d probably lose a few people due to bad luck anyways, you know.¡± ¡°I know. And we can still do almost everything I want to do while fighting the first two phases, but it would limit our upside,¡± Tulland said. ¡°Would it protect the downside? Would fighting in the battles help us survive if your plan doesn¡¯t work?¡± ¡°Absolutely.¡± Tulland started scattering what seeds he¡¯d need for the next part of the battle, empowering them for quick growth as he did. It was a long time since he could ignore quality entirely in terms of his enhancements, and the seeds felt more alive to him than any he had planted in a long time. ¡°It¡¯s just that the benefit of what I¡¯m trying to do, if it worked, would be much more limited.¡± ¡°We can decide that once we have all the details. Tulland, what else would you need?¡± White asked. ¡°A very sneaky fighter. Someone who could get right up to the walls alone and survive.¡± ¡°Right up to the walls is doable. Surviving is harder. Necia, could you go find Licht? It looks like he might be needed,¡± Potter said. ¡°On it.¡± Tulland silently blessed Necia for falling behind him in support so quickly. Having someone who trusted him to work as the foundation for this whole process was impossible to over-value. ¡°Did you see where he went?¡± ¡°With the other ranged fighters, talking strategy, if I know him.¡± Necia walked off, and Potter took a long hard look at exactly what plants Tulland was putting in the soil for the first time. Tulland let him look, and White kept quiet for the next several seconds as the old scholar tried to reverse engineer the plan. ¡°I think I have the general idea of it,¡± Potter said after nodding his head a couple of times. ¡°There are two elements that both have to succeed, correct?¡± ¡°To win big, yes.¡± ¡°And you aren¡¯t sure of either of them?¡± ¡°They both should work. That¡¯s the most I can promise.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± White said. ¡°All right then. Let¡¯s do it.¡± ¡°You said you were waiting for the details,¡± Potter said. ¡°So did I.¡± ¡°You already understand them but didn¡¯t object. And I¡¯m not going to understand them anyway. Licht will help, and everyone else will jump at the chance of a big victory. Most of them understand they aren¡¯t going more than a few more floors anyway, after that level description. That¡¯s everything you need, right?¡± ¡°Actually,¡± Tulland said. ¡°I need one more person. But he won¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Brist. I¡¯ll probably need him to punch something.¡± ¡°Oh. Yes then.¡± White smiled. ¡°He won¡¯t mind at all.¡± ¡ª Each of the two sallies was harder to wait through than Tulland had imagined. Not so much for him, since he could hide out in his farm behind a tangle of Clubber Vines, or for defensive builds like Necia¡¯s. For lighter-weight builds, it was a harder thing. He watched Licht take a dozen near-miss shots that injured him without actually putting him in danger, and heard a few screams during each of the two attacks that later on turned out to be fatal. ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much. There were always going to be losses. It¡¯s not easy, but it¡¯s not your fault. Even if this doesn¡¯t go well, it¡¯s not your fault.¡± White patted Tulland on the shoulder reassuringly. ¡°We all chose this. How did you figure out this was even possible, anyway?¡± ¡°Something a teacher told me once. About the power of plants,¡± Tulland said. ¡°In the bonus dungeon?¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°I asked her about it too, but no. Even further back.¡± It had been a sunny day on Ouros, dead in the middle of what amounted to their summer, and Tulland had almost tripped over a tiny crack in the road. The main road that made a ring around the city was paved in parts by big, flat stones mortared together. The initial work was perfect, but over time various stones had dipped while others had raised, which made it a bit more uneven than they had started out. Tulland had tripped over a crack caused by none of that, or by weathering, or by temperature changes. Instead, it was a small flower that had pushed its way past the mortar towards sunlight, splitting the seal between the rocks as it grew. ¡°How does it do that?¡± Tulland had pointed to the plant. ¡°I can squish it down with my hand if I want, but it¡¯s strong enough to break stone?¡± ¡°Not quite stone, but yes. It¡¯s an understood thing, in the sense that it¡¯s been observed.¡± His tutor bent down to look at the plant. ¡°We don¡¯t really know how the plant does it, as you¡¯ve mentioned. And so we don¡¯t know how to stop it.¡± ¡°It just doesn¡¯t seem realistic to me.¡± Tulland pushed down on the plant again. ¡°I¡¯m stronger than the plant, but I couldn¡¯t break stone.¡± ¡°There are different kinds of strength. This one has been studied, and one of the things we do know about it is that this strength allows plants to grow in ways they otherwise couldn¡¯t, moving small objects out of the way of their roots as they search for better soil and water. It¡¯s something every plant has, to my knowledge. Part of their own strength, which as you¡¯ve noticed is an entirely different kind than ours.¡± In the bonus dungeon, his plant-master teacher hadn¡¯t understood this occurrence much better, except to note that it had something to do with the availability of water, since plants in a drought were worse at it. Here in the tower, he was relying on both of his teachers being right as well as a good, solid boost from his powers to accomplish something that should have been impossible. ¡°Is it working?¡± Necia looked towards the tower. ¡°I can¡¯t tell.¡± ¡°It might not be.¡± Tulland pumped another load of power towards the seeds, feeling them take it in even at a great distance. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long it should take. Do we have time?¡± ¡°A few more minutes.¡± Potter looked at the sun. ¡°Not more than that. After that, it becomes too much of a risk.¡± It was the last application of Primal Growth that did it. It wasn¡¯t a grand effect, and the wall didn¡¯t crumble. Instead, everyone was treated to a single loud cracking sound that reverberated through the forest, and no movement from the wall at all. ¡°Time to go?¡± Brist was chomping at the bit. ¡°I can hit that big rock?¡± ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t lose your way. Thanks, Brist.¡± Tulland clapped him on the back as White ordered their troops forward. In front of them, the wall was loaded with archers who were once again reduced to the normal range they should have always been able to fire. ¡°Don¡¯t die, all right?¡± ¡°None of your business if I do. I¡¯m a grown man, Tulland.¡± Brist whooped and sprinted forward. ¡°I¡¯ll see you on the other side!¡± The first volley of arrows should have turned Brist into a pincushion. He had a good ability to dodge incoming attacks and sky-high vitality, but even he couldn¡¯t deal with the concentrated attack of an equally leveled army. The fact that he was still alive was almost entirely a matter of bombardment, not from the castle walls but from the accumulated throwing arms of the safe zoners. Being leveled was a hell of a thing. Tulland couldn¡¯t throw well at all, since his combat skill was so centered around his weapon use. Almost everyone else could, from the ranged fighters down to the lowliest melee warrior class. And at very high levels, they could all throw much farther than they were supposed to. Necia had brought up that Tulland could only use so many plants, but that had only reminded him that some of his plants didn¡¯t need orders to work, or needed less than others and only at certain times. The moment he realized that, he started growing Achewoods, more than he had ever grown in one plot before, and attached Acheflower buds to them. By the end, he had produced hundreds and hundreds of Acheflowers and piled them up for the taking. Everyone had some, and as Tulland gave his first order to explode, there were hundreds of them in the air around the front of the castle, bursting until the air in front of the castle was a thick, irritating, and most importantly, opaque curtain of yellow. Under the cover, Brist still took several arrow shots to his arms and legs. It was nothing that could stop him. He weathered the damage, made it to the wall, and hit it with every bit of magic-enhanced, glowing, tripled force he could muster. Now was the time for grand, impressive changes. Buoyed upwards by the force of dozens and dozens of vines whose seeds Licht had planted the day before, the wall¡¯s mortar had cracked in several places, and was unable to deal with the incoming force of Brist¡¯s one big hit. A section of wall as wide as a street groaned horribly as it tilted backward, then dragged itself free of the greater wall before crumbling to the ground. Any initial attempts by the uncrushed enemies in the castle to come through the gap and surprise their assailants were met by a carpet of Clubber Vines not quite sufficient to kill but more than up to the task of delaying them for a split second. In that timeframe, they were hit by dozens more Acheflowers, all of which exploded in the small cavity and halted any progress outwards until Tulland¡¯s people got there. There were still casualties. A small-ish magic user whose class Tulland had never really understood was grounded by three unlucky arrows, all of which hit him randomly through the fog. A few others fell in the rush, either injured or dead. Tulland kept moving forward with the group, and yelled for the rest of the flowers they had to be thrown. Some went over the wall entirely, while others settled on the parapets. All blew up, giving them a few seconds of precious cover to breach the wall. When they were in, the greater part of the group went after the warriors on the ground while Licht led a combination of speedy ranged and quick melee fighters to the wall to take down the archers. After that, things got chaotic. Tulland stabbed out with his pitchfork, hardly ever finding targets through the yellow fog and hardly injuring them when he did. His Chimera Sleeves did a little better. Their instinctual way of fighting was even better than the Clubber Vines, killing and ripping through targets he couldn¡¯t even see. Once, a vine on his arm actually caused him to kill an enemy by attacking at it, pulling the weapon-arm it was attacked to a fraction to the left, and lining up a shot Tulland would never have made by himself. That¡¯s something. I wonder if I could train them to do that on purpose. Chapter 136: Fate Tulland didn¡¯t have time to contemplate the possibilities just then. He had long since lost Necia in all the randomness of battle around him, something he suspected bothered her much more than it did him. By himself, he finally gave his regeneration skill a run for its money as his farm tanked damage that would have otherwise put him down and healed him enough to keep moving for the duration of the fight. And then, when everything was at its most panicked and dire, a filthy, dirty hand came out from the cloud and clutched his pitchfork in place. Tulland, exhausted, gave a yank back to try to reclaim the weapon and found he couldn¡¯t. Whatever had his weapon was much stronger than he was. ¡°Whoa there, kid.¡± Brist moved close through the cloud of irritant, wiping his eyes. ¡°Just letting you know you can stop stabbing now. This stuff¡¯s pretty miserable to fight in, but even you must have noticed there¡¯s no one left.¡± Tulland looked left and right. Brist was correct. There were people all around laying on the ground healing from wounds, but no new dead bodies beyond piles and piles of dirt on the ground, marking where their soil-based predecessors had fallen. There was no question of whether or not he deserved it that time. Tulland was as unsurprised as everyone else when he took the highest overall reward for the level. This time, The Infinite seemed to have learned its lessons. Tulland walked away with tons of experience, one new enhancement to his soil bucket, and almost nothing else.
Tulland Lowstreet Class: Chaos Farmer LV. 85 Strength: 60 (+5) Agility: 60 (+5) Vitality: 60 (+10) Spirit: 110 (+5) Mind: 70 (+10) Force: 170 Skills: Primal Growth LV. 23, Produce Armament LV. 22, Market Wagon LV. 19 Passives: Broadcast LV. 20, Botanical Engineer LV. 21, Strong Back LV. 18, Fruits of the Field LV. 18, Farmer¡¯s Intuition LV. 20
Soil Bucket Plus (Farmer Class Item) This bucket fills with high quality soil three times per day. When not in use, the bucket can be stored with Market Wagon and does not count towards your total storage capacity. Being stored in this manner will not affect its refilling schedule, and the bucket will still replenish itself as normal. If the soil is not emptied by the next cycle, it will remain full but will not create more soil until emptied and the next regular filling time. This bucket has been enhanced to increase its soil production, and to slightly customize the soil produced to the needs of the plants you intend on using it for.
These were big increases, if not life-changing. Being able to produce three times as much good soil meant that his entire farm¡¯s soil quality was getting better by leaps and bounds. He gave a full two buckets to the Dark Steel Cedars. They weren¡¯t quite to the height he¡¯d need them to be to harvest yet, but they were close enough that it was almost a sure thing they¡¯d be done by the next day. He could almost taste it. In the meantime, he was being feted. Somehow, he didn¡¯t suspect anyone was thinking of him as the kid anymore. After coming in clutch in three successive floors, he was everyone¡¯s big hero, even if he himself didn¡¯t think that way. ¡°I think I have a good enough read on you now to know how you feel about how that floor went, and it¡¯s wrong.¡± White appeared to Tulland¡¯s side as he watched the party in the meeting place continue apace. ¡°And I can tell you how to tell, if you want.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Shoot.¡± Tulland said. ¡°I¡¯ll take it if it¡¯s any good.¡± ¡°You are thinking something like, I failed these men. I could have done more for them. A few of them died. But look around at the treasure they got, Tulland. Look at what prizes they brought home this time.¡± Tulland did as he was told. Some of the men were showing off the same old stuff, the new shiny boots or chest plate that would keep them scaling. The rest, though, had different kinds of things. They had magic flagons that produced alcohol, or special rations that were good for unlimited food for an entire day. Brist had even walked away with a small amount of meat, by his standards. It was a mountain by anyone else¡¯s, and had fed all of them until they were entirely full. ¡°That¡¯s them giving up. Not entirely, don¡¯t worry about that. Not one of them is going to stop helping you to the fullest until they fall. But the fact that they could get those prizes is both them and The Infinite acknowledging that they¡¯ve fallen behind the power curve. Their contributions to the next several floors will be a little less, but the group itself will dilute the lack of power. And then, on the next floor that requires them to go solo, they¡¯ll fall,¡± White explained. ¡°I don¡¯t understand how that¡¯s supposed to make me feel better.¡± ¡°Because knowing that, I want you to look at their faces.¡± Tulland did. They were smiling. Not fake, forced smiles they were putting on for show. They were beaming ear-to-ear. ¡°Neither you nor Necia ever faced death before coming in here, except to the extent she did when she jumped through that arch. But most of these people? Tulland, they faced it every day. Every day of their long lives. Nobody is left now who wasn¡¯t an old man before they came here, and not a one of them thought they¡¯d get this far. Including the few who fell on the last floor that you are telling yourself you couldn¡¯t save.¡± ¡°I kind of get it.¡± ¡°Then get it harder.¡± White smacked him softly on the back of his head. ¡°Most of these men are sending back a bounty greater than their world has ever got. Flat out. New records for just about all of them., if not all. Each one of them is getting exactly what they wanted, except you are giving them a little more of it. It¡¯s a good day, Tulland. Enjoy it.¡± He tried to. Necia had gotten levels and an upgrade to her shield that she couldn¡¯t adequately explain in language that Tulland understood, but had something to do with making her foes recoil from blocked strikes in a way they¡¯d like less. The prizes he had obtained were all especially good, especially as far as keeping ahead of the power curve went. Somehow, even with the explanation White had given him and what those prizes must have meant, he still had a horrible feeling. As soon as he politely could, he begged some time away and went to his farm, just sitting in the center of it with his plants and relaxing. Somewhere along the way, beyond just using his farm as a sort of safe room where he could rest while guarded by carnivorous plants, he had gained a bit of a peace just being in the garden itself. It calmed him in a way that other, more sure kinds of safety couldn¡¯t do. Before he left, he had told Necia what he was going to do and secured a promise from her that she¡¯d stay and enjoy the party for as long as she reasonably could. All alone, he laid on a bed of his own gentled plants, wondering why he didn¡¯t use the stronger of his vines as a hammock more often. You seem disturbed in a way I can¡¯t quite put a finger on. You don¡¯t have fingers. I have fingers. Really? By many definitions of really, I have fingers. For all that his genuinely decent friends had tried to make him feel better that day, they had failed. It was like all their comfort was building up against a dam that kept it from reaching where it needed to be to do its work. Now, that dam broke. It burst open and flooded him with relief so sudden it was ten whole minutes before Tulland was able to stop laughing and sobbing in the center of his farm. Are you calming down now? Yes. I¡¯m sorry, too. It¡¯s fine that you have fingers. It¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t expect you to. How could you? You¡¯ve never seen me. I doubt you even thought there was a me to see. I didn¡¯t. It makes sense, though. The Infinite is a System and I can see him. I hate to point it out, but you didn¡¯t answer my question before. About why you seem so disturbed. It¡¯s the rewards I got. Very good ones, I thought. Yeah, me too. Enough to carry me floors after this. So why don¡¯t I feel better? That seems like what I¡¯m asking you. Why don¡¯t you feel better? I think it¡¯s the idea that I¡¯m doing fine. It doesn¡¯t feel that way. All the data I¡¯ve seen suggests you are. ¡°I know it does, okay!¡± Tulland found himself thankful for his home¡¯s privacy screen, which would block any sound to the outside as he yelled despite himself. ¡°I know it does. It¡¯s just that, somehow, it doesn¡¯t feel that way. It¡¯s like I can tell everything is grinding to a halt for all of us. That all of us are coming to the end of our journey in this tower. And there¡¯s nothing I can do about it. Absolutely, positively nothing.¡± There would be no way for you to know that. Tulland checked with his gut on that statement. Logically, the System was right. There were no indicators out there that this was so, no screens from The Infinite hinting at doom. But he could feel the end closing in, either way. He hadn¡¯t thought about it much, but back on Ouros he had the same feeling without the dread. When the System told him he was heading to a new place to do new, exciting things, he knew it was true. There isn¡¯t. But it¡¯s true anyway. Chapter 137: Dark Steel Cedar The next day, Tulland decided to distract himself by experimenting. ¡°I think this is going to work best if you hit me when I fail. So it¡¯s as close to a real fight as possible.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t gotta ask me twice, kid.¡± Brist flexed his big meat-paws at Tulland. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting to find a way to pay you back since you had me hit that wall.¡± ¡°In a good way, or a bad way?¡± ¡°Both.¡± Tulland smiled and stepped back, his Chimera Sleeves wrapped around his arms like monkey tails. Normally, they¡¯d be up by his wrists, giving them the most advantage from his reach as they tried to club at his enemies. Right now, he had them further back, wrapped around his biceps. ¡°Don¡¯t let me hit you, okay?¡± Tulland warned. ¡°I¡¯m going to do all straight thrusts. If you know what¡¯s coming, you should be able to get out of the way, right?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Then here I come.¡± The pitchfork shot forward at high speed, aiming directly for where Brist¡¯s chest would have been if the superior fighter didn¡¯t twist out of the way at the last second. Normally, this is where Tulland would be out of position and he¡¯d have to get tricky. Actually beating Brist at his own game was so far beyond Tulland, he couldn¡¯t imagine a universe where he¡¯d land a shot Brist knew was coming. This time, he was trying something different. As the pitchfork flew into empty space, Tulland tried to get the Chimera Sleeve to do on purpose what it had accidentally done the other day, adjusting his aim for him to make the near-miss into a full hit. The vine came down hard on Tulland¡¯s elbow, pushing his whole arm to the side. To some extent, it worked. Tulland watched the blow line up exactly with Brist¡¯s moving form before overshooting the fighter entirely, leaving his entire left-hand side exposed to what was possibly the most painful slap to the ribs Tulland had ever felt. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you close your fist?¡± Tulland wasn¡¯t damaged, exactly, so much as the bit of flesh Brist had touched was burning with unholy pain. ¡°Why would you slap?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t do as much damage, and it hurts more.¡± Brist looked at his own red palm, which hadn¡¯t walked away from the impact unscathed. ¡°Do you want to learn this thing quick, or not?¡± ¡°Quick. Fine. Keep slapping.¡± Tulland rubbed his wrist. ¡°Just know that if this works, I¡¯m going to stab you so hard you never forget the wrath of the farmer.¡± There turned out to be very little risk of that. The older man was not only fast, but also much more competent at physical melee than Tulland on his best day. This was not Tulland¡¯s best day. The Chimera Sleeves were trying. They really were. They just didn¡¯t have the fine coordination necessary to make what he was trying to do work. The best Tulland could make them do was a full-force slap to change his strike¡¯s direction, and when they did anything else, the amount of force was almost completely random. They managed to accidentally correct his aim once or twice, but it was nowhere near consistent enough to rely on. ¡°You want to keep doing this, kid?¡± Brist looked at Tulland, who was mostly handprints by now and scowling harder and harder with each failed attempt. ¡°Not that I mind hitting you, but even I¡¯m starting to feel bad.¡± ¡°I think that¡¯s enough of that. They just can¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°Did it a couple of times.¡± Brist cracked his neck. ¡°Even if it¡¯s accidental, you could keep it in your back pocket for when you don¡¯t have any other choices.¡± ¡°Pretty grim situation if that¡¯s my best bet.¡± ¡°Hey, we all roll the dice sometimes. You do what you can do. Nobody can ask more.¡± They spent another hour trying out another idea Brist had, something along the lines of letting the vines slap into the back of Tulland¡¯s elbows to make his hits that much stronger. The same kind of problems kept it from working. First, Brist had explained that it shouldn¡¯t work at all. The vines should have had to push about as hard as they pulled, which should have neutralized almost any power they added to the mix. Some subtle System thing was keeping them from following that rule to the letter, but it meant any power they added was diminished. Second, they just sucked at it. Tulland couldn¡¯t blame it all on them, but they weren¡¯t great at what he was trying to do. It was another hundred or so slaps before Brist got truly guilty, told Tulland he didn¡¯t feel right about beating him up anymore, and sent him on his way. Still, Tulland was smiling. The same sixth sense that had been telling him he was headed towards the end of the vague era he was living in was in an even higher gear now, telling him he was onto something. What exactly he was on to he had no good guesses for, but there was something in the way his farmer¡¯s sense and fighting skills had worked that just felt uninspired. Like the usual rivers of insight and growth he could tap into had dried up. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Now more than ever, he wanted to figure out that last little bit of cheating and break out of the little, appropriate allotted space The Infinite was trying to keep him in. But he wouldn¡¯t get there today. He had other things to work on, and he had put them off long enough. Necia saw him coming and came out with a hopeful look on her face, only to shrug as Tulland shook his head no and told her he hadn¡¯t figured things out yet. After that, she slapped some food in his hands, shooed him towards his farm, and told him not to come back out until he finished his next project. She¡¯d wait for him. Truly a better thing that you deserve, in this place. I understand why you worry. It does make my job a little harder. However I save myself, I have to save her too. Or none of it¡¯s worth it. Harder, yes. Maybe less than you¡¯d think. If you find some crack in the way things have always functioned large enough to sneak out, it might not be much harder to take her with you. Or it might be the hardest thing in the universe. That too. Tulland sighed and pulled out his scythe. For harvesting purposes, it didn¡¯t really work as normal anymore. Any of his conventional plants, if told to cooperate, would let it pass through them like a razor, with almost no resistance at all. As he approached the Dark Steel Cedar, he hoped it would be as easy. The description of the thing had changed to indicate it probably wouldn¡¯t.
Dark Steel Cedar Named after a mythical tree famed for its appealing scent, the Dark Steel Cedar is a powerful evolution of the Ironbranch tree. Having returned to that ancestor of the Giant¡¯s Toe and combining it with a long-forgotten fragment of metallic beast carried through the floors by a fellow adventurer, you have created a truly durable plant entirely of the System and bent entirely to the task of stopping attacks. Stubborn and supernaturally tough, the Dark Steel Cedar resists all attempts to cut it, smash it, or otherwise change its shape. The only exception to this rule is granted to the master of the tree, who can carve it as easily with a conventional knife as he might whittle a plain, non-system stick. This particular tree has been guided towards concepts of toughness by repeated applications of your intent. It is now so durable that the conventional-knife language above may not apply as the tree struggles to work against its own nature. Defensive equipment made from this tree, even if made poorly, will be above-average quality compared to what you have worn in the past.
Tulland¡¯s first task was assessing if the wood gave him any different vibes through his Farmer¡¯s Intuition and Produce Armament than it did while it was still small. It didn¡¯t. He could sense that using it as a handle on his pitchfork was a good idea in general, since the main thing there was making sure it wouldn¡¯t break. The offensive skills weren¡¯t really all that excited about that compared to the prospect of using it as armor, though. This stuff wanted to be armor. It wanted to go over important things and make sure they didn¡¯t break. It wanted to get hit by things and win. Tulland started the process of letting it do that. Chopping down the tree turned to be surprisingly hard. He cut into the bark then got stopped flat, unable to use the wedge of the scythe to push any further through the wood. He took to sawing, which took forever. An hour later, Tulland had a squat, five foot tall tree that needed to be split into useful-sized pieces. He had no illusions about doing this in an efficient way, instead hacking and levering with his hoe until he had several big chunks. Then things got harder. Carving with the belt knife Necia had given him worked, but it worked slowly. The advantage of this was that it forced him to work incredibly thoughtfully, holding the armor up to each piece of his body as he carved out the space he¡¯d need to occupy it and move in it. Once it was carved, he had leg guards, arm guards, a helmet that covered everything but the area around his eyes, and a skirted chest plate that came down past his waist to cover everything before his thighs. It was heavy. There was no mistaking that, even without the armor on. He needed a durable way to keep it on while he was wearing it, which came in the form of using briar spikes to secure big sheets of Wolfwood to the outside of every segment, with strips of the same hanging off to be slipped through slots in the opposing armor piece, lacing them shut like a pair of boots. He couldn¡¯t figure out boots at all, and he didn¡¯t try to build a pair of gloves. His Farmer¡¯s Gloves were still doing their job, and with fighting vines on his arms at all times, his hands had never proved to be all that much of a weak spot. Getting the armor on was surprisingly easy. The Wolfwood slipped into place, Tulland tied it off, absorbed the remainder of the chunks of wood and chips lying around the farm into his farmer¡¯s tool, then sat down to let the notifications roll in.
Farmer¡¯s Tool Handle Reaches Top Tier! The handle of your farmer¡¯s tool prefers a wood material, and with the addition of the Dark Steel Cedar it has achieved the theoretical maximum of material quality as concerns the weapon¡¯s effect on your fighting skills. The exceptional weight-to-toughness ratio of the wood means that while other materials might be lighter and some others might be tougher, there is no likely scenario in which you further improve the overall quality of the handle.