by Noah Layton
Cost: Free
Benefits: Provides tools and resources to begin harvesting crops
I hit Construct, and a moment later a small shed erupted from the ground over a flattened patch of grass.
‘One left,’ I said. ‘What can you tell me about the other options?’
‘The Building Totem allows you to create structures upon your land. Stables allows you to create and improve resources that care for any animals. Storage allows you to create space to safely store items. Defence allows you to create weapons and other resources that will help you to defend your tribe.’
It was all pretty self-explanatory, but I could only pick one out of the four.
‘How likely is it that we could be attacked?’
‘I could not say, master. There are other tribes out there, but my knowledge is limited.’
‘That doesn’t exactly fill me with comfort.’
I felt the outline of my gun in my flight suit.
13 rounds. I was a decent shot, but if I ran out of bullets what the hell was I going to do? Throw water in their faces?
I moved to the Defence Totem and touched the miniature marble sword atop it.
Construct blacksmiths
Cost: Free
Benefits: Provides means to construct weapons and defensive resources
I selected it, and before me the largest structure yet appeared, around twenty yards from where I stood. It was a small building composed of stone bricks, with its door standing open.
With Alorion in tow I headed to it and went inside. Equipment was neatly arranged inside – an anvil, several hammers, a smelters pot, smelting equipment and a pickaxe.
‘Wow… When it said weapons it meant actual weapons, huh?’
I placed my hand on the anvil. Another menu appeared before me, listing the weapons that I could currently craft.
Basic longsword
Basic shortsword
Basic shield
Basic axe
Basic bow
Basic arrows
A longsword sounded good to me. I tapped the option, but a red X flashed over it, and another box appeared.
Unable to craft. Requires 2x Iron Bars, 1x Leather Hide 1x Wood Block
‘Iron bars and leather hide. Where can I find that?’
‘Likely at one of the trading posts, or out in the wilds. As I mentioned, the untamed wilds of Agraria bare an abundance of materials.’
‘Untamed?’
‘Indeed. There are much more dangerous things than enemy tribes that lurk out in the jungle. Beasts and creatures call it home, and a lack of proper preparation will surely spell death.’
‘Which means I’ll need to head to a trading post first, and if that’s the case I need something that I can actually trade with.’
I exited the blacksmiths and looked about the land that I now controlled. The answer was obvious – it was all around me.
I set off for the Harvesting shed.
Chapter Two
Inside the Harvesting shed were several items; a sickle, a hoe, a shovel, a worn pair of work gloves, a stove, a cooking pan, a stack of stone plates, flint and tinder, and some rocks for starting and containing a fire.
I pulled on the gloves and picked up a sickle, heading to the edge of the field with it grasped in my hand.
Alorion climbed to the top of the shed and looked down at me.
‘Any advice?’
‘Cut from the bottom.’
I had never farmed anything in my life, and while my body was used to hard work, I could only imagine how exhausting farming by hand could be. The sickle felt too light in my hand – would it really be strong enough to do this?
I swept out at the bottom of the closest corn stems, hoping that the force I had applied would be enough to take it down.
It was more than enough – way more than enough.
The blade swept easily through three stems, felling them into the dried dirt.
‘Woah!’ I exclaimed, stepping back. ‘… It worked. It really worked.’
I looked at Alorion and laughed nervously, before looking back to the field and smiling. It went down easily, like it would when pressing a button in a video game. It was unnaturally easy.
For the next fifteen minutes I swept through the corn in crouching swipes, taking down hundreds of stalks as I pushed onwards through the land. By the time I reached the edge of the land I controlled I was beaded with sweat and panting hard.
Looking back at the line I had carved through the field towards the tree, I couldn’t help but feel that I had really accomplished something.
Now how the hell do I gather all of this up, never mind carry it?
‘The whole point of this was gathering corn to sell for things I need, right?’ I said, returning to the tree and addressing Alorion. ‘So how am I supposed to move it all to an actual vendor?’
‘Your inventory,’ Alorion said, nodding over my shoulder.
The first stem of corn had a small blue light hanging over it. I picked it up and another window opened.
Store in inventory
I tapped the button, and the corn disappeared into thin air.
Another window opened before me, showing a grid of fifty boxes. The corn sat in the first on the top-left. As I picked up a second and tapped the store button again, the corn again disappeared. My inventory rewarded me with a x2.
I returned along the trail and rapidly collected up the corn. It stored in stacks of 10, and by the time I reached the edge of the field I had 45 stacks.
That was just from this section.
I returned to the tree, climbed halfway up the staircase and looked out over the lands. Half of the land may have been covered by waist-high grass, but the other half was filled with corn. If I was going to sell all of this then I would have to find a way to transport it.
For now I would ditch what I had.
‘Is there a way to increase my inventory space?’ I said, returning to Alorion.
‘Already thinking big, are we?’ He smiled. ‘I knew you would be an ambitious master from the moment I saw you.’
‘Is that before or after you screamed and headbutted me?’
‘Fantastic!’ Alorion laughed hysterically. ‘A brilliant joke, if I may say so, master.’
‘Again, call me Jack.’
‘Jack, of course. You can create bags to hold more resources on your person, but this pales in comparison to a steed and a cart. Forming a caravan is really the only way to transport heavy amounts of goods.’
‘Which means I need to unlock the other totems, and I do that by…?’
‘Spending gold.’
‘Gold?’ I smiled, heading to the nearest totem. ‘Talk about pay-to-win. Where do I type my credit card number?’
I laughed lightly at my own joke. Alorion just stared back at me blankly.
I checked all three of the remaining totems. None could now be constructed for free, just as Alorion had said; at each, I was greeted by a new message.
Stables – Unlock for 10 GP
Building – Unlock for 15 GP
Storage – Unlock for 20 GP
‘Where exactly is this trading post you mentioned?’
***
After drinking down a little more water, we left the land via a path that Alorion showed me through the trees. Despite the denseness of the jungle, the path was wide enough for us to walk side by side – the weirdest duo in history.
‘How far away is this place?’ I asked.
‘Two miles. It is a neutral zone, so we shouldn’t run into any trouble… Not there, at least.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Creatures and beasts of all kinds lurk in the wilds. We do not know who or what may confront us.’
‘Well,’ I said, checking my handgun, ‘hopefully we should be able to handle it.’
‘Indeed… So, tell me something about yourself, Jack.’
I looked down at Alorion as he hurried along next to me.
‘What? We
’re actually doing this?’
‘Doing what?’
‘The whole getting-to-know-each-other thing?’
‘There’s no need to be rude about it, Jack.’ Alorion’s eyes went wide and he clasped his hands to his mouth, ‘I apologise, that was deeply rude of me. I shall never take that tone of voice with you again.’
‘Let’s get one thing straight,’ I said. ‘You’re not my servant. You don’t have to worry about me exacting wrath on you, or something. You can just talk to me like a normal person.’
‘I don’t think that’s possible Jack. It is a concept that is completely foreign to me.’
‘It’s that difficult? What, did you have the idea beaten into you or something?’
‘Essentially, yes.’
‘Seriously?’
‘For the most part. We imps are confined to advisory roles for our entire lives. It is our sole purpose.’
‘So that’s what you are – an imp.’
‘Indeed. All masters possess an imp to act as their servant and advisor.’
‘Got it. So what was this Marlo guy like with you?’
Alorion looked around the forest edgily.
‘What is it?’
‘I’m just checking that he isn’t around.’
‘I thought he was dead.’
‘He is, but one can never be too careful.’
‘You’re that scared of him?’
‘He was… Extremely unpleasant to me by the end. He would mock and mistreat me daily, even going so far as to beat me when I was the only one left in the tribe. My memory of things is patchy, though…’
‘He beat you? He sounds like an asshole.’
‘He did lose his mind.’
‘That’s not an excuse. You’re totally loyal and he goes kicking the shit out of you.’
‘Well… I suppose you have a point. He was something of a villain.’
‘You can do better than that.’
‘All right, he was… A bit of an asshole.’
‘Better.’
‘And a bully. A self-absorbed, narcissistic prick.’
‘What els-’
‘A great big INSOLENT STUPID MOTHERFUCKER!!!’
Alorion yelled the words out to the forest so loud that I heard his voice crack.
A group of yellow birds exploded from a tree overhead, cawing as they flew into the sky.
‘Woah,’ I said quietly. ‘Glad we got that out of the way.’
‘Sorry, Jack.’
‘You’ve got nothing to apologise for. Hopefully I’ll do a better job.’
‘Indeed… So what about you?’
‘Me? Uhh… There isn’t much to tell, actually. Mom died when I was little, Dad did a good job of raising me but he was always working so that he could afford to look after me. As a result he was never around, and seeing that we lived in the Catskills I spent a lot of my time exploring.’
‘The Cat-skills?’
‘They’re mountains, uhh… Back where I come from. It’s a beautiful place. Here actually reminds me of it a little.’
After saying it out loud, it only served to reignite the thought that this may have been the afterlife. What if it appeared differently for every person? What if this place was my own personal underworld?
But then why would I get saddled with a talking imp of all things?
I shook my head of the thought. For all his chatting, Alorion seemed like a pretty good guy that I could trust, but I would have to wait and see from this point on.
‘Anyway,’ I continued, ‘I worked a few random jobs across the state before biting the bullet and enlisting in the military. Had decent enough test scores to get me onto a flight program. Got brought in to test jets, which are, like… Flying machines. That’s pretty much all I do now, and it’s not even full-time, just a few days a week.’
‘You possess machines in your world that can fly?’
‘We have a lot of things in my world, but you seem to have a lot of things that we don’t, either.’
We continued along the trail without a hiccup to my surprise; ever since Alorion had had his little outburst I had been paranoid that we had awoken a nearby predator.
The trading post was a hive of activity that was carved into a large clearing in the jungle. Alorion had led me along a series of winding paths that gave onto other paths until we reached it, which put my mind at ease regarding our land being stumbled upon by anybody seeking to cause trouble. I myself could hardly remember the way back.
A central post sat in the centre, seemingly the only organised part of the place. The rest was scattered with stalls and hagglers, sellers and customers, all bartering with each other over different items and resources.
But they weren’t just people. Creatures and beings that I had only ever seen in movies and read about in books were here; centaurs, goblins and fairies just to name a few.
‘I’ve seen some weird shit in my life,’ I said. ‘But this… This takes the cake.’
‘You do not have these beings in your world?’
‘We have human beings, but that’s pretty much it.’
‘My, you have more to learn than I thought. Anyway, we cannot remain long here. I fear your inexperience may be noticed by more than a few patrons. This way.’
I followed Alorion through the crowds of people, eventually arriving at a stall manned by an eight-foot tall human.
Well, I should say humanoid. His body was that of a man, but his head belonged to a bull.
I tried not to stare, instead looking past him at the plethora of horses and carts stacked with crops in huge quantities behind his stall.
‘Okay…’ I started, guessing that I would have to speak simply for this minotaur-thing to understand me. ‘I would like to sell 45 stacks of corn, good sir. What price can you offer me?’
The minotaur inhaled deeply through his huge, flared nostrils and turned to the side, spitting into the dirt.
‘You don’t need to speak to me like I’m an idiot,’ he said with perfect enunciation. ‘I may look like a scary son-of-a-bitch, and you’d be right, but that doesn’t mean I’m a dumbass.’
‘Right… Sorry.’
‘And it’s 1GP per stack.’
I turned to Alorion. ‘Is that good?’
‘It is for the time being.’
‘Deal,’ I said.
The minotaur presented a hand to shake. I did so reluctantly and a window appeared before me, presenting the offer. I accepted and watched the corn vanish. A gold counter ticked up at the bottom of my inventory, and the trade was complete.
‘That was easy enough,’ I said to Alorion as we stepped away.
‘Like I said, little violence at the outposts. So, what would you like to purchase?’
I had 45GP on hand, 10 of which I would need to save for unlocking the Stables back at our land.
Storage and Buildings could wait. Right now weapons and defence was my priority.
From a vendor run by a heavily bearded dwarf I purchased four iron bars, which ran for 3GP each. With a little persuasion I managed to bring the total price down to 10GP. A centaur at another stall supplied me with four units of leather hide for 5GP, as well as four blocks of wood for 3 GP.
‘Not bad,’ I said to Alorion as we wandered through the market. ‘I’ve got everything I need, enough gold left to build the stables, and even after that I’ve still got 17 gold pieces left. What else is there to buy around here?’
‘There are a myriad items beyond the simple categories of resources and weapons,’ he replied. ‘Some vendors deal in stranger and rarer objects, as well as the more mundane.’
As the sun began to sink, a thought suddenly struck me.
‘Jesus, I’m such an idiot. Where the hell am I supposed to sleep tonight?’
‘The treehouse is your home, Jack.’
‘I know that, but hardwood floors don’t exactly look appealing.’
‘A bed, then. Follow me.’
On the far side of the market was a larg
e tent, far larger than any of the stalls or stacks of supplies in the area.
At the door stood a huge, seven-foot-tall goblin clad in a shoddy excuse for a tailored suit. He looked Alorion and I up and down before grunting and stepping aside.
I pushed through a makeshift door and emerged into a large, dimly lit space filled to the brim with random objects and items.
‘And what can I do for you gentlemen?’
I turned in the direction of the voice, finding myself confronted with a shorter but much more intelligent looking goblin. A pair of glasses were perched on his long, green nose, his wide ears twitching as he straightened his suit and eyed me perceptively through only one of his eyes – the other was permanently closed, courtesy of a huge scar that ran down one side of his face. I couldn’t help but feel that it made the glasses a little pointless.
‘I’m just browsing,’ I said, getting used to his appearance, although the sight of the various creatures and humanoids outside had pretty much desensitised me by this point.
‘Fair enough, fair enough,’ he said, holding up his hands innocently. ‘Phineas Cobb, head of the Juggernaut Tribe.’ The goblin offered out a hand to shake, although I hesitated in response. ‘Do not fret, sir. We are a private people with no interest in violence, but with every interest in coin.’
‘Right,’ I smiled reservedly, taking his hand and shaking it. ‘Jack Hawthorne. Head of the Orakin Tribe.’
‘The Orakin Tribe,’ he repeated. ‘Never heard of them, but a pleasure to meet you all the same. Just tell me if there’s anything specific that you’re looking for.’
Maybe I should have felt a pang of shame over the fact that he hadn’t heard of my tribe, but right now I was fine with that. I didn’t want anyone to know where my land was located. I would have preferred it if nobody knew that I even existed.
I knew exactly what I was looking for, but his salesman demeanour was enough to make me hesitate.
He turned to go.
‘A bed,’ I said. ‘If you have one. Or anything that can be slept on.’
‘Absolutely,’ he said, his gravelly voice swelling with faux-enthusiasm. I followed him along a temporary path through the piles of objects until we stopped at a single bed with a surprisingly clean mattress.
He presented it with a wave of his hand.
‘Will this do?’
‘Looks like it will to me,’ I said. ‘How much?’
