Infinite Farmer

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."

—

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.

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.

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.

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."

—

"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.

"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.

"Waves? What in the hell is a wave?" Read latest chapters at empire

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…

…that it won't be long. Pay attention, Tulland. Here they come.