Having her eyes flash brightly and Mia’s following silence before commenting on the luck surrounding Brad, he was quick to answer.“What happened? Did your skill break?” Brad asked worriedly.
“It definitely broke the standard procedure of evolving, but it did not break in a bad way. It just evolved in an unexpected direction.” Mia laughed out.
“What do you mean? What happened? Did you get a trait boost like Rumble?”
“Yes I did actually. It is not unheard of, but trait boosts are usually only given when the individual does something extraordinary while leveling the skill.” Mia explained.
“Oh, then why wasn’t it expected?” Brad asked.
Now it was Mia’s time to be confused. “What do you mean by that? Why would it have been expected?” Mia questioned.
“Because you evolved it within your first season! You have been, by your own words, appraising everything you can find in town, along with everything we sell…. Which is quite a bit, let me remind you.” Brad told her casually. “How many merchants can also claim that they are already aiming to be a mass producer of an epic plant? Mia, you have been doing just as an extraordinary job as Rumble has. If anyone is behind, it is me personally. I just luck out because Rumble levels both my classes quite effectively.” Brad half joked.
“Thanks for the words, but do not be so hard on yourself! Remember, you are the one that chose the combination that you did. Sure, a lot of your leveling is passive at this point, but that was due to your own judgement setting it up that way!” Mia affectionately reminded him.
“Well, I better get back to supper or else we won’t be eating until way past our bedtime.” Brad reminded himself aloud.
“Before you go….” Mia said grabbing Brad’s arm and pulling him down for a quick kiss. “I really appreciate you giving me the compliments, sometimes I forget to recognize my own efforts.”
With a smile on his face Brad said, “Well if that is the reward, I might need to do it more often!”
Giving Mia a wink, Brad stood back up and went back to cooking.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
~~~A few days later~~~
“Brad! I just realized that I will hit copper this season in Farmer too! I have not been checking my progress much due to how consistent it is on upgrading, but the upgraded fields along with our epic peacebloom plants must have really boosted my progress! I should just barely squeeze in my evolution.” Mia was telling her boyfriend excitedly, not quite helping herself from hopping in joy before finally jumping at Brad for a hug.
Now embracing Mia, Brad gave her a kiss. “That will make both of us Copper our first season. I still can’t believe that others don’t do it until their second year.”
“Oh, quite a few actually do it their second and third seasons, but almost no one buys the upgraded plots until the second year due to low funds and the added difficulty for just one person by themselves.” Mia explained.
“Oh, I thought you had said different before.”
“I possibly could have. I might have simply misspoke.” Mia said apologetically.
“Meh, it doesn’t really matter. Well, let me check my progress real quick.” Brad said pulling up his own status menu.
“It says that I am at ninety nine percent, so I should level up today sometime. To be honest, I am kinda nervous. Like, what should I pick? I don’t even know what options I will get! Will I get a trait increase for farming? I mean, I probably will, but it still is bugging me.”
“You most certainly will, bountiful harvest is intricately tied to Rumble’s achievements and that is not even mentioning the fact that it has applied to both of our planted seeds! You are even boosting a small plot with a few epic plants growing in it! I think you will be just fine…honey.”
Brad slowly turned to look at Mia with a raised eyebrow accompanied with a short pause before softly asking, “Honey?”
Face now burning red, Mia couldn’t quite look up to meet Brad’s gaze before squeaking out, “I heard a few other couples call each other it and I thought that it was cute. If you do not like it, we can just use each others names!” Mia finished quickly.
“Hahaha!” Brad laughed, while pulling Mia into a firm embrace before pulling back his head to peck her forehead before continuing while staring into her eyes. “Mia, I’m perfectly fine with it, but don’t call me honey just because other people call their boyfriends it. If anything, I’d rather have our own names for each other instead of something that everyone calls their partner.”
“So what do you want me to call you?” Mia asked, now staring up to look Brad in the eyes, her own eyes sparkling brightly.
“Honestly, it is up to you. If you think ‘Honey’ fits, then it will do. Just go with whatever you want. Personally, I think I will call you ‘Bunny’ because of your cute little ears and the fact that you are always sorting vegetables.” Brad finished laughing.
“Hmph!” Mia harrumphed in mock outrage, before kissing Brad’s cheek adding, “It is kind of cute though. I will let it slide, but you better not be lying about the ‘cute’ part! As for you… you are now ‘puppy’.”
“Okay… why puppy? Is it because I am the most loyal and cute boyfriend ever?”
“Of course not! It is because you always follow me around listening to my orders! Just like a good puppy should!” Mia teased.
Brad pushing her away in mock outrage, turned and went back to the fields.
“Where are you going? Puppy, come back!” Mia said jogging to catch up.
“This puppy has to swap things up sometimes, I don’t want to be too obedient… my bunny might get spoiled!” Brad joked.
“Bunnies are meant to be spoiled!!!” Mia emphatically urged her boyfriend.