As soon as he left the capsule a new idea struck him
‘Wait a minute. I can plant the damn thing in a suitable rock, and then find a way to carry it. I've got plenty seeds that I can take anyway. Dammit why didn't I think of this sooner. It’s just like when I hand in a test and realize I screwed up something I knew. At least I can go back again here.’
So he went right back into the capsule, logged on and planted rockvine on almost a dozen big rocks. ‘Juuust in case.’
Because he was sure the plants were growing, he went to sleep more easily and set the alarm 4 hours later.
When he got up he was groggy and unhappy about being worked so hard, but decided to grit his teeth and finish what he started. He searched the game’s forums for almost an hour before giving up. The only players moving big and heavy objects were builder types, and they always had magic or manpower or machinery to help them. He had none of that.
‘The internet in general should have something right?’ Martin began worrying.
So he did a quick search, and the first result had what he was looking for. It was an old video of a man balancing a giant concrete block on a tiny stone.
‘This is it! Yes!’ Though this method used tools he did not have, he could still improvise.
Dwyn logged in and took care of the maintenance of his little garden. The small pool had turned into a muddy part of the garden, but luckily the underwater plants survived long enough for him to refill it all. Then he got to the nearest boulder where he planted the rockvine. The rock was as tall as his chest, and at least twice as wide as him. There was no way to put it in his inventory because of the rockvine. When he tried earlier, he got the message
Living beings cannot be put inside the inventory
The distance it had to be moved was a few hundred meters. After he moved it past some bushes and a large mud storage house he could see the nearly complete garden.
The boulder wasn't even remotely smooth, and had plenty of places he could grab onto, but to start moving it, he would need to get some planks under it.
‘I can’t let it fall on the side where the rockvine is sprouting since that would kill it and I don't have time to plant another. Its just one thing after another with this game.’ He furrowed his brows.
Dwyn took one of the planks from his inventory and placed it right next to the boulder and tried to lift it onto that plank. After six tries he took a short cursing break, and the locals wandered over to say “Hi”. They were used to him by now. Dwyn chose to ignore them and got another plank that he tried to use as a lever to lift the boulder. He could only do it using both hands, so he had to shove the plank that was lying on the floor under the boulder using his foot. Then, once he had finally lifted the big boulder, he slipped and fell with his foot still under it.
“AAAAAAAA”
- 40 hp. Your foot is injured, seek help.
He had started cursing so loud that all of the wood elves nearby chose to avoid him. They thought he was just angry again, and so he had no one to heal him. He did manage to get the boulder onto a plank, though he had to drag his bloodied foot out of it. Turns out beginner rags don’t offer much protection against giant boulders.
It dawned on him now how helpless he was. He wasn't able to heal himself and he could barely deal with a big rock himself. He understood that he was very much dependent on the help of society, even in a game. After his initial supply of horrible bread ran out, Paeral gave him food. Now that he was hurt, he couldn't deal with it alone. He also had no real way of surviving in the wilderness.
‘Once this test is over, I’ll have to figure out how to survive on my own.’
He was determined not to waste the effort he made so far and slowly twisted the boulder onto the middle of the plank. It was not easy to do this with a crushed foot he couldn't really put his weight on, and so he had to put his weight on it several times. It always caused him to grit his teeth in pain and loose 2 or 3 health points from bleeding.
With the boulder on the plank, he would have an easier time getting it to his garden. It stood in the center of the plank and there was almost a meter of wood on each side of it sticking out. Luckily for him, the plank itself was tilted to one side, so he didn't have to do that himself. He placed a small rock in front of the lower-end side of the plank. To move the whole thing he had to push down on the lifted part of the plank, and when he had the whole thing in horizontal balance, twist it slowly so that the other end of the plank landed on the small rock she placed earlier.
This way, lifting and twisting it from one small rock to another, he could move it with relatively little strength and a lot of time. If he hadn't injured himself, it would have been easy, or maybe tedious. As he was he had to hop around the thing on one foot all the time to switch sides, and when he was moving it he put both his feet down and bared the pain. It was a better choice than having the boulder possibly fall off the plank.
Along the way he got these messages:
Created stat Endurance!
Endurance +1
Strength +1
With slightly less than 30% health left he made it to the garden. After hopping away to get some more water for it, he positioned the boulder, and only needed to remove the plank from below it to finish his garden. Dwyn leaned on the boulder panting and sweating from the work.
‘Now I just need to put this boulder here without damaging the rest of these plants... How the hell am I supposed to do that?’
Remembering the video did not help, as the guy in the video was using a lever attached to the top of the rock, and not a plank below.
‘That would have been less exhausting. If I put it at the edge of the garden, it won’t bother any of the others, but I can’t get it there like I did till now without squashing a few plants with the plank.’
It took him another 15 minutes until he remembered pirates. ‘I’ve got it! I just have to make it “walk the plank”. Though it’ll just be me pushing it off one end.’
With that in mind he put everything into place, and started slowly twisting and shoving the boulder into place.
~Nrggg, hah hah~ ‘Just a bit more. Can’t feel my right leg anymore’ ~inhale Nrgg haaaa~ ‘Stupid sweat in my eyes’ He wobbled and he shook, and he pushed the boulder into place.
Strength +1
Endurance +1
You have completed a mediocre small garden
‘Your mother’s mediocre’
You can now change your class to gardener. If you accept it, you can use exclusive skills related to the nature of the class. Do you want to convert now?
“Yes! Finally...”
Class changed to gardener
Gained skills
Plant identification and study
Green thumb
Cross breading
Camouflage
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“Wait I didn't mean that “Yes”...~hah~ never mind”
“Show stats”
[quart=Character name,Alignment]Dwyn,Chaotic neutral[/quart][quart=Race,Level]Wood elf,1[/quart][quart=Profession,Title]Gardener,none[/quart][quart=Health,Mana]139,182[/quart][quart=Strength,Agility]16,16[/quart][quart=Vitality,Endurance]13,7[/quart][quart=Wisdom,Intelligence]16,16[/quart][quart=Luck,Art]5,15[/quart][quart=Nature affinity,Sadism]15,7[/quart]
Stat Window
Fame
0
Leadership
5
Resistances
Nature resistannce
10%
Art stat + 10
Nature affinity +10
Enables you to equip certain items specialized for this class
Enables you to learn certain crafting and exploring skills to master levels
Enables you to learn to communicate with all beings close to nature and tame certain ones
Grants extra effects to items made from plants you've grown yourself
+5 points to all stats
Increases fame and gives other bonuses by creating gardens of great artistic or practical value
Stats increase by 15% in gardens and an additional 25% in your own gardens
Enables you to learn secret skills based on your nature affinity and green thumb skill level
Limited to light weapons and armor
Combat skills are limited to intermediate levels
‘Woah, that’s a lot to take in all of a sudden....Shit! No normal fighting eh.’ Dwyn was feeling down even though he succeeded because he wouldn't be able to have any fun adventures this way.
‘Why the hell would I buy a game just to help others play it. This punishment is a bit too much. I mean, I didn't even cause all that much trouble. They will pay for this. They’ll all pay.’ He decided he would have hos revenge.
“What’s with the grim look boy, I saw the garden, you've succeeded right?” Paeral asked startling Dwyn out of his schemes.
‘Shit! Act meek, act meek...’
“I’m just tired, that’s all.” then he tried to step towards her, and noticed his numb foot again. “Also I’ve hurt my foot. Do you know where I can get this checked at?”
“What’s that? How on earth did you manage....never mind, I don't want to know. Here, let me help you with that.” and with that said, she put both her hands, one over the other, on his foot. She chanted something and a bright lime light glowed over her hands as she slowly healed his foot.
“How did you do that?” Dwyn asked once she was done. “I thought only clerics could heal.”
“Nonsense boy, all those closely related to life can heal, clerics merely borrow the expert help of the divines to do it more quickly. They are also more common because of their effectiveness.” Paeral explained and got up.
“Will I be able to do it too?” Dwyn asked quickly before she could change the subject.
“Well, if you raise the nature affinity enough, you can get the life affinity stat. That can effect all life related forms of magic.”
“Magic?” Dwyn thought for a moment ‘there was no mention of magic limitations in the class.’
“Yes, magic. Most advanced gardeners can use some magic, though most of it is related to gardening, or much weaker than what normal magicians can do.”
Now he was getting really interested “Are there lots of advanced gardeners? How can I raise...”
“No. And no more questions. You have gotten the class from me and I do not have to teach you any more. Now, go to the village hall and leave me alone!” With that she stalked off to her small home
He stood there for a while watching her slowly shrinking back before the thought hit him
‘....oh yeah, need to check my skills too’
“Show all skills info”
Sabotage Beginner lv. 1 30%
Allows you to sabotage simple devices and structures you fully understand.
As you gain proficiency, you will be able to sabotage more complex things, and your precision with sabotaging will increase.
Activate the skill by holding something and saying “sabotage”
Plant identification and study Beginner lv. 1
Allows for easy identification of only plants
Studying plants will give more info that will be permanently effective
As you gain proficiency you will be able to learn more without experimentation
Hold or point to plant and say “identify” to activate
Green thumb Beginner lv. 1
Helps speed the growth of plants and increases their size and potency
Allows longer time for seed life in inventory
Increases in potency with greater nature affinity
Passive ability
Cross breading Beginner lv. 1
Enables use of pollen form one plant on pistil of another
Camouflage Beginner lv. 1
Notice highlighted in-garden hiding spots upon saying “Camouflage”
‘Shit. How is any of this magic, and camouflage works only in gardens. Talk about useless.’
‘I’ll go to the village hall some other time’
“Log off”