Martin was surprised when he went to virtual school next time. A pair of siblings obviously from India had joined it. They were excited about learning in virtual reality so they went and introduced themselves to the only other boy here. He made it clear that he considered everyone and everything beneath him, ruining their enthusiasm, so they went and tried to introduce themselves to Martin hoping for better luck. Martin himself was suspicious, as usual.
“Hello there” The Indian girl with a thick accent started “Me and my brother here have just joined this class today and we were hoping to make friends. My name is Kalyana and my brother’s name is Narayan. Nice to meet you”
“I’m Martin Busby, and I see you’ve met the ‘Frenchie’. Nice to meet you” ‘Doesn’t hurt to be polite I guess.’ They were both tan, and had an obvious Indian accent. They also shared their height of 170 cm and brown hair color. He had dark green eyes unlike his sisters pale ones.
“So Martin, how does this class work” Asked Narayan.
“Pretty much like any other class, except there’s only four of us… oh also there is a video record of everything you do here, so no cheating, pranks, bullying, or anything like that.”
“Oh, I see.” Kalyana said “When we came to this class we thought it would be filled with people playing RoyalRoad, so that we could build up our guild”
“You’re part of a guild. What’s that like?” Martin was suddenly a lot more interested in them.
“Well, we’re only going to start playing in a bit under tow weeks from now, but we are totally making our own guild. Would you like to join it Martin?” Asked Narayan
“Uh, I guess. By the way I’m a wood elf in the game. Where are you two starting?”
“Anywhere” Kalyana said “so long as we are together. We haven’t decided on the exact spot yet. It all looks so exciting”
“We’re getting capsules later next week.” Narayan said “We’ll decide by then.”
“But you’re in virtual reality now. How do you not have them already?” Martin asked
“There is a library our parents signed us into, and they allow public use of capsules for anything related to learning.” Narayan said “This includes movies and classes like this.”
“So, what kind of guild did you two have in mind?”
“Well we saw videos of guild wars,” Narayan said “and thought it would be cool if we could have our own castles and fortresses, or maybe ships, and an island base where we could build awesome stuff”
“That does sound cool, but do you two know how you’re going to do that?”
They both started talking at the same time, a bit to him and a bit to each other of various half-baked plans. ‘So they have no idea, huh’ Martin thought ‘At least they have a goal, unlike me. I should find a goal. Probably something a gardener could do. Dammit.’
“Hey! Martin! Are you listening?” Kalyana asked
“Oh, right, sorry. It’s just that some of those plans have holes in them, and I was thinking how to fix them.” He lied without missing a beat.
“And?” Narayan asked “Did you figure anything out?”
“Well, no. It’s not that easy.”
“We can figure it out later,” Kalyana said “for now Martin, would you like to play with us once we get the game?”
“It would be cool to be in a guild like that, but I don’t know if I can be of any use.”
“Why?” They unanimously asked.
“Because… of my class. I’m stuck with a gardener class…”
The siblings were stunned. “I didn’t know you could get stuck with a class you don’t want in royal road.” Narayan said with an expression full of pity.
Kalyana however was determined no one gets left behind. “That doesn’t matter. It’s just another crafting class. You may not be able to fight with us, but of course we’ll accept you into our guild… once we make one, I mean” and Narayan was quick to agree once she looked fiercely at him, like she was willing to spill blood over the matter.
Martin was surprised they accepted him like that. Though he probably had no benefit to them, Kalyana seemed ready to fight for him, and Narayan to follow her lead. The classes then started so they could not talk too much and afterwards they said their goodbyes
****
Back in the game he went to the village council to see the elf that passed judgment on him. When their eyes met, he beckoned Dwyn over to his table and started talking, while still looking over some scroll-like documents.
“Ah, Dwyn, there you are.” He said “Paeral already told me of your success and mentioned she forgot to give you this journal.” He pointed to a brown leather untitled book.
“It’s supposedly a book for your plant discoveries, experiments or some such stuff.”
Dwyn grabbed the book and put it in his inventory
Empty Journal
Will fill up as you learn about and experience your profession
“Now, your job here will last two weeks of working regardless of how long a break you take like you freedmen tend to.” He was looking at Dwyn directly this time “During your work, you will be delivering manure to all of the farms, and don’t get any cute ideas this time. Your other duty will be to help out at the fields however you can and however you’re told to by the farmers. This is why we’ve had you learn gardening, after all. Soire here” he said as he pointed to a guard that had crept up behind Dwyn “will show you how to get started, as your first shift will be with him. That will be all”
Reparaions
Quest level E
To repay and undo the damage done to Leway villagers, you are ordered to perform manure duty and miscellaneous help at various farms for a period of two weeks
Quest failure: Prison time, or banishment from elven lands and Infamy.
Quest success: Improved relations with villagers.
Dismissed with a wave, Dwyn followed the guard Soire topside where the good houses were. During the whole speech he did his best to remain civil and appear attentive to the quest while actually trying to read the scrolls that were upside down to him. The cursive text didn’t make it any easier either, but he did manage to read something about a caravan delivery and capital.
‘Don’t know if I can use that caravan, but maybe I could get that sneaking skill I’ve heard about and read some more.’
He was still scheming when the guard interrupted him.
“Aaight, listen kid. We go to the storage shack first and pick up a manure cart. See these tracks along the side? You’ll be pushing the cart on ‘em next to all of the houses to pick up their droppings. Since that thing can get heavy when full it’s not uncommon to take a break, just don’t do it while leaving the cart next to one of the houses. The elves inside complain about the smell, and it’s our asses that get in trouble. You followin’ this kid?”
“Yep, shove a cart along the tracks, collect poop and take breaks away from houses.”
“That’s it, good. It was rainin´ yesterday so they’ll be full of rain water. Mixed wit’ dried out droppins´, it’s not gonna smell nice. I’m gonna wait here while you empty one and push it here.”
“What? How and where do I empty it? And isn´t the storage room locked?”
“Nah, there’s only the carts in there, and some random rubbish nobody wants to steal. An just pour it over the side. The room’s made to let it flow down without sprayin´ anyone.”
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“Right” Dwyn said and left to do his job. The carts were full, and smelled disgusting, but he managed to tilt one and pour the foul liquid down while staying dry. When he came out the guard Soire asked. “You didn’t just pour one out did ya?”
“Well, yeah. Why?”
“You can´t just leave em like that, the smell would never go away. Empty the rest an I´ll wait ere.”
‘Lazy bastard, making me do all his work. I’m going to remember you too Soire. In fact you might make a good scapegoat.’
He was not as fortunate with the rest of the carts because his strength was low and after losing some stamina he splashed himself with some of the brown water.
‘Daamn you Soire’
The guard showed Dwyn how to collect the manure after that. They were essentially the sewage system for the upper houses. Shoving the crap cart along the rails on the upper village walkways Dwyn thought that this only works because wood elves have high nature affinity. Naturally all of the hoveling and pushing the cart was left to him, the guard only helped once they had to lower the cart down. Until then he noticed Dwyn’s movements were stiff like with someone exerting self control to such a degree for the first time, so he thought it wise to calm him with remarks like:
“Doing disgusting stuff builds character. Wouldn’t want people to think you’re a pansy, would ya kid?”
“.....Nope....”
After a short period of silence he tried again. “You should get used to dealing with manure now that you have this chance, after all, gardeners use manure all the time. Right kid?”
...twitch...“Right...”
After the first cart was full, he thought he could finally relax, and maybe bathe. The smell was stuck to his hands and clothes.
“Nice job kid, for your first try that is” Soire slapped Dwyn’s back so hard he almost threw him on the floor “Once we get this down and then two more, we’ll be done for the day up here.”
‘What, more? Are you mad?’ What he said was “What do you mean up here? And why two more?”
“Well kid, rules say daily quota’s three a day and you’re supposed to work with the farmers. You’d think this sort of work would be something laborers do, but there’s a lack of able bodied elves so we guards have to do it. It really helps that we get someone like you here kid. You’re all right in my book”
Familiarity raised with guard soire
‘Big whoop’
“Let’s just get this over with” Dwyn said
“Hah, that’s the spirit” Soire said and slapped Dwyn on the back again “Ha ha ha ha”
‘What is wrong with him? ...must have been too much shit duty.’
Str+1
Thoroughly exhausted and disgusted with the mornings duty, he went down to ground level to shove the crap carts around various farms, as directed by farmers and shoveled crap everywhere. At one point the exhaustion got to him to such a point that he went berserk (not a game caused condition) with his shit shoveling and started laughing like a maniac . A few swift plow blows to the head from a frightened elf farmer later, he calmed down and managed to finish by late afternoon.
+1 endurance
+1 sustenance
The only breaks he took were meal breaks. He got crusty dry bread and baked potatoes with trace amounts of salt from whoever made meals for the guards.
The farmers told him that if he did not work faster, he would not have time to help with farming which meant no growth for the green thumb skill, and possible problems with his quest. To avoid those, Dwyn decided to fill up the crap carts during the night, and when he explained his reasoning to one of the guards in the village hall, he got an “OK”. His real motive was learning the sneak skill and revenge. After looking it up on the internet, he found out that to get the sneak skill you have to move silently, unseen and unnoticed by anyone for several hours. The better he did, the shorter he would have to try. So Dwyn sneakily picked up the shit during the night like some lunatic grinch. He shoveled it into his cart without making a sound. Whenever he heard footsteps, he hid into the shadows leaving the cart behind. After two or three hours of such sneaky night work he got the skill.
Sneaking beginner lv.1
You make 5% less sound while moving when skill is active
You are 5% harder to notice when skill is active
He continued working the same way so that he could raise his skill level, and got it almost to level two before he was done. After taking a real world break, it was morning and he lowered the carts down and delivered poo to the lands. Due to being finished far earlier he could help with the farming work, so his green thumb skill leveled to beginner 3 that day (number of different plants helped quick growth)
Each of the farms grew different foods. One farm had olive trees and berry bushes that when identified gave the info.
Dark olives tree - food plant
info: better grows in dry land, overabundant number of branches should be pruned for more olives to grow, has thick branches and leaves, grows up to 5 meters, pests include birds, bugs, small rodents...
Spicy berries bush - food plant
info: grows best in shade by bigger trees, easily flammable fruit, has bright green leaves and purple red fruit (berries). Does not need much water, but needs plenty of fertilizer for bigger berries. Pests include small rodents and fire element creatures.
Most of the foods were common like potatoes, corn and sugar cane, but even those increased his skill levels. Everything from cutting extra branches, to watering the plants increased his green thumb skill. His plant identification and study skill grew as well during the farming, but no one let him crossbreed any of their prized produce, and the camouflage skill only worked in his small garden.
Plant identification and study went to beginner level 6, as did sneaking, green thumb went to beginner level 4, close to 5 and camouflage went to level 2 (he really had to try find time for it). All of the identified information about individual plant types went into his journal, and as he leveled up his skill and got more information, the journal got updated.
He had also managed to figure out that for something to be considered a garden he, or another gardener, had to have a hand in arranging it. This gave him the idea on how to have his revenge before leaving the village for good. He only noticed that a few days before his work was supposed to end, so he had to level his camouflage quickly.