The hut Malia and Simon--and now you--live would not be fit deemed for human living on [Earth]. You think back to the simple pleasures of toilets, running water, and light switches with a longing you did not ever expect to experience. You won't even be greedy and ask for computers, the internet, or mobile phones, just a gas stove would be a luxury. Hell, even a lighter or matches.

Alas, there's none of that. Instead, you spend every day walking over fields of vegetables and either watering them, pruning them, fertilizing them, or harvesting them. Out of the bunch, only one activity is preferable to the others: harvesting. And the reason is not because the work is more pleasant, but because only when harvesting do you get any Mana. This way, you've accumulated 1,083 Mana. You have not found a way to spend it yet, but somehow it makes you feel better to have it. It makes you feel like you're progressing, even though you feel profoundly stuck.

Since reaching level 5, none of the harvesting activities have given you any EXP. You need 200 EXP to reach level 6, and to gain access to class evolutions, you need to reach level 10. Yet, your character sheet still reads,

[Class: [Human, level 5]. EXP: 0/200]

You've also made barely any progress on advancing your quest:

[Quest: Speak to someone (3/100)]

The three were Malia, Simon, and--yourself, embarrassingly enough. Apparently, that counted, not that it got you far ahead. You had never been an extrovert, and speaking to a hundred people had seemed rather overwhelming. But despite this; the lack of progress feels terrible. You barely wonder what the quest reward would be, just the fact that there is a clearly defined goal, a direction, is reassuring. Just like not progressing towards it ia unnerving.

Malia and you struck a tacit truce. She doesn't speak to you much, nor you to her, but she hasn't clobbered you with any kitchen utensils since that first time, so that's progress. Simon is quiet and friendly and hard to rattle. At first, he had asked you questions about where you are from, your dreams, and your story; but when you answered only in vague nothings or not at all, he eventually stopped and instead talks of himself now, relating his own experiences and observations in a calm, unobtrusive way.

The days tend to follow the same rhythm: Simon is the first to wake, at what would have been around 4 o'clock in the morning by [Earth] standards. He gets up and goes to feed the three goats, two sheep and bunch of chickens that live around the back of the cottage in a little enclosure. He also fetched the eggs and milks the goat. Next, Malia would get up. She goes to room that is generously given the name "kitchen", even though the only feature reminiscent of an Earthen kitchen are the counters and a shelf holding clay pots full of pickled vegetables. There is no stove; the only fire to cook with is lit in front of the hut on days when the weather permits it. If only you had paid more attention when watching Primitive Technologies; a kiln would be just the type of luxury that you are now in need of.

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Unsurprisingly, you're the last to wake up, and normally you sleep on the straw in your corner right up until Simon shakes you awake for breakfast. Which, you have to admit, is generally a lot more successful than the bite of raw cabbage you experimented with on your first morning. It has to be said that Malia is a good cook, or she would be, if she had access to more ways to actually cook. As it stands, she pickles, she boils, she bakes in hot coals--and that's it. The fact that you aren't yet completely fed up with every conceivable combination of carrot and cabbage is a true testament to her culinary art.

And yet, even less surprisingly, you find yourself longing for something more, and not just in regards to edibles. You've established that this hut is System-knows how many miles from any human settlement, and visitors are few and far between. The fields that Simon and Malia tend are mostly to the south of the hut, and whenever you've casually tried to find out about the surroundings, the only directions that are ever discussed are the South, East and West. Neither Malia nor Simon ever mention anything about the North. You didn't notice this immediately, but as time wears on, you become more and more aware of the complete blank that exists to the North.

You know that Ltan is the next village, located in the South-West. In the South-East, about twice the distance to Ltan, you can find Rumm. It's no bigger than Ltan, but people there are richer. And finally, if you go South from Rumm, another two days on foot, you'll reach Altram, which would have dwarved New York if you heard only Simon speak of it. Malia corrected his enthusiasm frequently, putting into perspective his grandiose descriptions.

"Bigger than anything you've ever seen," Simon would say.

"Around a thousand people live there," Malia clarifies.

When Simon gushes, "The temple is as wide as the horizon and reaches all the way into the clouds!" Malia amends, "It's five times as wide as the big barley field, and the peak of the tower disappears from view when the clouds hang low."

She never directly countermands him and never disagrees, but you end up feeling like you would have an extremely skewed opinion of the world you've landed in if it were not for her gentle corrections. Both of them are clearly very fond of each other, and when you catch them smiling at each other, you often find yourself reminded of the loved ones you were forced to leave behind in another life.

For the first time in a long time, you wonder how they are faring. How much time might have passed back home?