This was just what I needed.

A quick workout after a night sleep. There sure was nothing else that could rid me of my shaky hands other than working with my body.

After the workout, I took my usual after-workout shower. It began with warm water, forcing my skin to turn red. Halfway through the shower, I switched to cold water. Real cold water, that made my whole body shake. Just how I like it!

My morning was perfect so far, nothing out of the ordinary!

I poured some milk into a bowl full of gray... whatever it was?

I never reflected on that until I ate some of those delicious meals that Anima provided!

Of course, I thought of the fact that we ate mushed, grey goo for our meals. But I never felt weird about it.

My spoon poked the bowl of goo and milk.

'Did I lose my appetite?' I thought.

I stared at the goo with a frown.

Did I long for the taste that the game provided?

No, I don't think so.

I tried my best to compare this meal with the meal I had in the game. Yes, the taste was completely different, but I don't think that's why I'm in a bad mood!

I shook my head, no!

There is no point in spending any more time hesitating. I raised my spoon and scooped up a piece of my breakfast. The rest was purely on reflex.

Soon, only the bowl and the spoon remained. I burped, my belly was pleased.

I looked out my window, wondering if I would see any cool people walk by.

But the streets were pretty empty, my neighbors didn't usually leave their homes this early unless they had an errand to attend.

I thought back on yesterday, how Toby and I talked for hours, how we reached for the stars.

Why can't I feel like that right now?

I turned my thoughts into actions and entered my game capsule. The lid closed and the world went dark.

A very familiar, bassy voice welcomed me.

"Hello, Rune!"

"I'd like to play some Anima!" I said.

"Certainly," The bassy voice answered.

Colors entered my vision as the darkness got replaced by light.

I was back in Anima, close to the bonfire I logged out at. The villagers were all lively, walking back and forth in a hurry.

"Much livelier than home," I sighed.

A familiar hand grabbed my shoulder.

"Good morning!" Toby said.

I removed his hand as I turned around.

"It's not just a good morning, it's a great one!" I told him.

"Have you had anything to eat? We got a lot of work to do, and you'll need a full stomach for that!" He said with a hearty smile.

His grin reached from one end of his face, straight to the other.

I nodded. "Yes, I've eaten!"

He made a quick motion with his hand while he turned around. I strung along, and we walked towards the village gate.

But what met me wasn't the wooden fence that I walked through yesterday, no!

There was a great stone wall with a wooden gate standing tall. Though the gate was the only finished part, I could see the foundation of what would soon be a finished stone wall running both left and right.

"I'm amazed, how did you all make this in just the matter of a few hours!?" I said as my jaw hit the ground.

"I know what you mean, we sure are working quick today. But seeing what you did for us yesterday, all the villagers are working extra hard to complete this wall. We've realized what we need to do if we want to turn this small excuse of a harbor into a mighty city someday, and that is precisely this!" Toby told me.

His eyes shone as he proudly spoke about what some of the locals had done.

One woman named Karla had worked the stone fragments into fine stone-bricks almost twice as fast as he had done. She was so efficient, Agda had given her the role to teach others how to do it right.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

I looked around, and as I saw how everyone else worked with so much passion, my body trembled. In a good way!

I wanted to dive right in, smooth the edges, and help them turn their vision into reality.

A stone fragment sat on the ground, staring at me. It begged me to come to pick it up and make a nice work out of it.

I reached for it, but as I did, Agda interrupted me.

"Hey Rune, I understand that you want to help us right now, but you leave the wall building to us and we'll look for something you are more suited to do." She said.

There was no smile on her face, but her joyful tone made me feel welcomed.

I stopped my motion and walked up to her.

"Yes?" I asked her.

"You see, all this stone is of great value to us. But we will need a lot more stone if we want this village to flourish." She began.

I nodded, as I wondered where she was going with this.

"We'd like you to lead us to where you got them and help us mine there." She said.

Her voice slightly changed. At first, I could tell she was happy. But for some reason, as she asked me about helping them, she seemed sad.

"No problem!" I said.

"Just tell me when you are ready to go" I continued.

Toby clapped his hands together. "I'll get right to it!" He said as he turned around and rushed off.

Soon, a group of people came walking with Toby in the front. They all looked very similar to Agda, with snouts for noses.

They had backpacks, each with a pickaxe hanging from the sides!

"Lead the way!" Toby said.

"Off we go!" I laughed, as I walked out the wooden gate.

We passed through the valley with ease. The oxen stared at us as they chewed on some grass.

Some oxen lied on their sides, stiff.

"Don't worry about them, they're just sleeping!" Toby assured me.

We left the valley and reached the tunnel I came from.

"This is where you came from?" A man asked.

I nodded.

"Yes, though I found him beneath Ford!" Toby laughed.

"Ford!?" Some of the pig-people exclaimed.

They all knew Ford, and they wouldn't dare walking up close to Ford without the cattle keepers being with them.

We entered the tunnel and the villagers lit torches behind me. Immediately, the tunnel walls started shimmering.

Sparkling, even!

Toby drew in some air with his mouth wide open.

"This isn't just copper, Rune, This is iron!" He yelled as he skipped to the wall. He touched it with flat hands, looking it up and down.

"How did you find this tunnel?" A woman asked me.

"Find?" I asked.

"No way!" A pig-man called Oscar gasped.

Toby turned his gaze from the wall and looked straight at me.

"You made this tunnel yourself?" He asked. His expression turned slightly dark.

I nodded. "This is where I got all the stone from."

"And nobody helped you, you were alone?" He asked.

"Yes!" I assured him.

* The villagers of Sea-Bird Harbor has determined that this is your tunnel

* You now own this tunnel

* Would you like to name it?

'Yes,' I quickly thought.

[The system has a name suggestion for you]

* Would you like to name this tunnel [ Autumn's Passage ]

[Accept/Decline]

I stared at the screen in front of me. Sweat escaped my skin and poured down my face and my neck.

"You seem troubled, friend!" Oscar said.

"Ugh, yes. I was wondering something." I replied.

The group of villagers formed a half-circle in front of me.

"How about we call this tunnel [Autumn's passage] I said."

Their pig-like faces lit up, as did Toby's.

"That is a perfect name!" Someone said.

"It fits, yes it fits!" Another one cheered.

I looked at Toby.

His face, deep in thought, told me that he took my suggestion seriously.

Then his expression softened, as he looked me in the eyes.

"Yes, that name is a good match," Toby said.

[ Autumn's Passage is now yours ]

*Be warned, your tunnel is filled with precious metals.

*With a little more work, your tunnel can become a mine.

*You have gained 1+ in all stats for your honest work

"Where does the tunnel lead to?" Toby asked me

"A place called Farmland Forest" I replied.

His face filled with thought again.

"I'll need to discuss this with Agda, you show the others how to properly mine and I'll be back in a few hours." He told me as he immediately turned his heels and walked out of the tunnel.

"Open inventory," I said as I pulled out my pickaxe and immediately started hacking on the stone wall.

The villagers looked at me, studied my every movement while doing so.

They quickly figured out that I wasn't much of a talker, nor the most understanding person, so any question they had, they asked each other.

Soon, they too hacked at the wall in a beautiful rhythm.

I hit first, and they followed shortly after.

What had been a tunnel wall was now a new section, as I practically dived through the mountain. The pig-men and women weren't half as efficient as me, but I barely noticed it.

'Right now, there is only me and you' I thought as I started humming together with the sweet music created by metal hitting stone. Two hours went by, and the villagers ate lunch while I continued mining my way through.

Without realizing it, I had been digging in a slight angle downwards, and as I carved my way down, the tunnel floor got steeper and steeper. The voices of the villagers died down and I continued. My pickaxe and I.

I raised my pickaxe high, creating a glow, and let it fall to the tunnel wall. But this time, There was no ore waving at me. No, this time, The wall crumbled like it did when I entered the valley.

Though it was pitch-black seconds ago, a bluish light entered from below. I could hear the sound of water rumbling, and below me, water clashed against stone walls as droplets hit my face.

Though it felt refreshing, my heart started pounding. I leaned forward, trying to catch at least a glimpse of what was going on down there, to see where the light came from.

Then, the ground I was standing on crumbled and I fell straight down into the water.

Water, slightly cold, enveloped me and pushed me forwards.

My eyes adapted to being underwater, and the origin of the blue light became clear to me.

Light-blue moss grew underwater, and plenty of it! I grabbed some and let it string along.

My air was running out, but I couldn't swim upwards. My body was too heavy!

I tried grabbing some rocky edges, and at first, I did not succeed.

After a few attempts, I managed to get a firm grasp.

I pulled myself upwards and my head crossed the surface.

I breathed in the air and held on to whatever I could for dear life.

Something hit me, and I lost the grip of the rock.

The underground river held me in its grasp as I continued floating away.

I tried my best to see what it was that had hit me, but whatever it was, it wasn't in the water.

The sound of rumbling water got louder and louder, as my air got closer to running out.

Suddenly, I was in freefall. The water? Not so heavy.

I could breathe air again. And in front of me, between streams of water falling, I think I saw... A mushroom house?

Once again I crashed into the water, creating a big ripple effect in the pond-like environment I found myself in.

Something attached itself to my clothes and pulled me towards the mushroom house I had seen above the surface.

I close my eyes, too stressed to bother reacting to anything anymore.

When a voice woke my drained mind.

"A surface-dweller!?"