*Whump*

Yin had never been one for manual labor, or at the very least it had never been something she needed to do, but despite the heat of the sun, the rivers of sweat running down her body, and the aches from muscles she didn't know she had, working in Demeter's field was, overall, a somewhat relaxing experience.

The work was tiring, but the sound of the stone hoe in her hands striking the dirt had become almost meditative after the last few hours. The scent of the freshly turned dirt was also more pleasant than she had expected. She never really knew what an 'earthy' aroma was supposed to smell like, but she realized now that there really wasn't anything else like it. She began to wonder if she would consider taking up gardening as a hobby if they ever get out of New Eden Online.

'When,' she corrected herself, 'when we get out of here. Although, I would also need to wake from my comatose status in addition to escaping this virtual prison,' she realized. Hoping to distract herself from more depressing topics, Yin began thinking about what she would even grow in the real world.

'It would have to be something small. As wonderful as the idea of fresh produce sounds it wouldn't be feasible considering our metropolitan home. I suppose I could just grow flowers but...no. I already had- have, several things taking up time in my schedule, anything else I do should be at least somewhat practical. Perhaps I should grow an herb of some kind? Mother was always fond of using shiso...'

As Yin worked while lost in her thoughts, tilling the ground, placing a few seeds every so often, and covering them before repeating the process. At one point Soze and Yang stopped by to tell her they finally got some answers out of Loran and that the Workshop was making progress on the metalworking process. She asked the two if they would like to help with the field, but declined and said they wanted to plan for tonight's Pit Meeting.

Minutes turned to hours, and soon enough the sun was beginning to slip behind the mountains. Stretching her back and wiping the sweat from her brow, Yin looked out across the expansive area before her.

Demeter's field had been expanding rapidly thanks to the support of the rest of the players. Every day the tilled land was expanding by thousands, if not tens of thousands of square feet. The amount of work they could do was limited due to their tools and player numbers, but their enhanced stats certainly made it easier.

'If only inhuman physical abilities could solve all of our problems,' she thought.

Even now, after having tilled nearly all of the land outside of the village, from the walls to the treeline in every direction, it wouldn't be enough to feed everyone.

According to Demeter, who had worked out the numbers with Aman and a few of the more mathematically minded players, they would need to triple, if not quadruple the existing farmland.

Turning around, Yin saw a handful of builders chopping down and carrying off trees to be used across the river. At this point, before they could continue farming they would need to start clearing out more trees. Fortunately, with the builders still working on the expansion on the other side of the river, a tremendous amount of lumber was going to be needed, and the camp always needed more wood for tools or cooking.

Unfortunately, the whole process was going to take time, time that they may not have depending on how New Eden Online handled the changing of seasons.

So far the temperature seemed to remain mostly unchanged, perhaps getting slightly warmer, but if the seasons of this world were the same as in reality then fall couldn't be too far away, and winter would soon follow. Hunting could become difficult if it were to snow, and foraging may very well become impossible.

'...There is no point in dwelling on it,' she decided. Resting her stone hoe on her shoulder, Yin made her way back to the village, eager to wash the sweat from her body and fill her stomach after a long day at work.

~~~~~

Feeling refreshed, Yin made her way to The Pit with a large bowl of hot squirrel stew. She hadn't known how to feel about eating such cute creatures, especially back when their only cooking method had been to roast them over a fire, but the stew had quickly become a personal favorite of hers. Oden had always been a comfort food for her in reality, and while this certainly wasn't the same it still gave her that same warm feeling.

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'It's a shame that Aman doesn't make it more often.'

The sun was now completely hidden by the mountains and, if the partial darkness of the sky was anything to go by, it was getting close to true nightfall. When she arrived at The Pit the area was beginning to fill up. It likely wouldn't be packed, with not much happening over the last week attendance had been declining, but it did seem like there would be more people than usual tonight.

After searching for a minute, Yin was able to find Loran, Soze, and Yang sitting near the front. Barely a second after she saw them, Yang turned to look straight at her before smiling and waving her over. As she approached she heard Loran and Soze discussing something.

"I can't imagine he'll be happy about that," Loran said.

"Do you think that'll be a problem?"

"Not really. Zed's been proving himself to be more reliable than you would think. He'll probably whine about it and demand he gets a new weapon first, but at this point I can't imagine him causing trouble over this."

"Why would Zed be causing difficulties?" Yin asked as she sat down.

"Apparently Zed had gotten pretty attached to the big sword thing that Loran brought back and Rika is going to break it to make tools," Yang explained succinctly.

"He got two from defeating the Soldier ant and doesn't really need both, but they're easily the best weapons we've seen since the game started and he was doing really well with them."

"Whatever, he can complain all he wants as long as he doesn't hurt anyone," Soze said dismissively.

"Agreed, I'm just saying we should probably ask Rika to prepare something for him anyway," Loran said. "It was his reward after all."

It had been something of an unspoken rule that, with some exceptions for things like food, players owned what they earned. When shelters were being built the player that planned to claim it could ask for help but always contributed, and many players still had a collection of bones and pelts from their first couple of kills before the Workshop was needed for storage space.

The Soldier Blade was unique and necessary enough that it needed to be given to the Workshop, but that didn't change the fact that it still more or less belonged to Zed.

"Perhaps Rika could use the other blade to make Zed a new spear," Yang suggested. "You did say he broke his other one right?"

"Yup, the thing snapped in two when it collided with the Soldier ant." Loran looked off into space contemplatively. "Honestly turning the other blade into a spear should be pretty easy, I guess it just depends on how well they can tie it to a stick."

"...That may just be the most simple minded description of a spear I've ever heard."

Loran shrugged, wincing slightly as he moved his arm.

"Are you okay?" Soze asked. "Is your arm acting up again?"

"Not exactly. I ran into a Hell Pig on my way back."

"Wait, what?"

"Why didn't you say anything until now?"

Loran shrugged again, more mindful of his arm this time. "I spent most of the day sleeping. When would I have had time to tell you guys anything?"

"Maybe earlier when we asked you about the Soldier Blade?" Yang suggested.

"You guys were only asking about the blade and I just wanted to sleep." Loran's expression soured for a moment. "Also, I believe you mean when you interrogated me."

"It's basically the same thing," Soze said with a slight grin.

"I was strung up by my ankles, it is NOT the same thing!"

Yin was confused and curious as Yang and Soze laughed at Loran's distress. "There wasn't any mention of you returning with any kills, so what happened to the assailant?" She assumed the situation wasn't too bad since Loran wasn't pressing the issue any further, so she turned the conversation back toward the fight he hadn't mentioned.

"They ran away."

"I'm sorry what? Since when do Hell Pigs run away?"

"Normally they don't, but this one has a track record for it."

Soze's expression hardened. "What do you mean?"

"Remember when I went on my first solo hunt and you chewed me out for it? One of the pigs from that pack ran when the fight was over. The one I ran into yesterday was the same pig."

"No fucking way," Yang said, more in shock than disbelief.

Yin knew Loran wasn't one to make absurd claims, but the situation was astonishing. "You're certain it is the same beast?

"I didn't recognize it at first but yeah. The thing had two scars around its right eye," he traced his own face for emphasis, "the exact same scars that I gave to the other pig before it ran the first time. On top of that, this thing didn't behave like a normal Hell Pig."

Loran then began to describe the Hell Pig's oddities in greater detail. Its abnormally high STR and bulging muscles, its greater intelligence and 'ready to be named' status, and most of all its strange fixation on Loran.

Soze leaned back as Loran finished talking. "Yeah, if it was just the unique abilities I might not believe it, but if it really was that fixated on you and had the same scars then that's a bit too much of a coincidence."

"So what do we do?"

"Honestly, I don't think there's much we can do," Loran said. "It's just one Hell Pig out of thousands, it's not like we can really go out of our way to hunt it down."

"Indeed. All that can be done at this moment is ensure that everyone else has had ample warning about this beast's abilities so that they treat it with due caution."

"We might not even need to," Yang said, smirking at Loran. "By the sound of it that thing only has eyes for you, it may decide the rest of us are too much trouble."

"It's still better to play it safe," Soze said. "The last thing we need is someone getting ambushed after a hard fight."

The four stopped talking as they realized that the usual chatter was dying down. The Pit Meeting was beginning.