I tried to reply through the link again, but it was dead.

I worked the dummy off and on for a couple hours from there—off, mostly, as I was pretty much dead on my feet—then had the Constructor strip my armor away, as well as the sword I’d been using. I’d managed to accrue a second bonus point in strength, which felt pretty good, but came at a much steeper price than the first.

I splashed into the pond to cool off, and a little icon caught my eye. I scoped it out and generated a pair of long prompts.

Pond Upgrade: Populate.

Cost: 100 coins.

Benefit: Enlarges the pond and stocks it with a fish type of your choice.

Choices: Perch, croaker, bass, catfish.

Pond Upgrade: Temperature Module.

Benefit: Allows you to alter the temperature of your pond.

Cost: 500 coins.

Temperature range: 35 Fahrenheit to 105 Fahrenheit.

Selecting this upgrade will disable the Populate I upgrade.

I guess that upgrade restriction made sense; heating and cooling the pool like that would probably kill off all the fish. But damn, hot water to bathe in? That probably felt amazing.

I went ahead and paid the hundred coins to populate the pond with perch and another drone buzzed down out of the sky and dropped a sack of fish into the water. Another prompt, then.

Pond enlargement will occur while you are away from your Personal Estate.

That was a little bit of a bummer, really; I’d been hoping to see how exactly they’d pull that off. I spawned a cook pot next for fifty coins, which was delivered by yet another drone, and had it set down a couple feet away from my lean-to, where the fire wouldn’t press too close, and the smoke wouldn’t be an issue.

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Next up: catching a fish. I scrolled through the builder tab and found a tool submenu, quickly locating a basic fishing rod, which cost five hundred coins.

Which I didn’t have.

I stood at the edge of the pool, stomach rumbling. The pond was packed with fish and was still pretty small—maybe fifteen feet around, and only three feet deep at its center—so catching one seemed simple enough.

Two hours later later, it was abundantly clear that catching a fish with your bare hands was not simple.

I could get close to them if I waited long enough, and if I spat on the surface the fish would usually investigate, but the moment my hand broke the water, the fish would scatter and I’d come up empty.

I did manage to skewer one with my short sword at one point, which seemed like a clever use of the weapon until I remembered that the edge was poisoned. And given the shade of green that the fish immediately turned, I wasn’t super keen on taking a bite.

Trying something new, I stood at the center of the pool, the water up to my navel, and dipped both hands into the water up to my wrists. It seemed an eternity before a fish came close enough, but I lashed out quick as I could. Empty. Again.

But I’d managed to make contact, judging by the rough, wet scales that had slipped through my fingers at the last possible moment. I kept at it, and after another two hours of practice I finally caught one. Got a little bonus, too:

Your Dexterity has increased by 1!

This point will be awarded when you reach level 6.

3/3 bonus points accrued.

Additional point gains are now disabled until points are claimed.

Increasing my dexterity had been a lot more tedious than increasing strength, sure, but a lot less painful. I threw the fish into the cookpot, which looked archaic at first glance, but actually had a little button near the rim of the coal-black pot.

I pressed the button and the fire beneath the pot roared to life. I filled the pot at the pond and set it back over the fire.

Having handled that, I went to plant a couple seeds while I waited for the water to boil, but found they were expensive: a single potato seedling cost a hundred coins. There didn’t seem to be any other options, though, so I selected a seedling out of the drop-down menu and planted it in the dirt behind my forge.

I rubbed my hands together as if I’d actually had a hand in planting the seed, then returned to the pot. I used the handle of my short sword to lever the fish I’d caught out of the boiling water, then had my Constructor reprint my shield so I’d have something to eat on.

Once everything was finished, I brought my meal to the far edge of the estate, hoping to watch the sunset while I ate. The timing was right, but the violet wall that bordered my little patch of paradise bleached the surrounding environment of most of its color.

I examined the wall and a little prompt popped up asking if I wanted to make the wall invisible. I nodded, and the wall vanished, giving me a clear view of the sunset beyond.

I gazed around, wondering at just how far off the nearest player had to be. Miles, at the very least; I couldn’t see a single building anywhere on the horizon.

I grabbed the fish’s head in my left hand, its tail in my right. I bit down, and it wasn’t good, the flesh so tough that I had to chew each mouthful for a solid minute or two before I felt comfortable swallowing it. Even so, I couldn’t get it down fast enough, and it wasn’t long before my shield was covered in clean, delicate bones.

I watched the sun sink beneath the horizon, then staggered over to my bedroll and collapsed.