Mara was up early; she slept in a tent last night, and she really missed her bed back at Forest’s Rest. She and her husband moved down south to the fields of grain to make it easier on him to do the cutting of the wheat. There was a light mist over the fields this morning, and it was just beautiful. It was quieter here than back in Forest’s Rest, but she knew that would not last forever, as there were plans for a number of people who wanted to farm or do related jobs to move here.
The pigs, goats, and chicks were making a racket. They had been moved south the day before to give them a better environment for growth. Mara guessed they missed Clara and Ben, who had been tending them, but the children would come down with Finn later that day.
Two of the chicks were almost twice the size of the others. Mara was sure they were the same two that always followed Clara and Ben around. She suspected the difference came from the animal-related skills the children received at Level 3, though she did not understand why each child had received a different skill or exactly what those skills were doing.
She was right now looking at her vegetable garden. She had planted the seeds only two days ago, and the plants looked like they had been growing for a week. Some system trickery was going on. She pulled up her class again to look at it. She had gotten her class only yesterday after planting some potatoes that she got from Forest’s Rest.
[Mara — Level 8]
Class: Garden Tender
Skills:HerbalistPlant CareSeed Cultivation
◈ ◈ ◈
She brought up the requirements to level her class.
Cultivate 5 different useful plants (2 / 5)Maintain healthy crop growth for 14 consecutive days (2 / 14)Create and tend a dedicated garden plot (1 / 1)Improve plant vitality through active care (0 / 1)Supply food or herbs to a settlement 10 times (4 / 10)◈ ◈ ◈
The class was not what Mara expected when she received her choices, though the other options had been worse. Garden Tender was not perfect, and she wondered if classes could be updated or realigned as they grew. She also could not tell whether her class or Seed Cultivation caused the plants to grow so quickly. She only hoped the weeds did not grow at the same speed.
As she was sitting there thinking about it, she felt something bump into the side of her leg. She glanced down, and it was that murder pig that so liked Dale. She thought Dale had shed a tear when she brought it south and it left him behind. “What are you doing over here?” The pig just looked at her intelligently. She could not figure out how, but it could get out of any cage you put it in. The funny thing was how huge it was.
When they first found the piglets, all four had been the same size. Now Dale’s favorite was three times larger than the others. Its friendship with him was the only obvious difference, and as far as Mara knew, Dale had no animal skills. It seemed like another strange effect of the system. As Mara put the pig back in the cage, she noticed her son with Clara and Ben. They were earlier than she expected, which was good for her, as the pair would take care of the feeding of the chicks, goats, and pigs.
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The children ran to Mara. Clara said, “We both leveled and got another skill. I have Camp Cooking now. I might be a chef one day, like Dale.”
Ben blurted, “I got the best skill ever. It’s called Delivery Runner, and it makes me run extra fast.” He raced in circles, though Mara could not see a difference. She wished she still had his energy.
Clara went over to the chicken coop and let out their favorite chicks, which proceeded to follow her around. It was funny watching the one trying to catch up with Ben. Clara said, “Finn has a surprise to tell you too.”
Finn looked over at Clara and scoffed. “I thought I told you that was our secret.”
Clara responded, “I think it’s cool, and you should tell her about it and show her what you got.”
Mara looked over at her son. He quickly looked at the ground when she looked at him. Finally, he stepped forward and said it. “I got a class, Mom.”
Mara replied, “That’s great. What is it?”
He turned around and mumbled, “Tunnel Scout.”
Finn went to help feed the goats while Mara stared after him. His parents had urged him toward a sensible class, and Tunnel Scout was not what they wanted. But he was an adult with the right to choose. Since arriving, he had pursued fighting, adventure, and several cave runs.
When Elias saw Finn, he came over from the wheat fields, where he had been working since dawn. Demand and trade were strong, and they could not harvest the grain fast enough. They had barely touched the amount growing across the southern plains, despite hours of daily labor. Elias complained almost every night about missing his tractor, but Mara suspected he loved this life even more than the old one.
When Elias got close enough, his wife whispered to him about his son’s new class. Elias turned to his son. “Finn, I thought we talked to you about classes and how important it was to pick the right class. I got Field Farmer, and it’s doing amazing things to help my productivity. You could have gotten something similar.”
Finn replied, “Dad, I told you this is a new world. I am an adult. I will help you with farm work, but it’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life. The cave is fun, and I love my new Tunnel Scout class. Groups are fighting over me because I can find traps and hidden loot.”
Elias turned around and walked toward the field. Just before he left hearing range, he hollered back, “If you have time in your cave schedule, maybe you can help me in the fields,” and with that, he passed between some stalks of wheat and was out of sight.
Part of her was angry. Another part understood exactly why he loved the cave.
Ben ran over, oblivious of the interaction, and said, “Finn, tell us again about the treasure.”
Finn replied, “Not treasure, but ore and mining tunnels. That is what we found the last trip. I was able to scout out a hidden stash of ore. That made my group so pleased with me that they are begging me to come back on their next run.”
Finn described the kobold workshop, metal scraps, ore, axes, and fighting in the mining tunnels. Mara finally told him to stop filling Ben’s head with dreams. Finn still had animals to feed and wheat to tie for drying.
Clara then spoke, “Mara, do you think animals can get classes like us?” Just then, Dale’s Murder Pig broke through the fence around the pigpen, walked over, and bumped against Clara.
The kids finally went off to help with the wheat, and Finn followed. Mara just watched them in the field working. Okay, her son and husband were working; the two kids looked like they were having a snowball fight using the chopped wheat. She finally turned back to her garden and started working on it.
She reached the herbs and looked at them. She had seen them first thing this morning, and they had shown remarkable growth. But now as she looked at them, they had again doubled in size. She just shook her head. The system was not only changing people. It was changing the land itself.