Waking up to knocking at my door was the worst thing that has happened to me since I got here.
Groaning, I get out of bed and make my way to the door to find out who woke me up.
Looking out the window, I see Alex Outside with an axe in his hand.
Opening the door with a tired expression, I sigh.
"Why are you here this early?" I asked, checking the time on my HUD, it was nearing 7am.
"I thought we should get to work early in the morning to maximize our cutting time!" He says energetically.
"Sure, let me grab my axe." I say walking to the side a little and pulling the axe out of my inventory.
Alex holds up a small bag, "I grabbed you some breakfast from my house since you probably don't have any food here yet." He said as I took the bag walking out of my house.
Opening the bag, I found a couple biscuits and some sausage within.
"Thanks, Alex." I said, taking a bite out of a sausage.
"No problem!" He exclaimed. "So what are we cutting?"
"I believe there is a pond back that way." I gestured forward.
'Hey Cardinal, is this the same as the default map?'
No, I selected Wilderness so you can have a source of XP at the farm!
"I believe it should be just over there" I say as I correct my gesture off to the right a little. "I am planning to clear the area towards the pond for easy access."
"To the pond, got it!" He said walking up to a tree.
Quickly finishing my breakfast, I pick up my axe and pick a tree.
Quest Added
[Paul Bunyan wannabe] -
Objective - Cut 12 trees before 8:00 PM (0/12)
Reward - +3 STR, +10 rep with Alex, 100 XP
Bonus Objective - Cut 16 trees before 8:30 PM (0/16)
Bonus Reward - 2 STR, 5 rep with Alex, 100 XP
'5 free strength! I'll take it! Plus what I get from the trees I'll be pretty set on strength for a bit.'
The strength and endurance stats you get from cutting trees has diminishing returns. So you will get less the higher your stats are. You got that much to begin with since your stats were pretty much all below average.
'Oh, that makes sense. But what is average? 10?'
Yep! 10 is the average person who takes care of themselves!
Bringing my axe down, I see the axe leaves a slightly larger cut than the tree from yesterday. 'Guess that's from the increase of 1 I got yesterday.'
Hearing cracks, I looked over to Alex as his first tree started falling.
"Good Job!" I called over before going back to my tree, which was about ¾ the way through.
It had only been about an hour of cutting, and my arms were getting tired. Swinging a few more times the tree started creaking.
After a few more, the tree let out a crack as it fell down.
Tree Down – 18 XP
+1 STR, +1 END
Moving over to the fallen tree I bring my axe down again, removing a medium sized branch. I continue along the tree removing branches before cutting at about the 6ft mark on the tree and keep cutting.
Swinging, I notice another increase in depth of my strike had once again increased.
Making my final cut, the log is split into 3 sections. I'm rolling the logs over to the side of the house that has the firewood storage on it.
Leaving the final log in front of my house, I look up to my clock to see it has been about 2½ hours for me to cut the log into three parts.
'Getting faster.'
Yep! At the start, stats will increase from tasks such as this. Stat gain will slow down and be nearly impossible to increase like this after 20.
'Cool so 20 is like Olympic athlete level?'
Yes! An Olympic athlete would be around 20 in physical stats, usually closer to 17-18.
'17-18? That doesn't seem too high.'
Looking back to Alex, I see he is about halfway through his third tree.
'If I want to finish this quest, I need to hurry. I can deal with removing branches and cutting to length later.'
Moving over to my next tree, I begin cutting once again.
Trees Downed 11 – 60 XP
+5 STR, +5 END
Quest Added
[Paul Bunyan wannabe] -
Objective - Cut 12 trees before 8:00 PM (12/12) [Complete]
Reward - +3 STR, +10 rep with Alex, 100 XP
Bonus Objective - Cut 16 trees before 8:30 PM (12/16) []
Bonus Reward - 2 STR, 5 rep with Alex, 100 XP
+10 rep With Alex [20/100]
+3 STR
+100 XP
[LEVEL UP]
Your first level!
Unlocked – BGM, 100G
Looking at my clock, it showed it was 7:13 pm as my 12th tree fell.
"Hey Alex, you wan to call it quits for today?" I call over to him, seeing him resting on his 13th tree.
"Sure!"
He got up and walked over to the front of my house as I sat on the porch.
"I'm heading back to town you coming?" I ask him while planning to go to the saloon for dinner.
The gamers body perk lessens my need for food, however working all day like this really works up an appetite.
"You going for dinner?" He asks as we start walking.
"Yeah, I'm planning on stopping by the saloon."
"Why don't you come over to my house for dinner? Granny would love to meet you and she would be glad to have you over." he says.
"That would be nice, thanks!" I reply with a smile.
'This will really help my wallet. 500G is not a good starting budget even with that bonus 100G.'
Entering Alex's house, the scent of pork entered my nose, drawing my eye towards the kitchen.
"I'M HOME!" Alex yelled out, setting his axe just inside the door before heading into the kitchen.
"You don't need to yell!" An older voice shouted from the living room.
Following Alex, I find him talking to Evelyn in the kitchen. She notices me and smiles kindly.
"Hello there. My name is Evelyn, but you can just call me Granny. Thanks for taking care of Alex today. Come, join us for dinner, it will be ready soon." she says as she turns back to the counter.
"It's nice meeting you too, Granny!" I say back with a smile.
"You boys go wash up now. Dinner will be ready when you get back." Granny says while putting a salad together.
"Yes ma'am." I say politely, followed by Alex's less polite, "OK Granny."
Sitting at the table, George wheels himself into the kitchen looking quite grumpy.
"Who are you?" He asks sounding unhappy.
"Gabriel Collins, I just moved into the farm just down the road. Nice to meet you." I replied, trying to ignore the unhappy expression he had while settling in the open place at the table.
"That's Gramps. Don't worry, he is always like this." Alex said, apologetic for George's attitude.
"This is my husband, George." Evelyn said.
"Thanks for having me over." I tell her with a smile as food is set on the table.
Dinner is porkchop with mashed potatoes and a salad, which looks very fresh.
"Well, you boys eat up." Evelyn tells us as we start to eat.
"That was good thanks for the food." I tell Evelyn as I get up.
"You're welcome, Gabriel. Come over anytime you need something." Evelyn says as she grabs some cookies from a plate on the counter and puts them into a small bag and hands them to me.
"Thank you." I say leaving the house.
I put the bag into my inventory and look at what I got from leveling up earlier.
'BGM, so what songs did I get?'
I was waiting to give you these till you were done with people for the day.
Songs Added -
Stardew Valley OST
Minecraft OST
'That's it?'
You can get more by doing things!
'Doing things? What kind of things?'
Anything, really. Here, let me get something for you.
Quest Added -
[Quest for music] -
Objective 1 – Kill a skeleton
Objective 2 – Kill a rock crab
Reward 1 – Undertale OST
Reward 2 – Crab Rave
That Good?
'Sure, gives more variety. Now what about stats?'
Stats -
Name - Gabriel Collins
Title – N/A
Class – Hydromancer
Job – N/A
Level – 2
XP - 98/200
HP - 140
HPR – 1.4
MP – 170 (85)
MPR – 1.87
STR - 14
END - 14
DEX - 7
INT - 17
WIS - 11
CHA - 4
LUK – 13 (10.4)
Points – 6
'Points? Can I just assign them anywhere?'
Yes! You can assign them to whatever stat you want. You get 6 points per level.
'6 per level. I should save them for the future when it gets harder to increase my stats. But my charisma is so low I'll just add 4 to charisma and keep the other 2 for later.'
Stats -
Name - Gabriel Collins
Title – N/A
Class – Hydromancer
Job – N/A
Level – 2
XP - 98/200
HP - 140
HPR – 1.4
MP – 170 (85)
MPR – 1.87
STR - 14
END - 14
DEX - 7
INT - 17
WIS - 11
CHA - 8
LUK – 13 (10.4)
Points – 2
Seeing as the sun had set while I was at Alex's house I ready my axe as I enter the farm. Seeing movement off to the left, I swung my axe.
Critical Hit -
21 Damage
The axe sunk into the flesh of a creature about as tall as the average human, covered in what looked like moss and other plant matter. The being turned towards me and lashed out at me being so slow I could easily step to the side. Using observe revealed all the stats of the monster to me.
Wilderness Golem
STR - 8
END - 9
DEX - 3
INT - 0
WIS - 0
CHA - 0
LUK – 0
HP - 9/30
MP – 40
"So weak."
The enemies on the farm will get stronger as you do.
"Do they have a limit?"
You'll have to find that out for yourself.
Sidestepping another attack, I place my axe into my inventory and pull out my watering can.
Drawing on the water, I formed it into the shape of an arrow and aim at the golems head. Releasing it it flies forward piercing the head and hitting a tree behind it leaving a small wet crater. The golem falls down in pieces as if it were only precariously stacked rocks and returns to the earth.
25 XP
On the ground was some grass and a small gem. Picking it up, I use observe to check it out.
[Speed Grow] -
Use this item to speed up the growth of planted crops by 10%
"This is pretty good."
That's a rare drop, so don't expect to get a lot of them.
"How rare?"
+1 LUK – Finding a rare item with a low LUK stat
"That rare. Got it."
Hearing something behind me, I turned around just in time to get hit it the face by a slime.
-4 HP
Letting out a small growl, I bring down my fist on the slime.
14 Damage
Bringing my fist down again, the slime turns liquid and seeps into the ground. leaving behind a small pool of slime, some sap, and 5G.
+17 XP
"Cardinal, why did the slime drop money?"
It's pretty common in RPGs that killing monsters gives money.
"Then why didn't the golem drop any?"
There is a base 75% drop chance of money, which is modified by your LUK stat. A boss monster has a 100% chance of dropping money, though.
"Good to know."
Walking over to the front of my house, I notice the area I had planted my parsnips.
"Fuck… I forgot to water them this morning."
Drawing more water from the watering can, I use water ball to water my crops. Just as I finish the last of the area my watering can runs out of water.
Looking at my MP bar, I see I am at about half mana and it is quickly recharging.
Placing my hand over the watering can, I summon a water ball and just let it drop into the can. I repeat this till the watering can is almost full.
Looking around, I see a few more golems in the dark just aimlessly wandering around. I wait a few seconds for my mana to regen enough that I feel comfortable going on the offensive with magic.
Taking the watering can, I summon another arrow and launch it at the nearest golems head. The arrow makes contact and knocks the golem off its feet and leaves a wet dent in the side of its head.
Critical Hit -
30 Damage
+15 XP
"Cool. That killed it fast."
Seeing some coins on the ground, I check around the area and try to sneak up to them undetected by the other monsters.
'Hey Cardinal, is there an auto collect function?'
In your options menu.
Quickly opening the options, I find an auto collect setting with a checkbox. I select it and close the menu. The items on the ground don't go into my inventory, so I guess it doesn't work for previously dropped items.
New Skill Created -
[Sneak] LVL 1 – Moving slowly and close to the ground makes you harder to detect. +1% Harder to detect
'Nice.'
Moving as silently as possible I reached the Coins on the ground and quickly put them into my inventory.
+10G
Turning to the right, I ready another water arrow and aim at another golem. Letting the arrow go, it flies towards the golem and pierces its back.
Sneak Attack
30 Damage
+15 XP
+10G
+1 Coal
[Water Arrow] Level Up
[Water Arrow] – 22 Damage 14 MP
Lining up my next shot, I fire at a slime that was bouncing around about 30ft away. The arrow hit the slime and, with a little resistance, pierced the outer membrane, popping it like a balloon.
Critical Hit
Sneak Attack
50 damage
+25 XP
+5G
+1 Slime
+1 Sap
Swiftly killing a few more golems, I finally level up.
+30 XP
[LEVEL UP]
+6 Skill Points
Opening up my stats, I give myself 2 more points into charisma and 3 points into my dexterity stat, bringing them both to the level of the average person.
Feeling that this was a successful night, I went back to my house.
Laying on my bed, I looked in my inventory and saw something I had forgotten. Selecting the PC in my inventory gave me a list of specs and a drop-down menu to put programs on it.
[Specs] -
Windows Desktop PC
OS – Windows 7 64Bit
Motherboard - ASUS H110M-K
RAM – 16Gb DDR3 1600
CPU – Intel i3 6100 Dual Core
GPU – Geforce GTX 980 4Gb
Storage Device – 500Gb WD Black 7200RPM
Network – 10Gig PCI Network card
Peripherals – Generic Keyboard, Generic Mouse, Generic 1440p 144Hz Monitor
[Addons] -
Internet Access -
1 Mb/s - 20G
10Mb/s - 200G
100MB/s – 400G
1Gb/s – 1000G
2.5Gb/s - 2000G
10Gb/s – 5000G
Games -
Minecraft – 10G
Stardew Valley 10G 5G
Skyrim SE – 15G
Fallout – 2G
Fallout 2 – 2G
Fallout Tactics – 2G
Fallout New Vegas – 10G
Fallout 3 – 15G
Fallout 4 – 15G
Fallout Bundle – 40G
Telltales The Walking Dead Definitive Edition – 30G
Portal – 5G
Portal 2 – 5G
Other -
RGB - 1G
UPS – 20G
"Why so many fallout options?"
You might just want 1 or 2 of them, so why pay for them all!
"But there aren't multiple Walking Dead options."
Who would just get 1?
"Ok, fair. How about Stardew why is that on the list? And why is it discounted?"
I added it cause you might need it to remember small details in the future. It's discounted because you are here.
"How about the network?"
No monthly cost, just a one time payment!
"Neat."
Checking my money, I decided to get the 10Mb/s connection and the UPS along with Fallout New Vegas, Stardew Valley, and The Walking Dead. For the hell of it I also purchased the RGB option.
Getting up from bed, I walk over to the table and pull the PC out and set it down. Pulling the couch over to the table, I got to work setting it up.
Booting the PC, I find it's already set up for me with no password set. I also see the games I purchased already installed on the PC.
"Cardinal, can I just use you to buy games and not deal with the download times?"
No. This was a one time thing. However, I can convert your currency to whatever format you want, so I can help buy things online without using a bank.
"Cool that should be useful."
Opening up chrome, I go look for cheap food to buy in bulk. Looking around, I find a site that sells a box of 48 packs of chicken flavored ramen for only 8G a box. Checking my money, I add 4 of these boxes to my cart and select to have them shipped to my farm. I also buy a few bowls, plates, forks, and spoons, as well as a cast iron kettle with a set of fire resistant gloves.
All my purchases bring me down to about 82G, not very expensive for a couple months' worth of food.
Most gamers wouldn't buy food like this, most at least get the cooking skill.
"Isn't it better to just get a decent amount of food for cheap?"
I guess you don't need to spend time cooking now.
"Yep. Instant noodle for the win!"
Seeing all the items would be here in about 3 days, I close the window and move over to Fallout New Vegas. Hitting the shortcut, I see the mod organizer 2 mod loading window for a second before the game opens.
"Cardinal?"
I added a couple mods to the game so you enjoy the benefits of this computer on a game this old.
"What mods?"
You got the 8Gb patch so the game will run with more than a couple gigs of RAM, ENB Series with the Rudy ENB Preset, and a variety of HD textures.
"Oh. Thank you, Cardinal. The game may be my favorite in the series, but the graphics really don't hold up all that well."
Yeah. Those graphics weren't the best.
After a few hours, I saved and exited my game and stood up. Stretching out, I checked my HUD clock to see it was about 2 in the morning.
"Fuck, I have things to do later. Cardinal, my need for sleep is reduced right?"
Yes! You only need to sleep about 8 hours every 2-3 days!
"Useful."
I turned off the PC and headed back outside to hunt.
Opening my door, I look out into the field for any golems or slimes. Not seeing anything, I walk out and into the dense brush and trees with the moon providing light.
Walking for a couple minutes I made my way to the southern edge of my farm on a small cliff overlooking a bit of forest with an animal ranch off in the distance. Walking around a little more I found a small group of golems off towards the larger pond closer to the south-west corner of the farm.
Crouching down, I slowly move towards the water's edge.
[Sneak] Level Up
[Sneak] - +2% harder to detect
Getting right up next to the water, I create an arrow and take aim at the golem. The arrow pierces the golems head, alerting the others that something was near.
+15 XP
+10G
+1 Coal
Hurrying to create another arrow, three golems start walking towards me. Letting another arrow loose in a hurry, it pierced the closest golems lower abdomen doing only 22 damage. Rapidly pulling more water from the pond I let loose a few more arrows towards the golems, killing the first one and crippling the leg of another. The golem that was still unhurt was about 5ft away and still getting closer, so I pulled out my axe and swung it at the golem.
My axe hit the golem in the chest and was thrown backwards.
+30 XP
+10G
+2 Coal
Walking forward I bring down my axe on the golem with the crippled leg splitting its head open and turning it to dust.
+15 XP
+10G
+Mixed seeds
Going back to sneaking around my farm, I quickly found that all the golems seemed to have disappeared. There were still slimes hopping around, but they were easily taken care of by shooting an arrow at them.
After about 2 hours I had only run into 9 slimes, but no golems.
+225 XP
+9 Slime
+9 Sap
+45G
Going back into my house, I looked at my stats to see what I would need to level up.
XP [298/300]
"Only 2 more XP? I couldn't find anymore slimes."
Looking at my clock, I saw it was about 4:10 in the morning.
'Looks like the monsters go away after 4.'
"Well, good enough, I'm tired."
I walked over to my bed and just tossed myself on it. I fell asleep almost instantly, probably an effect of gamers body.
A/N -
This took a while to finish writing but I hope you liked it. This story was thought up with my friend while we were tired and I just started writing. So if anything seems to not be thought out well that's probably because it wasn't. I am trying to be as consistent as I can throughout this story.
Please leave a review if you liked this chapter. Next one will be up whenever I feel like it.
