Two men sat in the back corner of a bar. Both looked bad, like the bad that most smart people avoided. Harder grizzled features and a glint in their eye that let you know they were up to no good. They sipped at their beers as they waited for their third. Like a whisper, the man approached the table and sat without speaking.

  The oldest just looked at him and quietly waited while the more brash, bigger member asked. “So!? What did you hear?” The skinny one showed a smile full of crooked and rotting teeth before he answered. “We’re in luck, boios. The word on the street is that a farmer just came by and purchased a rather rge amount of crops. You know what that means? Some stupid git of a farmer built his homestead on a border vilge!”

  The weasel of a man began ughing like a donkey as the older one grabbed him by his shirt. He calmly whispered. “Not so loud you dolt, you want everyone to overhear us?” The weasel looked a bit sheepish. “Yeah, you’re right. So when are we going to take him down?” The older man sat in silence for a few seconds before answering. “In seven months.”

  Both looked at him, confused, before the big meathead asked. “Seven months? Why not right now?” The older man only sipped his beer as he put the other two on edge. He finally answered. “If the man is just getting started, it’s best to wait until right before winter. He’ll have saved up most of his money until next spring. If we fight him early, he might not have anything, but if we wait for the perfect time.” The man squished a cockroach crawling across the table. The two other men began to evilly chuckle.

  …………………………………………………………………………………………………….

  A goblin came running back into the dungeon he was part of with hands full of delicious food. He ran up to the king, who gave him a suspicious eye. “What dis!?” He grabbed at the things the little goblin was holding out. The smaller goblin squeaked. “Iz foods.” Putting it in his mouth, he crunched down, biting the corn in two.

  He began spitting it out. “Dummy! Diz no foods!” The giant goblin backhanded the smaller one, almost killing it in a single zy blow. The giant kept going from goblin to goblin, accepting different kinds of ‘foods’ being offered. Smiling, he tasted good food while injuring those who brought bad food.

  He kept going until he got to the tiny red things. He asked the same questions again. “What dis!?” The goblin looked happier. He was the only one who brought back this particur food. It was in a separate field, and all the other goblins who entered were killed except him. He smiled as he shook with excitement. “Goods foods!”

  The rge goblin asked. “Goods!? No! So smol, can’t be goods.” He was about to hit the smaller goblin, but in the goblin's panic, he happened to throw the food towards his mouth. The strawberry flew true, and the giant goblin began to munch. “GOODS! Dat goods foods!” He picked the little goblin up and began spinning him. He offhandedly asked. “More?”

  The little goblin, not realizing the danger he was in, responded truthfully. “No more. Rest on farm. Near ugly goblins! Too danger!” The big goblin got mad at what he said. “Too danger!? Who too danger!? To you! Not to me!” He crushed the little goblin's head as he began to prepare to assault the town.

  No one noticed that the single berry and many of the other fruits and vegetables were slowly absorbed into the ground. They didn’t notice that the two goblins who were killed slowly disappeared. They didn’t notice that outside the goblin cave system on the surface, sprouts started to appear.

  …………………………………………………………………………………………………….

  I drank the brining liquid I made for pickling some radishes. The salty taste suited my fvor pate as I kept sipping the liquid. I poured them into a dozen containers of radishes as I pnned to sell them. The cost was more expensive than many would be willing to pay, but they could get a partial refund if they brought the jar back.

  That and the jam were going to be some of my mainstay items, and I was also cheekily rapidly leveling my cooking job. Not only would it sell for more than the raw ingredients I was also getting experience doing it. There was a chance for the quality of produce to drop because I was just a beginner, but that wouldn’t be true forever.

  Gathering

  Herbalist- Beginner 25%

  Miner- Beginner 11%

  Lumberjack- Beginner 77%

  Fisher- Beginner 54%

  Animal Harvesting- Beginner 05%

  Farming- Beginner 80%

  Item Creation

  Alchemist- Beginner 33%

  Bcksmith- Beginner 57%

  Crafter- Beginner 70%

  Painter- Beginner 04%

  Baker- Beginner 14%

  Chef- Beginner 88%

  Town Service

  Worker- Apprentice 66%

  Guard- Beginner 14%

  My farming had skyrocketed, and the few eggs I did get from the chickens would slowly increase my animal harvest… I just wish I still had two chickens, and the other was scared so bad she hasn’t id an egg since. Same with lumberjack, as I had cleared about ten feet of forest back from the treeline by myself. A good, stable supply of coins coming in was from selling the higher-quality wood.

  Certain items like that were impossible to reduce to poor quality. If a tree was old enough or a mining vein was pure enough, you couldn’t get below a certain rank. With my small chance of getting one rank higher and a smaller chance for two, I was sometimes(it happened once) getting epic wood. If I went into a redwood forest and harvested the trees, I might even end up with some legendary wood, but anything higher, and it would make more sense for an actual lumberjack to cut down. I pulled at the slices of radishes and onions as I realized I was missing a staple food. I was missing a sad green.

  My eyes rolled in the back of my head as I thought of the increased cost of getting those seeds delivered after getting the grape seeds when I went back. Was it just worth having it sent here? It was probably only an extra twenty copper… Fuck it, I’m too zy to keep going back to the bigger city every time I needed something. It was a huge problem needing to stay away from the farm for that long.