Infinite Farmer

"The trees are so pretty now!" Necia exclaimed. Tulland sent a very stern do-not-explode command to the flowers as the female warrior walked up and gently brushed the petals of one of the blooms with her fingertips. "How did you do this?"

"Those flowers grow on those kinds of trees. They're useful for some of the things I want to do."

"And that's the surprise? Because I'll absolutely take one of these with me."

"No, that's probably a bad idea. They don't… play nice when I'm not there." Tulland reached into one of his briar bag and pulled out a small, soft object. "I made this. I thought you might find some use for it."

After returning to the camp, Tulland had put as many of the little parasite flowers as he could on the farmed Swamp Ache, then spent quite a few minutes figuring out how to carefully carve away the fur from the Wolfwood trees without hurting either the tree or destroying the material. After he made his first cut, he found out it was much easier than he thought. The fur had been sitting on top of the bark on some kind of thick, pliable membrane that peeled away in one big, mostly intact sheet.

After that, Tulland had cut some undeveloped briars, stripped them of their needles, and laid the fur carefully over them. With a couple of cleverly tied knots, he found himself with a bag not unlike the coin-purses he had seen back on Ouros, if quite a bit larger. It was made of one long continuous piece of the fur, brought to the top and carefully trimmed to even have a flap that closed by means of one of the trimmed, curved briar thorns poked through a carefully bored hole in the fur.

And best yet, the membrane for the fur seemed to solidify as it dried out in the open air, ending up as something close to thin, flexible leather.

"This is incredible. You made this?" Necia asked.

"I did. I already tested it with some of the water from the hole you showed me how to dig near the swamp. It seems to hold liquids just fine, so long as you don't get too violent with it. Or whatever. I don't mind how you use it," Tulland said.

"This is incredible." Necia's eyes widened a little as she took the object in her hands. "It's System recognized?"

"It is." Tulland nodded with pride. "First thing ever."

Which is still nonsense. You are a farmer. Not a crafter.

And I'm not a very good crafter, either. Calm yourself.

It was only after he finished figuring out how to truly make his strip-of-leather-and-fur drawstring work that The Infinite had acknowledged Tulland's efforts, shocking both him and the System down to the core.

"That's amazing. But I can't take this." Necia pressed the bag back into Tulland's hands. "Sorry."

"Why not? Just not useful?"

"Are you insane? It's a system-recognized water-tight bag. There are a thousand uses for that. It's just that it's worth something, and I have nothing to pay you back with. There's not much honor in The Infinite, but I like to think I carry my own around with me. Taking this without paying you something would be wrong."

"Ah. I see." Tulland glanced down at the bag in disappointment. "I understand, I guess."

"Actually, I mean… we could see if I have anything you want. I don't carry around much, but…" Necia patted her hands over her armor and belt, trying to remember what she had on her that she didn't depend on with her life. "You can't use a sword and I can't give you mine. I need the belt, I need the armor, I need the experience points. I don't think you'd want my backup knife."

"Wait, what? A knife? Why wouldn't I want that?"

"It's something I brought in with me. Non-system. It's not even starter-gear level. I just used it to kill motes and get my first level. You can't fight with it."

"I don't want to fight with it." Tulland gestured with his hand, and Necia handed him the small knife. "I don't have a knife at all, Necia. Where would I even get one? I've been cutting things with a scythe."

"Everything? You made that bag with a scythe?"

"Yes. And it took forever. If I didn't have time to wait for things to grow, I wouldn't have even tried it. A knife is a big deal for me. It's not going to break or anything?"

"No. I mean, it shouldn't. In the outside world, it was a really nice knife."

"Then this is a good trade. Trust me. I need this." Tulland tucked the leather scabbard into his own belt before the skittish girl could change her mind. "And you can take the pouch now?"

"Absolutely." Necia looked at it with a smile on her face. "Can you make just a few changes for me though?"

Ten minutes later, Tulland had used the last of his scrap fur-leather to make a strap through the lip of the bag that Necia could use to tie it to her belt. And he loaded her up with all the fruit she could carry, which with the bag was now sort of a lot.

Then, again, it was almost time for bed. Necia climbed into her tree for the last time as Tulland did what he could to make himself comfortable on the ground.

"Necia? I had a question," Tulland said as the darkness settled in.

"What is it?" Necia called down from the tree. "Remember that I can't answer everything."

"I think this will be fine. It's just that you said you got your first level in here, fighting motes."

"Yes? I mean, I did. Everyone usually does."

"But you didn't have any levels in your world? You must have, right? You told me you were some kind of trainee, or something."

"Something like that, yes. And I had a high level there, but… you really don't know this?"

"How could I?" Tulland threw up his hands and let them fall to his legs with a clap. "I don't think anyone from my world even came here anymore. The portal was all overgrown. The Church controlled all the information, and…"

"Okay, okay. I get it. Sorry. It's just hard to imagine being here without all that context. The short version is that everything the System of your world granted you previously gets taken from you when you enter The Infinite. Not by the System from your world, but by The Infinite itself. This dungeon is supposed to be a test of what a world can do. The best warriors they can produce. But it's not supposed to be a test of just how much the world is willing to spend on someone. The Infinite doesn't want someone with hundreds of levels and magical equipment sweeping through everything."

"So how does their world even come into play?"

"Because the best worlds send people with the knowledge of how to use their class to the highest effectiveness. And even the class itself is sort of a product of that world. It develops and grows there. The skills are created there."

"I only sort of understand."

"Hey, that's everybody. It's a complex system. But even if your world sucks and you don't get very far, you can sometimes make your world that much better. Every performance means something, and a new record means a lot. People have a reason to try."

"At least it explains why you aren't just cruising through levels. Did it take you a long time the first time you came through this floor?"

"Oh, absolutely. I think the first floor took me two whole days. But just as I thought I had a handle on things, this one took four."

Tulland went quiet.

"Tulland? You sort of dropped off there."

"It's nothing." Tulland, with all his weeks of effort, still had days to go before he even had a chance of getting out of this floor, but he wasn't going to drag Necia down with that knowledge. "I just got tired."

"Sleep then. I'll see you in the morning, before I leave."

"Deal."

—

The next morning was boring, or at least as boring as mornings in The Infinite could be. Necia came down, they ate fruits together, and talked very little.

"So where are you going now? To grind on the first floor?" Tulland asked.

"No. I think that's sort of a waste of time now. I'll grind some unfinished things on the third, then move on to the fourth, finish it, rest, and fight the boss on the fifth."

"You feel ready for that? It's a Cannian Knight, right?"

"It is. And no, I don't feel ready. I'm finding out that I'm not really cut out for this." Necia slumped a bit. "But it's what I can do. And if you dilly-dally too long, The Infinite's System starts to pull you forward and penalize you. I have to make it to the safe zone before that happens."

Tulland wanted desperately to have a way to help her, but there was only so much a farmer with a ready supply of fruit could actually do for a fully armored combat class. He had to focus on his own survival. There just wasn't anything else that he could productively do.

"I hope you are wrong," Tulland offered. "For what it's worth, I think that Knight is going to be sorry to meet you. You seem pretty good at what you do."

"Well, thanks." Necia held out her hand. Tulland shook it. "It was really weird meeting you, Tulland. But for what it's worth, I hope you make it."

"Thanks."

Necia nodded, smiled, and grew to her full combat height before walking off into the distance. Tulland watched her go for as long as he could, losing sight of her as she crested a distant hill. And just like that, he was all out of friends.

It's not worth crying over. She never helped you.

"See, that's something I'm surprised you don't understand. She actually helped me a lot."

How so?

"Before, making your life hard was my only reason to keep going. Now I have that reason, and also her. If I can get to where she's at soon enough."

Soon enough for what? To help her? Tulland, the chances of you leaving this level any time soon are low. Perhaps nil.

"And yet I'm still here. Raring to go. You aren't even a little worried?"

No. Not at all. Are you going to scout out the end of this level today?

"I might as well."

Then you can see it for yourself. I have a very good reason to be unworried. You'll see.