The smoke lingered well into the morning.
It didn't matter that the fire was out. Arlen could still smell it—burnt roots, singed bark, and something underneath it all… a scent that stuck to skin and memory. Shame.
He stood in silence by the half-charred Sunroot patch, arms crossed, lips pressed thin. The stranger's torch had destroyed nearly a third of his crops. His first harvest. His only harvest.
"You gonna cry?" Gourd asked beside him, voice quieter than usual.
Arlen didn't answer.
Instead, he walked forward, stepping into the ash-covered soil. He knelt and pressed a hand into it.
The soil was still warm.
Not ruined—but damaged.
The Hoe of Vitality pulsed once in his grip.
[Soil Recovery Possible. Time Estimate: 6 days. Add Fertilizer to reduce to 3 days.]
Arlen stood slowly. "We'll replant. But not here."
Gourd tilted his pumpkin-head. "Why not?"
"They know where this is now. My family sent that guy, but he won't be the last. They wanted to scare me off, maybe worse."
"So? You gonna run again?"
"No." Arlen turned toward the portal. "I'm going to grow somewhere they can't follow."
Gourd's vines twitched nervously. "Inside?"
"Inside."
The dimensional world opened like it had been waiting for him.
Today, the sky was pale green, and thin clouds danced like threads across it. The place always shifted, always changed. But the feeling was the same. Stillness. Power. A kind of patient breath beneath the ground.
Arlen walked forward with purpose.
He stopped in the wide clearing he'd visited before. It was flat, shaded by tall feather-leafed trees, with rich soil and soft wind. Perfect for farming. And now—perfect for hiding.
[Activate Base Blueprint: Forest Homestead v1?]
"Yes."
Light flickered. The ground shifted. In seconds, his outside camp—walls, lean-to, firepit, small crop rows—appeared in soft blue outlines.
But this time, he could make changes.
[Edit Blueprint?]
"Yes."
He added stronger walls. Raised garden beds. A stone path between planting areas. A windmill pump for water. An underground root cellar. His hands moved quickly, sketching with thought. The system made it easy—intuitive, like playing with clay.
[Resources Required: 102 Wood, 60 Stone, 5 Metal, 10 Fiber]
[Confirm Build?]
"Do it."
The portal flared. His inventory—full of hoarded scraps, traded goods, and salvaged junk—flashed.
And then it began.
The ground rippled. Wood stacked itself. Stone rose from the soil. Paths paved. Walls stood firm. It took minutes, not hours.
And when it was done, Arlen stood in the middle of a small, sturdy homestead that looked nothing like the ashes he'd left behind.
Gourd rolled in, awed. "You did all this with just a thought?"
Arlen nodded. "This is where we grow now. Where we get stronger."
"...."
He started planting again. But this time, smarter.
Tier 1 crops went in first—fast-growing. Dreamleaf, Skybeans, Emberroot. Easy maintenance. Then, on the outer ring, he placed his rarer seeds: the Brightplum tree, and the unstable Mystery Vine.
He watered. He hoed. He worked in silence.
Hours passed like seconds. For once, he wasn't thinking about survival. He was farming.
And it felt good.
When night came—if you could call it night in a world with two moons and zero logic—he sat by the fire in his new stone firepit and looked over his crops.
"You ever think you'd feel… peaceful?" he asked.
Gourd's vine curled into a shrug. "I didn't think I'd ever exist, so everything's kinda new for me."
Arlen chuckled. "Fair."
He looked up. The moons moved slowly. One silver. One red.
Then he frowned.
His system chimed.
[Quest Update: New Threat Detected]
[Dimensional Disturbance: Unknown Entity Sensed Nearby]
[Investigate or fortify]
Arlen stood.
"Show me."
The system pulsed, and a direction appeared in his mind—south, not far. He grabbed the hoe, checked his inventory for potions (just one healing salve), and started walking.
Gourd followed, quieter than usual.
They moved past thick grass and into dense trees. It was darker here. Colder.
Then Arlen saw it.
A creature. No—part of a creature. Stuck in the soil, half-buried.
It looked like a massive worm, covered in bark-like armor, its body twisted and limp. Green sap oozed from its wounds. Strange vines grew from its sides, pulsing.
Arlen knelt.
[Species: Verdant Devourer (Infant)]
[Status: Injured, Dormant. Infection Detected: Corrupted Spores]
[Warning: If untreated, will awaken in 3 days and consume nearby farmland.]
"Oh… great," he muttered.
"Can we kill it?" Gourd asked.
"Not before it wakes. It's half the size of a barn."
"So what, we move again?"
Arlen didn't speak.
He stared at it.
Then, slowly, he lifted his hoe.
[Activate Purify Ability?]
[Consumes 1 System Point]
He hesitated.
Points weren't easy to get. He'd been saving them for a skill upgrade.
But he knew.
If he didn't deal with this now, he'd lose his second chance—again.
"Do it."
The hoe glowed. Warm light spilled over the creature.
The vines writhed. Screeched. Then shriveled.
The worm shifted—but didn't move. Its sap stopped leaking. The infection was gone.
[Purification Complete. Entity Stabilized.]
[New Follower Gained: Verdant Devourer (Tamed)]
Arlen blinked. "Wait, what?"
[The creature now recognizes you as its caretaker.]
[Name it?]
He stared at the massive thing.
"…Barnaby."
[Name Confirmed. Barnaby has joined your Dimensional Farm.]
Gourd was silent for a long moment.
"I'm gonna pretend that makes sense."
They returned to the homestead.
Arlen didn't sleep. He stayed up adding fences, expanding his planting grid, adjusting water flow. Every few minutes, he glanced toward the direction of the worm.
No. Barnaby.
He wasn't just farming anymore.
He was taming this world.
And it was responding.
By morning, new options appeared in his system:
[Dimensional Companion Feature Unlocked]
[Tamed entities can help defend or cultivate.]
[Barnaby added to your Farm Defense Roster.]
That changed everything.
He could farm more. Grow faster. Defend his territory without being everywhere at once.
For the first time in days, a real plan formed.
He would build this world up, piece by piece.
And when the time came—when his family or the kingdom or anyone else came knocking—he'd be ready.
With crops no one had seen. Allies no one could stop. Power grown not from war, but from patience.
The power of a farmer.
The Hoe of Vitality pulsed in his hand.
And Arlen smiled.