Chapter 2 – There’s just one small problem with my cheat

🙞❤︎🙜

The items themselves were fine, but…

I’m a freakin’ level 1 noob. I can’t use the good stuff!

Yet.

I’ll have to level up if I want to use or equip the better items. At the moment, the only things I could utilize were the newbie level 1 items, cosmetic packs, and holiday joke items.

The reason why this character is level one was because GIA said he would get caught by the Adventure Incarnate admins if he used anything. The items were purely for bragging rights. That’s why I was really nervous the first time I took out some gold from the System inventory. Fortunately, the skies remained clear, and I wasn’t struck down by divine lightning for my temerity in using duped gold.

So it seems I was okay for now. Also, I should really stop thinking of myself as “this character” since “this character” was now “me.”

“This is it,” said Shuye, interrupting my thoughts. He showed me the cave, which was quite large and reasonably comfortable-looking. Someone had carved an alcove on one wall, and there was a stone bed that only needed a bit of cleaning before it could be used.

“A human wanted to settle here and lived here temporarily for a few weeks before giving up and joining a farm up north,” said Shuye. “I hope you’re here to stay.”

“I am. This cave looks almost cozy.”

“Do you want to camp here?” asked Shuye.

“I prefer the site you saw me in. It’s closer to water,” I said.

“Good point.”

On our way back to my campsite, Shuye showed me a few points of interest, like some good fishing spots and animal paths. It was late afternoon by the time we got back.

“Goodbye. I’ll drop by now and then to see if you need anything,” said Shuye.

“Goodbye and thank you,” I said.

I was exhausted!

After he left, I sat down on a tree stump and drank some water while I opened the System menu and browsed through my house options.

My farming level was 1, so the only homes I could use were the starter farmhouses.

The world of Adventure Incarnate was large and multicultural. The original game was vaguely medieval fantasy Europe, but there had been several expansions since then. The continent I was in was based on the Chinese legend of the Four Auspicious Beasts - the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise of the North. There was a fifth, central area, but that game expansion hadn’t been released in Adventure Incarnate yet.

I was in the White Tiger’s territory. The people here had Asian-sounding names, and the food, clothing, language, and architecture were Chinese-inspired.

So my choice was between the Western-looking log cabin or cottage versus the traditional Chinese courtyard house. Each one had its pros and cons. The log cabin was very low-key since it looked like something that could be assembled on site. The cottage was very pretty, and it was the smallest of the three. The courtyard house, on the other hand, needed double the space of the cottage since it featured a central courtyard surrounded by four buildings. It definitely didn’t look like something I could’ve made with my own hands.

I’d only cleared a small space today, so I had no choice but to build a log cabin or a cottage. Since the log cabin was bigger, it was my best choice for today.

I mentally chose the starter cabin, then clicked on the build button.

A glowing magic circle filled with runes and mystical symbols appeared on the ground. Moments later, the house appeared, looking as though it had always been there. The house was built of logs that were notched at the ends and laid one upon another, with the spaces between them filled with plaster.

[Congratulations! You have completed the Beginner Quest: Build a House]

The reward was a furniture pack, which I quickly applied to the cabin by clicking on the “use furniture pack” option.

[Furniture pack used.]

Now the cottage should have all the basic furnishings.

Crossing the fingers of my left hand, I used my right hand to open the door. The inside was just one big room with a wooden floor partially covered with colorful patterned rugs. There was one small window opposite the door, and a stone fireplace to my right. On the left were empty shelves, and there were only two pieces of furniture in the room, a bed and a rocking chair.

Oh no! There was no toilet.

I threw myself down on the very comfortable bed. I wanted to cry. Curse those game developers who never think about basic human needs! I suppose they thought it wouldn’t be cute to have a toilet in the cabin.

I opened the System menu again to check the house settings and turned on all the privacy and security options because the last thing I wanted was for people to barge into my place or snoop around.

While I was looking through the house tab, I noticed that there were several outbuildings that I could build, but when I selected the outhouse, I got an error saying “no space.” I guess I needed to cut down a few more trees if I wanted to build a few more things.

My energy bar should refresh itself after a nap. I put the puppet down on the bedside table, took a sandwich out of my inventory, then ate it while lazily doodling various plans for the farm in my notebook.

The most important thing was the proper placement of the various buildings I planned to use. I decided to clear a path from my new home to the nearby river.

In the future, I plan to use the river for faster transportation because this place was quite isolated, and I’d had to trek through dense virgin forest to get to my chosen spot. My building skill was tied to my transportation items, as well as the usual houses, barns, sheds, greenhouses, and so forth. I could only use the lowest level canoe right now. However, I’d walked here because I wasn’t confident about using it, since the one time I’d tried a paddleboat back on Earth, I’d only spun around in circles instead of getting where I wanted to go. Feet were a lot more reliable.

The real kicker was that I had a lot, and I do mean a lot, of transportation items that I was too low level to use.

How exciting to think that perhaps sometime soon, I would be able to use a flying sword! Forget about higher-level boats, the real thrill was using flying tools.

Nonetheless, the river would definitely be crucial for transporting crops and other items, even if I wasn’t comfortable using it to travel.

Once I was done eating, I put down my pencil and lay down for a good, long nap. The bed was tiny, but not uncomfortable.

A vague thought flickered through the back of my mind, telling me that I’d forgotten something important, but when I looked around, I saw that everything seemed fine.

If I couldn’t remember it, then it probably wasn’t worth worrying about.

Right?

But the moment I woke up, I remembered the important thing that I’d forgotten.

Wasn’t it always that way? I only remembered what I had forgotten after it was already too late. I picked up my puppet, who I’d named Bob, up from the bedside table. Then I walked outside and threw it up the roof, activating its “guard mode.” I should’ve done that before I went to sleep. Now it would have a good view of my surroundings, and it would alert me if anything dangerous came too near the cabin.

It was already late afternoon, so I only had about an hour and a half of daylight left. Whistling merrily, I cut down a few more trees so I could clear more ground for planting later on.

According to the System calendar, it was planting season. I had two weeks to prepare the place and plant crops. After that, based on the game mechanics that I was familiar with, I wouldn’t be able to plant during the growing season, which lasted for two months. Harvest season lasted for two weeks. All in all, it was a very tidy calendar where spring, summer, autumn, and winter each lasted three months.

Therefore, I was going to be really busy clearing land for me to plow. I expected that I would only be able to plant a few crops this spring.

“Oh, yes!” I said after I finished clearing enough land for me to place an outhouse.

I chanted a mantra as I nervously approached what I hoped was the long-awaited flush toilet. “Don’t be scary. Don’t be scary. Please don’t be scary. Please…”

The moment I opened the door of the outhouse, I was greeted with the worst possible outcome.

“Nooooooooooo!”

I fell to my knees in despair. It was a composting toilet.

LinMeili

• Have you ever been somewhere really rural and had to use an outhouse with a scary toilet? I have!
• This is a slice of life story about a farmer. I don't know why, but one day, the thought of writing a cozy fantasy about farming just entered my brain and wouldn't leave until I started writing it. I guess you could say I was inspired!
• My MC made a little mistake in this chapter. This is so that readers know that she's not the genius type. She's just an ordinary person who tries her best, but still makes mistakes sometimes.
• Thanks for reading.
• Please let me know if there are any errors.