No Rest For The Wicked

The man died before he was able to ask even a single question.

Shiv sighed and laid flat on his back in the middle of the death and… destruction. "So it begins." He shuddered. He didn't feel anything from killing the men. 'I've never killed anyone before, but I just annihilated these guys with almost laughable ease. Is this because of that moronic tea drinker? And… why don't I feel anything? Am I a psychopath?' With these questions and more plaguing him, he didn't notice when the group of farmers climbed down from the tree and gathered around him.

"Sonny, we don't know who ya are, or where ya got ta be so vicious, but we're sure grateful ter ya fer savin' our lives." The tallest of them said as he fidgeted with his hat and looked awkwardly down at Shiv.

Shiv laughed at the absurdity of the situation, then got up. "Yeah man, don't worry about it. We should move before some monsters smell the blood and come running."

"I see whot yer sayin', but don'tcha want ta check these men's inventories, first?" At Shiv's blank expression, the farmer explained. "Ya simply open their inventory the same way you'd open yer own inventory, 'cept ya focus on them instead." He went on to explain that the items would disappear into nothingness after a few days, but could be accessed at the moment when touching the bare skin of the corpse.

Shiv tried it out, touching the forehead of the man with a hole in his gut, first. "Abracadabra," he whispered, and focused on opening the man's inventory. Just like that, an incorporeal screen appeared before Shiv's eyes with names and visual aides of each of the items in the bandits' inventory. All he had was a few coins, some food, and a couple changes of clothes. Shiv took the coins and moved on to the rest of the corpses, finding more of the same. He again took the coins.

With that accomplished, they began moving toward the town again. Along the way, Shiv thought about how easy it had been to manipulate the earth in the battle, when compared to every time he'd manipulated it beforehand. 'It must be because of the levels I gained from harvesting the wheat.'

Eventually, he asked a question that had been bothering him for awhile. "That last man I killed used earth magic. Is it common? Earth magic, that is."

"Yup. It's the most common out of all the magic trees." Came the immediate reply.

'So… I'm not special?' Shiv stopped. 'I was transported here from a different world by a strange deity, given an impossible mission, and dropped here with no guidance whatsoever, but I don't even have a cheat?' He started walking, feeling distraught, when one of the farmers bumped into him. 'What was that horrible deity thinking?'

***

Hours passed without rest, the farmers having learned their lesson, till they finally left the shadowy forest. They would have been caught by herds of traveling monsters several times, if not for Shiv's excellent senses and experience.

While guiding them, he had managed to break out of his dark mood. 'I'll just have to succeed without a cheat.' He was more determined than ever to get back to earth, and this caused him to unconsciously pick up the pace, with the farmers matching him without complaint.

As the sun's first rays lit up the land, Shiv was able to spot their destination far off in the distance.

Two hours passed before they were able to reach the town, all the energy the travelers had suddenly left the moment they stepped within the town's limits. They simply collapsed on the road as people gathered around and fussed over them.

Shiv fell asleep.

***

Upon recovering, Shiv had been led by a bunch of chattery, fussy women to a table where he was forced to eat until he felt like he would burst. His left hand was completely immobilized by bandages, he noticed. Meanwhile, men kept circling the table trying to get a question in over the endless chatter of the women. Shiv ignored all of them as he ate his fill, then, abruptly, he stood up. "If you have questions, ask the farmers when they wake up. In the meantime, I want to harvest your tomatoes for you, and deliver them wherever they need to go. I'm able to get to places most people can't. And I do it quickly."

That silenced everyone, then someone sent for the mayor of the town and told Shiv to be patient. "No, let me go to the mayor." He just needed to get away from the constant chatter of the women, who were now protesting his latest statement. The men, however, sided with him and were able to guide him to the mayor without incident.

"So, what is it I can do for you?" The mayor asked after inviting Shiv into his house and the introductions were completed.

Shiv repeated what he'd stated earlier, and the mayor nodded gravely. 'Is my offer bad? Why does he look so serious?'

"Your offer has curiously perfect timing." The mayor announced after a lengthy silence. "There has been an order placed for our tomatoes. And you may not have seen in your exhausted state, but we've got a lot of them. Fields upon fields of them." He cleared his throat. "But, back to the order- a group of men living deep in the woods conducting strange experiments asked if we would deliver them a couple baskets of tomatoes when the next harvest was ready."

"What kind of experiments?" Shiv asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, myself. But there are many rumors floating around that the experiments have something to do with… forbidden plants." The mayor's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, and he looked around nervously.

Shiv had no idea what forbidden plants were, but his curiosity was piqued. "If you let me harvest your tomatoes for you, I'll deliver as many tomatoes as I can carry to these psychos."

"Excellent, my boy! Wait. You want to harvest our tomatoes?" The mayor looked perplexed, and Shiv could understand why- the payment he wanted for doing work for them was more work.

"I'm trying to level up a bunch." Shiv explained simply.

"I… see. Well, who am I to get in the way of a man who wants hard work? When would you like to start?" The mayor shrugged and agreed, the glint of greed clearly evident in his eyes. Free labor? Yeah, he'd take that deal.

"Immediately." Shiv stood up and left to do just that.

***

The farmers he'd traveled with came to thank him at some point during the day, but he didn't pay them much attention. Instead, he was focused on picking each and every tomato, and the accompanying feeling of power absorbing into his soul. He had to go a bit slower than he would have liked, with his left hand immobilized, but he persisted. Eventually, the feeling stopped, no matter how many tomatoes he picked. The development was disappointing, but he sensed he'd gained something great from his work. He finished harvesting the tomatoes, despite not receiving any more XP from them, and then slept in a bed someone volunteered to give up for him.

Early the next morning, the mayor came to give him the tomatoes they had specifically chosen to send to the experimenters, and Shiv absorbed them into his inventory. The mayor gave a long list of directions that Shiv mentally boiled down to: 'head east'. He waved goodbye to his former traveling companions and set off into the woods again.

Alone, once more.

But this was what he wanted. He felt a strange new power inside him, and he wanted to test it out. He climbed a tree he found to be suitable, and settled uncomfortably on one of the larger branches. He closed his eyes and focused on the feeling inside him, instinctively knowing it would appear in his hands.

Several minutes of pure focus passed, till he opened his eyes and saw, to his surprise, that his hands were on fire. It scared him, and he waved his hands around to put the fire out, willing it to just magically go away… and it did. Only then did he take a minute to think, and realize he hadn't felt any heat emanating from the flames. "No, making those flames felt a lot like manipulating the earth." He muttered.

"So… is that my cheat? I can use more than one magic tree?" The thought greatly excited him, and his mood was very high as he continued his journey, randomly setting fire to things as he went.

Through experimentation he found that he could not manipulate the flames like he could the earth- only create them. Once created, the flames stayed in his hands. He couldn't shoot flames like the fire-man could. He could set things on fire, though. So long as the object was naturally flammable, and he held it long enough for it to catch.

As he traveled, he suddenly realized how much traveling he'd done since he'd arrived at Glasmoore. Back on earth, the only traveling he'd done was a vacation to the Grand Canyon. He'd spent his entire life much farther north, where the weather fluctuated from pleasantly cool to freezing. He spent his days farming with his family and friends, and his nights going out with his girlfriend.

Now, he was traveling alone, farming in disgustingly hot weather, and spending his nights hiding in trees hoping a massive spider wouldn't kill him and lay eggs in his skull while he slept.

Needless to say- Shiv wanted to go home.

"Hello there, peasant. What madness descended upon that thick skull of yours to convince you that it was a good idea to trespass on the lands of an Apprentice Lightning Mage?"