Growing Connections

" So wait, the first thing you want to do after leaving the desert is to farm? I mean, I have heard of people having weird hobbies, but with all the things you can do, you want to farm." Silk continues to question my choices as I began to fill out the jump document for Farmville.

" I'm not just doing this because I want to farm, Silk. It's because of the benefits this can give me, in addition to having virtually infinite food as well as organic resources. It will give me time to practice my new magic, and who knows, I may be able to upgrade your marvelous carpet self." The carpet then twirls in the air in some form of pacing, I think.

"Well, you do make sense, but I will tell you that it is hard to improve upon perfection. I was quite literally wished into existence to be one of the best carpets in the universe." Chuckling a bit of my carpet's blatant narcissism, I look over all of my options and drawbacks.

The main issue in this jump is just going to be the annoyances. I'm going to have to face it in addition to unhelpful neighbors. I will have to deal with unwanted animals, trying to ruin my stuff and kill my animals.

That and I will have to do daily questions, but these are sacrifices I'm willing to make. Short-term annoyances can be allowed for now, especially when it comes to certain perks.

Besides, a decent amount of the drawbacks can be mitigated by one perk alone:

Built To Last (-200 CP) – You have a unique talent for creating buildings that last for as long as possible against various elements, anything from bad weather to earthquakes and human factors. It's almost as if some sort of supernatural protection is extended to them because you built them.

After this jump, this will apply to anything I create, and having a guaranteed ability to make sure none of my creations or inventions rot to rust away is a definite boon.

Not to mention, the possibility of locusts getting in the way of my harvest is then mitigated by a couple of other perks:

Instantly Done (-200 CP, discount for Magical Farming) – Farming takes time and requires the use of various equipment, but unfortunately, all of this can also be pretty boring. Fortunately, you can simply wave your hand and spend some mana to have multiple tasks on your farm completed instantly.

Insta-Grow (-400 CP, discount for Magical Farming) – All it takes is just a wave of your hand and the appropriate amount of mana. Still, all of your crops immediately grow to the harvestable stage, and your animals to state for butchering.

And now, with my access to magic, I will be able to make these perks possible, and with my nest egg item providing me with funds every month, I won't need to worry about going bankrupt in the jump, which will cause it to fail.

Not to mention that this jump will technically expand my sorcerer library, as I am somewhat excited to learn about spells that pertain to accelerating and developing other forms of life.

" You know, you really tend to think to yourself a lot. Have you just gotten used to having conversations by yourself? I'm not judging. It's just you don't seem like the most social person." The fact that you're saying it does not help Silk.

" I just like to voice out my own thoughts in my head. It's a habit, and I am not going to stop." Silk just takes the form of a shrug and flies around the warehouse.

I do have to admit, though, that setting up the build is a bit complicated as I am having to make sacrifices as well. I was interested in becoming a more geneticist-based farmer, but I only had enough points to foster animal, husbandry aqua culture, magical farming, as well as regular agriculture.

I was interested in possibly gaining access to the prehistoric farming tree, but I am not exactly thrilled about having to deal with T-Rex trying to stop my farms as well as eating my livestock; I may have to deal with dragons because I took the magical farming route.

But if dragons are anything like they are in fiction, I should be able to reason with them, and if they're more animalistic, I can either just kill them or domesticate them. Even though a small part of me really wants to make this, my version of Ark Survival evolved.

Worse comes to worse, I have a park that may deal with unwanted animals:

Isolated Pond (-200 CP) – One of the biggest problems with aquaculture is that isolating areas away from wildlife is practically impossible, especially from smaller critters. To complicate it even more, due to it all being in medium, things like herbicides can't be used either. Luckily, you have this special ability to set around your farming area a magical barrier that will keep out all of the unwanted things.

In addition to this, I may be able to study the barriers I put up using this perk in my magic studies, and it could act as a barrier against scrying or even other external influences.

" By the way, how do you plan on running this farm by yourself?" Silk asked as it flew in circles above me.

"Well, in this world, you can basically hire as many NPCs as you want to do the farming for you, provided they have the specialties you specialize in. You can get them as NPC workers permanently. They'll farm for you automatically after the jump ends." That and I won't have to worry about paying them post-jump, which is nice.

After checking and making sure I have everything set up, I click confirm on my bill, but before I allow myself to go to the next world, I allocate the 30 choice points I have for my warehouse. This time, I'm just planning on buying the warehouse extension, which will double the size of my warehouse.

As I confirmed the purchase for my warehouse, the building began to subtly shake, and behind me, I saw the walls moving backward, as if the building itself was folding outwards. Thankfully, nothing fell over as the transition was pretty much seamless and only lasted a couple of seconds, and before I knew it, I now had double the space I started with.

All that was left for me to buy for my warehouse was the portal link, which would allow me to fast travel using my portals essentially, and the other one was the loft, which would allow me to stack all of my purchased rooms on top of each other.

I don't really need the loft as I can just teleport within the warehouse to the other sections, but I may buy it as it's better to have it not needed than to need it and not have it.

The choice is confirmed. Everything goes dark before I then appear in the middle of a field with what appears to be a box of supplies in my hands. Looking inside, I found it to be much larger on the inside than it was on the outside and grabbed the note that was inside the box. It read.

" Welcome to Farmville. This box holds all the parts you need to create your centerpiece building. From your centerpiece building, your farm will be created, but do be aware that once you create your form, all of the drawbacks you have chosen will come into effect. Also, do not try to game the system by not placing your farm, as the 10-year time limit will not begin until you create the building."

-From Neoth

With the objective lined out, I looked around for silk and assumed that he was still in my warehouse, and because he was considered an item and not a companion, he wouldn't be able to open portals on his own.

So I moved my hand to the grass and opened the portal to the warehouse and out from the portal flew Silk. As he flew in a circle around me, observing the areas around us, he remained silent, simply checking the place out.

" So this is the place, huh? It's been a while since I've seen anything other than desert for miles on end. Gives me that sweet home Alabama vibes." I don't think Silk understands the reference he's making, but I won't believe or say anything about it.

As I held the box of supplies, I walked over to the square where the centerpiece building was supposed to go, and using my telekinesis, I began to construct the building. At this point, with my perks and all of the time I've had to practice, I could construct a building in minutes if I had the supplies, that is.

So as all of the materials begin to make a small tornado around me, using my telekinetic senses, I signal out all of the specific materials for the foundation, in addition to the plumbing, and then electricity, as well as the walls and ceilings, and other necessities.

Power tools and drills could be heard all around me as I sat in a meditation-like stance while I sat on Silk, as he didn't want me to be sitting on the ground, which I appreciated.

The construction itself took around a couple of hours, as it was the first time I'd ever actually constructed an entire building. Once I did so, the whole area around us began to bloom with color, as from literally nowhere, entire silos, as well as animal pens, appeared out of nowhere.

In addition to my vehicle, garage, and fueling depot, which thankfully has unlimited fuel, as long as something uses gas, I can take it to my farm and fuel it for free. Or I could use gas canisters and fill them up inside and then put them in my warehouse for later.

But as soon as the construction was complete, I saw a small digital prompt appear before me.

[Mandatory Daily Quest: A Farmer's First Steps]

[Welcome to Farmville prospective, Farmer! It's time for you to get down and dirty, and to do so before the day is out, you will need to plant three different types of crops. Get to it, partner! Have fun!]

This is going to be a very fun ten years.