Basic Tutorial #4

[Tutorial Tasks (Gardening)

*Craft Small Planter x4 or Big Planter x1

*Plant Leek Seeds x25 and Melon Seeds x25

*Use Fertilizer x50

*Harvest Leek x25 and Melon x25

Rewards: 200xp, Ghrut-50 Rifle Blueprint]

The bot said it was the last of the tutorial tasks. And just right then, hunger and thirst made themselves known to me, as if they were suspended until that point.

I readily opened the crafting book and scanned for the planters, as I did so, questioning how could plant grow in such a rocky place.

[Small Planter:

Crafting Ingredients:

Dirt x25 + Metal Plate x10 = Small Planter x1]

[Big Planter:

Crafting Ingredients:

Dirt x50 + Metal Plate x20 = Big Planter x1]

The metal plates can be obtained from metal scraps, but I wondered where I would get dirt. It looked like a dead planet and there was no soil to be found. But the question would be answered, rather unscientifically, when I found dirt in the crafting list.

[Dirt

Crafting Ingredients:

Rock x2 = Dirt x1]

The logic was laughable, but that in itself was a relief.

"Can I mine rocks just about everywhere?" I asked the bot. If I could obtain metal scraps from a pile of metal scraps, then rocks could be obtained from anything composing of rocks.

<Indeed. But I recommend that you do not make holes in the ground.>

Numerous boulders presented themselves just right outside the door. Mining them would kill two birds with one stone, as that would clear the area and also provide me with materials.

Hungry but excited and determined, I started to pound on the rocks. There were less durable than the metal piles, which made things easier. Drops yielded also differ according to size, with smaller boulders yielding around 10 to 15 rocks, and bigger boulders could yield more than twenty.

After clearing the boulders surrounding my shelter, I have acquired enough rocks for the task. As for the metal scraps, I had leftovers. When I opened the crafting book, the planters were already craftable, and I found no reason not to go with the bigger one.

[Big Planter:

Crafting Ingredients:

Dirt x50 + Metal Plate x20 = Big Planter x1]

[Craft]

[Big Planter x1 Crafted]

[Acquired 100xp]

It went straight to my inventory. Upon selecting it, the option to place it on the ground popped up.

A 3D image of the planter appeared in front of me, just like what happened when erecting the shelter. I chose to move it in front of the door, for easy access and aesthetics.

A thud and a cloud of smoke.

A plot filled with tilled soil and encased by metallic plates, slightly longer than the shelter, came into existence.

I squatted for a closer look and touched the soil with my own hands. It was dark in color and loose and wet. Perfect for my seeds.

[Plant]

The option hovered over the plot, as soon as I whipped out the seeds. Planting them immediately produced something green on the soil, perhaps to help me differentiate spots with seeds on and spots without.

The lower half I planted with leek seeds, and the upper half with watermelon seeds.

Fertilizers were next on the agenda.

[Use Fertilizer]

Magically, upon applying the fertilizer, the leek grew to its full size and ready to be harvested. But I was no longer surprised. If the crops have to go through the normal growth process, then the tutorial tasks would take forever to finish.

I applied the fertilizer on every crop and all with the same success. Whole melons cartoonishly popped out of the soil, a ridiculous but very convenient mechanism. Fertilizers could theoretically be the key to an endless supply of food.

The next and final task, also the easiest, was harvesting the crops. And I found that I could harvest them without even touching them.

[Harvest]

The hovering window made it possible for the crops to go straight to the inventory with a touch of a finger or even with just a thought.

[Leeks x25 Harvested]

[Obtained Leek Seeds x50]

[Acquired 50xp]

[Melon x25 Harvested]

[Obtained Melon Seeds x50]

[Acquired 50xp]

[Tutorial Tasks (Gardening) Completed)

[Acquired 200xp]

[Obtained Ghrut-50 Rifle Blueprint]

I reveled in the notifications of my success, as I enjoyed my first melon on that planet, which was sweeter than the melons I have tasted before.

Suddenly, the ground beneath me trembled.

[Basic Tutorial Tasks Finished]

[Beast Presence Normalized]

[Drop Rate Normalized]

[Drop Variety Normalized]

The smile on my face swiftly disappeared as worry takeover.

"What does this mean?" I asked the bot, whose presence I have almost forgotten.

<You have completed the Basic Tutorial Stage; thus everything is being reverted to normal. You wouldn't have survived for long in the wasteland if things have not been modified>

"So if I have built the shelter in the middle of the wastelands, I would have been able to survive?"

<I would have been able to protect you. However, you would have learned things the harder way. You would be starting over after having been forced to leave your shelter and your farm behind. I am only here to assist you, and your fate will still be decided by the soundness of your decisions>

Have been able to protect me? The bot was a mystery, and the entirety of its capabilities were still unknown. But if it could have protected me in the middle of the wasteland, then I reckon it must be stronger than I have anticipated.

<Concerning the drop rates and drop variety, up to now, resources were scavenged with a constant maximum drop rate and with no variety. Having finished the Basic Tutorial Stage, drop rates and drop contents will now vary.>

<For example, small piles of trash will no longer constantly drop 10 metal scraps. But there is now a chance that it would drop other metal resources>

"Can I die for real in this life?" the question had been plaguing my mind. Everything had a game-like mechanic. However if I die, do I respawn? Or is death real?

<Yes>