How Tiring could Gardening be?

He woke up early in the morning to a harsh wrapping on the door. Xavier yawned and slowly started to wake up before being shocked by a bucket of cold water being poured over him.

"Wake up faster. You don't have all day and neither do I." Bran said with a devilish smile on his face as he slowly tossed the bucket to the ground.

"For your first task of the day take that bucket." He said while pointing towards the bucket that had now rolled across the room. "And fill it up with water. There's a creek that is about a.... 20 minute walk that way." He said while pointing in a particular direction.

He then smiled before slowly laying down into the bed that was his and closed his eyes. Almost in a mocking manner.

Xavier gritted his teeth. 'This is gonna be harder than I thought I guess.'

He quickly got up and grabbed the wooden bucket before leaving. As he stepped outside he realized that it was dark outside. No not dark persey just the butt crack of dawn. He Started walking down the dark and unilluminated forest floor in the direction the man pointed him in.

He felt the cold morning air rustling his hair as he tiredly stumbled through the forest.

After about 30 minutes he started to get worried. 'He said the Creek was this way right?' he thought to himself in an unsure manner.

But after thinking for a while before he steeled forward. And his persistence was bountiful. After about an hour in total of walking he could clearly hear the creek and see it since the sun had finally risen slightly.

He slowly filled the bucket up with the freezing cold water before moving a few feet and dropping the bucket, spilling all the water inside of it. "Ugh..." He said out loud as he realized how heavy the bucket was once filled with water.

He filled it up once more before making his way back towards the house. This time making sure to hold the bucket in two hands. He walked slower with the added weight though not by much. After roughly another hour he managed to get it back to the shack.

Now that the sun had risen he could finally get his first good view of the small shack. It incredibly small and made out of the same blueish green wood that littered the forest. But what really caught his attention was the garden quadruple the size of the shack a few yards away from the backyard. If this is what he was going to have to help tend then it was going to be.... a hassle.

He opened the door after a few seconds of despair. The old man was laying casually on the bed while reading a strange blue book. After seeing that I had returned he began to speak in a casual manner.

"You seemed to have taken quite a while to get back here. It's been almost three hours.... It should have taken you an hour at most." He said in a factual tone.

"So how much water did you manage to keep?" He asked in a knowing manner.

"What do you mea-" Alex said before realizing. The bucket has holes in it. Incredibly small but they leaked some water. And he realized what the Bran meant after seeing that the bucket was about a quarter full.

'How the Hell did I not notice that while I was on my way back?!' He thought to himself in an abrasive manner.

"A quarter of the way it seems...." He said in a disappointed manner.

Bran slowly sat up before taking the bucket from Xavier and slowly dumping it out of the only window in the room.

"What do you think your doing?!" Xavier said in an upset manner.

"I have no use for a quarter bucket full of water. Until you can get me a bucket filled with water you won't be gardening. Nor will you be paying your way. That means you will have to eat whatever you can find out there. And not from my garden." He said in a casual manner before motioning to the garden that could be seen from the window.

"Now go along and gather more water now. We don't have day after all." Bran said while casually laying back down. He slowly opened the book and began reading. Ignoring Xavier in his entirety.

"FINE I'LL GO GRAB YOUR STUPID WATER." Xavier proclaimed and then stormed off.

Bran remained laying down reading his book before slowly letting out a soft grin. "Your potential is high young one.... Grow strong and bring me a bucket full of water someday." He said in a happy tone.

---

Xavier began to think. 'How can I get more water back here? I suppose I could run the entire duration but I don't have the stamina for that and even if I did I don't have the control to keep the water from spilling out of the bucket. Ugh this is so stupid!'

But as he was thinking the System alerted him something.

<1 Round of body strengthening has been done. You have gained 20 XP.>

'Wait.... does that mean I can get stronger? That would make this whole ordeal much easier.' Xavier thought to himself.

'Perhaps instead of fetching water I should go for a run? But fetching the water has been recognized as training and when I was running away from the Lion from before it didn't count so perhaps I should just continue this.' Xavier thought.

He then proceeded to walk towards the creek once more though this time he was determined to get stronger.

---

It took him 5 hours to get back home this time. Xavier was getting exhausted to say the least. The bucket of water was fairly heavy.... probably around 60 pounds and the treck between the house and the creek was a sizable distance. Though he was rewarded once more with a message from the system.

<You have done another bout of Body Strengthening. You have gained 40 XP.>

'I got more XP this time! Must be because I did more work or at least it felt that way.' Xavier thought to himself as he looked at the bucket that had about an eighth of the bucket left filled with water. 'Ugh... even less this time.'

'And I'm starting to get hungry....' Xavier thought to himself as he felt his stomach start to protest.

'I suppose it's time to look for food then.' Xavier thought to himself as he slowly picked up his exhausted body and started looking for food in the nearby forest.

After a few minutes of searching he managed to find a strange brown mushroom. After picking them he noticed they had small white spots littering the surface of it. 'Hmm... better ask Bran about it. He might answer me if I ask kindly.'

After a few more moments he opened up the door to the wooden shack with a creek and managed to find Bran still reading the strange blue book.

Bran slowly turned his gaze towards me before his features froze. "I wouldn't eat those if I were you. They will give you paralysis especially if you eat the amount that you have picked."

Xavier found himself smiling at the worried look on Brans face. "Then how am I supposed to find something to eat if I don't know what is edible to eat or not?" Xavier voiced in a voice that resembled anger but was just resembling it.

Bran slowly shook his head before slowly muttering something underneath his breath. He then shook his head and said in a loud tone "In the Garden you should be able to find a bookshelf not to far away from the shack. You can read the books there in your free time. But if I find a single scratch made to any of the books by any measure don't worry about paying me back. Because I'm afraid you will never be able to."

Xavier nodded in gratitude before saying "Don't worry I wouldn't dare to leave a scratch upon your precious books."

Xavier then turned around and walked into the large garden behind the shack in search for the bookshelf he detailed.