Infinite Farmer

At this point, Tulland was completely unarmored, having sacrificed all of his strong briars to the attack. There were dozens of strong briars in there, presumably doing their best to drag down the roguish killer. He needed to get there as quick as he could before the man was able to clear the vines, or it would be that much harder to do what he planned. On the other hand, if the flowers and vines combined weren't enough, Tulland was pretty sure he would just die, stabbed from some shadow by a weapon he had no hope of blocking.

The reality was a bit different.

"Oooowwww." The rogue man was rolling around in the briar, bleeding from dozens of thorns dug into him. "Ha. No! Haaa. No! Gods!"

Good enough? I have a chance now?

I would say so. But are you sure you want to…

Tulland tuned the System out but didn't cut the communications. He could do what needed to be done. He didn't need the System second guessing him. And with the rogue mostly out of commission, Tulland knew he could accomplish it so long as he had the guts to try. Even if the psychedelic wore off, the in position briars would probably hold the man now.

But it just wouldn't be a clean thing. Tulland didn't have combat skills. And he was not strong, in most senses of the word. He lifted his spear up, tears burning his eyes, and thrust, stopping just an inch before the man's face. It wasn't that he couldn't do it, even if he was wavering in his heart of hearts. It was because the rogue, despite cycling through the emotions of joy and sorrow as dictated from the Acheflowers, found a hand to take out the Wolfwood purse from his pocket.

"You killed her," Tulland stated.

"I did! I kill… oh, lots. Or did I? There's no way to know" The man grinned, then went serious. His madness was clear, even through the drugging. "It's my right. The weak are sacrifices to my strength. For my world. Unless they weren't. I'm not telling."

"And that's worth it?"

"Oh, yes." The man was smiling again, then fell to a fit of coughing. When he raised his hand, just a bit of sanity had returned to his eye. He had gathered himself for one last moment of defiance. "As it is for you. That's why you are doing this, right? To steal my treasure? To grow stronger? You won't find it, you know. So tell me why you're really doing this."

"I'm strong enough," Tulland said, lifting his spear. "And even if you won't tell me a thing and I go without treasure, I will still end this."

The man's eyes suddenly cleared.

"Wrong answer," the rogue said, killing the first of the vines holding him with a deft flip of his dagger. "Nasty stuff, that. Too bad I have poison resistance and you dallied a couple moments too long. I'll be out of here in a minute, dear. Don't worry. I'll kill you then."

"Will you?"

"Oh, yes. Unless you have more tricks up your sleeve. And I sincerely doubt you do."

We can see about that. Enhance Plant.

As the briars around the rogue suddenly tightened, Tulland flew into action with his spear. The rogue was thrashing, which made it harder to aim than Tulland had expected. Still, Tulland caught the man deep and hard in the leg, twisting the spear before hitting him again in the hip on the same side.

The rogue didn't take it lying down. Every second was spent shredding several of the briars and slipping away from a few more. Tulland kept stabbing as this happened, doing distressingly little damage to the man as he wiggled his way out of the restrictions.

In the fighting, Tulland managed to separate the rogue from Necia's bag. And then, finally, the rogue was free. He pulled himself up to his feet, his face contorting with rage, exaltation, and sadness as he eyed Tulland with a look of sheer madness. Tulland's stomach dropped. This was it. He'd die now.

And then the rogue turned and ran. It took Tulland a second to realize what was happening, then a moment more to realize why. The rogue was limping, running at what looked like a full sprint but so slowly now that he wasn't much faster than Tulland, if he was faster at all.

He's a speed build, you fool. You've hurt him. Pursue him now. He will heal slowly, but he will heal eventually. You cannot let him.

Tulland nodded, then tried a command he had never used before on his briars.

To me.

The briars that were left alive reached for Tulland as one, and he managed to grab two of them as he moved past. He would have liked to have many more briars in his arsenal, but there just wasn't enough time. Palming a few flowers from his bag, he ran after the rogue, who was fleeing in a completely unfamiliar direction.

Where is he going?

Unless I miss my guess, the exit. Remember, he has roved a great deal more than you. He would know where it is.

Tulland chucked every flower he had, knowing they wouldn't do much but counting on any delay they could give him. Every time one of the explosions got close to the rogue, Tulland would gain a split second of time. He needed every one of those delays. Even injured, the rogue could move faster than he could. Even a moment's distraction would mean losing the pursuit. Tulland couldn't afford that.

Finally, he did lose sight of the rogue for just a moment, before busting through the brush into a clearing that had few features beyond a simple stone arch, one that the rogue already had the better part of a leg through.

"You got close, you know. And I won't forget this," the rogue turned back and said.

"I know you won't," Tulland replied.

"You really want to know about her that badly? How she died?"

Tulland nodded, a bit grimly. "I do."

"Well, too bad. I'm heading straight from here to the fifth level. It's about time I moved on. If you really want to know, find me past the safe zone. I'll be waiting."

With a wink and a smile, the rogue stepped through the arch and was gone. Tulland roared in frustration and ran after him, fully intending on going through the arch.

No, Tulland. You are unarmed.

I have my spear.

Which you are not good at using. He is recovered now. You must have seen his speed returning. If you want to go through that arch, then fine. But you need briars. Flowers. Whatever protection you can take with you. And then there's the treasure that the man was looking for. Taking that would be a good revenge.

Tulland would never hate anything more than the fact that the System was right. He almost went through the arch anyway, but couldn't take that last step. He had made plenty of mistakes today. The rogue had underestimated Tulland by entering the tunnel, but Tulland had underestimated the rogue by becoming greedy for information. That would be the last time he made a mistake like that. Sighing deeply, he started trudging back to his farm.

I am glad. This is the first sane thing you have done in a week.

Why do you even care?

Because… I don't. Die. Live. It makes no difference to me.

The System was done talking. There was no question of that. Tulland decided to let sleeping dogs lie. A few minutes later, he was back at the tunnel, taking his frustrations out on the dirt. There were no obvious signs pointing to anything being there, but he kept digging.

It helped that Tulland had a tool that could turn into a shovel. It didn't help that after the first few shovels, the weather outside turned and the tunnel, weakened by the earlier fight, collapsed in a matter of moments.

Well crap.

Tulland spent the next few days moving all the caved in dirt, clearing what eventually looked like an enormous trench between the forest and river. Once it was cleared, he began digging again, taking a full foot of dirt off of each side of the former cave. He found nothing.

It can't be much deeper than that. The Infinite would make it hard to find, not impossible.

Agreed. Work on the floor.

Tulland sighed and prepared his shovel for more digging before something caught his eye.

That fire. Does it look like she dug out a hole for it?

Yes. It's a good practice. Keeps things neat and contained, and wastes less heat.

I agree, but Necia's hardly the type to care about things like that. She sleeps in trees.

What's your point?

My point is that whatever little dip in the ground she used was there when she got here. And the rest of the floor is uniform.

Tulland only got two shovelfuls of dirt into the ground before the tool clicked on something. He uncovered it quickly, getting a notification as soon as it cleared from the soil.

Tulland thought he'd be much happier after taking something away from the rogue. But no matter what this treasure box held, it could never compare to the company that Necia offered.

And I have to be okay with that. There's nothing I can do about that anymore. Besides hunting down that rogue, which should be that much easier with this. Just wait, Necia, I'll make sure you're avenged.

The next day, Tulland returned back to the arch again, covered in briar-armor and with a full pack of seeds, food, and the Wolf-Fur Drawstring Bag he had made for Necia. The farm itself was as fully grown as he could hope to get it. Even without the impetus of chasing the rogue, it was time to go.

Tulland bounced the treasure box in his hand, smiling with a sort of grim satisfaction. There was nothing left for him to earn here.

There. You look ready.

I feel it. Not that it matters that you are right. But I feel prepared.

May it always be so, Tulland Lowstreet. Good luck on this next floor.

Shaking his head once again at the System's consistently mixed messaging, Tulland stepped through into the void.

It was the white room again. Tulland wasn't entirely surprised, although he was a little shocked to see there was a couch now. Like the rest of the room, the couch was also made out of color bleached bricks. He decided to roll with it, sitting down on the hard bench and waiting for something to happen.

Nothing happened, for a while. Tulland had no clock to judge by, but he thought he was probably sitting for about an hour before anything changed. It was almost nice. In a stressful life, it was nice to sometimes find yourself in a space where you really couldn't be attacked.

I wonder if that's the reward, actually. I'm feeling really relaxed, considering everything.

Tulland was just starting to get enough tension out of his system to feel sleepy when the spell was broken by the sudden intrusion of three people into the space.