Ten years later…
“Gato, are you awake yet? It’s time to get the ground ready for planting the crops.”
Cain woke up in the early morning as his new life, Gato, to hear the words of his current mother calling out to him in the middle of the house. He looked out the window to see how much light was out.
Not even sunrise out yet, mother, and you already want me up for the day?
Still, he complied with his mother’s words, standing out of the bed that he slept in. Of course, he needed to find a better way of handling this, but those were the breaks. It was not possible to argue with his mother in this life and get away with it. He tried, but it was impossible to get her to back down.
After he put his clothes on for the day, he walked out of the bedroom and over to his family’s kitchen. He didn’t want to get on his mother’s bad side, not after the last few dozen times that happened.
“I’m here, mother,” he said when he got there. “What’s next for me to do before the end of the day?”
“Ah, Gato, good thing you’re right here,” his mother said. “So, let’s see what you need to do while away from the house itself… other than the tilling of the ground for the crops, I need the following items from in town, and so does your father, too.” She handed him a slate with some text on it, which he could not make out what it said. “Show it to the town guard before you do your shopping in town, okay? We don’t want you even getting in trouble with the store owners for taking things you’re not supposed to.”
Gato nodded. “Okay, mother, I understand. I’ll be on the way to doing what I need to when I get the ground tilled.”
Gato’s mother nodded, giving a slight smile. “You’d better get to it now. It’s your turn to learn how to handle the shadow oxen.”
Okay, that’s a new thing I never expected. What really are shadow oxen? This is the first I’ve heard of them.
“If you wish to know more about the shadow oxen, keep in mind they’ve been in our family on your father’s side for a hundred generations. That’s all I’m allowed to say. With that said, talk with your father about them if you want to know more,” Gato’s mother said.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gato said. “Here’s hoping that this will be a good thing overall.”
“Of course it will,” Gato’s mother said. “You’ll be able to handle them well. I can say that for a fact.”
How am I supposed to accept that, though, mother?
Still, Gato nodded. “Okay, let me get to work, then. I’ll be doing the tilling as soon as I can.” With that, he walked over to the stable where the shadow oxen were supposed to be… or so he hoped.
“Gato, before I forget, you’re going the wrong way for where the shadow oxen are,” his mother said. “They aren’t in the main stable.”
“They aren’t?!”
“No, they aren’t. I’ll show you where they are now, Gato.”
O=====||===============================>
Next to the main stable, there was a shed with farming supplies, where Gato ended up at when directed by his mother. Next to the shed, however, there was a circular formation of rocks that were as empty as one would imagine it in the day time, except there was the distinct sound of mooing in the circle.
“Okay, Gato, I hope you can hear the mooing in there,” his mother said. “If not, I’ll have to wake up your father to do this job.”
“I can hear mooing, but I don’t yet see what’s causing the sound,” Gato said. “There’s no way the normal oxen can hear this, is there?”
“Correct,” his mother said. “Allow me to explain this to you. You’ll need to have a fair amount of strength in order to hold on to the tilling device, which will make it possible for you to control where the oxen are going.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Gato nodded. “I get that so far. How am I supposed to lift the plow at this rate? Do I need to strengthen my arms and legs?”
“That remains up to your ability to take any injuries well,” his mother said. “Let’s just say that you need all the help you can get. I mean, you’ve got a fair amount of work ahead of you in order to handle this job, so we need you to hold on to the things which will help you with the job.”
Yeah, I hear that. How am I supposed to know what things are important for the job, though?
As he walked over to the plow, however, his mother caught him on the sleeve of his left arm. “You need to get the shadow oxen out first. Only then are you allowed to attach the plow to them.”
“Oh, right… sorry about that, mother.”
“Just remember what I said, Gato, so that you can do the job ahead of you.”
Gato nodded. “Thanks for that.”
“No problem. Now, go in the special pen for the shadow oxen and bring them out. I’ll instruct you on what to do next when that’s done,” his mother said.
“That’s fair.” At that, he walked into the pen and saw a couple of things that weren’t there before. First, there were the shadow oxen that his mother told him about, which were spectral oxen that couldn’t (or was that shouldn’t) be strong work cows on their own. The second thing was the blank opaque blue box that appeared in his field of view.
Wait, that’s not right. How did this box come into existence? Can I even see around the box?
“Gato? Is something the matter?”
Gato looked at his mother, the box still in front of him, and gave a weary sighed. “Honestly, I hope not. I can see the shadow oxen, though.”
“That’s good, at least. Now, let’s get them hitched to the plow, shall we? You’ll be doing this on your own in the future. I can assure you of that.”
“Yes, mother, I understand.”
Gato’s mother nodded. “Glad we’re on the same page here. Now, let’s get you started, shall we?”
As Gato moved his attention back to the shadow oxen, he saw the box had altered its interior to show a message to him. What in the… what gives?
Welcome to the game! To begin your grand adventures, we of System Administration are going to give you a tutorial.
A tutorial? This sounds suspiciously like an acute case of fan fiction writing…
The box then added a new line at the bottom of the previous message.
Yes, we know this sounds like it belongs in a fan fiction. Please bear with it for a while.
Gato groaned. Just my wonky and rotten luck.
O=====||===============================>
A few minutes of working through how to set up the hitching for the plow later, Gato got to the fields with his family’s shadow oxen. Okay, this is going to be a right pain in the bum. I can admit that much. How am I supposed to handle this without having my current parents worry about me at all?
As soon as he reached the edge of the field with the oxen, he saw another box appear in his field of view, replacing the one that was there earlier.
New Quest Alert!
Honor Your Mother and Father (I): Your mother asked you to till with the plow on your family’s farm. Do so in the swiftest amount of time that is reasonable for the farming at hand.
Mission Aim: Plow the field in three hours’ time.
Bonus Mission Aim 1: Plow the field in two and a half hours.
Bonus Mission Aim 2: Plow the field in two hours.
Reward: +200 XP, +50 Gold Pieces.
Bonus Reward 1: +400 XP, +100 Gold Pieces.
Bonus Reward 2: +800 XP, +200 Gold Pieces.
Do you accept?
Y/N
Gato groaned. What is it with me these days?
With nothing else to do, he started the plowing process of the field. Before he reached the start of the field, however, he saw that his box in front of him still had the words that he was hoping would go away.
Oh, right, I didn’t say that I accepted the quest. Hold on a bit…
With that, he pressed the yes button, which looked like the capital letter Y. At that point, he began the plowing of the field.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t take too long… I don’t want to make my parents worry about me while I’m doing this job for them.
As he worked on plowing the field, he monitored the surrounding area, only to realize that he had a timer counting down from the three-hour mark going on in the top right corner of his vision. It was distracting him.
This is going to be beyond annoying, I’m certain of it. Either way, this isn’t the time for distractions.
With that, he monitored the plowing he had to do.
O=====||===============================>
I hope Gato’s doing okay with the job that his father and I assigned him…
Gato’s mother, Diana, daughter of Medea, had to admit to being rather miffed that things were going to turn into turds in a bad way. Why did she think that?
Because there was a potential threat of a bandit group in the area, that’s why.
Honestly, it’s usually right about this time when the bandits strike, which makes everything likely to go down the dreck batch. Why else would I worry?
Diana was not the most inclined to be worried about the safety of her family, but then there was no other choice on the matter. What she wouldn’t give to keep her family safe… so when was she supposed to keep them that way?
If only she knew how likely that was going to be.
