Infinite Farmer

"I'm still not sure we made the right decision." To all appearances, the doubtful six-year-old-boy speaking was trying to start a brick, wood-fired oven using a lit splinter of wood and failing badly. "We haven't changed a class like that before."

"We haven't had the opportunity." As the splinter burned down dangerously close to the boy's fingers, a very short, very stout middle-aged woman stole it out of his hand and threw it directly on the kindling he had carefully piled up. It burst into a healthy flame almost immediately. She winked and sat down. "And that's the point, isn't it? The Infinite is about giving the brave a place to spend that bravery, when nothing else is left for them to accomplish. We already let various worlds game that a little, but…"

"But it's a mockery of what we were made for. Or something like that." The boy rolled his eyes. "I've heard this a million times. It still doesn't mean we can just create an entirely new, unbalanced thing."

"Unbalanced as of yet." A twenty-something man ruffled the boy's hair. "It was part of the deal, remember? He had to be okay with a lot of turbulence in the process. Not just to agree to it, but to actually be okay with it."

"Still, I don't think…"

"Shush. All of you." A very large man of not-at-all-human-looking features swept through the door of the house into the yard where the others were gathered. "It's a dinner meeting, remember? The format of these little thinking sessions isn't just for show. Cook first, eat second, and then let the conversation dwindle naturally before we get into business. Those are the rules."

Nobody complained out loud. The oven fired up a bit too fast to be completely natural and fueled a few more cooking surfaces than made sense, but the work done on it was authentic enough. Deserts were baked, meat was roasted, and vegetables were prepared in a dozen different ways. Soon enough, there was a full, long table of food ready for consumption.

The table itself was the real stretch of reality. The general thought most people held about how The Infinite earned its name was that it had an endless number of floors, an endless amount of danger, or some other characteristic of the dungeon. It wasn't so. Whether any particular version of that train of thought was true or false, the actual reason for the name was something different.

It was a nickname, essentially. The number of persons contained within the makeup of The Infinite was not actually endless, but there were thousands of them. Getting them all around a table at once and facilitating communication between them was something that required a bit of reality-stretching. It wouldn't have been something that was easy to explain to an outside observer. Luckily, the only person who really needed to understand it was The Infinite.

After the meal, the discussion really did go better. The Infinite had long ago found that some rules of the universe applied to everyone, even beings of concept. One of those rules was that food facilitated relationships of all kinds. Full of dinner, every participant was able to whip ideas with all the speed of thrown stones, churning concepts with the turbulence provided by debate to refine them into better and better versions.

It wasn't a fast or slow process. Ideas like that didn't have much traction there. Everything took the time it took.

"So we are in agreement? Or at least as much as we can be?He has surpassed our expectations time and time again. It's time that we stop meddling in things from here on out." The gigantic man looked around the table. Any two versions of him there could have held the argument up for an eternity, were they stubborn enough. Even so, nobody outright objected. It was just enough for him to know that he was probably making the right decision, while still having some doubts on the outcome he'd see.

There was a sort of risk in that. But it was the good sort of risk. Being very certain was a good sort of feeling, but it tended to limit the potential upside.

"All right, then. I'll do the honors."

—

Floating in the white would never be in the cards for Tulland. Of course, he couldn't be sure, and there was no evidence that he'd never get a true journey-through-the-weightless-void experience. But it was now his second time in a nondescript brick room, and something deep in his soul told him this was his lot in life.

Of course, there were worse things. For a moment, he was truly safe. That was a value all its own.

We never did get that story, System. About you and the Church. Don't think I've forgotten.

I hardly can. You mention nearly nothing else.

That's not so. I've had a lot to focus on these days. I must have thought about battle and not dying quite a bit.

That is true. There was a fair bit of mental cursing.

You are dodging the subject. You owe me a story, and I want it. And there's not going to be a better time than now.

I suppose. It's actually not all that interesting, in some ways. When I was younger, more generations ago than you can imagine, there was a time when I made a mistake. It was…

System? Tulland felt shock as he realized that his communication channel to the System was cut off, not by his own choice but by some greater power. He tried to get through anyway. Are you there? Are you alright?

"He's not hurt." An enormous man appeared so suddenly that Tulland almost broke the bricks behind him when he recoiled away. The man laughed and shook his head. "Sorry about that. It's the way things work, in these rooms. There are some aspects that even I don't have control of."

"The Infinite?" Tulland looked around the small room, failing to see any other incarnations of the dungeon's system. "There's a lot less of you today."

"Sometimes it's like that. I'm the prime, which isn't something that would make sense to you. But when there's only one of me, it's me. Understand?"

"No." Tulland shook his head. "But that's fine. Is the System okay?"

"He's perfectly fine. But the rules of this particular meeting deem that you get the news all by yourself. Afterward, whatever you choose to share is your business."

In an instant, Tulland found himself sitting across a small table from The Infinite. It was more comfortable, except for the part where he had to come to terms with not knowing how he got there.

The big man continued, "To keep this short, this information won't seem like much to you. The changes to your class are set in stone now. Of course, the normal variance you bring to your own development will apply. But you won't lose anything. We won't take anything from you again. You've earned what you have."

"Just by clearing the fifth floor?"

"And by surviving." The Infinite tapped the table with a huge finger that Tulland was pretty sure could snap him in half without much effort. "Believe it or not, there is nothing in this place that profits from the death of an unwilling participant. In almost any other world, it would have been simply impossible for you to come here with as ill-informed a decision as you did. It's not something we intended."

"But it's something you allowed."

The big man nodded. "Yes. And something we will try to atone for."

"Why not send me home? Why not…"

"Let me cut you off there. There are so many reasons why not that your mind would break trying to hold them. At this moment, that is."

"And in the future?"

"The future is a big place." The Infinite gave a half-smile and stood. "Not unlimited because nothing is. But as close to infinite as anything can be. But know that where this dungeon can bend the rules to make things fair for you, it will. We aren't against you, Tulland. I'm not sure anyone is, if it comes down to it."

The Infinite held out its hand for a shake. Tulland decided to reciprocate, for no reason in particular beyond friendliness.

"Good Luck, Tulland."

The Infinite disappeared, only a few seconds before the room did.

—

Wake up.

Don't wanna.

I assure you that you do. What happened to you, anyway? You were awake and alert in that room.

Tulland had no idea. Somehow, this ride to another place had been different than all the others, at least all the others since he had arrived at The Infinite in the first place. It was like it was a bigger, meaner kind of shift, something that just took a lot out of him. But at least it took it out of him gently, leaving him more tired and sleepy than beaten up or exhausted.

If he understood the logic of how The Infinite ran this place, he wasn't in much danger at the moment. It would be fundamentally unfair to jerk someone out of safety into danger without allowing them any agency in how it happened or how they responded. He could have closed his eyes as he laid on what his Farmer's Intuition said was soft grass, in what his normal feelings said was warm sun. In some ways, it might have even been thought to be a reward.

The System, however, was still not wrong that Tulland wanted to wake up. That was confirmed as a mostly limp, very soft hand flopped over from the side to rest lightly on his arm.

I'll tell you about the experience and hear your story later. This seems more important.

Quite.

Tulland cracked open his eyes to find himself gazing into the big, blue eyes of Necia, who looked just as comfortably lethargic as he felt. She gave him a warm little smile which made his flesh all goose-bumpy with happiness.

"You made it," Tulland said. "Good on you."

"It's not like it was difficult. You just go to the room of blue carpets, then you come out on the other side with your rewards." Necia patted what looked like a new collapsible halberd on her hip with obvious satisfaction. "Which were pretty good in this case."

"Blue carpets? You get carpet?"

"Sure. What do you get?"

"Boring white bricks. All four walls. No windows or anything."

"Huh. I guess I won that little lottery. At least it doesn't matter much."

"I wonder. Anyway, it's done now."

Necia shifted up onto her elbow and hit Tulland softly in the shoulder by her standards, which translated into a pretty good shock by his. He tried his hardest to make it seem like he didn't mind, which he really didn't outside of the bone-rattling impact, and shifted to a seated position.

"You never told me your rewards. See, I showed you my halberd, so…"

"Fine. Fine. I'll check." Tulland did, but it seemed that there wasn't much more from beating the Cannian Knight. He still had the levels and skill growth from beating the level five boss, but literally nothing else. And, oddly, he was okay with that. The fight with the knight had given him some ideas for how to use his new skills. He had no clue how far he could take things, but with a promise from The Infinite to no longer meddle in his class, the future was in his literal grasp.

"Found it. It's you."

Tulland smiled at Necia, stood, and held out his hand. One of the things he was most glad about how her class worked is that it didn't make her bigger and heavier all the time. She didn't really need help getting up, but he could still offer it without being absolutely ridiculous.

"So where are we?" Necia rose to her feet and looked around. "It's not like I've actually met someone who made it to the safe zone before. I couldn't have. There's no going back once you cross the border to five."

"There's just grass, right now. It's nice grass, but…"

Go over the hill. Trust me.

"But I bet if we move on we can find it," Necia said. "Let's walk that way."

There was a good-sized hill in front of them, but nothing that two super-humans couldn't handle with ease. In just a minute or two, they were on top of it and looking down on the landscape unfurling in front of them.

"That's more like it. You think it's safe?" Tulland asked.

"It almost has to be. Or it wouldn't be called Safe Zone. Right?"

"Let's hope."

Necia shoved Tulland a little again, not quite taking him off his feet by doing so. They looked down on the fifty or so buildings that made up the safe zone village, a hodgepodge of brick, stone, and wood structures, most with fire-smoke coming out of chimneys and all looking a bit inexpertly slapped-together. On either of their worlds, it would have been a weird enough place to be suspect.

Here, it looked like paradise.

"Alright, I think that's enough looking." Tulland took a deep breath and caught Necia by the elbow. "Ready to go down there? I'll back you up."

"Thanks. I appreciate that. Yes, let's go."

They walked towards the village together. The next five floors were waiting.