The dimensional world was quiet, but it was never still.
Arlen woke up with his back sore, his hair matted, and a strange bug crawling across his cheek. He slapped it away half-asleep, then rolled over and stared at the ceiling of his new stone shelter.
"Morning," he muttered.
No reply. Gourd wasn't in the room.
Arlen sat up slowly. He rubbed his face, then glanced at his hoe leaning against the wall. It gleamed faintly in the dim greenish light seeping through the moss-covered window. He grabbed it like instinct.
He stepped outside.
And immediately stepped in something.
It squelched.
"Oh what the hell—"
He looked down.
A trail of blue slime stretched across his front yard, weaving between the planter boxes and disappearing into the trees. Tiny footprints dotted it like someone had run through jelly.
"Gourd?"
No answer.
A system ping flashed in his vision.
[Minor Disturbance Detected Near East Crop Field]
[Foreign Entity Presence: Non-Hostile. Potentially Curious.]
Arlen frowned. He followed the trail.
It didn't take long. Past a few rows of Emberroot and his half-grown Brightplum tree, he found Gourd sitting on top of a crate, staring at something.
Something... squishy.
A small, blue, beetle-like creature was hopping around the field like it was high on sugar, its round body jiggling with every bounce. Whenever it landed, it squeaked. Then it left a little splatter of slime.
"Did it eat a whole patch of my Dreamleaf?" Arlen asked.
Gourd nodded. "Twice."
Arlen sighed. "Can we stop adopting everything we meet?"
"It adopted us first."
The beetle hopped up to Arlen and bumped into his leg like a dog. It let out a squeaky honk and wiggled.
[New Wild Companion Discovered: Glub-Glub Beetle]
[Status: Playful. Harmless. Devours psychic herbs.]
[Would you like to name it?]
Arlen stared at the beetle.
"No."
The system chimed anyway.
[Default Name Assigned: Blorp.]
"Fine. Blorp."
Blorp squeaked happily and immediately ate a half-grown Dreamleaf sprout.
"Stop that!"
That afternoon, Arlen rebuilt the Dreamleaf plot with raised fences. Gourd supervised. Blorp rolled around and tried to chew on a rock.
It was, against all logic, a good day.
With most of his crops growing nicely, Arlen opened his system menu and clicked into his blueprints tab. A new section had unlocked since taming Barnaby:
[Advanced Blueprints Available: Farm Expansion, Livestock Pen, Dimensional Apiary, Defensive Tower, Herbal Distillery]
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's make this place an actual stronghold."
Gourd rolled over. "You gonna build a watchtower?"
"No. A distillery. But also yes."
He sketched out plans using the system interface. His fingers moved faster now. Confident. Focused.
He added:
* A two-story wooden barn for livestock he didn't have yet.
* A glass-covered apiary on the south side for dream bees (if he ever caught some).
* A tool workshop with proper storage and crafting benches.
* A wind-powered grinder for processing herbs.
Each build cost resources, but with the dimensional world's generous yield and his massive inventory, he wasn't worried. The system even highlighted areas where construction wouldn't disturb nearby magical fauna.
[Confirm Builds? Begin Phase 1?]
"Yes."
The land responded. Stone shifted. Wood stacked. Blueprints materialized, then solidified.
Gourd watched with awe. "You're making a whole kingdom in here."
Arlen didn't answer. He was too focused. His thoughts moved faster than ever, but clearer too.
He wasn't the same idiot who wandered into a cave with a box of tools and a bruised ego.
He was building something real now. Something bigger than survival.
"...."
By nightfall, the new buildings stood tall and complete. Arlen wiped sweat from his brow and took a bite of roasted Skybean. It tasted like buttery clouds and something close to satisfaction.
Blorp had eaten his glove.
Gourd had fallen asleep in the new barn.
Barnaby, miles away in his burrow, was snoring loud enough to vibrate the soil.
And Arlen, alone by the fire, opened his system notifications.
[Daily Quest Complete: Construct 3+ Structures]
[Reward: 50 Points, 1 Mystery Seed Pack]
He opened the seed pack.
[New Seed Obtained: Echo Fern (Rare)]
[Effect: Repeats the last sound heard every 30 seconds. Used in magic echo rituals.]
Arlen blinked. "Great. A plant that never shuts up."
Still, he smiled.
He placed the seed in the ground near the apiary.
Tomorrow, he'd test it. Maybe blend it with Dreamleaf. Maybe even start experimenting with hybrids.
[New Skill Available: Botanical Fusion - Combine two plant types for hybrid effects. Warning: Unstable results.]
"Oh now we're cooking."
He leaned back in his chair, stared up at the green sky of the dimensional world, and let himself relax.
For five seconds.
Then the system pinged again.
[New Visitors Detected: Dimensional Rift Opening Near East Border]
[Entities Unknown. Approach Rate: Slow. Threat Level: Low. Curiosity Detected.]
Arlen sat up straight.
"Again?"
He grabbed his hoe, whistled for Gourd, and stuffed a healing salve into his pouch.
The farm wasn't just growing.
It was starting to attract attention.
And not all of it was friendly.