Infinite Farmer: A Plants vs Dungeon

System, that’s…

Horrible? It would ensure the violent deaths of perhaps millions of humans? I know. I amashamedof it, Tulland. That I thought of it as a path forward and hardly considered what it would mean for… just about everyone. I was a desperate thing, like a drowning man looking for anything that might float.

And now?

I would like to think this journey has changed me, and I’m sure it has to some extent. I would not destroy half your world to seize back my power. But absent that one very weak foundational block in the Church’s power, I’m not sure any amount of strength you might give me would be enough. A single individual’s power is… well, it’s hardly much. Most Systems feast on thousands of such gifts from their class-bearers each year. Many come as far as you have come now.

Actually, that brings up an interesting question. Why didn’t you know about those other people sooner? Rossi and his crew. They are from our world, right? You weren’t alerted to that? Things were occurring to Tulland left and right. Do you know if they are dead? You must, right?

Tulland, calm down. No, I don’t know. They are products of the Church. There is nothing in this world, in any world, that I can sense less than them. I’ve received no power from them, if that's what you are asking. I don’t know if I would in any case.

Could they withhold it from you? Earn it themselves?

Before, I would have told you no. If they could, why wouldn’t they do so all the time? Why would they freeze your world as it was all that time ago?

My tutor once said that a good ruler promotes progress, but a long-lived one promotes stability.

So maybe you’ll still get the energy.

Perhaps. Or maybe they have survived. Or perhaps the energy will fly off into the nothing beyond worlds. There’s no way to tell.

Tulland went back to his plants. He mostly believed what the System said, but also acknowledged most of it didn’t really matter. Whether the people from the Church were alive or dead, their survival was out of both Tulland’s and the System’s hands. If the System got energy from them, there was nothing he could do about it. If it was planning a gentler takeover of his old world, there was no way he’d be able to verify it either.

All that mattered, he realized, was how long he survived here. That was the only thing he could control. He was going to be food for the System eventually. If the System seemed honest enough about how it’d use that meal, he’d take comfort in that. There was no use worrying about the thing he couldn’t change unless it changed his plans.

Sitting there in the dark contemplating things, something finally changed in the vines. He inspected them one last time, hoping for something that would make a real change for once.

That’s… not as much as I hoped.

And yet it’s a direction. To the extent The Infinite understands what these vines are for and how they pose a threat to its plans, this is how you will have a chance at defeating its efforts to keep you from knowing.

Why tell me this at all, then?

It can’t avoid it. Systems are self-regulating things, Tulland. We can make mistakes, but there is only an extent to which we can violate our purpose. When you received the ability to add another level to your plants, it was because that was the most appropriate prize for you at that level. The Infinite might have been able to withhold it, but it would have been against its nature to actually do so.

I don’t understand.

You couldn’t. We are a different sort of being. But it would have been as likely to do that as for you to rip out one of your fingernails. Perhaps even less. This description is the same thing. Youshouldhave this. It has made the facts as obscured as possible, but everything it should have told you is likely there.

It’s not helpful, though. The sleeves are very good at following instructions. We already knew that.

And yet, there must be something you didn’t know, hidden. Think on it, Tulland. Even if I knew I wouldn’t be able to tell you.

But you don’t know?

I do not. Now go, Tulland. Sleep. Tomorrow is likely to be a big day.

—

It was a bigger day than even the system had thought it would be. It started off with a bang, too, a bigger beginning than Tulland would have believed.

“Don’t do it.” Tulland woke up to a loud voice outside his house that even through the stone walls he thought probably belonged to White. “Whatever you are doing, just don’t.”

“I’m not doing anything, okay? I’m looking for a place to sleep. You can’t threaten me. I’m already dead.”

Tulland dumped some magic on his farm and ran outside, seeing the last person he expected to ever see again. Allysi was standing in the middle of the street, bloodied and filthy, his eyes wide with what Tulland could only assume was madness.

“And I said I’ll help you. We’ll get you bathed. Find you a place to sleep. But I can’t let you go unaccompanied looking like you look.”

“And how do I look, huh?” Allysi walked up to White and bumped up hard against his chest. “Like I just saw everyone I travel with get ripped into shreds by those damn dirt things? Like I had to run for two days from them, picking them off one by one without a moment’s rest? Like that? I guess I probably look a little stressed. I guess that makes sense.”

Allysi’s shove against White seemed to have taken the steam out of his anger, or at least poked a hole through which it could escape. As he continued talking, he deflated until he slumped to the ground, defeated and mumbling.

“Thought so.” Licht appeared around the corner near Tulland. “I’ve seen that before. People get into bad situations, the bad follows them out. He hasn’t slept in days.”

“Will he get better?” Tulland asked.

“Depends on what you mean by better. He’s not going to forget what he saw.”

“No. NO.” Allysi yelled loud and jerked away as White put his hand on his arm. “I’m not going with you.”

“You had better, son.” White’s voice was gentle but awfully firm. “Just until we can get you rested and fed. Then, I’ll—”

“No. No orders. I’m done with orders” Allysi waved his arms around wildly. “You know where orders got me? Here. All the way to here. This… place.”

“Yes, and…”

“And no. You know what? You want to be sure I’m safe? I’ll make sure you know I’m safe.”

Allysi took off at a sprint. He passed less than a foot from Tulland as he ran off. White shook his head sadly, but just watched as he ran out of sight.

“Want me to keep an eye on him?” Licht asked.

“Can you do it quietly? He’s less likely to make trouble that way,” White said.

“Sure.” Licht slung his crossbow back across his shoulders. “I’ll bring him back if I can. Maybe I’ll have better luck.”

“Maybe.” White chewed the inside of his lip for a moment. “I hope so.”

Licht nodded and walked away. White watched him for a bit before his eye landed back on Tulland.

“Sorry you had to be here for all that. You too, Necia.” Tulland felt Necia’s arm wrap through his as she exited the house. “Not a perfect start to your morning.”

“I’ve never seen anyone’s eyes like that.”

“That’s shock.” White shook his head. “I once saw someone drop a rock on their own arm. A big rock, something they were using to build a wall. Dragged him to the ground and destroyed the limb, just like that. When they pulled the rock up, that’s how he looked, even after he got healed. It’s how you look when you see something your mind can’t handle.”

“His friends dying?”

“I think that’s part of it. The rest is stress from the running he said he did. Not knowing if the next time he tripped up was going to be the last. I can’t even imagine what that would be like for days and days.” White watched the street off into the distance, then turned to back to Tulland. “He’ll calm down. He might not be right, even then. But we can’t tell unless we get him to calm down first. I’m just afraid he’ll attack someone. Without his group, he’s not much of a risk, but they’d hurt him.”

“Won’t have a chance for that, I’m afraid.” Licht cut through the space between two buildings. “No chance at all.”

“You can’t be sure. Wait.” White looked more worried, suddenly. “He did it?”

“Before I could get within a hundred yards of him. He must have been their speed build.”

“I don’t understand.” Tulland looked from grim face to grim face. Even Necia looked like she got it. “Where is he?”

“Through the arch again.” Necia frowned. “Through and gone.”

“I don’t understand. Why would he do that?”

“Because anything else would just be delaying the same effect. He couldn’t have allies here. The Infinite traded away power for that. He couldn’t delay forever. It would move him ahead eventually.” White breathed out, long and loud. “And I can’t say for sure I wouldn’t have done the same thing myself. The waiting would be almost as bad as letting it happen.”