The sun felt hot on his skin. All around him where stalks of wheat. Younger men NPCs walked back and forth through the fields, taking in the harvest. Curious George, meanwhile, was slowly trotting along trying to keep up. He lifted his head up and rubbed his brow with a rag he’d gotten from the owners of the farm. The straw hat he had was helping to keep the light out of his eyes, but the heat on his back was really getting to him. Curious George didn’t know why he was having such difficulty. Or he did, to an extent. In the real world he was a fit man, rippled with muscle, who could handle this kind of work with ease. He would have loved it, even, if his wife or children were harvesting with him! A family spending time out in the open doors! That’s what he could enjoy! But right now, his virtual body was weak and frail. Even he felt embarrassed over how little he was keeping up with the other men working the field. He huffed a breath of frustration and tried to push on through his work despite warning signs appearing on his visual display. Low Energy in bright red signs. He had already stopped twice while working the field, and he wanted to try to get more done before he had to stop for a third time. Curious George felt himself grow increasingly sluggish and he squinted his eyes to try keeping visual on the work. He sighed, and finally let himself stop and sit on the ground. Other men only gave him a glance before continuing to work. They didn’t say anything, but George imagined they were thinking ‘adventurer sitting on the job again’. There wasn’t much he could do about it until he worked on his stamina. He wondered when it would improve? Curious George looked around his area to get his mind off it. He spotted to his left a scarecrow off on another part of the field. Standing tall in clothing, worn down clothing, that was probably better than what he had on. He didn’t exactly have any equipment to call his own, or anything he could use other than the things NPCs gave him in kindness. For someone who liked to be self-sufficient, it made him feel even worse about the situation. He sunk his head down in defeat. He couldn’t do anything right now about it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the slow regain of his energy. Every few seconds a few points came back, and from what he’d experienced it could take five minutes if he wanted to push at half spec. His logical mind said wait until he fully recovered, but his pride told him to get off his bottom and get back to work. He grunted, and lifted himself up to his feet, brushed himself off, and get to the harvest. Later that ‘night’, Curious George laid back in the farmer’s barn in one of the free stalls. Some of his animals hadn’t made the last winter according to the NPC farmer and he had space to provide board. Curious George had gotten used to resting in hay. He had been providing manual labor for roof over his head at night in game. Not just at this farm, but at others between villages as well. He had been traveling from village to village to even the other cities to get more familiar with the game world he was in. Curious George reached down into the hay and patted down until he found what he was looking for. A scrap of wood from the fire wood cutting he had gotten yesterday in game. The boys in charge had been willing to let him have it if he helped stack the pile. He leaned to the side and carefully retrieved a rusted knife. This George had gotten from the farmer for ‘work well done’ a few days ago. George was pretty sure the NPCs had done better work, but he wasn’t going to complain. Maybe he had lucked out and accidentally taken a…what was it called? A mission? He was pretty sure it was called a mission. One that granted him a worn-down tool to practice with. George thought he would practice through whittling. It was something he was really into as a young man. Not as much as heroism, but everyone had multiple small hobbies, right? George laughed. He probably still had some carved ‘hand held heroes’ stashed away in his attic. Curious George turned his wood slab back and forth. He had the mastery for artisan, which meant wood work, but he didn’t have a clue on what he could do with his lack of level. So, he’d start with the basics. Softwood probably would have been better for him to practice with. This world was realistic to the extent a virtual world would be. All he had currently was hard wood, or worse, scrap he’d gotten. With a rusted knife too. But Curious George would do what he could with it. “Maybe I should get the knife sharper somehow.” He ran it over the woof a few times. It chipped some of the wood, but didn’t cut like he wanted. Curious George frowned at the tool. It was the best he was going to get until he could afford real tools, or convince the farmer to let him have a better knife. He’ll have to work on it later. George slid his knife down into the slab and worked the flaked pieces off the slab. He needed it smooth to start with and he needed to test the blade. An hour worth of work lead to the wood being rid of the rough flakes and carve down some of the outer bark. He squinted at his work, trying to better access what he’d accomplished. Then he looked at his knife. George twisted it one way then another. He ran a finger nail over the edge. Then he ran a finger over it. Curious George could feel it in the last few cuts of the whittling, but now he had confirmation. He set the used knife to the side of his stack with plans to dispose of it properly when he logged back in. He’d have to find himself a knew knife before he could continue with his practice. He laid his head back into the hay and logged out for the day.
