Winston checked his phone and it read 4:57. He took a deep breath and climbed into the machine for the first time. It was difficult with one person, but he managed it after a few struggling attempts. Then he slid on the helmet, stuck his hands into the arm sensors and said in a clear voice.

"Activate". The world flashed white in front of Winston then went black.

[Please Set Up Your Account Information]

Winston dutifully filled out his name, address, age, and entered his Credit-card info. The game accepted it dutifully then the screen changed to a bank blue Screen with two buttons. 'Create A New Character' and 'Enter Promotional Code. Winston hit the enter code button and dutifully typed in the long string of random symbols, letters, and numbers that Chuck had given him.

[Swords of Solomon Guild Package Activated!]

[You have joined the Guild Seeds of Solomon!]

[Your Starting Location has been changed to:]

[Grimstone Keep, Brethen Plains, Lunari Continent]

The Screen went back to the original blue one and Winston pushed the other button to create his character. When Otherworlded had launched they'd been praised for offering more than fifty starting races and 250 classes. Three years and one major expansion later that number was now 85 races and more than 500 classes. Players were able to choose from six at the start, but they also had the option of not selecting a class in the hope of unlocking a more powerful one.

Winston did some final touch-ups then glanced at the tan-skinned man with too-thin limbs and an oddly triangular face. The character looked weird but no worse that a lot of other races. Still he was sad that his soon to be epic healer was short and dumpy like he was. He could change that but he felt that it was cheating. His characters appearance would improve as he improved his stats.

Winston had been obsessed with Otherworld for a while and had long since planned out his first character. He would be a Zonastian Sun-Priest. Zonastian's were an human sub-species with a few insectoid characteristics. They were a desert dwelling people who were highly religious. The species got heavy racial bonuses to faith-based classes. The Sun-Priest was a hidden class that was unlocked by reaching apprentice rank in light magic and healing magic, as well as worshipping a light-based god associated with the sun. Once those were done the player had to complete a quest chain. Once all that was done you unlocked a healer with powerful healing magic and some fire based offensive powers.

Winston nearly always played support classes in RPG games. Healers were loved universally and it was always easy to find a group or guild to take you in if you were a talented healer. You didn't have the offensive powers of other classes, but that mattered less in Otherworld than most games. Otherworld's skill system allowed any class to learn any skill. A basic fighter could become a grandmaster at fire magic if they wanted, but it would just take more time and they wouldn't be as good at it as a magic-based class. Most classes just offered passive buffs with a few active skills. The game rewarded planning builds around race and class choices but you were free to build anyway you wanted. There were more than a few players who'd found success with odd combinations.

He finalized the creation of 'Lazin Thra'kar' the soon to be Zonastian Sun-Priest and entered the game. His vision faded to black for a few seconds then he was suddenly standing in what appeared to be a courtyard.

[Calibrating System…..]

Winston tried to take a step but the world swam along with his vision and he suddenly wanted to hurl. His vision spun and he fell to a knee gasping as all his senses and movement seemed to be disconnected. This went on for a good twenty or thirty seconds before everything finally settled down.

[Calibration Complete]

Winston shook his head and staggered back to his feet just as someone shouted from in front of him.

"Alright Ladies look alive!" Winston whipped his head that direction and saw human in shining silver armor carrying a big two handed sword. "I think this is all of you so listen up and let's get this shit-show on the road." Winston took the opportunity to look around before the man started his speech.

A keep made of blocks of grey stone stood off a few hundred yards to the west. It wasn't a huge structure. It honestly looked like little more than a square warehouse with some crenellations on top. It was ugly and utilitarian. Greg stood along with ten other players in the middle of what would normally be the courtyard of most keeps. This one was full of thigh-high grass, weeds, large boulders, twisted looking trees, and other various debris. A five foot high wall surrounded the entire area, this too was made of stone, but smaller, less uniform pieces. Four wooden guard towers stood behind the short wall and NPC's stood in the towers with bows, each of them gazing out over the rugged landscape around the keep.

The group was a rather ragtag looking bunch. All of them stood around in their underwear, without any armor or weapons. There was a decent variety of races, in fact Winston was one of the most human looking, besides the elves of course but no one liked elves. It was so overplayed and with nearly 100 races to choose from it was just bad form.

"If your here that means you signed up for our little guild Initiate program. That makes you all my bitches for the next few months. If you're good then you've got a shot at making it into the Swords when your done. If you're a screw-up, or a failure, or just lazy, then the contact is broken and you're out on your ass. I'm Therion and I will be in charge."

"Alright, Dwarf, Giant and, Wolfman are on mining duty." He continued with the same breath. Pointing to three of the newbies in turn."Cromm will be over in a bit and take you over to the mines. The elves and the Fox will be on lumber duty, and under the control of Leggeth she's the one that looks like a creepy pixy." He said waving vaguely at a girl with gnarled fingers, sharp teeth, and beautiful butterfly wings . "The rest of you…" He said, scanning his eyes over the remaining players. "Are on farming duty."

"Thank god." The frog guy said. "At least farming mobs will actually get us some action."

Therion smiled at the frog nastily ". "Ahhh, you're not going to be farming any mobs. You're going to be farming grain. Ya know… Like a farmer." Therion finished, with a gleeful smile.

Winston just looked at him incredulously. They wanted him to grow turnips for three months. That was going to really suck. He knew that this was going to be pretty terrible but just farming? How was he even supposed to level or do anything with his character. Winston couldn't believe he'd agreed to this.

"You want us to do nothing but farm crops…. For three entire months." The frog guy said.

"Nope, I don't want you to. I'm ordering you to. So farm or leave. I don't really care which." Therion said with a shrug, then he made a few motions and a blue screen appeared before Winston.

(Ba-Ding!)

[You Have Been Given A Guild Quest!]

[Food for the Guild]

[You are to deliver 25 bushels of Corn, Wheat, or Rice to the guild stores

at Grimstone Keep within 7 days.]

[Time Remaining: 167:56]

[Recommended Level: N/A]

[Difficulty: N/A]

[Rewards: N/A]

[This quest is required]

[Failure will result in the being kicked from the Guild Initiate program]

"Look, I know you're pissed but we need the food and you guys agreed to do whatever we requested. Think about it. The new expansion drops in about four months. As soon as it was announced the price of food tripled as all the major traders bought up all the food they could get their mitts on. That was two months ago." Therion explained as Winston looked over the quest details.

"Do you know how many farmers there are in Otherworld? There are 20 million players. Most of those never use any skill points on a non-combat skill, even secondary ones. But even among the people who do use skills on crafting and gathering professions, farming is one of the least chosen ones. The number of players who've willingly chosen the farmer class is less than 1000 from what we've been able to find out. The number of players with a primary skill point in farming is less than 5000 Think about that for a moment. That's less than one in every 10,000 players. Sure, tons of meat floods the markets from hunters and all those noobs out killing deer, or rabbits, or wolves, or whatever, but grains, vegetables, and fruit are always in high demand by chefs because hardly anyone ever commits to really growing them.

The new expansion area is on the edge of the known world, and isn't anywhere near a capital city. All the major guilds are going to have to travel overland for weeks with thousands of people. Think about how much food that's going to take. Food put in a player's bag stays fresh but few players are willing to haul provisions, but if it's in a cart, or any bag that's not a player's primary bag, then it ages.

How much dried grain is a trip like that going to take? Enough to empty the coffers of the entire guild." Therion explained.

Winston just stared at him. Was he really going to farm for three entire months? That would be awful. Not to mention that he wouldn't actually get to keep the money he made. Winston thought about it. He had a few options. He could just bail on everything. Honestly in three months he could probably scrounge up the money he needed. He could also just go with it, put in his time to deal with the contract then go on his way. That wasn't what he wanted though. He'd been looking forward to Otherworld for a year. Now that he was here he didn't want to be stuck in purgatory for three months before he could even play.

He did some more thinking. He only had to fulfill his quota, once he did that he could do whatever he wanted. So… he could try to grind it out, put in his time then he'd be able to actually play his char in the meantime, but how much time would that take? He had school and other responsibilities. Twenty hours a week would be pushing it for him anyway. He couldn't put in more. Winston sighed heavily as the others with him stood around in a daze. There was one other option, to push all his chips into the middle of the table. Winston wavered for a moment then spoke up for the first time.

"Can I remake my character?" Winston asked. "I mean, If I've got a farm there's no real reason for this guy. I might as well pick a race that's actually good at it." Winston said.

Therion shrugged. "Like I care." then he spoke up so everyone could hear. "The tools and seeds are over there." He said pointing at a stone shed. "Anything you wanna turn in for the quest goes in that building." He said pointing to another shed. The rest is on you guys. So have fun!" Therion said before heading back to the keep and leaving them all their staring at each other.

Winston sighed and sat down. He really could just be a farmer for a while. It could be relaxing honestly. It was like being a super support but instead of directly supporting the combat he was another step removed. He shrugged. He could always just delete his character and make the priest again when his time was up. Sighing he logged out to the main menu and deleted his character. It wasn't that big of a deal, after all he'd had the character for all of about five minutes.

Winston logged out of the game and walked over to his computer. It was a old frankenstein rig cobbled together from cast off parts from his friends and bargain bin components he'd found online. His brother had been given a monster gaming computer by his dad. Winston on the other hand had built his computer with his own hands. It was a point of pride for him.

He fired up the machine and listened to the whining fans then pulled up an Otherworld character builder when the OS finally sputtered to life. He sorted the races by their bonuses then searched for farming bonus. There were only two, the Duogu were a servant caste of centaur who got a bonus to crop yield on harvest. The other was called a Yawnshu who were apparently some anthropomorphic mole race. They got a bonus to harvested crop quality. Winston quickly brought up both races full bio for comparison.

Duogu

Equine

The great horse tribes used to be one people who lived on the Great plains of the Varnith continent. However war among the tribes drove them into isolation and over time the race was split. The Centaurs stayed on the plains to raid and war while the lapith were driven south towards orc held lands. The orcs enslaved them and forced them to work as laborers and crafters. Over the generations they learned agriculture and many craft skills gaining standing with the orcs and eventually gaining their freedom. Over time the race split farther, with the strongest males and females to fight with the orcs, while the rest of the race became craftsmen. This divided the Lapith and the Duogo into two separate races over time. With the Duogu being smaller, weaker, but more intelligent. While the Lapith are more hardy and warlike like their Centaur cousins. .

Racial bonuses: +15% to run speed. +10% to crop yield while farming

Yawnshu

Anthropomorphic

A peaceful folk who once lived in Great underground cities below the fertile river valleys of Yanth. They were driven to the surface by a war with the Dweemer, a proto-race to gnomes and dwarves, millennia ago. They generally make poor warriors but their clever hands makes them excellent craftsman. They are also exceptional farmers, the talent harking back to the great underground groves they used to feed their people.

Racial bonuses: Retractable claws for attack or digging, +15% to crop quality while farming

So Winston's choices were a horseman or moleman. Neither really appealed to him but beggars could not be choosers . The Duogu was the obvious choice. He'd have to do 10% less work and would be getting free grain, but the moleman idea he liked more. One it would be more funny and two crop quality would be a better option if he actually planned to work himself out from under the guild. High-quality crops were sought out by all the top level chefs and were worth lots of gold. It was more of a long-term choice If he was actually considering going with the class. Not to mention the claws would help him with his work immediately. Winston thought over it for another few seconds then shrugged and hopped back into the machine. He re-entered his guild promo-code then re-made his character. He took some time on a new name. Usually he went with something epic sounding but this was a throwaway character, so he picked a stupid name.

Then he was back in the courtyard outside the keep and looking down at himself. He looked ridiculous. He had short-stumpy legs, a long whisker covered nose, and a huge belly. Winston was fat in real life but now he was nearly round as a white fur covered belly bulged out from his torso. His arms hung nearly to the ground and ended in large shovel-like hands. They would be perfect for digging but looked ridiculous. Winston sighed and opened his character sheet.

[ Name: Win Mills Level 1]

[ Race: Yawnshu Class: N/A]

[ Attributes Status]

[Str: 7 End: 7 Hp: 8/8 Mana: 0/0]

[Con: 8 Agi: 7 Stam:7/7 Panic: 1/10]

[Cord: 11 Int: 12 Hunger: 99/100 Thirst: 97/100]

[Wis 10 Faith: 10]

[Res: 10 ]

[Guild: Seeds Titles: 0]

[Fame: 0 Friend List: 0/0]

Winston groaned as he saw his stats. He knew the game gave you starting stats based off your own body but it was pretty sad to see them just laid out like that. He knew he'd been out of shape, but the game was saying he was WAY out of shape. The next few days really were going to be hell. He was going to have to stop for breaks all the time.

How was he supposed to raise his stats anyway? Stats only increased in Otherworld when you leveled up, and they only increased based on what you did. There were no stat-points to allocate in this game. You wanna up your strength? Then lift heavy things, the more you do it, the more strength you'll get when you level. Wanna up your stamina, go for run, or in Winston's case start digging some fields.

Winston waddle-walked his way over the shed where the other players were milling around looking uncertain. He felt utterly ridiculous as he moved but there was no real help for it. When he arrived at the shed he overheard the conversation the other players were having.

"This is such shit. We're not even employee, were not getting paid, were damn slaves." The frog said.

"Stop whining froggy." the gnome said. "You're not even close to a slave. You can leave whenever you want, you just won't get your sub paid."

"#*&!^& you. I don't need your #*&!^&." The frog-man shouted back. The profanity was bleeped out to Winston's ears. Winston frowned, then tried to figure out how to open his menu as the the two continued to argue.

"Well, I DO need you to get the (#@$ out of the way. You're blocking the door." The gnome said. Winston laughed as he finally found the profanity filter in the settings and deactivated it.

"Fuck you both I'm out of here." The frog said, then he fell over onto the ground, as if someone had just cut the strings on his body. The gnome didn't even react and just stepped over the body and into the shed where he grabbed a hoe. Winston stepped inside as well and picked up a scythe. He was going to need to clear out some of the grass and weeds before he started on the ground itself.

"That guy was a dick-head." The little gnome said as he put the hoe over his shoulder. When he picked it up it the hoe seemed to re-size itself until it fit his small frame. The gnome waved it around a bit, then turned and walked out of the shed. Winston trailed after him.

"I'm Ram… Remmistizen." The gnome said, apparently catching himself from giving out his real name. " You're not gonna bitch the whole time like that other guy are you?" He asked as they walked away from the keep to an area near the wall that was choked with weeds and rocks. There was at least a few acres of land inside the wall for them to use but it was all completely overgrown. The gnome bent over and started pulling out the weeds with his hands.

"Nope." Winston said, as he started to pick the largest rocks out of the ground and toss them over the wall. "I even remade my char to get one good at farming." The Winston said. "I figure if I'm gonna be stuck here humping dirt I might as well be good at it." Winston replied.

The gnome nodded and the two got back to work. Winston managed about twenty minutes of hard labor before he was gasping for air. The gnome looked over at his struggles and shook his head.

"Ain't you ever done any real work?" The gnome asked, looking a little disgusted.

"Not really." Winston said. "Never really liked sports and spent more time on my computer than outside with the other kids." Winston shrugged. "Although If I'm supposed to do farm work for three months I don't think it'll be a problem anymore."

"That's for damn sure." The gnome said. Winston waited to get his breath back and the two contained working, both taking breaks to grab water from the pump near the keep and to regain stamina. They'd managed to clear themselves a decent little patch of earth by the time Winston had finally had enough. He'd also become something like co-workers with the gnome. They weren't very close but the idle chatter had filled the four hours of work.

When Winston came back to the real world his body seemed to go into meltdown. He almost cried out as all his muscles started complaining about the hours of hard physical labor he's just put them through. His arms and legs felt like noodles someone had stuck onto his body. While his hips, back, and abs, were all burning from exertion. He was covered in sweat, but he barely had the strength to even pull himself free of the system.

He collapsed in a heap on the floor when he finally managed to pull himself free. Winston just laid there for awhile. Wondering what the hell he gotten himself into. Was he really going to be able to do this for three months? He'd just have to log in tomorrow. That was the key. Just take it one day at a time. He staggered to his feet and hit the shower.