Harvest Dungeon 3 Chapter 3 - Vanessa

[Neglism pod placed in sale crate.]

[Neglism pod placed in storage crate.]

Selecting the storage crate notification I shifted the Neglism pod into storage. As a standard feature he received a small storage s.p.a.ce where he could put things he didn't want out but didn't want to sell.

The bin outside were where I placed and retrieved the items that interacted with the system. I had nothing but the Neglism pod in my personal storage though in truth I had no idea how big the storage s.p.a.ce was.

I then selected the pod in the sale crate. A price appeared beside an image of the pod. Seeing that they were offering five iron coins for the pod I was overjoyed. The currency of this place had been a part of why I had chosen to grow the Neglism.

Unlike the various fantasy stories I had read where the currencies were made of bronze, silver, gold, and then some other precious metals if there was a higher denomination. Here the currencies were bronze, iron, silver, gold, platinium, mythril. Not that I had actually seen any coinage, it was all virtual in the crystal.

When I realized there was a different denomination of currency between bronze and silver I realized it would take forever to earn enough extra coin to purchase the new fields.

With my total profit from the Blue Dandelions only being twenty bronze coins a day, and I had to use that for food as well as savings, I knew it would take too long. Especially when each increase in coin cost a hundred of the previous. One iron was worth a hundred bronze, one silver was worth one hundred iron, and so on. The cheapest expansion would cost a hundred thousand bronze coins and I earned fourteen extra a day as the three meal bars I ate cost a total of six coins. Let alone I would have to make a few other comfort purchases so I didn't go crazy. It would take years.

There was a level a.s.sociated with my repurposed dungeon core, but it didn't level up on its own, I had to purchase it. The price of my level increase was a silver coin. It was a lot cheaper than the expansion, but I had no idea what I would get for increasing the level. A better crop would make everything better, but I didn't know. Which was the problem, I had no idea how this place was supposed to work and no one to ask. So I chose the Neglism to get a enough money that I could do both, hopefully.

I sold the Neglism pod then opened the shop and bought the comfy bed set I had spotted for three iron coins. It immediately shifted into my sale bin for retrieval. I had no idea how that was going to work but I was hopeful. Second I paid for an actual hot meal of cheeseburger and fries for eight bronze coins before I headed for the door.

I was more than a little disappointed when I found the cheeseburger meal and a toy bed in the sale bin. I wanted to smash it as soon as I saw it p.i.s.sed at such a cruel joke. I resisted and brought them both into the shack. The toy bed could be a reminder not to trust the shop blindly.

As soon as I entered the shack the crystal dungeon core flashed.

[Place Comfy Bed Set?]

I stared at the screen for a few seconds before agreeing to place the bed. Immediately a pale green grid overlay appeared in my vision. I chose the opposite corner from the cot. Then the toy bed in my hand disappeared and the full sized comfy bed set appeared in the room. Good thing I didn't smash it.

With a smile on my face I ate my food with relish then crawled onto the bed to sleep.

A loud scream woke me from the first good sleep I had gotten since I arrived at this terrible place. I was still pretty sleepy so it took me a moment to realize that if I had heard a scream then something had changed and change was good. When I did I was out of the bed in a second and out the door then next.

I did not expect to see the same woman from the bar standing in front of me staring at the Neglism with a shocked expression. Even without the alcohol she was still as attractive as I remembered her. Rather than a dress she was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans, a white blouse, and brown boots. Her hair was left loose and blew gently in the wind, it wasn't as curly as I remembered but it still fell in waves down her back.

"Where did that come from?" the woman asked looking at me as I stepped out of the shack.

"Grew it. Where am I?" I asked her.

"Why would you grow that?! Didn't you see the warnings?" she asked nearly hysteric.

"Not a lot of choices. Where am I?" I asked her again.

"Oh no he didn't!" the woman growled so angrily that I the man she had kidnapped and placed in this prison backed away from her.

The woman marched angrily past me into the shack and up to the crystal. I followed behind her curiously. While I wanted to get out of this place. After three or so days, I still had no idea how long feeding and recovering from the Neglism had taken. I was ready for a distraction of any kind. Besides as much as I wanted to grab her and pin her down while demanding answers and a way out of here. I understood that getting me out of that bar and to this place, wherever it was, couldn't have been easy. Just because I didn't see anyone else around didn't mean there wasn't, so I would be patient, for now.

"Access Log!" she demanded angrily.

To my surprise a window appeared in front of her that I could see myself.

The woman stared at the log for several long moments reading through everything before she waved her hand through the screen dismissing it.

"Why did you only sell one Blue Dandelion per batch? Where are the others?" she asked turning to face me. She was still angry but it didn't seem to be focused at me.

"Only one seed came with each purchase." I replied wondering what she meant.

The woman closed her eyes while she visibly grinding her teeth. After a moment she seemed to reach some kind of internal decision then turned back to the crystal. "Send copies of logs and number of seeds in each purchase to all supervisor and overseer levels of management." she ordered.

The crystal flashed brightly then went back to the way it usually behaved.

"Seems I owe you an apology." she said turning back to me.

"You kidnapped and dropped me in this prison alone, for no reason. An apology is the least of what you need to do." I growled back at her.

"I am not apologising for any of that. That was going to happen whether I grabbed you or another girl did it. There aren't a lot of people who can sync with the crystals." she told me.

I frowned at her than glanced at the crystal then back to her.

"No I am apologizing because it looks like a fan of mine made things unnecessarily difficult for you. From what I could see he adjusted your starting crops so that half of them were useless, and you were only sent partial shipments of seeds when you bought the Blue Dandelions." she told me. "You should have been able to grow twenty five per tile for each purchase of seed. He also hid that information from you."

If that were true then the Blue Dandelion wasn't such a trash crop. At ten bronze coins a piece I would have earned two and a half iron coins per tile, ten coins for all four. Paying for the extension or the level up would still have taken some work, but it would not be impossible.

That didn't matter though, I didn't want to be here.

"Send me back." I told her.

"No can do, one way trip." she replied moving over and sitting on the edge of my new bed.

"What about you?" I asked doubtfully.

"Same deal. One way trip." she replied.

"Seriously?" I asked her surprised.

"Yep. the only way out of here is through the sale bin." she replied with a sigh. "And no, that won't work for the living. Just so you know."

I stared at her for several long moments trying to figure out if she was lying or not. I wasn't an expert but she didn't seem to be. Unfortunately all the anger I felt towards this woman had been sucked out by the Neglism. Not that I forgave her, not at all. I just didn't have any of the rage. Instead I could think rationally.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Huh? Why? Why you? Or why are you here?" She asked in return.

"Both, plus who are you and why are you here if you can't go back?" I asked.

She was silent for a while, but I was patient. I had plenty of of Neglism pods to sell and no rush to harvest them. Said so in the harvesting instructions, they couldn't stay up there forever but I had several days before they would drop on their own.

"Well, my name is Vanessa, and the easiest to explain would be the why you. There are only a so many people who have the const.i.tution to sync with and use the crystals. I think on your world it was something like one in a million give or take a few thousand. Then we had to find people who wouldn't be missed, or would be quickly forgotten. You fall into the latter as your coworkers will just a.s.sume you left to get away from your ex. Our need for core operators overruled our desire to follow the rules and give you a chance to refuse or escape, mostly escape." Vanessa replied.

"As for your other questions…" Vanessa started to say then stopped as the crystal flashed once.

She got up off the bed, which was good as her sitting on my bed was starting to give me some ideas. Apparently l.u.s.t was not an emotion Neglism feed on.

Vanessa touched the crystal then a screen appeared in front of her. Again I could see and read what was on it.

[Investigation begun on Trellion Owark, initial determinations confirm improper treatment of Crystal Operator Jason Nellis. Compensation for the sale of lacking Blue Dandelion crop has been determined to be necessary. Compensation for inconvenience and allowing reset of system, One level up marker.]

[4 crop placements, 24 seeds withheld per crop tile, four crop tiles, standard price of grown Blue Dandelion 10 Bronze. Total compensation 38 iron coins, 40 bronze coins. Deposit made immediately.]

Vanessa stared at the screens for a moment then the crystal flashed again.

[Investigation complete. Trellion Owark confirmed to be Neglism pod supplier for creation of Euphoria. Employment terminated and warrant issued.]

"What is Euphoria?" I asked as it seemed to be the reason I had such a hard time, besides Vanessa.

"A drug made from Neglism seed pods that gives the user the same feeling you experienced after feeding the plant all of your negative emotions. Without any side effects or need to experience the negative emotions like you did." Vanessa said with a sigh. "It is highly addictive and illegal on almost every world. If the status drugs and poisons made from Neglism weren't the best out there the plant would have been outlawed too." she explained.

I stared at her trying to wrap my head around everything. Some a.s.shole who was mad at her set me up so I had to grow his drug plant? What the h.e.l.l have I been dragged into! Then again if those drugs were real I wanted a couple of cases for myself.

"We need to harvest that thing and quick!" Vanessa told me anxiously.

I frowned, "Why?" I asked.

"We aren't the only ones here. If Trellion lets anyone know you have a fully grown and unharvested Neglism here they will send people over to steal the pods and create some more negative memories to feed the plant!" she yelled as she went towards the door.

s.h.i.t!