The Wall and The Second Island

On a stretch of water so blue it seemed as if it had been painted by an optimistic hand, was a small, lone island, golden and green. Where once, it seemed deserted, it now appeared slightly less so with smells of an unpleasant nature on one side of the island, while structures that while blending in with the green of their surroundings still seemed less than natural appeared upon the other. One of the structures was a teepee made of wood and making use of climbing plants to create an external, leafy wall and the other appeared to be a fence?

Russell pushed the thin willow branch at an angle into the soil, the few remaining leaves drooping listlessly on its other end. He measured roughly a few inches with his eye (meaning it was quite off, no where near six inches), before sticking in another willow branch into the dirt but slanted in the opposite direction. He'd done this many times, creating a sort of diamond trellis style boundary which currently curved around his teepee and firepit, wisely leaving a decent gap between itself and the latter (still not of a multiple of six inches) then trailing towards the dunny.

There was an odd buzzing noise coming from that location, it had to be said. As one of only two occupants upon the island, the sound had been unexpected, so Russell had to inquire of the System (2/2) just what it was.

"Oh, let me see," the seagull had replied, before a far off look appeared in it's black eyes. They suddenly brightened before it announced; "Oh well done, your majesty! You've unlocked the 'What's that stench!' Achievement! The reward was the introduction of flies to the island!"

"Great."

This was actually the third 'achievement' he'd received. The first was 'Well, it's edible' cooking achievement, he'd been awarded a tripod for over the firepit for that one and a dented cooking pot. Why it was dented, he did not know. Just assumed it was one of the bugs in this whole broken game.

The second achievement was titled; 'Sand castle builder, amateur.' He'd been bored. There were no rewards.

After running out of willow lengths, he headed back to the wild willow tree that grew near to the pond. Although it had the space to grow in abundance, the tree seemed quite content to stick to a specific space, not stretch out too far and steal space from other trees and plants nearby. Likewise, the weeds did not overrun the green heart of the island and the tenacious grasses did not try to extend far into the golden sandy beaches. In fact the patch he'd cleared for his fire pit had no signs of being claimed back.

Of course ordinarily these sorts of things aren't really noticable the span of a few days, it was just that this island was far from ordinary. After all, wild vegetables picked the day before wouldn't just grow again over night and willow branches freshly cut yesterday wouldn't reappear on the tree today on an ordinary island. Having said that, Russell suspected this was a temporary measure, just like time having originally been paused in the beginning.

After cutting a few more slender branches of certain lengths or rather hacking them down more specifically, Russell took the bundle to complete the fence.

[Side Mission - Build a boundary wall completed]

[Mission Rating - C+] Che, this World was so picky.

[Reward 20 points, a flourishing natural willow wall.]

As the heavy smart watch currently dangling from a make-shift vine plait about his neck chimed, the willow switches took root and fresh and tender leaves budded and grew before his eyes. Soon the fence was a picture of verdant green.

[Congratulations, the Kingdom's overall Level is now 1!]

[Unlocked: New island]

[Unlocked: Land bridge to new island]

[Reward 500 points]

He frowned then ran towards the sandy beach to scan along its watery perimeter. His eyes widened and his jaw fell slack. Sure enough, the island was no longer alone in this vast ocean. Science dictated that an island popping into existence silently, no tectonic shifts and no volcanic eruptions was impossible. But then the System had sneered at Charles Darwin, so what hope did other famous scientists have?!

From this distance, the other island, which was connected to his own by a slender bridge of sand that would likely appear or be gone depending on the mood of the ocean, seemed larger than his own. The beach he could see was just as golden and clean, one edge of the island rose from the water with a sheer face of rock of about two metres in height (give or take his 'excellent' judgement). Trees seemed more abundant as did the foliage of bushes and ground cover. It was simply bigger in every way making his own humble island seem rather inadequate.

The seagull flapped over, landing beside him and noticed the direction of the man's gaze. "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Very well done indeed!" The seagull squawked excitedly, losing the smooth grasp of speech for a moment. "Your Kingdom has finally begun to grow!" Its tone held an almost tearful note. Russell ignored it.

He lifted the smart watch to glance at the screen, rolling his aching neck and shoulders as he did. As expected, there was a new mission available.

[Mission - Purchase or build a Village for the secondary island]

"There are options?" He questioned the seagull, pondering over the meaning of the words.

"Yes, of course, Your Majesty," the seagull said, brightly. "To develop your Kingdom more swiftly, it would be difficult if you had to lift every brick! Of course, this all depends on how many points you have available at the time to whether you can purchase specific schematics, a team of construction bots(tm), timber, brick, etcetera…"

Three large cardboard boxes floated down from the heavens just as the seagull was finishing his speech. His lower beak fell open so wide that it nearly touched its feathery neck and chest. "Y-your Majesty," it said in a weak tone.

Russell revealed the contents of the boxes, 10 packets of instant noodles, 10 sachets of instant porridge and nine toilet rolls. He'd received a discount for purchasing in bulk, only being charged the expense import fees once per transaction. His expression was of a man satisfied by his own business-acumen.

Problem was, he now only had 100 points left. A poor, old farming village of just ten houses cost 540 points.

However, there was the option of just purchasing building material for those ten houses (mud bricks, straw and pieces of cheap wood for the door and windows) at the price of 150 points… oh…

Just as Russell finally reconsidered his financial skills, he noticed another option available to him for just 80 points. Great, he thought, then he would still have 20 points for later.

A large and colourful spinning wheel fell from the sky and landed on the beach, the rainbow colours almost garish against the backdrop of the beautiful blue of the ocean. "Your Majesty," the seagull said, tentatively, "what is this?"

"This is how we are going to complete the mission!" The man said with pride. He was so smart!

The seagull looked over the varying sized, coloured portions of the vertical disk, its little heart sinking into its stomach. It really didn't think this was anything good, in fact, this sounded like something that guy would come up with. Come to think about it, wasn't it that guy that had told him about the secret command function that caused the series of natural disasters to occur…

Russell gave the wheel a hefty pull. Clacking sounds could be heard as the pointer at the top of the wheel clicked over the rods separating each option. Each clack sounded louder than the last to the seagull, who quietly began to pray (before recalling it was meant to be hiding from God, not drawing His attention).

The clacking sounds slowed then came to a halt. The wheel revealed all of the villages they could have won, plus the one that they did. The man and the seagull looked at each other. Both had a moment's regret over their life choices, before the man lifted his box of noodles and headed back to camp.

"Your Majesty!" The seagull rushed after him. "What are we going to do?!"

"About?"

"About that, of course!"

"Not a clue."

No one could have predicted that amongst the types of village available hidden upon the spinning wheel was a Retirement Village.