'Huh!' For a moment, Alex was perplexed. But something told him this game icon in his peripheral vision was real.
It was a familiar icon too.
Like a madman, Alex rotated his eyeballs around and finally locked onto it. It was an icon comprising low-resolution images of some vegetables and animals. It was the icon of a generic farming game Alex played.
'Why was it here?' He thought.
'If there is a button, it shall be pressed.' Thinking that Alex thought about clicking on it.
"Ding!" With a sound of a bell ringing, Alex was transported to a different place. And looking around, he realised that it was like the game he used to play, although some things were different.
He could begin playing in the game world by exploring different places. But in this game-like world. All he could do was look at a measly 3x3 plot of land and think. Everything around him was greyed out or inaccessible to him. So, what can he do in a farming game without even a seed?
And, more importantly, how should he get out of this place?
But by merely thinking about it, Alex appeared outside, in the real world. And the cold once again began piercing into his skin.
"Is this how this works? Let me try again. And if thoughts are the game inputs, I think I know what to do." Saying that, Alex once again rolled his eyes to click on the game icon.
When he reached the game world, he thought about the in-game inventory. Suddenly a 2D menu opened up before him, floating in the air. It was just like the game menu he used to know.
In there, he could see different tools used in farming. But four of the ten inventory slots were occupied by the farm tools. Anyway, that was a good thing. He now has a free pickaxe, shovel, watering can and scythe. These tools were the most important part of a farming game.
"If the tools are here? Then the shop might be accessible too. So, let's check that out." Alex thought about the shop, and a 2D menu appeared before him.
"Just as I expected. There was a shop function! All the tools and seeds I need are here. I can buy and sell farmed objects to make farm points(FP). Now let me see what seeds I should buy."
Looking at the top right corner of the menu, he could see that he had about a hundred FP.
"This was enough to buy the worst quality seeds, I think."
Alex knew that he had a 3x3 plot of land to use. That meant that he had 9-meter-squares to plant.
So, it was optimal for him to plant in all the areas he could with the money he had, by the game's logic. A seed can only be planted on a meter square area. So, he needs nine seeds, each costing 11 FP or less.
Browsing through the shop, he saw many seeds.
Tomato seed- 15
Potato seed- 20
Cauliflower sapling - 50
…
…
They all cost more than 11.
Finally, he saw sweet-potato seeds sold for 10FP each at the end of the seed list. These were not the game shop prices he remembered. Yet, going with the flow, Alex bought nine seeds.
It was time to plant the seeds. Quickly equipping the shovel, he tilled the soil and planted them. Taking out the watering can, he watered the newly planted seeds.
Now, he only had to wait until the plants grew. So, he looked at the game time menu.
In the beginning, he forgot to look at the time. But when he opened the shop, he could see that the time was about noon. He only spent 5 minutes playing the game, yet it was already 5 pm. Alex knew this was because of how time worked in this game world.
Day and night cycles, or 24 hours in the game world, were equivalent to 24 minutes in real life. A minute was equal to an hour. And a day in real life means 60 days in the game world. It was a nice perk.
"If everything goes as expected, I can get objects from the interdimensional farm to the real world and vice versa. And I have to find out if the game's inventory system has this loophole."
Alex jumped around in excitement. He soon exited the game world to determine if the loophole would work.
Grabbing a tree branch nearby, He willed it to enter the inventory. And as expected, it went in and occupied a slot. It was easy as he imagined it to be.
He willed again for the tree branch to appear in his arm. And it did without any delay. While at it, he also brought the shovel out from inventory. He was thrilled to see it come.
This meant a lot to Alex. However, he was taking his transmigration as lightly as he could. He knew that there were many dangers around every corner of this world. He had to be ready for anything, now more than ever.
Even though the interdimensional farm was not helpful currently, Alex could gradually use it to gain strength in this world.
A smile bloomed on his face after thinking about everything he could do.
Now he had to catch up to Mani quickly. He wasted enough time here, and it would not be preferable to cause doubt in the fellow tribe members' hearts.
Quickly gaining momentum with his young body. Alex ran to the hill.
It didn't take much time for him to get there. Just as he reached the peripheral area of the camp. The scouts saw him. After identifying who he was, he was quickly brought into the base.
The hunt will begin in a day or two. They were waiting for the prey to come to them. And they had many things to do before the hunt began.
Alex, a kid going through the first hunt, was brought into the camp centre where the other kids stayed. From there, he had to select a weapon and prepare for the search.
You won't know when the migrating animals will reach here. They had to be ready for everything.