Infinite Farmer

After a few moments of blackness, Tulland found himself in the white room.

"I'm sorry," the note-taking Infinite said. "That you had to go through that."

"Are you?" Tulland asked. "Because you planned it."

"Not like that. It was supposed to push you to your limits. But it wasn't supposed to be like that."

"Oh, come on. You know what Halter is. You must have known how much he'd enjoy that."

For the first time since Tulland had met him, the note-taker Infinite put down his pad and paper and leaned forward.

"Tulland, listen to me. I'm an ordered being. I understand almost everything, but I struggle with insanity. At that level of insane, there are no patterns for me to understand. That man's mind was influenced to help you with training as much as possible, but nothing I can do could have matched that level of hatred. There was no way for me to know until it was too late."

"Well, it's too late now." Tulland motioned around the room. "It's nice to see you at least are giving a debriefing before your little experiment in dungeons dooms everyone I know. A little pit stop before I'm reincarnated."

"What?" The man looked taken aback. "Oh, no. I should have led with that. Tulland, you aren't dead."

"Sure. Even though I felt it happen, on my last life between now and reincarnation."

"That was a little trick of the language. It really was your last death before you are reincarnated." The man looked apologetic. "Again, I had no idea how terrible that was going to be. That test was about your reaction to a force you couldn't defeat. You did fine, as such things go. You didn't give up. You didn't panic. It wasn't supposed to be… you know. What it became."

"What was it supposed to be?"

"Imagine if it was with Brist. You would have died, but it would have taken minutes. An hour at the most. Halter toyed with you."

"I'm not forgiving this."

The Infinite shook his head. "We aren't asking you to. I'd honestly release you from this now if there wasn't good left to get. I can assure you that nothing left in this dungeon will be remotely like that. There isn't even any combat left."

"Then what?"

"Just go and see. I doubt you'd trust me now, anyway."

—

For the first time in the five-layer dungeon, Tulland found himself in a place he recognized. Or, at least, he recognized who had made it. This was a green place, full of plants both known and unknown to him. They could have been from anywhere and grown by anyone. There was only one person, however, who could have pruned them that way.

"Oh, no. Not you again." Tulland locked eyes with the ancient woman, who was beaming. "I thought I got rid of you once and for all last time, boy."

"No, I guess not." Tulland grinned. He didn't know many people. However difficult this woman was, it was good to see an old friend. "I turn up all over."

"So I've heard. Or have been taught. Whatever made me know about it without having been there." The old woman tapped her head. "Is this Infinite as troublesome a person as he seems?"

"As they seem, yes. Absolutely. But they did send me back here, which is good. Because I have some questions only you can answer."