The tavern was quiet at this hour. A few patrons sat scattered at tables, getting some morning drinks or bowls of something that smelled vaguely edible. The bard from last night was packing up his things—a small harp in a worn case, a stack of sheet music, a mug that was definitely not standardized size.
Otto approached the counter where the innkeeper from last night stood, wiping down the surface with a rag.
"Morning," Otto said. "Quick question. Do you know anywhere I could buy an instrument? Something cheap?"
The innkeeper raised an eyebrow. "You play?"
"Learning," Otto said, which was technically true. The original Otto had never touched an instrument in his life, but how hard could it be?
The innkeeper gestured toward the bard. "Old Man Kael's got a spare sometimes. Ask him. Though don't expect much for cheap."
Otto walked over to the bard. The man looked up as he approached, his fingers still plucking idle notes from the harp.
"Need something, lad?"
"I heard you might have a spare instrument for sale?"
Kael studied him for a moment, then reached into his case and pulled out a small wooden flute. It was simple, unadorned, the wood worn smooth by use.
"This one's been sitting around for years. Not much good for the kind of music I play, but it's a solid piece. Fifty copper."
Fifty copper. That was... actually not terrible. Otto had about two silver on him, which was two hundred copper. He could afford this and still have enough left over for food and another night's stay.
He handed over the coins. Kael passed him the flute, along with a small cloth to wrap it in.
"Good luck, lad. Music's a cruel mistress, but she's faithful if you treat her right."
Otto took the flute back to his room, sat on the bed, and held it in his hands.
It was just a flute. Simple, wooden, nothing special. But as he held it, he could feel that green warmth in his chest stir, reaching toward the instrument like it belonged there.
Right. Musician class. This is what I'm working with now.
He set the flute aside and pulled out the seeds again.
Sunflower. Peashooter. Marigold.
The Marigold was the priority—he needed coins for Twinkies Dinkies. But how did you even plant these things?
He closed his eyes and focused on that warmth again. Knowledge bubbled up from somewhere—the original Otto's memories, maybe, or something the system had left behind. Information about how this world's progression worked.
Every style had levels. Seven tiers, each unlocking new abilities.
Levels 1-20 was the first tier.
21-40 was second.
41-60 was third.
61-70 was fourth.
71-80 was fifth.
81-90 was sixth.
91-100 was seventh.
Of course every class has its own name for tiers. Dancer stanzas, Painter pallete, Musician note, and finally Crafter gear.
At each tier, you unlocked a passive skill. Seven passives total, each one making you stronger, more versatile, more in tune with your style.
The original Otto had reached level 20 in his Breezy Yellow style before... well all the events. He is also level 3 in Void Black, surprisingly as a Dancer. Not expecting this guy to dance in black.
As for the newbie Natural Green? It was barely level 1.
But he had his first passive already. He could feel it there, waiting to be used.
[Plant Growth Stimulation] — Harmony energy can stimulate plant growth.
Selectable type:
Quick Growth
Instant Growth
According to the description, he can feed the plant seed with harmony energy inside him to quicken the growth of the plant.
As per the description, he can select between quick growth which grows permanent plants or instant growth for quick temporary plants.
"Right," he muttered. "So I just... feed it energy and it grows?"
He looked at the Marigold seed, then at the empty flowerpot sitting on the windowsill. It had been there when he arrived—just a pot with some dry soil, probably decorative more than anything.
He got up, carried the pot to the small table, and sat down with it.
"Okay," he said to the seed.
He then swiftly changed the seed to sunflower instead of Marigold.
Jokes! To get rich you should start by planting Sunflowers, not Marigolds!
looking at the sunflower seed he mutters to himself, "Let's see what you can do."
He then uses his skill [Seed generation Lv1] to copy the sunflower seeds.
With left hand holding the original seed, his right hand glows as a new sunflower seed is being generated… slowly…
I guess you need to sing to better control harmony energy
"dudu dudu dudu… dudu dudududu… dudu"
He hums the PvZ 1 game opening as the seed generation starts to pick up speed. What originally probably took an hour to generate now only took several seconds to finish.
He pressed the copied Sunflower seed into the soil, covering it lightly. Then he held his hands over the pot, closed his eyes, and reached for that green warmth.
Of course… not forgetting to continue using the flute now to somehow make out a PvZ bgm, the daytime level now. Of course, he put a cloth with a hole for blowing air (His personal cloth, not the one the bard gave him) over the flute to prevent full contact between his mouth and the flute.
While he already wiped the flute with a cloth cleanly, without any alcohol or sanitizer, it just feels unsafe to use others instrument to the mouth. Even at the cost of discomfort when playing teh flute.
As for how he could play the bgm of PvZ using the flute? He just tries to make a resemblance of it by his memory of playing with a flute during his elementary school for the school's choir.
In fact, he also has a hidden talent for perfect pitch as he always could recognise the exact note a melody is and was able to recreate it using a whistle.
But this talent was never meant for him as an engineering student in previous life who was never really into music…
He rather got one of those photographic or eidetic memory perks for studying. Too bad, he doesn't have them.
But unexpectedly, this unused talent blossom in this new world.
Hence, It came easier than he expected. Like flexing a muscle he didn't know he had. A gentle energy flowed from his chest, down his arms, through his fingers— And into the soil.
He opened his eyes.
The sprout grew slowly, inch by inch, until it was a small stem with a few tiny leaves before finally growing to a full size 40 centimeter sunflower with a smiling face.
After a few seconds,
*Bling*
A light ball comes out from the sunflower, it instantly brightens up the whole room.
With a sun in front of him, he quickly reached out to take it and the 'sun' was quickly absorbed into his body.
Sun: 50
'Finally! My first Sun!'
He exclaimed to himself inwardly, but then he thought confusedly.
'Wait… If I can grow a plant myself, why do I need the sun for energy like in the game?'
He then began quickly testing with planting more Sunflowers and Marigolds.
'Guess I need to test these out before a battle!'
.
.
.
.
After testing, it seems that Sun energy from Sunflowers can be used in two ways.
First he could plant the plants quickly like using harmony energy in quick growth mode or instant mode albeit without need for him to play a song to quicken them up.
Secondly, he could combine it with Harmony energy to even make the growth time faster!
Quick growth which was originally shorten the plant's natural growth for 3 months to a single day (similar to zen garden growth time in game) now can be shortened to just a few minutes when using Sun+Harmony energy to fasten the plant growth.
Of course, the plant that grows is a permanent plant which doesn't wither after a few minutes like when using instant growth.
This is probably because instant growth squeezes all life essence inside a seed for instant growth but that comes at the cost of making the plant age and wither prematurely.
Of course, Sun energy could also combine with harmony energy in instant mode. It will shorten the growth time from a few seconds to a blink, which is probably similar to growth speed in game which is literally an instant!
But it seems the problem of it being a temporary plant which wither after around 20 minutes which is around twice to four times the time to complete a level in the game (it took around 5-8 min or probably 10 minutes for boss level in game).
With all that testing sort outs, he began growing marigold in all flower pots he could currently access which is around 3.
As for where the Sunflower is?
They naturally wither after 20 minutes before he quickly grow temporary marigold in its place to produce coins.
Unlike Artesia coins, The marigold produces a silver coin[10c](90% chance) or gold coin [100c](10% chance) for every 24 seconds, which is similar to the game.
He played until his lips were sore and his fingers ached. By the time he stopped, his coin balance read:
Current Twinkies Dinkies Coins: 1400c
Fourteen hundred coins. Enough for a pinata. Almost enough for a Wall-nut.
He could buy one now. Just one. Test his luck.
Or he could wait. Keep playing, keep growing the Marigold, save up for a full set of ten pinatas.
He looked at the 3 marigolds swaying with a smile. and looked at his phone then looked at the flute.
"One isn't enough," he decided. "If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right."
He put the flute down, stretched his fingers, and got back to work.
---
Hours passed. The sun climbed across the sky, casting long shadows through the window. Otto played until his lungs burned, resting when he needed to, pushing energy into the Marigold whenever he had a spare moment.
With each song, the coins accumulated.
Ding. +10.
Ding. +10.
Ding. +10.
By midday, he had to stop. His lips were raw, his fingers cramped, and his throat was dry from humming along with the flute.
With 3 marigolds, he took nearly 4 hours to finally make enough money for all the pinatas and a cherry bomb seed
He checked his balance.
Current Twinkies Dinkies Coins: 14250c
Fourteen thousand.
He stared at the screen, then at the Marigolds.
"Fourteen thousand," he repeated.
You might ask how come the coins is already inside the virtual currency for the shop?
It came with the phone, apparently the phone could also absorb the PvZ coins to virtual currency for Twinkies dinkies shop(Crazy Dave Shop).
He then looked at the pinata section. Ten pinatas, each one costing a thousand coins. A full set, ten random seeds from across the multiverse.
He could do it. He could buy all of them plus a cherry bomb seed. Right now.
His finger hovered over the screen.
"Ten pinatas," he murmured. "Ten random plants. Could be anything. Could be garbage. Could be..."
He thought about the rarity distribution. Statistically, he'd get mostly garbage. Maybe a few decent things. But maybe— maybe— something good will come out?
As they always said: beginner lucks!
But he'd never know if he didn't try.
He took a deep breath.
"Ten pinatas," he said. "Let's see what you've got, Dave."
He tapped Purchase All.
The screen flashed. A spinning animation appeared—a little zombie pinata being whacked by a sunflower with sunglasses wielding a baseball bat…
'What a fancy animation, I guess sunflower also hate being a support plant lol'
The pinata burst open, and seeds scattered across the screen.
Otto stared at the screen.