“Phew.”
The time had finally come.
I’d stayed awake another night out of sheer excitement.
Despite going two full days without sleep, I felt perfectly fine.
If anything, I was more energetic than ever.
I supposed adrenaline had something to do with it.
“I fell three years behind while everyone else was growing stronger.”
How could I not be excited?
People who had awakened around the same time as me had been recruited by guilds and were climbing the ladder to success, while I’d been stuck living miserably in a place like this.
But that was finally about to end.
“…It’s ready.”
The cooldown for Liquid Synthesis was over.
I picked up the carrot juice and tomato juice I’d prepared in advance.
There was no reason to hesitate, so I used the ability immediately.
[Liquid (Tomato) and Liquid (Carrot) are being synthesized.]
[Mana-Infused Incomplete Fruit and Vegetable Juice has been created.]
“Ooooooh!”
Mana-infused fruit and vegetable juice!
At last!
My whole body shook with excitement as I inspected the finished product.
[Mana-Infused Incomplete Fruit and Vegetable Juice LV.1]
Ingredients: Tomato, Carrot
The limited number of ingredients makes the finished product incomplete.
When consumed, allows the user to view some information about monsters within sight for 3 seconds, depending on their mana capacity.
When consumed, allows the user to remove poisons for 3 seconds, depending on their mana capacity.
The effects had changed.
The eyesight enhancement and poison resistance were gone, replaced by abilities that looked much more useful.
“Not bad at all.”
Being able to inspect monster information, even for only three seconds, could make this a competitive product.
If an ‘incomplete’ juice had effects like these, what could a perfect one do?
“This should…
complete the quest, right?”
The word ‘Incomplete’ in the name worried me a little, but thankfully the quest accepted it.
[Quest Complete]
[The level of ‘Liquid Synthesis’ has increased.]
[Liquid Synthesis LV.2]
Number of ability uses: 1 -> 2
Wait, I’d leveled up?
I had never dreamed my ability would gain a level after only my third quest.
Granted, the number of quests needed to level up differed from person to person, but this still seemed early.
“No, no.
It took me three years to clear it.
There’s nothing early about that.”
In any case, it felt as though the system itself had acknowledged how difficult the quest had been.
More importantly, increasing my number of uses to two was a tremendous improvement.
That was double the previous amount!
I could use Liquid Synthesis once on a slime and once on potions every day.
‘Or I could just put everything into the slimes.’
With the quest completed, it was time to look at the fourth one.
[Awakening Quest: Offer a Tribute]
Gather and submit the specified items.
Personally Harvested Dungeon Fruit: 0/10
Personally Harvested Mana-Infused Crops LV.2: 0/50
So the fourth quest really was harder than the third.
The obvious increase in difficulty gave me a headache.
‘All my crops are still Level 1.
How am I supposed to raise their level?’
The first possibility was to improve the slimes.
If I combined them into higher-level slimes, perhaps the crops they grew would improve too.
The second possibility was to obtain seeds from the crops I’d already harvested and plant those.
Ordinary carrot seeds had turned into item-grade carrots.
If I planted carrots that were already items, might they level up?
“I can just try both.”
Before testing either theory, I noticed that Slime Lord’s cooldown had also ended.
I immediately summoned another new recruit.
Pop!
That brought the total to four slimes.
Shouldn’t another one be falling from the ceiling around now, too?
“Well, that’s a separate matter.
I’ve still got one more use of my other ability.”
The cooldown had already started again, but the remaining-use counter displayed 1.
I smiled in satisfaction.
“…Don’t tell me it only restores one use every twenty-four hours?”
The thought made me nervous, but for the moment I focused on my next decision.
I had two choices: combine Mark Two with Dokdoki, or combine the two new recruits into another Level 2 slime. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
But I had to be careful.
If I combined Mark Two and Dokdoki, what would happen to their existing abilities?
‘I could live without Dokdoki’s poison, but I can’t afford to lose Mark Two’s Farming.’
I decided to make another Level 2 slime first.
Tomorrow, I could try combining that new slime with Dokdoki.
Splat!
“Oh!
Welcome aboard, new recruit.”
Right on cue, a free slime fell from the ceiling.
By now, I was almost certain the dungeon produced one slime every day.
“Shall we celebrate the new addition to the family with a little synthesis?”
Squirm?
As the newcomers wriggled in confusion, I immediately activated my ability.
[Slime LV.2 has been created.]
What ability had this one received?
[Slime LV.2]
An ordi?nary slime.
‘Eligible for Liquid Synthesis’
Ability: Physical Resistance LV.1
Physical Resistance.
Not bad, but Level 1 was probably nothing special.
[Physical Resistance LV.1]
Absorbs 10% of physical impacts.
Just as expected, it was an awkwardly limited ability.
It would be perfect for a tank, but at such a low level it probably wouldn’t help much.
“Tomorrow, you’re merging with Dokdoki.”
Squirm!
Watching the slimes wobble happily, I wondered what would happen to their abilities when they fused.
Would the abilities disappear, be inherited, or perhaps be replaced by something entirely different?
‘…No point overthinking it.’
I’d find out by trying, and I wouldn’t have to wait long.
For now, I had four slimes in total: three at Level 2 and one at Level 1.
The transformation in just three days was astonishing.
And I wasn’t finished yet.
“Now that I’ve cleared my quest, shall we get serious?”
I set up the ladder I’d brought at the opening to the underground chamber.
Then I gathered Mark Two, which had been hard at work, and the other slimes and took them all downstairs.
“From now on, this place is a field too.
We’re going to use all of it for farming.”
Squirm!
Squish!
I had essentially just announced that we’d be working ourselves to the bone, but for some reason the slimes seemed delighted.
They danced in place.
We began by thoroughly turning the soil and dividing the land into sections.
“This is easier than I expected.”
Before starting, I’d wondered how long it would take to turn such a huge area into farmland.
But working alongside the slimes, we finished surprisingly quickly.
Whatever abilities they possessed, slimes seemed to be farmers by nature.
“Strawberries, eggplants, cucumbers, carrots…
and I also bought potatoes, sweet potatoes, and Embergrill.”
I decided to plant everything I’d brought.
Since the slimes would take care of the crops, there wasn’t much to worry about.
‘Mark Two had plenty of spare capacity even while managing a hundred-pyeong field.
I’ll leave the old hundred-pyeong patch to the new recruit and assign the Level 2 slimes to this area.’
There weren’t enough seeds to fill the thousand-pyeong underground space.
I didn’t even know its exact area.
A thousand pyeong was merely my guess based on comparison with the original hundred-pyeong patch.
I divided it into ten sections of about a hundred pyeong each.
In addition to the seven varieties of seeds I’d brought, I planted seeds from the mana-infused tomatoes and some of the harvested mana-infused carrots, hoping to obtain more seeds from them.
“That’s nine kinds altogether.
One section left over.”
The sections I’d planted weren’t even full, so there was still a great deal of unused land.
I felt like an unexpectedly wealthy landowner.
Squirm, squirm.
The slimes carried out tasks that I probably would have botched if I’d been working alone.
Of course, I wasn’t entirely unnecessary.
I did my part, and soon all the seeds were in the ground.
“Good work, everyone.
Let’s eat.”
Squish!
By weight, we’d harvested far more tomatoes than carrots, so there was enough food for everyone.
Not long afterward, I noticed new flower buds forming on the cherry tomato plants.
“Can we really harvest these once a day?” Visit g.com for the full chapter.
I didn’t know how many harvests the plants could produce, but if we could pick tomatoes every day, the slimes’ food problem would be more or less solved.
Crunch, crunch!
Watching them happily munch on cherry tomatoes filled me with satisfaction.
“Hmm.
I’d like to give some to my family too.”
As I watched the slimes enjoying their food, my family naturally came to mind, along with Yeongseong, who had helped me so much.
When you found something delicious, wasn’t sharing it with your family the obvious thing to do?
I roughly calculated the slimes’ food needs and began packing some cherry tomatoes.
I also had five carrots left after making the juice.
I planned to give four to my family and one to Yeongseong.
“I should head out right away.”
I wanted to see their reactions as soon as they tasted the food, so I immediately prepared to leave.
“Look after the fields!”
Squish!
* * *
Choi Yeongseong, the owner of the Awakened General Store, had a headache thanks to an unexpected visitor.
No, not a visitor.
A downright troublesome customer.
“Hey, Choi Yeongseong!
You think I won’t find out just because you’re hiding him?”
“Stop talking nonsense and go home already!”
Unfortunately, the man causing the trouble was someone he couldn’t afford to treat carelessly.
Kang Hanul was Team Two’s leader in Ara Hongryeon, one of South Korea’s five largest guilds.
He was among the top five Awakened in the entire guild hierarchy.
“Come on, just call your friend over so we can have a drink!
It’s not like I’m going to hurt him.
I’m disappointed in you, Choi Yeongseong!”
“What friend?
I don’t even know him.
He was just some customer who happened to stop by!”
“Hey, Choi Yeongseong!
Do I look that easy to fool?
Wahahaha!
I can see right through your lies!
How many years have we known each other?”
As the two continued bickering, someone entered the shop.
Jingle!
“Yeongseong hyung, I’m back again!
Oh?
You’ve got a customer?”
“Uh…
y-you…”
Choi Yeongseong muttered in surprise, then quickly put on a poker face.
But Kang Hanul had already noticed his reaction.
“Oh!
Don’t tell me you’re…?”
“Pardon?”
Gyuseong stared at the stranger who seemed to recognize him, then suddenly jumped in surprise.
“P-Predator Kang Hanul?!”
“Wahahaha!
This is the guy, right?
Am I right?”
“Huh?
What are you talking about…?”
Grab!
Kang Hanul suddenly approached and threw a friendly arm around Gyuseong’s shoulders.
Beside the man’s tiger-like, enormous frame, the ordinarily built Lee Gyuseong looked positively tiny.
“Carrots!”
“Carrots?
Oh!”
At that word, Gyuseong instinctively glanced at his bag.
Kang Hanul noticed with the instincts of a wild beast and broke into a huge grin.
“Don’t tell me you brought more, my friend!”
“Huh?
Yes, I have some, but…”
“Perfect!
Drinks are on me tonight!
Hey, Choi Yeongseong!
Close the shop and come with us!”
“Wait, Mr.
Kang Hanul?
What’s going on here…?”
“I’ll explain once we’re there!
Come on, let’s go!
Wahahaha!”