I was so hungry that I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.
Of all places, why was a potato growing inside the Tower?
'I heard farming was impossible here.'
People all over the world have tried it.
The reason was simple.
Crops grown inside the Tower had a high chance of possessing extraordinary properties.
Even the rewards from clearing Very Easy difficulty were considerable.
So what if those rewards' power could somehow be transferred to crops?
But the results had been a complete failure.
The conclusion was that farming was impossible on every floor.
“Then what's this?”
A single potato rested in my hand.
It was bigger than my palm.
Even just holding it, the fresh scent of grass filled my nostrils, which had been saturated with the smell of blood.
<Delicious Potato>
Description: A delicious potato grown in soil rich with mana.
Fullness: 30
Taste: 10
[Abilities]
Fullness
Lowest-Grade Stamina Stat Increase
I decided not to think too deeply about it.
Whatever the explanation, I'd found food. Wasn't that enough?
I looked around some more.
There couldn't be just one.
And I was right.
Delicious Potatoes appeared one after another within my sight.
There were at least thirty of them.
“Hehehe. All that trouble was worth it!”
“Here you go, Boss!”
“Thanks.”
We gathered every potato we could find.
With Work Otter helping, both my hands were soon full.
If potatoes could grow here, there was a good chance other crops existed too.
There was no need to rush.
As long as I didn't return to the Waiting Room, the floor would remain in its current state.
'Let's take care of the immediate problem first.'
I headed straight to the Subspace Shelter.
After carefully setting down the potatoes so they wouldn't get damaged, I opened the Subspace Shelter Shop.
From its many categories, I selected Machinery.
A long list of items appeared.
Far more were available now that I'd cleared the Tower's first floor.
I'd examine those later.
With my stomach growling, I couldn't focus on anything else.
It didn't take long to find what I wanted.
<Multipurpose Cooking Station> (15,000 Coins)
Description: A cooking station capable of preparing any kind of food, including steamed dishes, grilled dishes, and soups.
Durability: 1,000
[Abilities]
Multipurpose Cooking Station
Lowest-Grade Excellent Flavor Enhancement
Decent Durability
I bought it immediately.
[Multipurpose Cooking Station has been moved to Storage.]
I took it out and installed it opposite the entrance.
A long, silver-colored cooking station stretched out before me.
Its top was nothing but a flat, empty surface.
From the outside, it was hard to believe I could cook anything on it.
There wasn't even a stove, let alone any cooking utensils.
But I'm worried about nothing.
As I approached, drawers opened to reveal the utensils inside.
An induction cooktop and a sink appeared on the counter.
“So that's how it works?”
“What's this thing, Boss?”
Work Otter stared at it with fascinated eyes, apparently seeing one for the first time.
“It's where we're going to cook.”
“Oooh! How does it work?”
“Just watch.”
I dumped all the potatoes into the sink.
First, I turned on the tap to wash them thoroughly.
I had no idea what might be clinging to them, so cleaning them was essential.
But no water came out.
[No water is stored.]
[Water supply required.]
[0/100L]
“I have to fill it with water too?”
If there wasn't any food, naturally there wouldn't be any water either.
Fortunately, there was a river on Floor 1.
I asked Work Otter to fetch some water from it.
As befitted an animal that lived in water, it completed the task perfectly.
I quickly began cooking.
I removed any impurities and checked that the potatoes were all in good condition.
Once they were clean, I took them out and made shallow cross-shaped cuts in each one.
Then I placed them in a large pot and added enough water to submerge them halfway.
I kept the heat at medium-low and waited thirty minutes.
I didn't forget to turn them over along the way.
If I simply left them alone, they might burn.
After all the trouble I'd gone through to find this food, there was no way I was letting it burn.
“That smells good, Boss! So nutty and comforting!”
“Yeah. They smell even better than ordinary potatoes.”
The smell of potatoes filled the Subspace Shelter, and I felt like I was losing my mind.
To be honest, I hadn't expected much.
How delicious could a potato possibly be?
I'd grown so exhausted from overtime that I'd gotten used to eating strongly flavored food every day.
Potatoes were bound to taste bland, yet my mouth was watering.
'They say anything tastes good when you're hungry. No, maybe the potatoes here really are special?'
Even the time it took to clear the floor hadn't felt this long.
If I let my self-control slip for even a moment, I might start eating the potatoes raw.
'No. If I'm going to eat them, I might as well make them delicious.'
And I was practically restrained compared to my companion.
“S-so delicious... It smells delicious. It's going to taste so good. Ehehehe.”
Work Otter's mouth hung wide open, drool pouring out like a waterfall.
How many days had it gone without eating?
I'd have to make sure it was properly fed, at the very least.
After desperately holding out, the thirty minutes finally passed.
I stuck a chopstick into each potato.
The chopstick slid through smoothly without catching on anything.
“Are they ready, Boss?!”
“Yeah. They're done.”
They were perfectly cooked, soft and fluffy.
Who would've thought my experience living alone would come in so handy?
[Successfully cooked 'Delicious Steamed Potatoes' in the Tower.]
[A skill has been unlocked.]
[Cooking (Lv. 1) acquired.]
<Delicious Steamed Potato>
Description: A Delicious Potato grown in soil rich with mana, steamed using a decent cooking station.
Fullness: 50
Taste: 30
[Abilities]
Fullness
Decent Umami
Excellent Taste
Lowest-Grade Stamina Stat Increase
<Cooking (Lv. 1)>
Description: Allows you to prepare more complete dishes when cooking. On very rare occasions, dishes with buff effects may be produced.
“A skill too!”
“A skill, Boss? Is that good?”
“Of course it is.”
Skills were one of the reasons people entered the Tower in the first place.
It would be a mistake to think of them as the ordinary skills you acquired in games.
A Tower skill was practically the equivalent of gaining another Trait.
A powerful skill could have an even greater impact than a Trait.
That was why, as Climbers reached higher floors and difficulties, the number of good skills they possessed became increasingly important.
'From what I heard while dealing with Hunters and Climbers, they're incredibly hard to obtain.'
There were two ways to acquire skills.
You could obtain one through repeated actions, or receive one as a reward.
Neither method was remotely easy.
Repeated actions generally had to be performed hundreds of millions of times at minimum, and skills only began appearing as low-probability rewards from Easy difficulty onward.
I'd already cleared Floor 1.
That left cooking as the explanation.
“Is it because of the difficulty?”
I'd heard that the higher the difficulty, the fewer repetitions were required.
But even so, I hadn't done this very many times.
Once, at most.
Extreme difficulty really must be on another level.
Well, a good thing was a good thing.
I decided to be satisfied with what I'd gained.
“Eating is more important right now. Here, take one.”
“Yes, Boss! Thank you for the food!”
I picked up a potato with my chopsticks and took a huge bite.
“Hahh! That's hot!”
“H-hot! Aaah!”
Hunger had blinded me.
What kind of idiot bit straight into a freshly steamed potato?
I blew on it repeatedly to cool it down as much as possible.
Then I touched it to make sure the heat had subsided.
'All right.'
I took another bite.
Now that it had cooled, the first thing I noticed was its fluffy yet firm texture.
I was amazed from the very first mouthful.
Even if I'd steamed it right after harvesting, I hadn't expected the first bite of a potato to be this satisfying.
And that was only the beginning.
'This is insane. The flavor fills my entire mouth.'
The more I chewed, the more its rich, nutty flavor and mild savoriness took over my mouth.
I hadn't added a single grain of salt or sugar, yet the umami was exploding across my tongue.
Exotic delicacies? Omakase? Delivery food?
There was no comparison.
Even the finish was perfect.
It felt like eating a complete dish rather than a simple potato.
And what happened next was even more astonishing.
[Stamina stat increased by 0.01.]
“……?!”
I'd seen that ability listed earlier.
But I'd been too hungry to give it much thought. Only now, with a little food in my stomach, did its meaning truly sink in.
I'd been able to obtain Stat Coins because I'd ended up in Extreme difficulty, but ordinarily, rewards didn't give more than five of them.
They were so difficult to obtain that increasing a stat by one point was worth a staggering hundred million won.
Elixirs were even more expensive.
Yet merely eating a potato had given me the equivalent of one million won in value.
All I could do was marvel.
Flavor and stats, both at once.
Two birds with one stone.
But I had no time to think about it any further.
“This is really delicious, Boss! Sob! I never knew potatoes could taste this good!”
Work Otter was devouring potatoes at an astonishing rate.
It finished one in just three bites, then grabbed another.
I couldn't allow this to continue.
I joined the battle in earnest.
I stuffed potatoes into my mouth without a moment's rest.
Grab, chew, swallow. Again and again.
Three minutes were enough for more than thirty potatoes to disappear.
“Ahhh. That hit the spot.”
“I ate really well too, Boss. You're the best!”
With my stomach full, I finally felt alive again.
My brain seemed to be working properly.
[Stamina stat increased by 0.18.]
The total increase of 0.19 to my Stamina stat probably helped too.
I wanted nothing more than to lie down and relax.
They said that when people were hungry, all they wanted was food, and when they were full, all they wanted was to lie down.
But three years of relentless overtime had trained my self-discipline.
I forced myself to my feet through sheer willpower.
“I've got too much to do to take a leisurely nap. Work Otter, get up too.”
“Mmgh. Yes, Boss! Understood! I'm up!”
I could keep clearing Floor 1 and taking crops with me.
But I couldn't go on clearing the same floor forever just to collect food.
Besides, there was a good chance the crops wouldn't be there every time.
'I should grow them inside the Subspace Shelter. There was equipment for farming, after all.'
I acted quickly.
First, I took care of the most urgent need.
Water.
Fortunately, I didn't have to carry it over bit by bit.
[Transfer this water?]
[Yes/No]
All I had to do was approach the water and agree to transfer it, and the full 100 liters would be stored.
At least I wouldn't have to worry about running out of water.
It would be a nuisance to come back whenever the supply ran low, though.
'I'm sure there's a way around that too.'
Back inside the Subspace Shelter, I opened the exclusive shop.
I selected Farming from the categories.
There was only one item available for purchase.
<Crop Cultivation Machine> (40,000 Coins)
Description: A machine that allows crops to be cultivated efficiently. Simply supply water, and it will take care of growing them.
Durability: 5,000
Water: 0/10L
[Abilities]
Lowest-Grade Growth Rate
Lowest-Grade Nutrients
Excellent Durability
“This is it.”
The price was fairly steep, but considering what it could produce, I didn't begrudge a single Coin.
[Crop Cultivation Machine has been moved to Storage.]
I installed it right beside the cooking station.
It resembled a machine you'd find in a smart farm.
A long box-like structure was divided into tiers, each filled with soil.
Above them, sprinklers were packed closely together.
“So all I have to do is put these in here.”
<Delicious Potato Seed>
Description: A seed of the Delicious Potato.
Durability: 10
[Abilities]
None
It was a brown seed smaller than my fingernail.
I'd found it near the place where I'd dug up the potatoes.
“Do we just plant those, Boss?”
“It's my first time too, so I'm not sure. Let's give it a try.”
With Work Otter helping, the planting was done in no time.
Water immediately began spraying over the soil.
“I hope they grow as quickly as possible.”
I'd dealt with all the immediate problems.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any more crops on Extreme Floor 1 this time.
While I'd been busy, the shelter's durability had recovered considerably.
Durability: 375
There was nothing more to do on this floor.
If I changed floors, there might be a chance of finding different crops.
“Time for another try.”
[The trial of Extreme (1F) begins.]
[Defeat three Steroid Muscle Turtles (Lv. 146).]
[Steroid Muscle Turtle (Lv. 146): 0/3]
THOOM! THOOM!
The turrets were working hard.
Amid the gunfire, I opened the Subspace Shelter.
Coins in my possession: 813,000.
It was time to fill up my bare Subspace Shelter.