06
After finishing every last preparation, Ki Ja-hyeon slung the backpack he had brought home over his shoulder again.
Inside it were luminous mushrooms. No, it was full of Krushvalbi.
“In my previous life, I just thought they were plants....”
Without the slightest suspicion,
they had always taken root and grown like any other plant, so he had no choice but to think that.
He had simply thought they were plants that liked damp ground.
However,
“I won’t call them plants again.”
This was an age where scientific civilization had developed to a far higher degree than magic.
That was why the modern Ki Ja-hyeon knew that mushrooms were not plants, but fungi. He also knew that they would not grow just because he planted them any which way in a vegetable garden.
Ki Ja-hyeon stepped outside the house.
He did not go far.
Beside the building.
He simply opened the door to the storage shed where miscellaneous items had been kept and went down into its basement.
It was a space that had come with the house when the Scorpion Gang parceled(?) it out to him.
This place, where cheap narcotic painkillers in circulation and bargain-bin implants that had been attached to someone else’s body, then removed and left waiting for their next victim(?), had once been carelessly stored, still had no particular use even now that Ki Ja-hyeon had taken it over.
It was not that Ki Ja-hyeon had never tried to make use of it from the beginning.
But moisture kept building up, so it failed.
Should he say the cost of moisture absorbers was higher than the profit gained from maintaining it?
Sure enough, in the basement, five moisture-eating hippos were sloshing after drowning in the water they had eaten.
Ki Ja-hyeon picked up, one by one, the corpses of the moisture-eating hippos that had stubbornly guarded a place even their owner had forgotten.
“...You worked hard, soldiers.”
He should plant tomatoes for the hardworking fellows or something.
Of course, what he had to do now was something else.
“Very. Plenty humid.”
Once again, Ki Ja-hyeon had not even known that Krushvalbi were fungi in his previous life. He had simply smeared mud on a damp wall and planted them roughly, and he had succeeded without much difficulty.
If not for the natural power of a genius druid, he probably would have failed to cultivate them, just like other druids.
‘Back then, I just wondered why everyone couldn’t do it.’
Back then, it had been possible because he was a genius druid.
Then what about now, when he was not a genius druid?
“I’ll find out by trying.”
First, he would do exactly what he had done then.
Since he had scraped up every bit of the ground where the Krushvalbi had been growing and brought it back, he would mix it with the fertile soil from his vegetable garden, pour in water to make mud, and spread it evenly over the basement wall as if wallpapering it.
If anything, the fertile, extremely fertile soil mixed with all kinds of plant nutrients might be better than the soil of the great nature from his previous life.
However, mold was a problem both then and now.
Even in his previous life, many druids had failed at cultivating Krushvalbi because of that.
But now, things were easier than back then.
Because now...!
“I have Lord Bleach with me!”
He diluted the bleach appropriately, put it into a spray bottle, and sprayed it just like that.
With a spritz, spritz sound, black water flowed down.
The floor became dirty, but the wall surface was finally white for once.
A miraculous substance that eradicated every mold the moment it touched!
“As expected...bleach is God...!”
He was not just saying that.
If such an insane object had existed in his previous life, the people would not have died in droves because of sanitation.
So,
“Modern civilization is the best!”
In any case, after cleaning the bottom like that and waiting for it to dry appropriately, he mixed fertilizer soil, steeped in the power of genetic modification and pharmaceuticals, with the soil from inside the hunting ground, where Krushvalbi mycelium was mixed in, and made mud.
Now it was time to wallpaper(?).
Smear, smear.
Yellow earth was plastered over the place that had turned white after the mold was annihilated.
Now he only had to wait for the Krushvalbi mycelium to eat the nutrient-rich soil and grow....
“It’ll take a long time.”
On top of that, before it bore fruit, he could not even know whether it was a success or a failure.
If he were not a druid, that would have been the case.
Even if he had been yesterday’s F- Grade Ki Ja-hyeon, that would have been the case.
But the current Ki Ja-hyeon was F Grade!
What if he used the skill he had gained as a bonus when he rose by one stage?
[List skills?]
Usually, one skill was distributed whenever one’s Grade rose.
Whether a shitty skill appeared or a gem of a skill appeared, that part was pure luck.
He knew there were skills and items that fixed that luck in place, but what use was that if his current self could not use them?
Like that, three skills were listed.
All of them were abilities Ki Ja-hyeon had possessed in his previous life.
[Nature’s Physical Aid (Active) (F) (20%)]
If the common knowledge Ki Ja-hyeon knew was right, 20% was the probability of this skill appearing.
In other words, it was a skill that appeared once in five times.
A fairly rare skill!
The skill’s name was Nature’s Physical Aid.
It was an ability that strengthened physical capabilities in proportion to the natural power one possessed!
It was certainly a good skill, but because the natural power he had right now was as tiny as a rat’s tail, its practicality was low.
[Close Conversation with Animals (Passive) (F) (5%)]
If he learned this, he would probably be able to have proper conversations with Thunder and Cloud.
Conversation with animals.
It was a very attractive skill.
In fact, in his previous life, he had worked tirelessly because he had wanted to obtain this ability.
But after using it himself,
honestly....
‘I don’t really...need it right now.’
It was only give me this, give me that. I hate this, that is bad. Why aren’t you doing it when you know everything? We will show you our resolve, and so on....
On top of that....
‘They end up forming a labor union...!’
An owner who could not communicate was an object of blind affection.
But an owner who could communicate became an object of negotiation.
There was nothing more troublesome than when the animals and divine beasts he raised went on strike.
‘Pets should act like pets!’
Of course, if used well, it was a helpful skill.
If they became higher lifeforms and the combat power of his familiars grew stronger, then he would absolutely have to learn it, but that was not now.
Even if he tried talking to them now, the conversation would only continue at the level of a two-year-old child.
“I’ll keep it for now.”
If the next skill had been poor, he would have chosen this one.
At 5%, it was also a precious skill that might not appear again for the rest of his life.
But that did not happen.
Because the skill that appeared next was the very skill Ki Ja-hyeon wanted most at this moment.
[Rapid Plant Growth (Active) (F) (52%)]
“Right. It’d be stranger if a 52% skill didn’t come out!”
It was easy to learn, common enough that other druids besides Ki Ja-hyeon had each possessed it in his previous life, and all the more necessary because of that!
Although it was a common ability at 52%, right now this skill was far, far more necessary than the 20% one or the 5% one.
[You have gained Rapid Plant Growth (Active).]
He had obtained the skill.
How should he use it?
“Hmmm. Do I do it like this?”
He pointed his palm at the wall.
Green energy poured out from his heart and headed toward his fingertips.
‘It’s the same as in my previous life!’
Of course, compared to his previous life, it was a rat’s-tail amount of natural power, but before he learned the skill, his heart had been blocked like an old water pipe. Now, as if by a lie, a path had opened and it moved, which was nothing short of fascinating.
Shaaaaaaa.
As the natural power pouring out from Ki Ja-hyeon’s hand coated the wall, the spores inside reacted to it and glowed luminously. It was the moment when the basement, which did not contain a single point of light, was embroidered with luminous light like the Milky Way.
It was truly a spectacle!
After this kind of reaction appeared, he had never once failed at cultivation.
A smile hung on Ki Ja-hyeon’s lips.
“How long will it take?”
In his previous life, it would have been thirty seconds.
They had truly grown as if it were a lie.
What about now?
“Will it take as long as my shabby natural power suggests?”
Then would he have to sit around sucking his fingers until then?
Not a chance.
Rather, Ki Ja-hyeon was scheduled to become busy from now on.
“I need to make elixirs!”
What would make money in the long term was planting the spores of Krushvalbi, but the work that would make money right now was making elixirs with the Krushvalbi he had.
There were many types of elixirs he could make.
However, under his current conditions, there was only one basic method he could use to make one.
He headed back into the house.
In truth, Ki Ja-hyeon had already been carrying out the elixir-making work.
.
.
.
The process of making the elixir was simple.
1) Expose the Krushvalbi to a suitable high temperature.
2) Infuse natural power.
3) Place it in a solvent, then infuse natural power a second time to complete it.
In his previous life, the work had been extremely difficult from step one.
That was because producing the “suitable high temperature” it had to be exposed to was difficult.
But in this life, it was too simple!
When he opened the door and entered the house, Thunder and Cloud were melted like liquid and sprawled out on the warmest part of the heated floor.
Meow. (Warm.)
Prrrrrrrr. (Happy.)
Woof. (Happy.)
Woof. Woof! (Extremely happy!)
That was right.
The warmest part of the heated floor!
The Krushvalbi he had laid out there had received just enough heat to cast off their dampness and turn soft, springy, and fluffy!
After gathering them into one basket, he filled them with natural power.
The core of the core was to pour in enough to maximize their efficacy, but only enough that they would not explode.
Tssssss.
Even one was difficult, but he was doing over a hundred at once.
If it were an ordinary druid, they might succeed once after five tries, but Ki Ja-hyeon was different.
If he could not manage even this much, he would not have won the title of the continent’s greatest druid!
Like that, he poured his natural power into every Krushvalbi.
Now the third process remained.
The catalyst!
In the case of Krushvalbi, the catalyst was high-proof liquor.
In the past, if he had wanted to make alcohol, it would have taken ages to ferment grain, fruit, or the like....
“But now, I can buy it easily at the mart. And very cheaply too!”
In fact, long-storable liquor was cheaper than clean purified water.
Originally, in a dystopia like this, there was nothing like alcohol to let people forget the hardships of the day, so even the government deliberately released it cheaply.
That bitter reason felt so welcome now.
Suitable heat and a catalyst!
To think the most troublesome and difficult things to obtain when making elixirs could be obtained so easily!
Was it all right for making elixirs to become this easy?
So once again,
“Long live modern civilization!”
Like that, he divided the Krushvalbi into three fermentation jars, poured fermented high-proof liquor over 40% ABV into them, and sealed them. Finally, when he infused natural power once again, before long, luminous light bright enough to illuminate the surroundings even with the lights off began pouring out from the infused liquor.
When he woke up after sleeping, the Krushvalbi that had emitted luminous light would be bleached white, and the infused liquor that had absorbed all the nutrients would glow luminously.
If he heated that and evaporated the unnecessary alcohol, the elixir would be complete.
And so, the next morning.
Trickle, trickle~
After boiling the luminous liquor in water and evaporating all the alcohol, he tried pouring it into empty bottles.
As someone who raised a dog, a cat, and plants, it was fortunate that he had many small empty bottles for holding liquids.
And when he thought about it,
‘This is also a benefit of this life.’
In his previous life, manufacturing had not developed to this extent.
A glass flask this clean, transparent, and light, and one that sealed well on top of that, would have counted as an incredible masterpiece in his previous life.
It was, in every sense, an object that only the royal family might use!
But in this world, anyone from Area 4 or above could buy ten of them, with two extra thrown in, for a total of twelve, for 1,000 credits.
Trickle, trickle~
Like that, fifty elixir bottles, each filled with roughly 50 ml, were completed.
[Register this object as an item?]
“Hmm, I’m nervous.”
Gulp!
He swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.
That was because the elixir had to be “registered” as an item by the System before it could be bought and sold on the System Market.
There were many things that were not registered as items.
However, since they could not be put into the inventory, took up a lot of volume, and had a considerable risk of breaking during intense combat, demand for them tended to be low. Delivery was tough in its own way too.
So it had to be an item.
“That way, it’ll be easy to sell!”
Would it work?
Would it truly work...!
[This object has been registered as an item.]
“That’s right!”
A smooth success!
The elixir’s options were also exactly as he had expected.
[Name this object.]
There was no need to hesitate.
“Krushvalbi Elixir.”
[This object’s name is now Krushvalbi Elixir.]
[Krushvalbi Elixir has been placed in your inventory. (2/6)]
“Will it sell well?”
Ki Ja-hyeon might not have Awakened until now, but he had plenty of experience in the hunter world in his own way.
So he could guess to some extent. If an elixir with options like this did not sell, that would be the stranger thing!
Now all that remained was to connect through the System and place the item on the sales stand.
[Safe location confirmed.]
[Enter System Market?]
“It’s my first time, so I’m nervous....”
A place the Awakened entered and exited several times a day.
But for Ki Ja-hyeon, it was a place he was entering for the first time.
Ki Ja-hyeon nodded without delay, and,
his consciousness moved to a place other than reality.
Flaaaaash!