I Met a Mysterious Wanderer
[You have used the Harvesting skill.]
[Harvest Speed + 13%]
[Stamina Consumption While Harvesting – 13%]
[Crop Condition Adjustment.]
[You have harvested Earth Sweet Potatoes.]
[Harvesting skill experience has increased slightly.]
[You have gained Class Experience.]
Yeong-ung and Pepper carefully dug through the soil as they harvested the sweet potatoes.
“Squeeeee!!!”
Pepper bit down on a sweet potato vine and pulled with all its strength.
It was trying to yank the sweet potatoes out.
“Squee!! Squeeeee!!”
Normally, if they would not come out after that much effort, it could simply dig a little more soil away.
Was it pride?
Pepper’s eyes burned with the fierce determination of, ‘I’m definitely pulling this out!’
“Pfft, what are you doing?”
“Squeeeee!!”
POP!
“Squeak!”
The moment Yeong-ung spoke to it, the sweet potato popped free.
Pepper, still pulling with all its strength, rolled backward and slammed into the temple wall with a THUD!
“Squeee…… Squeee…… It hurts, squee…….”
“Oh dear…… You should’ve been careful. That’s what happens when you try to force it out like that.”
“Squee.”
“Let’s keep harvesting for now.”
Pepper nodded.
The spot where it had hit the wall hurt a little, but this much was easy enough to endure.
The harvest continued.
[Harvesting skill…….]
[You have gained Class Experience.]
[Your level has increased.]
“Mm-hmm…… My level’s going up smoothly.”
Yeong-ung looked satisfied.
Then he opened the Status Window, invested 5 points into Strength this time, and closed it.
“146 this time?”
“That’s a lot, squee!”
“It is, but…… the germination rate isn’t very high.”
He thought it every time, but the germination rate was not particularly high.
This time, it was only 55%.
‘I need to find a way to raise the germination rate somehow…….’
If the germination rate remained low, that meant the number of crops he could harvest would decrease by the same amount.
If he wanted to establish a farm and do business in the future, he would eventually have to address the germination rate.
“For now, I should collect the seeds first.”
Yeong-ung used the skill on the Earth Sweet Potatoes.
[Seed Collection successful.]
[You have obtained 1 Earth Sweet Potato Seed.]
[Seed Collection skill experience has increased slightly.]
[Due to the effect of the title, 1+1 Seed Collection, you have obtained an additional seed.]
[You have gained Class Experience.]
Yeong-ung quickly collected the seeds.
Since the success rate was not particularly high, he managed to obtain only 87 seeds.
‘It’s a shame, but there’s nothing I can do about it.’
As the level of the Seed Collection skill increased, its success rate would rise as well.
Once that happened, he would be able to collect far more seeds than this.
‘So the conclusion is that I just have to grind diligently.’
“I’m used to grinding.”
Farming, in a way, could also be called an endless repetition of grinding.
Clearing the land, sowing seeds, harvesting, over and over again without end.
Yeong-ung was confident when it came to this kind of repetitive work.
“Pepper.”
“Squee!”
“Let’s sow the seeds.”
“Squee!!”
It was tiring, but it was fun.
Unlike when he had moved to the countryside to farm in real life, every time he worked like this, he could feel himself taking another step, however small, toward his dream.
***
After they had finished sowing all the seeds,
Yeong-ung caught Pepper so he could wash off all the dirt.
Pepper struggled.
“Squee…… I hate baths, squee!”
“You have to take one even if you hate it.”
“But, squee!!”
“Pepper.”
“Squee?”
“I wasn’t going to say this…….”
Yeong-ung pinched his nose slightly as he spoke.
“You smell a little.”
“Squee!?”
“Is it okay for a Water Spirit to smell like this? You are a spirit, right?”
“I-I am a spirit, squee!!”
“But you smell.”
“Th-There’s no way, squee…….”
“That’s why you need a bath.”
“…….”
Pepper lost the will to resist after Yeong-ung’s shocking declaration.
In the end, Yeong-ung washed Pepper clean.
“Squeeeeee!”
SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!!
Before drying itself, Pepper shook its whole body as hard as it could, flinging water everywhere.
“Ah! Cold! You did that on purpose, didn’t you!?”
“No, squee!”
“Ugh…… Now I’m a little wet.”
Yeong-ung let out a small sigh as he looked down at his damp clothes.
“Let’s dry off first.”
Yeong-ung took out the lighter, set some branches on fire, and built a campfire.
Maybe it was because they had finished another round of work.
“Yaaawn…….”
“Squeeeee…….”
A yawn escaped them naturally.
And so, Yeong-ung and Pepper fell asleep in front of the warm campfire.
***
After waking up, Yeong-ung set out to explore the surrounding area.
“Mr. Squirrel~ Any more around~?”
He had only one goal!
To raid a squirrel’s home!!
“Search!”
[You have used the Search skill.]
[Please designate a search target.]
“Seeds!”
[Searching…….]
[Search complete.]
[There are no seeds within a 12 m radius.]
[Search skill experience has increased slightly.]
“Nothing?”
“Squee!”
“Then let’s move around a little more and look nearby.”
This was the Spirit Realm, a previously undiscovered region.
Because there was so little information about it, Yeong-ung explored the surroundings like this whenever he had time.
“Pepper. If you notice anything, tell me right away.”
“Squee!”
Pepper climbed onto Yeong-ung’s shoulder and went into lookout mode like a meerkat.
Yeong-ung continued moving while repeatedly using the Search skill.
“Search!”
[Search skill experience has increased slightly.]
[Skill Level Up!]
[Search LV. 1 -> Search LV. 2]
As Search leveled up, its range expanded to 14 m.
Yeong-ung continued exploring.
‘This forest is bigger than I expected.’
The forest was larger than Yeong-ung had thought.
He had been walking for a long time, yet the forest showed no sign of ending.
“Pepper.”
“Squee?”
“Is the entire Spirit Realm covered in forests like this?”
“No, squee!”
Pepper shook its head.
“Then?”
“I lived in one place too, so I don’t know the details, squee! But I heard from other spirits that there are places that aren’t forests, like deserts and oceans, squee!”
“Oceans and deserts?”
“Squee!”
“It’s bigger than I thought.”
Yeong-ung began to think that the Spirit Realm might be far larger than he had imagined.
Deserts and oceans.
“What about where you lived?”
“The place I lived was a forest too, squee.”
“Is it far from here?”
“Squee…… I’m not sure, squee.”
Pepper did not know where they were now either.
That was only natural. Pepper had not found this forest on its own. Yeong-ung had summoned it here.
There was no way it could know the distance.
“That’s a little disappointing.”
Yeong-ung kept moving.
He did not forget to leave marks behind so he would not lose the way back.
“There aren’t even any animals. Search isn’t detecting anything either…….”
‘Is this as far as I go?’
He had walked quite a distance without finding anything.
Just as Yeong-ung was about to turn back, thinking he should probably return,
“Squee!!”
“What is it?”
“I heard something, squee!!”
“A sound?”
“Squee!”
“Which way?”
“Over there, squee!”
Pepper jumped down from Yeong-ung’s shoulder and began running toward the sound.
Yeong-ung followed behind.
How long had they been running?
—ROOOAAAR!
A monster came into view.
The enormous monster had blue skin and carried a wooden club in one hand.
The club looked heavy at a glance, yet the monster swung it effortlessly with one hand.
—ROOOAAAR!
“Squee!”
“Ugh…….”
At the monster’s roar, Yeong-ung and Pepper could not help flinching.
It radiated an overwhelming pressure unlike anything they had ever felt before.
‘So that’s a monster.’
This was the first monster Yeong-ung had seen since starting Overlord.
Of course, he had watched videos of people hunting monsters several times while gathering information.
But those had only been videos.
‘It’s different in person.’
Seeing one with his own eyes felt completely different from watching it through a screen.
The instant he heard its roar, fear struck him as though his heart had dropped into his stomach.
‘So this is why people play Overlord.’
He felt as though he finally understood why people were so obsessed with Overlord.
What would it feel like to hunt a monster like that?
The thrill that came after finally bringing one down after a hard-fought battle would probably be impossible to describe.
People played Overlord to experience adventures like that.
‘First…….’
Yeong-ung looked above the monster’s head.
Its name was written there in red.
[Giant Troll LV. ???]
Its level was not displayed.
Under Overlord’s system, a monster at least 50 levels higher than the player did not display its level.
‘There’s no way I can beat that.’
“Master, squee!”
“That’s…….”
Someone was lying collapsed in front of the Giant Troll.
The person was wearing a robe, so Yeong-ung could not see them clearly, but it seemed they had been attacked by the Giant Troll.
DING!
[Sudden Quest, ‘Mysterious Wanderer,’ has been generated.]
[Mysterious Wanderer]
Grade: ???
Description: A mysterious wanderer wearing a robe is being attacked by a Giant Troll.
He appears to have lost consciousness.
If you save the Mysterious Wanderer, he may give you something good.
Success Condition: Rescue the Mysterious Wanderer.
Success Reward: Experience, Class Skill.
Penalty for Failure: None.
It was a sudden quest.
While playing Overlord, quests were not always predetermined.
You could also encounter spontaneous quests like this along the way.
‘Wasn’t there someone who got a quest to rescue a noble being attacked by bandits?’
There were many kinds of sudden quests.
More than 5,000 quests had been discovered so far, and even when their types were similar, their contents were all different.
‘So this is one of them.’
Whether or not to save that Mysterious Wanderer.
Yeong-ung thought about it for a moment.
His opponent was a Giant Troll, and it looked so powerful that its level was not even displayed.
By comparison, Yeong-ung was only a Farmer.
‘It’s not like I have any attack magic either…….’
“Wait…… Maybe…….”
Yeong-ung took out the lighter.
The objective of the quest was to rescue the Mysterious Wanderer, not to kill the monster.
‘I’ll draw its attention with this, grab him, and get out of here fast.’
“Maximum output!”
Yeong-ung turned the lighter’s output to maximum and pointed it at the Giant Troll.
The next moment,
FWOOSH.
A small flame bloomed from the lighter.
But the flame expanded in an instant and then…….
WHOOOOSH!
It turned into a raging blaze that shot forward at tremendous speed and engulfed the Giant Troll.
—ROOOAAAR!!
Wrapped in an enormous inferno, the Giant Troll let out a horrible scream before collapsing on the spot.
It lay there without moving.
DING!
[Hidden Piece discovered!]
[You have accomplished an unbelievable achievement.]
[You defeated an enemy far stronger than yourself in a single blow.]
[You defeated it using an item.]
[You have obtained the hidden title, ‘Expensive Is Best!’]
[Expensive Is Best!]
Grade: Hidden (Unique)
Acquisition Condition: Defeat a monster more than 50 levels higher than yourself alone.
Options: All Stats + 10
Spirit Power + 10
Attack Power + 5%
Magic Attack Power + 5%
Spirit Power Recovery Rate + 10%
Skill Cooldown – 10%
Description: As expected, nothing beats winning with gear! Expensive items are the best!
[You have gained a massive amount of experience.]
[The amount of experience gained has been adjusted because you reached the maximum amount of experience obtainable at one time.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has…….]
[You have obtained Giant Troll Blood.]
[You have obtained Giant Troll Underwear.]
[You have obtained Giant Troll…….]
[You have obtained 5,600 gold.]
“…….”
“…….”
Yeong-ung had never imagined that the Giant Troll would die from a single blast of the lighter.
Still dazed, he looked at Pepper.
“……What just happened?”
Pepper answered as though wondering why he was asking it.
“I don’t know either, squee…….”