Chapter 46: Harvesting Potatoes
TL: Hanguk
Once the fate of the wolves was decided, Sejun and the rabbits prepared breakfast and went down to the cave.
And then,
“Follow me, meow!”
Theo guided the wolves around, introducing them to Sejun’s farm as if it were his own.
“This is the green onion field, meow! And here is…”
However, Theo’s explanation was quickly stumped because all the green sprouts looked similar.
When Theo was stuck,
Squeak!
Cuengi (baby bear) took the lead to explain. They planted peanuts over there!
Since Cuengi (baby bear) was playing near the field every day, he knew very well what was planted where.
“This is the peanut field, meow!”
So, with Cuengi’s (baby bear) support, while Theo was explaining the fields to the wolves,
“Let’s have breakfast.”
Sejun, who had prepared breakfast, called everyone.
The breakfast menu originally consisted of green onions and cherry tomatoes, but after hearing from Black Rabbit yesterday that there were other corpses besides giant electric eel, Sejun suggested the wolves eat piranhas and crayfish.
In truth, Sejun wanted to have a more substantial meal. Still, he gained some know-how from bringing back eel meat yesterday, which made it easier to bring back other corpses.
Black Rabbit went down with several ropes and tied up dead piranhas, crayfish, and chunks of eel meat so that all Sejun had to do was pull up the ropes like fishing.
Thanks to the low water temperature, the corpses didn’t rot, and they could eat them without any issues. Of course, they had to eat detoxifying green onions.
After a hearty breakfast, Sejun and the rabbits started their morning farming.
And then,
“President Theo, put the green onion leaves in your bag.”
He asked Theo to put green onion leaves in his bag. He had a place to take the green onion leaves.
“I understand, meow! Wolf employees, follow me, meow!”
“Yes. President Theo.”
The wolves, who had eaten their fill after a long time, actively moved at Theo’s words. Theo, who received Sejun’s order, filled his bag with green onion leaves with the help of the wolves.
In the meantime,
Snip, snip.
Sejun quickly harvested the cherry tomatoes.
Then,
[You have simultaneously harvested 9 well-ripened Magical Cherry Tomatoes.]
[Your job experience increases slightly.]
[Your job experience has reached its limit.]
[Your Tower Farmer (D) rank increases.]
[You have become a Tower Farmer (C).]
His job rank increased.
“Good.”
Sejun was happy that he could harvest more delicious C-grade crops in the future.
[Your job traits are enhanced as your job rank increases.]
[Through job traits, you become more friendly with nature, and the hidden talent: Friend of Nature awakens.]
“Huh? A talent awakens?!”
Sejun was greatly surprised by the message that a talent had awakened. He had never heard of a case where another talent awakened besides the one during the awakening.
Of course, there were hunters like Sejun who awakened new talents. It’s just that hunters kept it a secret, and Sejun, who had been an ordinary person, couldn’t access it.
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 increases slightly.]
[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 has increased by an additional 5%.]
[You have gained 208 experience points.]
As Sejun was in a hurry to check out his new talent,
[Relic: Saint Patrick’s Straw Hat verifies the user’s job rank increase.]
[Tower Farmer (C) confirmed.]
[The rank of the Relic: Saint Patrick’s Straw Hat increases to C.]
[C grade restrictions are lifted.]
[Restriction on Skill – Earth’s Blessing Lv. 4 is lifted.]
[Restriction on Skill – Farmer’s Body Lv. 3 is lifted.]
[Restriction on Skill – Bountiful Harvest Lv. 2 is lifted.]
[Skill – Growth Acceleration Lv. 1 is unlocked.]
Just the job rank rising by one changed many things.
Sejun then checked his new talent.
[Talent: Friend of Nature]
→ A talent that boasts a fairly high level of affinity with nature.
→ Communication with plants and animals, with whom you cannot converse, becomes smoother when you make contact.
“Communication becomes smoother when I make contact?”
As Sejun approached Cuengi (baby bear) , who was playing alone above the ground,
Kkuwoong?
Cuengi (baby bear) looked at Sejun, tilting its head, wondering what was happening. Why?
Chuck.
Sejun grabbed Cuengi’s (baby bear) front paw.
Kkuwoong?
[Dad, are you going to play with me?]Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.
Cuengi’s (baby bear) cry began to be translated and heard.
“Oh, this is amazing!”
Sejun paused, amazed at the new talent. But dad? To a person who hasn’t even married yet?! No, that isn’t the problem? Our species are different!
Explaining it to Cuengi (baby bear) could take time and should be done slowly. If he explained to Cuengi (baby bear) that he wasn’t the father and Cuengi (baby bear), shocked, hit him saying ‘I hate Dad!’, it would be a fatal blow to him.
And people usually regard their pets as their children. Sejun thought he just had a quite big pet bear. Definitely not rationalizing his thoughts to save his life. Definitely not.
Thus, after checking his new talent, Sejun checked the skills of Saint Patrick’s Straw Hat.
The Earth’s Blessing increased magic recovery from a little to quite a lot, the Farmer’s Body increased all stats from 3 to 5, the Bountiful Harvest increased the area of bountiful yield from a maximum of 100 square meter to 300 square meter.
And the new skill, Growth Acceleration.
[Growth Acceleration Lv. 1]
→ Active Skill
→ Accelerates the growth of 10 crops by a week without side effects.
→ Cooldown: 10 days
Accelerate the growth of crops by a week! Sejun thought of the potato field that was close to harvest. What if he used the skill on the potato field?
Today’s lunch menu is steamed potatoes!
Sejun hurried to the potato field.
And then,
“Is this how I use it? Growth Acceleration.”
Sejun, who was using an active skill for the first time, awkwardly stretched out his hand and used the skill on the potato field.
[You used Growth Acceleration Lv. 1.]
[Accelerating the growth of 10 potatoes by a week.]
The 10 potato stems that were close to Sejun glowed.
The surface didn’t change much,
Woodeudeuk.
The sound of the potatoes growing from the ground could be heard.
Sejun waited for a moment and then pulled out the nearest potato stem to harvest the potatoes.
Fududuk.
Along the potato stem, fist-sized potatoes fell out one by one.
[You have simultaneously harvested 20 well-ripened Power Potatoes.]
[Your job experience increases slightly.]
[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increases slightly.]
[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, the proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increases an additional 5%.]
[You gained 600 experience.]
Fortunately, the potatoes grew well.
“Power Potatoes?”
Sejun checked the option of the harvested potatoes.
[Power Potatoes]
→ These potatoes grown inside the Tower are delicious due to ample nutrient absorption.
→ Grown by a farmer familiar with agriculture, its taste and efficiency have improved.
→ When consumed, it breaks down 30g of fat in the body and increases strength by 0.5 for 10 minutes.
→ Up to 10 effects can be applied simultaneously within one hour.
→ When non-awakners consume it, it breaks down 30g of fat and increases stomach activity.
→ Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Expiration date: 90 days
→ Grade: C
Thanks to Sejun’s job rank rising to C, an extra line was added to the option: ‘Grown by a farmer familiar with agriculture, its taste and efficiency have improved.’
And with the increased efficiency, it broke down 30g of fat and strength increased from 0.3 to 0.5.
“This could draw interest from low-level hunters?”
Up until grade D crops, eating 10 of them resulted in a stat increase of 2, but now it has increased to 5. With that much, it could increase a stat equivalent to equipping a level 5 item at level 1. However, that wasn’t important now.
“We have nothing to eat.”
Sejun thought he would sell the potatoes to hunters later when the potato harvest was more plentiful, and hurriedly harvested the rest of the potatoes.
The option that makes the stomach functions more active wasn’t of much interest to Sejun, who digests food well, so he quickly forgot about it.
In total, he harvested 197 potatoes.
“Hmm hmm hmm”
Sejun hummed as he washed the potatoes. Then he filled the bottoms of three pots with green onion leaves and filled them with potatoes and began steaming them. The remaining potatoes were wrapped in green onion leaves to be roasted for faster consumption.
While the potatoes were cooking, Sejun quickly pulled a rope that was tied to a branch stuck in the ground in front of the pond.
It was to prepare grilled eel for the mother Crimson Giant Bear.
Soon after, chunks of eel flesh came up along the rope. The Black Rabbit had previously cut and tied them up.
Squeak!
When Sejun pulled the rope, the Black Rabbit, who had been patrolling the outside of the pond with the giant electric eel’s intestine in its mouth, came out of the pond. It had come out to help, knowing that Sejun was preparing lunch.
Sejun and the Black Rabbit grilled the eel.
Then
Rattle. Rattle.
Steam began to push and leak out from the pot lid.
“Is it cooked?
Sejun opened the pot lid and stuck a chopstick he had whittled from a twig into a potato.
Plop.
The chopstick penetrated the potato without resistance. The steamed potatoes were ready.
And then,
Roar.
Coincidentally, the mother Crimson Giant Bear returned from her patrol.
“Let’s eat lunch!”
At Sejun’s shout, the animals gathered around the cave.
Sejun first lifted up the grilled eel for the mother Crimson Giant Bear.
Then Sejun filled green onion leaves with steamed potatoes and roasted potatoes, took it to the surface, and spread it out in the middle of the animals that were seated in a circle.
“Be careful, it’s hot.”
Whoosh.
The rabbits started to cool a potato each.
However, the mother Crimson Giant Bear and two Black Minotaurs picked up several hot potatoes at once and stuffed them into their mouths.
Munch munch.
Steam was puffing out of their mouths, but they swallowed the potatoes as if nothing was wrong and picked up more potatoes. Fearsome creatures…
At times like this, monsters were truly monsters. As Sejun watched the monsters’ hot potato eating spree, the potatoes disappeared quickly.
“What?!”
Hurriedly, Sejun grabbed two steamed and two roasted potatoes for himself and placed them in front of him.
And then,
“Hoo hoo.”
He blew on a steamed potato to cool it down and carefully peeled off the skin. After peeling off about half of the potato skin,
Chomp.
Sejun took a bite of the potato.
“Ah, it’s hot.”
It was hot, but he didn’t spit it out. Instead, he cooled the potato in his mouth and chewed.
“Uh, it’s so delicious!”
Sejun was thrilled by the texture of the fluffy potato. In a blink of an eye, he finished one steamed potato and peeled another one, this time dipping it in salt.
Although Sejun usually liked dipping steamed potatoes in sugar, he was disappointed there was no sugar.
“Hmm, it’s delicious.”
It wasn’t bad eating it dipped in salt.
After the warm lunchtime like potatoes,
“President Theo, how about the green onion leaves?”
“I’ve filled them up, meow!”
In response to Sejun’s question, Theo saluted as if he had learned it somewhere and answered.
“Then let’s take a walk to help digestion? Woocheon Sam (Minotaur 1003), guide us to the Minotaur King.”
For the first time, Sejun decided to go far from the cave to receive the compensation for Minotaur King’s dine and dash.
When Theo conveyed Sejun’s words to Woocheon Sam (Minotaur 1003),
What?!
Woocheon Sam (Minotaur 1003) belatedly remembered the order of the Minotaur King at the word ‘Minotaur King’ and was startled.
“I brought some green onion leaves and want to have a little chat.”
For now, he did not let Woocheon Sam (Minotaur 1003) know about the Minotaur King’s dine and dash. There was no reason to give up the possible advantage in negotiations.
Mhmmoo!
At Sejun’s words, Woocheon Sam (Minotaur 1003) was very pleased. By taking Sejun, he would effectively carry out the order of the Minotaur King.
Mhmmooh!
With joy, Woocheon Sam (Minotaur 1003) decided to guide Sejun to the Minotaur King.
On the 208th day of being stranded, Sejun finally left the cave and set off to tackle the boss on the 99th floor of the tower.
*****
TL Notes:
Cuengi (baby bear): Starting from chapter 37, the author began referring to the baby bear as Cuengi (꾸엥이가) without any specific reason or further explanation. Initially, I opted to stick with the name “baby bear” until now. However, as the story unfolds, the name Cuengi is being used more frequently. Therefore, from this point onward, I will start using the name Cuengi in future chapters.
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