Round 6

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I was eager to see the harvest of cherry tomatoes, but time was of the essence.

I packed Mark2’s fluids, Poispois’s poison, and just in case, ten carrots, then left the dungeon.

‘I stayed up all night but still feel great.’

I was thankful for the outstanding stamina of an Awakened.

Thanks to that, I returned to Yongsan.

“Young-seong hyung!”

“What’s up? Coming two days in a row, something big must be going on?”

I laid out the prepared Mark2’s fluids and Poispois’s poison, along with one of the carrots I had harvested, on the counter.

“Could you analyze these for me?”

“Analyze? Of course, I can. But what’s this all about suddenly? Didn’t you say you were entering the dungeon?”

“It’s because of a quest, you know. I went and came back.”

“Hmm, you sure nothing’s wrong? I’m worried because you’re doing things you don’t usually do.”

“Of course. Thank you for worrying.”

Young-seong hyung gave me a dubious look for a moment but then inspected the items on the counter.

“So what are all these?”

“This is slime fluid, and this is poison. This is a carrot I found in the dungeon.”

“Slime fluid and poison I get, but a carrot? There are carrots in the dungeon too?”

“Look at it. It’s clearly not a carrot from Earth.”

“It does have an odd color. You want all of these thoroughly analyzed, right? It might take a few days.”

“Yes. Oh, and do you know anyone who’s an expert on slimes? Or any information?”

“It sounds like you’ve got yourself a nasty quest. I’ll contact some people I know.”

“Thank you, hyung.”

Seeing my cheerful expression, Young-seong hyung chuckled and took the items inside.

When he came back out, I had another request.

“Hyung, could you possibly get some seeds or seedlings?”

“From the dungeon?”

“Yes.”

“We might have some in the store… Just wait a moment.”

Although he said it would only be a moment, Young-seong hyung searched the store for a long time.

It seemed he had forgotten where he put them since they were neither commonly sold nor bought.

“Ah, Kyu-seong, sorry, but I could only find one packet. I’ll look for more later, so take this one next time you come.”

“Oh, I appreciate this alone. But what kind of seeds are these?”

“Uh, what were they? Uh, uh…”

The seeds were in a transparent envelope, not many in number.

By rough estimate, there might have been about 200.

“Ah! Embergrill!”

“What’s Embergrill?”

“It’s the first herb discovered in the dungeon, as far as I know. The guy who’ll handle your analysis request gave these to me. As you see, they didn’t sell.”

“An herb, huh.”

Was it unexpected?

Should it be classified as a spice or a medicine?

“Isn’t it what you wanted?”

“No, this seems fine too. I know it’s rare to find seeds or seedlings from the dungeon. I’m more than satisfied with these.”

“I’ll get other kinds next time. It’s not that hard.”

“Thank you, hyung.”

While Young-seong hyung contacted someone about the slime, I immediately searched for information about Embergrill.

“A herb that can be used as medicine and has a nice fragrance…”

This might be a big hit.

According to what I found, this plant isn’t picked leaf by leaf but is used whole, like lettuce or cabbage, allowing for one planting and one harvest.

“That’s a bit disappointing.”

If it were the kind where you could just pick the leaves and use them, you could have kept reusing them, but that was impossible.

Thinking about it, even the Layla I’m currently growing in the dungeon is a root plant, so once you harvest it, that’s the end.

‘I should separate and utilize the seeds.’

And since I’m buying seeds, I planned to choose plants that can be harvested multiple times.

Knowing that slimes eat a lot, it was a bit burdensome to only have plants that end after one harvest.

‘Strawberries, eggplants, cucumbers?’

While searching on my smartphone, Young-seong hyung finished his call and approached me.

“I’ve placed the request; the results should be in by next week or the week after. I’ll send you the information about the slime on my phone.”

“How much will it cost?”

“Never mind the money. I know the person, and they’re doing it for free.”

“Come on, there’s no such thing. It’s too much for me if you keep doing this.”

“Really, it’s true. If you don’t believe me, do you want to talk to them yourself?”

Young-seong hyung then transferred the information about the slime to my phone.

“Fine. If it turns out well, you owe me a treat.”

“Alright. Thanks, hyung.”

“Ugh. Since it’s creepy, if you’re done, go quickly.”

He’s a brother who can’t be straightforward.

I left the store and bought more of the seeds I had thought about, as well as a small ladder.

“Phew.”

I didn’t buy the He Shou Wu seeds.

Instead, I bought them myself.

‘He Shou Wu takes too long to grow. Even though Mark2 makes it grow faster, I can’t wait for He Shou Wu which naturally takes years.’

I spent all the money I had made from selling potions last time, plus a little more that I had saved. It left me penniless, but my heart was full.

“Guys, I’m back. Oh!”

It seemed they had already harvested and organized everything, as I saw neatly stacked cherry tomatoes that shone translucently and sparkled beautifully, just like the carrots.

“The size seems normal?”

One difference was that unlike the dungeon carrots which were much bigger than usual, the tomatoes were similar in size to regular cherry tomatoes.

“Let’s see. I can’t count these separately.”

Now that I looked, although the size was the same, there seemed to be a lot more. I thought about getting a weighing machine later and estimated roughly.

“Umm… too much? About 100kg?”

About 100kg of cherry tomatoes were harvested in one go. There were 100 plants, so that meant about 1kg of cherry tomatoes per plant.

[Enchanted Cherry Tomato LV.1]

[Contains faint magical power.]

[When consumed, depending on the amount of mana you have, you gain poison resistance for 3 minutes. Afterward, a very small permanent increase in poison resistance.]

“It’s an item.”

This time, it had a poison resistance ability.

Thinking about it, I should have waited a bit longer and taken the tomatoes with me for analysis too.

“Well, I have to go back anyway.”

The important thing wasn’t that.

Now that I had both carrots and tomatoes, the important thing was that I could make fruit and vegetable juice.

Since He Shou Wu was always available, I wasn’t too worried about it and just mixed the tomatoes and carrots.

“This probably won’t work?”

The quest probably requires a juice made using liquid synthesis. Just mixing it like this isn’t the right answer.

[Awakening Quest: Offer the Tribute]

[Collect and submit the items listed.]

[Enchanted He Shou Wu: 1/1]

[Homemade Enchanted Fruit and Vegetable Juice: 0/5]

As expected, it didn’t count.

I downed the failed tomato and carrot juice in one shot.

“Kuh!”

[3 minutes of vision……]

[3 minutes of poison resistance……]

Even though I just mixed the two, the effects were intact. This was a new discovery.

‘Potions usually don’t work just by mixing, but this does?’

Unlike potions, which only preserved their effects through liquid synthesis, this fruit and vegetable juice had no issues no matter how it was mixed.

Thinking about it, this could potentially be a good business item, and I naturally ended up eating one of the cherry tomatoes.

Pop!

“Hup!”

Though I had felt it in the juice, the fresh and sweet, lavish taste dominated my mouth. It was a flavor reminiscent of jewels, just like its appearance.

“Wow, this… I can’t stop eating it?”

My hand kept reaching for the tomatoes.

The carrots were tasty, but these had a strangely addictive quality.

Squirm-

Wriggle!

The watching slimes squirmed as if protesting why only I was eating. However, my mouth was so full of tomatoes that I had no chance to speak.

Gulp.

‘This is crazy. This has to be sold no matter what!’

I was too excited, and not because of the money.

The taste was so transformative that I felt a sense of mission that many people had to experience it.

‘I need to set aside some for my family. But shouldn’t these be stored somehow?’

Just then, a rookie slime approached me and started squirming.

“What, what is it?”

Wriggle- Wriggle!

“Are you trying to say you can take care of it?”

Squirm!

I didn’t know how on earth it planned to store crops, but it must have had some method if it was behaving this way.

“Alright. You take care of it.”

Squirm!

Watching this, Poispois also approached to help the rookie. I observed what they were doing. They were coating the tomatoes and carrots with their fluids.

‘Hmm, it feels strange, but if that’s the answer, then let it be.’

Well…

Since I’ll wash them with water before eating anyway, this should be fine. It’s much better than letting them rot.

‘Cool down, hurry up!’

Now, all that was left was the cooldown for the liquid synthesis.

* * *

Located in Guro District, Seoul, a building bustled with activity. This building was owned by the Ara Hongryeon Guild.

Ranked among the top five guilds in South Korea, the Ara Hongryeon Guild had departments for Awakened individuals specialized in various fields, and among them was Kim Seung-hyun from the research department, who was grumbling about a sudden request.

“I have the time, but it’s such a hassle.”

Muttering to himself, he held a vial of slime’s fluid, an inexplicable poison, and a slightly odd-looking carrot.

The person Young-seong had requested for the analysis was none other than Kim Seung-hyun, a prominent research Awakened of the Ara Hongryeon Guild.

“Chief, or rather Young-seong hyung, if it weren’t for his request, tsk.”

He said this, but his eyes hadn’t left the carrot since a while ago.

Born a researcher, Kim Seung-hyun felt his research desires stirring at the sight of the carrot that came from the dungeon.

“Maybe just tasting a little bit would be okay?”

There was a risk of poison or some unknown infection.

However, enticed by the continuously tempting scent of the carrots, Kim Seung-hyun’s appetite was whetted.

“Let’s first run it through the machine.”

Having resisted the temptation, Seung-hyun began to analyze each of the items separately.

And about 30 minutes later…

“…What is this?”

Seung-hyun’s voice trembled slightly.

It was unclear whether the trembling was due to excitement or fear.

“Is this even possible? Does this make sense?”

Seung-hyun had checked all three requested items.

And he was in the midst of being astounded by the results of all three.

“This is supposed to be slime fluid? Impossible. This needs more precise analysis. And this poison… it takes a while but it definitively causes paralysis. Is this even a possible result? This also needs further review.”

Amidst the unbelievable results, he finally looked at the results for the last remaining item, the carrot.

“A vision-enhancing effect depending on the mana level of the consumer? Does this make sense? It’s just a carrot, not a potion?”

Moreover, Kim Seung-hyun had vaguely confirmed that there might be a permanent increase in vision, though it needed precise analysis to be sure.

Given that the entire research department was already overwhelmed with developing buff potions, it was only natural for Seung-hyun to be excited upon discovering such an item.

“Ha! Where on earth did he find these items?”

At that moment, someone called out to the preoccupied Kim Seung-hyun.

“Hey, Seung-hyun.”

“Huh? Team Leader Hanul?”

“You seem really absorbed. What are you looking at?”

“Ah, do you know Young-seong hyung from Yongsan? He asked me to analyze these items.”

“You’re telling me you were doing this menial task with all the guild work we have?”

“I was just taking a break to clear my head. But…”

As Kim Seung-hyun hesitated, Ara Hongryeon Guild’s second team leader, Kang Hanul, sensed that something was up.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s a personal favor, so I’m a bit reluctant to say.”

“You know Young-seong is my friend! It’s okay, go ahead.”

“Then, please take a look at this.”

“Hm?”

After checking the data sheet, Kang Hanul shrugged.

“I can’t read this stuff.”

“This is poison. But it takes a bit of time to activate, though it’s nearly 100% effective.”

“What? This could be useful? Recently, the research director wanted us to capture a few trolls; this could make it easier.”

“And this carrot…”

“Yeah, it looks intriguing. It’s not a model, is it?”

“No, it came from a dungeon…”

Crunch!

Before Kim Seung-hyun could finish explaining, Kang Hanul bit into it.

Although Kim Seung-hyun knew the carrot was already confirmed to be harmless to humans, he was still surprised by Kang Hanul’s fearless action of eating it without listening to the explanation.

“Hmm? Hmmmm!?”

Crunch, crunch!

Making strange noises as he chewed the carrot, Kang Hanul took another big bite. As he did, a status window indicating an increase in vision appeared in his view.

“Team Leader, how is it? Did you get the vision increase effect?”

“Delicious! This is incredibly tasty! Where did this come from? Young-seong asked you to handle this?”

“That, that’s…”

“Seung-hyun, I’m heading out first! Hahaha!”

“Te, Team Leader? No…”

And thus, the connection was made, marking the birth of the first customer for the slime farmer.

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