Round 32

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The sparkling, round tomatoes emitted a radiant glow, resembling jewels.

Splash

A slime absorbed water from the pond and began spewing it onto the field. As the light from the luminescent stones touched the water, faint rainbows appeared, moistening the surroundings.

“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong! It’s all finished here!” Ara shouted as she ran towards me, clutching a bunch of bubble tomatoes with one hand.

“Oh, really? We’re almost done here too,” I replied casually, scooping tomatoes into a sack and glancing around. It seemed like other areas were also nearing completion.

“Shall we head to the storage?” I asked.

“Yes, let’s go!” Ara agreed.

Most of the harvested tomatoes had already been consumed by the slimes immediately after harvesting, but the remaining ones were now destined for the storage.

Originally, I had planned to explore the secret area with stairs leading underground after finishing the tomato harvest. However, I suddenly remembered something I had momentarily forgotten.

“Dried tomatoes.”

That was what Jae-seong had asked for when he and Seon-ah briefly visited the dungeon. Since Jae-seong had prepared all the ingredients beforehand, I didn’t have much to do except for cutting the tomatoes in half.

As I began slicing the tomatoes, Ara and the slimes, who had finished their tasks, watched curiously, wondering what I was up to.

Slice

I neatly arranged the halved tomatoes on a prepared tray. Seeing this, Ara volunteered to help.

“I’ll cut them, and Ara, you can arrange them nicely here,” I suggested.

“I can do it!” Ara replied enthusiastically.

There were luminescent stones next to the storage room as well. Working beneath them, I could comfortably prepare the tomatoes for drying. Before I knew it, I had filled three large trays with tomatoes.

“That should do it,” I said.

“What about the remaining tomatoes?” Ara asked.

“Shall we eat them?”

“Wow! Eating them!”

We rolled the tomatoes around in our mouths like candies before moving on to the next task.

“One with salt, one with olive oil, and one plain.”

Jae-seong had expressed concern about the wind. Normally, drying tomatoes required windy conditions, but we couldn’t rely on that in the dungeon.

“And now, the long-awaited appearance of Embergrill!”

“Embergrill!”

Ara cheered, following my lead without knowing what Embergrill was.

I retrieved the Embergrill we had stored in the warehouse. It was a dungeon plant similar to Layla, used both as a dungeon plant and as a herb.

[Magic-Infused Embergrill LV.1]

[It contains a faint magical energy.]

[When consumed, it boosts mental energy for 1 minute, providing slight stress relief, depending on the mana level.]

“Drip some olive oil on the tomatoes,” I instructed.

“Drip, drip!” Ara mimicked, holding Embergrill in her small hands.

After sniffing it curiously, she immediately popped it into her mouth and chewed.

“Mmm!”

“Is it tasty?” I asked.

“It’s delicious!”

“Really? Let’s sprinkle Embergrill on the tomatoes. Once you’ve grasped it tightly like this…”

Crunch

“Does it turn into powder like this? You can sprinkle it on top,” I explained.

“Wow!” Ara exclaimed, her eyes sparkling as she held the Embergrill in her hand.

In no time, she crushed it and giggled gleefully.

“It’s fun!”

“Now, let’s sprinkle it on top. If you want to eat more, feel free to do so,” I said.

“Hehe! That sounds great!”

And so, we sprinkled Embergrill powder on top of the tomatoes and finally managed to roughly finish the task Jae-seong had instructed us to do.

Since the wind isn’t blowing, I’m not sure if Jae-seong’s desired outcome will be achieved, but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

“I should start preparing seeds for other crops as well.”

Although the strawberries, eggplants, and cucumbers I had previously planted hadn’t been harvested yet, judging by the appearance of their fruits, it seemed like the harvest would be possible soon.

Ironically, the harvest seemed to be delayed more than I had anticipated, but that only heightened my expectations.

Once I finished harvesting all the primary crops this time, I planned to try planting what Jae-seong wanted.

Peppers, beans, onions, pumpkins, and scallions were initially on the list for secondary crops.

“I’m not particularly fond of Korean cuisine, but peppers and scallions are a must-have.”

They were crops that couldn’t be omitted as a Korean.

I wondered what kind of taste I would get if I made chili oil or chili paste from the peppers I grew.

“Actually, I’m curious about the cooking aspect… My homegrown peppers in kimchi stew? I can’t wait.”

Now that the tomatoes were taken care of, it was time to explore the secret space for real.

I said to Ara, who was playing with Embergrill beside me, maintaining a slight tension, “Ara, let’s go to the stairs.”

“Okay!”

As the effect of Embergrill was to increase mental energy, I also chewed on a dried leaf like Ara. Its subtle fragrance lingered in my mouth as it passed.

“It’s surprisingly addictive.”

“It’s delicious! But I’m hungry!”

Since the plants I grew weren’t meant to fill our stomachs, it couldn’t be helped. Except for Mark2, who managed the field, and a few slimes, I brought Poispois and five other slimes on the expedition.

“Let’s go!”

“We’re going!”

Ara seemed to be either genuinely enjoying herself or putting on a brave front.

Although Ara knew it wasn’t a dangerous place, she might still be worried about something happening unexpectedly, so I packed our bags and made sure we were fully prepared.

Once we arrived at the ominous space we had visited before, Ara suddenly grabbed onto my sleeve tightly.

“Ara?”

“Uh, yes? Oh, it’s nothing! I’m not scared at all!”

Despite her attempt to reassure me, her expression betrayed her true feelings, and I couldn’t help but smile. Ara looked at me as if asking why I was smiling, but thanks to her, some of my tension eased.

“Oh, this is where we first met Ara.”

“Wow! This is where Kyu-seong Kyu-seong saved me!”

As Ara became more accustomed to the darkness, any fear she had seemed to disappear, and she began exploring the area curiously.

After passing through what looked like an altar-like structure, we arrived at the stairs, and Ara’s excitement reached its peak.

“This is my dungeon!”

“If this is your dungeon, Ara, then what was the place we’ve been staying in until now?”

“That’s also a dungeon! But it’s not my dungeon! It’s the Lord’s dungeon!”

Ah, so the dungeon we’ve been using as a field until now was the Slime Lord’s dungeon.

“Shall we open it?”

“I want to! I want to be the one to open it!”

The door was unexpectedly large, so the handle was out of Ara’s reach. I lifted Ara up to reach the handle, struggling a bit.

*Click!*

-The owner of the dungeon, the Lair of Consumption, is confirmed.

-Entry is permitted.

-Remaining mana: 8/10

Suddenly, an unknown voice echoed in my mind. It sounded similar to the system, and upon confirming its content, I realized that entry wouldn’t have been possible without Ara by my side.

“Well, that worked out well.”

Slowly, the door opened.

Beyond it appeared a shimmering, translucent barrier-like substance.

“We just need to go through here!”

“Through this barrier?”

“Yes, let’s go, Kyu-seong Kyu-seong!”

Trusting Ara, I nodded once and then pushed my foot with all my strength against the barrier. As a result, my body passed through, and in an instant, I found myself on the other side.

Whoooooosh-

“Wind?”

The warm sunlight and cool breeze touched my skin. It felt like there was a warm scent in the air. As I slowly opened my eyes, a landscape beyond my imagination unfolded beyond the dungeon door.

“This is…”

“I’ve returned home! This is my dungeon!”

There was a slight tension, knowing this was Ara’s dungeon, one of the Seven Deadly Sins. However, there was no need for tension in the scene before me. Rather, there seemed to be no place as peaceful as this outside the dungeon.

Whoooooosh-

The grass, grown up to my ankles, swayed lightly in the mountain breeze. The vast land spread out with occasional hills and giant trees, creating a sense of mystery.

Looking up, I saw a sun shining in a way that I couldn’t imagine inside a dungeon. Simultaneously, there was an evening-like deep blue sky and drifting clouds…

“No, the stars and the sun are together, aren’t they?”

There was no moon, but I questioned whether this was scientifically possible. Yet, I couldn’t deny the sight before my eyes.

What became certain from this sight was that this was not Earth.

Turning around, instead of the door we had passed through, there was a tree. And in that tree, there was a hole big enough for one person to enter.

Taking a moment to look around, Ara waved her hand, expecting my reaction.

“What is it? What is it!”

“What a beautiful place. We could build a house here and live.”

“I also enjoyed the outside world with Kyu-seong Kyu-seong!”

“Yeah, we should go out often.”

I knelt down and touched the ground with one knee.

Perhaps out of professional habit, I was already estimating if I could cultivate crops here.

Ara, who had been watching, chuckled and knelt down beside me, touching the ground.

“Hmm.”

“Hmm!”

“Hmm…”

“Hmm!”

It was so cute how she mimicked me without knowing what I was doing.

Eventually, I burst into laughter, reaching out to tickle Ara’s ear.

As if she couldn’t lose, Ara reached out and tickled my ear.

After tickling each other’s ears for a while, I lifted Ara onto my shoulders. Her giggles tickled my ears.

“It’s a nice place. We could grow crops here too. The land is vast.”

“We can grow crops here! But there’s winter here! Everything turns white when winter comes!”

“Winter? Ah! So there are seasons.”

Come to think of it, the crops I’ve grown in dungeons so far were similar to greenhouse farming.

So, I didn’t pay attention to weather or seasons, and moreover, thanks to Mark2’s management, I’ve been farming without any problems.

“Wow, it’s not just a dungeon, it’s like another world. How big is it exactly?”

“I don’t know about that…”

Ara boasted for a while, but when she didn’t know something, she answered with uncertainty, which was cute.

Anyway, Ara said that within this area, the area where she used to roam, there were only slimes besides her.

Since Ara was a slime herself, she probably belonged to the slime dungeon here.

“Sometimes my subordinates reported seeing other creatures, but they were too far away, so I didn’t pay much attention!”

“They’re not dangerous, are they?”

“All my subordinates except me were weak! But they were all fine, so they must not be dangerous!”

Come to think of it, that’s true.

Ara was such a unique slime, but most slimes were weak. Yet, seeing them thrive here, it seemed like this dungeon was quite peaceful.

-Ding!

“Huh?”

Suddenly, the system sound rang out.

Soon after, a window I hadn’t seen in a long time covered my view.

[Quest: Harvest a New Crop in the Unknown Land]

[Cultivate a new crop in the Dungeon of Gluttony.]

[Cultivate a new crop: 0/1]

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