Ignoring the chilling air for a moment, Director Choi slyly licked the liquid from the potion bottle.
‘Hmm.’
It tasted strongly of strawberries. However, it was a bit ambiguous to call it just a strawberry. It was like another fruit named strawberry. The overwhelming aroma and flavor were heavenly. A fruit of the heavens? To think a potion would taste like this. But what surprised Director Choi even more was how quickly Kim Dong-gil’s condition started to improve after applying and consuming the potion.
‘The description definitely said it had a weak healing effect….’
Could the phrase ‘depending on the amount of mana possessed’ attached to it create such an effect? Kim Dong-gil was a Level 6 awakener. Normally, he wouldn’t be able to challenge a Level 7 dungeon, but he participated as a support personnel. In any case, it was impossible to challenge a Level 7 dungeon with only Level 7 awakened ones. There weren’t that many Level 7 awakened ones to begin with.
‘Even so, such efficacy?’
How much stronger would the effect be if he, a Level 7 awakened one, consumed it?
“How are you feeling, Guild Leader?”
“Ugh. I feel like I’m going to live. No, I’m definitely alive now. Haha!”
His complexion was still pale, but it was clear he had revived. Just in case, a support awakened one with medical knowledge examined him and reported that apart from a hint of anemia, he was perfectly fine.
‘Amazing!’
This admiration wasn’t for Kim Dong-gil but for the potion. Where on earth did he get such a potion? Was it found in a dungeon? But right now, there were more urgent matters at hand.
“Please take good care of Guild Leader Kim Dong-gil. Let’s start by collecting the byproducts.”
A Level 7 dungeon. In South Korea, it was a rare dungeon, having been cleared only about 30 times. People started moving busily.
* * *
“Are they doing well?”
It had been over a month since the Bare Fist Guild and the Terror Guild set out to attack the Level 7 dungeon. The size of each dungeon varied, so the time to conquer them differed, but it was known that the Level 7 dungeons took quite a long time.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong ! Look at this!”
“Hmm? What is it?”
Some time had passed. In the meantime, there had been one more delivery, and the Ara Hongryeon Guild showed an enthusiastic response, saying they would purchase all the potions I made. And the time to harvest the new crops growing in the Dungeon of Gluttony was approaching. No, it was already time to harvest.
As I headed towards Ara, who was waving from the distant Goso Goso field, a savory aroma wafted through the air.
“Hmm~! What a nice smell.”
When I arrived at the center of the field where Ara was, she pointed to something.
“Look at this!”
“Oh?”
The fruits had ripened. They hadn’t just formed; they were ready to be harvested.
“Can we harvest them?”
“Yes!”
Ara nodded confidently.
Since Ara is also a slime, she had the ability to know the growth or harvest time of crops, making her reliable.
“We can harvest everything by tomorrow!”
“Wow. Then, shall we taste the first harvest?”
“Good idea!”
There were quite a few ripe fruits.
As we harvested and brought the fragrant crops, the working slimes showed interest and approached.
‘This is the Goso Goso I grew.’
Technically, the slimes grew it, but I won’t correct myself.
[Goso Goso Infused with Mana LV.1]
[It contains faint mana.]
[When consumed, it is savory.]
“??”
Is this a joke?
For a moment, I thought the description was a joke, but knowing that sometimes there are items with such meaningless descriptions, I felt a bit disappointed.
“It’s a crop with no special effects.”
But it was quite peculiar.
When consumed, it is savory? The ambiguous description was amusing.
Disappointment aside, I distributed the fruits, each no bigger than a thumb nail, for a taste.
At that moment,
[Quest: Harvest a New Crop from the Unknown Land]
[Grow a new crop in the Dungeon of Gluttony]
[New crop cultivation: 1/1]
The quest was completed, and the notification flickered before my eyes.
I wasn’t even paying attention to it, but it felt like receiving an unexpected gift.
“When I harvested garlic, onions, and lettuce, there was no quest. I guess Goso Goso is classified as a new crop.”
Aside from the peppers and soybeans for making paste, other crops had already been harvested, and new seeds were planted.
While wondering what the reward would be,
[A new resident is coming to the Dungeon of Gluttony.]
“What?”
An unexpected message appeared.
I expected a material reward, but what was this?
[Quest: Welcome the New Resident]
Please welcome those who will soon migrate to the Dungeon of Gluttony.
Residents’ Happiness: 0/100
Another quest was created as if it was connected.
But who could the new residents be?
‘It better not be monsters?’
If I had to increase the happiness of monsters, it would be a troublesome quest.
In such a case, I’d pretend the quest didn’t exist.
After waiting for a while, not knowing when the new residents would arrive, I checked the harvested Goso Goso.
“Even the regular Goso Goso was savory, let’s see how the ones we grew taste.”
I peeled off the layers of husk like barley or rice.
Then, the brown flesh was revealed.
A subtle grain aroma wafted, reminiscent of freshly baked bread.
Crunch!
Eating it raw made it a bit firm.
However, as soon as I chewed, I couldn’t help but smile at the warm aroma.
‘A cozy feeling.’
The more I chewed, the more the savory flavor came out.
At the same time, the grain’s unique sweetness gradually appeared, making me smile even more.
“It’s delicious.”
It wasn’t as stimulating or astonishing as the crops before, but it provided much more satisfaction.
It felt like eating a hearty bowl of rice.
“Hmm, it passes.”
Ara, who had been chewing diligently, nodded seriously like a judge.
Gomgom, who had come over for the Goso Goso, didn’t seem to like the taste and went to the honey spring to drink.
The slimes, on the other hand, expressed their satisfaction by wiggling their bodies rhythmically.
“It’s better than regular Goso Goso, right?”
“Of course!”
It had grown a bit larger.
Though it was a small difference, this slight increase greatly enhanced satisfaction.
Now, the important thing was to cook with this improved Goso Goso.
“I’ll try making it into rice and also grinding it into flour for dough….”
The first goal was to grind it into flour to make dough.
I had promised Baek Tae-seop, the leader of the Iron-Blood Guild, that I would make him a pizza.
‘Come to think of it, I heard that his son’s poison was almost cured.’
He had asked me to contact him when I had time, wanting to express his gratitude, but I had postponed our meeting until after the cure.
I wasn’t ready to make the pizza yet, and almost cured was different from completely cured.
Unlike Young-seong’s wife, who was a high-level awakened, it seemed to take longer for the treatment.
It was a bit early to celebrate just yet.
I gathered the remaining Goso Goso.
I also prepared my cooking tools, which I always carried along with my camping gear.
“Let’s grind it!”
“Let’s grind it!”
First, I peeled all the collected Goso Goso.
Then, I gathered the peeled Goso Goso and started grinding it earnestly.
Since I didn’t have a mortar, I laid a cloth on the ground and used a metal spatula-like tool to crush the Goso Goso.
Seeing Ara doing it, I gaped in awe.
Crunch!
Swish swish-
Holding it in one hand and applying pure grip strength, she effortlessly crushed it into powder.
Witnessing Ara’s display of strength, I was utterly stunned.
‘Can I do that too?’
Just in case, I grasped the Goso Goso and applied force, feeling something breaking.
But it only cracked slightly and didn’t crumble into powder like Ara’s did.
“Hehe.”
“Hmm?”
Seeing me laughing helplessly and just watching, Ara tilted her head.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong, aren’t you doing it?”
“I was just watching because you’re so good at it, Ara.”
“Hehe! I’m strong!”
Watching Ara crush Goso Goso into powder with each hand, I decided to start preparing the dough.
First, I sifted the powder Ara had made.
I added a bit of salt to the sifted powder and a little water.
“Spatula, it seems this is your role.”
Using the spatula I had used to crush the Goso Goso, I started the initial mixing.
As I stirred diligently, it gradually developed some stickiness.
“Oh wow.”
The gluten content varies depending on the type of flour, so the quality of the dough can differ, but luckily, it held together well.
I had actually prepared some extra gluten to mix in case it didn’t turn out well.
‘My goal is to make pizza dough.’
I added water once more and kneaded it a second time.
Although I considered using the honey-flavored hot spring water, I decided to first attempt success with ordinary water.
“Oh wow! This is amazing!”
Ara clapped her hands at the completely transformed appearance of the Goso Goso.
The powder on her hands flew into the air, releasing a savory aroma.
When it was ready, I added yeast.
Then, I handed the spatula to Ara.
“Want to mix it?”
“Oh wow!”
Ara stirred with the spatula.
Seeing her slightly awkward movements, I smiled and said,
“You can use your hands.”
“Using hands it is!”
She placed the dough from the bowl onto the cloth-covered cutting board and kneaded it with her hands.
It looked like a child’s play, but having witnessed her grip strength, I trusted and waited.
-Growl.
“Gomgom, do you want to try too?”
Ara handed the task to Gomgom, who approached with curious movements.
Gomgom clumsily tried to mimic Ara.
“This is how you do it!”
-Growl?
“Yes! Like this, but more like this!”
They communicated with gestures and sounds, and soon, Gomgom seemed tired and slumped down. It all happened in less than five minutes.
I laughed at the cute sight and patted Gomgom.
-Groan.
“It seems about ready, let’s check.”
When I touched the dough, it had become suitably elastic.
It stretched without breaking and had good elasticity.
“Oh wow.”
“Now we’ll put this here and wait.”
I covered the round dough in the bowl with plastic wrap.
I placed the bowl in a warm tent, particularly near the humidifier, wrapped in clothes.
Having finished the first stage of pizza preparation, we enjoyed a light snack.
“Snack time! Snack time! candies! candies!”
Gomgom ate strawberries coated in honey from the Alfheims.
Ara enjoyed her favorite food, candies, along with various other dishes.
We also called all the slimes to join us.
In the meantime, I moved quietly.
‘I need to make a mini oven.’
These days, it’s convenient to learn a lot from the internet.
Of course, there’s a lot of incorrect information to sift through.
I had collected stones while clearing the field, thinking they might come in handy.
I began to build the oven as I had learned.
It wasn’t grand, just big enough to make one pizza.
The main challenge was maintaining the firepower.
“I want to help too!”
Seeing me build the oven, Ara stuffed her mouth with food and ran over.
“Ara, can you bring some wet soil from the honey-flavored hot spring?”
“Sure!”
Mud would have been ideal, but we used wet soil for now.
The soil under the hot spring had become somewhat muddy over time, so it wasn’t too bad.
I roughly shaped the mini oven and plastered it with wet soil to prevent air from leaking out. I made a separate vent.
“Oh wow!”
Ara exclaimed as the roughly completed mini oven took shape. I immediately used the camping supplies to start a fire.
“Let’s gather some firewood.”
“Firewood!”
We searched the area with the slimes and Gomgom for trees. Although I started the fire with camping tools, we needed firewood.
“How did you find so much?”
As I gathered small twigs, Ara, Gomgom, and the slimes brought back piles of firewood.
“Gomgom showed us!”
“Oh wow, well done, Gomgom.”
As expected, the natives knew best.
Thanks to Gomgom, I had enough firewood and started the fire in earnest.
Being my first attempt, there was a high chance of failure, but I considered it a learning experience.
If things didn’t work out, I could always hand the ingredients to the Iron-Blood Guild and let them handle the cooking.
Before I knew it, the dough fermentation time had passed.
The dough, after its first fermentation, was puffed up thanks to the yeast.
I took out the dough and rolled it to release the air.
Seeing this, Ara wanted to try, but it was already done.
“I’ll let you do it next time, Ara.”
“Okay.”
I patted Ara, who looked disappointed, and let the dough ferment for a bit longer.
Then I handed the finished dough to Ara.
“Ara, you’ve eaten pizza outside, right?”
“Yep! It’s delicious!”
“We’re making pizza now. Can you spread the dough into a pizza shape?”
“Oh wow!”
Ara’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Gomgom, who was beside her, looked puzzled.
Ara quickly rolled out the dough with a rolling pin.
The slimes watched and wiggled excitedly.
“It’s done!”
“Well done.”
She made a perfect round shape.
To prevent it from puffing up too much in the oven, I poked holes in the dough and added the toppings.
“Tomato sauce! Potatoes, sweet potatoes, Embergrill!”
Finally, I added the cheese.
The cheese was store-bought, as expected.
We placed the topped pizza dough into the freshly made oven, carefully monitoring the temperature.
About 10 to 15 minutes later, we checked the pizza as it turned golden brown.
‘Not bad for a first try.’
I was worried the oven wouldn’t work well, but it had surprisingly good heat.
The aroma of the Goso Goso and the other ingredients cooking spread through the air.
After about 15 minutes, the pizza was finally done.
“Oh!”
Ara exclaimed in delight.
She must have felt proud of her creation.
The smell was amazing.
Although the appearance was a bit rough, the aroma was unbeatable.
‘This will be a great way to celebrate Baek Tae-seop’s son’s recovery.’
But first, let’s taste it!
Cliche Novel 