Random Effect.
It was one of the rewards from the hidden quest (Recruiting Immigrants) that was triggered when relocating the goblins to the Dungeon of Gluttony.
The activation of the Dungeon of Gluttony caused beneficial effects to occur randomly.
‘I forgot about it…’
I didn’t expect it to activate now! But even after seeing the effect, I don’t understand what it means. It says the Millennium Ginseng will gain spirituality? What does spirituality even mean?
‘Spirituality?’
I made a joke and checked the planted Ginseng flower. The shimmering glow showed it had indeed been affected.
“It’s shining!” Ara exclaimed, looking surprised, as the Ginseng flower sparkled with a green light as if sprinkled with glitter.
Kwoom-!
Mark2 also found the sight fascinating, hopping around the Ginseng flower. It was the first time I saw a slime jump.
We watched the glowing Ginseng flower for a while. According to Mark2, who voiced his opinion during our observation, there was no problem leaving it as it was.
‘That’s convenient.’
Since the Millennium Ginseng must have stood idly for a thousand years, it might not require much maintenance.
However, to propagate the Ginseng flower, we would need to wait for another root to sprout, and the duration of this process was uncertain.
Kwoom.
“Just come by occasionally to water it,” Mark2, now calm, said as Ara stood beside him with folded arms, nodding.
Come to think of it, the reason we planted it here must be closely related to the lake’s water, right? The soil in this area was created by the lake after all.
“Bokkeum, can you collect some of this water?”
The lake had a greenish hue. I didn’t know what components caused this color, but it might be useful to take some for research later.
While Bokkeum was collecting water, I looked around again. I had been so focused on the Ginseng flower that I had overlooked the surroundings.
A bamboo forest covered in white snow, yet the sturdy green bamboo leaves made a rustling sound as the wind brushed past them.
“….”
I felt at peace. It was a somewhat bleak winter scene, but it seemed like a place that would be even better when winter ended.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong.”
“Hmm?”
“Is it okay to eat this?”
Eat? What?
I had a moment of silence trying to understand Ara’s words. In the meantime, Ara ran over and grabbed a bamboo stalk.
“This!”
“Eat the tree?”
Are you a panda or something!
But knowing Ara, who could eat almost anything, it wasn’t surprising. When Ara asked if she could eat the bamboo-like plant, a thought popped into my head.
‘Bamboo shoots?’
If it wasn’t just visually similar to bamboo, it could be possible.
“You can eat it… I guess.”
“Yay!”
Letting Ara eat the bamboo, I started looking for bamboo shoots buried under the snow. Gently clearing away the snow, I soon found what I was looking for.
“Bamboo shoots!”
“Crunch, crunch. Huh?! What are bamboo shoots?”
Ara, who was busily munching on the bamboo, really looked like a panda. When I gestured to her, she came over quickly, holding a short broken bamboo stalk in one hand.
“Oh! What’s this?”
“It’s called bamboo shoots. Think of it as the root of this tree.”
“Root! World Tree!”
Oh, come to think of it, I hadn’t realized that the World Tree had similar properties to bamboo. Bamboo shoots are actually roots of the bamboo that grow above ground, and in reality, bamboo is a huge colony, mostly consisting of a single organism.
To put it simply, harvesting these shoots is like collecting just one small root of the entire bamboo.
‘It’s similar to how the roots of the World Tree emerge above ground looking like trees.’
While recalling a documentary I had seen, Ara looked at the bamboo shoots and exclaimed.
“Can I eat it?”
“Shall we try?”
“Yeah!”
Ara could probably eat it raw, but since we’re eating it, we might as well make it tasty.
I took out some camping supplies from Bokkeum, who was standing idly after drinking all the water. I didn’t take out everything, just the tools to make a fire, a pot, and a steamer.
‘I should bring Woofy next time.’
After this two-day trip, I thought it would be okay to start a fire with Woofy instead of camping supplies. It would be fun to explore together too.
“I also need to make some chew toys for Woofy…”
I took some water from Bokkeum and poured it into the pot. Then I lit a fire under the pot and placed the steamer on top.
Crunch, crunch!
“Is it delicious?”
Ara was enthusiastically chewing on the bamboo shoots. The raw bamboo shoots were crunchy, and the sound was impressive. A strong aroma wafted through the air, similar to the grassy scent of green tea.
“It smells good.”
“Yeah!”
I placed the freshly harvested bamboo shoots into the steamer. I planned to steam them for about 30 minutes.
While waiting for the 30 minutes to pass, Ara and I harvested more bamboo shoots. Ara even went further, cutting down a few bamboo trees to prepare them.
“This is delicious too.”
“Hmm, bamboo steamer…”
Suddenly, an idea on how to use bamboo struck me.
I had Ara cut a section of bamboo, then cleaned the cut bamboo container thoroughly and filled it with rice.
I sealed the opening with bamboo leaves and placed it in the steamer to cook alongside the bamboo shoots.
“Sticky rice would have been even better.”
“What’s sticky rice?”
“It’s rice that’s chewy.”
“Oh! Chewy rice! I want to try it!”
“Let’s try it next time.”
Mark2, Bokkeum, and even Golgol gathered around, watching the steam rise from the steamer. The pleasant smell that filled the air was sweet and grassy.
“I’m drooling.”
“Slurp.”
Ara was already drooling, so I frequently checked the steamer. Usually, it’s not good to disturb it before it’s fully cooked, but I was impatient.
“Is it done now?”
“Ooh.”
The texture was soft.
I took out the hot bamboo shoots first, blowing on them before placing them in a bowl.
“But can we just eat it like this?”
Since I hadn’t seasoned it, I felt uncertain. I hadn’t expected to find bamboo shoots here, even though they might be a different kind than on Earth, so I thought just boiling or steaming them would be enough.
Now that I knew we could harvest bamboo shoots, I decided to ask Jae-seong about bamboo shoot recipes later and just taste it for now.
The smell was really good.
The fragrant grassy scent was similar to strong green tea but not exactly the same. It had a sweet yet intense freshness of phytoncides.
I carefully peeled the bamboo shoots and handed one to each child. Although the quantity was insufficient, I decided to prepare another steaming while we tasted the first batch.
“Let’s eat well!”
“Thank you for the meal.”
Following Ara’s example, I said the greeting and put the still-hot bamboo shoot in my mouth.
Crunch.
An intriguing texture. It felt firm yet very tender, like chewing on well-cooked vegetables.
‘No, it’s softer than that, in a subtle way.’
If I had to describe it, it was somewhere between the texture of mushrooms and vegetables. This made it uniquely appealing.
The taste was sweet, not like sugar but more like the sweetness you get from carrots or onions. It was a subtle sweetness.
“Mmm.”
The more I chewed, the more juice was released, and the aroma intensified. Beyond the texture, this fragrant flavor was highly addictive.
“It’s gone!”
“Huh? Really? It’s all gone already.”
Ara’s voracious appetite was understandable, but my portion had also disappeared quickly. The unique texture and pleasant aroma made it easy to keep eating without realizing it.
It was peculiar because there was almost no lingering taste on the tongue, yet it didn’t get tiresome.
“I should’ve brought a large steamer.”
I hadn’t planned for steamed dishes, so I left all the large cooking tools in the village. Given the circumstances, we’d just taste it here and have more later.
“Now, let’s try the bamboo-steamed rice.”
This was tricky because the amount of rice I could steam in the bamboo tube was very limited compared to our appetite. Cutting the bamboo into sections meant only a small amount of rice could be cooked at a time.
So once again, I could only prepare enough for Ara and the slimes to have a taste.
“Rice!”
Ara looked expectantly at the bamboo tube. When I opened the lid wrapped in bamboo leaves, a fragrant aroma wafted out.
“Mmm, this smells really good.”
I thought it might be nice to break the bamboo into finger-sized pieces and carry them around as air fresheners.
“Aaah!”
“Oh, all at once?”
While I was momentarily distracted, Ara had already taken a big bite of the rice from the tube. Her cheeks were adorably puffed up as she chewed.
“Mm! Mmm!”
“You can talk after you finish eating.”
I continued preparing the slimes’ rice and took out my portion. It was fascinating that rice could smell this good.
“It’s delicious!”
“Oh, really? I’m excited.”
Listening to Ara, I took the rice and ate it like a rice ball. Since it was steamed, it held together well. As I took a bite, the aroma that I had first noticed with the bamboo shoots was even stronger in the rice.
“Wow.”
The refreshing sensation made me exhale involuntarily. After another bite, I felt something was missing.
“It needs a bit of seasoning.”
“Seasoning?!”
Ara looked startled, possibly misunderstanding, as I took some salt from Bokkeum and sprinkled it on the rice ball.
The mild sweetness of the bamboo shoots made them less bland, but the rice, though fragrant, was tasteless.
“Oh! Much better! Ara, try this.”
Of course, I had to share the delicious food with Ara.
Ara looked curiously at the rice ball I offered, tilting her head slightly.
“This is for you!”
“You can make more if you want.”
“Okay!”
I found her thoughtfulness incredibly cute. Ara eagerly took the rice ball from my hand and bit into it with a happy expression, as if she was about to eat my hand along with it.
“Mmm! Mmm!”
“Is it good?”
“Yeah!”
I’m glad she likes it. I need to think of a way to make bamboo-steamed rice in larger quantities next time.
After our brief snack break, we left the Millennium Ginseng behind and started heading back. The extra bamboo shoots and bamboo we gathered were a bonus.
“We really came a long way.”
On the way there, the new scenery and terrain were so fascinating that I didn’t notice the distance, but it felt much farther on the way back.
– Chirp!
“Oh! It’s Chirpy!”
“It’s been a while.”
Chirpy, who we hadn’t seen in a while, flew towards us and circled above our heads. Judging by the direction it came from, it was from the south.
The south was an unknown land, so I was curious about what Chirpy had seen.
– Chirp chirp.
Chirpy gently landed on Ara’s shoulder, and I saw Ara carefully scratching its beak.
“Oh, is that so?”
I was about to ask what they were talking about when Ara spoke first.
“The Grand Lord is here!”
“The Grand Lord? Who?”
“Both of them! Seon-ah is here too!”
It seemed Chirpy had brought news. Could it be that they came up from the south looking for us? My father was probably here because of the construction, and my mother must have come along.
Come to think of it, yesterday was Friday. Seon-ah had been upset because she couldn’t come, but she came as soon as the weekend started.
“Ara.”
“Yeah?”
Knowing that Seon-ah was here, something crossed my mind. It was important to ask Ara about her thoughts.
“Are you interested in acting?”
Cliche Novel 