Chapter 34: Raising Agility
TL: Hanguk
Grrroar!
The day started with the bear cub's roar again. The difference this time was that the baby rabbits joined in, crying out in a unison from inside the rabbit couple's burrow.
Swish.
Sejun began the morning of 185th day by adding a line to the cave wall.
Today is the day the Seed Shop will open.
"Please let there be good seeds."
Sejun made a wish near the pond with a devout heart while washing his face, and during that time,
Peep!
Pyang!
Pyap!
Pyat!
The rabbit couple came out with baby rabbits,
Pya!
Pang!
And the adult rabbits also came out of their burrows too. And they prepared breakfast together. The breakfast menu was simply roasted sweet potatoes and carrots.
Munch. Munch.
While the adult rabbits quietly ate breakfast,
Pyang!
Pyap!
Pyat!
The baby rabbits lined up neatly in front of Uncle Sejun.
Chew. Chew.
As Sejun chewed on a roasted sweet potato, he cut the carrot into the size of a french fry with his dagger and gave two pieces to each baby rabbit.
Munch. Munch.
The baby rabbits held a carrot stick in each hand and diligently ate, biting each carrot alternately.
Sejun cut the remaining carrots and put them into two leather pouches he had received when he bought seeds before. The pouch was not big, so it held about five carrot sticks.
And he made a strap with leaves from green onion and tied it to the leather pouch to complete the bag.
"Now you guys are in charge of supplies."
Sejun hung the leather pouch bags diagonally on the bodies of the two relatively larger baby rabbits out of the five.
Pyang!!!
The baby rabbits carrying the leather pouch bags cried out proudly. Now I am the strongest. Why? Because I can take out and eat a carrot whenever I'm hungry!
That's how Sejun and the rabbits started their work after eating breakfast.
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Sejun quickly harvested the green onion leaves. Even though the mother rabbit had returned, Sejun's speed was faster, so the mother rabbit was given simple tasks to do while looking after the baby rabbits.
Today, Sejun had to cut green onion leaves and harvest cherry tomatoes and corn in the morning. The corn was harvested once more yesterday, leaving only those that hadn't fully ripened, so there was not much to harvest.
Snip.
As Sejun took the harvested cherry tomato branches to the mother rabbit,
Peep!
Bleap!
Bleat!
The baby rabbits seemed to be following their mother rabbit and picking cherry tomatoes. They were still too weak, so they were picking cherry tomatoes in groups of 2-3, and it was adorable to see them struggling to pick the cherry tomatoes.
Sejun, lost in observing the baby rabbits, regained his senses and went to the cornfield to harvest the remaining corn.
Pop.
[You have harvested well-ripened Stamina Corn.]
[Your Job Experience has slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 has slightly increased.]
[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 has increased by an additional 5%.]
[You have gained 24 Experience Points.]
He finally harvested a D+ grade crop, which had not appeared among the D grades so far. It's shelf life was 90 days, 1.5 times that of the D grade.
"It seems I've accumulated a lot of job experience."
From Sejun's experience, crops of the + grade were harvested when job experience was about halfway full.
"Good."
Sejun energetically harvested the corn.
And then,
[You have leveled up.]
[You have gained 1 Bonus Stat.]
Sejun leveled up to level 16. He raised his agility to increase his working speed with the bonus stat.
"I have some time left."
There seemed to be less work than usual today, and there was still a lot of time left even after the corn harvest was finished. Sejun decided to sow the corn seeds before preparing lunch.
Sejun brought out 20 pieces of corn from the storage. From the harvested corn, he had separately selected those with pretty and well-attached corn kernels for sowing.
Thud. Thud.
Concerned that the seeds inside the corn kernels might get damaged if he scraped them off with a spoon, Sejun carefully detached each kernel by hand and put them into a plastic container.
[You have obtained corn seeds.]
[Your Job Experience has slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency in Seed Harvesting Lv. 1 has slightly increased.]
Although there were about 200 corn kernels per corn, Sejun's work became faster as he got the hang of it, and the harvesting seeds of 20 corns quickly finished.
Then,
[Your proficiency in Seed Harvesting Lv. 1 has filled up and your level has increased.]
The level of Sejun's Seed Harvesting skill increased after he had Harvested exactly 3987 corn seeds from 20 corns.
"I'm done."
Just as Sejun, who had finished harvesting seeds, was about to stand up,
[Seed Shop is now open]
[Three types of seeds available for sale today will be shown randomly.]
[At your current grade, you can only purchase seeds once.]
The Seed Shop opened and the seeds that could be purchased today appeared.
[100 Radish Seeds - 0.1 Tower Coin]
[100 Cucumber Seeds - 0.2 Tower Coins]
[1000 Peanut Seeds - 5 Tower Coins]
"Hmm... they're all fine but..."
Sejun pondered while looking at the seeds. Radishes were tasty when eaten raw, but he decided to wait until he had more ingredients or seasoning to eat with them. Cucumbers were ruled out for similar reasons.
"I'll go with peanuts today."
Sejun decided to buy peanuts. Roasted peanuts have a unique savory flavor and taste that is exceptional.
Moreover, Sejun remembered reading somewhere in his shallow farming knowledge that beans are good for improving the fertility of the soil.
"Peanuts are beans too."
Peanuts, beans that grow from the ground.
Peanuts were a crop that could restore the fertility of the field on the ground.
Sejun bought peanuts.
[You have purchased 1,000 Peanut Seeds.]
[5 Tower coin has been deducted from Park Sejun's Seed Bank account.]
[You have earned 50 Shop loyalty points.]
[A total of 106 Shop loyalty points have been accumulated.]
[100 Shop loyalty points have been deducted for the next grade increase.]
"Deduction?"
[Your grade has increased from Newbie to Ordinary.]
[In the Ordinary grade, four types of seeds are randomly shown.]
[In the Ordinary grade, you can purchase as many seeds as you want within the limit of 5 Tower coins.]
[The level of Seed Shop Lv. 1 has increased.]
When the grade of the Seed Shop increased, the level of the Seed Shop skill also increased.
[Thank you for using the Seed Shop.]
[You can use Seed Shop Lv. 2 again after 30 days.]
Plunk.
A leather pouch containing 1000 peanut seeds appeared in Sejun's hand.
"I'll plant peanuts this afternoon."
Thanks to the diligent work of the baby bear and rabbits over two days, the field was already prepared to plant 1000 peanut seeds; all that was left was to plant them.
Sejun looked down to grab the plastic container that held the corn kernels he had harvested.
Just then,
Swoosh.
A cute little paw effortlessly reached into the plastic container and grabbed a handful of corn kernels. They were the front paws of a baby rabbit, covered in fluffy fur.
"Gotcha, you little rascal."
Sejun caught the back of the baby rabbit with a stern voice. The corn kernel thief was caught red-handed.
Squeak!
The baby rabbit briefly struggled to escape Sejun's grip, but surprisingly seemed comfortable enough to continue munching on the corn kernels in its front paws.
Pop. Pop.
With each chew, the sound of popping corn kernels could be heard.
It was cute, but he couldn't let it slide. As an uncle, he could not turn a blind eye to his nephew's misbehavior. As Sejun was considering how to scold his nephew,
Pop. Pop. Pop
"Huh?"
He heard something popping from behind as well.
"What's that?"
When Sejun turned his head to look, the baby rabbits were busily eating the corn kernels he had harvested.
Daringly, the baby rabbits that had been carrying leather pouches had them filled to the brim with corn kernels. It wasn't a lone thief, it turned out to be a gang of corn kernel thieves.
"Who said you could take this much?! Huh?!"
Sejun raised his voice and scolded the baby rabbits. He thought he needed to correct the baby rabbits' bad habits.
However,
Whee...
Whoo...
Wha...
The baby rabbits started crying as if they were wronged. They thought they hadn't done anything wrong...
There was a misunderstanding between Sejun and the baby rabbits. When Sejun gave them corn, he always removed the kernels, so the baby rabbits thought that the ones in the plastic container were theirs as well.
"Alright, alright. Uncle is sorry."
Sejun, who had become the bad guy, worked hard to soothe the baby rabbits and removed kernels from the remaining corn from yesterday to give to them.
And at lunchtime, Sejun handed over the baby rabbits, who had fallen asleep after eating corn, to the rabbit couple and prepared lunch.
At that moment...
Roar!
For some reason, the mother Crimson Giant Bear came back early after finishing her patrol. It was as if she had timed it for lunch. Surely, she didn't come to taste the boiled corn that he had fed to her cub yesterday?
"There's no reason for me to give her corn."
Contrary to his words, Sejun quickly filled the pot with corn and started boiling it. It wasn't because he was scared, of course. The guest is king, right?
While Sejun was boiling the corn, the rabbits were also preparing for the meal, stringing piranhas and gathering carrots.
And then,
"Pull!"
As Sejun, who was hanging on the rope, shouted,
Whirr.
The rope went up almost as fast as an express elevator today.
"Huh?!"
In an instant, Sejun was lifted 5 meters above the ground and then lowered back down. Instead of the baby bear, the mother Crimson Giant Bear had pulled the rope today.
Growl! Growl!
As Sejun came up, the baby bear hurriedly sat in his place. I've been waiting quietly! Please give me food!
"Alright, let's eat."
As Sejun began to distribute the food, the mother Crimson Giant Bear also subtly found a place behind the baby bear.
And then she looked at Sejun with a longing gaze. Indeed, there might have been big trouble if he hadn't prepared more corns.
Sejun thought he did well to prepare more boiled corn and gave 20 pieces to the mother Crimson Giant Bear.
Roar.
As if she had been waiting for the 20 pieces of boiled corn, the mother Crimson Giant Bear swallowed them in one bite.
Chew, chew.
Growl?
The baby bear looked at its mother with a happy expression and asked. Mom, is it tasty?
However,
Growl?
The baby bear's expression slowly darkened. Mom, did you eat it all by yourself?
Roar...
The mother Crimson Giant Bear looked at Sejun with a desperate gaze, and eventually, Sejun had to go back down to the cave and cook more corn.
When Sejun came back to the surface with the boiled corn,
Squeal!
Roar!
The black rabbit and the baby bear were sliding down the arm of the resting mother Crimson Giant Bear as if it were a slide.
"Aren't you scared?"
The black rabbit, who was casually playing on the body of the mother Crimson Giant Bear, definitely had no fear, perhaps because it was a warrior.
Sejun brought boiled corn to the baby bear and finished the meal.
Gulp.
Thanks to the presence of the mother Crimson Giant Bear, Sejun was able to have a quiet rest time, comfortably drinking his coffee.
Roar.
The mother Crimson Giant Bear rested for a while, then got up to go on patrol again, and the rabbits also started their afternoon farming.
And then,
Plunk.
Sejun, who stayed on the surface, dug the ground with his dagger and planted peanuts.
[You have planted a peanut seed.]
[Due to the effect of Sowing Lv. 3, the probability of the peanut seed sprouting increases.]
[Your job experience increases very slightly.]
[The proficiency of Sowing Lv. 3 increases very slightly.]
[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, the proficiency of Sowing Lv. 3 increases by an additional 5%.]
And a little over an hour later,
[You have created a 250-square meter peanut field.]
[You have gained 500 experience points.]
Sejun had planted 1,000 peanuts.
On the 185th day of being stranded, peanuts that will increase the fertility of the soil began to grow in the surface field.
*****
Another surprise chapter! Enjoy! 😄