Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It seemed to have taken about half a day.

The sun had gone down, leaving everything dim, and the temperature had dropped, making it cold.

Woojin thought about buying cold-weather gear like a tent or sleeping bag, but soon gave up on the idea.

To Woojin, coins were life.

Cold was something he could endure.

Scrape. Scrape.

He gathered dirt and tried covering himself with it like a blanket.

With the gritty texture of the soil and its added weight, it felt as though it was holding his body in place. It was strangely cozy.

“This is better. Heh heh.”

From now on, he would sleep covered in dirt.

With a satisfied smile, Woojin continued refreshing the auction house.

And then.

“Ah!”

The item Woojin had been waiting for appeared in the auction house.

[Item Bundle: 15 coins]

* Seed potatoes ×10
* Yukgaejang cup noodles (small) ×24, 1 box
* Gas burner
* Butane gas ×5
* Aluminum pot
* Disposable wooden chopsticks ×500

There was no need to hesitate.

He had to snatch it up before someone else bought it.

[You are purchasing the item bundle for 15 coins.]

The items he had purchased from the auction house appeared in front of Woojin with a ta-da!

Growl!

When he saw the familiar box with the image of Yukgaejang cup noodles on it, his stomach growled like Pavlov’s dog.

First, he had to fill his stomach.

“La la la la.”

A hum escaped him naturally.

When he tore off the packing tape on the box with a rip, the neatly arranged Yukgaejang cups came into view.

He took one out.

Riiip. As he peeled the lid of the Yukgaejang cup halfway open, he saw the stiff yellow noodles and the soup packet.

Rustle.

He tore open the soup packet and poured it inside.

He needed hot water.

He took the aluminum pot and headed to the lakeside.

Splash.

He dipped the entire aluminum pot into the lake and filled it about halfway with water.

After that, he placed the aluminum pot on the gas burner and lit the flame.

The water began boiling vigorously, and he quickly turned off the heat.

He had to conserve gas.

Swoosh.

He poured the boiling water into the Yukgaejang cup and closed the lid.

Three minutes later.

He tore the lid off completely.

Steam rose, and the ramen’s signature spicy, stimulating smell brushed past the tip of his nose.

“Heh heh heh. Thank you for the meal.”

First, a sip of the broth.

Slurp.

“Khyaaa.”

A sound of admiration escaped him on its own.

He snapped apart a pair of wooden chopsticks and picked up a big mouthful of noodles.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

Since they might be hot, he blew on them to cool them slightly, then slurped the noodles into his mouth.

The ramen disappeared in an instant.

He even drained every last drop of broth.

After finishing one bowl of Yukgaejang, he felt his whole body warming up.

‘To think one bowl of ramen could make me this happy.’

After eating, he lay on the ground and looked up at the night sky visible through the holes in the ceiling.

Moonlight that seemed ready to pour down.

Countless stars, the kind one might see in a remote countryside village.

And so the day came to an end.

---

Day 3 since entering the Tower.

Morning came.

After yawning widely and sitting there blankly, Woojin looked at the Yukgaejang cup noodles he had gotten from the auction house yesterday and smiled contentedly.

Then his eyes moved to the seed potatoes beside them.

‘Right. I should plant the potatoes.’

The place where the Weed Containing Mana had grown.

Morning sunlight was shining down on land filled with reddish-brown soil.

Soil, sunlight, and lake water.

All the essential elements for planting crops were gathered here.

‘I should prepare a field first, right?’

He had never planted or grown anything before.

Woojin had no experience with weekend farms, which had once been popular, or even little vegetable-garden activities. Planting potatoes was completely unknown territory to him.

However, sometimes when he lay down after work and watched YouTube, farming documentaries would show up through some unrelated algorithm.

In order to plant crops, one had to make ridges and furrows.

The part that protruded like an “n” was the ridge, and the part that dipped down like a “u” was the furrow.

In any case, crops were planted in the n-shaped ridges, and Woojin planned to put the seed potatoes inside those ridges.

‘I should dig up the ground first.’

It would have been nice if he had farming tools like a hand hoe, shovel, or rake, but Woojin had nothing.

Swoosh.

The soil was flat.

Woojin slightly curled his fingers into the shape of a rake and began digging into the dirt.

Memories of digging in the dirt at playgrounds when he was young came back to him.

He dug a straight line about one meter long on one side.

It was about ten centimeters wide.

A u-shaped furrow was completed.

Leaving a slight gap, he dug another identical one on the right.

Naturally, a ridge formed between the furrows.

His small but precious vegetable patch had begun to take shape.

“Heh heh heh.”

As he continued digging the soil by hand, making furrows and ridges, a message appeared before Woojin’s eyes.

[You have learned Soil Tilling Lv. 1.]

“Huh?”

He was startled.

It was because he had acquired a new skill.

It was his second skill after Harvest.

[Soil Tilling Lv. 1]

* Description: Allows you to dig deeper when tilling soil. Also allows you to dig the soil evenly so that there are no stones or clumps.

To other Awakened, it might seem like a pathetic skill, but the person who had acquired it was delighted.

“Wow. I got another skill. Awesome.”

Digging soil with his bare hands had been hard.

But now that he was being rewarded like this, it felt as if he could forget the difficulty.

Thud, thud!

He continued digging the soil with his bare hands, making ridges and furrows.

[Soil Tilling Lv. 1 proficiency has increased.]

[Soil Tilling Lv. 1 proficiency has...]

[You have learned Soil Tilling Lv. 2.]

At last, his small and precious vegetable patch, not even three pyeong in size, was complete.

Woojin placed the ten seed potatoes one by one into the ridges at suitable intervals.

He placed one in and covered it with soil.

He placed another in and covered it with soil.

As he repeated the process,

[You have learned Seed Planting Lv. 1.]

[Seed Planting Lv. 1]

* Description: Plant seeds more accurately, increasing their chance of germination.

“...?”

He had obtained yet another new skill.

He was flustered.

Were skills supposed to be this easy to get?

For now, he decided to plant the remaining seed potatoes.

[Seed Planting Lv. 1 proficiency has increased.]

[Seed Planting Lv. 1 proficiency has...]

[You have learned Seed Planting Lv. 2.]

“Well, damn.”

He finished planting all ten seed potatoes.

Woojin scooped lake water into the empty Yukgaejang cup he had eaten from and began pouring an appropriate amount over the places where he had planted the seed potatoes.

‘Am I going to get a skill for this too? Like Watering or something?’

However, he did not acquire any skill like Watering.

Right. This was normal.

Feeling secretly disappointed, he nodded.

---

On the 6th day since entering the Tower.

During that time, Woojin had been living quite comfortably, surviving on Yukgaejang cup noodles and boiled lake water.

From time to time, he also ate Weed Containing Mana.

It was not because it tasted good, but simply because it increased his mana. He found that fascinating, and he thought it might become useful later.

Thanks to that, Woojin’s mana had increased by a whopping 0.09, bringing it to 3.1.

After spending several days eating and sleeping in a limited space, one might expect him to be bored and sick of it, but Woojin was actually enjoying himself.

It felt as if he had gained his own little hideout.

Perhaps because he had been exhausted from working without even taking proper vacations, his current life actually felt sweet.

He was not particularly bored either.

When he looked at the community, there were plenty of posts written by other adventurers.

Even at this very moment, posts were being uploaded at a tremendous pace, so if he read them one by one, there was no time to be bored.

On top of that, considering he had been suddenly dragged into a Tower of Mythic difficulty, Woojin’s current situation was very good.

If monsters had been nearby like on other floors, Woojin could have died immediately.

No, not could have.

He definitely would have died.

But because Woojin was in a space blocked off on all sides, he was managing to stay alive.

“Heh heh heh.”

For no reason, a laugh escaped him.

That aside.

‘Can I harvest those now?’

The seed potatoes he had planted three days ago.

He did not know how long it usually took for seed potatoes to grow, but surely it should take much longer than three days.

The ridges were already thick with greenery.

The leaves and stems had grown tangled together, making it look less like a field and more like a small patch of grass.

“...Hmm.”

Woojin had never planted potatoes before.

He had never harvested them either.

He had imagined that once potatoes were fully grown, they would bulge up above the field.

But there were so many leaves like that.

With a doubtful expression, Woojin approached and grabbed the thickest-looking stem. He gave it a light pull upward.

Crack.

With the sound of soil splitting, the entire stem was pulled out.

At its end, instead of roots, round and hefty lumps were hanging in clusters.

[Harvest Lv. 2 proficiency has increased.]

[You have obtained Tower Resistance Potato.]

Potatoes with light brown skins hung there, covered in dirt. There were three or four of them, each about the size of a fist, and their surfaces were smooth.

When he pulled the stem a little harder, the remaining dirt dropped away, and the potatoes fully revealed themselves.

[Tower Resistance Potato]

* Grade: D

* Effect

* Permanently increases all resistances by 0.002 when consumed.

* Description: A potato from the Tower cultivated by someone. Eating it increases various resistances.

“Wow. Wow!”

A smile bloomed on Woojin’s lips.

Potatoes he had harvested himself!

Woojin, who had known absolutely nothing about farming his entire life, had harvested potatoes.

He was moved.

Deeply moved.

Woojin continued harvesting potatoes.

“Harvest, harvest!”

[Harvest Lv. 2 proficiency has increased.]

[Harvest Lv. 2 proficiency has...]

[You have obtained Tower Resistance Potato.]

[You have obtained Tower Resistance Potato...]

In total, Woojin obtained around one hundred potatoes, large and small combined.

Day 6 since entering the Tower.

He harvested potatoes.