Chapter 26: Sss-Grade Afe In Front Of The Dungeon —
He was waiting for the elevator after taking the visitor’s card when people stormed out of the next elevator.
The most notable person is Choi Cedric, the 2nd ranker. Judging by the familiar face next to him, the others are also the top rankers in grades A to B.
Jijon sneaked away from their eyes. This is because he was discouraged by their splendid appearances. Even so, they didn’t even glance at him.
Once, he too could be among them.
Five years ago, Jijon, who was awakened as a C-class, was scouted by C&L Corporation. Being able to be a part of such a large guild, he signed the contract without even reading the contract properly, thinking that he could also become a celebrity.
However, a few months later, he was cut off due to a minor problem and transferred to a subcontractor’s guild … no, he was demoted.
Since then, Jijon’s life has become very difficult. No matter how risky the dungeon was, the subcontracted guild could hardly make any money. Even if he collected a lot of ether ore, I had to pay most of it to the original office.
So, he was just trying to get a little extra income by participating in the tutorial dungeon for beginners.
He didn’t know there would be a dungeon mutation!
Jijon, who ran away in front of the giant slime, spat out all the rubies he received from the bus fare and apologized. However, the beginners did not forgive him, and even the guild cut him off, saying that he had disgraced the guild’s reputation with bus scams.
And yesterday, he even got a call from the C&L guild leader.
Why him? He had already been cut off from the guild, are they going to sue him?
Jijon shuddered as he recalled the infamous C&L legal team.
Then, the elevator stopped on the top floor and the door opened.
“I’ve been waiting. This way, please.”
The secretary, who was standing in front of the elevator, greeted Jijon.
‘….a woman or a man?’
The secretary was very beautiful. Long eyelashes cast a shadow over the pale cheeks. The clear features were impressive enough to be unforgettable at a glance.
However, the unique mysterious atmosphere made gender and age seem ambiguous. It gives off a realistic, yet unrealistic feeling.
“The guild leader will be here soon.”
The secretary took Jijon to the reception room inside and gave serve him a cup of tea.
A few minutes after sitting on a sofa that felt rather uncomfortable because it was so fluffy, the door opened again.
“You’re here.”
“Ah, yes, umh, hello.”
Jijon jumped up and bowed his head. The opponent beckoned him lightly to sit down.
The CEO of C&L Corporation, Lee Sein.
Her ability as a hunter is not very strong. She was only ranked 88th in the top 100. However, she was a talented person who developed C&L Corporation, which started as a small guild, into a Big Three guild. Even now, she’s also a businessman who was still not satisfied and led aggressive investment and business expansion.
There is even a myth that the hunter chosen by Lee Sein will rise to the top.
‘Why would such a person….’
“Hunter Kim Jihoon.”
“Please call me Jijon.”
“Hunter Kim Jihoon.”
“Y-Yes.”
Frightened, Jijon bowed his head.
“You don’t have a guild you belong to right now, do you?”
“….That’s right.”
It was Lee Sein who demoted him to a subcontractor’s guild, and who pressured them to cut him off from the guild, but he couldn’t say that.
“Your mother is a single-parent, and your younger sister is a civil servant? It’s a good job. They have steady income. If I hadn’t established this guild, I would have taken the civil service exam.”
Creepy. He got goosebumps.
It’s been several years since he left his house to become Jijon in the Hunter world. He did not contact his sister at all. However, Lee Sein already knows his younger sister’s whereabouts.
“Uh … may I know for what purpose did you call me?”
“There is one dealer-damager spot left in our guild’s 2nd attack team. How about it? You know we’re the best in the industry.”
…Gulp.
Suddenly, his eyes widened at the big offer.
Even if it is the second team, it is not a subcontract, but a direct attack team. He, who used to be in the third team, knew well how difficult it was to get positioned there. Sometimes, low-grade dungeons are accompanied by Choi Cedric, the second ranker.
Jijon imagined a dazzling future; the image of himself being part of the group he just met in front of the elevator.
Jijon’s name is placed next to Choi Cedric, who’s ranked 2nd in the country. The supreme sword technique he developed will be widely known. Then, his dark past of running away from the giant slime will soon be forgotten.
Lee Sein offered a contract to Jijon, who could not hide his excitement.
B: Hunter Jijon (real name: Kim Jihoon)
Even after he took a second look, his name was clearly there. His heart began to pound.
“Of course, with the condition that Hunter Jijon cooperates well.”
“If you ask me to cooperate, what….”
“What happened in the tutorial dungeon?”
“Ah, yes, I understand.”
“I heard that the hunter who defeated the dungeon boss was not revealed? Do you know who they are?”
“I don’t know who it is, but … I’ve seen it.”
Jijon remembered the man he met in the tutorial dungeon. He felt a terrifying power from him. If someone had killed the boss, it would have been that man.
Lee Sein smiled broadly. She even poured tea directly into Jijon’s cup in a friendly manner.
“First of all, tell me what happened in the tutorial dungeon. Everything.”
***
After Ki Yoohyun went back, I headed for the space beyond the wall.
Yggdrasil, who was still growing luxuriantly, greeted me. The coffee fruits that hung on the branches did not shrink even after being picked. On the vinyl sheet, Lime’s peeled green beans were drying well.
‘I don’t think much has changed….’
“It’s over there!”
“Kkyuu!”
In one corner of this space, there was a place where the thick fog had been lifted. As I got closer, a notification window popped up.
[You can open a new area. Would you like to open it?
Yes / No ]
Whoosh.
When “yes” was chosen, the fog was completely cleared and a new empty land appeared.
“As you progress through the quest, more and more areas will open and you will be able to obtain various things, kyaooong!”
Mieum explained from the side.
“Then what do you use this area for?”
“That … we should find out from now on.”
“You don’t know much….”
“Waeeong!”
I looked at the newly opened area after dodging the flying meow punch.
It’s just empty land, and there doesn’t seem to be anything special about it….
The ground was covered with soft soil instead of grass. The fine soil without weeds or gravel looked like a good field to grow crops.
I checked the empty land in front of me.
[Place: Abundant Field
Have a weekend farm in your front yard.
Feel free to grow crops.]
I was just going to open a cafe, but now even farming was added to the list?
Ah, yeah. I wished I could plant the dungeon sugarcane here.
I took out the dungeon sugarcane that I had left in my inventory. After getting it from the tutorial dungeon, there was no place to plant it, so I kept it in my inventory.
Over the course of a few days, the leaves and stems dried up and all that remained was seeds.
After digging holes in the field at intervals of 20cm with a seedling shovel, the seeds were planted. Then, the seeds were well covered with soil, and water was sprinkled over the field.
Planting all the seeds took a lot longer than I thought. It was even boring because it was a simple repetitive task. Ugh, my back hurts … I wish there was an easier way to do it.
Anyway, when I finished planting seeds, a notification window popped up.
[Crop: Seeds of Dungeon Sugarcane (★☆☆☆☆)
After a day of watering, it will grow into Dungeon Sugarcane.
Let’s grow them with love.
Time Remaining: 1 Day]
It didn’t take long until it was fully grown because it was a crop obtained from dungeon. It’s a good solution for a quick-tempered person.
Well, I’m glad I didn’t have to wait that long. OK, let’s check the rest the next day.
***
The next day, as soon as I opened my eyes, I roughly had breakfast and went into the space. It was because I was worried about the condition of the Dungeon Sugarcane.
Back when I planted the tree of Yggdrasil, it was withered, contrary to the information that it would grow in a day. Hopefully, the same situation won’t be happened twice.
“Meoong … aren’t you in too much of a hurry?”
“Come quickly.”
Fortunately, what greeted me was the densely grown dungeon sugarcane. Its height was about my waist, and the stem resembled bamboo, but was a little thinner.
[Crop: Dungeon Sugar Cane (★☆☆☆☆)
A grass commonly found in dungeons. The sap of the stem tastes sweet.
Note: Ingredients for Magic Sugar.]
Umh, it grew well.
According to the system’s description, the sap from the stem is the ingredient of sugar….
I tried cutting off some stalks of sugarcane. Unlike the hard outer skin, the soft inner flesh was revealed when the skin was peeled off. I pressed the insides of the flesh with my fingertips and gently licked the flowing sap with my tongue.
At that moment, I felt a strong sweetness on my tongue.
“….Ah.”
Even though it is surprisingly sweet and rich in flavor, it has a clean finish. I didn’t think my mouth would get dry even if I ate this sap.
It tastes very good, but …. how do you make sugar from this?
I looked at Lime, who was sitting next to me. It ate the coffee fruit, so I was wondering if it could eat this stem as well.
“……kkyuu?”
I held out a stalk of sugarcane to Lime, but….
“Kkyus … kkyuuus!”
It drew an X while bouncing its body on the ground. I couldn’t understand it words, but I felt it was angry, saying something like ‘how can you ask me to eat something like that?’. I’m sorry….
This method doesn’t work. Is there any way….
Tiling.
Then a familiar alarm rang.
[Search for the item you are curious about. Access now ☜]
A sudden notification like this means that the Wiki has the information about how to make the sugar. Since there was no other way, I simply accessed the Wiki as the system told me to.
‘Ether-Wiki.’
[Checking your eligibilities … Completed.]
[The Eligible: Checking your rights…..]
‘Skip.’
When I skipped the text in front of me, a screen full of black squares appeared. There is still very little to read.
After selecting ‘Dungeon Sugarcane’ from among the few items, the page opened immediately.
《Dungeon Sugarcane》
Type: Plant > Crop
Description: A crop that grows in some dungeons with temperate climates. You can make magic sugar by processing the sap of the stem.
How to make Magic Sugar: [Continue Reading]
“Uh, what is this….?”
“What’s wrong?”
“This is….”
There are too many letters!
As soon as I selected ‘Continue Reading‘, a feast of letters unfolded before my eyes. It was so long that there was no end in sight.
I skimmed the contents, trimmed the stems, squeezed the sap, filtered out the residue, boiled, boiled, boiled, and boiled again … (latter part) it’s something like that.
This is not it. It’s troublesome, complicated, cumbersome, and annoying just by looking at it. I had no intention of doing this long process myself.
Wait, what about this?
“I got a good idea.”