IFH - 4

Author: ㅇㅇ

Date: 25/07/23 Views: 35,621

Recommendations: 2,437 Dislikes: 122

1. A few days ago, 10kg of lettuce appeared on Hunter Market.

2. But the price was insanely cheap. 5 coins per 100g.

3. Naturally, it sold out in less than 10 seconds.

This is where the controversy started.

The problem is where this lettuce came from, since lettuce went extinct after the Gate Era.

Agricultural Research Institute is trying to take over Hunter Market. VS Someone succeeded in natural cultivation.

What do you guys think?

For reference, Agricultural Research Institute is prohibited from listing goods on Hunter Market for civilians.

Total comments: 382

LookingForHealer: What's lettuce?

└ ♡♡Check the wiki. Don't ask here.

└ Did you skip home education or whatㅡㅡ

└ Please don't fight here;

asasd: But why exactly 10kg? It's ambiguous if Agricultural Research Institute listed it.

└ Probably testing the waters.

└ Why would they test the waters on Hunter Market. Do that when cooking;

└ Is there even food to test the waters with? Everyone's eating capsules these daysㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ This comment has been blinded by report.

└ Another peaceful day in Cutie-land

ㅅㅅ: Maybe the seller missed a zero? It's too cheap;

└ Next day they added a zero and relistedㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ Apparently someone who hoarded the previous day released it?

ㅇㅇ: But is natural cultivation even possible for civilians? No matter how much healers slam purification on the ground, the contamination doesn't disappear.

└ That's the mystery. Agricultural Research Institute can't list on Hunter Market, so where did this come from.

└ Someone could've bought it offline and listed it on Hunter Market.

└ ㅡㅡThen Agricultural Research Institute would've announced it.

KingDoJaeSavesTheWorld: Is this even that important? Just eat perilla leaves instead of lettuce.

└ ㅇㅇOf course it's important. An extinct crop appeared out of nowhere;

└ If you don't think, keep buying perilla leaves from Agricultural Research Institute at 100,000 won per 100g.

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

└ And it's not just important that an extinct crop appeared. What's more important is whether someone succeeded in natural cultivation.

└ ㅇㅇ; Right. Until now agricultural products were monopolized by Agricultural Research Institute, so we couldn't say anything even when they price-gouged.

dd: But why did lettuce go extinct?

└ This is something everyone hushes up about. Some terrorist group burned down several seed storage warehouses at Agricultural Research Institute. That's why many crops went extinct, I heardㅇㅅ

.......

'How did this happen.'

Baek Eun closed her laptop and sighed, slumping over her desk.

The time was ten days ago. We must return to the day Baek Eun accepted the quest.

∞∞∞

"Are you kidding? This is invalid! I'm saying it's invalid!"

[The 'Judge of the Dead' consoles you, telling you to calm down.]

"Do I look like I can calm down right now? I never accepted it, but the quest got accepted!"

[Your constellation clicks its tongue, saying you should've checked the quest contents to the end.]

What? What does that mean! I can recite exactly what I saw without missing a single word.

Baek Eun, about to explode, stopped short.

'...Wait. Could it be?'

Baek Eun suppressed her surging blood pressure and opened the quest window.

A quest has arrived.

To cultivate crops, you must purify contaminated land.

Use your constellation skill to purify the land!

Progress: 0%

Success reward: Experience 50, ??? Entry Key, Lettuce Seeds, Fragment of Truth I

Failure penalty: Terminal illness

To accept the quest... (See more)

"...What's the 'see more'."

With trembling hands, she pressed see more, and content Baek Eun hadn't seen before unfolded.

...Say 'purify'!

And just moments ago, she had asked her constellation this:

"Can contaminated land really be 'purified'?"

"Ha!"

She'd been tricked. So fucking annoying.

Glaring at the quest window with eyes full of rage, Baek Eun noticed something and her eyes widened.

"What. Looking closely, there's no separate quest duration?"

She hadn't thought of it because she was so shaken by the powerful phrase 'terminal illness.' As long as she had time, this wasn't such a big deal for her.

Thanks to this, Baek Eun calmed down a bit and decided to handle this problem slowly.

"Even S-rank healers can't purify, how am I supposed to purify contaminated land?"

She didn't want to take risks over something absurd, but since she had already accepted the quest, she was willing to put in some effort.

"Judge of the Dead-oppa. Tell me right now what the penalty for using constellation skills is."

[The constellation 'Judge of the Dead' says proudly, asking if it would ever impose penalties on you.]

"Huh. You're not lying?"

Though she hadn't been awakened long, Baek Eun knew as much information as any Awakener.

'I'm sure everyone said there are penalties for using constellation skills. Baek Dan said so too.'

[The 'Judge of the Dead' conveys that it would never lie to you about your safety, so you can trust it with peace of mind.]

"Then can I use constellation skills freely?"

[Your constellation conveys that while there are no penalties, you're still too weak to use them continuously.]

Yes! That's enough. Cooldown is a hundred, a thousand times better than penalties.

"Ah, come to think of it, I haven't checked my rank."

Trying to avoid the quest, she had unconsciously distanced herself from the system, so she hadn't even thought to open her status window.

Baek Eun sat at the edge of her bed and called out shyly.

"Status window."

Name: Baek Eun

Age: 24

Rank: D

Trait: Novice Farmer

Skills: Seed Sowing (C), Growth Acceleration (D)

Constellation Skill: Purification (A)

Title: Proxy of ■■

Stamina: C- (S)

Strength: D+

Power: C

Luck: D+

Dignity: D

EXP: 0

Stat Points: 0

What is this. Give me attack skills too......

'Trait is Novice Farmer....'

Too embarrassing to tell anyone.

Baek Eun smiled wistfully, looking at her status window with cloudy eyes.

[Ahem! Your Constellation 'Judge of the Dead' pestered you to go out to the front yard, saying if you work hard on the quest, your rank will go up and more skills will be added.]

"Alright. Since it's come to this, I'll succeed at purification and get those lettuce seeds!"

∞∞∞

Having steeled herself and gone to the front yard, Baek Eun became entranced by the sacred light emanating from her hands.

"...It just works like this?"

She had merely thought of purification and touched the ground, yet the contaminated land was actually being purified.

She felt almost empty wondering why she had avoided this so much when it was this easy.

[Your Constellation says boastfully that as they told you, following their words will bring you good fortune.]

"Sorry. Honestly, it was so suspicious I couldn't trust it."

Baek Eun admitted refreshingly and watched her front yard being gradually purified. The dark, dry land became moist and began to gleam.

About an hour passed.

Quest completed!

To cultivate crops, you must purify contaminated land.

Use your constellation skill to purify the land!

Progress: 100%

Success reward: Experience 50, ??? Entry Key, Lettuce Seeds, Fragment of Truth

Failure penalty: Terminal illness

Acquired 50 experience points.

Acquired ??? Entry Key.

Acquired Lettuce Seeds.

Acquired Fragment of Truth I.

As first quest completion reward, constellation 'Judge of the Dead' sponsors 1,000 coins.

She had truly succeeded in purifying contaminated land!

Baek Eun trembled all over, unable to believe the miracle she had accomplished with her own hands.

[Instead of just standing there, your constellation subtly urges you to plant the lettuce since you've purified the land.]

"Lettuce...?"

Right! What Baek Eun had most anticipated from the quest reward was the lettuce seeds.

Lettuce was an extinct crop, so she had never seen it in person except for images circulating online, making her anticipate it even more.

What would happen if she succeeded in cultivating this herself...?

'Would the second Agricultural Research Institute start in my front yard!'

Thinking this made her heart flutter even more.

Baek Eun pulled out a handful of lettuce seeds from her inventory.

"But how do I plant them? Just scatter and cover roughly?"

You'd know if you had planted something before, but Baek Eun had absolutely no such foundation.

[Your constellation scolds you, asking what you're saving your skills for.]

"Ah right, of course!"

Thinking this was her first time using a skill since becoming an Awakener, Baek Eun became emotional.

Having composed herself, she thought of the Seed Sowing skill in her mind, just like when she purified the land.

Then her hands automatically aligned the arrangement and began planting lettuce seeds at insane speed.

Like motors were attached to her arms, truly insane speed...

Using skill: Seed Sowing (C).

Using trait-related skill temporarily raises Stamina.

[Current Stamina Rank: S]

"......."

So that's what the parentheses in my Stamina stat meant? Mom, this is kind of scary....

How much time passed like that. Before she knew it, Baek Eun's front yard had become entirely a lettuce garden.

But after finishing the work, a practical problem suddenly came to mind.