Ch.1111. Level 0 Biome Village

A biome is a community. It refers to a community of plants and animals based on climate conditions.

In games like Farming World, different biomes with their corresponding flora and fauna exist depending on which direction you expand from your base.

Tropical biome. Desert biome.

Since each different biome can show unique characteristics, they can be used to divide content, and by setting levels for each biome, players can experience a sense of progression as they advance.

In Farming World, biomes were often referred to with level designations.

The area around the base with NPC villages and F-grade resources was called the level 0 biome.

The level 0 biome can be considered a moderate temperate biome.

Like Korea, it has four distinct seasons without extreme heat or cold, and various plants can be grown according to the season with animals living there throughout—that kind of region.

In short, it can be seen as having a moderate and pleasant climate.

At lower levels, it’s already tough enough to survive while finding food and things to plant, and even encountering a single monster while barely managing to organize the area around your house can make that day a living hell. If the survival difficulty fluctuates according to the climate in the region itself, it becomes extremely difficult to adapt.

That’s why day 1 usually starts as spring day 1.

A season where the occasional cold snap is the most difficult challenge.

As the weather warms up, monsters that were hibernating are still drowsy and not very active, making it a safe season.

Within each biome, there are “key locations” that, when discovered, unlock considerable rewards or content. In the level 0 biome, these notably include the NPC village, copper mining site, sewers, and orchard.

Well, if you look more closely in a map of this SSS+ grade size, there would be plenty of minor key locations to explore, but if you go through them one by one, you’ll find that time passes and the level 0 biome gradually has more illuminated areas than dark ones.

This is a method favored by completionists who, out of genuine affection, perfectly illuminate the entire map before moving on.

In fact, it’s neither recommended nor efficient in the early stages.

Illuminating the map is 100 times easier and more efficient if you do it later, after leveling up your resources and acquiring transportation, rather than exploring according to the level of the biome.

Well, there’s no disadvantage to exploring later.

The resources there don’t lose value just because you collect them later.

It could even be argued that the right choice is to quickly gather only the resources needed to skip that level and move on.

That was naturally my plan too.

“I’ll just clear all the key locations and move straight to level 1.”

The Secret Farming Map is, so to speak, a gold mine.

There’s an old saying, “Dig the ground and see if money comes out,” but that doesn’t apply here.

The outside world.

In reality, money comes out when you enter dungeons, but to earn a lot, you ultimately need to hunt rare monsters or find dungeons with valuable buried resources.

Why else would there be more hunters specializing in mining or excavating dungeons for valuable resources than those who specialize in hunting?

Well, to thoroughly examine a dungeon for valuable resources, it needs to be empty, which means eliminating every single monster guarding it so that even ordinary people can explore it without hunters. This naturally drives up the value of high-ranking hunters who specialize in hunting.

Anyway, I can rake in money just by exploring this world, which is a blue ocean in itself, without going through such competition.

“10 years? I’ll enjoy myself eating through everything until I die.”

Farming World isn’t work for me.

They say when you do what you love, it eventually becomes work and dulls your passion—something difficult for me to understand as someone who’s been a complete bum for 26 years.

But I could be certain.

Even if this became reality and my profession, I wouldn’t find it boring or unpleasant in the slightest.

Even now, I’m so eager that I don’t want to waste time sleeping and just want to illuminate the map.

Of course, I need to exercise some restraint.

This isn’t a game.

If you die, it’s over.

“Lulu.”

“Yes, master?”

“If I die here, do I respawn? Or am I just dead?”

That’s how I should live with certainty, but since there’s this fairy named Lulu who’s supposedly the manager of this dimension, I asked her.

Lulu mentioned having one previous master, so I could just ask whether they died of old age or died without respawning.

Lulu giggled at my serious question.

“Didn’t you undergo testing for the Rift Dimension before coming here, master?”

“…Huh?”

I hesitated momentarily at the fairy’s sudden mention of Farming World.

Lulu is, so to speak, an NPC.

A fairy.

In games, if you ask NPCs whether they know they’re programmed NPCs, none would admit it.

They’d just say they’re residents of this world.

So was I supposed to agree with her?

After pondering briefly, it occurred to me that this might not be Farming World.

“Uh… yes, I did.”

“The system there applies most of the ‘rules’ that apply in the current Rift Dimension. To become the master of a Rift Dimension, qualifications are needed. As far as I know, among the many candidates who take numerous tests, only those qualified to possess a dimensional rift are selected as masters.”

“What are those qualifications?”

The letter that suddenly arrived in my Farming World one day.

And the events that followed.

It seems to be about that, so I listen attentively.

Lulu put her small hand on her chin with a troubled expression.

“I don’t know that either. It’s decided by the deity who manages the Rift Dimensions… From what I heard from the previous master, the letter said something about liking the previous master’s world the most.”

“…”

Surely the criteria isn’t just how well you’ve decorated your world?

Or is it about playing for a long time and achieving close to 100% exploration?

The latter seemed more plausible.

If that was really a test.

If this SSS+ grade Rift Dimension, called the Secret Farming Map, is meant to be fully explored eventually as my main mission.

Well, it wasn’t important.

I’m not curious about that anymore.

“Anyway, master, you’ll come back to life if you die. Hmm, no. More precisely, when you ‘approach death,’ you consume ‘Farm’ to avoid ‘death.’ I suppose it’s a power granted by the deity since managing a Rift Dimension is difficult. So Farm is an extremely important resource. You need to collect it diligently!”

“Really? It works?”

Honestly, I was surprised.

I didn’t think it would.

In Farming World, resurrection makes sense because if a character was deleted after dying once, no one would play the game, so they let you revive by paying a price.

But isn’t this reality?

Yet they really let you live again?

Even if it costs Farm?

“How many times can I respawn?”

“As many times as you have Farm.”

“How much Farm does it cost?”

“Well… it depends on your level. But right now, master, you can respawn once without paying Farm. It’s a gift from the deity.”

“…”

Lulu’s words gave me tremendous courage, but also planted a seed of doubt about whether I should trust this tiny fairy.

Of course, I had no intention of testing this even with one free chance, and ultimately the day I’d test it would be when I faced unavoidable death, so I had no choice but to believe her.

But my mind was much more at ease.

It really works.

“After that, up to level 9, it costs 1,000 Farm; up to level 19, 50,000 Farm; up to level 29, 1,000,000 Farm…”

“Stop.”

It might have been better not to hear the rest.

I should know the exact figures to keep spare Farm, but if what she said was true, dying once would bankrupt my Farm reserves—not just for days or weeks, but potentially months’ worth at higher levels.

I need to work harder.

To live a long life even if I face setbacks until I die of old age.

I steel my resolve once more.

And prepare to depart for the village.

Today, after logging out and back in, organizing my belongings, and chatting with Lulu, it was already night, so I planned to sleep and set out tomorrow morning.

It’s about 2KM away, so I’d need to move efficiently.

It might be difficult to finish in one day, and I might need to clear a path, return to sleep, and continue.

As I was making these plans:

[Sub Quest]

[Achievement-Novice Explorer 1]

[A true master of the dimension begins by knowing all of the map.]

[Let’s illuminate more than 80% of the level 0 biome]

[Reward: 1 Achievement Point, 3,000 Farm, 5 Farming Ability, Base 10P increase, Random Base Box(D) x5]

A quest appeared that completely shattered my plans.