Ch.137137. A Single Flower Blooming in the Swamp

After visiting Banff village for the first time in a while, Chunsik and Chunbong welcomed me.

“The alligators are expanding their territory more aggressively.”

“While you were away, three Naru tribe members were eaten by alligators.”

“Oh my. They should have been more careful.”

I sympathized with Chunsik and Chunbong’s sadness.

Why would they provoke something they couldn’t handle?

Of course, it wasn’t like they deliberately confronted the swamp alligators—it was probably just an accident.

The Banffs can’t spend all day in the safety of the trees.

They probably just went down briefly and met with disaster.

That’s why they’re so desperate to find me.

“Now that I’m here, don’t worry. This time I’ll clean up all the way to the forbidden zone and relocate you all to the flatlands.”

“Thank you.”

“Ah, before that, I have a few questions.”

No matter how much this volunteer work stems from my love for humanity, I can’t just do it for nothing.

Later, being repaid with manpower is the price for helping them live in a safe place, and the cleaning of the swamp that the Naru tribe wants deserves some compensation—I think they’d feel better about it too.

“Yes. Ask anything.”

“Are there any valuable resources in this swamp? Like, say, a swamp flower?”

The swamp flower is quite a famous legendary-grade resource from the swamp biome in Farming World.

While most resources are discovered while mining, with some being heroic or legendary grade, certain resources are fixed to specific biomes.

One of these is the swamp flower.

Many flowers bloom in swamplands.

Naturally, since swamps are moisture-rich, many water-loving flower species thrive there, but the swamp flower specifically blooms right on the swamp surface.

It’s classified as a legendary resource because no one can explain how it grows.

Well, do players even care about how it grows?

What matters are the effects that come with a legendary resource.

The swamp flower has different options depending on the swamp’s nature, so it’s hard to specify exactly what options it has, but it’s famous as a must-find resource when visiting a swamp biome.

So I ask, just in case.

Chunbong thinks for a moment, then speaks as if remembering something.

“I remember seeing red flowers blooming in the middle of the forbidden zone. They were so intensely red that I used to go see them every day…”

“Flowers?”

“Yes. Dozens of them blooming like a flower bed. I remember them because it was fascinating to see flowers growing on the swamp.”

“…Did you pick any?”

“No. They looked like something that shouldn’t be touched…”

“Ah…”

Half-elf indeed.

From the description, it sounds like the swamp flower, but it’s still ambiguous.

Originally, the swamp flower is supposed to be a single bloom in a swamp biome.

Even that might not exist, to the point where there are crazy people who search entire maps just for swamp biomes to farm these flowers.

But multiple blooms?

This type of flower shouldn’t reproduce.

“I’ll know when I see it.”

Of course, I shouldn’t directly apply my memories from Farming World to the Rift Dimension.

The basic resource deposits, drop rates, and rarities are all different, so while in Farming World it might be known as a unique resource with only one spawn, it could just have had a low drop rate.

I’ll just have to check it myself.

If not, no big deal.

If it’s real, that’s great.

“Anything else? Tell me if there are other valuable resources. It’s all for your benefit.”

“Hmm… There’s the blood eel living in the eastern swamp…”

“Is that all?”

“I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s fine.”

Well, what would refugees know anyway?

It’s amazing these weaklings are even surviving in the swamp, where they’re at the bottom of the food chain, aside from knowing where to find food.

Still, a blood eel…

“Isn’t the east the forbidden swamp zone?”

“Yes. The swamp itself is murky and dark, so you’ll be able to tell right away.”

“Blood eels are pretty tough.”

Generally, most things in the Rift Dimension also exist in Farming World.

After all, Farming World itself is like a mini Rift Dimension, so unless it’s a monster I’ve never encountered, most should be there.

The blood eel is one of them.

In a way, this swamp has a very high difficulty level, but the rewards seem even greater.

Though it’s not confirmed yet, if the swamp flower really exists in the forbidden zone, that alone makes this swamp incredibly valuable and worth farming. Add to that the blood eel that only lives in the “Black Swamp”?

This is an even sweeter reward than finding a field of corrupted healing herbs in the Corrupted Forest.

Especially since blood eels are monsters where nothing goes to waste.

Like corrupted ogres.

Blood. Leather. Meat.

I’ve harvested and sold all of these before, and I remember selling elixirs made from corrupted ogre blood for 1 trillion, so my heart is racing.

“Tough or not, I have to catch them. Every single one.”

Corrupted ogre blood was expensive when made into elixirs because it permanently increased stats, but the elixir itself isn’t that valuable.

Of course, it fetches more than regular healing potions, ranging from tens of millions to billions depending on the grade, but it’s not like hair loss remedies or other items that can go for tens of billions.

After all, it’s a one-time-use potion.

Just once.

It can save your life in dangerous situations and has potential in those moments, but that’s it.

Even hunters consider spending millions to billions for that one moment quite an investment.

Blood eels, on the other hand, can be diluted to make many stamina supplements.

Not like Viagra, but more like nutritional supplements that permanently increase stamina with consistent consumption.

In Farming World, surprisingly many crazy people ate these daily.

You could install a mod to play the game in adult mode, but I never looked into those depths, though I understand the appeal—there are plenty of human NPCs around, even without inter-species mating.

Because I understand, I must catch these blood eels.

“I’ve been preparing for this day.”

I’m grateful for my humble memory today.

While planning my swamp strategy, I considered what I needed from the real world, and two things that came to mind were the swamp flower and blood eels.

There are a few other valuable resources, but it’s hard to collect everything, so I purchased items to deal with difficult monsters or hard-to-obtain resources. In my current state, blood eels are the only particularly challenging opponents, so I focused mostly on them.

Even if not specifically for blood eels, these items could be useful against similar monsters in the future.

“See you later.”

I return home and change into the armor set I prepared.

[Insulated Leather Top]

– Grade: B-

– A top made from the hide of electric elephants that live with electric currents. Heavier and thicker than normal leather, but completely blocks electricity.

– Defense +13

– Electricity does not pass through.

– Electricity Hater (5/5): You’ve covered your entire body with insulated leather armor. The electric elephant’s ability is activated. Electric damage reduced by 50%

Special ability armor like this is extremely expensive even at B- grade.

I paid nearly 1 billion for the armor set to activate the 5-piece set effect.

Of course, I bought it from the Hunter Department Store, so there was a premium, but from my perspective, the price was fortunate.

It’s a special effect item with limited demand.

A setup solely designed to block electricity isn’t something people would buy even at a discount, but the Hunter Department Store adds a premium, so when I needed it, I could easily purchase it while others would shop around.

It definitely feels heavier than my gray wolf leather armor set.

Without the set effect, my agility dropped one grade too.

I’d have to complete the quest with a slight penalty, but it should be fine.

Wearing the insulated leather armor set, I entered the Black Swamp.

The Black Swamp was different from the regular swampland.

While the swamp itself is dark and dense, making you reluctant to step in, the Black Swamp is completely pitch-black, giving the impression that even touching it with your foot might dissolve you.

Moreover, it’s filled with chaotic energy, creating a thick fog that reminds me of the corrupted ogre incident.

Patztztz-

Electricity sparks from the swamp as I step in.

The Black Swamp is the habitat of blood eels, so electricity flows everywhere.

No matter how high my close combat weapon skill is at SSS+ or my holy magic at SSS+, I don’t have resistance to electricity coming from all directions.

As I go deeper, I see the swamp bubbling.

Blood eels don’t hunt much differently from swamp alligators.

I swing my sword at several blood eels as they leap out.