Ch.220220. The Realm of Golden Birds

[Sub Quest]

[Zone-0 Level Biome]

[The Mountain Goblins are in a difficult situation. If they don’t offer the copper they mine from the copper mines to the Golden Birds, the Golden Birds will eat them. However, the newly appeared Black Monkeys are massacring them indiscriminately, demanding they work for them instead. Which side should they choose? The Mountain Goblins’ dream is simply to survive. Let’s solve their difficult situation and accept them as our slaves.]

[Stop attacking the Mountain Goblins and return them to the Golden Birds.]

[Eliminate the Golden Birds who have been enslaving the Mountain Goblins to liberate them.]

[Reward: 10 Farming Stat Points, 5,000 Farm, ‘Metal Mine Map’]

“What’s this?”

This is a quest I received around the time I was going to deal with the Dark Site.

I was confused by the sudden quest appearance while I was on Earth, but then I remembered the task I had assigned to Lulu.

“Ah. Looks like she’s doing well.”

Organizing the Black Monkeys and Mountain Goblins and putting them to work in the copper mines isn’t particularly difficult.

The reason I sent Lulu along, when I could have just sent the Black Monkeys, was because I needed to start giving Lulu a role on the farm too.

After all, Kim Sujeong and the others are people from Earth.

But Lulu is a creature from the Rift Dimension.

Lulu’s role is to help completely purify the Rift Dimension.

Until now, she hasn’t played much of a role because I haven’t invested any points or farm in her.

There was no particular reason.

Did I really need to invest my farming points to develop a helper?

What would I gain from that?

If Lulu needs my nutrients to become stronger, that’s inefficient.

I barely have enough farming points to invest in myself, unless she offered some extraordinary ability.

But now I have some leeway.

I could blow through my farm or farming points in 5 minutes if I wanted to, but I was starting to think maybe it’s time to invest in Lulu too.

There must be something to gain from investing in Lulu, otherwise they wouldn’t have designed her growth to require my points or farm.

So I decided to give her a task.

If Lulu isn’t just an NPC but a helper I’ll be traveling with throughout the Rift Dimension, she can’t just keep riding on my coattails forever.

Seeing her bring back this quest made me think I made the right decision.

I don’t know if the quest appeared because Lulu did well or if it was programmed to appear in this situation anyway.

That’s also why I came to the farm quickly after roughly clearing the Dark Site.

“But Golden Birds aren’t early-game monsters.”

It would be better to tackle a level 3 biome.

I’ve been progressing in order so far, and I still plan to advance by level.

However, to mine the Bratrium that Kim Sol-i ordered, I would need to visit a level 4-5 biome at some point.

This sub-quest had a strong scent to it.

“And the reward is a metal mine map.”

This kind of reward is probably a map showing where mines are located in what I call the Western Mountain Range.

“Metal mine” is likely the official name in the Rift Dimension for the long mountain range to the west.

If that mountain range overlaps with the level 0 biome’s mountains, like the Steam Forest in the east, I might not need to go very far.

So my goal for this login was to complete this sub-quest and check the mine map to plan my next move.

“Master!!”

Lulu proudly rattled on about her achievements with the Black Monkeys.

“So when I threatened and scared them, the Mountain Goblins tearfully agreed to become slaves of our farm. But there’s a small problem…”

“The Golden Birds?”

“Yes! The Golden Birds were originally enslaving the Mountain Goblins and making them mine copper.”

“There are several more mines in the mountains, right?”

“Oh! Yes, that’s right. The Mountain Goblins manage a total of three copper mines, but they’ve suffered heavy losses this time, so they won’t have enough copper to offer to the Golden Birds next week.”

“But aren’t Golden Birds from a level 5 biome?”

“…Yes. That’s why I waited for you, Master. To see what you want to do…”

In a normal Farming World, this would be a sub-quest to absolutely avoid.

If a level 5 biome is right next to a level 0 biome, you wouldn’t even look in that direction.

The fortunate thing is that with the large mountain range, the Golden Birds from the level 5 biome have no reason to fly all the way to our cabin.

As long as we don’t disturb them.

So the safest approach would be to not complete the Mountain Goblins’ sub-quest, send them back, and just mine what we need from the copper mines while growing.

Having a level 5 biome adjacent to a level 0 biome isn’t a major concern.

Unless there’s a low-probability invasion event from the Western Mountains, there’s no reason to suffer direct damage.

In fact, having a level 5 biome nearby rather than being surrounded by high-level biomes on all sides could be helpful in the mid to late game.

But this isn’t a Farming World.

Level 5 biome. Mines connected to mountains.

These are very appealing conditions for me right now, so why would I give them up?

Of course, these monsters come with challenging conditions.

They fly and, being from a level 5 biome, their stats will be quite high.

“I’ll take care of it.”

If they get involved with our farm, Black Monkeys, Goblins, and the Naru tribe won’t stand a chance.

I decided to do some reconnaissance first.

The level 5 biome designation is based on my memories from the Farming World, so things could be different here.

With excitement, I flew toward the west.

————

The mountain range spanning the level 0 biome and the mountains beyond were indeed connected, but there was a boundary.

Unlike the clearly visible mountain range in the distance, the mountains beyond the level 0 boundary were shrouded in thick fog that made it impossible to see even a step ahead.

Moreover, the thick fog wasn’t white but red.

“Is this the energy of chaos?”

I’ve never seen such pervasive chaotic energy before.

With excitement, I entered the fog.

[You are affected by Dense Chaotic Energy (5).]

I wrap myself in divine energy before the sticky energy can cling to me.

The divine energy needed to prevent debuffs was more than twice what was required for level 2 dense chaotic energy.

“Wow. This is intense.”

Even though I have 175 divine energy, the maintenance cost is nearly 30 per minute, which means I’d run out in about 10 minutes, so I reduced it to the same level I used in the level 2 biome.

[The Dense Chaotic Energy becomes thinner.]

[Agility decreases by 1 grade.]

[Health decreases by 1 grade.]

[Attack power decreases by 100%.]

[Defense decreases by 50%.]

“Hmm. This is the real deal now.”

Looking at the penalties, I realized that if I completely removed the divine energy, the difficulty would be no joke.

These aren’t just temporary effects—these are penalties I’d have to bear throughout the quest in the dense chaotic energy, so finding a way to overcome them was important.

“Learning divine magic alone won’t be enough.”

I thought I needed to invest more in divine energy.

It was fortunate.

If the area connected to the Western Mountains hadn’t been a level 5 biome with dense chaotic energy, I would have only discovered this when entering a level 4-5 biome, and preparing at that point would have been a bit late.

I decided that my remaining farming points, farm, and real-world money would be invested in divine energy from now on as I looked around.

The thick fog made it difficult to even determine direction.

In lower-level biomes, chaotic energy was only present inside dungeons, so you just had to find places with dense chaotic energy. But here, the entire biome was surrounded by dense chaotic energy, making it difficult to navigate without luck.

[Main Quest 2]

[Chaotic Energy]

[The chaotic energy flowing into the Rift Dimension is the opposite of life energy. Following its nature might provide clues to purify and stabilize the Rift Dimension. However, the increasingly dense chaotic energy must be approached with caution. This is a biome where chaotic energy has been concentrated until it burst, covering the entire biome with dense chaotic energy. Nevertheless, a nucleus of condensed chaotic energy exists. Relying on the energy of the corrupted ring, let’s find and eliminate the nucleus where dense chaotic energy is gathered.]

[Find and eliminate the source of dense chaotic energy in the level 5 biome]

[※The chaotic energy you’ve discovered in the level 5 biome is extremely dense, and merely approaching it can expose you to powerful effects.]

[The chaotic energy is much stronger and denser compared to what’s contained in the corrupted ring, so be cautious. Sequential growth might be more helpful.]

[Reward: SSS+ Grade Life Skill Selection Ticket x2, SSS+ Grade Ability Selection Ticket x1, SSS- Grade Ability Selection Ticket x3, 100 Farming Stat Points, 1,000,000 Farm, Dense Chaotic Energy Fragment x2, Rare Point Enhancement Ticket x3]

And quests began to appear one by one.