Ch.2222. Blade Master Kim Soohyun

Farming World is a farm management simulation game.

It’s a game where you start from scratch on an untamed land full of resources, developing civilization, transforming a small hut into your own vast kingdom, and eventually managing an entire city.

That’s why there are various NPCs with different artificial intelligence who have their own interesting sub-quests and stories.

More than half of the players enjoy just managing their farms without adventuring.

Well, players who want adventure, exploration, or monster hunting don’t need to come here anyway since there are genres with different appeals like RPG, AOS, FPS, and so on.

That’s why combat abilities in Farming World aren’t excessive.

Most skills are supplementary, designed to help hunt monsters efficiently.

When users who aren’t skilled at combat use active skills, they deal stronger damage and have their movements corrected to attack monsters better.

That’s the reason most skills are like this.

Of course, later on, when you reach SS+ grade, you can use skills like flying swords or other martial arts techniques, but by that point, you’re not just managing farms anymore—you’re launching spaceships or introducing modern civilization-like elements, driving cars in Farming World, or making it look like a futuristic city, so it doesn’t feel out of place.

So it’s not easy to have flashy combat in the early game.

The combat pattern itself is monotonous.

That’s why I naturally accept that with [Master of Melee Weapons], I’m simply dodging, thrusting, and slashing.

This is just how hunting works in the early stages of Farming World.

Rolling, tumbling, aiming for weak spots.

Combat that’s intense rather than flashy.

Even with overwhelmingly high stats, it’s not easy to one-shot large monsters with good endurance, even if you have good weapons.

That’s probably why it’s even more exciting.

“Insane…”

Do you know the thrill of bringing what you’ve imagined to reality?

This time, instead of using [Leap Slash] in a straight line, I slashed through Big Rats standing diagonally, cutting through them as I moved past.

Since I could move however I wanted within the 100M limit—curving, making U-turns—it was all possible.

If there was one downside, it was that I could only kill 5 at once.

But that was quickly resolved by using [Leap Slash] a few more times.

In an instant, the number of Big Rats dropped from 51 to 33.

“Wow… Master… you’re so strong.”

“This is what a Rift Dimension owner is like.”

Lulu’s eyes showed she was impressed by my stylish [Leap Slash].

Yeah. The previous owner probably couldn’t show off much and struggled in the early game, but I’m flying around from the start, so I must look different.

But this was actually my first time hunting like this in the early game, so I felt both proud and excited.

It’s fun.

Hunting is fun.

“I told you the mode isn’t bad.”

I felt like I understood the mindset of players who play games on easy mode.

I wasn’t illegally lowering the game difficulty or using cheat modes that ruin the fun—I was just following the rules set by this map, not chosen by me. Being disproportionately strong made it even more enjoyable.

I didn’t need to worry about not having armor.

The Big Rats couldn’t even keep up with my movements.

“Die!”

Hunting Big Rats became so tension-free that I just dealt with any I saw while cringe-worthily reciting techniques from some anime I’d watched.

This smelly, dark sewer dungeon exploration wasn’t a dangerous minefield but more like a maze-finding game.

“Ugh. It’s too big, Master.”

“I’ll hold the torch, so go straight to the right and see what’s there.”

“Eek. By myself?”

“If you see a Big Rat mother, just scream. I’ll come right away. You saw how fast I am, right?”

“…”

“I saw you sneaking snacks into my backpack earlier. Were you planning to eat them alone at night?”

“I’ll be right back!”

Maybe Lulu felt some sense of duty to contribute after seeing my performance.

It was half-forced, but she flapped her short wings and went to scout the path I’d indicated.

She came back quickly, though.

“Kyaaah! Master! There’s a huge… huge rat over there!”

From Lulu’s perspective, all rats are big.

Even Big Rats are 2-3 times my size, so imagine how they look to her.

Still, she must have seen 30-40 Big Rats since entering the sewer, so her panic suggested this might be what I was looking for.

“Let’s go.”

I wondered how she managed not to get chased, but then I saw 3-4 Big Rats following her.

I drew my wooden sword and used [Leap Slash] to cut them in half as they charged.

Cutting off just the head is for easier butchering, but for more dramatic effect—especially when slicing through space like this—splitting the body in half looks much cooler.

Plus, I can pass by at a distance without getting splattered with blood.

When we reached the area Lulu had scouted, we found the end of the sewer.

There was a huge, wide space with what looked like a massive hole blocked by garbage and branches at the far end.

“It’s a water hole.”

Later, when the sewer is purified, clean water will flow through here, creating a path to the outside.

And there was the Big Rat Mother.

“It’s so big…!”

Lulu exclaimed in a frightened voice that could be misinterpreted.

“Specify what’s big. That sounds weird.”

“How can we defeat something like that…?”

“Don’t be scared. It’s just big.”

Though saying it’s “just big” is an understatement since it’s B-grade, which is practically a disaster in a level 0 biome, but to me, it’s just a cute balloon-muscled rat.

“It is big…”

Of course, I had to crane my neck to meet its eyes, making the other Big Rats look like regular rats in comparison.

Its gleaming eyes with bluish light were eerily creepy, and its two massive front teeth looked strong enough to crush rocks.

Above all, that grayish fur was disgusting.

“Ugh. It’s gross.”

Size is an immutable power.

I can’t kill this in one hit.

Thump. Thump.

Despite its size, the Big Rat Mother charged toward us with surprising speed.

“Kyah!”

Lulu hid behind me.

I used [Leap Slash] as before, swinging my wooden sword.

This time, I focused on precision rather than style, striking the same spot five times as I passed by.

Passive skill effect: +1000% attack power.

Leap Slash effect: +100%, for a total of +1100% attack that hit 5 times in an instant.

Keeeeee-

The Big Rat Mother writhed in pain.

No matter how big or B-grade it was, it met the wrong opponent.

The only proof of its B-grade status was that it survived my attack.

But that was all.

I had only about 20 mana left, but that was enough.

“Ultimate- 20 Consecutive Slashes!”

Kekekek!

Thud!

Shouting childish, stupid words while stabbing the same spot 20 times—this is what style is all about.

I must have some middle school syndrome tendencies.

Well, as long as it works, who cares?

[Quest Complete!]

The D-grade dungeon was conquered as quickly as the time it took to get here.

The reward came in.

Rumble rumble-

The massive pile of garbage blocking the way dissolved, and clear water poured in.

Standing on the corpse of the large Big Rat Mother, the water rose almost to my ankles.

This might be surprising the first time, but for me, it’s just one of many early-game experiences.

And there are things you should do first after clearing a dungeon.

“We’ll butcher later. First, check beyond that hole for treasure chests.”

Dungeon rewards.

These are different from quest completion rewards—they’re rewards inside the dungeon that you can get after clearing it.

Usually, they come in chests, and normally in F-grade sewers, there’s not much to expect.

If you’re lucky, you might get some early-game farming tools that are hard to come by.

But this is a D-grade dungeon, so maybe I can expect a bit more.

Watching Lulu flutter away, I cut open the Big Rat Mother’s back.

While I could butcher the other rats later, I needed to immediately gut this “boss” of the dungeon.

I’m not sure if bosses always respawn here, but in regular dungeons, bosses appear by chance, and defeating these challenging bosses often drops good items.

“That’s right.”

After cutting open its belly and “butchering” it, much better-looking and larger quantities of meat than regular Big Rat meat appeared, floating in the water, along with more leather.

There was also a pair of gloves and a crude dagger—things you wouldn’t expect to find inside a rat.

“Master! There’s a chest here!”

Items plus dungeon rewards.

For a torn-up front yard garden, this was more than enough compensation.