Ch.230230. Reward Dopamine

KIEEEEEEK-!

The golden bird’s scream echoed throughout the massive mine.

But the ear-piercing shriek wasn’t from anger—it was from pain.

Crack-

The bizarre sound of a sword cutting through stone accompanied the fading scream.

[Quest Complete!]

“Phew. Easy.”

Inside the pitch-black mine.

A mine softly illuminated by the gray light emitted by bratrium.

The self-luminous golden bird’s brilliant golden glow was beautiful.

It was easy.

Just a few days ago, I was worried whether I could even catch it with my borderline specs, but after randomly succeeding with Purification Enhancement Level 2, I could feel how much that difficult threshold had dropped.

Actually, my attack power was never the issue.

With attack power plastered with SSS+ abilities and high stats, plus good items.

With my Miner’s Sword, skills, and item combinations, I essentially had a setup that shouldn’t be possible at this stage, so by my estimation, I could hunt in biomes up to Level 7 without any problems in terms of pure attack power.

The only issue was that the thick chaotic energy clinging to my body gave me extremely uncomfortable and intense debuffs, making aggressive attacks difficult. But with the Corrupted Ring’s effect of reducing thick chaotic energy debuffs by half, plus the random stat +2 grade boost inside chaotic energy biomes, it practically negated the debuffs entirely.

Thanks to that, it became easy to maintain my divine power without debuffs even in the Level 5 thick chaotic energy biome, and I could temporarily receive stat buff effects within the region, making hunting golden birds no longer difficult.

After that, there was nothing particularly problematic, so without dragging things out, I immediately conquered the Bratrium Mine.

With accumulated quests waiting for me, there was no need to delay.

“Hehehe…”

Seeing the rewards pouring in after so long, my mouth stretched into a grin.

It hadn’t been that long in physical time since I swept through the Level 2 biome, but with real-world matters and the time spent grinding for purification enhancement, I felt like I’d gone through quite a dopamine detox.

Since the quest rewards were already predetermined and could be opened leisurely at home, I decided to put them aside and collect the immediate rewards first.

The giant golden bird itself would be incredibly valuable just by taking it home and butchering it.

With a pure gold content exceeding 50% and the rest made of bratrium, the bird’s size approaching 10 meters living inside the Bratrium Mine gave me an idea of just how massive this mine was.

“From now on, the ore issue is completely solved.”

Even though it was a Level 5 biome, the presence of bratrium meant that most of the ores I would need in the future could be found in this mountain range.

Well, except for some higher-grade resources for tech that are forcibly restricted to higher-level biomes, the value of ore actually depends more on its options than the biome level.

If I could clear away the thick chaotic energy and develop the ore mountain range, I could probably gather most of the necessary ores here.

Especially bratrium, which plays a role like cement in top-tier construction tech, so securing this supply source was a tremendous achievement.

Kim Sol-i would be thrilled.

And upon completing the quest, the “Metal Mine Map” was unlocked, which when opened, displayed the entire ore mountain range like a navigation system, allowing me to find desired mines.

The Bratrium Mine was marked with the largest, sparkling icon, and while other unmapped areas were still covered in fog, mines were marked as dots between them, showing what type of ore each mine contained when clicked.

“There are so many.”

Numerous mines were spread across this vast mountain range.

There were clusters of mines packed together, and some mines covered entire mountains.

To think this was right next to the Level 0 biome.

No wonder there was a vast mountain range stretching to the west.

Even the western mountains of the Level 0 biome, which weren’t part of the ore mountain range, had small mines scattered here and there due to the influence of the ore mountain range.

First, the most important thing.

I stand before the bratrium crystal to break it.

It’s mesmerizing.

Not a dazzling gold, but the massive crystal of bratrium, mixed with chaotic energy into a murky gray light, seems dangerous just to approach.

But I approach anyway.

Thick chaotic energy clings to my body, trying to consume me, but my supreme divine power shakes off that energy.

Clang! Clang!

I strike the crystal with my Miner’s Sword imbued with divine power.

I wonder if it’s okay to break this, but this is also part of the ore mining process.

And breaking it will purify the thick chaotic energy and complete the quest.

Since simply striking it doesn’t work well, I use Leaping Slash to shatter the crystal into pieces, which then transform into ore as they scatter on the ground.

I collect them generously into my spatial storage and finish my journey.

———————

“Bratrium!! It’s your first time seeing it in person, right? Your big sister will handle it carefully from now on.”

Kim Sol-i liked bratrium more than gold.

She expressed her ambition to rebuild the farm right away and even gave me the mission to gather more base points.

Besides her, no one else was particularly interested in the ore.

Kim Su-jeong and Lee Ji-hyun didn’t even know what bratrium was, as they were already captivated by the gold embedded in the golden bird.

Anyway, I’ve overcome a major hurdle.

It was my first hunt in a Level 5 biome since I decided to change the direction of our farm.

I’ve gained more confidence and am thinking I might be able to venture into higher biomes.

Of course, given how difficulty increases, getting cocky and jumping up two levels at a time just because I gained a few more SSS+ abilities could lead to a severe setback, so it’s not a decision to make hastily.

I need to be cautious now.

“Lulu. Where did the previous owner die?”

“The previous owner died in a Level 5 biome, but he had cleared up to Level 8 biomes.”

“…Has your memory returned?”

“To some extent…”

After clearing the Level 5 biome, it seems Lulu’s memories of her previous owner have somewhat returned.

The vague information she used to share has become more specific, and I could clear up some of my misunderstandings about the previous owner.

“Starting with magic and even choosing alchemy, skipping all the early bosses—reaching Level 8 means he was truly skilled.”

At least in the Farming World, I don’t belittle anyone.

In this world, which is my life and pride, I acknowledge those worthy of recognition and learn from good gameplay when there’s something to learn.

In that sense, I had somewhat misjudged the previous owner, thinking he had died in the early stages despite receiving all these generous rewards. But as more information is revealed, I’m convinced that Lulu’s previous owner was indeed skilled enough to be a candidate for the owner of the Rift Dimension.

If he cleared up to Level 8 biomes with a combination that even I would have found difficult in the early stages, it means he had perfectly adapted and entered the late game.

Though it’s still unfortunate that he died in a Level 5 biome.

But I’m in no position to mock him, as I could die anywhere too.

“Um… Master.”

“Yes?”

“That… you promised…”

“What?”

“…”

“Ah. Right. I promised to help you grow.”

I didn’t intentionally forget, but somehow I ended up breaking my promise.

Come to think of it, this whole situation started with a sub-quest that Lulu brought back after taking the Black Monkeys to clear out the goblins in the copper mine.

“Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten. Once everything is settled, it’ll be your turn too, so look forward to it.”

“Yes! I’ll be waiting, Master!”

I was planning to use the rewards I obtained this time to raise the overall average abilities of our farm.

And that includes Lulu.

For that purpose, I gathered the employees.

“Kim Su-jeong.”

“Yes.”

“Lee Ji-hyun.”

“Yes, oppa.”

“Kim Sol-i.”

“Hmm?”

Now that I’m about to give them the rewards, my old feelings suddenly resurface.

Can I trust them?

I want to be certain before I generously distribute.

“Swear that you’ll be my slaves for life and work for the farm.”

“…”

“…”

So I demand a petty, meaningless answer.

“Oppa. Just give us what you promised generously. Why are you like this? What if we swear now but don’t follow through later?”

“I’ll hunt you down and kill you.”

“Wow.”

“I swear! I will be Kim Su-hyun’s slave for life and die of old age building for the farm!”

I thought it was meaningless, but seeing Kim Sol-i enthusiastically declare it makes me feel reassured.

Yes. Even though it’s a meaningless pledge, hearing it feels like a token of trust.

I pulled out the SSS+ lifestyle ability selection vouchers I received as rewards.