Ch.237237. First Monster Attack

Kim Sujeong was genuinely busy, not just joking around.

“Don’t waste even a single minute or second! Work exactly 360 hours, and I’ll give you 3 days of vacation!!”

The harvest yield during an extremely efficient Farming Day could potentially be more than just 4 times the normal amount. It couldn’t be helped. While normally they would farm leisurely at set times, during Farming Day they couldn’t waste even a minute, farming day and night without pause, inevitably exceeding their usual cycle.

That’s why they couldn’t deploy Kim Sujeong for the first monster attack.

Fortunately, they had brought Kellin, who was the top-ranked SS-class mage in America. Clay, who came with her, was an A-class assassin. Clay wasn’t actually a member of Kellin’s party. More precisely, he worked as Kellin’s manager, while she had separate party members for dungeon hunting. Since he did enter dungeons with her, fighting together wouldn’t be awkward.

“Wow, there are so many.”

Attacks generally fell into two categories: waves and small-scale raids. Waves involved countless monsters pouring in from all directions over a set period, requiring defenders to hold back massive tides of monsters. Small-scale raids were surprise attacks on random sections of the sprawling farm.

In this case, since an alarm had explicitly warned of an attack, it would come as a wave. Currently, neither the farm near the cabin nor the Steam Forest had any walls built. They had already cleared out any threatening monsters or beasts nearby, and any remaining monsters weren’t high-level enough to pose a serious threat.

In a way, it could be said they had postponed building defenses. Even temporary measures would eventually be redesigned by Kim Sol-i, potentially creating double work. But just before that could happen, Farming Day had begun. Well, it might be my fault.

Juggling real-world responsibilities alongside dimensional rift activities, I had lost track of the timeline in the rift dimension. Despite over ten years of experience with Farming World, I had failed to follow the basic checklist.

Normally, in the first year’s winter, farming stops to prepare for the second year. Anticipating the possibility of Farming Day, safety measures should be set up in advance for cultivation areas, and during the non-farming period, the base should be reinforced. This is the standard practice not just in Farming World but in almost all farming games.

Winter. A time for reorganization.

But this time, I couldn’t do that because I had spent too much time on Earth, and the first year’s winter hadn’t seemed that significant.

“Wait. Is this really what winter is supposed to be like in a four-season biome?”

Summer had definitely been hot, but winter hadn’t felt the same. Or at least, I thought it hadn’t, but maybe I was wrong.

“You were outside during the coldest part, oppa.”

“Was I?”

Winter had passed in such a blur that I barely noticed it. Anyway, when I saw Farming Day happening outside and realized it was already the second year’s spring, my reaction was “Already?” But what preparations could I have made?

So it’s only right that I bear the consequences of my lack of preparation. The good news is that I’ve become capable enough not to worry too much even in these unexpected situations.

“Kellin, take this area. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Okay.”

“Clay, just keep an eye on Kellin. If things get dangerous, Sujeong will help too.”

Monsters come from nearby or from biomes further away. I wasn’t sure what level these monsters would be, but since this was the first Farming Day attack, I didn’t think they’d be too high-level. And that turned out to be true.

“Level 30-40? Not bad.”

Roughly equivalent to monsters from level 2-3 biomes. Not difficult for Kellin to handle. Of course, being dimensional rift monsters, their numbers would make it challenging to slaughter them easily.

Kellin showed her true worth.

*CRASH!*

“Wow, unnie. You’re amazing.”

Though I said I wouldn’t get involved much, Kim Sujeong had more free time than the other farmers. Since it would be impossible for Kellin to handle the entire Steam Forest alone, Sujeong fought alongside her, marveling at Kellin’s combat skills, which she was seeing for the first time.

In terms of ability rank, Sujeong’s was actually higher now. But she couldn’t match Kellin’s level and experience. Kellin was especially gifted in combat, known as a genius hunter. She could utilize her SS-class ability at over 150% efficiency, making her America’s most outstanding hunter.

*SLASH!*

The Steam Forest became her stage. The steam spread throughout the area froze and flew toward the monsters. Ice walls formed in the monsters’ path, and the water vapor clinging to their skin froze, rapidly lowering their body temperature. Ice spears pierced through their weakened skin, not just penetrating but shattering it, disarming them and inflicting fatal wounds that led to death by shock.

This wasn’t just brute force. It was the precise distribution of magic. Combined with her SS-class ice magic, her abilities were multiplied, allowing her to fight like an army.

Having performed what I’d only seen on YouTube, Kellin shrugged and looked around.

“Where’s Suhyeon?”

For Kellin, this was routine. But she seemed more interested in seeing my abilities. SSS+ class ability. I decided to show her something special.

After all, until we successfully hired guards, I would need to work hard as the farm’s owner.

*SWOOSH!!!*

Dozens of swords spread out in all directions like a dance. The Igear Swords shot out like light, instantly cutting down hundreds of monsters.

“…”

Speechless and dumbfounded, Kellin and Clay could only stare as I said:

“How about it? Want to join Farming Company?”

———–

After the first monster attack began, we focused solely on defense for exactly 48 hours without a wink of sleep. No exaggeration—I didn’t even get a proper 10-minute nap. The monsters attacked the farm relentlessly.

I wondered if it would really be this intense, but this was the reality of facing increased difficulty in the dimensional rift without preparation, proportional to all the rewards we’d enjoyed. Without any defensive measures, we had no choice but to maintain a 24-hour watch to avoid being caught off guard like when the garden in front of the farm was first attacked.

If it had been just that scale, perhaps the three of us—myself, Kellin, and Kim Sujeong—could have rotated shifts and gotten some rest. But we had to protect both the World Tree farm and the entire massive Steam Forest biome, leaving none of us any time to rest.

On the positive side, Kim Sol-i, with her newly acquired SSS+ ability, immediately got to work. I told her to stick to the original schedule rather than rushing, but she insisted she could handle it and began construction from the outer edges of the Steam Forest. It wasn’t an overly complex project—just building tall outer walls mixed with Bratrium around the entire Steam Forest biome.

The plan was to surround the farm, the Black Monkeys’ territory, and extend the massive walls all the way to the cabin in the level 0 biome. It required an enormous amount of Bratrium and various other resources, but the mountain range had plenty of Bratrium veins, and the SSS+ ability helped find efficient methods.

Although the construction didn’t finish within the 48 hours—we were completely exhausted by then—when I woke up after sleeping, tall, sturdy walls stood around the perimeter of the Steam Forest.

Since we couldn’t claim the entire Steam Forest as our base, we couldn’t build it with a simple click, but this definitely showed how overpowered the SSS+ construction ability truly was.

Kellin, who had entered with a bright expression, now looked thoroughly exhausted as she collapsed in her new room at the cabin. Clay also slept for 14 hours straight in the temporary quarters we’d set up for him. I was no different. Feeling like I’d pulled an all-nighter playing Farming World, I got up with a stiff body and took a shower.

But there was no time to rest.

“Just wait and rest for now.”

During the 360 hours of Farming Day, monsters would keep coming. Since the walls wouldn’t be completed in that time, we needed to continuously recruit guards. After a quick meal, I immediately headed back to Earth.

Originally, I had planned to start slowly with Kellin, giving everyone time to adjust and settle the farm’s atmosphere, but now there was no choice.

“I’ll bring additional reinforcements.”