Ch.7272. Black Monkey Duel

After logging in at dawn, I’d spent quite a long time rolling around in Black Monkey territory.

When I returned home, warm rice and kimchi stew were waiting for me.

“I’ll grill the meat soon, so go wash up.”

Kim Soo-jung spoke while trying to hide her worried expression.

Seeing Lulu’s exaggerated reactions, she probably thought it had been a difficult battle.

Well, it’s always like that, but considering it was an A-rank monster from a Level 2 biome, her concern made sense.

From her perspective, we’re in this together—if I die, she can’t return to Earth either, so it’s natural for her to be anxious.

“How did it go? Did it work out?”

“Well, I’ll need to beat them into submission before I can make them slaves, so it might take some time.”

I decided to explain things that might not have needed explanation.

It’s not difficult to talk about these things over a meal.

It’s only right to do this much for someone who’s been waiting anxiously at the cabin, not knowing what might happen to me.

“…Huh?”

“It’s actually good timing since three goblins died, and we need to replenish our workforce. Black Monkeys have good physical abilities, so they’d make decent slaves if we can bring them in.”

“Lulu said Black Monkeys are A-rank monsters. Is that really okay?”

“They don’t seem particularly dangerous, at least in the Level 2 biome.”

“Really? Oh, I was worried for nothing. Lulu tricked me again.”

Kim Soo-jung finally smiled broadly and sighed with relief.

I decided to instill a healthy dose of tension in her.

“Don’t get too comfortable though. In the Farming World, getting killed without a trace by some random S+ rank monster is just another day. You know if I die, you’ll be stuck here forever, right? With just your C-rank ability, it’ll be the apocalypse for you the moment I’m gone.”

“…I want to withdraw from the Farming Company. Let me out.”

“Not a chance.”

Lulu also ate her meal with a brightened expression.

One way or another, my first day of logging in passed by in a blur.

This wasn’t how I’d planned to spend it.

Looking at the messy house with all our belongings still scattered around gave me a headache.

At least the front yard looked somewhat tidier—the goblins must have been working hard all day.

“I’ll need to deal with those monkeys before installing the solar panels.”

Originally, I’d planned to set up the solar panels right away, connect the refrigerator, and relax watching the dramas and movies I’d stored on my portable TV, but that didn’t work out.

Can’t be helped.

This is daily life in the Farming World.

I accepted it as routine and went to bed early.

I planned to get eight hours of sleep since I had a lot to do starting early tomorrow.

———————-

The rest buff system in Farming World creates a reason for users to sleep.

In real life, many people reduce their sleep—a basic human necessity—to make a better living, and games are no different.

Moreover, in games, even if the character gets tired, the user doesn’t necessarily feel tired, so many players who enjoy gaming for long periods tend to reduce both their real-life sleep and their character’s sleep.

From the game company’s perspective, there’s no particular reason to prevent this.

Players not sleeping and grinding their characters means they find the game fun and engaging.

But Farming World took a different approach.

Emphasizing “freedom,” Farming World imposes penalties if characters don’t get the required six hours of sleep.

Of course, this six-hour requirement isn’t strictly tied to the calendar day from midnight to midnight. There’s some flexibility—you can make up for missed sleep the next day, counting from the second day.

That’s what freedom means.

Otherwise, if you sleep from 10 PM to 4 AM, it wouldn’t count as six hours but only four hours for that day.

If you consistently sleep from 10 PM to 4 AM, you’d get two hours from 10 PM to midnight, completing your six hours, but if you happen to fall asleep at midnight due to having things to do that day, you’d inevitably face penalties.

Farming World, with its six-hour sleep requirement, has even become the subject of jokes about how it makes people’s schedules more regular than in real life. But does this mean you absolutely must sleep? Not exactly.

It’s about freedom.

You’re free not to sleep, and you’re free to sleep.

As long as you can accept the penalties, you can freely use your sleep time for farm work instead.

This means you won’t suddenly collapse or lose your farm if you don’t sleep.

So in situations where it makes sense—when there’s no monster threat and you need to focus on farm work—some players occasionally stay up for a few nights to work on their farms.

The six-hour sleep penalty is divided into five stages, increasing by one stage each day if you continue to incur penalties.

Stage 1: -5% mana recovery per minute. -30% health recovery per minute.

Stage 2: -10% attack power and defense.

Stage 3: Senses become 30% duller.

From Stage 4, one random ability decreases by 1 grade.

At Stage 5, three additional random abilities decrease by 1 grade, and from the next day, three random abilities continue to decrease by 1 grade until all abilities become F-grade.

You might think you won’t die just from not sleeping, but according to research by some users, by the 14th day, the accumulated penalties cause “fainting,” forcing 12 hours of sleep and reducing the debuff by one stage.

You might think that solves the problem, but since debuffs remain, the next day you’ll be back at stage 5 if debuffs continue to accumulate.

While you might not die, there’s no reason to play the game with accumulating debuffs unless you’re some kind of masochist.

Conversely, if you sleep for more than eight hours, you receive one of the following buffs for 24 hours: +5% mana recovery per minute / +30% health recovery per minute / +1 grade to a random ability / +10% attack power / +10% defense.

The buffs might seem stingy compared to the debuffs, but ultimately it’s a reward for sleeping two extra hours, so users can choose what works for them.

In my case, I used to sleep eight hours and try for a buff before important dungeon raids or boss monster battles.

The chances of getting a useful buff are actually quite high.

Except for options like health recovery rate that I don’t need right now, all the buffs are useful in combat.

Moreover, getting +1 grade to a random ability can be more effective than spending hundreds of billions on items.

So I slept for eight hours today.

[Strength +1 grade for 24 hours]

“That’s right.”

Sleeping two extra hours?

I realized it’s actually pretty good.

Originally, since this was a single-player game, those two hours could be spent watering fields, planting seeds, and getting some cultivation done, so trading that time for these small buffs didn’t seem worth doing every day. But in this dimensional rift, it’s more like multiplayer than single-player.

In multiplayer, especially since I recruited Kim Soo-jung to handle farming and already have slaves to use, I only need to provide some management direction and can focus on exploration, so investing two more hours for a buff actually seems beneficial.

Of course, those two hours could be significant for mapping, but I shouldn’t underestimate the eight-hour sleep buff as much as I have been.

That’s what I’m thinking.

With S+ grade strength and S+ grade agility, I headed toward the Black Monkey territory, determined to beat them until they couldn’t make those vicious, ear-piercing squeaks anymore.

——————

“Kiki. Human. Let’s talk.”

“…Huh?”

I wondered what S+ grade strength would be like.

Thinking this would be an interesting day, I stepped into the Level 2 biome with excited footsteps when a Black Monkey stood before me and spoke.

Talk?

The Black Monkeys I know aren’t a species that engages in conversation.

Their tribal characteristic is to dominate with force and take what they want.

This applies to both the strong and the weak.

But talk?

“Talk about what?”

“Kik… Human, I acknowledge you. You are strong. But you are cowardly. Let’s have a fair duel.”

“What kind of stupid—”

Just as I was about to ask what nonsense this was:

[Sub Quest]

[Black Monkey Chieftain Selection]

[The strongest Black Monkey becomes the chieftain. Only the strongest Black Monkey who wins through fair combat can ascend to chieftainship, and victory must be acknowledged.]

[The Black Monkeys have proposed a chieftain duel to the cowardly human. Win a fair duel to become the Black Monkey chieftain and lead the Black Monkeys.]

[You can refuse the Black Monkey’s challenge and lower their morale.]

[Choose one of these two methods to conclude the fight with the Black Monkeys.]

[Reward: Hair-Growing Tree Seeds x100, Farming Stat +10, 5,000 Farm, ‘Territory’ Activation]

“I’ll do it. A duel. Fair and square.”

I had my justification.