Ch.8585. Village Restoration

“What about the previous owner? Is it true they died in a level 2 biome?”

My memory is a bit hazy since I heard this a long time ago. It wasn’t particularly important information, so I just understood it as them dying early on.

“Yes… the previous master passed away in a level 2 biome…”

Lulu recalls the past with somewhat sad eyes.

If I wasn’t interested like before, I would have just scoffed and moved on with a “tsk, what an idiot.” But this interpretation leaves room for misunderstanding.

“You mean they died while trying to clear the level 2 biome? Or did they die in the level 2 biome because of some stupid mistake?”

Whether the level 2 biome was their highest achievement,

Or if they just happened to die there.

This makes a significant difference in interpretation.

“Umm… from what I know, they went to gather alchemy materials and were attacked by monsters while camping.”

“…How many biome levels did they manage to clear?”

“Hmm… I don’t remember that clearly. I’m sorry, Master!”

It seemed like some kind of memory seal.

When I asked about the previous owner’s death before, she couldn’t answer, but now she can. Perhaps it’s naturally unlocking as my main quest progresses and I’ve cleared some of the level 2 biome.

It makes sense that they would place memory restrictions on helpers like this. Considering the benefits I gained early on from the previous owner’s traces, this might be intentional.

If I could just find and collect the previous owner’s traces, I could progress quickly as if playing through an already cleared map.

I began to think that the previous owner might have gone much further than I initially thought.

Otherwise, choosing the magic+alchemy combination from the start is something I simply cannot comprehend.

This situation implies one of two things:

One is that they were truly a romantic one-trick fool.

Someone so immersed in farming worlds that they chose this combination to unleash maximum potential in the late game.

While opinions on the strongest late-game abilities vary subjectively, most don’t deny that magic-based abilities are powerful.

Especially alchemy, which can boost magical abilities with various potions, and some people even use potions in diverse combat methods, though they’re a minority.

Either they were someone pursuing such romanticism,

Or someone who only knew how to use magic.

In my case, I used various abilities, but close combat was my strongest.

In the early stages, the community concluded that close combat abilities were best for surviving and growing quickly in high-difficulty farming world maps, and I got through the early stages well with that.

Then I spent 10 years trying various things like magic and whatnot.

Not all users try different abilities like that.

Most tend to deepen what they’re already familiar with.

Especially in a situation like this where a game has become reality, unless you’re truly a romantic fool, it’s normal to choose what you’re best at or what’s most advantageous in the current situation, like I did.

So Lulu’s previous owner likely wasn’t a stupid fool but someone who chose what they were best at in their circumstances.

“I’m curious about it.”

As I progress through the main quest, I’ll probably hear more about the previous owner through Lulu.

It’s quite an interesting story to me, almost like it should be a sub-quest.

It might be fun to progress through the main quest while comparing myself to the previous owner who took the opposite route.

“I’m heading to the village.”

Now that I’ve sorted out all the rewards from the Corrupted Forest, I’m heading to the village next.

It seems like this is almost the first time I’m going to the village after 20 days.

The path to the village felt so peaceful after commuting to the Corrupted Forest.

The map is large so the distance is a bit boring, but I shouldn’t complain.

“When I have time, I should lay down a road and some flowers on the way to the village.”

The level 0 biome village is the place I visit most often while managing the farm.

Even for someone like me who values efficiency over romance, the emotional difference between decorating and not decorating the farm and village area was quite significant.

“Oh.”

As I approached the village, I could see it had been restored.

The long-abandoned village was nowhere to be seen, replaced by blooming flowers and vibrant buildings.

The cleanliness and sturdy high walls of the village, which looked like people could emerge at any moment, seemed like the most reliable and largest village I’ve seen in farming world maps so far.

“How could such a village be like a rural town…”

Considering that the fences were mostly collapsed and you could just step over them, with barely any boundaries, this could be considered a completely different place.

There was one problem though.

“But why aren’t there any people?”

There should be NPCs guarding the entrance in the high walls built to defend against monster attacks, but there weren’t any.

Even after passing through the tall and wide open gates into the village, despite the vibrant appearance and well-maintained buildings, there was no sound of people living inside.

It wasn’t just my imagination.

There was nobody there.

“What’s this?”

After walking around the village once, I found a way to resolve this awkward silence.

[Village restoration complete!]

[Try filling the village with residents yourself.]

[You are provided with 1 basic recruitment ticket to select village members.]

At first, I didn’t understand what this meant.

What am I supposed to recruit?

I could see [Member Recruitment] at the blacksmith shop right in front of me.

“No way. This isn’t a game.”

Of course, village restoration involved spending farm points to restore each building, but I didn’t expect to have to recruit NPCs to fill them afterward.

The term “NPC” is also funny.

This isn’t a game.

Even Lulu, who serves as a helper NPC, isn’t some programmed entity but a real ancient fairy.

Am I being pranked?

Am I playing some highly programmed virtual reality game?

I didn’t dwell on these thoughts too deeply. This world exists somewhere between game and reality anyway.

Both in reality and in the rift dimension, everyone lives by the farming world system, so why be surprised now?

I decided to try the recruitment.

It seems like they provide the first recruitment for free, whether you killed a corrupted ogre or spent farm points to restore the village.

Ding-ding-ding-

When I pressed [Member Recruitment], a card appeared in front of me and started spinning.

It spun with a mix of colors before stopping.

The card had information written on it like a farming window.

The color of the card was white.

“…Don’t tell me it’s F rank?”

In the farming world, there are Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic grades.

These aren’t the main grades though; they use F~SS ranks when assigning rarity to box rewards, and judging by the card, it didn’t look particularly good.

[NPC Information]

– Name: Guros

– Age: 38

– Race: Human

– Rank: F

– Ability: Blacksmith (F)

– Stats: Strength (E+) Agility (F) Stamina (E-) Magic Power (F)

“Wow… what kind of trash is this?”

It really was an F-rank NPC.

Is this right?

There was only one card, but two buttons were activated below it: [Select] and [Reroll].

So this system is a random draw.

It seems designed to let me fill the empty village with NPCs of my choice.

I definitely didn’t want to select this one.

I should check if I can summon another blacksmith after selecting one, but still, for my first NPC in my first rift dimension…

An F-rank NPC with trash abilities?

If I didn’t have a choice, I might have accepted it as fate.

But when they’re explicitly asking if I want this, accepting would make me a sucker.

[Reroll: 500 farm points]

The unwelcome truth about the reroll price wasn’t cheap.

500 farm points at once.

Considering the number of buildings in the village, rerolling just once for each isn’t cheap at all.

Is this right?

I currently have 21,700 farm points, which is relatively comfortable, but farm points are like cash.

It’s good to have them, and the more the better.

After deliberating, I decided.

“Just for the important buildings.”

[Rerolling NPC.]

The card started spinning again.

Ultimately, village NPCs either provide abilities I haven’t learned or teach me recipes for abilities I have learned.

How many recipes would an F-rank blacksmith sell?

In the original farming world, village NPCs each had their own stories as retired masters who settled in the village, estimated to be at least S-rank.

But in this village, you might get useless F-rank fodder if you’re unlucky.

If you don’t like it, spend farm points.

“There’s a reason this is SSS+ difficulty.”

The card began to spin.