Chapter 11 : Level 0 Biome Village

A biome is a community.

It refers to a community of plants and animals based on climate conditions.

In games like Farming World, there are different biomes and corresponding flora and fauna depending on which direction you expand from your base.

Tropical biome.

Desert biome.

Since each biome can show distinct characteristics, content can be divided accordingly, and levels can be set for each biome to give users a sense of growth and progression.

In Farming World, biomes were often referred to by attaching levels.

The base-centered NPC village and places to gather F-grade resources are considered 0-level biomes.

0-level biomes can be seen as just moderate temperate biomes.

Like in our country,
where there are four distinct seasons, and neither extreme heat nor cold,
with plants that can be planted according to the season and various animals living there.

In short, it is considered a region with a mild and favorable climate.

At low levels, surviving while trying to find food and plants is tough, and even a single monster appearing while tidying around your home can turn the day into hell.

Because the survival difficulty fluctuates depending on the climate of the region, it becomes very hard to adapt.

For this reason, Day 1 usually starts in early spring.

A season where a slight cold snap is considered the hardest difficulty.

As the weather warms, monsters that hibernated are still drowsy and inactive, making it a safe season.

Within each biome, there are major locations, which when discovered, open up many rewards and content.

In the 0-level biome, representative places include NPC villages, copper mines, sewers, and orchards.

If you look more closely, in a map as large as SSS+ grade, there are many small important spots to gather resources, but if you examine each one carefully, time flies, and you notice that in the 0-level biome, bright areas outnumber dark ones.

This is called “Ssakssak Kimchi,” a method beloved by people who want to perfectly illuminate the entire map out of affection.

Actually, it is neither recommended nor efficient at the start.

Illuminating the map is much easier and more efficient to do later, after raising resource levels and acquiring transport methods appropriate to the biome level.

There is no harm in exploring later.

Resources do not lose value just because they are mined later.

In fact, it is often better to quickly gather the resources needed to skip the level fast and move on.

I certainly thought the same.

“I’ll just unlock all the major spots and jump straight to level 1.”

The secret farming map is basically a gold mine.

There is an old saying, “Dig the ground and see if money comes out,” but it doesn’t work here.

In the outside world, money does come out of dungeons, but to earn a lot, you must catch rare monsters or find dungeons rich in valuable resources.

Why are there more hunters specializing in mining or dungeon excavation than those who specialize in hunting?

In the end, to thoroughly check a dungeon for valuable resources, the dungeon has to be empty.

For that, all the monsters guarding the dungeon must be eliminated.

That way, even non-hunters can explore, which naturally raises the price of high-rank hunters who specialize in hunting.

Anyway, without going through such competition, I can rake in money just by exploring this blue ocean world itself.

“Ten years? I’ll dig and eat until I die.”

Farming World isn’t a job to me.

It is said that when you do what you love, it eventually becomes a job, and you lose your passion—a concept I find hard to understand after living 26 years as a total unemployed person.

But I was certain.

Even if this becomes reality and my job, I would never find it boring or want to quit.

Right now, I want to illuminate the map so much that I don’t want to waste time sleeping.

Of course, I need to be a bit cautious.

This isn’t a game.

If I die, it’s over.

“Lulu.”

“Yes, master?”

“If I die here, do I respawn? Or do I just die?”

I have to live with that certainty, but since Lulu, a kind of manager fairy of this dimension, is here, I asked her.

Lulu said she had a previous owner, so I asked if that owner died of old age or couldn’t respawn.

Lulu giggled at my serious question.

“Master, didn’t you conduct preliminary tests on the Rift dimension before coming to this one?”

“…Huh?”

It was to be expected.

Suddenly, the fairy’s talk about Farming World made me hesitate.

Lulu is, so to speak, an NPC.

A fairy.

In games, if you ask NPCs whether they know they are programmed NPCs, no NPC ever admits it.

We just say they are residents of this world.

So is it right for me to say so?

After pondering for a moment,

I realized this might not be a farming world.

“Uh.. right.”

“Most of the ‘rules’ applied here are the ones in effect in the dimensional rift you are currently in.

To become the master of a rift dimension, you need the qualification.

From what I know, among many master candidates who undergo numerous tests, only those qualified to hold the dimensional rift are chosen as masters.”

“What is that qualification?”

One day, suddenly, a letter came to my farming world.

And then the events that unfolded.

It seemed like a story about that, so I focused on listening.

Lulu put her small hand on her chin, making a troubled expression.

“I don’t know either? Because the god who manages the rift dimension decides that.. From what I heard from the previous master, it seems the letter said they liked the previous master’s world the most.”

Surely, decorating the world nicely isn’t the criteria, right?

Or is it about playing long enough to achieve nearly 100% pioneering progress?

The latter seemed more plausible than the former.

If that really was the test.

Then my main mission would be to pioneer all of this so-called secret farming map, which is an SSS+ rank rift dimension, someday.

But it wasn’t important.

I’m not curious about such things anymore.

“Anyway, if the master dies, they come back to life. Hmm.. No. More precisely, when ‘death’ approaches, you consume ‘farm’ to avoid ‘death.’ Because managing the rift dimension is difficult, you can think of it as a power given by the god. So, ‘farm’ is a very important resource, okay? You have to gather it diligently!”

“Really? It works?”

Honestly, I was surprised.

I didn’t think it would work.

In farming worlds, reviving means you pay a price because if the character was deleted after dying once, no one would play the game anymore.

Is this not reality?

But really, they bring you back to life?

Even if you pay with farm?

“How many times can you revive?”

“As many as you want, as long as you have farm.”

“How much farm does it cost?”

“Um.. it varies by level. But currently, master, you can revive once without paying farm. It’s a gift from the god.”

Lulu’s words gave me tremendous courage, but at the same time, I felt a bit uneasy if I could really trust this tiny fairy’s words.

Of course, having one chance didn’t make me want to experiment.

In the end, the day I try would be the day I face death that I cannot avoid by will, so I just had to believe it.

But my heart felt much lighter.

It really works.

“After that, based on level 9, it’s 1,000 farm; up to level 19, 50,000 farm; up to level 29, 1 million farm..”

“Stop.”

Maybe it was better not to hear any more after that.

Knowing the exact number is necessary to save some farm, but if that was true, dying once means the farm would be wasted not for just days, but at high levels it could mean losing months worth.

I have to work harder.

Even if I get unfairly criticized until I die old, I have to live long.

I tightened my heart once again for no reason.

And then I prepared to leave for the village.

Today, I logged out and came back, organized my stuff, and goofed around with Lulu, and it was already night, so I planned to sleep and leave tomorrow morning.

Since it’s about 2KM, I thought I’d have to move quickly.

It might be hard to finish in one day, and I might have to clear the path, come back, and sleep.

While I was planning like that.

[Sub Quest]

[Achievement – Novice Explorer 1]

[The true master of the dimension begins by knowing every map.]

[Reveal more than 80% of the level 0 biome.]

[Reward: Achievement Points 1. 3,000 farm. Farming stats +5. Base points +10. Random base box (D) x5]

A quest appeared that completely shattered my plans.