Chapter 14 : The Lotto Underground

Was there ever a time when Farming World was a mainstream game?

If you ask me, I have to say no.

Still, in the early days when hunters and dungeons appeared…

When virtual reality was the trend and everyone was shouting Sword Art Online.

Surprisingly, the RPG, AOS, and FPS genres were fiercely competing with each other, like the chaotic Three Kingdoms period.

Games with decent gameplay gained a lot of popularity among people with very different tastes.

No matter what you applied to virtual reality, these genres couldn’t fail to be popular.

RPG, where you actually move your body to fight giant monsters instead of just clicking the keyboard in raids.

I personally adventured through the world, upgrading and customizing my character’s gear to escape reality, and every time a new boss appeared, a world first kill event was held as a national competition, drawing viewers in the billions and proving the fantasy fans’ claim that RPGs are eternal.

As for AOS, well.

Even in the PC era, League of Legends maintained its undisputed number one position for over 10 years from launch.

People earned the title of ‘pro’ just by their fingers, receiving salaries ranging from hundreds of millions to billions, becoming recognized as a profession and even creating the term e-sports, so it was impossible for the game to fail when it moved to virtual reality.

AOS kept its undisputed top spot even in virtual reality.

However, when a world first kill event happened in RPG, players temporarily relived the nostalgia and the top spot was briefly surrendered.

E-sports remained very popular, even more so.

FPS, on the other hand, did not reach such a high peak compared to these two genres.

Shooting games have limits in how much fun they can provide compared to AOS or RPG.

But FPS combined with the BattleGrounds genre consistently maintained popularity, holding a solid third place as a side game for players who play RPG and AOS.

Similarly, FPS also had global tournaments and even once took the number one spot.

Besides these three, many minor genres that were only loved by a small PC community gained quite a bit of popularity thanks to the bonus points added by virtual reality.

Among those, the zombie apocalypse genre games are one example.

Perhaps farming world genre games are similar.

If you can directly experience ‘realism,’ not only those who enjoy niche genres but also the general audience find added fun.

Maybe this is why Farming World briefly took first place at launch.

Not because it’s a farming world genre game.

But because, although it chose open-world farming content as the main focus, it richly and deliciously infused RPG elements into its sub-features.

One of these is the lotto farming system.

You can aim for a jackpot anywhere.

The map itself in this farming world game is a place where players can farm and gather resources.

Items.

The possibilities are open.

There is a glass ceiling of resource rarity depending on the map grade.

But the chance to break through it, although very low, exists.

It’s not just about resource rarity.

Even very minor resources, like basic resources you don’t even expect, can become quite valuable if luck is on your side.

This is exactly the lotto system.

Players called it the underground lotto.

Technically it’s not underground but a lotto on the street.

The probability itself is very low.

It’s safe to say it’s almost zero.

0.001%.

Seeds coming out of weeds or trees are rare rewards.

1% chance.

Ore coming out of any rock is the same.

0.001% chance is a hero reward.

This hero reward is a grade above the resource you farm.

And it’s quite good too.

[Glass Stone]

• Grade: C+
• Absorbs only moonlight for 1000 days and naturally processes into a gem that absorbs mana well.
• When worn as an accessory, increases the effect of mana-using skills by 20%.

There are so many different resources in Farming World, it’s hard to remember them all.

If you think these are also in dungeons, even if hero rewards drop, it’s still a matter of luck.

But the ‘Glass Stone’ I picked up is a jackpot.

“Isn’t this auction-grade?”

A useless person who wasted 10 years farming in the farming world would have no idea about the resource prices in reality.

However, the quite valuable resources that come out in the farming world are indeed valuable in reality as well, and in the farming world community, it was common to compare the rare resources farmed in the farming world to real-world prices and fantasize as if they really earned that money,
so that’s how I heard about it.

I also heard about the recovery herb there.

Maybe the info is a few years old, so the price might not be the same now…

The glass stone is the same.

It’s a bit old so my memory is fuzzy, but what I’m sure of is that when the glass stone appears, it’s immediately put up for auction.

Just looking at the options is good enough.

Hunters, especially dealers, go crazy over accessory options.

Especially for wizards, who can only grow if they have a lot of money, there’s a saying that their rank depends on whether or not they have a ring made with glass stone.

“That’s amazing, huh?”

Even if you’re not a hunter, glass stone is a pretty rare jewel in the farming world.

“Should I use it?”

The only reason I was this indifferent is that I don’t have any active skills that use mana yet, and I thought my passive skills alone were enough for now.

“Let’s just keep it for now.”

Whether I sell it or use it.

It’s not something I hunted hard for, just found it lying on the road — free money.

“Congratulations, Master!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“If you process and use it, it will surely help!”

“I’m debating whether to sell it.”

“Huh?”

When I mentioned my dilemma, Lulu went into a frenzy.

“No, Master! You should use this to build your power. Farming is important, but things like glass stone are hard to find even if you farm!”

It’s true that jewels are hard to get, especially ones rated C or so.

Especially C+ grade glass stones — their stats are just a bit lower, but if the stats get higher, they can reach A or even S rank.

I just made Lulu even more upset.

“What are you talking about? Why sell through farming? I’m going to sell it for cash.”

“…Huh? To your world, Master?”

“Yeah.”

“…Maaaaaster!!!”

Lulu freaking out is no surprise.

“Why would you sell it for low-dimensional currency when it could be sold for dimension rift currency? That’s nonsense!”

“They all trade like that on Earth anyway. The glass stone here isn’t different from the one on Earth, right?”

Of course, thinking about the future, Lulu’s right.

You wouldn’t sell something you can’t buy with money, right? Especially for something that’s just kindling money in the farming world?

But Earth is my reality.

“The delicious cup noodles and snacks I ate yesterday — all that I could only buy with money on Earth.”

“…Hng…”

More than anything, I can buy it again.

“If I run out, I can just make money and buy it on Earth again, right?”

It’s just hard to find, not impossible.

It would take a lot of money, but the rarity SSS and deposit SSS+ level prestige of the farming world’s resources are fully trusted by me, thanks to the glass stone I picked up on the road.

I looked at Lulu, who was pouting and mumbling something, and watched the setting sun as I headed home.

Judging by the state of things, I’d probably need a few more days to reach the village.

Anyway, I wasn’t in a hurry because I had recovery herbs and glass stone to take out until logout cooldown, and it was good to have time if I wanted to gather anything else.

“Oh, right.”

After getting home, I washed up and lay on the bed, and opened the farming window again to solve the weird feeling I had while cleaning the yard today.

“This server setting seems a bit strange.”

No matter how I thought about it, something felt off.

At first, I thought it was natural that more resources would drop here since this map has SSS+ level resource deposits,
which means naturally more resources would drop compared to the usual maps.

But leaving aside the amount of resources dropped, the chance of rare rewards dropping feels a bit higher.

Well, it’s still probability, so if more resources drop, the drop table rotates more times even for a 1% chance, so it makes sense that more drops appear.

Even considering that, it just feels like stuff drops more often.

Like the hero reward that dropped today.

Compared to the basic amount of resources gained while cleaning the yard, it was a drop with ridiculously low probability.

So I checked something I usually took for granted at the end of the third day.

“Map information.”

A second window.

It showed info clearly telling what kind of map it was.

[Secret Farming Map]

• Rank: SSS+
• Active map effects

1. [Lv1] All crops grow 50% faster
2. [Lv1] Rare/Hero reward chance +500%
3. [Lv1] 3% chance on harvest to increase crop grade by 1
4. [Lv1] Experience gain +100%

I felt embarrassed that I was happy like I found a lottery ticket on the street.