Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Episode 1

“Ugh.”

He stood up, pounding the waist that bent more with each passing day.

Sighing, he looked around. The vegetable garden he had made to look somewhat decent sat there all alone, with nothing growing at all.

“...What on earth is the problem.”

To somehow resolve this situation, he had even studied farming. He had gone so far as to ask the natives of several dungeons how one could cultivate crops.

Yet it had already been three full years.

Nothing had grown in the vegetable garden he had made.

“Quest.”

He summoned the quest window that was the root cause of all this.

[Awakening Quest: Offer a Tribute]

Collect and submit the presented items.

Polygonum multiflorum imbued with mana: 0/1

Self-made fruit and vegetable juice imbued with mana: 0/1

Awakening Quest.

A hologram-like window that appeared only to awakeners who could enter and exit dungeons.

It appeared for every awakener, and the contents were all different.

A new quest was granted immediately each time one was cleared, yet this was only his third quest.

The previous two quests had also been about offering tributes, and unlike most people who received quests to hunt monsters, he had thought at first that he had struck it rich.

...He had thought that. Haa.

‘No matter how much my ability is ‘Synthesis,’ what kind of quest is this...’

He would correct that.

His awakening ability was not Synthesis.

To be precise, it was ‘Liquid Synthesis.’

What good was combining liquids?

There were many uses.

For example, he could combine two potions with different effects into something whose performance was a bit lower than the originals but that allowed both effects to be gained at once.

In a situation where a monster was right in front of him, drinking two potions one after another was less efficient than drinking one at a time even if the performance was a bit lower.

Then one might ask if it was an extremely outstanding awakening ability for an item crafter...

‘The cooldown is 23 hours and 50 minutes. If I synthesize one a day, what the hell am I supposed to use it for.’

Originally it had been exactly 24 hours, but it had been reduced by 10 minutes thanks to clearing the two previous awakening quests.

That was right.

To upgrade an awakener’s ability, quests were an indispensable existence.

Also, in a world where ability was everything for an awakener, the meaning of that statement was simple. Clearing quests directly raised an awakener’s value.

“Haa...”

So even though it was something with no progress in three years, he had no choice but to cling to it.

“How did I even become an awakener.”

Becoming an awakener itself was an enormous blessing, but if one could not properly use that ability, it was no different from an ordinary person.

Moreover, his ability was not one that could be used in combat.

Compared to the numerous awakeners who were still actively conquering dungeons, it was an awakening ability whose importance was not particularly high.

Thanks to that, he belonged to no guild and could not even return home, stuck like this.

Clap!

“Hoo, let’s get a grip.”

Indulging in sentimentality ended here.

Even that kind of time was a luxury for him.

The past three years.

For the sake of the family who had believed in him and waited, he could not stay collapsed on the ground.

Even if there were no immediately visible results, he had to try something with the feeling of grasping at straws.

“Ha, neither side is easy, is it.”

Polygonum multiflorum imbued with mana.

Self-made fruit and vegetable juice imbued with mana.

The former could be obtained by gathering it from dungeons or purchasing what others sold. Of course it would be a considerably expensive amount, but there was a guarantee that it could be obtained somehow.

The problem was the latter.

All kinds of dungeons existed in the world, and even now, extinction due to clearing and new generation were repeating infinitely.

Such dungeons also formed a single ecosystem.

There was nature and there were living things. Therefore, fruits or edible plants that existed only within dungeons were often discovered.

“I thought I could just get anything, squeeze it into juice, and synthesize it, but that wasn’t the case.”

The phrase ‘self-made’ was extremely ambiguous. As a result of three years of futile efforts, he was guessing that it would only be recognized if he cultivated mana-imbued fruits or vegetables himself and then made it.

That was why he, an awakener, was now doing farming. Probably, even among all the awakeners in the entire world, he was the only such case.

After briefly looking at the vegetable garden, he headed toward the dungeon entrance.

For reference, this place was one of those infinite dungeons that occasionally appeared among dungeons and did not close, a small grade 1 dungeon.

However, since he was not the owner, he was paying monthly rent to use it.

“Since farming isn’t something where results can be seen right away, I should go look for Polygonum multiflorum.”

If the fruit and vegetable juice was resolved, he was thinking of purchasing the Polygonum multiflorum at least. But until then, he intended to personally go around dungeons and search.

Fortunately, the money earned every day through ‘Liquid Synthesis’ was about 100,000 won, so living expenses and the dungeon’s monthly rent were barely covered.

However, he had not become an awakener just to earn a daily wage of 100,000 won, so he had to resolve the quest as soon as possible, even a day earlier.

Coming outside, he immediately searched for information on new dungeons. He looked for dungeons where Polygonum multiflorum was likely to be, but the entrance fees were more expensive than expected, making his hands tremble.

“Isn’t there just some decent listing?”

Standing blankly in place like that and fiddling with his smartphone, he suddenly realized that the surroundings were quiet.

The small dungeon he was paying rent for existed on Obongsan Mountain located in Yangju, Gyeonggi-do. It was in the form of a small cave midway up the mountain, so it could naturally be quiet.

But why had he suddenly gotten a creepy feeling.

“That startled me! What is this.”

Turning around, the entrance of the dungeon he had come out of a little while ago was wriggling. He hastily stepped back and watched to see what kind of situation this was.

The cave entrance that had been wriggling little by little soon became quiet. Still, just in case, he waited about 10 more minutes and then carefully examined the surroundings.

“Dungeon alteration?”

Occasionally.

Very occasionally.

He had heard that there were times when an existing dungeon changed.

A changed dungeon could have its grade or size differ as well.

However, he had heard that dungeons where dungeon alteration occurred generally had tremendous rewards.

“It looks the same on the outside?”

But if there was one point different from what he had heard, it was that the exterior had not changed?

He had heard that there were changes like the dungeon entrance becoming a bit more splendid or the material changing, but the dungeon in front of him had shown no changes at all after the initial movement.

No, the shape of the cave seemed to have changed slightly, but it was a change that one would not know unless photographing it and comparing.

Sneak.

He checked the potions he had on hand.

One synthesized potion made for today’s quota. And all the unsold stock was stored inside the dungeon.

“This is driving me crazy.”

This dungeon was no different from his home.

It was the place he always stayed except for times when he occasionally needed the internet, went out to get food, and went looking for Polygonum multiflorum.

It was possible because it was an infinite dungeon where all monsters had been eliminated, but having seen a situation similar to dungeon alteration right before his eyes, it was enough to make him go crazy and jump around.

‘I think this dungeon was originally said to be a slime dungeon?’

If it was a slime, it was a harmless creature that was hard to even call a monster. Maybe it would be fine to just go in and check?

To begin with, he had no money on hand.

Even if he tried to call an awakener to handle clearing the dungeon, money was needed, and using the dungeon alteration as bait to bring someone also somehow left a bad taste in his mouth.

‘If I said dungeon alteration had occurred but it actually wasn’t dungeon alteration, dealing with the aftermath would be hard too.’

In the end, he decided to go in alone.

All his assets were inside here, plus the rewards from dungeon alteration, and the track record of it having been merely a small grade 1 slime dungeon, all of that blew reckless courage into him.

‘I’ve been stagnant for 3 years. While others are flying around, I’ve been falling behind alone.’

The probability of becoming an awakener was extremely low.

That was why, when he first became an awakener, he had even been introduced in the media.

But now there was no one who remembered him. The fact that awakeners had sprung up like bamboo shoots in the meantime had played a part, but the biggest problem was still the fact that his ability and growth had stopped.

He had thought he had reached the highest point of his life at one time, but did people even know that feeling of sinking to the bottom instead?

“It’s all or nothing.”

He stretched his foot toward the dungeon.

* * *

-Ding!

Awakening has been completed.

The noise heard as soon as he entered the dungeon.

In the moment he thought what kind of nonsense sound that was, the dungeon interior, the same as usual, welcomed him.

“What is it.”

Nothing had changed.

Ah, there was one thing.

Wriggle-

A slime was rolling around in his vegetable garden.

A perfectly ordinary green, round slime was rolling around without even knowing he had appeared.

“Before that, what was that sound just now?”

He had heard that awakening was completed, but what kind of nonsense was that.

He was already an awakener...

“No way, no way, no way, no way, no way...”

He became extremely excited.

What if what he had heard was really true?

“S-s-status window!”

He had once seen a rumor on the internet that sounded like a ghost story. That was the existence of dual awakening, where an awakener awakened once more.

Literally, it meant possessing two awakening abilities.

“Huk, huk!”

He regulated his breath hurriedly and closed his eyes.

He had called the status window, but he did not have the confidence to look.

At the same time, the hardships of the past three years flowed past like a revolving lantern, creating hot tears over both his cheeks.

“Calm down, Lee Gyuseong! Calm down!”

A ghost story was just a ghost story; he had never heard news of a dual awakener actually appearing.

If it actually existed, wouldn’t it have been right for it to appear and boast at least?

“Yeah, I must have heard wrong. No, even if it is real, no way it’s dual awakening, where would something like that...”

As he was muttering to himself like a madman with his eyes closed, suddenly the hem of his pants became warm and wet.

Wondering if he had perhaps made a mistake from getting too excited, he unconsciously opened his eyes.

Wriggle?

The slime that had somehow grabbed the hem of his pants tilted its head as if asking what he was looking at.

“What are youuuuuuugh!”

While he was talking to the slime, he ended up shouting upon seeing the status window that appeared before his eyes.

Because a second ability was clearly occupying a place in the awakening ability section that should have had only one.

[Ability]

Liquid Synthesis LV.1

Slime Lord LV.1

Huh, sss, haa?

Doubting his own two eyes, he pinched his cheeks several times and then immediately hit the slimy slime at his feet with a sound.

Smack! Smack!

Wriggle-!

Ignoring the slime that was undulating as if asking why he was hitting it, he glared at the status window again.

“But... what is Slime Lord?”

The second awakening ability.

Of course, he was insanely surprised and happy.

However, the name was somehow odd.

Looking only at the word Lord, it felt extremely grand, but the modifier attached in front happened to be slime.

He immediately checked the Slime Lord section.

[Slime Lord]

All slimes obey the lord’s commands.

One slime can be produced per day.

“What is this...”

Thud.

The emotion of happiness transformed directly into despair and washed over him.

“Ha, haha, hahahaha...”

Slime? Sliiime??

What was he supposed to do with slimes following his commands?

To begin with, where was he supposed to put those guys whose combat power converged on zero to work?!

It wasn’t even summoning hundreds of such guys at once, but only one a day? Oneee?!

“This damn world!!!”

The tears of emotion turning into tears of anger happened in an instant. Thanks to that, the water in his eyes did not dry.

Toward him who was crying and shouting like that, only one slime was slimily wriggling.

Wriggle?