Chicken Coop and Black Hatchling Armor
When Han Ji-woo halted his attack, peck peck peck! Stab stab! Two horned chickens lunged at him, jabbing with their beaks and thrusting with their horns.
But not a scratch. Their assaults barely tickled. The stat gap was just too vast.
Now that things had turned out like this, the horned chickens weren't scary at all to Han Ji-woo anymore. They were precious food resources.
"Hold up. Should I collar these things and stake 'em down?"
To harvest eggs daily, he'd need to capture them alive and pen them up first.
"Hmm."
Pondering as he took their attacks head-on, he opened his Creation window. He crafted a two-pyeong space, then shoved the two horned chickens inside. When they kept trying to bolt out the open entrance, he blocked it off with a wooden door. Finally, he wedged a brick in front of the threshold to keep the door from swinging outward.
Is the structure made of house and chickens a Chicken Coop?
"Yep."
The ever-intelligent Creation skill recognized it as a chicken coop and prompted confirmation. At Han Ji-woo's response, the coop glowed brightly, and in the next instant, a perforated brick chicken coop materialized. The door now had a wooden latch that could be secured from the outside. The rampaging horned chickens inside calmed down right away. The space must have given them a sense of security.
Han Ji-woo peered through the holes at the two birds and grinned.
"Now I can have eggs whenever I want."
He suddenly wondered what to feed them, but the dilemma didn't last.
"Plenty of dungeon grass around anyway."
Mix in some dried dungeon weeds, and that should do it.
"Alright, now to deal with these monster corpses…"
Han Ji-woo clapped his hands while eyeing the two fallen horned chicken bodies on the ground. Then a welcome message popped up.
Creation skill has gained enough proficiency and is now enhanced.
Now you can discover new blueprints simply by adding materials to the Creation window and combining them.
The message came with the Creation window.
Tutorial starting. What would you like to create?
"Ooh, a tutorial. Hmm… Something like a frying pan or a stone griddle would be perfect. For cooking eggs."
Place 10 mud, 30 sunflower seeds, and 1 fire flower petal in the Creation window.
Han Ji-woo followed the instructions, muttering to himself.
"Mud and fire flower petals make sense, but why sunflower seeds?"
Extract oil from sunflower seeds to coat the stone griddle.
"Aha."
Once all the specified materials were in the Creation window, the status updated.
10 Mud, 30 Sunflower Seeds, 1 Fire Flower Petal
Stone Griddle — Synthesis Possible
[Press the Synthesis button.]
The moment Han Ji-woo hit the synthesis button, a hefty rectangular stone griddle appeared before him, and its blueprint was added to his list.
From now on, you can discover new blueprints through this process. Tutorial ended.
"Whoa, this is killer."
Han Ji-woo was genuinely impressed. Now he could experiment with material combos in the Creation window to unlock new blueprints. Any viable combination not in the blueprint list would flip from "Impossible" to "Synthesis Possible."
"Blueprints can wait. Time for a furnace first?"
To grill anything on the stone plate, he'd need a proper furnace base. He stacked bricks slathered in clay into a rectangular shape. He left a wide opening for fuel and poked ventilation holes throughout.
Is the structure made of bricks a Furnace?
Sure enough, the smart Creation skill picked up on his intent right away.
"Yeah."
The rough-hewn furnace bathed in a radiant glow, emerging reborn as a finely crafted brick masterpiece. A perfect arched fuel inlet formed, the crude vent holes vanished, replaced by a tall chimney at the back.
"What quality!"
As Creation's level rose, so did the transformation quality. Han Ji-woo immediately synthesized a campfire in the Creation window and placed it inside. Whoosh! The flames roared to life vigorously.
"Finally!"
Dreaming of fried eggs, he slapped the stone griddle atop the furnace. But on closer inspection, it wasn't just big—it had a grease drain on one side. The first thing that came to mind with a griddle like this? Samgyeopsal.
"Whoa, this isn't just for eggs."
A fountain of desire for grilled pork belly surged up, and that's when his eyes landed on the dead horned chicken corpses.
"…That's it!"
When the pheasant ain't around, chicken it is? Nah. Today, it's chicken instead of pork!
Sizzle sizzle.
Chicken meat cooked atop the stone griddle. Han Ji-woo couldn't even remember how he'd butchered it. His eyes had rolled back at the thought of grilling meat, knife in hand. When he came to, every cut of chicken packed the griddle, sizzling away.
Han Ji-woo, Pao, and Lucy drooled happily at the sight.
Using wooden chopsticks, Han Ji-woo flipped the pieces to cook evenly.
'Even though it's chicken from a monster, I was worried…'
No foul odor from the dressed meat. As it cooked, only a savory aroma rose.
"Pao! Horned chicken meat after so long!"
Pao shouted excitedly.
"You eaten this before?"
"Goblins hunt horned chickens on sight."
"And grill 'em?"
"Just eat raw."
"Try grilled once. It'll blow your mind."
"Good!"
"Lucy too~"
Nyaa!
Han Ji-woo's hands flew, browning the chicken to perfection.
"Dig in!"
Human, goblin, and cat hands snatched meat like the wind. Han Ji-woo's chopsticks nabbed a deboned thigh. He blew on it a few times—foof foof—popped it in his mouth, and chewed.
"…!"
Fireworks exploded in his brain. How long since he'd tasted real meat? Chewing the tender flesh unleashed oily, nutty juices, laced with umami that made his eyes roll. The slightly crispy skin was divine! No salt was a bummer, but the chicken was so good it didn't matter. Monster meat worries melted away. Big bodies meant plenty of meat, rich juices, and zero chewiness.
Gulp!
After swallowing a mouthful, Han Ji-woo reached for more but paused, glancing at Lucy.
'She's a cat—hot food! …But she's fine?'
Lucy didn't seem fazed by the heat. With her paw pads like cotton swabs and claws like spikes, she tap! speared a piece and chomped right down.
Nyanyanyanya! Her happy sounds said it was more than tolerable.
"Makes sense. Not your average cat—she's cat tribe."
A cat with water and fire attributes? Basically a unicorn from legend!
Next, Pao. The goblin scarfed hot meat without issue, apparently resistant to fire.
Seeing them chow down happily, Han Ji-woo continued his meal with a grin.
One horned chicken vanished in a flash. Pao buried the guts, bones, feathers, head, and feet from butchering near the Dungeon Tree. Its growth shot up over 20%, hitting 37.4%.
"Jackpot."
Before facing the horned chickens, Han Ji-woo had cursed Ferrofero. That "Monster Appears" nonsense was just gonna be a hassle. But now? Daily meat, egg machines, even Dungeon Tree fertilizer. The guy was an angel.
Low-grade monsters weren't much threat firsthand, so he even hoped they'd show up more often. Gotta make that Dungeon Tree grow, right?
"20% spawn chance is too low. Imagine monsters every night?"
He licked his lips, wishing Ferrofero would drop by again. Then a system message appeared.
Discovered Hidden Piece 'Dwarf's Armor Chest' on Dungeon Floor 4. Part of the Hidden Piece is shared.
"Huh?"
Han Ji-woo read the unfamiliar message twice, three times. Then thunk—something dropped in front of him. A sleek, expensive-looking matte black full-body armor. Above it floated the name "Black Hatchling Slough Armor."
"What's this out of nowhere? …Oh, right."
Recently, his dungeon-sharing range had expanded. Now, Hidden Pieces found in the dungeon got partially shared with him.
He touched the armor on the ground. It looked tough but felt soft and stretchy like latex.
"In games, gear usually pops an info window."
Armor crafted by skilled dwarves who hammered a black dragon hatchling's shed slough for months. Highly elastic, with excellent defense, and light as feathers.
Defense +50, Agility +50, Vitality +50
Undead Monster Stats -50%
"This is insane!"
Hatchling meant baby dragon. Dragons? Apex monsters in any fantasy world. Armor from a shed baby dragon skin boasting specs like this? Nuts!
Excited, Han Ji-woo tried to don it.
"But how do you even wear this?"
The one-piece suit had no obvious entry hole. No zipper either. He fumbled until suddenly the armor slithered alive, wrapping around him snugly.
"Whoa!"
Grinning in surprise, he checked himself out. The black suit covered everything but face, hands, and feet, accented with gold patterns that made it look badass.
"Let's check stats."
"Bonus armor stats show up like that, huh."
Now his vitality, defense, and agility topped or neared 100. Steady cooking bumped that stat to 18 too.
"Low-grades were cakewalks before, so mid-grades should be doable now too, right?"
He'd only given to the dungeon folks till now. This time, he scored something even better.
"Wh-what in the world is happening?"
Ferrofero, who'd dozed off watching the crystal orb, jolted awake to the commotion. The orb showed Dungeon Floor 5.
Floor 5 was a mid-low grade monster jungle where tons died. Not just strong monsters— they ambushed from the foliage when fatigue peaked. Corpses always piled up before Floor 6.
They still did. But zero human bodies. The 27th Heroes had slaughtered every monster and gathered at the Floor 6 door to rest. Only losses? Six goblins.
As usual, campfire blazing, they shared grilled fish, apples, and sunflower seeds, chatting amiably. Goblins mingled more comfortably now.
"H-hold on! The humans are all decked in shiny armor? N-no way! They found a Hidden Piece?!"
No one had ever found Floor 4's Hidden Piece. It wasn't luck—only following the dungeon mole's complex rules revealed the path.
"How in the… Huh?!"
Another unbelievable sight hit Ferrofero's eyes amid the laughing humans and goblins: a dungeon mole! It giggled, belly-up to Kim Jung-min, acting cute.
"Wh-what's that idiot doing there frolicking like that?!"
Dungeon moles built Floor 4's maze and fled humans on sight. Yet here it was, buried in the crowd. Ferrofero couldn't fathom what happened while he slept.
"Huh? Wait… Why's there a chicken coop in the dungeon?!"
The 27th didn't notice yet, but one sat in a corner.
"No way that Han Ji-woo bastard's still alive?!"
Ferrofero tore at his fur, howling.
"I'm losing my mind here! What do I even do with that guy?!"
The dungeon should reek of blood, pain, death, despair. But Han Ji-woo turned it into blooming joy and hope.