Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Farming
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A few days later, 11-1 Rift, Zone 4.
Training after training.
Mana deficiency is the daily routine.
The more sweat I shed, the more stress piles up.
Grumble, grumble.
I can't push my pouty lips back in.
"Isn't this a bit much, Instructor?"
"Don't dump the original's work on me."
"But you remember it all perfectly!"
If I hadn't barely scraped together some free time, I wouldn't be sneaking back into the primeval forest rift like this.
Training by day, training by night. I'd just be drenched in sweat nonstop!
"I'm seriously tired. No joke."
"I know. However."
The instructor said firmly.
"Skills get honed the more you use them."
"Ugh...!"
Proving my abilities to the instructor and having her warm up to me a bit was great. But warming up meant she was investing just as much passion into me.
And the result?
Training all day long.
A nonstop personal hell of training.
Of course, I'm grateful... but the extended training hours are really pushing it!
"But you agree on the benefits of training, don't you?"
"Well, sure, but."
It's not that I hate training itself.
It's important. Even in games, without specs, you're just a scrub no matter what.
But no matter the benefits of training, nothing beats the efficiency of 'auto-hunt'.
I gripped the mana stone in my pocket.
The cornerstone of rift economy and society, glowing with blue light.
Experience? Experience.
Money? Money.
Obviously, grabbing both is top priority, right?
The reason I was suddenly obsessing over money was simple.
"Instructor, I'm really broke. Out of cash. Spent it all."
"......"
Is Dominant Evil some game that levels up solely on EXP?
No.
Resources, resources, resources.
Reinforcements need resources, crafting needs resources.
This mana stone, treated as currency, is arguably more vital than experience points.
All academy hunter students get national scholarships.
But the amount barely covers dorm fees. It's pocket change, barely enough for meals or a single piece of training gear.
'Always scraping by on money.'
Not all trainees are like this.
In a world where every student is a hunter with skills, what can't they do?
But for me, unable to craft a decent item, it was fatal.
Thinking about it pisses me off again.
But things are different now.
With the instructor's clone, I can enter rifts. Now I can do something far more productive and valuable.
Selling loot from beast hunts!
All the glittering mana stones and byproducts scattered along the ice paths the instructor creates are mine.
"Okay, next is that left hill over there. See the loot dropping?"
"Why do I have to play your errand boy too?"
"Hehe, I'll do the picking up."
"You little..."
Instructor Cheon Da-eun let out a long sigh.
I didn't plan to farm this hard from the start. Naturally, I thought building strength came before money.
'But the situation changed.'
I need a chunk of cash right now.
One reason.
The mock rift plan.
The mock rift plan.
It's one of the major events in the protagonist's second semester. The academy, with association support, plans to introduce mock rifts on a large scale for trainee training.
But what was presented as a perfectly designed rift turns out to be an anomaly space linked to a giant beast's stomach.
An extremely rare disaster, but not impossible.
'A dormant volcano paused for digestion, and the academy sparked it.'
Numerous trainees get hurt, and the protagonist shines amid the chaos. It's set to happen in less than a year—no, ten months.
Someone might ask if it's fine since it's not now, but who knows.
Butterfly effect might bring some horrific, unmentioned variable from the game.
"So, what are you making with that money?"
"Psh, with my skills? I'm buying it, straight cash."
"...Didn't you say you won Kraus's favor?"
If I could make something like that, I wouldn't have become a straggler in the first place.
What that old man likes isn't anything special.
'Firepower nut.'
Precisely, he favors flashy, wide-area skills that explode spectacularly.
A German-American ex-general, he scratches for fireball rookie talent like baseball scouts, judging based on overwhelming destructive power over finesse.
So my target is simple.
"More than that, boosting mana capacity comes first. And scalability to explode it all at once is essential."
It aligned with what Instructor Cheon Da-eun always pointed out.
She nodded in agreement.
"Not a bad direction. So what are you buying? You're not saying Mana Elixir, right?"
"Yeah. Exactly."
"...That expensive stuff? On your budget?"
The instructor furrowed her brow slightly.
Mana Elixir. As the name implies, a special drug that massively boosts total mana.
The price? Murderous. Pouring all my assets might get me one or two bottles if I'm lucky.
But if I couldn't cheat the system, I wouldn't mention it.
I had my own workaround prepared.
"That's why I need to make money."
I started stuffing the spoils from beasts the instructor felled into the worn leather pouch on my back.
This expansion pouch is one of my more usable creations. Clunky-looking, but functional enough to hold a ton.
But the side effects aren't negligible.
'Ugh...!'
The more I put in, the more my mana steadily drains into the pouch. My crafting skills are still lacking, so it couldn't link to an external source and relies on the user's own mana.
Obviously a failed product.
I'm barely holding out thanks to steadily absorbing some mana from the instructor.
"Instructor, hold up. Mana absorb time. Pause."
*Smack. Sluurp, slurp.*
I'm pretty used to it now.
Pause the clone, then press my lips one-sidedly to her sweet ones. Thrust my tongue in without hesitation, letting her soft, pliant tongue entwine naturally.
The faint fruity scent in her mouth, the oddly sweet saliva taste. All familiar sensations now.
'Mixing saliva naturally flows my mana to her...'
Being used to it means I can control the flow.
Seize the gap where manas mingle and sticky, suck the entire connected mana thread.
*Slurrrp. Slurrrp. Sluuuuurp.*
After ravaging her mouth thoroughly, I pulled back with regret. A clear strand of saliva stretched long between our lips, like always.
"Hoo... This should hold me for a bit."
Feeling my mana somewhat restored, I contentedly issued the 'resume' command to the instructor.
"......"
The instructor blinked a couple times. Breath a tad ragged from the deep kiss, faint red on her cheeks. I was inwardly nervous, but she seemed clueless as expected.
"...All done?"
"Yes. Shall we head to the next zone?"
"Follow me."
Her reaction felt a bit off, but now wasn't the time to nitpick. I needed cash ASAP. I nodded casually and followed her steps.
[11-1 Rift, Zone 5.]
Fifth of twenty zones.
One-quarter mark reached.
The scenery differed sharply from the prior primeval forest. Towering trees gone, replaced by sheer white cliffs of strange rock formations and blue-tinted small pools nestled between.
Instead of humid air, dry, cool winds blew. Ground covered in small pebbles, not dirt.
No leaves blocking the sky, so everything felt brighter.
"Different vibe here."
"Fewer beast spawns than the jungle, but stronger ones likely lurk. Stay cautious."
"Fly over the cliffs then?"
"No. We go below. These white cliffs produce mana stones too."
Mana stones!
Money talks.
"...Yield is minimal. Don't get hopes up."
The instructor led warily, as if familiar. Tension here was a different breed from previous zones.
We crept along narrow paths between cliffs.
The towering white walls on either side exuded oppressive vibes.
Like something might burst out any second...
It happened then.
*Splash─!*
Sudden sprays from the quiet pools nearby.
Dozens of fish-like beasts with razor teeth. They leaped from water, scaling the cliff faces like waves.
Wall-climbing fish?
"I-Instructor!"
"Calm down and circulate your mana."
"Outta nowhere!"
Why not handle it yourself!
Their speed and weirdness choked me momentarily. Like dozens of harpoons flying at once.
I reflexively glanced at the instructor. But she stood arms crossed, watching coldly.
"Damn...!"
She's seriously trying to kill me!
In that split second, I scraped together cold mana, focusing it in my hands. Recalling her hunts instinctively, I blasted wide cold air ahead.
*Splash─!*
Halted the charging beast pack once.
But mere cold burst wasn't enough. More poured from both cliff walls ahead. No sign of thinning.
Shit, what now?
Why no help yet?
On death's door, my brain kicked into overdrive. One idea hit.
'Right, cast freezing magic sideways...! Erect a wall on the cliff!'
I rolled on the ground, thrusting my right hand up.
Not floor, but wall. Imagining ice rising from the wall.
"Nngh...!"
"Crude, but form's about right."
"Ugh, damn it, what kinda nonsense is that...! Won't even help!"
"Look ahead yourself."
At her words, I stared forward with trembling eyes.
*Crackcraaaack─!*
A vertical ice wall on the cliff. It blanketed the beasts' climb path instantly, forming a massive barrier.
Fish trying to traverse from cliff to ice slammed into it, blocked, or froze solid into protruding chunks.
Only then did I collapse fully, gasping raggedly. Extreme exhaustion hit, like not a drop of mana left.
"Haa... haa... Instructor, why the hell...!"
My lips quivered.
No help, what kinda summon is this!
I glared at her, voice mixed with grievance and anger.
But Instructor Cheon Da-eun silently approached the ice wall. Picked one trapped fish beast, pried its jaw open.
And pulled out a small, iridescent blue mana stone.
"This."
"Huh? M-Mana stone? Why, that..."
"Said they come from here, not that it's a mine."
Man, seriously!
Instructor Cheon Da-eun shrugged.
"Fragile things. I'd have shattered them to ice shards, stones and all."
"Ha..."
No words left.