Wheat Beyond the Purple Lava

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"I'm off!"

"Yeah. Come back safe."

The pleasant picnic on the plains was over. Once Elia had tucked the freshly harvested cucumbers into her subspace bag and departed for the Free Market, Minhyuk led his legion deep into the jungle.

Wheat. It has to be wheat. Not corn, not potatoes—wheat.

Potatoes? Corn? Of course they were delicious enough. Warmed through when you were peckish, they made as fine a meal as anyone could ask for. But wheat was on another plane entirely. The whole category of food you could make from it sat in a league of its own.

Bread, noodles, pastries, fried dishes, savory pancakes.

And everything else besides. A perennial bestseller among ingredients, one that modern cooking could hardly do without. Just the little emoji drawn on the slate map was enough to set his mouth watering.

"Krrrung?"

That good?

"You bet. It's the kind of delicacy you can't even get your hands on, because there's never enough of it."

Minhyuk walked on with the slate map, and in time he reached his destination.

"Oh..."

Minhyuk blinked, staring blankly. The wheat was there, just as the slate map had said. Stalks and ears ripened to gold tossed in the wind with a soft rustle, gleaming with a healthy sheen.

The problem was this.

From somewhere far off, a flow of purple lava came hissing and popping down to cut him off from the wheat. Minhyuk checked the slate map again. A wave emoji did ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sit snug beside the wheat.

What? It wasn't a valley—it was lava?

And not ordinary lava, either.

Flames seethed purple, virulent as poison, across a span as wide as a river. Lava, and its grade was what? SSS?

Worse, the wheat was crackling and charring black in the heat.

Fwoosh!

Ah. And now it had caught fire. This was seriously bad.

"Is there any way across the lava?"

Minhyuk stared at the wheat field as the embers crept farther and farther, thinking hard.

Linking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Safe Zones together like a bridge and crossing that way would be best, but...

The Safe Zone expansion he was allowed right now came to a mere three pyeong—the spare he'd picked up leveling from the cucumber harvest a little while ago. Three pyeong could never span that vast river of lava, and by the time his Safe Zone level climbed any higher, the wheat field would have burned away to nothing.

Pole vault?

Mmm. Far too dangerous. Pass on that, too.

Then...

Crunch, crunch.

Minhyuk ate the Obangba Salad he'd packed for the plains picnic. It wasn't because even the grandest view is best enjoyed on a full stomach.

The SS-rank artifact, the Guardian's Sanctuary Bracelet. He had eaten to push the skill of an artifact that ran on mana as far as it would go.

Oh. Was it all the bananas he'd been eating, on top of the mana buff? The barrier, which had sat at Stage 1, had climbed to Stage 2.

A barrier closed around him in a perfect sphere. Minhyuk stepped toward the lava.

If it feels even a little dangerous, I can just back straight out.

And so, the instant he carefully set one foot into the lava—

Hsssssss—!

Where the sanctuary barrier touched it, the purple lava flushed red. Not all of it—only the portion in contact with the barrier. He couldn't feel the lava's searing heat, either.

As the window made plain, the barrier was taking no damage at all. Stage 2 had clearly improved its performance by a noticeable margin.

Right. This is no time to stand around being impressed.

Minhyuk hurried across the lava field.

Fwoooosh—!

In that short span the embers had spread through the entire wheat field.

"Aaaah! This precious wheat!"

He thrashed through the field, transformed in an instant into a fire scene, hunting for whatever wheat was still intact. The result—

"T-two of them...!"

Two intact ears, rescue complete.

Minhyuk let out a sigh of relief at the plump ears that had survived the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠flames unscathed. Whew. Safe.

Back on the plains once more, he made for the Safe Zone with the ears rescued from the fire cradled preciously against him.

Out of the way. All of you, out of the way. His most precious Excellency, the Wheat, is coming through.

Hoo... easy does it...

Minhyuk sank to the ground and carefully threshed the ears into his palm.

Pat, pat, pat—

Kernels spilled from the ears in a generous heap. A rough count put them at a little under fifty. The two ears together came to about ninety kernels. Run them through milling and you'd be left with a quantity too tiny to make even breadcrumbs, but...

It's fine. I just have to plant them and grow them myself.

And who was he? The Tower's farmer, a man who made his living selling crops! Just like the cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, bananas, and corn, he only had to raise them himself and multiply the yield.

Thud, thud, thud—!

Minhyuk turned the plot where the wheat would go with a wooden hoe. The husband bison had already tilled the whole field, but a little extra care never hurt. After that he planted the kernels one by one with painstaking attention, in a space a little over half a pyeong, packed close while keeping even gaps.

Trickle, trickle—

Then he watered them, and that was the end of it. From here on, it was the prayer meta.

Please, just grow well.

Minhyuk pressed his hands together with desperate sincerity. He hadn't been this earnest even when he was trying to land a job. Still, wheat was something he couldn't let go.

"You two, the bison couple. Your job is the most important one. Keep a close watch so the others don't mess with it. And you be careful yourselves."

"Moooo—!"

Every preparation was finished. Now all he had to do was wait.

Day 100.

"Ooooh...!"

This was the result of going back and forth every day between the Beachfront Safe Zone and the plains, watering them with love and devotion.

Pop—!

Sprouts shot up in a dense carpet. Not a single one had failed to germinate.

"Heh heh. Well done."

You could say it was worth sprinting to the wheat field the moment he opened his eyes.

Trickle, trickle—

Minhyuk watered the field with a grin he couldn't hold back. Picturing himself as a wheat tycoon in the near future, the smile simply wouldn't dry up.

Heh. What should I make first? Bread? Noodles? Something fried? Savory pancakes?

"Ookii—!"

"Ookikki—?"

The Monkey Scout Captain, who had been keeping watch for Minhyuk, came trotting over to admire the sprouts.

"That's right. It's the wheat you found. I planted it a few days ago."

"Ookikki...? How, my lord, did you cross the lava...?"

Hmm. How was he supposed to explain this? A beautiful harmony of gear-carry and buff-carry?

Anyway.

"Ookii— ook-ookikki— The lava bars any further scouting upcountry, my lord."

The Monkey Scout Captain explained that because of the lava, they could scout no farther upward. From what Minhyuk heard, whenever an obstacle like the lava stood in their way, reconnaissance was postponed indefinitely.

Tsk... that's a bit of a problem.

The Monkey Scout Brigade's exploits, and the Monkey Doctor's slate map filling in because of them. And now the brigade couldn't operate anymore? Because of that purple lava? It was as good as a red light flashing over Minhyuk's hopes for a more abundant castaway life.

Not that I can lend them the Guardian's Sanctuary Bracelet.

Of course, he could shuttle back and forth like an elevator and ferry the scouts across the lava one by one. That would be an enormous waste of manpower. At that point he'd be better off exploring the jungle himself.

I'll just link Safe Zones into a bridge for them. So they can cross back and forth anytime, even without me.

Five levels of Safe Zone. Invest about fifteen pyeong, and he ought to be able to build a safe bridge across the lava.

And for the record—a way to level up without crops? There was one. Subquests.

About time I got around to it.

Minhyuk grabbed a pickaxe at once and headed for the bear's cave. Or rather—should he call it the cave where a bear used to be?

Step. Step.

He entered the place where he had first mined the Astro Sapphire (SS), and from a cavern deeper still came a dazzling radiance of every color.

"Hup— kuh, hack, hack—!"

A few more steps, and acrid smoke stabbed at the tip of his nose. A sting not unlike a chemical-defense gas drill. His vision felt hazy, too.

So there was something like toxic gas in here. Nothing for it, then.

"Hoo. Breathing's a bit easier now."

Minhyuk loosened up and set to work with the pickaxe.

Clang— clang— clang— crack—!

Yellow, purple, a translucent milky white, emerald. He smashed everything in sight without discrimination, whatever the color.

Clang— clang— crack—! Clang—!

The pick felt especially good in his hands today.

About twenty minutes later, Minhyuk checked the fruits of his labor.

Yellow, white, emerald, and purple, in that order. Maybe like called to like. Every one of them was SS-rank, just like the Astro Sapphire.

"Okay. This ought to satisfy the Monkey Doctor, right?"

Minhyuk gathered the minerals he'd mined and headed for the Monkey Doctor's tree laboratory. He opened the creaking door, and the Monkey Doctor yanked off his spectacles and shot to his feet.

"Oogi? Oogigikki? My king? What brings you all the way here?"

"I came to give you what you asked for last time."

Minhyuk set the mined minerals on the table.

"Four SS-rank minerals, the same grade as the Astro Sapphire."

"O-oogikki...?"

At the sight of the multicolored minerals, the Monkey Doctor startled and clutched his forehead in both hands.

A quest-clear window rose with it. One hundred experience for each mineral. Four hundred experience in all.

The level-up was done as well. Thanks to it, he'd secured three pyeong of Safe Zone, and he was just turning to leave—wondering what to fill the remaining twelve pyeong with—when it happened.

"Oogi... oogikki..."

The Monkey Doctor held out a bluish ring. It looked like something made from the Astro Sapphire Minhyuk had given him before.

"What's this?"

A hula hoop? Judging by the size and the shape, it was exactly a hula hoop. Don't tell him the doctor had made it so he could work his abs—

"Wh-whoa?!"

The arm Minhyuk had reached out to take the hula hoop with vanished. Or, more precisely—

Pop—!

—it jutted out of another blue ring sitting on the Monkey Doctor's table. The scene looked like a magic act in which someone is sawed in half.

...Hold on.

Don't tell me this is—

Mmm.