Ofrin Farm (1)
The night Jeron returned to his territory.
He had known there would be a lot to do on his first day back, but it was busy beyond his wildest imagination.
While reviewing the overall territory development plan, he had also stopped by the farm to check on the growth of the potatoes and flowers. He had spent the entire day buried in work, drafting war plans and strategies.
Of course, Jeron's day was not over yet.
The monsters had to be subjugated, which meant he had to cross over to Earth and bring back the "decisive weapons" crafted by Mr. Kang.
Though there were only ten crossbows, he expected the traps the man had designed to play a major role.
Kang Yu-jung had asked to come along on his next visit to Earth, but that was out of the question.
Given the strict weight limit, it was far more efficient for Jeron to cross over alone.
Today's plan was to secure the perimeter of the industrial complex and pay a visit to Ofrin Farm.
He could retrieve Mr. Kang's equipment after visiting the farm.
The Ofrin seeds were highly resistant to cold damage. If planted in the newly cleared land now, they could be harvested right before winter set in.
One by one, the tasks for the day organized themselves in Jeron's mind.
Finally, he checked his gear.
A day's worth of rations, a thermos, a flashlight, hot packs, and a map went into his backpack.
Before putting on his armor, he donned warm thermal underwear, layered two shirts, and threw on a parka.
Over that, he equipped his armor, greaves, and gauntlets, pulled a winter hat over his head, and topped it with a helmet. Finally, he wrapped a cloak around himself to preserve his body heat.
Because the heat of the Karen Continent persisted even into the night, sweat was already trickling down his back.
Jeron quickly opened the dimensional gate.
Whoosh!
Although he had steeled himself before crossing over to Earth, the sudden change still took his breath away.
It felt as if his lungs were freezing solid.
Shivering from the creeping cold, Jeron immediately turned on the electric heater and poured water into the electric kettle.
As the temperature rose bit by bit, his body began to adapt.
"I've really come a long way."
A sudden wave of emotion washed over him.
There was a time when he thought merely surviving the crossing to Earth was enough.
Now, he not only survived but had the luxury of time and a comfortable environment to adjust to Earth's harsh climate.
The water in the electric kettle boiled vigorously.
The heater, drawing power from the solar batteries, was working hard, successfully raising the indoor temperature.
Jeron mixed one of his few remaining packets of instant coffee.
With a single sip, the sweet sugar coated his tongue, and his mind began to spin rapidly.
Such was the majesty of refined sugar. Almost immediately, the glucose hit his brain.
Since his stay limit had increased to twelve hours, Jeron could afford to move at a relatively leisurely pace.
Before setting off for Ofrin Farm, he checked Mr. Kang's weapon display case once more.
"Twelve mechanical crossbows, thirty ankle traps, and a bundle of firecrackers? I wonder why he left these here."
It wasn't a particularly large amount, and it certainly wouldn't be enough on its own.
A passage from the diary he had found previously flashed through Jeron's mind.
Please recover the remains of my family and friends in the shelter.
There should be about twenty mechanical crossbows left there, so it won't be a loss for you either.
If you do this, I will be grateful to you even in death.
"Right, the shelter."
Mr. Kang had written that twenty of his crafted crossbows remained in the shelter.
It wasn't a guaranteed lead.
Even if they were still there, they might have rusted over the years, or passing survivors might have scavenged them long ago.
Still, it was well worth checking out.
The shelter was located on the outskirts of Seosan.
If the shelter had been in the middle of a city center or another region entirely, Jeron wouldn't have even considered it.
But it was situated on a remote, sparsely populated hill in the middle of nowhere. Given the urgent need to subjugate the monsters, it was a viable option.
"For today, I'll take the weapons here first. Next time, I'll head to the shelter."
He had plenty of time.
Even if it was on the outskirts of Seosan, it was only about twenty kilometers away.
A distance he could cover in an hour on a bicycle. One hour was a small price to pay to investigate a potential jackpot.
While Jeron mapped out his plans, the interior of Mr. Kang's safehouse grew reasonably warm.
He sat cross-legged on the floor for a moment.
Even before meeting Kang Yu-jung, he had resolved to spend at least an hour training whenever he crossed over to Earth.
He hadn't had the time to train alone while rescuing the Kangs, but today, there was no excuse to skip it.
If farming was for raising funds and developing his territory, training was for building Jeron's foundational strength.
Closing his eyes, he felt a massive wave of mana.
Earth's mana was incredibly dense.
The more time passed since he reached the 1st Circle, the more Jeron realized what an immense privilege it was to train on Earth.
In an instant, mana flooded his lungs.
The energy cycled through his entire body, flowing in and out in a rhythmic tide.
Jeron drew the mana into every corner of his body, spinning his circle rapidly.
As the mana was sucked into the circle, it swelled to a massive size.
He wanted to cram every drop of incoming mana into the circle, but it was impossible. The pressure on his heart made it difficult to breathe.
In that case, it was time to attempt splitting the circle.
Count Hanes had told him that the path from the 1st Circle to the 2nd Circle was proportional to the absolute quantity of mana.
While one could reach the 3rd Circle through circle division, it was by no means an easy task.
Gathering the mana was one thing, but splitting a perfectly intact circle accompanied a pain worse than having one's flesh carved out with a knife.
It was the same principle as a single-celled organism undergoing self-division.
Rumble!
The moment the mana rushed in like a tidal wave and swelled the circle to its absolute limit, he forged the mana into a blade and attempted to split the circle.
"Ugh!"
His heart felt as if it were about to burst under the pressure.
As expected, attempting to split the circle this early was pure greed.
He should have built up more training before trying.
Jeron stopped his mana circulation method and collapsed onto the floor.
Even with the electric heater running, the room was still below freezing, yet cold sweat poured from his brow.
"It really isn't easy."
He hadn't expected to succeed on his first try, but he had harbored a sliver of hope.
Jeron had briefly delved into the illusion that he possessed an extraordinary talent for magic.
Frankly, it was a reasonable assumption.
He had accumulated a massive amount of mana in no time by traveling to Earth, and he had mastered double casting by learning advanced modern mathematics.
But that was because his circumstances were extraordinary, not because he was a genius. His innate comprehension was likely no different from that of an ordinary person.
Jeron calmed his racing heart and stood up.
Although he had failed to reach the 2nd Circle, seeing the possibility was enough for now.
Jeron grabbed a mechanical crossbow, twenty bolts, and a machete from the display case before heading outside.
The narrow alleyway was packed with all kinds of traps.
Jeron was on high alert.
A massive ballista sat squarely at the end of the alley, with piano wires stretched taut in every direction.
If that siege-grade ballista were to fire, Jeron would not survive.
No matter how sturdy his armor was.
The ankle traps laid out on the ground were also incredibly dense.
One wrong step, and his ankle would be severed instantly.
Jeron advanced carefully, step by step.
Only when he finally cleared the alley did he let out a sigh of relief.
The industrial complex looked exactly as it had before.
Corpses littered the ground, overturned cars lay abandoned in the streets, and bloodstains painted the asphalt.
With the bleak wind blowing dead leaves across the pavement, it was a literal living hell.
Needing to scout, he climbed the stairs of a building littered with mummified corpses.
Dried blood stained the steps, and a chilling wind howled down the stairwell from the rooftop.
Earth, by its very nature, kept a person on edge.
Reaching the rooftop, Jeron scanned the entire industrial complex.
Aside from the desolate scenery, there were no signs of mutants near the complex.
Only the tracks of the mutant that had fled not long ago remained.
The trail of black blood stretched far to the north.
There were no signs of anyone else entering the area.
This was enough.
Jeron left the building, mounted his bicycle, and rode out of the industrial complex.
He was heading toward the low hill situated right next to it.
Scouting was essential to survival on Earth.
He had only briefly scouted the interior of Ofrin Farm from a distance back when he was in the studio apartment district, so he needed to check it again.
Jeron left the industrial complex and headed northeast.
He parked his bicycle at the foot of the hill and walked up the trail.
The eerie atmosphere sent goosebumps down his arms.
Rustle!
The sound of branches swaying in the wind was ominous.
It hadn't felt this desolate when he visited not long ago.
Was it because he was alone?
Without realizing it, he seemed to have grown accustomed to traveling with someone else on Earth.
Even though Kang Yu-jung was a woman, she was a survivor who had endured this hell.
Moving with her eased his mental burden.
Now that he was alone, sweat was already running down his back from the sheer tension.
Reaching the summit of the low hill.
Jeron lowered his posture and scanned his surroundings.
Even small animals were completely absent.
He couldn't sense any trace of humans or mutants.
He looked down at Ofrin Farm through his binoculars.
The farm was larger than he had anticipated.
Spanning over eight acres, it was practically a vast expanse of land.
Around the fields, greenhouses lay torn apart, their ruins scattered across the ground. The workers' shelter had all its windows shattered, its roof half-collapsed.
The storage warehouse near the greenhouses.
Its doors were flung wide open.
It looked as though survivors had swept through the farm multiple times.
"Tsk."
Jeron clicked his tongue. He didn't expect the wheat seeds to be perfectly preserved, but he had still harbored a sliver of hope.
All Jeron wanted was a single handful of seeds.
With just that much, the wheat would multiply rapidly. By the standards of the Karen Continent, wouldn't it be hailed as a super-wheat?
At a glance, it seemed like a barren, picked-clean farm, but one could never be sure.
Surely, in a field that vast, a handful of seeds had to remain.
He pushed his doubts into the depths of his mind.
Farming on Earth was always a series of chasing slim possibilities.
If he let negativity take over, he might miss things right in front of his eyes.
Jeron finished his scouting and folded his binoculars.
"Shall we start farming?"