The Black Monkeys

This time, how much wider could I stretch the farm, and how carefully could I tend it? Clear the Main Quest and I'd pick up another 10P—enough to use the cottage more generously, put in solar, maybe even build a living room. I'd walked home turning all kinds of happy pictures over in my head. What waited in front of my eyes was a ruined field.

The kitchen plot in front of the house had grown large enough that you could call it a field without stretching the word. I had Gob-ring slaves now, and Kim Sujeong had been widening it whenever she found a spare moment. I'd been thinking that once it properly settled, I'd section the homestead itself into zones and start putting up fences.

"Huh. What am I looking at."

"Master... I'm sorry..."

Ruru apologized in a sulky mumble. She and the Gob-rings had been gathered in front of the cottage.

"What happened? Why are there only ten of you? Why are you coming from the orchard?"

Something had gone down. Nothing especially strange about that. A rift dimension is like that. A farm is like that. It was only a scene I'd lived through tens of thousands of times in Farming World.

The difference was that back then I could fall asleep and wake to this exact mess already spread out in front of me, and I'd be furious. This time I'd been gone more than a week, so... I could at least tell myself I hadn't been around to look after it. That didn't mean I wasn't angry.

The Gob-rings were my first slaves. I could keep up to fifteen, and not knowing that, I'd killed two extra and been left with thirteen—a loss of manpower that already ate at me. Then, while I was away, three more had died. I'd already been bitter about a farm running on only ten of them, detouring through the Corrupted Forest every time I went in case some Gob-ring had bred or another one was out there, lighting up the map while I was at it.

Which bastard did this.

Faced with my anger, Ruru explained.

"The Black Monkeys did it."

"Ah. Those soot-black bastards."

Right. I'd forgotten. While I was digging Sunro Mushrooms, I'd even thought I ought to watch for an opening and clear the Black Monkeys out. A sub-quest had popped on top of that, so I'd figured I should lay hands on them at least once—but I'd been busy farming the Corrupted Forest, and until I logged out these bastards had either caught a whiff of me or simply held off. Then, the moment I was gone, they pulled this. From what she said, it happened about five days after I left, so they probably hadn't been lying in wait on purpose.

"The mushrooms?"

"They said they hid the harvested ones well."

"Good."

Hoo... My head went hot.

If there was one thing a ten-year veteran of Farming World could never forgive, it was someone touching his field. Tending a field takes time and effort. In this world the field is where nearly all of your time goes, so every time you work it, you pour your heart into it. It's a field you look at every day—for months, for years. You don't touch one halfway through unless you're tearing the whole farm up and starting over.

It still wasn't a field that had fully taken root, so I'd be turning the soil soon enough anyway. Even so, it was the same as with the Big Rats. When the front yard ends up in this state, every player of Farming World comes down with their own little disease: separation anxiety, a rage that won't stay leashed, or hands that shake so badly nothing else will stay in your grip until the mess is cleared.

"Those monkey bastards are dead. All of them."

First I unloaded my luggage into the second-floor storeroom, and whatever didn't fit I dumped roughly on the first floor. One look at the state of things told me housework and unpacking weren't the problem. Ever since the Black Monkeys had shown up, they'd been making surprise visits near the cottage every single day, looking the place over and leaving again. If the Gob-rings had run into them then, it would have been a massacre—bad enough that they'd been told not to come out of the orchard side at all.

This couldn't stand. I had to save the field, and was I really going to stand guard over my own slaves like they were royalty?

"You lot. Restore the field. Right here."

I tossed out the bait. The Black Monkeys hadn't come today yet. If the Gob-rings were working outside, they'd come running on their own. That would be the opening.

"Kerruk. Black Monkey. Very strong. Kerruk."

"I'm stronger. You little shits. You want to die to me?"

"Kerruk. Trust Master."

The Gob-rings glanced at my face, then started turning the ruined field over again from the outer edge in. For about two hours, nothing happened.

Around lunch, I'd given the Gob-rings their meat and was eating the meal Kim Sujeong had set out when a commotion rose outside.

"They're here."

I shoved one spoonful of the steaming rice into my mouth and bolted straight out. Ten monkeys, a little bigger than me or about my size, stood in a wide ring around the Gob-rings.

"You. Mushrooms. Kikik... You did not pay tribute."

"Kerruk..."

"Mushrooms. Where are they? Kik."

"Kerruk..."

"Don't speak, you die. Kiki..."

Their movements carried a faint, gorilla-like weight. I launched the first strike at the Black Monkeys, who had eyes only for the Gob-rings.

According to Ruru, the Black Monkeys were A- rank monsters. They belonged to the Level 2 Biome—creatures you never saw in the Level 0 Biome. So I didn't let my guard down. I cut ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only for the vital points, watched the follow-up strike detonate, and lined up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the next.

"Kiki—!"

"Kyaaek!"

"Ki? What is this, ki...?"

"Whoa. They don't die in one hit?"

A- rank monsters were monsters, all right. They didn't drop to a single blow of mine. Even with the neck cut clean, it clutched at the spraying blood and thrashed. Of course, not dead yet was as good as dead. More than seventy percent of the neck had been severed and left dangling, grotesque enough to make anyone watching grimace. Leave it like that and it dies.

What startled me was that even going all out, the cut didn't go through in one stroke.

Tough, aren't they.

At A- rank it depends on what their primary stat is, but that puts their Endurance somewhere from A- to A. Using this as a rough benchmark, I figured I could gauge the Corrupted Ogre's Endurance too.

This isn't going to be easy.

And that was only because I'd added to my item setup this time. Without it, I might not have been able to put even the monkeys down in a single strike. Even an A- rank Black Monkey couldn't slip an attack from me with the Gutter Sword in hand and the Glass Stone Ring on my finger.

"Kiki... human..."

I didn't bother hearing out the rest of what the remaining monkeys had to say. In my eyes, the Black Monkeys looked like nothing but money.

"Hand over that A- hide."

"Kiki... crazy human..."

Once again, I let two of them go, sloppy on purpose. It was a little repetitive—boring, annoying—but when you had a method this easy and this sure, there was no reason to pick another.

"I'll be back."

Sword in hand, I followed the Black Monkeys. The Level 2 Biome sat stuck right up against the Level 0 Biome. Would it be all right? The thought flickered, but I had confidence. With my current stats, a Level 2 Biome would mostly be B-rank anyway. No need to be afraid yet. And the leather armor set I was wearing wrapped me up solid.

Defense was obviously lower than A+ gear, and the damage reduction was smaller too. There was also no Agility +1 rank from the Aura of Chaos that had come attached to the A+ pieces, and no base Agility +1 rank either. Set beside that, it was clear A+ armor needed a healthy share of luck on top of everything else.

But I was satisfied. Armor carrying the Aura of Chaos hadn't dropped, yet the top, bottoms, gloves, neck guard, and socks I had on—five pieces, all the same grade, all made from hides kept at a full 100% condition—had picked up a set effect. That effect was hard to land, hard enough that set grade existed as its own category apart from option grade. Some people prized the upside. Others called it a downside, since you had to wear the full set before the option applied. For me, right now, it was a satisfying option added on.

Agility +1 rank. Five pieces equipped for a single rank? Disappointing, you could say. But there was no cap on the rank it could raise. In other words, with these five items on, my Agility had climbed to S+. Because of that, Leap Slash scaled with Agility, and the number of strikes dealt during a leap had gone from five to eight. A full three extra attacks for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a single rank. There was a reason the Black Monkeys had folded so easily.

"Heh heh heh."

Defense was high, and there was an effect that soaked damage whenever I got hit, so the risk of some blind swing chewing chunks out of my life had dropped. A chance had come to light a little of the Level 2 Biome as well, on the map I'd been pushing outward through the dark of the Level 0 Biome.

I wonder what my monkeys live on. I'm far too curious.

What did the Sunro ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Mushrooms go for this time, again? And I ought to plant a few more Sunro Mushroom trees while I'm at it.