Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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2
Two days in the Tower.
Morning had broken.
Though the Cave was dim, there were holes in the ceiling through which sunlight streamed, making it possible to distinguish night from day.
“Brr. Cold.”
The predawn air carried a chill.
Yet it didn’t feel quite like winter—more the bite of early autumn.
Growl.
‘First things first—eat.’
Woo Jin quieted his hunger with what remained of his kimbap from yesterday—one roll left after buying two, along with half a bottle of mineral water.
Crunch, crunch.
The kimbap was cool to the touch, but tasted like honey.
The pickled radish and burdock root were sweet and tangy, while the egg strips were rich and savory.
“I’m starting to feel human again.”
His belly was full, his thirst quenched.
Woo Jin decided to explore his surroundings.
Yesterday he’d been too disoriented to venture far, but today he resolved to move with purpose and industry—survival required nothing less.
A few hours later.
‘This is bad.’
After an hour spent exploring the interior of the Cave, Woo Jin had reached a grim conclusion.
There was no exit.
The walls hemmed him in on all sides.
True, the ceiling had small holes where sunlight filtered through, but none of them could serve as a way out.
The one fortunate thing was that the Cave held a small Lake.
Not that he planned to swim out through it.
It might be a dead end of modest size, or it might connect to some vast underground sea—but what mattered to Woo Jin was that this water could serve as drinking water.
Glub, glub.
He filled a 500ml transparent plastic bottle and drank.
Gulp, gulp.
“Ah. This water tastes divine.”
But now what?
The weight of reality pressed down on him.
He took stock of his situation once more.
This place was the Tower.
Mythic Difficulty.
Floor 99.
To escape, he had to clear this floor’s objective.
The objective: defeat the Dragon Lord.
Current Level: 1, base Stats.
Equipment: none.
Coins on hand: 98.
Possessions.
T-shirt, shorts, and boxers on his back.
A 500ml plastic bottle filled with Lake water.
The terrain here?
A Cave sealed on all sides.
‘At least I’m not in the same space as the Dragon Lord—that’s something.’
Typically, when an Awakener enters the Tower,
the target monster for the Clear and any other interactive elements are connected to the location where the Awakener is summoned.
Which meant,
the Dragon Lord existed somewhere beyond this Cave.
Whether it was sealed behind rock faces or some other barrier, the Dragon Lord wasn’t in an entirely different dimension—it was connected to his space.
Woo Jin contemplated how he might survive going forward.
’98 Coins.’
He had to make opportunity from what remained.
The Tower’s system—the Coins it offered—was his only foothold in this nightmare.
Defeating the Dragon Lord and returning to reality was too wild a dream to entertain.
Whether other options existed, he’d discover soon enough. For now, his immediate crisis was simple: he had no food.
He had to secure provisions.
The method was straightforward.
The Community and Auction House.
Since each Coin was worth ten thousand won, Woo Jin possessed ninety-eight Coins — roughly nine hundred eighty thousand won.
Having twisted himself into knots during his self-catering days to pinch pennies, Woo Jin considered various options.
‘Best would be to buy Cup Ramen in bulk. That, plus a Gas Burner to boil water, a Pot, and Wooden Chopsticks.’
There was water available anyway.
‘That box of Yukgaejang Cup Ramen I bought the other day — twenty-four servings for forty thousand won, so four Coins. If I eat one a day, four Coins gets me through twenty-four days.’
Assuming ten Coins of the ninety-eight went toward the labor cost, Gas Burner, cheap Pot, and Wooden Chopsticks.
Five hundred twenty-eight days!
He could actually survive five hundred twenty-eight days!
A smile flickered across Woo Jin’s face, only to be chased away by a sigh.
‘But what happens after five hundred twenty-eight days? I’d have no choice but to die.’
Something more reliable.
He needed a sustainable method of securing food.
‘If only there were fish in the Lake.’
The crystal-clear waters of the Lake showed not a trace of life — not even a speck.
Thump!
Woo Jin flopped down where he stood.
Roll.
He tumbled onto his side.
Then something caught his eye — a weed growing nearby.
[Mana-Infused Weed]
– Grade: E
– Effect: Upon consumption, permanently increases Mana +0.001
– Description: An unnamed plant growing in the Dragon Lair.
“Weeds growing in the Cave, huh.”
He muttered while yawning.
Settling back into a proper lying position.
Sunlight poured through a hole in the ceiling, bright enough to sting his eyes.
“…Wait.”
Woo Jin bolted upright, yanked the weed clean out of the ground, and checked its description again.
– Effect: Upon consumption, permanently increases Mana +0.001
“It raises Mana if I eat it?!”
He was startled.
A weed that boosted Stats?
He’d never seen anything like it.
In his two years working as a civil servant for the Tower Management Bureau, Woo Jin had seen countless items, yet he’d never heard of or witnessed a weed that raised Mana.
For Awakeners to increase their Stats, the nearly universal method was investing points gained from leveling up.
And how did one raise Level?
By Clearing the Tower.
Each floor Cleared granted one Level.
Thus an Awakener’s Level equaled the number of floors they’d Cleared.
The Tower had one hundred floors per Difficulty tier.
In any case.
For someone like Woo Jin, unable to Clear even a single floor, finding even a meager +0.001 Mana boost was nothing short of a stroke of extraordinary luck.
[You have obtained a Mana-Infused Weed.]
[You have obtained a Mana-Infused Weed.]
[You have obtained a Mana-Infused Weed…….]
Woo Jin, hunger forgotten, tore up weeds in excited fervor.
[You have acquired Harvest Lv. 1.]
“Huh?”
He’d gained a Skill.
Out of nowhere.
[Harvest Lv. 1]
– Description: Harvests crops. Upon harvest, crop damage decreases, and at an extremely low probability, quality improves.
Woo Jin could confirm that the Harvest Lv. 1 Skill had been added to his Skill tab.
‘To obtain a Skill, you typically need to acquire a Skill Book at random while Clearing the Tower — but?’
Besides, the probability of obtaining a Skill was extraordinarily low.
According to official statistics released by the Tower Management Bureau, one Skill Book per ten floors Cleared.
That meant a ten percent chance to gain a Skill per floor.
For someone like Woo Jin, unable to even Clear the current floor, let alone ascend further, Skills were a luxury — yet somehow, he’d obtained one anyway.
Even though the skill was unrelated to combat and utterly trivial—a mere crop harvesting skill—Woo Jin felt genuinely delighted.
“My first skill!”
Woo Jin momentarily forgot the absurd fact that he’d entered floor 99, overwhelmed instead by the profound joy of having become an Awakener and acquired his first skill.
Moreover,
[Harvest Lv. 1 proficiency has increased.]
[Harvest Lv. 1 proficiency has increased.]
[Harvest Lv. 1 proficiency has…….]
[You have acquired Harvest Lv. 2.]
He experienced firsthand how absurdly fast the skill’s experience points were rising.
“Heh heh. All harvested.”
The total count of weeds came to exactly one hundred.
Growl.
“Ah, I’m starving.”
Woo Jin picked up a Mana-Infused Weed, popped it into his mouth, and began chewing vigorously. The tough, fibrous texture made him wince.
The taste was one thing.
“Ugh. Bitter.”
It was overwhelmingly bitter, nearly impossible to eat.
He fought the urge to spit it out and forced himself to swallow it down his throat.
[Your Mana has permanently increased by 0.001 from consuming a Mana-Infused Weed.]
“Status window.”
Name: Woo Jin
Level: 1
Stats
– Strength: 3
– Agility: 3
– Stamina: 3
– Mana: 3.001
Skills: Harvest Lv. 2
Coins: 98
Difficulty: Mythic
Floor: 99
“Heh heh. My Mana really did go up. And the skill definitely appeared.”
Woo Jin rinsed away the bitter taste with water, a smile spreading across his face as he studied his status window.
“…Wait! I could just farm, couldn’t I?”
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn.
Crops with great taste and excellent nutrition.
What if he planted and harvested them to eat?
Total self-sufficiency!
He could get seeds from the Auction House.
Water? He could use the lake water.
There was soil and sunlight too.
Woo Jin immediately accessed the Community.
– Seeking seeds! Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, strawberries…….
He hesitated as he began drafting a post to the Community.
Getting seeds was one thing, but what if the crops didn’t grow?
Besides, Woo Jin had never planted or cultivated crops before. Rushing headlong into this could waste his Coins and exhaust his Stamina for nothing.
‘I should start small first.’
And he’d need to secure food while the crops grew.
He decided to start with potatoes.
They seemed like they’d taste good and be relatively easy to grow.
– Seeking: Seed Potato, one box of Yukgaejang Cup Ramen, Gas Burner, 5 Butane Gas, Pot, Wooden Chopsticks! Will pay 15 Coins total!
[An anonymous Awakener has requested to chat with you. Do you accept?]
“Yes.”
– Anonymous 3861: Hi
– Anonymous 3861: Why are you looking for all this stuff?
Woo Jin answered straightforwardly.
If he honestly explained that he was trapped on floor 99 and needed to be self-sufficient with food, he’d be branded a lunatic.
– Me: Just because!
– Me: Are you selling?
– Anonymous 3861: You’re actually going to plant and grow potatoes?
– Me: Yes.
– Anonymous 3861: That’s remarkable. I’ve never seen an Awakener quite like you.
– Me: Are you going to do it?
– Anonymous 3861: Yes. And one more thing—to plant potatoes, you’ll need Seed Potatoes, not ordinary potato seeds.
– Me: Oh. I see… Is there…
– Anonymous 3861: Haha, I’ll get you some Seed Potatoes. About ten should be enough? You’ll harvest around a hundred when the time comes.
– Me: Yes!!
– Anonymous 3861: Wait a moment. I’ll go find them.
Crunch, crunch.
Woo Jin chewed on a Mana-Infused Weed to quiet his hunger while he waited for the items.
A Player Farming in the Dragon Lair (Serialized)
Author | Gaebyek S
Publisher | Kim Ju-hyung
Published by | J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing | Han Jae-hyuk
Address | 401, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8)
Email | [email protected]
Website | www.jayplemedia.com
© Gaebyek S 2026
※This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder, and no part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this restriction may result in criminal and civil liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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