Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 34

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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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34
Ethan Coldwell.
Li Wei.
Kamiya Ren.
The three Rankers each reacted with fervent intensity the moment they saw the message: “Bidding has closed.”
An A-Rank sword had appeared in the Auction House one day, seemingly out of nowhere.
The weapon, called the Lightning Sword, possessed truly extraordinary power.
[Lightning Sword]
– Rank: A
– Effects
– Attack Power +25
– Agility +10
– Attack Speed +20%
– Description: A lightweight blade renowned for its remarkably swift attack speed. It earned its name from the saying that it strikes quick as lightning.
Attack power of 25.
Agility of 10.
Attack speed 20%.
An A-Rank weapon unlike anything they’d encountered before, it possessed stats that lived up to its grade—monstrous, every one of them.
The B-Rank weapons they carried were excellent items in their own right, but they paled beside the Lightning Sword.
The raw stats weren’t even the most jaw-dropping part—it was the sheer density of secondary bonuses.
The fact that an additional attack-speed modifier appeared on the list would have been remarkable enough on its own.
And the number itself was absurd: a clean twenty percent.
For any Ranker.
No—for any Adventurer, it was an item to covet.
– Anonymous 58,763
He was almost certainly from the Fantasy Continent.
On that Fantasy Continent, where swords and magic held sway, the Tower’s Erosion had begun far more rapidly than on Earth.
There was no one on Earth capable of obtaining an A-Rank weapon.
Ethan Coldwell, currently ranked first globally in the USA, would be the most likely candidate, but he had no reason to put an A-Rank weapon on the market, so he was ruled out.
The same logic applied to Li Wei and Kamiya Ren.
There had been an article about Kang Min-woo from Korea making a stunning breakthrough recently, clearing Floor 10 on Hard difficulty in what seemed like no time at all—it nagged at their minds, but it seemed unlikely this auction was connected to him.
When the Rankers learned that such a tremendous weapon as the Lightning Sword had come on the market, they immediately secured Coins up to their holding limits and placed their bids.
If an Adventurer from the Fantasy Continent operating at Hell difficulty bid above one hundred thousand Coins, they would be forced to concede—so they prayed desperately.
They begged that no one from the Fantasy Continent would bid.
And sure enough, all three had bid one hundred thousand Coins each, and then the bidding-closed message appeared.
Certainly one of the three would win the Lightning Sword.
All eyes were on who would emerge victorious when the results were announced.
[A winner has been selected.]
[Winner: Ethan Coldwell]
“Holy! Yes! Got! Thank you!”
America’s rank one, Ethan Coldwell.
He let out a cry of pure joy.
And then something unbelievable happened.
– Breaking news! Anonymous 58,763 just listed another A-Rank sword at auction! This time there are two!
“What?!”
* * *
[1x Lightning Sword has been sold.]
[95,000 Coins have been settled.]
Lee Woo-jin, having selected Ethan Coldwell as the winner, immediately opened two A-Rank weapons in separate auction listings.
He’d done it for Li Wei and Kamiya Ren, who were surely disappointed—he planned to select them as winners if they bid.
“You seem busy, are you?”
“Yeah. I’m selling stuff at the Auction House.”
“Isn’t that an A-Rank sword you brought back from the 97th Floor?”
“That’s right. I don’t think I’ll ever use them myself, and there are people who want them far more than I do, so I’m selling.”
When Lee Woo-jin had worked as a Tower Management Bureau civil servant, there was one name besides Kang Min-woo that had been hammered into his ears relentlessly.
Ethan Coldwell.
Li Wei.
Kamiya Ren.
Among those working in the current industry, they were known as Tower’s Three—and they were essential to its survival.
Because they were holding back the Erosion.
Ten years ago.
A tower appeared in the world without warning.
The tower’s emergence set the world in rapid flux.
It was no exaggeration to say that global industry now revolved around the tower. Semiconductors, aerospace, and other forward-thinking traditional sectors still existed, but the tower was another world entirely.
At the same time, it was a double-edged blade.
If the adventurers invited into the tower didn’t prove their worth—
If each floor wasn’t cleared, to be precise, then Erosion would steadily advance.
Erosion meant that the anomalous phenomena common to the tower—monsters, weapons, skills, magic—began manifesting in the modern world. If those creatures were unleashed on Earth?
Countless civilians would be wounded or killed.
To prevent it, each nation established an emergency countermeasure agency, and in Korea, that was the Tower Management Bureau.
The best way to stop Erosion was to clear high-difficulty, high-floor levels.
Clearing Normal Difficulty Floor 1 with a hundred people contributed less
than one person clearing Normal Difficulty Floor 10 to stopping Erosion.
Rankers who cleared Hard Difficulty could be called the frontline warriors holding back Erosion itself.
Of course, it was likely driven not by noble sacrifice but by interlocking interests, yet at least publicly, they proclaimed their will to fight for their own citizens and, beyond that, for all humanity.
‘A win for everyone. A win for everyone. Ha.’
He gave them strength, and they earned coins.
A perfect arrangement all around.
[Auction in progress]
[Charge Captain’s Sword]
[Highest bid: 100,000 Coin]
– Ethan Coldwell
– Li Wei
– Kamiya Ren
[Buyer confirmed.]
[Buyer: Li Wei]
[Auction in progress]
[Frozen Sword]
[Highest bid: 100,000 Coin]
– Kamiya Ren
“Mmm. Yes. Time to bow out gracefully.”
[Buyer confirmed.]
[Buyer: Kamiya Ren]
And so each of the Rankers had been allotted one A-rank sword.
They could have done it through private dealing, but the auction was cleaner.
Lee Woo-jin had earned 285,000 Coin from the transaction.
* * *
“Status window.”
Name: Lee Woo-jin
Title: Tower’s Novice Farmer
Level: 9
Abilities
– Strength: 5.028
– Agility: 5
– Stamina: 5
– Mana: 5.43
– Resistance: 0.042
– Remaining points: 0
Skills: Soil Leveling Lv. 6, Seed Planting Lv. 4, Harvesting Lv. 4, Cold Resistance Lv. 2, Cooking Lv. 3, Stealthy Steps Lv. 1, Fire Resistance Lv. 2, Dark Adaptation Lv. 1, Doppelganger Summon, Concealment Lv. Max, Tree Felling Lv. 4, Craftsmanship Lv. 3, Compost Making Lv. 1, Sculpture Lv. 2
Coin: 285,033
Difficulty: Myth
Floor: 99
“Hehehehe. I’m rich.”
Nearly 280,000 Coin!
Lee Woo-jin was in such a good mood he began humming.
“Here you go. Churu.”
Kkamangi, who had been lying flat like a piece of toasted bread, suddenly sprang to his feet and bounded toward Lee Woo-jin with rapid little paws. The creature purred as he began eating the Churu with evident delight.
Kkamangi, who had been fortunate enough to get the Churu, looked satisfied as he lay on his back, gazing up at the ceiling.
“I am one happy cat, meow…….”
“Hmm. Don’t you need some pocket money?”
“Pocket money……?”
“I mean Coins. I’m loaded.”
Kkamangi shook his head.
“Managers aren’t allowed to use Coins, y’know.”
“Why?”
“Well. I heard that back in the day, managers used to be able to use Coins too, y’know. But there was this regular manager a long time ago, y’know, and he snuck out Mana Stones from the 65th floor and sold them for Coins, y’know. He got caught, y’know. After that, managers were forbidden from using Coins, y’know.”
Because corruption could occur, in other words.
Woo-jin was well aware of Mana Stones.
The primary ingredient for making Mana Potions.
Beyond that, they’re also used in crafting items that increase Mana, he’d heard.
Of course, since managers are responsible for overseeing each floor, they could easily pilfer items without anyone knowing.
“Woo-jin. You should hang onto your Coins, y’know.”
“Hm? Yeah, I suppose so.”
You could buy things at the Auction House with Coins.
Though most of what appeared on the Auction House was Grade C or lower.
There were rumors that Grade B items occasionally appeared, but Woo-jin had never seen one himself.
Swish.
Kkamangi spoke while flicking his tail.
“I haven’t seen one myself, but there are Traveling Merchants in the Tower, y’know.”
“Traveling Merchants?”
“That’s right, y’know. They’re goblin merchants who carry all sorts of treasures around, y’know. According to rumors, they casually carry Grade S items too, y’know.”
“Oh…… where can you find them?”
“That’s something no one knows, y’know.”
Too bad.
Woo-jin decided to keep his Coins safe for now.
.
.
.
Day 23 since arriving at the Tower.
In the afternoon, he decided to harvest the potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cherry tomatoes he’d planted previously—each in plots of thirty pyeong.
The potato field had soil swelling in mounds here and there.
The stems and leaves had spread luxuriantly.
The sweet potato field too had the soil firmly swollen beneath the spreading vines.
The cherry tomatoes hung in clusters from each stake-trained stem, and they looked delicious.
“Heh heh. Beautiful.”
A smile spread naturally across Woo-jin’s face.
All three were at the perfect stage for harvesting.
“Time to harvest, time to harvest!”
[You are harvesting Tower’s Resistance Potatoes.]
[Experience has increased from cultivating Tower’s Resistance Potatoes.]
[Experience has increased from cultivating Tower’s Resistance Potatoes…….]
[You have risen to Level 10.]
[Harvesting Lv. 4 proficiency has increased.]
[You have acquired Harvesting Lv. 5.]
[You have cultivated Tower’s Resistance Potatoes with elevated Grade from the effects of Compost Bundles and Harvesting.]
“Huh?”
Woo-jin checked the potatoes he’d harvested.
He could have sworn he saw a message about the Grade increasing.
[Tower’s Resistance Potato]
– Grade: C
– Effects
– Upon consumption: Permanently increases all Resistance +0.01
– Description: A Tower potato cultivated by someone. Eating it raises all manner of resistances.
“For real?”
The potato’s Grade was C.
And moreover…….
“Resistance goes up by 0.01 each time?”
Woo-jin blinked in astonishment.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
[You have harvested a Grade C crop for the first time.]
[You have acquired the skill ‘Rainfall Lv. 1’ as a reward.]
A Farmer Playing on the Dragon Rare
Author │ Gae-byeok S
Publisher │ Kim Joo-hyung
Publishing House │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 401, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Gae-byeok S 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder. No part of this content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
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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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