Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 40

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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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40
World Tree Before Annihilation
– Grade: Unique
– Description: A World Tree destroyed to the brink of annihilation by Calamities.
“Phew. Safe.”
“Ujin! What in the world were you thinking doing something like that there! I nearly had a heart attack!”
“Why the fuss? We saved it—that’s what matters.”
Thump-thump-thump.
Kkamangi’s small heart still raced in her chest.
An enormous black tree that seemed to swallow everything in its path.
According to the information on the 96th Floor, the Calamities had planted that tree to destroy the World Tree.
If the World Tree perished, the Calamity’s tree would become the Death World Tree.
The adventurer’s objective on the 96th Floor was to eliminate the Death World Tree.
Naturally, the Death World Tree would be extraordinarily powerful.
Otherwise it would never have been assigned to a Mythic Difficulty 96th Floor.
Such a dangerous tree.
“You could have died attacking it like that!”
“Relax. I’d thought it through. When you say it hasn’t been opened yet, that means it’s still incomplete, doesn’t it? If it’s incomplete, it wouldn’t attack back.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Think about it. If the Death World Tree is going to be born, that means it hasn’t become the Death World Tree yet, right? So right now, that black tree is just an ordinary tree—nothing more.”
“…I, I suppose that’s true?”
“Exactly.”
That was when it happened.
[The God of Fate observes you.]
…Huh?
[The God of Adventure spots the God of Fate and waves a hand excitedly, greeting them warmly after such a long time.]
[The God of Fate looks at the gods gathered in the Divine Temple, startled, and asks why they are all here.]
[The God of Adventure shrugs and says, It’s our business, isn’t it?]
[The God of Fate says anyway, they sensed the Wheel of Fate turning greatly just now and came to investigate the cause, and asks what that is.]
[The God of Adventure says, What? The World Tree?]
[The God of Fate nods and wonders why the World Tree is in that adventurer’s possession. They say the World Tree was destined to perish soon anyway—that is the natural order of things.]
[The God of Fate nods, looking toward the God of Order.]
…Did I do something wrong?
Ujin glanced around uneasily and placed the World Tree back in his Subspace Backpack.
Then the God of Order spoke.
[The God of Order says, What do you expect us to do?]
[The God of Fate looks flustered, blinking.]
[The God of Dominion says that while Lee Ujin possessing the World Tree is certainly a deviation from the natural order, he acquired it through skills and abilities he obtained in the Tower.]
[The God of Dominion says that the gods need not—and should not—intervene in this matter.]
[The God of Adventure nods vigorously and says, Well said!]
[The God of Fate closes their mouth, then asks if they are surely protecting that adventurer.]
[The God of Dominion answers that they are not protecting him, only stating objective fact.]
[The God of Fate is silent for a moment, then sighs and says that if the God of Order has no objection, they will also consent.]
Fortunately, it seemed to pass without incident.
Ujin quietly took the World Tree out of his Subspace Backpack again.
A tiny sapling.
Back when he attended kindergarten, he’d gone to the hillside behind his house with friends on Arbor Day to plant saplings, and this one was far smaller than what they’d planted then.
It felt as though the slightest touch would snap it and crumble to dust.
Ujin gazed quietly at the World Tree, then
“Dragon Lord, would it be all right if I planted this in the ground?”
He’d been told he could do as he pleased in this space.
In reality, he’d been growing crops as he wished, but for some reason, the World Tree felt like something he should ask permission for.
So he asked,
[The God of Dominion says they will allow it.]
It seemed asking first had been the right choice.
[The God of Dominion says, however, that the World Tree has already suffered extensive damage from dark magic, its soul destroyed—it is as good as dead and cannot be resurrected.]
“…I understand.”
If it couldn’t be done, there was no help for it.
Ujin decided to bury it in a sunny spot.
The sunniest place in this one-room space attached to the Dragon Lair, where Ujin now lived, was naturally where the vegetable garden was, with sunlight streaming in abundantly.
“Leveling the soil!”
He dug a patch of earth to the proper depth with the Seedling Shovel.
The World Tree, small as a sapling, waited in his hands.
Plant it too deep and it wouldn’t catch the sunlight; too shallow and the roots wouldn’t take hold properly when it grew.
“Ujin! I brought the water, meow!”
(……) The compost.
“Heh. You two work well together without a word. Thanks to you both.”
Ujin pressed the Compost Bundle the Doppelganger had brought firmly into shape with his hands.
[Your Proficiency in Compost Making Lv. 1 has increased.]
[You have acquired Compost Making Lv. 2.]
[Compost Bundle]
– Grade: E
– Effects
– Soil Fertility +15%
– Crop Grade Upgrade Probability +15%
– Description: Compost made by mixing vegetable scraps and soil. Scattering it in a field makes you feel something good will happen.
The Compost Bundle’s grade rose one tier from F to E.
Ujin sprinkled the Compost Bundle into the loosened soil and mixed it, then carefully placed the World Tree in the center.
Whoosh.
He swept the soil back with his hand, filling and covering the hole.
[The effect of Seed Planting Lv. 4 is applied.]
[Your Proficiency in Seed Planting Lv. 4 has increased.]
He gently watered the World Tree with the Watering Can that Kkamangi had brought, filled with lake water.
“Grow strong and steady.”
* * *
The next day.
Twenty-seven days since arriving at the tower.
Tomorrow he would be able to leave the tower for home.
The God of Order had granted Ujin the chance to visit Korea once a week.
His eyes snapped open.
Not from excitement about tomorrow’s outing, but rather he’d been curious about the carrot patch he’d planted days ago.
“Hello there, World Tree.”
He’d come to check whether the World Tree he’d planted in the ground yesterday had died overnight. The World Tree showed no signs of change.
Which meant.
It hadn’t died, but it hadn’t regained its vitality either.
Ujin created a small, very small rain cloud.
“Rain Casting.”
Pitter-patter-patter.
Water fell on the World Tree and the surrounding soil.
Then he stretched widely and surveyed the cave.
Kkamangi was still asleep, and the Doppelganger stood in its usual upright posture, waiting.
“Doppelganger. Let’s water the carrot patch together.”
(……) A nod!
“Rain Casting!”
[Your Proficiency in Rain Casting Lv. 3 has increased slightly.]
[Your Proficiency in Rain Casting Lv. 3 has…….]
The Doppelganger watered half of the ten-pyeong carrot patch, carrying lake water with the Watering Can.
“Good. We can harvest today.”
(……) A nod!
The light was still dim; the sun hadn’t fully risen and morning hadn’t quite arrived.
He checked his Smartphone for the time: 6:30 a.m.
Ujin considered killing time browsing the community forum.
But as he stared at the World Tree, he suddenly grew curious about what had become of the Calamity Tree left on the 96th Floor.
Of course, nothing had probably happened.
.
.
.
By the time he’d casually made his way through the Administrator’s passage and reached the door to the 96th Floor, he found he couldn’t open it with the Administrator’s Key, so he’d entered through a small hole (?) dug beside it.
Or rather, he started to enter, then hesitated.
Immediately, he activated Concealment at maximum level.
Because there was a stranger standing before the Calamity tree.
He’d wondered if it might be another adventurer, but Kkamangi had said there were no other adventurers on the Mythic Difficulty tower in the first place.
‘Who on earth is he?’
A man whose entire body was darkly shadowed.
Something like a cloak fluttered around him, dispersing like smoke.
Fortunately, thanks to Concealment at max level, the man never noticed Ujin. He seemed completely unaware.
Ujin continued to observe the man.
The man stared at the Calamity tree for a long while.
Then he knelt down and touched something with his palm, as if caressing it.
With his keen vision, Ujin could tell immediately where the man was touching.
It was the spot Ujin had been hacking away at the tree yesterday.
The man seemed to be peering inside the Calamity tree through that gap.
By anyone’s measure, it was a searching motion aimed at the World Tree Within.
* * *
“Ujin. Where’ve you been?”
“The 96th Floor. But there was a strange man there.”
“A strange man?”
“Yeah. There really aren’t any other adventurers here besides me, right?”
Kkamangi nodded.
“That’s right. Nobody but you, Ujin. If there were, I’d write it in the administrator’s log that gets submitted to the Adventurer’s Guild Master once a month.”
That made sense.
“So what is this man then?”
“I think he’s not an adventurer, but a different kind of being.”
“A different kind of being?”
“For example, a native who actually lives in that area. As you know, Ujin, a tower is either a space created in itself, or a specific location from another continent configured as a tower.”
“I see.”
In other words, for example, a certain park in Gyeonggi Province could appear as a stage on the 10th Floor of a tower. A resident passing through that park might meet an adventurer who had just arrived at the 10th Floor.
Of course, there had been no reports of such a thing actually happening on Earth yet.
When working as a tower administrator, he’d heard reports that for such a thing to occur, there would need to be extensive Tower Erosion happening on Earth.
The 96th Floor, it seemed, was already connected to the ‘Fantasy Continent’ where erosion had progressed significantly.
“And I think that man you mentioned might be a Calamity.”
“A Calamity?”
Now that he thought about it, Amwol, the demonic blade, had once said something like that.
– Those creatures called Tower Calamities are willing to sacrifice even their own souls to make a contract with me, yet you alone exclude your soul from such terms.
“In this world, there are ten entities known as Calamities.”
Farming in the Dragon Lair (Ongoing)
Author │ Gaebug S
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ Room 401, Acetech Tower 8, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Gaebug S 2026
※ This work is 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 the permission of the company and the author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal 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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