Player Farming in the Dragon’s Lair - Chapter 9

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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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9
A single word from the Dragon Lord—”Die”—and Ujin would have to obey.
Cold sweat trickled down Ujin’s back.
Still, he’d offered a bribe of Cup Ramen. Surely the Dragon Lord wouldn’t be so heartless as to kill him outright? Right? That would be too cruel.
“I won’t kill you. In return, don’t ask me for help. In other words—don’t be a nuisance.”
“Phew. Thank you!”
The meaning was literal.
Don’t speak to me. Don’t seek my attention.
For Ujin, it was almost a relief.
If the Dragon Lord had demanded favors in exchange for sparing his life—endless tasks and errands—it would have been exhausting.
But the Dragon Lord had simply decided to leave Ujin alone.
A thin, slightly crumbled wall separated their living spaces.
Day ten since Ujin arrived at the tower.
He had gained a neighbor.
* * *
Morning of day eleven at the tower.
Ujin opened his eyes from the warm, fluffy Down Sleeping Bag, lingered a moment longer, then finally yawned and rose after thirty minutes had passed.
“Yawn.”
He unzipped the sleeping bag, climbed out, and drank a cup of water.
They said drinking water in the morning was good for you.
He glanced through.
Through the hole in the wall, he peered at the Dragon Lord.
The Dragon Lord had reverted to his true form—a massive dragon, no longer polymorphed into a human shape.
He slipped over and looked: the creature lay with its body coiled, eyes closed.
Whether it was actually sleeping or merely resting with its eyes shut, Ujin couldn’t say. But either way—
‘Heh. Much better.’
The fear of the unknown—the dread that the Dragon Lord might appear and threaten him at any moment—had vanished.
And that wasn’t all.
He was no longer alone in this space.
He communicated through the Community, yes, but if he’d had to live in the Dragon Lair alone indefinitely, loneliness would have caught up with him eventually. Having a neighbor—even a dragon one—was reassuring.
He went to check on the Cherry Tomato patch where he’d trimmed the side shoots.
The mother plants, their fruit entirely harvested and side shoots pruned, remained vigorous and healthy.
From the thickened stems, fresh leaves were sprouting once more.
Between the leaves and stems, tiny green nodules—no larger than fingernails—had begun to form.
Ujin crouched down and examined one plant closely.
A passage from the book flashed through his mind: remove the side shoots, and the nutrients won’t scatter; the fruit will grow firmer and fuller.
It seemed the book wasn’t lying.
“Time for breakfast.”
His morning meal was two Boiled Potatoes and water.
Potatoes were a classic Famine Crop.
A Famine Crop was a plant that could substitute for staples like rice during years of poor harvest or famine.
Making do with potatoes for a meal made him wonder: how had people survived in the old days when there was nothing at all to eat?
‘Hm?’
When he went to where the potatoes lay, he spotted several of them sprouting. Not all of them, but a few had begun to shoot from within.
By appearance alone, they were nearly indistinguishable from seed potatoes.
Ujin consulted the “Potato” section of his agriculture book.
It contained information about sprouted potatoes as well.
【If harvested potatoes are stored as-is, sprouting will occur after a certain time. Sprouted potatoes may become unsuitable for consumption, but they can be used for replanting. When using sprouted potatoes as seed potatoes, cut them along the sprouted portion before planting.】
“Interesting!”
First he’d eat, then he’d plant the potatoes.
As always, Ujin filled an aluminum pot with lake water and began to heat it.
He brought two potatoes over.
Before placing them in the pot, he was brushing the dirt off—
‘Should I eat alone?’
Good food was meant to be shared.
Especially between neighbors who’d grown close—it was only proper.
Ujin slipped through the wall and looked at the Dragon Lord.
Still lying there, eyes closed.
—Don’t be a nuisance, in other words.
The Dragon Lord’s words from yesterday echoed in his mind.
Ujin scratched his cheek.
Best not to speak up and wake him unnecessarily.
Trudge, trudge.
He made his way back to his room(?).
He’d decided the wisest course was to leave the Dragon Lord be—unless he initiated conversation or asked for food, Ujin would simply let him rest.
Bubble, bubble……
He placed the two potatoes he’d brushed clean earlier into a pot.
After boiling them for roughly twenty minutes, he fished them out.
[Your proficiency with Cooking Lv. 1 has increased.]
[You have acquired Cooking Lv. 2.]
“Hot, hot, hot.”
He was rolling the scalding potatoes across his palm to cool them when it happened.
[You have acquired Flame Resistance Lv. 1.]
Taken aback, he was.
But actually—he rather liked it.
[Flame Resistance Lv. 1]
– Description: Resistance to fire attribute increases slightly.
Ujin checked his status window.
‘Come to think of it, I picked up Cold Resistance the last time, didn’t I?’
He wanted to see how much his Flame Resistance had actually increased.
The Resistance stat shown in the status window hadn’t changed. Cold Resistance was the same.
And yet he could distinctly feel his resistance had grown.
The moment the system message confirming the skill acquisition appeared, the heat radiating from the potato in his hand suddenly felt ‘less scorching’—he’d noticed it at once.
‘Do skills like this exist?’
For Adventurers climbing the tower, Resistance was an extraordinarily important Ability Stat. If Flame Resistance or Cold Resistance skills truly existed, there would have been enormous interest, and the Community would be flooded with relevant information.
Yet there were no posts about Flame Resistance—nor about Resistance to other elements like cold or poison.
It seemed Ujin was the first Adventurer to unlock this kind of skill.
All from gripping a hot potato to cool it down—and it granted Flame Resistance.
“Ah, delicious.”
No sugar or salt, yet somehow it tasted so sweet and rich. Not cloying in the least.
He devoured both Boiled Potatoes in moments and gulped down cool water after, feeling utterly content.
After lingering idly for a while to digest, Ujin resolved to begin his real work—planting the sprouted potatoes in the earth to cultivate a fresh crop.
He walked to the field he’d prepared for growing potatoes.
He had ten sprouted potatoes.
Ujin spread open his farming manual beside him and picked up one sprouted potato.
The pale-green sprouts extended outward in several branching shoots.
“So I’m supposed to split them along these lines.”
He traced the relevant passage in the book once more with his eyes.
Drawing out his Gardening Scissors and opening them wide, he used one blade like a knife.
Careful not to be greedy, he trimmed each sprout section with a minimum of potato flesh attached.
Pop.
The potato cleaved in half.
Moisture beaded on the severed surface.
Arranging the pieces on the ground, he’d created two or three seed potatoes from a single potato.
Any pieces that looked too small, he set aside without hesitation.
The book had mentioned it too.
Fragments too small had poor germination rates.
Plod.
Ujin moved to the field he’d prepared in advance.
The soil, turned over and leveled the previous day, was soft and workable.
Pressing gently with his hand, it felt appropriately moist.
He dug holes at regular intervals.
At a depth neither too deep nor too shallow—just right.
Pat.
Pat.
[Your proficiency with Seed Planting Lv. 3 has increased microscopically.]
[Your proficiency with Seed Planting Lv. 3 has……]
He set each seed potato into the hole with the sprout facing upward, then covered it with soil. Before long, one full row lay neatly completed.
Then he moved on to the second row.
Using his Seed Planting skill, he began planting the seed potatoes in earnest.
.
.
.
Lunchtime had arrived before he knew it.
The menu was the same as before: Boiled Potatoes, though this time he added a small Yukgaejang Cup Ramen.
Farming required a full belly.
[Consuming the Tower’s Resistance Potato permanently increases all Resistance by 0.002.]
[Consuming the Tower’s Resistance Potato…….]
He ate the small Yukgaejang Cup Ramen as well.
When he peeled back the lid completely, the sharp, spicy aroma of the noodles wafted up.
That was when it happened.
A sharp hissing sound.
From beyond the wall came a sudden noise—something scraping against the floor. Ujin’s head snapped reflexively toward the sound. It was coming from where the Dragon Lord was.
A faint shuffle.
Wondering if the Dragon Lord had woken, Ujin decided to slip over to the neighboring chamber for a quick check.
‘Seems the same as before. What was that sound about?’
Ujin returned and resumed eating the small Yukgaejang Cup Ramen.
He devoured the noodles quickly, then drained the broth in long, satisfied gulps.
“Ahh. That hit the spot.”
In moments, Ujin had tidied everything away and slipped into his Down Sleeping Bag, zipping it all the way up.
His back was warm and his belly full.
Outside, the weather was crisp, but the sunlight streamed through warmly.
The Down Sleeping Bag wrapped around him like a cocoon.
“Mmm.”
Lying there, Ujin browsed the Community.
[Anonymous 3861 has requested a chat.]
[Anonymous 3861 has accepted the chat.]
– Me: Hey hey
– Anonymous 3861: Hey
– Me: What’re you up to?
– Anonymous 3861: Haha
– Anonymous 3861: Just prepping for something, you know.
– Anonymous 3861: What about you?
– Me: I’m browsing the Community from my sleeping bag
– Me: And this morning I did some pruning work on the Cherry Tomatoes, and since some potato sprouts came up, I planted them in the field.
– Anonymous 3861: Oh nice haha
– Me: You eaten yet?
– Anonymous 3861: Yeah. Lately I’ve been doing brunch-dinner, eating Cherry Tomatoes and potatoes. Building up my Ability Stats too.
Ujin continued chatting with Anonymous 3861.
Anonymous 3861 mentioned trying to optimize the efficiency of gaining Ability Stats from Ujin’s crops—they’d even ground up Cherry Tomatoes in a blender and drunk them as juice.
What was the result?
The moment the Cherry Tomatoes were blended, the effect that raised Magical Power vanished.
So they had no choice but to eat the Cherry Tomatoes whole, one by one. But the real problem was the potatoes.
– Anonymous 3861: You have to eat the potatoes raw too.
– Anonymous 3861: Once I boil them, the Resistance-boosting effect disappears.
– Me: ?
– Me: That’s not right?
Ujin tilted his head in confusion.
Because until now, he had always boiled his potatoes before eating them.
And every time, he’d gained the Resistance-boosting effect.
“…Wait. Could it be?”
[Cooking Lv. 2]
– Description: Create dishes using ingredients. The prepared dishes will taste slightly better.
Ujin boiled a single potato.
[You have created a Boiled Potato through Cooking.]
Ujin opened the private trade window to show Anonymous 3861.
[Boiled Potato]
– Grade: D
– Effect
– Taste Bonus +10%
– Upon consumption, permanently increases all Resistance by +0.002
– Description: A Boiled Potato from the tower. Still warm to the touch.
– Me: Wait, doesn’t it show like this?
– Anonymous 3861: What
– Anonymous 3861: How do you even do this??
A Player Farming in the Dragon Lair (Serialized)
Author │ Gaebyeok S
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd.
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 401, Ace Techno Tower 8-cha, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ www.jayplemedia.com
ⓒ Gaebyeok S 2026
※This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder, and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and the author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal responsibility.

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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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