The Gardener in a Hunter World

Disclaimer: This is an edited MTL. Thus, I can’t guarantee that my editing to be proficient. But I hope you enjoy this story with me. If there are any corrections, it is highly encourage to leave a comment.

“Where am I?”

Bewildered, Yoo Ji-Ha looked around.

He was lying in bed when he closed his eyes, but when he woke up, he was in a forest.

He felt the soil with his hands.

The fresh air was different from the air where he lived.

A feeling of freshness that seemed to clean his lungs enveloped him.

“Am I still sleeping on the bed? Could this be a dream?”

He pinched his cheeks, but it hurts.

When he got up and brushed his butt, the status window of his vision was particularly prominent.

Why does it look darker today?

“That’s strange.”

【Class: Worker

Primary stat:

HP: 80      Vitality: 70      Ether: –      Essence: –

Secondary stat:

Endurance: 7      Strength: 8      Agility: 8      Talent: 9      Spirit: 9

Resistance:

Physical: 5      Elemental: –      Poison: –      Abnormal Status: –

Characteristic: –

Skill: –】

Nothing had changed.

His class was still a Worker, and his stats were no different from ordinary people.

‘But it’s kind of weird here.’

Yoo Ji-Ha looked around.

The forest, which looked about 30-40 pyeong, was foggy.

Only his immediate surroundings were visible, and the rest was obscured by a fog.

‘It’s a strange forest.’

All he could see was an old tree that looked like it had been struck by lightning, a rock, a stream, and strange plants.

It was messy as if it had been hit by a typhoon, and as he got closer to the fog, he saw a strange plant.

The height is about 100 cm. The tip of the stem was spread out like an umbrella, and several round fruits were hanging.

‘This…’

[Etheric Herb¹I think it look lik this.

LV1: Reduces ether consumption of all skills to zero for 10 seconds.]

‘Did the description originally look like this?’

Of course it didn’t.

Even if hunters could use the system, all they could do was check their status window and see the species name of a monster.

No system has been reported that is kind enough to list material descriptions like this.

‘Anyways, this is incredible.’

Hunters need ether to use their skills.

It is a kind of fuel and an item that can make the consumption value to 0 is very useful.

It means that you can dish out your skills nonstop for 10 seconds.

‘I thought this only comes out from the dungeons?’

It has always been found as a finished product and in potion form, so he had never heard of it being crafted.

Many people have tested the potion and found that 5 seconds is the most it gave, but this thing gave 10 seconds.

Yoo Ji-Ha touched the ambiguous thing to identify whether it was a fruit or a flower bud.

With a slight touch, golden liquid was smeared on his hand.

But will it work?

‘I’ll know when I make it.’

But where should he put this liquid?

While looking around, he came closer to the fog, but it didn’t move as if it was blocked by a wall.

He was trapped in a space of about 30 to 40 pyeong.

‘The sound of water….’

He knelt near a calm creek and scooped some water with his hands. It was very clear.

Can he drink this?

He slightly moistened his lips to make sure there was no taste then drank slowly.

“Ah… it’s good.”

The water was very cool and delicious.

Yoo Ji-Ha sat with his buttocks on a rock and looked around, but there was nothing much to see.

It was impossible to go outside as if the fog had become a wall. Is there any way to get out of here?

No, will there be people?

“Excuse me!”

He shouted, but only an echo was heard.

Long after, there was no response.

Yoo Ji-Ha came to understand that there was no one in this forest.

“What should I do?”

With his eyes, he saw the branches trembling.

If you think about it, that tree branch is strange.

The whole tree has been completely smashed, but it is alive only by itself.

A single leaf at the end looking pathetic.

He approached the branch.

‘If I cut it and plant it in the ground, the land is appropriate here…’

After finding a suitable area, he dug up the soil with his fingers and planted the branch.

He cleaned the ground and drew water from the stream with his palm and scattered it around.

At that moment, the status window was updated.

[Plant-friendly LV1 Skill. Acquired.]

[XXX blessing LV1 Characteristics. Acquired.]

“What is this all of a sudden…”

He couldn’t even smell a Skill for 5 years, but to give him a Skill just because he planted a branch was absurd.

Is it alright to give Skills and Characteristics just because he planted a branch in the first place?

‘Whatever happened, happened.’

It was necessary to check later whether there was such a skill called Plant-friendly.

And what is this XXX blessing Characteristic?

‘Ahh. I don’t know, I don’t know.’

He didn’t have anything to do, so he cleaned up the surrounding area.

The scattered branches and bushes were gathered in one place and the messy excavated ground was pressed down evenly.

Oddly enough, the branches he had gathered in one place disappeared.

What happened?

“What is this?”

Something unbelievable happened next.

The old tree that had been split in half and smashed was gone.

When did it disappear? Who took it?

Questions popped up one after another.

Yoo Ji-Ha shook his head as he pondered the unanswered questions.

In a world where monsters exist, something like this could happen.

And because this is a dream.

“Anyway, it’s really good here.”

As he sat on a rock and enjoyed the wind, he slowly fell asleep.

If he slept here, would he go back and return to reality?

It was disappointing that he can’t take the Etheric Herb, but he doesn’t really have the ability to take it.

As he lay down on the rock, he could see the cloudless sky.

“Surely this must be a world somewhere.”

Although the world the hunters see in the dungeon was a little cloudy, there were a lot of places where there are traces of civilization.

If only he could break through that fog, he could explore the nearby area.

But the fog didn’t intend to disappear.

‘I don’t know.’

He slowly closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He instantly lost consciousness.

***

“Hyuk!”

Yoo Ji-Ha woke up with the same sound as when he fell into the forest.

He looked outside and it was early in the morning.

The glasses were roughly draped over his face, and his body was strangely light.

It was as if he had slept soundly and woke up with a clear head.

“That’s interesting…”

It was a really strange dream.

To lie on a rock and fall asleep while doing a trivial task in a small forest.

He shook his head and got up.

However…

“What? Why are my hands like this?”

His palms and bed were full of soil.

Could it be that he had sleepwalked and gone outside?

He knew himself that he didn’t.

Was what he thought to be a dream when he was in a forest, a reality?

If he sleeps again, will he be able to go to that forest?

“Let’s experiment.”

Yoo Ji-Ha slept on the floor instead of the bed.

It was still early in the morning, and he was a man who could fall asleep wherever he had space for his back.

The moment he closed his eyelids and lost his consciousness, he found himself lying in the forest.

But something is strange.

“Was there grass here before?”

The dirt floor had completely disappeared, and fully grown green grass was in its stead.

The branch, which was only finger thick, grew considerably large, and the range of the fog expanded considerably.

As a result, he saw things he couldn’t see before.

For example, the Solar Apple tree.

Although rarely found in dungeons, it was a tree that was too far away and could not be approached due to the time limit.

Yoo Ji-Ha approached the tree as if possessed by something.

[Solar Apple LV1: When combined with a Stamina potion, recovery amount increased by 20%, recovery duration reduced to 80%]

“I can mix it with a Stamina potion?”

It was amazing.

The Stamina potion restores the stamina of the hunters working in the dungeon.

No matter how much sugar was added, its bitter taste could not be hidden, so it was also famous as a potion that every hunter cursed.

If you hunt in the dungeon, you are bound to get hurt, and you cannot always receive healing skills, so you have no choice but to use it regularly.

If he can increase the effect…

Yoo Ji-Ha unconsciously swallowed his saliva.

He thought that he needed only as much money as he needed, but he had a desire to decorate the store a little more cozier.

‘It’ll be okay if I bring a little and sell it, right?’

These days, there are so many Category 0 dungeons opening that they are not even counted in the statistics.

A lot of dungeons open briefly and then disappear after their resources are ransacked by the people.

It is classified as Category 0 because it’s safe without the monsters inside.

‘Let’s try it out and see if it works…’

But he doesn’t know how to bring it to the other side.

He arrived here with his clothes on, so maybe he can just tuck them into his clothes?

While thinking of this, a leather bag appeared in his eyes.

It was randomly placed under the previously planted branch.

“What is this?”

[Dimensional Pouch]

Inside the pouch were several small glass bottles with cork stoppers.

When the cork was pulled out, a pop rang out.

‘I can put the Etheric Herb liquid here.’

He planted the branch in the ground and cleaned the area a bit, and then it gave him a gift like this?

It was hard to believe, but he couldn’t help but believe it because he was experiencing it himself.

Yoo Ji-Ha tied the leather pouch on his back and opened the side to take out a bottle.

As the fruit was squeezed, a fragrant golden liquid dripped into the bottle.

Five bottles were filled with Etheric Herb liquid, and some Solar Apples were picked and placed in the leather bag.

The reason he didn’t pick them all is because of his character that’s usually never greedy.

He thought that it would be enough to eat and live in moderation.

‘Is this the end?’

He looked around and saw something moving.

Something long and black lingered through the grass.

Yoo Ji-Ha knelt and brought his face closer to the ground. Thick worms were writhing on the grass.

[Terra Firma Worm]²Earthworms

It’s too grand, but he thinks it’s the names of these guys.

‘But what is it doing here?’

To Yoo Ji-Ha, an earthworm is nothing more or less than a microscopic creature that lingers on the ground on a rainy day and is trampled on to death.

But seeing them writhing on the grass made him feel sad for some reason.

“Go in, get in here.”

After digging through the grass and soil with his fingers, he picked up one and pushed it in.

The little guy managed to dig a hole.

As one guy walked in like that, the others lined up.

Dozens of earthworms lined into a row slipped in, leaving no trace.

And he got a new skill.

[Animal-friendly skill LV1. Acquired.]

Now that’s not too surprising.

At the thought of acquiring Skills and saving earthworms, Yoo Ji-Ha’s mind was light.

Now it’s time to go back to his single room.

Laying down on the rock, he closed his eyes with the leather pouch on his stomach.

He wished he could go back to his room as casually as he came here.

As his consciousness blurred, he woke up in his room.

A leather pouch was on his stomach as if it had always been there.

He looked inside and a few bottles of the Etheric Herb liquid and a Solar Apple popped out.

‘I can put something in this pouch and go back and forth!’

Perhaps the opposite is also possible.

Isn’t that a cool thing?

Yoo Ji-Ha got up and headed for the studio thinking about such things.

He’s about to make a potion with Etheric Herb solution and Solar Apple.

• 1I think it look lik this.

• 2Earthworms