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.

“Oh, this is good.”

A 32% buff to Cold Resistance was attached to the description on the potion Yoo Ji-Ha made.

When the Alchemy skill level rose to 2, the word ‘Concentrated’ suddenly appeared and the number went up.

But where did the 32% figure come from?

‘Assuming that the original value was 20%, a Great Success amplifies it by 1.2x, the Blessing Attribute multiplies it by 1.2x, and this Concentrated effect will increase it by 1.1x.’

As a result of his calculations, this figure was reasonable.

Just in case, another Winter Strawberry was purified and made into a potion, but a potion with the Concentrated effect did not appear.

‘I see it’s by chance. Anyway, five potions.’

【Concentrated Special potion LV1: Increases Cold Resistance by 32% for 48 minutes.】

“Whoah.”

It couldn’t be a greater potion.

If you consume this potion, you will be able to fight  if you enter any Polar dungeon.

Yoo Ji-Ha placed the five bottles of potions on the table and prepared for business.

His store’s opening time is at 8 am, but it didn’t mean much.

He didn’t want to be lazy, so he just opened it earlier in the morning.

‘After going to that forest and cleaning things up, it’s 7:30, so the time is right.’

He opened the door to the store, went to the front, and stretched.

If there is one thing that has improved with the appearance of dungeons and monsters, it is the quality of the air.

The concentration of fine dust has decreased considerably since the news that dungeons had opened in a considerable amount of factories in China years ago.

It’s not as good as the air in his forest, but it was still refreshing to breathe the morning air.

He came out with a broom and cleaned the front.

The time is 7:40.

As it is, District 7 is the place with the most fluctuating population in Korea, it was crowded with people in the morning.

Since the price of Oil has long exceeded 10,000 won per liter, most people use public transportation.

The road seemed empty because the people who usually use it were already working hard.

There were many places that were completely damaged because there was no budget for repairs.

Yoo Ji-Ha, while watching people go about their day, found someone.

“Hyung.”

A big man broke through the crowd and appeared in front of Yoo Ji-Ha.

“Oh. You’re diligent even in the mornings, too. Do you have a lot of customers these days?”

“It’s just right.”

“You can’t just stay like that… If you succeed quickly, I will be at peace.”

“I’m fine with this.

The man Ji-Ha called Hyung let out a small sigh when he saw the shabby signboard and shop.

Then, he draped his thick arm over Yoo Ji-Ha’s shoulder and dragged him into the store.

“Come on, I brought you some good information. Do you want to hear it?”

This man’s name is Park SeongHo. As a hunter who had awakened to the Knight class, he was ranked about 100th in the rankings.

He formed a small guild called Happy Hunters, and he was enticing Ji-Ha to join after getting to know him for some reason.

He said he won’t let him starve.

Even now, he still politely declined saying that he was not starving, but SeongHo was still aiming for him.

‘He’s a good older brother.’

That was the goal of the guild itself, to be happy Hunters.

SeongHo entered the store, sat down on the shop’s chair, and took out his smartphone.

“Can you see this?”

“It’s a Polar dungeon.”

What he saw on the phone was the Hunter.net app.

It was full of information such as: ‘An easy and fun Polar dungeon appears!’

A dungeon with a minimum temperature of -70 degrees Celsius, couldn’t possibly be easy and fun.

“Yep. Category 1 Polar Dungeon is now open. Do you have time? This one will allow you to get inside too.”

SeongHo then took out a small potion bottle.

‘I see it again.’

【Cold Resistance potion: Increases cold resistance by 10% for 15 minutes.】

He thought he could only see the ones he made, but he can also see the description for the dropped potions.

Its quality was lower compared to the potion he made, but it was obvious that SeongHo was trying to save this potion for him, so Yoo Ji-Ha didn’t say anything.

“Doesn’t this potion look good?”

SeongHo smiled and shook the bottle, and the blue liquid fluttered.

“This is a Cold Resistance potion. You know it sometimes comes out of chests. If it’s blue, they usually say it’s Cold Resistance. Thunderbolt buffs are very rare, I don’t think it will appear in Category 2 dungeons, but it has a slightly different color. “

“Yes, I know.”

There are quite a few places in dungeons with artifacts such as in the ruins and villages.

If you clear such a place, you will have to kill the boss monster and get a treasure chest.

Depending on the difficulty of the dungeon, the number of boxes and the quality of the treasures vary.

He had no experience of getting chests, but he knew the details.

“It was hard to get this… Your Noona worked especially hard, so thank her later.”

The person called “Noona” here refers to Hwang SeonYoung of the Happy Hunters Guild.

She was three years older than Yoo Ji-Ha, her hobby was collecting old books and scrolls and so does he, so they sometimes go to the wholesale center together.

She had the nickname, Book Ghost, but she was just a book reader.

“But I don’t think I need this.”

It means he doesn’t need to go into the dungeon.

SeongHo patted his shoulder.

“Let’s go in together this time. It’s really not dangerous there. You never know, if you keep entering dungeons, you’ll acquire Skills and Characteristics.”

“I’ve been there a few times and so far, it’s never like that.”

As Yoo Ji-Ha smiled awkwardly, SeongHo sighed.

“Still, keep going. There’s nothing to lose. You’re not saying you can’t go because you can’t leave the store empty right?”

“As you can see, there are not many customers.”

“Haha, it will get better.”

Yoo Ji-Ha was grateful for the Hyung in front of him.

Come to think of it, he would often go to SeongHo Hyung’s house and get a meal.

His wife, Lee Jumi, also welcomed him warmly and treated him like a brother.

If you think about it, it’s like entering a dungeon.

“All right. I will go.”

“Hey, it looks like we’re asking you for a favor, but it’s fine as long as you’re going. You know the Witch’s Cauldron? Tomorrow at 10am, let’s meet up there.”

“Who are we going with?”

“Me and Jumi, and SeonYoung. The other two were dispatched, so the four of us can go in.”

Yoo Ji-Ha suddenly remembered the Solar Apple.

It would be nice to make it into a potion, but he wanted his close friends to taste it first.

“Hey Hyung, would you like an apple? I got it in the dungeon…”

“Uh, I don’t know what it is, but we’ll eat it later. I’m going.”

He thought about serving a Solar Apple, but SeongHo rushed out of the store as if he had work.

Shortly after he disappeared, a large sedan stopped in front of the store.

“Who is it?”

Eventually, the man who seemed to be in his 30s got out of the car wearing a cloak.

The description attached to the cloak classified it as Rare class.

He’s sure, it’s over 10 billion won.

Seeing that he had a driver in a large sedan, there was a high possibility that he was a senior Hunter.

‘Oh, that’s him, the Alchemist of the Eternal Flame Guild.’

Among Hunters, he is considered the first to be considered an Alchemist.

He doesn’t have specific Skills or Characteristics related to it, but he put a lot of effort into it and it has paid off.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that 30% of his effort went into the formulation of the recipes for various potions.

But why is he here?

CheolHeon looked around and found Yoo Ji-Ha that came out of the store and bowed slightly.

“Excuse me, are you the owner of this place?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“I came here to buy something. May I take a look?”

“Yeah, what…”

It didn’t seem like it was the real intention of a senior Alchemist to look at such a shabby shop, but he still moved away from the door.

CheolHeon went inside and looked around slowly.

Potion bottles were arranged nicely on the display stand, and on the table in the middle were old books and scrolls in jars.

‘It’s old, but it’s well organized.’

But that alone would not attract HyeJin’s attention.

There is definitely something she needs here.

‘Or there was…’

CheolHeon, who was looking around the shelves, noticed a yellow fruit and widened his eyes.

Why is that fruit here?

“That fruit… May I ask where you got it?”

“Ah, that’s… I got it from a Category 0 dungeon. When I added it to a potion, they said it surprisingly had a good effect.”

“Which is?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell.”

It’s forbidden to inform other people of the transaction details with the customer.

CheolHeon looked at the yellow fruit with a curious expression because it was the first time he had seen the yellow fruit up close.

‘It’s quite fragrant.’

Its aroma smelled so delicious that he almost stretched out his hand unknowingly.

He was barely able to restrain himself and smiled at Yoo Ji-Ha,

The whole situation was a result of a fortunate chance to monopolize a Category 0 dungeon, obtain the fruit, make a potion, and sell it to HyeJin. He probably won’t have a chance to make such a potion again.

CheolHeon bought some potions as a courtesy and asked Yoo Ji-Ha to calculate it.

‘Looking at the color or concentration of the potion, it’s not that he doesn’t have skills.’

However, there are a number of alchemists of this level under his command.

After finishing the calculations, CheolHeon went straight back.

And reported to Cha HwaYeon, the Guild Leader.

—There was nothing special. He was a lucky man.

—Why exactly?

—I think he got the yellow fruit from a Category 0 dungeon, added it to a potion, and sold it to HyeJin.

—Yellow fruit? Not sure exactly what the effect is?

—It is most likely related to ether consumption.

—He’s a lucky guy. Would he have gotten ten million won?

—Probably. It was the driving force behind the extermination of the Manstalker.

—How about the person?

—Well… He was a good-looking young man. Lines are a bit soft… Maybe it’s up to the Guild Leader’s taste.

—How annoying. Anyway, next time you find that yellow fruit, you need to secure it first.

—What about it? How many times have we found it? It’s almost always quite unattainable.

—So, we must unite. It’s difficult because we’re so focused on firepower… Who is the fastest Hunter?

—I’ll find out.

The conversation between the guild leader and the chief alchemist almost always ends like this.

CheolHeon smiled bitterly, took off his cloak, put it on his chair, and went straight to work.

However, the yellow fruit is of little concern.

‘Should you have bought one and eaten it?’

But he didn’t want to eat a fruit worth 10 million won.

CheolHeon thought about that and wondered why the young man had left the fruits in a pile on the shelf.

‘It’s so precious… Something’s strange.’

Did he bring a lot at once?

Still, if he had noticed the effect of the potion in his conversation with HyeJin, he wouldn’t treat it like that.

‘It’s somewhat inappropriate to show the fruit openly…’

If it was CheolHeon, it would have all been made into potions or hidden.

His concerns deepened.

***

‘Animal friendly… Plant friendly…’

Hunternet is where information about dungeons and Hunters is posted frequently.

Yoo Ji-Ha is also a Hunter, so he is registered here.

He put two words into the search bar and pressed enter, but nothing came up.

When he added Alchemy and Blessings, only irrelevant ones were listed.

‘Obviously, this is the first Skill I recieved.’

And it’s the only one in the world.

What does this mean?

‘Maybe someone entrusted me with a mission.’

But no one spoke to him.

It may have been shown through the environment rather than words.

Like the forest in his dream.

‘Anyway, it means that the forest should be taken care of well.’’

If you do what you can do without being greedy, the rewards will follow.

After organizing his thoughts, he got up from his chair and closed the shop.

‘I have to go in.’

These days, he enjoys visiting the forest in his dreams.

Because if you do good deeds, even small ones, rewards will follow.

Putting the dimensional pouch in the backpack, tied a few pieces of wood together before placing a Glow stone in the center which resulted into a plausible torch.

‘Now put this in my backpack.’

The torch was securely fastened to the backpack.

The lights were turned off and the surroundings were clear.

He was satisfied with the performance of the glow stone.

‘I think it would be better to process the ignition stone and make it like a flint.’

He decided to do it later, ate dinner in a hurry, lay in bed, and closed his eyes.

As soon as he felt the familiar forest air, he looked around.

‘As expected.’

The once small Solar Apples have fully matured.

It was more abundant than the first time.

‘If I take half, it’s still more than 10.’

The Winter Strawberries haven’t matured yet, so he decided to wait a little bit.

‘There’s nothing else that changed.’

At that moment, he saw something wriggling at his feet, and he almost stepped on it.

“What is it?”

A Theradrone was bringing something, put it down at his feet and ran away.

Is there such an absurd thing as insects giving gifts?

Is it gifting him because he helped them dig a hole before?

【The Seed of Hummingbell】

“I don’t know what a Hummingbell is but thank you.”

It’s not an ordinary forest, so he thought it would grow well on its own. He dug a hole in the ground and planted the seed.

Then he filled up a bottle with water from the stream, and carefully went into the cave.

Fortunately, there was nothing threatening inside.

“It’s not that deep…”

Relying on the light of the Glow stone, he was able to reach the end of the tunnel within a few minutes of walking.

“Oh my gosh.”

His eyes widened.

An open white sandy beach, and an emerald sea came into view.