NOVEL NEXT Chapter 2
2. Secret Farming Map
A musty, stale smell stings my nose.
The cold air touches my skin, and my body trembles with chills.
My skin feels the prickly, unpleasant sensation of cheap fabric.
My back aches from the hard, floor-like mattress, and I can’t figure out where this shitty pillow came from—my neck is stiff even while lying down.
This feeling...
It’s familiar.
"Ah, shit. What the hell?"
I open my eyes, and the high ceiling I was used to is gone. Instead, a low wooden ceiling of a cabin is all I see.
Though there’s a window, the tall trees nearby block the sunlight, so the inside of the house is dark. The narrow bed barely fits me, and if I twist my body even slightly, my limbs float in the air.
"Give me back my Farming World, you assholes!"
Even as I scream and flail about, there's no sign of returning to my mansion.
I was thrown out by the game’s power.
Who did this?
I have no idea.
Was this an intentional game quest, or did the game company take my server away?
[Congratulations on becoming the owner of the Secret Farming Map!]
This clueless message alone only serves to make me even angrier.
"Ha..."
[The Secret Farming Map is a hidden quest offered only to a single user who accepts the quest.]
[This map is the only dimensional crack in all dimensions...]
[Secret Farming Map]
[Resource Deposits: Unmeasurable (SSS+)]
[Resource Rarity: SSS]
[Map Size: Unmeasurable (SSS+)]
[Overall Difficulty: Unmeasurable (SSS+)]
A lengthy description of about 500 words is clearly included, but I skip over it in my frustration. Yet, despite being pissed off, the veteran player in me still reads the map info thoroughly.
"SSS-rank resource rarity..."
In Farming World, the resource rarity of a map refers to how rare the resources that can be found are.
To put it in RPG terms, it's like the rarity of items you can obtain.
Typically, the resource rarity of tutorial maps is around C. The map size is small, and the deposit amount is low, so the rarest resource you can get on a tutorial map is at most C-rank.
Now, you might wonder what C-rank actually means, and it’s normal to be unsure.
If I hadn’t played Farming World, I would have had no reason to care about such ratings either.
However, modern players can relate to these grades in some way.
The resources in Farming World are mostly similar to those you find in dungeons in the real world.
From rare ores with unfamiliar names to weapons, you can craft from them.
Though there’s been a lot of debate about whether the game copied elements from the real world, since dungeons aren't something created by a specific game company, there’s no real issue with borrowing names or functions. So, the game just did it.
This map with SSS-rank resource rarity means that it's a place where you can farm SSS-grade materials that have never appeared in reality.
"But can that even happen?"
The game itself places elements based on reality.
There’s an A-rank resource called Octagonal Stone.
A single stone, the size of a fist, is worth tens of billions. There have been fewer than five of these stones released in the market so far.
When materials like this are found, it’s rumored that they appear in Farming World too.
Some say that things that were already in Farming World appeared in reality, and when people saw it, they started searching for them in the game. But does that even make sense?
Anyway, with all sorts of rumors floating around, I couldn't help but be both frustrated and curious.
"Ha..."
Of course, this miserable wooden hut—barely even serving half the function of a proper house, unable to block the wind properly—made it seem unlikely that I'd find even an S-rank resource here, let alone an SSS-rank one.
"This is fucking ridiculous."
I knew exactly what I had to do.
Even though ten years had passed, it wasn't like I had only played on final-difficulty maps.
To perfect my endgame maps, I had explored countless other worlds, and honestly, I'd gone through these tutorial zones at least ten thousand times—no exaggeration.
And so, I was sick of it.
"I'm not doing this."
I didn't know how things would turn out.
Had the damn Farming World admins really taken my world away and dumped me here?
Or was this some kind of quest acceptance bug, meaning I could still get my world back?
I'd decide later, once I knew for sure.
Right now, I just wanted to leave.
"Logout."
[You cannot log out until you complete the tutorial.]
"...Hah."
These bastards really knew how to piss someone off.
Their little scheme was obvious.
Right.
They were basically saying: ‘Try out the tutorial first. If you don’t like it, then you can complain, refund, or do whatever.’
Forcing me to swallow it first and only discuss options if I didn’t like the taste.
Unbelievable.
What is this, one of those porn plots where the girl struggles at first but ends up moaning in pleasure once it's in?
No matter how well-made this map was, no matter how irresistible it might be to someone like me, this kind of forced experience only made me want to reject it even more.
"This is boring. Let me log out."
[You cannot log out until you complete the tutorial.]
"Ha..."
After ten minutes of this bullshit, I finally gave up.
Shouting at the empty wooden walls of the hut wasn't going to make the admins hear me.
"You sons of bitches. Just wait till I get out."
There was no choice.
Trapped inside the game, the only thing I could do was clear this shitty tutorial—the only lead and hope I had.
I sat on the bed and started reading through the endless system messages.
[Exclusive Perks for the Owner of the Secret Farming Map!]
[SSS+ Rank Ability Selection]
[Surviving in the perilous Secret Farming Map requires great power! Choose an ability carefully to ensure your survival and develop the dimensional rift map as its rightful owner.]
"SSS+ rank...?"
Seeing that perk, I shot up from the bed without thinking.
SSS+ Rank.
This ranking system was similar to the one used for hunters in the real world.
Each hunter's abilities were graded, and naturally, the higher the grade, the more powerful they were at hunting monsters in dungeons.
The only difference was that in reality, SS rank was the highest level.
Well, this was my first time seeing an SSS rank in Farming World too, thanks to this so-called Secret Farming Map.
Anyway, in this game, SSS+ rank was beyond broken.
Even SS+ rank—the previous highest tier—was essentially godlike in its respective field.
For example, if someone had Swordsmanship SS+, they could freely wield techniques like Sword Telekinesis, the pinnacle of martial arts.
Of course, the game still demanded a level of realism—there were plenty of required stats and prerequisites.
Even after ten years of playing, I'd only managed to unlock a few SS+ rank abilities in the past one or two years.
But SSS+?
They were just handing this to me for free?
"Hmm..."
My anger was starting to subside—just a little.
If they were giving out these kinds of early-game perks, then things might be different.
Ask any player what made starting over in Farming World so damn painful, and 90 out of 100 would say the same thing:
The early-game grind is pure hell.
Realism and freedom?
That was just another way of saying backbreaking labor and unforgiving mechanics.
But if you removed one of those elements completely?
Then the overall difficulty would drop dramatically.
For example—
If I used this SSS+ ability selection on Farming, I could instantly acquire farming skills far beyond what my ten-year-old character had ever achieved.
I could even build a massive, fully automated farm—one that surpassed the one in my old world—overnight.
...Of course, since the game still enforced realism, gathering the materials to build that farm would be impossible.
So, yeah—wasting my SSS+ selection on Farming was out of the question.
"What should I pick...?"
Either way, I had to choose an SSS+ ability to complete the tutorial.
A few good options immediately came to mind.
Abilities that would let me speed-run the early game.
Abilities that would let me clear the tutorial as fast as possible.
Abilities that would still be useful even if, for some reason, I ended up returning to this map later.
Narrowing it down, I saw a pattern.
After refining my choices further, I was left with two options.
A base?
Or hunting?
These were the two core mechanics of Farming World.
And I had to choose just one.