novelraw Chapter 213
Chapter 213
As the potato’s blazing glow abruptly died down, all that was left in its place was a charred black lump.‘That’s a fail.’
‘It’s... totally burnt...’
In front of the pitch-black potato, both Jurim and Gidan clammed up, sneaking glances at Guru.
Failing a skill wasn’t the end of the world, but from the way her lips twitched and her eyes shimmered, they could read too many complicated emotions.
Gidan shot Jurim a look, silently urging him to do something.
Jurim reluctantly opened his mouth to comfort her.
“The potato... uh, it’s cooked perfectly.”
“...?!”
Gidan whipped his head toward him in disbelief—
“......”
Guru shot Jurim a sharp glare, then took a deep breath and composed herself.
“...Guru-yah, want Oppa to show you something fun?”
Guru shook her head vigorously and pouted.
“Gwuu wanna go home...”
“I’ll take you,” Jurim offered.
“I’ll go with her, hyung,” Gidan said at the same time, standing up.
But Guru just shook her head again.
“Wanna go wif Yoon Teawm Leadeuw...”
She gazed at the two with a wistful look.
“Gwuu wanna be awone...”
Leaving the two of them exchanging desperate glances, as if begging the other to say something, Guru scampered off and slipped into a bathroom far, far away from the guildmaster’s office.
Then, sitting atop the toilet lid, her eyes sparkled as she split open the still-steaming potato.
Inside the roasted potato was a seed-shaped crystal—a solid gem-like core embedded within.
A tiny mana stone burned like a miniature sun inside the transparent crystal, glowing like a jewel.
[Achievement: Unlocked!]
You are the Heaven Beyond Heaven of Potatoes. You can now harvest all potatoes, and occasionally their grade may increase upon harvest.
[You have created a new substance unknown to the world.ime use. Expires once all mana stone catalysts are consumed.
'So it’s single-use. I wonder if the seed potatoes grow better with nutrients?'
It did say the grade depended on various environmental factors.
As she reviewed possible spots with rich sunlight and mana, Guru began humming a potato song.
***
The first test site for seed potato cultivation was the forsythia garden.
It had nutrient-rich specialty soil, and she and Woojoo had already grown potatoes there before, so no one would think anything of it.
Guru planted the seed potato in the garden, gave it lots of sunlight, and fed it nutrient juice squeezed fresh by Woojoo.
And the next day, after school—
After finishing horseback riding, Guru returned to the garden and gaped in shock.
“It gwowed in one day?!”
One long stem had grown straight up.
Guru grabbed it and dug around the soil with her trowel, then pulled.
But the potatoes didn’t budge—as if mocking her pitiful Strength stat of 2.
“Pwease, hewp me!”
Then Veilach and Mephisto joined in and tugged together.
Hup—!
RUSTLE—!
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (F+)]
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (F+)]
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (F+)]
......
......
[Due to Achievement ‘Potato Master,’ the grade of one potato has increased!]
[Seed Potato with Criteito Reactor (E+)]
With a pop, a status window appeared—among the tubers hanging in clusters, one was E-Rank.
Guru narrowed her eyes.
Just an E+?
Was that first S-Rank just a fluke?
“Hyuung...”
Her sulky face lit up again as a thought passed through her mind.
'No, that’s not it.'
Since the grade depends on the environment, maybe she just needed a different method.
Guru thought of different factors: rich soil, warm sun, clean water, Guru’s love, sweet words...
Her Chick Class teacher once said that giving plants lots of love and kind words helped them grow strong and healthy.
“Mmm, dis time, I’ww teww dem I wuv dem.”
With her chubby cheeks flushing pink, Guru hummed a happy tune.
“Meuuuuh...”
“Piiiii...”
Mephisto and Veilach, both groaning back to back, were clearly exhausted. Pulling potatoes with tiny bodies wasn’t easy.
Guru neatly packed the potatoes into her bag but pouted again at the disappointing grades.
“Too many to use...”
At this rate, her backpack would become a box full of F-Rank potatoes!
“Hm.”
Guru stroked her chin.
F-Rank reactors could only use F-Rank mana stones as catalysts, so they wouldn’t make much difference for drones.
But maybe they’d still be useful to someone. Probably?
'Let’s just extract the reactors and sell those.'
If she anonymously handed them off to the agency like last time, they’d take care of the rest.
Might make for some decent pocket money.
With a cheerful face, Guru rolled the shiny E+ potato in her hand.