“Cold.”
Just as Han Iseo said.
For now, since I’d at least succeeded in getting permission to walk around inside this group,
for the first ti since arriving in Gyeonggi Province,
I was able to look closely at the inside of this survivor group.
Their trust in was still low,
so even if I wanted to help with sothing, I was in a situation where I couldn’t help with anything.
“Helping them to earn trust is good and all... but before that, I need to understand the structure of this group.”
My job is Chef.
To fully use my ability, what I need first is the kitchen.
And—
‘People who’ll eat my cooking.’
To earn their trust,
and to shove my food into their mouths,
I first needed to understand their living environnt well.
With that in mind,
I decided to carefully walk around inside the group.
“Hello?”
“...Not interested.”
“......”
Whenever I tried speaking to soone,
they would glare at coldly and then go back to whatever they were doing.
‘So their trust in really is rock bottom.’
Well.
Rumors about where I ca from have surely spread everywhere the mont this outsider suddenly showed up.
It’s understandable they think I’m suspicious.
‘That aside, everyone’s expressions just aren’t bright.’
Everyone’s hearts were strained.
There was no room left inside to treat a stranger kindly.
At this rate,
trying to gain sothing through conversation or observation seed difficult.
All I could do was—
wander around, looking at this and that.
‘Hmm. The interior looks similar to the bases of other Awakener groups.’
A base encircled by wide walls as far as possible to create a safe zone,
and then buildings inside that zone being put to use.
The one fortunate thing was that they didn’t seem short on firewood.
This wasn’t a region like Chuncheon where all the trees were wiped out,
and they seed able to gather wood freely.
‘Though considering that, it still looks like there’s a lot of wood... are the Combat folks chopping endlessly?’
Anyway.
Outside, a murderous cold snap was blowing.
But inside the Wall, the logs burning in several places ward the air, so it was tolerably warm.
Right.
Looking at just this aspect, it was similar to other survivor bases in Gangwon Province.
‘If there’s sothing different—’
I moved my steps.
Then I approached the gigantic, towering wall that enclosed this entire wide territory.
I extended my hand toward the wall.
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
[Safety Wall Filled with a Mid-Tier Architect’s Devotion]
“...This is seriously incredible.”
Our guild’s combat engineers had also built various bases and walls near the unit.
Combat engineers specialize in making anything used in war.
And because “anything used in war” was absurdly wide in scope, they had beco ultra–all-terrain specialists.
But—
‘For building walls, this might be better.’
This wall didn’t fall short even compared to those built by combat engineers.
No—beyond that—
its completeness as a structure slightly exceeded the engineers’ work.
‘They probably didn’t have the sa material resources as our unit, so to produce sothing like this...’
Its massive height, toughness, solidity, and evenness.
Compared to engineer-made walls—
this was closer to comparing it with Vimana’s outer hull.
‘It’s inferior to Vimana... but far ahead of the engineers’ walls.’
There was only one reason sothing like this was possible.
Unlike combat engineers, who can work in many fields but whose highest-level expertise is sowhat narrow,
‘there’s an Awakener in Gyeonggi Province whose job specializes in making structures like this wall.’
This...
was an ability that would greatly help humanity survive.
Indeed.
This structure confird the thought I’d been carrying.
‘The more surviving humans there are, the better.’
As the number of Awakeners grows,
rare Awakeners with abilities like this will occasionally appear.
When such Awakeners create synergy with other Awakeners,
their combined power will grow endlessly.
If Awakeners like this are hidden all across the country,
saving them will directly connect to humanity’s survival.
As I brushed my hand along the wall,
admiring it blankly while walking—
“...Are you trying to find a weak point in the wall?”
“?”
From far away,
soone called out to .
“No use even if you try. This wall was made by a powerful Awakener from the Central Branch. No monster has ever broken through it, and even if you try to find a weak point, you won’t find any, so stop wasting your ti.”
I turned my head.
A man stood there—long hair grown out haphazardly, giving off a strangely “natural hermit” vibe.
‘No, compared to the vibe, he’s actually young?’
The face visible beneath the ssy hair looked unexpectedly young.
Probably around my age, or at most slightly older.
Seeing his face,
I finally guessed who he was.
“Iseo said you seed trustworthy enough to wander around. But I’d prefer if you didn’t act too suspicious.”
One of the executives of this Northern Branch.
The man who openly distrusted .
And—
“Especially this place—this orchard that produces our food—you’d better not approach it any further.”
The one who kept this group’s people fed.
****
One of the Northern Branch’s executives.
The man who fed this group’s people.
‘His na was... Gang Jaeho, right?’
He didn’t even try to hide that he was suspicious of .
He stared at with a cold expression.
Because I’d wandered around, absentmindedly touching the wall that seed even better than the ones made by combat engineers,
without realizing it I had approached the restricted zone.
“That wasn’t my intention. My apologies if I bothered you.”
“Well, if it wasn’t, that’s good.”
I even raised both hands to show I wasn’t planning anything suspicious.
But that didn’t soften his suspicion at all.
I stepped back at his warning
and surveyed the surroundings.
Then—
‘It really is an orchard.’
Despite the overwhelming cold that froze the ground and buildings,
a vast orchard stretched out before —
as if it were the peak harvest season.
And—
the one who made this orchard was—
[Ingredient Identification (Enhanced)]
[Awakener : Gang Jaeho]
[Job : Interdiate Druid Lv.26]
[Nature Communion]
[Growth Acceleration]
[Naturalization — Wood]
[Beastform — Bear]
......
......
‘This guy. This is it.’
His job was Druid.
Originally a Celtic shaman, was it?
It wasn’t sothing I knew deeply.
But it was a job that appeared often in gas.
Glancing through his traits,
a few things stood out.
‘A transformation into wood... and a transformation into a bear.’
Druids were common in gas—
but this was my first ti seeing one among Awakeners.
Definitely a rare job.
His job was sowhat similar to the shaman in our unit—
Borzjin.
‘If Borzjin communed with the earth spirit or read the stars, this guy seems more focused on communing with nature itself.’
His transformation abilities were intriguing, sure.
But what mattered far more in this world was—
sothing else.
[Growth Acceleration]
[Pulls up the earth’s vitality to rapidly accelerate a plant’s growth.]
[Vitality consumption becos extre, but plants can grow in any environnt.]
‘Insane.’
In this extre climate of deadly cold—
the reason an orchard like this could exist...
was all because of this man’s ability.
‘This man... compared to our unit, that would make him similar to Uncle Cheoruk.’
Similar to our unit’s farr Awakener.
A food-production specialist.
Our unit’s food problems had been solved relatively early.
But after the world collapsed—
what people needed most to survive was food.
In our unit too, it was only because I could cook monsters that the food shortage was solved quickly.
Before I distributed combat rations,
even the people of Gangwon had to risk their lives just to get food.
‘Being responsible for food production alone is enough to make soone a key figure in a group.’
Besides—
when I was dragged here at first I didn’t notice it, but—
this orchard protected by that wide wall
occupied nearly half the area inside the Wall.
“...Impressive.”
“Impressive? What exactly?”
“An orchard like this, in an environnt like this. It’s unbelievable at a glance, but you made it possible.”
I spoke honestly, full of admiration.
Because I truly never expected this to be possible.
‘Even Uncle Cheoruk couldn’t pull this off.’
He was amazing at growing crops as a Farr,
but he couldn’t avoid the effects of seasons and environnt.
When the environnt was bad, there were bad harvests.
Even then, because he could grow crops so widely, he never left us lacking—
but if Cheoruk tried to farm here, it would be impossible.
What made it possible
was this man’s skill, [Growth Acceleration].
“Flattery won’t get you anything.”
But—
he answered with eyes filled with wariness.
“You said you haven’t interacted with people since the Day of Ruin.”
“...Honestly, I don’t really believe that, but I’ll play along. If that’s true, then let explain sothing you might not know... the world right now is not one where you can trust others easily.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. The discovery of so unknown outsider like you is enough to shake our group’s atmosphere.”
As expected.
He was extrely wary.
They brought in thinking I might be allied with those criminals.
Once that idea was dismissed, they let walk free—
but to them, I was still soone they couldn’t trust.
And since the Shaman, another executive, said I was okay, they couldn’t just lock up again.
So I beca...
a deeply botherso presence to them.
“I’m sure you heard. I truly have no intention of harming anyone.”
“...Well, you’re free to make that claim.”
“......”
He had absolutely no intention of believing .
If anything, he looked hostile.
And—
this situation wasn’t good for .
‘Of all things, the supplier of ingredients is the one doubting .’
Earning the people’s trust was the priority.
But among those people, ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) there were priorities within the priority.
Honestly, the Barbarian who might throw an axe at any mont—
his trust didn’t need to co first.
It wasn’t like my combat power was lacking right now.
What I was desperate for was ingredients.
My shadow was completely empty.
This environnt looked even worse than Gangwon when it ca to getting ingredients.
So being distrusted by a rare ingredient supplier—
was terrible for as a Chef.
‘...But still.’
I felt a bit puzzled.
Him distrusting —
I had no issue with that.
Even I thought I looked suspicious.
But...
‘He’s openly showing hostility toward even though outsiders surely aren’t a first-ti occurrence.’
Normally—
people would still try to hide their guard on the surface.
But he was openly hostile.
“Why are you suspicious to this extent?”
Feeling strange about his attitude, I asked.
He frowned, clearly displeased.
“Then am I supposed to trust soone who claims to have co from Monsterland?”
“That Han Iseo woman seems to trust .”
“...I admit she’s got good intuition. But.”
He glared at .
“In this world, you can’t rule out the possibility that even she has been controlled.”
“......”
“To be honest, you talking to like this is extrely unpleasant, so... I’d appreciate it if you’d back off.”
Sothing—
told that wasn’t his only reason.
‘With this level of rejection—’
I couldn’t keep talking.
At his prickly attitude, I gave a dry laugh and stepped away.
****
I did step away.
...But I stepped away.
‘This orchard is huge anyway.’
This orchard built inside the Wall—
you could actually see it from almost any building if you tried.
aning—
‘Even if I don’t get close, I can still see it from nearly anywhere in the Wall.’
I felt sorry for the guy—
but he’d been openly rude to from the start anyway.
‘So why should I show him any courtesy?’
His work in this orchard really bothered .
So I moved far enough away to avoid bothering him,
and secretly watched him work from a distance.
‘I’m curious how they produce food here.’
More importantly—
the one I needed to earn trust from most urgently was him.
‘I’d love to solve this with cooking if I could.’
But I lacked the ingredients,
and now that I knew this power was more dangerous than I thought,
carelessly using my ability would be risky.
Force-feeding soone my food was a last resort.
Finding another thod ca first.
“...Looks like he left.”
As I moved far away and suppressed my presence—
Gang Jaeho cautiously glanced around, then muttered.
‘Guess I’m too used to suppressing my presence.’
Maybe because I’d done so many missions after eating Environnt Blend dishes.
It wasn’t hard to hide myself from soone without detection skills.
Thinking I had left, the man relaxed—
and went back to work.
“O nature...”
He placed his hand on a tree.
“Grow... a bit faster.”
Then—
Sssrrrk.
A tree that had borne no fruit at all,
suddenly grew fruit on its branches—
the fruit swelling at incredible speed—
and then falling to the ground in completed form.
‘...Amazing.’
Not just ignoring environntal limitations—
but even the growth speed—
looked stronger than Uncle Cheoruk’s skill.
But—
I also felt sothing odd.
‘He’s outperforming a Farr in food production?’
His job was Druid.
aning—
‘He’s not a production job.’
No matter how much I, a production job, struggled in combat,
I couldn’t beat combat jobs in real combat.
No matter how much I made good fertilizer as a Chef,
Uncle Cheoruk’s Farr fertilizer was better nutritionally, even if my taste was superior.
No matter how talented an Awakener was,
if sothing wasn’t their specialty, they shouldn’t surpass soone of the sa level whose specialization was that field.
Yet here was soone who wasn’t a production class
outperforming a Farr.
‘According to the laws of this “ga” that has swallowed the world... this should be impossible.’
As I pondered that—
“Huuuhp...!”
‘...?’
Right in the middle of producing fruit,
he suddenly tensed up strangely.
And—
‘...The fruit isn’t growing?’
Despite his strained posture,
no fruit grew.
Rather, the tree’s vitality felt like it was fading.
“So it’s already... here too...”
Watching him to figure out what was happening—
the young man clenched his teeth and exhaled a heavy sigh.
“Damn it.”
He lowered his head,
clenched his fist tight,
and spat curses, as if sothing was crushing him.
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