The SSS+ Rank Hunter Who Farms

10. Map Management Manager

A Strange Land.

The place I had stayed in just to get through the tutorial—now, it had become my new home, where I would live for the rest of my life.

From a cold, cramped hut, it had transformed into a small 8-pyeong studio with a view of the Han River in Seoul.

"So what if I have to start over? Reality is better than virtual reality."

Of course, whether this was a game or reality was still uncertain. But as long as I treated it as reality, it might as well be real until I cleared it.

It wasn’t bad. It actually felt kind of cozy.

"The important thing is that the hut is an absolute safe zone."

Monsters could come near the hut, but they wouldn’t attack it.

Even though Farming World included hunting as a secondary feature, its core was still a healing, farming experience. Monsters might interrupt farming or steal crops, but if they could completely destroy a player's hut and make progress impossible, at least half the player base would have quit.

Of course, whether the same rules applied here remained to be seen.

What should I do first?

As I was making plans, a new message popped up.

[You can now summon a manager to oversee your Secret Farming Map.]

[Summon the manager! Use the command to call your management assistant.]

"Oh, right. This thing existed."

Normally, after completing the tutorial, players had the option to summon a Map Manager.

It wasn’t mandatory.

I, for one, hadn’t summoned a Map Manager in over five years.

If you skipped the tutorial, you couldn’t even summon one. And even if you did, it was basically a living tutorial extension, only useful for explaining basic commands. Any experienced player had no reason to summon one.

At most, single-player users might call it up for conversation when bored, but even that was pointless, considering you could hire NPCs in Farming World.

Still…

"Summon Manager!"

I set aside my ten years of experience.

This isn't a game.

This is a new beginning.

New life. New world.

If this was going to be like a regression novel, I’d humbly make full use of every possible advantage.

Wuuuuuuuung—

Along with a familiar resonant sound, a fairy popped out.

"Hello, Master!"

"Oh. Hey."

A palm-sized fairy fluttered her wings as she greeted me cheerfully.

Most newbies got startled when they first saw a Manager.

The way they called you ‘Master’ was something you had to get used to.

Especially since it came from a tiny fairy species…

Social norms made it awkward to hear a small creature call you that. It triggered a weird kind of guilt in people.

But veterans of Farming World knew the truth.

These fairies weren’t children—according to the lore, they were hundreds of years old.

"The Rift-Dimension’s Master has appeared for the first time in nearly 50,000 years—oh! My name is Lulu, and I was born to assist and manage this dimension for you, Master!"

"Lulu?"

That wasn’t the usual Manager name from the tutorial, but it was easy to remember.

"Lulu, what can you do?"

In the game, Managers were practically useless to me.

At best, they just explained side features that I might have missed in the tutorial.

But here? Maybe it would be different.

Lulu excitedly began explaining.

"I exist to guide new Masters in managing and developing their dimension! I can assist with growth, provide advice on pioneering, and answer any questions or requests!"

"So, what specifically can you do? Can you cut trees, mine rocks, or clear weeds?"

"Of course! If you help me grow, I can handle such basic tasks!"

"And how do you grow?"

"If you use Farming Points and Farm Resources, you can access the Fairy Growth Tab and—"

"Useless."

"...Huh?"

I had some expectations, but as expected.

Unlike Farming World, it seems like I can make use of it if I let it grow, but right now, I don’t even have enough points to strengthen myself, let alone invest in some fairy.

Rather than raising a fairy to tend the yard, I’d rather just hire a sturdy worker NPC later.

"You can be unsummoned again, right?"

"Once I’ve been summoned onto the map, I can only be unsummoned when you die, Master! Until the next Master appears, I’ll just wait in the dimensional rift again."

The way she said it with a bright smile was a bit eerie, and I couldn’t help but frown.

"Do you need food?"

"Don’t worry! I don’t eat much."

"Sigh..."

Food wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but now I had another useless mouth to feed.

I really shouldn’t have summoned her.

For now, I decided to just think of her as not being here.

Maybe she’d be useful for something if I left her somewhere.

First, I decided to take care of the basics.

I had focused on getting out and clearing the tutorial, so I had skipped the things I should have done from the start.

"Finding a village. Finding a mine. Finding the sewer. Clearing the yard."

Since the map was vast, things that could normally be done in a day might have to be planned on a weekly basis and tackled one by one.

Even in SS-rank maps, villages were often quite far, so I usually just dug out a new village somewhere convenient and relocated the NPCs there.

Similarly, to craft higher-rank tools, I’d need to find a mine somewhere nearby and farm resources.

Finding the sewer was about dealing with the Big Rats I’d seen during the tutorial, making sure they wouldn’t interfere with farming.

Clearing the yard was a similar task.

The only issue was deciding how much of the yard I should consider as my domain.

If I tried to clear the entire area designated as my yard in this massive map from the start, I might end up doing nothing but yard work endlessly.

A radius of 5KM or so wasn’t just a joke—the size of an SS-rank map was beyond imagination.

"As expected of Master, you clearly know what needs to be done first!"

"Stop making noise next to me."

Hearing my muttering, Lulu giggled and chimed in.

Even when I brusquely pushed her away, she didn’t sulk and just kept talking.

"The closest village is about 2KM northwest from the cabin."

"...Huh?"

This useless fairy.

Maybe she might actually be useful.

-----------------

In Farming World genre games, the most important ‘information’ is about the map.

While the main dopamine-driven healing aspect of the game revolves around growing seasonal crops and making money, another crucial element is illuminating dark areas of the map, discovering new resources, and exploring more dangerous regions.

It's nearly impossible to fully uncover every map.

It’s not efficient, and even I, after ten years of primarily playing SS-grade maps, still have areas I haven’t revealed.

In a way, it’s also a mechanic designed to extend playtime.

Other RPGs or FPS games provide a sense of excitement or dopamine directly through ‘combat,’ which keeps the gameplay engaging despite repetition. But in this genre, the dopamine from discovery and exploration through effort doesn’t last as long.

Meaningless grinding or aimless wandering in search of great rewards ends up being time-consuming elements in this type of game.

That’s why items like ‘maps’ that help illuminate dark areas are inherently valuable.

Even for me, I was stuck wondering what to do first because I couldn’t even figure out where to go without clearing the yard. But with just one sentence from Lulu, that uncertainty was completely resolved.

"How do you know that?"

"Huh? I explored with my previous Master!"

"Didn’t you say that was 50,000 years ago? How old are you?"

"It’s rude to ask a lady’s age. Besides, time stops in the dimensional rift, so I’m actually not as young a fairy as you might think!"

"..."

Whether Lulu is 50,000 years old or 5,000 years old, it doesn’t matter to me.

"Do you know other locations too?"

"I know the mine and sewer you mentioned!"

"Insane."

Suddenly, Lulu seemed adorable.

"Kyaa!"

I grabbed Lulu and rubbed my cheek against hers in praise.

"You were actually useful!"

On a map of immeasurable size, even knowing the direction and location doesn’t make getting there easy.

2KM may not sound far, but on foot, it’s quite a distance.

On top of that, in this Secret Farming Map, everything except for a small patch of land in front of the cabin is completely undeveloped.

Considering I’d have to clear a path and fight monsters along the way, I felt absolutely no disappointment in how easily I had learned the location.

I’m a results-oriented person.

If the rewards are good, I enjoy the dopamine from that—I have no interest in glorifying the struggle or finding joy in hardship that doesn't pay off.

Feeling a bit hopeful, I decided to ask just in case.

"Then do you happen to know the key locations in the level 1 biome?"

"Eh..? Hehe… My previous Master never made it that far… And he was my first Master too."

Of course.