Chapter 37: The Salt Rabbit Showdown and the Birth of the Oil Cow

Three days later.

“It’s the day of the decisive battle!”

I grabbed my pickaxe from dawn. 

Perhaps because it was a 3-reinforced pickaxe, the sensation when holding it was quite thrilling.

Today, I must catch the salt rabbit. Good food can’t be without good salt.

“Are you going straight underground?”

I was trying to go quietly, but Elenia flew over, rubbing her eyes.

“Why are you up?”

“I’m worried about sending you alone.”

“It’s just going underground.”

She must have come to see me off because she felt sorry for letting me go alone.

A faint smile spread across my lips. 

That concern was so very appreciated.

“How’s your body condition?”

“Look at this. Throwing off the heavy weighted vest makes my body feel like it’s going to fly.”

Hop hop.

I jumped in place. My body rose high enough to lightly clear the pasture fence.

It had only been three days since I started wearing it, but my thigh muscles seemed to have built up a lot. As expected, you need to eat meat after training.

But.

Stagger, the moment I landed, my body twisted and I thudded to the ground.

“Ouch….”

“Are you okay? Why did you suddenly fall?”

“I’m not fully adapted to the lighter body yet.”

It seems I need a bit more time for my body to balance. I patted my butt and stood up.

“Then, I’ll be off.”

“Are you really okay?”

“I’m fine. I’ll adapt soon.”

“Don’t get hurt like last time and come back carefully.”

Elenia urged me again and again.

What greater things must be underground for her to worry like that?

Still, I was fully prepared.

For several days, I wore the weighted vest while hauling dragon dung to lighten my body. 

Thanks to the Floating Island’s effect, my muscles grew even more frighteningly!

Plus, with the 3-reinforced pickaxe, catching a salt rabbit should be easy.

This is perfect!

I strode down to the underground.

Thump thump.

A good tension flowed. 

My heartbeat heated my body. 

The warmed-up muscles were ready to perform at their best.

Entering the second underground floor, a black rabbit golem came into view.

“You rabbit bastard! I’m back!”

The rabbit golems stationed on the second floor all looked at me at once.

And.

They smirked, as if finding me contemptible.

“Those guys! Did they just look down on me?”

Golems without emotions couldn’t laugh on their own. 

That must be the underground spirit openly mocking me.

I got a bit angry.

You’ll regret mocking me soon!

“Stay right there!”

Whoosh!

I kicked the ground and leaped forward in one bound. I didn’t want to miss the moment they let their guard down.

Dash dash dash.

Startle.

The rabbits, flustered by the unexpected speed, hurriedly fled.

Light! My body is light!

I raced fiercely through the cave, closely chasing the tail of a coal rabbit.

And.

“A plump butt deserves a good spanking!”

Smack.

I whacked the black rabbit’s rear hard.

Crack.

The coal rabbit crumbled, and lumps of coal poured onto the ground.

“One caught!”

Riding the momentum, I continued running.

Smack!

[Double kill!]

Smack!

[Triple kill!]

Smack! Smack!

[Quad kill! Penta kill! Going berserk!]

A situation clearly different from before. 

I was overwhelming the black rabbits. 

I had grown this much in a short time!

“How’s the taste? You’ll pay dearly for mocking me! Kyahahaha!”

For a moment, a demon possessed my face.

My lips tore up to my ears, and my nose, filled with confidence, soared sky-high.

“Kyahahaha!”

As I madly took down the black rabbits one by one.

Hop hop.

Finally, a white rabbit busily jumping among them caught my eye.

“Found you. You little!”

Flinch. Scramble-

“Did you think I’d let you go? I’ll spank that plump butt of yours!”

Gleam.

My eyes filled with madness.

Eeeek!

Seeing this, the white rabbit convulsed and fled with all its might.

“Stop right there!”

But the white salt rabbit was even faster than the coal rabbits.

I chased with full power too, but it kept slipping away from my fingertips precariously.

“You little!”

The white rabbit turned to look at me shouting in frustration and grinned triumphantly.

“Ugh, you wanna go?”

Screech.

Suddenly, I stopped.

“It’s finally time to release the seal.”

The moment to fully release the seal had come.

The last weighted band I had left because I was having trouble adapting to the suddenly lighter body.

Click-

It was released now.

“Whew.”

I took a deep breath and steadied my slightly ragged breathing.

“You, just! Wait.”

I got into position to run.

And I tensed my thigh muscles hard.

Bulge-

Feeling the strong power in the muscles.

Boom!

I kicked the ground and shot forward. My body flew like an arrow.

Dash dash dash.

My body cut through the air, racing fiercely.

Startle! Scramble.

The white rabbit sensed the crisis and tried to flee in a hurry, but.

“Got you. You little!”

The white rabbit caught up to in an instant.

Our eyes met.

The smirk that had been on its face until just now was completely gone.

Gleam.

In contrast, my face was demonic.

Smack!

In the end, I whacked the salt rabbit’s tempting white rear with all my might!

“BE!”

The rabbit let out its final scream.

With its mouth wide open, showing its two front teeth clearly, it turned back into a lump of salt.

A tempting pink lump sparkled before my eyes!

“Uwaaaah! Pink salt!”

I roared in victory like a beast. After a fierce battle(?), I finally obtained pink salt.

Ding.

[The second underground floor has been cleared.]

[The Floating Island is very pleased.]

[Affinity has greatly increased.]

[Growth Point has been generated.]

[Current Growth Points: 2]

“Oh! Growth Point!”

Thanks to that, my mind, dyed in madness, cleared up.

Moreover, my body, which had lost balance while rolling with the rabbits, now moved more smoothly than before.

Ding.

[The path to the third underground floor will open.]

Rumble.

The cave trembled slightly. 

Then the wall beside the second-floor stairs opened, revealing stairs going down.

I’ve used up my energy for today, so I’ll postpone going to the third floor.

Obtaining pink salt meant my goal was achieved. Now, transporting the pink salt comes first.

I put the pink salt in the sack I brought and climbed the stairs.

“Oh! You finally did it!”

Elenia welcomed me.

She must have been waiting at the entrance the whole time.

“This is a piece of cake.”

I flexed my biceps toward Elenia.

***

Perhaps because I used my body intensely from early dawn, today’s lunch was even more delicious.

After filling my hungry stomach, I lay in the shade.

“Ah, this is nice!”

Swish swish.

The breeze brushing my cheeks was quite cool. This is real healing. 

It feels like being rewarded for a tiring day.

Taking this rest made my body languid.

But that was only for a moment.

Wriggle wriggle.

“Lying still makes my body itch.”

After squirming for a while, I suddenly got up. I had clearly used all my stamina, but it came back again.

“Having excess stamina is a problem too.”

Eating nutrient-rich food and resting in clean air naturally restores stamina quickly.

Doing nothing and resting is good, but there are actually piles of things to do.

“Shall I make some vitality drinks?”

Splurt.

I split a watermelon in half and juiced it with the juicer.

Making vitality drinks isn’t hard work, but as tasks increased, it became quite bothersome.

“I wish there was a tool to extract automatically soon.”

“Good idea. A wise farmer uses tools efficiently.”

Elenia nodded.

“Since we’re on the topic, why not implement it?”

“Hmm, what would be good to make.”

Implementation consumes points, so I need to think carefully.

It would be good to have a juicing or oil-extracting function. 

Then I could make various oils like sesame oil or olive oil.

I got a growth point this morning, so maybe I can implement both if done well?

“Floating Island.”

I naturally called the Floating Island. 

Communicating with it had become familiar.

“I need an automatic juicer and milker. Can you implement them?”

Ding.

[Checking if automatic juicer and milker can be implemented.]

[Implementation possible.]

[Current Growth Points: 2]

[1 point needed to implement automatic juicer.]

[2 points needed to implement automatic milker.]

[What would you like to make?]

“Hmm… Points are insufficient.”

There weren’t enough growth points to implement both. Regrettable, but I have to choose the more necessary one.

“Think carefully.”

“The milker seems more practical, doesn’t it? The juicer… is already there, even if semi-manual.”

Turning the manual juicer is just bothersome, but separating oil manually is harder and more complicated.

The deliberation didn’t last long.

“The automatic milker would be better after all. Floating Island, implement the automatic milker.”

Ding.

[Consuming 2 points to implement automatic milker.]

[Implementing automatic milker.]

What will happen this time.

Thump thump.

Full of anticipation, I held my breath and watched what would happen.

Rumble.

Soon, the Floating Island vibrated subtly.

Then the ancient stele began to sparkle. Something was about to happen.

At that moment.

Flash.

Suddenly, a strong light covered my vision, and something slowly walked out from inside the stele.

Jingle.

The bell on its neck rang.

“Mooouuu.”

It let out a deep moo.

“Wh-What are you?”

A ‘cow’ just popped out of the ancient stele?!

I couldn’t believe it even seeing it with my own eyes.

I clearly wanted an automatic milker. What on earth is this.

No matter how I looked, the spotted body was definitely a living cow.

Ding.

[Oil Cow has been implemented.]

[Various oils can be milked depending on the feed.]

“…O-Oil Cow?!”

My jaw dropped wide open.