The Stepwell Sovereign's Bitter Harvest
By @john1208
The world of Qalhat is suffocating under endless eclipses and monstrous incursions, and the elite vanguard guilds are being slaughtered. Khavis, a haughty and disgraced combat-botanist, couldn't care less. After receiving a blood-soaked parcel containing a deed to the deadliest dungeon, he descends into the abyss simply to prove his theories on subterranean agriculture. While rival guildmaster Najila desperately battles eldritch horrors to stop the apocalypse, Khavis forces the floor’s brutal minotaur boss to plow his cursed soil. Terrified of the butcher's block, the bloodthirsty behemoth shapeshifts into a tiny, big-eyed mascot calf to earn its keep. As Khavis cultivates glowing grapes that instantly restore full mana and breeds premium monster-beef, the desperate guilds above bankrupt themselves just to afford his harvest. Alternating between Khavis’s arrogant obsession with soil pH and Najila’s harrowing fight for survival, the two clash over prices, pride, and the fate of humanity. But when they discover the architect of the apocalypse was only trying to seal away an even greater cosmic threat, will Khavis have to abandon his perfect harvest to save the world?
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The Spire Farm Fiasco
By @john1208
When I tripped over my own boots and fell face-first into the S-Rank Malagro Catacombs during my very public, very embarrassing Vetrano Hunters' Academy expulsion ceremony, everyone assumed I was dead. Instead, I found out the subterranean soil down in the abyss is absolutely sublime. So, I did what any reasonable guy with the 'Telluric Breath' soil-aeration skill would do: I started a vegetable garden. Now, my giant bloodthirsty Sanguine Dread-Lupine, Brambol, fetches the bones of fallen monsters like sticks, and the terrifying undead dungeon boss, Morzanto the Ashen, pays me rent in legendary artifacts just so I'll keep feeding him my magical cabbages. But my peaceful agricultural life is under threat. My hyper-healing lettuce has accidentally crashed the outside world's potion economy, sparking massive underground black markets. Worse, the Guildmaster keeps sending elite hit-squads to trample my crops for a surprisingly heartbreaking reason! Will I be able to harvest my impenetrable shield-pumpkins before the overzealous hunters ruin my farm, or will I have to unleash my golden-retriever-brained hellhound to defend my plot?
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