The strawberries ripened overnight.
Not slowly.
Not gently.
One evening they were only starting to blush red.
The next morning they pulsed faintly, a hard sheen moving under their skin.
Phong crouched beside the rows and carefully pushed leaves aside.
The berries were bigger than normal.
Their skin gleamed.
Not like dew.
Like pressure.
The peas were worse.
Their pods twitched when he touched them.
He blinked.
"…You two are trouble, aren't you?"
He used his basic appraisal.
The menu flickered.
Limited.
Blurry.
Incomplete.
Still, names appeared.
Berserking Strawberries
Explosive Greenpeas
No descriptions.
No numbers.
No duration.
Nothing else.
Level 1 farmer privilege.
Phong let out a slow breath.
"So that's what you turned into."
He did not test them right away.
He had learned caution.
A mutation you did not understand was a good way to commit accidental genocide.
Instead, he harvested carefully.
He placed the strawberries in a cloth-lined wooden basket.
He picked the peas pod by pod and stored them separately.
Whatever they did, they felt offensive.
Not utility.
Not support.
These were not carrots that beeped.
Not sunflower seeds that lit the way.
These were weapons.
He could feel it in the strain of their mana.
After the alliances settled, camp felt structured.
More stable.
Less like a campsite.
More like a small state.
And like any state, it needed development.
Rico had announced he was "conducting classified research" with the treants.
Which meant Rico was climbing tree giants, sniffing bark, poking mana nodes, and calling it espionage.
Nyx had been sent to the lizardman enclave.
Spell growth.
Mana control.
The lizardman mages were disciplined.
Precise.
They would sharpen her sorcerer instincts.
Bruno...
Bruno had almost vibrated himself apart when the Troll King let him train in the mountain.
Barbarian plus troll brutality.
It was inevitable.
Watching them leave felt strange.
Not painful.
Just... parental.
Phong had stood by the pond after sending them off.
"Study well," he had muttered.
Rico saluted like a fool.
Nyx promised to "learn forbidden secrets."
Bruno flexed.
It felt like sending kids to boarding school.
And Rico felt like that weird uncle who thought boot camp built character.
That night he traded updates with Dominic's team.
The signal was stable.
No interceptors.
Dominic sounded tired but steady.
They were clearing an abandoned fort on Floor Two.
It was infested with Nightmares, humanoid shadows with poisonous claw slashes, and Shadow Wraiths capable of mid-tier spells.
Not easy.
Not catastrophic.
Manageable.
Especially with Arrogant Ginger shutting down the Nightmares' nastiest trick.
Janet reported only minor injuries.
Jake's footwork had improved.
Joanne's timing was sharper.
Then Alex spoke.
"We have confirmation."
"The French girls' return is set."
Three days after the G7 conference in Washington, DC.
Commercialized symbolism.
French divers flying back to Paris on the same plane as national leadership.
The media story preserved.
Dominic went on.
"We're surfacing in two days. Clear this fort, then escort."
Phong nodded even though they could not see him.
Then Dominic added,
"Olen put in a request."
"Investigation near the decoy farm."
"Concern for your safety near lizardman territory."
The sarcasm dripped through the line.
Phong smiled faintly.
"I expected that."
Then he told them about the alliance.
About Death Peak becoming an extended perimeter.
About the treant roots linking into the outer network.
Silence followed.
Then Alex.
She did not yell.
Did not scold.
She pouted.
Even through voice chat, he could hear it.
"You're the camp leader," she said.
"And the one calling the shots here."
"But I'd still like a warning before major geopolitical decisions."
Geopolitical.
He almost laughed.
But she was right.
He had fallen back into his old habit.
Alone.
Self-contained.
No consultation.
He exhaled.
"You're right."
"Old habit."
"Lone farmer reflex."
"Sorry."
A pause.
Then softer.
"Just tell me next time."
"I will."
Janet cut in with approval.
"Growth."
Dominic coughed theatrically.
"Our leader learns."
Phong rolled his eyes.
Then he went on.
"Strawberries and peas mutated."
"Names?"
"Berserking Strawberries. Explosive Greenpeas."
That got everyone's attention.
Alex's voice sharpened at once.
"Hold them."
"Don't test them alone."
"I won't."
Then he told them about Nyx and Bruno's "boarding school."
Dominic burst out laughing.
"You really sent the barbarian to troll boot camp."
"Strategic cross-training," Phong said.
"And Rico?"
"Classified treant research."
"Of course it is."
The call wound down on its own.
Plans.
Return timing.
Escort details.
Before disconnecting, Alex said quietly,
"Don't fight alone again."
He did not promise that.
He only said,
"Come back soon."
Then the call ended.
Camp fell quiet.
Too quiet without Nyx's sparks.
Without Bruno's heavy steps.
Without Rico loudly narrating imaginary spy missions.
Little Fireball perched on his shoulder.
Phong picked up one strawberry and rolled it between his fingers.
Mana pulsed faintly through the flesh.
Berserking.
Explosive.
He set it down again.
"Not yet," he murmured.
Outside the chili perimeter, alliances grew stronger.
His influence spread.
Olen played optics.
Josh attended conferences.
But on Floor One, a level one farmer now held offensive crops he did not fully understand.
Alliances he had never imagined.
And children at boarding school learning how to become monsters in their own right.
Phong leaned back under the lime-oak.
He felt tired.
Not weak.
Not shaken.
Just aware.
The game had changed.
He was no longer only defending.
Now he had teeth.
He just needed to learn how sharp they were.
Phong woke before dawn because the ground felt... busy.
Not shaking.
Not violent like a Shifting.
Alive.
He rolled out of bed and stepped outside just as mist lifted from the pond.
The air smelled thick, like rain and warm soil.
Then he saw them.
From the direction of the Floor Two entrance, the horizon moved.
Not a swarm.
A migration.
First came the herd beasts.
They looked like wildebeest, broad-shouldered and heavy with muscle, their curved horns faintly aflame as if lit from inside.
Each breath left a trail of smoke.
Their hooves struck stone with dull, steady thuds.
Behind them ran zebras striped black and white, but every stripe flickered with faint lightning.
Their hooves crackled on rock, leaving little arcs that snapped and vanished.
And then came the rabbits.
Hundreds of them.
But not prey.
Not vermin.
Civilization.
Small bodies standing upright.
Fitted armor.
Tiny swords at their hips.
Earrings shaped like leaves and crescent moons.
Cloaks fastened with polished brass.
Knights in front.
Civilians in the middle.
Carpenters pushing small carts.
Builders carrying tools.
Scholars with scroll cases strapped to their backs.
Phong blinked slowly.
"…What in the world."
The herd beasts and zebras kept moving, spreading into the new lush plains blessed by Horns of the Earth.
But some of the rabbits turned.
Toward Camp Stymphalian.
The perimeter plants did not react.
No chili missiles fired.
No garlic mines blew.
The moletatoes passed along a recognition signal.
The treants rustled but did not advance.
The rabbits stopped just outside the chili line.
One rabbit stepped forward.
Level 47.
Knight Captain.
Higher than any non-boss creature Phong had seen in person.
His armor was polished.
A crest engraved on the chest showed a carrot topped with a tiny crown.
The captain removed his helmet.
Big ears.
Golden-brown fur.
Sharp eyes.
"We seek the farmer," he said in clear, steady Common.
Phong stepped forward.
"That'd be me."
The captain bowed.
"We are from the Greencap Kingdom."
Appropriate.
Very appropriate.
"We have heard you possess carrots."
Phong glanced at the alerting carrot patch.
"…Depends which kind."
"The alerting ones," the captain said at once.
Phong narrowed his eyes.
"You know about those?"
"Yes."
"How?"
The captain answered simply.
"He Who Walks told us."
The words sent a cold ripple down Phong's spine.
He Who Walks.
He made the link at once.
Horns of the Earth.
The mountain bull that fed biomes with every step.
Life given form.
So that was what monsters called him.
Not a boss.
Not a disaster.
A walker.
Phong breathed out slowly.
"And what do you want the carrots for?"
"To eat."
That truly caught him off guard.
"To... eat?"
"Yes."
Phong scratched the back of his head.
"These carrots don't give buffs."
The captain blinked.
"We know."
"…You do?"
"They taste good."
A rabbit behind him nodded with enthusiasm.
"Crunchy."
Another added, "Sweet."
A scholar rabbit adjusted his glasses.
"The alarm function is irrelevant. The flavor profile is excellent."
Phong stared at them.
Then slowly looked back at the carrot field.
A pile of extra food that also worked as an alarm system.
And now he had rabbits wanting to snack on them.
For some reason, he smiled.
"Alright," he said. "We can trade."
The rabbits straightened at once.
Formal.
Disciplined.
The captain nodded.
"Name your request."
"Metalwork. Tools. Equipment. And information."
The captain tilted his head.
"Acceptable."
They made camp just outside the perimeter for the afternoon.
Treants watched.
Lizardman scouts observed from the pond.
Troll sentries leaned on boulders in the distance.
The first true diplomatic exchange between independent dungeon civilizations.
Phong learned fast.
The Greencap Kingdom was not warlike.
They were mainly nomadic and artisanal.
Dungeon rules prevented them from growing carrots themselves.
So they herded local fauna as mounts and extra food, alongside gathering wild carrots.
Floor One's sudden ecological surge, caused by Horns of the Earth, had changed food density across whole regions.
More grass.
More roots.
More wild growth.
Life moved, and migration followed.
Not invasion.
Opportunity.
"He Who Walks is life," one scholar rabbit explained while nibbling a carrot with care.
"He vitalizes the world with every step."
"And we migrate after him."
That matched Selena's model disturbingly well.
Bull, life.
Emperor, order.
Phoenix, death and rebirth.
Phong set up cooking fires.
He made vegetable curry.
Not spicy enough to kill a rabbit.
Rich enough to impress.
Potatoes.
Ginger.
Onion.
A bit of mushroom stock.
Normal carrots in the base.
Alerting carrots roasted on the side.
The rabbits ate with astonishing manners.
Knights removed their gauntlets first.
Civilians waited until the elders began.
No chaos.
No greed.
Disciplined.
In return, they offered gifts.
A fitted ringmail shirt.
Light.
Flexible.
Balanced.
An axe, compact and practical, clearly made for use, not display.
And several rings.
Mana-channeling bands with low to mid-tier enchantments.
Subtle.
Stable.
Phong turned one over in his fingers.
He thought of Nyx at once.
Then Bruno.
Their training.
For a moment he felt like a father packing gear for children leaving home.
He cleared his throat.
"You can trade here again."
The captain nodded.
"On one condition," Phong added.
"Don't speak of this place to humans."
The captain's eyes sharpened.
"Our oath binds us to the Green Cap."
He placed a paw over the carrot crest.
"We do not betray allies."
The civilians followed.
Scholars bowed.
Carpenters lowered their tools in respect.
Phong inclined his head.
"Then we're good."
As they prepared to leave, a small civilian rabbit stopped and tugged lightly at his sleeve.
"Farmer?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you have strawberries?"
Phong froze for half a second.
He had strawberries.
Berserking ones.
The name alone made handing them to random high-level rabbits sound like a terrible idea.
"…Maybe."
The rabbit's eyes lit up.
"Next time?"
Phong let out a slow breath through his nose.
"Next time."
After that, the Greencap Kingdom turned east.
A peaceful line of civilization moving through a dangerous world.
As they vanished over a hill, Phong stood still.
Life was spreading.
Not just chaos.
Not just war.
Not just assassins and schemers.
Real societies.
Real migration.
Real economies growing under human ignorance.
On the surface, he was nobody.
Down here, monsters called him farmer.
Kings negotiated with him.
And Horns of the Earth himself had whispered his name to a kingdom of armored rabbits.
Phong looked at the carrot field.
Then at the bamboo forest in the distance.
Then toward the Floor Two entrance.
Floor One was no longer just a battleground.
It was becoming a world.
And somehow, the level one farmer stood right in the middle of it.