The Top Dungeon Farmer - Part 5
And... I'm back with more farming action!
Welcome readers to the first official edition of React With Me. This is the spin-off newsletter under the Talk Nerdy to Me umbrella! I sent out an e-mail to subscribers letting you know that if you were part of the original TNTM list, I added you to this one automatically.
However if you don’t want to read any of the content from this newsletter, you will need to go to the web version of Substack and modify what e-mails you receive. I’m not really certain what to do if you are viewing this on the app version.
Before I get started, I just want to let any newer subscribers know that last year I had done a podcast called Cafe Manga. The final episodes were basically the audio version of what I’m trying to achieve with React with Me. I had done reactions/discussions of the first 20 chapters. Season 1 of this manhwa has finished (if you paid for early access), and it came out to 100 chapters. So that means I’ll be going up to Part 20.
How this will work is that I’ll have a brief section for each chapter and I’ll just briefly write about my thoughts of said chapter.
If you’re interested in checking out the earlier parts, you can check it out here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. So with that said, let me get on with it!
Chapter 21
I really appreciate how this series continues to build on things previously discussed in the story. In this chapter we do get some glimpses into life outside of the tower. This is pretty good narrative work. It’s also important to see what’s going beyond Sejun and his rabbit and bee families. It’s easy for the audience to forget that there’s more happening than just growing crops. And I speak of this both within the Tower and outside. I will say that I wish we got to see more of what’s going on outside of the Tower. I mean that as a preview of the future chapters of the manhwa.
Can I also say I’m highly amused at the speculations as to what Sejun is doing in the Tower and why he hasn’t left the Tower in five months? I also appreciate getting a glimpse of Sejun’s family. It’s nice to get a bit more of Sejun’s background even if I think the later chapters could have done more about that.
Chapter 22
I think it’s completely fascinating that Sejun had a part-time job packing boxes and stuff. It’s highly amusing that Aileen thought his bag packing skills was pretty and cute. There continues to be some interesting developments on the farm. Sejun has tried another method to propagate the carrots, which undoubtedly the rabbits will appreciate. Also the bees have started producing pollen balls made from corn. I find myself really fascinated with learning quite a bit about farming from this manhwa!
What’s really interesting is that Teo brings back an unexpectedly important item in this chapter. It’s pretty cool. As I read this chapter originally I had wondered if this was just luck or Teo has something unexpected about him. Even Sejun was wondering about this fact, which should tell you that there is something more to this.
Chapter 23
This chapter starts of pretty hilarious where Teo is able to bargain his way into being the boss/CEO for a few hours. This is all because of the items he’s able to bring back to Sejun. From the money to the much needed supplies and ingredients that Sejun was missing. I remember being fascinated and looking forward to see what else Sejun does next with the improvements in his living situation.
It’s pretty funny to see how we Sejun’s animal friends develop their palettes and discover what food and flavors they like the most and which they dislike. It’s also funny to me that Aileen smashes a statue of her that her grandfather made using rare material to place the dried sweet potato snacks on a pedestal. And then the chapter ends with the arrival of a crimson bear cub. Given the scary crimson bear we saw chapters ago, I’m not sure if this is a good thing.
Chapter 24
This is a pretty hilarious chapter. Granted I’m aware that creatures in the Dungeon are different, but even I know that real life bears actually do eat a lot of food. Apparently Sejun’s reality show watching only consisted of food and farming and not much of nature documentaries. Or maybe I live in the United States where wild bears are thing versus South Korea where Asiatic black bears have to be reintroduced into the country due to declines in the population. Of course eventually the cub is sent back out to go home. And then it comes back with mom. Oh boy.
Chapter 25
As it turned out, the mother bear isn’t here to kill Sejun. In fact it wants to offer him a deal. She would like her cub to get some honey in exchange for her acting as the protector of his farm.
We actually get a bit more worldbuilding with Mama bear offering Sejun a lift on her paw to get out of the cave. We actually see how truly large the Dungeon actually is. We learn Waypoints are the gates between floors, which is pretty consistent to a lot of video games. We also learn there’s a lot of territory to travel between his cave farm and the waypoint.
Even with Mama bear as his new ally/protector, she only controls a section of the Dungeon. It’s here we also discover that there’s basically two reasons why no other monsters other than Mama Bear and smaller monsters like the Rabbits and Bees ever come there. Mother beat is a pretty tough monster so she could defend her territory pretty well. The cave is in an area near her territory and borders barren land, which no monster has a reason to want to go to.
We also sadly learn that there’s not much food to eat. Like a real mother, Mama Bear is prioritizing her cub and making sure he gets food to eat. He and the rabbits feel sorry for her and they certainly appreciate her offer to protect the cave from outsiders. They celebrate with a feast for bears.
To expand the world building further, we see some happenings at the Merchants Guild. We get an introduction to someone named Greede, who runs the 55th floor. With that kind of name, I wouldn’t anticipate anything good out of that character.
If you’re interested in reading this series, check out the series at Webtoon.com! Also let me know what you think of this series. And feel free to leave me some feedback about any things you’d like me to do with this newsletter.