Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 98

As Sejun finished harvesting the last of the carrots, he wondered, “Where can I find the rest of the crops?”

Pyoopyoo!

Pyaa!

Pyaap!

Beep!

Rabbits who had heard the news gathered before the Red Ribbon’s giant carrot altar.

‘Sejun can do it!’

‘Sejun can do it!’

‘We believe in you! Sejun!’

The rabbits began to look at Sejun with hopeful eyes. Sejun felt the rabbits staring at him. Their eyes were full of hope.

‘This is too much,’ he thought. He just wanted to finish quickly and leave.

Crunch. Crunch.

[You have consumed a Carrot of Agility.]

[Decomposing 30g of fat, Agility increases by 0.5 for 10 minutes.]

Sejun wanted to work faster. So, he ate carrots that increased his Agility. While eating, he harvested more carrots. He managed to harvest all 15,000 carrots in just 2 hours.

He hurried away from the carrot field with the giant carrot altar and checked the other crops.

However, the Corn of Stamina, the Exploding Corn of Stamina, and the pineapples had not yet bloomed.

“What should I do?” Sejun wondered. He really wanted to hold the Harvest Festival of Abundance, a celebration to thank nature for good crops, for the rabbits who were gazing wistfully at the giant carrot altar.

“Ah!” Sejun thought of the Ents. He wondered if Ent seeds could be considered crops since they were edible. Moreover, he had heard that their numbers had increased, so he thought he could easily get about 100 Seeds of Purification.

“Kkueng-ah!”

Kkueng!

At Sejun’s call, Kkuengi came running.

“Let’s go to the West Forest!”

Kkueng!

At Sejun’s words, Kkuengi grew in size. Kkuengi had grown even larger, exceeding 15m in height.

Thump.

Kkuengi picked up Sejun, placed him on his head, and prepared to run on all fours.

“President Park, sit down quickly, meow. You’ll fall.”

“Okay.”

At Theo’s words, who was clinging to his knee, Sejun sat on Kkuengi’s back, and Theo lay down on Sejun’s lap.

“Give me Churu, meow!” Theo wanted Sejun to sit down because he wanted Churu.

Rip.

“Here.” As Sejun opened the Churu and gave it to Theo,

Chomp chomp chomp.

Theo began to lick the Churu diligently.

Kkueng!

[I want to eat something too!]

Because Theo was eating Churu, Kkuengi, who was always hungry, also demanded something to eat.

“Kkuengi, I’ll give you honey when we arrive. Okay?”

Kkueng!

[Okay!]

Thud. Thud.

Kkuengi began to run quickly on all fours towards the West Forest.

A short while later, thanks to Kkuengi, who was filled with the determination to arrive quickly and eat honey, they arrived at the West Forest in just 20 minutes. Kkuengi was incredibly fast.

The center of the West Forest was still trapped in the ice wall created by Iona’s magic, Avalache.

Sejun stopped walking and stared. ‘Wow,’ he breathed. ‘What happened here?’ He couldn’t believe his eyes. The entrance to the West Forest was no longer the dry, dusty wasteland he remembered. Now, soft, green grass covered the ground like a thick carpet. It smelled fresh and sweet, like springtime after a long winter. He reached down and touched the grass. It felt cool and soft under his fingers. ‘It’s beautiful,’ he whispered.

Rustle. Rustle.

Rustle. Rustle.

Large and small Ents wandered around the West Forest. The number of Ents had increased dramatically in the few days Sejun had been away. There were almost 1000 of them.

Crunch crunch.

The Ents were still eating the many remaining trees.

As Sejun was observing the Ents,

Kkueng!

Kkuengi, who had shrunk back to his original size, called Sejun while taking out his empty glass bottle.

“Okay.”

Clang.

Sejun, having received the empty glass bottle from Kkuengi, opened his subspace warehouse, put in the empty glass bottle, and took out a glass bottle full of honey.

“Here you go.”

Kkueng!

Kkuengi, who received the new honey, cheered and hurriedly opened the glass bottle and began to dip and eat the honey.

At that moment,

Rustle. Rustle.

The largest Ent among the Ents, standing at 5m tall, approached. It was the most powerful Ent of Purification, the first to be born. The big Ent spoke slowly and seriously.

Thump.

The powerful Ent of Purification placed a branch on Sejun’s shoulder and

[Sejun…nim…there…is…fire…tormenting…us.]

began to tell him about the fire that was tormenting them. The Ents were sad because of the fire.

“Fire?”

Come to think of it, there were burn marks here and there on the Ents’ bodies.

“Okay. Tell me if that fire appears again. And I need about 100 of your seeds.”

[Understood…]

A short while later,

Rustle. Rustle.

Young Ents with white seeds on their heads came to Sejun and offered their heads.

[Take…seed…]

“Okay.”

Plop.

As Sejun plucked the seed from the Ent’s head,

[You have obtained a Seed of the Ent of Purification.]

[Your job experience slightly increases.]

[Proficiency in Seed Harvesting Lv. 3 greatly increases.]

[Th…thank…you…]

The Ent expressed gratitude to Sejun and returned to eating trees.

After about two hours, he was able to collect 98 Seeds of Purification.

“What should I use for the last seed?” Sejun needed 100 seeds, and he had collected 99 seeds and needed one more to reach 100.

As Sejun waited for the Ents with seeds to appear, he pondered what crops to offer to the giant carrot altar,

Rustle. Rustle.

Rustle. Rustle.

The Ents began to move busily, picking up fallen branches from the ground.

And the powerful Ent of Purification approached Sejun.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?” Sejun asked, placing his hand on the body of the powerful Ent of Purification.

[Fire…has…come.]

Kieeeek!

At the same time, a strange cry was heard from the south.

“Theo, Kkuengi, let’s go.”

“Understood, meow!”

Kkueng!

Feeling uneasy about going alone, Sejun took Theo and Kkuengi as bodyguards and followed the Ents south.

Kieeeek!

The strange cry continued to be heard as they moved.

“Guys, can we stick together a bit?”

“Okay, meow!”

Kkueng!

Sejun, feeling scared, moved closer to Kkuengi and Theo, sticking close to them.

As Sejun arrived at the front of the Ents’ formation where the strange cry was coming from,

“Fire ants?” He could see about 100 red ants. But these were not normal ants! Each one was as big as a dog, with shiny red bodies and strong jaws. He could see Ents fighting the ants. The fight was one-sided against the Ents.

Most of the young Ents were much smaller than 1m,

Kieeeek!

Crack.

The red ants, using their large bodies, subdued the Ents and then cut off the Ents’ bodies with their powerful jaws.

The ground trembled. *Crunch, crunch* went the heavy footsteps, announcing the arrival of the enormous Ents.

As the giant Ents lumbered forward to block the red ants, the ants reacted instantly. Jets of bright orange fire erupted from their antennae, like tiny flamethrowers. *Whoosh!* The flames licked at the Ents’ bark-like skin. *Sizzle!* Smoke began to rise, and the smell of burning wood filled the air.

Sejun’s eyes widened. “Fire ants? On the 99th floor? This tower never stops surprising me!”

“Quickly! Dark clouds! We need rain, *now*!” Sejun shouted, his voice tight with urgency.

“Hoo. How many died…”

Looking at the fallen Ents, Sejun realised many more must have been alive before the attack. Many Ents had died from the ants’ attacks.

“Kids! Attack!”

“Come forth! Gae-ron!”

At Sejun’s command, the ground around Theo bubbled and turned into a thick, black swamp. With a mighty *Ribbit!*, Gae-ron, a giant toad as big as a house, rose from the swampy ground.

Sejun took a deep breath and sucked the rain he had created into his mouth. His cheeks puffed out, and then – *Whoosh!* – he unleashed a powerful jet of water, the Water Pressure Cannon, towards the ants.

The power of the water Gae-ron spewed was so immense that it could pierce even rocks, but the ants’ exoskeletons withstood Gae-ron’s attack without much difficulty.

Instead, the insides, unable to withstand the water pressure, began to be destroyed first.

Kooeng!

On top of that, as Kooeng, who had transformed into a giant, began to stomp the fire ant workers to death, the fight quickly ended.

When he stabbed the exoskeleton with his dagger, it didn’t break easily. Instead, it seemed to absorb the force, vibrating slightly before finally cracking. “Interesting,” Sejun murmured.

Messages popped up in Sejun’s vision, telling him about experience points and rewards, but he quickly dismissed them. Right now, the ant exoskeleton was more interesting.

“This could be useful?”

It seemed like it would make decent armor if he crafted it.

“I should grab a few.”

Sejun put several fire ant worker corpses into his subspace warehouse.

“Rain!”

Sejun had Kooeng dig a long pond to prevent the fire ant workers from approaching easily. He had noticed when he made it rain earlier that the fire ant workers disliked having water touch their bodies.

As Sejun turned back, satisfied with his water barrier, he heard a soft *Crunch crunch* again. A smaller Ent, only about two meters tall, was approaching him slowly. This was the one he had saved from the flames.

[Mr. Sejun…seeds…take them…]

Theo, always suspicious of strangers, puffed up his fur. “Don’t you dare try anything funny, nyaang!” he hissed, throwing a playful punch at the Ent’s branches.

“Haa! How dare you touch President Theo! That’s it! You’ll pay!”

The enraged Theo jumped towards the branches, but—

The Ent dodged, moving its branches greatly.

“Nyaang!”

Theo chased after the branches even more diligently.

The Ent moved its branches greatly, this way and that, dodging Theo’s paws. In the end, Theo, completely fooled, ran around by himself.

[You have obtained 5 Seeds of Purification Ent.]

[Your job experience has slightly increased.]

[The proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 3 has greatly increased.]

[Seed Harvesting Lv. 3 proficiency has been filled, and the level has increased.]

As he carefully took the seeds, a familiar notification appeared, telling him his Seed Harvesting skill had improved again. “Level 4 already? Not bad,” Sejun thought, pleased with his progress.

-There is a low probability that the number of seeds obtained during harvesting will increase by 2-5 times.

“Let’s go now.”

Theo, oblivious to the fact that he had been completely played, puffed out his chest. “That was a good match, nyaang! We showed him, didn’t we, nyaang! See you next time!” he declared proudly, completely missing the Ent’s gentle amusement.

“Now, I only need to find one more.”

Sejun was lost in thought as he returned home. Since Kooeng wasn’t in a hurry, they moved slowly.

As they returned home, they were met by an angry chorus of *Squeaks!* and *Pew pews!* The Black Rabbit and Pew Pew hopped towards Sejun, their noses twitching furiously. “Where have you been?!” they seemed to demand.

“No… I went to get crops.”

[We waited and waited! And you bring only ten crops? Where were you?]

“There are 10?”

The Black Rabbit nodded and led Sejun to the carrot field.

With an expression that said, ‘That makes no sense,’ Sejun followed the Black Rabbit. And there, in front of the giant carrot altar, were the crops.

“Huh?! This?!”

Among the crops, there were two he hadn’t seen before. There were ripe red strawberries and shiny, glossy green Cheongyang chili peppers.

“Ah! Why didn’t I see these?!”

Sejun then remembered that when the 5th seed shop opened on the 215th day of his isolation, he had bought 100 strawberry and Cheongyang chili pepper seeds along with 20,000 carrot seeds.

“What? They were hidden by the corn? I see.”

Why he hadn’t discovered the strawberries and Cheongyang chili peppers was no longer important. What was important was something else.

“Tsk.”

His mouth watered just looking at the strawberries. He desperately wanted to taste them, but he couldn’t bring himself to eat them because of the rabbits’ piercing gaze monitoring him from behind.

“Alright. This comes first.”

Sejun pulled himself together and approached the giant carrot altar, placing his hand on it.

[Would you like to offer crops to the Red Ribbon’s Giant Carrot Altar?]

“Yes.”

With Sejun’s answer, the crops began to disappear into the altar, one type after another, in a swirl of light. Then, a final message appeared: [The Harvest Festival of Abundance is about to begin!]. Suddenly, the air around them shimmered with golden light, and a feeling of warmth and joy filled the air.

[100 of one type of crop have been offered.]

[100 each of two types of crops have been offered.]

[100 each of 10 types of crops have been offered.]

[The quest has been completed.]

[As a reward for completing the quest, the Harvest Festival of Abundance will be held.]

[The Red Ribbon’s Giant Carrot Altar will randomly summon 1000 rabbit people to enjoy the Harvest Festival of Abundance.]

[The entire floor where the Red Ribbon’s Giant Carrot Altar is located will be blessed with abundance.]

[As a reward for completing the quest, you have acquired the job skill – Crop Gigantification Lv. 1.]

But then, something unexpected happened. The Ent seeds in Sejun’s pocket were pulled towards the altar as well! [100 each of 11 types of crops have been offered.] The message changed: [The Harvest Festival of Abundance is *enhanced* into a Harvest Festival overflowing with abundance and *mana*!]