Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 189

“Meow, meow, meow.”

Thump.

Theo entered the auction house and sat in the most central seat. Almost all the seats were taken, and this one looked very fancy.

“Pfft, hee hee. So comfy, meow~”

Satisfied with his spot, Theo made himself into a loaf shape and waited for the auction to begin.

Just then,

“Who are you?”

A shadow like a mountain fell over Theo. He looked up, blinking in surprise. “Who are you?” a voice boomed, like rocks tumbling down a cliff.

Towering over him was a creature with the head of a magnificent eagle, feathers the color of burnished gold, and eyes that glittered like jewels. He was enormous, easily five meters tall, and radiated an air of ancient power.

But Theo was not impressed. He’d seen bigger and stranger things on the 99th floor of the Tower.

“Move it, meow!” Theo snapped, twitching his tail in annoyance. “Can’t see the auction, meow!” He was here for land deeds, not to admire oversized birds.

“You dare sit in *my* seat, and then tell *me* to move?! You little pest!” the eagle-headed being roared, enraged by Theo’s words.

“Haa! Haa! I sat here first, so it’s my seat, meow!” Theo retorted, not backing down.

“What?!”

“Lord Jeto, what’s going on?” Patton hurried over at the commotion.

Patton had been gleefully waiting for trouble to erupt when Theo plopped himself down in the seat reserved for the most esteemed participant. He had heard that Jeto, one of the three great merchants, was attending today.

‘If that cat incurs the wrath of Merchant Jeto, I won’t be disciplined.’ He could claim he was trying to prevent a disturbance from happening in the first place.

“Merchant Jeto, *so sorry* about this. This… *wonderful* wandering merchant, Theo Park, seems to have misunderstood. My fault entirely for not being clearer.”

Patton apologized to Jeto, making sure to mention that Theo was the most excellent wandering merchant, in a sarcastic or insincere way. Letting him know it was okay to trample on him as much as he liked.

“Please come down! That’s not a seat for Theo Park!” Patton shouted at Theo, trying to embarrass him.

However,

“The… Theo Park?!”

Instead of crushing Theo, Merchant Jeto was horrified by Patton’s words. Jeto’s blood ran cold. *Theo Park? Could it be… the cat Mason warned me about?*

Jeto had heard from Mason, the chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association, to be cautious of a cat wandering merchant named Theo if he ever met him.

A being who introduced himself as a servant of the Great Black Dragon. The secret inspection bureau run by the Wandering Merchant Association reported a 99.99% confidence level in Theo’s claims through continuous investigations.

The Black Wolf tribe, Silver Wolf tribe, and Black Oak tribe also checked and agreed that Theo was telling the truth.

And after investigating the helmets that the bosses of the 83rd, 77th, and 49th floors of the Tower had received from the Great Black Dragon, component analysis even confirmed that they matched the dragon’s bones.

But Theo’s identity wasn’t just that.

He was also the brother of the black rabbit king of the Red Ribbon Kingdom on the 55th floor, who was holding a national founding ceremony in a month.

People thought Iona liked Theo because they saw her running after him. But Iona was busy working in the Magic Tower and couldn’t explain it was a misunderstanding.

“Um… Merchant Jeto?” Patton, sensing the strange atmosphere, cautiously looked at Jeto.

And,

‘I’m doomed!’

Seeing Jeto’s pale face, he realized something had gone wrong. He had chosen the wrong side. This seemingly clumsy cat wandering merchant was more influential than Merchant Jeto?!

“Ahem. I apologize. I didn’t recognize Theo Park and committed a rudeness. As an apology, I will buy one of the items up for auction today for you.”

Jeto didn’t want to be on bad terms with Theo, so he quickly apologized and tried to appease Theo with a gift.

However,

“Can’t you just buy them all, meow?” Theo Park, the servant of the Great Black Dragon, was a little (?) shameless.

“Ahem. That’s… a bit…”

“Then how about 5, meow?!”

“How about 2?”

“Then how about 5, meow?!”

“Wait… did I hear you right? I said *two*, and you’re asking for *five* again?” Jeto looked bewildered, thinking he had misheard. He had clearly said no to 5 and suggested 2, but Theo was asking for 5 again?

The surrounding merchants, who had been watching, expecting a fierce bargaining battle, were equally dumbfounded. This was closer to extortion than negotiation.

“5, meow!”

“How about 3?”

“No, meow! 5, meow!”

“Then 4… ?”

Shake shake.

Theo shook his head vigorously. The moment he entered the auction house, he felt drawn to 5 items. He needed 5, meow!

“Sigh. Alright. Let’s go with 5.”

“Pfft, hee hee. Good, meow! Sit here next to me, meow!”

Theo, who could now brag to Sejun without spending any of his own money, moved over and generously made room for Jeto to sit.

“Thank you.”

And so, Theo sat with Jeto.

“Patton, where are you going, meow?! Wait until the auction is over, meow!”

He called out to Patton, who was secretly trying to leave. Not only had he ignored him and blocked the entrance, but he was also trying to put him in a difficult situation again. Pfft, hee hee. How dare he, meow! How dare he, but Theo couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of making Patton suffer in the future.

Just then,

“Today, we have a total of 20 land deeds for sale. We will begin the auction with the first land deed. The starting price is 500,000 Tower Coins.”

The auctioneer came forward and started the auction.

Administrator Area.

“Hee hee hee. Starting the work!”

Eileen began using her magic to engrave spells onto Kai-Ra’s Dragon Heart fragment.

However,

“Hee hee… Grandma, it’s hard.”

She was exhausted just one minute after starting the work with great enthusiasm. Engraving the magic that Kai-Ra’s thoughts had conveyed required an enormous amount of magic. It was always like this: she started enthusiastically and quickly got tired.

“Nom. Nom. Nom.”

Every time that happened, she ate the Elixir: Powerful Magic Tomato that Sejun had given her and recovered her magic. Originally, she would have rested like this, but she couldn’t now.

“Shall we start again! Sejun, wait a little longer. I’ll give you something better than Emila!”

Eileen steeled herself and began engraving magic on the Dragon Heart fragment again.

“Now, we will sell the 7th land deed. The starting price is 50,000 Tower Coins!”

“That one, meow!” Theo, who had been diligently licking himself, shouted.

“Are you sure you want that one?” Jeto asked again at Theo’s choice. He was grateful, but he couldn’t understand buying such a land deed as a merchant.

“Yes, meow!” Theo answered firmly to Jeto’s words.

“Understood.”

‘Money saved!’ Jeto said inwardly, smiling. Because it was such an unpopular land deed, Jeto won the bid for the land deed at a cheap price of 200,000 Tower Coins.

“That one, meow!”

“That one, meow!”

Theo went on to win all the land deeds from the 8th to the 10th. The least popular land deeds were a time to take a break in between. Jeto found it strange that Theo wanted such land deeds, but

‘Pfft, hee hee. You guys don’t know how happy Chairman Park will be when he gets this, meow!’ Theo couldn’t hide his joy and grinned widely.

As the auction for the 15th land deed ended,

“For the remaining 5 land deeds, we have prepared unappraised land deeds for the enjoyment of the bidders. The starting price for all land deeds will be 100,000 Tower Coins.”

The auctioneer started the auction for the 5 unappraised land deeds. It was a land deed lottery.

“110,000 Tower Coins!”

“120,000 Tower Coins!”

Merchants who enjoyed the thrill participated in the auction and raised the price. That’s how 4 land deeds were sold. Most were sold for around 200,000 to 250,000 Tower Coins.

And finally, the last land deed was brought to the auction site.

“This last land deed is a bit special. Originally, we had prepared 19 land deeds. But suddenly, this land deed appeared through space warp.”

“What? A land deed warped through space?” The merchants buzzed at the auctioneer’s words.

“Yes. It sounds like a lie, but it’s true. Experts analyzed the magic and found out that it was a land deed from the Green Tower. We got it for free, so we’ll start the bidding at 10,000 Tower Coins.”

“That one, meow!”

“Understood.”

At Theo’s words, Jeto won the bid for the last land deed. Not many merchants wanted the Green Tower’s land deed, so he won the bid for 30,000 Tower Coins.

Pat pat.

[You have harvested 20 Potatoes of Power.]

[Your job experience slightly increases.]

[Harvesting Lv. 7 proficiency slightly increases.]

[7,700,000,2173 more times until job quest completion.]

Sejun was moving his body, harvesting potatoes to digest the ramen he had eaten for dinner. He was planning to digest the ramen, eat Eileen’s Healthy Fist Meat Chunk, and sleep well.

“He he he. They’re properly filled. I should eat potato soup tomorrow.”

Sejun said in a joyful voice, looking at the potatoes that were dangling from the potato vines.

Pat pat.

Pat pat.

Now that his Strength, Stamina, and Agility were all high, harvesting was incredibly fast. Thanks to that, it only took him an hour to harvest 20,000 potatoes.

As the harvest of the 1000-pyeong potato field was almost over, he felt a little less full.

Nom.

Gulp.

[You have consumed Eileen’s Healthy Fist Meat Chunk.]

[The effect is activated only when all the food is eaten.]

[77 pieces remaining.]

When there was room in his stomach, Sejun swallowed the meat chunk.

And

Pat pat.

He harvested the remaining potatoes. He decided to harvest the last ten potatoes to finish the job.

When he harvested the last potato,

[You have harvested 20 Potatoes of Power.]

[You have harvested a Poisonous Potato.]

[Your job experience slightly increases.]

[Harvesting Lv. 7 proficiency slightly increases.]

[7,700,000,2173 more times until job quest completion.]

Among the harvested potatoes, there was one different potato. Among the yellow potatoes, there was one black potato.

“Huh?! A Poisonous Potato?”

Thump.

When Sejun picked up the potato,

[You have achieved the feat of creating a new species in the Tower.]

[The Tower recognizes your exclusive cultivation rights for the new species.]

[Poisonous Potatoes cannot be cultivated without your permission.]

[Your job experience greatly increases.]

[All stats increase by 10 due to job characteristics.]

A message appeared that a new species had been created.

“Oh!” Sejun cheered at the message that all his stats had increased by 10. The Magic stat didn’t benefit at all due to potential, but he was still satisfied.

“But why is its name like this? Did I not do enough?” Sejun wondered, examining the black potato.

[Poisonous Potato]

A potato grown in the Tower that absorbed enough nutrients, but for some reason, only accumulated poison.

It tastes very bitter.

Consumption will result in A-grade paralysis poisoning.

Consumption will result in A-grade acid poisoning.

Prolonged consumption may grant the Talent: Poison Resistance.

Planting it in the ground will contaminate the surrounding soil with poison.

Planting crops with detoxification abilities together will enhance the detoxification abilities of the detoxifying crops.

Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Sejun

Expiration date: 120 days

Grade: B

“It’s still somewhat useful.”

He was going to throw it away because it tasted very bitter and caused A-grade poisoning, but it seemed okay since it could enhance the abilities of the Detoxification Green Onion if planted together.

Sejun divided the Poisonous Potato into 4 pieces, including the sprouts, and planted one in the middle of each Detoxification Green Onion field.

Just then,

“Huh?” Sejun was detox