Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 319

“Huh…”

Sejun slowly chewed a piece of dried meat, part of his simple breakfast. He stared at the wooden table, his mind as empty as the bowl he had just finished. The morning sun streamed into the small room, but Sejun didn’t seem to notice anything around him.

“Puhuhut.”

“Kkuhehehe.”

“Euhit.”

[Hehet.]

Theo, Kkuengi, Ajax, and Bulggi settled beside Sejun.

Pat. Pat.

They were waiting for Sejun’s pats.

“Euhit. Now it’s my turn.”

[It’s my turn.]

Taking turns, Ajax brought Sejun’s left hand, which was patting Kkuengi’s belly, to his tail.

Hop.

Bulggi brought the right hand, which was patting Theo’s belly, to his head.

Pat. Pat.

“Euhehe…”

[Hehet… ]

Ajax and Bulggi grinned, enjoying Sejun’s pats.

As time passed, Theo and Kkuengi brought Sejun’s hands again.

“Puhuhut. Now it’s my turn, nyaang!”

“Kkueng!”

[Now it’s Kkuengi’s turn!]

Sejun’s hands went back and forth several times.

“Huh? Why am I doing this?”

Sejun, who had been blank, came to his senses.

And then,

Slide.

Sejun’s hand stopped for a moment.

Huh…

Sejun felt strangely empty and unmotivated.

“President Park, move your hands, nyaang!”

“Kkueng!”

[Kkuengi still needs more!]

Pat. Pat.

Theo and Kkuengi grabbed Sejun’s hands and forcibly moved them to pat their bellies.

“Hmm…”

Sejun regained his senses as his hands moved.

Yesterday, Sejun almost had his spirit destroyed by the Night Walker. Fenrir hurriedly saved him, but Sejun felt like his soul was breaking apart after the fight.

Sejun’s soul had been scattering since yesterday.

By morning, Sejun’s soul condition had worsened, but fortunately, by patting the four with strong mental power, the wound on his soul was being healed. Through the pats, the energy emitted from the four’s souls flowed towards Sejun’s soul, filling it with energy.

Pat. Pat.

While Sejun was patting the four until well past lunchtime,

[The wound on your soul has been healed.]

[Talent: The healed soul blossoms.]

A message appeared in front of Sejun, indicating that he had awakened a talent.

“Huh?”

‘I had a wound on my soul?!’ Sejun was surprised to see the message.

Come to think of it, the lethargy that had suddenly dominated his body had largely disappeared.

‘Am I feeling weak these days? Seeing as I had a nightmare yesterday, my body must have weakened.’

“I should eat something nourishing today. But what kind of talent is it?”

Sejun thought he should eat something good for his body and checked his talent.

[Talent: Healed Soul]

A talent that only those who have been wounded and healed in their soul can possess.

-The special stat, Mental Power, is unlocked.

-Mental Power +10

-Mental Power Potential +500

-Mental Power increases by 1 each time you do something that fills your soul.

“Mental Power is unlocked?”

Sejun checked his stats.

Stats: Strength (921/943) Stamina (1319/1396) Agility (929/958) Magic Power (1323/2279) Mental Power (10/500)

As described, the Mental Power stat had been added.

“But what is Mental Power used for?”

Pat. Pat.

While Sejun was wondering, patting Ajax and Bulggi,

“Sejun hyung! Mental Power! You got it!”

Ajax puffed out his chest, his tail wagging proudly. “Ahem! Let me tell you all about it! Mental Power is… uh… it’s like… it’s the power of your brain!” He pointed at his own head with a paw. “The grown-ups say it’s super good! Really, really good! But… um… it’s kind of hard to say exactly *what* it does.” He scratched his head, looking a little confused himself. “But it’s good! Trust me!”

‘It’s not like an energy booster, it’s good but hard to explain…’

‘I should ask Kaiser later.’

He wanted to ask right away, but

Sparkle. Sparkle.

‘Euhit. I told Sejun hyung!’ He couldn’t because of Ajax, who was making a proud face for telling Sejun something.

At that moment,

Grumble-!

Kkuengi’s stomach clock rang loudly, announcing dinner.

“Huh?! It’s already dinner.”

Looking at the slightly darkened sky, Sejun realized why Kkuengi’s stomach clock rang louder than usual.

‘Because we didn’t eat lunch.’

“Are you hungry? Kids, please catch some seafood from the pond.”

The dinner menu was seafood mushroom shabu-shabu. He asked the children for seafood.

“Kkueng!”

[Understood!]

“Okay! Hyung!”

At Sejun’s words, Kkuengi and Ajax hurriedly ran to the pond.

“Puhuhut. I don’t want to, nyaang.”

Theo, who didn’t like water and didn’t want to leave Sejun’s lap, continued to cling to Sejun’s leg, purring loudly and rubbing his head against Sejun.

And then,

[Hehet. Master, what kind of things would you like Kkuengi and Ajax to catch?]

Bulggi, from Sejun’s shoulder, gathered information on what Sejun wanted to catch.

“Well… it would be nice to have octopus, which is a nourishing ingredient today… I wonder if there are any?”

[Octopus? What does it look like?]

“Octopus? Hmm… it has eight legs and a somewhat round head.”

Sejun explained as he knew it to Bulggi’s question.

[Oh! I see!]

Thanks to that, data about octopus was transmitted to Bulggi.

‘I need to find octopus!’

Bulggi’s roots in the Sea of Dimensions diligently searched for octopus and drove them towards the pond.

A little later,

“Kkuhehehe. Kkueng!”

[Hehehe. We caught a lot of creatures with many legs!]

“Euhit! Sejun hyung will like it, right?”

Wriggle. Wriggle.

Kkuengi and Ajax came out of the pond, carrying the octopus that Bulggi had sent in their arms.

And then,

Boom.

A giant octopus connected to the legs tied to each of their waists…

“ROAR! You tiny creatures! How DARE you drag ME like this!”

It wasn’t just any octopus, but a fragment of the 6th seat among the Apostles of Destruction, the Sea-Swallowing Beast, Kraken, was dragged up. They brought it alive because killing it would turn it into coins. Of course, the remaining six legs were tightly tied together to prevent it from moving. Unfortunately, the Kraken also had eight legs.

“Kkueng?!”

[But is this really nourishing?!]

“Sejun hyung said it is, so it must be.”

They doubted whether they could eat an Apostle of Destruction, but if Sejun said it was nourishing, then it was nourishing.

Of course, Sejun never imagined they would catch a Kraken.

***

‘That stubborn guy, he really doesn’t think about leaving Sejun…’

Tier had been watching Theo all day to naturally hand over the land deed for the 83rd floor of the White Tower.

But Theo never left Sejun, like glue. Thanks to that, Tier’s patience was gradually running out.

Tier suddenly felt a strange energy. It was like a cold wind, but it burned his skin. *Something is breaking apart,* he thought, his eyes widening. *This is dangerous!*

Anger flashed through him. “Who dares to use such power here?!” he muttered, pushing off the ground. He flew fast towards where the bad feeling was strongest.

He saw Kkuengi and Ajax trapped by thick, slimy legs. “Kraken!” Tier shouted. “Let them go! I’m here to stop you!”

To Tier, it looked like the Kraken was capturing Kkuengi and Ajax with its legs.

“Melt!”

*Sluuuurp.*

Tier melted the Kraken.

“Return.”

Of course, he reabsorbed the poison back into his body, ensuring a clean finish. Sejun mustn’t be poisoned.

*Clink.* The Kraken turned into 10 grey coins. (In this world, monsters sometimes turn into coins when they are defeated.)

Kkuengeee-!

“[Daddy’s health food is gone!]”

“Euh-heing! I was going to give it to Sejun hyung-!”

Kkuengi and Ajax burst into tears at the disappearance of the Kraken they had worked so hard to catch.

“Why is our Kkuengi crying?!”

“-Who made our grandchildren cry?!”

Tier had to explain the situation while being mindful of their expressions. *I didn’t do anything wrong…*

“What? A Kraken?”

“-Why an apostle of destruction…?”

At Tier’s explanation, Sejun and Kellion looked at Kkuengi and Ajax.

Then,

Kkuengi!

“[Daddy said he wanted to eat an octopus with eight legs and a round head as health food, so I caught it!]”

“Yeah! Sejun hyung said he wanted to eat octopus as health food!”

The two diligently explained why they caught the Kraken.

However,

“Huh? Who did you hear from that I wanted to eat octopus as health food?”

“···!”

“···!”

Because their emotions became too intense, they ended up saying what they shouldn’t have.

At that moment,

“Ah. I heard them talking about it while passing by,” Veronica answered, emerging from the pond.

“Oh?! Veronica was in the pond too?”

“Yes. I was feeling hot and wanted to cool down quickly.”

Veronica was connecting the place where the Ents were with the pond under Bulkkot’s instructions.

[Veronica, quickly go to the pond and tell Sejun what I said!]

“Yes! Gwangwolnanmu!”

Kwa-gwa-gwang!

She hurriedly connected the tunnel under Bulkkot’s instructions and came up to the pond.

Thanks to that, Bulkkot’s identity was protected.

“Okay. Let’s go eat dinner now.”

Sejun took Kkuengi and Ajax to the cafeteria to eat dinner, and then Sejun, who had prepared the shabu-shabu broth in advance, hurriedly prepared the octopus.

Waaarrrr.

He poured the octopus and various mushrooms into the broth. The smell of the broth filled the air.

A moment later.

[You have achieved the first feat of creating energetic octopus mushroom shabu-shabu in the tower.]

[The recipe for energetic octopus mushroom shabu-shabu is registered at Cooking Lv. 8.]

[The proficiency of Cooking Lv. 8 slightly increases.]

A message appeared that the cooking was complete.

“Let’s eat now. Dip it in this,”

Sejun said, taking out soy sauce.

Kkuengi!

“[I will enjoy the meal!]”

“Hyung, I will enjoy the meal!”

“Thank you for the food!”

Kkuengi, Ajax, and Veronica began to take out the octopus and mushrooms and dip them in soy sauce to eat.

And then,

“You guys eat too.”

Sejun took care of the meals for Theo, Bbyot, and Ggamgi. Churu, peanuts, and dried sweet potato.

Wa-ap.

Sejun also took out octopus and mushrooms from the shabu-shabu and ate them. Octopus is indeed chewy and delicious.

While everyone was enjoying dinner,

Kking!

‘I ate it all!’

Fenrir quickly ate the dried sweet potato.

‘Surely what he’s eating must be more delicious, right?’

He targeted what Sejun was eating.

Squirm squirm.

The moving live octopus that Sejun had placed next to him to put in later.

Bboljjak.

‘I’m going to eat it all!’

Fenrir threw himself towards the bowl containing the live octopus.

However,

Kking! Kking!

‘Hey! Save me! I can’t move!’

Fenrir, whose body was wrapped around the live octopus instead of eating it, sent an SOS to Sejun.

“Hey! If you want to eat, you should call me! Why are you going in there?!”

In the end, Fenrir only received a scolding from Sejun.

Kking!

‘You’re eating all the delicious stuff by yourself again!’

“Ggamgi, did you want to eat this? Here.”

Still, Fenrir’s protest worked, and he was able to get a piece of boiled octopus.

And then,

Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.

He quickly ate all the octopus Sejun gave him, and then

Kking… Kking…

‘I’m full… Pet me….’

He sent another SOS to Sejun.

“Tsk.”

Pat. Pat.

Sejun patted Fenrir’s full belly, and

Burp.

He made him burp.

After dinner ended like that,

[You have obtained a ginkgo seed.]

[Job experience slightly increases.]

[The proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 8 slightly increases.]

[You need to use the Seed Harvesting skill 603,716 more times to complete the job quest.]

Sejun spent his time harvesting ginkgo seeds before going to bed. The crackling bonfire under the night sky made the air warm.

Crack. Crack.

Sejun harvested ginkgo for a long time. The smell of burning wood filled the air.

“I’ve done a lot.”

He felt good seeing the pile of peeled ginkgo nuts that had accumulated. It was rewarding.

At that moment,

[Your soul is filled.]

[Mentality increases by 1.]

His mentality increased by 1 along with the message.

“For now, they said it’s good to have it high…”

Sejun felt proud of himself for growing again today and fell asleep.

The next morning.

“Let’s go find the pear today!”

Sejun, who had fully regained his motivation, decided to go find the pear.

Kkuengi?!

“[Are we finding a new Kkuengi-ho?!]”

“No. Not a boat to ride, but a pear to eat. Hurry and go in.”

After Sejun let his party members into the subspace warehouse,

Swish.

He unfolded the land document for the 81st floor of the Black Tower and disappeared from his spot.