Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 404

High in the Black Tower, on the ninety-sixth floor of the White Bone Castle, anger filled the air. A skeleton guard rushed in, his bony voice echoing, “The Golden Cat, Theo Park, dares to stop Lord Regius, the holiest of all Holy Bones!”

A loud CRASH echoed through the room as Von Knight’s fist smashed onto the bone desk. His bony fingers rattled with rage. “What?!” he roared, hearing the news. “Theo Park stopped the Phoenix capture?” Von Knight, leader of the Four Heavenly Kings – the most powerful warriors serving Lord Regius – could not believe it.

“There is still a chance. The Phoenix will return to its nest anyway, so we can…”

Von Knight didn’t know what had happened to his soldiers on the floor below. Theo had taken control of all the skeletons there, so no messages could get through.

“Lord Von Knight!” another skeleton rushed in, voice shaking. “Theo Park is here… outside the castle!”

Von Knight’s bony jaw dropped. “What? Theo Park? Here? Does he have any idea where he is?”

“And… and the soldiers,” the skeleton stammered, “from the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Divisions… they’re with him.”

Von Knight slammed his fist again. “What?! Those guarding the Phoenix?!” He jumped up, bones clattering. “Heavenly Kings! Soldiers! To the gate! Now!”

Theo arrived at the castle gate as if he were just visiting a friend. “Open up!” he called to the guard, a playful grin on his face.

“Please tell me your name,” the guard said, his voice like dry bones scraping together.

Theo puffed out his chest, ready to announce himself with a flourish…

Heavy footsteps echoed – THUMP, THUMP, THUMP – as Von Knight stormed towards the gate.

“Theo Park!” Von Knight roared, his voice like cracking stone. “You dared to meddle in Lord Regius’s plans, and now you stand at our gate! Your foolishness ends here!”

“You interrupted my introduction! You’ll pay for that, meow!” Theo glared at Von Knight in anger.

Von Mage sneered, “Von Knight, stand aside. Let us deal with this… cat.”

Von Archer grinned, “Yes, I’ve been wanting to test my arrows against that Iona.”

Von Tanker grunted, “Four of them, four of us. A fair fight.”

With a roar from Von Knight and a playful ‘Meow!’ from Theo, the clash began. Swords met bone, magic crackled, and arrows flew.

With a cry of ‘Meow!’ Theo’s paw flashed. Von Knight raised his sword to block, but the golden light sliced through steel and bone as easily as air. Von Knight shattered into pieces, his sword clattering to the ground in fragments.

Iona, surrounded by smaller skeleton mages, simply raised a hand. “Meteor,” she whispered. A ball of fire appeared above her, then crashed down, engulfing the junior mages in a burst of heat, leaving only wisps of grey dust.

Arrows whizzed past Piyot, but the small bird was too quick. ‘Tweet! Rapid Delivery!’ he chirped, darting through the air. He shot upwards, a tiny feathered missile, then plummeted down, beak first, striking Von Archer directly in the skull.

Von Tanker, a hulking skeleton, swung heavy blows at Yuren. ‘Kwik! Kwik!’ Yuren cried, dodging and weaving, taking hits, but staying on his feet.

But Yuren was learning. Each time Von Tanker swung, Yuren moved closer, faster. He was getting used to the giant skeleton’s clumsy attacks. *Almost there,* Yuren thought, darting under a massive fist. *Just a little closer.*

“Uhehehe. Let’s see how you like gold,” Yuren chuckled, reaching out.

“Theo, help me!” Yuren called to Theo for help.

“Heh heh heh. I understand, meow!”

Theo, who received Von Knight’s stamp, moved to Von Tanker with Nyanbo and defeated him, then took Von Tanker’s golden shield.

With the Four Heavenly Kings defeated, Theo shouted, holding up a fish bone as he looked at the 500,000 soldiers who had followed them, “Heh heh heh. If you want to eat this, get stamped, meow!”

‘Tweet! Now. If you just get stamped, you can eat a fish bone every day!’ Piyot flew around, diligently promoting the offer.

Theo’s 300,000 skeletons, already controlled, also explained the taste of fish bones to the 500,000 skeletons, tempting them.

Whether their sales tactics worked, one or two skeletons among the 500,000 began to raise their hands.

“Heh heh heh. You won’t regret it, meow!” Just as the skeletons were stamping the contract,

A wave of cold swept through the castle gate. The air grew heavy, and the ground seemed to tremble. Then, a voice echoed, deep and resonant, “What is the meaning of this… chaos?” Regius, the Lord of Bones, appeared in the gateway, radiating power.

Every skeleton, even Theo’s newly controlled soldiers, instantly bowed their heads. Their bony knees rattled on the stone floor. They dared not even look at Lord Regius.

Regius’s power to control bones reached out to Theo and his friends, because they also had bones in their bodies.

“Meow! No one controls me but… but myself!” Theo gritted his teeth, his small body trembling as he fought against the invisible force trying to bend him to Regius’s will. He felt his bones ache, but he stood firm.

Iona, unaffected by Regius’s power, calmly raised her hand again. “Meteor,” she repeated, her voice steady.

Piyot puffed up his feathers, straining with all his might. ‘Tweet! I… I can resist!’ he chirped, wobbling but staying upright.

Yuren gasped, his legs giving way. ‘Kwik… I can’t…’ he whispered, collapsing to his knees, bowing his head in defeat. A soft *thud* as his forehead touched the ground.

BOOM! The meteor slammed into the space where Regius had stood, shaking the castle. Dust and debris rained down.

Regius smiled coldly. “Foolish child,” he said, his voice echoing with power. “Did you think that would harm me?”

With a *whoosh* of golden light, a shimmering shield sprang from the staff, deflecting the meteor as if it were a pebble.

Theo, now glowing with golden energy, leaped forward. ‘Nyanyang!’ he cried, striking Regius from behind with a powerful blow. Regius crumbled into dust, vanishing completely.

“Meow! I can give this to Iona, meow!” Theo picked up the staff that Regius was holding and rejoiced.

Theo tilted his head, his ears twitching. “Meow?” Something was wrong.

Theo held up the staff, grinning. “Iona, look what I got!” But then he noticed something. A dark bead sat at the staff’s tip, surrounded by three glittering jewels. But one setting was empty, waiting for a fourth. A chill went down Theo’s spine. This staff… it wasn’t finished.

Theo knew Regius wanted something very special for the last empty space on his staff: the heart of a Phoenix. That’s why Regius had been hunting the magical bird.

“This is a fragment of Fenrir’s core, nyaa!” Theo exclaimed.

But Theo saw something else that worried him. The black bead at the end of the staff wasn’t just any jewel. It was a piece of Fenrir’s core, a powerful and dangerous magical creature.

Theo guessed Regius wanted to use the other jewels to control the powerful Fenrir core.

“First, I need to show this to Chairman Park, nyaa!” Theo said.

The Fenrir’s core fragment must be taken to Chairman Park first, nyaa!

With that, Theo pocketed Regius’s staff.

“Puhu-hut. Now it’s treasure hunting time, nyaa! Iona, let’s go, nyaa!” Theo said excitedly.

“Kkyut kkyut kkyut. Yes!” Iona replied.

Iona and Theo began to raid Regius’s vault.

Bleep!

[Hurry up and stamp it if you don’t want to become dust!]

“Stamp it here,” Theo instructed.

Bleep stamped the slave contracts, and Uren and Theo’s skeleton slaves received their stamps.

A short while later,

[You have achieved the feat of hunting 1 million captured creatures.]

[Due to achieving the feat, you have acquired the >Title: Creature Hunter>.]

Theo, who hunted 1 million captured creatures, obtained a title.

[You have hunted 1 creature.]

[Due to the effect of >Title: Creature Hunter>, all stats increase by 1.]

He became even stronger due to the title’s effect.

“Puhu-hut. I need to brag to Chairman Park, nyaa! You guys finish stamping everything here, nyaa!” Theo said.

Theo took Iona and excitedly ran to the 99th floor of the tower.

Black Tower, 99th floor. Meanwhile, far above on the 99th floor…

“Oof,” Sejun said.

Sejun opened his eyes, welcoming the morning of his 402nd day in the tower.

[You have achieved the great feat of commanding 1 million captured creatures.]

[As a reward for the great feat, you have acquired the >Title: Creature King>.]

[Due to the effect of >Title: Creature King>, you collect 1 million tower coins in monthly taxes from the captured creatures.]

He checked the messages that appeared while he was sleeping.

“Huh? Creature King?” Sejun wondered.

Not Theo, but me?!

Theo always wrote Sejun’s name next to his when creating contracts.

And Sejun was Theo’s boss.

So, the system judged Sejun as the actual owner of the captured creatures.

Creature King… doesn’t that sound too villainous?

Just as Sejun was disliking his newly acquired title,

[You have 100 captured creatures.]

[Due to the effect of >Title: Creature King>, all stats increase by 1.]

Stats increasing along with the message.

Stats increase just by having more captured creatures.

“Hehehe. Not bad?” Sejun thought.

Thanks to that, Sejun happily decided to accept the title. As long as he doesn’t tell anyone.

“I need to prepare breakfast,” Sejun said.

Sejun got up from his spot.

Kkirorong.

After covering the still-sleeping Fenrir with a blanket, he headed to the kitchen.

And quickly started making so-tteok so-tteok.

He was going to give so-tteok so-tteok to Aileen yesterday, but he forgot.

By the time Sejun remembered, Kkuenge was diligently licking the sauce off the plate containing the so-tteok so-tteok, doing the dishes.

A short while later.

“Aileen, eat this,” Sejun said.

Sejun filled a plate with so-tteok so-tteok and sent it to Aileen.

[The tower’s administrator says they will enjoy it.]

“Okay. Enjoy it,” Sejun replied.

Sejun chatted with Aileen for a while before making breakfast for himself.

Breakfast was simple: fried eggs and stir-fried sausage.

Of course, he made octopus legs by cutting slits in the sausage.

Sizzle.

While Sejun was making breakfast,

Kkuenge!

[Daddy, good morning!] Kkuenge chirped.

Kking!

‘Hand over the breakfast!’ Fenrir barked.

Kkuenge! Kkuenge!

[Daddy is a genius! I feel good because it’s like we’re eating octopus together!] Kkuenge exclaimed.

Kking!

‘This makes hunting worthwhile!’ Fenrir howled.

They both really liked the octopus-shaped sausage.

After eating breakfast,

“Fermentation,” Sejun muttered.

Sejun visited the brewery, stirred the alcohol in the jars using the fermentation skill, and harvested the crops with fruit.

A day no different from usual… or not anymore.

“Hehe. I should go shopping,” Sejun decided.

He wanted to visit Mason to ask about the Golden Tower land deed and buy street food in the shopping district on the 75th floor of the tower.

“Kkuenge, let’s go together,” Sejun said.

Of course, he was scared to go alone, so he went with Kkuenge.

Kkuenge!

[Shopping is good!] Kkuenge cheered.

Sejun took Kkuenge and Fenrir and headed to the waypoint. Sejun thought about going to the shopping area on the 75th floor. He needed to use the waypoint, a magical fast travel point in the tower, to get there quickly.

On the way to the waypoint.

“Aileen, can you change the location of the waypoint?” Sejun asked Aileen.

As he had more reasons to go to other floors, going from home to the waypoint took quite a bit of time.

[The tower’s administrator says it is possible.]

[The tower’s administrator says the waypoint can be moved 1km per day.]

“Really? Then move it 1km closer to our house starting today,” Sejun requested.

[The tower’s administrator says to leave it to them.]

[The tower’s administrator says they have just moved 1km.]

“Okay. Thank you,” Sejun said.

Sejun expressed his gratitude to Aileen.

At that moment,

“Huh? Vice Chairman Theo is here?” Sejun sensed Theo’s energy rapidly approaching from afar.

And

“Chairman Park, I have returned, nyaa!” Theo announced.

Before he knew it, Theo appeared, hugging Sejun’s face.

“Okay. Welcome back,” Sejun answered, pulling Theo away from his face.

“But Chairman Park, where are you going, nyaa?” Theo asked.

“To the 75th floor of the tower,” Sejun replied.

“Puhu-hut. Then look at this while we go, nyaa!” Theo said excitedly.

Theo opened his bundle and showed off the items he had looted from the 96th floor of the tower.

“This is the best one, nyaa!” Theo exclaimed.

Theo took Regius’s staff out of his bundle and handed it to Sejun.

“This is?” Sejun asked.

[Staff of Destruction]

Just by looking at the name, he seemed to know who to give it to.

But why give it to me?

Just as Sejun was about to grab the staff,

[A fragment of Fenrir’s core (15%) has been detected directly in front of you.]

A message appeared.

Kking!

‘My core!’ Fenrir barked, lunging towards the staff.