Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 119

“Huh? Where am I?” Aileen woke up, looking around. Then she remembered. “Oh! I came to wash!” She had eaten Sejun’s boiled pork and then fallen asleep in the lake while cleaning herself. “That was… not good.” *It’s best not to talk about that part,* she thought, thinking about her image. Luckily, this lake had strong magic to clean things.

*Splash!* “Hehe! Magic feels easier now!” Aileen smiled, looking at her arms as she stepped out of the lake. The magic inside her moved like water. Before, Aileen’s Dragon Heart wasn’t working well. So, the magic put into her body got stuck and mixed with the bad stuff she needed to get rid of. This made it hard for her to use magic. But this time, the boiled pork Sejun gave her helped to wash away the stuck magic along with the bad stuff. Now, magic flowed much better, and she could use it more easily. Because her magic was stronger, she could do more things.

Aileen walked out of the safe area, then quickly came back when she felt weak after only five seconds. “Huff, huff. I went outside the safe area!” Aileen was so happy she had done it. Even for a short time, magic flowed through her body enough to let her be outside the safe zone. She thought she could even make a doorway to another place, but…

“I will never open it! Never!” Aileen did not want to open a portal at all. If she did, her grandfather or father might come in. They might not like her being with Sejun, or they might take away her job as administrator and give it to another dragon because her Dragon Heart was better. “If that happens, I can’t see Sejun anymore! So, I will never open a portal.” And so, Kaiser’s dream of seeing his granddaughter again would have to wait for a long, long time.

*Pyaa!* the rabbits hopped back towards the mushroom fields to work. *Kkeaak!* The mushroom ants, their baskets full of mushrooms, picked up the rabbits and started moving too. Suddenly, words appeared in front of Sejun:

**[You have harvested shiitake mushrooms.]**

**[Only 37,123 more times until your job quest is complete!]**

**[Job experience slightly increased.]**

**[Harvesting Skill Level 5 slightly increased.]**

**[You gained 1 experience point.]**

Sejun smiled and kept picking mushrooms. They worked for about two hours. Then, *Koo-uhhhh!* A loud roar from Mother Crimson Giant Bear echoed in the distance. “What’s that?” Sejun asked. “She’s saying, ‘Go away! This is our land!’” Theo explained, translating the bear’s roar. “’Go away’?” Sejun thought. That meant trouble was coming. “Everyone, let’s go!” Sejun called out. He grabbed his bodyguard, Kkuenge, and ran towards where Mother Crimson Giant Bear was.

Mother Crimson Giant Bear, now called Pink Fur because her fur had turned pink, was walking around the farm as usual. *Koo-uhhhh.* Pink Fur kept a close watch on the farm all day. Suddenly, *Koo-uhng?* She saw about 2000 mushroom ants running towards her from far away. Sejun had told her it was okay if mushroom ants came, so Pink Fur waited for them, ready to show them where to go. But then, *Kkeaak! Kieeeek!* As they got closer, she saw what was chasing them – a huge swarm of fire ants! *Koo-uhhhh!* Pink Fur roared loudly, warning the fire ants that had come onto Sejun’s farm, and got ready to fight.

When Sejun reached the farm, the noise was deafening. *Koo-uhhhh! Moo-uhhh! Kieeeek!* Thirty Black Minotaurs had also heard Mother Crimson Giant Bear and rushed to help. They stood with her, making a circle around the mushroom ants to protect them, facing the huge wave of fire ants. But there were almost 100,000 fire ants chasing the mushroom ants! It wasn’t really a fight; they were completely surrounded. *Koo-uhng! Moo-uh!* Mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Minotaurs kicked at the fire ants trying to get closer. *Kieeeek!* The fire ants shot fire from their feelers. One or two fire blasts wouldn’t hurt much, but with so many fire ants, it was like a fire storm. Thousands of fire ants aimed their fire at the same spot, making the fire stronger and stronger. Soon, Mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Minotaurs were covered in flames, screaming in pain. *Koo-uhng!! Moo-uh!!* “This is bad!” Sejun shouted and ran forward to help. “Dark Clouds, come!” Dark clouds quickly covered the sky. “Rain, now!” Sejun yelled. Rain poured down, putting out the fire on Mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Minotaurs. It also made the fire ants wet, which would help with his next magic. But then Sejun saw, “It’s not going out completely!” The fire was too strong. “Thunder Strike!” Sejun decided to attack the fire ants directly. With his shout, bright blue lightning crashed down from the dark clouds, hitting the fire ants. *Kwagwang!*

**[You have defeated a fire ant worker.]**

**[You gained 1000 experience points.]**

About 1000 fire ants were killed by the lightning. This time, Sejun didn’t fall down like before. His magic power had grown by 5% because of his new skill, and his magic was working better now that the bad stuff was out of his body. “Thunder Strike!” Sejun used the Thunder magic again to protect Mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Minotaurs. *Kwagwang!* Sejun stumbled. Two times was all he could do. “Kkuenge?!”

[Why are you using so much power when you are weak, Papa?] Kkuenge asked worriedly, holding Sejun up. “What are you talking about? Can’t you hear Mom and the Minos crying out in pain?!” Sejun replied, breathing hard.

“Koo-ung!” A deep roar echoed.

“Ummer!” A lower rumble followed.

Sejun pointed at Mom Crimson Giant Bear and Black Minotaur, who were covered in flames. He thought the sounds were screams and started to worry. He was even a little disappointed in Kkuengee for not noticing.

Just then,

“Are you sure that’s a scream, Sejun?” Theo asked in a calm voice.

“If that’s not a scream, then what is it?” Sejun asked back.

“They’re saying it feels refreshing, nyaong!” Kkuengee replied.

“What?!” Sejun exclaimed.

Sejun realized that what he thought were screams were actually cheers. Mom Crimson Giant Bear and Black Minotaur were enjoying burning off the old dirt from their fur with the strong fire, something they hadn’t felt in a long time. Mom Crimson Giant Bear swayed happily as flames danced on her fur. Black Minotaur chuckled, sparks flying from his burning horns.

‘Ah… what have I done!’ Sejun thought.

He had forgotten that on the 99th floor of the Tower, worrying about others was not very useful. He had misunderstood the situation.

“I just need to focus on myself…” Sejun muttered.

His cheeks burned with embarrassment. ‘I should know better,’ he thought, scolding himself. ‘Always worrying about others when I should be looking after myself first. On this floor, it’s every person for themselves.’

Kkuengee shouted towards Mom Crimson Giant Bear, “Dad collapsed again!”

Kkuengee sees Mom Crimson Giant Bear as a father figure.

“Koo-ung?!” Mom Crimson Giant Bear was surprised by Kkuengee’s words. “Again?!”

Mom Crimson Giant Bear decided to end the battle. She roared and slammed her massive paws onto the ground.

The earth trembled, and a ring of raw magic exploded outwards like a shockwave, precisely where the fire ants were. Most of the fire ants disappeared without a trace.

“Ummer!” The remaining fire ants were dealt with by the Black Minotaurs, and the battle ended.

Sejun later confirmed that only the fur that had been on fire was shinier on Mom Crimson Giant Bear and Black Minotaur.

Meanwhile, far below on the 55th floor…

“Everyone, you’ve worked hard,” Iona said, looking at the wolves and rabbits. She had driven out all the boars and freed all the imprisoned rabbits.

The number of rabbits had increased to about 5,000. These were the rabbits who had been freed and those who were to join after the harvest festival.

Originally, they were going to the 99th floor of the Tower, but Grid, the owner of the 55th floor, had died, so they headed back to their original home on the 55th floor.

“Hegel and Elka, please stay here and help the rabbits,” Iona said.

“Yes!” Hegel replied.

“Yes!” Elka replied.

There were many crops to harvest on the 55th floor farm, so Iona had the wolves help the rabbits with the harvest.

“Kkyut kkyut kkyut,” she hummed as she headed to Grid’s mansion, intending to take Grid’s treasures to Sejun. She thought about Grid as she entered his mansion, remembering him and his death.

However,

“There’s too much,” Iona said.

The items inside the mansion were too numerous to fit into Iona’s subspace pocket. So, she decided to take only some of them directly and store the rest in a secure treasure vault.

“I’ve moved everything,” Iona said.

Iona, having placed all the items in the treasure vault, came outside and used magic.

“Wind, by my command, sweep it away! Tornado!”

Whoosh.

A huge tornado blew, demolishing Grid’s mansion, all to build a new royal palace for the Red Ribbon Kingdom.

“Ppyu ppyu!” Ppyu Ppyu gathered the rabbits in the clearing and declared the re-establishment of the Red Ribbon Kingdom.

“Ppyak!” The black rabbits and other rabbits cheered at Ppyu Ppyu’s declaration. The Red Ribbon Kingdom was their home before, and they lost it. There would be many hardships ahead to rebuild their homes, plant their gardens, and make the 55th floor a rabbit paradise again, but Ppyu Ppyu believed that with the rabbits’ current momentum, they could one day restore the Red Ribbon Kingdom to its former prosperity.

A short while later,

“I will now return to Sejun-nim. Queen Ppyu Ppyu, please lead the kingdom well in the future,” Iona said, looking at her disciple, Ppyu Ppyu. She was a little sad to leave Ppyu Ppyu.

Ppyu Ppyu was sad to see Iona leave.

“Ppyak!” The black rabbit comforted Ppyu Ppyu by stroking her shoulder.

“I’ll visit often in the future. Goodbye for now,” Iona said.

Iona headed back to the 99th floor of the Tower.

“Kkyut kkyut kkyut. Now I can have a good sleep!” Iona’s steps were as light as a feather as she headed to the 99th floor of the Tower, where Sejun’s lap and Theo’s tail awaited.

[Guardian Ppyu Ppyu has established the Red Ribbon Kingdom on the 55th floor of the Tower.]

[The farm belonging to the Red Ribbon Kingdom is included in Tower Farmer Park Sejun’s farm.]

It seemed the cleanup on the 55th floor was complete.

[The size of the owned farm exceeds 300,000 square feet.]

[Talent: Hundred-Seok Farmer grows into Thousand-Seok Farmer.]

“Nice,” Sejun said.

The farm Sejun created on the 99th floor of the Tower was about 200,000 square feet. The farm on the 55th floor must have been large, as Sejun’s talent instantly grew into Thousand-Seok Farmer.

[Appoint Guardian Ppyu Ppyu as steward of the 55th floor.]

“Steward?” Sejun asked.

Sejun, seeing information he didn’t know, checked the newly changed Talent: Thousand-Seok Farmer.

[Talent: Thousand-Seok Farmer]

-An acquired talent that only farmers with more than 300,000 square feet of farmland can possess.

-You can designate one steward to manage the farm on behalf of the Thousand-Seok Farmer.

-The steward can designate 100 tenant farmers and 3 guardians of their own.

-You can designate up to 1000 tenant farmers.

-Tenant farmers can use the Thousand-Seok Farmer’s farming skills. (When a tenant farmer uses the Thousand-Seok Farmer’s skill, the Thousand-Seok Farmer receives a 5% skill proficiency reward.)

-You can designate up to 10 guardians to protect the farm. (You receive 50% of the experience points from enemies defeated by the guardians within 3km of the Thousand-Seok Farmer as a reward.)

-The talent grows as the size of the farm increases.

The major changes were the creation of the position of steward to manage the farm on his behalf and the increase in the number of tenant farmers and guardians that could be designated.

“Designate Guardian,” Sejun said.

Sejun first designated Mom Crimson Giant Bear as a guardian.

“Wouldn’t that be too much?” Sejun muttered, looking at the two dragon statues chatting on the fountain. He might be killed just for mentioning how dare he look at dragons.

“Let’s talk about it when we get a little closer,” Sejun said.

Giving up on making the dragons guardians,

“Designate Tenant Farmer,” Sejun said.

Sejun first designated 100 mushroom ants as tenant farmers. He was thinking of deciding whether to designate additional tenant farmers after seeing the mushroom ants at work.

Just then,

[Tenant Farmer Mushroom Ant has used Spore Collection Lv. 4 to obtain mushroom spores.]

[Tenant Farmer Mushroom Ant has used Sowing Lv. 5 to plant mushroom spores.]

[Thousand-Seok Farmer receives a 5% skill proficiency reward.]

[Thousand-Seok Farmer’s Spore Collection Lv. 4 proficiency slightly increases.]

[Thousand-Seok Farmer’s Sowing Lv. 5 proficiency slightly increases.]

“Huh?!” Sejun exclaimed.

[Tenant Farmer Mushroom Ant has used Spore Collection Lv. 4 to obtain mushroom spores.]

The mushroom ants designated as tenant farmers were standing still, but messages constantly appeared saying that skills were being used, as if they were automatically collecting and planting mushroom spores from their backs.

Day 277 of being stranded. Sejun grinned. This Thousand-Seok Farmer talent was going to change everything.