Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 200

The air at Floor 99 Waypoint vibrated with loud noises. *Thud! Bang! Thud! Bang!* Dust rose from the ground as Woo Cheonsam ran towards the waypoint, his face worried. The Ox King, a huge creature with powerful muscles, stood guarding the path. His brow furrowed in annoyance. “Woo Cheonsam,” he boomed, his voice like thunder, “What is all this noise?”

“Ox King! Sejun is furious!”

“What?! Sejun is furious?!” The Ox King was greatly surprised. He had never heard of Sejun being angry before.

Sejun didn’t have the courage to get angry at the fearsome animals of Floor 99, but the other animals misunderstood, thinking Sejun had great patience and rarely got angry.

“Yes! He’s even swearing, he’s so enraged.”

“Who dares enrage Sejun to the point of swearing?! I must go see for myself!” Sejun was a grateful being who allowed them, who had only eaten dirt, to eat delicious grass.

*Moo! Boom!!!* The Ox King, wielding his legendary weapon, the Red Bone, rushed towards Sejun’s farm more noisily than anyone else.

**Eileen’s voice, filled with fury, echoed in Sejun’s mind.** “I will find and destroy anyone who hurt your family!” Eileen was very upset hearing about Sejun’s family being harmed.

“Eileen, please calm down,” Kaiser said worriedly. “It’s bad for your Dragon Heart when you get this angry.”

Eileen was young for a dragon and had powerful magic, but she couldn’t control it well yet. If she got too emotional, her magic could become unstable.

**Eileen’s angry voice came again,** “How can I stay calm when those bad people hurt Sejun’s family?”

“I know, Eileen, but still…” Kaiser started to say.

“Eileen, Kaiser,” Sejun interrupted gently, “Please calm down, both of you. I don’t want either of you to get sick.”

**Immediately, Eileen’s angry voice softened.** “Okay, Sejun. I will calm down if you say so.”

Eileen, who ignored Kaiser completely, listened to Sejun right away.

“Eileen,” Sejun continued, “First, can you use your crystal ball to find the Three-Headed Society in the tower?”

**”Leave it to me!” Eileen replied eagerly.** She started searching for the Three-Headed Society with her crystal ball.

Kaiser grumbled to himself, feeling a little sad. “She gets angry when *I* talk, but when Sejun speaks…”

*Boom boom!* The ground shook as the Ox King arrived, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

*Moo! Moo? Kroooooh! MOO!!!* The Ox King roared, even louder than before, after hearing from Kkuengee why Sejun was angry. He was furious at the Three-Headed Society.

Just then, Sejun asked, “Ox King, could I borrow some of your Black Minotaurs?”

*Moo! Moo!* **The Ox King bellowed.** “Take as many as you need! No, this time, *I* will go myself!”

With a *chuck*, the Ox King threw his heavy weapon, the Red Bone, over his shoulder. He decided he would personally deal with this problem. After guarding the waypoint for 300 years, he felt it was time to remind everyone in the tower to behave.

“Ox King, thank you,” Sejun said gratefully. “So, Ox King will…”

Together, with the Ox King’s help, Sejun started to make a plan to get rid of the Three-Headed Society completely.

Even Fire Leaf was furious. **Its leaves rustled angrily.** “How dare they hurt Master’s family! They will pay for this!”

“Hmm…” Kaiser murmured, watching Sejun give orders to the animals. “I haven’t been paying attention.” He had been so focused on farming and dealing with the animals on Floor 99 that he had forgotten how powerful Sejun had become.

He thought back to the Locust invasion. It was the first time since the tower appeared that a disaster had been stopped so easily, with almost no damage. Sejun’s simple Cabbage Dagger was holding back the Locusts outside the tower. “The forces of destruction must be surprised,” Kaiser thought, “They’ve never faced someone like Sejun.”

It made sense that the Three-Headed Society, who were followers of the Destroyer, would target Sejun’s family. Kaiser realized he had become too used to worlds being destroyed. He hadn’t noticed how things were changing.

Dragons used to try to protect the world, but after so many failures, they had given up. Now, they only focused on keeping the tower safe and bringing survivors inside.

*Why did we become like this?*

In the beginning, the dragons had been worried and fought hard to save the world. But failure after failure had made them lose hope. They started to believe it was pointless to fight.

*We’ve become used to failing?* Kaiser was shocked by his own thought. For a great Black Dragon, for the proud Dragon race, to accept failure and stop fighting? It was unthinkable!

Something was wrong. Something was weakening them, making them give up. This was more serious than he realized.

“Kellion,” Kaiser said urgently, “We need to talk.”

“Huh? What is it?” Kellion asked, surprised.

Kaiser pulled Kellion aside, away from the others.

Floor 44. A cold wind blew across a wide, dark lake. In the middle of the lake, a small ice island was slowly melting under the weak sunlight.

“Here,” Kona said, holding out a small pouch. “I have 1000 Tower Coins. Please freeze the lake again.” Kona had worked hard with Theo on Floor 41, selling equipment to earn this money. He gave the pouch to a man standing by the lake.

The man’s eyes widened as he saw the coins. He smirked. “Well, well,” he said in a sly voice. “Things have changed. My price has gone up today.”

*This poor guy only has a little money,* the man thought, *but he tried so hard to get it. I should take advantage of that.*

“How much… how much more?” Kona asked, his voice trembling slightly.

“Hmm,” the man pretended to think. “Let’s say… 10,000 Tower Coins.”

“T-ten thousand?!” Kona gasped. His face fell. He had planned to use the extra money to buy food for the penguins in his village.

But he knew he had no choice. “H-here,” Kona said sadly, handing over the rest of his coins. “Please.” The ice island was more important than food. The penguins needed it to survive.

“Heh, good kid,” the man chuckled, taking the coins. “Ice Blast!” He waved his hand, and a blast of cold air shot out. The melting ice island stopped shrinking. Ice spread across the lake around the island, making it bigger again.

“10,000 coins next time,” the man said, then turned and disappeared into a small cave near the lake.

*Step. Step.* The man, Vincent, walked deeper into the dark cave. He reached a large, dimly lit cavern. In the center, a man named Togan was giving orders to a group of people.

“Togan, sir,” Vincent said, approaching him. “I’m back.”

“Vincent! How much did you get?” Togan asked eagerly.

“10,000 Tower Coins,” Vincent replied.

“What?! Really?” Togan’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes. It’s all thanks to your brilliant idea, sir,” Vincent said, flattering him.

“Heh heh,” Togan chuckled, pleased. “Of course! This is perfect. We’ll have plenty of money left over even after we give our share to Mr. One.” Togan smiled slyly.

This cave was a secret base for the Three-Headed Society. Togan had come up with this money-making scheme after finding the penguin village nearby. He used his fire magic to melt the ice island, then sent Vincent to trick people like Kona into paying them to freeze it back.

*Bang!* The door to the Wandering Merchant Association chairman’s office crashed open.

“Chairman!” a subordinate shouted, rushing in. “Something terrible is happening!”

“What is it now?!” Chairman Mason asked, annoyed.

“The Black Minotaurs are coming down from Floor 99 again!”

“So what?” Mason said, waving his hand dismissively. “They always go back up. Nothing happened last time.” He had seen the Black Minotaurs come down before. It was no big deal.

But this time was different.

“The Ox King is with them,” the subordinate said, his voice trembling.

“What?! The Ox King?!” Mason’s eyes widened.

“Yes! The Ox King himself is leading 3,000 Black Minotaurs down the tower!”

“Then we can’t just sit here!” Mason jumped up, fear gripping him. “Quickly, get the executives! Send out all the agents from the Secret Inspection Bureau! Find out *why* the Ox King is moving!” He remembered the last time the Ox King had come down 300 years ago. Ten whole floors had been almost completely destroyed. He couldn’t imagine the damage this time.

“Yes, sir!”

*Bang!* The subordinate slammed the door shut as he ran out.

“Oh no…” Mason sighed heavily, his face pale. “The Ox King is moving… There will be chaos in the tower…”

“Sejun, I’ve packed everything, meow!” Theo announced proudly.

*Kkuengee!* **Kkuengee chirped excitedly.** “Kkuengee is ready too!”

Theo and Kkuengee rushed to Sejun, who was looking around his farm one last time. Sejun had told the Ox King to search every floor from top to bottom. But Sejun didn’t want to just wait. He decided to go to Floor 44 himself, the floor where he thought the Three-Headed Society was most likely to be.

As he prepared to leave, Sejun smiled at his animal companions. “Okay, you two, stay safe inside for now.” He gently placed Theo and Kkuengee into his *magic storage*. Then, he took out a special paper.

**[Land Deed: Black Tower Floor 44 Lake]**

*Whirr.* The paper glowed, and Sejun vanished.

**[You have arrived at the lake on Floor 44 of the Black Tower.]** **[You have traveled from Floor 99, the highest floor, to Floor 44.]** **[You have descended 55 floors.]** **[Because of your special ability as a Retrogressor, all your powers are increased by 55.]**

Sejun felt a surge of strength flow through him. “Whoa!” he exclaimed, surprised. He looked around. Just like the paper said, there was a lake in front of him.

“Huh? Is that… ice?” Sejun squinted. In the middle of the lake, he saw a strange ice island.

*Clang.*

“Okay, you can come out now,” Sejun called to Theo and Kkuengee.

“Okay, meow!” Theo popped out instantly and jumped onto Sejun’s leg.

But, *Kkuengee!* **Kkuengee’s voice sounded from inside the storage.** “Kkuengee wants to stay inside a little longer!”

Kkuengee hadn’t finished filling his snack pouch yet and didn’t want to come out.

“Alright, alright,” Sejun chuckled. “Take your time. Come out when you’re ready.” He kept the magic storage open and looked around at the strange ice lake.

Just then, a message appeared in front of Sejun.

**[New Quest!]** **[Quest: The lake’s temperature has risen! Lower the temperature and reclaim your ownership of the lake.]** **[Reward: Official recognition as the owner of this land.]**

“Another quest to prove I own this place?” Sejun muttered to himself. “Always something.” He used his ice magic to freeze the water in front of him, creating a path to the ice island. He had a feeling the answer to the lake’s problem was on that island.

*Chuck.* Sejun stepped onto the ice island.

“Theo, do you hear anything?” Sejun asked.

“Yes, meow!” Theo replied. “I hear knocking sounds from inside!”

“Really? Where?”

“That way, meow!” Theo pointed with his paw.

Following Theo’s paw, Sejun saw a set of ice stairs leading down into the island. “Stairs? Someone’s definitely down there.”

He carefully went down the ice stairs.

*Clang! Clang!* The sound of metal being hammered grew louder.

“What is that?” Sejun wondered. He followed the sound deeper into the ice island.

“Huh?!” Sejun stopped in surprise. “Penguins?”

He saw a group of small, blue penguins working hard. They were hammering pieces of metal. But what was amazing was how they were doing it.

*Crack.* Instead of heating the metal with fire, they were freezing it with ice, then hammering it into shape.

“It’s Kona, meow!” Theo suddenly shouted, recognizing someone among the penguin blacksmiths.

“Huh? Theo?” Kona looked up, hearing a familiar voice. His face lit up with joy when he saw Theo.

*Tip. Tap. Tip.* Kona rushed towards Theo, his penguin tools forgotten.

Just then, a terrifying roar echoed from above.

*KKUENGEEEE!!!*

It was Kkuengee’s voice, filled with rage.

**”WHO DARED TOUCH OUR KKUENGEE?!”**

Sejun froze. *Someone* had touched Kkuengee? He knew what that meant. *There is no hope for them.* Sejun quickly said a silent prayer for whoever had angered Kkuengee and rushed back outside.