Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 265

Sejun heard a *click*.

“Mushroom Ant! Well done!” Sejun praised the Mushroom Ant as he placed black beans into the Golden Box of Abundance. Thanks to it, he will get two black beans a day starting tomorrow.

Kke-ek!

The Mushroom Ant straightened its antennae, happy with Sejun’s praise, and offered its back.

“Huh?! Why your back when there’s no mushroom?!” Sejun was puzzled because there was no mushroom on the Mushroom Ant’s back.

Kke-ek!

The Mushroom Ant seemed upset because it couldn’t talk.

“If not a mushroom… Ah. Sorry! Do you want *this*?” When Sejun took out a Black Dragon Scale,

Kke-ek!

The Mushroom Ant quickly nodded its antennae happily. Sejun understood. The Mushroom Ant wanted a Black Dragon Tattoo. It was a symbol that it was Sejun’s follower.

“Here.”

Sejun used the Black Dragon Scale to engrave the Black Dragon Tattoo on the Mushroom Ant’s back.

Kke-ek!

The Mushroom Ant greeted Sejun and hurried back to its nest to show off the Black Dragon Tattoo to its family.

With the Mushroom Ant gone,

“Aileen, show me the authorities I can buy with the money I have.”

Sejun called Aileen.

Sejun had a lot of money – about 26 billion Top Coins. This included 25 billion from Kaiser and the money he already had.

[The Tower’s Administrator says to wait a moment.]

A moment later,

[Authorities to Buy]

>Authority: Blessing of Fire>, >Authority: Blessing of Water>, >Authority: Blessing of Light>, >Authority: Blessing of Darkness>, >Authority: Blessing of Life>, >Authority: Blessing of Death>…

[Authorities to Make Stronger]

>Authority: Mighty Strength>, >Authority: Mighty Agility>, >Authority: Mighty Magic Power>

Aileen showed Sejun the authorities he could buy.

“There are this many?”

Sejun was surprised by the number of authorities. There were almost 100.

However,

[The Tower’s Administrator says: Be careful! If you choose a blessing like fire, you can’t choose the opposite like water.]

Because you could not choose a blessing of the opposite type, the actual number was less than 50. Still, it was a lot.

“Aileen, how much are the attribute blessing authorities?”

[The Tower’s Administrator says that each attribute blessing authority costs 20 billion Top Coins.]

‘Hmm… Then, if I get the Blessing of Life and make three authorities stronger, it would be just right.’

Sejun always wanted to survive, so he chose the Blessing of Life. He thought it would help him live longer. He did the math and said,

“Aileen, I’ll take the Blessing of…”

“Puhuhu. Chairman Park, I have money, meow!”

Teo, who was busy with other things, suddenly noticed Sejun was shopping. He shouted and pulled out a money pouch from his bag.

“It’s okay. Aileen, I…”

Sejun had already decided what to buy and was about to pay.

However,

Thud!

The money pouch had magic to make it light. But it made a *heavy* sound when Teo put it down. This was amazing!

“Puhuhu. Chairman Park, what do you think, meow?!”

Teo opened the money pouch, looking proud.

And then,

“Wow!”

Sejun cheered when he saw the money pouch. There was a lot of money inside – 100 billion Top Coins!

He had sold Sejun’s crops to Mimir for 50 billion Top Coins in exchange for feeding him rice noodles for life.

He had also sold the golden plate he got from Yuren to Mimir for 50 billion Top Coins.

“Aileen, show me the authorities again!”

Now Sejun could buy much better authorities.

[The Tower’s Administrator says he understands.]

Aileen was also excited.

“Kehehe. Teo annoyed me earlier, but now he’s doing something good again.”

Aileen had been a little annoyed with Teo. But now she smiled. She moved the list of authorities up on the crystal ball.

Whoosh.

As the list moved up, authorities that she wanted to give Sejun but were too expensive appeared.

With the money Sejun had now, he could choose a few of the lowest-level authorities that Aileen wanted to give him.

>Authority: Become Abundant!>, >Authority: Summon Small Meteor>, >Limited Authority: Dragon Fear (3 uses)>

Those were the three authorities she had chosen.

“Sejun, you can choose from these. All three cost 125 billion Top Coins each.”

Aileen showed the authorities to Sejun.

“Hmm…”

Sejun looked at the authorities Aileen showed him and thought about which one to choose.

He wanted to choose the powerful >Authority: Summon Small Meteor> or the >Limited Authority: Dragon Fear (3 uses)>, which could scare enemies with its aura.

Sejun thought about choosing a different power. But something felt wrong. It was like a person eating food that is not right for them – it would make them sick.

He felt goosebumps when he tried to choose a different authority, which felt ominous.

“Aileen, I’ll choose Become Abundant.”

Sejun chose >Authority: Become Abundant!>. He didn’t know it, but it was the best choice.

>Authority: Summon Small Meteor> needed a lot of magic power. Sejun would die if he used it even once.

Dragon Fear was a power that could scare enemies. But it was also dangerous for Sejun. It was so strong, it could hurt him too!

Aileen, being a dragon, didn’t realize this danger for Sejun.

If he had chosen a different authority, he would have died or wasted his money because he couldn’t use it.

[The Tower’s Administrator says he will now begin granting the authority.]

“Okay!”

Sejun replied, excited.

[125 billion Top Coins deposited in the Seed Bank have been paid.]

[The Tower’s Administrator grants >Authority: Become Abundant!> to the Tower’s Intermediate Administrator Mark.]

Green light filled the back of Sejun’s right hand. Luckily, it didn’t hurt.

“Shall we see what kind of authority it is?”

Sejun checked the new authority.

>Authority: Become Abundant!

Everything that touches your hand becomes abundant.

Not a very helpful explanation.

“Everything that touches my hand becomes abundant?”

Sejun touched the Five-Colored Bean Tree to test it.

[>Authority: Become Abundant!> is applied to the Five-Colored Bean Tree.]

[The amount of the next fruit to be borne from the Five-Colored Bean Tree is doubled.]

The message appeared.

“Doubled?!”

The amount of fruit doubles with just one touch?! Sejun was excited and used the authority on the crops in the fields.

After a while, Sejun started to feel tired. His arms felt heavy. He felt a little dizzy. But he was so happy about the extra crops, he ignored it.

“Huh? Why do I feel so heavy?” Sejun asked himself.

He suddenly noticed he didn’t feel well. Actually, it wasn’t really sudden. As he touched each plant with the new power, he had felt a little more tired. His arms were starting to feel heavy, and he was a bit dizzy. But he was so happy seeing all the crops double, he just ignored it. Now, he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“Why is this happening?”

Sejun wondered, feeling confused. He had never felt like this before.

Just then, he heard a cheerful voice. “[Hello, Sejun!]”

It was Podori, happily swinging his branches as he came closer.

“Yeah. Have you been well, Podori?”

[Yes! Of course!]

Sejun walked toward Podori while talking.

‘It would be nice to get twice as many grapes, right?’

Sejun wanted more grapes when he saw Podori.

Touch.

Sejun put his hand on Podori’s branch and used the authority.

And then,

[>Authority: Become Abundant!> is applied to the grape tree Podori.]

“······”

Sejun fainted.

To use ‘Become Abundant!’, Sejun needed life energy. But he didn’t know this. He used too much life energy without realizing it.

That’s why he felt so bad.

Also, Podori was going to be the World Tree. To double the grape harvest, he needed a lot of life energy.

Sejun’s life energy went into Podori’s body, causing Sejun to faint.

A person should eat the right food, but eating too much can also kill them.

[Wow! I feel energized!]

Podori was happily taking in the life energy without knowing it was Sejun’s.

However,

[Huh?! Something’s wrong?]

Suddenly, he felt worried.

He quickly looked at where the energy was coming from.

[Ack! Sejun!]

Sejun’s life energy was getting low, and he was getting weaker.

[Sejun! You can’t die!]

If Sejun dies, Aileen and Fire will kill me! Podori quickly gave life energy back to Sejun.

However,

Plop.

Sejun fell, and the connection was broken.

[No!]

Podori couldn’t give him any more life energy.

It all happened very fast.

“Meow?! Chairman Park! Wake up, meow!”

Slap! Slap!

Teo knew something was wrong and quickly started to heal Sejun.

And then,

Kkueng?!

Kkuengi also knew that Sejun was not well.

Kkweeng!

[Daddy can’t die!]

Kkuengi cried and massaged Sejun’s body.

Kkweeng… Kkweeng…

Massage. Massage.

When Kkuengi massaged Sejun’s body, a blue light appeared.

Kkuengi wanted to heal Sejun so badly that she used her magic to massage him and make his body stronger.

Luckily, Podori had given him enough life energy to keep him from dying, so Sejun got better quickly with Teo and Kkuengi’s help.

However,

[The Tower’s Administrator is furious, asking if you are the one who made our Sejun like that!]

[I’m sorry!]

[Podori! What are you doing to Master right now?!]

[I’m sorry!]

Podori had made Sejun faint. Now, Aileen and Fire scolded Podori.

He felt it was unfair, but they were too strong to argue with.

‘It’s unfair!’

Podori shouted in his head where no one could hear.

“Euchha!”

Sejun woke up, feeling refreshed.

“When did I fall asleep?”

Sejun tried to remember what happened.

“Oh… I used the authority on Podori, and suddenly I felt like my energy was draining away… and…”

He couldn’t remember after that.

“Did I faint while using the authority? Why?”

Sejun couldn’t figure out why he had fainted.

[The Tower’s Administrator asks if you’ve woken up now and if your body is okay.]

Aileen spoke to him.

“Yeah. My body is fine. Aileen, but why did I faint while using the authority?”

Sejun asked Aileen.

[The Tower’s Administrator says that >Authority: Become Abundant!> uses life energy.]

[The Tower’s Administrator says he is sorry for not telling you in advance.]

“No. It’s okay. It can happen.”

Sejun didn’t know he was close to dying. He just replied calmly, trying to act cool.

And then,

“Nyaaang…”

He picked up Teo, who was clinging to his knee, and put him on his leg.

Scratch.

He marked the date on the bedroom wall.

“It’s already day 358.”

Just one week until it’s been a year since I got stuck here. Time has already flown by this much…

“I was really scared back then…”

Sejun remembered when he first came to the Tower.

Kkueng?

[Daddy’s body is okay?]

Pink-haired Kkuengi, who had just woken up, came to find Sejun.

“Yeah. I’m okay now.”

Kkueng!

[That’s a relief!]

Kkuengi was happy and clung to Sejun’s leg.

“Let’s go eat breakfast.”

“Good, meow…”

Kkueng! Kkueng!

[Good! Kkuengi is hungry!]

Sejun, with Teo answering sleepily and Kkuengi excited, went to the kitchen with them.

It was day 358. A peaceful morning began on the 99th floor of the Tower.