Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 340

Green Tower, 99th Floor.

Ophelia had returned from her meeting with Brachio.

“Hmmmm,” she hummed to herself, gazing at the special cherry tomato in her hand, a cherry tomato filled with powerful magic.

“Eileen, what on earth was she thinking, giving seeds like this to Grandma?” Ophelia asked, studying the panacea-grade cherry tomato with utter bewilderment.

If you have such wonderful crops, you should keep them to yourself. Why give them away?

“Heh heh heh,” Ophelia chuckled happily. “Eileen, thank you! Ophelia Yiolge, the best Tower Farmer, will take very good care of these!”

*Whoosh!*

Still smiling, she threw the special cherry tomatoes onto the prepared earth.

“Grow,” she whispered.

Magic flowed from her hands into the soil, activating her farming skill.

A soft scratching sound, like tiny claws digging, came from the earth.

The cherry tomato seeds quickly took root and little green sprouts pushed up.

Suddenly, a message flashed in front of her eyes:

**[You have planted crops belonging to Park Se-jun, the Tower Farmer of the Black Tower who possesses exclusive cultivation rights, without permission.]**

**[According to the Tower’s laws, Ophelia Yiolge, the Tower Farmer of the Green Tower, will become a slave to Park Se-jun, the Tower Farmer of the Black Tower, for the next 100 years.]**

Ophelia stared at the message, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Slave?” she breathed, her voice barely a whisper. “The great Green Dragon, a *slave*?!”

Ophelia, reading the message, was furious. How dare anyone?!

But there was more to come.

[You have planted 30,000 seeds belonging to Park Se-jun, the Tower Farmer of the Black Tower who possesses exclusive cultivation rights, without permission.]

[The severity of the offense is extremely high.]

[The slavery period is extended by an additional 200 years.]

“Aaargh! Grandma!!!”

Ophelia, utterly shocked by the message, went crying to Brachio.

Se-jun felt relieved that he hadn’t summoned Ophelia and thus had survived…

Plop.

“Woof!”

‘Hey! Give me food!’ Fenrir sat before Se-jun, demanding a snack.

“Heh heh. Blackie, you just survived thanks to me,” Se-jun said smugly to Fenrir. Se-jun felt a little scared thinking about Ophelia, but he was happy he didn’t call her. ‘It’s better this way for Blackie,’ he thought. ‘I wouldn’t want to bother him.’

Se-jun tried to convince himself.

“Woof?! Woof!”

‘What are you saying?! Just give me food!’ Fenrir ignored Se-jun and barked, demanding food quickly.

Just then,

[Ophelia Yiolge, the Tower Farmer of the Green Tower…]

[The severity of the offense is extremely high.]

[The slavery period is extended by an additional 200 years.]

A new message appeared before Se-jun.

“Heh heh heh. Planted a bit too much, didn’t she?”

So, there was something like this. Too bad. I should have given her more… Se-jun grinned slyly.

“Here. Blackie, eat up.”

Se-jun, in high spirits, took out two pieces of chewy sweet potato from his pocket and gave them to Fenrir.

“Woof!”

‘Yellow and chewy! My favorite!’

Smack. Smack. Smack.

“Our Blackie’s eating well.”

Se-jun, watching Fenrir press one piece of sweet dried potato under his belly to prevent anyone from taking it, and diligently eating the other with his two front paws, said, “Cute.”

As Se-jun, with a satisfied expression, was about to designate the remaining rabbits as tenant farmers,

‘What’s this?’

Se-jun felt an intense gaze upon him.

Squeak!

Squeak!

The rabbits, lined up in two rows, were drooling as they stared at Se-jun. We want to eat too!

“Vice-Chairman Theo, help me out here.”

“Heh heh heh. Understood, meow!”

At Se-jun’s call, Theo hastily packed his lunch into a bundle and rushed over.

And,

Plop. Plop.

[Designated the 10441st tenant farmer.]

[Designated the 10442nd tenant farmer.]

While Se-jun was designating tenant farmers,

“Heh heh heh. Here you go, meow!”

Theo, sitting on Se-jun’s lap, handed out chewy sweet potato pieces one by one to the rabbits who had become tenant farmers.

A short while later.

Plop.

[Designated the 15112th tenant farmer.]

“Done!”

Se-jun finished designating the rabbits brought by the Black Rabbit as tenant farmers.

“Heh heh heh. Don’t rush, meow! There are still plenty of sweet dried potatoes left, meow!”

However, Theo’s task of distributing dried sweet potatoes was not yet finished.

Even the rabbits who had become tenant farmers but hadn’t received dried sweet potatoes were lining up.

“Woof?! Woof!”

‘If I line up here, can I eat the yellow and chewy thing?! I want to eat too!’

Fenrir lined up behind the rabbits to receive dried sweet potato, but

Squeak!

Squeak!

He was pushed out of the line by the rumps of the other rabbits in the queue.

“Woof!”

‘That’s my spot!’

Fenrir tried to push his head back into the line between the rabbits, but Fenrir’s strength was not enough to push them aside.

Woof…

‘To think I’m losing to those guys…’

Fenrir growled softly. He was Fenrir! He shouldn’t be pushed around by rabbits! But they were too many…

Fenrir, pushed out by the rabbits and wounded in his pride, dejectedly headed towards Se-jun.

“Woof!”

‘Punish them!’

“Hey. How can you be upset when you were the one being greedy? Come here.”

Se-jun picked up the whining Fenrir and put him in his pocket, along with Fenrir’s favorite core piece, a special toy he loved to chew on.

“Woof! Woof!”

‘My core! I’m going to eat it this time!’

As Fenrir was wrestling with the core piece inside Se-jun’s pocket,

[You can remotely issue simple instructions to Ophelia Yiolge, the Tower Farmer of the Green Tower, once a day.]

“Shall we give our slave some work to do?”

Since he couldn’t summon her, he would have to order her remotely, like he did with Ajax.

[Tasks that can currently be assigned to Ophelia Yiolge, the Tower Farmer of the Green Tower:]

-Harvest and deliver panacea: cherry tomatoes bursting with magic (0/205)

‘Immense and mighty?’

The name of the panacea-grade cherry tomato had changed. What’s this? I’m curious.

The number of cherry tomatoes to harvest was too small, but he figured it would continue to grow over time.

“Heh heh heh. Slave, get to work.”

Se-jun, eager to receive the cherry tomatoes quickly, hastily ordered Ophelia to work.

However,

[Ophelia Yiolge, the Tower Farmer of the Green Tower, refuses the order.]

It seemed like dragons were just naturally stubborn and didn’t listen right away.

[You can punish Ophelia Yiolge, the Tower Farmer of the Green Tower, for refusing the order.]

Ophelia, the Green Tower farmer, had not followed Sejun’s orders. Now, he needed to decide what punishment to give her. He thought about the options: Water Baptism, Fire Baptism, Stone Baptism, or maybe just tickling, like Ajax suggested.

“What punishment should I choose? Water, fire, and stone won’t have much impact anyway, so should I go with tickling like Ajax suggested?”

Sejun pondered what punishment to give Ophelia.

Just then,

“Sejun, Ophelia really hates being hot!”

Ajax, who was harvesting potatoes nearby, flew over with some helpful information.

“Really? She hates being hot?”

Fire baptism it is! Sejun chose fire baptism as Ophelia’s punishment. He knew Ophelia hated being hot, and this ‘fire baptism’ was a way to make her uncomfortable and work harder.

[Fire baptism is being administered to Ophelia Iolgh, the Top Farmer of the Green Tower, for refusing an order.]

A moment later,

[The Green Tower’s Top Farmer, Ophelia Iolgh, has harvested one Elixir: A cherry tomato imbued with potent and immense magic.]

Following Ajax’s advice, Sejun administered fire baptism, and Ophelia, disliking the heat, began to work.

[The Green Tower’s Top Farmer, Ophelia Iolgh, offers one Elixir: A cherry tomato imbued with potent and immense magic to Park Sejun, the Top Farmer of the Black Tower.]

[One Elixir: A cherry tomato imbued with potent and immense magic is stored in the Green Tower’s temporary storage.]

The crop harvested by Ophelia was offered to Sejun.

[To transfer crops weighing less than 100kg from the Green Tower to the Black Tower, an inter-tower transport fee of 8 million Tower Coins is required.]

[Do you wish to proceed with the transport?]

The message appeared.

“Huh? 8 million Tower Coins?”

Not 1 million? Sejun checked the amount again, wondering if he had misread it. He sighed, wondering if it was worth it.

But it was indeed 8 million Tower Coins.

“Why is the transport fee so expensive?”

“Hyung, it must be because the Green Tower is so far away,” Ajax replied, flapping his wings closer.

“Far away?”

Ajax cleared up Sejun’s question.

“Yeah! The Green Tower is almost on the opposite side of the Black Tower. Clockwise from the Black Tower…”

According to Ajax’s explanation, the Red Tower, Golden Tower, Violet Tower, Green Tower, Blue Tower, Brown Tower, Silver Tower, and White Tower were in that order clockwise from the Black Tower.

“I see.”

Sejun now knew the layout of the nine towers.

Meanwhile,

[The Green Tower’s Top Farmer, Ophelia Iolgh, has completed the order.]

[205 Elixirs: Cherry tomatoes imbued with potent and immense magic are stored in the Green Tower’s temporary storage.]

Ophelia had finished harvesting.

“That was fast!”

It was incredibly fast compared to Ajax’s working speed.

“Transport.”

Sejun was curious about the Elixir: Cherry tomatoes imbued with potent and immense magic.

He used 8 million Tower Coins to transport the 205 cherry tomatoes from the temporary storage.

He grumbled about the cost, but it wasn’t a significant amount for Sejun.

Flash!

[205 Elixirs: Cherry tomatoes imbued with potent and immense magic have arrived.]

And so, 205 Elixir-grade cherry tomatoes were placed before Sejun.

“What? Why are they in this condition?”

Sejun picked up a cherry tomato, frowned at the squishy texture, and checked its stats. The cherry tomato felt strangely soft and yielding in his fingers, almost like a water balloon about to burst. Its skin was pale white, unlike the bright red tomatoes he was used to.

[Elixir: Cherry tomato imbued with potent and immense magic]

A mutant cherry tomato that absorbed the Blue Moon’s strong magic alone at the highest point of the tower.

Cultivated by a clumsy farmer who knows nothing about farming, its taste is worse than usual.

Permanently increases magic by 50 upon consumption.

Born by absorbing powerful magic, it cannot grow unless in a place with strong magic.

Cultivator: Green Tower Farmer Ophelia

Expiration Date: 100 years

Grade: A

“Ah, right! So this is that one…”

Sejun recalled the tasteless carrot he had received as a prize at the carrot harvesting contest during the past harvest festival.

Come to think of it, the cultivator’s name back then was Ophelia.

Munch.

Sejun ate a cherry tomato to see how bad it tasted.

“It’s really bland. Who would eat this?”

Sejun stared at the squishy white cherry tomatoes before him, lost in thought. The animals who had already tasted Sejun’s delicious cherry tomatoes would get a magic boost of 50, but these tasteless ones were unpopular.

Just then,

“Ah! That would be…”

Sejun remembered the pickled cherry tomatoes he had eaten at a restaurant before.

He made slight cross-shaped cuts at the ends of the cherry tomatoes and began to boil them.

Then, he peeled the skins that separated during boiling and soaked the cherry tomatoes in honey water.

[You have achieved the feat of creating Honey-Soaked Cherry Tomatoes for the first time in the Tower.]

[The recipe for Honey-Soaked Cherry Tomatoes is registered at Cooking Lv. 9.]

[Cooking Lv. 9 proficiency slightly increases.]

The dish was complete. Thanks to this, the effects of the ingredients increased by 5%.

“It needs to age for a day, so…”

As Sejun placed the bowl of honey-soaked cherry tomatoes in the kitchen and stood up,

“Heh heh. President Park, I did everything you asked, meow!”

Thwack.

Theo said, clinging to Sejun’s leg, puffing out his chest proudly.

“What about the Black Rabbit?”

“He said he was busy and went straight down with the rabbits, meow!”

“Really?”

“That’s right, meow! The Black Rabbit told me to give this to President Park, meow!”

Thump.

Theo handed Sejun three land deeds he had received from the Black Rabbit. They were land deeds for the 73rd, 62nd, and 57th floors of the Black Tower.

‘Ah, I should go too.’

Sejun lost the justification to send Theo down alone to find the Fenrir’s core fragment. He felt a slight worry about going to the 57th floor.

“Hey, everyone, gather around!”

He called Kkuengi and Ajax, put them in the subspace warehouse with Theo and Blackie,

Clang.

He closed the door.

“Eileen, I’ll be back.”

[The Tower’s Administrator tells you to have a good trip.]

“Okay.”

[The summoning function for imprinting the first owner of the Tower’s 57th floor farm land deed is activated.]

Sejun, having said goodbye to Eileen, unfolded the land deed and disappeared from the 99th floor of the Black Tower.

While Sejun went down to the 57th floor of the Tower,

“Park Sejun, how dare you do that to my granddaughter…!”

An enraged Brachio was flying fiercely towards the Black Tower.

Black Tower 57th floor.

[You have arrived at the 57th floor of the Black Tower.]

…

..

[Due to the effect of >Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 42.]

“Ugh… my stats increased, but why do I feel so chilly?”

Sejun arrived at the 57th floor of the Black Tower. A gust of cold air immediately hit him, making him shiver. The air here felt heavy and still, and the light seemed dimmer than on the higher floors. He began to feel the effects of getting closer to Brachio.

[The distance to a great being who is genuinely furious with you is getting closer.]

[The intensity of the anger directed at you is gradually increasing.]

It wasn’t just a feeling of cold; it was like a heavy weight pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe. The air seemed to crackle with unseen energy, and a sense of overwhelming anger washed over him.

Not just a feeling, but in reality.

“This is a bit much…”

Plop.

Sejun, exposed to Brachio’s rage, fainted.

Today, the Black Tower’s glass cannon, Sejun, fainted again.

“President Park!”

Kkueng!

[Daddy fainted!]

“Hyung! I’ll heal you!”

Theo, Kkuengi, and Ajax hurriedly opened the subspace warehouse and came out to heal Sejun.