Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 357

High up in the Black Tower, on the 79th floor, was the Cobalt Kingdom, also known as Rainbow Castle. It wasn’t really made of rainbows, but the walls shimmered with blues and greens like a thousand bright jewels, catching the light from somewhere far above.

A small, bird-like creature, Peep, fluttered into the room. “Peep! Peep!” it chirped excitedly. “[Lord Louis! I’ve brought Theo!]” Peep announced, its voice sounding like tiny bells.

Peep hopped forward, leading Theo towards a figure sitting on a throne. This was Louis, the king of the Cobalt Kingdom.

Louis smiled warmly. “Lord Theo, welcome to Rainbow Castle.”

Theo, who had soft fur and whiskers twitching on his face, bowed slightly. “Fuhu-hut. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Louis,” Theo replied, a purr rumbling in his chest. “Meow!”

Louis tilted his head, looking curious. “But what brings you here, Lord Theo?”

Theo puffed out his chest. “Chairman Park – you know, the Great Black Dragon? – asked me to bring you these!” Theo presented the leather pouches.

Louis’s eyes widened. “Chairman Park? Ah, you mean the Great Black Dragon!” He frowned slightly, a little puzzled by the strange name, but he understood who Theo meant. “Of course, the Great Black Dragon!”

Louis clapped his hands together, a relieved smile spreading across his face. “Oh, thank you deeply, Lord Theo! This is wonderful news. We have had many new hatchlings in the Cobalt Kingdom recently, and our stores of food were becoming quite low.”

Theo puffed up with pride, his tail twitching. “Fuhu-hut. Indeed! Chairman Park is very generous. You should be very grateful, meow!”

Theo, having delivered the pouches, remembered his next task. “Oh, and there’s one more thing, meow!” he added. “Chairman Park also asked about the land document for the 80th floor of the Black Tower. Do you have it?”

Louis looked surprised. “The land document for the 80th floor? That is a very specific request.”

Theo nodded eagerly. “Yes, meow! Chairman Park really wants it!”

Louis frowned thoughtfully. “I am afraid we do not have it readily available at this moment, Lord Theo. However,” he added quickly, seeing Theo’s ears droop slightly, “if you grant us some time, the Cobalt Kingdom will dedicate all its resources to finding this document for the Great Black Dragon. We will not disappoint him.”

Theo’s ears perked up again. “Okay, meow! If you don’t have it now, then… I’ll just look at the treasure vault today, meow!” He rubbed his paws together, a gleam in his eyes. “Chairman Park said I could have a look.”

“Excellent! Please, follow me, Lord Theo,” Louis said, gesturing towards a grand hallway. “I will take you to the treasure vault we prepared for you, as a token of our gratitude for your help with the Mother Tree.”

As Louis started to lead the way, Theo suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. “Fuhu-hut. Wait, meow! It’s not that way!” Theo declared, turning and heading in the opposite direction.

Louis looked confused. “Um… Lord Theo? Where are you going? The treasure vault is this way.”

Theo kept walking, his nose twitching. “No, no, meow! The *real* treasure is over there! I can feel it pulling me!”

Theo stopped in front of a door even grander than the one Louis had shown him. This door was made of polished gold, inlaid with sparkling gems.

Louis gasped. “Oh no… Lord Theo, this is… this is the treasure vault of Queen Prana herself!” He explained, his voice hushed, “My wife, the Queen, keeps her most precious treasures here.”

Louis’s face turned pale. He wrung his hands nervously. “Lord Theo,” he stammered, “this is… well, this is where my wife, Queen Prana, keeps her *most* treasured possessions. I’m not sure…”

Theo, however, seemed completely unfazed by Louis’s worry. He pointed a paw at the golden door. “Fuhu-hut. Open it, meow!” Theo said firmly, his whiskers twitching with anticipation.

“J-Just a moment, Lord Theo!” Louis stammered, beads of sweat appearing on his brow. *If I open this,* he thought frantically, *Prana will never forgive me!* He quickly whispered to a nearby soldier, “Go! Find Queen Prana immediately! Tell her Lord Theo is at her treasure vault!”

Before Louis could fully panic, a regal voice echoed through the hallway. “What is going on here?” Queen Prana arrived, her eyes sharp and questioning.

Louis bowed deeply. “My Queen! Lord Theo is here, and he… he wishes to see your treasure vault.”

Prana looked at Theo, then back at Louis’s worried face. She sighed softly. “Very well,” she said, her voice calm but with a hint of something unreadable in her eyes. “Lord Theo, welcome. Please, take whatever catches your eye.”

And with a flick of her wrist, she opened the golden doors wide.

“I understand, meow!” Theo chirped, his eyes wide as he stepped inside. The treasure vault glittered and gleamed. Gold coins piled high, jewels sparkled on velvet cushions, and ancient artifacts hummed with magic.

Theo wandered through the dazzling collection, his nose twitching, seemingly searching for something specific. Finally, he stopped in front of a small, unassuming brown marble. He picked it up carefully, turning it over in his paws. Then, satisfied, he turned and came back out, holding the marble gently.

“Phew,” Prana murmured softly as Theo emerged with just the single marble. She had said “take whatever you desire,” but secretly, she had hoped he wouldn’t take her *entire* treasure vault.

Theo carefully tucked the brown marble into a small pouch he carried. *This will be perfect for Chairman Park,* he thought with a happy purr.

“See you next time, Louis! Thank you for the food and… the treasure!” Theo called out cheerfully. “Peep, let’s go, meow!”

Peep chirped back, “[Yes! Goodbye, Lord Louis! Goodbye, Rainbow Castle!]” With a flap of wings, Peep led Theo out of the Cobalt Kingdom and downwards, towards the 55th floor of the Black Tower.

As they travelled down the tower, Theo hummed a happy tune, a series of soft “meow meow meow” sounds. Peep joined in with cheerful “Peep! Peep!” chirps. Their happy sounds echoed in the tower corridors.

The corridor ahead split into two paths. Theo paused, sniffing the air again. “Meow?” he murmured, unsure which way to go.

Peep fluttered ahead, then chirped back, “[Lord Theo, it’s a fork in the road! Which way do we go?]”

“Fuhu-hut. This way, meow!” Theo declared, confidently turning right. “I can smell the money, Peep! It’s strong this way!”

As they walked down the right path, the air grew colder, and the walls around them seemed to pulse slightly. Suddenly, white, snake-like creatures slithered out from cracks in the walls, hissing softly. Theo shivered. *Oh, right,* he thought, *we’re back inside Jormungandr’s belly again. I forgot about this place.*

Then, above the hissing of the snakes, they heard a panicked squealing. “Oink! Oink!” Theo’s ears perked up. “That sounds like… Yuren!” he exclaimed.

Yuren was a pig-like creature who often wandered these lower floors of the tower. Whenever Yuren was nearby, trouble – and often, treasure – wasn’t far behind. Unbeknownst to Yuren, Theo saw him as a lucky charm, a bringer of good fortune.

“Fuhu-hut. Looks like our luck is in, Peep!” Theo chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Let’s go see what Yuren has gotten himself into this time, meow!” He grinned and hurried towards the sound of Yuren’s frantic squeals.

Under the warm glow of the artificial sun on the 55th floor, Sejun gently stroked the soft fur on Kkuengi’s head. “Kkuengi, you’ve worked so hard today,” Sejun said with a smile. Kkuengi, a small, furry creature with bright eyes, had been diligently helping Sejun harvest ripe, red raspberries.

Nearby, Ajax, a large, imposing figure, was supposedly “scouting” the area, though Sejun suspected he was mostly enjoying some free time. Every now and then, a loud roar echoed from Ajax, which Sejun hoped would attract some helpful creatures to work on their farm.

Kkuengi chuckled softly, “Kkueng? [Hehehe. Are we eating lunch now?]” he asked, his bright eyes fixed on Sejun, tail wagging hopefully. He bounced on his paws, clearly eager for food.

“Yes, it’s definitely lunchtime,” Sejun agreed, chuckling. “Kkuengi, is there anything special you’d like to eat?”

Kkuengi’s eyes lit up. “Kkueng! [Kkuengi wants to eat mugwort rice cake!]” he declared proudly. Sejun smiled. Kkuengi always had the most interesting food ideas. Mugwort rice cake… that sounded surprisingly delicious.

“Okay. Land creation!” Sejun, having received the order, struck the ground with Myler’s hoe and quickly created a building made of earth. A kitchen created in an instant. Not only the exterior but also the interior was exactly the same as the kitchen on the 99th floor of the tower.

Sejun went into the kitchen and took out the cooking utensils from the subspace warehouse and started cooking. First, he washed the red and blue mugwort separately with water, blanched them lightly in boiling water, and then squeezed out the moisture.

If he left it to Kkuengi, he would squeeze out the juice instead of the water, so he did it himself.

“Ah. Kkuengi, can you squeeze this for me?” Sejun said, giving Kkuengi, who was watching with his mouth watering, fresh, unblanched mugwort of life. He was thinking of making mugwort juice while he was at it.

Kkueng? [Do I just squeeze this tightly?]

“Yeah. Very tightly.”

Kkueng! [Leave it to Kkuengi!]

Kkuengi nodded his head diligently at Sejun’s words and began to press the fresh mugwort of life tightly between his two forepaws. Then, red mugwort juice began to fall into the glass bottle. Instead of ‘drip, drip’ falling one drop at a time, the mugwort juice flowed out ‘glug, glug’.

And the mugwort left in Kkuengi’s hands was so squeezed that it crumbled into powder.

‘Ah. If I leave it to Kkuengi, it becomes powder instead of juice.’

Sejun had a great realization.

Kkueng? [Dad, is this enough?]

Kkuengi said, shaking off the mugwort powder on his hands.

“Yeah. Very excellent.”

Even a juicer couldn’t squeeze it like that… As expected, our son was excellent.

“Then, I’ll ask you to do that.”

Sejun asked Kkuengi for the mugwort juice and thinly chopped the mugwort that had been squeezed of its moisture with a knife. He put rice flour and water into the chopped mugwort and kneaded it. Because the mugwort had a sweet taste, he didn’t use honey and only added a little salt.

A little later, “Done.”

Sejun, having finished kneading, began to steam the red dough and the blue dough separately. Now, if he puts the steamed dough into the black noodle maker and presses it with Kkuengi’s strength, the rice cake is complete.

At that moment, “Oh?! Sejun hyung! Are you making rice cake?” Ajax returned. No matter how much he liked free time, he wouldn’t skip lunch.

“Yeah. You came at the right time. Everyone, gather around.”

Sejun called all his companions.

And “Wash your feet and put your footprints here.”

He made the mugwort dough that he had set aside into a pancake shape and had them put their footprints on it. It was mugwort rice cake.

Kkueng? [Is this a slave contract?]

Kkuengi, who had received a footprint on a slave contract before, looked at Sejun with strength in his eyes. Dad, are you making Kkuengi a slave?!

“No. And Kkuengi, who told you to make such a scary face at Dad? Huh?! You can’t do that!” Sejun said to Kkuengi in a stern voice, holding the red mugwort juice that Kkuengi had squeezed out earlier in his hand.

He hadn’t checked yet, but since the mugwort was squeezed to the point of becoming powder, the effect would be certain.

Kkueng. Kkueng. [I’m sorry. Kkuengi doubted Dad.]

Fortunately, Kkuengi quickly apologized at Sejun’s words and put his footprint on the mugwort rice cake.

“Ehehehe. Sejun hyung, everything with my footprint on it is mine, right?”

The kitchen was a flurry of happy activity. Ajax, with serious concentration, was carefully pressing his tiny paw onto each soft, green mugwort rice cake.

Kooeng!

“[This is all Kooeng’s because Kooeng stamped it with his paw prints!”

While Kooeng and Ajax were busily stamping the rice cakes, making sure everyone knew they were theirs,

“Alright. Let’s get Blackie’s paw prints on here too.”

Kking?

‘Another bath, is it?’

Sejun grabbed Fenrir’s front paw, washed it with water, and then,

Plop.

He stamped Fenrir’s paw print on a small-sized mugwort rice cake made just for him.

Kking? Kking?

‘This is squishy? Is it food?’

Fenrir, tempted by the soft texture, tried to eat the mugwort dough, but Sejun stopped him with a dried sweet potato.

After stamping all the mugwort rice cakes, he placed them in a steamer and then,

“Shall we see what this mugwort juice is for?”

While Sejun waited, he checked the options for the mugwort juice Kooeng had squeezed.

[Life Mugwort Juice]

1000 fresh Life Mugworts, grown by absorbing the overflowing life force of the Green Tower, were squeezed with brute force by a novice herbalist, halving the effectiveness of the mugwort juice.

Upon consumption, restores 5% of life force per 1ml.

The flavor is concentrated, intensifying both the sweetness and bitterness.

Volume: 100ml

Grower: Herbalist Kooeng

Expiration Date: 300 days

Grade: A

Fortunately, the effect was as Sejun had anticipated. The effect was halved, but it didn’t matter. There was plenty of mugwort.

[Green Tower Top Farmer Ophelia Yiolge harvested 1 vibrant Magic Mugwort.]

[11,251 fresh Life Mugworts and 10,076 vibrant Magic Mugworts are stored in the Green Tower’s temporary storage.]

Ophelia was still diligently harvesting.

Ophelia, what a dear. Working so hard for my health and longevity.

“I should send her something tasty later.”

Sejun decided to treat Ophelia to some food later and transferred the Life Mugwort Juice into 20ml portions.

He mixed one of them with water in a 5:1 ratio and tasted it.

“Ugh!”

It was too sweet, and the bitterness was intense. It was difficult to handle the concentrated flavor of 200 mugworts in 100ml of water. So, he added more water.

After adding water several times, he found the optimal ratio: 20ml of mugwort juice in 500ml of water was the most palatable.

However, it still tasted like slightly bitter sugar water, which was disappointing.

Just then,

Kooeng!

“[Daddy, the rice cakes are done!”

Kooeng, remembering the smell of the dough from when they made the rice cakes before, called Sejun.

“Okay.”

Sejun quickly took the rice cake dough out of the steamer and put it into the black noodle maker that Kooeng was holding.

Kooeng!

Kooeng started to pull out the rice cakes with force.

And then,

[You have achieved the first feat in the Tower of creating Life’s Red Rice Cakes.]

[You have achieved the first feat in the Tower of creating Magic’s Blue Rice Cakes.]

Red and blue rice cakes were being pulled out, achieving cooking feats, and thanks to that, the effect of the mugwort improved by 5%.

Sejun cut the endless rice cakes into bite-sized pieces, dipped them generously in honey, and put them into the mouths of Kooeng, Ajax, and Fenrir, and then into his own mouth.

He used regular honey, not arrowroot honey, so as not to spoil the taste of the mugwort.

“Mmm. Delicious.”

As soon as he chewed, the rich scent of mugwort filled his mouth, and the honey permeated the chewy rice cake, creating an excellent flavor and taste.

While they were eating the rice cakes, the mugwort rice cakes were finished, and they each deliciously ate the mugwort rice cakes with their own paw prints on them.

When lunchtime was over,

“Flourish.”

[>Authority: Flourish!> is applied to the raspberry tree.]

[The amount of the next fruit to be borne on the raspberry tree is doubled.]

>Authority: Flourish!> uses life force, but Sejun’s life force had increased a lot in the meantime, and

Gulp.

[You have consumed diluted Life Mugwort Juice.]

[Life force is restored by 20%.]

He drank the diluted Life Mugwort Juice to restore his life force.

“Flourish!”

[You have consumed diluted Life Mugwort Juice.]

[Life force is restored by 1%.]

Later, he just gulped it down like water while using his authority.

While Sejun was increasing the harvest of the raspberry tree,

Kooeng!

“[If you work here, you get 10 peanuts and 5 Tower Coins a day as wages!”

“But you have to work hard!”

Kooeng and Ajax explained to the big-footed squirrels, who had belatedly arrived following Ajax, what wages they would receive and what they had to do if they worked on the farm.

A little later,

“Alright, kids, let’s go home now. Ajax, guide us to the waypoint.”

Sejun asked Ajax, who had scouted, for the location of the waypoint.

“Okay! Hyung, the waypoint is to the west. But… there’s a mysterious lake to the east.”

“A mysterious lake?”

“Yeah. The lake is milk. I drank a lot, but there’s still plenty.”

“Huh? A milk lake?”

Come to think of it, he had heard about it from the raccoon tribe who came to the harvest festival before. There was a milk spring, and they used the milk to make cheese.

“Let’s go! Earth Dragon!”

Sejun hurriedly called the Earth Dragon and headed to the milk lake.

“It was real?”

He had believed the raccoons, but it didn’t feel real… but seeing the milky white milk lake, it felt real.

“Real milk is coming out of the ground…”

Sejun collected milk from the milk lake, and

Hee hee hee. Kooeng!

“[Hee hee hee. It’s milk!”

“You can drink a lot! Keep drinking!”

Kooeng! Kooeng!

“[Okay! Kooeng will drink a lot!”

Kking?

‘Should I have a drink?’

The three next to him were busily drinking milk.

A little time passed, and then,

“Huh?”

Sejun, who was scooping milk, and the three who were drinking milk, slowly moved forward. The milk was rapidly decreasing.

Kking? Kking!

‘Why are you moving forward? Hey! Don’t run away!’

Fenrir diligently followed the dwindling milk.

Glug.

Of course, the culprit was Kooeng. Kooeng had released his seal after a long time and was drinking milk. Thanks to that, the milk lake eventually dried up.

It was an unlucky lake where milk no longer came out.

Kooeng?

“[Kooeng, did Kooeng do something wrong?”

Kooeng looked at Sejun with a tearful face.

“No. It’s okay. I collected a lot of milk.”

Sejun soothed Kooeng by showing him the milk in dozens of glass bottles. It’s just milk. He could find a bigger milk lake later.

Kking!

‘Hey! I’m thirsty!’

However, Fenrir, who had followed the milk and didn’t get even one sip, barked at the glass bottles filled with milk.