Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 40

Outside the first level of the Tower, ten Awakened people waited. After a short time, a man with blonde hair and shiny golden armor walked out from inside.

Today, the team from Gagel’s Tower Farm project would harvest the E-grade magic cherry tomatoes. Michael McLaren, the vice president of Gagel, came to the farm himself.

“Vice President, this way,” the research team leader said, guiding Michael to the Tower Farm project headquarters. On the 1st floor of the Tower, people could rent buildings for a fee.

“How is getting land for the big farm going?” Michael asked.

“Right now, the ‘slaves’ are pushing out the goblin villages on the 2nd floor of the Tower and getting the land,” the team leader replied.

These ‘slaves’ were people who had become Awakened. They owed money, and Gagel company paid their debts. In return, Gagel made them sign contracts to become slaves and work in the Tower. Gagel even gave them tickets to become Awakened so they could work better.

They couldn’t leave the Tower and had to work to pay back debts they could never repay.

As they walked and talked about getting land for the large farm, Michael arrived at the headquarters’ yard and saw a field full of cherry tomatoes.

“Finally…” Michael said.

Excited, Michael walked to the field and picked a ripe, red cherry tomato to look at. He looked closely, but nothing changed.

“It’s not an item,” he said.

Michael was disappointed but thought it was still important because he got the seeds to start the farm.

‘I wonder what it tastes like?’ Michael wondered.

Michael put the cherry tomato in his mouth.

Pop.

Splat.

The cherry tomato burst, and the juice exploded.

“…?”

Michael chewed the cherry tomato carefully, his face becoming serious.

And then,

Ptoo!

Michael spat out the cherry tomato.

And then,

Pluck. Pluck. Pluck.

Michael quickly picked other cherry tomatoes, tasting them one by one.

But,

“What on earth is going on?!” Michael shouted, throwing the cherry tomatoes in his hand.

“Vice President, what’s wrong?” the research team leader asked.

“What’s wrong?! This tastes like absolutely nothing!” Michael replied.

“Huh?!”

The research team members who had grown the cherry tomatoes quickly began to taste them.

“This can’t be… how can it taste like this…” The research team leader looked like he couldn’t believe it.

They had used all the right nutrients, but the cherry tomatoes tasted like nothing.

Michael left the Tower with the research team leader and told him to analyze the cherry tomatoes.

He thought maybe they could still make the tomatoes better and taste good using the company’s special technology.

A few hours later, the research team leader came back with a report about the cherry tomatoes from the Tower.

“What’s the result?” Michael asked.

“Everything in them was worse than normal. They were the lowest grade and had no value. Also, there were no seeds inside,” the team leader said.

“No seeds?!”

“Yes.”

Without seeds, they couldn’t grow cherry tomatoes or make them better.

“Okay. When the trade opens on the 38th floor, do everything you can to get all the D-grade magic cherry tomatoes and grow them again! Understood?!” Michael said.

“Yes!”

Michael decided to try D-grade magic cherry tomatoes if the E-grade ones didn’t work.

‘It will be different if the grade is higher,’ he thought.

Because Michael wanted to buy D-grade tomatoes, Theo would sell a lot and make even more money.

While Gagel planned for the future, Sejun was focused on his lunch.

After Theo left, Sejun, who had been cutting grass all morning, prepared piranha spicy stew. He made it with piranhas, green onions, and carrots, and added chili powder and salt for flavor. Sejun was putting away the things Theo bought. He looked in the pot and saw chili powder.

“Theo, you should have told me you had this! Hee hee hee,” Sejun said.

Sejun thought that when Theo came, he would let him sit on his lap for five hours and eat as much Churu as he wanted. Then, he took a spoonful of the stew.

Slurp.

“Krooo…”

The chili powder was very spicy! It made Sejun’s mouth burn.

Squawk?

The black rabbit carefully put its paw into the red liquid. The black rabbit always tried to eat whatever Sejun ate.

Squawk!!

The black rabbit ate the spicy stew and ran to the pond as if its mouth was on fire, gulping down water.

Because the black rabbit didn’t like the spicy stew, it shook its head and didn’t want to eat any more. It was too spicy for the rabbit! So, Sejun got to eat all the spicy stew himself!

The stew wasn’t as tasty as the spicy stews he used to eat outside. It was missing some things, but Sejun loved it! He ate all of it until the pot was empty. He really enjoyed the spicy taste because he hadn’t had spicy food in almost 200 days.

“Sss. Haa. So spicy,” Sejun said.

Sejun made cherry tomato juice to help with the spice.

Squish-! Squish-!

As Sejun squeezed cherry tomato juice into the empty pot,

Whirr.

Suddenly, honeybees flew in! They buzzed around the pot and dropped honey into it.

Sejun made the sweet cherry tomato juice with honey. He used a spoon to pour the juice into a cup. He wanted to drink it to help with the spice. Just then…

Suddenly, a voice spoke in his mind. [The Tower’s Administrator says: I want some cherry tomato juice too!]

“I knew you would! I made lots. So, what’s my quest?” Sejun asked.

[A quest has been generated.]

[Quest: Give the Tower’s Administrator honey cherry tomato juice.]

Reward: Eileen’s Favor

Failure: Disappointment

“Here, take it,” Sejun said.

The pot of cherry tomato juice vanished! The quest was done.

[The Tower’s Administrator is pleased with the delicious and healthy cherry tomato juice.]

[The Tower’s Administrator asks: Hey! What about the crayfish you ate last time? Where is mine?]

“I have to save that. Let’s wait and eat it next week,” Sejun replied.

[The Tower’s Administrator says they can wait patiently.]

There weren’t many crayfish to begin with. When Sejun used blood to attract them, fewer and fewer crayfish came. Now, even with blood, only one, two, or maybe three crayfish would come.

So, Sejun decided to eat it only once a week to protect the crayfish population.

Sejun drank his cherry tomato juice and talked to the Tower’s Administrator. Suddenly, Kooeng came to Sejun! Kooeng had a glass jar full of honey.

“Give me honey!”

“Alright,” Sejun said.

Click.

Sejun opened the jar Kooeng brought. He put a big drop of honey on Kooeng’s paw.

Kooeng happily licked the honey from his paw. Sejun smiled, happy to share his simple life in the Tower with his friends.

The glass bottle was much wider than the water bottle. One slow pour from it gave Kkueng a river of honey, much more than many quick tips from the small water bottle.

“Lick, lick,”

Golden honey dripped down Kkueng’s paws. “Lick, lick,” went his tongue, fast and happy, as he cleaned every sticky drop. The sweet smell of honey filled the air. Kkueng’s eyes closed in happiness as he tasted the sugary treat. He purred softly, his little body shaking with delight. The reason Kkueng could eat so much honey was that the number of Poison Honeybees had increased, greatly boosting the honey yield.

The hives buzzed with life. Hundreds of Poison Honeybees flew in and out, their tiny wings a blur as they brought back more honey. They patrolled around the cave, guarding their sweet treasure. Currently, the two hives combined held approximately 400 Poison Honeybees. Now, the Poison Honeybees patrolled as far as 100 meters from the cave.

And, perhaps stimulated by the appearance of the second hive, the queen of the first hive also increased the number of eggs she laid.

Thanks to this, about fifteen new Poison Honeybees were born each day from both hives combined, causing their numbers to increase even more rapidly.

“Kkueng…”

In the meantime, Kkueng, having finished licking up all the honey, lay down next to Sejun, ready to sleep, and Black Rabbit, sensing the opportunity, came to Sejun’s lap and fell asleep as well.

Feeling the soft fur of Black Rabbit and the warm body of Kkueng against him, Sejun felt peaceful. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, the gentle sounds of the cave around him.

In the afternoon sun, Sejun went to harvest the cherry tomatoes he missed in the morning. The red fruits shone like jewels among the green leaves. Harvesting the amount he couldn’t get to in the morning meant the yield was quite large, but Sejun completed the harvest without any trouble.

Scritch.

He cut ten sprouts from the Sun’s Sweet Potato planted in the ground, intending to plant them in the empty spaces when he divided and replanted the green onions above ground.

Plop.

Sejun planted the Sun’s Sweet Potato sprouts in the holes he made with his dagger.

[You have planted the Sun’s Sweet Potato sprouts.]

[Due to the effect of Seed Sowing Lv. 3, the probability of the Sun’s Sweet Potato sprouts taking root increases.]

[Job experience slightly increases.]

[Seed Sowing Lv. 3 proficiency slightly increases.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, Seed Sowing Lv. 3 proficiency increases by an additional 5%.]

After planting all the Sun’s Sweet Potato sprouts, Sejun checked on the green onions he had planted after obtaining the seeds through seed collection.

The green onions, which were thin like pencils just weeks ago, now stood tall and thick as Sejun’s fingers. Their green tops swayed gently.

“Should I harvest them now?”

Scritch.

Sejun cut the green onion leaves, but no message appeared indicating that he had harvested them.

“Maybe I need to take the whole thing?”

Plop.

Just in case, Sejun pulled out a green onion whole.

[You have harvested Detox Green Onion.]

[Due to the effect of Harvesting Lv. 4, you have harvested a crop one grade higher.]

[Job experience greatly increases.]

[Harvesting Lv. 4 proficiency greatly increases.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, Harvesting Lv. 4 proficiency increases by an additional 5%.]

[You have gained 36 experience.]

“Huh?! A crop one grade higher?”

Sejun quickly checked the options for the green onion.

[Detox Green Onion]

Grown inside the Tower, this green onion is delicious due to ample nutrition.

Consuming it detoxifies poisons of C+ grade or lower for 1 hour.

When consumed by a non-awakened person, liver function, which detoxifies the body, becomes active for 24 hours.

Grower: Tower Farmer Park Sejun

Expiration Date: 135 days

Grade: C+

The popular fat-dissolving option from outside the Tower was absent. And the grade had increased by one level from the original D+ to C+.

“Is this good? Well, as long as it tastes good.”

For Sejun, who was unlikely to be poisoned, the Detox Green Onion was just another delicious green onion. Sejun left a few green onions for seed collection and harvested about 200 green onion plants.

Far away from the quiet cave, in the busy Phoenix Guild Headquarters…

The Phoenix Guild Headquarters was a busy place, filled with the sounds of talking and clanking armor. Leon stood in the records room, looking at the list of Tower entries.

“The number of guild members going to the 38th floor of the Tower has increased a lot lately. What’s going on all of a sudden?”

Leon, the guild leader of the Phoenix Guild, asked while looking at the Tower entry records. He had just returned from completing a three-month quest on the 36th floor.

“Recently, guild members have been eagerly trading with the wandering merchant who appears in the *merchant passage* connecting floors, naturally increasing the amount of time they spend in the Tower.”

Vice Guild Leader Catherine replied.

“Wandering merchant?”

“Actually, yes! It’s been all anyone is talking about. A wandering merchant appeared on the 38th floor.”

Catherine showed a picture she took with Theo.

“A cat?”

“Yes. He’s a wandering merchant named Theo. And he’s selling these Magic Cherry Tomatoes.”

Catherine showed Leon a D-grade Magic Cherry Tomato.

“Magic power 0.2? It won’t be of much help in battle.”

“You don’t know anything. Trust me, Leon. Take these cherry tomatoes home. Your wife will be *very* happy to see you.”

“Really?”

Leon was tempted by Catherine’s words. Frankly, he was feeling a bit self-conscious about going home after being away for three months.

“Here. I had a hard time getting these, but I’ll give you ten.”

“Thank you.”

“More importantly, how was the quest?”

“I barely managed to collect three bottles of antidote.”

Leon replied in a weak voice. The boss of the 38th floor, the Deadly Tarantula, had a pattern of emitting strong poison gas as soon as the battle began.

Therefore, an antidote was necessary to attack the boss, but there was nowhere to obtain an antidote that could neutralize the Deadly Tarantula’s potent poison.

While struggling to conquer the 38th floor, Leon happened to meet an alchemist researching spider venom on the 36th floor.

He received a quest to bring the corpses of 100 Poison Spiders, which occasionally appeared in a specific area of the 36th floor, in exchange for one antidote.

And as a result of hunting Poison Spiders with the 1st and 2nd teams of the Phoenix Guild, they completed the quest three times over three months and obtained three antidotes.

One month to obtain one antidote. To attack the boss on the 38th floor, at least 20 people were needed, meaning it would take at least seventeen months to conquer the boss.

“Hoo.”

“Go home and get some rest for now.”

“Alright.”

Leon, who returned home after three months, was welcomed by his wife thanks to the Magic Cherry Tomatoes Catherine had given him.

“Meow, meow, meow.”

“He’s coming.”

“Attack when I signal.”

“Yes.”

Three Silver Wolves, watching Theo emerge from the merchant passage connecting the 70th floor to the 60th floor while humming a tune, prepared to pounce.

And then,

“Now!”

Grrrr. The three Silver Wolves rushed out and surrounded Theo.

At that moment,

“…!”

“…!”

“…Chieftain?”

Following Theo were two huge figures – Black Minotaurs, their muscles bulging, their axes ready.

“Heh heh heh. Now it’s my turn, meow!”

Theo looked at the Silver Wolves with a villainous grin. His usual friendly smile twisted into a wide, villainous grin. His eyes gleamed with mischief.