Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 428

“Chairman Park, see you in a bit!”

As Black Rabbit, Kkueng-ie, and Blackie went into the subspace warehouse, Theo looked at Sejun with a longing gaze from the warehouse door.

Sejun smiled faintly, a hint of amusement in his eyes as he gently closed the door. *Wistful? We’ll be together again in moments.*

“Alright. See you in a bit.”

Clang.

Sejun slowly closed the door, making eye contact with Theo until the very end.

Then, he took out a bracelet made of green vines from his pocket and put it on.

[You have equipped the Sealed Grapevine Bracelet to the target.]

[How much of your abilities will you seal?]

Sejun glanced around quickly, making sure he was alone before speaking softly, “Is anyone there?”

“Seal it to the maximum.”

As Sejun spoke, confirming that no one was around,

[Sealing 99% of your abilities.]

[Sealing a total of 11,583 stats.]

“Ugh…”

As his abilities were sealed, Sejun staggered from the immense sense of exhaustion.

His total stats had decreased from 11,700 to 117, the gap was too large.

“Hoo.”

Sejun took a deep breath and adjusted to his body’s condition.

“Being a hidden powerhouse is proving more challenging than expected,” Sejun thought with a sigh.

He checked his stats and was disappointed.

Even with his power sealed to the maximum, his total stats were 117.

To have that level of stats, one would have to be at least Hunter Level 30. Being a hidden powerhouse had become difficult.

“Too bad.”

Sejun, with a disappointed expression, took off the equipment he could no longer wear due to the stat reduction.

He put the equipment into his space expansion pouch.

Sejun unfolded the Black Tower land deed he had prepared.

[The summoning function is activated to imprint the first owner of the Black Tower 1st floor land deed.]

Hehe. Finally going!

With the message, he disappeared from the 99th floor of the Black Tower.

[The Black Tower you used to enter has disappeared.]

[The exit has disappeared, and you cannot leave.]

“What? The tower disappeared? What does that even mean?!”

How can the tower disappear when Korea has a safe zone?!

Hunters who couldn’t exit were bewildered by the message.

Some of them were foreigners who had trusted the safe zone and used the tower in Korea.

“What do we do?!”

Some hunters mentioned others who had been trapped for a long time when towers disappeared in their countries.

“Will a new tower be built?”

“The rate at which towers are appearing has slowed down lately…”

“Then we don’t know when we’ll be able to leave.”

As the hunters fell into a panic,

“Hello. We are employees of the Korea Awakened Association. Please rest in the accommodation we have prepared, and we will explain the results of our investigation.”

Employees of the Korea Awakened Association stepped forward, calmed them down, and took them away.

As dozens of hunters disappeared, following the Awakened Association employees,

“Finest swords here! Sharper than dragon’s teeth!”

“Our shop is the cheapest!”

“Selling the heart of a black widow spider!”

The huge open space near the exit where the hunters had gathered became noisy with the shouts of the street vendors who had already set up shop.

[You have arrived at the Black Tower 1st floor.]

[You have moved from the top floor, the 99th floor, to the 1st floor of the tower.]

[You have descended 98 floors.]

[Due to the effect of >Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 98.]

Day 409 of entry. Sejun quietly arrived in a corner of the huge open space on the 1st floor of the Black Tower.

[The Sealed Grapevine Bracelet seals 99% of your abilities.]

His total stats were about to increase by almost 400, but fortunately, his abilities were 99% sealed, and his total stats only increased by 4.

*Tower 1st floor,* Sejun thought, a wave of excitement washing over him. *Finally, I’ve arrived!*

“Hehe.”

“Chairman Park, I missed you, nya!”

Theo opened the door of the subspace warehouse just enough to prevent his energy from escaping and jumped out.

With a playful *meow!*, Blackie launched himself, a furry black missile.

Theo clung to Sejun’s face on his own, so Sejun only caught Blackie, who was flying towards him, and put him in the sling bag.

Theo settled onto Sejun’s knee with a soft ‘Nya…’, seemingly content despite his earlier excitement.

“Kkueng-ie, are you okay?”

He asked Kkueng-ie, who was visible through the small gap in the subspace warehouse door.

From the gap, Kkueng-ie’s voice, though quieter than usual, reassured him. *I’m okay! Eating carrots with Black Rabbit is fun!*

Sitting on the floor, eating carrots with Black Rabbit, Kkueng-ie quietly answered.

Because if he made a loud noise, he might unknowingly draw up his energy.

I’m sorry.

Sejun felt sorry as he watched Kkueng-ie eat the carrots even more deliciously to reassure him, but there was no other way for now.

“Play while eating other things too. Okay?”

Black Rabbit’s cheerful voice piped up. *Sejun, leave Kkueng-ie to me! We’ll have lots of fun!*

“Alright.”

After finishing talking with the two, Sejun closed the slightly opened door and looked around.

“Finally seeing this.”

Sejun looked around at the scenery of the 1st floor of the tower with a moved expression.

Bright lights hanging from the ceiling illuminated the surroundings, white marble was laid on the floor, and in the wide square, there were shops selling equipment and potions, and training centers where warriors and mages could learn skills.

“Cheap! It’s cheap!”

“Come and see! You can just look around!”

*Street vendors?* Sejun thought, surprised. *I didn’t expect this.*

As Sejun was wondering, looking at the bustling street vendors,

“Huh?! Sejun! You’re Park Sejun, right?!”

A hunter who was selling goods on a mat on the floor waved his hand at Sejun.

Theo bristled, his fur slightly puffing up. ‘Hey! Don’t be so casual with Chairman Park’s name!’

“Theo, calm down,” Sejun said gently, stopping him.

“Alright, nya! I’ll stay still, nya!”

As Theo quieted down,

Who is it?

Sejun carefully examined the man with leather armor, a bow, and a long scar on his face as he approached.

Huh?!

Looking closely, he was very familiar.

“Are you Kyungchul? Oh Kyungchul from Sea Electronics?!”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Kyungchul said, a hint of sadness in his voice. “My face… it’s changed a lot, hasn’t it?”

Kyungchul, Sejun’s colleague, scratched his head and opened his mouth in a slightly subdued voice.

“How have you been?”

“Yeah. I’ve been good. But you left the company and somehow ended up looking *better*? What’s your secret?”

Kyungchul beamed, clearly pleased. “Hehe. Really? You think so?!”

Sejun grinned at Kyungchul’s words. He had only heard that his face was rotting every day, so he couldn’t help but feel good when he heard that his face looked good.

“But Sejun, how did you afford the tower ticket? Did you use all your savings, like I did?”

“Uh, yeah! Something like that,” Sejun replied, a little vaguely.

It was complicated to explain his situation, so Sejun unknowingly agreed with Kyungchul’s words.

“But did you awaken today?”

Kyungchul asked, looking at Sejun’s attire, which had no weapons or armor.

He had taken off his equipment due to the usage restrictions from sealing his abilities, but it seemed that Kyungchul saw him as a new hunter who had just entered the tower.

“Uh…”

“That’s great! I’m level 25, so I can help you level up quickly until the 7th floor!”

Before Sejun could answer, Kyungchul offered to raise Sejun.

Raise me? *Me?* Sejun thought, a little surprised by Kyungchul’s offer.

I still have quite a bit of total stats, don’t I look strong?

Sejun had forgotten that he was always among strong beings, and his talent: Insignificant Presence, hid his energy a lot.

Just then, another hunter approached Kyungchul’s stall, clearing his throat politely.

“Ah, Sejun, sorry, I need to get back to selling. Let’s meet up again here in about three hours, okay?”

“Okay,” Sejun nodded, watching Kyungchul return to his stall.

As Kyungchul returned to his spot to sell things, Sejun decided to meet him later to clear up Kyungchul’s misunderstanding and

But why isn’t the land deed quest appearing?

He explored the 1st floor of the tower, hoping that the quest would appear.

The first place he went was the warrior training center and the mage training center where he could learn skills, but

[You cannot learn skills because your job does not match.]

He was rejected.

Next, he looked at the potion shop.

[Lowest Grade Healing Potion] – 1 Tower Coin

Immediately restores 5% of health upon consumption and slowly restores 5% of health for 10 minutes.

[Lowest Grade Mana Potion] – 1 Tower Coin

Immediately restores 3% of mana upon consumption and slowly restores 3% of health for 10 minutes.

The effects seemed quite weak compared to what he was used to.

Sejun, who had mugwort potion, didn’t want to buy it at all.

Next, he went to the equipment shop, but there was nothing to see because there was only equipment for beginners.

When he finished looking around the facilities on the 1st floor of the tower, Sejun looked around the street vendors.

Most of them were E-grade and D-grade, so there weren’t many items that Sejun could use, but

Wait, what’s this? Sejun’s eyes lit up as he spotted an unidentified item.

“How much is this?”

“It’s unidentified, but it’s a D+ grade sword, so I have to charge 5 Tower Coins.”

“Could you maybe give me a small discount?”

“How about 4.5 then?”

“Just a little bit more, if possible.”

He haggled to lower the price and bought it.

The price wasn’t expensive, so he just wanted to buy it, but

Theo watched with wide, admiring eyes. ‘Chairman Park’s discount skills are amazing, nya!’

“Aileen, could you identify this for me, please?”

The unidentified item purchased with the 3-time discount was identified by Aileen.

[The tower’s administrator says it is an ordinary sword with ice magic cast on it.]

After the identification was complete, Aileen sent the item back to Sejun.

“Oh! A B grade! Not bad at all,” Sejun murmured, pleased with his bargain.

“Hehe. This feels like a real treasure hunt,” Sejun thought, enjoying the bustling market atmosphere.

As Sejun was treasure hunting, looking for unidentified items from the street vendors,

Wait a minute… this bow would be perfect for Kyungchul! I should get it for him.

[Longbow of Infinite Arrows]

It wasn’t infinite like the name, but it was a B-grade item that automatically loaded arrows onto the string up to 1000 arrows as long as the string was pulled.

“How much is this?”

“1000 Tower Coins.”

The price was high for an item sold at a street vendor, probably because it had been identified and the grade was high.

Of course, it was a cheap price for Sejun, but

Theo chuckled, still impressed. ‘Chairman Park’s discount is legendary, nya!’

*Isn’t Theo getting tired of this?* Sejun wondered, but Theo seemed endlessly entertained.

“Give me a discount.”

Because of Theo, who continued to have sparkling eyes, he bought the item after discounting it 3 times this time as well.

Now the timing will be perfect to go to Kyungchul.

As Sejun was heading to where Kyungchul was,

Bang!

A commotion broke out in front.

*What’s going on?* Sejun wondered, pushing his way through the crowd.

“You want to do business here? Then you pay the seat tax to the Black Bear Clan! That’s the rule!”

The heavily armed Black Bears were threatening a hunter who was running a street vendor without their permission.

Sejun didn’t know, but to do business here, you had to pay the seat tax to the Black Bear Clan.

*Black Bear Clan? Who are these thugs?* Sejun wondered, frowning. *And causing trouble already on the first floor?*

“Looks like you’ve been buying a lot. Must have plenty of coins to spare. Share some with us.”

One of the Black Bears came in front of Sejun and held out his paw.

[A quest has occurred.]

[Quest: Subdue or negotiate with the Black Bear Clan, who are illegally occupying the market and collecting seat taxes, and reclaim the rights to the land.]

Reward: Recognition as the rightful owner of the Black Tower 1st floor market

Sejun’s eyes widened slightly as a quest notification appeared. ‘Hehe,’ he chuckled softly. ‘Looks like we have a little problem, Theo. Vice Chairman Tae, why don’t you handle this?’

Theo grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. ‘With pleasure, nya!’

*Well,* Sejun thought, a slight smile playing on his lips. *It seems arriving at the first floor comes with its own set of… challenges.*