Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 53

Floor 67 of the Tower was a wet, muddy swamp. The air smelled damp, and strange plants grew everywhere.

The swamp was noisy. *Croak, croak* went the giant frogs. Then, *plop* – something fell into the water.

A Lizardman hunter, his skin green and scaly, aimed his arrow. *Thwack!* The arrow hit a giant frog, as big as a dog, right on its head.

The Lizardman hunter made a happy, clicking sound in his throat, *keruk keruk*. He was pleased with his successful hunt.

Floors 61 to 70 of the Tower were Lizardman territory, and they lived by catching giant frogs and snakes in the swamp.

A red locust, bigger than a bird, landed on the frog the Lizardman had killed.

The red locust began to eat, cutting the frog’s skin with its massive jaws as if with scissors.

With an angry *keruk!*, the Lizardman hunter rushed over and killed the red locust with his dagger.

He tore off a leg, *snap, snap*, and tasted it.

The Lizardman hunter made a happy clicking sound, *keruk keruk*. He seemed pleased with the taste.

More red locusts flew in, *flutter, flutter*, and began to eat the giant frog and the dead locust.

The red locusts were so busy eating that they didn’t care about the Lizardman hunter, so he easily hunted them.

More and more red locusts flew in to eat the frog and the dead locusts, increasing their numbers to dozens, then hundreds, then thousands.

The Lizardman hunter started to feel uneasy. There were just too many locusts now. He decided it was time to go home. But then, he noticed the sky was changing. It was turning red.

Swarms of red locusts were flying so densely that they blocked the sun.

A huge wave of locusts, breaking away from the main swarm, rushed towards the swamp where the Lizardman hunter was.

The swarm descended. In moments, the swamp was filled with a red cloud of locusts. When they were gone, the giant frog, the Lizardman, even the plants – everything was gone. The swamp was empty.

As usual, Black Rabbit sent up a net filled with piranhas and crayfish to prepare a meal.

Kkueng wanted to eat a lot of eel today, so Black Rabbit put chunks of eel meat into the net several times to act like a good older brother.

Going down again with the water,

*Thud!*

A small vibration came with a strange sound.

*Ppyak?*

Black Rabbit looked around and thought, “Huh?! What’s that?”

Green light shone from a crack between the eel and the wall, then went away.

Curious, Black Rabbit started to cut the eel’s body that was covering the wall where the green light came from.

*Scritch, scritch.* The harpoon cut through the eel’s skin, making a hole.

*Flash!*

Green light flooded in through the hole.

*Thud! Ppyak!* Suddenly, the water rushed faster, and Black Rabbit was pulled through the hole in the eel.

But then, *splash!* Black Rabbit’s legs got caught in the net. He was lucky! If not for the net, he would have been pulled away by the strong water.

When Black Rabbit knew he was safe, he looked closely at the place where the green light came from.

“What’s that?! Behind the eel, there was an underwater cave. Green light was coming from inside it.”

After a little while, when the water stopped rushing and the green light was gone, Black Rabbit pulled the rope two times.

“Black Rabbit!” Sejun pulled the rope and lifted Black Rabbit up with the net. He had been worried because of the strong force pulling on the rope earlier.

Sejun hurriedly untied Black Rabbit’s legs from the net and carefully placed Black Rabbit on his palms.

*Ppyak…* Black Rabbit said weakly, from Sejun’s hands. “There’s a cave down there… it goes to another place…”

“A cave?” Sejun asked. *Ppyak, pyaak,* Black Rabbit replied. “Yes. It’s an underwater cave with a green light.”

“An underwater cave with a green light? Aileen, do you know anything about this?” Sejun asked Aileen, the Tower’s administrator.

Aileen’s voice suddenly spoke in Sejun’s mind. “That is a passage to the Sea of Dimensions.”

“The Tower is connected to other places through the Sea of Dimensions,” Aileen explained.

“There are very dangerous monsters in the Sea of Dimensions,” Aileen warned. “If Black Rabbit had been swept away, he would have died!”

“There was something like that?” Sejun thought it was fortunate that Black Rabbit had returned safely.

They ate the seafood that Black Rabbit had risked his life to bring as lunch.

Kkueng! Kkueng picked up a chunk of eel meat and chewed on it. “Thanks, big brother!”

*Ppyak!* Black Rabbit coolly raised his thumb. “I told you to trust me, big brother.”

Black Rabbit had almost died, but his big brother’s pride was more important.

After lunch, he rested with Black Rabbit and Kkueng, increasing his proficiency in making dark clouds.

When he came down to harvest the cherry tomatoes in the cave,

“Huh?!”

*Splash. Splash.* The pond was overflowing with underwater monsters.

The giant electric eel that had blocked the cave was gone. Now, water flowed freely from the Sea of Dimensions. And with the water came monsters. The pond was full of them!

*Ppyak!* Black Rabbit, excited by the appearance of piranhas that would provide experience and protein, jumped into the pond.

“Look at this!” Sejun shouted. A new monster was in the pond. It was long and thick as his arm, with a pointed end like a rocket and ten legs.

Sejun quickly caught the new monster. *You have defeated a squid,* a message appeared in his mind.

*You have gained 3 experience.*

Today’s lunch is blanched squid and stir-fried squid!

Sejun thought that perhaps the very scary underwater monsters were just more delicious food. He became interested in the Sea of Dimensions. A sea full of all sorts of rare and delicious fish.

“It’s difficult right now.” Thorough preparation was needed to go out to the Sea of Dimensions. Sejun focused on catching squid, promising himself to go later.

Suddenly, a red light flashed on Aileen’s crystal ball. *Notification!* it announced.

“Kuing?”

Aileen pressed the alarming red notification that appeared on the crystal ball screen.

Billions of red locusts have invaded Floor 67 of the Tower.

“Red Locusts?!” Aileen was greatly surprised by the alarm. It had been almost 100 years since the last time locusts had invaded the Tower. And at that time, her grandfather had resolved it instead of Aileen, who could not leave the Tower’s administration office.

“What should I do?” Aileen’s abilities did not allow her to open passages connected to the outside of the Tower.

The crystal ball showed Floor 67. A small part was already red, marked as destroyed by the locusts. Then, the red area grew quickly. The locusts were eating everything in their path.

Day 218 of being stranded.

“It would be nice to have some gochujang, a spicy Korean sauce, or mayonnaise.” Sejun said with a disappointed voice as he chewed on semi-dried grilled squid.

Since the underwater cave connected to the Sea of Dimensions had opened, piranhas and squids were overflowing in the pond.

Sejun made semi-dried squid by stringing the caught squids together with Pae Parsley. A new snack was created after the roasted sweet potato slices.

“How is it?” Sejun asked, looking at the Architect Rabbit examining the muddy soil. Sejun was currently touring the Black Minotaur territory with Black Rabbit and the Architect Rabbit.

*Beep!* The Architect Rabbit nodded. “This is enough!”

Sejun came all the way to the Black Minotaur territory despite being busy with farming because of the mud.

Sejun had been thinking about making mud bricks when he saw the mud here before, and when the Architect Rabbit joined, he decided to start making mud bricks properly.

“Good.” Sejun filled the brick mold made by the Woodcraftsman Rabbit with mud. He had asked Mom Crimson Giant Bear to get the wood.

When he asked Mom Crimson Giant Bear for wood, she brought two trees the next day that were almost as thick as Sejun’s torso. It was strange that the inside of the wood was blood-red like blood, but the Gray Rabbits said it was good wood.

He filled the brick mold and smoothed it out by removing the excess mud with his hands.

When he removed the brick mold,

*Pop.* The mud retained its shape, creating a neatly squared mud brick. Now, all that was left was to dry the mud brick until it hardened. The mud brick was made so easily.

“Should I make about 100,000 for now?” Sejun said the number that would take dozens of days to make as if it were nothing. It was natural. Because he wasn’t going to make them himself.

He knew the Black Minotaurs would enjoy making mud bricks, so there was no need for him to do it himself.

Sejun made a new deal to receive mud bricks in exchange for Uma Wang and Pae Parsley. The large brick molds that the Black Minotaurs would use were being made in advance, so they would be sent with the Black Minotaurs who were returning after finishing work today.

“What should I make first?” Sejun returned to the cave, imagining what he would build with the bricks like building with blocks.

When he ate grilled fish and stir-fried squid for lunch and was about to start his afternoon work,

“Ah!” Sejun remembered that he had not planted the Sun’s Sweet Potato.

“I need to plant it quickly and harvest the cherry tomatoes.” Sejun went to the storage to get the harvested Sun’s Sweet Potato.

“Huh?! Where did they all go?” There was not a single Sun’s Sweet Potato stored in the storage.

On the rooftop of the Korean Awakened Association building, built right next to the Black Tower, two strong-looking men were looking down at the Gangnam, a famous part of Seoul, South Korea.

“Hoo. Which groups have contacted Park Sejun’s family?” Association President Han Taejun asked his first disciple, Cha Si혁, while exhaling cigarette smoke.

“A total of 23 countries, including the United States, Japan, and China, are monitoring Park Sejun’s family. I have quietly dealt with the people from the three countries that attempted to kidnap them.”

“Good job. Is it Dongshik’s turn to protect them now?”

“Yes.”

“Tell Dongshik to stop by my office when he changes shifts.” Han Taejun was planning to have Kim Dongshik deliver the magic cherry tomatoes.

Eating the magic cherry tomatoes given by Kim Dongshik made it a little easier to overcome the curse of fire due to the effect of increasing magic power, making external activities much easier. And above all, they were delicious.

“Yes.” About 10 minutes later, while they were talking,

*Sssssss!* A burning sound came from Han Taejun’s finger, and blisters like burns formed on his hand.

“Kugh! Damn it. This curse…”

“Master, are you alright?!”

“Why are you worrying so much? Let’s go inside.”

“Yes.” Cha Si혁 looked sadly at his master, Han Taejun, who was descending from the rooftop. He used to be able to work outside for about an hour, but now he was struggling for even 20 minutes.

“There must be a way!” Cha Si혁 resolved that he would definitely find a way to break his master’s curse.

“Why is this here, nya?” Theo, sitting on Elka’s back and checking his bundle, looked confused as he saw the Sun’s Sweet Potato shining inside the bundle. Sejun had definitely said that he would plant the Sun’s Sweet Potato.

He must have put it in the bundle together when he put the sweet potatoes in without thinking.

“Representative Theo, is something wrong?”

“It’s nothing, nya! There’s no problem at all, nya!” Theo answered quickly to Elka’s question.

‘I can’t show any weakness to the people who work for me, nya! I’m the perfect Representative Theo, nya!’

While Theo was thinking about how to deal with the Sun’s Sweet Potato, Elka entered the entrance to the merchant passage connecting the 60th floor to the 50th floor.