Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 59

On day 232 of being stuck here, I was eating a simple lunch of roasted carrots. I was also practicing making clouds to give shade to Theo, Black Rabbit, and Kkuengyi.

Thud. Thud.

Kroong!

Mom Crimson Giant Bear brought back the trunk of a massive tree.

Recently, the Grey Rabbits had started making things from wood, like chairs, beds, and shelves. So, Mom Crimson Giant Bear brought back wood every time she went to patrol.

However, Sejun looked at the huge mountain of wood behind the brick house and said, “That’s too much…” He had asked for wood, but these days, Mom Crimson Giant Bear had been bringing it every two to three hours. It was becoming a bit much.

Bang!

Mom Crimson Giant Bear put down the tree and went back on patrol.

Hop!

A Grey Rabbit craftsman climbed onto the tree to trim it.

As the rabbit was about to cut the tree with an axe, *creak*. A branch suddenly moved and squeezed tightly around the Grey Rabbit.

Crack.

From a bulge on the branch, a red fruit, shiny like a polished apple and about the size of a tennis ball, burst out. A mouth opened on the fruit, showing tiny, sharp teeth, ready to swallow the Grey Rabbit.

Beep!!!

Rabbit!

Thwack.

Sejun quickly cut the fruit in half with his dagger to save the Grey Rabbit.

[Everyone… come here… is waiting.] A voice came from the fruit.

“What was that?”

Sejun tried to listen again, but then he heard a different voice in his head: *[You have defeated the monster tree’s meat-eating fruit.] [You have gained 50 experience.]* The branch was now still and dead.

Sejun frowned. “Corrupted Ent? A tree monster?” He thought back.

“Sometimes I saw dark stains on the tree, and… there was a strange, sharp smell.”

He had thought it was just monster blood.

“But… I never imagined it was the tree itself that was the monster.”

He felt a chill run down his spine.

“But what did ‘Everyone, come here is waiting’ mean? And what is waiting there?” Sejun wondered. He told the Poison Honeybees to search a wider area.

The next morning dawned bright and clear. As Sejun came out of the brick house, shading his eyes with a straw hat, a Poison Honeybee landed gently on his shoulder.

Whirr.

[Hive 3, report from patrol.]

Whirr.

[Nothing unusual in the area.] A Poison Honeybee from the third Poison Honeybee Queen’s hive gave Sejun the report.

“Okay. Good work.”

Nuzzle nuzzle.

The Poison Honeybee rubbed its body against Sejun’s face and flew towards its comrades.

Whirr. Whirr.

The Poison Honeybees from the third Poison Honeybee Queen’s hive were now busily collecting pollen and honey from the wide field, now dotted with bright yellow and purple flowers that were starting to bloom.

Sejun had planted 3,000 corn seeds and 1,000 cherry tomato seeds in the field a month and a half ago. Now, 1,951 corn plants and 650 cherry tomato plants had grown and were now flowering.

The success rate for growing was 65%. Because his Seed Sowing skill had improved, the success rate was better than before.

Whirr. Whirr.

The Poison Honeybees returned to their hive with pollen and honey. The third Poison Honeybee hive was inside a small brick building near the green onion field. It had several holes for the bees to fly in and out, and it was strong because it was made of bricks.

As Sejun was watching the Poison Honeybees,

Squeak!

Bbaa!

Bbyak!

The rabbits called Sejun, telling him to hurry.

“Alright, alright. I’ll pick them now.”

Today was the day to pick the carrots. He had planted 1,000 outside and 1,000 in the cave.

Swish.

Sejun went to the carrot field and grasped the green tops of the carrots. With a gentle tug, plump carrots came out of the ground.

After picking 20 carrots,

Crunch.

Sejun and the rabbits began to eat them, one by one. These were Grade C carrots, and the taste was amazing.

“Delicious. Let’s eat one more each. That way, our agility will increase, and we can finish the work faster.”

Squeak!!!

Bbaa!!!

Bbyak!!!

The rabbits were excited at Sejun’s words. Agility was not important to them. The only thing that mattered was that they could eat more carrots. In the end, they ate all 20 carrots and started working.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

Sejun, who felt faster after eating the carrots, pulled them out very quickly. Picking all the carrots was finished in less than an hour.

Squeak.

Bbaa.

Bbyak.

The rabbits looked happily at the cave storage now full of carrots. Just then, they heard a voice.

“Mr. Sejun, we have arrived.”

“W-We greet the great Black Dragon, Mr. Sejun.”

Elka appeared with two wolves Sejun had never seen before. Because Theo had to go trade again, Elka brought wolves to take the Blade Leaves to the 67th floor instead.

“I am called Malkai,” said one wolf.

“And I am called Borori,” said the other. The wolves wagged their tails happily and introduced themselves to Sejun.

“Okay. Malkai, Borori, I look forward to working with you.”

“Leave it to us!”

“We will work hard!”

The wolves, who had greeted Sejun, loaded the Blade Leaves. And Theo came out of Sejun’s brick house with a bundle on his back, trudging along.

“Chairman Park, I’ll be back,” Theo mumbled sadly. He really didn’t want to leave Sejun’s lap. He buried his face in Sejun’s leg, rubbing his scent there. He wanted everyone to know that this lap was ‘taken.’ Right now, only Black Rabbit and Kkuengyi wanted to sit on Sejun’s lap, but Theo had a feeling that soon, many more creatures would want to as well.

“Take good care of my lap!”

“What are you talking about? Have a good trip.”

Sejun said, pulling Theo off his leg.

“Woonyang… I understandnyang! I’ll be backnyang!”

Theo and the wolves, with worried looks, went down the tower together.

“Everyone, good work! Rest for 5 days, then we continue searching for the 39th floor of the tower!”

“Yes!” the guild members replied. Leon, the leader of the Phoenix Guild, watched them leave the tower. Kim Dong-shik, who had helped catch the deadly Tarantula and get the Detox Green Onion, also came out.

Right after leaving the Black Tower, Kim Dong-shik went to see Han Tae-jun at the Awakened Association building next door. He wanted to give his master the Sun Sweet Potato.

Chairman’s office of the Korean Awakened Association.

The indoor temperature, which had been set at -30 degrees Celsius, was now set at -35 degrees Celsius in the chairman’s office. The Curse of Fire was getting worse.

“Dong-shik, did Park Sejun grow this Sun Sweet Potato?”

Han Tae-jun asked, looking at the golden sweet potato that was emitting light in his hand.

“Yes, Master. It’s exactly as described in what it said about the sweet potato. I saw that it gave Fire Resistance, and I asked the Cat Wandering Merchant to get it for you.”

Theo had sold the Sun Sweet Potato to avoid blame for his mistake. But Kim Dong-shik made the story sound a bit better to impress his master.

“Okay. Thank you, Dong-shik. I’ll give you three chances to refuse to fight with me.” Han Tae-jun didn’t understand why, but his students loved this reward. It meant they could say no to fighting him three times.

“Thank you!!!” Kim Dong-shik, who now had three chances to avoid a fight, answered happily.

“You can go now.”

“Yes.”

As Kim Dong-shik left,

Crunch.

Han Tae-jun began to chew and eat the Sun Sweet Potato whole without even peeling it.

Crunch. Crunch.

“Oh!”

He didn’t care about the taste at all because the Fire Resistance option was important, but the more he chewed, the more intense sweetness flowed out.

And then he heard a voice in his head: *[You have eaten the Sun Sweet Potato.] [Burns 200g of fat and increases Fire Resistance for 5 hours.] [Talent: Potion effect is enhanced by 30% because of your skill.] [The Curse of Fire is gone for now.]*

Fire Resistance greatly increased, and he was able to completely escape the Curse of Fire for a few hours.

“Kahaha! Good!”

Han Tae-jun hurriedly grabbed the Sun Sweet Potato and stood up. It was to kill the boss on the 52nd floor of the tower who had cursed him. In his current state, he could kill him.

“Secretary Kim! I’m going into the tower, so if anyone looks for me, tell them I’m on vacation!”

Han Tae-jun shouted to Secretary Kim, who was waiting outside the chairman’s office, and

Clang.

He broke the window on the 30th floor of the building and jumped out.

Thud.

“Chairman! What about the World Awakened Association meeting tomorrow?!”

When Secretary Kim, who heard Han Tae-jun’s voice, hurriedly opened the door, the chairman’s office was already empty.

Han Tae-jun started climbing the tower once more.

“Is this the 67th floor of the towernyang?”

“Yes. Please come this way.”

Elka led Theo to the place where his tribe was gathered.

Grrrr.

Grrr.

There, about 100 silver wolves, each about 4-5m tall, were gathered.

“Introduce yourselves. This is Representative Theo, whom we serve.”

“We greet Representative Theo.”

“Okay! Nice to meet younyang!”

Theo felt his chest swell as 100 wolves bowed down and greeted him.

‘Puhuhut. As expected, I am invincible with Park Sejunnyang!’

“I’ll take a look around and check things outnyang.”

Theo, feeling good, began to look around the 67th floor of the tower. Thanks to the Blade Leaves, they were gradually pushing out the Red Locusts and getting back some territory.

At that moment,

“That cat is the subordinate of the great Black Dragon…”

The Lizardmen, Free Mercenaries, and Wizards who were resting nearby glanced at Theo and whispered.

‘Puhuhut. They recognize the deadly Yellow Cat Theo Park, subordinate of the great Black Dragonnyang?’

Theo proudly raised his chin and walked slowly so that everyone could see how impressive he looked.

And

“Representative Theo, I’m sorry.”

Elka, seeing Theo from afar, had a sorry expression on his face. Elka had heard strange rumors while delivering Blade Leaves to the 67th floor of the tower.

The main content was ‘The great Black Dragon is incredibly greedy for money.’

It seemed to be due to this Blade Leaf deal. It was true, but as someone who served the great Black Dragon, he couldn’t stand by and watch Sejun’s honor be ruined.

So, every time he traded, Elka sold Theo out to the Lizardmen.

“There’s a Cat Wandering Merchant named Theo among the great Black Dragon’s subordinates, and he’s incredibly greedy for money. Representative Theo handled the whole thing.”

As Elka sold Theo out a few times, the beings in the tower thought that the great Black Dragon would never be greedy for money. He had protected the honor of the great Black Dragon.

Instead, Theo’s reputation started to get worse.

He didn’t have much honor to begin with, so his reputation wasn’t great. But now it got even worse, becoming really bad. Rumors started spreading that Theo was a dishonest merchant.

‘Puhuhut. Whatnyang? Are they all so overwhelmed that they can’t even make eye contactnyang?’

Only Theo didn’t know about his bad reputation.

“Representative Theo, let’s go down now.”

“Okaynyang!”

Elka hurriedly took Theo down the tower before Theo found out about the rumors.

Dawn of the 235th day of being stranded.

Beep!!!

His wife rabbit’s scream came from the cave. She was giving birth.

Creak.

Sejun hurriedly opened the door and came out of the brick house. He was going to go down to the cave to make sure everything was okay.

At that moment,

Creak. Creak.

He heard a sound of something moving strangely.

“What’s that sound?”

Sejun looked towards the sound and saw trees 50cm tall and as thick as Sejun’s wrist marching towards the cave on two legs.

[Corrupted Ent’s Small Branch Scout]

It was a monster.

“Black Rabbit, intruders!”

Sejun hurriedly stabbed the branch scout in front of him with his dagger and called for Black Rabbit.

[You have defeated the Corrupted Ent’s Small Branch Scout.]

Bbyak!

Black Rabbit, hearing Sejun’s cry, grabbed his weapon, the hammer, and

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Attacked the branch scouts. In an instant, eight branch scouts around him fell.

At that moment,

Creak. Creak.

An uncountable number of branch scouts were approaching.

It looked like it would be a difficult dawn.