Farming In The Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 87

Crack.

The sounds continued from deep within the earth, but above ground, all was calm.

As time passed, even the sounds from underground faded away. That was it. All that remained were two refreshing green leaves poking out of the ground and the name that appeared above them.

[Powerful Purification Ent]

“What? Is that it?”

Sejun was confused. After all that noise, was that all?

Plop.

Something rose from beneath the sprout. It rose together with the sprout.

Creak.

The Powerful Purification Ent, having grown to a thickness of 20cm and a height of 50cm underground, rose up, stretched its arms wide, and yawned in a pose of jubilation.

Creak. Creak.

The Powerful Purification Ent, sporting green leaves on its head, walked past Sejun and began to stroll away.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

Sejun placed his hand on the Ent’s body and asked. Sejun’s talent, Friend of Nature, made communication possible.

However,

[Ent…protect……]

“What are you saying?”

Sejun asked again, but

[……]

It wasn’t much of a talker.

Creak. Creak.

Sejun had no choice but to follow the Powerful Purification Ent for the time being.

And then,

[Master! Welcome!]

The destination was Fire Flower.

Creak. Creak.

The Powerful Purification Ent began to circle around Fire Flower, as if trying to protect it.

“Fire Flower, do you know why the Ent is doing this?”

[Just a moment. I’ll ask.]

Fire Flower conversed with the Ent.

[The Ent says its mission is to protect the World Tree.]

“World Tree? But why is it protecting you, Fire Flower?”

[I don’t know. It’s just stubbornly trying to protect me. Fire Flower is strong, though!]”

Fire Flower said, fluttering its leaves as if showing off its strength.

“Alright. For now, Fire Flower, keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t do anything strange.”

[Yes! Leave it to me! I’ll keep a close watch!]

Sejun tasked Fire Flower with watching the Ent.

“Aileen, do you know anything about the World Tree?”

He sought information from Aileen.

[The Tower’s Administrator says that the World Tree is a tree with powerful abundance, and those who are recognized to live near the World Tree can enjoy the benefits of that abundance.]

“Then what about the Ent?”

[The Tower’s Administrator says that the Ent is originally a guardian that protects the World Tree.]

“So, is our Fire Flower the World Tree?”

[The Tower’s Administrator says to wait a moment.]

Just then, Theo shouted from the hole in the cave ceiling and jumped down. Theo had been playing with Black Rabbit, Kkueng, and was looking for Sejun to rest on his lap.

Thud.

As soon as Theo landed safely on all fours,

Tap tap tap.

He ran to Sejun’s lap and stuck to it.

And then,

“Chairman Park, sit down and receive my report, nya!”

Theo told Sejun to sit down. With various things happening as soon as he arrived, he hadn’t reported the transaction results yet.

“Ah. That’s right. Representative Theo, did you sell everything again?”

Sejun asked as he sat down.

“Of course, it’s a complete sell-out, nya!”

Theo answered proudly, taking the money out of his bundle.

824,630 Tower Coins. An amount four times greater than the previous transaction.

“Good job. Here’s the incentive.”

Sejun neatly handed Theo 50,000 Tower Coins.

“Thank you, nya! And here are the things Chairman Park likes, nya!”

Plop.

Theo shook out his bundle, taking out Churu, Sejun’s favorite coffee, and seasonings. There were 70 packets of coffee mix, as well as plenty of salt and pepper.

With the camp on the 38th floor of the Tower being activated, each guild was sending supplies regularly, so the hunters had plenty of resources.

“That’s a lot?! Representative Theo! Good job!”

Stroke stroke.

Sejun stroked Theo’s back.

“Then how many hours for Director Theo, nya?”

“Hmm… I’ll give Director Theo 150 hours.”

“Good, nya! Then quickly peel the Churu, nya.”

At Sejun’s praise, Theo lay on his back, showing his belly and demanding Churu.

“Alright.”

Rip.

As Sejun tore open the Churu and brought it to Theo’s mouth,

Chomp chomp chomp.

Theo began to lick the Churu diligently.

And then,

“So, nya! I, from a guy named Utata…”

While eating Churu, he boasted to Sejun about his heroic tale of defeating the boar wandering merchant on the 38th floor of the Tower. Theo’s enjoyable healing time began.

After an hour passed like that,

Grumble.

Soon, Theo was fast asleep on Sejun’s lap, purring softly as Sejun gently stroked his fur.

“Right, time for bed now,” Sejun mumbled, yawning widely. He carefully picked up the sleeping Theo. As he stood, Firefly’s leaves rustled gently.

[Good night, Master!]

“Good night, Firefly. Sleep well,” Sejun replied kindly. He carried Theo to his bedroom, gently placed him on the bed, and lay down beside him. A soft voice echoed in his mind,

[The Tower’s Administrator says good night.]

“Good night, Aileen,” Sejun murmured sleepily, and closed his eyes.

A little later, “Nyaa…” Theo stirred in his sleep, feeling a little uncomfortable. He stretched, then climbed back onto Sejun’s lap and curled up again.

Purrrr.

Soon, the soft sound of Theo’s snores filled the quiet room.

Sliiiide. The door to the bedroom slid open slowly.

“Kkyut kkyut kkyut,” a soft sound came from the doorway. It was Iona, who had finished helping Ppyu-ppyu with magic for the night, coming in to sleep. She quietly hopped onto Sejun’s lap, snuggled down, and even used Theo’s tail as a pillow!

Kkyururong. And just like that, Iona was also asleep.

The sun rose on the 257th day since Sejun found himself in this strange place. Suddenly, a loud voice boomed,

“-Park Sejun, you rascal! Wake up!”

“Ugh! Yes!” Sejun jumped out of bed, startled by Kaiser’s shout.

“-Do you have time to sleep when enemies are attacking?!”

“Enemies?” Sejun asked, still half asleep.

“-Yes! Corrupted Ent scouts are coming! Hurry, move now!”

“Yes!” Kaiser’s booming voice made Sejun’s heart race. He grabbed his weapons quickly and ran towards the west.

Just then, Sejun stopped, surprised. “Wait, what?!” Someone was already fighting the twig scouts! As he got closer, he saw it was the Purification Ent, but it was in trouble.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

The small twig scouts, like angry insects, were attacking the Ent from all sides. It was supposed to be powerful, but against so many small enemies, it was being overwhelmed. It looked like it had come to protect Firefly, but now its legs were twisted at strange angles, and one arm hung limp and broken.

“Ent! Hold on!” Sejun shouted.

Whoosh!

He threw his hand axe quickly at one of the twig scouts attacking the Ent.

Thwack!

[You have defeated a corrupted Ent small twig scout.] [You have gained 25 experience points.]

“Retrieve!” Sejun called out.

Whoosh. The hand axe flew back to him as he ran forward, throwing it again and again. He reached the Purification Ent and jumped into the fight.

Stab! Thwack!

With his dagger and hand axe, Sejun fought fiercely. The small twig scouts were no match for him.

When the last twig scout fell, Sejun turned to the Purification Ent. “Are you okay?” he asked with concern. The Ent nodded slowly.

Snap. Crunch crunch.

It started to eat the bodies of the dead twig scouts.

Snap.

With each bite, it seemed to get a little stronger. Sejun watched in amazement as its broken legs and arm slowly began to mend, like green branches growing back together. “That’s amazing!” Sejun exclaimed. Just as the Purification Ent looked a little better,

Snap. Snap.

More enemies appeared at the edge of the trees. This time, there were fifteen of them!

“Come on then!” Sejun yelled, running towards them again. And so it went, wave after wave of twig scouts attacked, but for Sejun, they were easy to defeat.

“Nya?” Theo opened his eyes and stretched. He felt a strange emptiness beside him. Then he realised – Sejun was gone! “Where did Chairman Park go, nya?” Theo wondered, looking around the room. Suddenly, snatch! He felt something grab his tail!

“What, nya?!” Theo jumped, startled, and looked back. “Kkyung… oh no…” Iona was clinging to his tail, trembling and whimpering in her sleep. She was having a bad dream. “Oh, alright, just for a little while, nya,” Theo sighed. He gently pulled Iona along by his tail and went outside to find Sejun.

Crunch, crunch. Snap, snap. The Purification Ent, now strong again from eating, bravely went back to fighting. But, thwack! A twig scout hit it hard, and its arm broke again! The poor Ent was still so fragile.

Crunch, crunch.

It started eating trees again, trying to heal. Maybe because it ate so much, it seemed to grow a little taller, and a small white flower bud appeared at the tip of the sprout on its head. “You can do it, Ent,” Sejun murmured, feeling a real worry for the creature. It felt like he was fighting alongside a friend now. As Sejun finished off another group of twig scouts, “Found him, nya!”

Plop.

Theo, still dragging Iona by her tail, arrived and jumped onto Sejun’s lap. “I’m here to help now, nya! Chairman Park, you can rest!”

“No, I’m fine. I’ll keep fighting,” Sejun said.

“Alright, nya,” Theo agreed easily. “Kkyut kkyut kkyut,” Iona mumbled in her sleep, still comfortable on Theo’s tail. The enemies kept coming, but not too many at once, so Sejun could manage them without too much trouble. Just then,

snap, snap.

The Purification Ent walked over to Sejun. “Huh? What is it?” Sejun asked, gently touching the Ent.

[Seed… for you… take seed…] the Ent seemed to say weakly.

“Seed? Wait, is that…?” Sejun looked closely. Instead of the flower bud, a small white seed had formed at the tip of the sprout!

Plop.

Sejun carefully picked the seed. [You have obtained a Purification Ent’s seed.] [Job experience has slightly increased.] [The proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 2 has greatly increased.] [The proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 2 has been filled, and the level has increased.] Sejun read the words in the air. The seed didn’t seem to have any special power on its own. “I need to plant it,” Sejun realised.

Stab.

He quickly dug a small hole with his dagger and planted the seed.

Rustle.

Almost at once, a tiny sprout pushed out of the ground, and a new, small Purification Ent appeared!

Crunch, crunch.

The two Purification Ents started eating trees together happily. And as flower buds began to appear on the sprout of the first Ent, the two of them, having eaten all the twig scouts, turned and walked back towards Firefly. “Yes! That’s great!” Sejun grinned. An idea sparked in his mind. *If I give them more trees, maybe more seeds will grow!* Excited by this thought, Sejun headed towards the pile of trees behind his house, wanting to give the Ents a good meal on their way back to their home. (Master! I have something good for you!) The Golden Bat called out, swooping down from above, having waited for Sejun to pass by.