Chapter 100: The Harvest Festival Begins (2)

"I'll just give it to you."

"...?!"

Sejun was momentarily taken aback by the elderly raccoon who happily handed over the five-colored bean seeds. It felt as if his opponent had suddenly let go of the rope while they were in the middle of a tug-of-war.

However,

'Huh. Park Sejun, you are a genius. I wanted to show Theo how to haggle a little more...'

He soon convinced himself it was due to his superior negotiation skills.

While Sejun was basking in his own glory,

Nod.

From behind Sejun, Iona gave a thumbs up to the elderly raccoon.

'Well done.'

'Thank you for letting me know that he is the Great Black Dragon.'

Iona and the elderly raccoon exchanged glances, carrying on a conversation with their eyes.

"Did you see that, President Theo? That's how you negotiate."

Sejun, who had successfully completed the trade, boasted to Theo.

"Indeed, President Park is magnificent, meow!"

"Heh. I wouldn't go as far as magnificent."

"No, meow! I've never seen a great merchant who can haggle down 10,000 Tower Coins like President Park, meow! I will try harder in the future, meow!"

"Alright. Alright."

Feeling good at Theo's praise, Sejun stroked Theo's head and put the five-colored bean seeds in his pocket.

Then,

"Excuse me..."

Four raccoons approached Sejun.

"What's the matter?!"

The elderly raccoon who was beside them hurriedly asked. It was out of concern that the raccoons might mistakenly offend Sejun.

"Chief Emil, this gentleman has honey that we would like to buy."

"This honey is incredibly sweet!"

"If we sell this with our food, we can make much more profit!"

"That's it."

One of the raccoons showed Emil the honey in a small bowl. It was something they obtained after pleading with the rabbits, when they saw Cuengi eat rice cake dipped in honey so deliciously.

Plop.

To taste the honey as per the raccoons' words, Emil took out a rice cake from his pouch, dipped it into honey, and saw it coated with glossy honey.

"Oh!"

Emil, seeing the more appetizing transformed rice cake, put the honey-coated rice cake into his mouth.

A moment later,

Munch. Munch.

"Huh?!"

Before he knew it, Emil had finished the rice cake and was absent-mindedly sucking the honey off his fingers.

'This will work!'

Emil was convinced about the honey. This was a guaranteed selling product. Emil hurriedly looked at Sejun. Sejun was the owner here. Emil needed his permission to buy the honey.

However, since he found out that Sejun was the Black Dragon, he didn't have the courage to speak to him. So, he asked for help from Iona, who had helped him earlier.

"Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot, Sejun, Emil here wants to buy the honey."

"Meow?! Then he should talk to me, why is he talking to Iona, meow?!"

Theo reacted sensitively as his main job was threatened. Moreover, Theo's motivation was at its peak after watching Sejun's trade.

"President Park, please open the void storage door, meow!"

"Alright."

Creak

When Sejun opened the void storage,

"Follow me, meow!"

Theo led the raccoons into the void storage. It was to show them the honey in the void storage and negotiate a deal.

While Theo was selling honey to the raccoons,

[The first event of the Harvest Festival, the Carrot Harvest Competition, will begin shortly.]

[Please come to the Red Ribbon's Giant Carrot Altar.]

A message appeared, announcing the harvest festival's event.

"A carrot harvest competition?"

As Sejun was reading the message,

Woosh.

The rabbits ran towards the giant carrot altar. It wasn't only Sejun who saw the message. Sejun followed the rabbits as well.

When Sejun arrived, a 330 square meter carrot field, surrounded by red light, was set up under the giant carrot altar, and the rabbits were lining up in front of it.

"What is this?"

There should be no carrots in the field because he certainly finished harvesting them yesterday, but the carrot stems had grown enough to be harvested immediately.

Then, when the red light turned green,

Squeak!

The father rabbit went into the carrot field and started pulling out carrots.

[9:59 - 1 Carrot]

A timer appeared over the carrot field and started counting down. It was a contest where whoever harvested the most carrots in 10 minutes would win.

Suk suk suk.

The father rabbit quickly harvested carrots as he held the carrot stems and moved forward. He's a farming specialist, after all. About 8 minutes in, the father rabbit had almost finished harvesting all the carrots.

"Is it over once all the carrots are harvested?"

While Sejun was wondering, the father rabbit harvested all 400 carrots,

Poof!

Suddenly, more carrots appeared at once. And the father rabbit started harvesting carrots again. After the 10-minute time limit, the father rabbit was teleported out of the carrot field.

And then,

[Carrot Harvest Competition Ranking]

1st - Squeaky (480)

The ranking and score of the father rabbit were displayed.

Squeak!

The father rabbit handed Sejun 48 carrot seeds that he got from the competition. He couldn't get the harvested carrots, but they gave one seed every time he harvested 10 carrots.

"Oh! They give carrot seeds?!"

Sejun cheered. It was definitely a beneficial competition. Sejun hurriedly lined up behind the rabbits.

And finally, it was Sejun's turn. The 1st place was still the father rabbit.

"Alright! I'm going to be number one."

Since he had already eaten carrot soup in advance and raised his agility to the maximum, Sejun was confident.

However, as soon as Sejun entered the carrot field,

[In order to ensure fairness in the competition, all buffs other than the Harvest Festival's buff will be deactivated.]

The effect of eating carrot soup disappeared.

"It can't be helped."

Now was not the time to be complain.

Suk. Suk.

Sejun hurriedly moved forward, pulling out carrots with both hands.

[You have harvested a carrot.]

[You need to harvest 74,501 more times to complete your job quest.]

[Your job experience increases very slightly.]

[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 increases very slightly.]

Although there was no experience, but the skill use was recognized. Thanks to this, the job quest progressed and both job experience and skill proficiency increased.

That way, after 10 minutes, Sejun held 41 seeds in his hand and was pushed out of the carrot field. He didn't realize that the carrots that regenerated after harvesting 400 were harder to harvest.

"Did anyone miss out?"

Sejun, who participated in the competition, looked around to see if there was any animal that had missed the competition.

Then,

"Huh?!"

He saw Theo, Iona and the raccoons, who had finished trading and coming out, and Cuengi who was still eagerly eating rice cakes with honey.

"Guys!"

Sejun hurriedly called out to the animals.

"President Park! I sold 100 bottles of honey at 50 Tower coins per bottle, meow! Did I do well, meow?"

"Yeah, you did well."

Theo, who was the first to run over, reported the results of the trade while hanging on Sejun's knee.

"Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot."

Iona, who had followed hanging on Theo's tail, laughed quietly. By now, Theo had gotten used to it.

Kreung!

Cuengi also ran over, rubbing his body against Sejun's leg making a pleasant sound. He was feeling very good after eating something delicious after a long time.

Then,

"Did you call for us?"

The raccoons ran over last.

"Huh?!"

Sejun had only called Theo, Iona, and Cuengi, but it seemed the raccoons had misunderstood. However, the more heads the better, so he didn't send them away.

"Alright, now. Go in and harvest the carrots. You got it?"

"I understand, meow! I don't want to, but I'll do it because President Park is asking, meow!

"Leave it to me!"

Kreung!

"We will do our best!"

With that, Sejun sent the animals into the Carrot Harvest Competition.

"President Theo, why did you come out empty-handed?"

"Because there's nothing that attracted me, meow...."

Theo came out empty-handed, looking gloomy. He seemed to have misunderstood it as treasure hunting. Anyway, carrot harvesting was not Theo's field, so Sejun didn't have high expectations.

"Good job."

Sejun placed the downtrodden Theo on his lap and watched Iona enter the carrot field. He believed in Iona!

"Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Anti-Gravity!"

When Iona used her magic spell,

Swooosh.

400 carrots were pulled out at once and floated in the sky in an instant.

Poof!

The carrots reappeared again in an instant.

"Anti-Gravity!"

When Iona used her magic again,

Poof!

The carrots were pulled up again and they regenerated.

"Anti-Gravity!"

From that point on, it became harder to pull out the carrots and even Iona started to struggle bit by bit.

Anti-Gravity magic spell was a high-level magic spell. Iona had been using it on each of the 400 carrots to show off her magical skills, so the mental and magical exhaustion was great.

Thanks to the blessing of mana, she could use such magic.

'Arrgh- I shouldn't have used it!'

Iona regretted it. She wanted to switch to another spell in the middle, but her pride wouldn't allow her to do so.

After 10 minutes had passed,

[Carrot Harvesting Competition Ranking]

1st - Iona (2000)

2nd - Squeaky (480)

...

..

.

The first place had changed for the first time.

"Kyyot Kyyot Kyyot"

Iona went to sleep, covered with Theo's tail with a groaning sound.

"Cuengi, If you got first place, I'll give you 10 bottles of honey."

Sejun gave Cuengi, who was going into the carrot field, a first-place condition to boost his motivation.

Kreong!

Fired up by Sejun's words, Cuengi ran to the center of the carrot field.

And then

Kreong!

He hit the ground of the carrot field with all his might.

Rumble.

The ground began to fold around the area where Cuengi hit.

And then

Bang!

The folded ground collided and the carrots popped out.

[9:55 - 400 Carrots]

The number of carrots started increasing rapidly.

"Is Cuengi a genius?!"

Sejun was admiring Cuengi's genius when,

Poof!

The land was restored and the carrots regenerated.

And then,

Bang!

Cuengi once again hit the ground.

As Cuengi overturned the carrot field 25th time, the carrot field disappeared.

"What's going on?"

When Sejun checked the time, there were still 3 minutes left.

Kreong!

Confused by the absence of carrots to harvest, Cuengi looked flustered. I need to come in first!

Then,

[Carrot Harvesting Competition Rankings]

1st - Cuengi (10,000)

1st - Iona (2,000)

2nd - Ppik (480)

...

..

.

The ranking was updated with Cuengi moving up to first place.

And then,

[The Carrot Harvesting Competition has ended early as all prepared carrot fields have been exhausted.]

The competition ended. Apparently, there were limits to the regeneration of the carrot field.

[Rewards will be given to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in the Carrot Harvesting Competition.]

Clink.

Kreong!

[Dad, you're weak, so eat this to dodge better!]

Cuengi handed over the five shriveled-looking carrots he received as a reward to Sejun, saying those words. The carrots didn't look appetizing at all.

"Thank you."

Sejun, now naturally treated as the weakest, checked the carrots that Cuengi gave him.

[Magical Agility Carrot]

→ This is a carrot that has been exposed to strong mana for a long time.

→ It's grown by an inexperienced farmer who doesn't even know the 'farm' in farming, so it tastes bad.

→ Upon consumption, agility permanently increases by 1.

→ Cultivator: Green Tower Farmer Ophelia

→ Expiration date: 100 years

→ Grade: C+

"Green Tower Farmer Ophelia?"

Sejun was glad to learn that there was another Tower Farmer besides himself.

'But is there another tower?'

Sejun was puzzled by the name 'Green Tower' as he bit into the carrot.

Gulp.

"Ugh. What is this?"

Even though he expected it to be tasteless, the taste was shockingly bad. It was the worst carrot he had ever tasted. There was absolutely no taste that a carrot should have, it was just bitter.

'They really don't know the 'farm' in farming. These carrots can't even compare to my carrots. Hehehe.'

Even though the taste was bitter, he felt good thinking he had beaten another Tower Farmer in farming.

Chew, chew.

Sejun chewed and swallowed the carrot for the sake of the agility stat increase.

[You have consumed the Magical Agility Carrot.]

[Your Agility permanently increases by 1.]

When he finished eating all five tasteless carrots,

"Sejun, here."

Squeak!

Iona and the father rabbit handed over their tasteless carrots to Sejun.

On the 265th day of being stranded, Sejun's agility stat increased by 9 thanks to the tasteless carrots handed over by the animals.