Chapter 212: Is A Medicine That's Bitter is Good for Stamina?

"Meow?!"

"Vice Chairman Theo, what's the matter?"

While descending the tower, Theo suddenly stopped, prompting Jeff to ask.

"It seems Chairman Park has collapsed, meow!"

"What?! Chairman Park?! Should we go back then?"

The cats were about to turn back at the news that Sejun had collapsed.

However,

"Meow... It's okay, meow! He fainted, but Chairman Park's condition has actually improved, meow! He must have fainted again after eating something bitter, meow!"

Theo, who could now remotely discern Sejun's condition in detail with his Sejun Knee Detector, stopped the cats.

"Vice Chairman Theo, you can tell the Chairman's condition from afar?"

"Puhuhut. Yes, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, can know everything about Chairman Park from a distance, meow!"

"Vice Chairman Theo, you are incredible!"

"Puhuhut. It's nothing for Theo Park, deadly dragon-clawed yellow cat and subordinate of the great Black Dragon. Meow!"

Thus, Theo arrived at the hunter's camp on the 41st floor of the tower, walking with a swagger, basking in the admiration of the cats.

"Humans, Vice Chairman Theo has arrived, meow!"

As the cats announced Theo's arrival,

"What?! The Vice Chairman?!"

"Theo came this early?!"

The hunters became busy at the unexpectedly early visit from Theo. It had been only four days since Theo's last visit. The hunters who had bought items from Theo were outside selling their crops.

And,

"Vice Chairman Theo, we'll quickly contact the hunters who went out, so please wait until the hunters return!"

The hunters asked Theo to wait for them. They didn't have much money at the moment. They had invested all their money in buying crops, so they needed the hunters who had gone out to bring back the money from selling the crops.

"Understood, meow! You guys keep selling the cherry tomatoes here, meow!"

"Yes!"

Theo had no intention of selling Sejun's crops for a small amount of money. So he had the cats sell the cherry tomatoes and headed to the Black Orc's base.

***

"Ugh..."

Sejun, who had fainted from the terrible bitterness, woke up.

(Sejun, have you woken up?)

The golden bat, who had been hanging from the bedroom ceiling and watching Sejun, flew down to Sejun's chest and spoke.

"Yeah. How long did I sleep?"

(It's three hours before breakfast time now. You've slept through the night.)

"Is that so? No wonder I feel refreshed."

Sejun got up while conversing with the golden bat.

And,

Swoosh.

He walked to the bedroom wall, which marked the date, and added one more mark, beginning day 336 of being stranded.

"Huh?! What's that?"

As soon as he stepped outside, Sejun noticed a massive golden tree stump in the front yard. It was placed there by Aileen after Sejun fainted from eating the bitter kudzu root yesterday.

Sejun examined the tree stump's options.

[Golden Tree Stump Pot of Abundance]

→ This is a divine relic created by the Goddess of Abundance, Leah, who was responsible for abundance in ancient times. When her beloved tree died, she imbued it with her divine powers.

→ On the side, the Goddess of Abundance, Leah, has inscribed her name.

→ Crops planted in the Golden Tree Stump Pot of Abundance grow ten times faster with the power of abundance.

→ When the power of abundance is depleted, the golden glow fades. (It can be reused once the golden glow is restored.)

→ Usage Restrictions: Must have experience in growing crops, Magic Power 100 or more

→ Creator: Goddess of Abundance Leah

→ Grade: SS

"Hehehe, this is a divine relic?!"

Sejun couldn't hide his joy after checking the options of the item, thanks to the option that sped up growth by 10 times. If he planted rice here, it would be ready to harvest in less than a month.

Sejun took out 50 rice seeds he had previously planted in the field and transferred them to the tree stump pot.

"Grow quickly."

Sejun looked affectionately at the spot where the rice seeds were planted and stood up.

And,

"Aileen, thank you."

Sejun expressed his gratitude to Aileen, who had appraised the item.

[The Tower's Administrator boasts that she can now appraise any divine item as it is a Black Dragon capable of doing so.]

[The Tower's Administrator says she will perfectly appraise your items in the future as well.]

Aileen, pleased with Sejun's thanks, replied.

Aileen, who had listened diligently to Kaiser about the name of gods and divine relics and had also studied about them separately in the library.

As soon as Aileen saw the name 'Leah' written next to the relic, she thought of the Goddess of Abundance, Leah, and was able to perfectly appraise the divine relic without Kaiser's help.

"Yes. Of course, I believe in Aileen."

[The Tower's Administrator says that she also believes in you too.]

Although the point was slightly missed, the conversation flowed naturally between them.

At that moment,

[You have come to know the name of the forgotten Goddess of Abundance, Leah.]

[Among the items you possess, there is something related to the goddess of abundance, Leah.]

[The grade of the already appraised Golden Box of Abundance has increased to S+.]

A message appeared that the grade of the Golden Box of Abundance had been upgraded. It seemed that the Golden Box of Abundance was also an item made by Leah.

Sejun opened the void storage to check the options. The original effect of increasing one crop to two the next day had now changed to increasing one crop to three. Instead of 1+1, it had become 1+2.

"That's right! Aileen, aren't you short on cherry tomatoes? Here, I'll give you more."

Sejun passed on 3,000 cherry tomatoes to Aileen with a satisfied expression. A few days ago, he had received 5,000 elixir grade cherry tomatoes from inter-tower transportation, harvested by Ajax.

He planned to use the remaining cherry tomatoes as snacks for the animals.

"I should visit the brewery."

After giving Aileen the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes, Sejun headed to the brewery. He realized he hadn't even tasted the Iyangju. He was curious about how the taste would change from makgeolli to Iyangju.

As he was on his way to the brewery,

"Ah!"

Sejun remembered that he had not checked the talent he had acquired yesterday. When consumed, it was supposed to increase stamina potential by 100 and also awaken a stamina-related talent.

"Let's see. What kind of talent did I get?"

Sejun opened his status window to check his talent.

And

"Huh? A medicine that's bitter is good for stamina?"

He saw a talent with a strange name.

[Talent: A Medicine That's Bitter is Good for Stamina]

-When consuming herbs that taste bitter, stamina increases by 1~10 depending on the bitterness.

-For poisons grade D and below, if they taste bitter, they will act not as poison, but have a healing effect.

"Is this a good thing?"

From now on, eating something bitter would increase his stamina and bitter tasting poisons below grade D would have a healing effect. It was certainly a good thing, but somehow, he felt uneasy.

He felt a great malice intent on pushing bitter-tasting food on him in the future. With this uneasy feeling, Sejun continued towards the brewery.

***

The territory of the Red Dragon.

"Hmm..."

The great Red Dragon and leader of the Zahir family, Ramter, let out a sigh.

"As expected, there is no one to create the Essence of Fire."

Ramter was greatly surprised to hear from Anton that the Essence of Fire was found in the Black Tower.

Moreover, he was shocked again when he realized that they had forgotten the fact that they were supposed to create the Essence of Fire themselves.

And he hurriedly ordered the Red Dragons to make the Essence of Fire, but the ones under 10,000 years old quit without completing even a few hours, having forgotten that they needed to make the Essence of Fire in such a short time.

Ramter realized the seriousness of the situation and personally went to each of the Red Dragons to instruct them to make the Essence of Fire, since he didn't know when he might forget again himself.

Anton came in between and said he would check if the Red Dragons forgot to make the Essence of Fire...

"To seek help from other dragons!"

That was something Ramter's pride would not allow.

Then

"Huh?"

Ramter found a Red Dragon who was creating the Essence of Fire without being told to do so. Felix Zahir. He was a dragon who had just turned 5,000 years old and had been the tower's administrator until a few days ago before he was rotated out.

'Why is he the only one who's unaffected?'

Puzzled, Ramter observed Felix closely.

And then,

Gulp. Gulp.

"Phew! This is good!"

He discovered Felix creating the Essence of Fire and intermittently drinking alcohol.

"Does alcohol have an effect?"

With no better idea, Ramter made five Red Dragons under 10,000 years old drink alcohol while creating the Essence of Fire.

And

"It works."

The effect was remarkable. The Red Dragons who made the Essence of Fire while drinking alcohol did not forget to continue their task even after a day had passed.

***

"Is this Iyangju? Wow. The aroma is really deep."

As Sejun exclaimed after smelling the fragrance of the Iyangju poured into his glass,

Ook!

Ook!

The monkeys were delighted. They had received the approval of the god they served.

Sip.

Though it was still morning, Sejun drank the alcohol. And in one shot, no less. He couldn't help himself after smelling it.

Gulp.

The alcohol smoothly glided down his throat.

"Keuh... It's sweet."

He wanted to drink a few more glasses, but Iyangju was an intermediate stage alcohol. After adding more alcohol to Iyangju, it needed to be fermented for about 5 days more to complete it into Samyangju.

"Get off."

Shake shake.

When Sejun was shaking off the remaining drops of alcohol from his glass, feeling regretful,

Krueng!

[Daddy, Cuengi is hungry!]

Cuengi called for Sejun in front of the brewery. Now was not the time for this. He didn't know when Cuengi might turn into a ferocious hungry beast.

"Just a moment!"

Sejun quickly came to his senses and rushed outside.

And then

"Crop Gigantification. Cuengi, eat this while you wait."

Sejun enlarged a sweet potato and gave it to Cuengi, then went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"Guys, let's eat breakfast!"

Sejun made cabbage soup for the first time in a while and called the animals. He had not yet given up on his talent for the wind attribute. However, it was a failure this time too.

"Ah. I should have made this yesterday..."

Sejun regretted belatedly, but luck had already passed by.

"Is it corn-harvesting day today?"

After eating breakfast, Sejun went to the cornfield. The farm was so vast and there were so many crops planted that almost every day was harvest day.

"Shall we harvest some?!"

Sejun began to cut the base of the corn with the sickle of freshness given to him by the penguins.

And then

Swish.

[You have harvested 7 ears of Stamina Corn.]

[Your job experience has increased slightly.]

[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 7 has increased slightly.]

[Due to the Cold energy imbued in the Sickle of Freshness, the expiration date of the harvested crops has increased by 5 days.]

[You have gained 350 experience points.]

The increased expiration date due to the Sickle of Freshness effect. Honestly, Sejun felt that this C+ grade sickle that extended expiration date by 5 days was better than the S+ grade Amplifying Greatsword. Truly, he thought like a true farmer.

After about an hour of harvesting corn,

[The Stamina Corn is grateful for the footsteps of the farmer and offers its strength.]

[The potential of your Stamina stat increases by 1.]

Sejun's Stamina potential had increased.

"That's it."

Sejun wore a satisfied expression. The Stamina potential of 1, gained from harvesting the corn and walking diligently, was more satisfying than the 100 Stamina potential he had gained from eating kudzu root yesterday and passing out.

"Ah, this feels rewarding."

When Sejun was happily about to harvest more corn,

Krueng!

[Daddy, Cuengi has brought something for Daddy to eat!]

Cuengi, having found some good herbs, was calling for Sejun with a loud cry.

"No, I'm fine..."

Sejun felt burdened by Cuengi's filial piety.