Chapter 295: Let's Go Beat Them!
[You have arrived at the 85th floor of the Black Tower.]
[You have moved from the 99th floor, the top floor, to the 85th floor.]
[You have descended 14 floors.]
[Due to the effect of <Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 14.]
"Ugh. I feel drained."
Sejun, who felt drained moving from the 49th floor to the 85th floor.
Sejun, feeling a bit powerless, approached a tangerine tree standing in the middle of the farm.
"The tangerines are not ready yet."
Sejun said, looking at the tangerine tree, which only had lush green leaves.
Normally, he should have just turned back and returned to the 99th floor, but
"Hehehe. Now I have this."
Plop.
Sejun took out a glass bottle containing a solution emitting a soft green light and opened the lid.
And
"This drop is worth 70 billion Tower Coins."
He tilted the bottle with extreme concentration.
Money aside, if he accidentally drops two drops, the tree could die from vitality depletion.
By the way, this tangerine tree is the last tangerine tree in the Black Tower.
Meaning, if the tangerine tree in front of him dies, tangerines will be extinct in the Black Tower. He could never eat them again.
"That can't happen! I will definitely eat them!"
Sejun had already made plans to create a winter vibe by building an igloo using ice cubes, covering himself with a warm blanket, and snuggle around with the animals while peeling and eating tangerines.
Drip.
With high concentration, he managed to drop only one drop of the Harvest Elixir on the tangerine tree.
Then
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Buds formed on the branches of the tangerine tree, quickly blooming flowers and beginning to grow fruit.
"Good."
Sejun confirmed that the tangerines began to grow.
Since it would take a few hours for the tangerines to grow enough to be harvested, he looked around the farm.
"Wow. It's completely clean."
Endless acres of fertile land.
Thanks to the Black Minotaurs turning over the soil up to tens of meters deep in search of kudzu roots, the soil became very fertile.
Of course, the kudzu was completely extinct becuase of the Black Minotaurs on the 85th floor.
"Golden bat, Piyot, please help me."
(Yes!)
Piyo!
[Yes!]
Can't waste this good land. Sejun, driven by his farmer's instinct, had the golden bat and Piyot scatter corn seeds.
Flap. Flap.
Flutter. Flutter.
While the golden bat and Piyot were flying around scattering corn seeds,
Tap. Tap.
[You have obtained corn seeds.]
[Your job experience has increased slightly.]
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 8 has increased slightly.]
[You need to use the Seed Harvesting skill 871,821 more times to complete the job quest.]
...
..
.
Sejun harvested corn seeds from the corn stored in the void storage for the golden bat and Piyot to scatter.
While the three of them were working,
"Meow. Meow. Meow."
Theo lay on Sejun's lap, stretching out lazily,
Kyurorong.
And Iona kept sleeping on Theo's tail. For reference, Iona has been with them since the 75th floor.
Lastly, Cuengi was
Bam.
Just staring at Sejun's hand.
Specifically, at the corn stalk from which Sejun was removing the corn kernels.
Cuengi was utterly charmed by the sweetness that increased the more he chewed the corn stalk.
Pop.
Once Sejun had removed all the corn kernels from the corn,
Kueng!
[Daddy Cuengi wants to eat it!]
Cuengi raised his front paws.
'Cuengi, after all, you're the only one here who eats this.'
Where did he learn to raise his hand?
"Here."
Curious, Sejun fed the corn stalk into Cuengi's mouth.
Chew. Chew.
Kuehehehe.
Cuengi chewed the corn stalk, smiling. Thanks to him, not 1g of food waste was produced.
***
"Good work, everyone. Let's distribute the wages."
Clink.
The Black Skeletons handed out ten bunches of vitality-infused fragrant grapes as wages to the workers who had finished their work.
And
"Colonel Jackson, we did it!"
"Good. You all worked hard too."
Among the workers, Jackson and ten hunters affiliated with the navy were happy to see the grapes they received as wages.
The hunters, holding the number tickets in front, had to find another hunter with a ticket to buy, and only after working for 10 hours did they receive the valuable grapes.
As they were leaving the grape farm with proud expressions,
[Grapes for sale at a high price.]
"Huh?!"
They discovered a sign put up by the King of Farming.
"Ah, they should have sold them earlier."
Jackson sighed and headed back to the grape farm.
And
"I would like to buy the vitality-infused fragrant grapes."
He went to the King of Farming to start negotiations for buying grapes.
Clink. Clink.
"How many bunches will you buy?"
Since the King of Farming couldn't speak yet, Sejun's first hoe, Philip, relayed the King of Farming's words to Jackson.
"I'll buy 1000kg."
"At what price?"
"The price is..."
Jackson hesitated a bit, scrutinizing the faces of the King of Farming and Philip as he was trained to do.
It was to gauge their reaction.
However
......
"I can't tell at all."
Jackson couldn't read their minds.
It was obvious. Both were Black Skeletons. With nothing but bones, which made for perfect poker faces.
"I will give you 20 Tower Coins per bunch."
So, he called half the current market price.
Currently, the price of vitality-infused fragrant grapes on Earth had fallen a lot from its original price, selling for about $40,000.
Then
No. No.
The King of Farming shaking his head left and right, rejecting the offer outright. The word 'expensive' wasn't written on the sign for nothing.
"Then, 30 Tower Coins per bunch."
Jackson raised the price by 50% and made another offer.
But
No. No.
The King of Farming rejected it again.
If Sejun had taught Theo the method of 'cutting down three times,' the King of Farming had the 'three shakes and one nod' method.
The 'three shakes and one nod' forcibly engraved in the soul of the King of Farming. It seemed someone had been quite frustrated because of the King of Farming.
"Then, 33 Tower Coins."
Shake. Shake.
"35 Tower Coins."
Nod. Nod.
Thus, after three shakes, the King of Farming gave the final combo of one nod,
"Phew. Here are 35,000 Tower Coins."
Eventually, Jackson bought 1000 bunches of vitality-infused fragrant grapes at a price cheaper than the market rate.
But the market rate was the price they sold for on Earth. Considering the transportation cost, it was bought just a little cheaper than the market rate.
After Jackson left,
"I came to buy the vitality-infused fragrant grapes."
"The price for vitality-infused fragrant grapes is 37 Tower Coins per bunch."
"What?!"
The hunters who came for the transaction had to buy the grapes at the set price without understanding the situation.
***
Thud.
[You have harvested ripe tangerines.]
[Your job experience points have slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 8 has increased slightly.]
[You have gained 70 experience points.]
"Looks like it's time to harvest?"
Sejun checked the status of the tangerines through the message.
"Cuengi, let's pick the tangerines."
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Understood!]
Cuengi, who was patting his stomach contentedly, sprang up at Sejun's call.
Shortly after,
"It's done."
Since there was only one tangerine tree, the harvesting was finished quickly.
And
"Ice cubes."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Sejun stacked the ice
Swoosh.
and poured water to freeze the water between the ice, completing the igloo.
It was a rectangular-shaped igloo, not a round one, but that didn't matter. The feeling was what was important.
Then, Sejun entered the igloo.
"Hehehe. It's cold."
Satisfied with the cold air coming from the ice, he laid down a mattress on the floor
"Guys, come in."
and covered himself with a blanket along with the animals.
"Good. This is it."
Sejun, satisfied with the cold outside but warm inside, took out a tangerine
Peel. Peel.
and peeled it. All this effort was just to properly enjoy a tangerine.
"Here."
Kueng!
(Pip-pip!)
Cuengi and the golden bat each received a peeled tangerine,
Nom. Nom.
and Sejun also put a tangerine in his mouth and chewed.
Crunch. Crunch.
As the tangerine segments were crushed between his teeth, a mixture of a little sourness and a lot of sweetness from the juice seeped out.
"It's delicious."
While Sejun was enjoying the taste of the tangerine,
Crack.
"Huh?"
Something hard was chewed on.
"Ptui."
Sejun hurriedly spat out what was chewed between his teeth, and out came a seed as small as a baby's fingernail. It was a tangerine seed.
"Ptui. Ptui."
Three of them, in fact.
"Why are there seeds?"
Sejun, who had never encountered a seeded tangerine in all his years of eating tangerines.
"Ah!"
Then he realized this was actually fortunate. Without seeds, he couldn't increase the number of tangerine trees.
Ptui. Ptui.
Following Sejun, Cuengi also spat out the seeds.
"Hehehe. Shall we plant these tangerines and eat a few more?"
Kueng!
[That sounds good!]
It's not because they wanted to eat more tangerines. It was necessary to have seeds to plant tangerines. The tangerines were just a bonus.
Peel. Peel.
As they continued to peel and eat the tangerines,
"Huh?! We ate them all?"
Kueng?!
[Are they already gone?!]
Sejun and Cuengi had already eaten all the harvested tangerines, which allowed them to use the igloo they had made with some effort for a bit longer.
And
Sip. Sip.
The golden bat was still busily sucking on the piece of tangerine Sejun had given it at the beginning.
A little later,
[You have created a 33,000 square meters tangerine farm.]
[You have gained 30,000 experience points.]
[You cannot gain experience points because you have not completed the job quest.]
With his hands tired from peeling tangerines, Sejun planted 3,100 tangerine seeds and
"Let's go home now."
They returned to the 99th floor of the tower.
***
[You have arrived at the 99th floor of the tower.]
"Toryong, let's go home."
-Yes, Master.
Sejun, having arrived at the 99th floor, rode Toryong back to the farm.
"Let's go get some rest."
Sejun was thinking of quietly ending the day and having a party around noon tomorrow.
But
"Huh?! What's all this?"
Sejun saw a bustling crowd of people.
Then
Thump. Thump.
Moo!
[Sejun~nim!]
Minotaur King hurried over after spotting Sejun.
And
"So, Vice Chairman Theo sold the party invitations, and that's why this happened?"
Sejun found out that the reason the 99th floor was in this state was because of Theo's invitations and how Theo had raised the money.
But
"Meow?! I didn't sell that many invitations, meow! I only sold exactly 1,000, meow!"
The number of participants was too many compared to the number of invitations Theo had sold. Someone must have forged the invitations.
Dare to disrupt my party!
"Theo-son, this is a case of forgery! Let's find the culprit!"
"Puhuhut. Worry not, Sherlock Sejun, meow! I can recognize the original invitations, meow!"
Theo quickly adapted to the situation play, now familiar with such scenarios, in response to Sejun's words.
"But how can you tell which are the originals?"
"That's because..."
To imprint the stamp with the black dragon tattoo, magic power must be infused.
In other words, Theo's unique magic power was contained in the invitations he made.
"Really? So we can tell if they're original by looking at the invitations."
"Puhuhut. Yes, meow!"
"But how can we find them all here?"
There were almost a million participants in the tower right now.
Only 0.1% of them had the original, meaning it would take a whole day to find the culprit.
Then
"Kyoo-Kyoo-Kyoo-Don't worry. I'll help you."
Iona, who had been asleep, woke up furious upon hearing that Theo's invitations had been forged.
"Kyoo-Kyoo-Kyoo-Let the power of magic find the energy I seek. Mana Scan!"
As Iona used her magic, a blue wave spread out from her, searching for Theo's energy.
And
"Marking."
Iona used another spell to mark those with Theo's original invitations in blue, and all others in red.
"Kyoo-Kyoo-Kyoo-Done! Let's go beat them up now!"
Iona, exuding a murderous aura, was ready to scold the participants with forged invitations.
Iona becomes even more aggressive when it comes to matters involving Theo.
But
"Puhuhut. Wait a moment, Iona."
Theo stopped Iona in her tracks and
Swoosh.
pulled out a bundle of contracts from his bundle.
And
"Those with red marks on their heads, you've done wrong, so come this way, meow!"
He began to collect stamps from those with forged invitations. Puhuhut. A lot of excellent slaves have been made, meow!
"There are too many, help me, meow!"
Since there were too many people, Sejun, the animals, and the Black Minotaurs also joined in.
Thus, the holders of the forged invitations became slaves for a year.
"I don't want to! Why should I?!"
There were some who resisted, but
Kueng!
"Kyoo-Kyoo-Kyoo-"
Moo!
Cuengi, Iona, and the Minotaur King, the trio of destruction, exuded murderous intent, quickly calming them down.
"Kyoo-Kyoo-Kyoo-Confess nicely now! It won't be fun if I have to find you later!"
"I'm sorry. It was me."
"I'm sorry."
Under Iona's murderous threat, the main culprits, including the Red Orc Giant Fang and Skilled Hand, were quickly caught.
Just as they were smoothly catching the main culprits behind the forged invitations and processing the slave contracts,
[Master, Blackie is being attacked!]
Flamie reported Fenrir's anomaly to Sejun.
*****