Chapter 379: Aileen can do that too.
38th floor of the Golden Tower.
Kwagwagwang!
Amidst the dazzling sky where lightning struck dozens of times per second, a massive land floated in the air.
The edges of the land floating in the sky were ominously dark red, but in the center of the land, there was a large flower garden.
Inside the flower garden, new varieties created by Sejun and various other crops were growing. It was Emila's flower garden.
And in the light, a figure was watering those crops. It was Emila Ibenes, Apostle of the Creator God.
As an Apostle of the Creator God, Emila had guarded this place according to the Creator God's will for thousands of years.
"Kids, just hang in there a little longer"
Emila said soothingly to the crops.
The tasks prepared by the Creator God to drive away destruction were finally being solved one by one.
Of course, they had only just begun to be solved. Completing the tasks was an entirely different matter.
A path far more arduous than any they had faced so far awaited them.
"But... how is Park Sejun solving the tasks left by the Creator God?"
Emila said in a voice filled with confusion.
Feeling sorry for Sejun, who was too weak to bear the Creator God's tasks, she had given him shoes and cheered him on, and later even saved his life.
Saving his life was purely by chance. Sejun happened to be on the same floor as Emila.
Emila didn't have high expectations for Sejun. To her, Sejun was too weak, and it wouldn't have been surprising if he died the next day.
Furthermore, his status was... well, there was no point in even talking about it.
So naturally, she thought other dragons and Tower Farmers would complete the Creator God's arrangements.
However, the results came much faster and entirely different from what Emila had expected.
The stabilization of the Nine Towers.
Cooperation among the Nine Dragons.
Collaboration between the Tower Farmers and the Dragons.
Restoring the divine power of the gods.
Cooperation and exchange among the Tower Farmers.
Growing the Tower into a Great Tower.
Overcoming the trials of the 10th Tower.
Lifting the curse of forgetfulness on the Nine Dragons, etc.
The ten tasks left by the Creator God to grow strength to fight against destruction. Each task was absurdly difficult.
Of course, the Creator God never intended for one person to solve all these tasks alone.
But somehow, Sejun had been dragging other dragons and Tower Farmers by the scruff of their necks and carrying them along.
"Thanks to that, the possibility of completing the Creator God's tasks before destruction awakens has increased."
The light, responding to Emila's joy, grew even brighter.
But
"Oh no, they've already caught up."
Feeling the Apostle of Destruction tracking her, she hurriedly moved the Creator God's temple elsewhere.
***
This is too much.
While Hokus was bewildered by the other hatchlings' bravery,
"Hokus oppa, come on over."
Aileen, who had spotted a new customer, welcomed Hokus warmly.
'That's right! I'm not here to see the other hatchlings. I'm here to show that bratty youngest one how strong I, Hokus Yul, am.'
Thanks to that, Hokus could remember why he had come here.
He was furious.
He was very furious!
"Aileen, you called me weak in that letter..."
As Hokus was about to get angry with Aileen, recalling the feelings from reading the letter,
"Hokus oppa, I'm sorry for calling you weak in the letter. I just wanted to see everyone... Here, take this as an apology."
When Aileen handed him an armful of Sejun's crops,
"Uh... ahem. Well, that can happen. But be careful from now on."
His anger melted away like frost in the sun.
"Okay. Try them quickly. They're really delicious!"
"Kukuku. Really?"
And after tasting the sweet crops from Sejun...
"Mom-! Buy me all of these! If you don't, I'll keep crying! Waaah!"
Hokus started pestering his mom, who was greeting other hatchlings' parents, to buy Sejun's crops for him.
The other hatchlings weren't naturally brave. Their desire to eat more of Sejun's crops made them brave.
After a while,
"Aileen, here's the money. Give me a lot of peanuts."
"I want three watermelons."
"I want a sack of potatoes!"
"Thank you, unnie and oppa."
Aileen took the money that the brave hatchlings had earned and sold Sejun's crops.
As Aileen happily turned the hatchlings into customers for Sejun's crops,
"Anton, is Aileen alright now?"
"Yeah, she used to have heart problems."
Other hatchling parents asked Anton, who was watching Aileen with an expressionless face.
"She's completely healed now."
Anton answered in a cold, detached voice, as if talking about someone else.
"Really? That's a relief. Congratulations."
"Congratulations."
The dragons gave formal congratulations to Anton, and then,
"How's the Red Tower?"
"It's improved a lot since I planted those flame beans."
"What about the Blue Tower?"
They started asking about each other's well-being to break the awkward atmosphere, and the conversation naturally shifted to their children.
"My Pobi is already swallowing A-grade poison..."
"My Perion is practicing Hellfire magic these days..."
"My Hakun has mastered making the essence of water..."
"My Hokus is already using Lightning..."
It soon turned into a bragging session about their children.
The parent dragons boasted about how exceptional their children were, quickly bringing the atmosphere to life. No, it became too heated.
Anton quietly listened to their conversation while keeping an eye on Aileen.
As the parent dragons were busy bragging about their children,
"Guys, look at this! I can polymorph now!"
Hakun, wanting to show off to his younger siblings, used polymorph magic to transform into a handsome blue-haired man.
"Hahaha. How do I look?"
Hakun laughed, expecting his younger siblings to be impressed by him, but,
"Aileen can do that too. Polymorph!"
The youngest, Aileen, used polymorph magic, drawing all the attention of the younger siblings towards her.
"What?!"
"Aileen is younger than us..."
"Mom said you need to be at least 700 years old to use polymorph..."
As a result, the young hatchlings, who couldn't yet use polymorph magic, were greatly shocked.
"Dad!"
"Mom's a liar!"
"I want to polymorph too!!!"
Hokus, Pobi, Garrick, and Sylvia went to their parents, demanding to be able to use polymorph magic as well.
However, the parent dragons were even more shocked than the hatchlings.
Typically, hatchlings could start learning polymorph magic around the age of 700 to 900.
This was because you needed to be at least 700 years old to have enough stable magic power to use polymorph magic.
Hakun, who used polymorph magic at 600, was considered a prodigy.
But to polymorph at 200 years old?!
Moreover, Aileen was a dragon who had almost no magic power until recently because of her heart problem.
"What the hell?! Anton, be honest. What did you feed Aileen?! No, just tell me quietly!"
"Anton, share your parenting secrets!"
"Anton, don't keep it to yourself, tell us too!"
The parent dragons surrounded Anton and asked in excited voices.
"I didn't do anything. Our Aileen grew up on her own."
Anton answered with the same cold expression and voice, shrugging his shoulders.
As he finished speaking, the corners of his firmly closed lips lifted slightly, almost imperceptibly.
No matter how cold he tried to appear, Anton was still a dad.
At that moment,
"Aunties, uncles! If they eat a lot of these, oppas and unnies can polymorph like Aileen too! They're 1 million Tower Coins each!"
Aileen seized the opportunity and promoted the Elixir-grade cherry tomatoes to the parent dragons.
"Mom! Buy me those! Hokus wants to polymorph too-!!!"
"Dad, if you don't buy those, don't think about playing with Sylvia anymore."
The brave roars of the hatchlings compelled the parent dragons to purchase 10 billion Tower Coins worth of Elixir-grade cherry tomatoes each.
Afterwards, the Elixir-grade cherry tomatoes became an essential magic supplement for raising hatchlings.
'Kihihihi. I need to tell Sejun about this when he wakes up.'
Aileen, now having something to boast about to Sejun, smiled brightly.
***
99th Floor of the Black Tower.
On the morning of the 387th day since entering the tower.
"Alright."
As Sejun opened his eyes,
[The Tower's Administrator says she is pleased to see you awake.]
Aileen, who had been eagerly waiting for Sejun to wake up, immediately started talking.
[The Tower's Administrator says a tremendous event occurred while you were sleeping.]
[The Tower's Administrator boasts that she has turned all her dragon siblings into your customers.]
[The Tower's Administrator excitedly says she will now tell you the whole process from the beginning, so listen carefully.]
Aileen began to recount how she had brought the hatchlings and got them to buy Sejun's crops.
"Wow! That's really amazing!"
"Oh! How did you come up with that idea? That's incredible!"
"Wow! Really?! Aileen, you're definitely a genius dragon!"
Sejun responded with genuine enthusiasm at intervals, helping Aileen stay excited and talk till the end.
After listening to Aileen's story, he stepped outside.
[Master!]
Flamie, who had been resting in the warm sun, called out to Sejun and jumped onto his shoulder.
"Flamie! How have you been?!"
[Good!]
Having not seen Flamie for a while and worried about her, Sejun felt relieved seeing her leaves more vibrant than before, indicating she was doing well.
Sejun walked around the farm, chatting with Flamie.
"But... the grapes haven't been growing well lately. Is it because Podori is busy being the World Tree?"
Sejun asked Flamie casually as he walked past Podori.
[Hehe. That can't be. The grapes will probably grow by tomorrow.]
"That soon?"
[Of course.]
Because I'll make sure of it.
Podori's branches trembled at Flamie's answer.
Unaware of this, Sejun continued talking with Flamie and returned home.
After having breakfast, he moved to the rice field bathed in golden light. This was the field where Sejun had first planted the rice seeds he obtained from the Seed Shop.
"Alright. Let's harvest."
Sejun grabbed a sickle and started cutting the well-ripened rice stalks.
Swish.
[You've harvested 5,619 golden rice stalks.]
[Your job experience slightly increases.]
[Your Harvesting Lv. 8 proficiency slightly increases.]
[Due to the cold effect of the Sickle of Freshness, the shelf life of the harvested crops increases by 5 days.]
[You've gained 393,330 experience points.]
Thanks to the <Power: Abundance>, the harvest was immense.
[You've leveled up.]
[You've gained 1 bonus stat point.]
[Strength increases by 10.]
Sejun reached level 80.
And then,
[A job quest has occurred.]
[Job Quest: Gather 10,000 comrades to help with farming.]
Reward: Unlock level 81, 1 billion Tower Coins, +100 to all stats
Once again, a job quest appeared to block Sejun's level up.
"Ah. All that experience will go to waste."
Sejun sighed, looking at the many golden rice stalks still remaining.
But,
[You currently have 131,921 comrades helping with farming.]
[You have completed the job quest with overwhelming results.]
[The reward is doubled.]
[As a reward for completing the job quest, level 81 is unlocked.]
[As a reward for completing the job quest, you have received 2 billion Tower Coins.]
[As a reward for completing the job quest, all stats have increased by 200.]
This time, thanks to Sejun's tenant farmers, he was able to easily complete the job quest.
"Oh! Today's a day for power leveling!"
Sejun started harvesting the rice with a flurry of sickle strokes and leveled up four more times, reaching level 84.
"Hehehe."
Sejun smiled happily, thinking about eating rice made from the harvested rice.
*****