Chapter 398: Paespaes, Sorry.
TL: Hanguk
[You have arrived at the 68th floor of the Black Tower.]
···
..
[Due to the effect of <Title: Retrogressor>, all stats increase by 31.]
Park Sejun arrived at the 68th floor of the tower.
No room for complacency.
As he quickly checked his surroundings to ensure there were no dangers,
Clank.
"Chairman Park, I missed you, meow!"
Theo popped out of the Void Storage and clung to Sejun's face.
Hey! I can't see!
Sejun was about to scold Theo, who was blocking his view at this critical moment,
"Puhuhut. There's nothing around that could threaten Chairman Park, meow!"
"Bubububu."
Sejun blew air into Theo's belly to give a belly fart in response to his comment.
"Puhuhut! It tickles, meow!"
While Sejun was playing with Theo,
"But why aren't the others coming out?"
Curious, Sejun peered into the Void Storage.
Kurorong.
Kkirorong.
Pirorong.
Yurorong.
The rest of the party was sound asleep on the golden floor of the storage. They must have been exhausted from the arduous task of finding the thumb bones and stamping them yesterday.
"Vice Chairman Theo, cover them with a blanket."
"Understood, meow!"
Sejun ordered Theo to cover them with blankets,
Clank.
And closed the Void Storage so they could sleep comfortably.
At that moment,
[A fragment of Fenrir's Core (0.5%) has been detected 270 km to the south.]
A message appeared indicating that a fragment of Fenrir's Core had been detected.
Thanks to the additional 1% Fenrir's Core he had absorbed, the detection range had increased, and he could sense the power contained within the core fragments.
Hehehe. How convenient.
Now, Sejun didn't need to wander around until Fenrir's Core fragments were detected, allowing him to leisurely inspect the farm.
There were 500 trees on the farm, each bearing an abundance of bright red fruits, smaller than a bottle cap.
"What kind of fruit is this?"
Pluck.
When Sejun harvested a fruit,
[You have harvested a cherry.]
[Your job experience has slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]
[You have gained 1 experience point.]
Messages appeared.
"Ah. So they're cherries."
This was a cherry tree farm.
"These are delicious."
Pluck. Pluck.
Sejun harvested the cherries, ate the flesh, and put the seeds in his pocket to plant later on the 99th-floor farm.
Since he had 15 drops of the Harvest Elixir received as a quest reward, growing a cherry tree would be easy.
Right! I should also use one drop on the sausage tree. Hehehe.
"Delicious~ Sausage~"
As Sejun sang a song while thinking of a delicious recipe with sausages,
Chairman Park is excited, meow! I'm excited too, meow!
"Delicious~ Meow~ Grilled fish~ Meow~"
Theo also sang his favorite food song following Sejun.
While Sejun and Theo sang and harvested cherries,
Clank.
Kueng!
[Cuengi is awake!]
Cuengi emerged from the Void Storage and clung to Sejun's back, who was picking cherries.
"Cuengi, did you sleep well?"
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. Yes!]
Cuengi, who had just woken up, rubbed his face against Sejun's back in a good mood.
Piyo!
[I just took a short nap!]
"Sleeping on gold, huh, it must have been a sweet nap. I'll have to sleep on gold from now on."
Following Cuengi, Piyot and Uren also woke up and came outside.
At that moment,
Kking! Kking!
The sound of Fenrir crying came from inside the Void Storage.
"What is it?"
Sejun entered the storage,
Kking?!
'Why won't this come off?!'
Fenrir was struggling to remove a golden bracelet decorated with jewels stuck around his waist.
How do you sleep to get that stuck on your waist?
"Is our Blackie flexing?"
Sejun teased Fenrir, lifting him by the scruff of his neck. The bracelet slid off easily.
"Blackie, let's go outside now."
Sejun put Fenrir into a sling bag, slung it over his shoulder, and went outside to join his companions in harvesting cherries.
After a while.
When Sejun had harvested all the cherries within arm's reach,
"Land Moving!"
Using his skill, he made the ground beneath the field rise up, allowing him to harvest the cherries from the upper parts of the trees.
But,
"What's this? Why are these cherries like this?"
Most of the cherries at the top of the trees were slightly damaged, as if someone had pecked at them.
At that moment,
[A quest has occurred.]
[Quest: The cherry trees want revenge on the cherry pecker who eats cherries for fun and only leaves them wounded. Catch the cherry pecker .]
Reward: Recognized as the rightful owner of the land deed
A land deed quest appeared.
"Cherry pecker?"
'Ah. Now that I think about it, I haven't been recognized as the owner of the land deed yet.'
Only then did Sejun realize that he had not yet become the owner of the farm.
"Catching them should be easy."
The culprit would appear at the scene again, so all he had to do was wait in hiding.
Moreover, we have a specialist in staking out.
"Paespaes."
(Pip-pip···)
In response to Sejun's call, Paespaes, who had been sleeping attached to Sejun's butt, answered in a sleepy voice. It was dawn for Paespaes.
"Paespaes, I'm sorry."
He was sorry for waking him up, but also for something else. I ate sweet potatoes for breakfast....
Feeling various kinds of guilt, Sejun massaged Paespaes with his fingers.
(Pip-pip! Sejun-nim, it's okay!)
Thanks to Sejun's massage, Paespaes fully woke up and answered in a vigorous voice.
"Hide here, and when you see the cherry eaters, chase them and let me know where they are."
Since Sejun knew that Paespaes was next to Flamie in terms of weakness, he didn't tell him to fight directly.
(Pip-pip! Yes! Leave it to me!)
Paespaes saluted Sejun and disappeared into the air. He used his stealth skill.
"Then let's go find the core fragment."
With Paespaes in stealth mode, Sejun and his companions left the cherry tree farm.
Sejun and his companions, or more precisely, Theo, Iona, and Cuengi, who had strong energy, would keep the cherry peckers away.
So Sejun decided to collect Fenrir's core fragment while staying far away from the cherry tree farm.
"You guys watch the farm from a distance and help Paespaes if a fight breaks out."
Piyo!
[Yes!]
"Yes!"
For Paespaes' safety, Sejun stationed Piyot and Uren near the cherry tree farm.
And then,
"Toryong!"
Sejun rode south with the remaining companions and Toryong.
After traveling 270km south, they arrived at a huge lake.
And there was a giant fish with a fragment of Fenrir's core embedded in its side.
[Kog, the Predator King of Lake Uran]
There were no other creatures in the lake. It seemed Kog had eaten them all, true to its name.
"Meow! It's a giant fish, meow!"
While Theo cheered at the sight of Kog,
Bang!
Kog, having spotted Sejun and his companions, charged towards them, creating a water stream.
"Chairman Park, lend me some money, meow!"
"Sure."
Sejun, who had abundant wealth, readily agreed.
However, he didn't tell Theo to get it himself, as he might burn everything.
"Is this enough?"
Sejun took a handful of gold ornaments from the Void Storage and handed it to Theo.
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park's wealth is all I need, meow! Burn brightly, meow!"
Fwoosh.
At Theo's exclamation, the wealth disappeared, and Theo's body glowed with a golden light.
"Meow!"
As Theo swung his golden glowing paw, a golden magical blade shot out,
cleanly slicing off the part where Fenrir's core fragment was embedded in Kog's side.
"Puhuhut. Cuengi, catch it, meow! Tonight's dinner is grilled giant fish, meow!"
Kueng!
[Got it!]
At Theo's command, Cuengi charged forward, striking Kog's head where Fenrir's core fragment had been removed.
[Herbalist Cuengi has killed Kog, the Predator King of Lake Uran.]
[You have gained 30 million experience points, 50% of the experience obtained by Herbalist Cuengi.]
[You have leveled up.]
[You have gained 1 bonus stat.]
[Strength increased by 10.]
Thud!
As Kog collapsed, Sejun's level increased.
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, here it is, meow!"
Theo brought Fenrir's core fragment to Sejun.
"Well done, Vice Chairman Theo."
Sejun praised Theo and glanced at Fenrir. He was sure Fenrir would demand it.
However, Fenrir showed no interest in the core fragment.
'Hehe. I'll have him eat that later.'
Fenrir had decided to leave the weaker cores to Sejun from now on.
"Let's go back now."
With his level up, Fenrir's core fragment, and something for dinner secured, Sejun was returning to the cherry tree farm when
'Pip-pip. They're here!'
The cherry destroyers appeared in front of Paespaes, who was in hiding.
Caw! Caw!
Their identity was revealed to be crows.
The crows would peck at a cherry once, then move on to another, repeating the process.
They really only pecked. Enough to make the cherries hold a grudge.
While the crows were eating the cherries,
(Pip-pip. How dare they touch Sejun-nim's fruit. I'll teach them a lesson.)
Speaking in a frequency no one could hear, Paespaes used his Pip Step to quickly move.
In an instant, Paespaes moved behind the crows and knocked them out by striking their heads.
Thud thud thud.
In the blink of an eye, 500 crows were knocked out and fell to the ground due to Paespaes's attack.
When the crows were subdued,
"Paespaes, we're here."
Sejun called out to Paespaes upon arriving at the farm.
(Pip-pip! You're back!)
Paespaes appeared on Sejun's shoulder and greeted him.
"Yes. Nothing happened... Huh?! What is all this?"
Sejun, greeting Paespaes, was startled at the sight of the unconscious crows on the ground.
Piyot and Uren had said there was no commotion at the cherry tree farm.
That meant the enemy had no chance to resist...
"Paespaes, who did this?"
(Pip-pip! I did it!)
Paespaes puffed out his chest and looked at Sejun with eyes that said, 'Didn't I do well?' but
Our Paespaes is strong too...
Sejun's eyes were filled with disappointment.
While Sejun was realizing Paespaes's combat prowess and feeling disheartened,
[You have knocked out all the cherry peckers.]
[You have completed the quest.]
[As a reward for completing the quest, you have been recognized as the rightful owner of the land deed for the cherry tree farm on the 68th floor of the Black Tower.]
[Land Deed Skill: Farm Information Lv. Max is activated.]
A quest completion message appeared.
"Puhuhut, Piyot, let's get the stamp, meow!"
Piyo!
[Yes!]
In the meantime, Theo and Piyot got the crows' footprints on the contract.
Like that, the crows became the caretakers of the cherry tree farm under the condition of receiving ten peanuts daily.
"Take good care of it."
Leaving the cherry tree farm behind, Sejun
[Waypoint on the 68th floor of the Black Tower has been saved.]
Arrived at the waypoint. The boss on the 68th floor was a general from the Lizard Kingdom who knew Theo, so they comfortably passed for free.
"Chairman Park, it's finally time, meow!"
Theo handed Sejun the land deed for the 75th floor of the tower.
"Yes."
Let's make our Vice Chairman Theo a legendary merchant.
Sejun nodded at Theo and put his companions into the Void Storage, then unfolded the tower document.
[You have arrived at the 75th floor of the Black Tower.]
...
..
.
Thus, Sejun arrived at the farm on the 75th floor of the tower.
[You have been recognized as the rightful owner of the Acacia Tree Farm on the 75th floor of the Black Tower.]
[Land Deed Skill: Farm Information Lv. Max is activated.]
This time, he became the owner of the farm without any quests.
"Acacia?"
Did it bear any fruit?
While Sejun was pondering how to utilize the acacia trees,
Clank.
"Chairman Park, I missed you, meow! Iona, let's go, meow!"
Theo came out of the Void Storage and called Iona.
"Kyoot Kyoot Kyoot. Yes! Power of Space... Teleport."
With Iona's magic, they arrived in front of the chairman's office at the headquarters of the Wandering Merchant Association.
And then,
"Fail."
Theo, who had visited Mason with Sejun, Cuengi, and Iona, failed to pass the first stage of the promotion exam.
"Why, meow?!"
"Do you really not know?"
"I don't know, meow!"
"Phew. There are two individuals with no reputation, aren't there?"
Mason said, looking at Sejun and Cuengi. Sejun and Cuengi didn't have much reputation in the Black Tower.
*****