Chapter 411: Now I'm Blackie with a Core!
Territory of the Tiger Tribe in Neta.
"Plant the Sturdy Blade Green Onions quickly before the locusts arrive!"
"Yes!"
"There's no need to plant them too densely! Space them about 1 meter apart!"
Theseus, who had received advice from Theo on how to plant the Sturdy Blade Green Onions most efficiently, gave instructions to his subordinates.
Thanks to this, they were able to plant the Sturdy Blade Green Onions without any trial and error, unlike other tribes.
Ironically, becoming a slave turned out to be a stroke of luck.
At that moment,
"Theseus-nim! Fifty thousand Red Locusts are flying in. And purple spots have been spotted on their bodies!"
A subordinate who had gone out to scout came running to report.
"Really? Then plant these Detoxifying Green Onions in between as well!"
Theseus took out the Detoxifying Green Onions from the bag that Theo had given him and distributed them to his subordinates.
Theo carefully looked after his slaves.
He had prepared the Detoxifying Green Onions for Theseus just in case the locusts evolved into Purple Locusts.
A moment later.
Flap. Thud.
The locusts flying in were pierced by the Sturdy Blade Green Onions and died, and those that ate the Detoxifying Green Onions had their poison neutralized and died as well.
"A-Amazing..."
"That's right! To be able to deal with locusts this easily, meow!"
"Meow?"
"I decided to imitate Theo-nim's way of speaking to show my respect, meow!"
"...I see. Understood."
While they were watching the locusts eat the green onions, the fifty thousand locusts were annihilated.
During this process, the number of locusts decreased, and the purple spots disappeared.
"We don't know when they'll come again! Move the corpses!"
Remembering Theo's advice, Theseus cleared the corpses that were piled around the Sturdy Blade Green Onions.
If the Sturdy Blade Green Onions were covered with locust corpses, the locusts wouldn't recognize the green onions.
He also said that locust corpses are safe to eat if you consume them with Detoxifying Green Onions.
Killing locusts and solving the food problem—killing two birds with one stone.
"Thanks to Theo-nim, only good things are happening... meow."
Theseus quietly added 'meow' at the end, out of respect for Theo.
***
Black Tower Administrator's Area.
[Time remaining until Great Black Tower growth: 798 days]
The time remaining until Great Black Tower growth was reduced by 300 days due to Sejun harvesting a new variety.
"Khehehe. As expected, my Sejun is amazing! Ah, the cooking must be done by now."
Aileen laughed pleasantly as she opened the pot lid.
And then,
"Ugh!"
Aileen quickly pinched her nose at the smell wafting from the pot.
"I'm sure I was making soup..."
There was no soup, only a foul-smelling liquid boiling inside.
"It might still taste good!"
Aileen didn't give up and boldly dipped a spoon into her creation, scooped up a tiny bit, and put it in her mouth.
"Pftoo! Pftoo!"
She immediately spat it out.
"Gah, it's a failure."
Aileen was feeling dejected.
"I should go see Sejun to cheer myself up too."
Aileen used the crystal orb to find Sejun.
***
Inside the kitchen on the 99th floor of the Black Tower.
"Hm hm hm."
Sejun was humming a tune while preparing dinner.
The menu was budae jjigae. There was no ham, but he put in a lot of sausages instead.
Then he added onions, garlic, green onions, and potatoes.
"One spoonful of doenjang, one spoonful of gochujang..."
He added the seasonings.
The gochujang was made from some of the sundried red peppers that had been harvested in large quantities during the dragons' meeting a while ago.
And finally, he added noodles. He substituted the instant ramen noodles with freshly made noodles by Cuengi, the noodle-making master.
Hehe. These are completely healthy noodles. I'm not envious at all of the oil-fried ramen! Not envious at all! Anyway, that's that.
As the budae jjigae started to boil,
"Guys, let's eat."
Sejun called his companions.
Before they arrived,
"This one is for Aileen. Aileen, eat up."
Sejun evenly portioned out the noodles, sausages, and vegetables and sent them to Aileen.
[The Tower's Administrator says she will enjoy the meal.]
[The Tower's Administrator says your cooking is delicious as always.]
"Yeah. Enjoy your meal."
[The Tower's Administrator says she will try harder with her cooking practice after finishing this meal.]
"...Okay."
Don't try too hard!
While conversing with Aileen,
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, where is my grilled fish, meow?!"
Kueng!
[It smells delicious!]
Kihihit. Kking!
[Heehee. It's sausage!]
Theo, Cuengi, and Blackie, who had been playing outside, entered the kitchen.
"Here's the grilled fish for Vice Chairman Theo."
"Puhuhut. It's grilled fish made with Chairman Park's sincerity, meow!"
As Sejun took the grilled fish off the grill and handed it to Theo, Theo naturally sat on Sejun's lap and started eating the fish.
"Cuengi,scoop with the ladle and eat, and Blackie, here."
Sejun put sausages and potatoes in a bowl specially made for Blackie.
Kking?
[Why do I have so little?]
Blackie compared Cuengi's large, generously filled bowl to his own small one and protested to Sejun.
"You left a lot last time because you were too greedy. I'll give you more if you eat it all."
Kking!
[Okay!]
Heehee. I'm no longer the old Blackie without a core anymore! Now I'm Blackie with a core!
It seemed that another glutton had been added to the 99th floor of the tower, but
Kihihit. Kking! Kking!
[Heehee. I finished it all! Give me more!]
"...You finished everything?"
By then, the budae jjigae had already disappeared.
For Blackie to process food and convert it into core energy, he needed time to digest it.
Kking?!
[Huh?! Where did it all go?!]
Kueng. Kueng.
[Sorry, Blackie. Cuengi ate it all.]
In the meantime, Cuengi had eaten it all.
Kking...
[My sausages...]
"Blackie, eat this."
Sejun placed a piece of dried sweet potato in Blackie's mouth.
Munch. Munch. Munch.
Blackie, who had been sad, started to happily munch on the dried sweet potato.
Heehee. I love dried sweet potatoes the most!
He preferred the dried sweet potato over sausage.
As the meal came to an end,
"Puhuhut."
Theo rubbed his head against Sejun's lap and laughed happily.
Kkirorong.
Blackie slept in Sejun's sling bag.
And then,
Kuehehehe.
Cuengi stuck his butt to Sejun's and patted his belly, feeling full.
As Sejun and his companions were enjoying the post-meal drowsiness,
5.251.51.166
-Khahaha. Now, with just 500 billion Tower Coins, I can drink the golden Samyangju.
Kaiser spoke in a boastful voice, making sure the other dragons could hear.
-That sneaky bastard. We could have mobilized too...
-Exactly, he's just trying to become a VVIP by himself...
Ramter and Tier looked resentfully at Kaiser.
They still remembered the golden Samyangju they had tried during the dragons' meeting. Thinking about that moment made them smile involuntarily.
Of course, they went to Sejun to buy the golden Samyangju, but Sejun refused outright.
Because of the quest that required him to serve each dragon a cup.
However, he didn't completely refuse to sell it under one condition.
VVIPs could buy one bottle of golden Samyangju per month.
Thanks to this, the leaders earned money every day to become VVIPs with the hope of being able to drink golden Samyangju, and bought Transcendence Black Beans and Samyangju from Sejun.
But... Kaiser pulled ahead overwhelmingly by defeating the Fenrir's Core, which contained 15% of Fenrir's power, that appeared in the Black Tower.
-Khehehe. When I buy the golden Samyangju later, I'll give you all a cup.
-Really?!
-I just recorded that!
-Okay. But why is he like that?
Kaiser asked, looking at Kellion, who was smirking alone.
-No idea.
-He's been like that for a while.
-What's up with him?
Even when Kaiser waved his hand in front of Kellion's eyes,
-Uheuheuhe.
There was no reaction.
***
White Tower's Administrator Area.
"Grandpa! Look at this! I can do this now!"
"Wow, my grandson is amazing!"
Kellion praised Ajax, who created dozens of light orbs and manipulated them freely.
You might say what's so amazing about handling light, but the light Ajax was handling wasn't magic.
He controlled light itself.
And to do that, one must go through the process of Awakening.
Dragons usually Awaken between the ages of 1500 and 2000 because they need to get accustomed to their attribute and require a lot of magic power. But Ajax did it at 500.
Considering that even the fastest dragons typically Awaken around 1000, this was incredibly fast.
He achieved this thanks to eating the Elixir-grade Cherry Tomatoes for magic power and the Sunlight from the Black Tower and Sunflower Seeds for his attribute, but it wouldn't have been possible without Ajax's talent.
That's right. Though he seemed lacking, Ajax was a genius.
"Oh my. My grandson is so skilled!"
To think my grandson is a genius!
That's why Kellion looked at Ajax with eyes that seemed to drip honey.
"Grandpa, I want to see Sejun-hyung now! Seal me."
"Alright. Seal."
When Kellion sealed Ajax's power, Ajax shrank in size.
"Heehee. I have to show off to hyung! Sejun-hyung, call me!"
A moment later, Ajax disappeared.
"Ah. Come to think of it, an Awakening makes one's powers about ten times stronger..."
But our Sejun has also gotten stronger, so it should be fine, right?
"Guys, my Ajax has..."
Kellion put his worries behind and started bragging about his grandson to the other dragons.
***
[The White Tower's slave asks you to summon him.]
"Ajax?"
What's going on?
"Summon Ajax."
Sejun summoned Ajax.
Then,
Kuguung.
"Hyung! I'm here!"
Ajax appeared, exuding a tremendous pressure.
"Ugh..."
Sejun let out a slight groan, and
Kking...?
[What's going on...?]
Blackie fainted.
"Vice Chairman Theo, cover Blackie."
Sejun, seeing Blackie faint, spoke to Theo.
"Understood, meow!"
Theo reduced the energy directed at Sejun and Blackie using Energy Drain.
"Ajax, you should've mentioned that you got stronger. Blackie fainted because of you."
Feeling a bit better, Sejun scolded Ajax. It was a close call for both himself and Blackie.
"Hyung, I'm sorry..."
"But how did you suddenly get so strong?"
"Hyung! I Awakened! It's all thanks to you!"
Getting excited again at Sejun's question, Ajax tried to hug Sejun.
"No!"
Sejun quickly raised his hand to stop Ajax. Talking was fine, but touching was another matter.
He couldn't afford to faint again.
"Ajax, what's an Awakening?"
Determined not to faint, Sejun asked Ajax.
"Oh. Awakening is..."
Ajax eagerly explained what Awakening was and how amazing it was to Sejun.
"So, you mean Awakening earns you the treatment of a true adult dragon and your powers become ten times stronger?"
"Yeah! Hyung!"
To be precise, Awakening doesn't make the stats ten times higher but grants the ability called <Power: True Dragon's Strength>, which allows one to use power equivalent to ten times their stats.
That's why Ajax got stronger, but Sejun's stats didn't increase. That's disappointing.
"Then Ajax, Awakening at 500 years old is really impressive?"
"Yeah! I'm not a true adult dragon yet since I'm not 1000 years old. Heehee."
Blushing from Sejun's praise, Ajax scratched his head.
"But has Aileen awakened too?"
Suddenly curious, Sejun asked Aileen.
[The Tower's Administrator says she hasn't Awakened yet.]
"Really?"
Then if she Awakens, she'll be ten times stronger?
If Aileen gets ten times stronger...
Shudder.
Thinking about a ten times stronger Aileen, Sejun involuntarily shivered.
*****