Chapter 441: Dad Isn't Going to be Weak Forever!
Green Tower, 1st Floor.
"Puhuhut. Sold out, meow! And starting today, I'll be selling new items, meow!"
After having breakfast and arriving at the Green Tower, Theo, who had sold out the auction, shouted.
"New items?"
"What could it be?"
Theo's announcement piqued the interest not only of the Neta Tribes but also of the Immortal Clan members who worked as slaves in the store.
The Immortal Clan members, though called slaves, were living a happier and more relaxed life than when they were organization members.
Their slave salary was higher than when they were part of the organization, and they would buy some crops sold at Sejun's store with the salary they received.
They would then take them to the upper floors to sell during their off-hours, earning quite a decent side income.
Thus, it was only natural that they showed interest in the new items Theo was selling.
As everyone's attention was focused,
"This is it, meow!"
Theo brought out the lightning-struck wood and the lightning stones.
If the goods from the Golden Tower were only supplied to the Black Tower, their rarity would quickly diminish.
That would lower the market price, so Theo, following Sejun's instructions, released some of the Golden Tower items in the Green Tower.
And then,
"Those are lightning-struck wood and lightning stones?!"
Egel, the Saintess of Destruction, the 97th floor boss of the green tower, got excited seeing the 50 pieces of lightning-struck wood and 500 lightning stones Theo had taken out.
The divine power Egel used was greatly influenced by the lightning attribute.
Therefore, she had been looking for lightning-struck wood and lightning stones to make equipment to amplify her divine power. However, even with a lot of money, there were hardly any available, so she hadn't been able to gather the necessary amount for years.
But now...
"Puhuhut. This isn't an auction; I will sell them at a fixed price, meow!"
A benefactor appeared who would sell a large quantity of lightning-struck wood and lightning stones right before her eyes.
"The lightning-struck wood is 15 billion Tower Coins, and the lightning stones are 400 million Tower Coins, meow!"
"Theo-nim, I'll buy them all!"
Although the price was more than 50% higher than the Black Tower's market price, Egel had saved enough money, so she bought all the stock Theo brought.
She bought far more than she needed for the equipment, but the rest could be used to make equipment for her subordinates.
"Meow?"
Thanks to this, Theo sold out all the lightning-struck wood and lightning stones he had planned to sell in the store.
"Puhuhut. Today is an early day off, meow!
I'll quickly go and boast to Chairman Park, meow!"
Theo returned to the 99th floor of the Black Tower with more than a trillion Tower Coins.
"Chairman Park, I'm back, meow!"
As soon as Theo quickly got out of his bag and threw himself towards Sejun's face,
"You're back early?"
Sejun caught Theo's body with his face.
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, I, Vice Chairman Theo, sold all the items I took today, meow! I earned a lot of money, meow!"
"You sold everything?"
Sejun asked as he grabbed Theo by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off his face.
"That's right, meow!"
Theo boasted, showing off the money pouch in his hand.
"Well done."
"Puhuhut. Of course, I'm good at this, meow!"
As Sejun petted Theo's head hanging on his knee,
"You can praise me more, meow!"
Theo said, rubbing his head vigorously against Sejun's hand.
Thanks to this, Sejun took a short break while petting Theo's head.
"Abundance!"
[<Power: Abundance!> has been applied to the Magical Cherry Tomatoes.]
[The quantity of the next harvest of the Magical Cherry Tomatoes has doubled.]
Sejun drank the red mugwort potion and used the Power to increase the harvest of the cherry tomatoes.
This was because the storage was empty after sending a large batch of cherry tomatoes to the Golden Tower.
After increasing the production of cherry tomatoes,
"Blackie, let's have lunch."
He called out to Blackie, who was playing with the Destruction Devourers nearby.
Kkihihi. Kking!
[Hehe. Give me something delicious!]
Blackie hurried over at Sejun's call.
Chomp chomp chomp.
Theo ate Churu,
"Blackie, just wait a moment."
Sejun unwrapped a convenience store triangular kimbap,
Kking!
[Give me more!]
Feeding it into Blackie's mouth, they had their meal together.
After finishing their meal,
"Abundance!"
Sejun began to use his Power to increase the soil's fertility.
And then,
Kiki!
Kiki!
The Destruction Devourers called for their leader.
Kking?
[What is it, subordinates?]
When Blackie went to where his subordinates were calling him,
Kiki!
The Destruction Devourers pointed to a fully purified core fragment they had absorbed the power of destruction from.
Kkihihi. Kking! Kking!
[Hehe. Well done, guys! Now let's go over there!]
I'll feed this to the butler later!
Blackie, who had picked up the core fragment, led the Destruction Devourers to a field with strong energy of destruction.
***
Western Region of the 99th Floor of the Black Tower.
Kueng!
[It's medicinal herbs!]
Crack.
Cuengi was digging up medicinal herbs to give to Sejun today.
Cuengi spent the entire morning tending to or digging up medicinal herbs,
Kueng!
[It's time for lunch!]
He took out a small, black three-tiered lunchbox that Sejun had packed for him from the snack pouch.
The lunchbox was made by Aileen from Black Dragon's scales at Sejun's request and naturally had preservation and space expansion magic on it.
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. I'm excited to see what Dad packed today!]
Click.
With a happy face, Cuengi opened the lunchbox lid.
Kueng!
[It's soy sauce butter bibimbap!]
The top tier was filled with soy sauce butter bibimbap covered with dozens of soft-boiled eggs.
The second tier was packed with pork cutlets, and the third tier was filled with sausages.
Kuehehehe.
Cuengi picked up a spoon with his right hand, scooped up the soy sauce butter bibimbap with egg yolk with his right hand and put it in his mouth,
Crunch.
He grabbed an uncut pork cutlet with his left hand, dipped it in the sauce, and put it whole in his mouth.
Kuehehehe. Kueng!
[Hehehe. It's delicious!]
Cuengi shook his bottom and danced a happy dance as he ate.
A little while later,
Kueng!
[Now it's time for dessert!]
Cuengi put the empty lunchbox back in the snack pouch and started eating a large 10L chocolate ice cream.
And then,
Kueng!
[Now I have to go for special training!]
After finishing the ice cream, Cuengi went to find the Minotaur King for special training.
Kueng!
[Teacher, Cuengi is here!]
Moo!
[Alright!]
The Minotaur King, who was waiting in advance, greeted Cuengi.
Moo. Moo.
[Let's start right away. Draw up your energy.]
Kueng!
At the Minotaur King's words, Cuengi shouted with determination and clenched his fists and drew up his energy.
Moo!
[Draw up more!]
Kueng!!
Moo!
[More!]
Kueng!!!
Goooooo.
When Cuengi had drawn up to 70% of the power he could exert,
...!
Cuengi felt his heart drop and instinctively let go of his power hurriedly.
Moo!
[Again!]
Kueng!
The Minotaur King made Cuengi draw up his energy again while watching him.
But,
...!
This time too, Cuengi couldn't exert his full power and released it midway.
104.28.193.250
Moo!
[Again!]
Kueng!
This is difficult...
The Minotaur King fell into deep thought while watching his disciple Cuengi, who kept releasing his power before exerting his full strength.
It was only a few days ago that the Minotaur King realized Cuengi wasn't exerting, or rather couldn't exert, his full strength.
He had been teaching Cuengi how to overpower an enemy with energy, but...
Kueng!
Strangely, Cuengi would release his power when it reached a certain level while drawing it up.
Moo?
[Disciple, why do you release your power?]
The Minotaur King had a deep conversation with Cuengi about the strangeness.
Kueng...
[I'm scared of hurting Dad when I draw up power...]
And he learned the reason.
The fact that Sejun had fainted several times because of him had become a trauma for Cuengi.
So, Cuengi developed a habit of releasing his power whenever he felt it might harm Sejun.
The fear of potentially hurting his dad was imprinted in Cuengi's subconscious, and
Whenever Cuengi drew up his power beyond a certain point, the subconscious fear made his body release the power, preventing Cuengi from using it.
Moo!
[Again!]
Kueng!
Today too, Cuengi was working hard in special training to break through his limit.
***
Early morning.
Kking...
[I'm sleepy...]
Waking up from sleep, Blackie, with sleepy eyes, came outside and
Dig dig dig.
dug the ground hard to retrieve the purified core fragment he had hidden during the day.
And then,
Hop.
With the core fragment in his mouth, he climbed onto the bed,
Kihihi.
put the core fragment into Sejun's mouth,
Chomp!
and pushed it in hard with both front paws.
Then,
Gulp.
The core fragment smoothly passed down Sejun's throat.
"Ugh!"
Sejun felt a brief pain, but since it was only 0.01%, the pain didn't last long.
Kkihihi. Kking!
[Hehe. Done!]
Satisfied, Blackie climbed onto Sejun's chest
and fell asleep again listening to Sejun's heartbeat.
A few hours later.
"Blackie, wake up... Ack!"
Sejun woke up from a nightmare of being crushed by a giant Blackie.
And then,
[You have forcibly consumed a purified Fenrir's core fragment.]
[You have absorbed a core fragment containing 0.01% of Fenrir's power.]
[It combines with the power of the existing Fenrir's core fragment.]
[0.0129% of Fenrir's power accumulates in your body.]
He checked the messages.
"Is this Blackie's doing again?"
Kkirorong.
Sejun said as he looked at Blackie sleeping on his chest.
Sejun had asked Paespaes to find out who was constantly feeding him the purified Fenrir's core fragments,
(Sejun-nim, it was Blackie!)
and discovered that Blackie was the culprit.
Why is he feeding me this?
Although Sejun didn't know what Blackie had done, the Fenrir's core fragments were something he couldn't consume alone due to usage restrictions.
Since it also helped strengthen his Power, it wasn't bad.
"I might as well get up."
Even though the sun hadn't risen yet, it was a bit too late to go back to sleep.
Swoosh.
"Meow..."
Suddenly feeling playful, Sejun got up and unwrapped Theo's front paws, which were hugging his knees, pulled out his knee, and
Kking...
Then he placed Blackie in that spot.
"Hehe. I wonder how they'll react later."
After watching the two sleeping embraced, Sejun went outside and was strolling around the farm when
Kuaaaang!
Kueng!
From afar, he heard the sounds of Pink-fur and Cuengi's shouts.
Normally, both of them should be asleep.
What are they doing at this hour?
Curious, Sejun walked towards the source of the sound.
As he got closer,
Kuaaaang!
Kueng!
Goooooo.
He saw Pink-fur and Cuengi shouting with effort and spreading their energy around.
At that moment,
"Achoo!"
Sejun sneezed, perhaps due to the cold air making his nose itchy.
And then,
Kueng?!
Startled, Cuengi, who was doing extra practice with Pink-fur early because yesterday's training results were poor, noticed Sejun had gotten quite close.
This is bad! Mom is using her power! Dad will faint!
Cuengi panicked.
However,
"Ah. Sorry. I sneezed suddenly... but what are you two doing?"
Sejun asked them in a calm voice.
Kueng?!
[Dad didn't faint?!]
Big brother isn't here, but Dad withstood Mom's energy?!
Cuengi was shocked by this realization.
Sejun was no longer the weak Sejun that Cuengi had been worried about.
Especially after obtaining the <Power: Sturdy Young Dragon's Solid Bones>, his resistance to external energy had significantly increased.
Of course, he was still the weakest and a sunfish on the 99th floor of the tower, but he was no longer so weak that he would faint from being exposed to strong energy.
That's right! Dad isn't going to be weak forever! Dad is growing too!
Thanks to this, Cuengi had a great realization.
Kueng!
Goooooo.
With the assurance that raising his power wouldn't hurt Sejun, Cuengi began to use 100% of his energy.
An explosive energy brust out.
The power that had been suppressed until now burst out at once, and energy much stronger than Cuengi originally possessed gushed out, and
"Ugh..."
I feel like I'm going to faint!
Sejun quickly retreated to avoid Cuengi's energy. Although he didn't faint, it was still painful.
Thus, Cuengi magnificently overcame his trauma.
[The novice herbalist Cuengi Park, who gained enlightenment, has acquired the <Power: Calm Before the Storm>.]
[Thunder, God of Storms, is watching Cuengi Park.]
He gained a powerful ability and caught the attention of Thunder, God of Storms.
*****