Chapter 470: Don't You Smell Meat Grilling Somewhere?
Srrrk.
Along with the message announcing the appearance of the Grape Harvesting Competition, 2,000 grape fields of 330 square meters each appeared around the Bountiful Grape Cluster Altar.
And then—
[Exchange Shop]
A massive message window appeared in front of the Bountiful Grape Cluster Altar.
"Exchange Shop?"
What is this?
When Sejun approached—
[Exchange Shop]
Seedless Grape for Beginners (1 piece) - 100 Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes
Bottle of Blessed Grape Wine - 5,000 Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes
···
..
.
Divine Relic: Grapevine Bracelet of Sealing - 10 million Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes
Divine Relic: Grapevine Whip of Judgment - 50 million Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes
Blessing Stone of Uncle, the God of Grapevines - 70 million Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes
Grape Seed Containing the World Tree - 100 million Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes
Items available for exchange at the Exchange Shop were displayed.
All of them are grape-related items.
"Hmm."
First of all, the seedless grape for beginners wasn't tasty, so he skipped it.
The Seedless Grape for Beginners was the same grape that Podori had given him before when it didn't have seeds, which raised all stats by 1 but tasted extremely bitter.
There were things like the Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power that increased magic power by 10, and the Plump Drought-inducing Watermelon that increased all stats by 20.
There was no reason to eat the grape, which tasted bad and didn't increase stats significantly.
"The Blessed Grape Wine... It's just a delicious wine when consumed, but if you pour it on the grape field, the harvest yield increases by 2 to 5 times?"
Hehehe. So if I tell Theo to pour it, does that guarantee a 5x grape harvest?
As Sejun was looking through the items sold in the exchange shop—
Kkwek!
[It's work time!]
The mushroom ants swarmed towards the 2,000 grape fields of 330 square meters.
But—
Kkwek?
Only one mushroom ant could enter each field.
Kkwek!
[We can't get in!]
Kkwek!
[Hurry up and harvest!]
The 2,000 mushroom ants that had entered the fields were cheered on by the mushroom ants who couldn't get in.
Kkwek! Kkwek!
[Got it! Trust me!]
[9:50 - 1 Grape Cluster]
Encouraged by their comrades, the 2,000 mushroom ants began harvesting grapes.
After 10 minutes—
[Grape Harvesting Competition Ranking]
1st place - Mushroom Ant 1009 (355 clusters) and 50 others [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
2nd place - Mushroom Ant 204 (354 clusters) and 70 others [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
3rd place - Mushroom Ant 4912 (353 clusters) and 50 others [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
···
..
.
The rankings of the mushroom ants were displayed.
The Mushroom Ants, diligent but low in agility, couldn't harvest many grapes due to their slow harvesting speed.
Swoosh.
The mushroom ants who had participated in the competition were automatically moved out of the grape fields.
Kkwek!
[Believe in me!]
Then, another 2,000 mushroom ants around the field entered to harvest the grapes.
And then—
Kkwek!
104.28.193.250
[The harvested grapes disappeared!]
Kkwek?
[But what's this?]
Kkwek! Kkwek!
[I don't know! Let's take it to the master!]
The Mushroom Ants who participated in the competition each carried 3 grapes in their mouths, too hard to chew, which they received as participation rewards, and went to Sejun.
***
"Hmm. The only useful items are the Blessed Grape Wine, Uncle's Blessing Stone, and the Grape Seed Containing the World Tree."
Sejun, who had examined the shop's items, chose what to exchange.
"But where do we get these Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes?"
He belatedly began to wonder how to obtain the most important exchange currency: the Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes.
At that moment—
Kkwek!
Tuk.
The mushroom ants placed the grapes they were holding down in front of Sejun.
[Harvest Festival Commemorative Grape]
"Huh? Where did you get these?"
Kkwek!
In response to Sejun's question, the mushroom ants pointed their antennae toward the grape fields where the Great Harvest Festival Competition was taking place.
"Ah."
So, you get them by participating in the competition.
Back during the Carrot Harvest Festival, they gave carrot seeds as participation rewards, but since this was the Great Harvest Festival, the rewards had changed.
Thanks to the mushroom ants, Sejun learned how to obtain the Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes.
"Hehehe. Guys, make sure to tell the others to participate in the harvest at least once, okay?"
Kkwek!
The mushroom ants enthusiastically wiggled their antennae up and down to follow Sejun's orders, relaying his message to the other mushroom ants.
Rumble, rumble.
A huge procession was approaching the farm.
"The first event of the Harvest Festival has already begun! Hurry up!"
The residents of the Black Tower, who had bought their Harvest Festival tickets at dawn, had just arrived.
"Huh?! How did they know the Harvest Festival was happening here?"
"Puhuhut. Chairman Park, it's all thanks to me, meow! I had Chairman Mason of the Wandering Merchants' Association sell the Harvest Festival tickets for 100 million Tower Coins, meow!"
"Really?!"
"Really, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, would never lie to the great Chairman Park, meow!"
"That's right! Our Vice Chairman Theo would never lie. Very impressive!"
"Puhuhut. Exactly, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, am indeed very impressive, meow! So keep praising me, meow!"
"Hehehe. Alright."
Looks like getting Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes will be easy.
Sejun, while patting Theo's head, gazed at the residents lined up to participate in the Grape Harvesting Competition.
***
4th Floor of the Black Tower.
Boom.
Suddenly, a stone shaped like a bunch of grapes rose in the center of the grape farm.
Srrrk.
At the same time, 10 grape fields, each 330 square meters in size, appeared around the statue.
And then—
[The Grape Harvesting Competition of the Harvest Festival will begin shortly.]
[Those wishing to participate in the competition, please enter the grape fields.]
A message appeared in front of everyone on the farm.
"Oh?! It's the Harvest Festival!"
"Where are the grape fields?!"
The hunters, who had been waiting impatiently since the message about the Harvest Festival appeared yesterday without any further information, started looking for the grape fields with excitement.
While the hunters who entered the fields were harvesting grapes—
"What?! Someone's already on the ranking?!"
"The first place is Mushroom Ant 1009?!"
"Oh?! There's a reward for making it into the top 100, and there's a special reward if you make it into the top 5?!"
"Really?!"
The other hunters checked what they could see on the stone statue.
Ten minutes later.
The hunters who participated in the competition saw their harvested grapes disappear, and for every grape cluster they harvested, they received one grape seed.
[Grape Harvesting Competition Ranking]
1st - Superfan (520 clusters) [4th Floor of the Black Tower]
2nd - Mair (490 clusters) [4th Floor of the Black Tower]
3rd - Yoshida (483 clusters) [4th Floor of the Black Tower]
···
..
.
The hunters took the top ranks, pushing out the Mushroom Ants.
"This should be enough to be in the rankings, right?"
"It showed they were from the 99th floor, but they aren't that much."
"Maybe we were just too scared. After this, let's try climbing the tower again."
"Yeah."
Thanks to this, the hunters felt confidence growing in place of their fear of the 99th floor of the tower.
However—
[Grape Harvesting Competition Ranking]
1st - Legendary Merchant Golden Sheep Mimyr (9,500 clusters) [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
2nd - Chestnut Hedgehog Godori (8,200 clusters) [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
3rd - Black Bear Rak (7,900 clusters) [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
···
..
.
"Huh?! The rankings..."
About an hour later, the rankings shifted dramatically again.
The mushroom ants had finally finished, and the real participants who had bought Harvest Festival tickets began to take part.
"As expected, the 99th floor of the tower is a scary place."
"It's not somewhere hunters like us should mess with."
As all the hunters were pushed out of the top 1,000 and fell into despair—
1st - Tower Farmer Park Sejun (120,500 clusters) [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
Sejun made a meteoric rise, taking first place with his exceptional farming skills and physical prowess.
However—
1st - Legendary Merchant Theo Park (9,020,222 clusters) [99th Floor of the Black Tower]
Before the hunters could even take hope from Sejun's victory, he was quickly dethroned from first place.
Theo, reducing travel time by using Meow step, was dominating first place with an overwhelming lead.
Puhuhut. I, Vice Chairman Theo, will give Chairman Park the first-place prize, meow!
Though Theo had every intention of giving Sejun the reward, he had no intention of yielding first place.
Afterward, Cuengi, Iona, the Minotaur King, and the Black Minotaur all joined in, and Sejun's name quickly dropped from the top ranks, disappearing from the leaderboard entirely, leaving none of the hunters able to see his name.
***
99th Floor of the Black Tower.
"Ah, it's not even a 3-second reign, more like a 0.3-second reign..."
Although he knew he'd lose first place, it happened way too fast.
[You can exchange Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes here.]
Behind the sign Theo had engraved with his dragon claws, Sejun sat at a desk, propping his chin with his hand and sighing.
"I'm hungry, should we eat something first?"
"Great, meow! I want grilled fish cooked by Chairman Park, meow!"
Since there were no more customers, they decided to prepare brunch.
The menu? A 10-layer whipped cream pancake topped with vanilla ice cream, along with chocolate milk, to soothe his gloomy heart.
A super-sweet set of sweet + sugary.
Of course, since Sejun had to feed more than one mouth, he quickly made 100 Super Sweet Sets.
Recently, after mastering his cooking skill, Sejun gained the ability to recreate any dish he had made within an hour, as long as he infused magic power into the ingredients.
"Aileen, here. Hey everyone, it's time to eat!"
As Sejun sent 5 Super Sweet Sets to Aileen and called the others for a meal—
Kueng!
Cuengi, who had become hungry from participating in the Great Harvest Festival, hurriedly flew over.
"Food's here!"
Dadada.
The silver, brown, and red foxes, who had become employees of Sejun's company, quickly ran over and lined up.
At that moment—
"Move aside! How dare you, a temporary employees stand in front of a full-time employee?!"
"We're full-time employees!"
The red foxes, led by Bayon, pushed aside the silver and brown foxes to stand at the front of the line.
"Sejun-nim, your loyal full-time employee Beyon has arrived!"
Bayon looked proudly at Sejun.
And—
I'm so jealous...
If I become a full-time employee, I can eat for free forever, right?
The other foxes looked at Bayon and the red foxes with envy.
What? Being a full-time employee is worse, you idiots...
"All the foxes who cut in line, go to the back."
"Yes..."
The red foxes, ears drooping in disappointment, obediently moved to the back of the line at Sejun's command.
At that moment—
Kkek!
Kkek!
The mushroom ants, making angry sounds, swarmed towards Sejun.
***
"We'll arrive soon. Get ready."
Halphas spoke to the Slimes as they moved along the flow of the magic stream.
No matter how much it was related to destruction, there was no power that could allow an unauthorized being to enter the tower, especially the Great Black Tower. Not yet.
If that were possible, the world would have already been destroyed.
However, with the Great Harvest Festival of Abundance and overflowing Magic, a gap had opened that allowed entry into the 99th floor of the Black Tower, where Fenrir resided.
It was due to two magic streams connected to the 99th floor of the Black Tower.
Thanks to this, Halphas and the slimes could enter the Black Tower with minimal loss of power.
The time they could remain in the tower was about one hour. Kukukuk. It would be nice if there are dragons too.
Feeling confident in his full power within the tower, Halphas was looking forward to the upcoming slaughter...
[Stop! How dare you target my master's farm?!]
A massive root blocked their path.
Fwoosh!
The magic of the magic stream began to burn strongly as if responding to Flamie's will.
***
"I'm telling you, being a full-time employee is worse!"
Kkwek!
[Master, we worked hard!]
Kkwek!
[We'll work even harder! Please make us full-time employees!]
Sejun was having a tough time trying to persuade the mushroom ants, who were demanding to be made full-time employees.
But—
Kkwek!
[We'll go on strike until we become full-time employees!]
His attempts to persuade them were completely ineffective.
"Fine. I'll make you full-time."
Sejun created a full-time employee contract for the mushroom ants and made contracts with them.
At that moment—
"Huh?!"
Sniff. Sniff.
"Vice Chairman Theo, don't you smell meat grilling somewhere?"
"I smell it, meow!"
The rich scent of grilled meat began to spread throughout the entire 99th floor of the Black Tower.
*****