Chapter 475: Bring Them All!
82nd Floor of the Silver Tower.
Whooooosh!
As always—no, even stronger than before—fierce winds blew across the barren wasteland, where a single, emaciated grapevine stood.
"You are our hope."
Kwin, the Tower Farmer of the Silver Tower, said while gently stroking the grapevine. Thanks to Kwin's ability, only a soft breeze blew around the grapevine.
Kwin was protecting the grapevine from the wind, just in case.
Kwin, the Wind Sorcerer of the Wind Tribe.
Kwin was born with an overwhelming talent even among the Wind Tribe, who were known for their control of wind. He was called 'the one who commands the wind'.
Because of this talent, he was arrogant and overly confident in his abilities.
And then...
"Wind! Hear my command!"
On the day he boldly stepped forward to control the wind of the Silver Tower.
Kwin had to pay a heavy price for his arrogance.
Instead of controlling the fierce winds of the Silver Tower, Kwin's mind was devoured by them, and he went mad.
For decades, Kwin wandered the tower as a madman, earning the name Mad Wind Kwin for his bizarre antics.
If he hadn't caught the attention of Crisella Hisron, the Great Silver Dragon, who was searching for a new tower farmer after the previous one died, Kwin would have continued wandering as a madman until he eventually became one with the wind.
The reason Crisella chose Kwin, even going as far as restoring his sanity, was because he was the one who handled the wind best in the tower.
The Silver Tower, constantly battered by powerful winds due to the Silver Dragon's strength, needed someone who could weaken the winds.
And so...
The winds strong enough to bore holes into stones with sand were already in a weakened state, thanks to Kwin's power.
If Kwin hadn't been able to control the wind, there might not have been any ground left in the Silver Tower. The winds would have swept even the land away.
The sole mission of the Silver Tower's Tower farmer was to weaken the wind. Farming wasn't even a consideration.
Then...
Rumble.
The ground trembled slightly, and a stone shaped like a cluster of grapes rose before the grapevine.
And then...
[The second event of the Harvest Festival, the Grape Eating Competition, will begin shortly.]
[Participants who wish to join the competition, please gather in front of the Bountiful Grape Cluster Altar.]
A message appeared.
[Time left to register for the competition: 3 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.]
The time in front of the altar began to count down.
"Alright! Everyone, gather at the altar!"
When Kwin shouted,
Boom.
"Wind, halt! Everyone, run towards the altar!"
"Woo!"
Massive boulders lifted, and over 100 million residents, who had been hiding underground, rushed towards the altar, following the paths created by the Wind Sorcerers of the Wind Tribe.
And the number of participants in the Grape Eating Competition began to increase rapidly.
***
As Sejun approached the altar to register for the Grape Eating Competition,
Kueng!
[Good morning, Dad!]
Cuengi greeted him.
"Yeah, good morning. Did you already register, Cuengi?"
Kueng! Kueng!
[I did! Dad, hurry and register too!]
"Alright."
When Sejun stood in front of the altar,
[Time left to register for the competition: 3 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.]
[Current number of registrations]
- Black Tower, 99th Floor: 11,887
- Black Tower, 4th Floor: 3,214
- Silver Tower, 82nd Floor: 70,049
A message appeared.
"82nd Floor of the Silver Tower?"
Do they have grapevines there too?
The overwhelming number of participants from the 82nd Floor of the Silver Tower was surprising, but Sejun didn't pay it much mind.
After all, the first place will be ours anyway. Hehehe.
As Sejun laughed wickedly,
"Meow?! Chairman Park, your face is getting ugly again, meow!"
I, Vice Chairman Theo, cannot allow such a ugly face standing next to Aileen noona, meow!
Squeeze. Squeeze.
Theo immediately took action to suppress Sejun.
"Mmph. Mmph."
[You have registered for the Grape Eating Competition.]
As Sejun received a massage from Theo and completed the registration with his companions, he turned around to head back home.
"Huh?"
Sejun noticed that the raccoon market had grown larger than the day before.
Word had spread about the massive scale of the Harvest Festival on the 99th floor of the Black Tower, and more raccoons had gathered.
As a result, about 50 new street vendors had joined the raccoon market.
Unfortunately, none of the new vendors sold food that Sejun was particularly excited about.
Most of them were selling things Sejun had recently eaten or already had stored in his Void Storage.
"How much for this grilled skewer?"
That doesn't mean he wasn't going to buy and eat them though.
Sejun, along with his companions, eagerly bought and ate the food from the raccoons who had started their stalls early in the morning.
After having breakfast from the street vendors and strolling around to digest a bit,
[Registration for the competition has closed.]
[Participants, please gather below the altar with the Bountiful Grape Cluster Altar.]
[The Grape Eating Competition will begin in 1 minute.]
The registration period ended, and as Sejun and the other participants gathered under the altar,
[The competition will now begin.]
With a message announcing the start of the competition, a huge basket full of grapes appeared before each participant.
Just by glancing, it was clear that there were well over a thousand grapes.
Chomp.
Chomp.
As soon as the competition started, the favorites for the win—Cuengi, Pink-fur, Minotaur King, and Uren—began shoveling entire baskets of grapes into their mouths.
In the past, Cuengi had lost to Pink-fur and Minotaur King because of his small mouth. But now, having grown enough, there was no chance of that happening again.
Then...
Gulp.
Chomp.
Cuengi, without even chewing, swallowed the grapes in one go and immediately grabbed the second basket, pouring them into his mouth.
It was impossible, even for Cuengi, to swallow such a large number of grapes without chewing.
However...
Crunch.
Using telekinesis, Cuengi crushed the grapes in his mouth, making them easier to swallow.
'This first place belongs to Cuengi!'
As if to make up for his defeat in the last carrot eating competition, Cuengi's eating speed was overwhelming.
Thanks to his quick pace, Cuengi began to widen the gap between himself and Pink-fur, Minotaur King, and Uren.
'Alright. This is doable!'
Watching Cuengi, Sejun felt a surge of confidence.
Of course, he wasn't talking about competing with the top contenders.
Moo!
Moo!
He was thinking about the Black Minotaurs.
In the past, he wouldn't have dared to compete with them.
But now, things were different!
Sejun had a perfect plan.
"Crop Miniaturization!"
Sejun quickly used his skill on the grapes, reducing their size by 20%.
And then,
Chomp.
He grabbed a handful of grapes, stuffed them into his mouth, and chewed rapidly.
Delicious.
It was the same flavor of grapes he usually harvested from Podori's vines.
He wanted to savor the taste, but...
'There was no time for that!'
Chomp. Chomp.
Ptui.
He spit out only the seeds he could and swallowed everything else.
Since the top contenders would finish all the grapes before he got full, there was no need to pace himself.
"Crop Miniaturization!"
So, Sejun focused on eating as quickly as possible.
After about five minutes into the competition,
Kueng!
Chomp. Chomp.
Cuengi emptied his 11th basket and finally began to chew the grapes.
From the 11th basket onward, the grape sizes increased to make it harder to swallow without chewing.
The basket contained 100 grapes, each the size of a watermelon.
Roar!
Moo!
Kuik!
Soon, Pink-fur, Minotaur King, and Uren also began to empty their 11th baskets.
It looks like it's almost over.
The grapes were about to run out.
"Crop Miniaturization! Vitality!"
Seeing this, Sejun also picked up the pace for the final sprint.
Combining Crop Miniaturization and Vitality could possibly place him within the top 50 if he was lucky.
However...
Why isn't it over yet?!
Contrary to Sejun's expectations, Cuengi had just emptied his 41st basket, while Pink-fur, Minotaur King, and Uren had finished their 39th baskets, and yet, the grapes kept coming.
For reference, in the previous Carrot Eating Competition, the competition ended when Pink-fur and Minotaur King reached their 25th basket.
What was going on?
"Crop Miniaturization! Vitality!"
Since Sejun could still eat, he continued, albeit puzzled, as he munched on more grapes to keep up.
"I'm full."
"I can't eat anymore."
One by one, the people around him started giving up.
One hour later.
"Ah... I can't eat anymore..."
Eventually, even Sejun, who had been enduring with his skills, raised the white flag at the 10th basket.
Though his Crop Miniaturization skill had leveled up to 2, reducing the crop size by 25%, he was just too full.
Kueng!
Roar!
Moo!
Kuik!
The top contenders like Cuengi and the others were still eating at the same pace as they started.
Moo!
Even the Black Minotaurs, though slightly slower, were steadily consuming grapes.
In a flash, Sejun dropped out of the top 1,000 and quickly fell out of the top 500,000.
'Why do the grapes keep coming?!'
While Sejun was growing frustrated at the endlessly spawning grapes...
Seed Shop Headquarters.
"Huh?! Why are there so many participants?! We're already running out of grapes!"
Uncle, who was watching the rapidly depleting grape supply, was in a panic.
Even though he had prepared an enormous amount of grapes for the competition, the overwhelming number of participants from the Silver Tower—over 100 million—meant the grapes were being consumed quickly.
To replenish the grapes required Divine Power, so Uncle was tempted to end the competition early.
'If the competition ends because we run out of grapes, Sejun will be disappointed, right?'
I can't disappoint the Trust-in-Park!
"Grapes, grow!"
In order to avoid disappointing Sejun, Uncle, the God of Grapevines, continued to work hard, producing more grapes.
As a result, the residents of the Silver Tower, as well as Cuengi, Pink-fur, Minotaur King, and Uren, were all thrilled.
"Alright, time to get to work."
When Sejun left the competition area,
[As a reward for participating in the Grape Eating Competition, you have received 290 Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes.]
290 firm grapes appeared in Sejun's hand.
"Wow! That's a lot. So, based on what I ate..."
Sejun calculated how many grapes he had eaten.
Since there were about 3,000 grapes in one basket, it seemed that for every 100 grapes eaten, he received 1 Harvest Festival Commemorative Grape.
"Great. Vice Chairman Theo, let's start the business."
"Puhuhut. Got it, meow!"
At Sejun's words, Theo, who had been hanging onto Sejun's lap throughout the competition, pulled a table and signboard out of his bag.
[You can exchange Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes for crops here.]
They began to collect Harvest Festival Commemorative Grapes in exchange for crops.
30 hours after the competition began.
Kueng...
[Cuengi... can't eat anymore...]
For the first time since the competition started, Cuengi put down his basket.
[The last participant has given up on eating grapes.]
[The Grape Eating Competition has ended.]
Finally, the competition was over.
[Grape Eating Competition Rankings]
1st - Cuengi Park (12,500 baskets)
2nd - Pink-fur (12,450 baskets)
3rd - Minotaur King (12,400 baskets)
4th - Uren (12,300 baskets)
...
...
...
Rank 1,003,131 - Sejun Park (9 baskets + 230 grapes)
...
...
...
Rank 131,871,213 - Theo Park (0 grapes)
Sejun kept getting pushed back in ranking and eventually ended up outside the top 1 million.
Hehehe. But there are still 130 million below me.
It's important to treasure what you have rather than lament what you don't.
Sejun felt quite satisfied knowing there were over 100 million people ranked below him.
And then...
"Meow meow meow."
Theo, a lover of fish, didn't mind finishing last in the Grape Eating Competition at all since he only participated to stay on Sejun's lap.
By the way, Blackie, who had stubbornly insisted on joining the competition, was at home enjoying dried sweet potato chips with his subordinates before falling asleep.
[Rewards for 1st to 100th place in the Grape Eating Competition are now being distributed.]
In the meantime, the rewards began to be handed out.
Kueng!
[These are for dad to get stronger!]
Cuengi, who had become small again, suddenly ran to Sejun and handed over 10 golden grapes he received as the first place reward.
"Cuengi, thank you."
Kueng!
[Eat these and become stronger!]
"Okay."
[Golden Grape Infused with the Energy of the World]
→ A grape created by gathering the energy of the world through the earnest prayers of Uncle, the God of Grapevines.
→ It has no seeds, making it easy to eat.
→ The flavor is excellent, with a rich and fragrant aroma of grapes.
→ Upon consumption, all stats increase by 10.
→ For every 100 grapes consumed, the energy of the world gathers, causing a miracle to occur nearby.
→ Expiration date: 180 days.
→ Grade: SS
"Oh."
The taste was better, and the stat increase was higher compared to previous rewards.
Plus...
A miracle?
"Park Sejun, the man who makes miracles. Hehehe. Sounds cool, doesn't it?"
The description of miracle happening after consuming 100 grapes piqued Sejun's interest.
Having checked the options of the Golden Grape Infused with the Energy of the World, Sejun felt even more motivated.
"You guys seem awfully suspicious."
......
Sejun noticed that his companions, who would normally have already brought him their rewards, were hesitating with their prizes in hand.
Two thoughts crossed his mind simultaneously.
The first was...
As expected, Cuengi is such a filial child.
The second was...
So, they really did give me all the stuff before because they were bad tasting?!
104.28.193.250
"These!!!"
Sejun, feeling betrayed, went into a frenzy.
"Bring them all!"
He roared and started collecting the rewards from the Grape Eating Competition.
*****