Chapter 168
After being bathed by Sejun without a drop of water left on him, Theo felt refreshed and happy. Even though he had taken a bath, his fur remained fluffy. There would be no more occasions for Chairman Park to see his wet fur!
“Meow meow meow!”
After the bath, Theo, clinging to Sejun’s lap, hummed a cheerful tune.
Then,
“I wonder where Cuengi is?”
Sejun, with Theo clinging to him, descended the fountain and headed towards the area where the young animals were snacking.
Cuengi had obviously rolled in the rice cake earlier, so Sejun intended to bathe him as well.
‘I should remove it before the rice cake hardens.’
Sejun arrived at the place where the young animals were snacking.
However,
“Why is the atmosphere like this?”
The atmosphere around the young animals felt strangely tense.
Moo…
There were five young Black Minotaurs, each about 3 meters tall, lying on the ground, and
Krueng!
Cuengi was roaring, fists raised, in front of them.
Behind Cuengi, there were several frozen baby rabbits and a crying young Black Minotaur about 1 meter tall.
‘Did our Cuengi do this?’
In a flash, an image played in his mind of Cuengi tormenting the other animals, and the five Black Minotaurs trying to stop him.
Sejun wondered if he had spoiled Cuengi too much, but he had never known Cuengi to strike first. The Cuengi he knew was a very kind and not the first to start a fight.
‘No way! Our Cuengi wouldn’t do that!’
As Sejun solidified his belief in Cuengi,
Krueng!
Cuengi snatched a steamed corn from the hand of the fallen Black Minotaur.
“What?! Did he steal their snack?”
Sejun’s trust in Cuengi began to waver instantly. It was indeed a very fragile trust.
Then,
Krueng!
Cuengi handed the stolen steamed corn to the crying baby Black Minotaur.
“Ah!”
Then Sejun understood the situation. The older Black Minotaurs tried to take food from the younger one, so Cuengi intervened and scolded them.
“Hehehe. Our Cuengi is awesome.”
A proud Sejun chuckled.
The baby Black Minotaur who received the steamed corn looked at Cuengi with eyes full of admiration. Receiving such admiring gazes, Cuengi approached the fallen Black Minotaurs.
Then,
Krueng!
The enlarged Cuengi helped them up and shared snacks from his snack pocket.
Krueng!
As the saying goes, you get closer through fights; Cuengi and the Black Minotaurs quickly became friends. It was a heartwarming scene fit for a children’s comic.
“Hehehe. Whoever raised him did a good job.”
Sejun looked at Cuengi with satisfaction.
Then,
Krueng!
Spotting Sejun, Cuengi ran towards him.
And,
Krueng! Krueng!
[Cuengi’s snack pocket is empty! Cuengi will fill it up from Dad’s storage!]
Cuengi boldly requested to take food from Sejun’s storage. Hmm… Cuengi was certainly not an attacker, but why couldn’t Sejun shake off the feeling that he was?
With a confused expression, Sejun obediently opened his storage. Perhaps for those heartwarming moments in comics to occur frequently, a parent’s wallet needs to be full? Sejun thought.
As Cuengi was filling up his snack pocket from the storage,
“Vice Chairman Theo, please heal the kids.”
Today was everyone’s birthday. Hoping for everyone’s happiness, Sejun asked Theo to heal the young Black Minotaurs. Although their black skin didn’t show marks, they surely would have bruises from Cuengi’s blows.
“Understood, meow! Come here, meow.”
Theo proceeded to heal the young Black Minotaurs.
“Consider it an honor that Vice Chairman Theo is healing you personally, meow! But you guys look like you could carry heavy loads, meow! Would you consider becoming my subordinates, meow?”
Of course, in the midst of all this, Theo didn’t neglect his responsibilities as Vice Chairman of Sejun’s farm, trying to recruit helpers to sell more crops.
Krueng!
[All filled up!]
In the meantime, Cuengi filled up his snack pocket. For reference, thanks to Iona’s spatial expansion feature, Cuengi’s snack pocket now had the capacity to hold as much as a small room.
“Let’s go for a bath, Cuengi.”
Krueng!
[Understood!]
Originally fond of baths, Cuengi did not resist at all and followed Sejun obediently to the fountain to bathe. Of course, Theo, who had acquired the water affinity, entered the water while hanging onto Sejun’s knee.
After the bath was finished,
Splash.
Cuengi shook off the water from his body. Sejun had been standing at a distance all this time, as getting hit by the water Cuengi shook off was quite painful.
Krueng!
[All done!]
When Cuengi shook off most of the water,
Swoosh.
Sejun approached and quickly wiped off the remaining moisture with a towel.
Krueng…Krueng…
[Cuengi’s sleepy. Cuengi wants to sleep…]
As Sejun dried him, Cuengi began to doze off.
Kurorong.
Rub rub.
As Sejun was rubbing the sleeping Cuengi’s belly,
[Ajax Mamebe, Tower Farmer of the White Tower has harvested a Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power.]
[5,000 Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power are stored in the White Tower’s temporary storage.]
[The White Tower’s temporary storage is full.]
[As the temporary storage cannot accommodate more crops, the harvesting task for Ajax Mamebe, Tower Farmer of the White Tower is terminated.]
“Huh?!”
To transfer from the White Tower to the Black Tower, 1 million tower coins were needed. Sejun had been trying to fill up to the maximum weight of 100kg each time. But there was a limit to the storage capacity of the temporary storage.
“Only 5,000 can be stored… Well, it can’t be helped. I’ll transfer all the crops in the temporary storage here.”
Sejun transferred the crops to the Black Tower.
[You have paid the basic tower transport fee of 1 million tower coins.]
[Transporting 5,000 Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power (50kg) to the Black Tower.]
“Ajax, start harvesting again.”
Of course, Sejun didn’t forget to remotely instruct Ajax to keep working.
A moment later,
Flash.
[5,000 Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power (50kg) have arrived.]
A bright beam of light dropped in front of Sejun, and when the light disappeared, 5,000 white cherry tomatoes harvested by Ajax appeared.
“Wow!”
Sejun marveled at the 5,000 Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power. Eating them all would increase one’s magical power by 50,000. Of course, there’s a high chance it might go as planned, so he set a modest target of 10,000.
‘Let’s taste it first.’
Sejun had never had a chance to taste the grade-A cherry tomato before. He eagerly picked up one cherry tomato.
As Sejun bit into the cherry tomato,
Crunch!
‘…?!’
The skin of the cherry tomato was crushed, releasing a tangy juice and a refreshing sensation into his mouth.
And then,
Gulp.
It went down his throat as if it was the most natural thing. As he swallowed the grade-A cherry tomato, a refreshing feeling spread throughout his body.
His body eagerly demanded another cherry tomato. And Sejun hastily began consuming more grade-A cherry tomatoes.
How many did he eat?
[You have consumed an Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power.]
[The potential for magic stat has reached its limit.]
[You cannot absorb any more magic power.]
[Magic power is being discharged.]
“What?!”
With the message, Sejun recalled the <Power: Strong Magic> which increases magic by 50 regardless of the body’s potential.
He knew he had a low stat potential, but he didn’t expect to reach its limit so soon.
“Is my potential that low?!”
So, Sejun had a low potential as well.
‘So, what’s my magic stat potential?’
As Sejun was about to check his magic power,
Gurgle.
“Ugh!”
Suddenly, he felt a pain in his stomach. The discharged magic seemed to be exiting from below.
“Te, Te… Vice Chairman Theo! Guard this for me! I need to go to the restroom!”
“Got it, meow!”
Sejun hurriedly entrusted Theo with the grade-A cherry tomatoes and ran to the restroom inside the house.
During Sejun’s absence,
Emuoo!
Kkwek!
It was as if a blue moon had occurred, monsters in the vicinity lost their senses and rushed towards the white cherry tomatoes.
The presence of 5,000 grade-A cherry tomatoes, although not as influential as a blue moon, still affected the monsters.
“Meow?! No, meow! Don’t eat, meow!”
Theo rushed to block the oncoming monsters.
***
“Phew. That was close.”
Sejun, who fortunately made it safely to the restroom, relaxed and leisurely checked his magic stats.
The restroom was enchanted with a soundproofing spell, making it an excellent space to think as no sound from inside would leak out, and no external noise could be heard.
Magic (157.94)
“How sad…”
Sejun spoke with a desolate expression after checking his magic stat. Before eating the grade-A cherry tomatoes, Sejun’s magic power stat was 112. Meaning, he was full after consuming only 5 out of 5,000 grade A cherry tomatoes.
He couldn’t even digest 50, let alone the modest expectation of 10,000. What was even sadder was that no matter how many of the remaining over 4,000 grade-A cherry tomatoes he ate, they wouldn’t be absorbed and would just be excreted as waste.
“But my magic stat potential was 99.”
From the magic stat displayed, Sejun calculated the remaining stat after deducting the effect of Talent: Enhanced Magic Circuit (+6%) and <Power: Strong Magic> which increased his magic by 50.
He would have to check later, but he had a feeling that the potential for his other stats was also 99. Perhaps 99 was the potential of humans. Yes, that must be it. It’s a human characteristic.
With that, Sejun concluded that his characteristic was a universal human one.
“Then, on Earth, I must have the highest magic stat.”
Even with the help of talents or items, there’s a limit to increasing a stat beyond a potential of 99.
“Hehehe.”
Shifting his view from the 99th floor of the tower to Earth, Sejun felt a profound sense of grandeur.
With that lofty heart, Sejun stepped outside.
“Huh? Where did everything go?”
Not a single one of the previously abundant white cherry tomatoes was in sight.
Then,
“Chairman Park, over here, meow.”
The voice of Theo came from below.
“Huh?”
Looking down, Sejun saw Theo hiding under the stairs of the house.
“Vice Chairman Theo, what are you doing there?”
Sejun naturally knelt down and asked.
“I was guarding your cherry tomatoes, meow!”
Theo emerged from under the stairs, looking around cautiously, and clung to Sejun’s knee.
“Guarding the cherry tomatoes?”
“Yes, meow! After Chairman Park went to the restroom…”
Theo began explaining what had happened after Sejun went to the restroom.
“So, you’re saying the animals suddenly got excited and rushed over?”
“Yes, meow! So I hid the remaining cherry tomatoes in my bag… but I couldn’t save them all, meow.”
Theo said with a gloomy voice. The animals had unexpectedly rushed over, and around 3,000 of them were eaten.
“It’s okay. Bring out the contract. Vice Chairman Theo, let’s get to work.”
“Hehehe. Understood, meow!”
Theo, revitalized by Sejun’s words, sinisterly smiled and pulled out a bundle of blank contracts from his bag. They’re all going to be under my control now, meow!
And then,
“Cuengi, wake up.”
Sejun woke Cuengi, who was soundly sleeping amidst all the commotion, for catching the culprits.
Krueng?
[Why did you wake me?]
Sejun popped a grade-A cherry tomato into the yawning Cuengi’s mouth.
Krueng! Krueng!
[It’s delicious! Cuengi feels energized!]
After eating the grade-A cherry tomato, Cuengi quickly stood up.
“Cuengi, find the animals that smell like what you just ate.”
Krueng!
[Got it!]
Sniff. Sniff.
Krueng!
[Found them!]
“Oh! Already?!”
Krueng! Krueng?!
[The scent from Dad’s mouth is even stronger than mine! How many did Dad eat?!]
“Huh?! Not me, but…”
Sejun, who was trying to catch the animals that ate the grade-A cherry tomatoes, got caught himself instead.
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