Chapter 274: Exciting, Meow!
Purple Tower, 52nd floor.
Kiiik.
A giant tarantula climbed onto a massive land floating in the sky.
Then,
Rustle. Rustle.
Countless tentacles began to emerge, tearing through the back of the tarantula.
Crack.
The tentacles soon tore apart the giant tarantula’s body and moved on their own, leaving their host behind.
-Kekekek. We’ve arrived.
It was a fragment of the Kraken, a sea-devouring monster, one of the 12 Apostles of Destruction who held the 6th seat.
Having found what it wanted, it revealed its true form, indifferent to the fate of its host.
Rustle. Rustle.
The Kraken’s fragment crawled across the wasteland towards the center of the land.
And,
-Kekekek. Found it. The Temple of the God of Creation.
The Kraken’s fragment spotted a serene building surrounded by Emila’s garden in the distance. The temple of the God of Creation, guarded by the Apostle of Creation.
The Apostles of Destruction kept entering the tower in search of this place.
-Kekekek. I can sense a delicious energy.
Specifically, they aimed to absorb the power emanating from the Temple of the God of Creation.
For the Apostles of Destruction, the power of creation is a fine nourishment that can enhance the power of destruction. The more they absorb the power of creation, the stronger the power of destruction becomes.
Rustle. Rustle.
Thus, the Kraken’s fragment made its way to Emila’s garden.
Sssss.
As the tentacles of the Kraken’s fragment touched, the crops turned to ash, and the garden began to transform into a wasteland.
When a quarter of the garden had been reduced to ash,
-This is far enough. Now, we can unlock the third seal.
With those words, the fragment of the Kraken was expelled, and the land housing the Temple of the God of Creation moved elsewhere.
***
“Here. Take two each and pay me 50 billion Tower Coins each.”
Sejun showed the black beans in his left hand to the dragons and,
Extended his right hand. Money first.
-Kekeke. Understood.
-Sejun, here’s mine.
-Me too.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Excited by the sight of the black beans, the dragons hurriedly gave Sejun the money and took two black beans each from his left hand.
‘It’s so light.’
The money bag felt unbelievably light for holding 150 billion Tower Coins, thanks to a high-level weight-reduction magic spell, even more advanced than the one Theo used to carry.
‘Hehehe. I should switch our kids’ money bags to these.’
Pleasantly surprised by the unexpected extra income, Sejun began counting the Tower Coins inside the money bag.
“It’s exactly 150 billion Tower Coins.”
After confirming the amount received from the dragons, Sejun now had the funds to acquire new powers, but there was no time to shop for powers.
As Sejun came down from the fountain,
“Cuengi!”
He called for Cuengi,
Thud thud thud thud.
Cuengi eagerly came running in response to Sejun’s call.
And,
Snap.
Kueng? Kueng?
[Did dad call Cuengi? Is it time for Cuengi to eat?]
Thinking it was time to eat, Cuengi ran excitedly and clung to Sejun’s leg.
However,
“Hold on a bit, Cuengi. Toryong!”
Sejun, along with the animals and Toryong, headed towards the waypoint. They had to hurry not to be late for the founding ceremony.
Kugugung.
Riding Toryong to the waypoint,
“Now, let’s eat breakfast.”
Sejun fed the animals on Toryong’s head.
Chomp chomp chomp.
Theo had Churu.
Crunch crunch.
Cuengi ate a giant sweet potato.
Slurp slurp.
The golden bat ate grapes.
Peck peck peck.
Piyot ate peanut powder.
While the animals ate their food,
Munch munch.
Sejun also filled his stomach with dried sweet potato snacks.
Then,
“Chairman Park, I have something for you, meow!”
After finishing the Churu, Theo stood up on Sejun’s lap and shouted. Piyot, now’s the time, meow!
Flap flap!
Piyo!
[Theo-nim, here I am!]
Responding to Theo’s signal, Piyot hurriedly carried Theo’s bag and flew to him.
“Puhuhut. Good job, Piyot! Chairman Park, take this, meow!”
Thus, Theo, having received the bag, pulled out two items from the bag he had gotten from the ghost storage on the 75th floor of the tower and handed them to Sejun.
One was a book with a tattered leather cover, and the other was a wooden stick.
[Book]
→ ???
→ Usage Restriction: Magic Power 50
→ Creator: Anonymous
→ Grade: B
[Staff]
→ ???
→ Usage Restriction: None
→ Creator: Anonymous
→ Grade: D
Since they were unappraised items, the inside of the book was blank, and the staff seemed ordinary.
“Aileen, please appraise these for me.”
[The Tower’s Administrator says to leave it to her.]
While Sejun was asking Aileen for an appraisal,
“Meow?”
While organizing the bag, Theo found an item. What’s this meow?
The item Theo pulled from the bag was a land deed. It was for the 79th floor of the tower.
‘That’s right, meow!’
This reminded Theo of the promise to take Sejun to heal the Mother Tree and receive a reward from Loui.
And Theo imagined giving Sejun the chosen reward and then lying on Sejun’s lap, making a loud declaration.
‘Puhuhut. Just thinking about it makes me excited, meow! I must quickly take Chairman Park to the 79th floor, meow!’
Theo was excited about shouting at Sejun.
“Chairman Park, we must go to the 79th floor, meow! We have to heal the Mother Tree, meow!”
Theo urged Sejun, who was supposed to attend the Black Rabbit’s founding ceremony, to go to the 79th floor instead.
Piyo!
[Sejun-nim, we need to go heal the Mother Tree!]
Right! I was on a mission! Piyot, reminded of its mission by Theo’s words, exclaimed loudly.
“Calm down, guys. We need to go to the founding ceremony now. We’ll go after it’s over.”
“Understood, meow! Then let’s go after the founding ceremony, meow! Here’s the land deed, meow!”
Theo handed Sejun the land deed for the 79th floor.
“Okay. But how did you get this?”
When Sejun asked how Theo obtained the land deed,
“Puhuhut. In order to obtain your Egg Fruits, I…”
Theo lay on Sejun’s lap, bringing Sejun’s hand to his belly, and began to explain. Pet me while I speak, meow!
“If that’s the case, of course we must go.”
Hearing Theo’s story, Sejun’s attitude became proactive.
‘We can’t let the tree that bears Egg Fruits die!’
Egg Fruits were very precious to Sejun.
As their conversation ended,
[The Tower’s Administrator says the appraisal is finished.]
With Aileen’s words, a book and a staff appeared in Sejun’s hand.
[Experienced Farmer’s Plant Encyclopedia]
[Unending Staff]
“Chairman Park, look at the staff first, meow!”
Since the staff had a weaker attraction, Theo suggested Sejun look at the staff first.
“Staff?”
Following Theo’s suggestion, Sejun examined the staff. The staff had the ability to extend indefinitely when magic power was applied.
“It could be useful when we run out of firewood.”
After checking the staff,
“Shall we look at the book?”
Sejun then examined the book.
[Experienced Farmer’s Plant Encyclopedia]
→ An encyclopedia where an experienced farmer recorded his knowledge.
→ Writing the name of a crop on a blank page will reveal the location of that crop growing within the Black Tower.
→ A page once used cannot be reused.
→ Pages available: 0/200
→ Usage Restriction: Magic Power 500 or above, must have a farming-related occupation
→ Creator: Experienced Farmer Figaro
→ Grade: S+
“Write the name of a crop on a blank page, and it tells you the location?”
Reading the description made Sejun want to test the book’s functionality.
But,
‘But I don’t have a pen?’
Sejun didn’t have a pen. Is there something else I can use? Sejun looked around for an alternative to a pen.
Then,
(Pip-pip. The grape seeds are for Sejun-nim! Throw away the grape skins!)
Sejun spotted the golden bat separating seeds from a grape after finishing the grape juice. That’s it!
“Golden Bat, give me the grape skin.”
(Yes!)
Without hesitation or question, the Golden Bat brought over the grape skin at Sejun’s request.
Squeeze.
Sejun squeezed the grape skin with all his might,
Drip. Drip.
Two drops of red juice fell.
“Good.”
Sejun dipped his index finger in the red juice and began to write on the book.
“Sweet…po…tato.”
He chose a crop he knew well to verify the accuracy of the information.
As Sejun wrote on the blank page of the book,
<Sweet Potato Locations>
[Power Sweet Potato – 99th floor of the Tower, 55th floor of the Tower]
[Golden Sweet Potato – 99th floor of the Tower, 55th floor of the Tower]
[Night Sweet Potato – 70th floor of the Tower]
The locations of sweet potatoes appeared. The first two were well-known to Sejun.
However,
“Huh?! Night Sweet Potato?”
Sejun was surprised to find that a different type of sweet potato existed in the Black Tower.
“Then, other crops…”
Just as Sejun was about to write the names of other crops he didn’t know existed in the Black Tower on the blank page of the Experienced Farmer’s Plant Encyclopedia,
-Master, we have arrived.
Toryong announced their arrival at the waypoint.
Clang.
“Guys, go inside.”
Sejun sent the animals into the void storage and placed his hand on the red crystal to move to the 55th floor.
***
Inside the White Castle on the 55th floor of the tower.
“Has the delegation not arrived yet?”
Legendary merchant Jeto, seated in the VIP section, asked his subordinate.
“Yes… That is… We’ve released all merchants to search, but there’s still no contact about finding the delegation.”
“Sigh… The founding ceremony is about to start… What exactly is the delegation doing…?”
Jeto sighed in frustration at his subordinate’s response. There really wasn’t much time left until the start of the founding ceremony.
The delegation Jeto was waiting for was from the Kingdom of Kov, and as a native of Kov Kingdom, Jeto was responsible for the delegation’s gifts.
“Still, just in case, have some merchants wait at the entrance of the kingdom.”
“Yes!”
Following Jeto’s orders, his subordinate left,
“We need a plan…”
Jeto began to think of what to do if the delegation didn’t arrive.
However,
…
No suitable plan came to mind. There just wasn’t enough time.
Not sending an official delegation to another country’s founding ceremony would be a serious insult to the host nation.
It could lead to a diplomatic issue, and in the worst case, even war.
‘Of course, the king and queen are not of bad tempered, so it shouldn’t come to that… But still, it would hurt their feelings…’
As Jeto was pondering how to remedy the situation,
“Lord Jeto!”
A subordinate quickly ran to Jeto with some news.
“Is that true?!”
“Yes! They were definitely wearing the badge of Kov Kingdom’s Chief Diplomat!”
“Good. Lead the way!”
“Yes!”
Jeto hurriedly followed his subordinate.
***
On the 55th floor of the tower.
As Sejun arrived at the 55th floor via the waypoint,
Ppak!
[Welcome, Sejun-nim!]
Coco, the captain of the escort squad waiting at the waypoint, greeted Sejun.
“Right. We’re not late, are we?”
Ppak! Ppak! Ppak!
[No! There’s plenty of time! Please, follow me!]
“Just a moment. Guys, come out.”
Sejun quickly called out the animals from the void storage.
“Meow!”
Pip-pip!
Piyo!
As soon as Sejun called, Theo, the Golden Bat, and Piyot emerged from the void storage.
However, Cuengi hadn’t come out because he was busy filling his snack pouch.
“Cuengi, Dad will give you something delicious later. Let’s fill the snack pouch later.”
Kueng?
Reluctantly, Sejun went into the void storage to coax Cuengi and came out holding him in both hands.
“Let’s go.”
Ppak!
[Yes!]
As Sejun and the animals followed Coco into the White Castle,
“Diplomat, where have you been all this time?!”
Jeto, emerging from the castle, shouted upon seeing Sejun’s group, or more precisely, at Piyot.
Piyo? Piyo?
[Diplomat? Me?]
Piyot, receiving Jeto’s gaze, tilted its head in confusion. I’m not a diplomat? This time, it wasn’t that Piyot had forgotten; it genuinely didn’t know.
Although Loui had given Piyot a badge symbolizing its status as the Chief Diplomat of the Kov Kingdom, fearing that Piyot might encounter difficulties, he hadn’t informed Piyot of this fact.
Seeing Theo next to him, he felt strongly that he shouldn’t tell them.
And,
“Puhuhut. Jeto, nice to see you, meow! But if I’m a diplomat, what can I receive, meow?”
As Loui feared, Theo, with eyes full of anticipation, wagged its excited tail and asked Jeto.
‘Puhuhut. Exciting, meow!’
Theo revved up, ready to score big today too.
*****
4/6