Chapter 335: Why Am I Wagging My Tail?
[You have arrived at the 99th floor of the Black Tower.]
Sejun arrived at the 99th floor.
Moo!
[Welcome, Sejun-nim.]
“Yeah.”
After greeting the Minotaur King, he headed to the farm.
While moving to the farm,
[Night has fallen.]
[<Title: The One Who Restored the Night> is activated.]
[All stats increase by 20% during the night.]
The sky darkened and night fell.
“I should eat something simple for dinner.”
Clank.
Due to the late hour, Sejun opened void storage to take out some Garaetteoks, intending to eat something simple and quick.
He planned to grill the Garaetteoks.
Kueng!
[It’s Garaetteoks!]
“Hyung! Are we eating Garaetteoks?!”
Cuengi and Ajax got excited seeing the Garaetteoks.
“Yeah. Just wait a moment.”
Sejun replied, placing a grill over the fire,
Tap. Tap.
and started grilling the Garaetteoks on it.
While the Garaetteoks were grilling,
Glug. Glug.
Sejun poured honey into a sauce bowls to dip the Garaetteoks in.
He prepared two types of honey, regular and kudzu, so they could dip in their preferred one.
And then,
Flip. Flip.
He flipped the Garaetteoks occasionally to prevent them from burning, grilling them to a golden brown on both sides.
After a while,
“It’s done.”
Sejun served the well-grilled Garaetteoks on plates for Cuengi and Ajax,
Kueng!
[Delicious!]
“Sejun hyung, you’re the best!”
The two started to enjoy the grilled Garaetteoks, dipped in honey.
Sejun also picked up a grilled Garaetteok and
Dip.
dipped it into the kudzu honey before taking a bite.
Crunch.
The crispy outside of the Garaetteok, grilled to perfection, broke with a delightful sound, revealing the soft Garaetteok hidden inside.
“Hehehe. Delicious.”
The sticky Garaetteok mixed with the kudzu honey pleased Sejun’s palate.
After eating dinner,
Kueng!
[Dad, good night!]
Cuengi went to sleep.
“Ajax, take Blackie and go to sleep first.”
Sejun, having more things to do, sent the tired Ajax to bed with Fenrir.
“Okay! Hyung, I’ll go to sleep first!”
Ajax, carrying the passed-out Fenrir, headed home,
Thud. Thud.
while Sejun moved to an empty plot of land to plant the seeds of the Thick Darkness Cherry.
He thought it might be better to plant them at night, given their dark attribute.
Poke.
After digging with his dagger, he planted the cherry seeds,
[You have planted the seeds of the Thick Darkness Cherry in a land filled with magic power.]
[Your job experience increases slightly.]
[Your have planted Thick Darkness Cherry during the night, due to which the growth speed of the Thick Darkness Cherry will double for one week.]
[Due to the land filled with magic power, all effects of Magic Seed Sowing Lv. 8 increase by 50%.]
[Your proficiency of Magic Seed Sowing skill Lv. 8 increases slightly.]
The messages that appeared confirmed Sejun’s guess that it was better to plant the cherries at night.
“But what does it mean by land ‘filled’ with magic power…? Ah!”
Sejun initially puzzled, then realized what it meant.
The place where he had just planted the cherries was the same land he had used in the morning.
“Hehehe. It became fertilizer.”
Sejun, satisfied that his output (?) was beneficial for farming, continued to plant cherries and then went to sleep.
***
In the Black Tower’s administrator area,
“Phew. It’s tiring.”
Aileen was exhausted from removing the power of destruction from the Fenrir’s core fragment.
Munch. Munch.
She recovered her magic power by eating the elixir-grade cherry tomatoes given by Sejun.
At that moment,
-How did Brachio find out?
-I don’t know. But don’t worry, I hid it well.
-What did you hide well? Brachio just came looking for me. I sent her away saying I was going to sleep.
-I should do the same if she comes to me.
Kaiser, Kellion, Ramter, and Tier entered the administrator area, chatting.
It was to inform Aileen about Brachio, who might come looking for her.
As they were walking and talking,
Swish.
-Huh?!
-What’s this?!
-Are these all Tower Coins?!
-There’s so many!
The four dragons excitedly noticed the Tower Coins they stumbled upon.
-Why are these here?
-Who cares about that! Should we just pick them up?
Sneakily.
With greedy eyes, the four dragons reached for the Tower Coins scattered on the ground.
However,
“Those belong to Sejun! If you take them, you’ll be banished from the Black Tower!”
Aileen sternly warned them, giving a glaring look.
And then,
“Collect!”
Swish.
She quickly collected the Tower Coins on the ground into her own storage.
-Tsk…
The four dragons watched the disappearing Tower Coins with regret.
A moment later.
-So, this is Fenrir’s core fragment?
“Yes. It contains the power of destruction. And removing it produces tower coins.”
The dragons, having learned from Aileen where the Tower Coins came from, stared intently at the fragment of Fenrir’s core she was holding.
The thought of informing about Brachio had completely vanished from their minds.
‘If we just have that… Tower Coins…’
-Hahaha.
-Uhahahah.
-Phahahah.
-Dhahahah.
Kaiser, Kellion, Ramter, and Tier were counting their chickens before they hatched, celebrating before the person who’s supposed to give them the chicken has even thought about it.
-Granddaughter, we will help you remove the power of destruction.
-Yes. Destruction is our enemy, after all.
-Ahem… But in return for our labor…
-How about 9 to 1…
The dragons volunteered to help remove the power of destruction, eyeing the Tower Coins and naturally assuming they deserved the larger share.
However,
“No!”
Aileen firmly refused the group of villains tempted by Sejun’s Tower Coins.
“5 to 5. If you don’t like it, I’ll do it alone.”
Instead, she made a new proposal.
-No… but still…
Tier, who initially suggested a 9 to 1 split, tried to negotiate,
Chuck.
but Kaiser, Kellion, and Ramter, who had already accepted Aileen’s proposal, started working on Fenrir’s core fragment.
And then,
Swish.
-Oh! They are coming out!”
-We could easily make 500 million a day!
-If it’s 5 to 5, that’s 250 million each.
They began extracting Tower Coins by removing the power of destruction.
-Traitors…
Click.
Tier quickly joined in, placing his hand on Fenrir’s core fragment to remove the power of destruction.
***
On the 84th floor of the Black Tower.
“Puhuhut. We’ve arrived, meow!”
Theo arrived in front of the grand gate of the Caiman Kingdom.
Bang!
“Puhuhut. Hand over the money, meow!”
He boldly entered, pushing open the gates with his front paws.
Then,
Ppiig!
Soldiers gathered at the sound of the horn, surrounding the gate.
“Who are you?!”
“Do you know where this place is that you dare to invade?!”
The soldiers surrounded Theo, shouting at him.
“Puhuhut. If you ask who I am, I should answer…”
Theo was excited to introduce himself.
However,
“Who allowed such a lowly cat into the noble Caiman Kingdom’s royal castle?!”
A giant crocodile appeared, interrupting Theo’s introduction.
It was Princess Kelly Caiman, who could be considered the current heir to the throne of the Caiman Kingdom in Croker’s absence.
And then,
“Kyoo kyoo kyoo. Did you just call Theo-nim a lowly cat? Hellfire!”
Those were Kelly Caiman’s last words.
Kwang!
Hellfire melted Kelly Caiman and the Caiman Kingdom’s castle behind her.
“Huh?! Kyoo…?”
“It’s… It’s the wizard of destruction!”
“It’s the 3rd stage of Kyoo!”
“Run away!”
The soldiers, realizing Iona’s identity, started to flee.
However,
“Puhuhut. Where do you think you’re going, meow? Stamp this first, meow!”
Theo wasn’t just going to watch them run away.
Press.
He pulled out a contract and collected the soldiers’ stamps.
“Puhuhut. I gained 100 more slaves, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Great job, Theo-nim!”
“Puhuhut. I know, meow!”
Theo felt proud as he looked at the contract stamped by the soldiers.
Then,
“Meow?! But why do you all look like that, meow?”
Theo belatedly noticed the soldiers’ conditions. They looked as though they hadn’t eaten in days, all skin and bones.
“That’s because… Croker-nim…”
Croker had taken all the food for the war, leaving the soldiers and residents of the Caiman Kingdom starving.
“Then eat this, meow!”
Theo took out grilled fish from his bundle and handed it to the soldiers. Puhuhut. You need to be healthy to work well, meow!
“Tha… Thank you!”
“We’ll eat well!”
Unaware of Theo’s intentions, the soldiers were moved by his generosity and devoured the grilled fish eagerly.
While the soldiers were eating,
“Now let’s collect the compensation, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes!”
Theo and Iona headed towards the ruins of the Caiman Kingdom’s castle.
Iona hadn’t obliterated the castle without any thought.
She knew that a magically protected treasure vault lay underground, so she destroyed the castle without hesitation.
“Puhuhut. I feel a pull from below, meow!”
Of course, Theo felt it too.
Snap!
Theo unsheathed his dragon claws.
Leap.
He jumped into the sky,
“Meow meow! Meow meow!”
and unleashed a storm of meow meow storm fist towards the ground.
Boom!
And thus, the entrance to the treasure vault was revealed.
“Puhuhut. Let’s go, meow!”
“Kyoot kyoot kyoot. Yes!”
Theo and Iona entered the treasure vault with excited expressions.
***
[During sleep, 10% of your life force has been stored.]
[The Life Orb is 1.95% complete.]
[Over 24 hours, 0.1 magic power has been accumulated.]
[Your magic power has increased by 0.1.]
“Alright!”
As it became light around him, Sejun woke up and sprang to his feet.
Then he hurried outside and,
Swish.
[You have harvested 3219 grains of golden rice.]
[Your job experience have slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]
[Due to the Cold energy imbued in the Sickle of Freshness, the shelf life of the harvested crops has increased by 5 days.]
[You have gained 225,330 experience points.]
He began to cut the rice he had been eyeing since yesterday. This morning is all about rice!
Swish. Swish.
As Sejun was harvesting the rice,
Kking!
‘My core!’
Fenrir woke up from his sleep, calling for his own core.
Kking?!
‘Hey! Where are you?!’
Thud. Thud.
Fenrir went outside to find Sejun, who had his core.
And then,
Kking! Kking!
‘I found you! Give back my core!’
Thud. Thud.
Fenrir, having spotted Sejun cutting rice, ran towards him, wagging his tail vigorously.
However,
Flinch.
‘What’s this? Why am I wagging my tail?’
He was soon puzzled by his own behavior. He should be furious for not getting his core back… but seeing that guy made him feel too good.
‘This isn’t right! I am the noble wolf Fenrir!’
Snap.
Fenrir, having gathered his composure, held his head high and walked towards Sejun with dignity.
Then,
“Blackie, you’re awake?”
As Sejun turned towards Fenrir,
Gulp.
Fenrir, upon seeing Sejun’s face, reflexively started salivating.
And then,
Wag wag wag.
His tail started wagging vigorously again.
Kking! Kking!
‘Let’s eat first! Hey! Give me food!’
Snap.
Deciding to deal with the core later, Fenrir quickly sat in front of Sejun’s feet.
***
Harbin, China
“Yes! You’ve all been waiting for a long time! The statue of the Golden Bat, the divine beast that protected our Black Tower, will arrive soon!”
As the announcer spoke in the square in front of the Black Tower,
“Woah!!!”
The crowd cheered.
The people of Harbin considered the Golden Bat a divine beast for saving the Black Tower and decided to express their gratitude by erecting a statue.
And not just any statue, but one made entirely of pure gold.
Shortly after,
Vroom.
Three golden statues, shaped like the Golden Bat, arrived on huge trucks.
And then,
Click, click.
Journalists began to take photos of the three statues to send to newspapers around the world.
[The Golden Bat Using Pip-pip-hoo]
[The Golden Bat Using Pip-pip Storm Fist]
[The Golden Bat Using One-Pip Slash]
The names of the techniques used by the Golden Bat were vividly inscribed on the statues.
It would have been a shock to the Golden Bat if it knew.
If this news reached the Tower through hunters…
It might be dragged by Theo and Cuengi to have a serious conversation.
However,
[Wow! They made the statues look exactly the same..]
There was already someone who knew.
Flamie peeked out her small roots around the Black Tower in Harbin, admiring the statue of the Golden Bat.
*****