Inside the kitchen on the 99th floor of the tower.
Kuehehehe.
Cuengi was looking at Sejun, who was cooking with sparkling eyes and a bright smile.
And Sejun, under Cuengi’s intense gaze, was diligently making honey baekseolgi. (TL: Honey Rice Cake)
A little earlier
Krueng! Krueng!
[Dad ate 5 delicious things alone! Cuengi knows everything!]
Food Detective Cunan accurately deduced the number of Skill-Enhancing Golden Royal Jellies Sejun had eaten with his incredible deductive skills.
Krueng!
[Cuengi feels left out!]
Seeing Cuengi taking out an Enhanced Branch of a Corrupted Ent from his snack pouch,
“Cuengi, I’m sorry. Instead, I’ll make you honey baekseolgi.”
Krueng!
[That sounds good!]
Sejun had peacefully settled the matter with Cuengi by offering to make Cuengi’s favorite food, honey baekseolgi.
Click.
Thus, Sejun put a huge steamer over a pot emitting steam to steam the honey baekseolgi,
[You have harvested 9 Magical Cherry Tomatoes.]
[Your job experience points have slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 7 has slightly increased.]
[Due to the Cold energy imbued in the Sickle of Freshness, the expiration date of the harvested crops has increased by 5 days.]
[You have gained 540 experience points.]
and went to the cherry tomato farm to start harvesting cherry tomatoes, intending to make cherry tomato juice to go with the honey baekseolgi.
While Sejun was harvesting the cherry tomatoes,
[The temporary storage of the White Tower has been filled with 5000 Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power.]
[The White Tower’s temporary storage is full.]
[Since the temporary storage can no longer hold crops, the harvesting ordered to Ajax Mamebe, the tower farmer of the White Tower, has been terminated.]
Nearly two months had passed since the last message that the White Tower’s temporary storage capacity was full appeared.
When the Magical Cherry Tomatoes were first planted, the concentration was high due to the magic power continuously emitted by Ajax on the 99th floor of the tower.
However, as the cherry tomatoes absorbed the magic, the concentration of magic power on the 99th floor of the White Tower gradually decreased.
This caused the growth speed of the cherry tomatoes to slow down, and now it almost took two months to harvest 5000 elixir cherry tomatoes.
“The growth speed has slowed down too much…”
The core of the problem was Ajax.
If Ajax was just slacking off, it would be easy to scold him to increase the harvesting speed, but Ajax has been diligently working recently.
This was a problem that could only be solved if the amount of magic power Ajax emitted increased.
‘What should I do?’
As Sejun pondered,
[The rank of the tower farmer has increased, allowing you to expand the temporary storage size to twice its size for 500 million tower coins.]
[Would you like to expand?]
Additional messages appeared asking if he wanted to expand the temporary storage.
The maximum transport capacity between towers was 100kg. Until now, Sejun had been transporting up to 50kg through inter-tower transport due to the small size of the temporary storage.
If the size of the temporary storage doubles, it means that he could use the maximum transport capacity of 100kg between towers.
However,
“I won’t do it.”
Sejun decided not to expand the temporary storage.
It wasn’t because he didn’t have the money. After purchasing the <Power: Abundance>, he had about 1 billion tower coins left, so money was not an issue. It was simply unnecessary.
Even if the temporary storage size doubled, the slow growth rate of the cherry tomatoes made it meaningless.
It already takes two months to harvest 5000 cherry tomatoes. Filling the double-sized temporary storage would take twice as long.
“That means I’d have to wait more than four months.”
That was too long. Since the cherry tomatoes for Aileen would run out before then, whether the temporary storage was full or not, he would have to use inter-tower transport soon anyway.
“Ajax is the problem.”
Ultimately, the problem was Ajax’s weak(?) magic power. If Ajax knew he was being treated this way by Sejun, he might have stormed into the Black Tower again.
Of course, he would probably be scolded by Aileen before that.
Then,
[The tower’s administrator asks if Ajax oppa is not listening to you again.]
[The tower’s administrator says if you summon Ajax oppa again, this time she’ll give him a real beating.]
Aileen, hearing Sejun’s words, became angry, thinking Ajax was causing trouble for Sejun again. For Ajax, who had not been causing any trouble and had been working hard lately, this was quite unfair.
“It’s not like that, Aileen.”
Sejun calmed Aileen down and said,
“Transport.”
Sejun paid 1 million tower coins for the inter-tower transportation fee and moved 5000 cherry tomatoes to the Black Tower.
Shortly after,
Poof.
[Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power, 5000 pieces (50kg), have arrived.]
As 5000 white cherry tomatoes appeared in front of Sejun, forming a small mountain,
“Aileen, ran out of cherry tomatoes? Eat these.”
Sejun sent 3000 cherry tomatoes to Aileen.
Aileen eats about 50 cherry tomatoes a day. With 3000 pieces, that was enough for 60 days, roughly two months.
The reason Aileen only eats 50 cherry tomatoes a day is that any more would exceed her magical potential.
Aileen’s magic power had already reached its potential.
However, as Aileen was in her growth phase, her potential increased day by day. Sejun’s honey jelly also greatly helped increase her potential.
The increase in Aileen’s magical potential was about 50 a day.
Considering the effect of Elixir Cherry Tomatoes is a 10 increase in magic power, it was odd. Eating 50 should increase her magic power by 500.
“That’s strange.”
Sejun initially found this odd. According to his common sense, eating beyond one’s potential should lead to a bathroom visit.
But there was something Sejun didn’t know. Aileen wasn’t fully benefiting from the effects of the cherry tomatoes.
The elixir cherry tomatoes were far from matching Aileen’s stature, so their effects weren’t fully realized.
When Aileen ate one cherry tomato, her magic power increased by 1.
Thus, Aileen was increasing her magic power by 50 a day, 1500 a month.
According to Kaiser, there are no cases of hatchlings of Aileen’s age increasing their potential this rapidly.
[The tower’s administrator says thank you.]
Aileen, having received the elixir cherry tomatoes, was moved by Sejun’s thoughtful gesture.
‘Khihihihi. Sejun, I’ll repay you with a more delicious(?) dish!’
Since Sejun would worry and strongly advise against it whenever she mentioned cooking, Aileen decided to cook in secret.
Unaware of Aileen’s intentions, Sejun packed some elixir cherry tomatoes into a bowl,
“Vice Chairman Theo, please pack these.”
“Got it, meow!”
He had Theo pack the remaining elixir cherry tomatoes into a bag.
This was because a large quantity of Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power together could create an effect similar to a blue moon.
Once the elixir cherry tomatoes were organized,
“I should send some honey jelly to Ajax to make him stronger.”
Eating honey jelly slightly strengthens magic-related talents, so it should help.
Sejun sent Ajax 10 bottles filled with honey jelly and the seeds of Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power.
And then,
Squeeze! Squeeze!
Sejun went to the kitchen to press the cherry tomatoes and start making cherry tomato juice, using the Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power.
Currently, Sejun’s magic power stats and potential are
Magic Power (581/708).
Sejun was no longer the old self who would need to visit the bathroom after eating a few elixir cherry tomatoes.
“Hehehe. I’m not who I used to be.”
Sejun made the elixir cherry tomato juice with a confident expression.
A little later,
“Guys, let’s eat dinner!”
Sejun had dinner with the animals.
Kuehehehe. Krueng!
[Hehehe. It’s delicious!]
Cuengi, holding honey baekseolgi in his front paws, ate joyously.
“Cuengi, you should drink while eating. Otherwise, you might get a stomachache.”
Sejun brought a cup filled with cherry tomato juice to Cuengi’s mouth,
Gulp. Gulp.
Cuengi quickly drank the juice, perhaps because his throat was dry.
And then,
Wap. Wap.
Once his throat was no longer dry, Cuengi quickly started eating honey baekseolgi again.
At that moment,
Thump. Thump.
A yellow paw hit Sejun’s arm.
“Chairman Park, pay attention over here too, meow!”
Theo, who had already finished the churu Sejun had spooned out for him, spoke in a sullen voice.
“Our Vice Chairman Theo, you’ve already finished eating?”
“Puhuhut. Yes, meow! Vice Chairman Theo is good at eating fish and churu, meow!”
Sejun praised a bit, and Theo, quickly becoming proud, boasted in a pompous voice.
“Here.”
Sejun spooned out some homemade churu for Theo,
Slurp slurp slurp.
Theo started eating eagerly again.
Peck peck peck.
Piyo!
[Delicious!]
Beside them, Piyot happily pecked at the peanut powder Sejun had ground up for him.
Thus, everyone enjoyed a happy dinner, ending the day on a joyful note.
***
[From the Black Tower to the White Tower, 30,000 Elixir: Cherry Tomato Imbued with Powerful Magic Power seeds and 10 bottles of honey jelly have been sent.]
“Huh?! What’s this?”
Ajax, wearing a straw hat and boots, holding a scythe, was puzzled by the arrival of something other than cherry tomato seeds.
“Huh?! Honey jelly?”
Although Sejun sent it with the intention of making Ajax stronger and increase the harvest of cherry tomatoes,
“It seems the human feels sorry for me.”
Ajax misunderstood, thinking Sejun sent the honey jelly as an apology for making him work hard.
“Hmph! Do you think I’d be happy with this?!”
Ajax’s lips slightly curled up in a good mood.
Click.
Pretending otherwise, Ajax opened a bottle of honey jelly.
Yum.
‘I definitely won’t enjoy this!’
He was a great White Dragon. He wouldn’t fall for such food.
With that firm resolution, Ajax ate the honey jelly.
But then,
Sarururu.
“What?! What’s this?!”
It’s too delicious! The rich honey flavor of the honey jelly melted in his mouth like cotton candy, lowering Ajax’s defenses.
“Hmph! I’ll eat it, considering the human’s sincerity.”
Yum. Yum.
Ajax excitedly ate the honey jelly and then noticed,
“Oh! Look, the cherry tomatoes are ripe.”
He harvested the cherry tomatoes.
And then,
Swoosh.
The effect of the honey jelly caused Ajax’s Dragonheart to grow slightly, increasing the magic power he emitted.
***
The next morning.
“Alright!”
As soon as Sejun got up,
“Meow…”
He picked up Theo and then,
Click.
Attached it to his leg and marked the date on the wall.
360th day since being stranded, today is the founding ceremony of the Red Ribbon Kingdom. Sejun hurried to sell the black beans to the dragons and had to go down to the 55th floor of the tower.
Clunk.
As Sejun and Theo were about to open the bedroom door and come out,
Piyo!
[I want to go too!]
Piyot, who had been sleeping in a wooden box house, hurriedly followed Sejun. “I am Theo’s right front paw man, going wherever Vice Chairman Theo goes!”
Click.
Thus, Sejun, taking Theo and Piyot with him, went to the storeroom and opened the Golden Box of Abundance to take out two black beans.
“Good. That makes six.”
Sejun took the six black beans and headed towards the fountain where the dragons were.
At that moment,
Piyo?
[Vice Chairman Theo, didn’t we forget something?]
Piyot asked Theo. There was something forgotten, but it couldn’t recall what it was.
However,
“Puhuhut. Worry not, Piyot! I was planning to give Chairman Park the lottery draw after breakfast, meow!”
Theo gave a different answer.
This time, both Theo and Piyot completely forgot that they needed to save the Mother Tree together.
Piyo! Piyo!
[Ah! That was it! Vice Chairman Theo is indeed a smart cat!]
“Of course, meow!”
Theo was smug at Piyot’s words. Truly, Theo and Piyot were a fantastic combo.
*****
3/6
