On the way down the tower.
“Meow meow meow.”
Piyo?
[Theo~nim, but who will you visit first?]
Piyot asked Theo, who was humming a tune.
“Puhuhut. First, I’ll be keeping an eye on Manager Bill, meow!”
Theo answered.
The eight cat interns working under Theo.
They had made their achievements and were promoted; Bill became a manager, Jeff and Mark became assistant managers, and the other five became employees from intern.
Piyo?! Piyo!
[Ah! So you’re checking the most senior first?! As expected, Theo~nim, you are excellent!]
“Puhuhut. Of course, meow! I, Vice Chairman Theo, am excellent, meow!”
Theo smiled pleasantly at Piyot’s flattery.
At that moment,
“Vice Chairman Theo, why did Piyot come so late?”
Sejun appeared in front of them.
Piyo!
[Theo~nim, it’s Sejun-nim!]
Piyot, without any doubt, tried to approach Sejun.
However
“Piyot! Stay away, meow!”
Theo was wary of the Sejun in front of him. No. He denied the Sejun in front of him. That’s not Chairman Park, meow!
His Sejun knee detector was still pointing unwaveringly to the 99th floor of the tower.
“Who are you, meow?”
Theo asked the Sejun in front of him.
“Vice Chairman Theo, what are you talking about? It’s me!”
Sejun said, feeling wronged.
“Lie not, meow! You are not Chairman Park, meow!”
“Vice Chairman Theo, look closely. It’s me.”
With that,
Sejun pointed to his face.
Then, Sejun’s face brightened a bit more, his features became clearer, and he looked more handsome.
Piyo···
[Sejun-nim···]
Piyot tried to approach Sejun as if enchanted.
However
“Hah! Hah! Hah! Chairman Park’s face wasn’t that handsome, meow! Don’t change it at will, meow!”
That only provoked Theo’s anger. Only I can fix Chairman Park’s rotten face, meow!
Piyo?!
[Theo~nim made the ‘Hah’ sound three times in a row?!]
Piyot shivered in fear as he watched Theo.
“I am angry, meow!!!”
With a snap!
An enraged Theo pulled out one of his dragon claws,
With a flick.
He pointed it at the Sejun in front of him,
Thump.
The magic claw shot from Theo’s claw pierced through a spot about 1m above Sejun’s head.
At the same time, Sejun’s figure disappeared.
-Kuh-huk! How···?!
In place of the disappeared Sejun, a giant spider with ten eyes and a fist-sized hole in its head was gaping its mouth open.
After showing its prey illusions with its ten eyes,
Hunting its off-guard prey was the hunting method of the the 9th seat of the Apostle of Destruction, the Deceptive Spider, Alice.
-You bastard, next time…
Thud.
Alice’s fragment could not continue speaking and fell, turning into black ash and disappearing.
And
Clink.
Only five silver coins, engraved with a spider with ten eyes and eight legs, remained in that spot.
“Puhuhut. You can’t fool me, Vice Chairman Theo, meow! Piyot, let’s go, meow!”
Piyo!
[Yes!]
Piyot hurriedly picked up the coins and followed Theo.
The Apostle of Destruction, the 9th seat, the Deceptive Spider, Alice. She met her invincible natural enemy.
“Meow meow meow.”
Piyo! Piyo!
Humming a tune, Theo and Piyot continued on their way down.
When they had gone down about ten floors,
“Meow?!”
Piyo!
[There’s a fork in the road!]
A fork in the road appeared in front of them.
“Puhuhut. This way, meow!”
Theo took the lead without hesitation.
And
“Vice Chairman Theo, please save me!”
“Puhuhut. Alright, meow! Give me money, meow!”
“Here it is!”
As if it was only natural, he met Uren, who had been stranded inside a fragment of Jörmungandr, and collected money from him.
It seemed like Uren, who was too eager to give money to Theo, had been waiting for him.
“Vice Chairman Theo, where are you going?”
Uren, who had been rescued from the Jörmungandr fragment, asked.
“Puhuhut. I’m going to supervise the employees, meow!
“Oh! Can I come with you too?!”
Uren said he would follow because it seemed like it would be fun. Of course, he also didn’t want to move alone and get stranded again.
“Good, meow!”
Theo naturally agreed when the sponsor who would give him money said he would come along,
“Meow meow meow.”
Piyo! Piyo!
Oink! Oink!
Thus, Theo, Piyot, and Uren hummed a tune as they moved to the 42nd floor of the tower where Manager Bill was.
***
The next morning.
“Alright!”
Sejun woke up from sleep and got out of bed.
Then
Gororong.
Kkiiing…
With Ajax’s snoring and Fenrir’s moaning were heard. What was that?
When Sejun looked towards the source of the noise,
He saw Fenrir trapped under Ajax’s head. It seemed Ajax mistook Fenrir for a pillow while sleeping.
Chuk.
Sejun lifted Ajax’s head and carefully removed Fenrir,
Swipe.
And placed a pillow under Ajax’s head.
Kurorong.
Thanks to him, Fenrir could sleep comfortably.
Gororong.
Kurorong.
Chuk.
Leaving behind the snoring sounds of Ajax and Fenrir, Sejun went outside.
“First, I need to check on the black beans.”
Click.
Sejun opened the void storage and went inside,
Click.
He opened the Golden Box of Abundance, took out two of the three black beans, and then closed it again.
[Transcendence Black Bean(+2)]
“That makes six.”
Chuk.
Sejun said as he put the 2-enhanced black beans into a leather pouch.
After collecting the black beans,
Suk.
Sejun split the side of the Sundried Red Pepper and carefully extracted the seeds with his fingers.
[You have obtained Sundried Red Pepper seeds.]
[Your job experience have slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]
[You need to use the Seed Harvesting skill 494,829 more times to complete the job quest.]
…
..
.
Sejun obtained about 200 Sundried Red Pepper seeds.
He went to the empty land of the farm and
Puk.
Dug the ground and carefully planted one Sundried Red Pepper seed.
And
Pong!
He opened the bottle containing the Harvest Elixir and
Drop.
Dropped the last drop of the Harvest Elixir onto the Sundried Red Pepper to quickly grow it and secure many seeds.
Ppudeuk.
The Sundried Red Pepper sprout rapidly grew as it absorbed the Harvest Elixir.
“Good. I’ll have breakfast and then harvest the Sundried Red Peppers…”
Sejun smiled contentedly as he slowly looked over the farm.
[The Stamina Corn are grateful for the farmer’s footsteps and lend their strength.]
[The potential of the Stamina stat has risen from 1397 to 1398.]
As he was raising his potential by letting the crops hear his footsteps,
“Huh?”
Sejun was enveloped in a golden glow.
***
[Podori, are you ready?]
[Yes! Flamie-nim!]
Podori answered solemnly to Flamie’s question.
Podori was at an important moment of its life.
That was the evolution into the World Tree.
‘Now, if I just eat this and become the World Tree, I won’t need to take nutrients anymore!’
Podori thought while looking at the thumb-sized golden apple held in Flamie’s roots.
For Podori, not having to take nutrients anymore was more important than becoming the World Tree itself.
[Okay. Here I go!]
[Yes!]
With Podori’s response, Flamie’s roots sent the golden apple to Podori.
Then, the golden apple was absorbed into Podori’s body like melting water.
And starting from Podori’s roots, it turned golden and moved upwards through its body,
And as Podori’s body was fully colored golden,
Pah!
The golden light began to explode.
***
Black Tower Administrator Area.
“Keeheehee. Our Sejun is managing the crops from the morning again. As expected, so diligent.”
Nom nom.
Aileen watched Sejun through the crystal ball while eating an elixir-grade tomato Sejun gave her.
Then
[One of the growth conditions for the Black Tower has been achieved.]
An alarm appeared as Sejun’s surroundings were dyed in dazzling golden light.
“Keehing? What’s this?”
Aileen, puzzled, checked the growth conditions for the Black Tower,
[Black Tower Growth Conditions (4/8)]
-Tower Farmer (A): Achieved
-Create more than 10 new varieties: Exceeded (19/10)
-Cultivate more than 330 million square meter of farmland: Unachieved
-Grow a World Tree: 1 (Podori)/?
-Acquire More than 10,000 World’s Energy Pieces: Unachieved
-Own more than 5 relics: Unachieved
-Achieve 3 great achievements: Unachieved
-Increase the number of Black Tower entrances to 120: Unachieved
The name Podori appeared next to the number 1 under the condition of growing a World Tree.
“Huh?! When did Podori become a World Tree? As expected, that’s our Sejun!”
Aileen praised Sejun, although it was Podori who had become the World Tree.
“I have to tell Grandpa!”
Aileen reported Sejun’s achievement(?) to Kaiser.
***
“Ugh! What was that?”
As the golden light disappeared, Sejun removed his hand covering his eyes.
Thud, thud.
“Huh?!”
Sejun saw the Ents guarding around Podori bowing towards it.
“What’s going on?”
As Sejun approached Podori,
Hop.
[Master! Podori~nim has become a World Tree!]
Flamie, who was going to call Sejun, found him and jumped onto Sejun’s shoulder to tell him.
“A World Tree? Then, should I bow too?”
Sejun said in a slightly deflated voice. Isn’t a World Tree supposed to be really powerful?
[No way! Absolutely not! Don’t be scared!]
Flamie firmly said in response to Sejun’s words. How dare any tree receive a bow from my master?!
[Master, let’s go see Podori~nim!]
“Okay.”
Sejun, accompanied by Flamie, approached Podori.
‘What’s this?’
Podori was incredibly bewildered seeing Flamie.
Having become a World Tree itself, Podori thought it was now on the same level as Flamie. It even planned to rebel a bit.
But
‘What?! This is Flamie~nim?!’
Becoming a World Tree made Flamie even more terrifying.
Flamie’s size and power were immense to the extent that Podori, now with the intelligence of a World Tree, couldn’t comprehend why it had ever bothered with someone like itself.
‘I must tell Sejun-nim!’
Podori thought it had to tell Sejun about Flamie’s terror.
However
[Heheh. Master, will Podori~nim now produce even tastier grapes for you? Right, Podori~nim?]
[……]
Seeing Flamie speaking in honorifics to deceive him, Podori felt a chill down its branch and was paralyzed with immense fear.
If I speak, it will surely kill me with nutrient overdose…
[Podori~nim, no response? Seems like becoming a World Tree has made you a bit tired? Heheh.]
Flamie’s voice was gentle to Sejun’s ears,
‘Won’t you answer?’
But the leaves of Flamie, unseen by Sejun, gestured a throat-slitting motion.
[No… Not at all! I am very full! I will produce even tastier grapes for Sejun-nim!]
Prompted by Flamie’s action, Podori hurriedly responded and began producing grapes.
Then
Podo-do.
In front of Sejun, a large cluster of golden grapes with sizable grapes quickly grew.
“Oh!”
Thud.
Mesmerized, Sejun broke off the twig from the end of the grape cluster.
Then
[You have harvested 1 cluster of Fragrant Golden Grapes imbued with the World Tree’s energy (30 grapes).]
[Your job experience have slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency of Seed Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]
A message appeared. The name was as impressive as its color.
“I wonder if the effects are also tremendous?”
Click.
Sejun picked up a golden grape to examine its options.
[Fragrant Golden Grapes Imbued with the World Tree’s Energy]
→ Grapes created by the World Tree infusing its own energy.
→ The taste is excellent, and the fragrant aroma of the grape spreads far and wide.
→ Upon consumption, all stats increase by 5.
→ Consuming more than 10 grapes will make you emit a fragrant scent for 10 days that attracts the opposite sex.
→ Both the skin and the seeds must be consumed for the effect to occur.
→ Cultivator: Tower Farmer Park Sejun
→ Shelf Life: 180 days
→ Grade: A+
“Indeed, the options are excellent.”
Each grape eaten increases all stats by 5.
Plus, although it’s embarrassing to admit, eating more than 10 has the effect of… attracting the opposite sex. Heh.
For Sejun, who had never been popular in his life, it was an ability he wanted to experience at least once.
Then
[The Tower’s Administrator says to absolutely prevent Sejun from eating more than 10 grapes!]
Kueng!
[Daddy will only eat 9!]
“Sejun hyung is only allowed to eat 9!”
Cuengi and Ajax, tasked with a special mission by Aileen, quickly flew towards Sejun.
*****
