Korean Awakeners Association Headquarters.
“Black Locusts have appeared in Russia? That can’t be…”
Han Tae-jun, who had returned from training with Kim Dong-sik on the 44th floor of the tower, was taken aback by his subordinate’s report.
The Black Locust is a species evolved from the Purple Locust.
‘That means the number of locusts has increased…’
With the presence of Sturdy Blade Green Onions and Detoxifying Green Onions, the number of locusts shouldn’t have increased.
“Where did they come from?”
“Yes. That’s correct. Suddenly, above Vladivostok…”
The subordinate explained what had happened and showed a black crow on a tablet.
“This crow is commanding the Black Locusts?! What’s the situation now?”
“Currently, the Black Locusts are devastating Vladivostok and rapidly moving north.”
“Moving north? What about the defenses?”
They should have planted Sturdy Blade Green Onions and Detoxifying Green Onions to stop the locusts…
“The thing is, their bodies are tough and they’re not affected by poison, so Sejun~nim’s Sturdy Blade Green Onions and Detoxifying Green Onions are ineffective against them.”
“Hmm…”
Han Tae-jun muttered thoughtfully upon hearing the report.
“It seems like they are targeting the Black Tower in Harbin.”
“Harbin…”
“Currently, China also recognizes the severity of the situation and has placed hunters on standby in Harbin.”
“Understood. You may go now.”
After sending his subordinate off, Han Tae-jun picked up his smartphone to make a call.
“Yes, Tae-jun~nim.”
“Lucilia, it’s time for the Earth Defense Force to deploy to Harbin.”
“Understood.”
Han Tae-jun ordered Lucilia, the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild, to mobilize the Earth Defense Force.
***
[During sleep, 10% of your life force has been stored.]
[The Life Orb is 1.65% complete.]
[Over 24 hours, 0.1 magic power has been accumulated.]
[Your magic power has increased by 0.1.]
“Good…”
Sejun, who had woken up from his sleep, read the message and smiled broadly.
And then
Gororong.
Arorong.
Kkirorong.
He enjoyed the lingering sleepiness while listening to the snoring of Theo, Ajax, and Blackie.
Wriggle. Wriggle.
Moving his toes while lying down. Hehehe.
After fully enjoying the sleepiness,
“Ughhh!”
Sejun stretched out loudly and got up from the bed.
“Meow?”
“Hyung… you’re awake?”
Kking…
‘So noisy…’
Thanks to that, three of them woke up.
Grab.
“Meow…”
Sejun grabbed Theo by the scruff of his neck and attached him to his leg,
Click.
Kking…
He picked up Fenrir and put him in his pocket,
Swoosh.
and held Ajax in his arms before stepping outside.
And then
Step. Step.
He walked around the farm.
Gororong.
Arorong.
Kkirorong.
Before long, the three of them fell asleep again.
While Sejun was walking around the farm,
[The Five-colored Beans are grateful for the farmer’s footsteps and lend their strength.]
[Your Strength stat potential has increased from 1193 to 1194.]
Sejun’s strength potential increased.
“Was there Five-colored Beans here too?”
Sejun discovered a new Five-colored Bean field made by the mushroom ants.
“Should I have bean noodle soup for lunch?”
Thinking of beans suddenly made Sejun think of bean noodle soup.
Pluck. Pluck.
[You have harvested 5 Five-colored Beans.]
[Your job experience has slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]
[You have gained 350 experience points.]
…
..
.
He began to harvest the beans while shelling them.
After a while.
Kueng?!
[Where are you, Dad?!]
Cuengi’s voice, looking for Sejun who wasn’t at home, was heard from afar.
“Cuengi, I’m here!”
After Sejun announced his location, he hurried home with the harvested beans, soaked them, and prepared breakfast.
He kept breakfast simple with pancakes.
Kuehehehe!
“Ehehe!”
“It’s delicious!”
Cuengi, Ajax, and Veronica enjoying pancakes by dipping them in honey or drizzling honey over them.
Slurp.
Sejun also ate pancakes with coffee.
As sugar entered his brain,
“Ah, right!”
Sejun remembered something he had forgotten due to being so preoccupied yesterday.
Clank.
Sejun opened the void storage,
“Aileen, this is a gift for you.”
He took out a Thick Darkness Cherry and sent it to Aileen.
***
“Keeheehee. Pancakes today?”
Aileen licked her lips seeing the plate of pancakes Sejun had sent, piled high.
“Keeheehee. As expected, everything Sejun cooks is delicious!”
While Aileen was enjoying the pancakes, dipping them generously in honey,
[Tower Farmer Park Sejun has sent you a Thick Darkness Cherry .]
“Keehing?”
A dark red fruit appeared in front of Aileen.
“What? This is?!”
Aileen checked the cherry’s options.
Nom.
She immediately ate the cherry.
Then,
[You have consumed a Thick Darkness Cherry .]
[A slight power of darkness accumulates in your body.]
[You are the first Black Dragon to recover the power of darkness.]
[As a special privilege, when consuming something with the power of darkness, the power of darkness accumulates twice as much.]
Messages appeared.
At that moment.
Wriggle.
Aileen’s shadow flickered briefly, moving without her realizing.
Moving shadows was one of the various uses of the power of darkness.
“Keeheehee. It’s all thanks to our Sejun!”
Thanks to the special privilege, the effect of the Thick Darkness Cherry doubled, and Aileen increased her power of darkness.
Of course, she saved the cherry seed to give back to Sejun.
***
[The tower’s administrator says she is touched by your gift.]
[The tower’s administrator says thank you very, very much.]
“Hehehe. I’m glad Aileen liked it.”
Sejun, happy with Aileen’s thank-you, got up and went to the garlic field.
He planned to increase his agility with the Six Clove Garlic of Agility in order to consume the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair.
Upon arriving at the garlic field, Sejun found 1000 garlics evenly planted at uniform intervals.
“Good.”
Swoosh. Swoosh.
[You have harvested Six Clove Garlic of Agility (6 cloves).]
[Your job experience has slightly increased.]
[Your proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 8 has slightly increased.]
[You have gained 420 experience points.]
…
..
.
Sejun pulled the garlic stems, harvesting the garlic buried in the ground.
And then,
Swoosh.
When Sejun pulled the last garlic,
[You have obtained Six Clove Garlic of Mental Strength (6 cloves).]
…
..
.
“Huh?”
Sejun harvested a new type of garlic.
[You have achieved the feat of creating a new variety within the tower.]
…
..
.
[As a job trait, all stats increase by 10.]
“What?”
Sejun felt an indescribable aversion as he looked at the Six Clove Garlic of Mental Strength.
And then,
Swoosh.
He peeled the Spiritual Six Clove Garlic and examined a clove.
[Six Clove Garlic of Mental Strength]
→ A plant that grows inside the tower, producing garlic with 6 cloves.
→ It has the ability to repel evil, but it quickly becomes contaminated by surrounding energies, so it should be consumed as soon as possible.
→ Consuming it increases Mental Strength by 1.
→ Eating all 6 cloves from the whole garlic increases all stats by 10.
→ It has a strong bitter taste. (The taste does not disappear even when cooked.)
→ Shelf life: 90 days
→ Grade: A
“So that’s why.”
Sejun said, seeing the explanation that the bitter taste doesn’t disappear even when cooked.
It seemed to say that only those who can withstand the bitter taste are worthy of increasing their Mental Strength.
“Well… there’s no need to eat it now.”
After planting the six cloves of Spiritual Six Clove Garlic in the ground, Sejun peeled three cloves of Agility Garlic and grilled them with butter.
“Hehehe. This is what you call garlic butter.”
A smile formed naturally due to the fantastic aroma.
“Ah. I should make garlic butter popcorn too.”
Sejun took out another pot and heated up Exploding Stamina Corn.
A little later.
[You have consumed a Six Clove Garlic of Agility.]
[Agility has increased by 1.]
…
..
.
[You have consumed all six cloves of garlic from the whole bulb.]
[All stats have increased by 1.]
Sejun started eating the grilled garlic.
And when Sejun finally reached agility 1000,
[All stats have surpassed 1000.]
[Your class has been elevated.]
[Your potential of all stats has increased by 100.]
[Your resistance against other energies has increased by 10%.]
New effects appeared as all stats hit 1000.
“Meow?! Puhuhut. Chairman Park’s knee energy has gotten stronger, meow!”
As Sejun’s class increased and his knee energy strengthened, Theo vigorously rubbed his face against Sejun’s knee. Puhuhut. It’s mine, meow!
“Oh. So, there was something like this.”
Sejun read the message with interest and finished off the remaining garlic.
There was no need to eat them now, but there was no reason to give up the option of increasing all stats by 1 for eating all six cloves of a whole bulb.
Thus, Sejun finally finished preparing to consume the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair.
Nom.
He immediately put the yellow orb into his mouth.
Sizzle.
The yellow orb vanished like smoke as soon as it was placed in his mouth.
“Huh?!”
Where did it go?! Sejun panicked when
[You have consumed the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair.]
[Your Magic power has increased by 300.]
[Talent: Bringer of Despair has awakened.]
Fortunately, a message appeared confirming it hadn’t disappeared.
“Hehehe. Then, let’s check out the talent.”
What kind of talent could it be? Sejun checked the talent with excitement, having high expectations due to its impressive name.
[Talent: Bringer of Despair]
→ A talent only those who have eaten the Heart of Mordor, the Demon King of Despair can possess.
→ It brings down despair on enemies, reducing their abilities.
→ The higher your class is compared to the enemy’s, the greater the effect. (If the gap is large, the enemy will self-destruct on their own.)
→ You cannot bring down despair on enemies with a higher class.
“It’s ambiguous.”
Sejun commented after checking the talent. It seemed strong… but also not.
Then,
Kueng!
[Dad, Cuengi brought some kudzu roots!]
Cuengi returned from the herb garden after breakfast.
“Hyung! I finished watering the fields!”
Ajax too had finished watering the field. It was already lunchtime.
“Eat this while waiting.”
Sejun gave them garlic butter popcorn and hurriedly boiled the soaked Five-colored Beans with peanuts over high heat.
The reason for adding peanuts was to enhance the nuttiness.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
Sejun then rolled out the dough for knife-cut noodles he had made while preparing pancakes, folded it several layers thick, and
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.
cut it into noodles of uniform width.
“Time to boil the noodles.”
Sejun put the noodles into boiling water,
“Ajax, could you finely grind this into a water-like consistency?”
Sejun handed over the pot with the boiled Five-colored Beans and peanuts to Ajax.
“Yep! Leave it to me, hyung! Wind Cutter!”
Ajax created dozens of Wind Cutters,
Whoosh!
and ground the Five-colored Beans and peanuts.
Chop. Chop.
Meanwhile, Sejun prepared toppings of cucumber and cherry tomatoes to go on top of the bean noodle soup.
A little later,
“Sejun hyung, I’m done!”
“Good job.”
Sejun cooled the boiled knife-cut noodles in ice water to cool them,
Squeeze.
and squeezed out the water, and then beautifully arranged them in a bowl.
Click, click.
He topped it with cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and boiled egg fruit cut in half.
And then,
Pour.
Sejun completed the bean noodle soup by pouring the ground bean soup liquid that Ajax made into the bowl.
“Kids, let’s eat.”
At Sejun’s word, Cuengi and Ajax began to eat the bean noodle soup according to their preferences.
Cuengi poured honey into his bean noodle soup,
Sprinkle, sprinkle.
while Ajax sprinkled salt on his.
“They’re eating well.”
Sejun watched Cuengi and Ajax eat.
Slurp.
He took a bite of the bean noodle soup without adding anything.
“Hehehe. It’s nutty.”
And when Sejun was about to take out a kimchi container from the void storage to eat with the bean noodle soup,
-Sejun! I brought the dragon blood here!
Kaiser flew over quickly, carrying 9 glass bottles.
He had quickly finished making the containers to hold the dragon blood in order to talk with Aileen.
However, Sejun’s eyes were not pleased to see Kaiser like that.
“What? You could do it in a day?!”
Because he hadn’t done it for him until now even though it could be done this quickly.
Sejun was about to revert to his angry mood.
But then,
Squish. Squish.
“Chairman Park, your face looks sour, meow!”
This time, Theo was not in sync with him.
Squeeze, squeeze.
Unable to stand Sejun’s sour face, Theo hurriedly massaged Sejun’s face.
Thanks to that, Sejun’s immersion in his emotions broke, and he failed to get angry.
At that moment,
[You have broken through the last trial of the 10th tower.]
[As a reward, you have obtained <The Key to the 10th Tower>.]
Along with the message, a golden key appeared in Sejun’s hand.
*****
