TL NOTE: I have decided to rename Little Flamie to Sparkie which will be now used from this chapter.

On a vast ranch in Texas, USA.

Hiiiiing.

A horse leisurely running around the wide plains was grazing on grass.

The horse finished eating the grass it was eating and moved to eat another grass with a red berry attached, about a span long.

And as it brought its mouth to the grass,

Kyaek!

The red berry opened its mouth and attacked.

Hiiiiing!

The horse, startled by the unexpected attack, quickly ran away, and the Flesh Eater closed its mouth again, waiting for the next prey.

Fortunately, the next prey soon appeared.

Tweet tweet.

A sparrow approached, aiming to eat the head of the Flesh Eater that looked like a berry.

Kyaek!

This time, the Flesh Eater caught the prey and swallowed it whole.

A moment later,

Crunch.

The Flesh Eater, having devoured the sparrow, grew in size.

In this way, Flesh Eaters throughout Texas rapidly increased in size, devouring bugs, mice, and small birds.

And then,

“Kekeke. The effect is good.”

Halphas let out a sinister laugh as he watched the earth being dyed red.

***

“Theo, did you collect Uren’s money well?”

Sejun asked, attaching Theo, who was clinging to his face, to his lap.

“Puhuhut. Of course, meow! There’s no money in this world that Vice Chairman Theo can’t collect, meow! Look at this, meow!”

At Sejun’s question, Theo, who had been revving up his pride, promptly put his front paw into the bag and took out the money.

1.4 trillion Tower Coins.

9.9 billion Tower Coins had been gloriously burned to capture Fenrir’s core fragment that was being sucked into a black hole.

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, how about this, meow?”

Theo looked at Sejun with a smug smile. Puhuhut. Chairman Park, will you still not give me the monopoly on your knee, meow?

“Alright. I’ll extend the knee monopoly by one month.”

As Theo predicted, Sejun gave him a one-month extension on the knee monopoly. Puhuhut. Everything is going according to my plan, meow!

“I have more, meow!”

Having secured a one-month extension on the knee monopoly, Theo now took out a black orb.

“This is a 0.001% fragment of Fenrir’s core, meow! Give me two more months for this, meow!”

“Well, with just this…”

Sejun received the core fragment with an unimpressed expression.

At that moment,

[You have acquired a fragment of the door leading to the 10th Tower.]

A fist-sized brown wooden fragment separated from the core fragment, and a message appeared.

“Puhuhut. Puhuhut.”

Theo smugly laughed with a look that said, ‘Can you still not extend it, meow?’

“Tch. Fine. Two more months extension on the knee monopoly.”

This had to be acknowledged.

Sejun had no choice but to comply. Theo had found the incredibly rare fragment of the door leading to the 10th Tower.

“Vice Chairman Theo, have you had dinner?”

“Puhuhut. I haven’t, meow! But before dinner, there’s one more thing to take out, meow!”

Theo boldly declared, taking out 31 jewel teeth of Lizaen.

‘Puhuhut. Chairman Park, it’s actually a three-stage combo, meow! With this momentum, I will extend the lap monopoly by three more months, meow!’

Theo’s grand plan to gain a total of six months of knee monopoly with the one-month, two-month, three-month combo.

“What?! These are the Earth Jewels?!”

Sejun was shocked to recognize the identity of the jewel teeth. How many are there?

“Puhuhut.”

Theo’s lips curled up higher and higher in response to Sejun’s reaction.

Everything seemed to be going according to Theo’s plan, but

[Damaged Earth Jewel]

→ Contains the soul of the earth attribute god, sealed and devoured by the wolf Fenrir who hunts the god and the first seat of the Apostle of Destruction.

→ The Earth Jewel containing the soul of the god is damaged, preventing the soul from absorbing the power of the earth.

→ If placed around a farmer with earth attribute talents, the damaged Earth Jewel will gradually restore to its original form. (The higher the level of the farmer’s earth attribute talents, the faster the restoration.)

→ …

→ ..

→ .

The Earth Jewel had a problem. It was damaged when Lizaen created teeth with it.

“Uh-huh. That won’t do. The item is defective. Vice Chairman Theo, are you playing tricks on Chairman Park?”

Sejun said with a mocking tone as he checked the options. He was thrilled to knock down Theo’s arrogance.

‘Hahaha. Vice Chairman Theo, the one with the last laughs wins. And the one who will be laughing at last is me, Chairman Park.’

Just as Sejun was rejoicing over taking Theo down a peg,

“Meow? Vice Chairman Theo would never play tricks on the great Chairman Park, meow!”

Startled by Sejun’s words, Theo quickly checked the options of the jewel.

And then,

“Meow… Chairman Park, I’m sorry, meow…”

With his ears drooping, Theo apologized to Sejun in a gloomy voice. My three-stage combo has failed, meow…

“No, it’s not something you need to apologize for. I can restore the Earth Jewel.”

Sejun said, bringing a Churu treat to Theo’s mouth to comfort the disheartened Theo.

Sejun possessed quite a strong earth attribute talent.

A talent that only blooms when wearing the straw hat of the Earth God, Patrick: Favored by the Earth.

Although the talent only blooms when wearing the straw hat, since Sejun wore the hat all the time except when sleeping, it was practically his talent.

Chomp chomp chomp.

While Theo was happily eating the homemade tuna Churu,

“Is it really true that it gets restored just by having it nearby?”

Uncertain about the description, Sejun checked the Earth Jewel.

[Damaged Earth Jewel – 0.02% Restoration in Progress]

The Earth Jewels had already started restoring the moment they came into Sejun’s possession.

However,

“At this rate, it will take almost a month.”

Restoring 31 Earth Jewels at once was too slow.

To speed up the process, he put 30 of them in the Void Storage and kept only one in his pocket.

Hehehe. The strategy of focusing on one.

When Sejun finished organizing the Earth Jewels,

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, since everything went well, so extend the knee monopoly by three months, meow!”

Good things must be shared, meow! Feeling full and happy after eating the Churu, Theo smiled broadly and shouted.

And then,

“Alright. Three months extension.”

Sejun, who seemed like he would refuse, readily accepted Theo’s request.

Ahem. Originally, you give an extra rice cake to someone you hate. It’s absolutely not because he was captivated by Theo’s smile. (TL: 원래 미운 놈 떡 하나 더 주는 거지 which translates as ‘You give an extra rice cake to someone you hate’ is a Korean proverb meaning being nicer to people you hate, you actually reduce your hate.)

“Puhuhut. Chairman Park, rub my belly, meow!”

Theo lay on his back and exposed his belly to Sejun.

Pat pat.

“Hehehe.”

He indulged him.

“Puhuhut.”

The three-stage combo is a success, meow!

Like that, it ended happily with Sejun and Theo laughing together.

A little later,

“I should bury this in the ground.”

Sejun buried the 0.001% fragment of Fenrir’s core that Theo had brought, in the Sundried Red Pepper field just like before.

“Meoooow… Chairman Park, let’s go to sleep now… I’m sleepy, meow…”

Theo, who had been waiting for Sejun to go to sleep, whined with a voice full of drowsiness.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

Sejun headed to bed with Theo.

And then,

Gulp.

He ate the Medicinal Mugwort and passed out.

Kurr.

Gororong.

Kyurorong.

As the snores of Sejun, Theo, and Fenrir resonated, the 386th night of his stay in the tower came to a close.

While everyone was asleep,

[Sparkie, are you ready?]

[Yes! Flamie-nim, I’m ready!]

On the 79th floor of the tower, Sparkie was preparing to become the second World Tree of the Black Tower.

[Good! Then here I go!]

[Yes!]

With Sparkie’s response, Flamie’s roots sent a golden apple, the size of a fist, to Sparkie.

The golden apple was absorbed into Sparkie’s roots as if it were being soaked in.

Then,

[Flamie-nim, my body feels hot!]

[Just endure a bit longer! It’ll be over soon!]

[Yes!]

Starting from Sparkie’s roots, a golden hue began to spread, and as the entire tree turned golden,

Pah!

With a burst of golden light, Sparkie explosively grew.

***

Black Tower Administrator Area.

Aileen, clutching the crystal orb, was diligently searching for the power of destruction.

“Gah! Why isn’t it coming out!”

No matter how hard she tried, the power of destruction wasn’t being detected, causing Aileen to throw the crystal orb in frustration.

The crystal orb rolled away and stopped after hitting the wall.

At that moment,

Woooong.

The crystal orb vibrated.

“Huh? Did it find it?”

Aileen checked the crystal orb with a sense of expectation. She wondered if, by some stroke of luck, it had found the power of destruction.

However,

[One of the growth conditions for the Black Tower has been exceeded.]

“Huh?”

It was a different message.

Exceeded?

Aileen hurriedly checked the conditions for the Black Tower.

[Black Tower Growth Conditions (7/8)]

– Tower Farmer (A): Achieved

– Create more than 10 new varieties: Exceeded (23/10)

– Cultivate more than 330 million square meter of farmland: Unachieved

– Grow a World Tree: Exceeded (Podori, Sparkie, ?)

– Acquire more than 10,000 pieces of the World’s Energy: Unachieved

– Own more than 5 Relics: Achieved

– Achieve 3 great achievements: Achieved

– Increase the number of entrances to the Black Tower to 120: Unachieved

“Sparkie?”

There was an additional World Tree.

Thanks to this, only one more condition needed to be met for the Black Tower’s growth, but Aileen couldn’t feel happy. (TL: If you are confused about why only one is left, whereas the previous message shows three as still unachieved, it is because in the case of exceeding a condition, one additional condition will be considered achieved. This was mentioned in Chapter 282.)

“Kheung… Sejun is doing so well…”

I’m the only one not doing well. Compared to Sejun’s recent achievements, she wasn’t being much help to him.

“Kheung…”

Aileen became gloomy.

‘That’s right. Sejun told me to eat something sweet when I’m feeling down!’

Remembering Sejun’s advice, she soothed her burning frustration with the cool and sweet watermelon juice Sejun had made for her.

At that moment,

Thump. Thump.

The Great Brown Dragon, Garrick, waddled into the Black Tower Administrator Area, causing small vibrations.

“Huh?! Garrick Oppa!”

“Hmph. Aileen, am I still a weak dragon?!”

The 350-year-old Garrick, who had pestered his parents to come here, looked at Aileen and spoke arrogantly.

At that moment,

Thump. Thump.

Another red hatchling entered. It was Perion, the 550-year-old hatchling of the Great Red Dragon.

“What? Garrick, you’re already here?”

“Perion Hyung, you’re a bit late?”

“Ah. I saw the letter late because I was sleeping…”

As the two were talking,

Thump. Thump.

“Aileen, hello! Huh?! Perion Oppa and Garrick Oppa are here too?”

Following Aileen, the youngest, the 300-year-old hatchling of the Great Silver Dragon, Sylvia, waddled into the Black Tower Administrator Area.

“Huh?! Hello, everyone.”

“Hello.”

Next, the 600-year-old hatchling of the Great Blue Dragon, Harkun, and the 400-year-old hatchling of the Great Purple Dragon, Pobi, arrived.

Aileen’s mass-provocation letters had worked perfectly.

‘Kehihihi. It’s a success.’

Although the hatchling of the Great Golden Dragon, Hokus, didn’t come, it was still a success.

While Aileen was rejoicing,

“Aileen, you…”

“Even though you’re the youngest…”

“Calling us weak?!”

After greeting each other, the hatchlings decided to teach the impudent youngest who had provoked them a lesson.

However,

“Hehehe. Unnie, oppas, I’m sorry. I just missed you all and wanted to see you.”

Aileen, who had used the mass provocation, had suddenly turned into an obedient and sweet youngest.

“To apologize, I’ll give you this. It’s really delicious! It also increases your magic power.”

Aileen began serving the Magic Cherry Tomatoes, promoting Sejun’s crops one by one.

And then,

“Oh! It’s really delicious!”

“Wow! My magic power actually increased a little!”

“This thing called a sweet potato makes you stronger!”

Sejun’s delicious crops naturally became explosively popular among the hatchlings.

While the hatchlings were raving about Sejun’s crops,

‘That Aileen, how dare she call me weak even though she’s the youngest?!’

Thump.

With a proud expression, the 500-year-old hatchling of the Great Golden Dragon, Hokus, arrived at the Black Dragon’s territory, tightly holding his mother’s hand.

But,

“Huh?!”

Upon arrival, Hokus quickly lost his confidence.

“Waaah!! Give me money quickly so I can buy sweet potatoes!”

“Buy me peanuts!”

“Corn! Corn!”

“Bweeeh!”

There, the once fearless hatchlings were pestering their parents to buy Sejun’s crops.

*****